Bargain Shopping

Coupons are a bit of a pain, but I think it's worth the effort most of the time. I spent my lunch break today at Harris Teeter grabbing all the good Triple-Coupon deals I could. I'm not nearly as strategic as some coupon-ers I know, but I have learned that the best deals are usually gone by 5:00 the first day the sale starts. So I sped over there at lunchtime and managed to find the shelves still (fairly) well-stocked.

I spent $13.80, saving $36.18 with my 20 coupon limit for the day! Not too shabby. A few of my good deals were:

Nestle Chocolate Chips: $ .54
Kotex: FREE
3 Spaghetti Sauces: $1.10 each
All Small & Mighty: $2.64
French's Yellow Mustard: FREE
French's Spicy Mustard: FREE
McCormick Spices: $ .74
Viva Paper Towel Roll: $ .04
Duke's Mayonnaise: $ .09
French Fried Onions: $ .24
Eggo Waffles $ .54
4 Knorr Pasta Sides: $ .28 each
2 Lipton Hollandaise Mix: $ .59 each
2 Lipton Onion Soup Mix Boxes: $ .67 each
2 McCormick Grill Mates Seasoning Packs: FREE
Breakstone Sour Cream: $ .34

So that should totally make up for the fact that I also bought some new summer maternity clothes on OldNavy.com today. Besides... I got 20% off my whole order, free shipping AND I had a $10 off reward coupon that expires tomorrow. :) And how could I resist this cute little hat for BabyW:

2 Years...and 2 days

With all of the other family celebrations on Sunday, it didn't even hit us that it also marked 2 days since we had gotten engaged! Mike flew here from Michigan to surprise me on April 26th, 2007... and now, 2 years later, we're only 11 weeks away from welcoming our baby boy to the world! It's been a wonderful 2 years and I'm excited about all the years still yet to come.

I am blessed to have a husband like Mike. When I called him Saturday morning from my Women's Retreat and heard that he was holding my cousin's little boy, walking our dog and garage-sale shopping with my dad... I was reminded just how lucky I am to have married a man who not only loves me, but fits in so well with my family. Not many men would spend their one free day with their in-laws! It definitely made me smile.

So here's a shot of us the night we got engaged! I love you baby and I'm so glad you asked!

Good times with the Girls

I had the opportunity to go to my church's Ladies' Retreat this weekend and it was great! These are a few of us "young wives" that have gotten to be good friends. It's been such a blessing to connect with not only women who are at a similar place in life to me, but also those who are a few or several steps ahead. There were 44 of us who headed out to Eastover Retreat Center for the night. We are really fortunate to have a very open and genuine group of women who all love the Lord and love & serve one another well. For the retreat, we studied Proverbs 3, and were challenged on having a "well-kept heart." I know that I learned a lot and will be processing it all for quite a while! I'm still tired from a busy weekend, but it was really refreshing!

Well that's pretty.

What do you get when you cross a 7-months pregnant woman with 90 degree weather and a super-busy weekend? CANKLES!!! (you know, when your ankles are so fat that it looks like your feet are just connected directly to your calves)

So this is what being in my 3rd trimester during the summer will feel like... oh boy! When I saw Justine on Saturday afternoon, she just burst out laughing and pointing at my newly swollen ankles. I hadn't even noticed yet, but sure enough... they're fat as can be! Gotta love the honesty of sisters! I'm just hoping the SPRING weather will return and give me some relief! But I guess I should just expect everything to get huge from this point on...

One more for the Girls!

Another baby is here and the girls' team has increased by one! Dana (Stephens) Wakefield & her husband Dylan welcomed their little girl, Lenox Elizabeth, into the world yesterday afternoon at 8 lbs. 8 oz! Congratulations!!

Will we ever meet again?

My old friend, sleep, seems to have disappeared... and I have a feeling it will be a long time before we meet again. My first trimester seems so long ago when all it seemed I could do was sleep. I'd go home everyday and take a nap at lunchtime. Then, when I got off work, I'd catch another nap before dinner and would usually call it a night by 9:30-10:00.

But now... now I guess the "nesting" stage has set in and I'm constantly thinking of things I need to do. Lunchtime naps are a thing of the past... and getting to bed by midnight is quite an accomplishment. Not like it matters anyway... because once I'm in bed, the real battle begins. Flipping from one side to the other, wrestling with the pillows that are supposed to support my back & belly, but become quite a nuisance when I try to switch sides, and waking up every hour because my hips, back, arms, belly...everything aches. Every once in a while I find myself on my back, which is still comfortable, but the peace doesn't last long because I quickly remember that while I may be comfortable, I'm likely decreasing circulation for both me and baby and making myself prone to end up with worse back pain & fun things like hemorrhoids. So it's back to my side. And just as I drift off to sleep... I realize I need to pee. Up again.

I guess they say it's preparing me for the sleepless nights with a newborn... but really, won't they come soon enough? Can't I just enjoy these last couple of months? Guess not. So if you see me, please forgive the bags under my eyes and my seemingly lack of concentration or enthusiasm. I'm feeling fine... just missing my old friend.

Even better...

A girl's allowed to change her mind, right? Especially a pregnant one... :)

Last weekend we swapped out our two extra bedrooms. The downstairs guest room is now also doubling as an office, and upstairs is officially the nursery. That's not what I changed my mind about though... I changed my mind about painting! What I was surprised to find was that I actually kind of like the color that is already on the nursery walls! It may not be what I would pick if I was starting from scratch... but I really like the addition of teal to the brown, blue & white color scheme I had already started. It's really soothing... reminds me of the Caribbean! I think with some flowing white curtains it will be perfect! & so Mike is spared a weekend of painting! Yay!