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.

Over the River and Through the Woods. . .

. . . to grandmother's house we go. My grandmother lives in Schaumburg, so I'm sure we crossed at least 1 river and passed by a few forest preserves. Nick and I decided to go and visit her yesterday, because I hadn't seen her in awhile and I was sure she could use some snuggle time with Nick. She just had sinus surgery a few weeks ago, and hasn't been feeling well. Holding a laughing baby is a wonderful cure for that, as you can see. Nick was really excited to see his great-grandma, and let her hold him right away.


My grandma made us lunch and then cherry ice cream for dessert. She asked if Nick could have some, and he immediately made a chirping noise, as if he'd heard and he wanted some. It is so much fun to introduce Nicholas to new foods. I fed him a tiny bite, and my grandma asked him, "Do you like that?" Nick answered by immediately opening his mouth very wide. I bet the cold felt great on his sore gums. While savoring each bite, he said, "mmmmmm." Just like his daddy.

Here you can see Nick fascinated by the ceiling fan. Grandma turned on the light (and the fan with it) to brighten the room so we could take a picture of his happy, ice-cream-covered face. But as soon as he saw that fan, he was riveted. There's something about ceiling fans that hypnotize a baby. Even if there's still ice cream in the vicinity, he has to stop what he's doing and stare in wonder at the joys of the whirling fan. I wish there was one in his bedroom.



Now, in spite of her not feeling well, my grandma was all about going shopping. In my family, shopping is a competitive sport. I can remember as a little girl listening to my grandmother haggle (politely, of course) with cashiers over how many coupons she could use, mismarked shelves, and competitor prices. When I was about seven, I heard a rumor (partially true, I believe) about her getting into a fight with another lady over the last cabbage patch doll. The doll was for my birthday. I have a really good grandma with a competitive spirit.

There's also the fun tradition in my family of showing off what you bought and how much you paid for it. After a shopping trip, one of the best parts is spreading out your purchases and explaining how you managed to get it all for the best price. My most triumphant moment was last year, when I used a combination of an incorrect price tag, a 10% gift registry coupon, and an expired 20% off one item coupon to get a fancy espresso machine for under $100. Greg does not understand or appreciate this tradition, and he rolls his eyes at me when I come back from the store with tales of triumph.

So, anyway, my grandma always has a game plan. We set goals for what I needed to buy (baby clothes, soup ladle, baby pool) and then decided where we'd get the best deals. She suggested Kohl's and Babies 'R Us. First, we hunted for coupons. Babies 'R Us didn't have a coupon deal going, but they do honor coupons from Buy Buy Baby, and my grandma had two of those. A $5 off a $15 clothing purchase coupon and a 20% off one item coupon. Immediately when we walked in the store, my grandma found the lady in the gift registry and made sure they would take our competitor coupons. Then the hunt began. . .

Shopping with my grandmother is never a rushed affair. She knew I needed to get some fall clothes for Nicholas in the 18 month size, and she was on a mission. We scoured the clearance racks for special deals, while Nick slept happily in his stroller. Very quickly, I had a stack of baby clothes to choose from. My grandma has this habit of getting distracted and suddenly disappearing while shopping, only to show up having found a great deal. (Actually, I do the same thing. Must be hereditary. Or ADD.) She spotted a "Buy one Get one 1/2 off" sale on Carter's clothes, so off we rushed to find two cute outfits.

Then we delved into the toy department, searching desperately for a baby pool for Nick. I was ready to give up, but my grandma emerged triumphant. "Here it is! This one is perfect." Then the register battle began. We were told that you could only use one coupon per customer, so we divided the purchases between us. My grandma made sure that a customer loyalty card was swiped for each purchase, and I ended up with some great deals. Here's what we got for under $50. Probably the best deals were the pool ($29.99, but I got it for $19.98) and the clearance priced "Bananas over Mommy" outfit (originally $17, I got it for $4). Yes, I do take after my grandma. :) Then it was off to Kohl's. We milked the $15% off coupons for all they were worth, only buying items that were at least 50% off. My grandma convinced them to re-ring the onesies so that we saved an extra 10%. My favorite item, by far, is the little onesie that says "little stinker" with the picture of the skunk. The onesies ended up at $4 each, and the pants at $5 each. Not too bad, considering how quickly Nick grows out of outfits. I was shocked when he had to start wearing 12 month clothes before he was even 7 months old. Hopefully this growth rate won't continue, or I will have a giant by the time he's a teenager!
Besides our sucessful shopping excursion, we went to Lou Malnati's for dinner. My grandma loves to go out to eat, but since my grandfather passed away (in 2007), she often doesn't have anyone to go with. I think she enjoyed watching Nick, who also loves going out to eat because he can throw everything from the table onto the floor. He was a pretty good customer, except for the occasional baby shrieks. Lately, at quiet moments, Nick likes to scream at the top of his little lungs. Then he giggles. There's usually nothing wrong, he's just trying out his voice. I always get a little embarrassed when Nick lets out those bloodcurdling screams in public, but the people sitting around us in the restaurant seemed to think it was pretty funny.

I believe this was Nick's first experience of the joys of pizza, and he sure seemed to like it. Here he is grabbing a tiny pieces from my hand. Lou Malnati's has a great thin crust veggie pizza that was just divine. Nick doesn't really understand yet about warm foods. I've always been of the opinion that if you warm a baby's bottle, they'll always expect it warm. Ditto for baby food. So Nick's food has always been either cold from the refrigerator or room temperature. It's not that he doesn't like warm foods, he's just confused when his food is warm. He is getting used to it, though, and enjoyed several bites of pizza.

When we left the restaurant, we had to pick up everything Nick dropped on the floor. Throughout our meal, he managed to drop three toys, the jar of parmesan, the menu, two napkins, and his baby cookie. He also upended the salt, smeared oatmeal plum baby food on the table, and ate several bites of napkin. I had to pry some packets of Sweet 'N Low out of his hands before he ate them. Here he is all covered with cookie, pizza, and baby food remnants, right before we left. Note the empty table top. That's because everything was ON THE FLOOR.

I'll have to get out to see my grandma again before my summer is over; we had a really good time. Before I left, she snuggled Nick and he fell asleep in her arms. I think that's her favorite part of him visiting.