Nuts for Nutella

We've been on a Nutella streak around here, what with the big jar of it from the Nutella party through MomSelect.  Which is good and bad because I had to tell a little fib that it was all gone, to stave the incessant begging for it that was coming from an almost-5-year old's lips.  (It's secretly in the top of the cabinet behind the wine, shhh!)The stuff is addictive, though!

My personal history with Nutella is that years ago, before we went to Italy to visit cousins, we tried to find out what they didn't have in Italy, to bring them something uniquely American.  Peanut butter was suggested.  When we got there, no, they had access to peanut butter but they didn't like it as much as this hazelnut chocolate spread they put on sandwiches.  One taste of it and I could see why!  This was back in '96.  Since then, when I would see Nutella at European import stores, I would pick some up.  And it would last about half a day while we scarfed it down with Italian bread and pretended we were on vacation.

Now, you can find Nutella at Ralphs and other supermarkets, and the commercials for it seem to be everywhere.  Much easier than going to Italy or the import stores!   And much more affordable, it's under $4 for a jar of it. (Still looking for that great Italian bread, though!)

So, when Mom Select offered a Nutella party to get people to try it, and offered sample bags with Nutella water bottles, recipes, samples and coupons, how could I say no? 
Here is a photo of what was in a bag:

 One awesome idea they had for a breakfast was to take a whole wheat tortilla and spread Nutella and fresh fruit on it and roll it up.  This works for us because after quesedillas for dinner we always seem to have one or two leftover tortillas that go bad before we can do anything with them.

If you check out nutellausa.com, they are having a contest right now to win a case of Nutella.  If you win, please invite me over to help eat it!  They also have a $1 off coupon and lots of ideas.  But it's not quite work safe, if you go, you may drool at your desk!  =)

Diapers deal

I have been getting Pampers for less than 10 cents a diaper (sorry, cloth diapering, I tried, but with all of the dryer problems, it wasn't meant to be for now!)and here is how:

On Amazon, you can get a  huge of of 244 size 3 diapers for $44.40.  Here's how to get the price down to $22.20:
This is the box I selected:



Then join Amazon mom and get 15% off from now on, then sign up for "Subscribe and Save" (remember to cancel it if you don't want to automatically get the order again, at the 30% discount) and get another 15% off (so 30% off diapers from now on) and then there was a 20% off coupon in Parents magazine to save even more.  Free shipping, no tax, and I didn't have to lug them home, can't beat that! :)

So then you get it for 50% off total, or $22.20 which is 9 cents per diaper!

If anyone has a Parents' magazine lying around and you're not going to use the 20% code, could you please email it to me?  I am going to place another order soon.  :)

"What you want to do is make sure you diversify your stock portfolio, let me show you some figures"

Would you eat brownies this chef made?

Lauren and her men

Last night in the mini co-sleeper!

As you can see, William outgrew his mini co-sleeper. Last photo is of him asleep a few minutes ago in the Graco "basinette" that Lauren used. His first time in it, hope he can sleep all night through! It's actually much bigger than what I think of basinettes as being; it's almost crib-sized. So he should last a few more months in this one! Though, we will miss the floor space we had with the mini.

Oh and that blue thing  he is wearing is a Halo Sleepsack, which I did not know about with Lauren O(who as this age in the hot months of summer) but which I now think is the greatest invention ever, no worrying about him kicking off covers or suffocating, but it keeps him warm!

What 4 months looks like

William 4 month stats

We just got back from William's 4 month appointment.  20 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces, 27 inches, 17 inch head size, whew!  And he got shots and cried, and did not appreciate the taste of the oral rotavirus vaccine.  =(  He kept trying to spit it out and looked horrified. 

So, in the next week we will have to transition him out of the mini co-sleeper and the infant carseat.  We cleaned out the closet and got rid of all the clothes in the 0-6 months and some in the 6-12 month sizes.  He is the size of an average 9 month old, off the charts for his age but proportional for height/weight/head. 

Asleep in Daddy's arms

Almost outgrowing the stroller basinette

More fun with the new camera lens

Lauren at the bus stop today

Lauren is the only member of the family who *loves* taking the bus. She will beg us "please, please PLEASE can we take the bus today?". Today, she got her wish. Ryan and I are still sharing one car so that is how we got her to school today. I do not know how people rely on the bus to get to work because the Big Blue Bus is supposed to come every 15 minutes but seems to come just whenever they feel like it. Today, for example, as we were waiting to cross the street, one bus passed us, followed about 1 minute later by another one, so we missed two in a row and then the next one didn't come for half an hour. It is so frustrating, waiting, feeling powerless. I miss having my car all to myself!

The current plan is, Ryan will take my car and I will get a new (used) one when we get our tax refund. So as you might expect, every day I check the mailbox anxiously, waiting for that check from Uncle Sam!

Making Dimples