Our Must Have Baby Items

Maybe I should wait until after The Babies are here for a post like this but, hey, I'm excited about all of our cool baby stuff.  These are just a few of the great things we have chosen for The Babies.

Puj Tub- This thing is ingenious!
Moby Wrap baby carrier
The First Years Infant to Toddler Feeding Seat- You can use this in your dining room chairs.
So Easy breastmilk and baby food trays
Sing-A-Ma-Jigs- These are hysterical!  Here's a video.
Snappi Diaper Fastner- Yes, we're cloth diapering two.

I see lots of baby/twin posts in my future.  Oh how quickly life changes.

Missed Connections

Relationships are so different than they used to be, especially the way folks hook up.  For example, my grandparents (Maw and Paw) met on the way to church.  Paw and his friends were hitching a ride with some other teenagers.  The car was super full and Maw, even though Paw had a girlfriend at the time, offered for Paw to sit on her lap.  Gasp!  Then take The Pope and me;  we met on the internet.
I've read articles about how it is more difficult for singles to get together even because of cell phones (one of my pet peeves!).  A dude might notice an attractive woman in the grocery store but he can't approach her because she's yacking on her cell phone.

Here's a blog that posts missed connections, like the old personal ads, and makes a drawing depicting that scenario.  Some are really super sweet and some are just really random.  Isn't it cool to think people still meet this way?  This is my favorite one thus far....

Coupon Class

Tonight I went to Couponing 101 taught at church by our friend Jodi.  I left slightly overwhelmed but excited by the challenge of saving money.  With two babies on the way we need to save in every way possible.
Here are a few tips Jodi shared with us (I'll just give out a few, she gave us tons!):
-Buy a big city newspaper every Sunday, maybe two (for us that means the Raleigh paper)
-Check out SouthernSavers.com for a list of weekly sale items at several different stores and where to find coupons for each of those items.  That's how you save your money, using coupons for sale items!
-Make sure you know the coupon rules for your store (ie double coupons everyday, 20 coupons per day limit)
-Just because a coupon says "Do Not Double or Triple" doesn't mean it won't double or triple at the register.  If the first number in the bar code (on the coupon) is a 5 it will usually double, if it's a 9 the coupon will probably not double.

Thank you Jodi for lots of great, useful information!

Not One, But Two Babies

Having been married for almost two years, I was ready to begin the next part of our life together.  It got to the point that I would get teary eyed when I saw other women with babies.  (I can be such a silly woman!) Even though we had planned for March, The Pope and I decided it was time to start trying.
The weekend of Valentine's Day I took two pregnancy tests.  The first one just had a very faint second line (indicating I was indeed pregnant).  Then The Pope went out and bought a digital test.  He much preferred the "pregnant" "not pregnant" reading.  Yep, we were going to have a baby, just one.
Then I started bleeding.  Every few days I would spot a little and sometimes I would bleed a lot (sorry if this is too much information for some of y'all).  Since my first OB appointment was still a few weeks away, I called to get their opinion.  The triage nurse kept saying things like, "We need to make sure it's a viable pregnancy.  If I were you, I would go to the ER just to be sure."  She must have said "viable pregnancy" five times.  I freaked out.
I called my GYNO and was able to be seen that day, since I was an established patient with them.  The best phlebotomist ever (I asked if I could put her in my pocket and take her with me) took about eight vials of blood to be tested for various things.  Then we went upstairs to get an ultrasound.
The Pope and I had no idea what we were looking at on the big screen on the wall.....just lots of black and white swirls.  The technician got very quiet, which of course worried me.  She asked, "Do twins run in your families?"  We just started laughing and I asked The Pope, "What have you done to me?!"
Now we are reading and researching all the we can in the next 7 months, getting prepared for not one, but two babies!

Etsy Sunday

One day while perusing Barnes and Noble, with my tall nonfat green tea latte, I stumbled upon Sublime Stitching's newest book Embroidered Effects.  I fell in love with the idea of coloring with thread, hand embroidering scenes and pictures.  I've finished a few projects and find it to be a fun and relaxing hobby.
So here, today's Etsy Sunday, ode to hand embroidering.

Princess and the Pea
Felt skull garland
Two squirrels lunch bag
Cherub in a frame
Sugar skull
Sweet Sophie
Tree of Life

Potato Stamps

I wanted to share the old, really old craft of making potato stamps.  You can use these to stamp everything, and they are super easy to make and much cheaper than store bought rubber stamps.
What you'll need:  a couple of potatoes, a knife, ink pad or paint, pencil, dish cloth

Cut a potato in half (not lengthwise), then use the dish cloth to dry the cut end of the potato.  This will help the ink stick better.

Use the pencil to draw a shape on the cut end of the potato.  Then use a knife to very carefully cut around the shape.

Making sure your potato is pretty darn dry, press your potato stamp onto the ink pad and transfer it to the article of your choice.  I used the backside of Christmas wrapping paper to wrap a Valentine's gift for The Pope.  Then I used my stamps on blank note cards.
(The "all you need is love" stamp is leftover from our wedding.  I used it to stamp takeout boxes for our candy buffet.)