Monday, December 13, 2010

Happy Birthday to Wells!

Wells decided to make her appearance this morning at 6:27 am! After having contractions since Friday they finally got consistent last night and by the time I got to the hospital I was already dilated to a 9!!!!! Yes that's right 9 cm!! I couldn't believe it along with everyone else. The Dr said she couldn't believe I was just walking into the hospital like nothing was going on! I'm so glad I finally decided to come in! I sat there for about 3 hrs with contractions about 5 minutes apart and once they got to about 3 minutes I decided to come on in!



We got here about 4:30 and I had no time for any pain medicine! I was pretty scared but I did it and I feel like super Mom!! Ha! She is doing great, nursing has gone great, and everything else is perfect! I have been having to wake her up to eat! We all got a nap in this evening so we are going to continue to get some rest because once we get home with Mr. Finn there will be none of that!



My Mom brought Finn over once we got settled in and he was alittle bit jealous I think. He cried when he had to leave which makes it really hard for us. I miss him so much already. I know he is having a blast with his Mimi and he probably already forgot about us! I can't wait to be home with him and Wells.



Wells weighed 7 lbs and 9 1.5 ozs and was 19 inches long!






Monday, December 6, 2010

Catching up!

Sorry I have been MIA! I have had so much going on it has been so hard to sit down and blog. Getting ready for the baby, getting ready for Christmas, trying to keep everything clean just to be ready, and the list goes on. I don't sleep at night so when Finn naps I try to nap to! I am now 37 WEEKS!! I made it to full term so I am very happy about that, and she is welcome to come on out anytime! I am getting so nervous with Christmas coming up. My Dr  said she would induce me before Christmas so I can be sure to be home with Finn, but it still worries me. I don't know how to plan for Christmas because I just don't know what's going to be happening. I need to just stop worrying and enjoy this special time.



We attempted to go see Santa but Finn doesn't like Santa at ALL! He cried when we got close to him so we will not have a picture with Santa this year!



My sweet Finn and Harper! It's so fun to watch them play together. They love each other so much. Except for when they are fighting over toys!! Ha!

We already had our Christmas party with my Dad's side of the family. Finn had a blast running around playing with all the kids! Then it started snowing when we were leaving. It was beautiful but it didn't last very long. Finn loved the snow and pitched a total fit when we made him come in to take a nap! I hope we get alot of snow this year for the kids to play in.








It's so hard to get good pictures of Finn these days. He won't sit still long enough to take pictures! I can't believe he is almost 2!!! Along with having a baby and Christmas, I still have to plan a Birthday party for January.

I don't know if I will be back on before Wells is here but I will update when she arrives! Please say a prayer for us as we welcome a new baby in our family! We are so nervous and excited all at once! I know it's going to be a big adjustment for our family and for Finn!

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!!



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Christmas time is near!

I am getting so excited about Christmas coming up! I am ready to get my decorations out, play Christmas music, and put my Christmas scents in my Scentsy warmers(I just got new ones today)!! I already have most of my shopping done because I wanted to get a head start with Wells coming soon. I have been looking on Shutterfly today trying to pick out my card for this year. I saw that bloggers can get 50 free cards and I was SO excited!! Here is the link for you bloggers! Now if I could just get Finn feeling better to get a good picture we would be good to go!


I also will be making my birth announcement on there as well. Check this one out with an owl on it!! It's so cute!



 Here are 3 cards that I really like. I will be using a picture of Finn so I don't want a anything to girly. I like the ones with just one picture.




                  



They have a bunch of special offers going on now so check that out! You can get 20% off cards and free shipping! Last year I made calendars (20% off) for the grandparents for Christmas on Shutterfly. I really like there photo books to and they are up to 30% off now! Those would make good gifts to!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

31 weeks and Shower pictures!

Today I am 31 weeks! I am exhausted but other than that I feel great! My sister had me a little shower on Sunday and I wanted to post some pics from the shower! Everything was so cute! She went with an owl theme (because you know I love owls!!), and all the food was so good!!



Me and Mindi


Me, Mindi, and Mom.


All of the good food!






I wanted to post more pictures but my picture uploader is still not working right. It's driving me crazy!


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

30 weeks!!

Today I am 30 weeks!! I can't believe I only have 10 weeks left (or maybe less)! I was thinking yesterday about how my life is about to change. I am excited and scared all at the same time! I really just can't wait to meet her! I went to my 30 week checkup yesterday and everything was great. She told me I was the best patient and showed me my chart and for every appointment it said no complaint! Ha! This has been a pretty good pregnancy except for the cyst. I do have a few complaints just between me and you!

1. I can't wait to be able to bend over and pick something up with out dreading it before I do it!
2. I can't wait to be able to reach my feet to paint my toe nails, etc..
3. To be able to sleep good. On my stomach or any way I want. Also to be able to roll over at ease!
4. I can't wait to RUN after I have her. I know I could now but I would be scared because I haven't in so long. I don't want to over do it!
5. To be able to wear shirts that completely cover my stomach!
6. To be able to sit for a while and my legs/butt/feet not go numb!

I could go on but I will give you a break!! I am not even going to tell you guys how much I have gained! She said I was already at the max she likes her patients to gain! Ha! It looks like I will be going over that! I don't feel like I have gained that much but I guess so! Maybe my shoes were really heavy!

Finn has been sick for 2 weeks straight and it's driving me crazy! We had to take him back to the Dr Sunday morning and he had another virus. That is 2 viruses in the past 2 weeks. I told the Dr I feel like I can't take him anywhere with out him getting sick. It is so annoying. I don't want to keep him home all the time but I hate when he is sick! He gets high fevers and it scares me half to death! He said some kids just have a bad immune system and told me about some herbal immunity booster drops that I started yesterday. I will try anything at this point. I am going to be so paranoid when Wells gets here about him getting sick. He also said to feed him lots of fruits/veggies. I have been trying for the past few days and he is just not eating good. I am running out of things to fix. He likes fruit and green beans! Other then that he really won't eat veggies. I fixed corn, glazed carrots, and sweet potatoes. He wouldn't eat any of it. Any suggestions you have to help kids eat veggies would be great! I am running out of ideas! He used to be the best eater and now he has turned in to this picky little eater.

Here are a few pics from us carving our pumpkins! My picture uploader is not working right. Is anyone else having this problem?



Friday, October 15, 2010

10 Dumbest Money Moves!!

You know how some things happen for a reason and are meant exactly for you. Well, as soon as I finished my last post I went to yahoo and this link came up! It is talking about the 10 Dumbest Money Moves and How to avoid them! I thought it was interesting so I thought I would share!

1. Not having a goal.

You should decide exactly what it is you would like to accomplish, then remind yourself of that goal often. Trying to buy a house? Trying to be a stay at home Mom? Saving for your kids education? Retire in your 50's? Whatever it is, write it down, and share it with whoever you are trying to accomplish it with!

2. Not having a spending plan.

Track and categorize your expenses with a budget or spending plan! A plan that includes what you can spend on things like entertainment, food, bills/housing, etc..This will help fine-tune your finances and find places to save!!

3. Attempting to derive self-esteem from possessions.

Money DOES NOT buy happiness!!! Driving the best car, wearing the nicest clothes, going out of your way to appear successful doesn't help you in the long run!! Nothing wrong with nice things if you can afford them!!
Attempting to derive self-esteem from possessions is not smart on 2 accounts. It's expensive and it doesn't work!!

4. Doing what everyone else is doing.

This was talking about stocks and real estate. Something I'm just not interested in right now(or understand)! Basically it was talking about don't listen to the "experts" on TV about the right time to buy stocks and etc..

5. Starting to save large and late rather then small and soon.

If your 25 and you save 5 bucks every day...150 a month...and earn 10%..by the time your 55 you will have $340,000. If you wait until your 45 you will have to save 1700 a month for 10 yrs to reach $340,000.
Today you really can't earn 10% without taking a risk but you get the point!

6. Paying interest to buy things that drop in value.

There are only 2 situations that paying interest makes sense, at least mathematically. The first is when a purchase goes up in value at a rate greater than the rate of interest your paying to fiance it. For example a business loan or student loan. Something that's going to return more then it cost in interest payments. The other situation is when you can earn more on your cash then your paying in interest. Obviously there are times when we have no choice but to borrow. The point being the less you borrow, the better.

7. Turning down free money.

If your company is offering to match money for your 401k or other retirement plan, if your not participating in this then you are turning down free money. Not to mention ignoring an opportunity to get a tax deduction and grow your retirement savings tax-deterred.

8. Buying a new car.

The value of a new car drops 15-25 percent as soon as you drive it off the lot. Buy a used one with low mileage for thousands less!

9. Buying more house then you need or can afford.

Spend 25% of your gross income on a mortgage, regardless of what size house you think you need. When you buy more square feet then your actually going to live in, you're required to insure them, furnish them, clean them, heat them and cool them! All that cost more money, time, and stress! Buying a big house makes sense if your trying to make a leveraged bet on the future of housing prices, OR if your trying to impress your friends!! If your not doing either, buy what you need and save towards more productive things!

10. Not protecting your good credit.

Credit is easy to screw up and hard to fix. Even though you think it doesn't matter, some day it might. If you have already messed up your credit, fix it and keep it in good shape!

Jared had made me a budget a while back and I never used it. (Don't tell him that!!) I will have to get him to make me another one! I have been doing so good this week with my spending and I have been trying to cook alot!! I looked online and made my grocery list by what was on sale, for the most part. We only ate out a few times, which is good for us. I sat down and figured out a good system to pay our bills. It feels good to be organized and save money!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Changes and 29 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights!
How far along: I am 29 weeks!!
Size of baby: Butternut squash around 2 1/2 lbs
Total weight gain: 18lbs
Maternity clothes: Mostly. I have some maternity skinny jeans from Old Navy that I am in love with!
Gender: Girl (Wells)
Movement: All day long
Sleep: What is sleep??
What I miss most: SLEEP and being able to wear cute clothes!
Symptoms: I am actually feeling the best I have all pregnancy.



This weekend I have decided to do some major changing. I am going to share this with you because the problem is now fixed and it will NEVER happen again. I haven't balanced my checkbook in over a year!(yes I know!!) I let my statements stack up and stack up and I got so behind I didn't even know where to begin. I had to get backup to help get out of this situation, that would be my Mom. She went back and tried to balance it as close as she could and now I have this huge weight lifted off of me because I know this is done! Now, every time I get a statement I will balance it myself as soon as it comes!  Jared and I share an account that we use everyday for everything. He forgets to tell me when he uses our debit card and doesn't always bring me receipts. ( I can't blame it all on him!) I was being so careless and not recording stuff (major stuff!!). It was a HUGE mess!! I was off from my balance a huge amount!! I will never let this happen again and I am changing my ways of being so careless with money.

As we were going over all this I couldn't believe the amounts of careless spending going on around here. It was making me sick on my stomach just to see the huge amounts of money that we pretty much just threw out the window. I told Jared we spend money like it grows on trees! I will admit I am alot worse than Jared, but we both have to do some changing with our spending habits. I am the worlds worst at buying whatever I want, when I want it. I don't think things through when I am shopping. I see things and just buy on impulse. I want to SAVE money not spend it on things we really don't need! I was thinking about our power bill. I leave lights on all day long. Lamps (I have alot of lamps), TVs, radio, anything and everything in this house that could be left on we leave it on! It's just careless things that could be stopped! Eating out is a MAJOR thing for us. We eat out alot and we don't try to eat cheap either. I found 2 $60 receipts from us eating out(in the last month). I mean seriously!! Why would we spend that much money eating out for no reason! That just makes me sick!



I know this is going to be hard for me because I am so set in my ways. I can admit I have a spending problem! If there is such a thing! Ha! I have been praying for God to give me the strength to change this. Please say a prayer for me and my family. If you have any good tips on saving money please share!! I do use coupons (when I remember!!). I need a good system and some way to get organzied with coupons and shopping!


Also, don't forget to check out the new Thirty-One fall goodies! Go to my website and view the catalog!

Here are some pictures of some new things I got!



DON'T FORGET this month when you spend $31 you can get the Organizing Utility Tote (pic below) for only $5!!!



You can order through my website as well!





Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Hello Third Trimester!!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How far along: I am 28 weeks today and now in my third trimester! Wahoo!
Size of baby: Chinese cabbage per baby center
Total weight gain: I had gained 18 lbs the last time I was at the doctor. I know you gain the most in the last trimester so I am a little scared!
Maternity clothes: Mostly. I can still wear some dresses that are not maternity. I think I am carrying her lower then I did with Finn because even maternity shirts will not cover me good.
Gender: Girl!!
Movement: All the time. She is a wild woman!
Sleep: Not so much! I have to use the bathroom about 10 times a night. Between that and turning from side to side I don't get very much sleep.
What I miss most: SLEEP and diet drinks.
Cravings: Everything.  Mainly sweets and lemonade!
Symptoms: My feet and back are killing me. Other than that I feel pretty good.




It is finally feeling like fall around here and I am loving it! Yesterday I took Finn to the park for him to play alittle bit.



He LOVES being outside so much. He is obsessed with a few things. Being outside, pens/pencils, and keys. I probably hear "pen pen", "key key", about 100 times a day!! He is starting to say more things so I am happy about that. I was starting to wonder if that boy was ever going to talk! He is a man of few words but he sure is sweet!


Thursday, September 30, 2010

So relieved!



This week I am 27 weeks! I had to go in this week for a ultrasound because Wells had a cyst in her brain, which is gone now!! It is called a Choroid Plexus Cyst. We found out she had it during our first ultrasound at 19 weeks. I have been stressed, to say the least, for 8 weeks!! The ultrasound tech said not to worry that 1 out of 3 babies have them and they usually go away on there on. We'll of course I could not stop worrying about it! I started looking/researching online and found what it could be if it didn't go away and so on. I know that is the worst thing to do but I couldn't help myself. I have been in a major funk and just so down and out. We didn't really talk about it alot because we wanted to wait and see what happened when we went back. We are so blessed that it is gone and she is perfectly healthy!! She weighs 2 lbs and 5 ozs!  I feel like a different person and I just pray that everything goes good and we have a normal delivery. I am such a worry wort and will be worrying until she gets here. I am almost in my third trimester and I can't believe how fast is has gone by. The last 8 weeks went by really slow but I know its going to fly by now! I am now worried about going on Christmas because I want to be home with Finn! I don't want to miss this Christmas because he is going to be so excited about his presents and Santa. It's so funny because I worry about everything and Jared worries about nothing! It's just not fair.

Yesterday our friends Holli and Chad had there twin girls. Ella and Kate. Mindi and I went to see them and they are just adorable!  They are 2 little blessings and I am so happy for them! They are 2 of the sweetest people and they deserve these 2 little miracles! Say a little pray for Holli that she make a quick recovery!!  Holli gave Wells her first Lilly dress and it is soo cute. I can't wait for her to wear it!!



I wanted to tell you guys that the Thirty-One special for October is really good! If you all need some Christmas presents it would be good to stock up. For every $31 you spend you can get the Organizing Utility tote for only 5 bucks!! It is an awesome bag and I use it for everything! We also have a new Holiday catalog that starts October 1st! You can go on my website to check all this out.


Here is the link for the special!

If you want to order just go to my website and you can click on "place an order" at the top and I will have open parties all month!



Sunday, September 19, 2010

One last beach trip!

Mom and I decided to go on a little beach trip while Jared was out of town with work! It was to hot for this big pregnant girl! Ha! I feel so bad for Mom because she won't let me do anything, because of being pregnant, so she worked her butt off. We took a new table down and Mom moved furniture the whole time we were there. We did get a few good laughs out of the situation but I'm surprised Mom can even move!!  I don't know why we decided to take new furniture when it was just Mom and I, and I can't move anything!! We would go out on the beach in the morning and she carried everything out there, played with Finn, then carried everything back. We came back a day early because I didn't want her to have to do all that again just for 2 hours of playing! Of course, the bathing suit I took didn't cover my big belly, so I had to wear a tank top and it was just to hot for me! Finn had a really good time and was an angel the whole trip! This morning he was calling "Mimi" so I guess he misses her already!




We went to eat at Dockside in Callabash one night. We love going there and getting shrimp! They have the best fried shrimp!! We walked out where the boats are and Finn wanted to jump off the pier! He has no fear. Mom was holding on to him for dear life. This picture is so funny because she was like I will break his arm off before I let him go! He is pushing her away like please just let me go!!







We tried to take his picture on this big tree, but he will not sit still long enough for you to take his picture!

Of course we had to have our ice cream every night!




Jared is due home anytime and I am SOOO ready to see him! He went to Denver on a little business trip, and I think this is the longest we have been apart in a LONG time. We have missed him!!

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

25 weeks!

I am 25 weeks not 24!! I think I have lost my mind!

Fall decoration's and 24 weeks!

Today I am 24 weeks!! 



(FYI: I look horrible in this picture!)

 It seems like it is going by so slow this time, but I only have 16 weeks left (if I make it to 40 weeks). That's not that far away! Yikes! I just pray that I can be with Finn on Christmas. If she wants to come like a week early that would be great!! I go back for an ultrasound on the 27th so please just keep us in your prayers that everything is ok!

I now have all my fall things out now and I am luvin' it!  I get tired of looking at the same thing everyday, so a change in scenery is always nice!

I have been on this being crafty kick here lately so I made this rope garland for my mantle I wanted to show. I saw it in a Lowe's creative ideas book around a door and I thought it would be perfect on my mantle.


You just take a rope (from Lowe's) and get the length you need. Then you cute 1-2 ft pieces and tie on the rope and fray the ends. It turned out so cute! I wanted something rustic looking.

Here are a few other pics of my favorite fall decorations!






    I love these pumpkins on my front steps!



Here is a chalk board plate I made for the kitchen, and my cute little owl salt and pepper shakers!! This is a easy and cheap decorating idea. Just paint any plate you like and there you go!




Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Computer back and running!!

I have my computer back and now I can put pictures on here! Yay!!

Here are a few pics from the past few weeks!

This is what happens when Mommy takes a nap. We destroy the room!


Then we stand back and look at the damage!!


Here is another day of "Dennis" getting in trouble! Ha! He pulled this bag of chips off the counter, took them in my bedroom, and went to town!










But who could get mad at this sweet little guy!



More pictures to come!!