Nesting much?

"Nesting" is not really in my nature- at least not in the traditional sense. 

When I was pregnant with Hootie, I never got the "scrub the house from tip to toe" urges people talk about.  Instead, I made a thousand hair bows while I waited for her arrival.  I decorated her room with little crafty projects and just passed the time. 

I am also prone to what I call "nesting by proxy" - in my 39th week of carrying Hootie around in my belly, I delegated painting the wall in our bedroom purple and purchasing new bedding and hanging a gallery of photos over the bed to my husband.  I sat on my pregnant rear and supervised.  LOL

This is no different. 

39 weeks is looming down on me as of tomorrow.  My tiniest daughter is giving me no signs of showing herself very soon.  At the doctor on Monday I was 2.5cm, 50% effaced, and her head is fully engaged.  (I can tell. It feels like I am sittingon it as I type.  Awesome.)  He swears she will come her own, but with the exception of Sunday night, when my old pal Braxton Hicks was visiting me every 7 minutes all night long (only to all but disappear since then), I have yet to be convinced.  I am tired and pretty sure that we are going to Kindergarten together, my Carly Kate and I.

In the nesting department, I recognize that my house is messy.  I see it.  I makes me crazy.  Yet somehow, I do not care enough to REALLY do anything about it. It is shameful, really.  I have a moment and scrub a bathroom here and there, or scrub the stains from the carpet in Hayden's room.  But for the most part, I have resumed my crafty nesting and my traditional "nesting by proxy" just like last time.

I have my husband painting his office red.  Like REALLY red.  It looks great. 

After I did all of THIS in Carly's room, I felt like THIS just wasn't cutting it in Hoot's room.  So what better time than when I am about to give birth to a baby to do something about it?  LOL 

So I got started on a tree.

And then I added the leaves... 

And here is the finished tree. You should have seen my big giant 39 weeks pregnant butt standing on a chair for two days painting all of those leaves. LOL THAT was a sight to see!!



Tomorrow my goal is to add some little critters - butterflies, caterpillars, birds, bugs, and of course a Hoot Owl.  It just wouldn't be right without a Hoot Owl, would it?

At any rate, I hope this child comes out soon. VERY soon.  I am quickly running out of distractions and displacement behaviors to occupy me.  My friend Kristin says that if this kid isn't born soon, I may end up with a mural on the wall in our bedroom, too. Haha!

Sadly, she could be right.

Please, God - save me from myself! Let this girl be born!

Hayden is learning the ABCs

 She amazes me everyday.

She is like a little sponge, learning something new and developing the sweetest little personality.

I love this girl. <3

37 weeks

We are ready.

We have blankies.  (Aren’t these just delicious? They are the softest muslin swaddling blankets from Aden and Anias.  I am obsessed with them.)

The carseat is ready to go in the NEW car.  That is right - I have proudly joined the fleet of American moms out there, driving their toddlers to and from their engagements in a Chevy Suburban.  LOL My husband and I joked about "push presents" - a gift that husbands give their wives on Real Housewives shows when they push a baby out of their hoo-ha.  The Real Housewives get diamonds and Bentleys.  I pushed Hayden out of my hoo-ha and all I got was.... well, pregnant with Carly...  LOL  So this REAL Real Housewife got a Suburban.  Good job, husband. haha!

All of the little things are waiting - diapers, toiletries, clean clothes.  (I realize that this makes me look like a hoarder - diapers and enough stuff to wash 10 babies.  I like clean babies. LOL)

Big sister is ready - she is even wearing her "Blame It On My Sister" shirt and looking very old and wise.  Ready for her big girl duties, I think.

And the mom is REALLY ready. It is a big deal that i am about to post this picture.  There are like two pictures of me pregnant with Hoot- and I have never showed them to a soul. 
But here is my 37 week Carly Kate belly, for the world to see. 

I am huge, tired, and uncomfortable - and as you can see, I don't own a single shirt that is long enough.... And, according to the comedic stylings of Dr. Chacon (who is great at the baby catching, but his comedic stylings are not that funny when there is a giant baby inside of you) she is still "all the way up in Vancouver, and not moving South anytime soon..." GREAT.

Aside from being over the physical things, I feel like everyone has something weird to say to me about my size - and it is exausting.  Has no one ever seen a 9 month pregnant woman?!  We are HUGE - because we have a PERSON growing in our abdomen.  To the people who say things like, "OHMYGAWD!!  You are getting SO big!" and the age-old (but ever popular) "Are you sure you aren't having TWINS?!" and any other idiotic comments, please, stop.  LOL Or keep it up - it is your funeral.  And i am pretty cranky these days.

Tomorrow is 37 weeks.  Tomorrow, Little Sister is free to come out anyday.  I would be so happy to see her ASAP, even though that isn't looking promising....  Her and I will begin negotiations tomorrow, but I have a feeling that she will be like her sister and not listen. 

But we are on high alert all the same.

SO....

Please, Carly Kate, come on out.  As you can see, we are all ready.  All that is missing is you, tiny sweetie.  <3

Couponing Adventures, Round 2

Two weeks (or a pay period) has passed since my first ever couponing adventure.

Today, I went back to begin Round Two.  I decided that since I am still extremely pregnant, and I had Hoot and my friend Patti’s 7.5 year old daughter with me (Yes, I am crazy – I realize that now. LOL)  I should split it into two sessions – last time was physically exhausting for me, and I planned on bigger, more thought out savings this time.

I think I did pretty well.  Here are the spoils of our day. 

Stop one: WALGREENS

Purchased:

·       4 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal

·       1 Nivea Women’s Body Wash

·       2 Gillette Men’s Body Wash

·       1 12 pack of Cottenelle TP

·       1 pack of Tide Stain Release stain removers

·       1 pack of 6 highlighters

·       4 packs of Jell-O

·       4 cans of Mandarin Oranges (Hayden is obsessed with these right now…)

·       2 78oz bottles of Xcel Laundry Detergent

·       I box Crayola markers

Total: $74.92

Paid: $27.36

SAVINGS: $47.56

Stop two: CVS

Purchased:

·       2 Suave Kids 2 in 1 Shampoo

·       2 Suave Men’s 2 in 1 Shampoo

·       1 Suave Conditioner

·       1 Suave Shampoo

·       1 package 36ct Pampers Swaddlers, Size Newborn

·       2 packages 20ct CVS brand diapers, Size 5

·       3 jars of Skippy Peanut Butter

·       2 bottles of Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce

·       4 bags of rice

·       1 pack of raspberry cookies

·       1 pack of teddy bear grahams

·       1 bottle of Infant’s Acetaminophen

·       1 bottle if Poly-Vi-Sol

Total: $81.02

Paid: $45.15

SAVINGS: $35.87

Stop three: SAFEWAY

Purchased:

·       5 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal

·       10 32 oz. bottles of Arrowhead Sparkling water (I love this stuff!! So refreshing in this heat!!)

·       2 packages of Tortilla Factory Corn Tortillas

·       4 boxes of Duncan Hines brownie mix

Total: $49.44

Paid: $19.44

SAVINGS: $30.51

GRAND TOTAL

Total: $205.89

Paid: $91.95

SAVINGS: $113.94

Like I told you before, we budget around $200 a pay period for groceries – and that has to include diapers (for two kids now), household cleaning products, and personal care items along with food.  It isn’t easy, and I feel like I have always done a good job – but I admit that I feel really silly that I just came to the couponing thing, because I got all of this and I still have more than half of my shopping budget left for the pay period to buy our milk, fruit, veggies and meat.  I can stretch that other half like nobody’s business, too, believe me. LOL  I did well enough last time too that I have a lot of things “stockpiled” when they were on sale, like ground beef and baby wipes, so I do not have to buy them this time. 

Again, I didn’t buy anything I don’t need or won’t use – yes, this family will eat all of that cereal (my husband is a cereal fanatic) and I didn’t buy a single bottle of mustard. LOL And again, I am EXTREMELY proud of my shopping abilities! 

Not to mention that I think I deserve a medal for being 36 weeks pregnant (36 weeks today!), taking two kids with me (they bickered and touched everything the whole time like kids do LOL) and still being able to save more than 50%! 

I feel like Super Mom today. J

one month

Today is August 1^st.  One month until CarlyButton’s (haha – I called her that just for you, Dad) due date of September 1^st.

She is happy as can be inside of my belly.  She bounces all over, making my bump look like something straight out of Alien.  She stretches and hiccups and does all of her in-utero preparations, getting ready to make her big appearance.  She loves it in there and has no idea that in a mere 11 days (at 37 weeks) she is free ENCOURAGED to head on out and meet the world.

I have hit the proverbial wall.  I am exhausted.  I am sore.  I have no belly button – just a flat spot where a belly button used to be.  I cannot touch my feet.  I pee ever y 15 minutes.  I get winded going upstairs.   I have no patience and I am cranky.  And I am HOT.  I do not see how this child is any smaller than 12 pounds, kicking at me and jabbing at me until it hurts.  I feel like I cannot go on, yet I have no choice.  No turning back now, even if I have lost the will to be pregnant.

I complain a lot.  Garrett pointed out that I am much more “vocal” about my misery than I was with Hoot.  I side-eyed him.  He was very brave to say that to me.  LOL

I have been whiling away the days with my new obsession of coupon clipping, playing with the cutest big sister in the world, napping, and swimming in my friend Patti’s pool.

I am washing her clothes and trying to decide what will be our “coming home outfit” – I am a little puzzled how to dress a newborn in 95 degree weather….

I am working on her room still – organizing and re-organizing, whether or not is really needs it.  LOL

Hoot got a new sand and water table, and when it isn’t blistering hot out, we like to sit on the back patio and play tractors and make mud.

It is all whittling away the days.

As far as my housework duties go, I have informed my husband that my new strategy in this department is as follows:  I am aiming to merely MAINTAIN – meaning that my goal for each day is that things are not worse in here when I go to bed at night than they were when I woke up.  Everything else is just icing.  (BTW, this is where I got the side-eye from Garrett.  He was very brave to side-eye me. LOL)

My mom and Patti put together a great shower to celebrate my sweet Carly girl this past Saturday, and it was wonderful. It was so nice to see all of my friends and family and it is so neat that a baby who isn’t even here yet is so loved.  And of course, there was another star of the show - Hayden was so cute about the presents and ate enough cake for her AND her sister.  That girl LOVES her some cake. LOL Just like her mama. 

And now, with a month to go, I sit and maintain.  I keep reminding myself that this is the calm before the storm – that my 2 under 2 whirlwind is about to begin, that my life will never be the same, to just enjoy the last remaining days as  a family of three, as the mom to Hoot and Hoot alone – because, whether it is at 37 weeks or (God forbid) 41 weeks (shoot me LOL) Carly will be here before I know it. 

Sooner rather than later would be great, though.

We are waiting for you, little Appleseed.  Your Mama loves you and can’t wait to see your little face.  <3