Bonnaman

Bonnaman, Bonnaman, where are you? I love you!

This is a typical little song you might here around our house. Why? Well Brendan loves songs and Brendan has lots of nicknames. BrenderBear. Bonnie. LonieBon. Bonnaman. And of course, B.

We love him so much. You can't help but fall in love with him. He is irresistible.

Here is my B bringing a smile to my face.





In the first and last picture, he is eating a Cadbury Egg. It was mine, but he looked at me with those big brown eyes, and well....he soon was enjoying his first Cadbury Egg! :-)

Over Halfway there!!!

We are over halfway to our summer vacation fund goal!

I am excited about the amount of money we have saved in a short time and some of the ways we have come up with the money. This is fun!

This is our test drive for saving vacation money to next year's big trip to DISNEY WORLD!!!

One of our best hauls yet!

Some of it.....

the rest of it....

We went to Kroger today as a family. I usually do the shopping alone or with just the little one, but since I can't drive we all had to go. Thanks to Kroger and their cute kid car carts, it wasn't bad. We split up and got so much done so quickly! James and Daniel were a team with part of the list. B and I tackled the rest. Finally after learning the store and getting back in the swing of "The Grocery Game", it goes pretty fast. We spent $116. We saved $109.70. That is a 48% savings! Our stockpile is growing and growing. Nice to go out to our own little "store" in our garage and see what we have in the deep freeze and on the shelves.

Number of Coupons Used: 32
Items Purchased: 87
Items Bought at Regular Price (No Coupon or Not on Sale) = 6, excluding produce

Freebies we snagged today:
*Coffee Mate Creme Brulee Creamer
*2 Michelena's frozen dinners
*Aloutte Baby Bree Cheese Wheel
*Aquafresh Toothpaste
Yakisoba Noodles
Right Guard
Dial Handsoap
Sunny D
Airwick Air Freshener

TOTAL OF FREE ITEMS: $17.22 (many of these were on sale and then with the coupons they became free because of doubling or tripling coupons so the real savings exceeds $17.22) *These items were free due to coupons received directly from manufacturer through the "5 a Day" at Couponing to Disney site, my favorite money saving site.

It is a little hard to tell from the picture, but we got a huge pot roast and a pound of ground sirloin. I put a gallon of Bluebell in the freezer before this picture. We also found some great produce but didn't have to buy some that we usually do, thanks to our new garden! :-) More on that later....

And how does Brendan feel about shopping with mommy???

Because the cost of diapers is wearing me out....

Ok, because the cost of EVERYTHING is wearing me out, I decided to get back into couponing and I am LOVING it. This sounds lame, but it is really a fun little hobby. I get a little thrill every time I save money. No, I could not go on Extreme Couponing. But I think I am still pretty cool. ;-)

My mommy friends should know about a particularly great deal right now on diapers at Walgreens. You can get the Walgreens brand diapers for $2.50 per pack. And before you say, EEEW, Walgreens brand???? Let me stop and say they are very nice diapers. I like them a lot. We have not had a single leak or blow out in one month. If you are still skeptical, I suggest you try them out for daycare where they change your kid, say, oh every 5 seconds.

Here is how the deal works:
1. Pick up an Infant Care Coupon Book (this is easier said than done, trust me. It takes looking around an asking) at your local Walgreens.
2. These diapers are normally $8.99 but are BIGI (buy one get one free)
3. The coupon is $2.00 off one pack of diapers.
4. If you buy 2 packs of diapers for $8.99 that makes them about $4.50 each. Then if you take $2 off EACH pack with the coupon, you are paying about $2.50 give or take a cent for each pack. You can buy as many as you want using one coupon.

I have purchased about 14 packs of diapers this way. Love them for daycare because one pack is easy to carry into daycare for the week. We are in size 3 now but I have some size 3, 4 and 5.

I have LOTS of these Infant Care Coupon Books because I looked and looked and one Walgreens lady felt so bad for me that she gave me like 15 of them, seriously. This is the second time the Walgreens diapers have gone on sale BIGI in the last month and the second time I have stocked up using this coupon at the $2.50 price. I know some naysayers would say "But is is that good of a deal? Could you score the same price per diaper at Costco or Sam's?" Perhaps. However, I don't have to have about $50 at once to buy these! :-) Hence the awesomeness!

If you can't find the coupon book and want one, send me your address and I will mail you one. I am not sure of the exact expiration date on these but it is too cool to pass up. There are other good coupons for Huggies, Triple Paste, etc. but the Walgreens diaper deal is the best so far. :-)

Happy Shopping!

Brendan and Why We Aren't The Favorite Patient

Brendan had his 18 month well-child visit and I will do the math for you and tell you he is really 19 months old. I am not sure what is up with that, but oh well. He did his 15 month check up at 16 months, so let's keep the pattern going. He did GREAT except for opening and closing the door to the little room about, hmmm, 100 times. He loved yelling out BAM and then trying to slam it, barely missing his fingers each time. Why didn't I stop him!? Oh I tried. And I tried. And I tried. It was pretty futile on my end. He shrieked and yelled no and even two times ran full speed away from me down the hall donning a diaper and sandals. That was awesome, especially when other people were out there and they have all these privacy signs up about being quiet to protect patient privacy. And here comes B. Running like some track star, his little belly button sticking out and squealing while I am trotting behind him. So my plan for next time?!??? To bring one of those thingees where kids can't open doors! YES! In fact this is such a great idea I bet you other mommies would agree with me. In fact, I think I should set up a little shop outside the doctor's office to sell these things and make a lot of money! Ha! Why do they put you in the teeny-tiny room for 20 minutes with nothing to do with a 19 month old except open and shut and open and shut and open and shut and well you get the idea. A door thingee would be better than being climbed all over by an angry sandal wearing toddler who is having a teary tantrum because out of sheer desperation you have moved a chair to block the door and are sitting in the chair.

So about the kiddo: He is GREAT, WONDERFUL, PERFECT and given what has been going on with some friends of ours I was just giving thanks for that right there in the little exam room. A healthy child. I just don't think there is anything better. No, I KNOW there is nothing better. Brendan was 25 lb and 36.5 inches tall. Our little man had a growth spurt and really shot up! The doctor noticed right away how tall he was. The pedi checked him all out (including a worrisome bump on his noggin - all ok, just a little bit assymetrical little head). On track with everything and she was really excited about how far he has come since his gross motor delay diagnosis. You can't even tell now! Unless you are a occupational therapist and you are staring at how he eats. He doesn't chew on the left. Might end up being one of B's little quirks.

How does he measure up?
At 19 months:

your child is 25 pounds, and that is
at the 31th percentile for weight.

your child is 36.5 inches, and that is
at greater than the 97th percentile for height.

So yes, Brendan is our second string bean baby. I am not sure how this happens but it does. He alternates between barely eating and being a BOTTOMLESS pit. I have never seen such a picky eater. Point him in the general direction of carbs and he will find his way. Hoping our little garden inspires him to actually eat some veggies. Lots more taking in little pairs of shorts and jeans in our near future until he fills out.

He got one little shot and then got a sucker and was a happy guy. Mommy was happy that she got to take him (Daddy has gone last couple of times). My little baby is becoming such a big boy! Pedi said paci has to go, so Brendan went to bed without it. It is a good thing I was out and not here for the tears. I am such a softie for this kid!