Shopping and Baking

I wasn't planning to go to the mall this week, but yesterday I learned of a $10 off $25 purchase coupon that was good at Macy's today until 1pm. I also had some unused Hallmark coupons, and it had hit me recently that I should get some rewards for Ian for potty training since candy obviously is not an option. I had purchased some tiny little vehicles for him earlier that I had intended to give him as one of his Christmas presents, but I'm going to save those for rewards for success with toilet training instead. He's really excited about wearing big boy underwear, particularly as I got him Thomas (train) and Cars briefs. I decided to get him one bigger item to use as a larger reward. Once the potty training starts then I'll decide exactly what he'll have to do to earn this prize. I let him pick a stuffed animal at Hallmark as I had a $7 of $12 purchase coupon. He selected a tiger. I can't believe I bought a stuffed animal as we seem to have a billion of them, but we don't have any tigers. He does love tigers, and both children really do adore their stuffed animals. Maybe I'll buy one of these someday as a better way to store them. I'm going to try a 3 day potty training method that Joy had success using with two of her children thus far. It's certainly worth a try as it took a lot longer than 3 days to potty train Nadia. I'm planning on starting the potty training on December 31. It would be awesome if it worked in light of how easily he gets diaper rash. I won't have ANY trouble pushing the liquids with Ian although it will mean he'll go through an insane amount of rice drink for a couple of days.

Speaking of rice drink, I've gone back to giving him a little bit of it after every bite as long as he doesn't cry or fuss when he takes that bite. It's working!!! The upside is that I'm not holding his hand or head, and he's not crying or fussing. The downside is that I can only get him to eat about half as many bites as he was eating in a meal when I fed him while he was screaming. I really would like to conquer the crying habit by February so they're not going to need to work on that at Hershey Medical. I'd rather them work on texture and chewing and swallowing, but if he's still crying, they won't address anything else until these behaviors are extinguished. Hopefully I can gradually get him to eat more than one bite in between sips of what he calls milk so that he won't lose weight.

The other store I shopped at today was Macy's. I first went into BonTon to see if they had any black or grey adjustable waist pants for Ian (size 18 months). Nope. Then I tried Macy's. I don't shop there very often, but maybe that's a mistake! I again looked for black or grey pants for Ian. I found black pants, but they don't have an adjustable waist. Hopefully they'll work. I couldn't just buy the pants as the only black pants I found came as a 3 piece set that included a jacket and a shirt with a fire engine on it. He does NOT need any more shirts, but I'm sure he'll love it! The set was originally $49.50, but I paid $7.49. All the other items were $1.48 each these included 4 dresses that were originally $48 each. I got two for Nadia and two for one of our nieces for her next birthday. The dresses are really pretty (even have crinolin underneath). I couldn't resist them at that price! I also got Nadia a set of two festive hair things (red and black - she didn't have any in either color) and a two piece newborn size Christmas outfit for her doll. The grand total based on original prices would have been $269.50, but I paid a grand total of $17.47 for 4 dresses, 2 pairs of pants, 2 shirts, 1 jacket, and 2 fancy ponytail holders. Not bad, eh?

Since I hadn't found any grey pants at the first two stores I tried, I decided to make a quick trip into Children's Place. I have only shopped there once before. I need to keep this store in mind more often. It's so easy to get in and out of compared to a department store, which is difficult to navigative with a side-by-side double stroller. They had such a nice selection of adjustable waist pants, and it was possible to JUST buy a pair of pants rather than having to buy a three piece set.  I got him a pair of 18 month adjustable waist grey corduroy pants for $7.49.  I think Ian is definitely set as far as clothing goes now. This is the only downside of always shopping at clearnace racks, yard sales, and consignment shops. I ended up with some nice sweaters for him that he hasn't worn yet because he didn't have any pants to go with them.

Paul checked yesterday with PSU to make sure we will be able to enroll in their insurance again if the President doesn't approve my 50% leave request. The answer thankfully was YES as long as we do so by January 22. So this means I will not have to work FT next semester. I really don't see how I could do that, especially with Ian spending 4 weeks of the semester in a hospital almost 2 hours away. This has taken my stress level down a lot. I am still hoping the President will approve my request, but I don't think it's going to happen. I'd love to hear his decision this week, but I have a feeling I won't hear until next month. As of yesterday, I've already waited a full two months.

It seemed so weird yesterday that Ian napped more than Nadia. He slept 30 minutes, and she didn't sleep at all. Well today it was back to normal in this house as Ian only napped for 20 minutes, and Nadia is still sleeping as I type. So she didn't go a full week without taking a nap. I'm glad she took a nap as she woke up an hour earlier than usual this morning due to an upset stomach.

P.S. While at the mall in their stroller, Ian pointed to the "B" on Nadia's shirt and said "B". Way to go, Ian!