Sept. 25, 2014

written 9.25.14

Pregnant! It's weird, I'm still in shock, but so grateful and at peace.

It wasn't "supposed" to happen this month. I wanted it to but just didn't think it would due to timing and being a bit off, but it did!

In fact, I thought the chances were so small I indulged in a bit too much wine last Friday (whoops!) and have also been taking Nyquil and all sorts of other medicine for the nasty cold I've had over the last week. Praying my peanut (which is now the size of a poppy seed, by the way) is OK, but I'm not too concerned.

I woke up Tuesday, the day I was supposed to get my period, still feeling horrible and considering going to the doctor that day. But I just felt like maybe I should test. I totally expected a big fat negative like I got last month (when I was testing like crazy due to being five days late) so I was SHOCKED when I saw that faint line. A line is a line, right?

Same thing on Wednesday morning, so I decided to do the digital test today. I knew in my heart but hubby still didn't believe it I knew, so I told him that he could be the one to look at the test.

Pregnant! A June baby. Another smushy little blessing to love and care for.


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Baby R2 details :)

Yay! We are pregnant with Baby No. 2!!! I thought I would do a little background post with a lot of the questions I've gotten. I've actually been doing weekly updates since I found out, which I'll be posting over the next week - I have no idea if anyone cares to read them, but I like to have them for myself.

When did you find out? Sept. 24. I really didn't think I was preggo due to the timing of things and we had both been sick, so after a let down the prior month I wasn't even planning to test. But I was this.close to calling the doctor to get in for my little cocktail of shots to help the allergies subside and figured since there was a teensy tiny chance, I may as well take a test. I was shocked when there was a faint line, and it took 3 tests, over 3 days, for it to sink in.
How did you tell hubby?

I went to Walmart over lunch and bought cinnamon rolls, planning to do the whole "bun in the oven" thing. But then he made me mad so I just let it slip like "I can't believe you are being such an ass to your pregnant wife." Then he was like "huh" and I showed him the test ... he was kinda in disbelief as well until we took the digital test.

  Was it planned?
 Yes. I really wanted our kids to have a 3.5 year age difference and they will be within a couple weeks of that if I make it to my due date!

When did you tell your family and friends?
 We waited until my first u/s (10 weeks, 2 days) and told the grandparents, aunts, uncles and close friends all that weekend. We bought a shirt for Cooper that says "Big Brothers Rock" and had him wear it. My parents just smiled and said "uh oh" ... and we had to kinda explain it to my in-laws. My MIL had just had surgery the previous night. We told our work at 13 weeks and put on FB/IG on Thanksgiving.

 
 What were their reactions?
No one was too surprised as they knew that we wanted another, but they were all shocked we kept it a secret for so long!

 Will you find out the sex?
95% sure we won't. We loved being surprised with Cooper. 
 

 Which sex would you prefer?
 I would really, really love another boy, but my gut feeling is that this one is a girl. While a girl terrifies me, the more I think about it, I really am getting excited about having a little girl, even though I can't tie bows. 

Do you have names picked out?

We have two girl names that we love, and can't really agree on a boy name. The other one we like for C I now hate, so it's a big debate. 

 How are you feeling?
Really, really good. I was nauseous a few weeks and get headaches. Exhaustion has been the worst symptom but it's starting to let up. 

 Due date?
June 2. And likely not a day over.  

Anything else? I'm sure my weekly updates will clear up a lot of questions, too!

 

 

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Campus Book Rentals!

Ask almost anyone, the cost of college textbooks is pretty high.

My work is as a development officer for a community college. Part of my job is to get out and talk to community members about us, and hopefully convince them to support us in one way or another.

We are finishing up the construction of a new building and while donations to offset those expenses are always helpful, scholarships are a huge one too! Most of these people have kids, grandkids, etc. who have been through college and know how bad book bills can be - and let me tell you, some of them are doozies! That's why I'm glad that there are options for students to rent textbooks, especially though websites such as CampusBookRentals.com.

 

I especially like the Rent Back program, http://www.rentback.com/. The Rent Back program is for everyone - if you own textbooks, you can rent them to other students, and typically make at least 2 times the money that you would make selling it back to the College Bookstore at the end of the semester.

 

Some perks are:

-save 40-90% off of bookstore prices

-free shipping both ways

-can highlight in the textbooks

-flexible renting periods

 

The company also makes a donation to Operation Smile for each textbook rented. Operation Smile is an international children's medical charity that performs safe, effective cleft lip and cleft palate surgery, and delivers postoperative and ongoing medical therapies to children in low and middle income countries. More information on this charity can be found HERE. 

 

 If any of you are looking for College textbooks or know someone who is, share the info!

 

 

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And then there were four ...

We had so much to celebrate this year at Thanksgiving.

 

More to come soon!

 

Friday Five

Thank goodness, we are rounding out another week! It's been a hectic one and I'm exhausted.

{1} After a few weekends with no plans we are revving back up into the busy season. One of Cooper's friend's birthday party this weekend, his next, Thanksgiving and then December is here. Before we know it 2015 will be smacking us in the face!

{2} It's freezing freaking cold here. I suppose I should be happy that we don't have snow yet but come on. I need to move somewhere that never gets under 65 degrees. I'll come home for snow at Christmastime. BRRRR!

{3}So far I've only bought like 4 Christmas gifts. Our list is pretty small, thank goodness, but I'm just feeling behind. Darn overachievers in the world (yes, I used to be one of them.)

{4} I can't believe this one wasn't first - I paid off my car this week! SUCH a relief as that will really give us some flexibility in the budget. We only owe on our house and a Menards card (which is free interest anyway) right now and it's a great feeling.

{5} I just hit up Dollar General over lunch because my mom told me of a great sale. I got three bags of candy/fall décor for just over $10. Gotta love a good deal! (Especially since I have treat bags to fill for a certain someone's birthday party next week.

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thankful for it all

The past few years, I've tried to be very cognizant about the blessings in my life and blogged/posted on Facebook daily what I'm thankful for that day. I know that some think it's cheesy/silly/cliché but hey ... isn't it pretty similar to Valentine's Day? Something we should do year-round, but there is that extra day to really count our blessings?

The reason I love it so much is that I find by about day 10 or 12, once I get the family, God, health and obvious things out of the way, it causes me to think. REALLY think about everything. I recall one year being thankful for the dishes because it meant we had food to eat. Those things that we typically take for granted and even see as an annoyance (#firstworldproblems) that are really such blessings in our life.

This year? In an effort not to annoy people and/or put one more thing on my plate, I won't be posting things daily. But I'm going to do my best to really be thankful for it all. The annoying (but adorable!) child. The fact that I have this crazy, busy, overwhelming life.

Because I wouldn't change ANY of it for the world.

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November goals

I feel like I just woke up and it's November. As in less than two months remaining for the year. The month my baby turns THREE (no idea how that happened) and so much more.

This is going to be a hectic month so I'm not making any huge goals but attempting to make the most of the month!

 

{1} Be intentional with all commitments, try not to overbook our schedule.
Every year, I find myself totally stressed around Thanksgiving, so much to the point I'm beginning to hate the holiday. With the holiday and Coop's birthday within a week of each other and hosting Thanksgiving for my in-laws, I let myself get waaaay too stressed. So I'm going to avoid overbooking myself with other commitments, and also try to keep the holiday simple.

{2} Don't go overboard with Coop's birthday party.
At this age, it's all about having a day for him to just be a kid and have fun with his friends. I'm doing what I can to prep beforehand and keep things simple.

{3} Finish a book.
I'm in the middle of reading two books right now and would love to finish one of them.

{4} Put down the phone.
Our WiFi has been down at the house the past few days and once I got past the annoyance, I'm finding it's nice to just take a break from looking at IG, Facebook, etc. So once it's back to working, I'm going to try and be intentional at leaving the phone in our bedroom at least until we put C to bed every night.

{5} Get a start on Christmas shopping.
I'd love to have it done, but that may be a bit much. My list is pretty short as I just do small ornament exchanges with my girlfriends and we only buy for the kids in our family, but I need to make a dent in what needs to be purchased.

{6} Pay off my car.
This will be done on the 10th! Yes, it's supposed to be paid off this month anyhow but this is huge for me - it's the first really big purchase that I'll have paid off --- plus, I did 36 month financing, so it's super exciting to have a vehicle in great shape that's paid off and I have a ton of equity in! Hubby's is paid off as well, so we are planning to update some furniture and really focus on paying down our mortgage!

{7} Maintain a healthy lifestyle.
Since I hit my goal weight I've been slipping up more than I care to admit. I'm actually still holding steady at the same weight, but getting lazy. I'm wanting to commit myself to tracking all food consumed and working out at least three times a week.

I think seven goals is pretty good! I'll check back in next month to see how I did!

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