Shutterfly for Christmas!

We use Shutterfly so much, I was surprised when I did a search on our blog I couldn't find a single post about it! What I love them best for is their quickie photo books. I absolutely love the way they turn out, how quick they are to put together (as long as you have a little uninterrupted time), and they offer lots of coupon and promo codes. For example, I've gotten a free photobook from saving up my Pampers points (which accumulate quickly with all the diapers around here) and I've even had a free one and a 50% off one print out from the checkout at Harris Teeter.

Thanks to the ease of Shutterfly, I am caught up with Kenna's baby books up to her first year, including a little flip book of all her "firsts." Kenna loves to sit and look at the books- she loves pictures of herself and her family! I've also used them to make a photo memory book of my mom and several Christmas cards over the years. They also have other holiday cards and some really cute birthday cards that I'd love to use for invitations sometime if I can get my act together in time.
The exciting thing is that this year they are offering a special promotion for people with any kind of blog. I think a card with a family photo (or your kid's photo if it's a birthday card, etc.) is such a sweet way to keep in contact with family, and also to look back at over the years. You could even upload each year's Christmas card into a little book so that the kids can flip back through when they get bigger (I'm currently working on making one of these!). It's also crazy easy, once you've made a photobook, to order more copies of it which make perfect Christmas gifts, especially for grandmas who never tire of grandkid pictures!

For this year, I really like this one because there is space for sort of a mini Christmas letter off to the side:
And this one because you could use so many pictures! (That was an especially useful feature the year Kenna was born in November, so we combined her birth announcement with our Christmas card- LOTS of photos we wanted to use!)
So if you're a blogger and would like to try out Shutterfly's products for free (and get a headstart on your Christmas cards for free!) check out this promotion, it's easy as pie. We love Shutterfly!

Consignment Loot

Now that we have a little one to clothe and feed, I've been trying to be better about searching out good deals and bargains, and have discovered the wonderful world of consignment sales! For awhile, the only big one I knew about was Kids Exchange, which anyone who has gone to it before knows it is huge and terrifying and will eat up an entire day (usually in the checkout line alone!). So when I found out about Kidaround kidsale right here in Wake Forest, I got really excited about it! It turned out to be even better than I thought, with lots of great stuff to choose from but none of the scary moms with trashcans bungee-corded to their strollers running everyone over. I went looking just for some 9oz sized Avent bottles, and instead of the panic, I was able to enjoy browsing and got this great load of stuff for just $36!
Two Gymboree onesie outfits ($1 each) and a beautiful Strasburg smocked dress for $5, a wooded tree toy with little orbiting bees and butterflies for $3, two brand new unopened cans of formula ($4 each) and four travel-sized formula packets, all in their original packaging... a pair of Janie and Jack white eyelet shoes ($4) that won't fit Kenna for awhile, but I just loved them! A bright pink washable, resuable swim diaper ($3) that will hopefully save money on those Huggies swim diapers at the pool and beach all summer, four Little Critter books about colors, ABCs, etc. for $2, and three 9oz Avent bottles for $5.

Consigning is also a great way to "recycle" clothes that are out of season or that don't fit anymore, especially in these early days where it seems like they only wear their clothes once or twice before they don't fit anymore! It's so exciting to find things that cost a tiny percentage of what they would be brand-new just because they have a little use. I can't wait for the next sale!

36 Weeks and a Bargain

Here is my current look at 36 weeks, with one pair of pants that fits and lots of anticipation:
What the OB is saying about our progress:
-We are dilated 2 centimeters and starting to efface!
-She's not premature at this point, so she safely can and might come at any time now!
-They gave us all the warning signs that require an immediate call to the hospital (I'll spare the details of those) and that we should call when the contractions are 5-7 minutes apart... or when they "have me cursing" as the OB said!
-If we keep up this progress, it looks like little K will be making her appearance sooner rather than later...

Some of the things I've been doing to get ready:
-Eating whatever I want, whenever I want! The intensive baby-weight-be-gone diet must start sooner than I want to think about!
-Finishing up little things here and there for the baby room... hanging things on the wall, labeling dresser drawers, and putting away clean laundry.
-Packing my hospital bag, just in case!
-Becoming close friends with Matt's sweatpants.

I also thought I'd mention to anybody that's interested that Old Navy is having a $10 and under deal sale right now, and also some 75% off clearance from the summer. Matt and I just happened to stop by the store because I had a $6 gift card from a return that I wanted to use up, and we got some great deals! Matt got a really nice brown and blue dress shirt for about $12, and I got a nice little haul of tank tops, one long sleeve maternity shirt, a 'tshirt skirt' as I call them, and a navy blue summery top, 8 items all together for just under $30!
I get super excited when clothes are on sale for $1.99, even if they are just little tank tops! I'm also noticing that CVS is a really good place for bargains... they offer grocery staples like milk for much cheaper than stores, have some buy one get one free things, and also have a store card that earns you free "bucks" which are like store credit based on your spending. I started using them for prescription filling, and now we can use the bucks on things like photo processing and the occasional shampoo, etc.