Today, we were back on the hunt for a birthday t-shirt as well as more shopping. My mom and sister watched Sawyer while had a day to ourselves. We first went to Toys R Us and got most of his toy gifts. He know has 3 toys, books, and clothing from us. We are going to pick up one more toy from Wal-Mart (because it’s much cheaper there).

We then went to Target, hoping to find a birthday shirt…and they luckily had two on clearance! I’m so glad we found it, seeing as he has his birthday portraits scheduled for Wednesday. We also grabbed a quick bite at Panera Bread while we were out. They know have the calorie counts for their menu options right on the signs, which I think is very helpful. I didn’t realize my “You Pick 2″ of choice was only about 500 calories! It made my soup and sandwich taste even better heh.

The rest of the month looks to be just as busy as the first of it has. We have Sawyer’s pictures on Wednesday, then this weekend will be last minute preparations for his party and a deep cleaning of the house. His party is the 17th, then he has an eye doctor appointment on the 19th and his one year check up on the 21st. Then James leaves for Kentucky on the 25th. On top of all this, I have 3 reviews to complete, I want to keep up with blogging, I still have to work, and the gym will be calling my name twice a week. Should be a fun September!

What are some of your bad habits?

I have quite a few bad habits that I really should break. The first one that comes to mind immediately is biting my nails. However, I think I have recently conquered that one. After being a nail biter since I was a tiny child – seriously, I don’t remember a time when I didn’t bite my nails – I haven’t bitten them since May. I had a mani/pedi for Mother’s Day, and decided then that I was no longer going to bite them.

Another bad habit that I have is procrastination. I am really horrible. If I am giving a deadline for something, you can almost bet I will be the girl up until 3am the night before working to finish it. It also seems that I work better under pressure. However, on more than one occasion, my procrastination has led to not getting something done on time…say because there is also a computer or printer issue. I am also working on that though, because it’s horrible to try to work at home and deal with putting things off all the time.

Those are the two main bad habits I have. The others that I can think of at the moment include:

• Interrupting people. I hate to do it, but sometimes I can’t stop myself, or I am afraid that I will forget what I need to say before the other person has finished talking.
• Unhealthy eating. This is a horrible habit of mine, but I am slowly getting away from the junk food I once had to have to more nutritious food choices.
• Road rage. Can this be a habit…especially if you tend to have it every time you get behind the wheel?

Instead, I’ve been finding other ways to pass the free time that I have. First, I’ve started reading again. Reading is something I’ve loved to do for as long as I can remember, but lately, it seems to come in spurts. When I got my Kindle for Christmas, I read 2 books within the first couple weeks of January. Then, my interest wained a little and then other things took over. I went a full month without even touching the Kindle. Last week, I decided to finish up the book I was reading at the time, Marked by PC and Kristen Cast. I have since read Betrayed and Chosen, and have started Untamed.

We’ve also went swimming a few more times since Sawyer’s first adventure last month. The water is much warmer now and he likes it better. We went last Friday night, and he enjoyed sitting in his float, which is a first. He really likes to splash his hands in the water. If the Little Swimmers pants weren’t so expensive, we’d go swimming a lot more. Still, I like that I am able to get some exercise in. During the summer is when I regret having a gym membership. I’d much rather swim and walk outside than be stuck inside a hot gym with lots of other sweaty people.

I feel like I never get *ME* time. I am not really complaining because I love my role as a stay at home wife and mom, but sometimes, it would be nice to get a break…not just from my baby either. I couldn’t tell you the last time that I have been free from all commitments…I honestly don’t think it’s been anytime since Sawyer has been born. James has gotten a little bit of free time while on his two business trips he’s taken this year. Granted he spends all of that time in a hotel room, but at least he has the option to go out and explore the location he’s at or just relax without dirty diapers, chores, and work.

Last Friday, when I had to go pick up James from his business trip, I was alone for a few hours. My sister had taken Sawyer back with her to her house because he was staying the night there. However, I worked up until I had to get ready to pick him up so I didn’t really get to enjoy the alone time.

Today, however, was awesome. James took Sawyer to visit with some of his family about 45 minutes away. No one was here but me. I had no work commitments that had to be done. So, from about 1:20pm until a little after 6:30pm, I did absolutely nothing…and it felt great! Well, I take that back. Most of the time was spent laying on the couch, laptop on my lap. I did get up and eat lunch exactly when I wanted, rather than when a certain little monkey was napping or playing happily in his play pen or highchair. It was only 5 hours, but it was SO nice!

And now that we are back in reality, I have about 3 loads of laundry and a living room and kitchen that need to be cleaned!

1) I don’t have the time to read through all sales papers, check blogs, check the forum, buy newspapers, clip coupons, and order coupons online. The extreme couponers will tell you it’s easy and that you just have to make time for it. The three Sundays that I spent doing all of that, I was working on my coupon stash and shopping lists for more than 3 hours! I can’t spend that much of my life on coupons at the moment.

2) I end up using coupons for things I wouldn’t normally buy. I don’t need that much coffee. Or noodles. Or soft drinks. Or whatever else people are getting 50 or more of when they use their coupons. I can’t seem to find coupons for brands and items I already use. I have made some substitutions when it comes to brands, but there are other things I still want to buy and coupons do not exist for those items.

3) Every time I gather up several coupons for a really good deal on an item, the store were I can get the best deal is ALWAYS sold out. I had 10 Dial soap coupons that went to waste. The same for 7 Birdseye Steamfresh frozen veggie coupons. Currently, I am on the hunt for Huggies Swimpants that I can get for $2.99 (regularly $9.99) at Walgreen’s but the 3 in my area are all sold out and have been since the first day of the sale…I apparently live in a city of shelf clearers.

4) I recently went printing crazy and ran the printer out of ink on coupons I probably will never use. I realized then you have to figure in the costs of obtaining coupons, and that should offset your total savings. Newspapers, printer paper, ink, and the gas to get the papers and to visit several stores should all be figured in…which would probably put me in the negative for most deals!

I have managed to stock up on laundry detergent (8 bottles) and Similac formula (approximately 25 bottles) but would love to stockpile some of the items we will always need, such as toilet paper, paper towels, shampoo, etc etc. It just seems I can’t be in the right place with the right coupons at the right time.

I have been dabbling in Internet Marketing for a couple years now, but just got serious about it in the last several months. My goal is to have all of my income be passive, with very little maintenance work required. This is possible, though it takes a lot of initial set up. I have been selling content recently, which is a bit different than freelance work. With freelancing, you have clients and you write what they want you to and get paid for it. With selling, there’s not guarantee you will make money. It is riskier, but the benefits outweigh the possible negatives…if you learn how to do it right.

I have been kinda burned out on my work this week, which is why I have turned to my blog. It’s difficult to work at home with a 7 1/2 month old, even when James comes home from work. Then, there’s dinner to be cook, kitchen to be cleaned, laundry to be done, and 50 other things that I need to do. This is the time I am supposed to work, since I don’t get much computer time during the day. Plus, I am not where near by goals at this point, but I think the off time I have taken this week will allow me to start fresh next week. Being a WAHM is definitely no walk in the park, but I wouldn’t trade the ability to stay home with my son for any job at the moment!

I somehow missed the entire month of April, so I’ll try to think of any highlights. The only one that comes to mind is Easter. This was Sawyer’s first one, of course, and I think he had a lot of fun. He went to 2 Easter egg hunts and got a nice stash of candy (which his daddy and I took care of for him ). He loved chewing on the plastic eggs, and was more content on doing that than just about anything the entire days. Poor little monkey was exhausted by the end of the day.

The week before Easter we had our first family portraits made. Sawyer wouldn’t smile for nothing, but we did get a few cute shots of him. I am also pleased with one of the shots of the entire family. A couple days before Sawyer also had his photo made with the Easter bunny, and then again, wouldn’t smile. Since I haven’t in a while, I’ll post some photos of him. I cannot believe how fast he’s growing up, yet he’s still so small in my eyes at the same time.

After falling asleep at 10pm last night, I was able to get up this morning and very productive. James and I were supposed to watch Letters to Juliet, but it seemed like the baby and the puppy did not want us to. As so as we got it started, Charmin wanted to go out. The fence between our property and the neighbor’s has fell yet again (that’s what happens when you install a fence on a sink hole!), so we can’t just send him out in the backyard without watching him. After we got him back in the house and sat down to restart the movie, the baby decided to cry. While James was rocking him back to sleep, I dozed off on the couch. I remember James waking me up and telling me to come to bed, and then I briefly remember cuddling up under the covers. The next thing I know, it was 4:30am!

I don’t really like getting up that early, but that’s what happens if I go to bed at 10pm. I’m usually not in bed before midnight, so that way I’ll sleep until 8 or 9am. Before James left for work, I had already completed 1/3 of my work for the day, showered, ate breakfast, and started tonight’s dinner in the slow cooker, which is Catie’s beef stew. I have not had homemade beef stew in years, so I cannot wait for dinner tonight!

Once we got there, we hit up the Old Navy and Carter’s in the next town over while my aunt and uncle watched Sawyer. I felt bad pawning him off to go shopping with my sister, but they wanted to keep him…actually suggested we go and leave him there with them. I got James a shirt to wear for Thanksgiving, and Sawyer four new outfits (2 from me, 2 from my sister) to wear right now.

He’s getting to be difficult to dress. Pants are the worst. Newborns are getting a little snug in the waist, and are super short on him. Most 0-3 months/3 months are too long, or huge in the waist for him. Most of Carter’s outfits will fit him great, so we went there looking for the ones that are good for him. After shopping, we went back to my aunt’s and stayed until dinner. We then met up with James, and we to Target so my sister to get Sawyer a toy for Christmas that is on sale due to their Pre-Black Friday sales.

So, we left the house at 10:45am, and didn’t get home until 10:00pm. Sawyer took a bottle and went straight to sleep, thank goodness. Poor baby doesn’t usually go this long, so I am sure he is exhausted. I’m tired myself, but having about 10 things I still need to do before bed…but now I can cross blogging off the list!

Of course, it could be the awesome productivity I’ve been putting out lately. I have gotten into a good writing schedule and tweaked it to fit my needs. Today was probably the best day. I woke up a little after 7am, had breakfast with James, checked my email and some sites, and was writing by 8am. I then stopped at 11am to check email, take a shower, and meet my sister and granny for lunch. I also ran a couple of errands while I was out. Made it back home about 1:30pm and worked until 4pm. I think this will be how I work for a while. that gives me about 6 hours of work each day, as I will not always have a 2 1/2 hour break in the middle for lunch and stuff. It will normally be an hour to an hour and a half. The biggest part is just staying focused, and not allowing myself to stray from my writing to check Facebook, Twitter, and other sites.