Shopping Around

Recently, we have decided to shop around for better rates for car & homeowners insurance. I have had Nationwide since I turned 16 so its kind of a pain to switch...at least it seems that way. However, after getting rate quotes from agencies across the board, we can save over $750/year with AllState. No, thats not a typo...$750 per year. With BETTER coverage...better as in $500 deductibles on both cars rather than $1000. I was a little suspicious of switching to Geico or Progressive...both are probably fine companies but the constant commercials were the deal-breaker. And I am dealing directly with a local AllState agent rather than a disconnected automated voice.

However, one thing we have been grateful for with Nationwide is their free key replacement for the cars. My electronic key has broken twice before and they replace it (up to $400) for free. And the plastic casing on my current spare key also was cracked and on the verge of breaking:




So I spent an hour yesterday morning basking in the luxury that is the Lexus dealer. Luxury as in free full-service coffee bar, complete with made to order toasted bagels & cream cheese, refrigerated snacking options and a no-tipping policy.




And of course wi-fi and a 42" flat screen featuring the late hour of the Today Show. And marble bathroom floors that were so shiny that I thought I seriously may slip and fall. (I will admit I was embarrassed to drive up in my filthy, scratched car. From the shape of my car, I belonged at the Kia dealership.)

And Ben's key was also in the same shape...however it was his one and only key for his truck. So I spent an equal amount of time at the Honda dealer getting duplicates made & programmed.

In a testament to their customer service and reliability, Nationwide has already emailed me to let me know that the reimbursement checks for both claims are in the mail already. But it that worth $750?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

30 Weeks

While this pregnancy has flown by, its definitely been more difficult than the previous two. I am just so uncomfortable...already.

Last week, I started feeling full, chest tightened, some contractions. Nothing serious, just enough to make me wonder if it was in my head or real.

Were the contractions really contractions or just stretching?
Was it because we were 2 days late on my progesterone shots? (That Ben is in charge of "dispensing" into my backside once a week)
Was my face swollen or was my skin just tight from being so dry?
Was it heartburn or just trying to do too much?

I cut back on eating sweets, ate smaller meals and starting popping tums. Ben let me get some good rest over the weekend and I've felt so much better. Not 100%, but definitely better.

I have been having some really good conversations with Jackson about the baby. He's been super curious about what the baby eats and how, how he breathes and how he is getting out. We got a book at the library and Jackson was so enthralled by the illustrations of the "umbrellica cord". (So far he still thinks the baby comes out of my belly button and I'm not ready to go down that road just yet) I knew I wanted to take him to an appointment with me so he could hear that baby's heartbeat...but that meant I would have to schedule it on a day the boys didn't have school...meaning BOTH kids would have to come.

Which was today.


Let's just say, thank goodness for the iPad.

The boys contentedly watched Mickey Mouse while we waited to been seen. When I was called back, our nurse Amanda was awesome and she totally engaged Jackson, weighing him and explaining what she was doing taking my vitals. Still being considered "high-risk" since Jackson was a preemie, they routinely check my cervix to make sure I'm not showing signs of pre-term labor. Jackson was a little concerned when I had to undress....

"Mommy, why you taking just your pants off? Why you keeping your shirt on? Your belly is under your shirt, silly Mommy."

"Whats the white thing on your lap? Why are you covering up with that? That's a funny looking blanket. Are you cold?"

"Mommy, why did you keep your shoes off? Why don't you put your shoes back on?" (how do you explain to your 3-year old that its okay to have your shoes off if you are naked from the waist down?)

Weston, meanwhile, was content watching Mickey Mouse and throwing goldfish all over the room. My doctor came in and quickly did his thing, I think he knew it was a ticking time bomb until both kids were over it. Jackson was pretty mesmerized to hear the baby's heartbeat - "it sounds like a choo-choo" He is almost old enough to understand how amazing it is that there is a baby inside of me.

My doctor was not overly concerned with my ailments...my blood pressure was great and other than my racing heartbeat (due to managing two small children in an adult doctors office) everything was completely normal. He said the combination of it being my 3rd baby + being a little overly conscious/paranoid of pre-term labor symptoms + the baby being really high most likely accounts for my discomforts. Reassuring for sure. But definitely helps confirm to me that this is my last pregnancy! I am not sure my body could handle doing this again!

After the doctor, we headed to meet some friends at Monkey Joe's. In the car, Jackson told me "Mommy, that was so fun, going to your doctor. I want to do that again."

I'm not sure I'm ready to take both kids to the doctor with me again -- much less at 32+ weeks -- but I'm glad he was able to share that experience with me. Whether or not he actually remembers it!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lately

Look who I found out at the bottom of our fruit bowl. "Baby Moses" is still alive and well...and hanging out with a bullet shell from Tweetsie.



Jackson's been on a kick to earn money lately and has shown a real interest in helping me. I'll take it!!




Part of the reason he's been wanting to earn money is so he can put some of it in the offering box he got at Sunday school a few weeks back. Unfortunately, they didn't collect it in his class so we let him give it here. I had big intentions of letting him meaningfully drop his coins into the big box but that didn't work out. Besides, to him, giving is giving.




Loving piggy-back rides on Daddy before baths. Not sure where the 3rd one is going to sit...?!?




Friday night fun with friends. Tacos, homemade ice cream and Scattergories. Is it bad to let the kiddos watch 3 back-to-back episodes of Wonder Pets in order to keep them content until 9pm?




The next Daddy/Jackson date is on the calendar for March 9. Sounds like fun, right?




Jackson's big into helping me cook, too. After quiet time one day, he told me he knew a recipe and pretty much described the ingredients and process of making peanut butter cookies. It doesn't take much to get this pregnant girl on board to bake some sweets. To eliminate the mess of cookies spreading off the pan, I have been using the mini-muffin tin. Works great and keeps them so doughy in the middle.




Weston loves hats and puts one on his head whenever he can. Jackson's old cowboy hat barely fits this kid's big noggin. Speaking of big, Westie had his 18-month checkup last week and weighs nearly 30lbs. I can't remember how tall he is, but both height & weight are in the high-80th percentile. He's a big boy, but he's proportional :)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Ben's Boy's Weekend out West

Being the generous, loving wife that I am (or that I fall short on being, oh so quite often), I gave Ben a trip to fly out to Seattle to visit his brother Jon for a long weekend of snowboarding, relaxing and bonding. While I did not expect to get any pictures from the weekend at all, I was pleasantly surprised that few good pictures of the boys in action on the mountians.












- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Valentines Day

While I still think Valentines Day is the most over-rated holiday (well, that and New Years Eve) its fun to get excited about it for the sake of the kiddos, who adore anything and everything holiday related.

Ben left super early on Thursday morning to fly out to Seattle to visit his brother and go snowboarding for 4 days. So that just left me and my little sweethearts at home. I had appliquéd the boys special shirts the night before and both were excited to wear them to Jackson's class party that day.



Jackson's class had a big valentines field trip planned to the Pavilion "Snow Carnival", where they would shave up the ice rink to make snow for the kids to play in, as well as let them "skate" around the rink in their shoes.



The kids had a blast and it was hard to capture a unblurry snapshot as fast as they were sliding across the ice.





The class all piled in the sled for class photo op, but that never seems to work out successfully.





Weston, crashing the party, spent the first little bit trying to venture out on his own, but after slipping & falling hard one time, he returned to the relative safety of my arms (yes, I did fall twice -- thankfully not hard and not face first!). I finally put him in his stroller so he could observe from the safety of being strapped in to a stable object.





After an hour of ice fun, the kids loaded up on the bus (the highlight of the day for most) to head back to the school for the pizza party & valentines exchange. I stopped by and picked up pizzas for the class and meet them there. The kids chowed down while us parents got the chance to catch up for a few minutes.


After lunch, we got an improv version of several of their songs & dances they do every day, and it was so much fun seeing Jackson in his element, independent of me. I videoed it with my camcorder so its unlikely that will every make it over to this blog.

We got home in time to sort through our v-day loot before nap time. Not quite as impressive as Halloween but still more than enough sugar-filled loot for some time.



After naps (loooong, joyous naps!) I made a gourmet Valentines Dinner featuring whole wheat frozen chicken tenders, instant herb garlic mashed potatoes, chicken-flavored stovetop stuffing and some delish frozen yellow corn on the cob. Freezer to table in 15 minutes or less was the name of the game.

After dinner, we had an impromptu dance party on the coffee table - yes, all of those preservatives in a single meal made us all feel so LAWLESS! I think I figured out how to embed a video file into a blog posting. It was beyond!
http://youtu.be/loOgg1NbqKg

We rounded up our fun night with bubble baths and books and lots of extra hugs and snuggles. And not once did I pick up my phone for anything other than to take a picture or video. No checking FB, email, reading blogs, etc. I was intentionally present, soaking in the love and joy of my two precious boys.

And by "checking out" of social media, it frees you up in ways your don't even consider. Last night I started and nearly finished a sewing project that I been eyeing for a month now. I also read a few more chapters in Mitten Strings for God (thanks Sal - Loving it!!). I did two loads of laundry, painted my toenails and even made homemade egg salad at 10:30 at night just as a snack (pregnancy much?)

So while Ben is out living it up having an awesome snowboarding guys weekend, I'm just hanging out between Greenville & Hickory, enjoying these precious but fleeting last few months of my life with two...soon to become three.


Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Haircuts

Ben has been urging me to get Jackson's hair cut short...as in buzzed. I'm a fan of the longer little boy cut so I got it trimmed a couple weeks ago. (I usually trim it myself but recently Jackson told me he didn't want me to cut it, he wanted a "real" haircut). So, we got him a "real" haircut. In Ben's opinion, not much difference in the before and after...but after him being scalped in the past, I didn't want to risk too much.


Before


After

So on Sunday night, I conceded and agreed we could clip Jackson's hair.

For a little background, I have been cutting Ben's for years now (thanks to Dave Ramsey, we invested in a pair of great clippers that have saved us so much over the past several years). I will admit, those first few cuts were a little rough, and I would get into a fit of giggles just thinking of the damage I could accidentally do if I had a wrong jolt of the clippers.
Think "Jackass the Movie".



Anyways, Ben always made me put the clippers down when I started getting tickled. Although he did have a contractor once ask him who cut his hair, and thinking he was getting a compliment, he proudly said that his wife did. The contractor then told him that it was a good thing he didn't pay for the cut because she missed a spot in the back. And sure enough, there was an inch-wide patch where I had somehow left longer then the rest.

So I was not expecting great things for Jackson's first foray with the clippers. However, the was not his usual squirmy self so I was able to successfully trim his hair and it.is.precious. He looks JUST like Ben and we can see so much more of his sweet expressions and huge blue eyes without those heavy bangs in his face. We keep looking at him as if we are seeing a different child, and he is so proud of his big-boy haircut.



And he was excited that "Me and little brother have the same haircut now!"


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Happy Birthday Mikey!

Today is my little brother's 30th birthday. I still can hardly believe I'm 30 myself, so it blows my mind that Michael is 30. {And I'm happy to report he has not let his mullet grow back.} Jenn threw him a birthday party at their new house in Cary over the weekend, and we made a family affair out of it and took the boys to help celebrate.
We left Thursday evening after Ben got home from work, and finally got to their house around 2am. Rough start to the long weekend but so worth it!
Our Friday was spent hanging out at their house and the boys had the BEST time playing in Scout's dog cage.




And back track to November 2010, here's Jackson doing the same exact things - not much has changed!!




We did make a grocery run on Friday and Jackson was Aunt Jenn's little helper. He thought he was big stuff pushing his own cart.




And when he got samples to taste, he insisted on eating them WHILE pushing his cart, "Like you do at Costco" he told me. Yes, my 3-year-old called me out.




Saturday morning we ventured to the Flea Market over at the State Fairground to hunt for some "treasures". All we bought were two cheap toboggans because it was so dang cold I was sure both kids were going to get sick from being outside. And if I had a place to hang it, we totally would have bought this comfy swing.




On a side note, here's one of my favorite purchases of the consignment sale I went to last week. They both wore there new Buzz & Woody pjs over the weekend and were adorable. And for the record, they are both size 4T. Other than height, these two are nearly the same size.




Saturday night was the big party. Westie was down before the first guests arrived but Jackson got stay up for a little bit. As you can tell, Westie wasn't exactly a happy camper to be handed off for this pre-bedtime pic...








Jackson, on the other hand, was a great sport and adores his Uncle Mikey.




We had a great time in Cary and were so glad we were able to make it to see
their new house and to help celebrate Mikey's third decade!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

You know that feeling you get when someone sneaks up on you? Lately after about 30 minutes of "quiet time", Jackson will sneak out of his room and silently creep into whatever room I'm in...and I will jump out of my skin when I look up and see him standing there.


I caught him sneaking down the stairs yesterday...in an face mask no less. Is this normal??!!?




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The Circus "Parade"

Last week, the circus came to Greenville. While we have taken Jackson in the past, its not something we do every year. So I was excited to check out the annual "Circus Parade"...which is basically the animals walking through downtown, from the train station to the coliseum. I had heard mixed reviews so I wasn't sure what to expect.

Let's just say that we will not be doing the circus parade again. And I use the word "parade" quite loosely. I realize the purpose of the processional is strictly functional, getting the animals from point A to point B. But I kid you not, we waited for an hour and a half and could have missed the entire thing had we blinked. I'm talking half a dozen elephants, a few horses and some trick ponies. Don't get me wrong, it was neat seeing the animals up close, but really, they could've thrown in a clown or two. I guess all the hype had everyone overly expectant, but Jackson summed it up by saying that "Bebe's parade was better than this one." (He was referring to the annual Old Soldier's Reunion parade in my hometown, which had bands, floats, cheerleaders, etc).







Thankfully the weather was decent (despite threatening showers) and we had friends with us.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The burden of documenting our lives

Am I the only one who feels like I can NEVER catch up with photo albums? I mean, everyone takes hundreds of pictures, so its not the actual digital photos themselves that are the burden. Its compiling them from the iPhone, iPad, digital camera, etc into one place, then sorting, dating, uploading, printing THEN archiving those rascals.

Confession: I have not updated any hard photos albums since December 2010. Yes, that is 2 years ago. Yet I have thousands of digital images on my various devices that are just sitting there, eating up precious memory space and waiting to be used in some way, shape or form.

But then the burden snowballs...okay, I've got the digital pics in one place, sorted by month & year, weeded out the bad ones and ready to upload, but what next? Do I upload to shutterfly and do a photobook? This will be a small fortune considering it would be upwards of 100 pages long for each year, not to mention time consuming. Or do I upload my pics to Costco and get them printed as 4x6 prints and just mount them in photobooks myself? More labor intensive but probably less expensive and I can do it in stages at my own pace. And I don't do anything fancy...just double-stick tape & a sharpie.

After debating back & forth for several weeks, I decided to dive in with the latter and just work on it a little bit every evening. My goal is to catch up to date by the time Baby Brother is born in May. So far, I've successfully printed 2011 photos in their entirety, by month, and have completed the album pages from January - July. Its been a fairly quick process once I go organized and also figured out you can import photos into Costo from Picasa which is amazingly quick and saves a step since I already use Picasa as my way to organize & share our photos.








I have actually really enjoyed going back through out older pictures and reminiscing as I make these books. Ben & I have gotten some great laughs, and its fun to see how Weston resembles Jackson when he was younger.
I know we will treasure these albums for years to come, and that helps motivate me to document as much as I can!




On a video note, I am so blessed to have a private videographer (Mom) who takes tons of video when we are around, but also takes the footage from our iPhones, iPads & video camera and edits, creates chapters, menus, etc., then burns us DVDs. We have an entire album of home movie DVDs that Mom has kept current for us. We are so thankful for that and the kids love to watch them fairly often.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad