Birth Announcement!

Our little boy was born on July 16th. We are all doing very well and having the most fantastic time.

It was a scary birth in the end. After a fantastic labor, we had an emergency c-section because his heart rate was falling dangerously with the contractions. It turned out his cord was coming out first. We are so thankful for good medical care right now.

I will send out an email to those who sent me their addresses, but it may be a week or so. We are having a lovely week off together as a family, and the c-section recovery is definitely slowing me down a bit. But I wanted to share our wonderful news, and say thank you again for your prayers.

Best wishes to all!

Good News, Not Quite So Good News, and Blogging

The good news - my husband passed his dissertation defense! We are thrilled. I am so thankful that this is finally done, and before the baby arrives.

The not quite so good news - I'm not quite on bedrest, but approaching it. I'm having too many contractions if I do too much. Fortunately, I have been able to keep it under control by resting, and haven't needed any nasty drugs or a hospital stay. Hopefully it will stay that way!

This is forcing me to take prioritizing to a whole new level and to outsource some things I can't do anymore. I've hired out the cleaning and I'm ordering more things - including groceries - online. It's quite a change, but I think the experience may be useful as I consider what is best in the future.

Now to blogging - if I honestly consider my priorities, where does blogging fall? It has to fall very low on the list. It is fun, I do enjoy being part of the community. But I've got tons of things I've been meaning to write about for six months and haven't gotten to. I've got even more real life tasks I want or need to do. Finishing the PhD project has just given us more energy for our other endeavors - things that will truly build a better future for our family. It doesn't seem right to write about spending time and money well, and yet have that writing actually be an example of the opposite.

So I think I must do what I know is best and spend my time on other, more important things. I'm going to leave the blog up for the time being, and will certainly let you all know when the baby arrives safely. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your prayers and well wishes through this pregnancy. I'm still reading blogs, so it's not like I'm disappearing entirely. Who knows, maybe I will change my mind and come back to it in the future. With the exception of posting about his birth, I definitely plan to take now through the first few months of the baby's arrival off.

Anyway, best wishes to all. I will see you around. :)

Best Buys of Last Week

I got a couple good deals last week. It was something fun to do while my husband finished writing his dissertation! :)

Walgreens

First, they paid me a dollar to take home some toothpaste - it was free after Register Rewards and I had a dollar coupon. Then I picked up my free 8 x10 photo (used a coupon code to order online). I also picked up a card for a wedding we attended over the weekend and some store brand Tums - both very much needed. This used up the Register Rewards immediately. Normally I like rolling them into the next week, but given our somewhat unpredictable life right now, I'm trying to just spend them on things I need anyway, right away.

CVS

I did the cereal deal, where three cereals (Special K was my choice) were $5 after ECBs. I also had two $1 off coupons, so this made it a dollar a box (could have been better if I had printed out the right third coupon - oops). I also picked up the free toothpaste (after ECBs) that they were offering. I immediately spent the ECBs on Mother's Day cards for our moms, and a package of baby wipes - on sale with a coupon they were a great deal.

Hallmark

I also needed a Mother's Day card for my grandmother. That one I picked up for free online using a coupon code I learned about at moneysavingmom.com.

The deals mostly don't look quite as exciting for this week, at first glance, but I'm going to see what I can come up with. I am enjoying doing a little stocking up with drugstore items and as I food shop. I hope I can make it so we don't need to buy too much when the baby first arrives.

Another Little Break...

I feel I am being totally inconsistent with posting here, but my life is pretty inconsistent right now too. The next few days the computer will be used almost exclusively by my husband, and hopefully at the end of that time his doctoral dissertation and defense presentation slides will be DONE!! The defense is about two weeks, so it will be good to be finished in advance.

So I'll see you next week. If you have a moment, pray for us that all will go well. This has been a long time coming through some really hard years.

I can barely imagine life in a few months - a healthy baby out here with us, and a husband who comes home and doesn't have to spend weeknights and Saturdays writing. I can't wait!

Diapers...

So far, I've stocked up on disposables as I have seen excellent sales - my most recent purchase was Huggies for less than $4 a pack. Not only am I happy to get these good deals now, and spread out my spending on baby items, I think it will be great to have a supply in the house - no need to run out and buy them.

We are generally into environmentally friendly choices and seriously considered cloth, but my primary support people (MIL and SIL) and REALLY not into doing cloth. I know I will want the help, so I figured I might as well go with the convenience and just do disposable. Also, from some of what I have read, it is unclear whether cloth, which require a lot of resources in washing, are actually better for the environment than disposables.

But I was reminded the other day of what I had originally wanted to use - gDiapers. These seemed like the perfect balance between the convenience of disposable (the icky part breaks up and flushes) and cloth (reusable outside part). Someone I know is using them and just loves them. So I am tempted to give them a try.

As I mentioned this to my husband yesterday, I remembered the other reason we had opted to go with disposable - we only have a bathroom on the second floor. I plan to have a diaper changing station (part of the pack and play) downstairs in my living room, to make life easier. I'm not sure planning to have to go upstairs for every diaper change is a good plan - especially given my increased C-section odds.

Right now, I'm going to keep looking for good disposable deals - I'm sure we'll use them when we're out, and perhaps overnight, even if we do try the gDiapers for regular use. Any thoughts from the more experienced moms on this? I know this is an issue people have strong feelings about - don't worry, you can't offend me on this!

Giant - Double $1 Coupons

This week's Giant flyer came with four $1 coupon doubler coupons. You can use each of these plus a $1 manufacturer's coupon to get $2 off an item. This can be a great opportunity to pick up free or near free items.

The details: "With any purchase of $15 or more (after all discounts have been subtracted and before sales tax has been added, where applicable.) Limit one item per manufacturer's coupon. Coupon excludes tobacco products, lottery tickets, milk and pharmacy items. Limit 4 coupons per household." This promotion goes from May 3 through May 9.

There is sometimes variation among Giant stores, so it is possible this promotion will not be this week at your Giant.

Losing My Fear of the Sewing Machine

I've always thought being able to sew was a good and useful skill to have. My mother made sure I had basic hand sewing skills, and certainly let me try her machine - but somehow the machine and I never got a long well. My sister has had trouble with it too, so I'll hope it's not just me. I've made a few things over the years - mainly simple curtains and even a very basic dress once. But it's always something I have felt uneasy about trying - not at all sure I'll succeed.

Last year, one of our good friends moved to Europe and left us many of his electric appliances, figuring they probably wouldn't last too long with the difference in electricity there (he was right - the few things he took burned out fast despite being good quality). This included an old sewing machine he had inherited from an aunt and seldom used. So now, instead of borrowing my mom's sewing machine, which doesn't like me anyway, I can use his equally old but somehow much more friendly machine. So far I've done just a few little projects, but I have had absolutely no problems with it.

First, I made a little pillow to support my pregnant tummy. I already had the fabric (actually recycled from an old piece of clothing) and the stuffing, and I like the small size - the ones you can buy in the store are pretty big. The fabric I picked goes with our bedding, so I actually leave it out as an extra little decorative pillow too.

Next, I decided to use up more cloth from recycled clothing and some of the dried lavender I've had for way too long. I guess I must have stored it well, because it still smells wonderful. I made little sachets for our bed, and it really does help make our bedroom even more relaxing. Natural scents are definitely the best.

Inspired by Anne Marie's plans to work on using her craft supplies (rather than buying more), I'm going to try to do the same this month. I need to make some pillowcases for the daybed in the baby's room. I need to finish our travel scrapbooks - I'll need some new supplies for this, but will do what I can with what I have first. I am gradually working on my painting skills (mostly oils and acrylics), and I have lots of supplies I can use for that stuff. I've had some oil pastels sitting around for a while that I haven't really given a fair try - definitely on the list for this month. I have fabric for at least two simple skirts, which I really should make as soon as possible. (Edited to add - I keep forgetting the baby blanket I really want to have done before the baby gets here. It is a beautiful - but slow - cable knit pattern. I really need to get going on that too!)

I definitely feel like I'm slowing down a little as I approach 30 weeks, so staying home more and having fun with what I already have is just my speed!