I sometimes go overboard when I find something I enjoy. The husband thinks I get obsessive, I just think I like to do everything at 100% and not half-ass anything :). So when I started stumbling across different deal sites, sweepstakes and contests online, I of course, had to enter them all. I was smart enough to set up a 2nd email address so Joel didn't have to sort through all the silly ones on our joint email account. Plus, then he doesn't know just how much I love the competition and thrill of possibly winning and beating "the man" by getting things for so cheap!
Lately, I seem to be pretty lucky! Between finding some smoking good deals and using coupons, I've been able to start getting Christmas presents early!
When I online shop, I go through Ebates. This site tracks all your online purchases and rewards you with cash back. It's as simple as going to their website first, then searching for the store you want to shop at, and clicking the link. By going through ebates first an then clicking the link from Ebates to the place you want to shop, you earn cash back. One of my favorites, Old Navy, offers 2-5% cashback on anything and everything. Amazon is 3%. My newest shopping addiction, Zulily, has 3.5% cashback. Once a quarter, they just send you a check. It's so easy.
I use Hip2Save to find all the best sales/deals/coupons. She posts everything for you, including the links to get them. This is also where I find most of my freebies that I get. I've gotten such a range of free stuff, including coffee mugs, make up bags, tons of product samples, tshirts, onesies, a 2 year subscription to Us Weekly, a 1 year subscription to ESPN the Magazine, and a 1 year subscription to Better Homes and Gardens. I've also gotten free coffee, cookies, candy, vitamins, the list goes on and on.
First, I won 100 k-cups, drinking mugs, an apron, and some biscotti mix. Then, I won a $500 gift certificate to my favorite cloth diaper store. Then, I won a handmade hat and scarf. Yesterday, I got an e-mail stating I'd won a $25 gift card from American Express.
Maybe I should play the lottery!
November 13, 2012
Birthday!
The cake was a hit, but she had more fun watching the candles and playing with the football rings that came on the cake. It was a little chaotic putting that many people in our little 3 bedroom ranch, but it was fun! I'm glad everyone made the trip up to see us and Tessa got spoiled rotten.
I loved watching her face everytime someone new arrived. Her face would just light up and she would run to the door and yell who was coming. "Papa Steve, Grandma Laura!!" "Nama HAM! PAPA SCOT!!!" Knowing everyone was there to see her just made her so happy and I loved seeing that glee on her face. Even some of Joel's friends and their families came, which was so cool.
Happy 2nd Birthday, Tessa Kelly. We love you and your wild spirit!
October 27, 2012
Petite
I like the word petite. It's better than small, short, tiny, little, etc. Plus, it describes my girls perfectly. It also happens to describe me, my mother, my sister, my aunt, and my grandma. I assume it also describes her mother, her mother's mother, and so on. Somewhere down the line, the petite gene was created and here we are. A whole family of petite girls.
We had Tessa's 2 year check up and Nora's 2 month check up this past Thursday.
Tessa is was 25.5 pounds (fully clothed) and 34 inches tall. That's 25th percentile for weight, right where she's been since birth. Her height was just under the 60th percentile, which was a little shorter than she had been previously. She had always hovered around the 75th percentile and was long and skinny, just like her dad. She seems to be tapering off in her height as of late. She's in 18-24 month clothes, but we usually wear 2T leggings and tights because her cloth diapers make her butt big. Old Navy makes these awesome jeans with adjustable waists so we can buy a 2T, which fit her in the length without her pants falling off.
Nora was 9lbs 15.5oz and 21.5 inches long. That puts her just under the 25th percentile for height and weight. She seems like a chunk but I guess she's little compared to what others are. She has started smiling and brings a whole new level of awesome baby with that development. She is just so easy and so content. She eats so well, taking 4oz of pumped milk or nursing 5-6 times per day. She's sleeping 10-12 hours at night (usually 9-7, 9-8ish) She's still wearing newborn clothes but those are getting pretty tight. The 3 month size is still a little big so we go back and forth. She loves to be swaddled, loves her swing, and loves the chances she gets to lay on the ground without fear of getting smushed by sister.
I never thought I'd be the parent that would just call my kids by a nickname instead of their actual name, but we've got some nicknames that are really starting to stick. Nora, for example, is "baby sister Nora Jean." Not Nora, not sister, it has to be the whole thing. Just ask Tess. Oh, I've been calling Tessa "Tess" pretty frequently. Tessa is also known as "goose". It started by asking her "Who's my baby goose?" I don't know why we ever got on the subject of baby geese but somehow Tessa is goose now.
We had Tessa's 2 year check up and Nora's 2 month check up this past Thursday.
Tessa is was 25.5 pounds (fully clothed) and 34 inches tall. That's 25th percentile for weight, right where she's been since birth. Her height was just under the 60th percentile, which was a little shorter than she had been previously. She had always hovered around the 75th percentile and was long and skinny, just like her dad. She seems to be tapering off in her height as of late. She's in 18-24 month clothes, but we usually wear 2T leggings and tights because her cloth diapers make her butt big. Old Navy makes these awesome jeans with adjustable waists so we can buy a 2T, which fit her in the length without her pants falling off.
Nora was 9lbs 15.5oz and 21.5 inches long. That puts her just under the 25th percentile for height and weight. She seems like a chunk but I guess she's little compared to what others are. She has started smiling and brings a whole new level of awesome baby with that development. She is just so easy and so content. She eats so well, taking 4oz of pumped milk or nursing 5-6 times per day. She's sleeping 10-12 hours at night (usually 9-7, 9-8ish) She's still wearing newborn clothes but those are getting pretty tight. The 3 month size is still a little big so we go back and forth. She loves to be swaddled, loves her swing, and loves the chances she gets to lay on the ground without fear of getting smushed by sister.
I never thought I'd be the parent that would just call my kids by a nickname instead of their actual name, but we've got some nicknames that are really starting to stick. Nora, for example, is "baby sister Nora Jean." Not Nora, not sister, it has to be the whole thing. Just ask Tess. Oh, I've been calling Tessa "Tess" pretty frequently. Tessa is also known as "goose". It started by asking her "Who's my baby goose?" I don't know why we ever got on the subject of baby geese but somehow Tessa is goose now.
October 13, 2012
Pawk
With having fewer and fewer warm days this fall, we have been taking full advantage of the park at the end of the block. Tessa always asks to go to the "pawk" and it easily wears her out for nap time, so one of us is usually happy to oblige. It's a cute little park with a couple swings, a slide, some climbing bars, and a teeter totter.
From the top of the slide, getting ready to go down.
She could swing all day if we let her. She likes to tell you to "push more, Mommy." She also makes sure there is an available swing next to hers because she wants you to swing with her. She's a bossypants already!
This was the first day she tried the teeter-totter. She wasn't really sure what to think of it, but after a few cycles of going up and down, she loved it. This is her new favorite, and she constantly asks us to "tee-totter".
October 10, 2012
Back When
A few days before I was set to deliver, my wonderful mother Pam, pictured below, came to visit with a plan: to make a plethora of meals that we can freeze and defrost post baby to ease supper time preparation!
We started with 8 pounds of hamburger meat, a rotisserie chicken, 3 pounds of ground ham, and a bunch of vegetables, spices, and sauces. After a long hard day of mixing, we had the following:
4 pans of homemade chicken and noodles, just needs to be reheated
4 pans of cavatelli
2 pans of spaghetti bake
3 pans of ham balls (pictured below, one of my favorite meals!)
3 pans of cheesy potatoes
double batch of chili
3 pounds of sloppy joe meat
I also got a fresh batch of cheese soup, another one of my favorite meals.
The woman is a saint, I tell ya. We're about halfway through our freezer meals, and I can't even begin to explain how great it is be able to run to the basement and grab a meal to defrost for dinner, especially while taking care of 2 little ones while Joel is at work. I can pop it in the oven without spending a lot of time in the kitchen.
Tessa can't be trusted alone in a room with Nora and Tessa isn't helpful in the kitchen, so this is just a huge relief for me. When Joel's home, I cook fresh meals. When I'm feeling even lazier than normal, we splurge on a Casey's pizza.
October 9, 2012
Busy, Busy
I apologize for the lack of posting. Life is busy with a newborn and a 2 year old! I can't get the time to update without Tessa trying to "help" me take care of Nora, which includes picking her up, giving her the pacifier, and trying to change her diaper. Tessa is adjusting very well, although we still have to constantly remind her that Nora is fragile and we need to be very careful. I can't believe in a couple short days, we'll have a 6 week old!
We decided to take month by month pictures of Nora like we did with Tess, so here's month one!
We have also determined that Nora looks much different than Tessa. Some of their facial expressions are the same, but their overall look is much different. Here is Tessa's one month picture for comparison.
.JPG)
We decided to take month by month pictures of Nora like we did with Tess, so here's month one!
.JPG)
This is Tessa at 4 weeks.
September 17, 2012
Nora is born Part 2
When we got back to the room, the nurses were asking me how I was feeling. I kept telling them that I was having pain around my belly button, and they said that was normal. But then it didn't go away, and didn't go away, and an hour later, I was still having pain. Quite a bit of pain, to be honest. I figured it was probably just normal c-section stuff but they couldn't figure out why the pain wasn't going away since I had a spinal and medication. Then we realized that anesthesia had left out the morphine when they did the spinal because I have an aversion to morphine. I was supposed to get a pain pump after surgery so I could control the amount going in, but that didn't get communicated at shift change.
Shortly after that realization, I got a pain pump and about 3 hours later, we got the pain subsided. The downside to morphine is that I get really nauseated and groggy. Cue those reactions, and I couldn't really keep my eyes open for most of the day. Finally by evening, the pain was subsided and I was able to get off the PCA and onto oral pain medication, which I do not have adverse reactions to. I still wasn't eating yet though.
At about 4am the next day, I was hungry, I wasn't nauseated anymore, and my lovely nurse (Tara!) let me eat peanut butter toast. BEST.MEAL.EVER. Seriously, I would've paid good money for that toast. It was amazing. Then, I ordered breakfast and ate a full breakfast at 7am. The rest of the stay was pretty uneventful. We had a few visitors on Friday and hung out, watching football and taking walks on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon we asked the nursery to do a carseat test for Nora, since we'd had problems with Tess. We figured it was just a precaution and would give us peace of mind. Then she failed, miserably. We'd always attested Tessa's troubles with her respiratory distress at birth. So we were pretty baffled and discouraged by Nora having the same trouble. She failed the carseat test too. Not how I was expecting that to go. The pediatrician came and looked at her and ruled out a few things immediately, finally got her oxygen saturation back to normal (for now) and wrote us a script for an APNEA monitor. Yup, we're doing that again.
Sunday morning we were discharged with an APNEA monitor, a carseat bed, and what equated to Round 2 of constant worrying about alarms in the night. Nora only needs to wear hers when we are sleeping, so just overnight. Tessa had hers on all the time for a few weeks, so we're a little better. But still, not what we were expecting.
We are home and doing quite well. The adjustment period for Tessa is difficult because she wants all the attention she used to get but also wants to help with Nora, even when we don't need help!
Shortly after that realization, I got a pain pump and about 3 hours later, we got the pain subsided. The downside to morphine is that I get really nauseated and groggy. Cue those reactions, and I couldn't really keep my eyes open for most of the day. Finally by evening, the pain was subsided and I was able to get off the PCA and onto oral pain medication, which I do not have adverse reactions to. I still wasn't eating yet though.
At about 4am the next day, I was hungry, I wasn't nauseated anymore, and my lovely nurse (Tara!) let me eat peanut butter toast. BEST.MEAL.EVER. Seriously, I would've paid good money for that toast. It was amazing. Then, I ordered breakfast and ate a full breakfast at 7am. The rest of the stay was pretty uneventful. We had a few visitors on Friday and hung out, watching football and taking walks on Saturday.
Saturday afternoon we asked the nursery to do a carseat test for Nora, since we'd had problems with Tess. We figured it was just a precaution and would give us peace of mind. Then she failed, miserably. We'd always attested Tessa's troubles with her respiratory distress at birth. So we were pretty baffled and discouraged by Nora having the same trouble. She failed the carseat test too. Not how I was expecting that to go. The pediatrician came and looked at her and ruled out a few things immediately, finally got her oxygen saturation back to normal (for now) and wrote us a script for an APNEA monitor. Yup, we're doing that again.
Sunday morning we were discharged with an APNEA monitor, a carseat bed, and what equated to Round 2 of constant worrying about alarms in the night. Nora only needs to wear hers when we are sleeping, so just overnight. Tessa had hers on all the time for a few weeks, so we're a little better. But still, not what we were expecting.
We are home and doing quite well. The adjustment period for Tessa is difficult because she wants all the attention she used to get but also wants to help with Nora, even when we don't need help!
September 12, 2012
Nora Jean
August 30, 2012. 7:38 am.
This is when we welcomed Nora Jean into our crazy world.
I was scheduled for a repeat c-section for 7:30. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 after a pit stop for a donut for Joel and a dozen for the nurses. We stopped at registration, then up to the floor we went. They were ready for us and showed us to Room 404, our home for the next 3 days. I signed a bunch of paperwork, got changed into a gown, and walked to the c-section area. Joel decided to stay in our room for another hour or so while they drew blood, an IV, and asked me a complete medical history.
At just shy of 7am, the anesthesiologist came in and I signed the paperwork for my spinal. Since I have a well documented history of nausea and vomiting during medication, I made sure to ask for an extra dose of anti-nausea medication and that they skip the morphine initially. They said no problem and they'd give me a PCA (pain pump) for meds after the c-section so I wasn't too bombarded during surgery.
Joel came back to the room at 7:10 and got dressed for surgery. I went into the room where they actually perform the surgery soon after and at about 7:20, they administered the spinal. I remember it hurting more last time and I was expecting the pain to be greater. Joel wasn't with me yet, so my doctor told me to squeeze his fingers as they inserted the needle (this will be the first of many "oh, I love my doctor" comments). With the spinal in, I was ready to lay down and get going.
They started the juice and brought Joel in. The catheter was placed, the dressing was laid, and we were rolling. They did a few test pricks to make sure I couldn't feel anything, and at 7:30 sharp, he made the incision. Joel and I both expected the surgery to take longer than it did, so we were both very surprised to hear, "Baby Girl, 7:38" followed by a newborn cry. Many people have asked me what my first thought was when I heard it was a girl (we were surprised with this one!) and honestly, my first thought was just sheer joy that she was crying. I was so happy to hear cries, something we didn't hear when Tessa was born.
Joel went to be with her and after a minute or two of them suctioning, she was brought to me. I got to say hi and give her kisses and then they took her off to complete some newborn screenings and Joel followed out of the room. I spent the next 30 minutes of the surgery chatting with the doctor and staff about random things. We talked about how bummed we were that the Yankees weren't doing well lately, how it was total crap that I had to do the employee wellness screening at 37 weeks pregnant and had very skewed results, and how the Cowboys are clearly superior to the Packers (that is still being debated between us).
By 8:10, I was in recovery and I immediately got to hold Nora Jean. One thing that was very important for me was the desire to try to breastfeed her right away. After I got to hold her and see her, I nursed her and was very happy that she latched right away with minimal effort. After a nursing session, the nurse took her back for a couple shots and by 8:45, we were heading back to our room!
Part 2 to follow. !
This is when we welcomed Nora Jean into our crazy world.
I was scheduled for a repeat c-section for 7:30. We arrived at the hospital at 5:30 after a pit stop for a donut for Joel and a dozen for the nurses. We stopped at registration, then up to the floor we went. They were ready for us and showed us to Room 404, our home for the next 3 days. I signed a bunch of paperwork, got changed into a gown, and walked to the c-section area. Joel decided to stay in our room for another hour or so while they drew blood, an IV, and asked me a complete medical history.
At just shy of 7am, the anesthesiologist came in and I signed the paperwork for my spinal. Since I have a well documented history of nausea and vomiting during medication, I made sure to ask for an extra dose of anti-nausea medication and that they skip the morphine initially. They said no problem and they'd give me a PCA (pain pump) for meds after the c-section so I wasn't too bombarded during surgery.
Joel came back to the room at 7:10 and got dressed for surgery. I went into the room where they actually perform the surgery soon after and at about 7:20, they administered the spinal. I remember it hurting more last time and I was expecting the pain to be greater. Joel wasn't with me yet, so my doctor told me to squeeze his fingers as they inserted the needle (this will be the first of many "oh, I love my doctor" comments). With the spinal in, I was ready to lay down and get going.
They started the juice and brought Joel in. The catheter was placed, the dressing was laid, and we were rolling. They did a few test pricks to make sure I couldn't feel anything, and at 7:30 sharp, he made the incision. Joel and I both expected the surgery to take longer than it did, so we were both very surprised to hear, "Baby Girl, 7:38" followed by a newborn cry. Many people have asked me what my first thought was when I heard it was a girl (we were surprised with this one!) and honestly, my first thought was just sheer joy that she was crying. I was so happy to hear cries, something we didn't hear when Tessa was born.
Joel went to be with her and after a minute or two of them suctioning, she was brought to me. I got to say hi and give her kisses and then they took her off to complete some newborn screenings and Joel followed out of the room. I spent the next 30 minutes of the surgery chatting with the doctor and staff about random things. We talked about how bummed we were that the Yankees weren't doing well lately, how it was total crap that I had to do the employee wellness screening at 37 weeks pregnant and had very skewed results, and how the Cowboys are clearly superior to the Packers (that is still being debated between us).
By 8:10, I was in recovery and I immediately got to hold Nora Jean. One thing that was very important for me was the desire to try to breastfeed her right away. After I got to hold her and see her, I nursed her and was very happy that she latched right away with minimal effort. After a nursing session, the nurse took her back for a couple shots and by 8:45, we were heading back to our room!
Part 2 to follow. !
August 27, 2012
Sassy pants
I know I've mentioned little miss Attitude before, but as she gets closer to her 2nd birthday and her vocabulary is growing, she is becoming so independent and so particular. She loves to help get dressed in the morning, loves to help do her hair, and especially loves to help cook and clean.
We've started giving her a couple of choices and letting her make the actual decisions herself. A choice of what kind of fruit, what kind of pajamas, and what shirt she wears. She loves to pick out her clothes in the morning, that's her favorite.
On this day, she really wanted to wear her 'pamingo' dress. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was 65 degrees that day. Luckily we were hanging out indoors for most of the day, because she loved wearing it. Plus, it was cute that she knew the animal (flamingo) and wanted to wear it.
She is obsessed with animals. She is not interested in letters or numbers (although she will repeat them and knows what comes next). We read her animal books over and over and over and over, etc. She likes to name the animal, make the sound they make, and give them huggies (hugs), even the books. We are starting a small stuffed animal zoo. So far it's a bee, a koala, 3 bears (pink, black, and brown), a giraffe, puppy named George, a kitty cat, and we just added a kangaroo and a joey. The picture below shows her excitement for her panda shirt.
This was also the day she got her big girl bed. That will be a separate post.
I even added a photo of me that doesn't include a triple chin. Most of them are awful these days as I am in my last few days as an uncomfortable pregnant lady.
We've started giving her a couple of choices and letting her make the actual decisions herself. A choice of what kind of fruit, what kind of pajamas, and what shirt she wears. She loves to pick out her clothes in the morning, that's her favorite.
On this day, she really wanted to wear her 'pamingo' dress. I didn't have the heart to tell her it was 65 degrees that day. Luckily we were hanging out indoors for most of the day, because she loved wearing it. Plus, it was cute that she knew the animal (flamingo) and wanted to wear it.
She is obsessed with animals. She is not interested in letters or numbers (although she will repeat them and knows what comes next). We read her animal books over and over and over and over, etc. She likes to name the animal, make the sound they make, and give them huggies (hugs), even the books. We are starting a small stuffed animal zoo. So far it's a bee, a koala, 3 bears (pink, black, and brown), a giraffe, puppy named George, a kitty cat, and we just added a kangaroo and a joey. The picture below shows her excitement for her panda shirt.
This was also the day she got her big girl bed. That will be a separate post.
I even added a photo of me that doesn't include a triple chin. Most of them are awful these days as I am in my last few days as an uncomfortable pregnant lady.
August 23, 2012
One week
One week from today, I will have a 22 month old and a baby that is 12 hours old. We will be a family of 4. From two teenagers 11 years ago on our first date, to a married couple and parents of 2 children.
One week from today, I will have a newborn. My body will shrink some, but will be taken over by the demands of nursing a newborn, eating around the clock.
One week from today, I will have a son or another daughter. Either a Colby James or a Norah Jean.
One week from today, Tessa will be a big sister. She will become either friends with a little sister or the protective older sister to a little brother.
One week from today, I will have a fresh incision from a repeat c-section. I will be having trouble moving.
One week from today, I hope to be chowing down on some delicious greasy food without fear of heartburn sneaking up on me.
One week from today, we will go from a zone defense to man-to-man.
One week from tomorrow, I will indulge in my first grande pumpkin spice latte of the season, fully caffeinated, probably with whole milk and whipped cream just because I can.
One week from today, I will have a newborn. My body will shrink some, but will be taken over by the demands of nursing a newborn, eating around the clock.
One week from today, I will have a son or another daughter. Either a Colby James or a Norah Jean.
One week from today, Tessa will be a big sister. She will become either friends with a little sister or the protective older sister to a little brother.
One week from today, I will have a fresh incision from a repeat c-section. I will be having trouble moving.
One week from today, I hope to be chowing down on some delicious greasy food without fear of heartburn sneaking up on me.
One week from today, we will go from a zone defense to man-to-man.
One week from tomorrow, I will indulge in my first grande pumpkin spice latte of the season, fully caffeinated, probably with whole milk and whipped cream just because I can.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)