Let the Claiming of the Birth Month Freebies Commence!

So, I received my freebie birthday gift email from Sephora this week. It's a free little eye kit - mascara, eye shadow, eye liner. Those of you who know me, know that I am a sucker for a good deal. And it doesn't get better than FREE folks. I guess you could call me a FREE-K. Haha. Stole that pun from This Woman.

So, in addition to my birthday freebie, Sephora.com also allows you three free samples with each order. AND they had a free sample of Clarins Body Lift sculpting cream. I bought two OPI nailpolishes (which were on sale for $5 each) and got FIVE FREE THINGS! Score. And S&H was only $6. Oh yeah. I'm awesome. I love being cheap.

BTW: in case you wanted to send me a gift, or just birthday wishes, you have just under two weeks left...

Good News!

So, my Bissell Steam Mop Deluxe arrived today. Does it mean you're old when you get terribly excited about a new mop?? Oh dear. I guess I'm old. And I'm totally cheap (we've already talked about this, I'm sure) - so I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to buy it. Except they didn't have it in the store. So I was really upset, you know, since I was going to use the 20% off coupon I got in the mail. You know, since I'm cheap. And that would've made it $20 cheaper than they have it for at Target. Except, did you know that you can take your 20% off coupon into the store and have them place the online order for you and then they let you use the coupon?? I didn't. Sure, I had to pay $10 in shipping and handling, but since Bissell also offers a $10 rebate on their site, I'm still saving $20 over target. Plus, if the thing ever breaks, I can bring it back to BB&B, versus the very limited return policy at Target. Totally worth it.

Oh, and in addition to sitting on his own and pulling himself up to standing, GUESS WHO SAID MAMA YESTERDAY FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER????? Yes. My loverly little boy. :) Am totally bursting with pride.

More good news? I went to my old work today to drop off the deadly vanilla spa basket to my friend. And there, I saw another lady I used to work with. Who used to, apparently, own a day care center. And who has a 14-year-old daughter who wants to start earning babysitting money. And who said that they would watch Wylie anytime. So, the fact that I was just blabbering to Chad yesterday about how I need to find a sitter?? I guess it's just kismet. All in all? Good day. Even though it's now cold and rainy. :)

I Am a Money-Saving QUEEN

Okay, I talked about it before. But let me just tell you, if you live in a state where there is a Just Between Friends sale, you better get your butt there! I totally went to the pre-sale last night for my local sale (there are several qualifications for attending the pre-sale, mine is that I'm a military wife and a first-time mom). Pre-sale attendance also has a pre-requisite of registering. I attended with two friends, who are also military moms and first time moms. We walked in and Good Lord - the baby items galore that awaited us! There were potty chairs, high chairs, bouncers, jumpers, walkers, strollers, play yards, kitchenette-type toys, activity table, sorting toys, table after table of toys of all kinds, bottles, boppies, swings, bouncy chairs, and, of course, CLOTHES. There was also nursery decor and furniture (baby) as well.

Let me share with you some of my score -

Jogging stroller

Retail: $140

My price: $42.50

Sesame street deluxe walker

Retail: $45.00

My price: $20.00

Sesame street singing pop-up pals

Retail: $40.00

My price: $2.50

Parents electronic activity puzzle cube

Retail: $41.95

My price: $8.00

Fisher-price Laugh and Learn Puppy

Retail: $20.00

My price: $5.00

Fisher-price Slumbertime Soother with Remote Control

Retail: $35.00

My price: $10.00

Plus an entire bag of 25 baby toys (mostly Lamaze and Fisher-price, plus teethers) for $20. So the grand total of savings? Over $200. That's right. I told you - I'm a money-saving queen.

Go to your local Just Between Friends sale. You must. All of the items available are based on what consignors in your area have put up for sale. But it's like a conglomeration of all of the baby stuff from all of the garage sales in the area, all in one location, all being checked for quality (they don't sell stained or damaged goods), and they have a credit or cash line (at least mine did). Everything was organized. There was no digging through stacks of clothes - everything was hung up and labeled and grouped by age/size. Go. Shop. Save. And when you're done with your things, consign them to the sale so you can participate in the presale. Or volunteer and participate in the presale. And most of the things that are left on the last day of the sale are 50% off. Can you really afford to NOT go?

Going, Going... Oh, Wait, Not Quite Yet!

Well, since I last wrote, Wylie has been a busy boy, trying his hardest to move. And he's been successful. Kind of. He's scooted backward about 6 inches several times while on his stomach. But I think his most favorite method of trying to move is sitting on his butt and using his heels to pull himself forward, also in a scooting motion. But he hasn't quite gotten the hang of that either. You see, he tries to lean back so he can move further, but I don't think he quite understands that he will just fall backwards, since he's not using his hands behind him to brace himself. But it's very entertaining to watch!

He's also starting to move toward taking longer naps in a smaller quantity. I'm okay with this. I would rather have two long naps rather than like 5 small naps. He's not real consistent on that yet, but I have great hope.

Continuing my Wylie update: he has spent the last three nights sleeping in his crib. The transition wasn't nearly as painful as I had imagined it would be. I imagined that he would wake up screaming because he didn't recognize it and couldn't smell me right next to him. I imagined that I would bawl my eyes out because my precious baby wasn't sleeping right next to me anymore. But you know what? Neither of those things happened. I know that I talk in my sleep (I've had several people tell me so, from past roommates to my cousins and friends who slept over when I was younger, to my mother). And since Wylie's been sleeping in his crib, his waking up in the middle of the night has been drastically decreased, so I'm guessing that I was part of his night-waking problem. LOL

This Thursday, I'm taking him in to get professional portraits taken. I'm pretty excited. He's got the cutest outfit to wear, but it's 6 mos. sized, which means that I had to hurry and get him in for pictures, because he's definitely moving into his 9 mos. clothes. I had a little bit of a dilemma trying to find a place to get his pictures taken. I looked at Target and JCPenney, but those seemed so, well, expensive. So I kept looking. And I found what I thought would be perfect (maybe too perfect) - a $9.95 portrait package deal from Portrait Innovations. Well, being the Doubting Thomas that I am, I called the studio (they are a chain) to ask questions. The girl asked me when I wanted to book an appointment and I told her that I actually had questions and she said that she was too busy to talk to me and took down my contact information. On Friday. She said she would call me back. It's Monday. So after her slightly rude conduct, I searched for their customer reviews online - and it was NOT positive. That sealed the deal for me - not going with them. So I kept searching. And I wound up finding a nice, private photographer couple working out of their house, just about a mile from my house! They've been in photography for a couple of decades, and they had beautiful pictures in their online gallery. They were running a January special, so I asked what current specials they had, and she said that she would extend that previous special to me! So instead of a $75 sitting fee, plus pictures, our initial sitting is $49, which includes the sitting fee, a 5x7 and four wallets! Awesome! And then I'll order more portraits too, of course. But I'm really excited. They have both an indoor studio and a beautiful backyard garden. So if the weather cooperates, we might have some really beautiful outdoor pictures.

To wind up, in the next two weeks, the yard is being prepped for summer by a yard crew (thank you Mountain West Property Management!), my parents are coming to visit (Hooray!!), and I'm going to hit up the Just Between Friends consignment sale. Exciting times!