Shopping Queen Turned Penny Pincher

Oh retail therapy, how I have missed you. And with the last few weeks I've had, I really could use a little retail therapy about now. The first friend I made when I moved to Atlanta was a girl I worked with, Anna. At first she and I would run out on our lunch hour to the mall or TJ Maxx. I loved shoes and she loved purses. It was a shopper's match made in heaven. When I first got married, my husband worked weekends so Anna and I would go shopping on Saturday mornings and have lunch. We bonded over Coach, Tory Burch and Michael Kors. Even though we don't work together anymore our friendship has continued and our shopping days have dwindled.


This week, I got a text from Anna asking me to join her for her shopping day on Saturday. Of course, I had to decline. Not because I didn't want to go, I would love to go but these days money is tight. I know many Americans have cut back over the last few years so I'm not the only one watching her pennies closely. In my post-pink slip days, I don't have the extra money to buy anything non-essential. With an infant, I have enough extra expenses with diapers and formula. 


Every afternoon, I spend with the little man I am reminded how important this time is with him. Even though I'm not home by choice, I am enjoying the time we are spending together partly because I know it won't last long. The time with W is fleeting and with every passing week, we are learning to live with less and thrive despite it. I'm not a great couponer but I've figured out a few tricks and I will share them later. 


In the meantime, I am wishing Anna happy shopping at the mall. As for me, I will keep my shopping trips limited to the grocery store and my afternoons full of playdates with a very special little man. 

Oh Happy Day!

It is official! W is drinking out of a sippy cup. It just dawned on me yesterday that he drank all of his "bottles" from sippy cups. It might not seem like much to you but its been a couple of long months to get to this point. 

At our 6 month checkup our pediatrician gave us the green light on sippy cups. It took us a couple of weeks before we started but boy was it a DISASTER. Since W had been using the Born Free bottles (which I LOVE), I bought him a Born Free trainer cup.  At first he thought it was a great toy, dropping it over the high chair. 


After a few days of playing with it, I added the formula and put it in his mouth and the meltdown commenced.  After a few minutes I gave up and transferred the formula to a bottle. This scene played out in my kitchen for weeks on end. Every few days we would try to introduce the sippy cup without any success.


Once W started crawling, I was determined to get him drinking out of a sippy cup or at the very least to hold his own bottle. But just like everything with babies, it just clicked one day. I wish I could tell you that there is some kind of trick but it just takes time and a lot of patience.  


At first it was small steps, he would only drink a fourth or half the formula from the sippy cup and then before I knew it he figured out how to lift the cup up to get the very last drop out. 

Sippy cup success! 

If you are transitioning from the bottle to the sippy cup, hang in there. Your baby will eventually figure it out. 


- JetSet2CarSeat

The Teething Blues

I'm finding out that there are a lot of things about babies that nobody tells you. Sometime its a good surprise and sometimes its not. Currently, I'm learning that teething can last a long time.  For my son, W, it seems like he's been teething for months. The drooling, the chewing on fingers, the rash on his chin. Every morning I anxiously check his gums for any sign of a pearly white but at eight months little man is still toothless. But the last few weeks have been different and I think he may finally be "officially" teething. In addition to the drool and chewing, he's waking up in the night, he's getting fussy and he's grabbing at his ears. So I think its only a matter of time before that toothless grin is replaced. Even though I will be relieved that he won't be in pain, I'm sure I will be sad because it will be just another reminder that my baby is growing up.