Nesting at it's finest

This morning I woke up with my to-do list ready to go!

So far I've been able to complete these tasks:

-Clean out the refrigerator which was absolutely disgusting with milk carton skids and spinach dip from NYE

-Do the dishes and a load of laundry (still have a few more left to do)

-Clean & organize our bathroom closet to fit the stuff from the spare bathroom-which will eventually be Nora's-so I could fit her bath time things under the sink.

Left to do:

-Line the dresser (which I was originally not going to use right now) with contact paper so that I can use it and know that Nora's clothes aren't touching the antique wood

-Return somethings from Kohl's & Target/get some things with gift cards that we didn't receive at the showers (last week we got the swing, breast pump & bouncer)

-Shop for a front door rug at TJ Maxx

-Drop off the old prescriptions, meds, and other vitamins and stuff that are outdated or old at the police station or fire department-tired of looking at them, but I don't want to just toss them or flush them (I heard once that they have tested some area water supply and found antibiotics in good amounts in the water!!)

Right now I'm giving Jake time for his stomach to settle-he ate too much of the leftover venison chili he made the other day! Hoping that after all the errands we are going to do he will be hungry again & willing to go to Bob Evans...I've been craving it for about 2 months now, but I haven't been in so long that I fear I might be severely disappointed if it's not a good trip! I better get up and get going again or I might find myself taking a nap!

"Assistance is needed in strollers!"

We pressed the 'help' button after several attempts to get the stroller back in upright position. This was probably our 4th time at Babies R Us playing with the strollers and every time we get it folded down, but never can figure out how to get it back up! We die laughing and never have pressed the button before-usually we just put it back up where the display is and walk away, but not this time. (we would always tell the cashier about the stroller section when we were checking out, but still we should have pressed it before walking away!)

Other things that are challenging for new parents include: assembling and disassembling pack n plays, figuring out the difference in bottles/pacifiers/monitors/etc, and soo many other things that I can't think of now that I'm trying to think of them. Needless to say, having an infant is wayyyy different than anything we've ever experienced, but we are learning quickly and usually end up laughing at ourselves when it's all said and done.

A Thursday Routine

Today we made another trip to Greenwood to shop for Nora. This has been our routine for a few weeks now-well not every week, but when we have the day off or coupons that need to be used up. The trip today was to get the travel system, but we ended up doing several returns and buying other stuff we needed too.

We started out at Once Upon a Child where we got a steal of a deal on a used Serta mattress and a changing table pad. We knew we wanted to buy used of these two because they both have covers that we could get new and just disinfect the pad and mattress. We also got a new mattress pad for extra protection. Why would you buy them new?

For lunch we went to McAllisters, a Thursday ritual, where I always, always order the grilled chicken spud...mmm its soo good! Jake always gets something new and today it was an open sandwich with coleslaw and, of course, some tea.

After McAllisters we headed to Buy Buy Baby because Jake is fascinated with the "mama-roo" its like a swing, but plays music and does different motions like the car, a W shape, figure eight, etc...when I say fascinated I mean-that's they only reason we stopped there. But I cant get out of a baby store with out using a coupon or finding something on the clearance rack. So we came home with 4 outfits-one of the shirts had a dog on it that looked like Jersey-I couldn't resist it!

After Buy Buy Baby, we went to Babies R Us-the real reason we went to Greenwood. We knew we wanted to get the travel system today, but after fitting the mattress and changing table pad in the car we weren't sure if it would fit! Ultimately, we took it out of the box and everything went fine (we kept the box, just in case), but there was no way it was fitting in the car in the box. Thank goodness Nora wasn't with us-we would have run out of room. Note to self: bigger vehicle would be nice...

Along with the travel system, we couldn't leave with out getting $8 off diapers and a $15 gift card for purchasing 2 boxes-so we did and now feel comfortable with several boxes in the closet. Before going, I did a diaper spreadsheet (Jackie & Alex-I know you are laughing at this point, but you too will do this eventually) to see where to buy the cheapest diapers. So far, out of Wal-Mart, Sam's, Costco, Babies R Us, several online sites, and Buy Buy Baby..Babies R Us is about 7 cents cheaper per diaper. When Jake found out that we are going to go through 5-8 on average per day-it was necessary to do the math! (I still don't think he knows what he's getting himself in to!) My only comment was...well babies aren't cheap, do you want to do cloth diapers?

We wrapped our day up at Target-always a bad idea. I can never get past the dollar section-especially now that they have $1 books, so I picked a few up that I didn't already have. After that, we had a return, we put a few more things on the registry, and searched for the clearance. I didn't have to look to far-they had tons of red stickers that were calling my name. Jake hates this and always says "that's why they do that to get you and every other woman to look at them"! Of course, do you see how much I'm saving?! I know the difference between 'clearance to try to sell' and 'actual clearance-where the price is too good to resist' so they don't get me on a $15 clearance outfit for a newborn!! Who would pay that much? $2-I'm sold!

A successful day in Greenwood-only spending a fraction of what we could have thanks to great deals, coupons, and several gift cards (the biggest being for our travel system from Jake's Grandpa-it happened to be $30 off and I was able to use a 20% off coupon too!).

After putting together the stroller, Jake felt the need to display it in her room...like it was a new car! I can still hear him saying, now we have to make sure the wheels are facing this way...He's one proud daddy!

Black Friday Madness

For some stupid reason I decided to bear the cold and go out for Black Friday again this year-I think I knew I probably wouldn't be going next year. Anyway, it wasn't until I saw a camera at HHGreg until I finally decided to go. Jake and I have really wanted to upgrade from a point and shoot to a pro-sumer (its what my co-worker calls them-cameras that are a step up from consumer and step down from professional, that's where I adopted the name). We are planning on taking most of our family/baby pictures with it to save money in the long run.

So, they opened this morning at 4 am, but I figured if I go to Wal-Mart at 1 am I could be at HHGreg in time for the line to be forming and to make sure I get the camera since it came with an extra lense/bag/memory card, etc-I wanted that camera!! Well, I made it to Wally World after a nap of 3 hours...walked in and walked out thinking that the people there were crazy! After all I wasn't there for electronics or toys, just there for a couple cheap gifts that I could really get anytime I just thought it would help me time wise. Nope, left quickly and headed to HHGreg where I sat in the car (I was the 2nd car in the parking lot-I know I was shocked too) from 12:50-1:35 am.

At that point there were 10 cars and I kept thinking I'm warm in the car, but if someone gets out I'm sprinting as fast as a pregnant lady can to be first. I told myself at that point, if one more car comes I'm going out there & I don't care how long I'll be waiting outside (remember I was warm in the car). So, another car came and I zipped my coat, wrapped my scarf, and put my gloves on while walking proudly to be the FIRST in line!

Exciting, except the store didn't open until 4..which was oh about 2.5 hours later! It was ~ 36 degrees when I got out of the car and I was toasty warm. Once I stepped foot near the front, plopped my purse down and stood there everyone came out of the woods. It was like everyone was waiting on someone to go first. I told myself to be the leader (with a pep talk voice) and to just get out there and that I'm going to be really mad if I wait, second in line, and there is only 1 camera and the person in front of me got it. Paranoid.

I met some nice people who were there for TV's, stoves, net books, Xboxes, etc...and no one for a camera with in 40 people of me. At that point I was thinking getting out of my car. Eventually some of the other people told me jokingly, but seriously how mad they were at me for getting out of the car-they kept saying-we could be so warm if it weren't for you jumping out and plopping your purse down. Side note: I sat in the car driving myself crazy for an hour with no one to text, call or talk to...so at least standing in line I would have someone to talk to-it was a benefit for me to get out. The rest of the people were with others to keep them company or for one person to warm up in the car and the other to go after they got back so by the time it was 3 am my toes were frozen! I wasn't thinking about the cold when I wore mesh tennis shoes, I was thinking about how much faster I would be with them on instead of my warm, cozy, clunky boots!

At 4 am, I got in and got the stuff with no problem (apparently there were "plenty" of them-wish I would have known that at 1:30 when I got out of the car paranoid)-was first in line to check out and was out of there in 5 minutes! I walked down to Target, which is in the same strip, got in and got 2 sets of the 700 thread count king sheets that were on sale for $30 each...walked up to the front and was out of there in 5 minutes. And I was on my way home because I couldn't justify waiting at Menard for stuff when they had a 3 day sale. Unfortunately, I missed out on the buy one get one free canvas totes that go in the 9x9 wooden shelving units because of that, but the warmth of my bed was sooo worth it.

I was up and out again at 10 am and hit up Target (again, less crowded), Menards, Wal-Mart, and a few other stores. At this point we only have to buy for 2 more people and we'll be finished!

Sad part: after getting home I realized I didn't get the entire sale price on the camera after 2.5 hours in the cold and being first in line...I decided to go back and get my money back. Apparently, they gave me a better extra lense than they should have and that's why it was more and they didn't use the discount bundle code-which I was trying to tell the cashier about, but she was young and not listening. Long story short, I talked to the manager, started crying while telling him how frustrated I was...etc, etc, etc...I'm getting ready to take the bag back that came in the bundle (it wasn't the right one, but the right one is actually better than this one so I score there) and he is going to let me keep the lense that technically costs $50-$100 more than the one that came with the bundle!! Win/win and I didn't cry on purpose, but being tire and pregnant definitely helped to my advantage that time.

Great part: Our new camera takes. AWESOME. pictures, and I was so excited Jersey had a photo shoot to test it out since Jake is at work!

I think next year I'll send Jake out if we want to get anything major and I'll stay warm with Nora at the house!

A little behind this year...

I have zero, I mean a big fat zero, Christmas gifts purchased this year as of now! Compared to last year, this is bad becuase I had almost all finished at this point. I guess I'm not that worried about it too much-I just realized that next week was Thanksgiving and black Friday so I better get moving! I just cant believe its nearing the end of November...time is flying by. I'm ready to change to our Christmas decorations since we have lots more of those than any other season. One thing I'm dying to buy is another set of cinnamon pine cones-mmmm my favorite. I went to JoAnns for some crafting stuff and I could smell them right when the door opened. Its going to be here before we all know it!

While I was out...

...The crib bedding came in! I sneakily ordered it (I had permission already) last Friday-hoping it would come in by the time I got home so I kept asking and Jake kept saying nope, not yet. But, when I came home there was a nice sized box by the front door (Yes!)-he wanted me to be surprised when I got home. So sweet! I opened that baby quicker than snot runs to see the awesome GREEN & BLACK crib bedding. El had me from the beginning-I did like the purple too, but secretly I loved the green and black to the point where its all I was planning for-so I bought it! I love, love green! So its perfect...girly, neat, easy to decorate, sophisticated and doesn't shout "I'm a pretty in pink/purple girl" (not that theres anything wrong with that-just not necessarily the style I'm going for). So there you have it and did I mention it looks even better in person!

Operation Clearance Update

Mission complete at 9:45 am at my first stop-T.J. Maxx. I stopped by on Saturday and saw they had 50% off and thought I'd return today to see if the prices would be even lower...and I was right! More than 75% off! Not many choices, but I found the cutest Strawberry Shortcake or maybe just Strawberry costume for $3.00 for the little miss next year. And, a pumpkin costume for my unborn niece or nephew-Anthony's girlfriend is due in May. They are going to look so cute in their clearance outfits! No need to stop by Old Navy or Target.

Finally Fulltime

This week marks my first week as a full time worker! I started at 30 hours per week and have made my way to 40 each week. I'm excited to be making a little extra money that we can now put towards my student loans in January. In addition to getting extra money to pay off debt, I will be working on Thursdays now which will prevent me from going shopping and spending money that I dont need to spend! Win win situation either way you look at it.

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend spending time with family first at my aunts house on Thanksgiving and then at Jakes grandpas on Saturday. We did, however, get a chance to run the drumstick dash Thanksgiving morning which was 4.5 miles in Broadripple. It was cold and it drizzled a little to-very undesirable conditions for running, but needless to say we both finished running, Jake just finished 10 minutes before me. Yeah, yeah, he runs a lot faster than me, but we were both really sore until yesterday! It made me realize that I had better get moving if I'm going to be running the mini in May! The dash was fun- we got dry fit long sleeve Brooks t-shirts for running and after wards we were ready for meal time.

Friday, the Monrovia Bulldogs played at Lucas Oil for the state championship and lost...they had a great run, but couldnt come through in the end. But, my HS team didnt get to state so that was a great accomplishment for them. Earlier that morning we finished our Christmas shopping with some great Black Friday deals-it was Jakes first experience, I'm not sure if he'll want to do that again or not but he was a good help to me by standing in line!

This morning we put up the Christmas tree and tomorrow we will be decorating it-we didnt have time since I had to work at 12:30 and Jake was ready for bed. We also began our project of putting plastic on our humongous windows to try to keep the cold air out. I hope it works because its been cold in here lately. Speaking of cold when I got back to the office my car had frost on it!! I wasnt expecting that at all so I had to dig my scraper out. Gotta love 4 seasons :) Happy December tomorrow!

Vera Bradley Sale

Into Vera Bradley...or know someone on your Christmas list who is? There's a sale going on now where you can get the Hannah bag (reg $45) for $10.80 with the coupon code: 10offsale Shipping is as low as $8, but you can get more than one to lower the shipping per item! That makes it a $20 gift that would normally be twice as much! I'm debating on buying one for someone, but if you need one too we can go in together and only pay $4 each for shipping! Now thats more enticing.

Copy & paste the link below for a picture-they are really cute:
http://www.verabradley.com/catalog/search.cmd?form_state=searchForm&keyword=10442023&x=41&y=11

Shopping

Today I went shopping with my mom for some new clothes for her. She's been doing Weight Watchers since May and has lost ~30 lbs!! She met her goal last week, and has actually lost a little more than she wanted too. So, none of her clothes fit her anymore-or they do, but are extremely too big. We went to Target because I love it and figured we could find some good deals in the clearance section. We didnt actually find anything in the clearance, but we did find a bunch of other things not for sale. We started out with size 8 stuff which were too big, she ended up buying 6's and small shirts!! WHAT!? I better start working out harder or shes gonna be smaller than me! I'm proud of her for losing weight and she actually gets that its a life long deal which really makes a future RD excited :) We ate at McAllisters and then visited Jake at Sam's just before they closed. All in all a good time.