I've started a new blog that is all about my couponing exploits. I figured that it wasn't really something I needed to talk about on our family blog, so I started this new one. My site is www.homemaker-in-progress.blogspot.com. This one is also a public blog, so no permissions are needed!
Last night, Lydia and I had an intense battle of wills. Lately she's been incredibly clingy to me. She won't let me put her down without crying and wants to be held all the time. Well, I finally decided that it was time she learn that I'm not going to come pick her up every time she cries. I put her in her baby swing and she started to whine, but I ignored it. Then she started to cry, but I ignored it. Then she started to do her furious cry, and still I ignored it. Forty-five minutes later, she calmed down (still in her swing) and sucked on her fist. Whenever I looked over at her she was giving me the meanest look I've ever seen her give. I won though, and hopefully she learned something. I also hope that she doesn't realize how hard it was to let her cry for that long. She's a stubborn little six-month-old.
Lydia's first two teeth finally broke through a couple of days ago after about a month of whining. We were hoping that her bad mood was just her teething, and it appears it was. She only got one day of respite, though, because now she's sick with a cold. Poor kid. I don't really have any pictures of them yet, because they aren't very tall and kind of hard to see, but when they grow a little more, I'll post a picture.
Ok, so yesterday I went shopping and without the help of blogs or anything, got a few amazing deals:
Walgreens:
Lipstick: $10- $2 Coupon- $10 Rebate= $2 Moneymaker
Foundation: $10- $1 Coupon- $10 Rebate= $1 Moneymaker
Total: $3.00 Moneymaker
Alberson's:
Sippy Cup: $4.49- ($.75 Coupon Doubled= $1.50 Coupon)= $2.99
Baby Snack: $2.25- $.75 Coupon = $.1.50
Baby Juice: $2.29- ($.75 Coupon Doubled= $1.50 Coupon)= $.79
-$5.00 off Baby Supplies Store Coupon
Quaker Snacks: 2/$5- (2 $1.00 Coupons Doubled = $4.00 Coupon)= $1.00
Total:2.36
So, for the whole day, I bought $39.03 worth of stuff made 64 cents. I love couponing!
The last few weeks have been some adventurous ones for us, mostly because of the start of the new semester. I'm taking a class and Tyler is taking several, which makes it fun for Lydia. I have class 3 days a week and have to bring Lydia up to campus and drop her off with Tyler and then pick her up an hour later after my class. This wouldn't be so bad, except that it's right during her nap time. She's been growing a ton and has now reached over 13 lbs! That still puts her below the 25th percentile, but it's definitely an improvement and she continues to gain at a good pace. Other than growth, she's been learning a lot. She likes to play with her hands and feet. She can successfully suck on her toes, which she usually attempts when I'm changing her diaper. She also recently learned how to make noises and yells all the time. Happy yells mostly, but it sounds like Tarzan. My least favorite thing that she's been doing lately is being really clingy to me. She won't let me put her down without crying and hardly lets anyone else hold her, even Tyler. This makes it difficult on both of us and I'm trying to figure out how often I need to pick her up when she does that. It's my first try at basic discipline and I'm already confused.
Classes for Tyler and I are going fine. Because I'm only taking the one, there's not a ton of homework that I have to do. I can usually knock it out in one day. Tyler, however, is constantly doing homework. Right now we're trying to come up with our game plan for applying to medical school, which we do this summer. It's already starting to be a stressful adventure and I can't wait for it to be over.
Other than that, I'm continuing with couponing and trying to keep my house clean. It seems like as soon as I get one room exactly how I want it, all the others get messy. I'm shooting for a 100% clean house by this weekend, but we'll see.
Here are a few pictures of Lydia I've taken in the last few weeks.
It has snowed for the last 2 days. The snow is really deep and so I thought it would be fun to take Lydia out. She's never been in snow before and I wondered how she would react. Mostly she didn't react at all. She's never minded the snow, but here are some pictures of our excursion (to our front yard).
Lydia is standing in the snow. It was pretty deep and came up to about her bellybutton.
Since she can't sit up on her own yet, I decided to make her a chair that would hold her up out of snow.
It worked!
We tried to make a Lyddie snow angel. I moved her arms and legs. It sort of turned out.
She's done.
After finals, Tyler, Lydia, and I flew to Arkansas to spend Christmas with Tyler's family. We got to stay for 2 weeks and it was a lot of fun and very relaxing.
Tyler's dad on New Year's Eve. Tyler's brother, Eric did it and his dad said he could too. None of us believed him, but he managed. Not too bad for an old man.
Tyler's youngest sister, Tanner.
One of Tyler's other sisters, Courtney.
Tyler's parents had a ton of baby stuff for Lydia to use. She especially liked this high chair, even though she was tiny in it. She liked to use the tray as a foot rest.
