Bargain Hunting the Geekius Domesticus Way

Raising kids is expensive.  I knew this when we had Nugget, but I didn't have any idea of a dollar figure.  Cribs, diapers, clothes, pjs, toys, car seats, high chairs, the list goes on and on.  According to a study that came out last year, it costs an average of $241,080 to raise a child from birth to age 18.  That figure doesn't even include college or trade school, which is insane to me.  I'm not a extreme couponer, but I do like the satisfaction of getting a good deal when I can.

Enter Amazon.com and Warehouse Deals. I honestly hate the word "pre-owned" as it just sounds cheesy as heck but if I can buy something that's new and the packaging may be damaged but the item is okay, sign me up!  I bought Hank's bedding, lamps for the house, and now Hank's big boy car seat.  My biggest saves so far were Hank's bedding ($60 less than original price) and his car seat ($50 less than original price.)  So yeah, I can live with the fact it doesn't have a box or the box has extra tape on it.  All the item are backed by Amazon's guarantee, return policy, and best of all, Amazon Prime shipping.  I'm the first to admit I love the fact I don't have to drive to the store and have it arrive a day or two after I order it.  Granted, Prime costs $79 a year, but if you factor in Instant Video and if you do a lot of online shopping, it almost pays for itself in the long run.

I've also been utilizing the heck out of craigslist too,  Nugget is a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan and I'm pretty sure I've seen every movie on Netflix and Prime Instant video.  The wooden trains are not cheap, and I know how much she loves them.  I've been able to score quite a few of them via craigslist and get her lots of track too.  Next on my craigslist search, Tidmouth Sheds and Sir Topham Hat.

So yeah, while I may not have a basement full of toothpaste and mac and cheese boxes, I do know how to save a buck or two when needed, and as Martha says,"It's a good thing."

Random Food Ramblings

One of the many things I've been working on is cutting down processed and pre-made foods in our house.  You may notice that I said cutting down versus eliminating.  Although I love to cook, I need a break every now and again and love me a frozen pizza, and I'll be honest, I am a sucker for Rice-a-roni.   Eating healthier is something that I have been thinking about lately, especially because of where I work and having two small children.  Growing up, my mom didn't do a lot of cooking from scratch.  Sometimes I wonder if it's because as a child of immigrants, she helped make the sausage, unknowingly raised her pet rabbit to be dinner, and just got burnt out on it and felt Hamburger Helper was the way to go.

When I'm at work I've noticed so many people (especially families) buying prepared foods as their primary meals. As I said, I do love me a pizza or even orange chicken from time to time, but I can't imagine not cooking meals from scratch or even semi-homemade. I realize that people lead busy lives and may not enjoy cooking but it seems like even those people could prepare meals in a crock pot with little or no effort. I love to cook but I also know how much money I save when I cook from scratch versus popping a Hungry Man in the microwave. Many foods that claim to have no preservatives are loaded with sodium, and that's not exactly healthy either. I also like knowing where my food is coming from and how it was prepared.

Waiting for the Thaw

Winter has been pretty harsh in the Magical Mitten State.  There have been more days below twenty degrees than above, and according to the meteorologists, this has been the snowiest winter in Michigan since I was four years old.  I am not a snow hater.  I chose to stay in Michigan rather than move to a warmer state, it's these temperatures that are driving me crazy.  Nugget wants to go out to play, but in order for me to do that, I have to bundle Hank up so he looks like Maggie Simpson or the kid from A Christmas Story.  As you can see from the photo to your right, being not old enough to walk and talk, leads to not so fun times getting hauled around the yard by your older sibling.  Nugget was having a blast though!

Due to all this time being trapped inside the house, I have a major case of cabin fever.  When I'm not dancing around the living room, drawing pictures of owls, Mommy trees & baby trees (long story), being climbed on like a jungle gym, I've been looking through my gardening books and seed catalogs.  Nugget even got into the act and was showing me all the things she wants to grow this year.  Now that she's two and a half, she's really into nature, plants, flowers, and wanting to grow strawberries.  I actually bought a strawberry pot and planted it for her and we did get quite a few berries.  Unfortunately, she didn't always wait until the berries were ripe, so our yield wasn't as good as it could have been.  I'm thinking this year will be different.  She told me today that she also wants to grow corn in a flower pot like we saw in the Burpee catalog and lots and lots of flowers.

I am hoping to get the raised veggie gardens I wanted to build while on maternity leave last year built this year too.  Our garden last year produced, but to get maximum growing power, I am definitely going to have some beds near the middle of our backyard so they are away from the tree line and more in the sun.  Much like remembering to update this blog, making sure I actually get the garden built is going to entail staying on my own butt and harassing myself to make sure it gets done,

Hank the Tank is here!

"I'll make you an offer that you can't refuse."

I kept joking that I was keeping Hank in until Ely made it from Chicago.  True to my word, I went into labor the day after I picked Ely up from the train station in Ann Arbor.  I went into full on labor about 4 in the morning and Henry (Hank the Tank) was born 04.28.2013 at 2:59 p.m., nine lbs., five ounces.  If only it was as easy as it sounds.

I had decided to try to go the all natural route after having to do the emergency c section with Nugget.    The hubby got a big chuckle that even though Hank was almost out, I was crying for an epidural.  Because of his size, they had called in extra doctors to aid the midwives in the delivery.   I had passed the glucose test, so I did not have gestational diabetes this time, and they didn't do too much extra monitoring like they did with Nugget.   To make a long story short, there was a decision made whether to break Hank's clavicle or tear me.  I'm glad in the end poor Hank didn't have to endure a broken bone even if the healing longer than I had planned for,  We are so very lucky to have C.S.Mott Children's Hospital in our backyard.  I don't know if I would have wanted to deliver anywhere else.

Having two under two has been a bit crazy.   I honestly feel like The Walking Dead but I wouldn't change a thing.  Nugget is in love with her little brother and wants to help in any way possible.  I should probably try and get some sleep, because these moments are far in in between!

May the force be with you

Now that I'm in the third trimester with Baby Smudge, I've started to get the urge to decorate his room.  I found polka dot crib bedding on clearance just because someone ripped the zipper on the bag, started looking at paint chips to decide on color, and been shopping on Etsy to find some cute prints to hang on his wall.  I'm leaning towards either a very pale icy blue or a grey for the walls.  As for the room "theme" itself, well, i went back and forth on space vs. robots, and this may be the one chance I have to do it, so I'm going with a Star Wars/space theme.  It would be so easy to go hog wild and let the theme overtake the room, especially with my love of Star Wars.  I'm trying to tame it down a bit and I found great prints of the Millennium Falcon, an AT-AT, and R2-D2 from Noodlehug that I'm going to place in white frames.   The next part I'm having trouble with is trying to decide what to do about the mobile.  I'm going to take an existing mobile and make it Star Wars worthy.  I keep going back and forth on whether I want to buy model kits of a few of the ships and hang them from the mobile or find Star Wars amigurumi dolls to hang from it instead.  I've still got ten weeks to decide and he won't be technically moved into his room until I go back to work (hopefully three months) so I have a little bit of time on my side.  Hopefully by the time he's ready to move into his room Elise will be ready for her big girl bed so I won't have to buy another crib. Other than that, I'm checking out craigslist everyday to see if I can find a ddresser to refinish for his room like I did for Elise.  I'm thinking as much as I'd love to have that done before he gets here, it's going to end up like Elise's dresser and not be done for many months unless I'm feeling super energetic (which my energy levels have been depleting rapidly) and motivated.  

Han Solo Bobble head!

  

Brrr...

It's been a bit chilly here in the Magical Mitten state the past few days.  It's times like this that I really look forward to spring.  I also start thinking about gardening, flowers and vegetables.  As I've mentioned before I've become a Pinterest junkie and there are lots of great ideas for gardens on there and it's easy to get lose hours looking around if you're not careful.

I decided last fall not to renew our CSA membership and to focus on growing our own.  I enjoyed having a working share but didn't feel like I would be able to put in the hours at the farm with two little ones under the age of two and enjoy my spring and summer like I wanted.  I also wanted to ensure we would be growing exactly what we wanted to eat.  I have thought about joining a meat/eggs in the future but right now, I want to focus on growing my own little farm in the back yard.

So we're doing this again?!?

I've always wanted to have more than one child.  My brother and I are three years apart and I've been of the belief that two to three years would be a good age difference between siblings.  Well, a funny thing happened on the way to that goal... I'm 13.5 weeks pregnant.  This means there will be 20 months difference between Elise and the new baby, or perhaps I should say just baby.  Elise is growing so fast and running around like crazy that it's hard to think of her as a baby anymore.

Of course with all the excitement of a new baby comes a small twinge of dread.  I am not looking forward to hearing the phrase "Advanced Maternal Age" and definitely not looking forward to the glucose tolerance test and the possibility of being diagnosed with gestational diabetes again.  On the other hand, I weigh ten pounds less than when I first found out I was pregnant with Elise and the gestational diabetes diagnosis really made me look at what I ate and make changes for the better to my diet.  Here's to hoping after this birth I end up weighing at least 10 pounds less than I do now!