Super Savings

So I finally did it. I had an order at Fry's where I saved 93%.

Bought:
6 Wheat Thins: $2/2 Q = $.50 ea.
2 Juicy Juice: $1/1 Q = $1 ea.
2 Frank's Red Hot: $.35/1 Q (tripled to $1/1) = Free
4 Hormel Chili: $.50/2 Q (doubled to $1/2) = Free
2 French's Mustard: $.50/1 Q (doubled to $1/1) = Free Plus Catalina for $1 OYNO
2 Rotel Diced Tomatoes: $.50/1 Q = Free
2 Green Giant Steamers: $.50/1 Q (doubled to $1/1) = Free
2 Suave Deoderant: $.50/1 Q (doubled to $1/1) = Free
4 Suave Lotion: $1/1 Q = Free

Paid $4.34 OOP
Saved $59.54 for a total of 93% savings!

Even the checker, bagger and the next person in line were impressed! If only I could do this all the time! Anyone know how I can get free diapers and formula!?

I'm sure some of my family thought I was nuts for ordering 3 extra copies (for a total of 4) Sunday papers each week. My savings today paid for the extra copies for more than the entire year. I've saved enough already this year to pay for my year's subscription. WOOHOO!!!

Sleep? What's sleep?

I knew it was going to be hard to adjust to having two kids, but when the baby has his days and nights mixed up.... Wow. I think I've averaged about three hours of sleep a night since we brought Luke home. He sleeps wonderfully during the day, when Andrew is up and wanting some love and attention. Then he sleeps fitfully all night long. And with Clayton starting back to work this week, it's been up to me to get up with the baby.

The only thing that has saved me is that I'm going to bed when Clayton gets home from work (sucks for us, but what can you do) and then after he goes to bed, I'm on baby duty. I know the whole situation is exacerbated by the fact that I'm fighting a cold (probably because of my lack of sleep) and that just makes me grumpier!

I'm still not feeling great postpartum either. My body didn't like the having the baby thing so much. I developed postpartum preeclampsia. That's finally going away, thank goodness. I normally have really low blood pressure so when it spikes to 155/105 it freaks me out a little. And my abdomen still hurts pretty good. Too much use of muscles that hadn't been used in a long time I guess. I'm starting to feel better and it's still better than what I dealt with when I had Andrew, but I'll be glad to get back to normal activity and being able to get some exercise. On a good note, I am within a pound and a half of my pre-pregnancy weight, which is great considering I gained 35lbs and I'm still fighting about 15lbs from when I had Andrew. And I'm determined to get it off. I want to get back to at least what I was when I got married... And I'd like to have that done by fall. So if anyone wants to buddy up and work on it together, I'm all for it! :o)

So here are some new pics of Luke and Andrew...

Luke Sleeping - I love to just watch him while he's sleeping peacefully...

Andrew and Luke - Andrew loves to hold Luke, for about 10 seconds. :o)

Luke - bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (thankfully not in the middle of the night)

Pictures of Luke

Here are the promised pictures of our little Luke.

This one is right after he was born.



Mommy with Luke after his first bath:


Luke on Friday getting ready to come home:

We are loving having a new little baby... not so much loving the lack of sleep and the adjusting we are dealing with where Andrew is concerned. He's not really sure how to deal with the fact that Luke needs so much attention. We are trying to show him as much attention as we can and having him help out with what he can, but he's decided that he's selectively deaf. :o) I knew we were going to have some challenges. Any advice on what we can do to help Andrew adjust?!

I'm actually feeling pretty good, other than being tired. This recovery should be a lot quicker than with Andrew. It's helped that we really haven't had much company since we got home. Another day or two and maybe a little bit of sleep and I'll feel close to human again.

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and your thoughts and prayers. They are greatly appreciated.

So, here's to the beginning of a new life together with our two little boys.

Introducing...

Luke Ryan Myers...
Born: January 14, 2009 at 7:48pm
8lbs, 9oz
21 inches long

We'll have pictures up once we get home from the hospital.

We are excited to welcome this sweet little boy into our family. He's really mellow. The nurses actually had a hard time getting him to cry when he was born. Just doesn't make much noise. Hopefully it stays that way!

Big brother Andrew is coming later today to meet his new little brother and I'm sure is super excited! Thank you to everyone for your love and support. We can't wait for you to meet our new little guy!

The Light at the End of the Tunnel

I went into the doctor today for my ultrasound and check up. The baby is perfectly healthy. His head is down and covered in peach fuzz so he'll definitely have some kind of hair on his head. He was super cute. He was holding his foot in his hands up by his mouth. Not sure if he was trying to suck on his toes or what, but it was so cute. Here's a pic of the little guy:


The tech said he's really cute. I'm sure she has to be right. I know... I'm probably biased. But I also think Andrew turned out to be a pretty cute little fellow.

According to the measurements, the baby is about 7lbs 13oz (although that could be off by as much as a pound to a pound and a half). Not enough to be induced. I was a little bummed. The doctor came in and looked at the results. Talked about maybe inducing me next week if I really didn't want to wait, but that he for sure wouldn't let me go past my due date because that would put the baby over 9lbs. But that he was going to just let me go for now. *sigh* I was really disappointed. I'm still only dialated to 2cm so the chances of me going into labor on my own any time soon is pretty slim.

Then came the good news and one of the many reasons that I love my doctor so very much. As he was checking out the baby, he said I was just so big and the baby felt bigger than he measured. I looked at him with agreement. He asked if I thought the baby was bigger than that and my answer was a resounding YES! Now thanks to a wonderful doctor who doesn't rely on just one thing, I am scheduled to report at the hospital at 7:30am Wednesday, Jan. 14 to be induced. So I now know that I will only have a few more days to wait. And it'll give me a chance to get a few last minute things done before the baby comes. We are excited to add another little guy to our family.

We'll let everyone know how it goes. And if by some miracle, I go into labor before that, we'll let you know. So, there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Wish us luck!

Still waiting....

I don't go into the doctor's until Thursday to find out about how big the baby is. I can hardly wait for two reasons. One, I love the fact that I'll get to have a late term ultrasound with this one. I had one with Andrew and it was so neat to see how developed he was and everything. Two, I really want to know if I have any hope of having this baby soon.

I've been having some pretty uncomfortable contractions the last couple of days. I hope they are doing something other than making me miserable. They aren't constant, but I have to stop and just breathe through them - no talking, no doing anything else. I'll have them pretty consistently for an hour or two, and then they'll stop. My back and hips have been a lot more achy lately, too. A good night's sleep is a foreign concept to me right now. Between 3-6 bathroom trips a night, waking up to turn over, and my hips and/or back aching, I'm lucky to piece together enough sleep to keep me functioning.

I am going to go to my appointment prepared for anything. I've got the baby's bag packed and mine started. I just need to finish mine and get a few things together for Andrew so that he can stay with my grandparents while I'm in the hospital. They'll be in the car with us when we go to town. I'd rather be prepared to stay in town and not have to than have to send someone from my family out to get everything.

I'll let everyone know what I find out on Thursday. Until then, the wait continues...