And... it's done.

So I know I said that our car wouldn't done til around the 15th... well hubby got a call today and it's done early!

Sweet, right?

Wrong.

We weren't expecting it to be done until at least Monday, so we're going to have to put the deductible on my lone credit card for now, although hubby said we can pay it back down ASAP since we'll have the money very soon.

Also, they're only extending our rental until 6pm tomorrow (Thursday) and hubby can't get off work which means I have to drive the 4-5hours one way to St. Louis to go drop it off and pick up our car (although my mom or someone is tagging along with so I'm not driving alone and can maybe do some of the driving on the way back). This sucks because Thursdays are the only day I'm working at my main job! Also, we have our 2nd childbirthing class tomorrow night too so I'll have to leave here at the crack of dawn to get down there and back here before 630pm.

Ugh...

While I am a little annoyed that I have yet to hear back from The Children's Place regarding when they want me to start, I guess it is a bit of a blessing as I can just check with my first job and see if I can come in Friday instead of Thursday and then tell The Children's Place I can't start until 430pm Friday. I figure, they said the manager that does the scheduling and all that was out on a mini-vacation until yesterday - I'm guessing (hoping) maybe she was just swamped with a lot to do when she got in and is planning on making the calls today. If I don't hear anything by the end of today I'll definitely call tomorrow and find out what's up.

Now I have a few phone calls to make, watch last night's episode of Glee, get cleaned up and meet hubby at the bank as we have another meeting there later today regarding trying to get pre-approved for a home loan - I really hope it goes well and we have good news this time... this whole thing is getting frustrating and I just want to get pre-approved so we can finally start looking for a house and hopefully get moved in (or at least be in the process of it all) by the time Jay is here.

Random pains and working for the holidays

Just wanted to mention a few things today.

First off, I awoke earlier this morning with the worst lower back pain on my left side EVER!

I've been at the stage where sleeping isn't very comfortable, regardless of which side I sleep on. I usually start on my left side but switch over sometime to the right side and then back again. And yes, I sleep with a body pillow between my legs as well, but I always seem to wake up whatever side is on bottom feeling numbing and hurting and needing to roll over. Honestly, laying on my back seems to be the most comfortable however after our trip to the ER they specifically told me not to lay on my back when sleeping or resting as the weight of my uterus is pushing down on everything else.

Anyways though, like usual, I woke up shortly after hubby left for work to go empty my bladder since I can't make it through the night/morning without having to get up at least once for that and when I got back in bed to sleep a little more... omg the lower left side of my back hurt soooo bad - I almost thought I was going to have to lay in bed all day til hubby got home to rub it, it hurt that bad! Fortunately I laid on my right side and it went away eventually, but ouch!

Also, yesterday I got a call from The Children's Place, saying they'd like to offer me a seasonal position! Yay!

I was half awake when they called in the morning (hubby and I decided to sleep in since he didn't have to go into Verizon until later in the day) so I called them back a few hours later and told them that I was definitely still interested! They said the 3rd manager (who seems to be the one in charge) is out til Tuesday but they would put me on her list of calls to make so that she could figure out what day this week I can come in and start training.

Yay!!

Like my friend that also works retail was saying, there really wasn't much she couldn't do while she was pregnant at work - the only thing I can think that might be a problem is if I need to lift/carry boxes. I can carry/lift some, but not a whole lot. Other than that though, I don't think there's much that should be an issue so I shouldn't have any problems.

I get a 25% employee discount there too, which is also good on sale and clearance items. I could see this being bad, especially since I started eying some cute little long sleeved polos while there the other day! Mom said though that if there's anything I want, to let her know and she'll give me the money for it so I can buy it and use my discount, even though it'll be from "Grandma" hehe... they'll start getting their spring stuff in come mid-December or so too and I'd like to get a cute little suit-type outfit for Jay for Easter, so I'm sure the discount will come in handy for that too!

I am excited though - I've been sitting home bored for far too long and I look forward to having something to do during the days!

25 Weeks!

Today we are officially 25 weeks! That means there's only 15 weeks left until Jay's estimated due date!!

I'm sure with the holiday season getting in full swing soon, these next 2 months are going to fly by - it honestly seems like December goes by way too quickly each year!

That also means that he is now the size of an eggplant - which it makes sense that he's grown more as his kicking/punching has picked up quite a bit the past few days and I've been a bit sore down in my abdomen for a good week or so now! I noticed last night that now when he kicks/punches there's some force behind it as it makes my belly move, lol... Hope he's not claustrophobic, as his "space" is starting to get a bit smaller on him!

I also can't decide who reacts to the vacuum worse - Jay or our 2 year old kitty Tiger! Yesturday I was doing some massive cleaning on the whole apartment and that included vacuuming. Tiger has never liked the vacuum as the noise scares her so she usually runs off somewhere and hides - last night she chose to sit in the bedroom window, with her tail all fluffed out, only when I started vacuuming the bedroom she completely spazzed out, trying to scale the window in a frantic to get away from the vacuum! Also, the ENTIRE time I was vacuuming, Jay was kicking and punching the crap out of me - I take it he could hear the noise and was wondering what in the world it was and was reacting to it! lol... guess in the future when I vacuum when Jay is little, the 2 of them can run off and hide from the vacuum together, lol...

First Childbirthing Class

Thursday night hubby and I attended our first childbirthing class at the hospital.

There's 2 other sets of people in our class - another married couple, expecting twins in December, who looked to be about the same age as hubby and I and then there was a slightly younger looking girl, expecting a boy in January, who was there with her mom.

It was interesting and not quite what I was expecting, based off what you see in movies!

The RN that taught this session went through a Powerpoint with us and gave us a bag of goodies (which I have yet to go through as hubby keeps leaving it in the car) as well as a pretty informative book/guide that the hospital put out. We went over a few relaxation and early-labor breathing exercises. We also saw pictures of the Labor and Delivery ward upstairs, explaining how the whole process goes and she showed us some of the devices and such that they use to monitor stuff such as that funky contraction monitor belt I mentioned they had me wear when we were there last week getting checked out after the accident.

We got done a bit early but I felt it was informative - I learned some stuff I didn't know and WOW! She passed around a palette that had circles that showed the different sizes your cervix gets as it dilated - 10cm (which is when they say you can start pushing baby out) is HUGE! I can't even fathom that stretching out that big! Almost kind of scary (and painful) to think about!

They also made hubby and the other soon-to-be daddy try on the pregnant suit and waddle around it for a minute! Hubby claimed it "wasn't that bad" as he's used to lifting and carrying packages at UPS - whatever, having the extra weight on you is only part of it, try dealing with all the hormones and the soreness, etc on a daily basis! lol...

We have 2 more of these childbirthing classes which are this Thursday and the next so we'll be done by Thanksgiving, and then I have a breastfeeding class I'm taking on Monday the 15th, which is also the same day as our next doctor's appointment. We have a newborn care class we're taking also, but that's not until January.

We're going to try and breastfeed if we can and pump a little bit as well. Looking over the price of formula - it's expensive! So we figure if we can do it, it'll save us a bit in the long run and I'd like to pump some as well as I'm not a fan of breastfeeding in public not to mention it'd be nice for hubby to be able to feed Jay at times and then if he's with grandma well, I can send a bottle or 2 of the pumped stuff when she's babysitting so he doesn't have to go hungry. I'm thinking we'll probably breastfeed til about 6 months or so, as that sounds like a good age to wean them off, especially since they can start eating the baby food by then.

I have nothing against those that choose not to - to be honest, I was originally thinking of just doing formula until I realized how expensive that can be. I was formula fed, as was my sister and my cousin that lives near us and while "they" claim it's better to breastfeed than formula feed, we all turned out pretty fine.

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).

Job Woes

So the other day I got another bit of unfortunate news.

I was just finishing up a project for one of my bosses and she was the last of them to leave for the day, she stopped by and broke the news to me:

The sale we had started last week in Joliet didn't go as well as we had anticipated and it was closing up early - 2 months early - which means that we currently have ZERO no business and no work for me to do there til after the 1st of the year or until we sign some new clients and start some new sales. Because of this, unfortunately, they have to cut my hours/days back (again) and I'm now only working 1 day a week. I could tell my boss felt really bad about it too - she looked like she was struggling not to tear up as she said she understands we're probably saving every bit we can with Jay on the way and the holidays coming up... and she kept saying she hated having to do this too. I totally understand though and while it was a bit of a surprise, I wasn't really *that* shocked as business has been slow for a long time (they cut me back from 4 days a week to 2 about a year and a half ago and things still never really picked up).

I don't think I've really mentioned what I do for work on this blog - I do graphic design work for a furniture sales promotion agency, which means that we try to help furniture stores have successful sales. Say the owner is retiring or the store is closing or having a grand re-opening or liquidation sale - we try to get in touch with them and using the successful sales methods and techniques my bosses have come up with, we bring in our people to run the sale and help the store get the most profit from the sale. I do all the print advertising work for the different stores, such as the ads that run in the newspaper or the mailers and fliers that get sent out in the mail and any other print media that we might use to draw in customers. I also do all the print advertising and promotional materials for the company itself that appear in several different national furniture magazines to try and draw potential clients to come to us, although I also send out a mailing of letters with a flier and our brochure to potential stores that might need our help in which we get their info from a credit agency.

It's not a bad job, but there just hasn't been a lot of work since I started there and like I said, it's never really picked up but instead it seems to be declining.

Hubby took the news how I expected he would - he was a bit upset and frustrated, not me but at the situation, which I get, I just hate seeing him like that.

Financially we'll be okay as hubby works a lot and this isn't as big a paycut as it was the last time I got my hours cut - hubby just likes to have that extra cushion so when things like the car needing repaired and such come up we have that extra money to cover it. Or with the holidays and buying gifts... and the upcoming hospital bills. We can manage, it'll just be a little tight and we'll need to stick closer to our budget. What we REALLY need is for UPS to start promoting people to full-time again, as once hubby gets that, we won't have to worry about things as it's such a huge pay increase from part-time to full-time.

While I doubt any place would want to hire a clearly pregnant lady for long-term (I'm at the point where it's not really possible to hide my bump), the holiday season is just around the corner and I guess there are some places still hiring their seasonal staff.

I went online and searched the listings for Monster.com/HotJobs and Careerbuilder but only found 3 that looked legit. I also went to several store's sites and applied as they had seasonal positions listed. A friend of mine that's worked on and off at The Limited out at the mall suggested I apply there as she said they just started taking apps for seasonal spots and my mom suggested I apply at The Children's Place too so I went out and did that yesturday.

When I turned in the app for The Children's Place they asked if I could come in this morning for a group interview and of course I said yes! (Honestly, I have nothing going on on Saturday's anyway, so this gave me an excuse to get up and do something and go somewhere!)

It seemed to go well - I hate group interviews as the last one I had was just me and 1 other girl and it was all about one-upping the other person to make yourself look better, however this one was alright. There was 5 of us and I got the impression I was one of the older girls in the group. The manager asked us some questions and spent most of the time just go over all the details about the store and company, etc. I spoke up a few times, asking good questions, etc so I think that helped make me stand out a little bit. I didn't have to mention I'm preggo (which legally, I don't have to) but I'm pretty sure the manager could tell - she mentioned they have hired pregnant women in the past with no problems and while they have had to pick up the slack on some, others have turned out to be some of their best workers. They said they won't be able to let us know until probably Wednesday at the earliest as the 3rd manager is gone til Tuesday and they need to go over everything, confer, and decide how many they need to hire.

She said they usually keep their seasonal employees on through the 2nd week of January and then they reevaluate how many they can keep and how many they want to keep on. I'm sure I won't last past that since they'll know I'm pregnant and be having Jay soon, but still, a good 2 months of work to make some extra cash isn't bad! Hopefully it goes well - any little bit will help, even if it is just seasonal!

My only fear is that you get a 25% off employee discount and when the 50% off sale comes around, that means we get it for 75% off... she mentioned some of the employees that are moms tend to spend a good bit of their paycheck there because of the discount, which I fear could be bad for me! As it is, they had us wander around the store a bit while we waited for everyone to get there and I spied some really cute long sleeved polos!

Also, when I got home, I checked my email and there was a request from Macy's for me to go on their site and schedule an interview. I did, but I'm a little skeptical as I applied and group interviewed for them last year and didn't get the job (that was the group interview where it was me and 1 other girl and all she did was 1-up me the whole time). We'll see how that goes though. My friend at The Limited said she works next on Sunday too so she mentioned she'd put in a word for me too.

Hopefully I'll get something, right?

Another new addition to the family!

Yesturday, hubby's 2nd cousin's wife gave birth to a baby girl!

Eliana Joy was born on November 1, 2010 at 2pm weighing 7lbs, 7oz and 19 inches long!

Momma went in to get induced as baby was about a week late, but turns out they didn't need to as the contractions had gotten worse and so they just broke her water - she was only in labor for 5 and a half hours too!

Gotta admit, while I'm NOT hoping for the next few months to fly by (which I know they will due to the holidays - December always seems to fly by!), I am a bit jealous as I can't wait for Jay to be here in the flesh too!

Hopefully Eliana and Jay will get to play together someday!