A new start

*sigh* It's been a while, huh? I havent posted in almost two years! I guess I should start with why I stopped. I just was going through on of THE hardest times of my life. I was pregnant, My husband had lost his job and had no prospects, I was STRESSED! I realized that the blog I started to share my thoughts and use as an outlet had become yet another stress. I had started trying so hard to make blogging buddies that it started to just feel like high school. So, why come back? I miss it! I miss having a sounding board. There are things I just can't say on facebook, ya know?! So much has happened in the past year. Things are better financially and I feel like I can breathe, Levi joined our family and we moved to Utah. Details to follow. Good to be back!

Wee bit of me

{one} do you always wear your seatbelt in the car?
Yep

{two} do you crack your knuckles?
No. I absolutely hate it when other people do. It turns my stomach!

{three} what is your favorite flavor of gum?
I'm not a gum person. Only chew it when my breath needs a fresher, so any mint will do.

{four} what is your favorite piece of jewelry that you own?
My dragonfly necklace. It's magic. ;)

{five} who is your best friend?
my hubby. ♥

{six} what is your favorite smell?
Depends. Spring:fresh flowers or grass. Summer: fruity scents. Fall: Pumpkin pie and cider. Christmas: cinnamon


{seven} what is your favorite lunch meat?
Boars head oven roast turkey


{eight} do you still have your tonsils?
yes.

{nine} do you untie your shoes before you take them off?
not usually.

{ten} what color is your car?
silver

Link up and share!

My new addiction

I'm getting SOO into couponing! I'm really starting to get the hang of it so it's not so time consuming AND I'm getting better deals. Thanks to Jenny's help!

I'm so into it that when it's an item we use A LOT I buy extra coupons on Ebay. How crazy am I?! Example: Mike loves gum. He especially likes the Dentyne canisters because the fit into a cupholder in the car and are easily accessed. They are around $3 each though, that gets expensive. So, last week, they were B1G1 at Publix. I bought 20 $1/off coupons on Ebay for 1.43 inc shipping Which enabled me to buy 20 canisters of gum for $4.23 including the cost of coupons!!!

Then, Harris Teeter ran Super Doubles last week, meaning every coupon up to 1.98 was doubled. I don't shop there unless it's super doubles because they are SO expensive, but I went twice this week and was SUPER happy with the results...

Trip #1 (they limit you to 20 coupons a day)

All for $25.77!!

Trip #2 My best yet.

Grand total... $3.43!!!!! Even with the Bounce bar! :D

I know, I'm lame. It feels so good to do something that helps our family though. I only get things we use. With the exception of those pizza rolls. They were free. Threw em in the freezer for food storage. ;)

Scares, Prayers and Cares

I'm actually posting. Wow. I haven't had the time or energy lately to even attempt a post. Ok, that's not entirely true. I did start a few but stopped because they were whiny and depressing. Which I'm not promising this won't be. I'm so ready for February to end. I need a new month. A fresh start. Warmer weather.

I've had a rough 2 weeks. 2 trips to the ER with abdominal pain. No, not, round ligament pain. It was really high and quite intense. Yesterday I went because it had gotten so bad since Sunday that I was crying and I have a pretty high pain tolerance. Plus, I hadn't felt the baby move in 24 hours. Which, at 18 weeks, still isn't very regular, but I still wanted to be absolutely sure everything was ok.

So, yesterday morning we took Abby to MDO and headed straight to the hospital. Mike took me up to OB and got me settled but had a pretty big job interview that I insisted he go to, so I was on my own. I love the hospital we chose to use.We used it with Abby and everyone there is so great. It's a women's center, so there's no waiting around in a germy ER, they get you to a room ASAP. So, the nurse gets me settled, goes through all the questions, etc. Now it's time to check Baby's heartbeat. I was so anxious to KNOW the baby was alright. I never experienced this type of pain with Abby. So, here goes...5 minutes-nothing. 10 minutes... nothing. 12 minutes, people! TWELVE minutes to find a heart beat. I was about to have a nervous breakdown. I've never had it take anywhere near that long. And it's not like this nurse wasn't used to it... she's an OB nurse... she does it all day. I kept glancing at her and she'd reassure me but had a worried expression on her face. And I was alone. Never again, will I go alone. I'm still not over it, I don't think.

Everything's ok though. The Dr said it was muscle strain from vacuuming Saturday. Yay. I can't even vacuum now. Actually, for a week I'm not supposed to do ANYTHING. Easier said than done. Especially with a 2 year old who, I swear, has a red bull stash somewhere. It's ok though. I just pray we have no more scares. They'll have to commit me.

In other news, Please pray that a job comes our way soon. He has 2 very good looking leads that we pray pan out. I'm so grateful for Scentsy and the little that we had been saving... it has saved us. I'm just so ready for stability again. I think the stress from that is affecting me more than I care to admit. I have faith that we'll be ok, I just really need something to open up soon. I don't want to spend the entire pregnancy scrimping and scraping. I need to start stocking up and getting ready! I'm so jealous when other mom's to be (there are 9 of us in my ward due between May 22 and the end of July!) post on FB about how the nursery is coming, etc. I know, it's petty, but I want to be able to be excited and joyful too!

Oh, did I mention, that we are having a BOY?! Yup! Cravings told the story I guess. LOL I'm scared out of my mind! I grew up with my Mom and sister. No males around til I got married! I don't have a clue how to raise a boy! And don't get me started on circumcision fears. Wow. Girls are so much easier!

Pinktastic Swaptastic

Tuesday morning I got a call from our Apartment leasing office saying that they had a pkg for me. After a few under my breath choice words for my postal carrier who can never bring his butt to my door I got excited because I wasn't expecting anything but my Pink swap package! It couldn't have come on a better day! Abby and I were homebound and bored. lol

My partner this go-around was the amazingSara. :) Seriously... 4 kids at home, her husband is gone for 8 weeks for work and she still has time to blog and put together a swap pkg! My new role model, I tell ya. Did I mention...She is pregnant also! Super woman! Thinking about all she's doing makes me tired! ;)

Let me apologize in advance for the photos. My camera has decided to die. I've been wanting a new one, but this isn't how I wanted to get one. This is what it looks like on any setting...
You can't really tell, but she wrapped everything in the cheeriest pink! We (Abby and I) loved it! It was so cute, and made me cringe because the packages I sent looked like my 2 year old wrapped them! Sorry, Sara! wrapping with your pinky in a splint is... interesting! haha.

So, all remaining photos are from my phone. I'm sorry!





I actually videoed Abby opening everything and its really cute to see her excitement over MY gifts, but it was a lil longer than I thought, so we'll skip that. :)

I received:
Funfetti cake mix, cupcake wrappers, a pink oven mitt with attached heart shaped cookie cutter and pink glitter icing gel to make some pinktastic treats.
Pink nail polish, pink loofahs, a pink heart shaped foot scrubber, yummy smelling pink candle and a pair of pink socks to pamper myself.
A super cute multi-colored striped throw that isn't pictured because Abby claimed it right away.
And the best part for the choc-o-holic that I am? A pink heart of Pot of Gold chocolates and a tinkerbell heart of chocolates for Abby.

Thank you, Sara!! It really brightened my day!

And, Thank you, Mamarazzi, for putting this awesome swap together!!

Makin me Happy

I can't tell you enough how beneficial this is to me. Especially after a difficult week, it's so good to sit down and really think about the good things in our lives.

My #1 this week is My husband, for the Awesome father he is. I see other Dad's shirking all parenting responsibilities to their wives and not really taking joy in their children and it makes me sad for them. Mike is Amazing with Abby, bathes, feeds and diapers as much as I do. He Aww's the same way I do at new and cute things she does. I'm truly thankful she has that to grow up with.
And the spring in this picture makes me ache for winter to end!

Mother's Day out is super high on my happy list. I LOVE Abby's teachers, I could be friends with them outside school, they rock! It's also super cheap. She goes twice a week for $20; you can't beat that! And most importantly, she LOVES "going to school"! She gets super excited which helps me feel good about it.

This amazing carrot cake I had this week... OMGosh. It was AHHH-mazing!

Putting my Pinktastic Swaptastic pkg together this week made me Happy. I really hope Sara likes the things I chose for her. Finding pink items was more of a challenge than I anticipated with it being Valentine's season and one or two items aren't completely pink, but I hope the "girliness" makes up for it!

In conjunction with that, I'm happy that Nashville has a 24/7 post office! I sprained my pinky finger (#&%@!!) yesterday and finally had to allow hubby to help me wrap the gifts and we overslept today, so the 24 hour postoffice is a lifesaver!

Last of all, I'm happy to live in Nashville where there are SOO many awesome things to do. Today, thanks to a special event, we are going to the Country Music Hall of Fame... for FREE! Awesome!!

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Scentsy

I just realized that I updated my Facebook page, but not the Blog. I just wanted to thank those who ordered last month. I understand that January is a tough month to spend money with Christmas just happening, so I appreciate your support even more!

The winner of the warmer was Carol, a lady who I met at the Dr's office and was chatting with about putting lavender in Abby's Scentsy to help her sleep. I'm so excited for her!!! Those of you who ordered $25+ will be getting your gifts in the mail within a week!

We didn't win the trip. :( It's ok though because I gave it my best effort! Sometimes I think we're prompted to work for things when we don't really understand why. I had no idea My hubby would lose his job, I just wanted a trip, but now that commission will come in really handy! If I hadn't cared about the trip, I really wouldn't have worked as hard last month. Hidden Blessings!

Thank you again, Mamarazzi, for the shout out!

Everything is 10% off this month, so if anyone needs/wants anything, now's the time!! JenniferFivas.scentsy.us

Confessions

It's 2 am here and I have to be up at 7. Why am I up? Because I wanted a turkey Ruben so bad I had to get up and make one. It. Was. Awesome.

The fact that I'm no longer sick and am craving such "manly" foods have me thinking that the baby is a boy. I mean, come on! A Ruben?! At 2 AM??

When we found out we were expecting I honestly didn't care if we had a boy or a girl. I was just happy to have another child. As the weeks have gone by though, we both are wanting another girl so much that I'm going to feel soo guilty if it's a boy! I really will be thrilled either way, but I REALLY hope it's a girl! ;)

Last weekend we drove down to Bama to visit my Dad and step-mom. On the way this moron cut us off on the interstate causing Mike to swerve and narrowly miss going into the ditch that was a median. It shook us both and made Mike scream, "Get your head out of your butt, Moron!". Just as I'm thinking how well he did not to swear, our 2 year old yells from the backseat, "Geet hed of BUTT!!!". We both whip around and she grins ever so proudly. Now, yes I know, it's wrong but I swear to you, it is the funniest, cutest thing I've ever heard. And I may or may not have asked her to repeat it for a few family members. Thankfully, she has forgotten it and we've discussed how much more careful we need to be in front of her, but dang she's a hoot!

I confess that I went couponing this week at Publix and had a stack of like 5 expired coupons that I kept separate from the others, deciding whether or not to go for it. Publix is pretty strict... especially when you're couponing and getting free items so I was super hesitant but I wanted my freakin free Chex Mix! So, finally, I got my 5 bags and went up front. I saw a sweet-looking older lady who's line was short and thought, "yay!". As I head to her line though, this other checker hops on a register and says sh can help me. Urgh!! She's scanning away and I'm talking up a storm, being as sweet as can be, praying she doesn't yell or embarrass me. Ha!! She didn't say a word!! I was so ridiculously excited. Seriously, It's like I robbed a bank.

Lame, I know.

They were only expired by 1 day, too.

Yep, that's how exciting my life is. Laugh all you want... I'm going to eat my chex mix.