NOT Sleeping Through the Night, Sales, and Ebay

After my post about Steven sleeping through the night, he stopped :( Technically, it doesn't affect me since Mark takes care of the feeding, but it would be so nice if Steven would give that up. Mark has been reducing the amount he gives him in the night, and it's probably about time to reduce it even more.

We've also taken a break from cereal for a while. He just wasn't interested, and it was a pain to try to feed him. I'll probably try the cereal again this weekend to see if he's more interested now. You'd think with how hungry the kid is, he'd want solid foods! Maybe it's just too much work for him too :)

Steven, Katie, and I went to a HUGE mom-to-mom sale this weekend. I only spent $10, but I got a lot of stuff. I bought 8-10 bibs (dark colored ones to hide the inevitable baby food stains), a large rolling toy with bells/balls inside of it for when he gets a bit bigger, a rattle to put on his play mat or rocking seat, a mobile for over his changing table/to take with us on trips (he absolutely loves mobiles), and a Vicks vaporizer. It seems like there were a couple other things too, but I'm not at home to check.

A nice thing about my going to these sales is that Mark no longer gets upset when I spend money. I think he realized how good of a bargain shopper I am when we went through Babies R Us to register, and I kept pointing out things that we already had an telling him how much I paid for them. (Such as the $60 playmat I got for $2!!) There were a lot of things we didn't have to buy for Steven, and that was so nice. Mark and I went to a sale together two weeks ago, and we were there when it opened. Oh my, it was a zoo! We did some good stuff--clothes and fun toys, but I think that it scared Mark off (not that it was hard--he was looking for an excuse anyway!).

I've already got one picked out for this Saturday, and then next week is our church's huge sale. I'm working at the sale, so I get to shop an hour before it opens. Right now I'm looking for summer clothes and larger toys, esp. push toys and ride ons for when he gets a little bigger. We've got a good number of toys for now, but I don't have much for the 9/12 month-18 month stage, and this is a much cheaper option than buying them new!

For all my e-bay friends out there, I need some advice. I bought a shopping cart cover/playmat on e-bay last week. It was listed as "slightly used," but when it came, it was well worn, complete with a hole in it!! I'm so frustrated! We didn't pay much for it, but the shipping was really high. I'm going to contact the seller, but I'm not sure what to say/ask for. I'd really like a refund for the entire amount paid (including shipping since that was the bulk of the cost). Is that unreasonable? I'm really frustrated about the whole thing since we thought we were getting a great deal and then didn't at all. It's not worth my sending it back for a refund of what the actual cost is since it would be more expensive to ship (although we would send it slow mail not the overnight/2 night that the seller did). Any advice??