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Christmas in Moderation {what I bought}

Joshua & Sophie in front of our tree, all dressed up for their school Christmas program.

A few weeks ago I told you how we were going to try to cut down on crazy Christmas over-shopping, spoiling,  and over-indulgence by giving our kids just four gifts: something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read.

Well, now I am DONE with my shopping (HOLLA!!) so I’m here to tell you how that went and what the kids are getting! You can judge for yourself whether or not I was faithful to the rule (I myself am perfectly satisfied with how I did).

At some point in my shopping I realized I still wanted the kids to be able to give gifts to each other. I usually purchase a couple of $5 or less gifts and let the kids choose which they want to give to their sibling. I decided to keep this tradition, because they like giving to each other and I want to keep them giving as much as possible. They both saved money to purchase items for their Operation Christmas Child boxes and they blew their wads on those, so mom & dad are fronting them the $ for sibling presents. I did stay within my budget on these sibling gifts, though.

Okay, SO – after I got that out of the way, I did my shopping. I was done shopping for the kids by the end of November.

That is…until last week, when a miracle occurred and American Girl decided to put out a special offer through Good Morning America. They put out a coupon code for 61% off a doll, book, and accessory set!

Let me explain. Sophie has three of the miniature American Girl Dolls. You know, the ones that cost $15 on Amazon. She got one for her birthday last year, one for Christmas last year, and one for her  birthday this year (it was her something she “wanted”). I have wanted to give her a full-size one, but I will never be able to justify the cost. We just don’t spend that much on birthdays or Christmases. And Sophie likes her mini ones, but she doesn’t play with them enough to make me *positive* that we’d get our $$ worth out of a big one. (She does LOVE the books a lot, though! She got the Addy book for her birthday as well and is getting a Kit book for Christmas.)

But when American Girl released a coupon code that would get you a full-size doll, book, and accessory set for $57.95 shipped??? I BOUGHT THAT. I was pretty sure it would be her only chance to own one so I went for it. I hope she is thrilled by it but I’m still not sure how she will react! It’s her “something she wants”…but I don’t know if she wants it. Uhhh….

I just couldn’t pass that up. I’ll let you know how it goes!

Anyway. Her original “something she wanted” was a LeapPad game, which my brother & sister-in-law purchased from me and are now giving her. So she does not have an extra gift from us. All that to say- here is what Sophie is getting for Christmas!

Want: American Girl Marie-Grace doll with book and accessory set

Need: new leotard for gymnastics

Wear: Hello Kitty PJs

Read: American Girl Kit book #3

From siblings: a doctor kit and a game

Now for Joshua, we threw in an *extra* “want” gift because when we bought Sophie the AG doll, it made it so we had spent more money on her, and I am all about the monetary amount being as fair as possible. So judge me if you will, but I think that’s the best way to be fair to my kids this year. Joshua’s gifts are:

Want: Lego Star Wars Wii game, Lego Star Wars set

Need: new goggles for swim lessons & Lego Star Wars PJs (he needs both of these things and they cannot wait for his birthday in February! Judge me again.)

Wear: Angry Birds Star Wars shirt

Read: Pokemon books (again, more than one book because they were less expensive than the other kids’ books).

From his siblings: two clearance $5 Halloween costumes that he will love!

Finally, here are Jonah’s gifts. Poor guy, his birthday is just 8 days before Christmas! So birthday and Christmas shopping were kind of rolled into one, plus, he’s 2, he doesn’t really “WANT” anything, but these are the things I’ve designated for Christmas:

Want: Fisher-Price Little People Wheelies Set

Need: Toy instruments (he NEEDS toys, poor kid!)

Wear: Socks

Read: Toddler Tools book

From his siblings: another book and a toy phone

So, that’s it! That’s what the kids are getting for Christmas. Of course there will also be candy and trinkets in their stockings as well. I am pretty pleased with how my shopping went this year! Even if I did have to fudge the big kids’ gifts a little to make it “fair” money-wise.

How about you? Are you done shopping, or have you barely even started?

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A great gift – Kendra Phillip jewelry

Let me tell you something about myself…I am a SUCKER for a monogram! I loooove personalized things. So when the team at Kendra Phillip jewelry asked me to review their initial pendant, I was all “you had me at initial!!” They sent me the classic mini reversible initial pendant pictured above. Yes, I said reversible! One side is gold and one is silver. Genius, right? Here’s me wearing it on the other side:

Isn’t it elegant? I love this necklace! The pendant is very weighty. It has a lot of heft to it and I love that I can really feel it all day when I’m wearing it. It really stays put, too! It doesn’t flip-flop or travel around your neck to where it’s not supposed to be (which drives me bonkers).

If you’re looking for a quality jewelry gift this holiday, check out Kendra Phillip’s website! Their jewelers make beautiful earrings, cuffs, and necklaces that will be beloved by the recipient. I’m loving their heart stud earrings, those are going on my wish list!

You can check out all the pretty things at Kendra Phillip here. Happy shopping!

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Kendra Phillip provided me with a pendant to facilitate my review. All opinions about it are my own.

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Weanxiety

So…the weaning is going well. Much better than I thought it would, actually. Jonah has thrown pretty big fits lasting 30 minutes or more the last two mornings when I wouldn’t nurse him when he woke up at 7 a.m., and smaller mini-fits throughout the day, but after we get past the morning tantrum, our days have been pretty much “normal”. He is clingier than usual, but I’m just enjoying the extra snuggles! Those morning fits have been a bit heartbreaking for me, because after he gets mad, he gets sad. And when he’s sad because I won’t nurse him, it makes me feel like he feels that I don’t love him. But I know that I do and he knows that I do – I keep telling myself that.

I’m a little sad that I didn’t commemorate the last time I ever nursed him – to be honest, he woke up from his nap Friday in a terrible mood and I nursed him to calm him down. I was so preoccupied with getting the family ready to go out of town that I didn’t relish that last time as much as I wish I would have.

But then again, I nursed the child for 23-and-a-half months. Which means I nursed him literally over a thousand times. And there were many of those thousand that I cherished the time spent nursing him. I know I did.

 I’ve started to get a little nervous, though about what will happen when this process is truly complete. When my milk dries up (that seems to be going fine, I’m not really even uncomfortable), will my hormones go crazy? After I weaned Sophie I started taking the birth control pill immediately and I got crazy depressed, as you may recall. But since then I’ve wondered if the hormone shift from weaning could’ve had something to do with that, too. I’ve found myself biting my nails about this possibility more than once the past couple of days. Crazytown is not a locale I want to visit again anytime soon. I won’t be taking the pill this time around since I’ve had my tubes tied, so I guess if I go nutso I’ll know that hormones did have a big part in that, and if I don’t that it was purely the devilish pill.
How old were your babies when you weaned them? Did you have any trouble with anxiety or depression afterward? I’d be interested to hear your experiences.

 

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