I Love Target

I have made no secret of my undying love for Target. I will cry the day we move away from my beloved Target and I can't jet on over to pick up some deals on the fly (OK, I wouldn't.... I might...).

They just put out a whole host of coupons yesterday (I'm not sure if they are still there - the hot ones tend to go fast, but you can check here). And since you can use one Target coupon and one manufacturer coupon on every item...cha-CHING! Check Totally Target's posts here and here for some sweet match-ups.

Anyways, here is my shopping trip from today:
I spent $5.92 and saved $33.54 (85% savings)!! When I can buy expensive things like Benadryl, light bulbs or the oh-so-tasty Wonka chocolate (which alone would have cost over $9) for pennies, it's a good day.

Amazon and I are also best buds. Especially since they recently offered an entire YEAR of Amazon Prime for free (can we say FREE two-day shipping, no minimum order?) for students. You have to have a .edu email address that you can access to verify your student account, but you can sign up here).

Amazon and Parents/Parenting Magazine got together to offer a fantabulous deal on diapers. Amazon's Subscribe and Save program (which is easily canceled after the first order) regularly offers 15% off diapers when you sign up. For a limited time, they are offering 30% off! In each of the Parents/Parenting magazines (August issues, which are on newsstands now), there are 20% off coupon codes that you can stack to save an additional 40%! Free shipping, too!

Even taking into account the cost of the magazines, you are saving double what you spent! Example - $3 magazine nets $6 savings (20% of a $30 case) - so you spend $3 to save $6. Where else can you get a 100% return in this economy?

To stack the codes, you will need to find a code that starts with the letter "A" (found in Parents magazine) and a code that starts with the letter "X" (found in Parenting: The Early Years magazine). You CANNOT use two "A" codes or two "X" codes.

And CHECK the magazine before you buy! I flipped through a couple issues and someone had torn out the code. In Parents' magazine, it's a postcard around page 96. In Parenting: The Early Years, it's around page 40.

So here's my scenario:
Case of 124 Size 3 Huggies Little Movers - $32.75 (I'm pretty sure this is closer to $40 in stores so you're already saving a bundle)
Where else on this earth can you get a CASE of diapers for less than $10? Delivered to your front door, no less!

The 20% off codes are good until the end of August but there's no known expiration date for the 30% off deal at Amazon so I'd jump on it fast. Once you place the Amazon order and "sign up" for the Subscribe and Save, you can just go into your account and cancel the subscription so you won't receive any more orders (I always wait until my order actually ships though, just to be safe).

Pictures!

It's been awhile since I had just a picture post and there are so many I want to share. Here goes!

These are the rest of our favorites of her 8-month pictures done by our niece, Cassie Kendall.

The much-loved "bully face"

First time standing all the way up on her own

Safari Baby

Just a cute smile

First time in the "big" bathtub

"You can't keep anything from me now!"

Cruising

"I'm going to pull aaaaall these toys out!"

Her latest "thing" is squinting for pictures

That's all for now!

Standing up (live action)!

So, we know Averie has pulled herself up but this is the first time we got a VIDEO of her doing it! Yippee! Check it out. There are two separate "instances" of her pulling herself up with a short transition between the two so you can tell them apart. Enjoy!

Sneak Preview

As I mentioned in Averie's 8-month blog post, my niece Cassie took some pictures of Averie for us. We just got a sneak preview and if this picture is anything like the rest of them, I am going to be on pins and needles waiting to see the others!

Our angel

Standing up!

This afternoon, Averie was napping and then we heard her crying over the baby monitor. We decided to just leave her because she had only been asleep for a short time and we knew she needed to sleep longer, and if we just let her fuss for a little bit, she almost always goes back to sleep. Well, after 15 minutes, she was still crying so we went in and found her like this!
Standing up all by herself! Good thing we lowered the crib mattress a notch a few days ago!

And to give you some perspective, the blue bib in her hand was on top of that pile on the other side of the crib, and she had tossed aside the cardboard hanger it was originally on (how did she get that off?!)....
We were feeling a little guilty that she had been standing up and crying that whole time -- presumably because she couldn't figure out how to sit back down (a common problem when babies first learn to stand on their own) -- but then we were just so proud of her!

I wonder when will she take her first steps unassisted. I doubt it's very far off.

8 Months!

Averie turned 8 months old yesterday! Our niece Cassie took some great pictures of her that I can't wait to share. In the meantime, Averie has made some BIG accomplishments in the last month.

First of all, she has started getting up on all fours in "crawling position." She doesn't crawl forward on her hands and knees yet but she does rock back and forth (like she's raring to go!).
She's a fast little army crawler though and there's been more than one time that I have set her down on the floor to play, turned around for a minute, turned back and found her all the way across the room, getting into trouble! :)

Averie is a pro at sitting now too and very rarely tips over anymore (and when she does, she can usually catch herself before she face plants). She also just learned how to sit up on her own from laying down (on her stomach).

Pushing up, then sitting up straight

And last, but certainly not least - Averie has started pulling herself up to stand! Today she made the most progress she has ever had. Started with this...

Then to this!

Now, I freely admit that this last picture, we gave her a little nudge to get onto her feet from her knees...
But from there, she supported herself entirely with her own arms and legs for a good 7 seconds!! So proud of our baby girl! And with that, it's baby-proofing time!

Other "fun facts" about Averie:
Favorite food - Sweet potatoes. Boy am I glad that one of her favorite foods is a veggie. She loves her pureed sweet potatoes and also the sweet potato flavored Gerber puffs that she gets as a treat and to learn how to chew.

Diapers - She is in size 2-3 Pampers right now, but we only have a few left and will probably be moving to size 3 Huggies in the next couple days. We'll play it by ear though - the 2-3s are still pretty roomy on her so we might need more of those before moving into full-blown size 3.

Clothes - Averie has FINALLY moved into 6 to 9 month clothes! Most of the 6-12 month sized things are still too big, but the 6-9s fit well.

I can't believe how fast she is growing and how much she has changed just in the past couple weeks.