Melanie ~ look at me with starry eyes...

I love sales. I went shopping at Children's Place for my 4 nephews and 2 nieces, for Christmas. I got the boys each one pair of pants and one shirt, and the girls a shirt and a skirt, plus a shirt for Paxton, and a pair of jeans, a skirt and a shirt for Reagan for Christmas. I wish I bought more, with a coupon, plus the sales at the store, it all came to $44. I just remembered that they wouldn't sell me one shirt because it turns out it was a pajama shirt and there were no pants with it, it looked like a normal dinosaur shirt to me, so I need to find something else for Aaron, but that's easy enough. I'll pick up a few more things, maybe some silly bandz as well. I'm bringing it all in my suitcase so I don't have to ship it.

I have no idea what to buy for everyone else. I'm going to put together an album for my mom, with the pictures that totheleft took for us, and I'll do the same for Tim's mom. But that leaves my dad, my 2 sisters, my brother, my 2 brother in laws, and Tim's dad and family. I should probably send something to my aunt in England, I feel bad, she always sends gifts and I rarely do. :(

I picked up some dishes for us as well, we've been using dishes that were bought at the beginning of Tim's previous marriage, and they are cracked and all the bowls broke. Will be nice to have our own dishes that we picked out. When I walked into the store, in the huge outlet mall, the woman working there said "Oh, it's you again, you were just here on the weekend!". I was shocked she remembered me!

Went to vitainpalus's house, hung out there for a few hours. So awesome, she was given an infant insert for her ergo, but it turned out she didn't need one, her baby is big enough. I, on the other hand, was just looking at ordering one yesterday, but they are $25 just for the insert, which seems so high when I could buy another moby for almost that price. She passed it along to me, perfect! Hopefully I can pass it along to someone else eventually, or use it for the next (possible) baby so I can use my ergo sooner!

Then off to grocery shopping. Went to Harris Teeter, just got my wrap on and realized I didn't have my coupons and it isn't worth shopping there without my coupons, so I got back in the car and drove to Wegmans, where I bought way more than I expected, but I feel like I have some good choices for meals.

When I got home, Amy had brought a container of chili over, and I had cornbread made, so that was an easy quick dinner. I'll make tonight's dinner on Friday. (chicken fajitas) vitainpalus had something cooking that smelled so good, I had to get the recipe, and I'll make that tomorrow.

Baby.. oh baby, baby is going through a growth spurt which means he wakes up 2-3 times in the night instead of once. Every hour or two hours to nurse, instead of the 4 he was doing last week. That equals tired tired tired mommy. Tim has him upstairs with him right now, cleaning the kitchen, giving me a few minutes break. I measured Paxton this morning and he's up another inch, he's 24 inches now. :)

I think that's everything.

I woke up sick this morning, which might explain why I fell asleep at 8:30 last night. Paxton and I slept till 12:30 am, got up and hung out with Tim for a bit, had a snack, Paxton fed and went back to sleep so I did the same. He slept till about 5:30 am, but then nursed off and on for about an hour and a half, I think he was just too rested. We both fell back asleep for a morning nap

Yesterday I took him to the doctor and was very happy to see he gained 11 ounces in 2 weeks, I think it's cutting out the dairy that helped. The nurse was sweet but an idiot. I had to tell her three times that I thought she was leaning on the scale, as she's pushing it up past 11 lbs.. Then she measured his length wrong and forgot to measure his head. Another nurse came in and did it, and was very unimpressed with the first nurse (although she loves Paxton and asked to hold him), and told me "She's only been here three months and she won't be here another". He goes back in 2 months, but I think I'll take him next month for a lab to see how his weight gain is going.

After that it was off to vitainpalus's house. I got to hold her baby Riley for a few minutes, while Paxton was nursing, it was adorable to have both of them in my arms but made me appreciate how much work it would be with twins!! Isabel snuggled up to me and we sang every preschool song I could remember. I love my visits with them.

A new Harris Teeter grocery story opened, and there was a coupon in the mail for $10 off of $40 of groceries for the next 4 weeks. I had some coupons for other things, and then shopped carefully. Spent $55 and saved $36 with coupons!

An older woman at the grocery store oohed over Paxton and then said slightly disapproving "You are going to spoil that baby", since he was in a wrap, and I said "Yup, I am!". If baby wearing is spoiling, then I will have a very spoiled baby. Someone should tell those Ethiopian babies on their momma's backs that they are spoiled.

A man stopped me and told me that his daughter had a little birthmark behind her ear, just like Paxton's little one on his head. Then his wife went on about how they can cause mental retardation, thankfully I didn't freak out about it, but the husband laughed and said that his wife was just a nurse and to quit saying things that would scare me. I know Pax is fine, so it didn't really bother me.

One of their daughters told me that she has a brand new baby brother, and they had 4 kids with them so I said "You guys have a baby too?!", she said "No, he's my stepmom's baby", and the mom looked at her and smiled and said "He's 3 weeks old now, right?". The mom didn't look like she had one negative feeling showing about it, and it made me a bit sad that things aren't as good in our family, with that stuff. I wanted to tell her that I had a stepdaughter too, so she'd know there are more of us, but we all moved on too quickly.

I think I need to take some tylenol. I took one this morning and slept most the morning with Paxton, but it must be worn off, my headache is getting worse and my throat is hurting more. Paxton is asleep right now, so I'll try to lay down and rest. Think it'll be leftovers for dinner tonight.