Ok, looks are somewhat deceiving here.  While I don’t really look all that big, I FEEL huge.  Really huge.  And it’s mostly because with this being my 3rd pregnancy and my muscles not as strong as they were with my first 2, I’m carrying this baby really low.  So it makes any movement that involves any bending at all very difficult (and 2 small kids and lots of toys on the floor involves a lot of bending!).  I often am amazed at how uncomfortable I am with still almost 2 months still to go (although I’m hoping for only another 7 weeks).  I don’t remember feeling this way until the last couple weeks with the others.

As of my doctor visit last week, our little girl was head up.  Nothing to worry about this early in the game, but they will keep checking to make sure that she flips herself around before delivery time.  But since she is head up, the kicking and movement are pretty low on my belly, and the kicking on my bladder means a small glass of water has me in the bathroom pretty much every 15 minutes for the next 2 hours!  On the plus side, her position also means that she can’t kick me in the ribs - something I know can be painful at times!

Regardless, we are looking more and more forward to meeting our little one.  With Christmas justaround the corner, January will be here before we know it.  We still don’t have a name, but I guess that’s not unusual considering we decided on the name Jackson while en-route to the hospital, and decided on Morgan barely 2 weeks out.  As long as she doesn’t pop out a boy, she’ll have a name when she’s born, and we’ll announce it to all.

I’ll try to post again in a few more weeks…

Ok, so I had to post a couple other pictures.  These are a little more like life around our house… (see next post for our unrealistic, but adorable, picture)

We got 1 (and only 1) that came out with both smiling and looking at the camera.  Such is the life with small kids, I guess, especially when one of them (Morgan) screams when the other one (Jackson) touches her!  At least we got one!  I suppose we should really post one of the others - it would be a lot more like everyday life! 

We spent all day Saturday decorating the house and putting up the Christmas tree.  Jackson was so excited, he couldn’t wait to put on the ornaments.  He had a lot of fun putting them on, even if I did have to do just a *little bit of rearranging later, so that we didn’t have 3 ornaments on one branch. :)  Saturday was a cool and rainy day here in Atlanta, so even though it wasn’t snow, it was still perfect weather to stay inside and decorate for the season!

I didn’t do a roundup the last 2 weeks - one because of Thanksgiving week and being out of town, and the other cause I just needed a cooking break so we did pre-made meals from Trader Joe’s all week.  While it was a nice break from the kitchen, at the end of the week I realized how much I missed eating home-cooked food!  So I’m back this week with my menu and deals.

Menu:

• Sunday: Sausage soup with wild rice and spinach, bread
• Monday: California sushi rolls (and probably pasta for the kids)
• Tuesday: Homemade pizza and salad
• Wednesday: Burgers, baked potatoes, corn
• Thursday: Chicken and sweet potato bake with cranberry topping
• Friday: Split pea soup and bread
• Saturday: Christmas party
• Sunday: leftovers

Grocery:

Publix: Stocked up on soymilk with my coupons that expire tomorrow, a few baking items, and food for the week.

• Spent: 48.82
• Full item value: 70.91
• Saved: 22.09 (31%)  (plus a mail-in rebate item for 3.99)

Kroger: I’ve found it’s worth it to me to make a trip to Kroger (it’s right next to Publix) because they still accept internet coupons, and they often have good sales and highly-marked down managers specials on meat and dairy.

• Spent: 7.66
• Full item value: 18.14
• Saved: 10.48 (58%)

Drugstore:  I only hit CVS this week on our way back from our Thanksgiving celebration at my parents, as the black Friday deals were too good to pass up.  A few items were gone off the shelves, but I was still able to snag quite a bit for pretty much nothing (and making $4 on the deal).  I actually did 2 transactions to maximize my savings with Extra Bucks.  All of the items I purchased were free after receiving the ECBs back.

Transaction 1:  (makeup, gatorade, lotion)

• Spent: .18 (plus 13.99 in ECBs)
• Full item value: 15.47
• Saved: 15.29 (99%)
• Received: 15.17 in ECBs

Transaction 2: (gatorade, chocolate, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, makeup)

• Spent: 0.00 out of pocket (.98 on gift card, 15.17 in ECBs)
• Full item value: 26.22
• Saved: 26.22 (100%)
• Received: 17.94 in ECBs

Totals:

• Spent: 56.66
• Full item value: 130.74
• Saved: 74.08 (57%)

Oh, and I also received 2 rebates I sent in for 8.00 and 3.99, so 11.99 back into our grocery fund.

Morgan pretty much wants to do everything that Jackson does.  And since it’s been cold out and we’re wearing jackets, Jackson loves to put his hands in his jacket pockets to keep them warm.  Just yesterday I pulled out a winter jacket I got for Morgan last year that has a shell and a fleece.  She was thrilled to see that the fleece had pockets, and I had barely zipped it up before she found them and stuck her hands in.

I’ve also been trying to figure out what to do with her hair, since her bangs come down to her nose and won’t go anywhere but in her face unless it’s pulled back.  My favorite is a barrette on each side, but she constantly pulls them out.  So the only solution is a little ponytail (that we call her ’sprout’) on the top of her head.  I decided to switch things up this time and give her 2 sprouts!

Menu:

• Monday: Seafood gumbo
• Tuesday: Sesame chicken with broccoli, rice, eggrolls
• Wednesday: Burgers, roasted potatoes (friends over, bringing a side dish)
• Thursday: Tortilla Soup
• Friday: leftovers
• Saturday: Calzones and salad
• Sunday: Topped baked potatoes, leftovers (possibly with friends instead)

Groceries:

SuperTarget - I’m not really counting the 11.33 I spent on 5 boxes of cereal, milk, and ziploc bags towards my grocery budget, because by buying the 4 boxes of cereal and submitting my UPCs I get a $10 gift card to Target, and the milk was free in a store promo when buying 5 boxes of cereal.  So… I’m essentially getting all but 1.33 back (the cost of my baggies).

• Spent: 11.33
• Full item value: 22.39
• Will receive: $10 target gift card
• Saved:11.06 (49%), or 21.06 with gift card (94%)

Publix: Since I’ve started working again, I just don’t have as much time to go to multiple stores, and therefore end up paying more than I would otherwise.  I paid full price for way too many items in this grocery run!

• Spent: 55.41
• Full item value: 72.13
• Saved: 16.72 (23%)

Drugstores:

CVS: Used my ECBs to get more Kleenex - lots of sniffles around here.

• Spent: 0.00 out of pocket (1.74 on gift card, 2.29 ECB)
• Full item value: 10.11
• Saved: 10.11 (100%)

I did get my Rite Aid rebate in the mail for $25.96.  Since this was all purchased with a gift card, it’s basically cash, which I plan to put towards our grocery budget, since we went over quite a bit the week I restocked my wheat supply from Bread Beckers.
Totals:

• Spent: 56.74
• Full item value: 104.63
• Saved: 47.89 (46%)

Halloween started out a little iffy this year, as Morgan spent the morning throwing up a few times.  My kids have almost never gotten sick apart from the common cold, so we weren’t sure what it was or how long it would last.  But after a good long nap that morning she woke up and ate a huge lunch, and was completely back to herself for the afternoon.  So we decided she was ok enough for some festivities.

Jackson had been convinced he wanted to be a cowboy again, like last year (can you tell we have a kid who likes routine?), but after borrowing a fireman’s outfit from a friend, he changed his mind.  Morgan was a princess.

Instead of going trick-or-treating, as our neighborhood doesn’t seem to really be into it much, we went to a carnival at a local church.  The kids got to ride their first merry go round ride, and had a good time.  And the great part is that I didn’t have to buy any candy, cause no one comes to our door, and they weren’t giving any out at the carnival, so we avoided the whole sugar high/candy rationing thing, which was actually pretty nice.  So here they are in their outfits:

And at the carnival they even had firetrucks, so he was able to sit up in one:

And our little princess:

Do you think she’s texting? :)  (and also not sure why I have to look so goofy in so many of the cute pictures of Morgan!)