Wordless Wednesday- One of our first dates

Coupons!

My new found love of life is clipping coupons- along with feeling economical, it's actually fun! Sunday is an exciting day of the week- I run to the Walgreens down the street, shell out the $2, in order to save a lot more! Kate from "Jon & Kate + 8" once said that as a stay at home mom, a huge part of her job is making Jon's hard-earned money stretch. That is definitely how I feel. I am so fortunate to be able to spend my days with Harrison. It would obviously not be possible without the hard work of my husband. The more money I save, the more we can spend on other things- movies, dinners, and my favorite- clothes!

Here's some Target coupons- we all love to shop at Target. I think most would agree it's a more enjoyable experience than Wal-Mart, or others. Target is not, however, always the cheapest. Well, coupons help! You can check back every week for more- Target.com, scroll down to "Target Stores" and click on "Grocery Coupons". There's no Supertarget here in my hometown, (boo!) but hopefully wherever you are you can access one! The coupons can still be used at a regular Target.



http://sites.target.com/site/en/supertarget/page.jsp?title=coupons_specials



Here's a great tip my mom got off of "The Today Show"- create an alternative email designated only for retailers- Old Navy, Target, Proctor and Gamble, Crate & Barrel... etc. Anyplace that commonly offers deals, sales, or coupons. Your personal email inbox will be free of all that crap, and you can check only when you have some free time, or free money. =) Google coupons- sign up for emails!

Please leave comments- especially if you have any tips of your own!



http://joandbaby.blogspot.com/

Last Night

We leave Thursday for our big trip to KS & MN! It's 1 AM and I can't sleep... I'm a little sad because this is the last night we have here at home together. Harold is going to Tennessee tomorrow to surprise a friend and go to his change of command ceremony. Then Thursday it's road trip time! We bought a tablet DVD player (the screen lifts up to put the dvd in) so we can rig it so Harrison can see it in his rear facing car seat. He really dislikes the car- we went out to dinner tonight and he cried the whole way there and home. Hopefully a little "Baby Einstein" will do the trick.

The whole thing is so bittersweet- I'm overjoyed to be getting back to family and friends in MN, but sad about being away from HP for so long. I'm sure it will go by fast, I'll be busy. But the first few weeks will be hard!

Harrison is almost three months old- he coo's A LOT (although really tough to get on camera) and smiles constantly. (well, if he's not hungry or tired that is) Still "going to the gym" as Harold says to kick and squirm like a maniac. He is not a cuddler- he refuses to lay on your chest. While it's a little sad, probably a good thing for the long run. He's not a "hold me" baby. I feel so blessed to have everything in my life the way it is right now. My husband and baby are perfect =)

Can't wait to see a lot of you soon!!

He made it!

The little guy is here- Harrison Gage Price was born on January 3rd, 2009 @ 10:31 A.M. Everything with the birth went well- my water broke at 11 A.M. on the 2nd while out for a walk (not the best thing that's ever happened to me) They had to induce me and I was in labor for about 15 hours and pushing for 1.5- everything went well except for the epidural running out approximately 3 pushes in. But thank goodness for the lovely brain that blocks out the pain, because looking back the whole experience was really good, fun almost. Harold was an amazing coach and the nurse we had during delivery was great too. We were in the hospital for 48 hours and took him home exactly a year to the day that Harold and I met (January 5th). What a year! =) Things since then have been amazing- he's grown and changed so much, as newborns do! He's already got quite the feisty personality. We had Harold's mom, his friend Ken & family, and my parents here to stay (not at the same time, haha). All visits went well and everyone was in love with little hp, especially Ken's son Kaden, who talked about "Baby Hawison" all day long. Harold left for Ft. Lewis last Tuesday for 4 weeks. Harrison has changed a lot even in the short time he's been gone- he started smiling a lot more and is more alert and content just laying on the floor and kicking. He's started to look at toys and objects. I'm already dying for Harold to get home and see all the changes. He did get to watch Harrison roll over- it was pretty exciting because we were all just staring at him.

We found out about 2 weeks ago that Harold is deploying to Afghanistan in April. =( Not the best news I've ever recieved, but as far as deployments go it works out pretty well. It's good for his career, and for money. I get to move back to Minnesota (during the summer!). We also talked about how if you had to miss 6 months of Harrison's life, these months are pretty good. He'll be almost 11 months when he gets back, so just starting to walk and talk. And I'm very thankful he didn't miss the birth!

7 Months, 3 Weeks, 6 Days

Back home in Texas! It feels so good to be home- except for the large increase in responsibility. Having your mother do your laundry, dishes, etc is quite different then running your own home. But since this is my dream I'm happy. =)

My baby shower at home was AMAZING! My mom worked so hard to get the house ready and cook the food, Tori made an absolutely perfect cake (http://flickr.com/photos/joannamarieharris/3010421213/in/photostream/) , and Teresa's games and planning were awesome. Thank you to everyone who came, and for all the wonderful gifts. Harrison is a spoiled little boy already!

I was so lucky to get to see so many family and friends while home- sorry to those of you who I missed. I thought 5 weeks home would be plenty of time to make the rounds, but I guess I spent too much time relaxing in Alexandria. But I think just being at home with my parents is what I needed most. Harrison will be missing out by not getting to spend his first 2 years close to his wonderful grandparents. Either grandparents. The next time you talk to Harold, please subtly let him now how wonderful Minnesota is! =)

Harold got to meet a lot of my friends and family when he flew in to drive back with me- Even though his missed flight messed a few things up, we had dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory and got to spend time with a few special people. I love to show him off. =)

Our drive home was good- got to stay with friends of Harold's from college- Mark and Terra. They had a 5 week old little boy, Adler, who was so adorable. He was a little peanut, still weighing 7 pounds and some change. Holding him, of course, got me overly excited for our little HP.

Harold is at work today, but had M-TH off, and has M and Tu off next week as well for Veteran's day. It's wonderful to get to spend time at home! Even though we are so busy with various household activities. For those of you who heard the story of Harold's painting, the room is OK. It's not my dream of my first nursery, but it's bright and "boyish" as Harold says. I just wish we could go around and paint the whole house- the white walls are a little too much for me. But in the 2 years we'll be here, it's probably not worth painting them and potentially having to paint them back. I'm slowly but surely getting some changes done around here. I'm already looking forward to our next house. =)

Oprah would have been so proud of my shopping trip today- she did a show the other day about saving money. I went to Wal-Mart and wrote the total price as I put things in the cart. I also printed off coupons, and spent a lot of time making decisions about if we really needed something, and finding the lowest price. Saving money makes me happy. It also makes me feel better about all the things I purchase unnecessarily for this little boy. Kate Gosslin (Jon and Kate plus 8) once said that as a stay at home mom, her job is to make Jon's money stretch as far as possible. I'm beginning to take on the challenge. =)

ps- comments are welcome! =)