Couponing

I went to Walmart today armed with a whole lot of coupons. Walmart isn't as friendly with couponers as other stores. They're coupon policy is confusing & most of the cashiers don't know it anyway. If they don't know what to do with a coupon they just claim they don't take it. I had that happen today.

A few weeks ago I signed up on kraftfirsttaste.com to get coupons for new Kraft products. They finally came last week & I was so excited to use them. They allowed me to get some items for free, like the deli meat I always get. But it also allowed me to try items I've never bought.

When the cashier finished scanning my items, it totaled just over $81. But after using my coupons (which took a long time!) my total was $60.13! That was $21 in coupons!

Here's my loot:

Gallon of milk, 10-pack of gatorade, pint of buttermilk, 2 100-calorie snack packs (b1g1 free), shampoo & conditioner, parsley flakes, spaghetti, crushed tomatoes, 1 lb. ground beef, shaving cream, 2 packs of hot dogs, hot dog buns, Ritz Crackerfuls (free!), Kraft Homestyle mac 'n cheese (free!), small DiGiorno pizza (free!), toothpaste, 3 squash, Kool-aid Fun Fizz (free!), hand soap, toilet paper, p.j.'s for Shaylin (because she's a growing girl!), canteloupe, Duncan Heinz Warm Delights, Oscar Meyer deli meat (free!), 2 boxes of Suddenly Salad, Sunday's newspaper (for the comics & more coupons!) *not pictured: 24 pack Ozarka water bottles (because they were too heavy)

So I'm pretty proud of myself. I was trying to keep my grocery bill low this week since we're eating out a coupon times.

Sleeping in her own room

At 5am Thursday morning I decided it was time for Shaylin to move to her own room. She woke up that morning at 4:45 wide awake & fought me to go back to sleep. I needed to just leave her alone & let her cry it out but it's so hard to do that when she's doing the crying in our room & I'm trying to make sure Jeremy is getting enough sleep. He is the one making the money afterall.

All day I was fine with the decision. I knew it needed to be done & would be best for all of us. Even when I laid her in her crib I was ok. But going to bed was hard. She wasn't there where I could easily check on her. So there were a couple tears.

She ended up sleeping 8 1/2 hours that night, never waking once. And then last night she slept 10 hours. She only woke up this morning because I had to get her up so I could leave for my run.

I'm so happy that this transition has gone so smoothly. I was hesitant because I thought if she's going to wake at night it's easier if she's 5 feet from me. But now it looks like all she needed was her own room!s

Marathon Training

Training for my marathon begins this week. The schedule is pretty simple. I run every Monday & Wednesday, anywhere from 3 to 7 miles depending on what is scheduled, & then Saturdays are my long runs. So for this week I'll run 6 miles on Monday, 5 miles on Wednesday, & then 10 miles on Saturday.

Tuesdays & Thursdays are cross-training days. I do things like squats, lunges, ab workouts, & use my 5 lb. weights. Nothing to "bulk up". Just trying to stay toned. I'd like to have abs again, too.

I've been losing baby weight & have only 4 pounds to get to my pre-pregnant weight. I'll be happy to have the weight off but mostly I'd just like to fit into my clothes again. Most things fit but are still snug.

So back to running . . .

My original goal was to run the marathon at a 10 min. pace. I'm not so sure this is possible by now so I'm just hoping to stay under a 12 min. pace now. This weekend I ran 9 miles & held my pace really well & ended with a 11:56 average. So I'm hopful that in 16 weeks this will improve a little.

But more than anything what's most important is finishing the race.

4 Month Sleep Regression

Like the title says, that's what we're in right now. My good little sleeper is waking up every 3 hours (sometimes less). It's like she's a newborn again.

At first I didn't know what was going on. She had been sleeping through the night, averaging 9 hour stretches, for quite a while. Then she snapped. It helped when a friend led me here & I learned how there's a lot going on in her little body & mind right now. I also found some good information here.

But how long is this going to last? And is there something I should be doing to get her back to sleeping through the night? Do I need to change our routine?

Shaylin still sleeps in our room. Quite frankly I'm having a hard time letting go. I'm just now getting to the point where I'm not checking to see if she's breathing every night. It's just nice to have her close to me, but especially while she's waking up at night. But I'm starting to consider moving her to her room to see if that may help. A couple friends have told me that when they moved their baby to their own room that they slept the best. So it's under consideration.

So I'm asking for help & advice. We've had 7 nights in a row of her waking up constantly. Last night she did give me a 4-hour stretch so I'm hopeful that's she moving in the right direction.

My sleeping angel

I found my feet!

Soy Lemon Pork Chops

Since I'm trying at least one new recipe a week, I think I'll share them on here, so long they're actually good. Last night I made Soy Lemon Pork Chops for dinner. They were super easy & the only expense I had was the pork chops because I had all the other ingredients at home already. I love recipes like that!

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 T Worcestershire sauce
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T lemon juice
1/2 t black pepper
1 t vegetable oil
4 pork chops (I used the butterfly chops)

In a shallow dish, combine soy sauce, worcestershire sauce, garlic, lemon juice, black pepper, & oil. Add pork chops & turn to coat evenly. Cover & refridgerate for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Place marinated pork chops in roasting pan & bake for 35-40 minutes, basting often with marinade.

It all began a year ago

It was one year ago today that I learned that I was pregnant with my precious Shaylin.

I wish I could say that I was happy when I saw that little + sign. It was the 7th time I'd seen it & every time before had ended with sadness.

I took the test at work (because I'm classy like that). I just had a feeling that something wasn't right. Right away I called Jeremy & let him know. Both of us were thinking "here we go again" & were prepared for the worst.

The next day I had bloodwork done to see what my beta HCG count was. In the past it had never been very good. Only 2 hours later my results were back & they were 2,275.

Hope had returned.