The Lion and the Lambes

Orion at bath time

2009-12-30T23:20:00.003-05:00

Yep... this is what Orion thinks of bath time.

While visiting my parents Orion got to have a bath in his Great-Grandpa Jones' bathtub... as in the bathtub my grandpa was bathed in when HE was a baby.

Much to Orion's dismay he gets to do it again tomorrow.

Let me leave you with a deceptively serene picture:

Goodnight :)

Christmas 2009

2009-12-29T22:58:00.004-05:00

NEW pictures at the bottom, and still more to come! :)

*Check back later for a ridiculously cute picture of Orion that I need to get from Allie's camera, plus a few more from the Lambes Christmas*

We had a really nice Christmas this year! It started with Christmas Eve at the Singers' house for our annual pajama party where we all played games and ate tasty food and just enjoyed each other's company. When we got home we read Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado (a Lambes tradition... this year we took turns reading aloud) and each opened one gift. I got to open a special one from Nathan- he sent me on a scavenger hunt around the house, and at the end I got a beautiful ring with Orion's birth stone in it :)

Christmas morning we all had fun opening Christmas presents, and we had a delicious lunch together. Nathan and I left shortly afterward and had a fairly uneventful drive up to my parents' house.

When we arrived we had dinner with my immediate family, plus my mom's family. It was really nice to see everyone, and I was especially excited for my grandma to meet her first great-grandchild. My grandma had a few gifts for us to open, then after our guests left our family opened all our gifts. I got a small digital camera (my other one is really big- I wanted something I could keep with me all the time) with which I took these pictures :)

Since then we've been doing copious amounts of relaxing, eating yummy food, and playing games. It has been a really nice and relaxing week! Except the fact that I've had a mysterious outbreak of hives for the past three days...?! Hives are especially annoying because it's almost impossible to figure out what caused them.

Thursday we're heading up to Michigan to celebrate the New Year with our friends and will be there all weekend. Sunday we head home, and Monday Nathan starts work again and his parents and sisters travel to Louisiana to see Jon, Emiley, and Ellie. Hello, real world! It will be really weird to spend most of the day alone with Orion.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our time at my parents' house!

My dad hanging out with Orion on the floor. Dad has held Orion more than I have this week ;)

Mom, Orion, and George. She's very popular!

Andy had never held a baby before, but he's doing a good job! Just needs some more bonding time with his nephew.

OK, now this was funny. Orion woke up early one morning and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I took him to bed with me hoping he would snuggle and go back to sleep. No go. So Nathan put him on the bed while he got up to get dressed so he could take Orion downstairs with him. But as soon as Nathan put him down Orion went right to sleep! So Orion slept in Nathan's spot for a couple more hours and then got fussy again. I got out of bed, and as soon as I did he went to sleep again! I guess he just wanted the big bed all to himself!

My favorite recent picture. Looks like he's about to punch the camera!

Orion with his Great-Grandma Guilford

My family this Christmas.

I hope you all had great Christmases too. Don't forget the baby who started it all :)

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:36:00.002-05:00

5 Weeks Old on Christmas Eve

2009-12-24T10:53:00.002-05:00

My little guy is five weeks old already! I can hardly believe it. It's so fun watching him grow and change. He's at the awkward point right now where he's almost too big for his newborn size clothes but still too small for 0-3 months. That makes packing for the next week when we'll be out of town a little tricky.

I caught one of the dimples on camera! I don't have a picture of it yet, but he's learning to smile at me! He did the most adorable thing this morning where he smiled with half his mouth...

Teeny baby hands... even though he has "big" hands, they're still awfully little.

Nathan and I are going out on a date without Orion today because Allie is making us ;) I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already! Going to the Singers tonight for the annual PJ party! Hope you all have a great day :)

Goober

2009-12-22T18:32:00.000-05:00

Best picture ever.

One Month... yesterday

2009-12-20T21:20:00.003-05:00

We were too busy to post yesterday, but our little guy is already a month old! I can't believe it- it has gone SO quickly. Here are a few pictures to show off our handsome man.

Little teddy bear going to the Christmas tree farm.

Naked baby! I wanted to show off his new chubby belly.

Sleep has been about the same... he slept a straight 5 hours last night which was exciting! Usually just 2 and 3 hour stretches. He still wants to eat ALL. THE. TIME... I think even more than he did. The last few days he's been fussy... we're thinking another growth spurt. He's still usually really good in public (he likes lots of noise) which is really nice. Despite his un-sleepiness, we still have a good baby :)

Only 5 days until Christmas... oh my!

Ellie Gayle

2009-12-17T11:51:00.003-05:00

The little lady
Ellie and her mama

Orion's cousin was born this morning! I believe it was at 12:58 a.m. Ellie is 7 lbs, 2 oz, and 18 inches long. Emiley was a lucky duck and had Ellie just 9 hours after her water broke (ok, maybe that's not amazing or anything but my labor was twice that long)! She's a little chubby with LOTS of dark hair! Our little ones are exactly 4 weeks apart :)

My little actor

2009-12-16T23:03:00.003-05:00

That's right, my little goober is already an actor. He played baby Jesus in Hillcrest's Christmas play this year, and I'm proud and relieved to say that he didn't cry once while onstage. He wasn't always happy before and after his performance, but somehow made it through his time onstage each night without making a peep. Nathan was one of the magi (far right, below)... it was kind of funny to watch him "worship" his own son. Seriously, though, it really put into perspective for me the fact that Jesus came into the world as a baby... it blows the mind.

We've had a few great nights and a few OK nights lately. We've been having him sleep in his swing which seems to be working better. Saturday night he actually slept for 6 hours straight, which was amazing... after I got over the initial panic when I woke up :P The night after that he slept 5 hours straight, then 4 the night after that... and since then we've just been getting 2 and 3 hour increments. Eh... I definitely prefer the 6 hour thing, but as long as he's sleeping at least 2 hours at a time I'm not going to complain too much.

Orion will be 4 weeks old tomorrow (WOW), and will be getting a new cousin! Ellie is going to be born sometime tomorrow (Emiley's in labor now), so they'll be exactly 4 weeks apart :) Wishing Jon and Emiley luck, and greatly anticipating pictures!

Falling Behind!

2009-12-09T14:51:00.004-05:00

Sorry, I realized I haven't been posting on here and you're probably all hoping for more pictures of the oh-so-adorable Orion! So here you go: some recent pictures of the little guy.

We've started using his swing, and it's been super helpful. It keeps him calm and distracted long enough for him to forget about wanting to eat for an hour or two... which I'm very grateful for! It's been a lifesaver the last couple nights.

Bonding with Buddy.

He loves his papa.

We're all doing pretty well. We had a couple really rough nights this week where none of us really got any sleep, but last night was much much better. He "only" woke up to eat once every 2.5-3 hours and didn't do all that much fussing in between. Nathan and I both woke up feeling good this morning, which was a major improvement from the last two days. We'll just keep praying for more relatively good nights!!

A few things I've learned so far...

-A pacifier is, as my dad would say, a "good tool." I was kind of anti-pacifier before Orion was born, but the boy has such a crazy sucking reflex that it's kind of essential. It really does pacify him... because I really can't feed him every ten minutes as he would like me to.

-Babies' skin peels/flakes a few days after birth. Freakout (and lotion) not necessary.

-The swing and bouncer are awesome. We use the bouncer to occupy him while we eat and have the swing in our living room for helping him relax. He's just a very very alert baby, and sometimes we need to just let him sit and chill for a while. It's nice to be able to do that.

-Lanolin creme is essential, especially the first week or two.

-The child loves car rides. And shopping cart rides. We're wishing for a car ride simulator to have at the house to get him to sleep. Because he doesn't do it all that much.

-Old breastmilk stinks. BAD.

-Laundry is now a constant. Especially because of the aforementioned stink.

-The ItzBeen timer is really helpful. I thought it was a silly idea, but my friend Amy got me one after I complained about not being able to remember when I last fed Orion and I love it. It has an alarm that would wake me up every 3 hours when I had to feed him that often right at first, and it keeps track of how long it's been since I fed him which saves me valuable brain cells. I carry it around all the time. Wishing I would have had it the first few days after Orion was born when I was unable to think at all.

-Having a baby in public makes you even more popular than being pregnant.

-Dressing to allow for nursing is just as difficult as dressing for late pregnancy.

-10:30 isn't sleeping in if you were up 4 hours out of the night.

-It pays to be flexible... and you have to learn as you go.

Aaaand... a bonus picture of Charles :)

Snippet of Conversation

2009-12-04T10:46:00.008-05:00

"That's something I never would of thought of: hey maybe babies will want to sit in the hole of a big donut shaped pillow! That's right, all babies have the reoccurring fantasy that they are the donut hole reunited with the donut...

oh wait...

...that makes sense..."

-Me, this morning.

Orion's Birth: the Epic Saga

2009-11-30T15:18:00.006-05:00

Orion's first photograph

At 4:08 a.m. on Thursday, November 19, 2009, I got up to use the restroom, and the minute my feet hit the bathroom tile amniotic fluid started running down my legs. I called to Nathan that my water had broken, and he stumbled out of bed. I told him that didn't mean we had to leave right that second, and he lay back down for a minute until he could wake up enough to function. We got around, gathered our things, ate breakfast, and got to the hospital around 6 a.m.

They took me into the testing room to be monitored and checked for amniotic fluid (plenty of that!). The fluid was greenish, which meant that Orion had already had a bowel movement and could possibly be in distress, so we'd have to be monitored extra closely. My cervix was 70-80% effaced but high and barely 2 cm dilated. We filled out some paperwork and were eventually admitted to the hospital and moved to our own room.

Nathan's family kept us company all morning and early afternoon. They gave me some IV fluids and hooked me up to devices that monitored Orion's heartbeat and my contractions. They were consistently five minutes apart but not very strong. We walked the halls on and off for a couple hours which did help get the contractions closer together (2 1/2 ish minutes) and stronger (I had to stop walking to get through them), but when they checked me again I wasn't dilated any more, so they had to start me on Pitocin, a drug that helps speed up labor.

Pitocin was one of the things I was really afraid of, but I'm not scared of it any more. Sure it made the contractions worse and worse, but I figure that would have happened anyway... it just made the process shorter.

Somewhere in here Orion's heartbeat started dipping with the contractions, which was a bit scary. They had to attach a monitor to his head, which meant wires going where wires oughn't go. It was SOOO frustrating to me to have to be hooked up to so many machines. I had to unplug 4 things and take the IV stand with me to go to the bathroom, plus deal with the internal monitor. Ugh.

About 12 hours after my water had broken I was completely exhausted and overwhelmed by the pain/intensity of the contractions, so I gave in and requested pain meds. I was scared of the epidural, so I asked for Nubain, a narcotic used to relieve pain that is given through the IV and a shot in the leg (which felt really weird... I felt it go from my thigh into my knee). Unfortunately, it makes you feel "drunk." I was SO out of it after getting this drug. I have never been drunk, but if that's what it's like I don't know why anyone ever gets drunk. I hated it. And it didn't help the pain, at least not enough to be a relief at all.

Eventually a doctor came in and told me to get an epidural, and I said "OK." I was so out of it I barely remember this, but I guess I was 9 cm dilated at that point and could barely function. Thankfully the Nubain started to wear off at this point.

The hardest part at this time was sitting still for the epidural. The contractions were so intense and I wasn't allowed to move at all. My nurse was awesome and let me lean into her chest and hold onto her while they did it. The local anesthetics hurt a little, but I obviously didn't care much at this point. I think they had to try twice to get it in, but they did within a couple minutes.

I am SO GLAD I got the epidural. Seriously, it made the experience 100 times better. I could feel my legs (the skin just felt numb and I couldn't move them much) and some pressure with contractions, but very very little pain. It was perfect.

When the time came they let me tell them when it was time to push, which was nice. I could feel the contraction starting and the doctor would guide me through pushing: a big breath, then push hard while holding my breath for 10 seconds, then breathe out and repeat two more times. They said I was a good pusher and had good control (I had to push gently a few times). The pushing itself really wasn't hard for me. It was tiring, but it obviously didn't hurt and it felt good to know I was almost done and would see my baby soon. Allie and Nathan held/pushed my legs up for me which helped a lot. They got to see his head more and more and they told me about it which was exciting and encouraging. I pushed for about an hour and a half. Nathan said his head seemed to explode out, and Orion was born at 10:26 p.m.! It was the strangest and coolest thing to look down and see a real live baby being lifted up. He was all tangled up in his umbilical cord, but that didn't cause any problems. Nathan got to cut the cord. Unfortunately they had to do an episiotomy, plus I tore really bad (I think they said 4th degree, which is the worst). Lots and lots and lots-o-stitches.

I didn't get to hold him right away because he had had a bowel movement in the womb and they had to suction his airways really well and make sure he didn't swallow or breathe in any feces. Thankfully, they told me about this ahead of time so I was OK with it- safety first! They checked him over and cleaned him up a little. Nathan got to hold him while he was under the heat lamps, and right away Orion reached up and pulled his beard!

7 lbs, 11.9 oz, 21 inches long

I finally got to hold him which was amazing, and he was able to nurse right away. After he was done eating and we'd had a few minutes to get a little cleaned up the rest of the family and a couple friends got to come in and see our little guy.

Our little family. I was very puffy from the IV fluids!

They had a party in the hallway while Orion was eating his first meal.

Our friends Cliff and Andrew came for Orion's big debut too. Bubblegum cigars all around!

We moved to the recovery wing that night, and the next couple days/nights were pretty rough because we were SOOO exhausted and Orion is obsessed with sucking even when he's not hungry (which we didn't figure out for a couple days). After we got home and got some sleep things got better, and now we're doing great! Still learning of course, but really happy with our little guy. I think we'll keep him :)

Our First Live Tree

2009-11-29T09:21:00.003-05:00

Up till now we've been using a pre-lit fake tree that followed Rachel all through college. It was a nice little tree, and easy to set up, but now we've got THIS.

BEHOLD.

This is Lord Evergreen, Crown Prince of all Treedom. Gaze upon his perfection and despair. Smell his verdent boughs and fall to your knees with weeping. His ways are upright, his star is twinklesome, his ornamentation rich, the light of his body shines clear in dark places.

Thanksgiving, and 1 Week Old Orion

2009-11-27T22:12:00.002-05:00

What do you mean I don't get to eat turkey?!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and also the one week-a-versary of Orion's birth! Time is already flying by... I can't believe he's a week old already. He's already had lots of adventures. Yesterday we traveled three hours to Caldwell, OH to Nathan's Uncle Wendell's house (per tradition), which is a farm on a dirt road smack dab in the middle of nowhere. It's awesome.

Snuggling with my boy by the fire.

We hiked all the way up a big hill to the cabin Uncle Wendell built. Orion spent the trip snuggled in our coats... I think he slept the whole time.

Awwww...

For more Thanksgiving pictures, see Nathan's Facebook album.

Today we went Black Friday shopping. We didn't get up early or anything, but Orion had his first shopping trip- he took it like a champ. And I've already gotten over any inhibitions I may have had about nursing in public... while shopping...

And we left him home with his grandparents and aunts and uncle for a little over an hour today. I cried. That's not happening again any time soon.

Orion and I are both doing great. Healthy and happy (unless he's hungry 10 minutes after a feeding, which makes both of us unhappy). He has even been sleeping great at night the last couple nights... I have to wake HIM up to eat sometimes! I've got plenty of stitches that need to hurry up and heal and my hormones are making me ridiculously emotional, but besides that we're in tip-top shape. I've even lost 20 pounds already. Yay! :)

I'll write the story of his birth soon... we have had a busy busy week with family and friends visiting, but things should quiet down after this weekend. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I know what I'm thankful for :)

Orion's First Bath

2009-11-24T10:08:00.000-05:00

Zero Hour

2009-11-20T17:25:00.003-05:00

To be honest, I don't really feel like posting a massive update of what all happened yesterday. It was hard, it was emotionally draining, it was painful, it was less painful (epidural), and then it was awesome and all worth it.

Orion Lawrence Lambes was born at around 10:30pm on the 19th of November, 2009, weighed seven pounds, eleven ounces, and is pretty long for being the product of two fairly short people. He looks mostly like his momma, but a little like his papa, and has already shown a tendency for being a ham.

You can find professional photos at Bella Baby using the password "1119orion" or you can just keep looking at the picture Rachel took this morning. Additionally, if you are on facebook, I have a photo album started and you can also try looking at my sister's album.

God Bless us all with sleep.

Today's the Day!

2009-11-19T05:13:00.001-05:00

My water broke at just after 4 this morning and we're headed out the door! Prayers would be appreciated :)

TMI Warning

2009-11-17T13:55:00.003-05:00

I want to keep you updated, but you might find this a little gross and personal so I wanted to give you fair warning ;)

Last night while using the restroom I felt something come out- plop! I'm pretty sure that was the mucus plug. I got a little fluid for the next couple hours so we thought it might have been my water breaking, but it wasn't. Just not enough fluid for that. Then I started getting bloody show (pretty much mucus with some blood in it) and I had lots more this morning and am still getting a bit. Apparently that's often a sign of imminent labor, so we're hoping! I have been having some contractions, but nothing super strong or consistent yet.

Waiting waiting waiting... I'm sorry if this turns out to be a false alarm... mostly sorry for myself! :P

40 Weeks!

2009-11-16T17:19:00.003-05:00

How far along? 40 weeks even
Total weight gain/loss: +34 pounds. Yeah, turns out I really did gain 2 pounds last week (by my doctor's appointment), and 2 more this week. Maybe I should stop eating so many cookies... nah.
Maternity clothes? Yep
Sleep: Not bad until I want to roll over. Ouch.
Best moment this week: Having a good report at my NST
Movement: The nurse today said I have an active baby
Food cravings: I wanted a sucker/hard candy last night
Food aversions: Chipotle
Gender: BOY!
Labor Signs: None. Plenty of contractions though.
Belly Button in or out? Stretched into oblivion
What I miss: Sleeping on my belly, not hurting, having clothes that fit, my wedding rings
What I am looking forward to: Having my baby
Milestones: Today's the due date! Hear that, Orion? That means it's time for you to come out!

Like I mentioned, the Non-Stress Test went well. They strapped monitors on me for a couple hours and tracked Orion's heartbeat and my contractions. I actually had a lot of contractions (which, by the end of two hours on my back, reinforced my plan to move around during labor! Ouch!), but they're not consistent. Orion handled them like a champ- most of the time his heart rate didn't change much at all during them, which is a good sign. Hopefully the contractions will keep coming and get things moving soon!

Doors

2009-11-13T14:17:00.003-05:00

That's right, ours is the house with the blue door. And... two doorknobs. Apparently there were some technical difficulties when our new door (a the foot of the stairs) was being installed. I think they're replacing the top knob with either a deadbolt or some kind of plate. I hope. We decided since we needed to paint the new door anyway we'd choose a fun color, so we used some of the blue we had leftover from the bathroom. We love our happy new blue door :)

The nursery door and trim are installed! We even managed to get them painted. We also repainted a few other things (a wall and some trim) that were looking icky and they look SO nice and clean. I wish it wasn't such a huge project to paint the rest of our living room, because it really needs it!! Maybe eventually.

The nursery is officially FINISHED! We are so excited to have it done. And it looks great! Now all we need is for Orion to stop being so stubborn... but have you met his parents?! Ha ha ;)

39 1/2 Week Appointment

2009-11-12T17:14:00.002-05:00

Weeelll... my cervix is a fingertip dilated, high, and thick... soo... it's looking very likely that I will be pregnant forever.

Non-Stress Test (to monitor contractions and baby's heart rate and movement to make sure he's doing OK) Monday.

Maybe he'll be a Thanksgiving baby after all?

39 Weeks and Nursery Updates

2009-11-10T16:15:00.004-05:00

How far along? 39 weeks and 1 day
Total weight gain/loss: +30 pounds. No weight gain this week?! That's miraculous.
Maternity clothes? Of course. And I definitely wore sweats to church Sunday night ;)
Sleep: Pretty good. Pretty much stay on my left side all night... I think it's just too hard to roll over and that's the most comfortable position.
Best moment this week: Getting the nursery done!
Movement: Yep.
Food cravings: Powdered donuts on Sunday. And I pretty much just want to eat chocolate all the time.
Food aversions: Chipotle
Gender: BOY!
Labor Signs: None
Belly Button in or out? Stretched into oblivion
What I miss: Sleeping on my belly, being comfortable, having clothes that fit, my wedding rings
What I am looking forward to: Having my baby
Milestones: The countdown is in the single digits! Just waiting now...

I think he's done cookin' ...don't you agree??

We finished up a couple more things in the nursery. Got the maternity pictures hung above the bookshelf. The black and white prints look really nice with the wall color, and the frames I got match the furniture.

The mobile came yesterday! I set it up and it's super cute. It matches the bedding. It has a music box in it and spins. I like it :)

Isn't it cute? The nursery feels complete now. Ya know... except the door... ;) Come on, baby!

Orion's Place

2009-11-06T15:23:00.004-05:00

Orion's room is finished!! We painted Tuesday-Thursday, and arranged and decorated the nursery last night. I am SO excited and relieved to have it done. Well, actually, it's not done... there's no door. Haha! Anyway, here it is. I got the wall letters at Hobby Lobby- I love the font. I ordered the crib mobile but it hasn't arrived yet. I'll post more pictures when we get it :)

Sorry about the funky lighting in these pictures... I took some last night and some today and attempted to make everything look decent... this is the drawback of being underground!

The changing table, which came with the crib. I'm going to see if I can get two more baskets since there's room behind the diaper stacker. I think the changing table is really pretty.

The glider that I re-covered! If I had to do it again I would have chosen a more neutral fabric, but the hippos are very cute. I sewed loops onto the back of the quilt that came with the bedding so we could hang it on the wall (props to Nathan for all the measuring he did to make sure everything we hung on the walls was centered and level :).

There will eventually be a door where there is currently a hole on the far left. I think we're going to hang the maternity pictures that are sitting on the shelf on the wall... we were just too tired to do it last night! The plastic containers by the hamper will eventually be used for cloth diapering purposes, but right now they're homeless.

We really lucked out with all the matching wood. The only pieces that actually belong together are the crib and changing table, but most of the furniture in the room is exactly the same color. The swing will not be living in the nursery, but we had a sad empty corner that needed to be filled ;)

Since we don't have a closet in the nursery we have most of Orion's clothes in the dresser, but rigged up this shelf with a bar so we could hang some things up too! I love how it came out.

Guess who thinks it's his room... this is Charlie's new favorite place to sleep. Oh, kitty.

I'm so excited :)

38 Weeks, and Halloween!

2009-11-02T21:29:00.005-05:00

On Halloween we walked to the little farmer's market across the street and got ourselves pumpkins for a dollar each! We both really like carving them :)

Nathan is a true pumpkin artiste. This year he carved Johnny Sweets, who is a chinchilla detective who loves cinnamon rolls.

I'm not quite that creative. I carved a creepy werewolf creature.

That night our church had its annual harvest festival, and it's a fun excuse to dress up. I painted faces for it, and Nathan tried his darndest to win us a cake in the cakewalk. Nathan, of course, was a Jedi. I was a pumpkin. You could say, The Great Pumpkin. Haha :) Don't know if you can tell, but I had leaves and twisty vines in my hair and drawn on my face.

Afterwords we went to Chipotle. Yes, I went to Chipotle. I didn't say I ATE it, but I went. Nathan got wind of a special deal where if you dress up like a Chipotle burrito on Halloween (or the 4th of July), you get a free burrito. How could we resist?! I gave mine to Grandma and got Wendy's for myself ;)

I love this picture!

+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+

How far along? 38 weeks even
Total weight gain/loss: +30 pounds. Yay me ;)
Maternity clothes? Of course
Sleep: So-so.
Best moment this week: Getting pretty much everything else we needed and getting some awesome deals, Seeing major progress on the nursery (I can start painting Wednesday!).
Movement: Oh yes. He's out of room and letting me know it.
Food cravings: We're going to say chocolate, Coca Cola, and Frozen Cokes. And chocolate sugar wafers. Not that I don't crave most of those things when not pregnant.
Food aversions: Mexican food (especially Chipotle)
Gender: BOY!
Labor Signs: None
Belly Button in or out? Stretched into oblivion
What I miss: Sleeping on my belly, being comfortable, having clothes that fit, my wedding rings
What I am looking forward to: Having an outside baby, nursery getting finished
Milestones: I'm having a baby THIS MONTH.

A couple people told me I looked like I'd dropped this week, but I think I look exactly the same :P

Calling all shoppers!

2009-10-30T16:14:00.004-04:00

Today only, Payless is having a 50% off sale. Text oprahshow to 242424 to get a code for 50% off your whole purchase, up to 15 items. There's also a printable coupon online. I needed new comfortable shoes for my new-found monster pregnancy feet and didn't want to spend a ton of money (because hopefully my feet won't stay this size!!), and with this deal I got a pair of shoes and a pair of boots for $18 total. Apparently there was also a separate sale on the boots and I ended up saving $27 from the normal price. Thought I'd share :)

Oh, I should also mention that I had my big Babies R Us shopping spree today! I was able to get everything I still needed off our registry and have $30 to spare on a gift card. AWESOME. I feel very thrifty too- not only did I use my 10% off registry completion coupon, but I had three 15% off coupons for the three most expensive items, and a $5 off coupon for my total. I think I saved 30-some dollars just from using coupons! Score! Next week BRU is running a "buy two Halo sleep sacks and get $10 off" sale, which is a GREAT deal, so I'll probably use the rest of the gift card money on those since I love them (used them when I nannied). Yay for deal hunting! And for gift cards :)

Progress!

2009-10-29T17:37:00.002-04:00

This is what my nursery wall looked like when I left this morning...

And this is what it looks like now!

It's practically a real wall! I guess they need to do another layer of "mud," hang the door, finish the wiring, and hopefully put some kind of trim on, then we can get to painting! I think Monday was mentioned, so I don't know if that's the day it'll be finished or the next day they'll work on it. Whatever- I'm just really happy so see some major progress.

Nathan went to the doctor today after more than a week of coughing his lungs out, and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Hopefully the drugs they prescribed for him clear it up soon... he's very tired of feeling miserable.

I got to have a massage today (free with the classes we took at the hospital)! It was fabulous. I was so relaxed at the end that I felt like I was sleepwalking for the next hour. That was my first real massage... and now I want another.

Also had a doctor's appointment today. They didn't do an exam so I don't have any news there, but they did get the results from my Group B Strep test- negative! That's a good thing. Blood pressure and all that looked good, and my fundal height is still measuring exactly on track.

I'm looking forward to a big Babies R Us shopping trip within the next couple days- I've got a bunch of coupons to use for the rest of the things we need! Thank goodness for gift cards. Should be fun :)

I hope everyone is having a great week! Try to stay healthy!