Fall is here, time to shop!

So, fall is officially here. Yay! I love fall. The autumn season has always been a favorite of mine. It used to be that fall was something I associated with starting a new year of school, going back, something new, something fresh. But since 2000, I have happily associated fall with the beginning of my relationship with my husband, Daniel. We went on our first date on August 16th, 2000, but because he was leaving the area for his first year of college, I didn't see him after August 22nd, not again until mid-September. The following year I took tour buses and trains out to Pittsburgh to visit him, and the year after that I moved with him to Pittsburgh. Oh, and two years after that our daughter was born. And lastly, the year after THAT we conceived our son. For those still playing along, that's 2001, 2002, 2004 and 2005. ;)

Alyssa is all ready for the fall. She really hasn't grown too much since last year (just upwards!), so all of her pants from last year fit her just fine. She inherited my short legs, so at least this year most of her jeans won't be dragging the ground. I seriously have to roll up the cuffs on 90% of her pants. It's ridiculous!

Ryan, on the other hand, not so ready.... he has new shirts, about ten of them. But he needs pants. I wasn't sure what size pants he had leftover from last year, so I decided to wait on buying new ones until I checked out his drawers. Well, I went through them yesterday, and he's down to one pair of jeans and two pairs of cargo pants. Ridiculous! That kid grows too much. He was wearing 24mo/2T in the summer of 2007, here we are in the fall of 2008 and 5T fits him now. In comparison, Alyssa is wearing 5T loosely, and she's almost two years older than him. Well, that's my chunky baby.

So guess who has to go shopping for more baby clothes. Or should I say toddler clothes, since there's nothing really BABY about a whopping 5 in toddler sizes!

Psst... anyone else who has a horse-sized toddler like mine, check out eBay for onesies. I found a bunch (new! in packaging!) by Gerber that are 4T! I'm stoked!

Shopping for baby stuff is fun

I think one of the most exciting things to shop for is a new pet or a new baby. I recently got a pug (four months old, female, beautiful, very well behaved and well mannered), and shopping for her was a lot of fun. But there's only so much to shop for for a dog. A baby, on the other hand, requires a lot of preparation! Baby furniture is just the tip of the iceberg, and even that is a lot. Cribs, playpens, strollers, car seats, high chairs... then there are the optional things like slings, baby swings, cradles, bassinets. But the fun stuff, the REALLY fun stuff, are the baby clothes, diapers, bibs, towels, and accessories like pacifiers, diaper bags and diapering essentials, breastfeeding supplies, toys and musical CDs.

When you think about it, it's amazing that there are literally thousands of items to buy for a new baby. I know we spent a decent chunk of change and time on new baby things for Alyssa. With our second child, we didn't have to get the big things, but we needed a lot of new boys clothes, since we were having a boy, and obviously he wouldn't look too good in pink or purple. ;)

What was your favorite baby purchase?

Not enough hours in a day

I am sleepy. It's only 11pm, but I could totally crash right now. A week ago that wouldn't have been the case. That just goes to show you how much can change in just a few days time. Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday were exhausting for me. I got a full night's sleep last night, but tonight I'm not sure how things will pan out, because I have a lot of work to do.

In addition to work, I have laundry to finish up, and a desk to organize. I was going to fix my old laptop for Dan (weird driver issue), but Jason is over and is taking care of that for me (thanks Jason!). I also need to go through Alyssa's drawers. She has a lot of fall and winter clothing in them from last year, and I want to try everything on her and weed out what doesn't fit. Ryan has a bottom drawer filled with clean and in good condition baby clothes that I need to donate, but I'm waiting until I get Alyssa's clothes sorted out. Then I'll run everything over to a local shelter at once.

Preschool clothing competition

My daughter will be attending preschool in the fall (note to self: hustle with getting her enrolled!), and I'm already cringing at the thought of the trendy designer childrens clothes the other little girls will be wearing. Don't get me wrong, my daughter has very fashionable clothing that is in excellent condition, but her clothing labels read Circo, Cherokee and Target, while designer childrens clothes and designer baby clothes will be sporting the fancier names and logos.

You could say that my fears are unfounded, that it's just preschool, that moms will be too busy parenting their children to worry about what other children are wearing... but I promise you, as a woman, as a mother, I know what to expect. We moms compete with one another from the time that our preschoolers were just baking buns in our little mommy ovens. Who conceived in the most romantic way, how long it took to get pregnant, who had the worst battle with morning sickness, natural birth vs. medicated birth, breastfeeding vs. formula feeding. I promise you, we compete, and we are low enough to use our children in our own competitions.

Something tells me I better start checking out sites like Estella-NYC!

coolstuffcheap.com

coolstuffcheap.com has some really, REALLY neat stuff. I can think of many scenarios where their fog machines and lava lamps would be perfect: dorm rooms, a teenager's room, even my three year old daughter's room (well, the lava lamp). A fog machine is a great thing to have at parties, particularly themed and Halloween parties.

The company also carries neon clocks. These are things you don't see except in bars, retro restaurants and in music videos. If you like these clocks, definitely check out coolstuffcheap.com!

Save money when shopping for baby clothes

So, here is my secret for shopping for baby clothes for two toddlers without breaking the bank: shop between seasons. It sounds like a strange thing to do, to wait until the end of summer before buying summer clothes, but I promise you you'll save a lot of money, and here's why: stores push the season merchandise before the season begins. This means that by the time summer is nearing an end, the retailers need to get the fall and winter clothes out on the floor. So they clearance all of the summer merchandise to get it out of the way.

Shopping between seasons for baby clothes and childrens clothes works with retail stores, specialty boutiques, and online stores like sandboxcouture.com. They key is waiting for the right time. For spring and summer clothes, check out stores in July and August. For winter clothing, check out stores in March and April.

By shopping between seasons, you'll save as much as 75% on clothes! Here's an example of what I picked up last week: four pairs of toddler girls' shorts, four tank tops, and two pairs of toddler boys' shorts. Guess how much I spent? Ready for it? $30. That's right. $30! Thanks to the items being on clearance, I spent an average of $3 per item. These clothes are normally priced anywhere from $3.99 to $12.99 each. :)

One of these days

In April of 2004, I realized that my engagement ring was cracked. Specifically, the band at the very bottom, at its thinnest part, had cracked through entirely. I made plans that week to call up a jeweler to find out how much it would cost to have the ring repaired, but I never got around to it.

Oh hi. Four and a half years later, and the ring is still damaged. It isn’t an issue, except the one or two times I have managed to somehow yank the engagement ring, and the two separate pieces close around and pinch my finger. Do you have ANY idea how painful that is?! Let me tell you, painful. The one incident happened in June of 2005, and I still remember the pain quite vividly, heh.

So yeah, I need to get my butt in groove and call up a jeweler. There’s a local one that advertises free repairs for mens wedding bands and womens wedding bands, so maybe he/she does engagement rings too?

mamabebe.com

Whenever I know of someone who is pregnant, my first thought is of what type of baby gift to get them. I love giving personalized baby gifts, because personalized ones are unique and stand out from the rest. Diaper bags, high chairs, boxes of diapers and onesies are always nice, but what about personalized piggy banks and other keepsakes? Those are definitely unique gifts that won't be soon forgotten.

mamabebe.com is a baby apparel and baby gift website that has all sorts of baby things. You should definitely check them out!