A funny thing happened today.

Mom had Hazel for most of the day, which allowed me to see Peggy (more on that in a minute), mow another chunk of our field of a yard, and get some work done. I picked up Hazel from Mom's at about 4:30pm. Tutu was worn out, completely (apparently Hazel drug her along on several walks around the property and down the driveway), and when the screen door swung open, Hazel trotted out on the front step. She pointed out a ball, asked me for help off the stoop, and then practically sprinted to the back passenger door on my Volvo. She tried to open the door and when she couldn't she looked at me and said, "Seat!" She obviously really wanted into her carseat. I plopped her in and buckled her and she immediately said, "Home? Play?" I've never known her to beg to go anywhere, let alone if that means leaving Poppa and Tutu's house. I had to laugh.

So I saw Peggy today; the appointment went well. I'm measuring  33 weeks, so just a little ahead. I see the surgeon in two weeks (Peggy will be on vacation so it's a good time to consult with Dr. N.), Peggy two weeks after that (which will be my 36th week), and then I'll see her in my 37th and 38th weeks. I'm not entirely sure why I'm seeing her in my 38th week - it'll be the day before the c-section.

I confirmed with her the c-section date. She scheduled the cesarean for the 6th of August, so we're definitely on the books now.

When Peggy was checking the babe's heartbeat, it was a little slow. Peggy looked at me a bit askance and said, "Hmm, I don't think Mom ate breakfast." The kid's heartrate gave me away! Speaking of food, I'm starving. I should eat. In a minute.

My Uncle Seth brought over a child-sized dresser for Hazel not too long ago, so I stuck that in the nursery today. It's getting a bit cramped in there with all the "necessary" pieces of furniture! I don't know, it might be best to take the twin bed out for now. I like the idea of a guest bed, but it's taking up a lot of room at the moment. If we took it out, it would open up a huge amount of space, allowing both cribs to fit comfortably rather than making it all a tight squeeze. (Can you believe it, this is the first I've thought of removing the guest bed. Oh, and no one has ever slept in it since we've moved here.) Once I get all the furniture situated, I need to find a way to decorate the plaster walls. I have all the banners and pictures I want to use, but I'm a bit clueless as to how to best mount them on the walls. I can hardly wait to get the room finished, though! I'm seriously excited...

To be honest, this pregnancy has been something of a conundrum for me. Sometimes I feel wonderful, absolutely free to do what I like when I like, seeing as I'm not on bedrest this time around. Other times I feel incredibly restricted simply because I'm pregnant. There are things this house needs that I can't do because of the pregnancy. For example: I'd love to be able to deal with the ongoing ant issue myself rather than bothering Nate with the chore when he already has too much on his plate, but, as a pregnant lady, I can't use the chemical we bought; I'd like to stain our deck, but again it's a chemical issue; I'd like to take care of the cat litter, but again...So I've resorted to helping Nate by mowing our yard. By hand. It's okay, I checked with Peggy. The front yard isn't horrible, but the back is a nightmare. I did a small patch today and had to stop. Maybe I'll get to it tomorrow...We'll see. Dumping the grass cuttings is more of an issue than the actual mowing, simply because we dump the cuttings in the field. The grass in the field gives me hives, so you can see the problem there. My arms were covered by the time I finished today. I may be too much of a wimp to take mowing on again tomorrow - I'd rather not deal with the hives again.

Little munchkin...

Nate's family took a little bit of a road trip the other weekend (and it included Nate and I) to see Tom Petty in concert in George, Washington (yes, the comma is necessary here). Mom and Dad watched Hazel all day Friday and overnight until Saturday afternoon. Apparently Hazel learned to put on her rain boots while at Poppa and Tutu's! Whenever she wanted to wander outside she'd race over to her boots and put them on. I wish I could have seen it! This is the picture Mom sent me...

The poor child. After sleeping over at Poppa and Tutu's, she had probably one night out of seven that she went to bed at a normal time and slept the night through. We kept her up too late too often, just with get-togethers and such. These last few nights seem to be better - she's been going down on time and sleeping through the night. In fact, this morning I never woke up to her chatter. I shot out of bed at 10am feeling like a terrible mom. When I went into her room she was standing in her crib staring at the fan. We then launched into a conversation about "fan" versus "space heater." She was fine, but I still feel bad about how late I woke up this morning.

We have church tonight, so her bedtime will be disrupted again, but hopefully the next few days will be much more simple, routine wise.

I'm 32-ish weeks pregnant now, which is crazy. I can't believe this kid is coming in like 6 weeks! The nursery is a bit of a disaster - I need to seriously get down to business and get that room ready for the kid to get here. Do I feel ready, emotionally and such? Um, not really. My Grandpa keeps telling me, "If one kid takes all your time, then there's not much left that the second one can take." I guess that's supposed to make me feel better! He laughs every time he says it...

I really look forward to having a new little baby around, someone to enjoy and get to know as a totally new person, but I'm not eager to deal with the lack of sleep this new person will bring with her. I struggled with a huge hormone surge after Hazel was born, so I was in a bad, bad emotional state for about two weeks, until I discovered my homeopathic called "Blu." I have some in my medicine cabinet now, so I think that that will really aid in dealing with the ups and downs of post labor hormones. I think that just going into this delivery with eyes wide open will help me deal with things as they come, like lack of sleep, hormone surges, potential breastfeeding issues, etc. I'll be ready when she comes...hopefully!

Couponing accomplishment!

So I've been testing the waters of this thing called couponing. Really truly, it's a total bear. I'm not good at it so I find little satisfaction in shopping.

But my experience on Saturday brought me a measure of joy, I must admit. While Hazel was napping, I called several stores to price their Huggies Little Movers diapers (size 4). Between Safeway, Fred Meyer, Albertsons, Babies R Us, and Rite Aid, I found that the best deal was at Rite Aid. A pack of 27 diapers was on sale from $11.99 down to $8.99. I had several coupons for $3.00 off one pack of diapers, which would take the price down to $5.99.

But the good news didn't stop there. Rite Aid has a promotion now where (on qualifying items) I can get a $2.00 rebate per package of diapers when I submit my receipt information online. Oh, and once I buy five packages of Huggies diapers, I get the sixth package free! So, between the rebates and the five packages of purchased diapers, I get two packages of diapers for free, in essence!

When I got to Rite Aid, I noticed that there were also $1.00 coupons attached to the receipts of certain items I planned on buying. I ended up with a wonderful cashier who allowed me to do several different transactions so I used three $1.00 off coupons in the store. I bought three packages of diapers and two containers of wipes (72 count) in such a way that I was incredibly proud of myself. I boasted about my purchases to Nate later that night!

And so that you don't feel as if you've totally wasted your time visiting my blog, here's a picture of my belly (if you haven't already caught it on Facebook). I was 31.5 weeks pregnant when I used Photo Booth to snap this picture. I stuck Hazel in Nate's chair to contain her, but she noticed herself on the computer screen and started grinning. This is what I ended up with...

I'm 32 weeks today, or starting my 8th month of pregnancy. We're pretty excited! I see midwife Peggy on Thursday for one of my last appointments before the c-section. I'll see her at 32 weeks, 34 weeks, 36 weeks, and then the c-section is during our 38th week, so I'm not sure if I'll have an appointment with her just before the c-section or if we'll just go on and check in at the hospital.

Okay, that's all for now. More pictures soon, I swear!

I [heart] consigning.

We've been blessed by living close to both sets of parents; we're pretty darn lucky that they like us and enjoy watching Hazel on occasion.

Nate's parents allowed us to drop her off at their house on Sunday so that he and I could get some things done around our place, namely mowing the field we call our yard and caulking the house. Since Nate had to borrow his parents' riding mower, he took Hazel over to drop her off. Stephen snapped these pictures with his iPhone, and I love them all.

I am absolutely in love with Hazel's little dress in these pictures. I've been hunting for plain onesies for her to use this summer, but I'm having just about zero luck. We visited our favorite consignment store in Gresham on Friday but they didn't have any onesies - everything I find seems to have some logo or design on it, and I really just need simple and plain for her to wear under dresses and sweaters.

Our consignment store has two locations, so on Saturday Hazel and I dropped by their store on 122nd and Glisan. Oh it was wonderful! I found so many cute things for both Hazel and Baby Girl #2. I had a good chunk of credit with the store, so I narrowed down my "likes" and made my purchase.

I found another pair of jeans for Miss B. - she was given one pair in size 18 months, so I wanted another pair to alternate with - and this dress she's wearing in the pictures. There are two brands that I can't pass up when I find them: Janie & Jack and Baby Place (but only footed sleepers have caught my attention from that store; I like their stuff, but I have a thing for the comfort of their jammies). The dress is Janie & Jack and it cost me $6.75 resale. I guarantee it sold for between $30 and $40 when it was new.

When Hazel was about 2 months old a lady from church was giving away about four bins of baby clothes that her little girl had grown out of recently. I drove to her house and she let me take whatever I wanted. Turns out the mother-in-law was pretty wealthy and loved to buy fancy shmanzy baby clothes for the little girl, which is how I discovered Janie & Jack. The mom-in-law must have purchased the entire Spring line when the little girl was born. As Hazel has gotten bigger, the Janie & Jack clothes we were initially given have begun to thin out; at this point, she has a two sweaters, a shirt, a jogging outfit, a hooded jacket, and floral pants. I've purchased a spaghetti strap romper and this dress for summer.

I almost put the dress back on the rack when I found it at the consignment store. I checked the label and even then still wondered if I like it enough to buy it for Hazel. And then I held it up to her little body. Sold. Totally. Why did I ever doubt its cuteness? It has a Western feel with it's ruffles and plaid and collar and pearl buttons and chest pockets...I put her in pink footless tights and a white long-sleeved onesie for church on Sunday. She was adorable wearing it to nursery!

I'll never say no to anything from Janie & Jack, just so every knows.