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Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Week 25-A Rutabaga

25 Weeks
Head to heels, your baby now measures about 13 1/2 inches. Her weight — a pound and a half — isn't much more than an average rutabaga, but she's beginning to exchange her long, lean look for some baby fat. As she does, her wrinkled skin will begin to smooth out and she'll start to look more and more like a newborn. She's also growing more hair — and if you could see it, you'd now be able to discern its color and texture.


My Week
-Was pretty uneventful but that is fine...no news is sometimes good news!
-Baby girl kicks constantly and regularly...loves to keep me up at night!
-I sleep in about 2 hour increments between back & hip pain, bathroom breaks, and my hands going numb.
-I finally started "showing" this week in something besides my ultra prego wear shirts. lol  Not like a normal women of course but definitely different for my belly.
-Some of my extended family came into town from Katy, TX last week.  We had a little get together at my mom's house and it was quite fun.
-I have finally picked a paint color for Karleigh's room.  My in laws are coming in this weekend to help us paint and set up her furniture!  Slowly but surely my house is getting put back together!
-I'm soooooo not ready for school to start!  So much to do, so little time...

Monday, July 26, 2010

E-Mealz

SAVE TIME AND MONEY WITH E-MEALZ MEAL PLANS


I been desperately trying to wrap my head around the fact that this coming school year is going to be drastically different than years before.  I will just barely be getting into the swing of things then BAM!  Here comes baby and being gone for up to 12 weeks.  As soon as I'm getting into a pattern of being home with baby then BAM!  Back to work I'll go and things will be completely turned on end.  While I couldn't be more thrilled...I'm also terrified.  Worried about how we'll manage to juggle work, baby, household responsibilities....I know that millions of women manage to do all of that plus more every single day but it doesn't make the worry that I will be a complete failure go away.

I've been planning, organizing, simplifying...anything that I possibly can trying to get as much done before school starts as possible.  I listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio and have heard him recommend a website called E-Mealz several times.  It is a website that sends out weekly meal plans with recipes and shopping lists customized to specific diets (like low-fat, Weight Watchers, Vegetarian, etc) and even specific stores. (It will tell you exactly where to find the ingredients on the shelves at Wal-Mart!) It costs $5 a month. It is recommended by Dave Ramsey and right now there is a discount coupon code "dave" that saves $2.50 off a 3 month subscription.  (I used the coupon code and it DOES work!!!)  I'm going to give it a try and see how it goes.  Maybe I'll get some new recipes and it will get us out of a rut so we'll eat something different every once in a while.   


When I was working at the private school I had time to design meal plans for myself but I always tended to choose the same kind of meals over and over so I'm hoping these plans will make me branch out and try a few new recipes (ie: veggies) that I wouldn't have tried before!  I'm about to download my first meal plan!  I'm so excited and really hoping this will take the huge headache out of asking...."What's for dinner?"

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Weeks 22, 23, and 24

Hi Everyone!  Well after a whirlwind few weeks we're finally back at home and I finally have my laptop back.  Kevin and I have been furiously trying to put our house back in order and purge mountains of junk that have compiled over the years.  On top of that...this has been one of the busiest times of year for Kevin at work while he was trying to finish up the summer 1 semester.  I'm very proud to say that Kevin completed his biology class so now he has only 1 elective course and is finished with his associates!  Yay!

While it seems that we've been all over the state of Texas in recent weeks it isn't true.  What is true...is that this baby girl has been all over my stomach!  I haven't used our doppler in quite a while because she moves so much!  I can almost predict her movements now!  I'm going to list milestones from the last couple of weeks so I don't forget these precious moments!

Week 22-A Spaghetti Squash
-Major Milestone on July 6th-This was the day that I felt our baby girl kick my hand while it was sitting on my stomach!  It was amazing and terrifying at the same time!  It was not a tiny kick but a strong, hard thump that pushed my hand off of my stomach.  Poor thing probably was terrified because it shrieked when I felt it!  I immediately called Kevin and my mom.  I love feeling her thump and roll all of the time now.
-About 2 days later Kevin had the opportunity to feel her kick for the first time.  We were using the doppler to hear her heartbeat when she began to repeatedly kick the doppler probe.  I told Kevin to hurry so he placed his hand on my huge sticky belly covered in doppler lube and was able to feel her move several times!  It was such a neat experience!

Week 23-A large Mango
-During this week I began to feel her movements more regularly.  I can almost predict when she'll be up and going sometimes.  She definitely begins moving after I eat any meals and loves to move around during the night.
-I'm really not sleeping well lately between bi-hourly bathroom trips, the never ending congestion in my head, and now dealing with my hands.  My hands are "falling asleep" or losing circulation quite often during the night now.  I'm going to ask my doctor about it at the next appointment.  Since I'm up so much during the night I feel her acrobatics so much at night.
-We took our first trip away from home this week when I had to travel to Dallas for a teaching conference.  We drove down on Monday and returned Thursday afternoon.  We were able to stop at a Motherhood Maternity store and I finally got a few shirt nice enough for work.  I bought 4 shirts, 1 black dress capri, 1 pair of black dress pants, and finally got a bra that fits!   The pants are not the most flattering but they are comfortable which is all that matters.  I had to have something nice enough for the conference so I was greatly relieved to find something.  The conference itself went well but the hotel was a disaster!  At one point I called complaining to the management which is WAY out of character for me.  I'm planning a whole post about that experience so just wait for it.
-On Friday after the conference I was scheduled to babysit for my cousin Cerina.  She just had an adorable baby boy named Micade on May 1st.  Her mom usually watches him but went out of a town for a trip so I offered to help.  I was TERRIFIED!  It has been years since I've cared for a baby so small. It actually went really, really, really well!  I didn't really get much accomplished around the house that day but it was fun and exhausting.
-After Micade went home I was visiting with my mother at her house.  Karleigh apparently did not like the position that I was sitting in so she began to repeatedly beat up my bladder.  I stretched out on the couch and my mom was able to feel her kick when she put her hand on my lower belly!  It was another of her hard punches and the surprise on my mom's face was priceless!

Week 24-An Ear of Corn
-As I was typing this post, Karleigh just gave my hand 3 solid thumps on my upper stomach.  It is amazing to feel her getting stronger and stronger by the day.
-We began testing paint samples on the walls of Karleigh's room today.  I am so wishy washy when it comes to paint decisions!  I still cannot make up my mind.  I am probably going to end up doing cream colored walls with a few stenciled purple flowers.
-I had to go to admin to turn in some paperwork to the CTE department so while I was there I spoke to HR about my maternity benefits today.  While they are not terrific...I'm just glad to have something.  In recent months, 2 of my cousins have had babies and have either not qualified for FMLA because of length of employment or self employment.  I have not decided exactly how much time I will be taking off just yet.  I need to contact the people that handle my disability insurance but I still have some time before that needs to be taken care of.
-Kevin and I have decided to bank Karleigh's cord blood.  I honestly hope that it will be the hugest waste of money we have ever spent.  We've been tossing the idea around for several months and cost was really a huge factor.  I've read so many stories about the benefits that cord blood can have in case of illness and I just don't want to someday have regret that I didn't give my child this opportunity.  We received an offered for a substantially reduced rate from Viacord.  Has anyone ever used this company?  Does anyone know if there is a better solution.  We will be enrolling in the program in the next couple of days.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic day.  I'm rushing to finish this house because it seems my summer is dwindling quickly.  Inservice begins on August 11th and I'm so not ready!  Kevin and I would still like to take a mini vacation sometime before its over so we're going to have to squeeze it in.  Well I'm off to find something for lunch and then I will return to work on my hotel post. Until then...

Friday, July 9, 2010

And the winners are...

Thanks for being so understanding of the delay...out of our desktop and 2 laptop computers...only my macbook was working this week.  The desktop is refusing to connect to the internet and our windows laptop got a virus so Kevin has been using my computer all week to finish up his summer 1 semester classes!  I'm very excited to say that he finished both classes so he has 1 more class to take through a mini semester during August and then he will have earned his associates degree!  So proud of him!  He works so hard and goes to school...I never could have done it.  This computer situation has also delayed my week 22 pregnancy update but it was for a good reason.  Her daddy was busy!  Hopefully her update will be up tomorrow because I have big news from this week!

Now...onto what you really want to know...


The winner of 
Bath and Body Works Prize Set 1
that includes
Coco Cabana Body Splash
Coco Cabana Body Lotion
Liplicious Tasty Sheer lip color in Saltwater Taffy
is
Sorry Tyly!  Beth was actually chosen first so I gave her the first choice!  I didn't really know a more fair way to handle it!

The winner of
Bath and Body Works Prize Set 2
that includes
Rain Kissed Leaves Body Splash
Rain Kissed Leaves Body Lotion
Liplicious Tasty Sheer lip color in Saltwater Taffy
is 

The winner of
Bath and Body Works Prize Set 3
that includes
Black Amethyst Body Splash
Black Amethyst Body Lotion
Liplicious Tasty Sheer lip color in Saltwater Taffy
is

Congratulations to the winners!  I believe that all my winners are my friends on facebook so please send me a message with your mailing address!  
I'm leaving next week to go to a teaching conference but if I get all the addresses I'm going to try and get your packages mailed before I leave!
I tried to post screenshots of the random.org screen but my computer is still not letting me upload pictures like it did with the prize set pictures.  Ugh!  One more computer thing I have to work on...lol

Monday, July 5, 2010

An Extension...

Hi Everyone! Blogging from my phone tonight so this will be short and sweet. Due to the fact that Kevin is utilizing my MacBook Pro tonight to take a test, I cannot access random.org to pick the winners of my drawing! I'm so sorry guys! I am placing an extension on the giveaway through 11:59 pm on July 8th! Winners will be announced on Friday, July 9th!