All this for $30

All this for $30, originally uploaded by kkirk78.

I had to post this for those that coupon....I bought this stuff a few weeks ago. This last week I got 15 boxes of multi grain cheerios for just over $12 (including the price of the coupon). They were on sale for $1.67 a box and I bought 15 coupons off ebay for 50cents off which doubles at Kroger. So, my boxes of cheerios were 67cents a piece.

What I got in the photo...
I had such a good shopping trip last night that I had to brag. I got the 3 baby wipes and 4 bath washes at CVS and paid $15 and got $5 ecb back. Then at Kroger I got 6 boxes of triscuits, 7 cans of tomatoes, 2 cans of chili, 2 cans of mushrooms, milk, 2 boxes of popcorn, 2 pkg's of shredded cheese, 1 pkg of cheese slices, bag of onions and 1 green pepper and paid $15. Even the cashier looked at it and said "wow". I had saved $40 using the Kroger card and coupons.

Thought Wyatt was coming today...

So, I guess we had our first false alarm today. I will be 31 weeks on Saturday. I woke up and rode the city bus to work today. I usually keep a mental track of when I have contractions. Well, I noticed after having four of them that it was within an hour (the time it takes me to ride the bus to work). So, I started keeping track of them. All morning they were pretty irregular but I was having them quite frequently. At about 10am, my boss took me to lay down in an exam room for awhile. So I laid there on my left side, drinking lots of water and writing down every time I had a contraction. They started coming about every 10 min and were actually getting a little stronger. I called Toby and asked him to come pick me up so we could head over to the dr. Of course my dr is out of the office til Tuesday so I had to see the on call dr. It took about an hour to get in and by this time my contractions were very regular and coming every 5-6 min. I thought for sure he was going to look at my cervix, tell me I was dilating and send me to the hospital. But...he said my cervix looked good. They did a test called fetal fibronectin that can tell you if you may go into labor within the next week or two. If it comes back negative you have a 1% chance of going into labor soon. He also said it looked like I might have an infection which he said could be the source of my contractions. So, he gave me a prescription for the infection and one that would slow my contractions down. We headed to the pharmacy and I took the pill immediately. That was about 3pm and within a couple of hours I was down to just a few, less intense contractions. They called just after 4pm to say that the fibronectin test had come back negative. So it looks like this is our first false alarm. I have to say I am very glad Wyatt wants to stay a bit longer. While I know he could survive I'm just not quite ready-nor do I want to deal with the nicu.

happy tears...

Probably only those that have lost a baby would understand how and what I have been through. I have only had a few sad moments since I have been pregnant. They usually only last an hour or so, something that has drastically changed since they were born. In the beginning, if I was having a bad moment it may have lasted days. Now it only lasts a few hours or minutes. The sad moments I have had have mostly been just feelings of missing my boys. I will never get to see them live and hit all the milestones that should make a parent smile. Well, today I was just thinking about Wyatt coming, rubbing my belly and watching him kick where I was rubbing. I started to tear up but this time it was happy tears. It's the first time that my tears during this pregnancy have been happy tears. I told Wyatt things are going to be different this time. I know this b/c even if he was born now he would most likely live. I hate to think that way but I can't help it. I have one more week and I will have made it to week 30. I think my goal after that is to make it to 34. I'm visiting my ob every 2 weeks now. I can't explain how awesome of a doctor he is. He has made this whole pregnancy much easier on me. I was coming every two weeks for almost two months in the beginning and getting ultrasounds done each time. It was so reassuring every time to see him looking so perfect on the screen. Toby and I are both getting so excited with each week that passes. And at the same time looking at each other and saying "shit...what did we do?" I think these are the feelings that most first time parents have but instead the first time we were so stressed out by the fact that we didn't know how we were going to pay for child care, living expenses and just taking care of two babies. Our child birth teacher told us something last week that I think Toby and I plan to take full advantage of (sorry parents). She said that right after our babies are born, not to run out and tell everyone in the waiting room. She said to take an hour or so and just spend some time with the three of us. I think that is a wonderful idea and especially after the boys I would love to have those first few moments with Wyatt just between Toby and I.

I can't wait to meet this little boy who has been kicking away inside of me...

Funny things about having a baby inside you...

So, on weekends I can usually get up early without waking up Toby or the dog. BUT...there is no way of being so quiet that you don't wake up a baby inside of you. I woke up at 7:30 this morning with my hips killing me. Sometimes the bed makes my hips hurt sleeping on my side. So, I decided I would go lay on the couch and see if I could go back to sleep for a bit. However, little Wyatt decided since I had gotten up and moved that it was time for him to get up. He is always very active when I start moving about in the morning. At first I was a little frustrated b/c I really wanted to sleep in this morning. He wasn't just moving about either. He was pouncing back and forth from one side of my belly to the other (at least that's how it felt). But then I noticed on my left side a very rhythmic pattern like hiccups. It was the first time I have felt him have the hiccups. It lasted for about 2-3 min. It was so sweet and I just laid there feeling him hiccup every few seconds. Of course, after he was done with the hiccups he settled down and stopped moving about. By then, I was wide awake. So, my Sunday began at 7:30am but it was welcomed by Wyatt's hiccups.

no heat in the house

no heat in the house, originally uploaded by kkirk78.

So...we got home from work on Friday, walked in the door and we both looked at each other. It was very cold in the house. I went and looked at the thermostat and it said 50. Uh oh...something was not quite right. On one of the coldest days of the year so far our heat unit decided to quit. We checked our breakers and the other small things we could think of to check but nothing worked. So, we used the east nashville list serv to find us a heating man that others recommended (thanks fellow east nashvillians). We found Jerry who said he could come out Sat morning and look at it. He was pretty sure after I described over the phone what was wrong with it (and he was right). Our friends Jeff and Laura were kind enough to let us sleep at their house. So, we opened up the cabinet doors under the sinks, let the faucets drip, packed up clothes and Angus and headed on over where we proceeded to play wii most of the night. Sat morning we came back home to wait for the heat man. It was 40 degrees in the house. That's when i snapped this pic. He came and tried to temporarily fix it until he could get the part on Monday. He said the place would charge him $100 to just get the part b/c it was on a Saturday. So, we got excited when the heat started pumping out. He left and said he would be back on Monday with the part to replace it. Well, the house heated up and then the heat never kicked on again. So, off to Jeff and Laura's we went again to stay until Monday. Once again, we played a LOT of wii. It made the weekend go by faster and was fun to just bum around all weekend and play games. Thankfully though the heat man came Monday morning as promised and by 9:30 the heat was on. So, it is Monday night now and I am sitting on the couch (not wrapped up in blankets or sitting on the heating pad) and am basking in the warmth of our fixed heat unit. Thank you Jerry....

made it to 23 weeks!

I am now 23 weeks pregnant. I delivered the boys at 22 1/2 weeks so Toby and I are very relieved to have made it to this point. We are both getting very excited to finally have our little baby join our family. I started going through the baby clothes last night. We have a mountain of newborn clothes. I got very excited looking through them...we have some adorable outfits too. We bought his outfit to come home from the hospital in. It's a little blue and white striped onesie that has a weiner dog on it and it says "hot diggity dog".

We had a good and relaxing Christmas. My parents came down on Wed and left Sunday morning. We went to the Zoo on Saturday, it was 73 degrees out and we needed something to do outside. We then went and ate at the Blackstone Brewery. They make their own beer and have a restaurant there too. I had a pepperoni, tomato and mushroom pesto pizza. It was good! Although my parents and Toby got the pleasure of enjoying some fresh Blackstone beer. That is the hardest part about being pregnant...not getting to enjoy some good beer especially around the holidays.

Well, I am looking forward to 2009. 2008 was a lot better than 2007 and I know 2009 will be even better. We are starting the New Year credit card debt free and will have the car paid off in about 6 months and we have a little one on the way. What a great way to start off 2009...stress free!

20 weeks pregnant

Well, I am officially half way there. I'm very anxious to make it to 23 weeks as the boys were born just before I made it to 23 weeks. From there on it is all new territory. We had a small scare this week. On Monday morning I started getting cramps and low back pain. It was exactly how everything started last time. I called my hubby and he told me to call my dr. So, the nurse told me to go ahead and come in and they would check me out. I rode the bus that day so Toby had to come pick me up from work which was fine with me. We were both scared b/c the last time was so chaotic. I went in, dr checked me and said I was 5cm dilated. I was rushed over to the hospital, rushed into a gown and they shoved iv's and medications in me before I even had a chance to sign anything. We were so scared that the news would be the same. But, dr checked me out and said my cervix is still fully closed (inside and out) and that he thought it was probably muscular pains. We got a quick peek at our little boy again and he was just bouncing around in me. He told me if it did get worse or I had any hestitations to come back in. He is the dr that delivered the boys so he knows how paranoid we are about any pains, etc. Apparently we were very worried when we went in b/c we couldn't remember where we parked when we left. We rode up and down the elevator a few times in the garage before we found it. I've had some more cramps and back pain this week but it has not gotten worse. I went in for my 20 week appt on Friday and everything was checked again. Cervix is still fully closed which is like hearing I won the lottery. They did the indepth ultrasound and he weighs about 13 ounces (he is measuring 20 wk and 3 days). Everything is functioning like it should. He does have one cyst on his brain. We need to go back in 4 wks for another ultrasound to make sure it is getting smaller or it is gone. Dr. said he has never had one yet that didn't resolve itself. Apparently it is fairly common. So we are not too worried about that. I have posted pics of the ultrasound on flickr. His profile reminds me of the boys. I think he might have the same nose and lips but I think they have different chins. I guess we'll find out in a few months. I just can't wait til all this is over. I enjoy being pregnant but not all the pains and aches and worries that make me think something bad is going to happen. I also started having braxton hicks. I've been experiencing it for about a week for two now but didn't realize at first that is what is was until was sister in law said something. So many things are going on in my body, it is crazy when you think about it all. I just wish it was April and my little boy was close enough to arrive any day. Well, except that we still don't have a name for him so I guess we can wait a little bit yet. :)