SevenSlings

A few weeks ago, Kileen told me about an offer for a free baby sling (still had to pay shipping) from SevenSlings.com. I don't think I'll be much of a toting-baby-around-in-a-sling mommy, but I figured if all I had to pay was $11.95 (shipping) I might as well try it out. If anything, I could figure out how it's made and make more for myself or for friends. (Just a side note--why does it cost $12 to ship a light-as-air piece of fabric about 20 miles? I got mine in the mail yesterday to see that it came from Lehi, Utah, which is literally 15 minutes away. The $40 sling was free, so I guess its ok.) The fabric is nice and seems sturdy, so I am happy with my purchase. 

I was looking through the booklet to see how to wear it and once I had it on I thought, "I wonder how heavy it will feel once a baby is in here". Then I looked down to see my sweet William laying on the floor near my feet. He weighs about 9 pounds, which is (hopefully) a little more than a newborn, so I bent down, picked him up, and put his sweet little kitty booty in the sling. Bryce thought this was funny, so he took a few pictures.

This first picture was right after I got him in, so he doesn't look very happy about it. After a few minutes, he just kinda settled in and laid there like this: 

It wasn't until I started walking around with him in there that he wanted out. The sling, with 9ish pounds of cat in it, was actually quite comfortable. I can see myself walking around the house, with the baby in it, while I do chores and such. For all of you who are dying to get one too, go to the website and enter promo code "heart". (I know, how lucky am I that I got another promo code for one in my inbox yesterday?) I'm not sure how long the promo will last since it was for Valentine's Day, but when I got on there earlier today to test it out, it was still working. Happy slinging!

Saving

I started couponing. (Is that a real word?) Anyway, I got the paper and cut out all the coupons that I would use. Then I perused the ads to figure out what to buy now and where. So today I went to Smith's, Rite Aid, and Walgreens to get all my stuff. I saved more than I spent everywhere I went (by a LOT). My favorite deal was 10 for $10 on Colgate toothpaste at Smith's (which you don't have to buy 10 to get the deal, btw) and then I had a coupon for 75c off and another for 50c off Colgate toothpaste. So I got 2 regular-sized tubes of toothpaste for 75c. They are normally $2.50 a piece. Now THAT is a deal.

Also, we are trying to work on our grocery budget. To do this, we are writing out a weekly menu and planning it around what we already have. I found a great website where you can enter ingredients in and it will give you a list of recipes that use your ingredients. We have planned most of this week's meals needing no extra groceries. I am hoping that we don't have to buy more than $50 in groceries before going to Houston in 2 weeks. Here's hoping...