One store I both hate and love: Baby’s ‘R Us.

I hate it because everything is priced slightly higher than competitors (amazon.com, Baby Depot), the staff is not exactly helpful, and their coupon deals often include fine print stating they can’t be used on basically anything useful in the store.

On the other hand, I love it because they have an awesome rewards program that balances out those higher prices and if you work a little magic, their coupons can be amazing.

Case in point…I got everything pictured above FO’ FREE. Meaning, I walked into the store, put this stuff on the check out, and walked out with it without exchanging money.

My extreme couponing moment. It’s better than sex.

Bible. It’s the truth.

Another beautiful DIY of turning old furniture into something new (and fabulous!).

My mother-in-law received a small, hand-me-down crib for my son to use at her house. Unfortunately, it’s one of those drop side cribs (that you aren’t supposed to use anymore). It’s probably the same kind of crib our moms used for us, and hey, most of us are okay, but they’re not 100% safe. I put the job of telling her that we would prefer it not to be used with our son onto my husband. Forever a procrastinator, that never happened.

Luckily, it’s small enough that he soon will be too big for it anyways. When that happens, I plan to swoop in and ask for it…. Then I want to make this AWESOME kids craft table.

Check out more about it here.

At 4 months old, my baby had his first bout of influenza. While I can appreciate how lucky we are that we’ve had 4 months of very healthy baby, I am more appreciative that the flow of poop and puke has stopped. I’m not sure what it is that ensures your child will hold in all of his bodily fluid until within projectile range of you. Maybe he can’t contain his excitement to see you and his love spews everywhere…from both ends.

Either way, the images of this spewing love will be burned into my brain for the next 20 years. I’ll be proudly watching my son walking down the aisle towards his diploma at his high school graduation, when suddenly it pops into my head: his 4 month old tush flooding the changing table.

They always told me how beautiful motherhood would be.

THIS is absolutely beautiful. An old Goodwill TV stand made into a play kitchen. There’s about a billion of these projects posted on Pintrest, but this one by far takes the cake. From the utensils hanging on the wall to the “window” above the sink, it is perfection.

Looks like my husband will have a summer project on his hands. :)

…a blog.

I’ve been wanting to start this blog ever since I went back to work after a 4 month maternity leave. I wanted to write about the struggle of leaving my son with someone else, give advice on what made the transition easier, and encourage with stories of success.

Well… that was 3 weeks ago and here I am just starting it now. But that’s how life works when you’re maintaining a relationship with your husband, ensuring that you’re the ring leader in your child’s development (sorry, babysitting grandmas…I’m a little, um, controlling territorial), all while trying to show up to work on time, without any spit-up down the back of your shirt.

If on top of all of this, you can manage to have washed and styled your hair more than twice this week, God bless you! You deserve a mommy-award.