Allison Says

After a long day, I was excited to be able to relax, watch Charlie Wilson’s War and eat some leftovers. Alex didn’t like this plan. After not taking an afternoon nap, he finally went down around 5:30. When he woke up at 7, exhausted and needing to go back to sleep, I fed him and attempted to rock him to sleep, hopefully for the night.

He didn’t like that plan, either. Forty-five minutes later, he was no closer to falling asleep and was continually crying. I rocked and rocked, shushed and shushed, and then, much to my surprise, he threw up. All over me. At least he wasn’t crying for no reason.

I have a lot of issues with throw up. Blood, guts, gore, most things that people find immensely gross don’t bother me one bit. Throw up? Makes me want to throw up. I could smell it all night long.

After I successfully cleaned myself (and him) off, I brushed his teeth and started rocking him to sleep again. He was about to fall asleep when the fire alarm started blaring.

Again.

This is the fourth time in two weeks that it has gone off. Each time it has been because someone has burned food and decided the best way to let the kitchen air out is to open the door to their apartment. Great idea! Except that the smoke then causes the building’s fire alarms to go off, not just the single apartment’s. And once that happens, we all have to exit the building.

So, Zach and I stood around for a minute deciding whether or not to go down. It’s like “The Boy Who Cried Wolf,” only it’s the old lady who burns her food every few days and then swears loudly as she walks down the stairs, yelling at no one in particular. One day, though, there could be a real fire. With Alex, we aren’t willing to risk it. So, I put a sweater over his robot pajamas and we headed out into the immensely loud hallway.

With baby in tow, we climbed down the many, many, flights of stairs. It was raining, it was an hour past Alex’s bedtime, and Zach and I were starving. We knew we had at least thirty minutes until they would get everything straightened away, so we went for a nice long drive.

Our drive took us to Whole Foods, where I bought some delicious sushi to have for our late dinner. In the end, I suppose it was worth the effort.

Unfortunately, I can still smell the throw up.

It’s been quite a while since I made a trip to CVS, so I was very happy to be able to go today.

My trip, as usual, consisted of going to two CVS’s and making two transactions at each CVS. Today wasn’t the best CVS day, as I spent about eight dollars and only have 4 ECB left, but I managed to get a lot of things we needed, including some new makeup for me! Here are my trips:

CVS #1:
Transaction #1:

2 Aquafresh Extreme Clean at $2.99
2 Colgate 360 Tooth Brushes at $3.99
2 Tums Quick Packs at $4.69
=$23.34
- $4/20 CVS coupon for updating my e-mail address
-2 $1 Aquafresh coupons
-2 $1 Colgate coupons
-2 $2.25 Tums coupons
-$10 ECB from last trip
=$.84 out of pocket, and I got $5.98 ECB for the toothpaste, $7.98 for the toothbrushes, and $9.38 for the Tums

Transaction #2:
1 Huggies Jumbo at $8.99
1 CVS Clear Spot Bandaids at $3.99
1 Neutrogena T Gel Shampoo at $6.49
=$19.47
-$3/15 CVS coupon online
-$1.50 Huggies coupon
-$5.98 ECB and $7.98 ECB from previous purchase
=$1.01

CVS #2:

1 Huggies Jumbo at $8.99
2 Huggies Natural Care Wipes at $1.99
1 Aquafresh Advanced Whitening at $2.99
1 Aquafresh Extreme Clean at $2.99
1 Reeses Peanut Butter Cups at $.50
1 Diet Coke 2L at $1.69
=$21.14
-$4/20 CVS welcome coupon
-$.50 Huggies wipes coupon
-$1 Huggies wipes coupon
-$1 Huggies diapers coupon
-$1 Aquafresh Coupon
-$3.99 ECB from previous
-$9.38 ECB from previous
=$.27, and I got $5.98 ECB for the Aquafresh

Transaction #2:
2 Colgate Total Advanced at $2.99
1 Neutrogena Mineral Face Foundation at $12.99
1 Neutrogena Mineral Face Bronzer at $12.99
=$31.96
-$6.50 from buy 1 get 1 Neutrogena 50% off
-$3 Neutrogena coupon
-$1 Colgate coupon
-$3/15 CVS coupon
-$4/20 CVS Beauty coupon
-$5 ECB from last trip
-$2.99 ECB from previous
=$6.47, and I got 4 ECB for purchasing the Colgate

It didn’t go quite as planned because I had three coupons denied, a printable aquafresh, a printable T Gel and a printable Colgate coupon. Apparently CVS is not taking printable coupons anymore, so I guess I was lucky to have them accept some of the ones I did use. The cashiers were relatively nice about not accepting the coupons, but I was still upset because they were legitimate!

My overall:

Money spent out of pocket: $8.59
Total cost of merchandise before coupons and ECB: $95.91, so that is a 91% savings!

I’m pretty happy. Yet again, I got the shopping urge taken care of without spending much money. And, hey, I got new makeup and diapers: two definite necessities! Again, all of this for less than 10 dollars!

After I set it all up nicely to take a photo, Alex decided it was time to attack the pile. He knocked everything over, shook them all and banged every item he could pick up with one hand:

1. I entered Alex into the Parents Magazine Cover Photo Contest! I put a little blurb in my side bar, so if you have the chance and agree that he is a cutie I would love it if you would take a minute (or less, really!) to check out the photos I uploaded!

2. I overheard an interested conversation yesterday while checking out at Wal-Mart. First, let me just say that I hate Wal-Mart. Probably more than most people. I haven’t stepped inside of a Wal-Mart in a long time, and had even said that I would never go into one again, but I had read that they had Muir Glen organic tomatoes on sale, and with the coupons I had it would have made them almost free. Well, I ventured into the awful place and they didn’t even have them. I bought some cereal that we needed instead, for 50 cents with a coupon.

Anyway, here was the conversation:

Cashier #1: How old is her baby?
Cashier #2: Oh he is only like 2 weeks old. He’s so cute.
Cashier #1: Aw, that’s nice. She must be so happy.
Cashier #2: Yeah. She’s really lucky too. He was breach, so she got to have a C-section.
Cashier #1: ::giggle giggle::
Cashier #2: I’m serious! I would choose to have a C-section. Why go through all that labor when you can just have ‘em cut out of you? That is way easier!
Cashier #1: Yeah, that’s true.

I left at the point point, relieved that I was leaving because otherwise I would have said something. Something about how having a C-section is not easier. Something about how saying that having a C-section is easier is a ridiculous and ill-informed thing to say. Something about how the recovery for a C-section is so much longer. Something about how many women feel inadequate if they have to have a C-section and will often feel like they didn’t have a “real birth.” Something about how for the first two weeks after you can’t properly hold your baby, breast feeding is insanely hard because of the huge wound, and you need help to go to the bathroom because you can’t use any abdominal muscles to sit down by yourself. Something about how the pain medications that you will be on for the first two weeks (or more) make you really groggy and how you can’t focus because of it. Something about how you have a huge scar across your lower abdomen that will never go away. Something about the fact that your baby is more likely to have fluid in their lungs after a cesarean birth. Something about the fact that walking is hard for weeks afterwards. Something about how itchy the scar can be for a long, long, time. Something about how having a cesarean sucks. But I left.

3. I’m finally going to CVS tomorrow. I have the trip all planned out, and hopefully they will have the items I want in stock. I’m “splurging” and using most of my Extra Credit Bucks to buy diapers and wipes for Alex and some new mineral foundation for myself. I wont come out on top, but if it all works as planned I’ll come out even (spending almost nothing) and with a lot of needed stuff!

4. And, of course, here is a picture of Alex from earlier today:

Toys are so overrated.

Not my own, or at least not for this post, but of my blog.

I have no idea if many people even look at my actual blog. When I read blogs I use an RSS feed reader, so I don’t often see the page itself. I’m using WordPress as my host/blog designer but can’t find a theme that I find adequate. Many of them are fine, and it sure is a very simple way to have your own domain name without having to do very much. WordPress manages everything very nicely.

But…I long for more control. I want to be able to adjust the widths of the columns, change around colors, add more features!

Maybe that will be a project this summer. Zach already has hosting capabilities that I could just latch on to, or I could pay extra to mess around with WordPress, and I have a bit of experience with CSS. It seems like it could be very feasible.

Next, I just need to get Photoshop!

Well, my very first Mother’s Day is coming to a close. Alex was very well behaved for all but the hour and a half I spent trying to get him down for his afternoon nap only to wake up ten minutes later. Fortunately bed time was as smooth as I could have ever asked for, with the exception of him putting himself to sleep, of course.

On Thursday, my Mother brought me a Mother’s Day balloon, which Alex adored:

There is nothing like seeing a smile on your child’s face to make Mother’s Day perfect!

I received a cute bag full of travel size lotions and body washes, and Zach got me Juno and Sweeney Todd, both movies that I absolutely adore. We watched Juno last night laying in bed, and, like any movie that has anything to do with having a baby, I teared up. Literally, any movie. Honestly, I could start crying during a commercial about giving birth if I didn’t hold myself back. What has Motherhood done to me? I digress…

And, like I mentioned before, Alex doesn’t need real toys. He loves a good water bottle:

I was invited to participate in a survey for CVS. Doing so took me less than 5 minutes, and all I had to do was look at the CVS and Walgreens weekly circulars. Both are available online, so I didn’t even have the physical circulars in front of me.

After doing that, I got this lovely little message:

Nothing like (almost) free money! Sure, I spent a few minutes completing a survey, but they paid me ten bucks to do it! Worth it!

Alex can’t wait to help out in the kitchen. Look how he adores his kitchen supplies:

He’s got measuring cups, measuring spoons, a kitchen towel, a pot and a spatula. And he loves every one of them. Who needs baby toys? Really he doesn’t enjoy his baby toys. He’ll play with one or two for a few minutes, but he will play with kitchen supplies, towels, real cell phones, wires, trash baskets, trash, sunglasses, glasses, water bottles, etc. for much longer. You can set him down with an empty water bottle and he’ll be content to play with it for half an hour!

I took about five pictures, and by the fifth he was getting a little frustrated with all the flashes. I love the faces he makes, always letting you know exactly what is on his mind. Happy? Smiles and giggles. Tired? Rubbing eyes, yawning and staring. Frustrated? Little faces that say “c’mon, stop with that!”

My CD arrived, and it is oh so excellent. Talk about some awesome children’s music! Seriously, the Barenaked Ladies are absolutely amazing. Each one of them is a dad, and between the band members they have eleven children. Clearly this album was for them as much as it was for the fans (or the fans children). The lyrics to the songs are all catchy and creative, and very funny. The music is fitting, upbeat and entertaining. Check out some lyrics:

I like my big sister
But I don’t want to wear her cost
It may be black,
It may fit perfect,
But you and I both know it’s a girl’s coat

Now I can handle some hand me downs
But shirts and sandals are out of bounds
Balls and games and such I don’t mind
But a coat is over the line.

I can’t wait to listen to it tomorrow while playing with Alex.