So, if you’re even the slightest bit thrifty and want to know how to get a hold of baby and maternity stuff for free, check out the site and sign up for your local area. Then come back and tell me what YOU gave away or got for free!

Let’s just say that I enjoyed that vacation experience of whipping out the stroller and putting Karis in it in 10 seconds flat so much that I decided to buy myself an umbrella stroller to throw in the back of my car for quick jaunts to the library and such.

So, last week when I was at Wal-Mart I stopped in the baby section to see what they had in stock. They had the same exact stroller that my mom had bought just a month ago, but I found one I liked little better. The one I wound up buying had metal legs and a really cool primary color design.

And the best part??

I only spent ten dollars and 52 cents!!

What could be better?

And I’ve already used it several times and have LOVED how easy it is to get out, use and put back in the car without throwing my back out!!

Don’t get me wrong. I still love my bigger strollers for longer walks and strolling the mall and anything else that would need the diaper bag and other gear to come along. But for those short little adventures out with baby, I’ll take my $10.52 Wal-Mart umbrella stroller any day of the week!!

Kate: Around the time Kate was going to turn two, we decided to try to wean her from her pacifier (which she had named her ‘bobby’). We started by just taking it away during the day while she was playing at first. She would only get her pacifier at nap time and night time to go to sleep. After a couple of weeks of getting used to that, we worked on taking the pacifier away at nap time, too, so that she would only use it to go to sleep at night. This took a little more work, but we would read a story to her and sing a song to her while she was in her bed about to nap. This helped to soothe her and distract her from not having her ‘bobby’. She also had several stuffed animals that she loved and kept in bed with her, too. Then we worked on not using the pacifier every night. Some nights were better than others, some nights I’m sure we gave in and gave her the pacifier, but after a few weeks, she was doing great and not even asking for it. Of course, we did the same bedtime ritual at night that we did at nap time, with a book and song while tucked in bed. Kids love structure, so it’s really important to do the same thing every time.

Ethan: Ethan was about one when he wound up weaning himself off of pacifiers. For whatever reason, he got to a point where he only liked one kind of pacifier. And, of course, it was the ONLY one of it’s kind in the entire pacifier collection. And, to make matters worse/better it wasn’t a normal pacifier that you could just buy in the baby section of any store. He had gotten himself attached to one of those pacifiers that comes with a gift set of stuff with the pacifier clip used to attach it to their clothes. So, there was really no way to buy another one. Unfortunately, we wound up actually losing that pacifier and that was it. The funny thing is that I then had to call my good friend, Sarah, and ask how to put a baby to sleep WITHOUT a pacifier since I’d never had to do that before. It took about a month to six weeks of difficult nights, but we finally established a night-time ritual of playing the same lullaby CD and patting his back that worked for Ethan.

Friend #1: I have a friend that weaned her kids off of their pacifiers by clipping a little piece off the end of the ‘nipple’ on the pacifier. Just enough to make it uncomfortable to suck on. This worked perfectly the first time with her daughter. But even after cutting a little, and then a little more, and then a little more off her son’s pacifier, he was still stubbornly clenching event the tiniest bit of the pacifier that was left in his teeth.

Friend #2: I have another friend that weaned one of her kids by ‘throwing away’ (I think she may not have actually thrown them in trash can) a pacifier every time it fell on the floor or otherwise. She explained to her son that the pacifier was ‘dirty’ and had to go in the trash. I think she even had him help by making him throw some of them away. She did this until they were all gone, and then she could say, “Sorry honey, we don’t have anymore pacifiers.”

Friend #3: (Disclaimer – This technique is not necessarily one I would recommend, but it worked for her. ) This friend had tried all the other ‘nice’ techniques to weaning a baby off their pacifier and her two and half year old was NOT giving up. Her brother had brought her a small alligator skull as a joke, and she knew her son was a tad scared of it. So, one day when she’d had enough, she took the pacifier, put it in the alligator’s mouth and told her son, “Sorry, the alligator ate it.” He quit his pacifier right then and there!

What about you? Do you have any suggestions or ideas that you’ve heard or have worked for you? Because I have a feeling, I might need all the help I can get when it comes time to wean Karis. This one came out of the womb looking for something to suck on!!!

At first I blamed it on teething.

Then I blamed it on not getting enough sleep.

Then it hit me.

She’s nine months old.

Time for a growth spurt.

So, my beautiful baby has gone into an eating frenzy for about the last 2 weeks. It seemed that every time I fed her, she couldn’t get enough. I could feed her a jar of baby food, another jar mixed with cereal, and more cheerios than you can shake a stick at, and she would still eat more!!!

That wouldn’t have been such a bad thing in and of itself. But, then she started waking up in the middle of the night again. Karis has been sleeping through the night since she was about 4 months old. So, this was NOT what I wanted to see happening. She had her last nursing at night around 10 or 11, then would wake up at 2, 4, AND 6 to eat again. Every time I would try to get her to just take her pacifier and go back to sleep (this USED to work), she would SCREAM at me and bat at my hands and the pacifier. And if I actually got the paci into her mouth, she would rip it out of her mouth indignantly, look at me as though I had betrayed her, and scream even louder until I would break down and finally nurse her.

I mentioned this, my lack of sleep, and my growing grouchiness to a good friend of mine a few days ago. After laughing with me and assuring me that it was most definitely a growth spurt, she asked me if I’d started giving Karis yogurt.

Yogurt? I hadn’t really thought about it yet.

She said to give Karis yogurt at night before her last nursing. That should give her enough calories for her tummy to work on and let her stay asleep through the night. So, for two nights, I tried it. And sure enough, Karis slept! (And I was in heaven!) Then, the next night, Shawn and I both forgot…

until 4 in the morning, when Karis woke up hungry again…

So, the past few nights, we’ve been making sure to fill up her little belly with yogurt before putting her to bed.

And I’ve slept so well…. I mean, SHE’S slept so well…

Thanks for the tip, Gabby! Maybe now I won’t be quite so grouchy!!!

Mundane topic alert! I’ll bet some of you have an image of me sitting around obsessively crunching diaper prices. I swear it’s (mostly) not true! But a reader asked me how much she should be paying per diaper for size 4 premiums. I figured I’d go ahead and create this list for everyone. Make a note of this, it will help you evaluate the deals you find.

These are the per-diaper prices to beat for Cruisers (or Swaddlers) & Huggies Supreme. In other words, this is the most I ever want you to pay per diaper. I arrived at these figures by assuming a $7.99 per jumbo sale and a $1.50 coupon:

Size N: 15-16 cents
Size 1: 13 to 15 cents
Size 2: 16 cents
Size 3: 20 cents
Size 4: 23 cents
Size 5: 25 cents
Size 6: 30 cents

Interestingly, diaper costs double from size N to size 6 (which hopefully you’ll never need to buy). Newborn diaper needs can be as much as a dozen diapers per day, while toddlers can get away with as few as six, so it all evens out. Coincidence?

Since it’s on the web you can print a coupon out as many times as you like and the store will take multiple print-outs of the same coupon as long as you follow the normal directions on the face of the coupon. I tried it out today on Gerber foods (buy 2 Gerber products and get $1.00 off). I bought 12 Gerber items so used 6 $1.00 off coupons….so I ultimately spent $2.28 instead of $8.28!!!!!!!! This particular coupon is only good until the 15th of August but you could totally go and stock up now for later. What’s also great is it doesn’t stipulate what Gerber food product, so it can be any stage, cereal, crackers or whatever. I don’t know how often you shop at Target, but I think it would definitely be worth at least one visit!!
http://coupons.50webs.org/

Ok, you all know what a bargain shopper I am. I wanted to share 2 good finds with you in case you are in need of clothing for your little ones.

1. Target has just taken a lot of markdowns in their infant/toddler sections as well as girls (didn’t shop boys dept, but I am sure they are marked down too) Up to 75% off !!!! I found quite a few $.98 items for my kids. Mostly tee shirts and a few pairs of cotton shorts.
I spent $42 and bought 18 items. (Just over $2 per item!!)

2. Childrens Place- just marked down quite a bit to $3.99. I always shop online there, and use my web code: BCMP77 for an additional 20% off. Anyone can use this code, so feel free to check it out. Plus, it’s $5.00 shipping no matter how much you buy!!!! Webcode expires 7/22/07. www.childrensplace.com
I spent $65 and got 24 items (just over $2 per item!!)

My few bits of advice?

• If you’re breast feeding exclusively, please be sure to introduce a bottle sometime soon after nursing is established. If baby is used to taking a bottle every once in a while (even if it’s just distilled water), they will be more likely to take one on the rare occassion that you need to give them formula or pedialyte or even pumped breastmilk. (Trust me on this one – you can read more about my experience with this problem on this post in the archives…)
• Enjoy that first tasting and take lots of pics! And if baby doesn’t take to it right away, just try again a week or two later. I’ve waited until my babies were closer to 6 or 7 months (instead of just the minimum recommended 4 months) before starting them on cereal just to make sure they were good and ready.
• Somewhere I read to start with green veggies once you get past the cereal phase. The thought process is that since fruits are so much sweeter than green veggies, if you start with fruits you’re less likely to get baby to eat green stuff later. But, if you start with the green stuff, then go to orange and yellow veggies, and save the fruits for last, baby is more likely to go with the flow and still like veggies at the end.
• Don’t start with bananas! It’s the most obvious choice for most of us (okay maybe just me), but the ramifications aren’t all that favorable. If you’re having to wait 4 days before starting a new solid and all you can give baby is bananas for that time, you’ll wind up with a constipated baby – and we all know that’s no fun. Not that I’m speaking from experience or anything… (The first baby is always the guinea pig; sorry Kate!)
• Go with your instincts. This is just great advice in every area of motherhood. If you don’t feel your baby is ready for something, or needs something different, go for it (within reason, of course). Most of the time your gut level response is the right one. This single piece of advice has made me a much calmer and laid back mom than I should be with my personality type. So, just relax a little and enjoy!

So what’s your best advice for starting solids? Add it to the comments section!