A sick baby and a sleepy mommy

My poor little boy seems to have caught a cold. :( None of the rest of us are sick, so it seems odd, but he's all congested and sounds so pitiful. His discomfort resulted in very little sleep for both of us last night. He woke up about every hour and a half and I had to nurse him back to sleep every time. This is second time in his short life that he's come down with a cold...it makes me glad we've decided to get him [partially] vaccinated. His immune system just doesn't seem as strong as Shiphrah's. Today all he wants to do is nurse and every time he falls asleep he wakes up within twenty minutes or so. It's only 1-o-clock and I'm already ready for the day to be over. Shiphrah graciously slept in this morning, so that helped, but now I have a feeling there will be little to no nap for her this afternoon.

We had a very unexpected surprise show up on our doorstep yesterday evening via UPS:

It's the very nice and expensive stroller from our baby registry!! (The Kolcraft Contours Options Tandem.) It showed up in a huge box on our front porch without so much as a packing slip or anything. But it did have an unfamiliar phone number underneath my name. I tried to look it up in the reverse phone book online, but it was a cell number. Then Avery suggested I look it up in my contacts in my cell phone since it was probably someone we knew. And sure enough, there it was! I won't post who it was because I'm not sure whether or not they wanted it to be an anonymous surprise, but THANK YOU!!! :) We would have never splurged and gotten this ourselves (we were making do with an old hand-me-down double stroller from a cousin...it worked but I couldn't push it with both babies in it, the wheels were messed up and it didn't turn well) so it is SUCH a blessing! It's super-fancy and the seats can turn around and face whichever way you want or the back seat can pop out for an infant car seat to fit into. It's very easy to push (considering it's size) and it does fold down (not sure if it will fit in the trunk of my tiny Echo though).

In other news, I think I'm going to have to start wearing my glasses all day long. This morning I was sitting at the dining room table and Shiphrah was trying to get my attention from the living room. I looked over at her and realized that her face was blurry. *Sigh* I hate the glasses, but they certainly do help! I just need to get over the adjustment period and then hopefully I'll be able to wear them without getting a headache or feeling dizzy.

Avery has two more nights on the dogwatch shift and then he'll finally get to switch over to the B shift (2-10pm) for the next three weeks. I am praying SO hard and I have all my fingers and toes crossed that this will be his permanent shift after his FTO rides are done. He just cannot handle this night shift. Yesterday he got off work at 6:30 in the morning, we went to breakfast as a family around 7:30, we came home and he went to bed around 10, and he still had the hardest time waking up at 6:30 that evening. He wakes up several times while he's sleeping so he doesn't sleep heavy enough to feel really rested. If he does end up having to work this shift, we'll have to put black paper over the windows in the bedroom and maybe soundproof the room or something. :oP

We rented "Bolt" the other night and really enjoyed it. Even Shiphrah liked watching it! :) The characters are hilarious and it's a very family-friendly film (unlike some of the animated movies they've been releasing lately). So if anyone is looking for a cute movie to watch as a family, I'd highly recommend it.

Well, Kirk is fussy and I need to see if I can't get him down for a nap. I'll leave you with a picture of my cuties. :)

"Yarnabees"

Hey all! I just wanted to do a quick plug for a talented friend of mine who crochets adorable stuffed animals. Her etsy shop is here: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6932035. Since Shiphrah loves ducks right now, I bought this beauty for her:

Go check out her other creations!

Happy Memorial Day!

I am so slow getting moving in the mornings. I used to be one of those annoying "morning persons." You know, the people who could just hop out of bed with a smile on their face raring to go and ready to attack the day? Yeah, that was until I got married and had kids. Now? Not so much. In fact, I've officially switched over to a "night owl." These days I seem to have so much more energy and drive in the evenings than I do during the first part of the day. I do my best work after 8-o-clock. Three years ago that was definitely not the case.

I am determining to do better though. I intended to get to bed early last night and start my day earlier this morning, but Kirk decided to be extra-fussy last night so I stayed up late getting a few things done after he finally fell asleep. Still, I won't let today go to waste. After I put Shiphrah in front of a movie and take a shower, I'm going to tackle the kitchen. After that's done, I'm finally going to find places for all of Shiphrah's hand-me-down clothing that's been sitting in bags and boxes for months. Hopefully I'll be able to get it all put away. I hope I can get more than that done today, but I'll be satisfied with that much. With two little ones, you can't be too ambitious. :)

Avery and I had a long discussion about church and our responsibilities as Christians. We've been very conflicted lately about our church situation. Basically we feel like we've just been going to church to "go to church," if you know what I mean. "Playing church," in other words. We're both involved, he's a deacon and I'm a WOC (Women of the Church) leader, but it's been on such a superficial level. We need to be more committed and more giving of our time and energy. At the same time though, we're struggling with the fact that we're members of a stagnating church. Or maybe I should say stagnant congregation. The pastor is great; he's a neat guy and his sermons are usually very good (sometimes a bit too chummy or cheesy, but that's usually when he tries too hard) but the congregation is made up of mostly people who just "play church" also. So it's easy to fall into that rut. Sunday School is even worse. It's a small church, so we have two classes to choose from: one is a bit too simplistic and the other, well, let's just say it's taught by an elderly gentleman very set in his ways who doesn't tolerate his opinions being challenged (he basically laughed at my father-in-law for stating what he believed). Over the past few years a few people have attempted to start a third class, but that was always met with disapproval from the elder board. So we're torn between staying in our church and trying to affect change or finding another church and abandoning the one we're at. There's also the option of splitting our time between two churches, but the more we considered that the more it seemed like being disloyal and not what God would approve. So what do we do? We're going to be more seriously praying about it and have faith that God will show us His will.

Happy Memorial Day! It doesn't feel like Memorial Day...up until a few days ago I kept thinking it wasn't until next week. It's just too early this year; it's throwing me off. Plus Avery isn't off work, so nothing seems different. But Pastor gave a good Memorial Day sermon yesterday, so that helped set the tone.

Hug a serviceman today and pray for the families of those who have given their lives for our country!

It's the weekend!!

I could just sit and watch Kirk for hours. Right now he's laying on his playmat watching the light-up musical star, babbling at it, and trying his darndest to grab it. (Of course, he doesn't really know exactly what his hands/arms are doing, so he's really just flailing around.) So CUTE! :) Like I mentioned in my post before, Shiphrah was a pretty quiet baby, at least until she was older, so all this cute newborn babbling and giggling is new to me. I LOVE it!!

Shiphrah is napping and Avery is out mowing the lawn, so I should be washing dishes and folding laundry. Kirk is going to be hungry any minute now though so I'm using this time to blog. I hate getting interrupted from a chore, so I'd rather waste this time than be productive. :)

By the way, if any of you need to buy gifts anytime soon, Restaurant.com is running a deal where if you use the code "SPECIAL" you can get $25 gift certificates for only $2! Most of the restaurants have restrictions like "only for use on purchases of $35 or more, alcohol excluded" but it's still a pretty good deal if you want to try out a nice restaurant that you wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. Avery and I are going to try Canyon Cafe here in San Antonio sometime soon with one of the gift certificates.

Speaking of good deals, there are some really good coupons for Kraft shredded cheese ($1/1) and Huggies diapers($2/1) circulating right now. Click HERE to see Money Saving Mom's post with the links to print out the coupons. I think you can print four of of the cheese coupons (two from each site) and six of the diaper coupons (four from the Huggies site and two from the other). These make for some pretty good deals since usually the best coupons on Huggies are for $1.50/1 and the cheese coupons will make the Kraft bagged cheese even cheaper than store brand (I think) especially if you combine them with the $1/2 Target coupons.

I know it's a Friday, but I keep thinking today is Saturday. Our weekend starts today because Avery is off Fridays and Saturdays, so I keep getting so thrown off. We've had a nice relaxing start to the weekend so far. Avery got off early this morning (4ish) so he came home and went straight to bed so he could wake up around 9 with me and the kids. Then I cooked him an omelet and Shiphrah whined for 2 hours before we finally put her to bed for a nap. (I don't know what is up with that girl! She's had some nasty poops the last few days so maybe she's getting some more teeth.)

Anyway, I guess that's about it for today. Tomorrow we're headed up to Dripping Springs for the day to visit my family. I'm not too excited about the drive, but it'll be better than the 7 hours we spent in the car last Saturday going to the beach.

Have a GREAT weekend, all!

Can two babies be any more unlike?

My baby boy is almost 10 weeks old. Before he was born I was looking forward to having a newborn again. The newborn stage is so cuddly, so dependent, so calm. Plus, I'd already done it once before so this time would be a piece of cake, right? Haha, little did I know...

Even after 10 weeks of getting to know my precious son, I'm still taken by surprise nearly every day by how different he is from his sister.

• Shiphrah was an easy baby; Kirk...isn't.
• Shiphrah never cared if her diaper was wet or dirty; Kirk hates it.
• Shiphrah took to the pacifier almost better than Mama's nipple; Kirk wants nothing to do with it.
• Shiphrah was a decent nurser, but would just as well have a bottle; Kirk would nurse every hour if he could and will only take a bottle if he's starving.
• Shiphrah would take a bottle cold, room temperature, or warm; Kirk has to have it warm.
• Shiphrah slept through the night at 4 weeks old; Kirk is only sleeping one or two 4-hour stretches at night.
• Shiphrah preferred sleeping on her stomach; Kirk prefers sleeping at an incline on his side.

Wow, that list makes him sound like quite a particular baby. :) Lest you think I preferred my daughter's newborn stage over his, let me list a few special things about my Kirk.

• He smiles and giggles constantly. He loves hearing us talk and will break into a big grin just at the sound of my voice.
• He loves trying to shove his fist in his mouth...his whole fist.
• When he's awake, he loves moving around. He'll lay on his back and stare at the ceiling while kicking his legs and waving his arms furiously like a baby bird trying to fly.
• He "talks" to his toys while he watches them. Shiphrah was always a quiet baby; Kirk loves making noises.
• Kirk can make the perfect pouty face when he starts to cry. His lower lip puffs out and starts to quiver. Break. my. heart!

And with that, I'm going to bed early because a certain little munchkin won't fall asleep by himself tonight. I love my babies!

(Shiphrah and Kirk, respectively, at ~10 weeks old.)

A New Day, A New Blog!

Welcome to "Mothering Munchkins"! I'm "averyswife" or "mllebaroque" from Xanga (http://averyswife.xanga.com/). I've been wanting to take the plunge and move from Xanga for quite a while now (Xanga has becoming increasingly juvenile and trashy on their frontpage, not to mention constantly buggy) but was afraid of losing all of my readers. So I'll probably be cross-posting between blogs for a few weeks but hopefully everyone will be able to subscribe through RSS or bookmark my blog and keep up with me. (I honestly don't understand all the RSS/reader jargon, but I keep up with blogs through Google Reader and it works fine for me!) I'm also on Twitter (see the "Play-by-Play" on my sidebar) and I'd love for y'all to follow me there too.

In case you don't already know me, I'm a young wife and mom living in San Antonio, Texas (Go, Spurs, Go!). My husband is a police officer and we have two munchkins: Shiphrah Grace, 18 months old; and Kirk Micah, 2 1/2 months old (pictures on my sidebar). I blog about my daily life, my couponing excursions, and anything else I feel the urge to write about. I'm a conservative Christian and active in my church.

I've transferred some of my most recent posts over here, but if you want to read any further back you'll have to visit http://averyswife.xanga.com. I might post a few more over here if I have the time, but I'm not making any promises. :) I also have a list of some of the blogs I follow over in my sidebar. Feel free to check them out!

A Day at the Beach

Saturday we went on a little "mini-vacation."  Some friends of ours were spending the weekend out at Port Aransas on the coast and they invited us to join them for part of the time.  We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to make the 3-hour drive.  The drive down went amazingly well: Shiphrah fell back asleep after a little while and Kirk slept the whole way until the ferry ride when he woke up hungry.

Unfortunately, Shiph was not a huge fan of the sand.  In fact, even though she eventually warmed up to the wet sand, she refused to walk in the dry sand.  She kept saying "eeeww" and "yucky." She hated the feel of it!

Not impressed.

Really not impressed.

Okay, so it's not that bad.

I like playing with the towel, Mommy!

The pool is SO much better than the icky ocean!

Weekly Savings - Target - 5/13

If you haven't spent all of your grocery budget for the month, go HERE and then click on the links to print some super-duper coupons and then run to Target to stock up on some goodies! (For a list of the best deals, click HERE.) Target has a bunch of store coupons that you can match with manufacturer's coupons for some really great steals. (You can find all of the current Target coupons HERE.)

I headed out this afternoon with Kirk after Shiphrah went down for her afternoon nap. The shopping itself took me about 45 minutes, but it took the poor cashier 20 minutes to finish ringing me up. (I had at least one coupon per item.) In my defense, the cashier was extremely particular about checking and rechecking every single coupon. She'd look at each coupon carefully, check to make sure I had the correct items, scroll back up on the computer to make sure the coupons weren't worth more than the items, and then scan each coupon. So I had to tell about half a dozen people or so that they might want to try another line because I was going to be slow. Still, it was worth it to get the great deals!

Total spent = $36.75
Total saved = $80.53

I won't break down each item and price, but to sum it up I purchased a total of 42 items which comes out to about 87 cents a piece. That's INCREDIBLE considering the high value of a lot of the items (four 12-packs of soda, a family pack of chicken thighs, etc.). I did have two $5 gift cards from last week's deals, so that helped bring down the total too. (And I know I promised Avery I wouldn't buy any more cereal, but after a coupon the Rice Krispies were only 99 cents a box! So I told him I'd make Rice Krispie treats with them. )

And now my pantry...

...and my freezer...

...are completely STUFFED. So for the next two weeks or so I'm going to do my best to avoid buying things that must fit in either of those two places. It's become addicting though...saving money is so much fun!!! (Avery asked me the other night if I was actually saving money by doing all this coupon-shopping. I checked our budget and I'm still staying well under the allotted amount. Yay!)

Oh, and Shiphrah wanted to help me sort my coupons today. I think we have another couponer in the making!

Bullets Again

• What's been up with Xanga photos today?  Half the time people's pictures aren't showing up on their blogs.  Weird.
  
• Avery is working the "dogwatch" shift for the next three weeks.  This means he works 10 pm - 6 am Sunday through Thursday.  This is most likely the shift he will have permanently once he finishes his field training.  Unfortunately, he hates the hours.  Poor guy just cannot adjust his sleeping schedule appropriately.  I'm sure it will get better with time but right now he's miserable.  He tried staying up this morning after he got off work to get a few things done, but he kept falling asleep.  He's actually getting more sleep on this schedule than he otherwise would but I don't think his body is letting him sleep soundly enough since it knows it's daytime.  We're both hoping he gets the "B" shift instead (2 - 10 pm) even though it would mean no evening activities.  (It's pretty much impossible for a new officer to get the daylight, 6 am - 2 pm, shift.)
  
• Kirk almost, kinda-sorta slept through the night last night.  He slept two 4 1/2-hour stretches (the first one in his bassinet!).  Which was great for me!  He's gradually doing better and better, although he still has a VERY hard time actually falling asleep at night.
  
• His fussiness at night is driving me crazy.  Nighttime is my time to get things done around the house...especially since Avery has left for work by then.  Last night I needed to put away laundry and clean the kitchen (and run on the treadmill) before bed.  I got NONE of it done because he wouldn't let me put him down.  I can't let him fuss at night much either because I don't want him to wake his sister up.  And I can't do half of the chores (like the laundry) during the day because Avery is sleeping.  Ugh!
  
• And now I have a fussy Kirk in my arms, so this is going to have to be cut short.  Maybe I can get him to nap with me.  Shiphrah woke up early this morning so I'm sleeeeepy!

Weekly Savings - Target & HEB - 5/9

Target:

Total spent = $14.10
Total saved = $29.11
Gift cards received = $10

Chocolates = $0.99 after $1/1 Target & $1/1 manufacturer coupons; Glade soy candles = $5.99 each, $4/1 coupons plus $5 gift card making them FREE plus $1 overage; Purell (for Avery) = $4 for two after $2/2 coupon, Fiber One products = three $0.50/1 coupons, one $1.35/1 coupon making them $0.09 each after the $5 gift card; Banana Boat sunscreen (trial size) = FREE.

H.E.B.:
This was my monthly "fridge/freezer stocking" trip, so I spent a bit more than my weekly grocery budget ($60) but that's okay considering the last two weeks I spent $30 and $20 respectively. For roughly $70 I got two packages of T-bone steaks (on sale for $3.99/lb), a package of pork tenderloin (on sale for $2.99/lb), a package of boneless-skinless chicken breasts (on sale for $1.99/lb), plus all the regular essentials (milk, beans, rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, orange juice, etc.), and a few extras (ice cream, dinner rolls, chips). All together I saved $14.98 with coupons.

Just another week

I really have to start getting myself out of bed earlier in the morning.  Once both kids are awake, I literally have NO time for myself until Shiphrah goes down for her nap.  That means it's incredibly hard to get anything done: eating, getting dressed, everything is a challenge with Shiph following my every move.  The only reason she lets me [sometimes] get on the computer is because I'm sitting in one place.  All that to say, I'm hungry!

A few nights ago I thought Kirk was making progress towards sleeping through the night.  He was sleeping between 4 and 6 hour stretches at least once each night and twice he didn't wake up between the time we went to bed (11ish) and when Avery's alarm went off the next morning (4ish).  But then he decided the change directions and the last two nights he has woken up every 2 to 3 hours.  So by the time 7 or 8-o-clock rolls around, I really don't feel like getting up.

This week is a short workweek for Avery.  He starts his second phase of field training this weekend, so he starts a new shift with new days off.  This week he had Monday and Tuesday off and with his next FTO he will get Fridays and Saturdays off.  So, since the work week starts on Saturdays, he only has to work Wednesday through Friday this week and then he'll start again at 10 pm on Sunday night.  (He'll be on dogwatch or "C" shift, which is 10 pm-6 am.)

We had a nice long "weekend."  Sunday was full of surprises too: my mom called me that morning to let me know she and my dad were coming down to SA to go to church with me and then hang out for a few hours.  Then, Avery came into church twenty minutes into the service!  A couple of weeks back he and his FTO had apprehended a burglary suspect and each received a half day off as a reward (proactive police work is highly encouraged and rewarded).  So he decided to take it on Sunday and show up to surprise me.  Yay!  So I had my hubby and my parents all surprise me that day...so fun!!

Monday we went out boating with friends from church and Avery had a blast wakeboarding.  (The weather wasn't quite warm enough for me to try...since I'd be spending most of the time in the water, it at least had to be comfortable to make it worth it. ) Tuesday was full of errands...Shiphrah spent the first half of the day with her Uncle Chris while Avery, Kirk, and I went to the eye doctor for checkups (my eyes are finally getting to the point where I need glasses some of the time) and then to our second financial planning meeting.  We thought we'd have time for lunch in between appointments, but the eye doctor took so long that we had to go straight from one to the other.  So we were STARVING by the time we finally got to eat (2:30ish).

Other than that it's been a pretty typical week.  Oh, I did start running/walking on my new treadmill (mostly walking)!  Avery says I need to go at it for at least 20 minutes to really burn fat, so that's what I've been doing.  Yesterday I went for 20 minutes/1.2 miles.  It felt really good while I was doing it, but afterwards I had a nasty headache (I think I was dehydrated).  Hopefully today I can drink enough water before I start.

Well, Shiphrah is getting sleepy so I need to try and get some lunch into her before she crashes.  Yesterday I tried putting her down for her nap around noon but she wouldn't fall asleep for a while so I figured today I'd try waiting until after lunch.  Of course, now she's acting like she could fall asleep standing up.  Oh well, maybe someday I'll figure her out!

Weekly Savings - CVS - 5/3

I just got home from CVS. I don't usually go this early in the week, but I had a coupon expiring today and we needed decongestant. I was so excited about the deals I found that I just had to blog about it right away!!

I went into the store planning on buying CVS brand decongestant ($9.79) plus one less-than-a-dollar item and using my $2/$10 CVS brand coupon. I also was planning on taking advantage of the ECB cereal and toothpaste deals. (Buy 3 select Kellogg's or Special K cereals for 3/$10 and get $5 ECBs and buy select Colgate toothpaste for $2.99 and get $2 ECBs.) But once I got into the store, I happened to notice several items on clearance for GREAT prices. (Apparently they mark down items on Sundays?) So I scoured the store and found Degree deodorant on sale for 92 cents, Mitchum deodorant on sale for $1.25 (this is the only deodorant Avery will use and it's usually $3 or something), Gerber 2nd Foods apple-banana-strawberry for 42 cents per 2-pack, CVS brand baby shampoo for 82 cents, and my most exciting find: Lansinoh nursing pads for $1.50 for a 36-count box (!!!).

So I ended up doing two transactions: I got the CVS brand items for $8.61 (a savings of $4.47), and then used my $8 in ECBs from last week plus 3 $1/1 coupons for the cereals and a $1/1 coupon for the toothpaste to get everything else for $6.34 AND I got $7 ECBs back (a savings of $32.35 plus $7 ECBs)!

Total spent = $6.34
Total saved = $32.35
ECBs received = $7

(So in a way, CVS payed me 66 cents to buy everything in the picture. )

Weekly Savings - Target & HEB - 5/1

I skipped CVS this week because none of their deals seemed worth the extra trip. But I did score some awesome deals at Target and some cheap groceries at HEB.

Target:

Spent = $8.98
Saved = $22.53

Like I mentioned before, Target is running an awesome deal this week where you get a $5 gift card for purchasing five Special K products. There are tons of $1/1 Special K coupons circulating on the internet, so combined with the gift card they came out to 69 cents a box. The waffles were about 85 cents a box after $1.50/1 coupons, the deodorant was free, the apples were a little over $1 for two pounds after a Target $1/1 coupon, and the Nabisco products were about $1.50 each after $1/1 Target coupons. I also got a 12-pack of Dr. Pepper for $3 with a Target $1/1 coupon (not included in the total). Hubby was excited that I brought home so many things he can munch on when he's waiting for dinner (the man is SO impatient).

H.E.B.:
I didn't take advantage of any meal deals or "combo locos" at HEB this week, but I did use several coupons and ended up saving nearly $8. Our weekly grocery budget is $65 and I spent $55.01. This is really good considering I only spent $20 last week at HEB and next week I should be able to skip the grocery store all together (unless they're running any deals on pork tenderloin or beef steaks).

Some bullets

• It's far too early in the morning to be awake, but such is life.  I popped awake when Avery's alarm went off this morning and Kirk needed to eat not long after that.  And then I couldn't doze back off so I decided to stay awake.  Hopefully I won't regret that decision later today.
  
• I just realized (about 10 minutes ago) that my mother's birthday was yesterday.  I am such a bad daughter.
  
• Last night Avery told me that a lot of police officers don't wear seat belts in their squad cars.  Oh the irony.
  
• This morning a lady from an early childhood intervention center is coming to test my kiddos.  Supposedly it's "required" since we were investigated by CPS.  I don't see how they could require it, since the case is already closed, but whatever, I'm not paying for it.
  
• I desperately needed to get out of the house yesterday so we loaded up the kids and went to Lowe's.  (Fun, right?)  Avery bought fertilizer for the yard and a spreader.  Then we ate dinner at Taco Cabana.  Shiph was being bratty and wouldn't stay sitting in her high chair.  Then we "window shopped" at the Academy Sporting Goods store across the parking lot from the TC.  Shiph quickly became intolerable (she had taken only one short nap that day) and threw about a bazillion fits (including one where she knocked a lens out of Avery's glasses) before we went home.
  
• The "window shopping" turned into real shopping when Avery decided to spend his graduation money on a cheap weight bench for him and a treadmill for me!!!!  I love that man.  I think he secretly wants to see me all fit and in shape, but he said that wasn't the reason.  But now I have no excuse not to work out plus I'll feel super-guilty if I don't since he spent his fun money on me.
  
• I also got my cool new phone via UPS last night!  It's a purple LG Lotus from Sprint.  My contract was up so I got it for $50 after a 2-year contract renewal and a mail-in rebate.  It's really way too fancy and has too many gadgets (I'll never use the music or web functions) but it was so pretty I couldn't resist!  I'll get it activated tonight.
  
• We're changing gears with Shiphrah's discipline.  I realized yesterday that spanking her just wasn't working at this point.  (I was having to spank her so hard it left a red mark for several minutes and she still wasn't really reacting.)  Distraction doesn't work with her either (unless I have something super-cool to wave in front of her), so we're going to resort to just removing her from things she shouldn't be getting into.  I figure no matter how stubborn she is, if I pull her away from the stove twenty times in a row eventually she'll get tired of trying to turn it on, right?  I hope so.  I'm really at my wit's end with her.  She's an angel as long as she's being actively entertained every second of the day.  But obviously, since I have another baby and a house to keep up with, that's not physically possible.  So she gets into anything and everything.  Her toys don't interest her anymore (unless I'm playing with her) and movies only occupy her for 20 minutes at a time.
  
• I saved a good amount of money at HEB the other day.  I'll blog about it tonight or tomorrow after I've made my Target run.  I'm skipping CVS this week because they weren't running any amazing deals that I was excited about.  But Target should be productive.  They're running a deal where if you buy five Special K products (on sale for $2.69 each) you get a $5 gift card.  So I printed out five $1/1 coupons and should be able to get them for 69 cents each after the gift card.  They've also got good deals running on apples, waffles, and a few other things.
  
• I need a bigger pantry.  The whole point of this couponing thing is to keep your pantry stocked with items when you find good deals on them.  But I really only have two pantry shelves to work with.  The bottom half is the laundry hamper and I can't reach the top shelf (darn short genes!).  Avery says he can install shelves in the bottom section if I want, but then where would we put the dirty laundry?
  
• Okay, enough dawdling.  On to breakfast before the little man needs to eat again.