Wednesday, April 30, 2014

6 Ways to get Free Stuff for your Kids (and Yourself!)


Everybody likes free stuff, especially me. So here are five ways I've been able to get free things for Lucas and for myself (and the little one on the way. And Dan.) with minimal effort.

Two of the items on the list do require you to make a purchase to get the "free" stuff. But if it's something you normally purchase anyway (like diapers or cereal,) getting something extra still kind of counts as free, right?? All of the pictures are of actual things we got for free, but the pictures aren't all inclusive. I used some stuff before I thought of writing this post... 

(These are listed in no particular order.)

1. Freebie Blogs

There are quite a few blogs out there whose authors spend a LOT of time scouring the internet for free stuff, and then they share it with you! One of my favorites is Money Saving Mom. If you follow her on Facebook and/or check her blog regularly, you'll find links to sign up for various free samples and products. To date, I've gotten a children's book, samples of cat food and coffee, lots and lots of K-cups for my Keurig, a subscription to Martha Stewart Living magazine, tampons, vitamins, and a newborn onesie from H&M - all completely for free!

2. Recyclebank
Recyclebank.com is a site that gives you points for learning about caring for the environment, recycling (only in certain areas,) and "going green," and then allows you to cash those points in for rewards - mostly gift cards, magazine subscriptions, and discount coupons. If your community has registered with Recyclebank (when you create an account, you'll be able to check to see if your neighborhood is eligible,) you'll get points just for putting your recycling out on the curb like you always do. But even if you're not eligible to get points for recycling, it's still really easy to earn points! You can earn points by reading articles about ways to recycle and use resources wisely, taking daily pledges to do things like turn off lights when you're not using them, and watching short videos about recycling. Today I earned 135 points in about 10 minutes by reading a few articles about recycling and choosing energy efficient appliances. (As a reference point, one-year magazine subscriptions start at 200 points, and $5 gift cards to major chains like Target and Starbucks start at 1500 points.)

Since signing up, I've cashed in points for a $10 Walmart gift card and three magazine subscriptions, and I currently have more than enough points to cash them in for a $10 gift card to GAP, iTunes, Applebees, Sears, Lowe's, Kmart or JCPenney. (I guess I should probably make up my mind as to which one I want.)

3. Pampers and Huggies Rewards Points


We've tried quite a few of the major brands and store brands of diapers on Lucas in the past two years, but we ultimately settled on Pampers for daytime and Huggies for nighttime, because that's what works best for Lucas. (I know other people who have had completely different results, so the brand of diaper that works best seems to depend largely on the child.)

Both Pampers and Huggies have rewards programs that let you earn prizes by entering the codes from participating packs of diapers and wipes. From the beginning, I've faithfully entered all of the codes from every single pack of diapers and wipes, and I've been able to get Lucas some nice toys! The points can take a while to add up, but the prizes are pretty good. Since we primarily use Pampers, I've been able to use those points get Lucas a total of two toys in two years - one Melissa and Doug wooden animal puzzle, and one set of wooden alphabet blocks. Plus, Pampers started a new program about a year ago called "Grow On" where, in addition to cashing in your points for prizes, you get extra prizes for entering points into the system for three consecutive months, six consecutive months, nine consecutive months, and 12 consecutive months. The first three prizes are all from Shutterfly (free address labels, photo cards, and a calendar,) but in May (tomorrow!) when I enter at least one reward code, I'll be eligible for the twelve-month gift - a Melissa and Doug instrument set, a Smart Play Pad, or a 12x12 Shutterfly photo book!

Pampers also gives out free rewards points for pretty much every major and minor holiday (including "iffy" holidays, like "National No Housekeeping Day") on their Facebook page plus free points for reading certain articles on their website. (The Money Saving Mom blog I linked to above will also tell you when there are free Pampers Rewards points available so that you don't miss any.)

4. Toys R Us Birthday Club



I mentioned in my post about Lucas's birthday party that he's a part of Geoffrey's Birthday Club at Toys R Us. If you sign your child up for the club and enter his birth date, he'll get a card and coupon in the mail a few weeks before his birthday. The coupon lets the child get a free birthday balloon, birthday crown, and $3 off a purchase of $3 or more. At the Toys R Us near us (and I assume it's the same at most other stores,) there's a section in the front with toys that cost $1, $2, $3, and $5. The boxes were color coded, so if you have a child who's not old enough to understand the concept of price, you can tell him/her "you can pick one things from the orange boxes or three things from the yellow boxes."



5. Kellogg's Family Rewards



Marked boxes of Kellogg's cereal have 16-digit rewards codes inside, and the codes can be entered online and redeemed for prizes. In addition, certain boxes (they'll be marked on the outside) entitle you to one free book per box of cereal. But just be aware - when I logged in to get a free book for Lucas, 42 of the 50 books that were listed on the site were marked "Temporarily out of Stock," and of the eight that were available, two were only available in Spanish. So if you weren't planning to buy the cereal anyway, don't buy it just for the free book. Beyond the "free book" cereal box, we haven't gotten any other rewards from Kellogg's yet. A box of cereal earns you 100 points on average, and the majority of the "good" rewards start at 4,000 points. Our family doesn't eat a whole lot of cereal, so we don't have many points, but if your family is big on cereal, you'll likely earn rewards more quickly. When you sign up, they'll also periodically email you with extra points and coupons. Click the logo below to enroll.


6.Godiva Chocolate Rewards
If there's a Godiva store near you, get enrolled in their rewards club right now. You can enroll online or in the store. Being a member entitles you to a free chocolate truffle once a month, and man, those things are delicious! In some stores (or with some employees) you'll be offered two different truffles to choose from. Other times, you'll be allowed to choose any truffle you want. (There are other rewards for being in the club, too, like free chocolate if you purchase a certain amount the month before, but this reward is the only one that's totally free.) I usually only make it to the mall once a month (or less) anyway, so every time I go to the mall, I get a free truffle! Plus, Dan enrolled, too, and he usually gives me his free truffle! (Have I mentioned lately that I love that man?) You can give your truffle to your kid if you really, really want to, but personally, this is one freebie that I don't share.

So there you have it - six ways to get free stuff for your kids and yourself! If you know of more ways to get free stuff, please leave a comment and let us all know! Everybody loves free!


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Sunday, April 27, 2014

Things I said...

...on the occasions when I was able to string two sentences together without being interrupted by a coughing attack.

While we wait for me to feel well enough to write something semi-coherent, here are some things I said elsewhere.









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Friday, April 25, 2014

I'm still alive. I think.

In case you missed my posts on Facebook (or you don't follow this blog on Facebook. Which is unfortunate) I was in Orlando with Dan and Lucas for a week, caught the cold of death, have been getting worse instead of better, and spent half an hour at 2am last night (this morning?) Googling "natural cough suppressants" and then drinking two cups of ginger lemon tea with more honey than can ever possibly be good for a person before I could finally sleep. For four hours. Until Lucas woke me up with a blood-curdling scream. For no particular reason (as far as I can tell.)

So... I have things to say. Good things! Helpful things! Interesting things! (The previous statements are all my personal opinions and are not accompanied by a money-back guarantee.) But those things will have to wait until I can stop blowing my nose for at least two consecutive minutes.

In the meantime, here are two pictures from our vacation. I'm only posting two because maybe you don't really want to see them, like that time some woman I didn't really know cornered me at a birthday party and made me look at a photo album full of pictures of trees and statues. And if you don't even want to look at two pictures, you can walk away with much less awkwardness than if we were together at a birthday party. So there's that.

Ok, I'm rambling now. I blame the honey.

Here are the pictures. I'm going to go inhale steam for a few hours.



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Monday, April 14, 2014

Easy Springtime Toddler Craft - Sun Catchers! (And it's great for older kids, too!)

Lucas calls them flowers. Don't tell him I called them sun catchers.

The words "easy" and "toddler craft" don't often go together. Especially if your toddler is one or just barely two years old. Glue and glitter are pretty much out unless you want to be cleaning for the next week, and you can definitely rule out anything complicated like model building or, I don't know, wood carving. When you add in the fact that my toddler doesn't particularly like finger painting, you're pretty much just left with stickers and coloring.

I actually remember doing this craft as a child and thinking it was completely amazing. But I was also easily impressed. Still, your kid will probably like it, too.

Here's what you need:

- Markers (make sure you use the washable ones, and not just because you don't want your child to write on the wall in sharpie.)
- Coffee filters (it's easier for young kids if you flatten them out with your hands or a heavy book first.)
- Water in a cup (that's really two things, but it only gets one line. Too bad.)

1. Hand your child a coffee filter and some markers, and let them go wild.


2. When the masterpiece is complete...



...fold the coffee filter in half, then in half again, then in half again, then in half again (four folds total) so that it looks like this:



3. Put about half an inch of water in the bottom of a cup. Then stick the folded-up coffee filter into the water, pointy side down.



4. Watch! The water will slowly move up the coffee filter, causing the marker to "bleed" upwards. Your older child will probably like watching this process. Your younger child may want to drink the water. So don't leave them alone with the cup. Lucas wasn't particularly interested in this step (besides wanting to drink the colored water,) so I just let him color another coffee filter while this was going on.

5. When the water and color have reached the top of the filter (or when you're too impatient to wait anymore because it seems like it's never going to get the whole way to the edge,) take the filter out of the water. Shake it a few times over the cup to get those last few drops of water off of the tip.

6. Unfold the filter and let it dry by either hanging it up somewhere with a clothes pin or laying it flat on some paper towels. (It should dry quickly either way.)

7. Ta da!! Hang your masterpiece up in a sunny window!


Older kids can experiment with different colors and patterns, and when younger kids get bored of the coffee filters, they can... color on the wall. (Bonus: washable markers come off of the wall more easily than crayons do. Not that I would know from experience...)


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Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Things I've Said as a Parent...

...that I never thought I'd have to say. To anyone. Ever.

"Lawnmowers don't have hands."

"Please don't color on your face."

"Ok, you can take the lint roller to bed."

"No, Lucas, your peas are not lotion."

"Yes, we can go potty together."

"We don't eat paper towels."

"Please stop jumping on me."

"You have fish in your hair."

"Gross! Don't lick my feet!"


What's something you've said as a parent that you never thought would come out of your mouth?


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Sunday, April 6, 2014

The one in which I traveled alone with a toddler, Part 2

Ok, so if you haven't read part one of this story yet, stop right now and go read it. I mean it! Why are you still reading this??

To recap, I had flown alone with a toddler who hadn't napped on a flight that was delayed three hours, and then I took a very bumpy bus ride that almost made me barf. Now that we're all caught up... 

We made it to my granddaddy's place around 3:00pm ish (two hours after nap time, which made me decide to just skip it altogether,) and fortunately Lucas was very entertained by my family so that he wasn't too much of a disaster. All things considered, the evening was fun and even (almost) relaxing. I'm going to kind of gloss over that part, though, because "and then we all had a pleasant time" doesn't make for a very interesting story. Instead I'll just show you this picture of my granddaddy holding Lucas.

I got my granddaddy the Christmas tree hat.
Because I give awesomely random gifts.
After dinner and some more family time, my brother Jeremy drove Lucas and me to the hotel, where we had booked a suite so that Jeremy and I could sit up talking after Lucas's 8pm bedtime. Lucas's lack of nap finally caught up with him during the drive, and he fell asleep in about thirty seconds. And then woke up and screamed when I took him out of the car, through the check-in process, and until I finally got him into bed.

When he was finally asleep again, Jeremy and I sat in the kitchen area of the hotel suite talking and eating all of the Christmas cookies I'd brought with me. It was great to spend time with my brother, and it was very relaxing... until Lucas woke up crying around 10pm. I went in to the room just in time to see him throw up all over his pillow and new Christmas pajamas. I took him out of the pack and play, and he threw up all over me. And the floor. And into the sink. And the bathtub. After about ten minutes, he finally stopped vomiting, and I perched on the edge of the bathtub, covered in puke and rocking a naked, crying toddler wrapped in a bath towel, while my wonderful brother tried to clean up all of the vomit. (Naturally, the next day was Christmas, which was the one day that the hotel would not have housekeeping service so the hotel staff could spend Christmas with their families. It's a great policy, but Lucas's timing was really unfortunate.)

I was obviously concerned that Lucas was sick, but once he was done throwing up, he was happy and wanted to play. So we chalked it up to eating unfamiliar food and being off of his schedule, and we hoped that the next morning would prove us right (and would go a little more smoothly.)

The cherry on top of the evening was that even though my period wasn't due for a few more days, I'd been having cramps for a three days, so when I finally managed to fall asleep that night, I did so with the knowledge that I'd probably wake up feeling pretty miserable the next morning. (You'd think I'd feel awkward about sharing that, but it's much less uncomfortable than the things I told you about recovering from a c-section. I'm like a treasure trove of overshares.)

Christmas morning, Lucas was wide awake (and fortunately not at all sick) by 5:45am. My period still hadn't arrived (see? So many overshares.) so I decided to take the pregnancy test I'd thrown into my suitcase at the last minute.

It was positive.

And as I stood there at 6am on Christmas morning, with a wide-awake toddler, in a room that still smelled like vomit, staring at a positive pregnancy test, I happened to glance at the test's wrapper and notice the expiration date... which had passed ten months earlier.

I spent the rest of the day half awake, trying to focus on celebrating Christmas with my family while surreptitiously Googling variations of the phrase "accuracy of expired pregnancy tests" on my phone when no one was looking. I didn't want to call Dan and say "Merry Christmas! I'm pregnant!" if it turned out that I wasn't, but I was also pretty sure that I shouldn't take my aunt up on her offer of a glass of wine at Christmas dinner that night. I briefly considered confiding in my brother or my parents, but I figured that my husband should know before they did... and that I should know for sure first, too.

It wasn't until the next day (after a three-hour car ride with my brother to his house, during which I almost blurted out "I'm pregnant... maybe" 8,347 times) that I managed to sneak away from my family long enough to pick up a box of (non-expired) pregnancy tests.

I was planning to wait and test the next morning, but when I went upstairs to put Lucas to bed in my brother and sister-in-law's guest room, I realized I couldn't wait. So I took a test. And it was positive! For about two minutes, I argued with myself about waiting to tell Dan in person in two days or telling him by phone right now. Then because I'm awful at making decisions, I decided to force him to deciding for me (without him knowing it.) So I sent him a text that said "I got one more Christmas present for you, and I can't decide if I should wait until you're here to surprise you with it or send you a picture of it now." He responded with "Picture!" So I sent him a picture of the pregnancy test next to this onesie (which I had also shoved in my suitcase):

I bought it here, and it says "Dad's Co-pilot,"
which only makes sense if you know that Dan has his private pilot's license
.

He immediately called me, of course, and after we had a mini celebration by phone (and a brief moment of "what are we getting ourselves into?") and I told him the whole expired pregnancy test story, he gave me the go ahead to tell my family.

As soon as I got off the phone and put Lucas to bed, I went downstairs and showed my family the onesie, and we all squealed together (well, minus my brother and dad, who aren't really squealers. Actually, my mom and sister aren't really, either. Maybe I'm the only one who squealed. It's hard to say.)

So... that's how I found out I was pregnant with baby number two. "In a hotel room that smelled like puke using an expired pregnancy test" isn't exactly the most sophisticated "and that's how I found out I was going to be your mommy" story to share with my child someday, but it's the only one I've got. And just in case anyone found this post by doing a search for the phrase "how accurate is an expired pregnancy test," apparently an expired test is more likely to give a false negative than a false positive. Just so you know.


The rest of the trip (and the flight home, which was delayed to the point that we were going to miss our connecting flight, so they had to move us to a much later flight, but then we were able to get on an early flight on standby because we were super nice to a Delta employee who thought Lucas was adorable, of course) was an adventure, too, but I may or may not get around to writing about it (especially because I just summed it up right now.) Lucas also got a cold, which was pretty miserable, and I wrote more about that part of the trip here.


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Thursday, April 3, 2014

The one in which I traveled alone with a toddler, Part 1

So, this post is only... three months late. Let's just pretend it took me at least a month to recover from traveling with a toddler, and also remember that I've had morning sickness, and then the delay makes sense. Also, I started cramming a really, really long story into one absurdly long post, and then I decided to divide it into (at least) two parts. So stay tuned for part 2... because part 1 ends kind of abruptly.



Way back in October, I mentioned that Dan was scheduled to work a 12 hour shift on Christmas Day as well as on the two days before and the two days after. So after me agonizing over it (and Dan saying from day one that I should just spend Christmas with my family,) we decided that Lucas and I would fly down to North Carolina to be with my parents and siblings and my mom's side of the family for Christmas, and then Dan would join us a few days later.

The logistics of flying alone with a toddler were... tricky, to say the least. Dan had to work on Christmas Eve, so my wonderful friend Teri (and her two-year-old son) drove us to the airport. She offered to park and help us get through the doors, but it was approximately -437 degrees outside, so I had her drop us off at the curb rather than having to take her son out in the freezing cold. She had to sit there for at least 30 minutes entertaining the toddlers while I tried desperately to get the car seat out of the car, get it into the rolling car seat bag, and put Lucas in the ErgoBaby Carrier... all while I was completely unable to feel my hands because I had forgotten to wear gloves.

I just want to say this - the TSA gets a pretty bad rap sometimes. They pat you down and x-ray all of your stuff and only let you bring like half an ounce of shampoo on the plane. But if you walk into the airport with a toddler strapped to your chest and a gigantic backpack on your back; wearing a fanny pack (yes, I wore a fanny pack, don't judge me. It was cute. For a fanny pack.); lugging a suitcase, a car seat, and a stroller; and on the verge of tears, there is an excellent chance that a TSA agent will take one look at you and immediately rush to your aid. At least that's what happened to me. Also, a Delta airlines employee let me go to the "International Flights Only" counter because there was no line, and a second employee at the counter gave Lucas crayons and a coloring book and told me to "just relax, it's ok" when I had to go digging frantically through the backpack to get my driver's license because I thought I had put it in my fanny pack but actually I had put my health insurance card in there instead. Obviously.

I was going to have someone take a picture of me carrying 40 billion things for the purposes of your general amusement, but I did not have a spare hand with which to hand anyone the camera. Sorry for your luck. Just imagine a giant pile of luggage and toddler with my stressed-out face poking out the top, and you've got a pretty good idea of what it looked like

I had booked my flight with Lucas (who was just barely young enough to fly on my lap for free and didn't need his own ticket. Woo hoo!) for 10am on Christmas Eve. That way, we would land in just enough time to get to my granddaddy's place and put Lucas down for a nap. Except that when we arrived at the gate at exactly the right time (not so early that we would have to wait beyond what a toddler can handle, not so late that I'd be rushed and panicky,) they said our flight was delayed because of a mechanical problem with the plane. And then an hour later, they said that they were still waiting for the mechanics to come. And then an hour after that, they rolled out a cart with free snacks and beverages for us to enjoy while we waited. Not a good sign. Fortunately, some brilliant, kind, motherly soul had thought to put three of these near the gate:


Three hours after our flight was originally scheduled to take off (and after it was determined that our original plane couldn't be fixed so a replacement had to be found,) we finally boarded the plane. I had planned to write a super-helpful post on how to fly alone with a toddler without losing your mind (and I might still do that after we fly with him again later this month,) and I was going to include super-helpful pictures like this one:
This is the stuff I brought on the plane to entertain Lucas.
Plus a DVD player, Elmo DVDs and headphones.
And enough snacks for eight weeks.
But it turns out the thing that was the most helpful was that the person who was seated next to us was a really sweet lady (who - and this has nothing to do with anything - was an infectious disease specialist) who treated Lucas like he was her own grandchild... or a nephew she liked pretty well. She spread her coat on her lap and let him lay his head on it, she let him play with her watch and her magazine, and she generally helped to keep him entertained and happy long after he was supposed to be napping. It was wonderful. I'm pretty sure she doesn't rent herself out as a travel companion for flustered moms, though, so that's not really helpful to the rest of you. And if you specifically request to be seated next to an infectious disease specialist for your flight, you might end up being subjected to some additional screening by the TSA. So I don't recommend that.

We finally arrived in Charlotte well after Lucas should have been napping, and my dad and brother picked us up at the airport (and they were both sufficiently impressed that I had carried all of our worldly goods [or, you know, just our luggage] all by myself.) The highlight for Lucas was when we took an unbearably bumpy bus ride that served as a shuttle to my dad's car. I was very carsick - and probably an unpleasant shade of green - when the shuttle finally stopped, at which point Lucas piped up with "Again! Again!" Apparently he hasn't yet learned to recognize my "mommy's about to barf" face.

After that, we were off to see a bunch of my relatives... with a toddler who hadn't napped.

To be continued... (That's a dramatic way of saying "I'm going to talk about toddler puke and expiration dates in my next post.") While you're waiting for the dramatic conclusion of this story, don't forget to enter a giveaway for $100 in Mattel toys here.

You can read part 2 here.


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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Save the Bunnies!

This is a sponsored post.

I can't speak for the rest of you, but before I became a mom, I was totally fine with the fact that 95% of all holidays revolve around the consumption of ridiculous amounts of sugar. And then I had Lucas. And I was like, "is there such a thing as Easter/Christmas/Valentine's Day/Halloween treats that aren't 85% sugar and 15%, I don't know, lard?" I mean, don't get me wrong - I love chocolate for me. But I try to limit sugar at least a little bit with Lucas. Which is why the only edible thing in Lucas's Christmas stocking was a small Elmo snack container that I filled with non-sugary cereal. Because I'm a cool mom.

Anyway, Mattel and Toys R Us have teamed up to help you save some money on non-candy Easter basket stuffers with coupons for Mattel and Fisher Price toys and games for your kids' Easter baskets. Watch the video below (when I watched it, I was like, "Oh hey, look. It's the guy from that one show. And that guy who was in Clueless and Scrubs. And... OH MY GOSH IT'S ROSS GELLER FROM FRIENDS!!!!" And then I had to watch it again. Because obviously.) Moving on... watch the video, pick up some $5 off toy coupons from http://www.savechocolatebunnies.com/and enter the giveaway below the video for a Mattel Easter gift set worth over $100!




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