Black Friday

Every year for the past 5 or 6 years, I have gotten up early to go out shopping on Black Friday. Since we go to Todd's brother's house for Thanksgiving, I do my shopping there. My sister-in-law Angela got us each a newspaper so that we could scope out the ads on Thanksgiving and make a plan for Friday. One year she went out shopping with me early in the morning but I think I am a bit too hardcore.

I was actually uncertain if I would head out this year after looking at the ads. We are cutting back on Christmas this year and I have already done some shopping. I just didn't see anything that looked fabulous or was a must have item. In previous years, I have headed to Best Buy or Circuit City to get a good deal on some sort of electronics for Todd. Now that we have kids, I imagine that all current and future trips will start at someplace like Toys R Us or Target.

I normally go out to get to the first store by 5am. This year I decided to change the strategy. And it must all work together like a well-oiled machine. If you get delayed at one store, it can affect where else you go. So I went out around 11:30 to get to the outlets at midnight. I was mainly looking for clothes for Michael and figured this would be a good place to get them. When I got there, it was already packed. I have never seen them so busy before and couldn't even park in the parking lot. I stayed until 4:00 and was able to go to 4 stores. The majority of my time was spent in one store's line but the rest went fairly smoothly.

Since I had already been out so long, I decided to just stay out until Target opened at 5:00 and get a few things there. None of the items were doorbusters so I figured I could get them with little to no trouble. I was able to pass the time between the outlets and Target by going to CVS and picking up their Black Friday freebies. It was pretty neat to be working deals with coupons at 4:30am and being the only one in the store! I guess the strangest things make me happy.

By the time I finally got home at 6am, I was exhausted. The adrenaline that had kept me awake all night was finally subsiding. For me, while I do enjoy getting great deals, part of going out on Black Friday is for the thrill of the hunt. I enjoy people watching and you can see quite a few interesting things if you are awake enough to pay attention. You strike up conversations with people you normally would not while waiting in line. It's also eye-opening to see what other people are buying.

I imagine that I will continue to go shopping on Black Friday, if not for the deals, then definitely for the experience!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. We have so many things to be thankful for this year. The year started off with the birth of Katie in March. She has been such a blessing to our family. Michael is really turning into quite the little man and we are so lucky to have him too. I am also thankful for Todd. I can't imagine life without my partner, best friend and wonderful father. I am thankful for a roof over our heads, family that loves us and food on our table. I am also thankful for this opportunity to stay at home with Michael and Katie! It's been something I have wanted for a long time.

I am sure there are many more things to be thankful for but these are the things that stand out most to me. I am hoping that 2010 brings just as many things to be thankful for!

Thursday Tidbits #2

This past week has been a busy one, as usual. We are pretty much into our routine now but of course, next month will bring more changes to it.

• Michael will take a 3 month break from physical therapy during December, January and February. His therapist thinks that he is getting burnt out since he has been going every week for 18 months. His progress has plateaued a bit and we will continue to work on the exercises at home.


• I can't believe that it's only one week until Thanksgiving. We are going to Todd's brother's for the weekend so I won't have to do any cooking. I normally bring some pies so I will work on those next week.


• This week brought a few more rainy days. I know this is bringing SC out of the drought that we have had for several years but it makes the days seem cold and dreary. Even Michael is feeling it a bit as he commented that he didn't feel so happy with all the rain :)


• I continued with my unfortunate cycle of flat tires. I don't know how it always seems to happen to me but I have had at least 7 flat tires in the past 3 years! That's more than anyone should have in 20 years. At least we have AAA.....


• Katie turned 8 months and Michael turned 3.5 on Monday. I think it's pretty neat that Katie, Michael and Todd are all born on the 16th of the month.


• I am thinking about coming up with an invention that helps to keep socks on baby feet. I put Katie's back on at least 10 times a day and she takes them right back off. I would leave socks all altogether but that might be a little strange for November. Oh, wait, we live in SC.


• Katie ate her first meats this week. She had roast beef on Monday and ham on Tuesday. She ate every last piece that I put on her tray and didn't fall onto her chair. Katie hasn't met a food she doesn't like yet!

Wordless Wednesday

8 months old

Katie turned 8 months old today! She is growing up right before our eyes. Before we know it, she will be 1. I am amazed at the things she is learning and it's so much fun to watch her learn new things.

Tonight for dinner, she tried roast beef and loved it. There is no food that she won't touch. She has recently tried zucchini, squash and blueberry applesauce. She really enjoys eating banana puffs and can pick them up and put them in her mouth now. We have also given her the biter biscuits and she can spend at least 15 minutes just gnawing on it.

She is still toothless. It's really cute to see her. Even though she is getting bigger and looking less like a baby, this gives her a sweet look. And it's so fun to watch her try to eat everything. One of her favorite things to eat is her socks. She will pull her feet up to her mouth, suck on the sock for a while and then pull it off. Afterwards, she stuffs it down beside her in the carseat.

Katie isn't crawling yet but that doesn't mean that she doesn't get around. If you put her on the floor, she will sit there for a few minutes before moving her arms forward to reach something that she probably shouldn't have! Then she gets on her stomach and just rolls to wherever she wants to go. In the past few days, she has started trying to pull up on various things, like Michael's table and the toddler rocker. She got pretty frustrated the other day as she pulled up but could only get on her knees.

She has been going through a bit of a phase with going to bed. For a week or so, she didn't want to go to sleep at night. I have been trying to limit her late afternoon/early evening snooze between 5 and 6 and this has seemed to help. Sleeping during the daytime is hit or miss as we have a different schedule almost every day of the week with Michael's school or appointments. Typically, she will take 2 daytime naps and sleep between 10-12 hours per night. I'll take it!

I can't wait to see how much she has grown at her 9 month checkup in December. She is wearing some 9 month clothes already and seems to have big feet like Michael. Katie has a good bit of hair and I put a bow in it today. She has enough hair that it could hold it in. I think she is going to take after both Todd and myself in that area.

We are enjoying every minute of her time with us. Michael still gets the biggest laughs from her, although she appears to be serious to most people if she doesn't know them well. She can be tough to get a smile on cue but I think that's just a baby trait. Here are a few photos that I took of her today:

Thursday Tidbits

Since I started staying at home with Michael and Katie, it seems like the days are busier than when I was working. I have much less free time during the day. Michael has school on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and physical therapy on Tuesday. So Thursday is the only day of the week that we can stay at home all day.

Today brought another cold, windy and rainy day. When Michael wakes up in the morning, he asks me or Todd where he is going that day. Today I told him that we didn't have to go anywhere today. He told me he wanted to stay home. So we all got dressed in warm cozy clothes and stayed in for the day. It was nice.

I have been thinking about making this post a regular feature each Thursday since we don't have any obligations. It could be a recap about what happened in the past week and would give me a reason to blog at least once a week about things that may not be enough for their own blog post.

Some things that happened in the past week:

• Katie was sitting on the floor today and when I came back into the room, she was on her knees trying to pull up on Michael's table.
• Todd and Michael spent a nice afternoon with his dad at his parents' house in Ruby on Friday.
• We started Christmas shopping and are hoping to finish it up early this year, for once, so we can relax and enjoy the holiday season.
• We got Michael's school pictures back and they turned out great.
• Todd was able to get the H1N1 vaccine so hopefully it will stay away from our house.
• Michael continues to be concerned with what he is wearing and will only wear certain clothes, making him more difficult to dress than myself or Todd.
• Katie has been going through a bit of a rough time getting to sleep at bedtime. I hope it's just a phase and passes quickly.

Looking forward to doing this again next week. I will have to keep a written list of what is going on so I can remember to include it.

Siblings

After we had Michael, we were unsure if we were going to have another child or not, even though Todd and I both have siblings. Then we found out that we were pregnant with Katie. We expected the worst when we told Michael, even though I am not sure he understood what was going on.

When we brought Katie home from the hospital, Michael was so excited to see all of us. He was enamored by Katie and what she could or could not do. We told him that he was the big brother and could do things that Katie couldn't do yet. So he would repeat to us that Katie couldn't eat what he did because she didn't have teeth (and still doesn't).

Fast forward to now: Katie is just as enamored with Michael. He is the one who makes her laugh the loudest, as well as cry the loudest if he gets too rough. It seems like anything that he does is so entertaining to her. Their interaction is so neat and I watch them learn from each other. Michael is learning that everything is not his and how to share and be kind to his sister. Katie is learning how to laugh, cry and play with her older brother. She is always learning how to fend for herself. I have told Michael that it's only a matter of time before Katie can get into his toys.

I am so thankful that Michael and Katie will have each other as siblings as they grow up. I look forward to watching the bond develop even more. Michael tells Katie that he loves her very much. I think that's so sweet....and even sweeter will be the day that she tells him the same thing back!

Beginning of the Month

I always seem to get on a roll with blogging at the end of every month. But then, the new month starts and I take a hiatus from blogging. I am not sure why. I don't think that the beginning of the month is any busier than the end of the month. Maybe I see that the month is starting to go by and realize all of the things that I meant to blog about.

I would say that I don't think this will happen again next month, but that's quite optimistic. It will be December, a busy time of year between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Maybe that can be my New Year's blogging resolution....to blog at the beginning, middle and end of the month. I know that I wanted to blog more this year and I definitely have accomplished that. It's kind of funny to be that since having Katie, I have been blogging more. I definitely don't have nearly as much free time as I used to. I think it may just be possible that there is more blogging material with 2 kids!