Second Child

Being a second child myself, I understand. You always have hand-me-downs - clothes, shoes, bows, toys. You don't have many pictures of yourself alone as a child. Or, you don't have many pictures of your childhood at all.

I'm on the left, obviously. Nikki was always much more put together than I was. I was a wreck of a dirty child. And, yes, I have both of my hands down my pants. This was a common thing. Lucy does it too! haha.

As the second child, even rules get handed down to you, although you haven't even had the chance to break them yet.

Your milestones are often compared to the older child. I apparently took longer to walk, talk, and potty train than my sister. She got all of the good stuff first - a new bike, her own telephone line, a television in her room.

You are probably thinking this is similar to the "Marsha, Marsha, Marsha" episode of The Brady Bunch. Don't fret; it won't be. You see Jan Brady was the middle child. Something that I've only studied in school and watched on television. Although the second, I was also the youngest. That means along with the bad, you get some good.

You get to learn from your sister's mistakes and see your parent's reactions for punishment. Nikki's teenage rebellion years were coupled with my uneventful years in 6th and 7th grade, which automatically made her seem like "the trouble child."

And, I got all of the fun stuff a few years after hers had aged. I remember her pastel colored bike being two years old when I got my brand new, neon colored bike. She was pretty upset...although I paid for it when her and our friends made fun of me. I was the only kid in town with a Murray bike, everyone else had Huffy bikes.

On Nikki's birthday, I also got a present from my grandparents, probably the most unfair youngest child tradition of all.

I was also pretty spoiled rotten by our grandpa. :) I miss him so much.

The second child is something that I've been thinking about a lot lately. For the most part, Olive will get Lucy's hand-me-down clothes. I know that we will get her new items; however, we have totes and totes of baby clothes that Lucy wore just a few times. Olive will wear them. (Sorry future Olive reading this; it is financially the best decision. Perhaps all of the money we saved on baby clothes went to fabulous, family vacations or your college fund. Think of it that way. ;) ) 

Olive, no doubt, will have twice as many toys as Lucy. Since she will get to play with Lucy's (sometimes) and her own. She will of course get her own at Christmas, Easter, Birthdays, etc.

I vow to try my hardest at taking just as many pictures of Olive, writing just as many blogs about Olive, and filling out Olive's baby book as much. However, I understand with two children, it's going to be tough! I am going to try though...really.

I hope to give the girls equal presents, as to squash jealousy. However, Olive will not get presents on Lucy's birthday, or vice versa.

I really hope to make my girls' childhoods similar in parenting and spoiling. It is hard. Some things you just can't help. But, there are perks to each stage - oldest, youngest, or middle - at least in my opinion. I just want to focus on her as much, yet not neglect Lucy. It's a hard balance that I will undoubtedly discuss in the future. Stay tuned...

I wanted to leave you with this photo from Pinterest.com. It made me laugh...children of the 90s.

17 Week Update

Just so you know, I had Heath take about four pictures of me this week. I kept trying to get one picture where I didn't look huge. No such luck.

How far along?
I am 17 weeks and 1 day (160 days left)


Baby is the size of a...
Turnip? Like I know what that is. It is 5 inches from head to rump. :) Here is a picture, according to BabyCenter.com, of the turnip we are comparing my baby to:

Symptoms:
I think I am starting to feel kicks every once in a while. I get really big jabs when I move weird or "squish" the poor baby while bending over. I am excited for this part! I know at the end it gets to be a LOT; but, in the second trimester feeling movement is the best! :)

I still feel pretty good. No more headaches in a while! Yay! My appetite is still really spotty. I don't want anything at all and nothing sounds good, then all of a sudden I think of or see an item and I want it really bad. I have been really wanting mozzarella sticks, or cheddar bites, or basically anything fried with cheese. Yum - I'm making myself hungry. Heath has let me indulge lately. I think he just wants to make sure I am eating.

Oh, I did wake up last night and my hips hurt for the first time. I am not looking forward to that again! :(

Anything New?
I am still in my regular clothes. I am in between right now, which is the worst. My normal pants don't button; but, maternity pants are awkwardly big. I have a lot of capris that I can wear; but, the weather started to get chilly again. :( Then, my legs are so pasty too that I'm self-conscience.

I have been dreaming a LOT lately. They are such odd and aimless dreams too. It is bugging me; I wake up and I don't feel rested. I did have a dream over the weekend that I had triplet girls. I apparently like to scare myself in dreams and have multiples; I think I'm accessing some tiny fear in the back of my mind. haha. Anyway, in the dream, I had to name the babies. I completely blanked on all of the names that Heath and I have actually discussed. I was trying to talk Heath into some names and all began with the letter 'A' - again! Remember I had a dream about the name 'Audrey'? More 'A' names...(perhaps I watch too much Pretty Little Liars). This time I suggested to Heath, "Amy, Amsey, Arie, Aria, Aurora" and some others that I couldn't remember. It is really odd to me, because Heath and I have never even considered an 'A' name.

New with Heath?
I really don't know. I'll be honest. He has been working really hard on Lucy's big girl room and talking about the finances when the baby comes; but, that is about it. I guess that is the dad's job - make sure the finances are set and get the house ready. It is my job to get all "mushy-gushy" about the baby and obsess over my growing bump.

Don't get me wrong, he still occasionally rubs my stomach and says things about having another one running around. :) It just isn't as "real" to him...not that I am any more prepared mentally.

With Lucy?
She is getting settled into her new room. She has been in there since last Saturday night. We are trying to get her used to the new room; so, when the baby comes, she won't have any attachment to the nursery still. I am crossing my fingers!

She still points are her own belly and mine to say, "Baby in dere." We tell her that, "Yes - there is a baby in mommy's belly." She makes me laugh, because she treats it like one of her dolls and says, "It cryin!" I always say, "No, baby's sleeping." Then, I had the crazy thought that maybe she has some baby ESP and the baby really is crying. Wouldn't that be creepy? haha.

We get to watch a friend's baby for about an hour on Saturday morning. :) I'm so excited. Plus, we think it is great for Lucy to be around a baby. It still bothers her when Heath holds him. So, we will see if we can warm Lucy up a bit to the idea.

Anything else?
Hmmm...dreams, symptoms, oh! I just remembered. I think my motherly intuition is finally speaking to me. For some reason the other day I was sitting in the living room and I told Heath, "I think it's a boy." At that moment, I just did. I just felt like all signs are pointing to a boy (except for my dreams!). Of course, Heath just smiled at that idea. I don't know how reliable my intuition is; but, we will soon see.

Oh, and I had a Facebook friend tell me that she had a dream about me and the baby too. I asked her what the sex was and she said that it was a boy. Who knows?! :)

Save a Buck, or 50

We've all seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC and we all know that sometimes it's a little far fetched.

1) Most of us don't have all the time in the world searching the internet for coupons and good deals. If we do one week, we can't the next; it isn't practical.
2) Most of don't have extra rooms in our houses for 'stock piles'.
3) Most of us would never eat 30+ boxes of cereal before they go bad.
4) Paying a coupon cutting service for more coupons is defeating the money-saving-purpose!
5) Proctor & Gamble products limit you to only four coupons that are the same, being used at one time.

And, the biggest number 6 of all time:

6) We don't have stores around here that double coupons.

I googled it and local stores just don't cooperate. I couldn't find a store within 100 miles that offered double coupons and super saving with a store card. If I could find one though, would I be willing to always drive over an hour to go get groceries? Probably not every trip.

So, I thought...

I've been couponing for over a year now. I would cut them out of the Sunday paper. I started by cutting lots of coupons and saving them all. I would end up purchasing things that I wouldn't normally purchase. I quickly realized that I had fallen into the company couponing plan!

It didn't take long for me to break that habit and start to only cut out coupons of products that we actually buy! I even took a few minutes to request a coupon book from Proctor & Gamble (P&G); we use a ton of their products (Tide, Tampax, Bounty, Old Spice, Venus, Crest, Pampers, Herbal Essence, etc.). Go check out their website for free samples and sometimes really good coupon offers.

With coupons, I was saving money. I averaged, and still do average, about $10 in coupon savings a trip. My all time high savings was $19.00. I thought that was pretty impressive.

Some people may think that couponing is "beneath" them. But, when I am shopping at Walmart? Who cares? Seriously? Watch me save $19.00 and judge away! I do sometimes apologize for the extra time it takes, to the people behind me in line. They always say it isn't a big deal.

I was inspired though. I watched Extreme Couponing and I wanted to save more!

One day at Walmart I stood behind a woman in line. She had a notebook and was telling the cashier the prices of her items. It took me a while; but, I realized that she was price matching.

Price matching!

Price matching is the key to savings! Combining price matching with coupons is amazing! Walmart price matches all the time! Let me tell you a bit more about it.

Every week I pull sales adds out of the Sunday paper (Target, Walgreens, CVS, etc.). Then, in the middle of the week the Penny Press arrives (Sunmart, Glenns, Fairway, Pamida, etc.). Finally, if I get time, I check internet sales adds (Bakers, Hyvee, SuperSaver, etc.).

I comb the adds looking for things that are on my grocery list. Sometimes I will have 'lunch items' on my list for Heath and me. I look for items on sale that we could use for lunch. Once I find a good deal, I write it down:

Product, Type or Size, Sales Price, & Store

My list is usually about a page long. I even started making a cute print out to use, for straight lines and organization. :)

I walk through Walmart and look at the prices before I put it in my cart. Sometimes, I'll be honest, Walmart's price is cheaper. However, sometimes I find amazing deals too!  Some to take note of are:

Easy Mac - sale price $0.47, originally $.98
General Mills Cereals - sale price $2 each, originally $4.37 each, & I had two $0.75 coupons = $1.25 each!
Venus Razors - sale price $2.99, originally $4.99, & I had a $2 off coupon = $.99!!!
Wagon Train Dog Treats - sale price $1, originally $4.50, & I had a $1 off coupon = Free!!!

These are just some of many, many dollars that I've saved. The saving from the last three trips were: $39.99, $47.65, and a whopping $57.83!

It is amazing what you can save when you just spend an hour a week looking at sales adds. It sure beats running from store to store to get the prices you want. Plus, I don't feel bad making Walmart lower their prices for me. I mean, it's Walmart...

Don't believe me? Look for yourself. This is from my last trip.

I keep track of the Walmart price too; that way I can calculate my savings when I get home.

They price match anything and everything as long as the brand is the same.  Fruit and veggies, they will match the pound price.

Try it! Next time, take some notes, and tell them at the register that you want to price match.

Does anyone else price match? Who is going to start now? :) :)