An $800 Weekend

So how, do you ask, can a weekend cost $800?  Let's see. . .

It all started with a big surprise Saturday morning. I was sleeping, because, you see, I have a wonderful husband who always gets up with our son and lets me sleep. Also, I sleep with earplugs (snoring husband) and it would take quite a lot of noise to wake me up. Anyhow, Greg woke up to find Nick wandering around the loft area upstairs. He had apparently figured out how to climb out of his crib. We waited with bated breath to see if it was a fluke. Nick did it twice more, once on Saturday and once on Sunday.

Transitioning from his crib was inevitable, I suppose. Nick is now 28 months old, and has a little brother on the way who will need to use the crib. We had hoped, however, to delay the transition a little longer. With the way Nick's crib is designed, though, it's really not safe for him to be flinging himself over the edge. So I began shopping for a toddler bed. I found one quickly, at JCPenney. A bonus is that I had a coupon good for 10% off furniture. Not too shabby, and I think it's pretty cute. Here's what I ordered.



























Once I had added this toddler bed to my online shopping cart, I realized I probably needed a new crib mattress. Also, since we're just starting potty training, I bought a waterproof mattress cover. Good thing I had a coupon code for 30% off online at Kohl's. Oh, and a new bed requires sheets! I hopped over to ebay and found this handmade sheet/pillow/quilt set for less than any new bedding set I could find anywhere. It's neutral but goes with our green nursery theme.

Since Greg is going to try to potty train Nick this weekend, I did some price-comparisons and bought 5-ply Potty Scotty underpants for Nick at $8 per pair on eBay. We had to buy at least 5 pairs for home and 5 pairs for daycare. (Potty training is expensive, but not as expensive as diapers!)

I realized as I was being distracted by potty training paraphernalia that we have a space problem. You see, we have a two bedroom home with an open loft. The boys will have to share a room, which is no great tragedy. However, right now the bedroom is completely full. There's the crib, a nice cushy rocker and ottoman, a dresser/changing table, and a full-sized bed. The bed was Greg's from his bachelor days, and Grandma Toni has been sleeping on it when she stays with us. There is no room for a toddler bed unless we ditch the mattress. Grandma Toni will need a place to sleep. So I started futon shopping. Here's what I found:






















We would've been fine buying a used futon on Craigslist or something, but we have no way to transport furniture. By the time you add in the cost of renting a truck, I might as well just buy a new futon and have it delivered. (Total cost for delivery of all items bought this weekend: $44. Not too shabby.)

However, a futon needs a mattress. And a cover for the mattress. This is how we ended up spending $800 in one weekend. All because of a little man who learned how to climb.

Do you notice how he's also chewed on the side of his crib? Most of that was done when Nick was at the teething stage. I hadn't realized how much had actually been chewed until I saw this photo. I guess the crib will be all worn-in for the new baby.

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.