Another Pooping Post

Let's just remind everyone, I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old.  Bodily functions are still a mainstay of our weekend lives as we navigate the potty training YEARS.  (Those people that tell you that their daycare trained their kids are full of what they are trying to get their kids to do in the potty.)

Jack's pretty good, but lately he and I have been in a power struggle.  He wants to be the one to tell me he needs to go, if I let him do that he will inevitably be distracted by whatever he is playing with and have an accident and it's another load of laundry for me. 

We made some strides last weekend and this weekend. 

Last weekend, he actually had a regular time with it and we had no accidents.  WOW in my book.

This weekend, he took it up a notch and during his quiet time on Saturday went # 2 by himself in his potty, calling for us after the deed was done.  BIG WOW in my book.  Today, we may have gone a little too far.

Again during quiet time, he went by himself and called for me.  Very proud of him, and he was of course very proud of himself.  Nearing the end of quiet time, I heard him shout out something, but didn't quite make it out.  I waited a minute, and hearing silence, decided to investigate.

What I found - him, naked from the waist down, underwear and jeans on the floor, baby wipes in hand in the bathroom,

"Mommy I pooped in the potty and cleaned it all up by MYSELF!"

That's when I noticed the faint brownish spot on the white bathroom throw rug, streaks on the toilet seat and bathroom foot stool and a very proud 3 year old. 

I quickly pictured the scene a minute earlier, told him how very proud I was with him for cleaning it all up by himself and scrubbed him up with as much soap as humanly possiby in a sink (since God knows how he picked up whatever was on the carpet at some point) and sent him off to play.  Then turned to the lysol wipes and made over the bathroom, put the rugs in the wash and took a deep breath.

Independance, it's a wonderful thing...yep, sure it is.

4 Days Left...and Ching Ching Ching!

That's right.  $64.33 was my total, by the time the coupons and ad savings registered, I paid only $34.55.  I have no other items in the Publix flyer for this week that I need, and  unless there are some really sweet coupons that show up in Sunday's paper - I'm in the black this month by about $35!  Helped that the bottle of wine I picked up at Winn Dixie on Saturday ended up also providing me with a $10 off a $50 purchase register coupon and my actual charges before coupons was $52.13 today, so since I can use the coupon at Publix because they take competitor coupons (which ROCKS because it's like getting a $10 BILL!!!)

I WIN THIS MONTH!!

Ok, I'll lay off the Publix, coupon, money saving posts for a while because I think my sisters and mother are starting to worry I've become obsessive.

(Though my thriftiness is catching because Alicia signed up me, Clare AND my mother on the Nestle Good Start website so we get mailed the formula coupons she needs for the new baby!)

Can She Do It...

I promised myself, this year, be more fiscally responsible with your budget, so…

10 Days left in the month. 

Monthly Budget for groceries (incl. household cleaners!) is $500. 

Remaining balance - $71.50. 

Can it be done?  Stay tuned…

Independence, Finally, um really?

6:50am Wednesday, January 20^th, Odyssey Early School Birmingham, AL – Pre-K Room

“I don’t have to go tee tee this morning at school, you go Mommy.” – Jack, 3

 “Uh, ok, so I just give you a kiss and you go play, ok…”  Kiss “Love you” – Mommy, 38

 Jack runs over to the tables and his friends.  Mommy walks down the hallway to the exit, in shock.

That was my morning goodbye. 

After nearly a year of the following 10+ minute routine when dropping him off in the morning

(absolutely always in the same order or meltdown is imminent!)

-          Walk into K3B Room to Jack’s cubby

-          Wait patiently as he takes off his coat, hangs it and his backpack in the cubby

-          Walk across the hall to the Pre-K Room with Ms. Griselle (where he is until his teacher arrives around 7am)

-          Wait for him as he goes into the potty, etc.

-          Remind him to wash his hands (with soap) and dry them

-          Kiss each hand, fist pumps, tell him to have a good day and leave.

I can barely believe it happened.  Duke is a 5 second, “bye, love you, kiss kiss” and he’s off playing and so this extended drop off with Jack has always been a little on the frustrating side for me since I like to be up and out and into the day. 

But now, I’m not sure what to do. 

Celebrate that he’s telling me he’s ready to do more on his own, or cry because he doesn’t need me as much anymore.

Maybe it's finally the Independent 3's setting in, maybe it's the competitiveness in him seeing Duke tell me often "I did it by myself!" with that excited SELF! at the end of the sentence.  Either way, something was in the air this morning.

Ah, wait he can’t quite reach the snacks in the cupboard yet.  I guess I’m still good for something J

Good Shopping Day

My friend Mallory will probably be upset that I took the time to blog this today because she is on a fast from visiting her friend's blogs...I may have to email it to her since it's a fiscally responsible post.

Now that Publix has changed their Penny item day to Wednesday's with the coupon appearing in the Wednesday paper, it makes it a little more challenging for me to get on my game and make sure I'm getting deals on the things I buy.  However, it forces me to shorten my window of shopping to today on the items I already have coupons and deals for each week and I can wait until Sunday when the weekend coupons show up to finish out anything else I want to get for the week's flyer.

Today I did pretty good.  Total bill $154.33, actually spent $81.89 (72.44 in saving and of that, 35.68 was saved with actual coupons!)

Some of my better buys -

• 4 Pack of GE 60 watt lightbulbs - B1G1 at $1.89 for 2 and I had 2 coupons for $1.50 off each on GE lightbulbs (they only gave me actual value, so I didn't get the overage back, but hey, FREE lightbulbs!)
• Healthy Choice Entrees - Buy 5 for $10, already a decent deal for someone that eats in at work.  I had two coupons for $5 off 5, plus a Publix coupons for $1.00 off Healthy Choice, so I got all 10 meals for $.90 each.  Not a free lunch, but darn close!
• DelMonte Canned Vegetables - B1G1 at 1.29 for 2 and I had 2 coupons for $1 off of 4, so the net price per can was 0.39!  My kids still eat their vegetables, plus I can use them in chicken pot pies and other casseroles I make, so well worth the stock up.
• Aveeno Skin Care - 20% off.  I was able to get a facial cleanser and a scrub for 3.59 for each bottle because I had 2 coupons for $2.00 off any Aveeno product.  Who doesn't love cheap, but good for your skin, pampering items!
• Nabicso Crackers - 2 for $5, in itself, not outstanding, but I also had 2 coupons for $2.00 off of a purchase of 2, plus a coupon for $1.00 off Ritz Crackerfuls (the 4 cheese ones are AWESOME!) so for my 4 boxes (3 Triscuits and 1 Crackerfuls), I paid $1.25 each.  I love my Triscuits with hummus, mmmmmmmm.
• V8 Splash - B1G1 at $1.49 each, plus I had a $1.00 off purchase of 2, so I paid 0.50 per bottle (these are the 64oz. ones!)  I have not been making coffee at home on the mornings Cory is out of town - which is most of January, but have been filling up my to go cup with this juice instead, so definitely a good buy for me.

On top of this there were many other items in my cart, some I had coupons for, some I didn't to make up the rest- Gallon of Milk, 2 bags of Tostitos scoops ($3 a bag), 2 cans of Rotel tomatoes (.55 a can), 12 pack roll of Quilted Northern (4.99), Danative Vanilla 4pk (1.00), bananas, 2 bags of Goldfish ($1.00 per pack), 5 cans of Progresso Soup (.64 a can), Gold Bond 13 oz lotion, bottle of red wine, 2 boxes of Cheez Its ($1 a box), 2 - 8oz bags of Kraft shredded cheese, a $5.00 6 pack of Chicken Tenders from the deli the kids polished off on the trip through the store for supper and of course, the Penny Item - 64oz bottle of Publix White Grape Juice.

And...drum roll, my total cumulative shopping trips since January 1st are at $273.44 for the first 2 weeks.  Since I won't probably need anything much before next Wednesday, I might actually come in under my $500 per month household / food budget the very first month of the year!  Hooray for me!  (Especially since the overage goes to our savings for the addition to the house we have planned for the boys new "wing")

For those of you wondering, Duke is doing great.  His hair covers his forehead so unless you know there is something under there, he looks totally normal - and acts it too.  But it is purple on the edges and there is a bump...we'll see what this weekend brings.  He's not too happy he can't be in the bathtub and on top of it, his navy blue paci tore and I had to replace it with a light colored one from the closet on Monday night after the trauma of the day.  Apparently it isn't at "findable" in his crib in the middle of the night, because I have awoken to a wail of "Where Paci GO?!" several times in the past few nights, only to walk in and find his whole crib and everything in it tossed everywhere in his attempt to locate it.  Thank goodness once it's found, it's face down and snoooooze..................

Monday Morning Trauma

I'm not a "jump up out of my chair when they get hurt" kind of mom. I have boys. Some things are inevitable. Everyone at daycare knows this, in fact Cindy who makes the calls to the parents when a child does fall on the playground or gets bit and I have a running joke about it that if one of mine doesn't have a bone sticking out or blood gushing there is no need to call me.

But when Cindy comes running down the hall at daycare while I'm getting Jack to his room and says they need me in Duke's room because he fell and hit his head there is a little bit of pit in the stomach panic. Not the way to start a Monday morning. This time the bookcase won.

Dr Waldo patched it with dermaglue. Hoping for no scar but doubtful :(. He did great though. By the time I got to his room (and I RAN, leaving Jack with his pants down on the potty is his room) he wasn't even crying. I almost felt worse for poor Sally who was his teacher in the room and felt awful even though she can't catch every kid that trips and falls.

But I'm still sad. My baby got hurt.
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Just When I'm Convinced Everyone Else Is Doing It Better Than Me

I see them on Sundays. Mothers with their children obediently
following them like ducklings to water, neatly pressed clothes, hair
combed down, silent as mice. Sigh.

Then there's us. Mom bent over grasped onto her two boys, trying to
keep them moving in one direction, preferrably the same one for all
three of us, hair slept on with wisps this way and that, and
continuous utterances of "this way, no running, stay with mommy, wait,
come on"

Another sigh, but this time from exhaustion thinking about it.

Today however I had two instances that made me feel like I had it
together like Mommy #1

Duke's new teacher made it a point to tell me that he answered her
"yes ma'am" and she was very impressed with it at his age. And on the
midst of our conversation, rather than interrupting me, Jack said
"excuse me" before proceeding to interrupt me. (small steps but still
impressive in my book).

Again I'm gently reminded that it's what's on the inside that matters
and on that level we seem to all be headed in the right direction.

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One of Two Accomplished, but Sort of Wish It Had Been the Other

Resolutions, what are they really other than goals we set for ourselves that we have about a 50% chance to succeed at, if that, because once February hits we usually are on to some other distraction. 

Last year I set two for myself, and accomplished one of them, although I dearly wish I had been as diligent about the other since I am on the upper end of the place I started at last year!  Needless to say, that goal is still on the list for 2010.  One big step toward it for me is I did actually join a fitness club again in December and logged 17 miles for the last three weeks in December and a couple already for January, so perhaps my shot at hitting the target is a step ahead of where I was last year. 

I've been struggling with what other personal goals (resolution is such a self defeating word in my opinion), to set for 2010.  There are several areas of my life I'd like to improve upon, NEED to be improved upon.

I've blogged on it before, we are blessed with an amazing church and pastor, and once again he blasted the start of 2010 with exactly the message I needed to hear.  You can download the podcast, video or audio, or watch on the website. 

It's all about The Rule of Five, 5 activities I will do every day that will improve my life.  They don't have to take up all of my day, just something I do every day to raise my level of personal discipline.  (God knows I'm handing the discipline right and left out of this house these days, but very little of it am I forcing upon myself!)  It's about the process, not the result, get the process in my life every day and the results will naturally follow - and I agree on that point whole heartedly.

So, I have 3 of my 5 determined so far and am still searching deep for the other 2.  Feel free to share what you would have for your five, maybe it will inspire me to find my other 2!