One Big Long Day

I want to make this very clear up front: I am not complaining. I absolutely love where I am in life and am so very thankful for all the blessings God has graciously bestowed upon me and Stephen. That said, I am so tired! I'm so tired that I'm not even tired anymore! The most sleep we get at night is three hours at one time, then we're up for maybe an hour, then, if we're lucky, maybe three more hours of sleep, but we're usually not that lucky (side note: I hate using the word "luck" and believes it undermines God's providence, but I'm at a loss for a better word at the moment.). These past few weeks seem like one long day to me. On the bright side, I do believe that my body is getting used to it (is that a good thing?). I just keep telling myself that each night is one night closer to Anna sleeping through the night. Speaking of Polkadot . . .

doesn't she look adorable in her little hat?!

Anna is starting to stay awake in the morning much more, and I think we're slowly bumbling our way into a daily routine. She and Mary have both been napping in their rooms at the same time after lunch, which gives me my much-needed reading time. Mansfield Park wasn't available last weekend at the library, so I settled on Emma instead. Just finished it, and it was great! I picked up Persuasion while I was out running errands today, and I'm enjoying it so far. I'm planning on reading all of Jane Austen's novels before moving on to another author. My time would probably be better spent reading non-fiction, but I've had enough "real life" for the moment and thoroughly enjoy losing myself in the world of 19th century English aristocracy.

Stephen and I have started coupon-ing. I went to a coupon workshop last week and learned lots of great information about finding deals and making to most of sales (our instructor's weekly food budget for her family of three is only $40 - which includes eating out!). We're still getting the hang of it, so I can't boast this week of saving a million dollars on canned vegetables, but maybe one day I'll post a success story. Actually, there is a really good deal at Publix that we took advantage of last night. They have Del Monte diced tomatoes as a BOGO special (Buy One Get One Free). That means instead of each can being $1.39, it's around $0.70. Add to that the printable coupon, and each can becomes just $0.49! We bought eight cans to begin our stockpile of staple items (I tried to find the coupon to link to it, but my search was fruitless). Here are some of our favorite coupon sites:

http://www.iheartpublix.com/

http://www.southernsavers.com/

These sites do a lot of the work for you, which we like, of course. The first part of couponing, according to the workshop, is to get a list together of your family's five staple items (products you use the most) and stockpile them when they're at their lowest price. That's where we are now. If we have any really crazy savings, I'll be sure to let you know. Stephen is doing the shopping these days, since Anna nurses so frequently, but he says he's SO ready for his girls to take over this job! I love shopping, even grocery shopping, so it will be a pleasure to return to it when the times comes. 

Okay, enough talk of coupons, now for the pictures!

A dear friend of ours blessed us with this adorable flower costume! I couldn't resist playing dress-up today with Mary, which she didn't mind too much. 

Anna's up again. Better run. Happy weekend!