Holiday Shopping Deals

Greetings!

I've been online shopping and recently came across some great deals that I thought I'd share. I just love it when merchants give away free money!

First off, the best place to find valid coupon codes for merchants is savings.com

Check out buy.com for items at great prices and if you select the "eBillme" payment option, and enter promo code "buy10dec" you'll get $10 off your purchase of $10 or more. I found a gift that I'd been looking for that normally runs about $20-25, but I paid $14.99 through buy.com (no tax or shipping charges) minus my $10 savings with the eBillme code and my final cost for the gift was $4.99!!! The only confusing part was that I had to select the "Place My Order" button before I entered the promo code, but the discount shows up when you get the eBill from eBillme.

At Gap.com, you can get 20% off your entire order by entering promo code "GAP20"

If you're shopping at the store and you want to bring some coupons with you, I found a great website a long time ago that has consistently provided me with coupons that I can print from home, http://www.wow-coupons.com/all-printable-retail-coupons.php

Happy shopping!

Aaron has discovered his feet!

Life has been crazy and busy as usual, which, if I'm truly honest with myself, is the way I like it!  The kids & I are excited for the start of the new school year in just under 2 weeks.  Our new neighbors are moving in this weekend and Alex & Emily are on cloud 9 now that their new friend is in the neighborhood for good (who just so happens to be at the perfect age of 1 yr younger than Alex and 1 yr older than Emily).  Meanwhile, Aaron is doing the usual baby things of growing like a weed, waking a couple of times at night still, and discovering new things (like his feet!).  Tim & I have resumed our battle with the lawn attempting to grow grass in the front.  This attempt has entailed a weekend (or two) of rototilling, raking, seeding, etc.  Testing of our soil revealed that it is highly acidic, so we treated with a dose of lime and are hoping that this will help the new seeds germinate.  I've also been working on creating a perennial garden in the backyard, and although the front of the house lacks lustre and curb appeal, the backyard is quickly becoming a place of play and peaceful enjoyment.

Some video of Aaron...

Summer begins

Summer has officially begun and we finally know for certain that we will not be moving to Ireland for the year.  While we are a little sad that we won't be moving, and frustrated with the prospect of a potential job lay off, we are happy that we can finally plan things for our summer.  It's a little late for planting a vegetable garden now, so it's not likely that we'll have home grown vegetables this year, but we plan to continue work on the exterior of the house (mainly getting the grass established) and small projects around the house.  

Aaron turned 1 month old last week and caring for him will, no doubt, consume much of my time this summer but I hope to be able to spend a lot of time playing with the kids and doing activities as a family.  I took Aaron for his 1 month check up (at 5 weeks) and is now 10 lbs., 9 oz. and 22 1/2 inches long.  He is growing and gaining weight at a steady pace and even offered his first smiles last week!  He still seems to be pretty fussy, constantly wanting to be held, and hasn't gotten into a good routine with his sleeping patterns.  But he did offer me 2 nights last week each with a 4 hr. period of uninterrupted sleep.  During his first couple of weeks, he spit up quite a bit but that has slowed down significantly (which helps a little with the amount of laundry I've had to do!).  We took him to get his 1 month portraits at Sears last week as well and so I'll post them once we have them.

Many of you know by now that our initial plans of moving to Ireland for the year have been trashed and I'm happy that, at least now we can start putting things on our calendar for the summer.  There is so much uncertainty in life, I'm learning, and I am once again being forced against my natural instincts to control and just "go with the flow" of life!  We are now trying to shift our focus on saving for improvements to our home (that we really wanted to complete in 2008 during construction) and filling our calendar with events that will create many family memories for us. 

And baby makes five ....

Well, life certainly has changed for us again!  Very early Sunday morning (5/17/09) at 12:16 am we welcomed Aaron Patton into our family (yes, that's his middle name!).  After over a week of false labor days, he was nice enough to bless me with a quick delivery at Samaritan Hospital.  Many of you have inquired about how things went so I'll recount our story here.  I began having regular contractions that were 10-15 minutes apart around 9:30 pm on 5/16.  By 10:30pm the contractions were a little over 5 minutes apart and getting stronger.  We called the doctor at 10:55pm and were on the road within 10 minutes.  The hospital is only 15 minutes away but we sped down Rt. 7 (passing 3 cars in the turning lane and running 2 red lights) because my contractions were coming 4 minutes or less apart and very strong.  We arrived at the hospital at 11:25 (ish) where the nurses told me I was 7-8cm.  After several more contractions  (they were coming 1-2 minutes apart now) my water broke, I was 10 cm and the nurse was telling me that she "could delivery the baby if needed" since the doctor wasn't there yet!  As soon as I heard the doctor's voice I began pushing, which was somewhere around 12:05am and within a couple of pushes, Aaron was born!  He was 8 lbs., 2 ozs. and 21 inches long.  I was so surprised as, given my pregnancy size, I was sure he'd only be 7 lbs.!  The doctor was able to get some cord blood into the collection kit and the courier arrived to collect the cord blood within the hour!  I am so thankful to have our new baby boy finally here with us!  He is healthy and, so far, has been relatively easy-going (I know, it's early still!).  We arrived home yesterday from the hospital at 4:30pm and are getting settled in!  People have asked who we think Aaron looks like and I would have to say he looks a lot like Alex when he was born.  Both Alex and Emily have been SO happy to have a baby brother and have been so well behaved throughout the last couple of days!  We are truly blessed!  

As many of you know, we are most likely going to be moving to Ireland for about a year beginning this summer (probably July).  I've been informed that the job of documenting our travels has been officially given to me so I'll use this blog as a primary sounding board and resource for getting info out to friends and family.  

As I look back on the years we've had together as a family, I originally thought that 2007 was a crazy year of change with the construction of the house and job changes for both Tim and myself.  Little did I know that 2009 would trump that year ten-fold!  Thank you to everyone for your continued support and prayers for us as we continue on our journey. 

Keep checking back in the coming weeks for more photos and stories of our new adventures as a family of five.  

Still here, still pregnant!

At the request of a fellow mom friend,  I'm letting you all know that I'm "still here and still pregnant"!  Although I thought for certain I would have this baby over Mother's Day weekend, I was wrong!  Life is always teaching us things, right?!?  Well, the lesson I'm learning here is that each pregnancy is different!  I've never had the pleasure of experiencing false labor, until now.  While the contractions haven't been terribly painful, I've had several days in a row with a few hours at a time of on and off contractions that are uncomfortable.  Every time they start, I think "okay, this is it" and just wait for them to get stronger.  To my disappointment, they just go away.  I remember very clearly when I was in labor with Emily, I awoke in the middle of the night with one contraction that felt much like the contractions I've been experiencing lately.  Twenty minutes later, I felt another contraction that was noticeably stronger, and then 8 minutes after that, yet another one even more strong.  It was clear that I was in labor.  This time around, it's different!  I keep expecting that same course of events to unfold as it did 4 years ago, but nope!  This one is just taking its time getting ready!  I'm anxious for my next drs. appt. to find out how much more I've progressed.  With all of the pressure and contractions I've felt, I keep thinking to myself, "I MUST be more than 3 cm by now!".  I keep trying to tell myself that it's still early yet (I'm not due for another week) and to let nature do its thing.  It's difficult to maintain that perspective but I'm trying!

Baby will be here soon!

Disclaimer:  If you don't want to read about the stuff that happens before a woman goes into labor, stop reading now, although I promise it's not too graphic!

Well folks, with any luck, this will be my last post before you get to see a picture of our little bundle of joy!  I had an appt. with my doctor's office this afternoon and to my delight, the doctor informed me that I'm 3 cm dilated, 50% effaced and the cervix is soft (which we knew from 3 weeks ago).  I went to the appointment hoping that he would tell me I was 1-2 cm dilated and was prepared to be happy with that.  I suspected, though that much more has been happening since I've felt a lot of pressure really low for the last couple of days.  The Braxton-Hicks contractions have continued to occur often as they have since the fifth or sixth month of this pregnancy.  Now, technically, I could go another 1-2 weeks without dilating any more (so I have to put in that disclaimer) but my prediction is that we'll have our baby in the next week.  I'm hoping for Mother's Day!

Simply put... life can be crazy!

Crazy almost seems to be an understatement.  Just when you think you've got control of life and things are going great, life whispers "ha ha, that's what you think" into your ear and turns your world upside down, and then upside down again.  

Of course we knew that the arrival of our third child would likely change our routine and make life a bit crazier.  We still have yet to experience this pleasure in roughly 4 weeks (or less).  But Tim's diagnosis of lymphoma/chronic lymphocytic leukemia has left us dumb-founded and filled with emotions.  For those of you who have not yet heard, the diagnosis came about three weeks ago after Tim had a lymph node removed from his neck.  Ironically, he probably would not have had the node removed since a previous needle biopsy came back negative.  He decided to have the node removed because he was already scheduled for surgery to repair a deviated septum.  So that's basically where his/our journey into the next chapter of our lives begins.  I'll call it that because I've always viewed my life as being in chapters.  You know, Chapter 1 - Childhood, Chapter 2 - Self Discovery (Teenage/College Years) and so on.

There is much to be written about what life has been like for our family over the last couple of weeks.  While I don't want this blog to focus on Tim's cancer, I will provide an update from my perspective from time to time.  Tim has made mention of the possibility of starting a blog himself, and so I'll post a link to that once he's up to getting that started.  Some recent activities include a trip to NYC to meet with a specialist at the Weill-Cornell Medical Center.  We were accompanied by my sister and mom to help out with the kids (a HUGE THANK YOU!) while Tim and I met with the doctor.  The kids really enjoyed the train ride down and after the appointment we took a taxi to the NY Museum of Natural History.  Alex and Emily both wanted to know immediately when we can go down to NYC again!  

One aspect that I've been working diligently on is getting information about Cord Blood banking and if/how it may benefit us/Tim in the future.  It turns out that the list of diseases regularly treated with stem cells from cord blood includes Tim's cancer.  Whether our baby's cord blood will be a match for Tim is yet to be discovered but it's worth saving if there's a chance.  The first problem I discovered was that the cost is rather high (although we agreed we would bank the cord blood regardless of the cost at this point because of it's potential benefits). Most companies charge roughly $2100 for processing the blood and then a $125/yr. fee is charged for storage.  After some info-hunting I discovered that there are federal programs designed to provide financial support for pregnant mothers that want to bank their baby's cord blood to be designated for use for a sibling or other relative with a disease that's treated with stem cells.  My first phone calls into the federal programs were unsuccessful, however, I came across a list of family banks that offer "charity" programs similar to the federal programs.  The first family bank I called was the Cord Blood Registry, which, as I understand, is a cord blood bank that has been banking cord blood for one of the longest amounts of time comparatively.  The representative that I spoke with was friendly and, although I felt as though I was listening to a sales pitch at times, I agreed to enroll with the company for family/private banking with the intent of applying for the "Designated Transplant Program".  I was sent the application for the program via email within minutes of talking with the rep and had all of the paperwork completed (by us and Tim's oncologist) within a week.  On Tuesday of last week I faxed the paperwork to the rep at CBR and asked that he put a "rush" on it since our baby is due in just a few short weeks.  I was pleasantly surprised when I received a phone call the following morning from my rep stating that our application was approved and that we would only be charged $150 for the shipping of the blood to their facility on AZ when the baby arrives!  I've had my cord blood collection kit packed in my hospital bag for a week now and informed my OB & midwives about our choice to bank the cord blood.

If you want more info about cord blood banking, you can visit CBR's website: http://www.cordblood.com/

Updated Nursery Pictures

HAPPY St. Patty's Day!  We had a very busy and fun weekend celebrating Mom P's 50th birthday, which is today (Happy Birthday, Mom).  Tim also arrived home late Friday night from his 5 week long trip to Virginia.  The kids and I were missing him very much and are happy to have him home again for a few more weeks before he'll need to travel again.

Meanwhile, I've taken some more (updated) pictures of the nursery.  I finally added a second book bin on the wall next to the window and applied the phrase lettering over the ledge shelf.  I also installed some blinds.  There is still a few things left to do (like add more lettering under the ledge shelf with the baby's name) but most of the little touches I've planned for will be done after the baby arrives, which, will be in about 8-9 weeks!

Another update on baby:

Today I had another ultrasound and appointment with the midwife and Mom L was able to join Emily and I for the visit.  It was nice to see the baby again on the monitor and No..... we are STILL not finding out the baby's gender!  ;-)So basically everything looks good.  The technician said that the heartbeat was normal and all of the baby's limbs/organs looked good.  They estimate the baby's weight to be 2 lbs., 13 ozs. today, which puts our little peanut in the 41st percentile.  The due date is still unchanged (5/19/09) and the baby's head was down.  I visited with the midwife after the ultrasound who indicated that all of my bloodwork is "right down the middle for values" so basically, I'm average!  I'm down to scheduling appointments with the midwife/doctors now for every two weeks.  The picture below is of the baby's face (although it's probably hard to tell for most people).  The forehead and eyes are to the right of the image and the nose and mouth are toward the center from the right.  The blurry spot in the middle of the image is an arm that was sort of crossed over part of the face.  At one point, we could see the baby opening and closing it's mouth, which was neat!

A room to call his/her own ...

Yay!  The major work has been completed on the nursery and now it's just a matter of finishing the room's color scheme by adding wall decor, accessories, bedding and window treatments.  Unfortunately, we won't have a truly "finished" product until the occupant itself is "finished" growing!  But for now, you get the idea with these pictures.  The picture to the left is a "before" shot.  The rest are pics of the semi-finished result. 

 

The room was painted with two different shades of brown/tan and all moldings were painted in a creamy white.  

I constructed and hung a book bin below the chair rail on the wall in which the closet door swings into (and will add one more above the chair rail on the same wall).  The idea with this was that since the room's size prohibits a lot of furniture (including a book shelf), I wanted the baby to have some place to put his/her favorite books.  

I made french message boards (2 boy, 2 girl) to hang

 over the changing table as a place to put notes & clippings and to add a touch of the accent color to the wall.  I'll use the extra fabric from that project to make accent pillows to put on the glider rocker.  I've hung a nice ledge shelf above the crib to place a few frames and keepsakes and to add a focal point to the wall.  In a few weeks, I'll add a phrase in vinyl lettering above the shelf and  a monogram of the baby's initial's below the shelf after he/she is born.  I have a few other ideas for bringing the accent color of either pink or blue into the room but for now, the room must be as it is.  I really think once it's all "put together" it'll be the perfect place for our little one to spend time!  :-)

Simply, an update ...

Our house and calendar have been bustling with activities over the last couple of weeks and a quick glance at the near future indicates that it will be more of the same!  On Friday, I had my monthly check-up with my midwife and although things went well, he indicated that I'm "measuring small" for how far along I am in my pregnancy so he's ordered another ultrasound in a couple of weeks just to be sure that the baby's growth is okay.  I seem to remember this sort of occurrence when I was pregnant with Alex..... (any indication that it's a boy? hmmm... well, my gut has always "told" me girl but that's off the topic!).  So I'll go for my ultrasound and another appointment with the midwife in about 3 weeks.  From there, I'll  meet with the midwife every 2 weeks.

I've been diligently working on readying the nursery.  With Tim's portion of the work done, it was time for painting and it's seems that the painting hasn't stopped in the last 2 days.  Today my task was to complete painting of the crown and chair rail moldings.  I also began a project a few days ago of constructing wall mount book bins to hang on the wall behind the closet door, which I was able to get painted today as well.  I'm hoping to have the moldings in place and the room somewhat put together by this weekend so that Tim can see an almost finished room when he arrives home from Virginia.

On Sunday we attended the Cub scout Blue & Gold Banquet where Alex received his Tiger Cub badge and 1 year pin.  We were very proud of how well behaved both Alex and Emily were during, what turned out to be a long banquet.  Of course, it helped that they ended the banquet with a 30 min. presentation by a magician!

That's all for now... check back again soon!

Looking for opinions

I've spent hours looking online for decorating ideas for the nursery (mostly viewing others' ideas on www.roomzaar.com), and I really like the idea of using vinyl lettering on the wall.  My current vision is to have the crib & a ledge shelf centered on the longest wall in the room.  Below the shelf will be a monogram of the baby's first initial along with the first name written in a different color & font over it (see photo from roomzaar.com at left).  Then I want to place a phrase on the wall above the shelf.  My question is, do you think that this font is too girly for a boy? (see below) 

I plan to use the same font for the phrase text and the baby's first name (like shown in the picture to the left).  But since we don't know if it's a boy or girl, I need to make sure that whatever text I use is suitable for both.  Also, which phrase do you like the most for both genders?

Let them be little ...

Play, Laugh, Giggle ...

A dream is a wish your heart makes ...

We made a wish and you came true ...

Honest Opinions/comments  (even if they're negative)?

The latest Preggo Pic!

Well folks, here it is.... I'm about 15 weeks away from the end of my last pregnancy and here's a picture of me and my baby bump!  The four of us are all getting excited about our impending arrival and I think it's been more pronounced lately because the belly's more noticeable now than ever.  Let the stretching begin!

Picturesque Home Ice

Anyone that loves pond skating will appreciate this photo I took this morning of our home ice rink.  Tim has spent hours working on the ice after each snowfall in an attempt to "clean" it up and get it smooth again.  It's a lot of work and when I looked out the window this morning while eating breakfast and saw the sun risen over the hills with its reflection on the ice and the glistening snow, I just had to capture the moment.

UPDATE - Getting ready for baby

Okay, so here's an update on our adventure of getting ready for the baby.  This past weekend, we slowly continued our attempt at moving things out of the office and to, well, whatever place we could find for the stuff.  Tim spent at least 2 hours moving and cleaning the freshwater tank from the impending nursery to a relatively permanent location in our bedroom.  I actually think this will be a better place for it, since he (we) may actually look at and enjoy watching the fish from our bedroom more than the glimpses we were getting while passing the office before!  The next step is to figure out an appropriate location for our computer server and to run the wiring to that location.  After that, Tim will patch a couple of spots in the wall and I can finally begin painting.

Which brings me to my next topic.... painting.  Emily and I spent some time this afternoon at Home Depot looking at paint swatches in an effort to determine which shade of brown would be the best for the baby's room.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I had two bedding sets picked out (one boy-centric, one girl-centric).  After hours and hours of searching the internet for just the right combinations of blue/brown and pink/brown, I thought I had it just right with the bedding that I mentioned in my last post.  Originally, I had anticipated that the manufacturers of the bedding sets would be able to provide me with fabric swatches.  However, I've been unable to get them and when it comes to picking paint colors, I feel most comfortable when I have a fabric of inspiration to work from.  Not to mention that, in this case, I need to pick a color that will go with both bedding sets!  UGHH!!!  So we trekked back up to Babys'RUs in hopes of finding something that I could live with.  I still love the girl bedding that I'd chosen and since that's available at the store, I'm sticking with that choice.  However, the "Baby Noah" design that I choose for the boy bedding is only available online so I've settled on an altogether different bedding set, which still has the brown tones but MUCH less of the blue (boo hoo).  I'm hoping to make the blue more noticeable by using a coordinating blue crib sheet and other blue accents throughout the room.  The latest selection in baby boy bedding is called "My First ABCs" by Kidsline.  Here's some pics: