Parenting Penrose: Getting Ready for Preschool!

Linking up today with Andrea & Erika...

Preschool...How are we already talking about this?  I can't believe that Ryleigh is going to be starting her first year of preschool a month from now.  She will be in the two year old class, which meets two mornings a week.  I think she will really love school, and I'm so glad she already knows a few kiddos that will be in her class so she will be more comfortable from the start.

As far as back to school shopping, I've got some items saved in my Amazon shopping cart to complete her Supply List.  The fun items that I've purchased were of course her backpack (her first ever backpack!!) and a matching lunchbox.  I probably over-thought this way too much but I figured a matching set would make it easier on the teacher to know which were hers.

These were scored on sale during Amazon Prime Day:

Wouldn't a monogram look cute on the front pocket?!

Skip Hop Zoo Backpack // Skip Hop Zoo Lunchie

My tall little stringbean is in need of some new clothes as well.  Since her 2 year doctor's appointment back in mid-February, she has grown over 2 inches in height.  We noticed this when we had our kitchen granite done a couple weeks ago and realized she was all of a sudden taller than the countertops!  2T shirts are all showing too much belly so I've got to stock up on 3T tees and long sleeved shirts.  The first weekend of August is tax-free weekend in SC so I'm planning to do some outlet shopping, and also pick up some fleece sleep & plays for baby Aubrey!  I've gone through most of Ryleigh's old clothes and I'm finding that newborn, 0-3m, and 9m clothes are where we need to add since Ryleigh was born during the opposite time of year.  

Mother's Day Weekend + first Baby #2 Purchase!

We had a great weekend full of Strawberry Festival fun, family time, dinners outside, and a little pampering.  

To say that I am incredibly excited about this next item is an understatement.  I guess this is considered my first official purchase for Baby #2, although it's arriving today (my Mother's Day present) and I'm going to start using it immediately :) haha. 

For that last 2+ years I've been using my Built Go-Go Diaper Tote [I purchased the Mini Dot pattern] and have been more than happy with it.  I love the size, pockets, material, design, everything of this bag.  However, after two years of hard use it's finally showing some wear (mostly just that the outer bottle pockets have a few holes in the seams and there are a handful too many crumbs inside that will just not come out no matter how much scrubbing of the corners).  

It was time for a new bag that would be baby & toddler friendly, and I'm loving the idea of a backpack design option.  After doing a lot of research and considering several options, I found the bag that seems to have everything I could want:

The Ju-Ju-Be Legacy Collection BFF Convertible Diaper Bag

I purchased that first pattern, "The Duchess" which is a black & white dot with gold hardware.  Apparently I can't seem to get away from that pattern.  I love that it is neutral and sophisticated but fun and Jake wouldn't mind carrying it.

Here's why I love the design:

--Definitely big enough for baby & toddler items

--Backpack straps, top handle, and messenger bag strap options (very versatile!)

--tons of pockets inside and outside

--The side Bottle Pockets are insulated material

--Structured bottom with metal feet

Here's the other thing I love about this bag--It keeps going on sale! It sells from Ju-Ju-Be online for $180, and I found it $30 for $150 when I bought it last week.  When I pulled it up to link to this post, I saw that it's on sale even deeper today for $130!  

In other news...In 3 days I get to hear baby's heartbeat again and in 5 days we should know if our second child is a son or a daughter!

  

Products of Penrose: Shopping the Sales - Maternity

I'm excited to be having a fall baby.  Fall has always been my favorite season, and especially October not only because it is my birthday month but also because it is the perfect fall month. There is a fall festival almost every weekend, PSL's are back at Starbucks, leaves change color, weather starts to cool down (at least here in SC), and the world is wonderful.

So, although I am so excited about having an October (or possibly  beginning of November) baby, my current maternity wardrobe options are all wrong.  I have a couple pairs of work pants that I can wear, and I have a few light sweaters or long sleeve tees that I will be able to wear at the very end, but I have nothing for warm weather months.

I was very excited when I came across these sales a couple weeks ago...

I have a feeling maxi dresses will be my go-to all summer long.  I picked up these three Pinkblush Maternity dresses from a Zulily deal where they were 50% off.  Still pricer than I paid for any maternity clothes last time, but I guess I'm giving myself a little bit of wiggle room this pregnancy because we will be saving money with all of the baby gear we can reuse.  And if this child is a girl, she will have QUITE the wardrobe already! You never realize how much clothing your little one has until you pack it away in storage tubs that are now filling the entire closet of Baby#2's room.  

The items I picked up from target were all $7.99 or less on a clearance sale and they are some good summer staples. 

I'm sure sometime in the next month or two I will make a trip to Destination Maternity to pick up some additional pieces. I'm thinking a few pairs of capris will be good for work this summer and a few cute tops. 

  

Products of Penrose: Shopping the Sales - Toddler Girls

One of my favorite things to do is shop the clearance section of my favorite stores to get off-season deals on clothes.  This is especially great for fitting my $5 or less rule for children's clothing.  I just do not see the point in spending more than that on an everyday clothing item when kids grow so quickly!  There is a great sale going on now until March 4th at The Children's Place online!

Ryleigh has lots of t-shirts but needed shorts/skorts and tanks for summertime.  Everything above was $3.97 or less and I love that the items mix & match very well to create so many outfits.

We also scored a deal for a 3T warm winter coat for next year...

This Wisteria color probably would not have been my first choice, 

but for $12.25 and free shipping, it will definitely do!

And some sweet jammies for $7.25...

Another habit that I have is checking clothing clearance when I am purchasing anything from some of my usual stores, like Target, Nordstrom or Amazon.  Side note--since becoming a mom, about 95% of my shopping is done online, including groceries. It's called sanity, and I like to keep it.  

These stores have great shipping and returns policies to make that easy!

I found these cute chinos for Ryleigh at Target and thought the 3T's will work well for her this fall because her legs are so long.

After cleaning out Ryleigh's dresser and realizing many clothes that I thought she had for spring and summer were actually 24m size instead of 2T's, I was worried and knew we needed to add some items. These were the perfect finds!

Projects of Penrose: Foyer Lighting

A new home is always a process to decorate. I've been getting little bits and pieces of things done, tackling the necessities first, of course.  One small change that I have been wanting to make is the light fixture in our foyer.  Something that we did not anticipate when we decided to do the builder option of making the front 'den/office' area enclosed with double doors, was that the light from the bright, double-window in that room was now blocked from the foyer by the wall.  The light fixture that the builder installed in the foyer is really not adequate to brighten the area.  I hope to also alleviate this by installing a glass storm door so that we can leave our front door open during the day and let light in, but we will also be switching out the light fixture...

Our new pendant light was under $100, so it was an affordable way to solve the problem!

It just arrived today and I can't wait to see the change that it will make in the space.

Philanthropy & Penrose: Cyber Monday Deals!

I'm pretty much bursting with excitement for our Angel Tree child. This little boy scored so many gifts on Cyber Monday!  Check out all of the loot that we were able to get for him off his wish list, thanks to Cyber Monday deals from Crazy8 and Amazon...

What we know about him....He's from our hometown, and he's a 7 year old little boy that loves action figures, especially Superman!

Now, I like to pride myself on my bargain-shopping skills, but I am so impressed with all that we could find for him.  I used the code CYBERWK20 on Amazon to get an additional 20% off the jacket, sneakers, socks & undies, and got at least 50% off the action figures and books there as well.  We also have Amazon Prime so all items ship for free!  The rest of the clothing items are from Crazy8, which was having a great cyber sale and emailed me coupon code for an additional 20% off my purchase with free shipping.

Total, we purchased everything above for under $160.00.  The shoes and jacket alone would have cost almost that much!  I am so excited to start receiving the packages in the mail so that I can get them all wrapped up :)




 

Our First Night on Penrose

We moved in this weekend [for the most part...] and spent our first night in the new house last night! It is so exciting to see everything coming together, and filling with furniture.  We still have a bunch of kitchen items and artwork to bring over from the apartment, but we are slowly getting there...

The first night went pretty well.  Ryleigh was loving the house and her new room all the way up until it was time for bed.  Then she had a 10 minute freak-out that completely shattered my heart to a million pieces because she was clutching onto me so tight, crying and saying "I sawwy mommy, I sawwy" because she was scared and I guess felt like we were leaving her or punishing her. I wanted to curl into a ball and die. But, with the comfort of her 13 4 blankies and every stuffed Bubble Guppy that we own, she calmed down after some rocking chair cuddles and went right to peaceful sleep.



And this is an exciting week! For several reasons...

1. Internet, phone, and cable were hooked up this morning! Yay for all of our DVR shows transferring because we are about 3 weeks behind on every single show...

2. Tomorrow is my birthday!!

3.  Wednesday we get our new living room sofa, loveseat, and entertainment center :)

4.  Our HOA approved our fence, so hopefully that is installed soon so that we don't have to bundle up at 6am to walk the dogs around the cul-de-sac!  Also, so that they can RUN. They have been so cooped up the last few months and I hate that for them. They will probably run circles for an entire day around the new yard once the fence goes in.




Also, some fun new randoms...

I am totally obsessed with Joss & Main.  I scooped these little trickets up, each for less than $8, and I had free shipping because after you make a purchase, you get free shipping for 30 days!  I have been buying several things on there lately so I've been running with free shipping for the past 2 months....... #sorrynotsorry

They have some of the CUTEST Christmas decor items right now. I got this cute little sign, which will find it's way either onto our mantle or somewhere in the kitchen.   The Bunny ring holder is for my kitchen.  I always take off my ring to cook and do the dishes, which is all the time with a little one.  I always sit my ring on the counter, but stumbled across this and thought it was too good of a deal to pass up, and so unique!   I also just bought this to go with our new duvet cover.

 


 

Products of Penrose: Kiddie Kitchen

I am so excited for Ryleigh's big Christmas gift this year...

KidKraft Espresso Play Kitchen

This was such a deal that I scooped it up earlier than I usually start shopping for Christmas gifts.  We have the perfect wall in our new kitchen to put a little play kitchen for Ryleigh, so I was a little bit picky about the way hers would look so that I do not have a giant primary-colored, plastic eye sore in there.  I love how this is a mini version of our kitchen!  Espresso cabinets, stainless steel appliances, tile backsplash and white granite countertops :)

This prices anywhere from $115-230 depending on which store you find it in and if it is on sale.  I snatched it up on a Zulily sale for $104! #success

   

Pinning for Penrose: Wall Decor

I am so excited to start making the new house feel like home. We are supposed to close the first week of October, and hopefully will be moved in around my birthday.  

I found a great deal on Groupon for Gallery Wrapped Photo Canvases that I snatched up! We have a big open wall in the kitchen and I have such a fun idea for it. I can't wait to get these canvases ordered closer to our closing date!

Here is some inspiration for other areas of the house...

Three more weeks until we close!!!!

  

F I T N E S S

Find more hours in the day. That is what I've told myself I need.

I like getting into a workout routine but with a very active toddler and working during the day, when do I have time to work out??  I already wake up around 6:30-6:45, and I'm not enough of a morning person to move that earlier to work out in the morning & shower, etc.  I usually shower at night, and I prefer working out in the evenings.  So, I've decided recently to get my lazy bootay moving in the right direction.  Not working out over the past 6 months once I stopped breastfeeding (aka burning hundreds of calories a day) has had some effects that I'm not super happy with and if I'm being honest here I have double-digit pounds that I could lose.

So, I decided that I could do some things to move in the right direction...

1... I went out and bought some new workout clothes [hello motivation] from the Under Armour outlet on tax free wkend...see, totally justified! I actually did make out like a bandit! I got a sports bra, two pair of workout capris, two pair of athletic shorts, and package of 5 no-slip headbands (to hold back those lovely post-partem whispy hairs) all for under $95.

2... I stopped buying foods that I don't want to eat.  If it's not in the house, there is no temptation to eat it.  Therefore, klondike bars have been replaced with extra Greek yogurt to snack on and there are no more oreos in the pantry.  Thankfully, I do like the taste of healthy food and I have a Greek yogurt addiction so this is easy to do.

3... I bought some new fitness material.  I love, love my Insanity dvd's but living in this apartment wouldn't allow me to do all of the running/jumping/etc that Insanity uses since we are on the 2nd floor.  I didn't want to keep pushing off working out 'until we get into the new house' because that's almost two months away.  I heard great things about Kayla Itsines Bikini Body Guide and also Tone It Up.  I decided to go with Kayla's Bikini Body Guides booklet (a $69 digital download of her 12 week plan) and also ordered Tone It Up's dvd Bikini Series 1 for $19.99.

4... I made an instagram fitness account [fit_momma_smw] and am connecting with the #tiu and #bbg community, especially #tiumoms and #bbgmoms.  Such a great source of accountability and healthy recipe ideas!

5... I've used MyFitnessPal app before, and I'm trying to get back into it. It can be a little much to handle, but I do like seeing the calorie counter.

6... I've never really been a meal prepper on the weekends, but I think I'm going to start trying it.  I feel like that will help to cut down on the "well let's just go out to eat tonight" moments because we have those at least once a week due to a hectic day or getting home late because we went to go check out the house.  Meal prepping will make everything mostly-ready and there won't be a reason to pick up pizza!  This will be especially good once we are in the new house and I have a much bigger kitchen than this tiny little apartment one I'm dealing with now.  

So, here we go! Half-way through Week1 and I'm already feeling the burn and loving the changes :)

Parenting Penrose: Independence Day Sales!

I'm big into shopping a size up on the clearance racks.  I can confidently say that I have never purchased clothing for Ryleigh that was not on sale, on a sale rack, clearance, or hand-me-downs.  Nothing wrong with it if you do, but I just can't reason with myself to purchase at full-price when it will be worn for 6 months at best.  It was even worse the first year because Ryleigh would only wear a size for 2-3 months and with all of the clothes that she somehow accumulates ;) she would only wear an outfit maybe 5-6 times max.

So, I was very excited about this loot that I picked up thanks to some July 4th sales--online of course, where 85% of my shopping is done these days.

She's still wearing 12-18month clothes, but these are all purchases of 18-24 or 2T size....

I thought those peplum tops were so sweet, and I am in love with the sandals!  All of the items above I purchased in 2T size so she should get great use out of them during Spring, Summer & Fall next year.  The sandals I purchased in size 6, which was a little bit of a gamble but Ryleigh's feet don't seem to grow that rapidly (she's still a size 3-4 in sandals at almost 17 months) so these should hopefully get her through Spring & Summer 2016 :)

Normal Retail Total:  $131.04          Sale Purchase Price:  $47.63

I mean can we talk about a deal?!  Everything was $4 or less per item, and if you are a parent you know how insane that is for PJ's let alone name-brand PJ's.  I felt like I hit the jackpot with these items!  I got a mixture of sizes 18-24m and 2T.  I'm pretty much dying over the milk & cookies PJ's!  Such fun patterns.

Normal Retail Total:  $161.20          Sale Purchase Price:  $43.91

I can't help but think back to my baby shower when I find deals like this...The guests filled out "wishes for baby" cards and under "I hope you always..._______________" one of Ryleigh's silly Aunts wrote "shop the clearance rack first" which always makes me laugh.  So true!