The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Target: OOP $0, Saved $2.88!

Our Target is a complete mess right now. They are adding produce and moving things all around. This week, I ran in looking for a few things and ended up with a hat and gloves at 70% off and free macaroni and cheese!

Walgreens: OOP $5.45, Saved $4.80

CVS: OOP $2.91, Saved $8.78!

Meijer: OOP $49.83, Saved $52.94!

Weekly Totals: OOP $58.19, Saved $69.40! (54% savings!)

It's been a while since I hit all four of the stores I like to shop at! There weren't too great of deals at Walgreens and CVS. But, we were getting low on Kleenex (Walgreens) and it's always great when you can get milk on sale (CVS). I also had to pick up dog food this week which usually throws my grocery budget over, and it did this week, too. (Too bad she couldn't wait until the nice Iams coupon came out today.)

Nursery Furniture

We are getting things checked off the list here at chez Patterson! Today, we ordered baby boy #2's nursery furniture. This time we bought it from a different store hoping we aren't going to run into the same problems as we did with Drake's furniture. We narrowed the selection down to three brands - Pali, Bonavita, and Baby's Dream - and after looking at all of them, we went with this one by Pali:

We're actually getting it in Mocacchino (another dark wood), but this one shows the dresser, too. We ordered the crib, 5-drawer dresser, nightstand, and conversion kit. In case you are wondering, the reason we are purchasing another full set of furniture is that I really want each child to have their own stuff, and I (seriously) plan for them to take this off to college with them! No, we're not spending a fortune on it, but it has a nice little price tag so I expect it to last.

As for the decor of the room, I'll be deciding on that after we get through Drake's birthday party (gasp!) next weekend.

New Wheels!

We've been talking about getting a new vehicle for a while now. I kept putting it off just because it's a lot of money. I've been driving a Pontiac G6 since the summer of 2008. It's been a great car and worked fine for one kid including times when my little sister was with us. Now that we'll have two carseats and want to take my little sister places, it just won't work so we've been searching. We decided that we wanted an SUV with captain's chairs and a third row but still decent gas mileage. Once we saw some Acadias online, I was sold. We've been checking out dealerships online with them and finally test drove a few last week.

Yesterday, we picked up this beauty!! I think this will be perfect when baby boy #2 arrives in May and for our upcoming vacation to Florida. 

22 weeks!

In case you missed it, we had our ultrasound two weeks ago as well as a gender reveal party to let our friends and family know that we are expecting another baby BOY! Since finding out we're having a boy, I've been doing lots of searching for just the right name, ideas for room decor, and furniture.

As far as names are concerned, we're looking for a 5-letter name that's not super common or super unique. ;-) We have a list going but haven't really talked about it too much.

I'm considering robot decor after one of our friends mentioned it. I found quite a few ideas on Pinterest so we'll see.

We went to a baby store about an hour away after the ultrasound to check out furniture, and I think we have it narrowed down. Now, we just need to make a decision and get it ordered.

I had an OB appointment last week and baby boy's heartbeat was in the 140s. I've been feeling more and more movement - still not consistent, but definitely a lot more which I love! The weight gain at this appointment was quite a bit more than I was hoping for, but I'm giving myself a break since Thanksgiving and Christmas were in there. Either way, it's less than I gained with Drake at this point so that's good.

 

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Walgreens: OOP $0.23, Saved $5.07!
Meijer: OOP $59.74, Saved $65.62!
CVS: OOP $0, Saved $3.20!

Weekly Totals: OOP $59.97, Saved $73.89! (55% savings!)

So, I went a little over budget this week, but I've been under the last few and there were some good deals to be had!

Gender Reveal Party!

Last night, our good friend, Kate hosted a gender reveal party at our house. How much fun to tell all of our friends and family at the same time?! She did an amazing job as usual...particularly on the cake. Isn't is gorgeous? It had a little shimmer to it and was SO pretty. 

 The guests who either thought it was or wanted a girl:

 Those who thought it was or wanted another boy:

 Our family of three (and a half):

 

(Please ignore my cheesy grin. I was trying to get Drake to look at the camera and obviously straining my smile!)

A piece of the cake (again, an awful look on my face!):

Thank you to everyone who came and to all who have contributed name suggestions. We are so blessed to be welcoming another healthy, baby boy into our home in about 4 months!

Now on to the fun stuff - buying nursery furniture, moving rooms around, decorating his room, and getting all of the things a baby needs together. 

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

CVS: OOP $3.91, Saved $40.04!

Target: OOP $1.03, Saved $18.53!

*I was shocked that they still had the tubes of Desitin that ended up with a money maker!

Meijer: OOP $24.39, Saved $17.34!


Weekly Totals: $29.33, Saved $75.91!! (72% savings!)

20 Week Ultrasound

On Wednesday morning, we had our 20-week ultrasound. We got there a little early and were called right back. Baby was completely curled up in a ball, and the tech wasn't sure she would be able to tell the sex. Thankfully, after I emptied my bladder baby moved around. But, he/she was moving so much that the tech just needed the baby to hold still so she could get a look! I haven't had any feeling one way or another, but Jason kept saying it was a girl. (He actually had Drake saying sister when pointing to our 8 week ultrasound picture.)

Baby was measuring 20 weeks 3 days (one day ahead) and weighing in at 12.8 ounces. Everything looked good and the heartbeat was 156.

We had the tech do the same thing that we did for Drake's ultrasound and put the gender in an envelope...then, Jason and I went shopping!

After we were done, we picked up Drake and went to Avanti's for lunch where he opened the outfit.

 

We are having another baby BOY!!

(Our gender reveal party is tonight. I'll post about that tomorrow!)

Children's Discovery Museum

Last week I had an event on campus that brings in over 4,000 high school students and their teachers in addition to a number of workshop leaders and exhibitors. Needless to say, with that many people on campus, I was working some extremely long days. The upside to that is that I took this week off!

This morning, we met our friends at the Children's Discovery Museum. I think we were one of about 5 people in the whole place which was awesome! We were last there about a year ago and what a difference. Drake could do so much more stuff and definitely wasn't ready to leave!

He made pizzas...

 put the yarn balls and fabric pieces into this "wind tube" and watched them fly around...

 "drove" the tractor...

 worked the box office...

and had a screaming fit when it was time to go! :-)

Now that we'll have to pay for him to get in (once his birthday gets here), we might have to really look into their membership.

I think this morning wore him out since he's going past a 2.5 hour nap! Time for this momma to get a few things done around the house.

20 weeks!

Woo hoo!! We're halfway through this pregnancy, and we get to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl this week! I'm still feeling great and sleep is going okay. I am usually up once a night and do flip back and forth between my sides. I'm feeling baby move, but it's still very inconsistent. I had my first true craving...it was about 10:30pm last Friday, and I wanted Papa John's cheese breadsticks with their garlic butter sauce. Since it was so late, I settled for some cheesy texas toast that we had in the house. :-)

Any guesses on the gender??

We're having a reveal party on Saturday night (provided that this little one cooperates), so I will post after that.

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Walgreens: OOP $7.15, Saved $7.42!

CVS: OOP $2.42, Saved $38.57!

Meijer: OOP $44.77, Saved $12.67!

Weekly Totals: OOP $54.34, Saved $58.66!
(52% savings)

The Great Grocery Challenge

 

Target: OOP $5.62, Saved $15.26!

Meijer: OOP $20.52, Saved $24.22!

Weekly Totals: OOP $26.14, Saved $39.48! (61% savings!)