An Extremely Productive Day

I woke up this morning worried that I hadn't even started my Christmas shopping. Now that I have a son, weeks of wandering the malls looking for the perfect gift just isn't possible. I have more than 20 people to buy for, and no time. So I decided to shop online. It was awesome. I actually came in under budget for the people I wanted to buy for. When I go to the store, I tend to wander around aimlessly, hoping that an idea will pop into my head. Often, I'll get frustrated and tired and spend more than I intended just because I can't find anything good in my price range. I think I might do a lot more shopping online from now on.
The best part of shopping online is that I could stop every five minutes or so and play with Nick. Lately one of our favorite things to do is the shape sorter. He's just now getting how to fit in the shapes, and he loves when I clap after he puts the shape in correctly. See how he can put in the triangle? He had to try every hole, but he figured it out. Not sure exactly what that means, but I like to think it implies MENSA material. ;)
Back to my online shopping story: In just a few hours this morning, while playing on the floor with Nick and during his nap, I went online and knocked out 80% of my Christmas shopping, for less than I usually spend. I was able to pull up multiple windows to compare prices, use the shopping cart functions to see exactly what my totals were, and look up coupon codes to save even more money. For challenging people, I could type in the things that they are interested in and see what popped up. I'm really proud of myself because of all the money I saved. I feel like I got some good stuff, too, not just last minute "I'm tired and this is okay" presents. I hit Kohl's, Amazon, JCPenny, Bath and Body Works, Ebay, a magazine site, and Babies R Us. I do enjoy shopping, and in a way I miss it, but my time is worth so much more now. I'd rather be playing with Nick and watching how enthralled he is by things like balloons. We did actually end up going shopping today, anyway. For Christmas, I bought Greg (well, and myself) a new mattress. He's been having excruciating back and neck pain, and our chiropractor said that a new mattress would help. Our old mattress was mine from right after I got out of college. I believe I got it second hand for a little over $100, and it was a cheap mattress then. We've been adding those foamy pads, one on top of the other, for years. It was time for a new one. We got a nice Sealy with a pillowtop, and boy was there a sale. The mattress was originally $1,399, but it was marked down to $799 and then the nice people at Penny's let me use a 15% off coupon PLUS a 10% off coupon for opening an account. I can't wait until it's delivered.

Check out Nick's supercute Gymboree outfit. It was a birthday gift from his Grandma Toni, and I love the little animals on the front. I love Gymboree clothes, and one of my time-wasting hobbies is trolling Ebay looking for good condition used Gymboree clothes in the next size up. Yes, I do need a life. But at least my child is well-dressed.

We went to Mimi's Cafe for lunch, and I realized something about french fries. They are like crack to little kids. Nick is usually happy to eat anything, but as soon as he saw my french fries, he wouldn't touch any other food. He repeatedly tried to escape his highchair to get to my fries. Yes, I gave him some, but that's pretty much all he'd eat. He was happy as a clam with a fry in his mouth, but when Nicholas was done, he'd start trying to climb onto the table for more. I believe his entire meal consisted of milk, french fries, and three kinds of dessert mousse. Sigh. Anyhow, it was such a productive day. I can't believe how much I got accomplished.

Finally, I'll end with the above video. This was Nick playing with his car toy. You can hear the cute "Slow down, little fella." Then he pushes the highchair and tries to stand on his head, grinning at the camera. I thought it was cute, and exactly represents his personality.

Update: So this week (Sunday through Saturday) I ended up doing 5 30-minute elliptical workouts and two 30-minute Pilates Bodyband workouts. Not bad, considering how busy I've been. Productive and getting in better shape, too.