SIX months.

Okay - insert mini mommy breakdown here. My baby is six months old. Now, many of you would say that six months is still little so why the freakout. But in visiting with Bailey - Caden's newest little cousin and seeing her at only five weeks old I could have cried. Wait a minute - wasn't I just on maternity? Wasn't I just freaking out over Caden eating every three hours and wondering if he was getting enough food and dealing with little baby gas... wasn't that me? No, now Caden is the big man on campus (or in our case on the blanket) taking over the thing and towering over Bailey!

I know that Caden used to be this little - but suddenly it is hard to remember. Which makes me sad. All of that said, Caden is six months old. At six months I find that we are suddenly doing ALL kinds of things that I can't even begin to explain. Allow my photos to tell the story.

In month six we started eating some solid foods - starting with cereal and moving into bananas, sweet potatoes, and apples. He LOVES it. :) And is doing GREAT.

I have really found that in the past month he has really started to LOVE his different toys. Watching him interact with all of them and really start to enjoy them.

And... we're sitting on our own! I love to sit in the floor (or the grass) and play with things and check out the world. Still not quite sure what to do when I fall over - but all in all I am liking the freedom of sitting. And last but not least is one of the biggest (and fussiest) things that has gone on this month is that we have TEETH. The first tooth came through about 2 weeks ago, quickly followed by the one on the right this past Thursday. These suckers are SHARP! The consensus seems to be that he is eagerly waiting for all of the yummy foods he can't have yet. haha.

Other basic stats are...

Weight:

• At the last doctor's appointment he was 17lbs. We go for his 6 month appointment on May 3rd so we'll update then. :)

Length:

• LONG enough to almost hang off the end of his carseat... and to look like the jolly green giant beside of Bailey but again, no formal length until we have the 6th month apt.

Clothes:

• Little man is wearing mainly 6 month clothes (go figure) with some 6-9 month clothes mixed in there.

Neat traits about Caden:

• He has such a precious little personality. He is completely in love with both of us. He smiles and talks and laughs and just loves on anyone who will let him. We say over and over again that he is so incredible and that if we were to have another he/she would/will probably be a terror. lol.


• He LOVE LOVE LOVES to stand. Like for real, this kid is going to start walking by next months post (just kidding but you get the point).


• His favorite toy of the moment is his new Fisher Price Puppy - and our own sweet puppy - Chloe. lol.


• Of the food we've tried, I'm pretty sure bananas are the favorite.


• He is quite the social man. He even already has some best friends that he loves to play with. Most recently him and his little friend Connor have had MANY fun adventures!

Overall life with him is a blessing. Every day is a joy. And we have never loved our family any more than we do at this moment.

It's not just coupons...

I have an Easter Bunny example of how sometimes "couponing" is not JUST about coupons. We were pondering what could come in Caden's very first Easter basket - and I got a coupon for a few different Fisher Price toys, with one of them being the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Puppy. Well we knew ALL to well about this little guy - because Zelina had one while she was growing up and LOOOOOVED it.

So off I went to Babies R Us, because I also had a $5 off rewards coupon... thinking that I was making the best choice. At Babies R Us it was $24.99 - so with the $5 Fisher Price coupon and the $5 off rewards card - it was $14.99. Not bad. So I left feeling pretty good about myself. UNTIL, I saw that the puppy was on sale right next door at Target for $15.09. Add to that the $5 coupon, and an in store 20% off Fisher Price toys coupon - and the Easter puppy was ONLY $7.09! So, new couponers... keep in mind that MUCH more importantly than having coupons is WATCHING THE SALES. It can save you LOTS of money. :) And even more importanly than that - Caden' LOOOOVES him.

Best Deals This Week (and last)

So... my guess is you are probably looking at this and thinking - who in the world needs THAT much shampoo?! Well, let me tell you first that for any of you who watched TLC's Extreme Couponing - I am NOT turning into the lady that bought 60+ things of mustard just because they were free (as I told Kelly today - I don't really even LIKE mustard - haha). First of all - these are the brands that I use normally (nothing like scoring on an amazing sale on things that you already LOVE) - the different types of Herbal Essence are because of the whole "you're supposed to change your shampoo every 3 months... blah blah blah" thing that I have heard before - plus I like having the different smells. And I also love Aussie hair spray. However, I want you to know that I am aware that this seems like a lot of shampoo - and it is. But let me give you the breakdown of why.

This week (4/3 - 4/9) at CVS - Herbal Essence and Aussie products were on sale 2 for $5.49.Normally they are anywhere from 3.99 to 5.49 each - so this on it's on wasn't a bad deal. But it gets better. On Monday of this week I had my first trial and error of using a coupon clipping service to get coupons we don't have here. I used www.couponsthingsbydede.com and ordered 8 Buy1Get1Free coupons for Herbal Essence products (which cost $1.60 shipped) and 6 coupons for $1.00 off 2 Herbal Essence/Aussie products (which cost $0.60 shipped). Once I got the coupons on Friday I was eager to see if this was going to work as well as I thought it was.

CVS was also running an Extra Care Bucks Special where you get $10 ECB if you spend $30. So this morning I went to CVS and this was the breakdown:

2 Aussie Hair Spray (originally $5.49 each)

6 Herbal Essence Spampoos (originally $3.99 each)

2 Herbal Essence Conditioners (originally $3.99 each)

2 Herbal Essence Scrunching Gels (originally $4.59 each)

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This WOULD have cost me (before tax): $52.08

I actually SPENT (after tax): $13.12

+ Cost of coupons from service = $2.20

Coupons I used:

6 B1G1 Herbal Essence/Aussie Products

6 $1.00 off Two Herbal Essence/Aussie Products

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My TOTAL expense = $15.32

Extra Care Bucks Earned = $10.00

TOTAL SPENT: $5.32

That is a 90% savings. Each item was ONLY 44 cents a piece. CRAZY.

Overall, I say again, it is WORTH it to watch the sales - and I must say, for my first time using a couponing service - I think it was certainly worth the little bit of money that I spent. Overall, I am REALLY loving this CRAZY CRAZY CRAZY "dip" into the shallow end of the coupon pool. :)