36 Weeks!

Wow! Approximately 4 weeks left to meet our little guy. We've gotten some things done this week including picking up his dresser and nightstand! I also got curtains, a hamper, lamp and a garbage can for his room. All of the clothes have been washed and put away in his dresser and I've started getting our bag together for the hospital.

I have an appointment tomorrow. I'll be getting the Group B Strep Test done, and I'm curious if she'll check to see if there is anything going on. :-)  The pressure has increased, but I still feel him moving around quite a bit....hoping he is getting into position. Drake came 6 days before his due date so I'm very interested to see when this little one will make his appearance.

You can see my 36 week picture with Drake here. 

Don't forget to put in your guess for this little guy! (link on the right side of the blog)

We still have a few things to do:

• finish packing a bag for the hospital 
• make our list for phone calls at the hospital 
• decide on baby boy's name!

The Great Grocery Challenge

CVS: OOP $.06, Saved $5.98

Love getting ECB's for milk!

Target: OOP $1.45, Saved $3.74

Meijer: OOP $35.80, Saved $50.08

You can see the details of my Meijer trip here.

Kroger: OOP $0, Saved $6.54

Aldi: OOP $5.42

Weekly Totals: OOP $42.73, Saved $66.34 (61% savings!)

I made a couple extra stops this week because I had the FREE Pepsi Next 2-Liter at Kroger and I wanted to pick up some fruit that was on a great deal at Aldi. 

 

Visit mommywantsfreebies.com for more deals!! 

Guess Little Brother's Birth Info!

When we were pregnant with Drake, we did a poll to allow our family and friends to guess his arrival date and info. It was neat to see how close people were to the actual statistics so I thought we would do it again!

There is a link on the right-hand side of the blog for ExpectNet! online baby pool. Click on the link or go here to enter your guess of the baby's arrival date, time, weight, and length!!

In case you are wondering, Drake was born at 1:37pm, 39 weeks 1 day gestation, weighed 7lbs 13oz and was 19.5" long. 

Reminder: Baby boy's due date is May 28th!

Have fun!!

35 Weeks / 35 Days!

35 weeks or 35 days until my due date...how has time gone so quickly. I've had a number of people tell me this week that I am so small for being this far along. In no way have I really tried to do this, but I have been paying closer attention to the scale since the first conversation with the nurse practitioner at my OB's office. I'm right around 31 pounds gained which is pretty good. I'm hoping to stay under 35. Don't worry...I'm still eating - just ask Jason. :-)

I'm still feeling great except for the fact that I have discovered the feeling of heartburn! It took me a while to figure out what it was and it usually only comes on in the morning after breakfast. Still have that checklist of things to do...hopefully the dresser and nightstand will be here this week so I can get clothes washed and put away.

I realized I haven't posted much of the info from Babycenter.com...here's this week's update:

Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

 

The Great Grocery Challenge

Meijer: OOP $40.87, Saved $12.16!

Again, not a good sale week at Meijer, but I had to pick up a couple things for a dessert I found on Pinterest that I was making for our small group on Tuesday night....and I had to get dog food.

I found out about a money maker deal on travel size Pantene at the last minute on Saturday so I had to make a quick run - spent $8.16 and got $20 to use on my next purchase! I'd say and $11.84 money maker was worth the quick trip. :-)

Target: OOP $4.55, Saved $1.65!

I went with high hopes to be pick up the FREE Food Saver and shaving cream and cheap Magnum Bites ice cream, but the shelves were completely bare! Hopefully they will be in stock before my coupons expire. I ended up only getting yogurt for Drake. 

 Dollar General: OOP $2.97, Saved $7.00!

CVS: OOP $1.01, Saved $20.92!

Weekly Totals: OOP $49.40, Saved $41.73! (46% savings!)

Don't forget to check out Mommy Wants Freebies for deals and giveaways! The Brain Challenging Books Giveaway Ends TODAY!

Gamma Phi Circus!

My tumbling coach from when I was a kid told us about her experience of being in the circus while in college. Now, I know what you are thinking...like...the circus? with animals?

No, this is a collegiate circus which is more gymnastics based. There are actually two in the country - one at Florida State University and one at Illinois State University.

Once I decided to finish my degree at ISU, I knew I would look into the Gamma Phi Circus as a way to be involved and meet new people....and I did!This is where I met one of my best friends from college. The funny thing about it is that we only lived about 40 minutes away from each other from birth until then.

Anyway, that friend, along with her son, and our other college roommate and her daughter came to town, and we all went to the Gamma Phi Circus show today.

 (Hudson-4, Drake-2, Addison-3)

If you're ever in the area in April, consider seeing the show!

34 Weeks!

Woo hoo!! Only about 6 weeks left until we get to meet our new little guy! Things are going well. I really feel pretty good except for the random sharp pains in my pelvis. I'm hoping that just means that baby is making his way into position (considering Drake was SO high even throughout my labor). My next appointment is tomorrow.

Jason picked up the crib and got it set up on Friday, and the rest of the furniture should be here this week. Hopefully I'll be posting more about his room soon.

There is still so much to do:

• pack my bag for the hospital
• pack baby's bag for the hospital
• wash baby's clothes and get them put away
• make our list for phone calls at the hospital
• talk to our friends and sitter about caring for Drake if we need to go to the hospital when he's not already at the sitter
• purchase curtains, a lamp, a hamper, and garbage can for baby's room
• decide on baby boy's name!

The Great Grocery Challenge

Meijer: OOP $19.01, Saved $28.88!

I didn't see many deals at Meijer this week, and we didn't need much so a lot of this will be going to our church food pantry.

Target: OOP $8.29, Saved $5.54!

Walgreens: OOP $3.55, Saved $2.55!

CVS: OOP $.64, Saved $5.00!

Weekly Totals: OOP $31.49, Saved $41.97! (57% Savings!)

Don't forget to check out Mommy Wants Freebies for deals and giveaways! There are three giveaways going on right now:

Char Crust Seasoning - Ends TODAY!!!

HankPlayer T-Shirts - Ends 4/17

Brain Challenging Books - Ends 4/22

Drake's New Bed: Transition #2!

Drake has done SO well in his toddler bed since we made the transition in February. He hasn't fallen out of the bed, and he's only gotten out without us coming in to tell him it was okay twice. Each time he had been awake for a while and was coming to the door when we went in. Since Jason was picking up the crib yesterday, we decided it was time to buy the full-size bed and transition him into it.

I cannot believe my baby is sleeping in a FULL-SIZE bed!

It's much higher off the ground than both Jason and I thought it would be, but he has done great. 

And...for a sneak peak into baby brother's room: 

 

 I'm hoping to have an update on baby #2's room next weekend. :-)

Wordless Wednesday: Mowing

The Great Grocery Challenge

Meijer: OOP $27.57, Saved $49.52!

CVS: OOP $3.22, Saved $26.40!

Target: OOP $1.54, Saved $4.88!

*Plus, I was really excited to find chlorinating tabs for the pool on clearance for 50% off! Chemicals really add up over the summer so any discount on them is awesome.

Walgreens: OOP $1.88, Saved $3.63!

Sam's Club: OOP $25.96
We were out of garbage bags and I recently discovered that Sam's Club has the best price - $9.98 for 150 which equals out to 6 cents each! I also picked up some pistachios for the hubs. :-)

Weekly Totals: OOP $60.17, Saved $84.43! (58% savings)

Don't forget to check out Mommy Wants Freebies for deals and giveaways! There are three giveaways going on right now:

Char Crust Seasoning - Ends 4/15

HankPlayer T-Shirts - Ends 4/17

Brain Challenging Books - Ends 4/22

Easter Saturday, Part Two

I didn't plan on dying eggs with Drake this year, but then I found a die kit that I must have bought on clearance last year. So, I quickly boiled some eggs before we left to meet my family yesterday. When we got home, we started our "project". I kept it simple by just using two colors partially because I only had enough vinegar to create two colors but also because I knew that would be much easier. In addition to dying some of the eggs, Drake put stickers on some eggs and even colored with markers on others. It was the perfect way to keep him busy while the eggs were soaking in the dye.

 

 

Easter Saturday

Drake had an off night sleeping last night...not sure what was going on, but he woke up at midnight and again at 4am before waking up for good shortly after 7am. This hasn't happened in a while and maybe he's just preparing me for getting up at those hours again with Baby P #2, but I hope he doesn't do it again tonight. :-)

Thankfully, we had lots of fun planned for today! We left after breakfast to meet up with my mom and dad and sister and her family for a picnic lunch at a park. Earlier in the week, there was some concern about rain and the temperature, but it turned out to be the perfect day! The sun was shining the whole time we were there and it was in the lower 60s.

We played with balls...

 Blew bubbles...

 Played on the slide...

 Went swinging...

 And, flew a kite!

 Grandma & Grandpa Williams with two of their grandsons - Reid & Drake.

Part 2 coming soon...

Drake's New Present!

I wanted to get Drake a balance bike for his birthday this year (yes...that was 2 months ago!), and we finally made the purchase. If you're not sure what a balance bike is you can check it out here. There are a ton of companies that make them, but we have friends with a Boot Scoot and a Strider. I went back and forth on which one to buy and ultimately decided on the Boot Scoot.

I ordered it on Sunday and it was on our doorstep yesterday! Jason put it together, and we gave it to Drake tonight. 

He was a little excited, don't you think? :-)

The only thing I was concerned about was that the website said kids need a 14 inch inseam to be able to ride. Poor Drake has short legs just like his momma, but I was really hoping he would be able to reach.

Unfortunately...he couldn't. The seat is down as far as it goes and he can't reach even on his tip toes with shoes on. Poor kiddo!

But, that didn't stop him from riding on it or walking with it. Jason helped him for a while. Then, we decided to take off the seat and see if he could reach even if he couldn't sit down on the seat. It worked great. He thinks it's awesome and it allows him to work on steering it around the house.

Happy Birthday, Drake!!

(And, thanks to Swagbucks and Mommy Wants Freebies, the bike was basically FREE!)

32 weeks!

The past two weeks have gone by SO quickly...probably because we were on vacation for a majority of that time. I survived two 14+ hour car rides and chasing down a toddler on the beach so I guess we're doing pretty well. I haven't been very good at tracking the movements since we were gone, but I've felt him quite a bit so I'm not concerned. We'll get back on track this week. :-)

We thought this little guy's furniture would be here by the time we got back from vacation (or before), but we are still waiting. I called on Friday and was told that it got held up in customs. Does this sound familiar? It was one of the "excuses" we heard when we were waiting on Drake's furniture, too. She said it should be here in a week and a half so I'm holding them to it. At that point, we'll be almost 34 weeks along and that is cutting it a little close in my opinion.