Who knew coupons were so much fun??? :-)

As some of you know, I have been getting into coupons lately. It all started when I found out I was pregnant and wanted to come up with ways to save on baby necessities, such as diapers, wipes, etc. I registered at a number of "expectant mom" sites and the coupons for Pampers, formula, Babies R Us, etc started flooding my mailbox and email. Jason gave me a coupon organizing book for Christmas, and oddly it was one of my favorite gifts. I began looking for coupons for other parts of our life, such as eating out and grocery shopping. It's been a focus for me ever since.

Last week my friend Sarah informed me that Harris Teeter does triple coupon days where they'll triple the face value of a coupon that is worth 99 cents or less. For those that are not familiar with Harris Teeter, it's a southern grocery chain. They also have the VIC club, which is their shoppers reward club similar to Food Lion's MVP program.

I already had a VIC card from my previous days of living in VA & NC. We did not have Harris Teeter while living in Michigan, so this is a definite advantage to being back in the south now! I pulled out my existing coupons to find the ones that were worth 99 cents or less, searched online for printable coupons (there are a TON out there!) and purchased the Sunday paper for the first time in forever and clipped coupons from the Red Plum & SmartSource inserts.

Harris Teeter limits shoppers to 20 coupons per day, so we've made a few trips to make the most of the promotion. I was especially proud of my finds today - here is a photo & a written list of what I purchased:


Non-coupon items:

6 lbs of boneless chicken breasts (VIC Buy one 2 lb package, get two free, cost $1.66 per pound)
3 lbs of fresh strawberries (VIC special Buy one, get two free, cost $1.11 per pound)

Coupon items:

2 Duncan Hines cake mixes
1 Betty Crocker cookie mix
1 Betty Crocker muffin mix
1 Betty Crocker Warm Delight
1 Chex Mix
1 Total cereal
2 Orville Redenbacher popcorn
1 Lipton decaf tea bags, qty 24
1 Heinz cocktail sauce
1 Wishbone Italian dressing
3 Hunts Snackpack pudding, qty 4 per pack
1 Yoplait Greek yogurt
1 Sargento shredded cheese
1 Sargento string cheese
2 French's mustard
2 French's honey mustard dipping sauce
2 Lever 2000 bars of soap
1 Colgate toothpaste

So now for the exciting part .... guess how much I spent??? I can't just blurt it out, so here is the math - hey, gotta keep my skills sharp for when I go back to teaching :-)

Retail cost of purchases: $143.84
VIC program savings: - $38.36
Coupon savings: - $72.06

TOTAL SPENT: $33.42 .... that's a savings of $110.42!!!!

Here's a breakdown of some of the great deals I got:

French's mustard: $1.95 retail price - .45 VIC savings - 1.50 triple .50 coupon = FREE

Colgate: $3.25 retail - .75 VIC savings - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .25

Betty Crocker Warm Delights: $2.55 retail - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .30

Wishbone dressing: $2.99 retail - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .75

Total cereal: $4.45 retail - 1.45 VIC savings - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .75

Sargento shredded cheese: $3.19 retail - 2.25 triple .75 coupon = .94

Hunts pudding Snackpacks: $1.29 retail - .29 VIC savings - .50 triple coupon = .50 each, $1.50 total for three packs

I can see already that "couponing" is going to be addictive for me, it combines two of my favorite things.... math & a scavenger hunt! Hey, I guess you could have worse hobbies, right? :-) I still have a lot to learn; I have read blogs where ladies manage to end up with a total less than a dollar. Now that is impressive! Sarah also mentioned that Harris Teeter does "Super Doubles" where they will allow you to double coupons up to $1.99 face value.... who knew coupons were so much fun?

Easton's 2 month check-up

Easton had his 2 month well child visit with the doctor yesterday. He received a great report and is growing like a weed. His length & head circumference were in the 50% to 70% range, but his weight is still off of the charts!!! Easton weighed 15.1 lbs, was 23.5 inches long & his head measured 16.5 inches. We assumed he had grown quite a bit because he's already outgrown his 0-3 month sized clothing and is wearing 3-6 month now, but WOW, 15 lbs already!?!?! I guess considering he was almost 10 lbs at birth that 15 lbs now isn't such a stretch, right?

Easton's temperature was 99.3, which is average for a rectal temp (ugh!) He was also scheduled to get several shots, which I actually think was worse on me than it was on him. He took them like a champ, cried for about 20 seconds and then settled back into his usual laid-back and sweet demeanor. I am so glad to have that first shot experience behind us .... seriously, I think Easton is better about getting shots than I am, and I am grown! How sad is that? :-)

We were happy to get a good report for Easton - his next appointment will be in May when he's 4 months old. I wonder what he'll weigh by then? If he continues to grow at this rate, he'll be over 20 lbs!!!

Our weekend in Raleigh, NC

We spent the weekend at my brother & sister-in-law's house in Apex. Saturday began with a birthday get together for my Mom at Jacob and Ashley's place. Several family members attended and we enjoyed a delicious lunch of steaks, baked potatoes, salad & cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory. Mama received several nice gifts & seemed to really enjoy her birthday celebration with the family.

Easton with his Gammy on her birthday

Mama opens her gifts - her kids & Easton gave her a GPS!

On Saturday evening, several of my NC friends came over for a visit, including Megan (aka Mayhan), Susan (aka Denny) & her boyfriend Ryan, and Lesley & Edward. I just realized I have a lot of nicknames for my friends! :-) It was great to have a chance to catch up with good friends and everyone was excited to meet Easton. Below are a few photos of my friends meeting Easton for the 1st time.

Easton meets my friend Denny....

....and Lesley & Edward drive in from the Roxboro area to visit Easton

On Sunday, we had lunch with April at Firehouse Subs, one of my favorite places in the Raleigh area. After lunch we loaded up the car and headed home ... we also made a quick stop in Smithfield at the outlet stores to pick up some cute clothes for Easton. We were so happy to arrive at our house & have no plans for traveling for at least 2 weeks. That will be a record for us since Easton was born!!! :-) We are looking forward to "staying put" for a while so people can actually come to visit us in our new home.

Easton's 1st St Patrick's Day

Easton celebrated his 1st holiday yesterday ... St Patty's Day! Technically his 1st holiday was Valentine's, but since we were making the drive from Michigan to Virginia that day we really couldn't celebrate properly. But St Patty's was a different story - Easton got dressed up in his finest green duds and we took tons of photos. We went to dinner @ a restaurant in Holly Ridge called "The Smokehouse" and all the waitresses commented on Easton's green St Patty's spirit. After dinner we made the drive to Danville, so his Gammy & Pappy got to see him dressed up too!

All decked out in green

Easton's bib says "Kiss me I'm Irish" .... so I did :-)

A close-up of his shamrock outfit

And a rear view ... it says "My 1st St Patrick's Day" :-)

Easton in the morning

As mentioned in previous blogs, Easton is so happy & playful in the morning. Here's a short video of how he acts .... notice his Dad snoozing in the background. Oh, and you've gotta love those cute little sneezes!!!! :-)

Easton is almost 2 months old!

Easton with his Memaw - look @ his cute baseball shirt! :-)

Easton is all smiles in the morning

Don't you love his little Nikes??? :-)

Easton with his Pappy, all dressed up for dinner on the town

It's tummy time! He's such a strong boy!!!

Cuddling with his Mom

Time is FLYING BY .... people warned me that this would happen, but I think all of the craziness of moving, getting settled in, etc has made time pass by even quicker. It's hard to believe that on Friday (March 19th) Easton will be 2 months old! Can you believe it? The photos above show some of Easton's progress --- he seems to change a little each day, and the change is dramatic from week to week.

Easton has developed SO much in his first two months of life. He is such an independent baby and is quite content with looking around, punching his fists & kicking his feet. There have been times that Jason & I thought he was asleep only to find out he's been happily playing. At first I was worried, but everyone says to be happy that Easton is so laid back & easily entertained. He is not a fussy baby at all and only cries when he needs something. We've learned that a cry means a few things - he needs a diaper change, he's hungry or he has gas. Rarely he'll cry for other reasons, such a being too hot or over-stimulated. But he's easily consoled and we know we are very fortunate in that!

Easton has also become much more social lately - he smiles and laughs and seems to recognize the people in his life. The mornings are the best; he is so happy and has the biggest grin on his face (which makes getting up super early worth it!) :-) He turns when he hears our voices and will react to our laughter and actions. He is developing such a cute personality... his coos and little sounds will make your heart melt. But we are not the only people Easton loves - he is lucky that his grandparents, uncles and other extended family members are around quite a bit. Everyone loves to spend time with him & we are so thankful that Easton has so much love & attention.

Easton enjoys tummy time and is very strong. He can hold himself up for long periods of time and likes to look at colorful objects, our faces and his own reflection. He can't quite roll over on his own yet, but we anticipate that happening very soon. He also likes to take baths and we look forward to when bath time can involve more playing and fun. We look forward to the upcoming developments, but don't want them to happen too quickly! :-)

Easton's One Month Old Photo Shoot - which pics do you like best?

On Wednesday February 24th, Easton had his first professional photo shoot with my good friend Chrystal. He did a great job & seemed to really enjoy posing for the camera and being cute. We did a lot of poses of Easton by himself, then Jason & I took some photos with him. The pictures turned out wonderfully and we're still trying to decide which are our favorites so we can order some prints. If you'd like to see the pics, go to the link below. Let me know which shots you like the best!

http://chrystalsimpson.smugmug.com/Other/Easton-Jones/11373199_26v7u#798990755_vpT8g

Am I a slacker???

WOW - it's been WEEKS since my last post, how unlike me! I feel like quite the blogging slacker, or am I? The past several weeks have been extremely busy .....

We spent two weeks at my Mom & Dad's house in Virginia and those weeks were packed with people wanting to meet Easton, birthday parties, eating out and finalizing our move details. We drove down to the Topsail area twice while staying with my parents; once for our home inspection & once for closing. We made the drive a third time on March 1st so we could be at our new house for our furniture delivery. My Dad joined us so he could help us with the move - which was a HUGE help!

After several days of unpacking boxes, we headed back to Virginia to see family & friends again for a few days. On Monday of this week we went to High Point, NC to purchase some new furniture for the master bedroom & breakfast nook in our home. We got back late Monday night & have still be working on settling in. All of this, plus we have been caring for a newborn!!! I don't feel too bad for falling behind on my blogging duties after reading all of this :-)

In more exciting news, Easton has grown and developed SO much over the past month or so. He seems to change each day - some important milestones are he is gaining a lot of head strength and can pull his head up quite well during "tummy time", he is smiling a lot now & we recently moved him up to size 3 to 6 month clothing. Did I mention he's only 7 weeks old??? Easton is a wonderful traveler and seems to love rides in the car to his Gammy & Pappy's house. He's a really laid-back and content baby - we are quite lucky! Easton is growing into a big, strong boy and we all love him so much!!!

Here are a few photos from the past several weeks - now that we are *almost* settled into our new home and have internet access I'll be much better about posting updates, I promise :-)

Moving day (Feb 12th) ... what a CUTE expression on his face!

Easton's 1st time in a hotel (Feb 13th) - seems he can sleep anywhere (which is a good thing)!

With his Memaw at her birthday party on Feb 18th

And with Great-Grandma Francis, at her 90th birthday party (Feb 19th)

Our first family photo