Mommin' It Up!

June 12, 2008June 12, 2008

I might run out into traffic

To soothe a baby, go on a car ride, right? Not if the baby is Sam! He hates riding in the car, and he doesn’t let us forget it. He screams the entire time he is buckled in. He could have just been fed and changed and be the happiest baby around, yet the second we get rolling, he starts screaming.

The kid has stamina, too. One might think he’d eventually wear himself out, but not so much. Tuesday night we drove to Cincinnati (a trip that should take an hour but took two thanks to traffic) and he did not stop. The whole time. Between him and the horrible traffic, when we finally got to the Reds game my nerves were shot. I was about to take to the drink.

He’s always fine (albeit a pool of sweat) as soon as we get to our destination and get him out. He just wants to be held, which I understand, but occasionally we do have to be in the car.

I feel so bad for him when he is upset like that, but I really don’t know what to do. We’ve tried sitting back there with him, singing, playing music (and radio static), holding his hand, talking to him… everything we can think of, but nothing helps. Even if we stop and get him out and settled down, he starts up again as soon as he’s back in the car seat.

I am scared to death of our upcoming trip to St. Louis (for a Cardinals game… do you see a pattern here?). It’s six hours of solid driving.

I am open to suggestions!! Actually I am begging for them. And help me decide this – on a long road trip, how long is too long to just keep chugging along even though he’s crying??

June 11, 2008June 11, 2008

WFMW: Tottoos.org

I’ve been meaning to write this WFMW for, oh, about 11 months, but with summer here, now seemed like the perfect time to finally do it!

Last June we took a trip to Disney World. Kate had just turned three. Being the giant dork I am, I was researching everything I could. You should have seen the notebook in my purse with maps, the order in which we’d ride each ride, “must see” tips and more. It made Jenny and her coupon binder seem well adjusted.

But anyway! Right before we left I found out about Tottoos. They are, as you might imagine, tattoos for kids. Here’s what they look like:

Yes, I planned to tattoo my cell phone number on my child’s arm! We were about to leave on our trip, and I wasn’t sure I could get them in time, so I called the tottoos people and they were SO nice and sent my order to me with time to spare.

Tottoos aren’t like the regular temporary tattoos you’re used to. They are more plasticky (yes, that is the technical term) and you have to use their special remover to get them off, so they are water proof and will stand up to a long day at the amusement park or whatever.

They also have a medical alert variety that can be used to warn people about a child’s diabetes, allergies, etc.

I took a lot of razzing when I told my friends at work that I was going to order these (paranoid much??) but they were great. Having been lost in Disney World myself as a child, I really wanted to make sure that we would be quickly reunited with Kate should we become separated. She couldn’t be trusted (and still can’t, really) to remember a phone number, especially if she were upset, so this was perfect. I just told her that if she couldn’t find us, she should find a Disney worker or another mom with kids and show her Tottoo.

Fortunately, we didn’t need to put the Tottoos into action, but I was very glad to have them. And many, many moms stopped me throughout our trip and asked me where i had gotten such a thing.

Keeping kids safe – that works for me. For more Works for me Wednesday fun, head over to Rocks in my Dryer!

I just got an email from the nice Tottoos people and they are offering our readers 10% off – just use the code MOM10.

June 7, 2008

Sooo Many Deals, So Little Time!

I was very excited by all the deals at CVS this week and I went many, many more times than is healthy. But I got some AWESOME deals!! Here we are for starters: I had to hit that Pampers deal ASAP! I did it in two transactions.

Transaction #1:
1 Pampers $7.99
1 Listerine $3.49
2 CVS bandages $1.99 each
total= $15.46
Coupons I used:
CVS $5/$15
Pampers $1.50 off (from Cheerios box)
total = $8.96
I paid with $9 ECB, adjusted down to $8.96, paid 21 cents cash and got $7.47 ECB ($3.49 for the Listerine and $3.98 for the bandages).

Transaction # 2:
2 Pampers @ $7.99 ecah
Total – $15.98
Coupons I used:
$5/$15 CVS coupon and $2/2 Pampers coupon
total = $8.98
I paid with $8.99 in ECBs adjusted down to $8.98 and paid 14 cents cash and got 5 ECB back for buying the Pampers. YAY!!! I LOVE free diapers!!!

Later in the week, I went back to get some more deals:

1 Huggies wash $3.49
Oral-B 2 pk toothbrush $6.99
CVS bandages $1.99
Brut deodorant $3.19
total = $15.66
I used CVS $5/$15 coupon
$1 off Brut coupon
$1 off Huggies wash coupon
total = $8.66
I paid with $8.58 in ECBs and 23 cents cash an got back $11.99 in ECBs, 2 for the Huggies wash, 3 for the Brut, and 6.99 for the toothbrushes!

Finally, I found that Charmin/Bounty deal too good to pass up, so I bought this:

Two Charmin @ $4.96 each
Two Bounty @ $4.96 each
Total = $19.84
I used the CVS $5/$15 coupon
Two $1 off Charmin coupons I got in the mail awhile back
Two 25 cents off Bounty coupons
total = $12.44
I paid with 12 ECBs 54 cents cash and got back 10 ECBs

Allright, now that I’ve beat CVS to death, on to MEIJER!! They were having one of those fabulous 10 for 10 sales this week! Here’s a sampling of what I got:

The 9 bags of chex mix and 4 boxes of pizza rolls were all FREE with doubled coupons!! The Betty Crocker potatoes were FREE because they were my 11th item, and the sale was 10 for 10 and get the 11th FREE! The Fiber One bars were 80 cents a box with doubled coupons, and the Green Giant veggies were 50 cents a bag with coupon. Sooo….I paid $3.40 for all this!! Isn’t that GREAT?? But it gets BETTER! Later in the week, I was able to get some more coupons, so I went back and got 5 more FREE boxes of pizza rolls (or FREEZA rolls as I like to call them now) and 4 more bags of FREE Chex Mix!! And just so you know, I am not a total glutton, I am taking all the Chex Mix on my family vacation this weekend with my 15 closest relatives, so I promise to share.

Well friends, that is it for me this week, so everyone jump on over to CVS Superstars at the Centsible Sawyer to see more victims of OCD (Obsessive CVS Disorder) at work!! And for more amazing savings, check out Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!