Boo!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday (well, aside from my birthday, which IS a holiday).

I have always been obsessed with Halloween and LOVE to dress up and do Halloweenie things, proof from past Halloweens.... 

Because of the giant pumpkin growing out of my front, we are taking it easy this year. We had a mini-Halloween celebration on Monday night. Jason's little sister came over and we carved pumpkins...

 We drank Apple Cider, roasted pumpkin seeds and because no holiday is complete without Pillsbury Holiday Sugar Cookies, we ate cookies.

 it was lovely!

Tonight's plan is to build a fire, snuggle up with the Husby and puggle and watch Hocus Pocus!

I hope all of you have a fun, safe and spooky Halloween!

The Time I Beat Babies R Us

I'm going to start out by saying that each time I tell someone this story (and I've told a lot of people) I realize more and more that I have officially lost my mind, however, I am still patting myself on the back for this small victory. 

Let me also say that I am not a frugal person, in fact I wish I was more frugal and could actually save some damn money. However, I am tired of getting nickle and dimed all the time and I am disgusted by how expensive baby stuff is.

With that out of the way...

It all started a few weeks ago when I received a package...it was my Medela Breast Pump! An incredibly generous and amazing gift from my sister-in-law who has spent way too much money on me and this baby girl, but I've learned not to get in the way of an excited Auntie. :) 

These pumps cost $270. Yup, TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FRICKIN' DOLLARS. 

Of course, the week after Nicole buys the pump for us I get a Babies R Us coupon book that has a 15% off all breast pumps coupon. For those of you who are mathematically impaired (like myself) 15% off a $270 pump is $40. Now $40 isn't a ton of money, but that shiz adds up....and there's a lot of things I could use for $40.

So I decide I’m going to cheat the system and return the breast pump, get the $270 in store credit and then re-buy the pump with the 15% off coupon, therefore giving myself $40 of free money to spend on diapers. Genius, right?

NOTE: I made sure with Jason that his sister would be completely OK with this plan, since really the extra $40 should go to her. 

I go BRU and try to return the pump, but, in all my excitement I had opened the box to look at my super strange new toy and because of sanitary reasons Babies R Us is unable to return a pump that has been opened. DAMNIT.

I decide I’m not going to give up that easy. I then go to a different Babies R Us and tell them that I received the pump as a gift but it was delivered to my house with the seal broken. Yes. I lied. It was a little white lie and it didn’t hurt anyone, so I feel like I’m off the hook. Or off my rocker. Either way, it worked. The adorable little cashier was appalled that the pump had been opened, but because of store policy wasn’t able to return it, she could only exchange it for the same pump. NO PROBLEM! I’ll take the unopened pump.

I then go to another Babies R Us (yes, I realize this is a lot of work, but I have several BRU locations within 10 miles of work and home, so it’s not quite as bad as it seems) and return the UNOPENED breast pump and FINALLY receive my store credit gift card in the amount of $269.99. 

ONE SMALL VICTORY.

I then have to sit on the gift card for a few days because the sale didn’t start until that upcoming Friday. While I’m waiting to execute my scheme I remember that I have my Registry Completion coupon which gives me 15% off of remaining registry items. I had written it off because they require you to spend at least $200 (dumb!) to receive the 15% off…well, guess what friends, the pump is now $230 which is OVER $200 and it says right on the completion card that there are NO restrictions. And, since I’m on a roll, I also dig out a $5 off coupon that I had.

Friday rolls around and I go to the website and add the pump and a $38 bathtub to my cart. I then go to enter my promotional code….first the 15% off the pump, then the $5 off and then the completion code. Everything works but the completion code. I try entering it first, I try a bunch of things and it’s just not letting me get away with this. WELL, I’ve come this far, I’m not giving up now. SO, I dial up the BRU customer service and talk to a ridiculously friendly lady who was most certainly from New Jersey and I’m sad I don’t remember her name, because she was the bomb. I tell her my completion code isn’t working…NOTE: this is not a lie, it wasn’t working! So she asks me for my total and I tell her $310.74 ($269.99 pump + $37.99 tub + $2.76 tax = $310.74). She then works some magic and gives me a NEW code for a $47 appeasement ($310.76 – 15% = $47).

So, I enter the new code, the 15% pump code and the $5 off code and sure enough IT WORKS! My total is now $223.64!!! That’s a savings of $87.10 people!

EIGHTY-SEVEN DOLLARS AND TEN CENTS!

I use my gift card and my order is confirmed!

Now I have a new breast pump and a new bath tub on their way to my house and I still have $46.35 left on my gift card! Not only that but I have a coupon to save $20 off of two boxes of diapers (which cost $25), so I’m almost getting a free box of diapers!

SO, for the cost of the original breast pump I am getting the same breast pump, a bath tub, 192 diapers and will still have just over $16 on my gift card!

TOTALLY WORTH IT!

The Time I Beat Babies R Us

I'm going to start out by saying that each time I tell someone this story (and I've told a lot of people) I realize more and more that I have officially lost my mind, however, I am still patting myself on the back for this small victory. 

Let me also say that I am not a frugal person, in fact I wish I was more frugal and could actually save some damn money. However, I am tired of getting nickle and dimed all the time and I am disgusted by how expensive baby stuff is.

With that out of the way...

It all started a few weeks ago when I received a package...it was my Medela Breast Pump! An incredibly generous and amazing gift from my sister-in-law who has spent way too much money on me and this baby girl, but I've learned not to get in the way of an excited Auntie. :) 

These pumps cost $270. Yup, TWO HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FRICKIN' DOLLARS. 

credit

Of course, the week after Nicole buys the pump for us I get a Babies R Us coupon book that has a 15% off all breast pumps coupon. For those of you who are mathematically impaired (like myself) 15% off a $270 pump is $40. Now $40 isn't a ton of money, but that shiz adds up....and there's a lot of things I could use for $40.

So I decide I’m going to cheat the system and return the breast pump, get the $270 in store credit and then re-buy the pump with the 15% off coupon, therefore giving myself $40 of free money to spend on diapers. Genius, right?

NOTE: I made sure with Jason that his sister would be completely OK with this plan, since really the extra $40 should go to her. 

I go BRU and try to return the pump, but, in all my excitement I had opened the box to look at my super strange new toy and because of sanitary reasons Babies R Us is unable to return a pump that has been opened. DAMNIT.

I decide I’m not going to give up that easy. I then go to a different Babies R Us and tell them that I received the pump as a gift but it was delivered to my house with the seal broken. Yes. I lied. It was a little white lie and it didn’t hurt anyone, so I feel like I’m off the hook. Or off my rocker. Either way, it worked. The adorable little cashier was appalled that the pump had been opened, but because of store policy wasn’t able to return it, she could only exchange it for the same pump. NO PROBLEM! I’ll take the unopened pump.

I then go to another Babies R Us (yes, I realize this is a lot of work, but I have several BRU locations within 10 miles of work and home, so it’s not quite as bad as it seems) and return the UNOPENED breast pump and FINALLY receive my store credit gift card in the amount of $269.99. 

ONE SMALL VICTORY.

I then have to sit on the gift card for a few days because the sale didn’t start until that upcoming Friday. While I’m waiting to execute my scheme I remember that I have my Registry Completion coupon which gives me 15% off of remaining registry items. I had written it off because they require you to spend at least $200 (dumb!) to receive the 15% off…well, guess what friends, the pump is now $230 which is OVER $200 and it says right on the completion card that there are NO restrictions. And, since I’m on a roll, I also dig out a $5 off coupon that I had.

Friday rolls around and I go to the website and add the pump and a $38 bathtub to my cart. I then go to enter my promotional code….first the 15% off the pump, then the $5 off and then the completion code. Everything works but the completion code. I try entering it first, I try a bunch of things and it’s just not letting me get away with this. WELL, I’ve come this far, I’m not giving up now. SO, I dial up the BRU customer service and talk to a ridiculously friendly lady who was most certainly from New Jersey and I’m sad I don’t remember her name, because she was the bomb. I tell her my completion code isn’t working…NOTE: this is not a lie, it wasn’t working! So she asks me for my total and I tell her $310.74 ($269.99 pump + $37.99 tub + $2.76 tax = $310.74). She then works some magic and gives me a NEW code for a $47 appeasement ($310.76 – 15% = $47).

So, I enter the new code, the 15% pump code and the $5 off code and sure enough IT WORKS! My total is now $223.64!!! That’s a savings of $87.10 people!

EIGHTY-SEVEN DOLLARS AND TEN CENTS!

I use my gift card and my order is confirmed!

Now I have a new breast pump and a new bath tub on their way to my house and I still have $46.35 left on my gift card! Not only that but I have a coupon to save $20 off of two boxes of diapers (which cost $25), so I’m almost getting a free box of diapers!

SO, for the cost of the original breast pump I am getting the same breast pump, a bath tub, 192 diapers and will still have just over $16 on my gift card!

TOTALLY WORTH IT!

Recent Happenings

I don’t know if this is true for everyone but there comes a point in your pregnancy when time stops, and for me, that time is NOW. The first 8 months of pregnancy FLEW by, but these last couple of weeks have been taking their sweet time. It’s crazy to think I could start having contractions at any moment and the time we've been waiting for for so long for could finally come, BUT with that being said I still have 10 days until my due date and there’s a very good chance it could come and go with no sign of a baby.

I kept telling myself "make it through Nate's wedding without giving birth and then you can rest." and while rest and relaxation is definitely much needed and certainly on the agenda for these next couple of weeks, I have decided to change my approach. I decided I needed to get some plans on my calendar. I need little things to look forward to besides having my baby so that time continues to move.

So, last week...

Jason and I saw Argo.

It was SO good! We both loved it and would definitely recommend it!

I had a lunch date at LeeAnn Chin with my Beeb.

and she got baby girl this BEYOND adorable outfit...

I think we need to get Beeb shirts made so the three of us can match!

I met up with my college girlfriends for our tradition of guacamole & girl talk.

I forgot to take a pic on Thursday night, so I had to dig up this old classic from college.

This weekend we...

Met my dad for dinner, and while the boys had their fair share of beers, I enjoyed a giant Sprite and a dessert trio!

Saturday we were tailgating and cheering on my Gophers to a victory over Purdue!!!

Sunday we went to a baby shower for our friends Job & Lauren and new baby Howie! Little Howie surprised everyone by arriving 6 weeks early, so he got to be the guest of honor at his own shower.

The boys spent the majority of the shower watching football...

...while the girls decorated onesies!

Can you guess which one is mine?
DUH! The bumble bee one!

{totally jacked your photos Kari...hope you don't mind :) }

Still no baby, but at least the days passed in a somewhat timely fashion, the weekend days much quicker than the work days strangely enough.

tick, tock, tick, tock....

Waiting Game

Since finding out I was pregnant I had October 20^th in my head as a benchmark. It was my brother’s wedding day and I knew I couldn't have the baby before then for several reasons…

◦I was a bridesmaid and needed that dress to fit

◦I didn't want to steal any of the bride & groom’s thunder

◦My brother and I have put my poor parents through one hell of a year…with both of us getting married and the arrival of their first grandbaby, so I wanted to at least give them a little time in between

◦I didn’t want to miss my little brother getting married for anything, even getting this Nugget out of me!

Now that my brother’s wedding has come and gone it’s sort of surreal. It has been this looming date that kept approaching but also seemed like it would never come. The day has come and gone and I am still pregnant, I did what I was supposed to and now I should get to be done. 

As I have become increasingly larger, more and more uncomfortable and insanely tired I have been telling myself that these last couple of weeks were going to be all about rest and relaxation. I didn’t want to make ANY plans so that I could simply lounge around at home and wait for my baby.

Turns out, that was a HORRIBLE idea because all that does is slow down time and give me too much time to think about the following....


Start rant:

1. Making a 9 month pregnant woman work is torture. I can promise you that any woman who is still working at this point in her pregnancy does not have even an ounce of her brain on work. I try hard, but it's impossible. And sitting in my office daydreaming about going into labor makes the day drag on at a snails pace....which just makes everything worse. Not to mention sitting hurts.

2. Every pregnancy related symptom seems to reappear with a vengence at the end of pregnancy. And while I really can't complain because the preggo Gods have been very kind to me...I am so over my sore back, the constant burping, the painful heartburn, and the cramps I get if I even look at my calf.

3. Something must have been in the water, or it was a VERY eventful Valentines Day this year because I know SIX people all due within two weeks of me. Of those SIX people, FIVE of them have given birth, yes even the ones due after me! While I am over-the-moon happy for new mamas Kristy, Lauren, Lillian, Ashley & Sarah and I am happy to have my baby cooking for as long as she needs to...it gets frustrating to see woman after woman after woman after woman bring home their baby while I sit here miserable. 

Shout out to Kara who is still pregnant and crabby with me (sorry girl)! 

4. Sleep sucks. I am SO damn uncomfortable. For starters, there is not room in my bed for me, my 6'4 husband, my 23 pound puggle and this giant baby belly. I wake up a million times a night with a routine pretty much exactly like this....get comfortable, fall asleep, wake up to a full bladder, use the bathroom, lay down, realize I want to lay on my other side, spend two minutes turning over shaking the entire bed and waking Bailey & Jason in the process while getting a leg cramp, fly out of bed to walk off the leg cramp and chug some water to stay hydrated and prevent future leg cramps, lay back down, get comfortable, fall asleep, wake up to full bladder......repeat....until alarm goes off. 

5. I have known that I am pregnant for 8 months, I have known that I'm having a GIRL for 4 months, it's no longer cool to see my belly grow, my baby showers are over, the nursery is done, the only remaining milestone is giving birth...I am OVER talking about being pregnant.

6. It's been 9 months, I need a cocktail. 

End rant.


Thank you for listening, I apologize for cranky Kristin.