This isn’t a post complaining about how lame my weekends are. My weekends are pretty lame. But guess what? I’m okay with that.
Prior to becoming a mom, my weekends were typically jammed packed with activities. Movies? Check. Shopping? Check. Dinner with friends? Check. Hanging out with friends? Check. Church? Check. Hanging out after church? Check. Eating out after church every Sunday? Check. You get the point. These are all things my husband and I did without thinking twice about it. If my husband had to work a weekend (which is typical of his profession) I would take it upon myself to create my own adventures and my own little itinerary. This would usually include a pedicure, manicure, eyebrow wax..and than a trip out of town (about 45 minutes away) to find the best sales I could find and to go thrifting. Friday nights I would come home from work, change…get all dolled up for whatever thing we had planned..and hang out like no one’s business. We would usually stay out until whenever.
What this Friday looked like:
- Hubby gets home from work. He takes over and plays with the boys so that I can start cooking dinner.
- We attempt to eat dinner together. This is a fail. We are two minutes into eating when a baby starts to cry and scream. Hubby picks up crying baby and is eating with baby on lap.
- All is calm…then I feel bad that one baby is eating with us at the table and the other is not, so I go pick him up (I know…it’s ridiculous..but whatever). I try to avoid this because last time I tried eating with a baby in my lap, it ended with the baby having syrup in his hair (sorry..guess I have to work on my eating skills!). We finish dinner successfully.
- After dinner conversation I convince my husband to help me sort coupons that I can use at his store (he is a manager of a drugstore) so that I can get free formula. I LOVE COUPONS. He looks less than excited about this proposal, having come home from work, but agrees. With a baby on each of our laps, we mess around with the coupons until I’m satisfied with the combinations.
- After this “exciting” activity, I feel exhilarated and ready to conquer the world. It’s amazing what a rush couponing can give you. Some people sky-dive…I coupon.
- I’m anxious to go to the store. “Do you want to go?” I ask my husband…hoping that he has no interest in leaving the house again. I tell him, “If you don’t mind, I’d like to go so I can get out of the house. When was the last time I left the house this week?” We both try to figure this out and can’t. We shrug and he says, “Go for it. You need to get out for a bit.”
- Off I go, on the excursion of the week. A trip to the drugstore.
- When I arrive to my destination (five minutes from where I live) I grab a shopping cart and grin to myself. I’M FREEEEEEEEEEEE. I look at the makeup for way longer than necessary and head over to the formula section. With all of my coupons in hand, I head to the register with my items.
- I warn the people in line that this will take awhile, and ask the manager to open up another register so these poor people aren’t stuck behind crazy coupon lady…which I have become (thanks motherhood! Not gonna lie, I wear the title with pride).
- I emerge VICTORIOUS. I’m able to purchase two six packs of Gentlease Enfamil Ready to feed along with four packs of Twix for a total of 72 cents. 72 FREAKIN CENTS! I feel like I am on a mountaintop…wind blowing in my hair…the Eye of the Tiger theme song playing in my head. I want to shout to the store my savings. I was also able to pick up foundation, lip gloss, and a powdered version of the formula with a savings of over $20. Whoo!!
- I get in the car and see in the corner of my eye…a $2 rewards for another drugstore…that happens to have the laundry detergent I needed on sale. I stop there on my way home and feel like a BOSS. I’m killin it.
- When I get home, I lug in all of the bags and share what I got excitedly with my husband who smiles at mean and nods in all the right places when I break down my savings step by step.
- It feels like the best weekend of my LIFE.
- We put the boys to sleep and decide to have an in-house date night. With Twix, Coke and Mountain Dew in hand (I know, we’re the healthiest, aren’t we?), we pick a Christian movie off of Netflix called “This is Our Time” and watch it. I’m surprised at how good it is and keep saying, “Wow, this is really good.”
- We end the night with a kiss, and I sleep the night away…kind of (woke up twice to feed!).
Today was also awesome in its own way. We had my MIL come over so we could grab lunch together and run some errands (baby supplies and what not). We came home and snuggled our hearts out. This life is beautiful.
So yes…motherhood has completely changed every aspect of my life, including my weekends but I am more than okay with it. I am finding joy in every bit of it and truly loving it. It’s a different KIND of adventure. I’m saving so much more money to and have discovered I can be even more thrifty than I thought. I’ve learned a lot about couponing and how to shop sales effectively. It’s helped us save SOOOO much money…which is a must right now!
Tomorrow we will go to church, go to a graduation party, and hang out with our Pastors. We are taking the position of youth leaders and eventually will be the Youth Pastors of our church. Sunday we will plan a bit with our pastors. Exciting times! How has motherhood changed your weekends, if at all?
