Sorry bedtime came right in the middle of blog reconstruction.  Promise it'll be prettier soon!

Wednesday

Bummers:

• The state of my home's carpet. It gets vacuumed very sporadically right now.
• That I rely on spell check to spell vacuum.
• Baby poop that refuses to remain contained within diapers and instead gets on every. piece. of. clothing. Baby C owns. And my clothes. And then stains them.
  
• Dh and I both having PMS on the same day. Haha That day sucked. Except for when Dh admitted that he has hormones too. That was kind of awesome.
  

Funnies:

• Hearing Ace say, "Mom, Phineas and Ferb are making a title sequence!" in his cute little boy voice.
• Baby C working the entire crowd at my church's Christmas party last night. No one can resist her.
• Miss E asking to play "Farstall" on my computer. Then the next day asking to play "Stallfar." Starfall website
• Watching Better Off Ted with Dh. That show is hi-frickin-larious.

Happies:

• Miss E's face when Santa sent her a video message (via this website).
• Decorating the tree with the kiddos.
• Making Sprinkle Cookies with the kids.
• I loooooove Christmas time. The entire month of December is marvelous.
  

This and That

• Since my husband finished grad school, he's had more free time. He's been spending it fishing (as much as I will let him, which is pretty often), hunting whenever possible, and following college football. I have discovered I actually find football pretty interesting to watch. To the point that despite the fact that Dh is working, I watched bits and pieces of the Oregon-Stanford game all on my own. And crowed (nicely) to my brother in Florida via text, who had very snidely suggested last week that Oregon would surely lose. Booyah!
• My kids are on me all day long. It starts from the moment they realize I am awake and it does not cease until they are asleep. It drains me every day. Then I have a couple of hours to myself, or to spend with my husband, and then I do it all again the next day. It is so exhausting. I know we are all trying to find our places again since the addition of Baby C, and it is rough on them for Dh to be temporarily working swing. (They were kind of manic last fall - Dh works swing every autumn.) Miss E started kindergarten, and my mom was here for a full month, and is gone now. All these upsets to our normal routine. But oh my heavens. The constant whining and fighting and begging for candy. (Seriously wtfreak is up with the constant begging for candy?? That alone is driving me mad.) And then. And then Miss E brings me a picture she drew for me, of me and her holding hands, and she has written our names across the top, and I melt. So fortunately for my children, they do just enough cute and sweet and well-behaved things that I have thus far staved off complete insanity.
  
• In my children's defense, I dragged all three of them to Target and Safeway on a Saturday (today) and they were all super, super well-behaved. I even remembered to thank them for that when we piled in the car, and their beaming faces were beautiful to see.
  
• The baby is so sweet. I absolutely adore her. She is a good sport with the pestering her siblings give her. (Though when Ace accidentally kicked her head today, I got extremely mad.) She sleeps so well at night it is truly wonderful. She usually goes down around 8, and sleeps until at least 4. Lately she has been sleeping until 5 or 6. But I mentioned that Dh is working swing? He gets home a bit after 10. So I usually stay up and hang with him. (Stupid.) I haven't been getting that much sleep. I want to see my husband, okay? I think I'm going to have to stop seeing him though, because this not-enough-sleep thing is not working out for me in the long term. Or even the short term.
• Okay my husband just got home, so that's all folks!
  

Apparently Eating Is Important

First of all, you are very smart bloggy friends! I was indeed Kate Middleton. I guess the good people of my town are not as up on posh Brits. Weird.

* * *

If you have had a baby you know how it goes with eating - you might get to, if the baby stops needing you for one minute. Which she doesn't. Besides which I have these two other children who keep expecting clean clothes and regular meals. I keep feeling really shaky, only to look at the clock and realize it's 2 pm and I've yet to eat a bite. But the clincher is I am coming down with my second illness in as many weeks.

My husband is confused by the entire issue. But I've seen how he works. He doesn't worry about pesky things like the dishes, or cleaning, so he just sits right down and eats at the same time as the kids. I hate getting up ten times while eating, so I usually just wait until they're done eating before I attempt to eat. I prefer to clean while they eat, because it doesn't matter if cleaning gets interrupted ten times. But I hate soggy cereal or lukewarm food. This worked fine before I had Baby C, but it just doesn't work now. Cue the shakes.

Right now though, Dh has taken the children away for a little trip to a yurt at the coast, so it's just me and the bambino. It more than makes up for his blase approach to cleaning!!

I'm a Winner! or, Why You Should Always Fill Out Those Surveys

A few months ago Random House sent me a couple of surveys. I get two of their newsletters, a general fiction one & one that showcases newly-published cookbooks. So they asked me what I thought of some changes they were considering making, yadda yadda yadda. They said, as thanks for completing this survey you will be entered in a sweepstakes to win a free tote bag & book of your choice. Then I had four choices of this book I could supposedly win.

Well imagine my surprise when Random House emailed me a couple weeks later and said I had won! Woo! There was no indication whether it was for the fiction survey or the cookbook survey, not that I could remember which free book I had opted for anyway. Two days ago I received a sturdy canvas tote bag with the Random House logo and this cookbook. I love winning, and I love free things. Let this be a lesson to us all. Haha

Halloween 2011

I didn't think my costume was that subtle, but no one guessed it. Who am I?

October 15, 2011

I am in the thick of unable-to-accomplish-anything-during-the-day-because-it-seems-all-I-do-is-nurse. I can usually do 1-2 loads of laundry, do the dishes, feed everyone (sometimes even myself), and make dinner. Miss E has been on time to kindergarten (I drive her. We tried walking, it just doesn't work with 2 kids & an infant.). Beyond that, frankly, I've been trying little else. Lots of nursing, rocking, diaper changing, and fight breaking-upping. In the evenings I put on blinders so I don't notice how messy the house is. I zone out & watch tv with Dh, do a little knitting, relax so I can do it all again tomorrow.

This baby is delightful. But holy moley babies are a lot of work.

In Which I Get Along Swimmingly With My Mother

My mom has been here nearly a month now. I was pretty apprehensive about her visit prior to her arrival. But apparently it makes a big difference to not have just had a baby. By the time she arrived, Baby C was just about a month old and therefore I wasn't super hormonal and desperately sleep deprived. We've gotten along just fine. The first week was a bit rough at times - figuring out how to do the dance of two adult women, both used to running their own households. I had to be a little blunt a few times ("Mom, Miss E bugs me for new clothes all the time. Please don't add your voice to that chorus." "You don't have to like how we discipline Ace.") I said these statements in a very nice tone of voice, trust me. Though there might have been one time that I exclaimed, "Don't rearrange my kitchen! You're making me crazy!" accompanied by strangling motions with my hands...thankfully she has kept her hands off my appliances ever since, so no actual strangling has occurred. I freely admit that the one thing I am SUPER ANAL about is my kitchen. Don't touch it. Don't mess it up. Only I get to do that.

What I am now apprehensive about is my mother leaving. Dh is downright scared for her to go. That's right, Dh wishes his mother-in-law could stay longer. He knows his life is going to get a lot harder when she leaves! He is right. She handles the laundry, while I handle the cooking. We take turns dropping Miss E off at kindergarten depending on whether the baby is awake or not. She is perfectly willing to change lots of poopy Baby C diapers, to burp the baby after I nurse her, to hold Baby C while she fusses (she is my first baby with an actual fussy time - 5-7pm) so I can make dinner. All of this is going to change once she leaves. I have a feeling my baby is going to have to cry more often then. Sometimes I will just have to strap her into the carseat screaming so I can take E to kindergarten. Yuck. I hate having to let my baby cry. Oh well. She will be fine, and I will be fine. And really I am so aware of how blessed I am that my mother could come out and was willing to come out for so long. What a giant help and blessing she has been. Dh is getting her a present on his own to show that he is thankful (his idea, smart guy!) and I am going to make her this bag with some nice linen yarn she picked out to thank her for her help.

So a few days before Baby C hit 6 weeks, it was like a switch flipped. Suddenly she is sleeping for a long time at night. She wasn't easy her first 6 weeks. She had day/night confusion, she would only sleep in arms, she woke every two hours at night. Now she sleeps from 8pm -4am. I KNOW. It's awesome. The only down side is when she gets up at 4 she seems to think it's morning and is wide awake for 1-2 hours. Sooo. Not sure what to do about that. Once I finally get her back to sleep, she sleeps for anywhere from 2-5 more hours.

She is a smiley baby and I am just eating her up. She loves to be sung to, so I've been doing tons of that. She smiled at Grandma around the same time she smiled at me (on her 1-month birthday). She gave huge smiles to Ace, who adores her. She smiled at Dh about a week ago. I'm not sure if she has smiled at Miss E. I thought Miss E was going to love having the baby around...not so much. She seems to mostly find Baby C inconvenient. Also she is busy adjusting to kindergarten; that is her focus right now. She doesn't want to hold her usually. Ace is the one who just can't get enough of Baby C. He sings to her when she gets fussy (cutest. thing. ever.) and loves to chat with her and show her toys during diaper changes.

Baby C was blessed at church this past Sunday. It was a beautiful, happy day. Both sets of grandparents were there, and one of Dh's brothers & his family. We had a big luncheon for all the family and EK's family, it was crazy & fun. Dh got a bit stressed beforehand, he was convinced we would not have enough food. If I hadn't been defensive, I would have thought it was cute. Ha ha (We had enough food.)

When I get some free time, I spend it wasting time on the computer (I like shutting off my brain), reading, or watching some tv while I knit. The knitting has become necessary. It's soothing. The down side to the knitting is I keep spending money at the local yarn shop. I swear, I'm singlehandedly keeping that place in business. But really, how was I supposed to resist the merino/cashmere blend in the coolest mix of purple, black & gray that was on clearance? (It's becoming a cowl.)

Birth Story

On Sunday August 7, I woke up around 4am to roll over. The baby had dropped about a week before and my pelvic pain had taken it up a serious notch. As in, I was in pretty constant pain. So I woke up at night any time I rolled over because my hips would scream in protest. So I woke up and noticed a slightly different contraction than my normal B-Hs. You would think after two babies I would know a labor contraction. But I was only 38 weeks 2 days pregnant, and Miss E & Ace had been born 2 days early and 1 day early respectively, so I was confident this baby would not come until quite close to her due date. Shows how much I know.

A few minutes later, I had another contraction. And then I felt a little...gushy. (This is a labor story, y'all. There's going to be TMI.) I hopped out of bed (as much as a 9-month pregnant lady can hop) and found woo-hoo! bloody show! I was sooooo excited, especially since this meant that soon I would no longer be pregnant. I hadn't been driving since the public fainting at 34 weeks and I was still having faintness/dizzying to the point that Dh had started his leave when I was almost 37 weeks. Also the aforementioned severe hip pain.

Okay, so the gushiness made me think perhaps my water had broken (it's never broken on its own) so I elected to go sit on an old blanket on the sofa because I figured there was no way I'd be able to fall asleep. I texted my mom because by this point it was 5 am and it was 8 am in NY and I knew she'd be up getting ready for church. Dh saw the light on when he got up for a bathroom trip, so I told him that I thought I was in labor and he went back to bed. I had one thumb left to knit on my very first pair of mittens, so I finished that as I timed my contractions. Around 6 they had started to get painful, so I decided to pack my hospital bag. I woke Dh up as I packed so he could shower & get ready. I curled my hair. Interestingly, that is the last time I curled my hair. Twenty-one days ago. Ha ha I was delaying leaving because I didn't want to wake EK up (she was my childcare). When Dh pointed out that my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and that surely that merited leaving for the hospital, I called EK around 6:20. Dh went to wake the kids up (the one day they slept in, of course!) and they were soooooo excited. Almost as excited as I was!

We dropped the kids off at EK's around 7 am I think and then it was off to the hospital. My primary fear was that my epidural wouldn't work, like when I had Miss E (the reason I KNOW I never want to have natural childbirth). However, it worked like a charm. When I checked in I was at a 5 and the contractions were every 3-4 minutes, moderately painful. By 11 I was at a stretchy 7. By 1 I was still at a 7. The doctor broke my water. By 3 I was still at a 7. And really frustrated. Also, my epidural was starting to wear off, and I was having significant back labor. The nurses deduced that the baby was posterior which was 1) causing the back labor and 2) causing me to stall at a 7 because the baby's head wasn't putting enough pressure on my cervix. The anesthesiologist returned and discovered that no medicine was going into my epidural tube. Thus the PAIN. So he flushed the tube and got it going again and gave me an extra dose too, to get me comfortable. The nurse had me lay on my side and put my leg up on a giant ball. Apparently this uses gravity to let the baby kind of flip over. The nurse said she'd seen it work a million times. It ended up being good the epidural messed up because it enabled us to figure out the baby needed to shift. The nurses & doctor hadn't been able to tell via touch.

As the epi kicked back in, I was able to doze a little. After an hour the nurse returned to flip me to the other side. "Oh let's check you first." I was fully dilated! Huzzah! It only took seven hundred hours. Okay, it was a little after 5:30 pm by this time, but I had spent the entire afternoon getting more and more frustrated (not to mention more and more hungry!) so I was really stoked. The nurse left to get the doctor and I confessed to Dh that I was scared. He is the best person to have around when in labor, he always says the right things!

The only downside was the extra dose of epi meds had completely removed all sensation to my legs. So I had to be put in those full stirrups. But that's okay, because it didn't affect my ability to push! With my very first push the baby started to crown. The nurses said slow down. I said, "Oh right, I don't want to tear." One of them said, "Well, and the doctor is still putting on his gloves." I didn't say anything, but in my head I was thinking, "yeah, like I care about that!"

Oh I'm sorry doctor, am I inconveniencing you with this delivery? Whatever! Put your gloves on faster, man!

Seven or eight pushes and she was born! The actual birth was so fast my head took an hour to catch up to the fact that I was done! Her apgars were 9 & 9. The doctor said it was a textbook delivery *patting myself on the back* and I only needed a few stitches.

Man, do Dh and I make good-looking babies.

Baby C weighed 8lbs2oz and was 20 inches long. She is really beautiful. She has very light brown hair; when she was born she was pretty much bald on top with a fringe in the back, like a monk. Now it's starting to grow in on the top. Not sure of the eye color yet, but since Dh has blue eyes and I have green, it's a safe bet it'll be one of those two colors.

Excited child faces and really pregnant mama. This is moments before we left for the hospital.

Blogger, why did you change the order of the photos I uploaded?? This was supposed to be at the top, and I have no inclination to reload it to fix its spot.

Yup, Ace is wearing his sister's shirt, with puff sleeves. Boo-yah.

Here is a picture of us as a family of five! The babysitter snapped this pic when we got home from the hospital. Sometimes I can't believe I have three children. But I think my family is complete now.

Baby C is a pretty standard baby - neither hard nor easy. Sometimes she sleeps well, sometimes we have to hold her for hours until we are quite sure the kinks in our backs and necks are permanent. She is different from her siblings as babies because she is pretty fond of the swing, and she sleeps really well in the car. In the past few days I have noticed a new awareness in her eyes - I have a feeling smiles aren't too far away!

Miss E and Ace adore her. They think everything she does is cute. At first Ace was having some trouble - nighttime wakings and fighting bedtime. That lasted a couple of weeks and now he's fine. However, now that it's been a few weeks, Miss E is seeing the downside (as far as she is concerned) to this baby - Mama never seems to be able to play or help her because she is always taking care of Baby C. Today at the park I purposefully walked off with Miss E when I knew Baby C was poopy and about to start crying. Miss E and I got some alone time and Dh got to bond with the baby! Ha ha (Ace was riding his bike in circles, in his own world.)

Recovery has frankly been a breeze this time around. I barely tore (1st degree) and the hospital was free with the Percocet. (First time taking that stuff - took the edge off my pain, and made me sleepy - a bonus when you are recovering from labor). With Miss E I had a 3rd degree (OUCH) and lousy ibuprofen. With Ace I had a 2nd degree and again ibuprofen. After less than a week I was off all pain meds and feeling pretty good. Of course, that's when the happy hormones wore off and the fatigue started to catch up to me. The past couple of weeks have been a bit rough, but Dh is home and lets me sleep more. He's finally realized I really meant it all those times I told him I need more sleep than he does.

My stomach is almost flat again. I kid you not - it's like a Christmas miracle. I love it. All I can figure is it is snapping back in place because I've had a longer recovery from my last pregnancy. My first two pregnancies were only 14 months apart, whereas Ace was 2 1/2 when I got pregnant with Baby C. I'm still a size up from my regular size, which I figure will last til I wean (my body always holds the last 7-10 pounds while I'm nursing), but it's truly delightful to be able to access even half my closet again, after those hateful maternity clothes. I can't wait to bid them adieu.

It's taken me a couple of days to get this all down, and most has been typed one-handed whilst also holding C. I'm so tired. I don't really like the newborn phase. Sure there are nice things about it, and I am able to enjoy those things more with my third baby, because I know the ropes by now, so my anxiety is almost nil. But I do NOT do well with sleep deprivation. At all.

As I mentioned earlier, Dh has been on medical/paternity leave since I was about 36.5 weeks pregnant. He's been home all month. It's been marvelous. He has been able to declutter a few closets and the attic. He even went to the cannery and came home with 60 cans of wheat for our food storage. And he's been enabling me to sleep in and/or nap whenever possible. He goes back to work next Monday (wah - okay I know I am completely SPOILED). My mom arrives Saturday to stay for a month! (See how neatly I arranged their times to overlap?) Dh has to work swing each fall, which sucked last year when I just had Miss E & Ace to care for, much less a newborn, so I asked my mom to stay an extra-long time. Hopefully we don't kill each other!

Craftiness

Here's the link to my recent knitting projects.

Update

Sorry no belly shot. I just keep forgetting. I am nearly 35 weeks. Not feeling any rush for this baby to come as her room is still a shambles. I did get all clothes, blankets, burp cloths, and bibs washed and put away last week. However, the crib is still actually a toddler bed. There's a massive stockpile of diapers in the corner (should last us 3 weeks at least lol). The walker is shoved on top of the swing because we're not quite sure what to do with either one yet. But the bassinet is ready so she'll have somewhere to sleep at least.

EK says I seem more relaxed with this pregnancy than with the last one. Ace's pregnancy is a bit hard to remember honestly, but I believe her. I am choosing not to stress out about all the things I can't control right now. That list is pretty frickin long at the moment. Ha ha Friday I fainted while by myself at a store. Luckily lots of people were around so I didn't hit the ground. The hospital staff checked me out and I'm okay, but I have been having sporadic dizziness since then, so my husband put his foot down (wisely) and restricted my solo outings. Standing up for more than ten minutes is hard for me right now! Do you have any idea how much that sucks? And how inconvenient it is to not go anywhere by myself? But of course Dh is right. It's not like the kids could catch me if I started to go down at Wal-Mart. I went with the kids to the library and McD's today, but I figured that was okay because I sit down pretty much the whole time at both those places.

I've reached that stage of pregnancy where you really have to slow down a lot. Either it makes it crazy or you give in to it. Me, I've given it to it. I've been knitting a lot since I've been sitting a lot. I just finished a small shawl/big scarf (I call it a shawlette), that I'm blocking right now. I'll post a pic of it later. I made a really freaking cute dress for the baby that will fit her around 3-6 months. (Again, pic later.) But in the past week, I've mostly been making dishcloths because that suits the sloooow brain processes I am capable of recently.

Dh sold his motorcycle a few weeks ago; he's decided to focus on fishing. He sold two boats and bought one. Confused? Yes, it makes me dizzy too. Whatever, I am happy he has finally focused his efforts and resources. And that there is only boat parked on the side of our house now. BUT the point of all this is that with the sale of the motorcycle we agreed we could each have some spending money (most of the money is going toward a big payment on his truck), so last week I ordered a Silhouette SD! It arrived last Friday (the fainting day) so I didn't get to play with it til the next day, but oh baby, me and that thing are gonna have fun together! Even Dh was impressed with all the cool things I can make with it. He asked me for some bright ribbon to tie on his suitcases for a little trip he took. I said, If you had given me some warning, I could have made you some awesome laminated luggage tags! ha ha (Yes I have a laminator too, I got it off Amazon when it was on craaaazy sale.) In fact, even in my dreams I have been planning cool projects. But that is partially due to pregnancy I'm sure. It's a little exhausting to dream of crafting, I find. The projects never make sense once I am awake. Ha ha

House Parties

Recently I've had the opportunity to host two house parties. Have you heard of House Party? I was skeptical at first. Basically a company sends you a bunch of free stuff and you invite your friends so you can all check out the company's products. I applied for the Philly Cooking Creme house party and was selected as a host. They sent magnets, note pads, wooden spoons, and coupons for the products. The host gets cooler stuff for being the host. I got a Green Pan and a cooking mitt. Also four coupons for free Cooking Creme so I could make stuff for my guests. I made the Creamy Italian Chicken & Orzo Skillet:


and the Southwest Pasta Skillet.

Well, this experience converted me to House Parties, because dang that food was good. I had about six people come and everyone really liked the food. (Cassie, I'm looking at you. Have you tried the cooking creme? Because you would seriously heart it.) Also, that Green Pan ROCKS. I love it.

So after that I applied for all the house parties that sounded at all interesting to me. Just a couple months later, I was selected to be a host for Fresh Wave. I had never heard of Fresh Wave before that. I was even more doubtful about Fresh Wave than I was about the Philly Cooking Creme. (Because really, a creamy version of cream cheese? How could that be bad?) Fresh Wave is a line of odor absorbing products. Let me tell you, the stuff works. I received some crystal gel containers, a candle, room spray and pearl packs. The company sent lots of stuff, so everyone got a fair amount of loot. A couple of days after the party, my husband pulled out the George Foreman to make some hamburgers. That thing always stinks up our house to high heaven, so I lit the candle. Lo and behold, no nasty aftersmell! I could hardly believe it. I stashed a pearl pack in the kids bathroom (which smells bad no matter how often I clean it) and the car (which can get a little fusty) and both are noticeably odor-free. I love it.





I feel a bit like a corporate shill, but I don't really care. Neither company is paying me to say anything, and the parties are already over. I'm just sharing 1) delicious food that's ridiculously easy to make and 2) my surprise and delight about the lack of stink in my kids' bathroom!

In Which I Complain About How Unpleasant I Find Being Pregnant

Recently I've been feeling rather like Worst Mother of the Year. I can't bend over easily and I'm in almost constant pelvic pain. My sleep has been erratic and interrupted. These things equal grouchiness. Some days, extreme grouchiness. My poor kids. My house is constantly messy and everything's so hard for me to do right now. I've been really pissy. It's temporary. That's what I keep reminding myself. I'm 99% sure this is my last pregnancy. I don't think my hips could take another baby. Sitting for too long hurts. Standing for too long hurts. Walking for too long hurts. Rolling over in bed hurts. The doctor said, Um yeah this is your third baby. *sigh*

I told the kids I wasn't very happy because they weren't being obedient and Ace gave me a big hug and then looked up and asked, "You happy now?" How could I say anything but yes?

I asked Ace to pick up some toys and told him I can't bend over now. He said, "Grownups can't bend over, but I can." Ha ha I was like, "Um, a month ago I could bend over. I'll be able to bend over once the baby's born. This big belly makes it hard." To which he responded, "You have a fat belly, Mom!" Ha ha

Note the tongue.

The baby is REALLY active which is often amusing. One night around 4 am Miss E came in because she'd had a bad dream. She scared the crap out of me when she came in to our room (perhaps I was in the middle of a bad dream myself). Dh put his arm over me and tried to reassure me. A big, heavy arm weighing me down did not help soothe me! I think I even batted ineffectually at it and said, "That doesn't help!" Ha ha Once I had fully awakened I was able to help our poor daughter. But anyway, since I awoke fully, it was a good hour before I could fall asleep again. The baby was going nuts! Lots of hard jabs and the funny leaping thing she does. I wonder if she does that every night and I usually just sleep through it.

Tonight we were all sitting around the table talking about whatever. Ace randomly asked Dh if he liked strawberry donuts. (Mmm strawberry donuts. Have been rationing myself to those babies 1-2x a month.) Dh said he didn't like them very much. Ace asked, "You like them one much?" I was confused where he came up with that until I realized that Miss E often says, "I love that too much!" So we started goofing around, asking each other if we liked something three much, or just one much. Hopefully those silly times at least balance out the bad days.

I've been knitting and crocheting and reading (all things you can do sitting down). I made a tiny white hat for the baby, a purple hat for Miss E, a blue hat for Ace (modeled above, it's too big for him, oh well), a tiny purple hat for a friend's baby and a white slouchy beret for myself (see middle pic, I heart it!). I've been slogging my way through The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. It was our May book for book club and I've only got 50 pages left so I'm going to finish it, by golly. The more I read it, the less I like it. I've also been working my way through Lie to Me season 1 on Netflix instant view. Dh doesn't care for it, even though it seems a lot like other shows we both like (The Mentalist, Psych, with a dash of crime fighting show). It's the salmon run so he's been obsessing over that. Lol

Keep me in your prayers please. I've got nearly three months to go!

Super Deals

I scored some super deals yesterday that I'm so excited about, I just have to tell someone! I told Dh, but...it's not the same. He doesn't get into it.

So anyway, JC Penney and Kohl's both sent me $10 off coupons, with no minimum purchase, my favorite kind! At Penney's I managed to find girl undies for Miss E for exactly $10, so they were free! At Kohl's I found a 2-pack of Cars pajamas for Ace on clearance. After the $10 was taken off, they cost me $6 out of pocket. Considering I can't find used pajamas at Value Village for less than $2.99, I was very pleased.

I also used coupons at Bath & Body Works to get two shower gels, a travel size lotion for my purse and a mini hand sanitizer for $12 total. Shower gel's about all I use from that store, since let's be honest their lotion is really subpar.

Of course, then I wandered in to Nordstrom to replace my favorite Lancome lipstick...only to discover it was Lancome gift time...so naturally I had to buy two lipsticks...Not super deals, but fun! Especially since I used my favorite lipstick until it is literally a nub. They don't make that exact lipstick anymore. :( The woman at the counter very patiently rubbed color after color on her hand to help me pick out the closest colors to my dear departed lipcolor.





Perhaps the colors are off on my laptop, because the lipsticks don't really match how these pics are appearing to me. They are very wearable, and both pretty close to my normal lip color, though obviously the bottom one is pinker. I forgot how fun it is to buy makeup...

It's about the only thing I feel like buying right now. Since I'm pretty sure this is my last baby, I don't want to spend a penny on maternity clothes if I can possibly help it. I did buy the cutest floral t-strap wedges a few weeks ago at Charlotte Russe. If only it would stop raining so I could actually wear them!!! Hopefully I can wear them a few times before my belly grows so big that giant wedges become hazardous to my safety.

This Time I've Had a Good Reason For Not Posting