My $.02

Sadly I have been in a bit of a coupon funk. Trying to catch the sales and not planning it correctly. Sure I’m saving money, but not doing as well as I would like, especially since some of the stuff ends up being just stockpile, not things we need right away.  Saving money for our family is part of my job and frankly right now I am not doing a very well at it.

Yep, incase you didn’t know I am one of those people. Scary, I know! My friends kind of roll their eyes when I mention coupons, but what is so terrible about saving money? Then I watched an older episode of Extreme Couponing on TLC.

Holy Cow! I am not one of THOSE people. Sure if you have a large family it makes sense to shop like that because you are going to go through it all (hopefully) but when you have enough deodorant to last the average adult 150 years? I think you actually have a shopping/ hoarding problem.

Nope, I don’t take my family out dumpster diving either.

Yes I use coupons to get good great deals, but our food fits in our cupboards and our toiletries fit in our bathroom. I buy ahead so that if we don’t have to buy it at full price (or at least I try to stay that far ahead) but none of the stockpile I buy resides in large quantities in our garage…wait. Okay so maybe when there is a spectacular sale on goldfish crackers or chips there is one shelf in our garage (ONE shelf in a cabinet) that the overflow goes on. But it also allowed us to not have to go grocery shopping after we had Littlest Moo for awhile, except basic perishables. No rooms dedicated to stockpiles we could never possibly use. We use coupons to get the things we need or can use. What the people in these shows are doing is making couponing look like it is only done by crazy people, that it is too much work. It isn’t. Clearly if you don’t already use them even  just matching a few with good sales will still save you money. My shopping usually involves a little more planning. But what are these people stockpiling for? Seriously a childless couple does not need more than what could stock a small convenience store for a couple months. One of the guys on the show donated I think 1,000 boxes of cereal which was great and he ordered ahead for it but when you empty the shelves to buy large quantities of things that you already have stockpiled it just means that another family who may actually need that deal to make it by won’t get any. Come on people, don’t ruin it for everyone else!

Try some couponing etiquette or even just some common sense, what are you really going to do with that many toothbrushes?

Being Mom

My plan was to sit down to write an eloquent post about being a Mom, the struggles, heartaches and most importantly the rewards. Who knows, maybe my discombobulated thoughts will spiral into that. Doubtful, but let’s go for the ride and see! As I was saying, I was just sitting down to start this post, all the kids down for nap/quiet time, the pb & j scrubbed off the tables, ankle deep toys put away and I had even thrown some laundry in the washer when I started to hear Littlest Moo giggling in his crib. Now as I’ve mentioned in posts before he is a pretty happy little fella so him giggling is not what caught my attention, but that Niecey-poo was also talking which usually means that she has chucked the paci out of her playpen and she won’t lay down to sleep without it. Upon inspection this is what I found

 

Not just the paci was out of the playpen, but a whole Niecey-poo. Not only had she climbed of of the playpen she sleeps in but she had climbed into the crib!  Of course Littlest Moo thought it was funny, no one other than the cat has ever been in there with him, great fun!

Niecey-poo, what do you think you are doing?

Of course her response was something garbled behind the paci but judging from her gestures it goes something like this “Auntie, I don’t know how I got here, is this not where I belong?”

Being Mom. This moment sums it up quite beautifully. Sure I put the kids to nap so all should be sleeping peacefully, but they aren’t. With kids nothing is ever as straightforward as it should be.  And as I’m cursing in my head that I just wish I could have a few minutes of peace I walk in on little giggles of delight and Niecey-poo quite delighted with herself and her accomplishment.

Sure I could say that all the giggles and kisses make up for it and in the end it is true, I love my boys and niece in more than any words can express, but I struggle daily to be the Mom I want my kids to have. I fall short on most days but I pick myself up (or drag myself out of bed) the next day and try again, hoping this will be the day I get some sort of Mom epiphany and it will no longer be so much work or at the very least not seem so hard. Oh Mom epiphany where are you!?!?! But anyone who has ever cared for children knows just when you think you have it figured out, those kids will remind you that you don’t.

And they would be correct.

There is no way to know everything or do everything it just isn’t possible. So everyday I just do the best I can and remind myself that this is what I’ve wanted to do my whole life, be a Mom. Just like any other person with a career I have to make a conscious effort to better myself and to continue to learn with all the energy I can summon.

Why I Don’t Bother

If you have ever been to my house you may have noticed (but hopefully not) that my windows are not clean.  With the exception of the bathroom mirror every glass surface has finger prints and smooshed kid face prints all over. Sure once or twice a year I bust our the Windex and clean those windows

But within seconds, like a moth to a flame I get this

Baby cling!!!

Because what is better than smearing up and licking clean glass??? Beats me. Heck, even the cats get in on it and sneeze on it or whatever other weird things cats like to do to make an otherwise clean object messy.

Both our room and Little Moo’s room have full mirrored sliding doors which are full of the little grimy prints. And I know it isn’t me  grubbin’ them up because they are in toddler range, just the bottom half of the mirrors. Five minutes ago I cleaned the ones in Little Moo’s room so that we could hang some things on the mirror. I even pointed out to Little Moo how nice it was to actually be able to see our reflection in the mirror, which he seemed pretty impressed with. Sweet, maybe this will last a day or two or…..NOT.

Currently Little Moo and Niecey Poo are blowing raspberries on the clean mirrors. Yep folks, that is why I don’t bother. They were on that glass before I even finished!!!

Some may find lazy, I just see it as making efficient use my time.

“Cleaning your house while your kids are still growing is like shoveling the sidewalk before it stops snowing” ~Phyllis Diller

The Restraint of a Four Year Old

Lets face it, there are many reasons to be jealous of children.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to convince Little Moo to take a nap that I wished I could be the one curling up under my [insert cartoon character here] blankie and sleep the afternoon away without the guilt of all the things I should be doing and have that be all that anyone expect of me, sleep for a couple hours. I dream of that many days, but I digress. Children have beautiful hair and skin, get carried around, served and can throw down in the middle of the store if things are not going their way. If I did that in the middle of Fred Meyers because there weren’t any more of any number of frugal items I’m looking for I’d be escorted out by a very cranky manager who isn’t going to cuddle me later. Or at least I should hope not. Yes, there are many reasons to be jealous of children, but mostly I’m jealous of my son’s restraint with food.

I show restraint in many areas of my life and in some areas I feel like I’m pretty good at exercising the restraint necessary to live the kind of life we want our family to have. Except when it comes to food.  I joke that I have no willpower when it comes to food especially in dessert form. But it is no joke. This is one area of my life that I struggle with, not just daily, but minute by minute. If I buy a bag of Hershey Kisses…

Mmmm, chocolate! Yeah, they will probably only make it until the next day but not much longer. And if you are lucky you might get some, if you around when I open the bag. And it isn’t that I sit down and eat the whole bag, but I just grab one or two on my way past the cupboard or the candy dish.  ALL. DAY.

OOPS!

This is true of brownies or cookies too. They just taste so good! I have gotten better at just not making sweets or buying them since I know this about myself and sadly I have not been blessed with the “I can eat whatever I want and not gain a pound” metabolism.  Sigh… So I struggle with tasty treats and showing restraint.

And then comes along a spunky little boy we will continue to call Little Moo who did this

We got donuts as a special treat and he got a tasty donut with sprinkles that he was so excited for. He ate about half of it then asked if he could save the rest for later and then asked for some cheerios and milk. Ummmm…..who are you and do we really share DNA???  We have worked really hard to give our children a positive image about food. We talk about what is healthy and not and while our menu could be healthier, I don’t actually do too terrible at providing healthy meals. It is mostly the snacking that gets me in trouble (and Zippercow). Strangely enough this isn’t the first we’ve seen of this from Little Moo. If we get a travel cup of Nutter Butters or the little purse box of animal cookies for him he will (without our prompting)  eat a handful and ask if he can save the rest for snack tomorrow. Duh! Of course you can you wonderful little boy you!

I’d say I don’t know how, but to be honest we’ve always had set meal/snack times for Little Moo and he gets limited candy and sugary treats. Enough that he isn’t deprived and feels the need to gorge at every opportunity but little enough that it isn’t a staple in his diet. We also NEVER make him clear his plate. Clearing our plate was what we were taught when I was a kid and I fully believe that is part of my own issues, why as an adult, even if I am full I feel the need to eat everything in front of me. Children  are actually conditioned not to listen to their bodies when they say they are full. He is always allowed to eat as little or as much as he wants at meals. Most days he doesn’t eat everything on his plate unless he’s played extra hard or it is a favorite. And if you set a tray full of vegetables in front of him he will go to town! He also likes to drink water, which we encouraged from the first time he held a sippy cup and doesn’t like soda. I also try not to talk about “dieting” but eating healthy around him. All in all, to this point in his life I feel we’ve done pretty good with food, he seems to have a pretty healthy relationship with food.

I wish I could be more like him. Yes, my four year old.  And it is not like I can’t do it either. While I was pregnant with Littlest Moo I had Gestational Diabetes and learned to very strictly control my diet very quickly to keep both of us healthy. Yet with no little baby growing within me to protect I struggle to keep my motivation. You’d think being healthy (and by extension skinnier) would be enough, but then I think one day without working out won’t hurt, I’ll do more tomorrow. Then I don’t. One cookie turns into four and then I feel since I’ve fallen off the wagon I might as well eat what I want. I know this is bad for me, yet I find myself in the same cycle constantly. So here I am. Twenty eight year old mom of two children who needs to learn how to be healthy with food from my four year old.

Growing Up So Quickly!

Littlest Moo is 8 months old today! He’s closer to a year than being an newborn (which makes me oh so sad) but he is so much fun! He is sitting up, GI crawling, rolling and is super excited about eating real food!

Whatever brother is doing is always super exciting and hilarious, of course. Have I mentioned that most of Littlest Moo’s weight is in his cheeks. So cute! Sure I’m biased, but what Mom isn’t?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Woobie. Littlest Moo’s purple cow that he has to have to sleep every night. So we bought another (right)  so that if purple cow is dirty (because let’s face it he still spits up a lot) he has something to nap or sleep with. Instead, he wants both to sleep with. He holds one in the crook of each arm. Super cute!

Yay for fists full of cows!!!

I’m sad that our baby is growing so quickly, but I’m so excited for what is to come! Mostly I wanted to share super cute pics of our little guy!

Roommates

So Littlest Moo and Niecey-poo share a room during the day. Initially I was worried that this little arrangement would not work out. Mostly because our Little Moo was never great at sharing a room, he has too much fun and would never go to sleep. But these two little hooligans are the bestest of roommates! Niecey-poo calls Littlest Moo “My-my” and if I’m laying her down she asks for him and looks for him in his crib. And if he is in there he peeks over his crib bumper, like so

Too cute! They love each other so much and know when to have fun and when to get to the serious business of sleep, which Niecey-poo takes VERY seriously. This would be Sleepus Interuptus

Like I said, she takes sleep VERY seriously! Most days they just yell at me when they are awake, but the other day I was finishing something up while they “talked” to each and then heard this

Of course they stop doing it as soon as I come in, but they were giggling for a couple minutes before I brought the camera in. I realize it is a bit dark but I was trying not to disturb their play. I’m just sad I couldn’t catch more of it! He was peeking over the crib bumper and she was popping her head up over the edge of the playpen. I’m so glad they can enjoy being roommates!

I’m Still Here!

Don’t worry, I haven’t already abandoned my blog. I’m sure those of you that know me might think that I have, but with our new laptop it has become much easier to post something real quick while the children are playing  not so cooperatively. However, every spare moment this last week has gone to caulking, scrubbing walls and taping. It’s exciting to be so close to finishing this project. Tomorrow we will have paint on 2 of our kitchen walls!!! I’ve had some “help” from the children and pets

This would be Zippy “helping” me by climbing into the box I had pulled out to put kitchen stuff in.  I should know better than leaving an empty box unattended with 2 cats and a gaggle of children about. He also assisted by nudging my elbow while I was attempting to apply caulk on the baseboards. He is super helpful that way.

Whilst preparing to paint I’ve slowly worked at making our room less of a disaster. Here is a terrifying before

And now for the less terrifying after

Not nearly as put together as I’d like it to be, but there is the potential and clearly I don’t believe in working on one project at a time. Yes, that would be the drawer from the other desk on top full of stuff for me to go through, but I can see the top of the desk and eventually I will be able to make space to put more BOOKS on the bookshelf , novel I know! It’s funny, as a teenager I relished a crazy room. I always knew where everything was and when my room was spotless it actually made me anxious. That is SOOO not the case now.  More that just a little clutter makes me anxious. Not in a “I need to be on my hands and knees scrubbing everyday” kind of way, but I do like to be able to use the desk and counter without having to move a bunch of things, and I don’t like tripping over, stepping on or sitting on toys. I know I’m not alone in this!  Is my house spotless? Not even close, but my goal is to keep things organized enough that it is just a matter of throwing some things in a basket and making the beds. Okay, if someone new is visiting I might dust…MAYBE.

Oh, and that desk took Zippercow over 5 hours to put together…sheesh!