Jersey's Photo Shoot

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!

Tuesday's Doctor Visit

Tuesday I had a doctor visit-a pretty boring one consisting of nothing really too exciting, but yet another time to listen to Nora's heart beat and see how I'm doing. At this point I'm 25 1/2 weeks along and feeling good. I've started to take naps again-something I haven't been doing for the past 6 weeks, but I'm not sure if DST has anything to do with that or not. I'm feeling the stretch in my belly and sometimes the pressure is unbearable, but I'm trying (hard) not to be a wimp (even though I know I am) about it yet because it's only going to get worse as I move into the 3rd trimester.

Lately, chocolate, candy or cookies have been my cravings and they are all hard to avoid eating too much of. Outside of last night (I think I was just excited about going to the doctor and Thanksgiving tomorrow), I'm still sleeping OK at night-just wishing I could lay on my back/stomach and it would be comfortable, but for now tossing from side to side will have to do. For the past 2 weeks, Nora has been kicking like its her job to get out soon! I've heard this continues until around week 28 and then the baby still kicks, but there isn't enough room for major moving.

So, about today's visit: Nora's heart rate was 150 bpm, my blood pressure was 120/62 and I'm up to ~16 pounds at this point. Next visit comes in 3 weeks (28 weeks) and the infamous glucose testing-yum!- looking forward to that flat orange pop. Ultrasound, as mentioned from the doctor visit before, is now going to be at 32-34 weeks so in ~8 weeks to see if the placenta has moved.

On that note, here's the belly progress so far at 25 1/2 weeks:

We have a name!

After hours of thinking about the perfect name-I think we both already had our minds made up a long time ago! Baby Girl Standeford can now be known as Nora Sue! We sat down and thought of every possible thing that could be bad about the name- and couldnt think of one that bothered us. In fact the only thing we could think of was "nora nora bo bora banana nana bo bora, etc.." you get the point! Kids did that with my name-it didnt go well, but they still did it!

We knew we wanted a short name since our last name is sooo long S-T-A-N-D-E-F-O-R-D, that's right, 10 letters! I know you counted them :) And, we wanted a sweet, precious, girly name that wasn't overly used and I think we found it.

Jake's Grandma's middle name was Sue-thats where we came up with it, and again short and sweet. N.S.S. (her initials) don't stand for anything we could think of and since deciding on her name we have been so at ease calling her by her name.

We are excited to see what she will look like and whose personality she is going to have-too much to look forward too! However, we are very much taking advantage of being kid-less for the next few months by sleeping in, going out to eat or out at all, and working on things we want to do since we both know lots are going to change when Nora comes.

On another note: I wanted to spell out her name for decoration in the nursery, but didnt like any of the harsh, 90 degree angle wooden or cardboard letters at any of the craft stores so I came up with my own idea.

I first started out by printing 'nora' in lower case letters in the font I liked-not a stiff, block font. Then I carbon copied the letters to 8x8 in. painting canvases.

Then I painted the letters with black paint-that has a slight shimmer in it. Glued and stapled ribbon to hang the letters from and shaded the corners and here is the finished product!

The canvases were on sale at Jo-Anns for 50% off, the ribbon for the entire spool was $2.00 and the paint I already had so it was a nice, cheap project (thanks to her short name!). Lately, it has put me in the crafty mood so I've been trying to come up with other projects to keep me busy when I'm bored.