Wrigley's last drop of breastmilk

The day my first born son stopped nursing, I remember it, it was December 24, 2011 and he fell asleep in my arms after nursing. I was seven weeks pregnant with my second son. The day my second son stopped nursing, I can't remember it. It was after the new year, 2017. Its 16 days into the New Year now and Wrigley has not nursed for 9 days. the last day I remember he asked for milk, "momma milk, momma milk" or "boob" or "i said I want boob" He is two and half years old, and i'm sad, i'm really sad, I thought it would last forever and it didn't. I was often uneasy when he woke up at night and wanted milk. And, now its over. I feel like I need to write an entire novel about my last time nursing, but I cannot, because I'm having memory loss of all the time we spent together. The last nurse session I remember is him looking at me and saying what sounded like, "Where's the Milk?" And, it felt different, it felt like I was empty. But, I wasn't empty, because the milk was still dripping. I think I knew it was coming to an end soon, so I felt it. That was about January 3rd. I've been waiting to finalize this as I wasn't sure if he would come back for more. Yesterday (1/14/17) was the first time he mentioned something, I was changing and he asked...."Mom, is there milk there?" And, I said, "I don't think so, I think you drank it all." Then he started quietly saying "milk, milk, milk, milk, milk." And, that was it, he didn't try to jump on me to see if I was telling the truth, he just kind of went on to the next toy. This journey has been amazing, I may not be working at my dream job professionally, but I realized that my real job is to be the best mother that I can to my children and that I know I am doing. One of the things that I put my whole entire heart into was nursing both of my boys until they self weaned. This was a huge sacrifice (to say the least), personally, mentally, emotionally and professionally. But, here at the end of the road, I would not change it for anything. I have nursed or been pregnant for the last 5 and half years and I consider myself extremely blessed. In that time, I managed to take several family vacations, pump successfully at work, donate over 100 ounces of milk to a mother in need, run two full marathons, 5 half marathons and many 5k and 10ks. If I can do it so can you. There was blood, sweat, and tears but I made it, and you will too!

Resell your clothes and shop online for cheaper!

My mother taught me to bargain shop and always use a coupon. And, that mentality has stuck with me throughout adulthood. I am referred to by my co-workers, my friends and my family as the keen, savvy bargain shopper. That person that always has a coupon. Whether it is purchasing a flight, a pair of shoes, rental car, groceries or my latest obsession, reselling clothing- I have advice for everything. It’s true, I seldom purchase a product without a coupon or extreme price point research. I must know it’s the best deal. When I do make that ‘without a coupon’ purchase my stomach begins to ache and 80% of the time it ends up in the return pile. Just in time for spring cleaning I will share the best ways to get the most money when you resell your clothing all from the comfort of your own couch. And, some tips on how to purchase wisely. Tradesy.com- I use this site to purchase Ann Taylor, The Loft, Express, and Gap. I only purchase items when tradesy.com sends a coupon code or when the item is marked on “sale”. When you subscribe to tradesy.com, you will receive email alerts of sales and coupon codes. So, be patient, my friends, a sale and coupons DO exist. If you use the following code to join tradesy.com, https://www.tradesy.com/invite/catherine-herrberg-376326?utm_source=RFL&utm_content=RFL0001_376326&utm_medium=link You will get $20.00 of your first $50.00 purchase and I will get a $10.00 credit. Tradesy has excellent prices on practically new bridesmaid dresses, designer shoes, purses and much more. I also use Tradesy to resale my personal clothing and also designer clothing pieces that I find at local thrift shops. On Tradesy, you take photos of your item, then upload them to the website. Tradesy will take one photo of your choice and make it professional grade at no charge. Your item will remain online available to purchase until it is sold. Tradesy gives you the option to include a pre-set shipping amount in the purchase price and they will mail you a ship kit once it sells. Hence, eliminates the hassle of packaging and creating a label. The ship fee starts at $10.00. You may also ship on your own and add your own ship amount to the item. If you want further details about Tradesy.com and your options as a seller go here: https://www.tradesy.com/how-it-works/ Thredup.com- This site is similar to Tradesy, however it has more items at a lower price point. If you sign up thru this link, http://www.thredup.com/r/KF612V- you will get $10.00 to spend on your first purchase and I will get $10.00. My advice is to wait until the site offers free shipping, then you can probably get 1-2 items, depending on your price points for free! However, sometimes you can find an even better deal than free $10.00. For example by searching at ebates.com (will describe more later), on my first purchase I was able to get 40% off and free shipping, which was better than $10.00 off. It depends how much you purchase to determine the best deal. I have read several reviews regarding selling clothing on thredup, often times you may get less than .50 cents per item and sometimes nothing at all. However, the upside to thredup is that they send you a “clean out” shipping bag and you can send them the bag with your items and they pay the shipping. Read about thredup.com and selling options here: http://support.thredup.com/hc/en-us/articles/203415096-UPFRONT-Everything-you-need-to-know- Bottom line is, if they choose not to take some of your items, you can pay to get the items shipped back to you or they will donate them. Selling on thredup makes sense for some extra pocket change if you would get rid of the items either way. Ebates.com-For every online purchase I make, I go to ebates.com before pressing “Submit Order”. Ebates.com is basically a cash back shopping portal that pays you by check for making purchases from a large array of merchants. You must first sign up for the website by either clicking the referral link, http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=2xGceNFx2hsOFA7xDCv%2F7A%3D%3D&eeid=28187 You may also go to ebates.com directly and following the directions. If you click the referral you will get either $10.00 in a check or $10.00 in a gift card from a choice of retailers after your first purchase. Yes, free money! To start your cash back journey, you enter the name of the retailer in the search icon and the results will show you how much cash back percentage you can get at that particular retailer or zero results if it is not a participant. In these results, you will also find promotional codes and coupons, for online and sometimes in-store. Another great thing about ebates is that you can search by item. For instance type in: “Brooks Adrenaline 8 Women’s running Shoe” in the search, and the results will show the best selling price for this shoe based on several thousands of online retailers. The results will show the price to include the cash back. This is a great gatekeeper to make sure you are getting the best deal. In summary, if you want to buy or sell from the comfort of your own home try out some of the above bargain trends that I hold very dear to my heart. I have so much more to share. Stay tuned for my ebay tips, my favorite local fashion consignment shops and even my list of my favorite GoodWill Stores. And, my infamous travel bargain tips. Happy Bargain Hunting and Spring Cleaning- get that overflow of clothes sold!