Purpose Baby Shower

On Saturday, two sweet friends from my ABF completely blessed Michel, Audrey, and me by throwing a precious baby shower for us. Carissa and Kristin, my two hostesses, decorated my house beautifully with owls and pink and gray decorations.

We had decided to do the shower at 10:00 in the morning, so our spread of food was brunch-themed. I love breakfast food! We munched on yummy breakfast casserole, mini cinnamon rolls, chocolate-filled pastries, fruit skewers, and strawberry-lemon cake. It was delicious. The hostesses covered my island with gray and white wrapping paper. All of their creative touches just made the shower that much more special!

Rather than playing a game, our guests were asked to do a craft and make headbands for Audrey. Here's our headband-making station:

I did an action shot of the first few guests starting their headband-making fun!

More guests making headbands:

The finished products!! I can't wait to put a cute headband on my little girl's head :)

Michel, Audrey, and I are so blessed by all of the gifts that our friends gave us! Words can't express how appreciative we are for everything that our friends and family have done for us. 

Thank you Kristin and Carissa for everything you did to make the shower so special for me. I am so thankful for both of your friendships!

CVS Savings

I went shopping at CVS this afternoon, and was so excited about what I bought, how much I spent, and how much I saved!! Today I did 2 transactions to really cut down on my out of pocket cost.

Transaction #1:

4 Johnson & Johnson baby powder; 3 Johnson & Johnson shampoos/body washes; 1 Aveeno baby lotion; 3 Destin diaper rash creams

Transaction #2:

4 bottles of Tide liquid laundry detergent

So, my total for everything in both transactions should have cost me $77.20. However, for both transactions together I only paid $34.26!!! That's a savings of 57%! Here's how I did it:

Transaction #1:
Spend $50 on Johnson & Johnson baby products and earn $20 in Extra Care Bucks (ECB)
Buy 4 baby powder at $4.29 each = $17.16
Buy 3 baby washes at $4.79 each = $14.13
Buy 1 Aveeno baby lotion $3.99
Buy 3 Destin baby creams at $5.49 each = $16.47
Total = $51.75
Use 4 $1/1 baby powder coupons
Use 2 $1/1 baby wash coupon
Use 1 $0.50 off any Johnson & Johnson baby coupon
Use $1/1 any Aveeno baby product coupon
Use 3 $1/1 any Destin baby cream coupon
Use $5 ECB from last week
Use $5 off any baby purchase of $25 or more (CVS Magic coupon machine coupon!!)
Pay $33.48 out of pocket
Earn $20 ECB!

Transaction #2:
Spend $20 on Tide, P&G products, etc. earn $5 ECB
Buy 4 Tide free and gentle (for baby laundry) at $5.99 each = $23.86
Use $3/3 Tide coupon
Use $20 ECB from Transaction #1
Pay $0.86 out of pocket!!!

Not too shabby.... :)

Baby Bump Week 33

How far along are you? 33 weeks

How are you measuring? Exactly where I should be

How big is your baby? Our last sonogram showed that she was about 14 inches long and weighed about 3.5 pounds (but that was at 31 weeks). According to babybump.com she's about the size of a pineapple - 17 inches long and about 4 pounds.

What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? Her skeleton is hardening

Heartbeat: 150 bpm

Total weight gain/loss: +25.4 according to my scale at home. 

Maternity clothes: 100% in maternity clothes except for a very few things that I only wear around the house. 

Stretch marks: I still have the same 3, but I don't even care anymore. If they appear, they appear.

Sleep: It changes from day to day. Sometimes I sleep great and other nights I don't. I seriously wake up in the night every 2 hours to go to the bathroom. Is she preparing me for getting up to feed her?? :)

Best moment this week: The wonderful baby shower that my sweet friends from church threw for me! Michel, Audrey, and I were so blessed by the outpouring of love we were shown by our friends; also celebrating my hubby's 29th birthday!

Movement: Her movement REALLY picked up this week! Sometimes she's moving so much I can't sleep! I'd rather have her move too much than not enough though so I'm not complaining. I love feeling her kick, roll, hiccup, and stretch :)

Food cravings: Dr. Pepper out of the fountain (not a can). I love it! And I do drink a TON of water, but it has to be ice water, or cold. Room temperature water will not cut it. Most days I probably drink 80-100 oz. of water a day because I feel thirsty! Maybe this is why I wake up every 2 hours to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night?? 

Gender: A sweet girl! Audrey Grace Zoutendam :) 

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, sleeping comfortably, not having heartburn - notice this doesn't change from week to week...I really do miss it all!

What I'm looking forward to: We're going to Longview on Tuesday for our niece's 5th birthday party, and then we're going back to Longview on Friday and Saturday to see Michel's parents and his grandfather before I'm no longer able to travel that far away.

How are you feeling: All things considered - really good! This week I've had random leg cramps in the top of my left inner thigh. I'll be walking and then my leg just cramps up out of nowhere! It's weird...

Also, I'm still having issues with my feet swelling. It hasn't happened daily, but if I'm on my feet a lot, or if I'm sitting a lot they swell. If I lay with my feet up, they're fine. I can also get the swelling to go down by laying with my feet up, so they always start the day at normal size, but depending on what I've done that day depends on if my feet swell or not. Only 7 more weeks, though.... :)

Audrey's Nursery

Janette and I finished her nursery last weekend, but I wanted to wait until after the shower my church friends were throwing for me so that there would be an element of surprise about it :)

All that I had in the nursery prior to Janette getting here was the crib with the bumper in it, but no padding in the bumper, the cube shelf, the rocking chair with the owl pillow, and the dresser/changing table. All of the accessories were bought at Hobby Lobby. I had seen an owl lamp there that I thought about buying, so I wanted to show Janette and see what she thought. After we saw it, we both decided it wasn't the right look for the room, but did find this cute polka dot lamp that would look precious in there!

We kept shopping and totally hit the jackpot! We found that white shelf WITH the boxes included, the little picture frame with the owls, and all of the pictures that make up this picture collage (including the one in the middle). I just love how everything looks so clean and crisp!

This rocking chair was an awesome deal at Wal-Mart, and the pink is a slip cover! When baby #2 comes along we can change colors if we need to, and not buy a new chair! Also, a better view of the side table.

AUDREY was bought at First Monday a few months ago

This "A" was unfinished wood, also bought at First Monday, that I painted last weekend

My accomplice :) 

Always wanting to see what we're doing....though here he looks like he could care less :)

Our day of nursery decorating was productive and fun, and a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders since it is done. Thanks for all of your help, Janette!!

Weekend Fun!

Last Thursday, my sister and her 2 kids came to our house to spend a long weekend with us. Janette was going to help me finish off Audrey's nursery, but that only took one day. The rest of the weekend was all about having some fun!

They got to our house around 5ish on Thursday evening, so there wasn't much to do except help them get settled in, let the kids watch some TV (we had recorded some good kid shows that we knew that they loved to watch), and then make dinner. The kids started out sitting on the couch, but when Michel decided to sit on the floor they quickly moved beside him. It's so sweet to see how much they love him!

The next day was what we were all looking forward to! We were going to hang out at our pool! Karys has never been a huge lover of the pool. When she was almost a year old, we all went to San Antonio for a small vacation. We went to the pool in the hotel and she didn't cry, but she didn't look like she was having a lot of fun. The summer that she turned 2, Michel and I were married but living in an apartment in Allen. Everyone came over to splash in our pool, but Karys HATED it! She cried when we put her in the pool. But ever since she turned 3, she has liked the pool more and more. And this summer she had just finished up swimming lessons, so she was much more confident in the pool. She doesn't love being submerged or having water in her face, but she's building up to it. We had told her that we were going to the pool and she and Zane both were really excited about it! We had originally planned on going in the afternoon, but the kids woke up early and we had all eaten breakfast by about 9:00 or so, so Janette suggested we just get dressed and go to the pool early. It turned out to be the best idea because that afternoon it was raining and thundering, and we wouldn't have been able to go if we had waited. Another plus to going early was that we were the only ones there! At one point a man came with his 2 girls, but they didn't stay that long. By the time we got out of the pool around 11 or so, more people were starting to come to the pool, but we were done so who cared? :)

Anyways, at the pool Karys showed Michel and I what she had learned. Here she is showing off how she learned to monkey walk around the pool. Look at that big smile! No more fears of water for this one :)

Awww...I didn't take any pictures of Karys jumping off the side and into the pool, but she did that quite a bit. When we first got to the pool, Zane wasn't too sure about the big pool. He kept wanting to go to the little pool, or as he says it "the lillul tiny pool". He also made Michel carry him because he was afraid he'd fall down (he kept saying "I no like the heavy pool. I fall down") I did get a cute picture of him with Michel in the pool, though. 

After watching all the fun Karys was having in the pool, Zane got brave and decided that he wanted to jump in like his big sister. Finally, the big pool is a hit with both of them!!

Our time at the pool was awesome exercise for the kids! They had developed a game of throwing one of their floaties into the pool, jumping to one of us, and then swimming to go get it. Oh, and they had to climb out of the pool by themselves. Needless to say, as soon as we ate lunch, Janette put them down for their quiet time and Zane fell asleep right away and slept for about 3 hours. Karys looked at books in her bed for a few minutes before falling asleep for about 2 hours. My goal is always that we do stuff with them that is so fun it just wears them out. I think we succeeded! 

Saturday was our work day. We had already set it up with my parents for the kids to spend the day at their house so Janette and I could work on nursery stuff. Michel had to work on Saturday, too, so it all worked out perfectly. Once the kids were off with Nana and Granddaddy, Janette and I made a list of what I wanted to get done. It included painting a wooden letter "A" that I had bought at First Monday a couple of months back, sewing the batting into the crib bumper, organizing, and buying a few accessories. The accessories had actually been last on my to-do list, but I am so glad that we made time for them - they are what make the nursery look adorable! I absolutely love how the nursery looks (a blog post with pictures will be coming this weekend!) My parents brought the kids back around 8:30 or 9:00 that night and as soon as they were in the house Zane ran and found his swim trunks and wanted to put them on and go swimming. Yes! They are now fans of the pool! We promised them that we would swim after church the next day. :)

So on Sunday we all got up and went to Sunday School and worship. How cute do they look?? 

As soon as we were back at the house Karys got into her swimsuit right away. We were not moving fast enough for them - they were dying to get to the pool, and I love it! I could seriously stay in the pool all day and never tire of it! My parents came back again, too, to see how much the kids love the pool now. At one point Zane was just jumping off the side of the pool regardless of if the person was ready for him or not, so he kept us on our toes (he didn't like wearing his floaties as much as Karys did). Then  when my dad was ready to catch him he said, "I do it by myself". Janette had to tell him if he wasn't wearing his floaties he couldn't do it by himself :) Someone got a little TOO confident and comfortable in the pool! We stayed out at the pool for several hours, had a pizza delivered to the pool, and just had some fun before we had to say good-bye :( 

We had so much fun, and I am so thankful to all the help that Janette gave me with Audrey's nursery! I can't wait to show it off at my church shower this weekend, and post pictures for everyone to see! 

CVS Savings!

2 pkgs Huggies diapers, CVS brand paper towels, 2 pkgs Schick disposable razors, a birthday card (not pictured), and CVS brand chewable antacids (not pictured). I paid $10.98 for everything!

I went to CVS today and was so excited about my purchases! Now that I'm not working and have time I've remembered how much I really like couponing! I like seeing how much product I can get for as little money as possible. It's becoming like a game to me :)

Here's a breakdown of what I got and how:

Spend $15 on select Huggies products and earn $5 ECB
Huggies diapers sale $9.99 each
I bought 2 for $19.98 total
Used 2 $3/1 Huggies coupon
Pay $13.98 out of pocket (OOP)

Schick disposable razors Buy 1 Get 1 50% off
1 pkg razors = $9.99; 2nd pkg = $4.99
Total = $14.98
Used B1G1 free coupon
Pay $4.98 OOP

CVS brand paper towels on sale $0.79
Used $0.79 off CVS brand paper towels coupon
Paid $0.00 OOP!

CVS brand chewable antacids $4.29
No sale or coupon for this purchase :( Just needed some relief from pregnancy-induced heartburn

Birthday card $3.99
Again, no sale or coupon for this...but I did find the perfect birthday card for Michel (his birthday is Friday)

Total before coupons, but after sales = $44.03
Total after coupons = 27.24
Used 20% off entire purchase coupon (from CVS e-mail)
Used $15 ECB that I had from previous purchases

Total out of pocket cost = $10.98!

I also have $5 ECB to use towards my next shopping trip at CVS. I love this store!! 

Baby Bump Week 32

How far along are you? 32 weeks = 8 MONTHS PREGNANT!!! Where has the time gone??

How are you measuring? Perfectly! Just went to the OB and she was so happy with everything she saw

How big is your baby? Our last Wednesday sonogram showed that she was about 14 inches long and weighed about 3.5 pounds

What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? According to babycenter.com I'm gaining about a pound a week and about half of that is going to baby to help her fatten up to survive life outside of the womb. Fingernails and toenails are completely formed, and hair/peachfuzz has developed on the head (at our sonogram the dr. said he could see where she had hair on her head already!). Her skin is softening up and smoothing out as well.

Heartbeat: 150 bpm

Total weight gain/loss: My scale: +24; doctor's scale +18??? How are we so different?? I'm counting from what I know I weighed at Christmas before I knew that I was pregnant. When I first went for my 6-7 week appointment I was already up like 2 pounds from before Christmas, but that still doesn't account for a 6 pound difference. Oh well...she thinks I'm still on track for a 30 pound weight gain altogether; I think I'm on track for more of a 35 pound weight gain...either way Baby and I are growing and healthy and that's all that matters!

Maternity clothes: 100% in maternity clothes except for a very few things that I only wear around the house. 

Stretch marks: I still have the same 3, but I don't even care anymore. If they appear, they appear.

Sleep: It changes from day to day. Sometimes I sleep great and other nights I don't.

Best moment this week: Having my sister, niece, and nephew stay with us from Thursday-Sunday! Thanks to my sister's help, our nursery is completely ready to go, and we did it all in one day! The other 3 days they were here we just had a lot of fun!

Movement: According to babycenter.com by now I should know her sleepy periods of day and her active periods of day - but she doesn't know that she should be following a schedule like that. Her pattern of movement is kick, roll, and move like crazy for about 3-4 days in a row (with random periods of short rest), and then she barely moves for 2 days while she's recovering from her 3-4 days of partying :)

Food cravings: Dr. Pepper out of the fountain (not a can). I love it! And I do drink a TON of water, but it has to be ice water, or cold. Room temperature water will not cut it. Most days I probably drink 80-100 oz. of water a day because I feel thirsty! 

Gender: A sweet girl! Audrey Grace Zoutendam :) 

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, sleeping comfortably, not having heartburn

What I'm looking forward to: My friends at church are throwing me a baby shower this weekend! I can't wait to show off our nursery and celebrate the upcoming arrival of our sweet girl!

How are you feeling: All things considered - really good! I have your typical pregnancy complaints: heartburn, hip pain while sleeping (only sometimes), leg cramps, and my feet have started swelling this weekend. They start out pretty normal-sized when I wake up, but by the end of the day they're pretty swollen. It's not pretty... :)

Baby Bump Week 31

How far along are you? 31 weeks

How are you measuring? She's a small one! The doctor said she's in the 25%ile, and has always measured on the small side. 

How big is your baby? Our Wednesday sonogram showed that she was about 14 inches long and weighed about 3.5 pounds

What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? Her body is starting to accumulate fat

Heartbeat: It was jumping around from about 128-171 bpm (128 was when she wasn't moving and staying still; it jumped into the 160s-170s when she started moving around)

Total weight gain/loss: +22.4 lbs

Maternity clothes: 100% in maternity clothes except for a very few things that I only wear around the house. In fact, the clothes in my picture are not maternity, but they were already loose-fitting

Stretch marks: I still have the same 3, but I don't even care anymore. If they appear, they appear.

Sleep: What is this??? Some days (like last night) I sleep really good! Other nights I get awful leg cramps, and my hips hurt that I don't sleep more than 4-5 hours. Sorry for the complaining!

Best moment this week: Seeing our baby during the sonogram and hearing that she is still growing and healthy!

Movement: Her movement is so easy to detect, and I can tell when she has her butt pressed against my belly. She's definitely a baby who parties and goes crazy for a day and then needs a day or two to recover and then sleeps a lot!

Food cravings: Dr. Pepper out of the fountain (not a can). I love it!

Gender: A sweet girl! Audrey Grace Zoutendam :) 

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, sleeping comfortably, not having heartburn

What I'm looking forward to: My sister, niece, and nephew are coming to stay with us later this week!!

How are you feeling: I'm a little tired today. It's a rainy, cool, Sunday afternoon and I'm feeling a nap in my future :)

Busy Baby Day!

Today was a busy day of doing baby things, but all fun baby things! First, I have to start by saying I had my first massive hot flash today! In the car on the way to the hospital, I just got SOOO hot. We had the air blowing, but it was not turned on as high as it could go, so I cranked up the air and pulled my hair off my neck, and was sweating. Michel, who is always hot when I'm shivering, told me that by the time we got to the hospital he was cold. That's so backwards for us!

Anyways, we had an admissions appointment at Medical City. I really just answered questions about my medical history that the L&D staff will need to be aware of. However, we arrived at the hospital early, so after a quick restroom stop (story of my life!) we visited the nursery to look at the cute little babies who had just been born! There were 2 sleeping in the window, and they were precious! I just can't wait until Audrey is the one in the nursery and it's our friends and family gathered in the window looking at her!

Once we finished with our admissions appointment we had enough time to go down the road and grab some lunch from Chick-Fil-A. Then we headed back to Medical City for a sonogram. Ever since my gender sono, I've gone back every 6 weeks because I had a low-lying placenta. They wanted to make sure that it was not going to be a problem for a vaginal delivery, so they've been looking at where it went, and today it had moved above her head (where it needed to be) and was completely away from the cervix, so as of now, I should be able to have a vaginal delivery. They want to do one more sonogram in the middle of August to check her positioning. I wasn't expecting this many sonograms during this pregnancy, but I really haven't minded seeing my baby so often!

The sonogram was the part of my day I was most looking forward to! I like being reassured that she's growing and developing as she should, her heartrate is still where it should be, etc. So we heard nothing but good news today! She's most definitely still a girl (we got a very clear picture), her heart, lungs, kidneys, and brain were all functioning as they should, we could see where she was swallowing and the doctor said that this is the first step of her practicing breathing on her own (I think the swallowing is what he was talking about - I don't remember for sure). Whatever it was, there was something she was doing that the doctor said was her practicing breathing on her own which is a great developmental step. He also gave us her measurements. She currently weighs in at 3.5 pounds and is about 14 inches long. The doctor predicts she'll weigh closer to 7 pounds at birth rather than 8! I have been secretly hoping for a smaller baby the entire time. Zoutendam babies are known for being big - Michel weighed over 7 pounds at birth and he was 4 weeks early! His brother weighed over 8 pounds at birth and he was 2 weeks early! The doctor said that Audrey has always measured on the small side, but still in the normal range, so she will most likely be a petite baby. Oh, and she is still measuring correctly for her Sept. 15th due date. Despite what her size will be at birth, my prayers have been answered all along when we get reports that she is growing and developing like she should be, and she is a healthy little baby. Only 9 1/2 weeks until we get to meet her!!

It's Time for a Change....

...to the blog, that is! I've had the same background and picture on the blog from the time I started this in 2011 and I decided it was finally time for a change!

It's been so long since I last changed my blog that I can't remember how to change the text/color. I had chosen a different background last night, but since my text color is a light brown you couldn't read it, so I chose a different one this afternoon. People who are more blog-savvy than I am...how do you change the text/color of your blog?

Baby Bump Week 30

How far along are you? 30 weeks

How are you measuring? Right on track!! I get a sonogram done on Wednesday and I'm excited to see our little girl again!

How big is your baby? According to Babycenter.com Audrey is almost 3 pounds and about 16 inches long. I should know more for sure on Wednesday after our sonogram

What major developments is your baby undergoing this week? Her eyesight is developing, and will continue to do so after birth. Apparently at birth babies have vision of about 20/400....eesh we all look like blurry blobs to newborns :)

Heartbeat: I don't know what the exact beats per minute were, but my OB told me it sounded really good! 

Total weight gain/loss: +21 lbs

Maternity clothes: 100% in maternity clothes except for a very few things that I only wear around the house. I actually went to Wal-Mart earlier this week and bought regular clothes (cotton tank tops and shorts) that are a size or two bigger than what I normally wear. It was way cheaper than buying maternity.

Stretch marks: I still have the same 3, but I don't even care anymore. If they appear, they appear.

Sleep: It really changes day by day. Some days I sleep pretty good; other days not so much. Oh, and my arm tends to go to sleep which is really uncomfortable! On Wednesday of this past week we went to the Rangers game and stayed the night at a hotel in the area, and they had the MOST comfy down pillows that I've ever slept on. I slept so good that night and loved it so much that Michel actually ordered one for me to have at home. He's so thoughtful!

Best moment this week: Going to the Ranger's game and having another small getaway by staying at a hotel in Arlington

Movement: Her movement picked up big time this week! I'm starting to be able to tell where body parts are, too!

Food cravings: Nothing really

Gender: A sweet girl! Audrey Grace Zoutendam :) 

What I miss: Sleeping on my stomach, sleeping comfortably, and eating raw cookie dough (I made cookies on Friday and really wanted some cookie dough), not having heartburn (it started up again this week)

What I'm looking forward to: Getting some more house decorations in place (we're going to IKEA on Tuesday)

How are you feeling: All things considered, I'm feeling good!