New Glasses!

So I finally got some new glasses - my current pair I bought probably 6 years ago or so at Walmart back in college, as I needed a back-up pair just in case something happened with my contacts. I didn't wear them regularly until a few years ago though when my contacts and my eyes didn't want to agree (every time I wear them for more than an hour or so this annoying filmy stuff forms all over the lense, making my vision all blurry).

Anyways, Jay totally stretched my wire frames out so that they fall off my face whenever I bend over so yeah, it was definitely time for some new ones! And I wanted to get some prescription sunglasses too or at least some clips to go on my frames so I have something like sunglasses.

The stores are EXPENSIVE though!

I stopped into to Eyeglass World as they have a special - 2 for $78, but learned that with the reflextive coating and all the other stuff I would need because my eyes are so bad (ie: making my lense thin enough since they would be took thick otherwise) it would be closer to $200 instead of $78.

I started looking online and after coming across 5ohWifey's blog and post about Zenni Optical I decided to buy from there. Their frames start at $6.95 (although mine were both closer to $10) and after all the extra stuff I needed for my lenses my regular pair cost around $30 and my prescription sunglasses cost $35! After shipping, it was right around $75 for both! Talk about a steal - my old ones from Walmart cost me almost $100... and that was just for 1 pair!

I was a little hesitant at first - buying glasses online without knowing for sure how they would look on me... but they do have a feature on the site where you can upload a photo of yourself looking straight (I used my laptop's built-in webcam to snap a photo) and then "try on" the glasses that way. You can also use one of their dummy models that has a face shape similar to yours too if you don't want to upload a picture.

My only complaint really is how long it took - I ordered them on September 21 and they just arrived today, October 11. Roughly 3 weeks. I get it, they have to be crafted to the exact prescription and stuff, but still... seemed like forever and I was REALLY needing new glasses, the way Jay likes to pull rip my other ones off my face.


They're a bit strong, as my eyes got a little worse from the prescription my old ones were (which again, are like 6 years old, lol...), so I'm wearing them around the house tonight to get used to them.


So, what do you think? Yay or nay?

 

Better view of the sunglasses, with side detail:

A mini work vacation

I've had the past few days off work because my parents went up to Door County and so I have no one to watch Jay really when hubby and I would both be working so Little Man and mommy have been having fun together!

Today was a good day - did a bit of shopping and Jay was a pleasant little shopping buddy for the most part!

We had some stuff to get at Target and while there, we passed the $1 section near the front and I got him a plastic orange pumpkin bucket for trick or treat - he LOVED it and played with the whole time we were in the store and didn't want to give it up for the lady to scan it! He also threw a bit of a fit when we were riding in the car and he dropped it and couldn't reach it and of course I was driving so I couldn't get it for him either =(

He was a flirt at all the stores we went to though!

For dinner, hubby and I went got sushi and Jay sat in a high chair while we ate (we tried letting him sit in his carrier, but he got mad when he realized we were in a restaurant and he wasn't in a high chair at the table, lol...). They have these little plastic cups you can put soy sauce or other sauces in - we gave Jay a cup and a pair of chopsticks to keep him occupied while we ate. He didn't care much for the chopsticks but OMG he LOVED the little plastic cup! It was just the right size for him to pass back and forth in his hands and he had a blast playing with it, carrying it with him to the car, playing with it as he rode in his seat and then playing with it at home!

Also, while at home and I was putting groceries away in the kitchen Jay was crawling around on the floor when he decided to pull himself up to his knees, holding on this walker. Then, once he was on his knees, he continued to pull himself up into a standing position, where he then proceeded to play with his Winnie the Pooh figures that were on the walker tray (which btw, in the few weeks he's had those things, they've taken quite a beating! lol...). Eventually the walker moved, but, knowing it would happen, I was right there when he started to fall and kept him from it happening.

He's getting to be so big! Hard to believe he's turning 8 months old in just over a week - I *just* got used to telling people he's 7 and a half months old when they ask!

He "crawls" (which for his the military crawl, but boy is he fast at it!) all over the place now and discovered today that he can drop toys down the stairs by sliding them through the rails of our metal gate!

Thursday hubby took off work a bit early and we met him for lunch at Buffalo Wild Wings, which Jay usually enjoys (restaurants have started giving him the kid's menu too, which is funny as he usually destroys the paper ones, lol...) and then he joined us at the indoor playground, which Jay seemed to really like having us both there doing something fun with him outside the house (that doesn't happen too often, aside from our Friday night trips out to dinner and Walmart). He played a bit more this week than he did last week (last week he stayed glued to me and just sat and watched the other kids play). We got him climbing and crawling a bit, smacking around the squishy noodles that hang down in one part of the baby play area and he had a blast hanging onto the safety netting too!

He also seems to have taken a liking to The Wiggles, much to his daddy's dismay, lol... when The Wiggles "Wiggle and Learn" segment comes on during the Sprout's Sharing Show I know that's a good 5-10 minutes where I don't have to hear him screaming to get out of the playpen when I'm trying to get ready to go out as for some reason it completely catches his attention! lol...

He's growing up so fast though! He regularly holds himself up on the edges of the furniture now too, like the couch and the coffee table... my baby's growing up! Not quite sure how I feel about this, but I guess he can grow up to be about pre-school sized, then he can stay mommy's little guy forever! =D

Fun with Our Phones Monday #3

Linking up once again!

 

On Tuesday my mom had to serve Jury Duty so I requested the day off work as she's my babysitter when hubby's at work and she most likely wouldn't be done til 5 or so. I also had to go downtown as I had to turn in our tax assessment "complaint" forms to the public administration building by a certain date. I find a parking spot and whadyaknow - I'm parked right behind one of my parent's vehicles! I was a bit confused as to why my mom was parked in a 1 hour spot... we no sooner cross the street and are heading up the block to the public administration building when we spy my mom walking towards us down the block! She offered to walk with us up to the office and as we're waiting to get in the elevator... my dad comes out! How weird! Apparently he had some stuff he had to do there as well and turns out I had actually parked behind him and not my mom. She didn't know he was there either - it was too funny!

I often sit with Jay on the couch in our family room on the main floor and we high ceilings althroughout the house. Tiger loves that she can jump on top of our hanging cabinets in the kitchen and the interior wall of our kitchen doesn't go all the way to the ceiling so Tiger can easily reach it from the top of the cabinets! I was laying on the couch with Jay one afternoon when I looked up and saw Tiger chilling up above us - too funny!

My Dallas Cowboys "wired star" game day earrings arrived Thursday afternoon... in that giant box you see there! Yeah, I was a little confused as to why such a tiny item was in such a big box! I was expecting maybe a small padded envelope or something! lol...

As a gift to myself (but we'll say it's from Jay) for my birthday I had this necklace pendant made from The Vintage Pearl. I had seen them before on various blogs and in various giveaways but it wasn't until I saw there was a discount code in last month's issue of Parent's Magazine that I decided to get one made. Based on the photos online, you'd think it was a pretty decent size, however it is a lot smaller than I was expecting, but I still love it! I was debating about getting this one, as Jay and I often read "Guess How Much I Love You" before bedtime some nights, but opted for this "Dainty Drops" one instead. I figure I'll add a charm and birthstone for each child we have.

 He decided to completely crawl under the coffee table the other day - before he's just reached over the edge but never completely climbed under it. This time he did and seemed to be having one going at daddy's notebook before mommy took it off him, lol...

 I get What to Expect's emails daily and last week they mentioned taking your kiddo to the playground. We've had decent weather lately (not scorching hot, but not cold either) and I don't know why the idea to take Jay to one didn't dawn on me sooner! The article mentioned baby swings, sandboxes, slides, etc so I decided that since Jay was all mine on Saturday (daddy had to work alllllllllll day and I already was scheduled off work) that I would take him to a playground since we had some errands to go out and run anyway. He really seemed to enjoy the baby swing, as he swung for a good 10-15 minutes, just watching all the other kids run around. I also assisted him in sliding down part of a slide but he seemed a bit unsure about that one.

 

Jay's first Cowboys game day!! I decked him out in his little Cowboys gear - onesie and socks (and later in the night bib and bottle).

We went to Sam's Club, all decked out in our Cowboys gear, and picked up a few things in the afternoon before the game, such as hubby's beer (a 24pk of Sam Adam's Octoberfest. At Sam's it's basically $1/bottle, which is how I was able to get hubby sold on the idea of joining Sam's - no, it wasn't the diapers and food in bulk, it was the beer, lol...) Jay was a bit confused as to why there was an entire other seat next to him in the cart though - he kept waving his arm there all like "uh... guys? What's supposed to go here?" It was pretty funny!

 Game day photos with mommy and daddy! We're misplaced Dallas Cowboys fans, living in Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers territory - I'll root for the Bears so long as they're not playing Dallas or in a playoff race with them, but you'll never see me like the Packers.

He fell asleep for a bit prior to the kick-off, waking up screaming 20 minutes later when daddy started cheering loudly (ie: yelling and screaming) at the TV. We had a mini football party with 6 of hubby's friends coming over to watch the game with us. It was fun times, despite me being the only female, lol...

Eventually Jay sat and played in his walker for a good bit of the game, but we did catch him watching the game and commercials for a little bit =)

It's getting colder...

I've been wanting to get Jay some sleepers for this fall and winter but I figured I'd wait until it got colder out so I could get a size he'd be in for at least a little while...

...well, despite it being August, the nighttime temperatures have been in the 50s and 60s so letting Jay sleep in just a onesie is a bit out of the question. I was letting him sleep with some lightweight sweatpants on that he has, however him never being one for his legs to be covered would find a way to get them hiked up to his thighs so when I'd check on him before going to bed myself his legs would be all cold and have goosebumps (as were his arms). We let him sleep with a heavier blankie last night which he kept on him for the most part (the lightweight swaddle blanket we used in his crib he would always kick off easily) but I'd rather not do that as the thought of SIDS terrifies me.

So I gave in and bought him some sleepers from work the other night, a month or so earlier than I was hoping.

Dinosaurs, Robots, Football & other sports,
and Bears (with bear faces on the feet!)

He's getting so big!!

I picked out these 4 for him for now, thinking I'll get him heavier ones when it gets closer to winter. Got a great deal on them too - they're on sale for $8 (originally 2 for $24) but my discount gave me $2 off each so I got 4 for $24 - $6 a piece! Not a bad deal, considering the 0-3 month ones I bought him last spring at Walmart were $5 each. While he still fits in most 3-6 month clothing from work still (our stuff runs big on him I've noticed), I bought these 6-9 month hoping he'll be able to get a couple of months out of them at least - they seem to be fitting him okay though so maybe we're ready to move into his 6-9 month clothes...

I was showing them to my mom when I came home from work last night and Jay seemed to really like the bear one as he started grabbing at that one out of the 4 and seemed really excited over it so I let him wear that one first tonight!

101 in 1001 progress update #5

This morning the Illinois/Wisconsin stateline was hit with some pretty strong storms and our house was one of the unfortunate 600,000+ that had its power knocked out at 715am! It's about 130am the next day and as of 1130pm it still wasn't back on and was 81 degrees in the house! My parent's house has power though so we're spending the night there, hoping ours comes back on tomorrow at some point!

Anyways, here's an update on my 101 in 1001 list!

#4 - Watch at least 2 Netflix DVDs and 2 Instant Queue movies a month (11/66, 11/66)
Yeah... slacked a bit on this one. In June we watched "The Green Hornet" on DVD and I gotta admit, it was better than I was expecting (which honestly wasn't much). While it wasn't great, it was fun and amusing. I'd give it a 3 out of 5 stars. So far for June we've watched "I Am Number 4" on DVD - it was alright, although I would have enjoyed it much better if it didn't have all the dumb teenage romance drama in it. I enjoyed the kid that played #4, the gal that played #6, and Timothy Olyphant as #4's guardian. It was an enjoyable movie and I'd recommend it. Also, I wasn't surprised that the team of Gould and Millar who worked together on Smallville for years were involved, as had that teenage superhero feel to it. I could see a sequel happening for this one too. As far as Instant Watch goes... no movies in June and so far for July I've watched "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" - I recently finished the 1st 2 books and decided to start watching the Swedish films before the American remake comes out this Christmas. I gotta say though, actress Noomi Rapace IS Lisabeth Salander. I don't mind the casting of Daniel Craig as Blomkist in the American version, but I really wish they would use Noomi again as she's got the part down pat!


18 - Read at least 15 (non-children) fiction books (5/15)
I've read 2 so far for June and July! In June I finally finished "Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" and promptly started "The Girl Who Played With Fire" which I finished in July. I swear, Steig Larrson had a pattern to his books - make the 1st 200 or so pages of the book have just enough intrique to keep you interested (because they are a bit boring, making you wonder where is the story going already!?) and then something major happens in the last half of part 2 or between pages 200-300 that makes you glued to the book, wanting to read what happens next, making it so you don't want to put it down! That happened with both books! While book #2 seemed to move a bit faster than book 1, I was still wondering the whole time "where is this going? what's the point?" during the 1st 200 or so pages. And then something major happens and I breezed through the rest of the book in a matter of days! I really want to read the 3rd, however it's not currently available in trade paperback (only in large print paperback) and the Kindle version costs more than the hardcover version at Walmart so I guess I'll just wait...

22 - Find a part-time job that works me at least twice a week
Well, I guess I have this now! We've had several key people quit at work recently due to moving away and apparently I've "proved" myself too since as of this week, aside from management I have the 2nd most hours at work, working at least 2-3 shifts a week with a handful of on-call shifts, half of which I get called in for. The paychecks have been nice, but it's been a bit hard shifting from working 1-2 days a week to working 4-5! I'm used to hanging out with Jay most of the week and it's been a bit strange not doing that!

29 - Have a date with hubby at least once a month (4/33)
30 - Take an overnight with hubby once a year (1/3)
These go together for June & July, as hubby and I attended a wedding up in the Twin Cities from June 30-July 2 (my childhood best friend's wedding) and we left Jay with my parents to get some mommy and daddy time! It was nice getting away and not having to worry about squeezing in feedings, etc into the schedule but it was a bit strange being without him too!

51 - Host a PartyLite party once a year (1/3)
I did this in June! While not quite as many people came as I had hoped, I did get some "book orders" and got a nice bit of hostess credit. I stocked up on my tealights and took advantage of some nice hostess offers too! Definitely worth it!

53 - Visit in person with a friend once a month (6/33)
I've seen several people in June, so that counts!

60 - Go to church at least once a month (3/33)
We had Jay's baby dedication on Father's Day Sunday and we went once again in June too.

88 - Get a pedicure 3 times a year (2/9)
For Mother's Day, hubby got me a Groupon for a mani-pedi which I redeemed days before we went to the wedding in the Twin Cities - it was nice! The finger nails didn't last longer than a week, but the toenails still look good!

98 - Go on vacation somewhere once a year (1/3)
We went to the Twin Cities this year! While it was a mini-vacation, it was still a vacation for us and is about as much of one as we'll get this year, with Jay being so little. I'm sure we'll go somewhere more exciting for longer next year. Aside from the wedding, we stopped in Mall of America for a bit, ate some CiCi's Pizza (which the nearest one is nearly an hour from us so despite seeing all the commercials on TV, we've never had it!) and we drove past the Metrodome - the home of the Minnesota Vikings! Near the end of last season, the roof collapsed due to all the snow that had built up on top of it - it still looked like it was under construction!

My Disappointment with Huggies Snug & Dry diapers

Over the weekend we started getting low on our giant box of Pampers Swaddlers my parents had bought us soon after Jay was born (although we couldn't use them til about a month and a half ago as Jay was so small he couldn't fit in size 1-2 yet). My mom said Sam's Club seemed to have the best price as far as quantity goes so she offered to take me with her to buy another box as my parents are members and we are not. She had mentioned Huggies had a similar type of diaper in the same size however there was more in the box and it was $6 less than Pampers. Like Pampers, Huggies also had a leakguard advertised on them and since Huggies and Pampers have always seemed to be in competition with each other we figured the quality would be about the same.

Boy were we wrong!

I bought the 264 count of the size 1-2 Huggies Snug & Dry diapers on Monday and started using them when we ran out of the Pampers on Tuesday (yesterday). I've had multiple problems within the first 24hours!

First, I was a bit disappointed with the material quality of the diaper. The Pampers Swaddlers are made of a softer, quilted type material which was nice on Jay's skin. Peeking into the Huggies box, they looked to be the same but apparently not - they're made out of the same stiff paper material that Walmart's Parent Choice brand uses (which we stopped using as soon as he fit into the Pampers as they were giving him some bad diaper rash).

Then, it took me multiple attempts to get the left side of the diaper to stay fastened as they don't use the tape like material that Pampers or Parent's Choice uses - it's some type of material that can be refastened several times (which I guess would be nice if you're just checking the diaper and have a false alarm) however I couldn't get it to stay fastened right away!

Last night, while Jay was having his late night feeding before bedtime he had a bit of a blowout!

Now he's had some blowouts before, but both Pampers and Parent's Choice I was able to get snug enough that it kept the poop from going up his back, stopping just at the top of the diaper. Not the case with the Huggies though - I finished feeding him and went to change him and YUCK! It was up his back, all over the back of his onesie he was wearing - the diaper didn't do much to hold it in or prevent it from going up his back! I put another one on him, getting it as snug as I could however it still didn't seem very snug in the back. But again, it was as tight as I could get it on him so I let it go and put him to bed.

This morning he woke up about 930am and I brought him over to our bed to snuggle for a bit before we actually got up. His diaper didn't seem that full so I figured I'd change it once we actually woke up for the day (I've done this for a month and a half with Pampers with no problems!). Laying in bed for an hour or so, Jay started getting fussy. Thinking maybe he was hungry, I passed him off to daddy so I could get up and make a bottle. I went to get out of bed though and noticed my side, where Jay was laying, was all wet! I look and there's a HUGE wet spot on the bed - sure enough, the diaper had leaked! I've only had one other diaper leak in our bed before and it was Parent's Choice brand and was because the diaper was fastened tight enough - in this case though I had fastened the diaper as tight as it would go!

What a disappointment and a way to start our morning!

I emailed Huggies, detailing my disappointment with their diapers - hopefully I hear something back and if not then I'll call and complain not only about the diapers but the lack of communication regarding my problem. I'd like a refund if possible (so I'm not out $36!) and I'd love to return this box if I could but I don't think Sam's will take it back since it's open with a handful of diapers missing.

If a diaper says it has a leak guard, it better well do it's job! I don't have the time or the patience to be constantly cleaning my kid, the sheets, his clothes and whatever else he leaks on because these diapers don't hold like they should!

As soon as I figure what to do with this box of diapers I plan on only purchasing the Pampers Swaddlers since I know we don't have these leaking problems with those and the material is much softer too - now I know why the hospital uses Pampers!

Now I'm wondering about the box of Huggies Little Swimmers I picked up at Sam's... if they're going to do their job like they should or if those will just be a big disappointment this summer as well!

We're in Elmo's World now!

I mentioned briefly in my Easter update that my mom got Jay an Elmo for Easter but I didn't mention just how much he seems to love the thing!

Jay loves his Elmo - you can tell he's smiling!

Anytime it's within arm reach of him he's holding onto it, hugging it, gripping it... it's too cute! He also grins really big and laughs when you do the Elmo voice and sing the Elmo's World song ("La la la la, la la la la, Elmo's World...") - he LOVES it!

We first saw it in Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago when I was out at the mall, walking and window shopping. I stopped in to see about a few more board books for Jay and I spied him starring at something on the shelf from his stroller. I looked and noticed a bunch of Elmo's on the shelf. To be sure that's what it was he was looking at I picked on up and brought it towards his face and he grinned! It was $16.95 though and I was already spending too much money that day so I figured maybe someday later on I'd go back and get it for him. I also mentioned it to my mom and she said she'd try and see about getting it for him for Easter. When she went back to get it, it was the last one on the shelf!

She brought it out for him at Easter dinner on Sunday and boy did his eyes get wide and his face lit up! It was as if he remembered it from weeks earlier! Too cute!

So right now, we think this stuffed Elmo (which is just bigger than half his size! LOL) might be his "special" toy - you know, the doll or blanket you got attached to as a kid and had to take everywhere!

The Star of Mommy's Blog

I was in Target the other day picking up a few things in the baby department (Diaper Genie refills and Munchkin food bowls) when I came across this gem of a bib:

Obviously I *had* to get it and it was only around $2.50 so why not? This is an item that every mommy blogger needs to get for her baby!

"It's Time to Build a Word..." - kid's shows, moving & more!

Just realized it's been about a week since I last posted.

Not too much has really happened. We're officially closing on the house this Thursday at 230pm so by evening we will have the keys to our own house! Yay!

Jay, 2 months old
(8 weeks, 3 days in this photo)

Jay can fit into his 0-3 month clothes now as I've had him running around in the onesies this past week. He's also been able to finally wear his shoes too - they don't look like giant clown shoes on him anymore!

We also started using the size 1 Pampers Swaddlers diapers too and I like them much better than the Parent's Choice Walmart brand we were using. While the Walmart ones fit great, I've noticed the past week or so he's been getting a pretty bad case of diaper rash. The Pampers ones are nice as they're a lot softer on his skin and they're virtually leak proof which is nice as we've been having issues with him leaking lately.

He's become more alert in the past week or so and so we've started watching kid's shows on PBS/WTTW. He usually watches some Sesame Street or WordWorld while he eats his morning bottle and falls asleep during them for a few hours - he usually sleeps about 6 or 7 hours at night and then wakes up to eat  and falls back to sleep for about 3 or 4 more hours. During his afternoon bottle (after he wakes up) we usually watch either Clifford, Curious George or Arthur. I'm not let him get hooked or addicted to TV or anything, but since he is more alert now and we've noticed him watching the TV when it's on I don't see any problem with him watching early learning shows while he's eating throughout the day. PBS seems to have the best younger kid friendly shows too. I really like the WordWorld show - everything in the show, from characters to objects and buildings, is made out of the word of the character/object/building. Like the duck character is made out of the letters "d-u-c-k". It's really cute! And the show uses bright colors too so it gets Jay's attention.

 

Sesame Street's Abby's Flying Fairy School
segment with animated background - most
of the segments in the show now have
animated backgrounds!

Has anyone watched Sesame Street lately? To be honest, I'm a bit disappointed by the current format. Growing up, it took place on the actual Sesame Street with the adults and kids interacting with the puppet cast of characters with various short segments dispersed throughout the show. Well now, we briefly see the actual Sesame Street (at least from what I've seen in the episodes we've watched) and the whole show is in various segments. Many of the puppet characters are now standing in front of CGI animated settings rather than actual real settings (half the time the puppets look CGI animated too!). And between each segment is a red monster who's hanging out in some city park introducing each segment (such as Elmo's World and Abby Cadabby's Flying Fairy School) with a real kid. Maybe it's just me, but I miss the old school Sesame Street from the 70s, 80s, and 90s that I grew up watching myself as well as with my sister. This new "updated" version just isn't as good in my opinion.

I started back at work this past weekend, working a 4.5 hour shift (it was supposed to be 4 hours but we were busy and the store was trashed so they asked if I could stick around for an extra half hour). It wasn't too bad. They changed the keyboard on the registers so that took a bit of getting used to (I hadn't worked a register since the very beginning of January!) and by the end of my shift I was doing returns pretty well too. After maybe the 1st hour or so I was feeling comfortable with everything again, as far as working a register.

After my shift I bought Jay a pair of sunglasses as we had display of them but only a handful left in the 0-2yr size and he's going to need a pair for this summer. They're a little big on him, as his nose isn't big enough to keep em on his face yet, but he'll grow into them! They're $3 each right now (normally $4.50 or 2 for $6) if you want to pick some up for you kid. After my employee discount I got them for $2.41 total - not a bad price considering they're Children's Place and not Walmart! There's a cute pair of sandals I want to get him too but I think I'm going to wait until this weekend to get them for him as they're $9.95 and this weekend we have employee appreciation days where we get to take 40% off instead of 25%.

The next few days are going to be quite busy.

Today (Wednesday) Jay has his 2 month check-up where he's going to get several shots which I'm sure he won't be too happy about! Hopefully the doctor will cut back his calorie count and just let him eat the normal amount so we don't have to mix extra into it and the formula can last a little longer. I'm guessing he weighs close to 10lbs too - guess we'll find out for sure tomorrow! Also, I have work tomorrow night for a few hours in the evening.

Thursday, like I said, we are closing on the house and then that evening my dad's coming over to fix the drywall in the one room while I start painting Jay's room as I need to get the blue layer on first and then the brown and then do the detail. Friday I'm going to be over at the house alllll day as we have our washer, dryer and fridge being delivered and Comcast is being installed - I plan on working more on Jay's room and doing some basic cleaning before we start moving everything in. Also Friday we're borrowing my dad's jeep and transporting all our boxes over from the apartment and then going shopping for other household items we need to get. Saturday is the big moving day as we're renting a U-Haul and moving over all the bigger items. Sunday I'll be back at the apartment for a few hours cleaning up here.

Target Tuesday #1

I decided to start taking part in a weekly link-up called Target Tuesday which was started by the lovely Ms. Tara over at Fabulous but Evil. Each week bloggers can "link-up" and share some of their favorite finds at Target. Not sure if I'll be able to take part in it weekly, but I'd like to try!

For those who got here via the link-up, welcome to my "baby" blog as it's dubbed, but since baby boy has been born the blog's expanded to be more family/home/life-oriented. I do have also have a "catch all" blog - Point Me to the Sky Above - if you'd like to check out my ramblings on anything and everything over there too!

So... this week at Target I'm sharing some of my recent baby-oriented finds!

Sesame Street "Shake a Leg" Board Book

I LOVE reading this book to Jay on a near daily basis as it's so interactive. Each page has a different motion for you to do, such as shaking your legs, patting your head, rubbing your tummy, swinging your arms, honking your nose, and more. I often take Jay's little hands and do the actions on him so it's him patting his head or rubbing his tummy and not mommy. He seems to like though and the pictures use bright colors and a variety of characters from Sesame Street too so there's plenty for him to look at on the pages. We bought this book with money my grandparents had sent him.

Summer Infant SuperSeat Activity Seat

This booster activity seat by Summer is really neat as you can use it with the activity tray on it for when they're just babies and then when they get to be toddlers you can remove the tray and use it as a booster seat at the table! I like the idea of the activity/exersaucer tables for babies, but most of them are really big and take up a lot of space. This one seems to be a bit smaller which I would prefer! I actually got this at a steal of a price at Target as they had the wrong price for it on the shelf, despite the price it was ringing up at - since the price on the shelf was $13 instead of $40 they went ahead and gave it to me at the lower price! Score! We haven't set it up or used it yet - Jay can't sit up on his own yet - but I plan on putting it together once we get moved into the new house! Hopefully he'll enjoy it.

Cosco "Barnyard Buddies" Sprinter Travel System

We registered for this one and got it and so far it's been great to have! When we were looking at carseats and strollers we decided we liked the idea of a simple travel system rather than having all different pieces. This one is a 3-in-1 set, as it's got the baby carrier that comes with a base that can convert it into a car seat and then, since all the pieces work together via the "latch" system, you can snap the carrier onto the stroller for when they're littler! It works really well, considering as far as travel systems go, price-wise it was the cheapest one they had when we registered. The design is nice too as it's gender neutral brown and tan with red trim and the print is a barnyard animal theme - I didn't want anything too boyish so that we could reuse it again in the future if we end up having a girl at some point down the road. There's a matching high chair that goes with this also. It was pretty easy to assemble too, my only complaint is that the handle bar on the stroller is too wide making it so I can hang the diaper bag from it, although I guess that's more of a complaint with the diaper bag for not having wide enough straps!

Up & Up Target Brand Unscented Baby Wipes

Seems like a silly thing that you can buy anywhere but I choose to buy our baby wipes at Target as they have the best price on them (yes, better than Walmart!). I get the unscented in the 3 refill size for about $4.50 (although I guess the bigger refill size for $13 couldn't hurt) and it lasts a few weeks. These wipes hold up pretty well too.

Just One Year Frog Robe

I noticed these too cute little baby bath robes last time we were there but we weren't shopping for baby and so hubby wouldn't let me get it at the time but I intend on picking it up sometime in the near future as it's just too cute! Now the froggy one is the only one they have online but they had 2 others available in the store as well - one in pink and I want to say the other is either blue or yellow. We have hooded bath towels that we use to dry him off after his baths but I think using the bath robe to get him to and from the tub would be nice idea, as he howls while in transit but is fine when he's in the actual tub - it would keep him a little bit warmer I think! Plus it's just too darn cute!

Bright Starts "Lion in the Park" Activity Gym

This is a simple activity playmat for baby that works great for Tummy Time. It folds easily for storage, is easy to put together and has several fun items attached to it including a rattle, teether, mirror, plastic links, and a ladybug that plays 4 melodies. We didn't think he needed anything elaborate or fancy as far as a playmat is concerned, so if you're looking for a simple playmat that doesn't have a million bells and whistles on it that you can use for Tummy Time I'd recommend this one!

Some Baby Must-Haves

So as far as being a new parent, a lot of things are trial and error.

As far as bottles/nipples go, I've come to really like the orthodontic Nuk brand by Gerber. The first bottles we tried were the Breastflow ones by The 1st Years but Jay didn't seem to like that particular nipple. Knowing he liked sucking on his binky, which was by Nuk, we decided to give their bottles a try which seem to work great for us!

Some of the highlights of the Nuk bottles:

• Airflow nipples to help reduce colic
• Orthodontic nipples promote healthy teeth formation
• The nipples are clear silicone (no worrying about a possible latex allergy)
• They simulate and support breastfeeding so you don't have to stress too much about nipple confusion if you're also breastfeeding

They also come in various colors and designs and in a 5oz bottle and 10oz bottle which you can buy individually for around $5 or in a 3 pack for $12.97 (at Walmart).

The pacifiers comes in different colors and designs as well - Jay has the standard Nuk "boy" set which includes 1 blue one with sailboats and 1 green one with butterflies, as well as one of the sports sets which has one with a football design and another with a baseball design.

The benefits of the Nuk pacifiers:

• Conforms to baby’s mouth just like mother’s breast during feeding
• Orthodontic design gently exercises tongue, palate and jaw 
• Promotes proper teeth alignment
• NUK Air System allows nipple to self-adjust for proper fit
• Grooves in the pacifier shield allow air to circulate helping to prevent skin irritation

Another baby must-have I've found is the Baby ESP app for Android.

This handy app makes it easy for you to keep track of when your baby ate and how much, when their last poop or pee was, when they slept and for how long, among other daily baby things one would keep track of. It's really come in handy, especially with Jay's growth/eating issues as I can keep track of how much he's eating daily to see if he's eating enough as well as if he's "stooling" enough so when the doctor asks I can easily give him an answer. It also creates a profile for your baby, showing you exactly how old your kiddo is!

Rather than spend money on other trackers, if you have a smartphone, it's worth the $3.99 for the full version of this app if you have a baby and need to keep an eye on that sort of stuff.

You can find it in the Android Market or get it from their official site - Baby ESP.

Some Awesome Deals!

Today was a busy day, but in a good way.

Jay got to spend the afternoon at Grammie's while mommy ran some errands.

I had to stop at the bank, the DMV to get hubby's car sticker renewed (it expired yesterday - oops!), and drop off our signed/initialed copy of our offer on the house to our realtor.

I also saw that Toys R Us had the new Bambi DVD and were giving away free mini Bambi plushies with the purchase, however by the time I got there they were out as they didn't get that many. I was a bit bummed as I really wanted to get the Bambi plushie for Jay. I had to go to Target anyway to return a nursing bra I never wore and decided to just buy the movie there since it'd probably be cheaper anyway.

I got quite a few good deals there too!

My grandparents had sent Jay $5 for Valentine's Day and then a nice check as well just for him being born. I ended up getting the Bambi movie for $12.99 as Target had it for $22.99 and then I had a coupon I found online for $10 off it! I also got the Sesame Street "Follow That Bird" movie from the 80s that I loved to watch when I was little for only $5. I also used Jay's $5 to buy another board book for him - Sesame Street's "Shake a Leg." I read it to him tonight - he's able to look around and focus on things a bit better now so he was looking at the pages as I read it and told him who all the characters were too and since the book is about moving around different parts of your body I would pat his head when it said to, shake his leg, etc - he had this look like "mommy, what are you doing?" but it was fun!

I also got a REALLY good deal on this 3-in-1 activity booster seat too! I saw it at Toys/Babies R Us when I stopped over there and they had it on sale for $39.99. I debated picking it up with the money my grandparents had sent, as I did want to get him a little activity thing like that (my friend's kid has this big exersaucer activity thing that her daughter loved and it seemed like a neat baby toy!) but I figured I'd see what Target had first since they're cheaper. Well, looking around the baby department, I came across the same one on a bottom shelf and the only tag for that brand said $12.98 so of course I grabbed it as there were only 2 left! Shocked, I stopped by a price check machine but it said it was $44.98. I figured I'd take it up front and see if they could tell me which was the actual price. The return price came up as $12.48 but it said the actual price was $44.98. Confused by the tag on the rack though, I mentioned it and they had someone go check and sure enough, the only tag for that brand of item said $12.98 so they gave it to me for that price!! The neat thing about this one is that it works alone as a seat, or it can be an activity seat and it can be a booster seat! Jay can't quite use it yet, as he can't sit up on his own yet, but soon!

I also found a St. Patrick's Day onesie for him too - it's green and says "Irish (I wish) you would KISS ME!"

Jay still has quite a bit of money to spend on himself from his great grandparents but I figured I'd hang onto it for now until we found something worthwhile to spend it on.

This week's follow-up and glucose frustrations

Yesterday I had my 33 week follow-up appointment, which consisted of the 20 minute Stress Test (which Jay still hates and after a few minutes into it he seems to wake up and starts beating up my uterus) and then a brief meeting with the doctor to go over stuff.

She said everything with Jay looks good and measured his fundal height as being 34cm, which is right on target as I'm starting my 34th week on Sunday.

We went over my glucose readings... I've had some abnormally high readings this week for lunch and I honestly can't figure out why which frustrates me as I'm eating the same meals I've been eating since they put me on the diet and the readings after were fine then but now they aren't. I'm just frustrated as it seems like we get one set of numbers under control (first dinner, then fasting) but then another set goes all out of whack! She told me to get my numbers for Thursday and today and if either were still high to call the nurse after my reading today and see about upping my prescription.

Well... yesterday's number was fine but today's was 16 points over so I called and waited for the nurse to call me back only for her to tell me that both doctors were out for the rest of the day and that she couldn't prescribe me anything without their go-ahead so I'd have to wait til Monday.

Since I'm almost out of the pill (glyburide) I went ahead and refilled the 2nd 2.5mg one that they had written me prior as well as refilled the prescriptions for my meter supplies. Went to pick em up at Walgreens though and they said they couldn't fill the glyburide one yet as they were waiting on my insurance. They asked if my dosage had been upped, which I confirmed, and they said that's why, as the 2.5mg was for 30 days and it hasn't been close enough to the 30 days for them to approve the refill so I need to let my doctor know that... so I'm not going to be to take it on Sunday as I only have enough for tonight and tomorrow - guess I better be prepared to explain why my fasting number might be high on Monday at my appointment. *sigh*

Someone on Facebook who has diabetes mentioned that after meals they do a little bit of exercise which seems to help get their levels down, as it burns some of the sugars. I think I'll start doing that this weekend - hop on the exercise bike for like 10-20 min after lunch and then take my reading when the hour is up and see if that helps it any.

I'm just sooooo frustrated with the stupid glucose stuff! I'm not quite ready for Jay to be here yet, but at the same time I can't wait to be done with the glucose monitoring and all that as it just frustrates me too much, especially right now with my hormones all crazy. It's frustrating how 1 bad/high reading can dampen my entire mood =(

Less than 6 weeks to go... less than 6 weeks to go....

I was able to get my meter test strips for cheaper though this time, as I had enrolled in the Freestyle program and got my membership card. Walgreens said I can use it every time I just have to have it with me and let them know when I pick it up as they have to manually enter the info in each time, so I guess that's good as it saves us nearly $50 on my meter supplies.

I did a little bit of shopping tonight which helped better my mood a little bit.

I had to pick up a few things at Walmart we were running low on or out of and I had to get a storage bin for our walk-in closet as we're going through that this weekend to make room for the changing table/dresser unit that's being brought over later this week. I also bought a knock-off of the "Shoe-Under" product you see on TV as Gordman's had a 12 pair version on sale for $3.99 before Christmas and I checked and it was still on sale. Most my shoes that are currently in our closet I can't wear right now anyway because they're high heels or they're shoes for special occasions that I don't wear all that often anyway and since we need the space, putting them in an organizer under the bed would probably be best for now - as it is, right now I'm only wearing my snow boots, my new Skecher Shape-Ups, my lower block heels, and my slippers.

I also stopped by The Children's Place to check the schedule for this upcoming week - to my surprise I'm *actually* scheduled for hours this week rather than just all call-in's! That excites me. I also bought a few things that were on the winter clearance Monster Sale (take an additional 50% off the current sale price) and with my 25% employee discount I got 4 items for $11 - can't complain about that! I got him 2 fleece hoodie zip-ups and 2 long-sleeve collared onesies.

I think I overdid it, carrying stuff in tonight though, as I didn't want to make multiple trips so I threw everything in the new storage bin and then carried that from my car, up the front steps and into the building (then I dragged it down the stairs and through the hallway). I've been having minor Braxton Hicks contractions off and on since - oops! The annoying thing is though, half the time I think it's a contraction and the other half I can't tell if it's just Jay stretching/pushing hard like he sometimes does as I always feel the contractions on the same side that he's curled up on ><

Nothing too new with my father-in-law as far as we know. Sunday he was breathing on his own without the oxygen tube and then on Tuesday night they moved him out of the ICU and to similar room on a less critical floor. Hubby went up to visit him after work on Wednesday and said his kidney's were doing slightly better, but still not up to par, as previously they were only functioning at 15%. He had a chemical stress test done on his heart on Wednesday as well (where they give you a medicine that has your heart simulate like you're running on a treadmill) but we haven't heard the results of that yet.

Anyways, that's how things are here...

Working and shopping

Today (Saturday, although I guess it's technically Sunday now) I worked my 2nd shift at The Children's Place, this time getting some training in on the cash register.

I think it went pretty well - I seem to do just fine with normal transactions, although I'm not completely comfortable yet when it comes to doing returns and exchanges.

It doesn't help that they have a whole new process for returns/exchanges as well that requires scanning a state ID or driver's license, which many places in our mall have also adopted a similar policy, although quite a bit of customer's don't seem fond of the idea and got a little snooty about it as it takes a tad bit longer (one woman complained it was taking 15 minutes, when really it was more like 5 and that partly due to them explaining what they were doing to me as they did it so I knew what was going on to get some idea of how to do it). The reason behind this "new" policy (which I guess Victoria's Secret has been doing for awhile now) is because people were abusing the return policy, returning things every other day to get a better sale price on it and with scanning the ID now, it automatically keeps track how many times the same person returns the same things and let's us know when they reached the return limit for that item (I think it's like 3 times in a 45 day period). Sure it's a bit of a pain and takes just slightly longer, but it makes sense and clearly we're not the only store at the mall that's adopted this method for returns.

It was a bit amusing though, as several customers (and employees) asked me about my baby bump. This one customer, I swear she was playing 20 questions with me, lol... she asked one question, and then another, and then another and just kept going! At one point I was thinking "okay, you're starting to get a tad too personal for being a complete stranger!" when she started asking about his name and other details, lol... 

I did notice a really cute sweater in the newborn section though and decided to get that and the long sleeved polo I had my eye on for awhile for Jay. Both were on sale too, and when I went to pick out the sweater I saw this really cute polo onesie that matches and can be layered with the sweater so I picked that up too. I got all 3 for under $20 with my employee discount.

I bought the sweater and onesie big enough that he should be able to fill it out well enough come easter, assuming it's not like a million degrees at the end of April like it was for the first part of November here! The polo I got a little bigger too, but I figure it's lightweight and it's long sleeved so he should be able to wear it for awhile, even in the "colder" summer months when he doesn't need to wear a jacket out.

I also stopped at Kmart to buy myself a pair of Joe Boxer slippers. I saw they have them for $2.50 on Black Friday and they were having their "pre-Black Friday" sale this weekend with reduced prices and the slippers were advertised as $5.99 so I figured why not - I don't feel like rushing through Kmart on Black Friday and $5.99 for slippers isn't a bad idea, especially when I'll probably need them when we go to the hospital to have Jay. I have a pair of blue fluffy slippers, but they're really worn and nasty looking as I had them back in college, so it's about time for some new ones.

I also bought myself a pair of dual fingerless/mitten gloves and a black knit cap to go with my new jacket. I have a nice pair of leather gloves, but my fingers are a bit swollen right now due to being preggo and I figured these mittens would probably work better this year than trying to stuff my fingers comfortably in the leather gloves. Plus the hat and mittens and were each 40% off  and only a few bucks to begin with so I figured why not.

Clothes and Candles

Yesturday was a bit of a fun day.

I went out shopping with my mom for a bit as I needed to find a coat for winter that I can actually fasten shut as my casual coat and my warmer coat both won't shut over my baby bump. I also needed to find a pair of boots for winter that didn't have much of a heel on them as the only pair I have have a decent sized heel on them and I don't want to risk slipping on ice and falling while pregnant (as I slipped and fell on my butt a few times last year!).

We went to Burlington Coat Factory and found both, plus we got me 2nd pair of maternity jeans in a lighter color since I just have the one pair and my lighter pair of regular jeans are fitting a bit too snug around my hips these days.

I had originally wanted to get a warm, puffy coat but as I tried some on, they didn't look too good on me - they only made me look bigger. As we looked around, I found some that had more of a trench and pea coat style to them and those actually looked pretty nice. We found one that fit pretty well and looked good on me and got it - mom said if I needed more room too we could always just move the buttons on the front over a bit.

Also yesturday, a friend of mine became a PartyLite candle consultant and had her debut. I went and brought my mom and mother-in-law. I haven't bought any PartyLite since the last party she co-hosted with her cousin's wife nearly 2 years ago and I wanted to get some tealights in another scent; my mom hadn't bought PartyLite in years as last time she did she bought enough to last awhile and just now needed to get some more.

Angel Aroma Melts Warmer

I pre-shopped online to get an idea of what they have and picked out a few of the "guest offer" items to get as gifts which hubby approved, so I bought those last night and a pack of tealights to split with them so we got my aunt and mother-in-law's gifts for Christmas done and out of the way. I already know what I'm getting my mom too, just a matter of finding it in town or ordering it on Amazon.com. They had a special going on too where you can get 3 dozen (3 boxes) of tealights for $25 so I picked out 2 more fragrances (I wanted to get at least 1 box so I can put different ones in our kitchen table centerpiece) and then if you spend more than $40 you get an item half off so I got this really neat Angel aroma melt warmer for $12.50 and then a pack of melts to go with it - I figured it'd make a nice piece for Christmas and then after the holidays a nice piece for the bathroom.

They also have this new S-Pod travel fragrance thing that you can buy refills for - they say it's great for the car or a bag - I figured it would be perfect for Jay's diaper bag so I got one of those and a pack of refills (since it doesn't come with any). They say it lasts at least 45 days, but the candle lady said she used one for 8 months before she had to put a refill in.

S-Pod Travel Fragance Sticks - I figured one for Jay's diaper bag would be perfect!

I think I made out pretty well - the only part of our "joint" money I spent was on the 2 gifts, a pack of the tealights to split (since what good is a candle holder if it doesn't come with a candle?), and part of the tax/shipping. The rest of the items and tax/shipping I used my own small stash of money I had been saving (my "allowance" if you will, as it's the percentage of my paychecks I get to keep to myself and spend as I need/want on food, gas for my car and whatever else I want to save for or spend it on).

I'll probably host a party for my friend in the Spring as right now I just can't commit to a date/time for a party like that - we got the car situation which when it's ready we have to figure out a day to go pick it up, if I get hired seasonal somewhere my hours will be on a week-by-week basis, we have our baby classes the next 2 weeks plus another doctor's appointment in just over a week and then I've got appointments every 2 weeks... oh and we're meeting with the bank again this week so *hopefully* that goes well and we'll have to squeeze in house hunting and all that too... and with the holidays coming up, yeah... I just don't want to commit to hosting a party or anything like that right now. My friend mentioned hosting one around the time Jay is born - either before or after - as we could have it at her house and it'd be sort of a gift/gesture from her and I can get some candle freebies. So maybe I'll do that =)

I think burning candles is sort of my way of "nesting" as until the last few months I never really consciously burned candles or worried about having nice fragrances in our home. But lately, I've noticed I'll sit in bed with a book and burn a candle on our nightstand, or I'll light the candles in our kitchen centerpiece while we're eating dinner or I'll light a candle while I'm cleaning or doing the dishes... and I also finally refilled our Airwick Mini that's in the main hallway with a vanilla scent (it helps cover up any smells from the bathroom that might go in the hallway, as well as the litter box that's in the closet near the front door and just makes it smell nice in here when you first walk in).

Interesting coincidences

A few interesting coincidences I've come across lately.

First, while recently cleaning out my side of our walk-in closet, I came across a jewelry box that had a trio of rings in it that my mom bought for me back in like high school. Each ring has a colored stone - a blue zircon which is the birthstone for December, a peridot which is the birthstone for August which is my birthstone... and a purple amethyst which is the birthstone for... February! How funny is that - I have a ring set that includes both my birthstone and Jay's birthstone! Since I found the rings, I've been wearing the peridot and amethyst stone rings together, occasionally pairing them with the blue topaz, although obviously that one isn't significant yet... if only it was opal or rose zircon for October, then I'd have all 3 of our birthstones, as hubby's birthday is in October!

Another interesting coincidence...

The other day I started playing The Sims 3 again, out of boredom, and I honestly haven't played it since last December. Last time I played though, I had made Sim Josh and Sim Rachel to play as myself and hubby in the world of The Sims. I quickly got them on romantic terms and they got married and eventually had a baby... a baby boy! How weird is that? My virtual Sim self predicted we'd be having a boy first, nearly 9 months ago! Could this possibly be life imitating art? I think maybe!

The last coincidence is that I recently learned that hubby's aunt has the same birthday as my deceased grandma - February 23! So I know we're due the 20th, but how weird would it be if Jay is a few days late and is born on the 23rd?? It'd be a bit interesting if our first baby has the same birthday as my grandma who passed on the eve of our wedding!


On a non-coincidence related note, hubby and I were out at the mall the other day, just killing time and walking around (we're literally about 5 minutes down the road from the mall so window shopping and mall walking a great way to kill free time). We stopped in the sports shop just to look and see how much baby football/team related stuff goes for and found some really cute ones, like a onesie that said "I've been a Cowboys fan my whole life!" and "My first Cowboys tee." Can't wait til we're in Dallas and can start buying baby Cowboys gear! hehe

First purchases for Jay

Last weekend hubby and I went and did our baby registries at Target and Walmart since hubby wanted to wait until we knew what we were having before we registered for stuff so that not everything would be gender neutral (although some of the bigger items are, since we plan on having at least one more kid if not 2).

We didn't buy anything yet though, but I did show Grandma (my mom) our registries and she's trying to refrain from going out and purchasing most of it, as she knows other people will need/want to buy us stuff for the shower in January, but she has bought a few things the past few days, including some cute little clothes she got on sale during Bergner's Goodwill Days sale.

Hubby and I stopped out at the mall last night, as he was having one of the guys at their kiosk there do something with his phone. I went to stop in the nearby stores on that end where 2 of my friends were working to say hi but the one was pretty busy at the register so I left after looking around for a few minutes, and the other one, well, I found out I had just missed her and she left right before I got there, so I went back to stand with hubby at the kiosk (they were taking FOREVER it seemed and I was hungry and wanted to go get dinner). Right across from the kiosk is The Children's Place - I remember my aunt going there frequently when my cousin was little, but I myself had never really gone in there, so since I was bored, I told hubby I was going in to look.

OMG, that was a mistake!

I quickly found the baby/infant section of the store and there was soooooo much cute little clothes and all the prices were surprisingly not bad at all! I had to leave within a few minutes or I knew I was going to end up spending money.

I went back out to the kiosk and told hubby about some of the cute stuff I saw and wanted to get, which included this really cute little hoodie for $10.50 and this cute matching grey plush monkey rattle for $5. He knew I wanted to spend money and told me to go ahead and get 2 of the hoodies - 1 in a 3-6 month size and another in a 12 month size - as well as the monkey.

While I went back in to get those, I noticed that some of the little stripped polos I had been eying was on the $5 table in the back (I had seen one on a different table the first time I was in) and decided to see how much it actually was - $5 or the $7.99 sticker price. To my surprise, it rang up at $3.99 so I got that too. I showed hubby, he kinda rolled his eyes at the fact I bought something more than what he he said we could, but I told him it was only $3.99, lol... ah, men - they don't understand our love for shopping sometimes! hehe

Anyway, here's links to the hoodie and polo we got Baby Jay (their site doesn't let me drag and pull the image, boooo). Like I said, the hoodie we got in 2 sizes so he can wear it hopefully this spring and in the cooler beginning of summer (or summer nights) and then a bigger one so he can hopefully still fit in it when fall comes. The polo is actually more of a greenish-blue color than what the picture is showing. We got this one in a 3-6 month so he can wear it this spring or even shortly after he's born with a long sleeved onesie underneath.

Now I couldn't find an image of the plus monkey rattle we got online, but here's a link to a bib that has the same monkey on it. It's not a very big plush, but just the right size for newborn. It's grey, it's cute and soft and when you shake the monkey he rattles - too cute!!

Baby shopping is going to be sooooo much fun!

Walmart has a shelf of Garanamials tees that are on clearance right now for $2 - I'm trying so hard not to give in and buy a few of them, but I don't see that lasting too much longer! lol...

For 4th of July next year (2011) we're probably going out to my inlaw's for the holiday, who live pretty much in the country with a small town. Last time we went, the majority of the day was spent at the main park in town where we ate lunch, walked around and viewed all the local area arts and crafts vendors who had tents and then sat around listening to various local (mostly folk) bands play til it was time to get seated for the fireworks. Since we're mostly outside, I plan on getting Jay a cute little baby cap hat and a little pair of sunglasses and one of those Off Bug Spray clip-ons to attach to the stroller so the bugs will stay away from that radius. I can't wait to go shopping though! Maybe we'll get him one of the Old Navy 4th of July flag shirts, since they always have those for just a few bucks each year!

Some more fun stuff for mommy

Awhile back I saw an ad on Facebook for baby/pregnancy related coupons and discounts so I signed up and from time to time in my email I get some offers for different products through this site I signed up on.

Last week I got an email for a 1 day only sale on nursing covers at a site called Udder Covers (I found the name amusing!) - using the promo code in the email, you could purchase a $32 nursing cover for free - just pay the $9.95 shipping and handling. They also had gift sets on this site for $37 - since the promo code was good for $32 off products on the site you could get the gift set for just $5 plus the $9.95 shipping and handling. In addition to the nursing cover, the gift set also comes with a Milk Bands nursing bracelet that helps you keep track of which side you last nursed on and for how long and at what time, as well as 5 ply 100% cotton breast pads to help you from leaking. Since the set was only $5 more we opted for that and it just arrived today!

I got the black nursing cover, as they had various colors and patterns to choose from:

 

I thought it was a pretty good deal for $14.95 when normally it would have been $46.95! I just looked - good thing I acted when I did too - they're all out of this particular pattern, both separately and in the gift set!

We were also watching something last week that made me think of maybe trying yoga to help with stretching and strengthening a bit. Since I have some Amazon gift cards still in my account I went on there to look and see what they had and came across the Summer Sander's Prenatal Workout DVD. It includes some stretching and simple weight work to help keep your body toned and build up your muscles since you'll be carrying your kiddo around and need that upper body strength. It's got 3 different workouts - 1 for each trimester - and each workout has a "full length" 50 minute version and an "express" shorter version. It had mostly good reviews and seemed to be one of the best pregnancy workout DVDs so I decided to get it.

In the DVD, Summer is 7 months pregnant, so it's nice seeing someone with a baby belly doing the workout with you and being able to watch as she does things so you can do it correctly too. I tried the full length version yesterday since I had time. My arms were a little tired so I wasn't able to the 2nd set of bicep and tricep exercises, but the rest of the DVD wasn't bad - I used 5lb weights instead of a resistance cord and that worked just fine. Also, they have you do floor stuff on an incline of pillows too - I need to get a few more cuz my couch pillows weren't working as well.

I felt really good after the workout though and seemed to have more energy than I seemed to be having lately too. I'd definitely recommend this DVD to anyone that's pregnant and wants to work out properly and safely!

18week exam and we know the gender!

We had our 18week, 1 day appointment this morning and just got back a little bit ago.

I had another cervical ultrasound first before the ultrasound technician pulled out the belly scanner and got a better look at baby that way. The doctor said my cervix length is great - measuring at about 47mm - and he said 30-35 is the average so anything better than that is really good! He said it's safe to say that having had the LEEP done prior, it shouldn't have any affect or give us any problems. I also seemed to put on a good bit of my weight this time around, which the doctor said is normal - when we went in for our first appointment I had gained about 5lbs from where I was pre-pregnancy. The second appointment there wasn't any change - maybe a 1lb at most. This time though, I gained about 9-10lbs, so he said being that I'm about halfway now, the fact that I've gained around 15lbs so far is typical.

The technician also asked us, in the event that baby is cooperating and she could tell what the gender is, if we wanted to know.

We said of course - the suspense has been killing us and while our anatomical survey isn't until next month's appointment (on Oct 18), we were hoping she'd be able to tell us today as we can't stand to have to wait another 4 weeks, lol...

First she got a good profile:

Then she showed us the little arm:

And then we took a peek below...

It's a boy!!

He wasn't shy at all about showing off his package to us! lol...

He was pretty active again today, all moving around. The ultrasound technician clocked the heartbeat at about 170bpm. After we took a look at his package, he decided that was enough for us to see today and decided to roll over and turn his back to us - we got a pretty good view of his spine though! Jaydran's gonna be a little stinker though - the doctor was trying to hear the heartbeat and he wouldn't stay still enough. Our doctor was trying to find him and at first all we could hear was movement! lol... the doctor clocked the heartbeat at about 160bpm but before he could find it he commented that "Well, it's not like he's not alive - we can definitely hear movement, he just doesn't want to stay still for me to catch his heartbeat!"

Hubby's excited - he wanted a boy first because he's always said little girls need big brothers. I would have preferred a girl just so we had 1 and it didn't matter to me what the rest of our kids are, but I'm fine with it, so long as we hopefully have a girl someday =) I'm a little nervous though because I have NO experience with infant boys! My younger sibling is a girl as is my cousin that lives nearby that I helped out with a bit when she was born. All the kids I babysat for, while some were boys, most of them were already potty trained and the only boy that was still in diapers was nearly a toddler so it wasn't like he was pooping his diapers much in the few hours I was watching them.

I should point out - my "mommy instinct" was wrong. I had several dreams the past month where in them baby was a girl. It wasn't until the other night I had a dream where they said we were having twins, but they could only find a set of boy parts, and no girl.

For a boy we're doing a Mario Bros themed nursery - my mom's going to help me make a Mario Bros/Mario Kart mobile and once we move I want to paint the room to look like the first level of the original game, with the blue sky, the reddish brick ground with the boxes and green tubes and the castle... and then put in all different Mario characters like Mario, Luigi, Yoshi, Peach, Toad, Bowser, etc. It'll look awesome if I can do it! Also, out at the new Toys R Us Express shop they put in the mall, we found several different Mario plushies for $5. They were smaller ones and they had Mario, Luigi, Yoshi and one of the yellow turtle bad guys - I'll have to remember to pick those up!

Hubby said we can go on Sunday and put together our baby registry - we're probably going to do Target and Walmart and maybe stop by Babies R Us, although their prices are really high compared to Target and Walmart yet most of the items are the exact same! I'm excited - I love to shop!

Also, we're going to Dallas at the end of October and seeing a Cowboys game since hubby's a huge fan - I found a few baby items online we have to get while we're there! In addition to picking up a mini kids jersey (since they sell em at the Walmart down there like the stores up here have Bears stuff), I saw this really cute set of baby stuff:

 

It's a Cowboys baby bottle with a bib and pacifer for $19.99. Since we don't want to pay shipping we figured we'll probably just pick it up down there.

So much fun! While I can't be super girly with a boy, we at least know he'll enjoy playing video games, watching football with daddy, rocking out to music with mommy, and we can take him to some of the more family friendly super hero movies (like Iron Man 2 and Spiderman).