A Trip Through the 100 Acre Woods: Baby Cosme's Shower

Last Saturday we were lucky enough to be thrown an amazing baby shower by my mom and sister! I couldn't believe how much detail they put into the party and we had an absolutely fantastic time celebrating the impending arrival of our sweet little girl. Here is the party in pictures.

This diaper raffle yielded SO many diapers! Which was excellent because we previously had 0, and I've heard that we'll be going through a ton. Also, the grand prize winner was Natalie Tomes who brought TWO sized Costco sized boxes of diapers to up her odds of winning. 

One of the adorable center pieces.

We had people write down wishes for the baby and advice for Mommy. These ended up being very sweet and I put all of them in Baby Cosme's baby album that my mom started for her.

Pictures of Devin and I as babies served as the backdrop for baby wishes.

The two ladies who made it all happen!

We also played the clothespin game!

One a few different favors that people could take home with them. Little "hunny" pots filled with actual honey bears! Yum!

These 100 acre wood acorns were amazingly delicious.

"Tails" of all the different Winnie the Pooh characters.

Mmm my very favorite popcorn in the whole world. Chicago style - caramel plus cheddar all mixed together, with little labels that read "Ready to pop!"

Coleen and I!

Pictures of the cupcakes once they were open and ready for consumption. There was honey AND lemon, both equally delicious.

I also asked Devin to take pictures of all the food signs because they were adorable..but in true Devin fashion he failed to accomplish the task and later said "Well...I took pictures of all the signs I saw..."

The food was phenomenal though! There was "Pooh-tato bar" which was a super yummy baked potato bar with all the best toppings, and these super scrumptious ham sandwiches that came with the label "Piglet's Lost Brother". Haha!

Then after presents were given out for the diaper raffle, clothespin game, and honey bear guessing game it was time for presents. 

This box had a bunch of Vera Bradley baby stuff in and it was all so adorable! We love the outfits so much we are bringing them to the hospital with us as possible coming home outfits. 

Here are some examples of the crazy cool "diaper art" Lisa did! There was a monkey, a lion, a bird, and even a baby!

Oh gosh I can't WAIT to put this funny spider hat on her little head.

When I was born I had a little Tigger just like this in the hospital with me, so this was an extra special gift.

As you can see, while I opened gifts I just piled them on top of Devin. He was VERY helpful.

And then he looked very curious about some of the gifts we were getting.

Not only was this basket filled with clothes, and bibs, and cute baby mittens but I have now repurposed the basket to hold all her stuffed animals and they all stare out of it like they just can't wait to meet her! I have the sweetest vision of her dumping out the entire basket onto the floor and playing with all her fuzzy little friends.

Coleen made this blanket from scratch! What a lucky little baby we have.

We requested that people bring books instead of cards and everyone was so sweet to help little baby's library grow and grow! Plus now some of her books have little notes written in them that will make those books all the more special as she gets older.

Aww a Marley's Mutt bib!

Here is a super awesome Tula carrier which I have already tried on a dozen times. I am so excited to be able to walk around with her cozied up against me. I just hope she likes it as much as I envision she will. Hands free sounds like it will definitely come in handy around the house (you know for all that house work I plan on doing on maternity leave. Just kidding, we all know Devin is the better cleaner, but I do need my hands for making and eating mass amounts of cookies so baby needs to learn to like this carrier) and especially the airport when we travel to California in January. 

Hooch! I love this picture because you can clearly tell I am saw Hoooooch!

Another adorable book!

I was also lucky enough to have a very special helper assisting me with all the presents and asking me a LOT about babies. Mostly - "Wait...so why do you get to be the mommy?" Which is a completely valid question.

Heck yes! A mirror for the backseat because even when I'm not watching you baby...I'm watching you.

Plus a sunshade for the car so baby's face doesn't melt off into a puddle on the floor.

A shark shirt! Yes, it's a bradley shark ;-)

Look at Devin folding up that tissue paper. What a great husband!

If I wasn't sure who this present was before, it was pretty obvious when I discovered this homemade card. I have been getting these cards from Emily for 13 years and they never cease to make me smile.

Not only did we get one homemade blanket for baby - we got 2! This one came from Emily and we can't wait to wrap baby up in and snuggle her on the couch. Hopefully she likes Orange is the New Black, I have some episodes to catch up on during my baby-cation. Which is just like a vacation, only you don't sleep, shower, or relax.  

I couldn't be the only one opening presents, so I got Devin a special present for him and baby that he could open at the shower.

He's smiling. I guess he doesn't hate it!

A mickey themed tool belt that she can wear when she is helping daddy fix up things around the house!

A noise machine! I hear these are very helpful and if baby decides she hates it, we can put it in our room and maybe it will help Devin get some rest since he always has such a hard time falling asleep.

Devin is so good at balancing presents! And here are the tester strips you can use to determine if your breastmilk has any booze in it. Genius right? Because what new mommy doesn't want a little wine, or cider, or irish car bomb. 

After the shower we took some family pictures and then started the process of transferring everything into the car, into the house, sorting it into piles, transferring it back to the car and driving it to Iowa. Given that we filled both our cars with stuff to bring back to Iowa to say we are lucky is an understatement. 

Here we are being dinosaurs...or monsters...we're intense!

 The past year has brought so many changes for Devin and I and these people have been there every step of the way. From a wedding shower last Summer, a wedding in November, and now a baby shower these are the folks who have sacrificed their time, money, and energy to celebrate with us. Without them I have no idea where we would be and can't sing their praises enough. Devin and I are already over the moon in love with our little girl, and we are certain that from the day she is born she will know she has two people she can count on no matter what happens. But to know that she is coming into this world to the welcoming of a loving extended family who are just as excited to meet her as we are makes this entire process so much more special.

We may not be a perfect bunch, but we're all we have. 

Summertime Sweetness: A day with my Dad!

In preparation for baby Devin and I decided not to take a Summer vacation this year, but instead have been taking a lot of little weekend trips to try and get the most out of Summer. Last weekend just happened to be our baby shower (which I will devote an entire post to because it was absolutely amazing!) so I left Devin behind in Iowa for a few days and ventured to the Chicagoland area on Wednesday afternoon.

My sister flew in to town on Wednesday evening, so after doing some chatting with the parents, eating dinner, and running to Michaels and Target with my mom it was time to go pick her up! I was feeling pretty tired though after driving from Iowa so luckily my dad offered to drive to Ohare to get her even though he had to work in the morning and I played the role of copilot. It was so great to finally see her after almost 9 months, so of course us girls stayed up till nearly 3 am talking and gossiping before we called it a night. Plus she brought a GIANT suitcase with her that was filled with baby clothes so we had fun going through everything and commenting on how crazy cute all the little pants and shirts were. Just wait till little Baby Cosme gets here, she is going to be quite the fashionista which is awesome because I dress like a hobo - for real though, this week I put on a shirt, realized it had stains all over the belly, and wore it anyways because it fit and my maternity wardrobe is only so big.

Thursday morning we admittedly got a late start to all the baby shower crafting that was supposed to get done because we spent the whole morning chatting again! Around 1:00 though we finally cracked down and started some projects that needed to be completed. It was a wonderful evening at home with the 5 of us, and since it was the first time we had all been together in a while it was really a treat to get some quality family time.

Then Friday my dad and I vacated craft central and went on an EPIC adventure downtown. We started with a White Sox game and before we even got into the park our luck was going strong because there was an Olive Garden truck parked outside that was giving away free samples of their new breadstick sandwiches and they were delicious! I got the chicken parm and my dad got the meatball and of course we shared.

Then they gave us free t-shirts! I don't care what it says, I can totally be won over by a free t-shirt!

Then we went to get our tickets and decided to sit in the Shark Cage which meant we got a free hat and a shark fin to wave whenever there was a strike out. Then upon entry into the park we got a free blanket. So much swag we didn't know what to do! 

It happened to be a very hot and sunny day, which I actually really enjoyed because it has been such a mild Summer and I have hardly spent anytime outdoors. So it was nice to actually feel the heat of Summer on my day off. We drank plenty of water and were smart enough to bring a towel with us so we could wipe off when the sweat became oppressive.

Then about halfway through the game we found ourselves in need of some food so we walked around the concourse and even though they have an amazing selection of food I just couldn't bring myself to eat anything hot because I was already slightly melting from the inside out. So instead we decided on this awesome Turkey Club sandwich. Not only was it delicious but I asked the waitress if she could bring an extra pickle and she brought two big pickles and a baby pickle...super cute right?

We finished up the game in some seats we found in the shade (hey if they don't check my ticket I am going to take advantage of the shaded areas!). Then it was off to Navy Pier for an architectural cruise I had purchased for Father's Day. The timing all worked out really perfectly and by the time we parked and got our tickets it was time to get on the water.

We trailed down the Chicago River and heard all kinds of excellent historical tales. Then because this particular cruise boat is a speed boat they took us out onto the lake and gave us a high speed ride for a while. This was especially awesome because as I mentioned it was balls hot and the intense breeze from the boat ride was particularly refreshing.

 After our boat ride we decided to stop for an ice cream cone before heading home. And of course I demanded we take an ice cream selfie. 

Then it was time to head home, where I was met with some delicious frozen pizzas for dinner and a Devin who had driven in from Iowa to join me for the baby shower.

It was an absolutely phenomenal day in my favorite city with one of my favorite people. It was also really special to spend a whole day with my dad since we probably won't get as many chances to go on epic Dad and Cate adventures once baby arrives (we'll still have to fit in a couple though!). As much fun as it is to do things as a whole family, sometimes it is nice to get some one-on-one time with the people who are closest to you. A chance to talk about everything under the sun, to discuss the future and reminisce on your favorite memories from the past, and a time to reinvigorate relationships that you've always held near to your heart. This Summer may not involve a formal vacation but I have to admit the days I've spent with the people I love have been days I won't soon forget, days I plan to reflect on for years to come, and the kind of days that truly remind you how lucky you are to be part of a family built on unconditional love.

The Clock is Running Out

I love a good countdown. When some type of event or notable occurrence is in the calendar I usually start a countdown months in advance. My excitement just can't be contained, from vacations to graduations, moving dates, trips home, and birthdays, I just love knowing how much time needs to elapse before I arrive at the date on the calendar that is brightly emblazoned with an event!

For the past few years I have had a constant countdown in my head. Before Devin even proposed, I remember walking to work each morning doing the math about when we might get married, how long after that we might get pregnant, and when a little Cosme nugget of joy would arrive. I played every scenario over and over again in my head. If we started trying in the Spring when would a baby arrive? Would the timing of that work out with the various academic hurdles I wanted to achieve? Would it be better to wait a few months? A year? Each morning as I walked to work I couldn't stop this obsessive counting of time from playing over and over again in my head.

Then Devin proposed and the wedding countdown began. First in long months that seemed like they would never pass and then mere weeks as the long awaited date drew near. The Summer before our wedding I made an appointment to have my IUD removed and I started counting down to the appointment. Once the appointment came and went, I started counting down to when we would actually start trying. After the wedding of course (I needed to fit into my dress) and not before the honeymoon (I wanted to booze freely on our California adventure). I continued counting down to our wedding date, spent the 6 weeks following it counting down to our honeymoon, and then not more than 2 weeks after we returned from our West Coast adventure I started counting down the weeks until our little baby bundle would be here.

I have been anticipating, counting down, and eagerly awaiting the flip of the calendar from month to month for years now. The anticipation of starting the life I had always craved almost too much to bear at times. And now, instead of walking to work and trying to calculate when our baby might arrive  I am stunned by the simple fact that the wait is almost over. 8 more weeks. That is all. From numbers that seemed impossible to comprehend (we found out a baby was on the way less that 4 weeks into the pregnancy) we are down to a number I can count on both my hands.

One thing I have learned from all these countdowns is that the passage of time is inevitable, no matter how far away something seems - it will arrive and before you know it you will find yourself on the other side wondering how your countdown turned into a count up. Devin and I have almost been married 9 months and I don't know where the time went. I didn't see it passing, but somewhere between all our adventures and quiet nights at home, time was slowly ticking by.  Minutes turning into days and weeks without asking our permission and without making a noise. And what once was a countdown to our marriage, has now become an anniversary of our love.

So as I look at the calendar and see that 8 short weeks from now the date reads "Baby Due!" I am oddly at peace. The wait is almost over. Our little family that we talked about starting just weeks after we first met is about to start taking shape. And as much as I can't wait to look down at our little girl's beautiful face, I am trying to remember the outcome of every countdown that has come before this - how quickly things change and how the moment seems to pass almost instantly. I am trying to live in these moments where it is just Devin and I. Where we can travel without a baby in the backseat, and go to Tuesday night movies on a whim. We stay in bed on Sundays a little longer, we make random trips to get ice cream a little more often, and we tell each other how much we love one another with a little more conviction because we know in 8 weeks the countdown will run out - but the adventure will just be beginning and the life we have now will be gone.

8 weeks till we hold our baby girl. 2 months. A mere 56 days. I won't be able to stop myself from counting down, but I know that once she gets here I will try my best to enjoy the moment. To stop myself from looking too far forward, because whatever I have on the calendar for the future can wait. Introducing her to her extended family, watching her fall asleep in my arms, and covering her little fingers and toes with kisses are moments I don't want to pass too fast. I don't want her first birthday to roll around and feel like I spent the first 12 months of her life checking the clock and counting down to what comes next. I know she will grow faster than I can ever expect and if we don't at least try to savor the little moments they will be gone without return.

Today I am thankful that for the next 8 weeks she is right here with me, safely inside me, and I get to feel her sweet and at times shockingly intense baby kicks for another 56 days.

Father's Day: Resurrecting an Old Friend

This morning is the 4th of July and we have some awesome things planned that I can't wait to share  but first I realized I never put up our pictures from father's day weekend.

One thing I just love about the summer is the constant stream of fun events and get togethers! Friday night we spent at my parents house and since it had been nearly 7 weeks since we'd been there we had lots to catch up on. When Saturday rolled around my mom and I took to shopping. I needed a few more maternity tops and we had to resurrect my dearest friend Sammie. 

When I was 9 years old my mom took me to build a bear and Sammie became part of our family. I have a few different stuffed animals from build a bear but Sammie has always been special. She has been on countless vacations, traveled miles across the country as my copilot, moved with me to college and grad school, watched over me while I spent long nights completing homework, and cuddled with me through all my heartbreaks. Ok. I know she's a bear but I seriously love her. Whenever I am having  a bad day or one of my crying fits (I promise I'm a joy to live with) Devin will carefully tuck Sammie into my arms and squeezing her helps calm me down. 

So given all the important duties Sammie has been assigned over the years she was a little dirty...and her polar bear white fur had turned an unfortunate dark grey. So my mom had the great idea to unstuff her, clean her, and get her restuffed. 

So I reluctantly left her behind when we visited in May and my mom carefully unstitched her, pulled out all get stuffing and gave her a bath!

But she made sure she saved the heart (obviously) and some of the original stuffing. 

When we got to build a bear to restuff Sammie we presented her original birth certificate, and she became a little celebrity! Since Sammie is almost 16 years old she is a lot different than the current bear options. Mostly she is much bigger! Current build a bear clothes don't fit her and all their tshirts look like crop tops on her. So lots of employees came to see her and were amazed that we still had her birth certificate. Ummm you don't just discard birth certificates of family members. 

Then it came time to stuff her. The main reason this all came about was because of the baby bundle that is on her way. While I'm not ready to relinquish ownership of Sammie completely I wanted her to be clean and new when baby cakes gets here.

Here is Sammie getting refilled. We also added back in some of her old stuffing. Then we did a few very special things. First I made a new wish on her heart. If you have never been to build a bear before you put the heart in you make a wish and kiss it. I can't imagine what I wishes for when I was 9, but it was nice to update the wish and put her heart back in. Then we added in some of her old stuffing and kept a little bit for when baby goes to get her first build a bear. Next we added a second heart, I wanted to add another because right now there are two hearts inside of me. With the second heart the lady helping us had me go through the whole routine where I got to rub the heart on my head for knowledge, heart for health, and other places for good mojo. Then I made another wish and in it went. 

The last thing we added is perhaps the most special of all. At our last ultrasound appointment Devin and I took a recording of the baby's heartbeat. The cool thing is that now at build a bear you can record a sound onto a little device and put it in the bear. So we transferred the heartbeat recording to a little device and put it inside. So now when you press Sammie's paw you hear the baby's heart beat! If you aren't aware of what it is it sounds a lot like a washing machine but we know and that makes it special. 

Then they sewed her back up and I gave her several squeezes to make sure she was ready to go. 

This huge smile is so genuine I can't even pretend I don't have an unhealthy love for this inanimate object. 

I know she's just a bear, and Devin mocks me relentlessly for our "relationship" but maybe it's not so terrible to have something that links you to your childhood. And hey at least one of the seemingly frivolous things my parents spent money on for me as a child was money well spent! 

That night we had a very yummy dinner of ribs and chicken and I made these carrot cake cupcakes because it was Father's Day and these are my dad's favorite. And I don't want to toot my own horn but they are pretty amazing cupcakes. I also made lemon cookies for Devin and while they tasted awesome getting them off the pan was a nightmare and I was so pissed off with them that I took no photos.

The next day I made a enchilada breakfast casserole accompanied by Devin's famous breakfast potatoes. My brother also adopted a dog from California and while we were in town she arrived so we spent some time getting to know Bandit who is amazing!! I would have taken her if my brother didn't seem so fond of her. Here are Cindy and Bandit getting to know each other, Bandit is the black one and she has one eye! 

Then we lazily spent the day watching tv until we left to go to Chicago for a concert! We planned to have a picnic in millennium park since we had lawn seats at the Pritzker Pavilion but the place I planned to take us for sandwiches was closed Sundays so instead we decided to wait until after the show to grab dinner. 

Both Devin and I love iron and wine so the concert was really amazing. We laid in the grass and watched the clouds and let the tunes of Sam Bean roll over us. 

I can't stand how much I love this city and I can't wait to bring our daughter here and show her all the best things the city has to offer. 

For dinner we decided on Greek in Greektown and it was fabulous.

Here is Devin being so annoyed because I am taking a picture of the last bite of saganaki instead of when it came out on fire. I was so starved though that I didn't think of it until the last possible moment. It was phenomenal though - you can't go wrong with melted cheese. 

Then here is our dinner platter which is also partially eaten because this isn't a professional food blog and you get what I've got. We had meatballs, gyro meat, and spinach pie. All really tasty especially the spinach pie. As I mentioned before Devin and I are all about gyros so we love trying gyro meat wherever we go in search of the best. While it didn't top our favorite that we found in San Francisco it was pretty darn good. 

Also I felt like such a rebel because we got to the restaurant around 9 which is usually close to my bedtime. That's right we are still hip. We even ordered a lemonade to share, I know we got a little wild for a Sunday night.

Then Monday before we came back to Iowa we went and saw Jurrasic World with the family - which I thoroughly enjoyed and got some lunch at a local family restaurant. We are slowly bringing back the baby stuff that has accumulated at my parents' house and here was the first batch of many stuffed into our back seat.

Yipes.

Overall a fabulous weekend - now let's get this 4th of July on the road! 

Operation Baby Preparation: Mealtime Adventures

If you've ever googled "Babies on a budget" or typed this into pinterest you will find 100s of articles and blog posts related to the topic, and some of them are great. I have particularly liked the ones that talked about what items are considered essential baby gear and which never get used. However, a lot of them are way too general to be at all helpful and it's really hard to figure out how their generic advice is supposed to fit into my life (like ones that say pay off all your debt before baby arrives....oh great idea, I was just hanging on to this student loan debt for the fun of it but now that a baby is coming I guess I'll finally part ways with it).

So this blog post is about one of the most talked about areas in our household: food.

For the past few weeks I have been engaging in meal planning like we have never done before. Usually we would have one or two ideas of something we wanted to make for the week, sometimes not even that. And then we would stop at the store mid-week, sometimes multiple times, to pick up dinner items, which is terribly inefficient and we ended up eating a lot of the same stuff over and over again. Chicken breasts with veggies. Taco salad. Chicken burgers. Week after week.

So I finally decided to crack down and start learning to cook. I do love to cook, I am just very bad at it. However, with baby on the way I really want to be able to make some delicious and nutritious meals. Family dinners are one of my favorite memories of childhood and when I go home the first thing I do is check the fridge to see what leftovers Mom has lying around, because nothing beats a homemade meal...even if it has been sitting in tupperware in the fridge. So I really want to be able to make a few meals here and there that can become family favorites.

Each week I plan ahead for the next week by entering meals into my google calendar that I intend to make. I have even become strategic in picking out these meals, first I think about what we already have. We get a lot of meat at Costco, so we usually have frozen chicken breasts and ground turkey on hand. Then I look at the sale papers to see what our local grocery stores have on sale, which usually helps me pick out another meal. Then I take to pinterest to figure out what kind of recipes exist for the things we already have and the things that are on sale. And you guys, we have been eating so many fun things!!

I suck at taking pictures of food so I promise they all taste better than they look - but here are some of the dishes I've cooked up in the past couple weeks.

Spaghetti Squash Carbonara (I found a tip that if you cook the squash in rings like this it helps you to get longer noodles!)

Pizza Zucchini Lasagna

Skinny Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Oven Baked Chicken Fajitas turned into Tostadas

Homemade Mango Salsa with black beans

With this meal planning we are able to get all the groceries we need for the entire week in one weekend trip, which is great because then we are able to stick within our allotted grocery budget. To further help with this effort (and to be honest the one thing that actually keeps us within our grocery budget) is this awesome app called grocery pal. I have seen it listed on various websites as a great app for coupon collecting but I don't use it for that. It allows you to enter in each item as it goes into your cart along with the price and keeps a running total of your grocery bill. THIS IS AMAZING. Too often I have gone to the grocery store, looked at my cart and thought "Yeah, this is probably about $50" only to have the actual total land somewhere around $75. With this app we can see the price adding up as we choose items and make better decisions about what to purchase.

I'll note that using this app is easier if you go with a partner because typing in each item takes a minute and I tend to think the people around me just assume I am just clogging up the aisle with texting and hate me for standing still. So while I type, Devin drives the cart, and we tend to progress through the store pretty quickly.

I also keep a grocery list in the google calendar, where I add things as I decide on what meals I will be making. Then I can also look back from week to week to see what our usuals are so that I don't forget to pick up things like eggs, milk, bananas, cereal.

I have to say all of these have been fairly easy changes, but honestly changes we never felt like making before we had an actual reason. Now that we have a reason to save money and add some organization to our lives these changes have felt easy and very welcomed.

What We Know About Babies

At our very first birthing class (we took a two week Mindful Birthing class all about techniques for having a natural partner supported labor) our instructor asked us to share 1 thing that we knew about birth and 1 thing that we wanted to know. I said that I know birth can be unpredictable and given my type-A over-planning personality I wanted to learn ways to cope with those unexpected moments that won't fall in neatly with our birth plan.

Now when you broaden that question and ask "What is one thing you know about babies and one thing you want to know?" I have an easy answer. Babies are expensive and how the hell are we going to pay for one?

Like I mentioned I am an over-planner, sometimes to my detriment, so the idea of waiting any longer to figure out the answer to this question sends my anxiety levels through the roof. Thus Devin and I have started to make some changes to our lives that are really helping me feel like we've got this whole baby thing under control. Part of why I started this blog was because I am one of the first of my close friends to venture into parenthood, and I can tell you that as I prepare for this life event I am gobbling down baby information as fast as I can get my hands on it. But my favorite accounts of parenthood are those that come from the mommas I already know, and sometimes just reading their own personal experiences is enough to put my mind at ease. Deep breath. There are others who have been in this boat and they survived. So for the next few posts I'll be sharing the little things we've been doing to financially prepare for baby and maybe they will eventually help ease the worries of a fellow mom-to-be.

Budgeting 

Ok, so this sounds super obvious right? Like we should have been budgeting all along. But we haven't been. I have always been conscious of putting money into savings but we have developed a bad habit of relying on that money for non-essentials. For instance if at the end of the week our checking account is running low and we really want to go see a movie and get dinner we'll just use the savings account because it's only $30, right? Well not anymore.

I get paid once a month, so all of my check goes to paying essential bills (rent, credit cards, insurance, car payment, etc.). It is spoken for before it even arrives. On the other hand Devin gets paid every week, so we use his pay check for weekly things like groceries, gas, cell phone bills and the like. We also put part of each of Devin's check into savings, and once baby comes we will be dividing the day care bill by 4 and putting that amount into savings each week when Devin's check arrives. So this means our habit of pulling money out of savings willy nilly has to end quick, because we don't want to be the kind of parents who spend daycare money on sushi and froyo.

So to prepare ourselves for this change we are starting to treat that money in savings like daycare money now. When Devin's check arrives I immediately transfer a portion to savings, and we don't even consider pulling it out as an option. 

Then I start subtracting the essentials. Is a cell phone bill due that week? Electric? Obviously that gets subtracted first because there is no wiggle room - it has to get paid. 

Then we subtract gas. Depending where Devin is scheduled to work that week he needs anywhere from 1-2.5 tanks of gas, so I always check in with him to see how much he anticipates needing. This comes next because there is usually a little flexibility with gas (if he really needs to he could put in $20 instead of filling up the tank at the end of week) but more or less it is a non-negotiable essential. 

Then comes groceries. Depending on what is left after the essential subtractions I decide how much we have for groceries that week, because this is definitely an area with flexibility. If we have a little extra money for food that week maybe we will pick up some chips and salsa, if it's a tighter week this really isn't a necessity. (I'll chat more in the next post about how we have been sticking to this budget each week).

Then we subtract money for anything we have planned for the week (ie a weekend home or dinner with friends).

Then I see how much is left and decide what kind of extras we can afford that week. For instance I am waiting to order some prints from Walgreens to work on an art project for the babies room, but since ordering them would have been cutting it pretty close for the week I am waiting till the next check when I know Devin had a little overtime and we will have a bit extra. This is also when I decide if it's a good week to buy things like a new blouse, a few items for the baby, or a Father's Day present. This is a HUGE change because I never realized how fast these little things would add up and would typically just stop at the store to grab what I wanted (thus the need to pull from savings some weeks).

For some people this type of down to the wire budgeting may seem a little intense but to be honest I love it. I love knowing where they money is going, I love feeling like we have control over our finances, and I really love that at the end of the week our savings has remained untouched. Now obviously if something unexpected happens like a blown out tire or a much needed prescription needs to be purchased we have our savings to fall back on, which I am very thankful for. We are very lucky to not have to choose between groceries and fixing the car, but with this new method we are really learning about what can wait and what is an immediate need. Again these things probably sound like common sense, but I have to believe there are other young soon to be parents who just haven't developed these habits yet. 

Memorial Day Weekend: The River Trip of the Century

This year I got to spend Memorial Day weekend with my near and dear friend Emily, who has remained one of the most genuine and sweetest people I've ever known. We have been friends since the 7^th grade and even though we went to different colleges and now live in different states we have remained close all these years in a truly lifelong friendship.

So Friday after work I hit to the open road and left Iowa for the great state of Minnesota, with St. Paul as my final destination. Lucky for me, Devin made sure to pack the car with my favorite snacks (see below) and even filled it with gas the night before my journey. I rocked out to some great tunes and took in the fabulous sites (mostly small town USA and some fields) during what felt like a surprisingly short drive. 

By the time I got to Emily I was pretty darn hungry because I didn’t want to fill up on snacks during the drive, so we went straight to a local spot that had some awesome burgers! I got one that was Hawaiian themed with a spicy chili sauce, Canadian bacon, grilled pineapple, jalapenos, and mozzarella. So delicious. And of course tots because if tots are on the menu this girl is getting them. We caught up on life and then took a walk down by the river where we chatted some more and enjoyed the lovely evening weather.

Saturday morning Emily made me a delicious scramble for breakfast, I don’t know how I got so lucky but all the people I love in life have a tendency to make me delicious food. 

Then we packed a picnic lunch and set out for Stillwater, MN! The town was so unbelievably adorable and we drifted in and out of all the little shops and boutiques and were amazed at the reasonable prices. 

Then I had to stop at this little candy shop for some treats because how could I walk past a place called Candyland and not go in? I was reasonable with my purchases though and only got a few chocolate covered potato chips and some toffee type of popcorn with a boat load of nuts in it.

Then before we left Stillwater we went to Teddy Bear Park, which as it sounds is 100% intended for children because it is a playground but I LOVE teddy bears and could not let the opportunity pass. Plus, I thought I could pass it off as park scoping for the unborn baby. If you ever get a chance to stop there you must because it was too cute for words (see photos below), and would probably be even more fun if you brought a child.

Then we went a bit north to William O’Brien State Park where we decided to try our hand at canoeing. Neither of us had ever been on a canoe but it sounded like a great way to spend the afternoon, and how hard can canoeing be? We soon learned the answer to that question. The hard way.

Here is a picture of the calm lake we should have canoed on. I took this while we ate our picnic lunch and eagerly awaited getting into our canoe.

I do not have any photos of the actual canoe trip because I was unsure how stable canoes were, and I was really afraid we would tip and I would ruin my phone – which it turns out this was a good call on my part. 

The problem began when I thought that the river was actually just more of the lake pictured above. I have no idea why I thought this, but I did. So we set out on the "lake" and got to talking and laughing and hardly noticed how far we had gone. The sites were beautiful! Trees, birds, and clear blue skies for miles. During this portion of the trip I really regretted not bringing my phone because it would have been nice to take some pictures - instead all I have is this shotty memory of mine to retain the lovely sites. Our canoe was due back by 5:30 so at around 3:00 we decided to head back and figured we could stop at some of the beachy spots we had noticed on our way down the river. Only this is when the trouble began.

We paddled for 20-30 minutes before we realized we hadn't really moved...like at all. The current of the RIVER (not a lake!) was strong enough that all our efforts were being undone almost as soon as we made any progress. We decided to paddle over to the very edge of the river to see if we could get out and walk our canoe but with the thick brush and marshy landscape this was a no-go. Plus canoes are a LOT bigger when they are out of the water and I wasn't sure carrying a canoe for miles was on the list of approved workout activities for a pregnant woman.

So we got back in our boat and tried to stay as close to the trees lining the river as possible so that we could shove our paddles into the brush and propel ourselves forward. We worked at this for a long, long time, and finally made some progress. We then began taking little marshy detours where the current wasn't as strong and despite the heavy amount of trees (which were smacking us in the face and clawing at us with each stroke forward) we were slowly but surely getting there. Until we reached a dead end. Nooooo!

At this point I refused to go back because we had made some good progress (at least in my head it felt like we had made progress) and there was no way I was about to back track. Plus the 5:30 deadline was looming ahead of us as it was now around 4:30. So having reached a dead end, we abandoned our canoe and got out to figure out where we were. We walk down a trail a bit and realized we had found a boat launch, so our best bet was to retrieve the canoe and drag it down the path to be put back in the main branch of the river at the boat launch. However bending down wasn't feeling really great on my belly so Emily started pushing our canoe down the asphalt path, while I followed behind looking like a completely unhelpful dick because I am still not obviously pregnant which means I just looked lazy. Luckily we found a man who looked pretty strapping so we asked him to carry the canoe to the boat launch and he obliged. So we got back in the river, and decided to switch spots so that now I was in the back and Emily was leading the front.

However, we had gotten so good in our respective positions that this was a pretty epic fail and not long after we set out we reached yet another impassible spot in the river where logs blocked our path. Emily got out on the spot of land that separated our little branch of the river from the main branch, and we planned to just pull the canoe over this bump of land and try our hand in the big wide river again. Only when she got out she started pulling the canoe onto land before I had a chance to get out and the canoe tipped over sending me toppling into the ice cold river water. I told you, it was a great thing I did not bring my phone.

Ok so at this point I am soaking wet, cold, exhausted, and still no where near the place where the canoe needs to be returned. Oh and now it was pretty much 5:30 so the deadline was about shot. With very few options  we returned to the canoe, put our best foot forward and started paddling towards the car. We paddled. And paddled. And realized that even though our arms were cramping and aching we really couldn't stop paddling because the river would push us backwards and undo all our hard work, which was not worth the break on our muscles. It was at this point that I was really wising Devin was with us. He always knows what to do in situations like that and usually bails me out of large pickles like the one I am describing. However, with determination, lots of laughter, and promises that we would NEVER forget this canoe trip we finally caught a glimpse of the car!! Only now it once again felt like we were stalled. We paddled and paddled and nothing. No movement. We were at our wits end but the car was right there. At this point I told Emily that this is what childbirth must be like, you are so close to the end and you are certain your body can't go on any longer and all you want to do is give up but you know that no one is coming to save you. You and your body alone have to work up the strength to get to the end. So we paddled with every ounce of energy we had left and finally, finally, made it to the land!!

It was 7:00. Then we had the awful task of lifting the canoe up on to its stand and tying it back up. The great news is that when I returned the key for the canoe the lady at the front desk did not charge us extra for being late - woohoo!! We had planned to make some really yummy stuffed peppers for dinner but were both so exhausted that when we finally arrived home we threw in a frozen pizza and called it dinner. It was delicious by the way. We also made this banana cake because when you have been out on a river all day you freaking deserve as much cake as you please.

The next day we started with an epic breakfast feast and ventured to a movie called "Far From the Madding Crowd" which was a total girly movie that Devin never would have watched with me, but was actually pretty good. 

Then we stopped at a local bakery called The Buttered Tin because when I travel I always like to bring home a little treat for the hubby, and I got way too many things because it was the end of their day and everything was half off. We finally returned back to Emily's house where we hoped to enjoy some of the refried beans we had been working on making all weekend. We soaked the beans overnight. Loaded them into the crockpot, and let them cook all day. But when we returned they were still not nearly as soft as they needed to be. Second fail of the weekend.

However, it's fails like that which tend to make for very memorable weekends. And given our long friendship Emily and I have had more than our fair share of mishaps and accidents, so in a way it was simply tradition. As my countdown to life drastically changing forever grows shorter and shorter I become all the more thankful for weekends like this one. Simple weekends with people I love dearly. Weekends where I can rekindle relationships before I embark on a brand new relationship with a tiny little person that I can't wait to introduce to the world. Knowing that in 3 months life will look utterly different than it does now is frightening, like sometimes you wake up in the middle of the night and think "OMG WHAT HAVE WE DONE?!!?" type of scary. But knowing that the people closest to me will still be there to support me makes all the difference in the world.

Here's hoping the rest of the Summer is just as exciting (but maybe a little less exhausting).