Couponing and Teething - My Life Now?

Desmond Update:
Desmond can now crawl just fine, but doesn't like it much and is working hard on learning to walk. He pulls up on everything and everyone. He isn't fully cruising yet, but getting close. He is also learning to drink from a cup and a sippy cup. I am feeding him baby-food twice a day up from once a day and he's starting to nurse less. I am sad about that because I'll miss having the special time together, but I told him yesterday we'll just have to start a different ritual that we do together like reading books or something. He seemed to think that was a good idea.

Des is a super happy little guy, he gives lots of smiles and loves having his favorite people around. My friend Michelle is one of his new favorite people and he thinks she is hilarious. He is also quite a daddy's boy and when Norman has a day off work Desmond wants to play with him all day and be held by him and I don't get to hold him much, lol.

Desmond's favorite things include taking long showers with daddy until the hot water runs out, watching dogs play fetch and watching Elmo's world. And sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed.

Desmond now has two teeth, the 2nd is just finishing coming through and we aren't getting a lot of sleep. The 2nd tooth came through much faster than the first so hopefully they'll get easier and easier because I haven't gotten to recover my sleep yet from the first one.

The funniest thing Desmond has started doing is that he uses his exer-saucer as a playhouse. We have it in his playpen and he plays on the floor in there. He will then take toys or baskets and crawl into the base of the saucer and play with his toys with his head up through the seat hole. He crawls in and out and changes toys and bangs them on the legs of the saucer. Last night his basket wasn't behaving and he got very mad and screamed at it and threw it out of the saucer-fort. It was so funny, I wish I'd gotten it on video.

Couponing:
Our couponing is going well. Norman has really taken to it and this last week he pretty much took over, which is okay because I'm tired from all the teething. So far we've hit Albertson's, Walmart, Walgreens, and Riteaid. Our favorite is Riteaid. We have quite the inventory building up in the back of the laundry room. It definitely is comforting to have all that stockpile. We only have to buy fresh produce and tortillas with our check on Friday! We've gotten several things for free and have been able to buy a few things that we just made do without before.

Finding Me:
I have been exercising on the treadmill and stability ball and I feel better about myself even though I don't know if I look any different. Michelle did my nails and I'm learning to do make up from her and trying to learn how to do more with my hair. I don't want to be one of those mom's that gets all frumpy and frazzled looking. I feel like I've found my niche as a mom and I want to embrace that and look like I belong here, too. If I've lost any weight it's only like a pound or two. But my thing is to just be healthy and more fit and hopefully some weight will fall off eventually, but I just want to be able to keep up with Desmond as he learns to walk and have energy to play with him AND get everything else done that I already do.

You Know You're A Parent When:
You carry baby-food to Taco Bell.
Your back seat is full of baby stuff instead of saddles and bridles.
You find yourself trying to rationalize the logistic errors of kids shows.
You can name all the characters on Sesame Street.
You catch your husband whistling the theme song to Elmo's World.
You can routinely function on 3 hours of sleep.

The Things We Do

I have begun trying to learn this whole couponing thing. I read a book on and I have some coupon packets in a binder. Haven't used any yet, lol. Waiting to see what Brie posts next week in her blog. One thing she does is Swagbucks, so I joined that to see if I can make any use of it myself. Aparently, you can really rack up the Amazon gift cards, so if you're interested, sign up using the widget above and it benefits me as your refer-er.

I will keep you posted on my coupon progress. I'm apprehensive and excited. I already shop "smart", we'll see if I can cut the grocery bills down even more! I can use every penny I can keep!

On a more Desmond-related note; he has a tooth! Well, a tooth is on the horizon. Or the gum. I can see a white spot. He is chewing all his puffs on that side now. It's the lower left. He is also crawling 100% now. He also arches; getting up on his hands and toes and sticking his butt in the air. He wants to just stand up and walk places. It's so exciting. I love being a mom!