Mommy Monday

Being a mommy takes remembering a lot of things. Things from your own childhood, things from your child's first year, first steps, first tooth, first time sleeping through the night, etc.

My first memory I am posting I figure is extremely appropriate since it happened right at a year ago. This memory is of the first time I saw my son. I was drugged, and out of it, since it was a c-section delivery. I remember knowing he was born, before I heard him cry even. I felt a change in pressure, and knew he was here before I heard the doctor say the time : 8:03am. Then I heard him cry. It seemed like seconds before I saw him for the first time. His eyes were closed, and I told him to open his eyes, since Mommy wanted to see his eyes. He did! The first thing I told him to do, at minutes old, and he listened. It was very brief, but enough that I got to see his eyes before they took him away. I wanted to hold him so badly, I was sad when they took him. I didn't get to see him again or hold him until 11:30 am.

The first time I got to hold him, he started crying. I said "shh, Mama's got you" and he quieted down. We got some first pictures, including of Mommy's first kiss. I had asked beforehand, that no one else hold him before me, besides Daddy, so everyone got to see him, but they all left the room for the 30 minutes I had him in there. He had to go back to the nursery since he was having blood sugar issues. I got some rest, as little as I could, until he came back to the room around 2:30pm. That is when everyone else finally got to hold him, and I breastfed him for the first time. That is another memory in and of itself, so I will post that at a later day.

Saturday's Stitches

Ok, I confess! I actually wrote this on Friday this week, since I knew I would be busy on Saturday with my son’s birthday. However, the topic is the same I would’ve written on today anyways.

I have within the past 4 months, taken up loom knitting and crocheting. I have done several projects, and am teaching myself something new any chance I get. I just don’t get the chance very often right now. J One of the first things I learned was from my friend Emily. She showed me the basic e-wrap on the loom, and how to use it to make a baby blankie, or lovey. I made a blanket for my son, which he still holds on to every now and then. I have also made several hats that he wears one of when we go outside when it is cold. He has 3: orange and black, red and white, blue and red, all of which get the “aww how cute” comments anytime he wears them.

I have 2 current projects I am working on. I am working on finishing a very late Christmas present for Emily. It will be a water bottle cozy since she always has a water bottle with her! I am using a knitting loom for it. The stitch for is simple, just time consuming. This project goes with me to work to work on while waiting for the kids to get home from school.

The second project I am working on is crocheting a draft catcher for our front door. I am using a half double crochet stitch for it, and just working on it whenever I get a chance at home. That is not often, but it will be nice to have when I am finished with it.

I have a third project I will be starting soon. My sister is getting married in August, and I am crocheting little favor buckets for her. They won’t be very big, only about 2 inches in diameter. They are my contribution for her wedding. She plans on using them for mints I believe. I will have to make about 100 of those. Good thing I have 8 months!

Stay tuned for more coming up on my projects. I will post pictures of what I have done, and hopefully be able to start creating my own patterns.

Frugal Friday- Birthday on a Budget!

This weekend is my son’s first birthday! To plan his party, we had to stick to a budget just so we wouldn’t overspend. We didn’t have a set budget, just an amount we knew we had to stay under. This could’ve been dangerous, but so far so good.

His theme is Winnie the Pooh, and has been since before he was born. I decided to make it easy for decorating, I would stick with stuff we already have for the most part. We have Pooh characters all throughout the apartment in the form of stuffed animals. We also have several Pooh blankets and toys. These will all be used as decorations for the party. We will be buying today the rest of the decorations we need. This includes: 1 tablecloth, cups, napkins, plates, silverware, and a couple of other things. The items we want to have the Pooh bear theme on, we have pre-priced out at Walmart. These are the plates and napkins mainly. The items we want to compliment, such cups, and silverware, will be bought at the dollar store. Total cost for decorations and paper products will be under $15.

I feel that every child should have a birthday outfit, especially for their first birthday. Our son’s outfit will be a onesie and pants. The onesie we found either at a garage sale or on clearance at Target about 6 months ago. We got them both, since they were different sizes and we didn’t know which one would fit him come his birthday. Glad we did, since one is too small, the other just right! Total cost for both onesies- $2.

For food, we decided to keep it simple. We are making a kid friendly trail mix with cheerios, animal crackers and whales. We are also making a batch of puppy chow ( Muddie Buddies), Velveeta cheese dip with chili, chips, BBQ Little Smokies and drinks. A friend is making his cake. We used coupons on everything, and got it earlier in the month, so that part of the budget was taken care of. Total spent on food for the party was approximately $20.

For his gift, this was a garage sale find about 2-3 months ago. It was a Build-A-Bear monkey with house and birthday hat. The hat, in the store, would have been $5 by itself. We got the whole set for $5.

Keep in mind, those invited to this party were invited over the phone or in person, which saved on cost for invites. They would’ve been around $3 for 8, plus any possible postage. This party will be close friends and only one side of the family. The other side of the family is having a separate get together, on another weekend, but not really a party. This also helped save time and money, and eliminated a lot of possible stress.

I hope this gave you ideas on how to plan a party for a young child with a small budget. Come back tomorrow for more details on my crafty projects I am working on right now.

Healthy Thursday

One of my resolutions this year is to get healthier overall. This includes losing weight, eating more fruits and veggies, and exercising more. Yes I know they all go together, but this way, as long as I am doing the last 2 items on that list, the losing weight should follow.

Today with lunch, I had some of those baby carrots I got last night. Yes, I had them with ranch, but hey, one step at a time! Besides, I live in Oklahoma. We put ranch on almost anything it goes on. Tonight, I plan on having salad with my dinner, and going to cut up a tomato to add to it. Wait! Feel my forehead. Do I feel warm to you?? 2 meals with veggies in the same day? I must be really putting forth an effort! I guess I feel the need to eat healthier this week since this weekend is my son's first birthday and I plan on enjoying the food!

Speaking of birthdays, tomorrow's Frugal Friday posting will be how to do a Birthday party on a budget! Hope to see you back tomorrow.

Wild Wednesday

So I was supposed to work today, but didn't. It was a combination of not having someone to watch Aaron, and their son was sick. They didn't know for sure what was causing it, so they canceled for today. I go back tomorrow though.

It was a productive, wild day. Started with sleeping in! Didn't get up until 10, which was nice. Hoping I can still sleep tonight. Got the dishwasher emptied, re-filled and ran. Exercised while Aaron was napping. Also got another 2-3 inches crocheted onto my draft catcher I am working on. More details about it coming up on a later post.

Tonight, we went to Homeland to get some groceries. Normally I am a Walmart shopper, but when you can get 10 items for less than $10 after double coupons, I am all for it. We just got a few things tonight but plan on going back this weekend to get some more.

After Homeland, we went to have dinner at my parent's house. My dad made some yummy chicken and rice, which Aaron loved as well. We then went to Walmart, leaving Aaron with the grandparents so we could have some time alone. Got $16 of FRESH fruits and veggies. The reason fresh is all caps is because anyone who knows us well, knows we don't normally get fresh, but frozen instead. We are trying to become healthier though, so we got all sorts of fresh produce this time around. We got grapes, salad, cantelope, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, apples, bananas and a couple of other things. Can't wait to watch Aaron feeding himself these!

All in all it was a wild Wednesday. I am just glad it was productive, as we have a busy rest of week ahead.

Frugal Friday

Today is Friday! I love garage sales, but it is not quite the season for them. Until it warms up around here, I will talk about other ways to save money, talking about something different each Friday. Today my focus is going to be on COUPONS! Yes I know I have talked about them before, but this time, I want to focus on different coupon types and where to find them.

The most common type of coupon is a Manufacturer Coupon. This will say Manufacturer Coupon right on the coupon, next to the expiration date. You can find these almost anywhere! I find mine in the Sunday paper, online at different websites, and even on the Manufacturer’s websites themselves sometimes. You can also type in what you are looking for plus the word coupon on search engines and it will pull up different options.

The coupon websites that I search for coupons on are: www.coupons.com , www.replum.com, and www.smartsource.com . Just be careful. Not all internet coupons can be used everywhere. Some stores will not accept them!

Another type of coupon is the store coupon. These can be found in the stores themselves and will say “Store ABC coupon” in place of Manufacturer Coupon on them. These are meant to be used in the store themselves and in most cases can be used with a Manufacturer Coupon as well, for extra savings. Walmart has recently decided they will start taking coupons from competing stores. However, it must have an actual price on the coupon, not just an amount off. Example: you can use a coupon from Walgreens for Puffs Tissue for $2.99/ 3 pack, but not a Walgreens coupon that says .50 off 3. Target is another store that uses store coupons. Theirs are found mostly online, but they occasionally have them in the Sunday paper, or in coupon mailers. No one, not even Target HQ seems to know how to get on the mailing list. It has been rumored to be on the list if you have a Target credit card, or have created a registry with them of any kind, but no guarantees. You can use one Target coupon and one Manufacturer Coupon together on the same item.

Some other coupons that are found in stores are peelies and tear pads. These are also Manufacturer Coupons just with a different name. Peelies are attached to the products in the stores, and you have to peel them off to use them. Tear pads are located in different places throughout the stores, and can be torn off to use on the products they are for.

I hope this helps explain coupons a little bit. I can’t wait to see what I figure out to post about tomorrow. I don’t plan too far in advance, but I am excited to do what I can to keep this blog going.

I know, I know!

I know it's been almost 6 months since I posted anything. One of my 3-5 resolutions for this year is to keep up with this blog!

Here's what I have been doing: saving money with coupons, loom knitting, crocheting, and watching my baby boy go from crawling to practically running! I am trying to come up with a better way to keep this updated, and will do so as soon as I do!

Just this week, I have started babysitting for a new family, through SS. They have a 4 year old girl and 11 year old boy. The mom and I seem to have so much in common it's crazy! She knits, coupons and is even a Pooh Bear fan just like I am.

I hope to have more recent posts and I will keep you updated on my other resolutions as well. Thanks for your patience!