Last night, my friend Nichole texted me to let me know my Thirty One stuff had came in. I ordered a tote bag and matching organizer for my couponing supplies. The organizer is small and I can take it into the store with me if I do not want to carry my huge binder (which I still need to talk about and post photos of…when I get time). James, Sawyer, and I are going to go over to her house this afternoon and pick up my stuff. I have to show James her house…they had to built earlier this year, and wow, it’s just amazing. I love it and want it!! It’s so open and spacious, has 4 bedrooms and a bonus room for her husband, and it’s just drool-worthy

Once Sawyer’s party is over this weekend, I am going to start thinking about Christmas. His big gift from Santa is probably going to be a play kitchen. I am hoping I can find some coupons codes that will help easy the price tag for it!

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!

We went to Wal-Mart first for baby food, formula, and diapers. I let him pick out new sippy cups (he chose Cars over Toy Story), and he held on to them the entire time we were there. Normally he throws things from the buggy if anything is laid in the seat with him, but no his sippy cups! During check out, a lady behind us said hello to Sawyer, and all he would say is “da da” He hasn’t really said anything else since James left last Saturday¹

After Wal-Mart, we went to Aldi for our actual groceries. Again, he was great. I packed toys and snacks, but he didn’t even need any of them. When we got home from the shopping trip, it was a different story. He has come to dislike his playpen, so he was upset when I had to put him in it to bring in and put up all of the groceries. He also didn’t want to take an afternoon nap, so he played, whined, and cried in his crib for almost 40 minutes before finally dozing off…only to be woken up by the dog 15 minutes later.

After he had dinner, my sister, Sawyer, and I went to my friend Nichole’s for a “girls night out.” This consisted of a Pampered Chef/Thirty One combination party. It was nice to see her and a couple of my friends from high school again. Nichole and her husband recently built a house and I am SO in love with it! It’s so spacious, new, and amazingly designed and decorated. While there, I purchased a tote bag and “on the go organizer” for my couponing hobby. I need to get more serious with it if I want to start a stockpile as well as save money.

When I mentioned my reason for purchasing to Nichole, she showed me her closet that she had been stocking with various things using coupons. She has been doing it after taking a class a few months ago, and already has a room full of non-food items. I almost drooled over the 18 containers of wipes that she got for free!

Our first stop was Target. For some reason, diapers were included in the tax free weekend (and too bad hunting binoculars weren’t or my brother would have been with us!), so we used coupons and got 96 Pampers diapers and 64 Pampers wipes for $15. I also got Sawyer three shirts there. Then, we headed over to the mall where we stopped at the food court for a quick bite to eat. We ate at Great Wraps, which is a very yummy wrap place that I rarely get because we don’t go up there much, and when we do, we usually eat Red Robin or something like that.

After lunch, we stopped by Justice for a gift card for my little cousin’s birthday. That store is like the Hollister for little girls…they had long sleeved t-shirts that were ON SALE for 40% off that were still $30. Way too much to pay for kids clothing in my opinion. Anyways, after the gift card (and waiting almost 25 minutes in line to get it), we made a beeline to The Children’s Place. There, I picked up 2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of track pants, 2 short sleeved shirts, 1 button down shirt, and 1 pair of shorts for next summer for Sawyer, and all for $45. I felt like I got a really good deal, and he’s pretty much set for fall/winter.

After the shopping was finished, we headed back to Georgia for my cousin’s birthday party. She had it at one of those indoor fun places with all the inflatable bouncers and arcade games. Sawyer didn’t care for the slides, but he liked bouncing around in one of the more open houses so James could be right there with him. We stopped by a deli on the way home for a quick dinner, and then I went with my mom and sister to Wal-Mart while James took Sawyer on home…Needless to say, that little boy was completely exhausted he made it to his crib!

Sunday was more of a relaxing day that consisted of being lazy in the morning and then swimming in the afternoon. So far, this week has been fairly uneventful. Just playing with the baby, spending time with the hubby, blogging, and working. I haven’t missed a day in the Veracity Blogathon (go me!) and I am trying to also do some personal posts in between when I can.

We also have a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon. My little cousin, Breanna, is turning 10 years old. I seriously cannot believe it! I can remember when she was born. It seems like it’s only been a few years ago. We haven’t gotten her anything for her birthday yet, so I will probably pick that up while we are shopping as well.

Right now, I am about to get Sawyer ready for his outing with Auntie Krista. I FaceTime’d her earlier to see if she wanted to come over and spend some time with him. She suggested taking him out to lunch with our mom and then to our  mom’s work to visit with everyone and give me a baby free afternoon. Since I don’t get offers like that often, I quickly agreed. It’s not too exciting though, because the free time will be spent cleaning this house and getting some work done.

So, Sawyer had a bath at 5am yesterday morning because it was hard to just wipe him down. Luckily, he was still sleepy even after the bath, so he went back to sleep along with me and James.

When we got up for the second time, Mom cooked breakfast. After we ate, James, my sister and I got ready to go down to Pier Park. Mom kept Sawyer so we could do some shopping. There are so many new shops there than there was the last time we were here 2 years ago. There are specialty shops geared toward tourists as well as places that are more geared to locals (cell phone shops, Wholesale Insurance offices, and barbers, for example). I bought myself a t-shirt at the Ron Jon shop that says “I don’t do mornings.” that statement is so true for me! We also went to Old Navy where I got Sawyer a couple things for fall/winter, including a $1.47 brown hoodie.

After shopping, we met my mom, brother, and Sawyer for dinner at Angelo’s. It is apparently a very popular steakhouse in Panama City Beach that fills up as soon as the doors open for dinner. We were there almost 30 minutes before it opened to be sure we got in. Their steaks are very tender and yummy. After dinner we came back to the condo, hung out for about 45 minutes to wait for the sun to go down, and then went down to the beach.

Sawyer liked the beach a little more than last time. He likes kicking his feet in the waves. We finished the evening at the pool until it was about 15 minutes past Sawyer’s normal bed time. We came back up and put him to bed, watched Secret Life, then went to bed ourselves.

After Wal-Mart we headed to the mall. James met us at almost 8am for breakfast there. We hit up Sears and The Children’s place. After that, we went to the other Wal-Mart in town, and scored a bunch of other things. In all, I crossed everyone’s name of my shopping list except for James, Sawyer, and my step-dad. I still have to order James’ gift and the rest of Sawyer’s from Amazon.com, and my step-dad may just be getting a gift card from us. I also have to get James, Sawyer, and the puppy some stocking stuffers and then I’m finished!

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!