When to Get Good Deals

Read this "best time to buy" info in Real Simple Magazine today and thought I'd share the love:

Bed Linens:
January is a great time to find competitive prices and markdowns on sheets, towels, comforters, and more.

Furniture:
Industry-wide sales are best in January and July. That's when retailers want to make room for the next season's home designs. The best time to bargain? At the end of the month, when salespeople are eager to meet their sales quotas.

Makeup:
The months of March and August mark the launches of cosmetic companies' spring and fall colors, respectively [this is true for Arbonne, too]. At those times, you'll often receive a gift with purchase or samples when you stock up on new shades.

Clothes:
For the biggest sales on fall clothing, head to the stores in November; for winter items, go in December; and for spring fashions, June. Keep in mind that it's best to stock up on classic styles and colors that will last over several seasons.

Groceries:
Most markets rotate sales on Wednesday, so you'll get the best prices between Sunday and Tuesday. For deals on meat, visit the butcher first thing in the morning, when he marks down items that have that day's sell-by date.

Shoes:
In March you can expect discounts of about 20 to 30 percent off spring shoe styles. In June that number climbs to 70 percent off the original prices. The same cost cuts apply for fall shoes in the months of September and November.

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So there you go! Also check out The Bargain Shopper Lady for good deals.

Naps are a Beautiful Thing

Courtney has been writing about beauty, and I have to say that one of the most beautiful things I've been thinking about lately is NAPS.

While I was working, I would get really tired around 2:00 or 3:00, but of course, I'd keep plugging through until I got home. Now that I can go lie down whenever I feel like it, I actually feel much better. You'd think I'd just feel more lazy or something, but I actually feel more energetic and more cheerful (because I have the energy to be cheerful).

I think I will be surprised after the baby comes as to how much pregnancy really wore me down. It's been such a gradual process that it's hard to notice when certain things are happening, like gradual swelling over time, how much more slowly I walk, how I don't get as much breath, or the vague stretch marks beginning to show on my stomach that already existed before I noticed them. All of a sudden, I'm like, "Hey! Why can't I sing through this hymn at church without getting lightheaded? Oh, I guess I can't breathe as deeply...." I think the tiredness falls into this category, too. I think I've forgotten how much energy I used to have and have become accustomed to it because it happened so slowly.

I know you're all thinking, "Yeah, girl, just wait till that kid is born. THEN let's talk about tired." :) Well, then, let me just go back to my initial statement: Naps are a beautiful thing.

Amen.

Baby Update

Apparently some of you are breathlessly watching the blog for news about when I go into labor. :) So I thought I'd give you an update, since I had a doctor's appointment today.

As of today, I am 50% effaced, but I am not dilated at all. The doctor said that she thought the baby would probably not come before New Year's (stink!). But I also found out that they won't let me go beyond 41 weeks, which means that he will come on January 11 or before.

So there you go!

We'll definitely let you know when we have bigger news. :)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

We've had a really nice day. A few pictures that Mom took:

Me, on Dec. 23. Very pregnant.

Nathan and Dad, working a puzzle. I have no patience for puzzles, but Nathan really likes them, especially at Christmas.

We had so many boxes of gifts sent to us that we made a second tree. ;)

I'm sure I'll write more later, unless bigger events occur. :) Hope your Christmas was a good one!

Week 38 Belly Picture + Bonus Movies

Here are a couple of movies. I will just tell you in advance that I am a total idiot, and I thought that the video picture would auto-adjust once I switched from horizontal to vertical, like it does for still photos. Needless to say, that doesn't work for videos. But I thought you might like to see this, anyway. As you can see, I'm no professional. Forgive me if you end up with a crick in your neck:




And this one is of Livvy and Vi after we put out the new rug for the baby's room. They went nuts! LOVED it!

Christmas Questionnaire

I found this on someone's blog (I don't even know whose at this point--sorry I can't give proper credit!) and thought it looked fun. Want to join in? If you post something similar, leave a comment and let us know so we can go read it.

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1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper, mostly because I like to go to town decorating my packages with pretty ribbon and things. This year, though, there has been a hiatus on the high-maintenance packaging. Lots of other things to do right now!

2. Real tree or Artificial? We've never put up a tree before since we always travel for Christmas, but Nathan and I both grew up with artificial trees. Neither of us had ever had a real tree until last night. We went to Home Depot and picked one out. Note to self: Next time, try to buy a tree before the nor'easter that dumps 16+" of snow arrives. :) All the trees were basically frozen shut and had snow and ice in them, and I have to say, Home Depot did not do a good job of shoveling the aisles in the garden section. It really was kind of treacherous. But we found a lovely Douglas fir, which smells amazing, and took it home. It is currently thawing in our living room and is much bigger than we expected, and it is really beautiful. I'll try to take pictures once we get it decorated.

3. When do you put up the tree? My mom would say the day after Thanksgiving. We didn't get to it until, um, December 17. ;)

4. When do you take the tree down? A few days after Christmas

5. Do you like egg nog? I have never ventured to taste it. Something about it being called "egg nog." I mean, come on. Gross.

6. Favorite gift received as a child? I wish I could remember. I know I liked this little educational computer thing. I kept trying to tell my parents that Santa left it slightly closer to my pile, so he meant for it to belong to me and not to Ken. And did my Barbie house come from Santa? Probably. If so, that's probably up there.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? No. We are still in the "collecting Christmas decor" stage of our lives. It literally took about five minutes to put everything up, sans the tree. I have to say, that's a little sad. But we've never really had the luxury of storage space for decorations until now.

8. Hardest person for whom to buy? Grandparents.

9. Easiest person for whom to buy? This year it was Nathan. Or maybe Meredith.

10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Email?! Who emails their Christmas cards?! I think I would only do that if I were desperate. I think I'd rather not send anything and hope they didn't miss it rather than send an email.

11.Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Probably something that ended up under #13. Oh! No, I know what the worst gift ever was--last year's gift from Ken. Nathan and I both received a $.25 recorder and a $1 movie (I got "Boy in the Plastic Bubble," and Nathan got some kind of Godzilla movie). There was definitely some charm to it, though (especially since Ken was dirt poor at the time). The funniest part was that Nathan immediately picked up his recorder and proceeded to play a Christmas song on it. What the heck?! Apparently they teach kids how to play the recorder in English schools.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? I like all the old ones, like White Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, etc. And of course, who doesn't like A Christmas Story?

13. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I'm sure it has happened from time to time. Actually, we did recycle one this year at a White Elephant/Yankee Swap party. I am not going to say what it was, but it did get a good laugh.

14. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Chocolate covered cherries. And my mom makes good fudge and chocolate oatmeal cookies. And my family's sausage balls. Yeah, we're real health nuts.

15. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear. I like how simple and elegant they look.

16. Favorite Christmas song? O Come O Come Emmanuel. I love the melody (kind of haunting) and the words. And at Baylor, we would always perform this amazing arrangement of it in choir.

17. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We've always traveled, switching between Nathan's family and mine. This year, though, we are staying close to the hospital, with Baby B. so close to coming.

18. Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer? "You know Dasher and Dancer and Comet and Vixen; Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen; but do you recall the most famous reindeer of all? Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer...." Oops, I named Comet twice. So I guess the answer is no.

19. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? I grew up opening at least a few on Christmas Eve. We just couldn't wait any longer. Nathan thinks this was a terrible breach of all things normal and just, and whenever I want something right away, no matter the time of year, he says (mostly kidding), "This is just like opening presents on Christmas Eve!"

20. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Trying to fit in seeing everyone in a short amount of time, especially when you don't live in the area anymore.

21. Favorite ornament theme or color? I usually gravitate towards red or gold or a combination of the two.

22. Favorite food for Christmas dinner? Dinner? How about dessert?

23. What do you want for Christmas this year? A baby.

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*UPDATE*

Nathan just sent me this email. Is this funny or what?
"I saw on your blog that you just want a baby for Christmas this year. Why didn't you say so? That saves me the trouble of having to go out and shop. =)"

8 Months

If I have this baby on his due date (January 4), I officially have 2 weeks and 4 days left.

Grr.

I am ready for him to come yesterday. Seriously, folks.

I have had a very uneventful pregnancy, with the exception of some extra weight gain. While other women around me were suffering from severe insomnia or constant morning sickness, I breezed right through the first two trimesters. The third trimester dawned with some back pain, etc., but all in all I've had it pretty good.

But lately, I have been running into all kinds of things that make me just want to go have a baby and be done with the whole pregnancy thing:

• I am starting to get stretch marks on my stomach. UGH. I did not notice until this weekend. I thought I was home free, people! Then this happens two weeks before the due date!
• I feel gigantic. I know I've said that before, but I really, really am gigantic now. I thought about measuring my belly just to see how many inches around it is, but then I decided that probably wasn't the most uplifting thing to do, even if I am curious. :) Plus, I'm a little swollen everywhere, which makes me look even more gigantic.
• I am getting short of breath because the baby has not dropped yet. For example, Nathan says I sigh a whole lot. He keeps saying, "Are you okay?" at odd times, because he hears me sigh, as if I'm upset, but really I'm just breathing. :) He also says I breathe really hard when I'm asleep, and my mom said I sounded out of breath on the phone the other day, when I was only sitting in the rocking chair. And I have not been able to sing through a hymn at church the last two Sundays without getting lightheaded! That is the funniest one, I think.
• My ankles are still pretty swollen, and I am down to only two pairs of shoes--one pair of boots and one pair of cute tennis shoes. And the boots are almost out, too, since they're getting pretty snug. The bad thing about this is that neither of these pairs of shoes is great for icy winter conditions, which we've had this week.
• Apparently there's a possibility I might be developing high blood pressure, which would NOT be cool if it lasts after the baby is born. This coming from someone who was lightheaded in early pregnancy because my BP was so LOW.

All in all, I am just really looking forward to having my body back (or as close to it as I can get). So, yes, I am ready for him to come yesterday, but if he comes in two weeks, so be it. What I'm REALLY afraid of is that he will be two weeks late and come in mid-January (both my brother and I were late). Not so sure Lauren could take that!

I know most women probably feel this way towards the end of their pregnancies. I'm praying for patience and contentment!