358 More Shopping Days

It's time to start shopping for Christmas. No, seriously. It really is. And by shopping, of course, I really mean hunting. Kristina shared some really fun ways to get Christmas presents for a LOT less than what most people pay, and yet still be very generous. And what is the secret to those special deals? Starting NOW. Christmas presents and decorations went on sale last week. If you set aside even 5 or 10 dollars a week to watch for things to go one sale starting now, you can be ready for Christmas way before next year's Black Friday.

I, Rachel, think this is going to be particularly important in the coming year. I think this is going to be a lean year for a lot of us, and for me, in particular. My husband was unemployed for the better part of 2010, and I don't see that situation improving significantly in the coming year. But this year we have learned a lot about what it takes to be happy. We have spent time for free fishing and picknicking at the local lake, taking and enjoying each other's company. We have spent a lot of time doing nothing with family. Breaking bread, talking. Sometimes it takes a crisis to find out what really matters.

Think Outside the Bags

Have I started shopping yet? Yes and no. Christmas left us with no extra money afterwards yesterday, so I haven't darkened the door of a retail store since Santa stopped by. But yesterday morning I went outside and found 5 small grocery bags of toys on my front porch - leftovers that our neighbors know I won't say no to. At first I balked at the idea of more toys. Then I snuck them into my van and took them down to Grandma's house. Grandma and I divvied them up and realized that while some of them were in poor condition, some were brand new and some practically so. With a little clean up work, we already have a present stash started for next year. How are you going to start your stash?

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas! I think Christmas is more fun when you have kids. At least I enjoy getting things for my little guy and surprising him with them. I also love Christmas Eve services. We didn't get to go to one last year since the church we attended in Germany didn't have one. We also didn't have any family in town for Christmas last year, which was quite weird. We did, however, get to have dinner with some friends of ours in Germany which was very nice. When you're away from family, you have to be willing to create a new family for the holidays. This year we're back in the states and thankful to be surrounded by our family and friends as we welcome another child into the family.

This Christmas was quite thrifty on my part. I bought most of #1's presents at a consignment sale. I only bought one item at Target, yes it was an impulse item, but it was on sale since it was Black Friday. He loves the Chipmunk movie, the first one, and I didn't have anything for his stocking. I did have to order some parts for one of his Christmas gifts, but it still cost less than buying it brand new.

For other people in the family, I made some presents, used some gift cards that came in the mail from the store themselves and shopped clearance MONTHS ago. I love those random cards that stores will send. This year I got 2 Victoria Secret $10 off any purchase, $10 off any purchase to Sports Authority, and two $5 off Hallmark in magazines. Some of them require you to not have to spend a certain amount over the gift card. These are my favorite, needless to say.

I didn't complete all my shopping as early as I'd like and there are people who I wanted to do things for but ran out of energy. That's what happens when you're due right before Christmas. BUT, I'm pretty satisfied with what I got done.

Since I managed to not spend too much and make presents, I found it was easier to separate myself from the commercialness of the season. I really am still struggling with the idea of Santa Claus and the disregard to the real reason for the season. I see nothing wrong with giving gifts to each other, I like doing that. What I do struggle with is that its hard to balance Jesus with the commercialization. It almost seems like you need to do one or the other. We emulate Santa so much in the Christmas season. Anyhow, that can be a long, long post from me if I really get into it, which I don't feel like doing.

Waiting for Baby!

I've been baking and making things to keep myself preoccupied while waiting for #2 to arrive. Every time I get a contraction I think, yay! this is it!! Only to be disappointed that NOTHING more happens. I didn't get any real notice before #1 was born before the 4:30am first contraction of his birthday so I'm not really expecting any forewarning with this one as well. #1 was born at 40 weeks 1 day. I'm 40 weeks tomorrow. I'd love to have her before tomorrow's 40 wk appointment. I really want her to be here for Christmas. I crocheted a cute little Christmas hat for her just in case she comes and dug out #1's first Christmas bib. Right now she seems as happy as a clam (who even made up that ridiculous phrase?!?) inside. I tried to tell her that it was only about 15 degrees cooler on the outside today than on the inside to persuade her to come out, but it didn't work yet.

I've made cute little felt flowers for headbands for her and I pulled up Martha Stewart's baby bootie pattern which if I can get the printer hooked up and the ink still works, I will print out the template and work on those tonight or tomorrow.

http://www.marthastewart.com/good-things/felt-baby-shoes

I figure I'll go into labor the minute the kitchen sink is piled high with dishes that I don't feel like washing, the carpet is full of crumbs from #1, and the laundry needs to be done desperately. So if all three must come into play, it'll be next week because I just did a TON of laundry the other day.

Going to go eat my pineapple now. The chili that I made wasn't very spicy. I should have made Guy Fieri's instead of Rachael Ray's!! I made Guy's chili in the dorm last year and it was a hit. Even the guy who was practically crying as he ate it got a second helping because it was so good. Ray's chili is pretty good too, but it doesn't have the same Texas kick that Guy's does.

Granola

A friend of mine posted this link to homemade granola. I had some at her house recently and it was quite tasty. I modified the recipe a bit to fit what I had and to make it a bit healthier. Here is the link and my edits.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Megans-Granola/Detail.aspx

First off, I halved the recipe, which worked just fine. 8 c of oats plus all those other ingredients is quite a lot on a dry run of a recipe. I also did not have wheat germ or oat bran because I forgot to write them down when I went to the grocery store today. I used almond extract instead of vanilla and only added almonds because, again, I did not have the other nuts. I like my cereals more simple than complex so I think I would have stuck with one nut kind anyhow. Instead of the oil, I used an equal amount of apple sauce. Other than those edits, I followed the recipe. It turned out quite tasty. I baked it for about 5 min longer than the recipe requires because it was still quite soft when I took it out of the oven. It did continue to dry and harden as it cooled though, so this extra 5 minutes may have not been needed. I also just used a non-stick pan instead of lining it with foil. I've found that lining things with foil sometimes causes them to stick even more, so I just rubbed butter on the bottom of the pan and everything came up without any fuss.

Pregnancy Belly Band

Belly bands are awesome. I didn't use any round one, but used one most of the first trimester with this pregnancy. I wish I had pictures of how I made mine, but I'll post some links to blogs that have pictures posted. Basically you need to get a piece of fabric with some stretch in it. I recommend knit or the like.

One for prolonging the life of your regular shirts:

You're aiming for a rectangular tube -keep that in mind.

Measure around the widest part of your stomach, subtract about 2 inches. Then cut out a rectangle that is that measurement by 12-14 inches depending upon how tall you want your tube to be. Make sure that the stretchy part of the fabric is the longer side (so it stretches around your stomach).

Sew the ends together to get a tube, hem the top and bottom. The end. Very easy to do. This will easily cover up the pregnancy band on your maternity jeans and allow you to wear your regular tops a bit longer.

One for prolonging the life of your jeans before biting the bullet and wearing maternity ones:

This requires heavier fabric or doubling up a lighter fabric. Follow directions above, but double the height measurement and fold it in half before you sew it into a tube. Good thing about this one is that you only have one edge to hem.

I'm not sure what fabric I used for mine. Its a cross between knit and Lycra. I got it in France, so I have no idea what I bought beyond it was thick and stretchy.

Here are some links for you visual people:

http://blog.christyscreations.com/maternity-belly-band-tutorial/

If you want an even easier way to make one, take a look at this link. She uses a t-shirt that is too small for her.

http://www.littlerinch.com/?p=33

I recently dug out my bands again for post-baby so I can fit back into my old jeans sooner. Just now I have to find my old jeans.....

Conair Hair Straightener

I have discovered my new favorite hair product. Its a great time and money saver for moms who have short hair and/or like to straighten their hair. This lovely little straightener has two settings: dry and wet. This thing will dry your hair in about two swipes of the iron. Your hair can't be sopping wet, but if you towel dry it and let it air dry for a few minutes it works just lovely. Depending upon how thick your hair is it may take longer, but for $20 it does two jobs and once and cuts down on the frizz. Definitely a deal in my book. I can get ready for my day in half the time now. I used to only straighten my hair when I needed it to lay all nicely because who has the time every day? Now I feel like I have time to do it every time I wash my hair.

This isn't quite the model that I found at Target, but you get the picture.

http://www.amazon.com/Wet-Dry-Tourmaline-Straight-CS36R/dp/B000EOFX4A/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1291934214&sr=8-3

Hair Cuts - Your Own

I'm not advocating cutting your own hair. I know there are videos and such on it, but I'm not that crazy, yet....lol. The cheapest hair cut that has been a good hair cut for me cost me about $35, which isn't too bad, but I really hate paying for them! I desperately needed a hair cut before this baby comes so I set out to find a reasonable rate this time. In my search I discovered hair cutting schools. They have to learn on someone, so why not brave and willing citizens of the surrounding area? I chose one close to my in-law's house that I've passed many a time. $9 hair cut. Not a bad deal. I would not recommend this idea to people who are terribly picky or who cry easily if its shorter than you wanted it in the first place. If you're open to potentially not getting quite what you asked for and have an hour or more to spare, than its your place!

I was decently pleased with my hair cut. Because I have such thick hair and the guy/girl (yes I'm really not sure) cut it shorter than I wanted it, my cut took 2 HOURS. They have to check in with the teachers than roam the floor and such so it takes longer than a cut at a non-school. Though usually they say it'll only be an hour. One good thing about this shorter than I really wanted it cut so it started poofing out all over the place, was that I discovered thinning shears. I wanted it slightly undercut to help with the poof, but that idea left the building when the cut wound up above chin length instead of slightly below. So out came the thinning shears in the instructors hands and thankfully he's the one that finished the cut. I've never felt my hair this thin before, but it looks good because it doesn't poof out all over the place like it tends to do when its short. I really wanted longer layers so I could braid it back a bit when the baby comes, but because I lost so much weight in my hair, I can go two days without washing it and its looks fine. Not a bad trade off.

Would I go again to this place? Maybe. I would be willing to try a different student and not the one that did my hair this past time. S/he was very nice, but a bit rough and lacked good communication skills and confidence. I think next time I'll try Toni & Guy since their salons are higher priced and therefore I'm thinking their students perhaps already have had some basic training. I would definitely recommend hair schools for practice runs for up-dos and if you've been to a place before and have liked it, even for up-dos for the actual even, like a prom. Go to a professional for your wedding!

Hair Cuts - Boys!

I really hate paying for hair cuts. Yes, I know its one of those necessary things that have to happen throughout the year, but to get a decent hair cut can be expensive!

My husband goes to a barber which is fine with me because he has to work with people so he needs to look good.

My son, well, I really hate paying $12 every three months or so for his hair cuts. His hair grows very quickly. The good thing is that if we take 4 or 5 months to get it cut, he just looks shaggy. Any longer than that and I think he'd start looking like a girl! I really don't like long hair on my guys. I decided after watching him get his hair cut that I could do it. I mean, how complicated could it be? I got some good, sharp scissors (honeybee craft scissors from Michaels to be exact) from my craft box (don't use regular scissors, you really need small, sharp ones), sat him on a chair in a dry bathtub, grabbed a towel and a spray bottle and got to work. There are quite a few videos on You Tube if you don't know where to begin. I found that because he's only 3, he has a hard time holding his head in the right position. So to remedy that, I sat on the side of the bathtub with my feet in the tub and had him rest his head on my knees depending upon where I was cutting. The first cut took a VERY LONG TIME. I'm not beyond bribery in certain situations and promised him candy or a video if he stuck it out and was patient. That worked for him. Going slowly and methodically around the head worked the best. I recommend finishing up with clippers or the like if your child will stand for it. I also recommend doing it outside! It was quite a mess to sweep up the bathtub.

The second time I cut his hair, which happened to be the other day, it was quite cold outside and I didn't want to spray down his hair when it was in the 40s. So I sat us both down on his kid sized chairs, spread newspaper on the floor and proceeded in much the same fashion as the first time. This time it went a whole lot quicker since I knew the proper length for the back and sides was one finger and the top was two fingers. I'm still learning how to blend the top and sides and do a better job around his ears and sideburns, but this cut took probably half the time and required no bribery.

Parents Magazine had an article on cutting hair in a recent issue.

http://www.parents.com/kids/hygiene/how-to-cut-your-kids-hair/

Some of the methods suggested for the boy's cut like pining the hair back didn't work for me cause my son has very short hair, but I suppose for a kid who likes it longer it would work okay. But it does give you a good framework for cutting their hair.

Saving on Lunches (lunch meat)

Lunch meat is not one of my favorite things to eat. When I’m pregnant and not supposed to eat it, I then, of course, have cravings for it. Lunch meat definitely isn’t the healthiest thing to eat. It’s usually full of nitrates and preservatives and have you ever really sat down to think about what bologna is made out of? The “cheap” stuff I saw at a local grocery store the other day was running about $8 a lb. I don’t even want to know what the good stuff at the Whole Foods store is selling for these days! What are your options besides PB&J when your kids want lunch meat but your pocket book is saying “ouch!!”? There are two ways that I have thought of that will save you money and hopefully get you some smiles from your kids.

First, in the section where they sell the pre-packaged meats you can sometimes find hunks of lunch meat that aren’t cut up already. This is a cheaper option; however, you have to make sure you can actually slice it thin enough to be cost effective. If you see this as a good option, I would invest in a small, counter top meat slicer similar to the ones at the deli.

Second, cook your own lunch meat. I was at said supermarket the other day and decided to browse through the meat clearance section. This section, if offered at your market, is a great way to get meat at up to 50% off. I spied a roast that cost $17.00 (about $4.50/lb) that was discounted 50% since it was only two days from its sell by date. I did the math and figured that if I cooked this for our lunches it would cost about $2.25/lb or about a fourth of what the deli counter was selling their roast beef for. I love roast beef but can hardly ever justify paying $8-9/lb at the deli counter. I took the meat home, cooked it up according to directions and while it was still pretty hot, I took a very sharp knife and cut slices as thinly as possible. Now, if I had a meat slicer I could have used that instead and gotten even smaller slices, but as it was I figured since the slices are a bit thicker than the deli counters’ I would only need to put one layer on a sandwich instead of two or more and therefore I was still probably coming out ahead. I divvied the meat into four freezable containers since I have no idea how much we’ll go through in a week and I certainly don’t want any to go to waste.

If you have a big freezer or a big family, you can really stock up on clearance meat especially after the holidays. Turkeys tend to go on clearance after Thanksgiving, hams after Easter. You just have to keep your eyes opened for sales and other specials.

Back!

We finally got our internet set up last week! Yay! So now its back to business until #2 is born and then I'm sure things will get put on the back burner again, but for now I'm full of ideas as long as I can remember what they are!

Over the Table Felt Play House

I so want to make one of these! Its soooo cute and practical if you live in a small space like we do. I think #1 will be getting one for his birthday provided I learn how to balance having two kids with enough time to spare to make one of these play tents. The tent slips over your table and then you just fold it up and store it when its time to eat. Yes I realize you can do this with a sheet, but this looks like you could add activities and detachable pieces and enhance the play (i.e. keep their attention even longer).

Isn't it adorable??? I may do a different theme depending upon what we're into this spring. I may also do one that has a different theme on each long side of the table.

This one, with templates, can be found on: http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/

Cloth Diapers

Here is a post I wrote for my friend's site www.thankfullythrifty.com during her online baby shower. Its a brief overview of cloth diapering. I'll probably write more on this topic once the baby comes.

Cloth diapers, cloth wipes, make your own wipes?!? There are so many ways to save when you’re having a baby!

Cloth diapers: Are they worth the price? If you like to be thrifty, they are very economical and definitely an easy way to save money. I was going to write out some facts and figures but when I went to Bum Genius’s website (my favorite cloth diaper brand) I found that they had already done some research. Here is what I found on their site: You can save up to $1,200 a year by using cloth. Translate that into the approximate two or three years your child is in diapers times the number of children you wind up having which equals a LOT of money saved! I also discovered on their site that they’re having a sale – buy 5 get 1 free. Super good deal. I would recommend 12-18 diapers which may seem like a lot, but when your child needs a new diaper after each feeding during the first few months, you’ll be doing laundry constantly if you don’t invest in enough diapers. To be even savvier, hang your diapers outside instead of drying them in the dryer. The sun will naturally bleach them and help sanitize them as well. Approx total cost for 15 diapers: $225, one time investment vs $1200 plus (according to BumGenius’ site) if you use disposables.

Cloth wipes: I plan on going this route when my new little one comes along in a few weeks. If you’re already using cloth diapers, using cloth wipes isn’t going to create anymore hassle or laundry for you. You can use anything from baby washcloths to hemmed flannel squares. Again, you will want to really stock up on these, but you can use them over and over again. Use the recipe for make your own wipes below for these. Approx total cost for 50 wipes $100, one time investment.

Make your own wipes: This is a good option if you’re out and about or if you don’t want to use cloth diapers but want to cut your expenses somewhere. This is super easy to do and costs almost nothing. You’ll need a serrated knife, a roll of paper towels, a Tupperware or like container that’ll fit half a roll of paper towels, baby oil, baby wash, and water.

First, get a roll of paper towels. I like to use the slightly more expensive ones so they’re a bit softer. Using a serrated knife, saw the roll in half so you now have two equal sized rolls. Grab the cardboard tube and pry it out of the middle of the tube.

In a pot, boil 2 cups of water, let cool and then add 2 tbsp baby wash and 1 tbsp baby oil.

Put one of the rolls into your container and pour the solution over the paper towels. Close the lid. I usually flip the container upside down after awhile to make sure every inch of the paper towel roll gets soaked.

Depending upon how absorbent your paper towels are, you may have to adjust the water amount.

Approx cost per roll of wipes: $1.00 vs. at least double for the same amount of store bought wipes.

Maternity Clothes Part Two

Now that you have a game plan to acquire maternity clothes, what do you really need?

Here's my essential list, though depending upon what you do in life yours may be different:

1 -2 Belly bands - I didn't have one with my first pregnancy, but I LIVED in one for most of my first trimester during this pregnancy. You can make this. Stay tuned for information on that one.

2 pairs Jeans - I bought a pair from Gap for pregnancy #1 which sadly didn't fit for pregnancy #2, but a good pair or two of jeans are worth the money if you hang out in jeans all day long like I do.

Comfy underwear - seriously. Your current ones probably won't fit by mid second trimester. I recommend ones that don't have seams down the side. You spend a lot of time sleeping on your side and the seams will dig into you.

Yoga pants - or another pair of comfy pants to wear around the house.

Jacket - if you're going to be pregnant during the winter, acquiring a jacket that fits is a really, really, good idea. I bought one on clearance on a whim during pregnancy #1 and it was the BEST idea. Polar fleece from Old Navy not the warmest jacket, but I live in Texas and pregnancy makes me hot.

Comfy flats - your feet will swell. Some of those sneaker mary janes are great. I taught in a pair for the last trimester. Decently comfy and they stretched as my feet swelled during the day.

I think that's all for my essential list. Granted you need tops, but depending upon what you do for a living you'd need different kinds. I had maybe 5 by the end of pregnancy #1 which I rotated through two skirts for at least a month. I don't think I still have any of those shirts or skirts anymore I was so sick of them by the day I gave birth.

One more thing, you'll be wearing your maternity clothes a bit past d-day so finding some that would double as a nursing top is always a bonus.

Ikea Black Friday Breakfast

Go to Ikea the Friday, Saturday and Sunday after Thanksgiving and get a free breakfast.

The Internet - A Luxury that Pays for Itself

In order to be able to stay home with my children, my husband and I have made a lot of lifestyle choices that keep our monthly bills very low. But one bill we dont skimp on is our Internet connection. Although we pay around $60 per month for our Internet connection, we find that this bill more than pays for itself. Here are a few things that we do with Internet to save us money.

Craigslist. We buy and sell on Craigslist. When my husband was laid off from work this summer, we paid our bills by selling various things that we knew we could live without. We realized quickly that selling things on Ebay isn't as lucrative as it used to be, because Ebay takes a big percentage of what you sell your item for. By selling locally on Craigslist, we were able to keep ALL of our money and save on shipping costs, too.

Education. I find a lot of children's curriculum for free just by using search engines. I find free worksheets, free handwriting paper to print out, and free education games for children. I will talk more about this in a later post.

NETFLIX. Because of the awesome power of Netflix Instant View, we are able to walks hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of cartoons, movies, and educational shows, for less than $10 per month, using only our Internet connection. This is commercial free viewing, so my kids are watching programming that doesn't give them the "gimmes".

Work. I do part time work from home through the Internet, designing websites and e-mail newsletters for small business clients. I communicate through email or through Skype. I also find a LOT of cheap or free graphics resources that make my designs more beautiful!

Skype. My husband and I use a Skype phone number as our primary home phone. We do keep a cell phone for emergencies, but with our subscription to Skype, we pay less than $75 for the entire year for unlimited long distance phone calling.

School. I am attending classes on-line through our local community college. I have attained more than half of my associates degree without leaving my house except to buy books and for the occasional proctored exam (and at a much lower cost than the bigger online schools, by the way).

Opportunities. I read many money-saving and mothering blogs which keep me "in the know" for great deals on gifts, photos, things to do, clearance sales, and more than I can possibly recount.

What is your favorite money-saving aspect of the Internet?

The High Cost of Raising Children

Out of my four pregnancies, only one was specifically planned - the second one, because I wanted to have a playmate for the first! When my husband and I got married, we both agreed we would wait awhile to have children - wait til we were financially "ready". I was on the pill, but I became pregnant after a few years. I was afraid to tell him - he says I apologized a bunch of times. But the birth of Elijah was easily the best thing that ever happened in our life together. Parenthood forced us to grow up, to start taking responsibility for ourselves. More than that, our son's arrival made us both deeply happy.


Having children has cost us almost nothing financially, and yet at the same time it has cost us everything. With my first three pregnancies, family and friends threw us huge baby showers and anything we really needed was given to us - and a whole LOT that we did not need. With the fourth child, I decided not to have a baby shower at all, though there were many people that would have been willing to attend one! - I already have enough hand me down clothes to dress the new little one for years. I have cloth diapers that will last until he is potty trained. I don't use a crib, preferring to keep little ones in the bedroom with us, and I breastfeed until they are at least one, never using expensive formulas at all.

What about food costs? The fact is, we already cook enough food to feed two or three more people - food in our house, like many other American houses, is thrown out at the end of every meal. We spend food money smarter - more bulk meat, less hot pockets - so for a family of five I need to spend less than $100 a week on groceries, not much more than we spent before we had children. The older two children, who I don't have hand me downs for, get their clothing from a second hand shop. I buy nice t-shirts and pants for my kids for less than a dollar a piece. I buy my own clothes second-hand, too, and get a lot of hand me downs for myself, so I really don't spend any more on clothes than I ever have, either. The older boys clothes get passed down to his brothers, and my daughters clothes are donated back to the second hand shop when we are done with them.

The biggest financial cost we have incurred for our children was a "new" vehicle - a pretty 1998 Ford Windstar minivan. We spent less on that nice vehicle than most people spend on their compact cars.

That being said, if we had waited until we were financially ready to have children, we wouldn't have them today. As my husband is trying to find out what his passion is in life, and I have chosen to stay home with the kids rather than work, we are financially poorer than we were when our first son was conceived eight years ago. But we have three good children who bring us joy and excitement, and we are raising them to be good people, hard workers, pleasant neighbors, givers, people who will contribute to society in a positive way.

Most people won't choose to live on as little as we do, so a lot of the ways we choose to save money are for us, but not for others. I know that breastfeeding doesn't work out for everyone, and I respect that. Another example, rather than have a mortgage, we saved up cash and bought a mobile home. We pay a very small amount each month for "lot rent", which includes the land our house is on, trash, sewer costs, and water cost. Not everyone would be content to live in a trailer park and wear second hand clothes, but it enables us to have the kind of freedom we need to be happy.

Sorry this is so long, but I do have one final thought. While children may not have cost us much in the way of currency, they have cost us our entire lives. We can't travel like we want to - do you know how much it would cost to put five people on a plane? Or how stressful the flight would be? Our house is usually untidy and almost always messy. There are fingerprints everywhere and the baby is always walking off with my husband's shoes. Plus, the children all have emotional needs. They need to be listened to and talked to. Our daughter in particular never stops talking! It's not always easy for an introvert like myself to focus on the never ending words of a needy five year old. My kids have been sick for the last few weeks. They passed around a major cold, a minor stomach bug, and an eye infection. At the end of it, I was so weary from being thrown up on, wiping boogey-noses, dispensing medicine, comforting tired tears, cleaning and bathing sick eyes, waking up overnight - all while being eight months pregnant and the size of a house, lol. And yet I am "just" a stay at home mom (and at the moment, a struggling student). The "cost" of having children - it costs everything you have. It's worth every bit.

Maternity Clothes on the Cheap

Maternity clothes! I realized I have A LOT of clothes today. But do I? Granted we just unpacked from living in Germany so some of my clothes stayed in Texas and some went with me to Germany. I acquired new clothes in Germany because of the COLD weather. Once we moved back here, I acquired quite a few new items because I was pregnant and it was summer time. I didn't start to need maternity clothes until I was about 5 months pregnant the first time, and wasn't totally in maternity until a month or so later. I was working the last time I was pregnant, so spending some money for clothes wasn't that big of a deal. This time, I needed clothes the minute I hit 12 weeks and I was going through summer into fall into part of winter needing clothes. This presented me with a need for a much larger wardrobe even though I now stay at home. Thankfully, my mom took me on a little shopping spree for the summer clothes. I know she would have taken me shopping for the other seasons, but I like being thrifty and getting more for my money, so I went another route for the rest of my clothes.

There are some thrifty ways to acquire maternity clothes I discovered this time.

First idea -

Borrow from friends!!! I couldn't do this with my first pregnancy because I didn't know anyone who was pregnant, but this time everyone I know has kids! As soon as my first trimester passed, I started thinking of everyone who was about my size who had kids during the winter time and therefore would have clothes that fit the season. Besides being thrifty, this idea is fun. You may get clothes to borrow that aren't quite your style, but are cute nonetheless. A friend from church lent me some clothes and I never would have picked out some of them on my own, but they are ADORABLE and I really like them.

I also found that when asking friends, you may run into one who may not be having anymore kids and may just give you their clothes. Again, you may get things that aren't quite you, or may not quite fit, etc. but hey, who can argue with free clothes? Again, I had a friend from church that wanted to purge her closet after the birth of her second kid. She had been given maternity clothes from other people so there was quite a mixture of sizes and styles, but again, I got some great pieces that I really like.

Second idea -

Shop around in the regular sized department first. I got some cute skirts from Old Navy that were made out of knit and had a wide waist band. Super comfy and cute and fit for quite awhile. Skirts with elastic waist bands in a size larger than normal are always a great go to as well. I've heard of people who are able to just buy bigger jeans their whole pregnancy and never get into the maternity ones, but I have never had that luck. Plus with going to the rest room so many times, I get so tired of zippers and buttons by the end of the first trimester. Shirtss these days are very gathered and flowing. I found a shirt at Ross in the jr. department for $7 that I wore until I gave birth the first time.

Third idea -

Make your own. I didn't actually wind up doing this like I planned because I had some great friends and mom who supplied my every maternity need this time, but I did find some great websites that teach you how to turn regular clothes into maternity clothes. Here are a few that I found:

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-Maternity-Jeans-Using-Regular-Jeans-an/

http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2010/04/kojotutorial-girly-ruffle-y-maternity.html

http://kojodesigns.blogspot.com/2010/03/more-maternity.html

http://modestmaven.blogspot.com/2009/11/converted-maternity-pants-tutorial.html

http://pinkpicketfence.typepad.com/pink_picket_fence/2009/04/thriftstore-refashion-maternity-edition.html

These are just a few links. There are quite a few out there, but you get the idea.

Fourth idea -

Husband's clothing. This one I didn't really try, maybe a t-shirt here or there, but some people are able to do this. My problem with this one for starters is that once I get into my second trimester I weigh more than my husband. So I've already outgrown my clothes and his! I can wear his pj pants under my belly and his t-shirts around the house, but that's all. My other issue with this at least for out of the house is by the third trimester I feel huge and I want to look cute and not frumpy because, well, if you've been pregnant you've been to the third trimester, you know how it goes!!

Fifth - consignment sales!! I got a great Old Navy trench coat for $6! Granted its pink and not exactly a shade of pink I would have paid full price for, but for $6 its great. Bottoms are harder to buy at these sales since you don't know which ones will fit well, but tops and coats are easy to estimate.

German Advent Calendar Thoughts

Advent is coming up. In Germany this is quite the tradition. When I was little, we would get cardboard calendars that had one door for each day of December that hid a small piece of chocolate behind it. When I got a bit older I realized this chocolate wasn't very good tasting and that ended my fascination with the whole ordeal. We bought calendars for all of the guys in the dorm last year. Chocolate calendars were only about 50 euro cents in Germany! Anyhow, while we lived in Germany I would often go to a German new site that had the news in English. Close to Christmas I found this article about the craziness Germans go to concerning advent calendars. I'm sure not all Germans are this touchy about their advent calendars and I'm sure there's some joking going along, but nonetheless, its still a funny article.

http://www.thelocal.de/opinion/20091130-23631.html

Here's an idea, again from Homemade by Jill, on making your own advent calendars. Not as crazy and competitive as the Germans, but perhaps a fun tradition to start with your children this year. I think I'll save this for next year since I've got a huge list to accomplish this year.

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/11/would-you-like-to-sew-along-with-me.html

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/11/advent-sew-along-week-2.html

http://homemadebyjill.blogspot.com/2010/11/ornament-templates.html

She's still posting about making this calendar, but this is all she has up at the moment so you'll have to follow her on your own.

Thrift Store Clean Up!!

Here's an example from Rachel about a thrift store find:



Today, the children spotted this. It was in a grab bag that we had to pay three dollars for. It was drawn all over and looked pretty junky. But I had done my homework. I knew what I was looking at. These bad boys go for $30 new on Amazon. The pages are erasable. They are laminated. So I bought the bag, scrubbed the notebook down and wrote Julius's name in the book in a nice dry erase marker.

One thing I've learned is that when you go to consignment sales, thrift stores, garage sales, etc. it helps to know what you're looking for and how much an item is really worth. Who would have ever thought that this notebook retails for so much? Pays to do your homework and keep a running list of things you're looking for.

Ikea Food for Free!

Ikea is running a nifty little special. Spend $100 before tax in the home furnishings department, go eat some lunch (or dinner), bring your receipt to the check out and have the cost of your meal deducted from your final bill. We needed to buy a couch for our new place since we don't have one anymore, so we picked one out, got some lunch with the in-laws, paid for our items (minus $27 food receipt) and signed up to have the furniture delivered. They have a flat fee delivery rate of $59 plus tax for the metroplex I live in. I imagine the delivery rate is the same for any Ikea and its surrounding areas. Now through Nov 14.

Oh and if you buy three kid menu items they get a free little stuff animal as well. I needed to ask the cashier about it when we paid for the food since she forgot to give it to us. I didn't taste the macaroni and cheese but my three year old ate it up and usually meals are a struggle for us.

Replacement Parts

I love going to consignment sales and I know that Rachel loves hitting up thrift stores. Since my child is still young, I get his birthday and Christmas presents at these sales. Sometimes when you buy things that are used, parts may be missing, broken, dirty or scratched up. If it is a well known brand, this shouldn't discourage you in buying it. Most companies sell replacement parts very reasonably. Here's one recent example:

I found an adorable firehouse for him for Christmas this year that I know he's going to love playing with. The only problem was that it came with only one fireman. I bought the set hoping that I could get more firemen for him to play with. It was such a great deal (the firehouse was $25 used where new I've seen it for about $80) that I knew I could rectify it somehow. I contacted Kid Kraft, the manufacturer, and learned that I could get two new firemen for only $3.50 plus s&h! Yay! Almost every single piece of this play set can be bought separately in case it breaks.

Checking out Ebay or Craig's list is another way to replace parts that you may be missing from a play set. I know that Little Tikes also sells replacement parts for their products and I'm guessing Fisher Price and most kid toy makers do as well. It makes parents happy to not have to pay to replace the WHOLE set when only one piece is missing or broken.

You may just need to think outside the box. Sometimes all you need is some elbow grease and Goo Gone, sometimes you need some paint. Its fun to get such great deals when you're creative about fixing them up.

Woot

I just learned about this nifty site today while at my mommy group. It's www.woot.com. They have a deal of the day which apparently pops up at 12am and when they're sold out, they're gone. There is also woot kids, t-shirt woot, and wine woot. The mom who told me about this said she's gotten some good deals from this website. May be worth checking out but I could see myself staying up till 12am to check out the deals each new day! Shipping prices seem reasonable as well.

One of Those Days

Ever have one of those days with your kids? We've been having those lately...well actually on and off since we moved back from Germany. I love #1 so much but there are days where we just butt heads or don't get along. I hate days like this. We seems to be constantly in transition these days and I think that's causing the chaos in our relationship. I am looking forward to finally moving into a place that is "ours." I think it will do the kid a lot of good. Changes in life are inevitable, but with kids they seem to be even harder. An older lady once told me that our demeanors as parents give our kids clues on how to act. And I've found that it can be true. When I feel like I'm in chaos tends to be when #1 also has a hard day. Just another day in the life of a SAHM.

Who's Responsible For Your Baby's Health?

Here's a funny story to share with the group. Well, it's almost funny. And by almost funny, I mean that it might be funny someday when the crying stops ringing in my ears. It happened about two months ago, so I give it another ten months or so until it's really funny.

Gabe, my youngest of four, had a rash. He was aboout four months at the time and we were going in for a "well child checkup" anyway. And the doctor had diagnosed him with "apparent MRSA rash" earlier, so I thought the rash might be worth looking at . Just in case.

"Apparent MRSA", by the way, does not mean he had MRSA. It means he MIGHT have had MRSA. It means he kind of sort of LOOKED like he had MRSA, and since he had been born in a hospital, and hospitals are a great place to pick up MRSA, maybe he really did.

Anyway, when the doctor asked if all was well, I informed him that the baby had a rash. He looked at it and said it was definitely not MRSA, maybe just a few mosquito bites? But in the meantime, he said that the baby had a high fever, and would be please drive into the city and get blood work because the combination of a rash and a high fever might mean something.

The baby had a what now?

So I drove home, feeling despondent. How had I not noticed that my child had a fever? Every other day, I KNOW if the baby has a fever. Even a mild fever I notice immediately. We cosleep with the infant, have the toddler in the room with us, and homeschool the older children. I KNOW THEM. I BREATHE with them! I KNOW IF THEY ARE SICK.

But I didn't know that he had a high fever.

So I picked my husband up and we drive into the city. Getting blood drawn out of a newborn is awful. They pricked his foot and squeezed drop by drop into three vials while he bawled for forty-five minutes. It was heart-rending. But it was for the best. After all, he had a high fever. And a rash. That the doctor had said wasn't a rash.

When we got home again, I called the doctor to get results.

"The bloodwork is fine," he told me. "And, funny story, three other kids after yours came in with high fever and no other symptoms. Turns out our thermometer is broken."

I'm not mad at the doctor - actually, to be honest, he's growing on me. But we have to realize that doctors have been trained to think a certain way. And our culture has trained the entire medical establishment to respond a certain way. If the thermometer says the kid is sick, he's sick. If the doctor ignored a number on a chart, he could be sued for malpractice.

But who is ultimately responsible for your child's health? You are. You are their mother, you have the highest stake in their well-being. You also have the greatest access to all the information about their health, their demeanor, their appetite, their actual temperature, their nutrition, and their development.

It is very common in today's age for a mother to take her child to the pediatrician as soon as they have the sniffles. "Jojo has the sniffles today. Going to take him to the pedi tomorrow and he'd better give him an antibiotic this time so he doesn't keep this cold for three weeks like last time." This is the mentality of having given up our responsibility. In the future, we will talk more about these things.

I am not advocating not taking your chil to the doctor, just remember that the responsibility is yours. If I had more confidence in myself last time at the doctors, all I would have had to do was ask them to check his temperature again. They could have used a different thermometer and saved me and the baby both a lot of heartache. Next time I will remember - if the baby has a fever, I, his Mommy, will be the FIRST one to know.

90% Coupon Savings

I, Kristina, was very into couponing before we moved to Germany. Since we're back, I'm trying to get back into the swing of it. Here was one of my most successful shopping trips that I had last summer. I'm going to share tips and ways to use coupons in some following posts.

A shopping trip

1 pkg Juicy Fruit gum
3 Pillsbury brownie mixes
1 bag Kroger tortilla chips
1 bag organic baby carrots
4 bags Quaker Quakes rice cakes
2 bags Birds Eye frozen veggies
2 bottles Suave conditioner
2 bottles Suave shampoo
2 Suave deodorants

Final purchase price: $2.88

I was super excited when I got the ad that morning in the mail because I knew it was going to be a great shopping trip. I actually went back the following day and bought a few more brownie mixes,deodorants and shampoos to put in a box for the food pantry. I've decided that this is a way that I can contribute to those who can't even afford good food without breaking my limited grocery budget. I think on that second trip I only spent about $1 to buy 6 items to donate. And everything was a name brand.

Making Vapor Rub

To kick off the new direction, I'm (Kristina) copying a post from Rachel's personal blog.

After I received my order of beeswax from Mountain Rose, I realized I was going to be able to make a lot with it. A pound of beeswax goes a long way for a small family! Today we made homemade vapor rub, and early this summer we are going to make a big batch of lip balm with Nana to share with all my sisters.

I wanted to make two variations of vapor rub - a strong one with camphor for my husband, and a mild one with lavender for the babies. Camphor is very strong and I don't want to use it for the little ones.

I used 8 ounces of olive oil, about 2 ounces of beeswax. I warmed the oil over a double boiler (actually a cheap pot of water and a small bowl I picked up at the thrift store.) The oil goes in the bowl over the gently bowling water, so the oil doesn't burn. Next time I make this, I want to use oil infused with some kind of mint to add extra strength to it - I know we will have a garden full of mint this summer. I melted the beeswax gently in the oil, and took it off the heat as soon as it was melted.

I poured the wax/oil into two tubs - repurposed from butter tubs. A real herbalist probably wouldn't reuse old plastic butter tubs, but what can I say? They were the right size.

Then I added the oil. I used 15 drops of eucalyptus in each tub. I added 10 drops of lavender to the children's tub and 10 drops of camphor to my husband's tub. Since this is my first try, I have no idea whether those ratios will be strong enough and I encourage anyone who wants to try this to experiment and see what works for you. Especially for kids, less is more.

The finished products smell really good. If they don't turn out to be strong enough, I will remelt them.

I used:

Available from Mountain Rose:

White Camphor Oil

Eucalyptus Oil

Lavender Oil

Beeswax

Olive Oil (I bought mine on clearance at the grocery store)

Repurposed:

Butter tubs - metal tins or glass jars would be better

~ Rachel

Slightly New Direction

My friend Rachel and I are taking this blog in a different direction, so instead of my random babbling, there will be more direction. We're going to talk about what I like to call our slightly crunchy parenting ideas, ways to save money as a stay at home mom, creative things to do with your kids, excerpts from the mommy land, blogs we like to read, etc. We hope that you'll be entertained and informed!

Cute Comments on the Baby Sister

#1 is quite the funny man. He's had some pretty amusing comments about my pregnancy.

Him: Where baby come out? Up, up, up out your head?

Me: Umm...no.....

A few days later....

Him: Baby come out up your head or out your bottom?

Me: Bottom

Why elaborate with details? lol. Smart kid though. He's got things figured out about where things enter and exit the body.

The baby was kicking a ton the other day and I said something about it while he was standing by me. He said "Baby sister is trying to get out!"

His theological thoughts on the baby:

"Jesus no live in your tummy. Baby sister lives there. Jesus lives in your heart."

Baby sister is his official name for the baby which works well because we don't have a name for her either at the moment. He has also suggested Melmo (Elmo, when he was obsessed with Elmo) and Sippy (after his water bottle he used to be attached to).

And on Halloween candy and the baby:

"Baby sister likes my candy but she's not out."

Yes, baby sister does indeed like his Halloween candy....

~ Kristina

Bony Butt

This little one must have a very bony butt because she's constantly shoving it up into my lungs! I never had actual pain from when I was pregnant with #1 and his womb antics so this is totally a new thing. I think its her head because I was told at my last appointment that it felt like she was head down and I totally believed that because #2's little knee was the object stabbing me in the side. Well, she must have turned her body inward and her hiney outward and is now using that little bony hiney to torture me. The other day in church during the sermon she stabbed me and I literally jumped. I hope this is not a sign of things to come of torturing poor mommy her whole life. I really hope she decides to turn around again. Her knee was much easier to deal with then her hiney. The only thing that's worked thus far is stretching my torso when she does it and using my hand to push against her backside when she starts ramming it upward.

~ Kristina

Moving a Post - #1 is 2!

I have posts from another blog that I want to move over so here is the first one. Terribly out of chronological order, but what can ya do?

My little guy turned two yesterday. I can't believe that just two short years ago he came into our lives (yes, I know there were 40 weeks before that where he was "in" our life, but you know what I mean). I have a hard time remembering life before he came around.
He is very much a toddler these days. He likes to choose what shirt he wears and tries to stall bed time by saying he's hungry. He can do the motions to a few songs and likes to listen to them over and over again. He's got quite a sense of humor and knows what is funny. He can give puppy and lion kisses. He can say sentences like "There's mommy's car!" which we understand! But he also says things like "I want the sunbutter on my crackers" which we don't understand and only figure out by asking questions until he nods with a nod that says "uh, yeah, what took you so long to understand me?" Then he says lots of words which I will bore you with but I want to document for my records until I write them down somewhere I won't loose them: Mommy, Daddy, crash (for truck), uh-oh, na-na (all done), nay-nay (Aunt Kaitlin), mak (for milk and Uncle Mark), Mimi, Opapa, Granny, Papa, Aunt Glocky (why he can't say Aunt for Kaitlin we have no idea), Nana (his friend Savannah), Anie (Lanie), bar (bear), zoom (plane), ball, cup, eat, more, please, dit-doo (thank you), tutle (turtle), paint, read, draw, car, where is?, what is that?, me, Knock (Knox), oo-ee (monkey), puppies, t.v., music, roll, chip, hot, cold, no, ooohhhhh, wow, side (slide), ice (outside), ish (shoe or fish), asi (raisin), ech (peach), ay-oh (play dough), up... and others. Quite a few are a bunch of nonsense letters strung together, but we understand what they mean because he's consistent in using them. He likes to flip the syllables around, but apparently that's not too weird and he should get past that. He signs some still as well. He's even made up a sign or two. Funny kid.
It's fun to see him learn more things every day. When he opened his birthday presents he was full of "wows" and "ooohhhhs." He loves to read books and will hand you one and say "read!" I think that comes from me reading to him from very, very early on. He's such an easy going kid which I think is going to be to all of our advantages! He still naps well and sleeps well. He hasn't tried to climb out of his crib which I'm very thankful for. Maybe by the end of the summer we'll put him in the toddler bed version of his crib, but for now I'm just going to let him be where he is since he's happy with it. No point changing what's not broken.
He also likes to cook. He insists on helping me cook and bake. He likes to pretend to cook as well. He has an oven and lots of pots and pans to play with. He knows to use a pot holder and to add seasonings. One of his friends got a kitchen for Christmas and he was so excited to play with it when we went over to her house. He was microwaving things, pressing the buttons, etc. It was so funny. He also loves balls. He can dribble a ball and throw one as well. He likes to mow the lawn with his lawn mower. He loves bubbles. He likes drawing (on anything...sigh) and painting. He likes using rubber stamps too. He loves playing with the water hose and trying to drink the bathwater. He wakes up every day saying "Mommy!?!" He likes to jump and play the piano. He love airplanes and his Cozy Coupe. He loves being outside.
He can take off his clothes now. That was a fun after nap time clean up about a week ago. I had no idea he could take off jeans and a long sleeve tee and his diaper. lol. It was sooooo funny.
He's a pretty neat kid and I love spending time with him. I know he's a good kid, but it's also comforting to hear from the people in the nursery that they love taking care of him because he is so easy going. He was over tired one day during MOPS and had a big melt down and the nursery workers called me and they were so confused. They had no idea what was wrong and you could tell they were worried. Turns out he was just really tired from all the fun and was hungry too and just lost it. That was the only time in 2 years I've had to get him. I'm so thankful for an easy kid, but it makes me a little fearful of having another one some day!
Okay that's enough bragging about my baby - for now at least.

Projects!!

Many items are on my to do list these days. One of which is to actually blog and make this worthwhile. Other items include:

Making a pair of baby legs

Sewing curtains for the kids' new room

Making a cute mobile for baby girl

Fixing a cute tractor clock that I got for $1.32 at Hobby Lobby

Keeping notes about this pregnancy

Writing down funny things #1 says

Uploading pics

Posting pics of things I've made

Finally posting items on my etsy site

Making Christmas presents for everyone!

One thing at a time, right?

Yumm and Cool

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu3625296

See this link above? This is my Groupon link. If you use it, I earn $10 and then you can get your own and earn your own $10. I never understood what the Groupon thing is about, but it's AWESOME. A place of business offers a deal, there is a tipping number which means that many people have to try to buy it in order for it to become a real coupon. Once that happens, you get your coupon! If you buy it after it's tipped then you don't have to wait. I just got two $50 gift certificates to Simply Fondue for only $25 each! Yay for a super date night coming up...or actually 2! They don't expire until December 2010. Yay! Must keep my eyes opened for more great groupons esp for places I already frequent.

#1- Oh What a Boy!!

Before I forget these silly things #1 does, I have to write them down. Of course if the internet ever implodes they'll be lost, but my journal could just as easily get sucked up by a tornado.

Some months ago, probably at the height of winter and chapstick, #1 was quite taken by the chapstick phenomenon. Which lead to my discovery of how to a 2 yr old a glue stick and a thing of chapstick look a lot a like. He came out of our bedroom, why I had a glue stick in there who the heck knows, smiling saying something about his lips while holding the glue stick. Yep, he had used the glue stick as chapstick. Thankfully, 2 yr olds have no aim and therefore he missed his mouth entirely but I did have to wash the glue off the rest of his face.

Shortly after that episode, #1 got into my nightstand drawer where I had a bottle of clear nail polish. Did you know you can Skype poison control? Yep, you can and you wind up talking to a very nice man, in this case, in California. He smelled, no reeked of nail polish. We thought he had consumed some and being in a foreign country I had no way of explaining this problem to the German poison control if there even is such an invention here. The very nice man on the other end said he probably didn't consume much if any and to just give him milk and he'd be fine. He then proceeded to ask for our zip code which I told him we were in Germany. I wonder if he's ever had an overseas call before. hehe. He had something to talk about with his wife that evening I hope! DH tried some and said he didn't think #1 got past a taste because it was quite vile.

Tonight, many months after these episodes, we have another notable experience. #1 was emptying the salt and pepper shakers at the table at dinner tonight. Since he had been such a bear all afternoon, I let him do what he wish since we have to empty them before the end of the year anyhow. He of course got pepper all over his hands, etc. and I didn't think a second thing of it until he started crying in the kitchen. Johnny, one of the seniors, said "I think he's got pink eye!" I immediately knew that no, he didn't have pink eye, he had rubbed his eyes with his pepper covered hands. So we spent a few minutes washing our hands and me holding a wet paper towel over his eyes and him crying. He recovered to take an early bath and an early bed time. I hope that we're less cranky tomorrow.

I'm sure there is more, but that's all I got for now. Silly boy.

Randomness

A friend on this side of the ocean posted on her FB account:

I didn't expect people here to remember it was my birthday. But 7 sweet friends and their 11 kids surprised me this morning. Then my WONDERFUL small group girls walked to my house on their lunch break to surprise me. A sweet dinner with my family. And then a wall full of messages here. I have felt so celebrated today. It means more to me than you know. Thank you! =)

I wonder if someone will tell her that the only way I knew, and probably the only way most people knew, was because FB tells you whose birthday it is. Heh.

Finally, after being here for like 7 months I finally got blogger to speak in English! It's been speaking in German since we got here. I wish the signs and the people here would magically speak English or that I would magically be able to understand them.

It's supposed to rain again tomorrow. And on and off, mostly on, for the next handful of days. Sigh.

I wish I had more interesting posts. I guess its good that no one reads these. I'm sure I'll find some funny things, but being pregnant right now just makes me dull.

But on the other hand, I'm so excited about this baby! I can't wait to go maternity clothes shopping with my mom once I get back to the states. I'm looking forward to reconnecting with my friends as well.

Loosing My Mind

I think I've hit that part of pregnancy where one looses ones mind. I went to log into something today for the millionth time and I could NOT remember the job number. AGH. I had to email the rep to help me. I did preface it with, I'm pregnant and not this flaky, which he knows. Well, he knows I'm not flaky and now he knows I'm pregnant. That should have been my tip off that this was going to be a loose my mind and have to get snitty with people today day.
First person to smack - Well, I had a story but figured I should edit it. Lets just say it was a doozy.
Next, #1 decided to be in freak out mode all evening. I finally got him settled down, but usually he's running around because apparently he's too ADD to focus on a meal if there are other people watching him.
Now I have a headache.

Baby Names

#1 has suggested names for the baby. Amusing when #1 is only three years old himself.
Mel-mo (Elmo) or Sippy. So DH and I decided (kidding of course) that if its a boy it'll be Mel-mo Sippy and if its a girl, Sippy Mel-mo. Oh, and the most recent suggestion was water bottle. #1 has a blue water bottle that he's quite attached to and I think out of his love for it, decided that it'd be a super name for a baby.
I've taken to writing down all the unique names I hear these days. #1's name is a bit unusual, not weird or bizarre, just you don't hear it very often. And that is what we liked about his name. Strong, manly yet cute for a little guy and he would probably be the only one he'd ever run into. Well, there was that time on the playground when we did run into another little boy about a year or so older who shared his name, but outside of that incident he probably won't ever sit next to another one or annoyingly day after day have someone say "here" when they're not the first xyz in the alphabet, you are. Can you tell I have some issues from having a common name myself? There was this girl in high school, I went to a very small school, who had the same name, different spelling and she was AFTER me in the alphabet according to last names. I cannot tell you how many times she said "here" when the teacher was calling me instead. Sigh. Some people are just dumb errr dense? I guess she's not dumb since apparently she's a doctor now, but maybe dense is a better word for her.
So back to baby names. What do you do if it's another boy? How do you find another unique yet not bizarre name to match this first ones. I mean, I can't name this kid John, not that there is anything wrong with that name, it's just too plain Jane in comparison. If it's a girl, it'll be easier because I already have a unique name in my head that even if someone has a similar name, they won't have it spelled the same way.
The dinner van is coming soon. I don't know if I can stomach mac & cheese tonight and then German food tomorrow. All I have wanted for the past x number of weeks has been American food. Chick Fil A, bagels, Kraft mac & cheese, a turkey sandwich from Jason's Deli...yummm. 28 days, I think, and counting till we touch down back in the good ol' US of A!!

Yuck

This pregnancy is kicking my butt. I didn't feel this way with number one. I actually taught elementary school, got up at 6:30 every morning, managed to get dressed, and get through the day without feeling the need to lie down until my 8th month. I only felt like throwing up twice during the school day and smells never made me want to throw up. I never stood in the grocery store contemplating if I did have to throw up, did I leave #1 in the cart and run for it, take the cart with me or grab #1 and run. Obviously I would have chosen option 3, but I did think through the options. I've never felt nauseous for a whole day or wanted to do nothing but lie on the couch. Of course there is nothing wrong with lying on the couch, but I have things to do people! Two out of the three grocery stores in town make me ill. The only one that doesn't is the more "American" style market. Thinking about German food or cooking food in a crock pot makes me sick. Weird, yes I know. However, thinking about a Chick Fil A sandwich sounds tasty. Go figure. But if I don't eat, I feel worse. At least they carry saltine like crackers in this country.. Hopefully by then I won't want to throw up all of the time. I read that week 9, which I'm in, is the worst for feeling lousy. Unfortunately I just entered week 9 so I still have a couple more days left. I'm hoping that week 10 is better, and if not, at least the first trimester will be over in only a few more weeks.