The Frugal Life part 2!

I am such a nerd from how excited I get when I find new ways to save money.  I recently discovered a new app call Flipp and it is great!  You can enter in your postal code and it will bring up all flyers that are in your area.  You can then browse through them and click on the items you want to pick up and it will make a list by store under it's "clippings" section.  You can also create your own shopping list and as you enter items it will search all those flyers for you and tell you who and where has them on sale.  Best thing since slice bread I tell ya! lol
FYI it also pays off to follow your local stores on Facebook.  Sometimes they will post coupons or mention deals that aren't in their flyers.

The Mommy blues..

This career choice is so different from what I'm used to.  That's what it basically is, right? A career choice; something you've committed to making your life mission. 
One minute you think to yourself, "I've got this, it's not so bad".  The next you're thinking you have no idea what you're doing and somehow your baby has ended up with the worst choice for a mother.  I know, the thoughts are fleeting.  You just get pushed so far with so little feedback you have no choice but to question yourself.  So you go and cry it out as you do the dishes so you'll have clean bottles for the next feeding.  You look into their beautiful faces and forget your troubles for a moment or two, then start the cycle all over again.

The Pacifier Trials and Tribulations

Since my daughter was born she has loved to suck.  She was an aggressive eater and just always wanted something more.  So, we introduced her to the pacifier.  Worked wonders!  Kept her calm, happy, occupied.  What could be so wrong?  All is good until night time, when that darn pacifier will fall out of her mouth about 15 times!  Luckily she is still in her bassinet beside me but it is still annoying, for her and myself.  She is also getting to that point where she is getting too big for her bassinet.  Which means I will have to move her upstairs to her crib.  Which could potentially mean 15 treks up the stairs a night.  This does not seem viable to me.  So here I am attempting to break her of her attachment to her soother.  It's not going too badly, she isn't screaming for it, but she isn't sleeping either.  In some aspect I feel bad about it because it is something that soothes her and makes her happy; and here I am taking it from her for my convenience.  On the other hand, it was going to have to be done eventually anyways and they say the sooner you do it the easier it is.  I assure you easier does not mean easy.  It feels terrible denying your baby something they love and want so they can feel calm and nicely drift off to sleep.  This is what we signed up for though, right?  To give them what they need and not what they want.  To teach them how to grow.
Sigh, this motherhood stuff is tough..

Houdini baby

I am no expert in parenting I will be the first to admit.  Before Sadie was born I didn't have much to do with kids, especially babies.  So everyday is a learning day for me.  When I do learn something that I think could possibly help someone else out through my trial and errors, especially if it saves money; I like to pass it along.
Sadie has always been a pretty good sleeper.  If, and this is a big IF, you get the swaddle done right.  I'm pretty sure she makes it her personal mission to try and get out of it just to teach me how to do it better.  I have tried it all.  Regular blankets, stretchy blankets, swaddlers with Velcro but alas that little hand would come up out of there.  She will not sleep until she tries her darndest to test the swaddle.  If she can't get out, sleep, if she can...do it again mom!  After trying a many different blankets, googling the correct way to swaddle, looking into the Halo Sleeper and the Miracle Blanket, I was no further ahead.  The Miracle Blanket looked like my best bet but you can only order it online and they are $30+ a piece.  So, being the frugal gal I am I came up with a solution I would like to share.  All you will need is to purchase those Swaddle me Swaddlers from Walmart.  I think they are 2 for around $10.  Also, a thin receiving blanket of sorts that stretches the length of the Swaddler.  See Below:

 

As you can see her arms are being held down with the receiving blanket by putting it underneath her,  causing her own weight to keep them down.  Then proceeding to wrap her as normal with the Velcro Swaddler.  This has made my life so much easier and I saved myself money from not having to buy an expensive blanket that she may only use for another month or so.  Either way, she's happy, I'm happy, so that's a feat in itself.

Mother's/Father's Day

This year is my husband and mine first Mother's/Father's Day.  To be honest, I feel the same about it as I ever did.  If you go back to the root of the day it started off with good intentions.  As with Valentines day it was meant as a day to remember and appreciate everything someone special does.  However, somehow it gets turned into a day of who can spend the most money.  Who can give the better gift.  Gifts to me have never been important. They're exciting to get but they're just things. 
When I was working I worked in a male dominant business.  There were a few times that men would speak not so kindly of theirs wives and yet those were also the ones who would go out and buy expensive gifts on these "special" days as well.  I have no doubts that women do this as well.  Somehow we women have been branded as requiring gifts more often and usually costing more.  My thoughts are to show your significant other as often as possible that you love and respect them and appreciate everything they do.  When those holidays come up, do something personal.  Do that chore for them that you know they hate.  Go out with the baby so they can sleep in for a change.  These little things that have no monetary value will mean way more than any piece of jewellery or expensive flowers. 
This post wasn't meant to have a negative feeling shadowed onto Father's Day.  It was meant to rethink the possibilities of the day itself and how we look upon it.  In its current state are we truly doing it justice? 

New baby + Old Animals + One roof = ?

Rydell

Asia

Rydell, my dog, is 13 years old this year.  That's pretty old in dog years.  My cat Asia, is 10 years old.  Not as old but still pretty up there.  Not necessarily the ideal time in their lives to bring a baby into the house.  That's how the cookie crumbles though so its what we have to work with.
Rydell for the most part, has chosen to ignore baby completely almost to the point of jealousy.  Asia on the other hand does not really have much to do with her either, until she cries.  Sadie had a stomach ache the other evening and was crying quite hard.  I'm not sure if this caused my cat's motherly instincts to kick in or just drove her to insanity.  While trying to console baby I had a cat trying to climb my legs (via clawed paws btw) to get to her. She would not leave me alone until that baby stopped crying.
It makes you wonder what animals think when this small human is thrown into their nicely established world.
Will they come around to liking her?  Or will it get worse over time once she starts crawling and grabbing?  Can my fur babies and my actual baby contently co-exist?  I guess we will have to wait and see.  In the mean time it is hard to spread the love around.  You get caught up trying to tend to the baby that the animals get put to the wayside.  Not the intent but that's how it works out.  How do you find a balance?