Crazy 8 Sale!

Well we all love a good deal on clothes.  Even more than a deal for myself is a deal for itty bitty baby girl clothes.  Let's face it mommas of little girls, we could probably all go broke buying up clothes, shoes, and accessories for our girls.  Everything is just so cute. 

Even before Ryleigh was born, I set myself a $5 limit on any one clothing item.  I shop friends' hand-me-downs and yard sales, clearance racks and try to buy bigger sizes that she will grow into, buy out of season so that it's cheaper, etc.  I've only gone above my $5 limit for a few "novelty" items--a pair of  BabyTMoccs because baby moccasins are adorable, comfortable, and this girl's moccs are about half the price of FreshlyPicked, but she's got great reviews about her quality.  We'll see, we are still waiting on them to arrive! :) We also went over for her UGA baby uggs ($15) that I can't wait for her to wear this fall!! and her Vera Bradley coming home outfit...that she actually didn't wear until she was about a month old because she was such a peanut!

So, yesterday made me really happy.  Crazy 8 [I love their clothes!] is having a big clearance sale and is doing free shipping with the coupon code STANDOUT.  I've been looking into some spring/summer clothes for Ryleigh, and scored everything below for $57 including sales tax!

The dresses and rompers were $4-5/each, the onesie set was $6, the shorts and skirt were $3, the bathing suits were each $5.59.  Hello awesome deal!  I couldn't pass it up, 13 items for $57, making it an average of just over $4 an item, for a great brand and new clothes.  Including bathing suits! Good quality, UV protected bathing suits.  I couldn't believe it!

I'm in love with the little white tankini, it's got sea turtles, seahorses, and fish on it in fun colors.  The rashguard bathing suit is cute but not my favorite print..but who can pass up a suit for $5.59?!   I like that the onesie set is white and coral because those colors are so popular that it's very easy to find matching bottoms to go with them, including the purple skirt and tangerine/coral shorts.  Love the cute coral & yellow romper, it's got rosettes around the neckline which is hard to tell in this picture.  The chambray dress has white and pink bows embroidered on it which I thought is a sweet little outfit for spring either by itself or with some pink leggings on a colder day.  The ikat and butterfly outfits are cute dresses/romper that are nice enough to be worn to weddings but also good for a casual summer day.  And let's face it...with our age group/large group of friends we have about 5-6 weddings to attend every year!

 

Baby Gear assembly!

Well we had a very fun and productive weekend!  Thanks to some amazing family, friends, and a few coupons, the corner of our living room has looked like this since my baby shower a couple weekends ago [post about the shower coming soon once I upload the pictures!]:

And as of yesterday, every single one has been assembled!  We feel quite accomplished.  Our living room currently looks like a baby store showroom, but these will be making their way to their "places" around the house and in the car very soon :)

In case it's hard to tell from the boxes, here are the items we've gotten for baby Ryleigh...

1. My Little Lamb Platinum Edition Rock N'Play Sleeper / This is what we are using for the bassinet while Ryleigh is sleeping in our bedroom.  I like that she will be sleeping at a slight incline [although I hope that doesn't cause issues when we transition her to her crib later..] and it's the perfect height for sitting beside the bed.  All parts of it are very soft and breathable, and I love how easy it is to fold up or to carry and move around. 

2.  Britax B-Agile & B-Safe Travel System / This choice went heavily on safety ratings and reviews.  Britax is a great brand, and these will be two of the most used pieces for not only Ryleigh but also more than likely for Baby #2 whenever she/he comes along in the future.  Typically strollers & car seats have a "lifespan" of 5-7 years so we wanted something great quality, gender neutral, and a stroller that was easy to fold and use.  Once we saw this demonstration video we were sold.  Of course, Jake wanted it in Georgia Red :)

3. Fisher-Price Discover N'Grow Gym / This play mat just had really great reviews when I was looking at all of the different play gyms for tummy time & stimulation.  I like that it is so versatile and can "grow with the baby" for the different stages of play and learning. 

4. Fisher-Price Deluxe Monkey Bouncer / I have heard mixed reviews about whether or not to get a baby swing [price vs. use], so instead I looked for a good bouncy seat because I've heard they are generally much more useful.  This seat is actually more on the affordable side, but has fantastic reviews.  I love that the activity bar is electronic and has lights and sounds for stimulation, this is the only one that I have seen like that. Usually, if there is an activity bar it just has dangling stuffed toys.  The activity bar is removable so this will also be a great little spot for her to take naps and relax.

5. Baby Einstein Musical Motion Activity Jumper / I admit, I totally buy into the Baby Einstein brand.  I love for every toy or book to be educational in some way.  I think it's great that they have a purpose to the reason things are colored a certain way or including different patterns on things.  Even when babies are too young to understand, they are still getting the visual exposure to the concept.  This jumper has great reviews and lots of fun things to play with. 

6. Graco Pack N'Play with Reversible Napper & Changer / I really like the Graco brand, and their pack n' plays have great reviews.  I really like these ones with the napper/changer attachment so that we have a convenient little changing table when we are traveling, or even if this just ends up being set up in our living room.  We chose the Scribbles pattern because it's a nice gender neutral color and pattern, and it just so happens to match the colors in our house really well too!

 

Nesting Mode

Yay for things coming together!  This week I have been nesting like crazy.  I don't know what it is...I will be tired and worn out, dealing with sciatic nerve pain, but then all of a sudden get this huge urge to do something.  Opening the box of Amazon goodies turned into opening the box, unboxing and putting everything away, setting up the sound machine, reorganizing the changing table [which was covered in baby shower goodies], cleaning and organizing the guest bath vanity, master bath vanity, kitchen countertops, completely cleaning out and reorganizing the pantry, and I ran two loads of laundry...within a span of about 2.5 hours!

 

 

Then last night, Jake had to run to Walmart to get a couple things, and I all of a sudden had a burst of energy and decided to finally sew the crib skirt.  The design I was going with was really simple, the skirt is actually 3 pieces [2 sides and front] that stay separate and as you lower the crib you can adjust the three skirt pieces so that it doesn't get all bunched up and lumpy looking.  I still need to get the Velcro to attach it, but we taped it in last night to make sure the size fit and see how it looked :)

 

 

And to further help with my need for organization, I found a fun diaper bag today!  I originally chose one from Target, but saw this deal on Zulily today for a Built brand diaper bag--usually retails for $120 and I got it for $55 including shipping!  That's still $20 cheaper than the original one I wanted, and I'm excited because I love Built products...

 

I love all of the pockets and the two options for shoulder straps.  I was debating which pattern to go with, and ultimately decided on the black/white polka dot one.  It's neutral but still fun :)  It will also match our Travel System and my designer mind really cares about that...I can't wait until it arrives and I can start filling it up!

 

 

 

Packages :)

Have I mentioned how much coming home to baby packages on my doorstep is pretty much better than Christmas? Cause it is.  For our baby shower, one of my aunts from PA mailed us a sweet card with Amazon [one of the places I registered] gift card.  We were able to get all of these items for her since Amazon was having a great sale!  & I just received the notification that I'll get to open these fun things tonight:

1.  Boon Squirt Spoon / I have read amazing reviews on how easy this spoon makes feeding a little one [once she's old enough] especially when you aren't at home.  I'm already planning on getting a couple more.
2.  Boon Pulp Silicone Feeder / Also read great things about this feeder, especially when you freeze it for teething babies. 
3.  Summer Infant Contoured Changing Pad / A changing pad is a changing pad I guess, but I like that it's a double layer of quilted vinyl to be soft, durable, and easy to clean.
4.  Aquatopia Bath Thermometer & Alarm Turtle / This little thing seems helpful and cute! I like that it's not only a thermometer, it also has an alarm to alert you when the water is too hot OR too cold for baby. 
5.  Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine / I've read great reviews about this sound machine.  I like the range of songs, nature noises, and white noise that you can choose from.  It also lets off a soft glow for a night light.  It also has an mp3 player plug in, so we can play any songs that we want for her.  It's also only about 6" wide so it's nice that it isn't too big and won't take up too much room on the dresser.
6.  Boon Orb Bottle Warmer / I chose this bottle warmer because of the great reputation of Boon products, and also because I love that it comes with a basket to also warm baby food.  I plan to dabble in making baby food once Ryleigh is old enough, and I think this will really come in handy!


I'm hoping that all of these products live up to the hype!  Once little girl is here we will find out :)  But in the mean time, it makes me so happy to see the final bits and pieces of her nursery and other house baby prep coming together!

 

Did You Know?

This post is just to share some information with fellow mommas & mommas-to-be....so I'm sorry to anyone else who finds it boring or irrelevant! 


Mommas--did you know that most baby stores have text coupons & deal alerts?  Buy Buy Baby advertises theirs a lot, but other stores do the same thing!  I had no idea that you can get baby-specific deals from Target (so you don't have to weed through all of the other categories on the Cartwheel app)....


So, here are the ones I'm subscribed to and find useful:


Target Baby
Text: BABY4 to 827438


Babies R Us
Text:  GO to 72229


Buy Buy Baby
Text:  OFFER to 42229




and one more just for fun:


Redbox
Text:  DEALS to 727272

 

Baby Bargin!

Today thanks to Frugal Coupon Living, one of the deal blogs I follow, we scored a great deal on our baby monitor for little one!

I was checking the blog updates and saw that Kohl's had a great deal on the Motorola 2.8" Wireless Baby Video Monitor that we are registered for at Target.  Here's the breakdown:

Original Price:           $229.99
Kohl's Sale Price:      $189.99   [Target Sale Price is currently $179.99]

Coupon: BABYLOVE20 saved $38
Coupon: LUCKY15OFF saved $23

AND:
Kohls.com on orders of $75 or more = Free Standard Shipping!
Earn $10 Kohls Cash on every $50 spent:  $20 Kohls Cash earned

So, our baby monitor is originally $229.99, and with sales tax I paid $138.23.  With the Kohls Cash that we will receive, that's like getting our monitor for $118, over $100 in savings :)


**Other Mommas:  The Frugal Coupon posting is from yesterday and says to stack the coupons BABYLOVE20 and HAPPY2014, however today HAPPY2014 did not work for me.  I found LUCKY15OFF and that worked like a charm for the same discount!


Gotta love a great deal! Plus, we just received a card for our baby shower gift from my grandparents who live out of town, and used that money towards this purchase.  I love to keep track of what we purchase with gift cards or monetary gifts, because we can let those people know what they helped us get for Ryleigh and how useful/helpful it will be!  Especially with having a lot of far-away relatives, it makes it more fun since they can't experience the actual baby shower.



The countdown is getting real....

Look for another "bumpdate" later this week after my 33 week appointment on Friday :)

 

Bits & Pieces....and coupon codes!

Bits & pieces of the To-Do list are getting checked off!  One item down:  crib mobile.  I was checking my deal blogs and found that diapers.com is having some great discounts right now for Black Friday week.  The Tiny Love brand is 30% off [with code JOYTINYLOVE], and while perusing some of their items I found the cutest little mobile that will match perfectly to Ryleigh's nursery:

 

At least from what I can tell from the photos, the colors of the mobile are spot-on with her giraffe fabric!  Also, the mobile arm can detach and once she's too big for it, we can keep using the sound machine.  The sound machine also has a remote control, which might turn out to be handy.  The only thing I'm a little worried about is that a few of the reviews said they had a hard time fitting the mobile to their convertible crib, but eventually made it work with some Velcro or similar straps.  Hopefully it fits just fine, but if not it looks like we will need to get creative!

 

Here is another deal code for my momma friends and mommas-to-be!  Use my friends & family referral code at Diapers.com and you will get an additional 20% off your order!  code:  STAC0250

 

 

Yay for decorating, sales and progress!!!