Double Blessings

I've announced my pregnancy with #5, but the news keeps on coming!! I finally made it to my new doctor last Friday and received the shock of my life when we did an ultrasound and found 2 BABIES!!! They were both a swimming and kicking around as active as could be--could see baby "A" easier than baby "B", but got normal heartrates on each of them and she scheduled another ultrasound with an ultrasound tech for this Wednesday to take all the measurements and get a twin gestation (due date). We may even find out genders! We'll see!!!

After the shock wore off and reality set in, excitement was mixed with OMG!!! I was all laid back and fine with #5 coming--it's all old news, nothing really new--well, now, this is totally new and totally different!! This moves up my due date, it makes a birth plan need to be VERY flexible, including possible c-section(s), nursing is a whole new ballgame and lets not even discuss the need for a vehicle that seats 8+, a twin stroller, 2 carseats, rearranging bedrooms, among many other things (like dbl diapers/wipes, baby wash, bathtubs, baby food, and more?).......oh and school? Yeah--I have 2 in school (we really didn't plan on stopping for summer anyway) and 2 that need to be entertained--gotta get all that planned too!

SO--I will be making my giant wishlist at some point, we will probably have a baby shower (my dh's aunts are insistent) and will probably register at Babies R Us and places like that--we do NOT need 2 of EVERYthing, but we will need many things that we thought were taken care of already......

NOW--back to NOW and the pregnancy. Ever heard the myth of "eating for 2"? Well, I know that's a myth and you really only need an extra 300 calories for a normal pregnancy--but my CONSTANT hunger made me wonder what I needed......HAH!! I was given permission to call dh to bring me a milkshake on his way home when I read a parenting magazine article online. According to this, I need to have 3500 calories per day, mostly high in iron and calcium, but not forgetting about all the other vitamins/minerals. No wonder I have been craving dairy! Eggs are supposed to be great for me also......I guess dbl the weight gain is also normal-AHHH!!! My norm is gaining 50 lbs per pregnancy and this time would've taken me close to that 200 mark anyway--guess I'm probably gonna blow that out of the water! My sweet dh insists that I've always lost the weight before--don't worry about it, but this, again, is totally different. Healthy is my goal though, despite whatever the scales say--it will be hard enough to just keep up with my nutritional needs. I'll be 30 this fall and I have sensed a change in my metabolism, so we'll see about losing weight when babies #5 and #6 are having their first birthdays ~smile~.
WATER~~~Are you good at drinking water? I'm not--never have been, but despite the "6-8 recommended glasses" I always tend to get by with 1 or so. WELL--get this--twins? Try drinking 2 gallons a day to be in top shape and help avoid preterm labor.....well, I'll start with 32 oz. That's a lot for me--maybe I can up it as we go.

Look for a wishlist coming soon--I'm gonna be researching and looking into all sorts of products that I just would've passed on before. Now? I sure wish I was one of those bigtime bloggers that got stuff sent to them so they could review it and tell the world!!

Hoover Floormate

Hoover Spinscrub floormate seems to have it all together for those of us with a bunch of hard surfaces, although Hoover floormate with tools looks even better maybe at only $15 more. I think if I don't win, it's still gonna make it to my wishlist of "WANT REALLY BADLY" to make life easier....

You can enter to win one of these either here OR here, or be like me and enter both!!!

Be sure to check out the buttons on the side to Life Starring Ellie and Eve and Blessings Abound also.

I will soon have a wishlist and announcements also......you'll see!!!

my grocery trips 4/9

Let's just say I was not completely prepared with all my coupons, but I knew Food4Less had chicken and potatoes at good prices. Dillons would have been a MUCH better trip if they'd had the gillette body wash (my moneymaker) or the 4packs of cottenelle TP {scroll down to see my previous post}, NEVERTHELESS, here is what I got....

First stop--Food 4 Less
Granny Smith and Rome Apples $.98/lb (6 for $2.20)
Kraft Strawberry Marshmallows on the clearance rack $1.25/1
-MQ $.50/2 found by the marshmallows
Best Choice 64 oz apple juice $1.76
Cranberry Juice Cocktail $1.48
15lbs potatoes $2.98
5lbs chicken breast $7.40
Total OOP with tax=$18.69

Second Stop--Dillons
P&G Deals-Charmin TP $7.99
Zest $3.50
Mach3 Razors $6.49
EQs razors ($3.00) and TP ($.50)
P&G buy 3 ($3.00)
MQ razors ($2.00)
= $9.48
General Mills Deals-Fiber One Bars $2.67
Chex Mix Bars $2.67
Cereal $2.67
Fruit Snacks $4/2
EQs cereal ($.50) fiber one ($.50) ($1.00)
MQs ($.75) ($.50) ($.60) ($.55)
GenMills "Free Milk" ($4.00)
= $2.01
I paid OOP with tax $13.40

Just FYI--the cereal 3/$8 is on the front end of an aisle, not with the cereal. Also, if I could've gotten the gillette body wash, I would've saved quite a bit more, but they were OUT of stock. They also do not look like they are stocking the 4packs of cottonelle--but they may just have been out of stock again.

Dillons deals 4/8-4/14

See the Grocery Weekly for a whole list of deals. The only difference I see between her Topeka store and our Joplin one is the "buy 3, get X free".

Our Deal: Buy 3/$8--9-13 oz General Mills Cereal, 5.3-8.9 selected Nature Valley, Fiber One, or Chex Mix Bars, get 2 FREE Betty Crocker Fruit Snacks (great for Easter goodies).
You need to go to her site and use the sidebar to print MQ for fruit snacks, cinnamon toast crunch, and nature valley bars (I'm looking for fiber one instead), then load cellfire EQ for the cereal and fiber one bars. Also cut out the chex bars MQ from 2/8 SS. Ideally, with all the right coupons, you'll spend $.60/1, a total of $3 for all 5 boxes!

P&G: Look for the green tags to save $3/3 instantly at checkout.
I'm planning on using my EQ for $3/1 mach3 or $2/1 venus razors {$5.49} and $2/1 gilette body wash {$2.50}
plus a $2/1 MQ for each (expired 3/31, but Dillons accepts expired Qs for 2 weeks)
= overage of $.01-$1.01,
and I haven't decided if the Zest bars, Underjams, EasyUps, or Charmin tp are the best deals for my 3rd purchase---all are on my need-to-buy list, but none will be free and so far, the easy ups and charmin are the only ones with coupon match ups, so we'll see!!

A little extra: Go to http://www.cottonelle.com/ to print your 2 more free MQ for $.50/1 on TP--then buy the $.99 4packs and with your $.25/1 EQ from cellfire, you will profit $.27/2!!

I'll try to post on Friday what I get tomorrow! Let me know what deals you find!!

Adsense

Okay--just FYI for everyone's info--if you are a blogger, you may know already that carrying ads can be profitable--well, I finally did the research, and yeah, my little tiny adsense ads over on the side CAN be profitable EVENTUALLY.........SO if anyone sees one they want more info on, please be my guest and click on it! I MAY eventually earn some money! But they won't cut the check till it is over $100, and so far, I've earned $1.53 (maybe a penny a click? I'm not sure--I haven't done THAT much research).
Happy reading........just me.......

Jonah mini-lapbook

Homeschool Helper has a Jonah lapbook so isn't that convenient!! And I believe it can be used for ALL ages, although my oldest is only 8. We used 5 out of the 7 booklets (not the map or Jonah's lessons learned) and condensed it to use just less than half of a file folder. You can use all 7 booklets and still make this a mini lapbook. I cut the file folder in half and then folded the half in thirds, cutting off 1/3, making a little brochure type booklet. I had to trim one of the booklets a little to fit, but otherwise, it was a perfect one day activity to supplement our previous day's lesson over Jonah (Mystery of History, vol 1). I just read through the bible story to help them answer the questions. I also looked up dates to see what others had to say.

Now--the cover--WELL--I thought fish would be nice, don't you? I just googled fish alphabet and this is what I got, in pdf format at that!!!! We used the capital letters to spell out Jonah, they each decorated their fish and we lined them up for the cover from top down (we cut them out of the rectangles to help them fit the space--if you use the small letters, they would fit easily). This was the simplest little lapook we have ever done--easy to fill in the blanks and not too time consuming [of course, you could add SO much to this like games and water or boat info, but simple is all we were going for--and if that's what you are going for, don't mess with any of the extras :)].

EXTRAS [mostly to keep little hands busy or kids just needing something extra]:

poems/songs for the little ones

color page

crossword puzzle (pdf)

dot to dot #s 1-40

color the dots

hidden pictures

Ocean Totbook

Ocean life crafts {many links do not work, but there are several that are good, so I still included them in the list}

AND ONE FOR THE OLDER ONES:

Notebooking pages

Lacking luster. . .

Life seems to be lacking luster...

Have you heard that diamonds, when found in a mine, are pretty plain, really just looking like glass? They don't gain their real beauty and luster until they have been polished, cut, and set. Sure, they are still valuable--but not to the general public.

Life around our house is lacking luster right now--no, not just the "oh, we're all sick and the house is a mess" lacking luster--not the daily struggle of just life--a deeper lacking. On March 17th, my FIL passed away after just 6 weeks of diagnosed cancer, only about 6-7 months of getting cancer. He was dad to 6, FIL to 4, Papa to 19 grandchildren (1 on the way) and 5 great-grandchildren (1 on the way), brother to 9 still living, cousin and uncle to numerous family, friend to even more. Life, since the busyness of his sickness and then the sudden loss, is lacking luster. Despite the bright sunshine outside (finally), life is still not sunshiny for us yet. It will take quite some time I'm sure. Yes, there are lustrous moments for the kids and myself--maybe even for dh, but they are definitely lacking. Even the excitement of going to a new OB soon will have a bittersweet twang to it. It's exciting to see the new life inside me, but knowing this little one will never know it's Papa is just heart-wrenching. He was such a light in their lives--he brought joy, sugar, and fun, all wrapped up in one single afternoon just about every Sunday and then a few extra weekends throughout the year. He built a "train" to take them on trips "around the world", or well, around the block to see the "Grand Canyon" and "Mighty Redwoods". [for those of you who don't know, we live in SW MO--no where near any of these sights, just a creek bed and a few trees] There were kite days, pony and mule rides, even for the littlest, camping trips, and no matter how frustrating and frightening his ideas were sometimes for us parents, they made tremendous memories. His last conversation with me, 6 days before he passed, he told me he hoped he was a good dad, a good FIL. I probably didn't know if he was coming or going most the time (at which, I laughed and shook my head, tears streaming down) and that's okay cause he didn't know if he was either. He also reassured me that it would be okay--he pointed up, knowing where he was headed in the afterlife. Heaven. Comforting, yet it still hurts. It hurts to see my MIL alone--just lacking luster around here.

Hope you don't really understand, but hope this might be comforting in some sort of way. It's not really for you, but for me that I am blogging................just me............