Coupons!

Not quite sure how Carters got my email address, but I'm glad they did!

I love Carters clothes! The onsies especially! They're not super wide and really short like some others you find - and at the actual Carters store, they're always on sale! Apparently the store opens at midnight Thursday and you can save 10% off the already 50% (entire store) markdown if you shop between midnight and noon! I haven't been able to find if the Supermall store qualifies for the midnight opening or if it's just the outlet in North Bend - I'm not much for the 5 am shopping spree after Turkey day, especially at a mall, some chicks drink a little too much Joe and are kind of scary. I'm all for saving a few bucks, but not at the risk of having to literally box for it! Midnight shopping might be fun however :o) Thought I'd share these in case anyone else has little ones that need adorable Carters clothes! And Mommy's that might want to save 50% + 10% if you get up early enough... OR 50% and the additional 20-25% for spending $50-100. Seriously, it's like robbing the store! (Osh Gosh is owned by the same people and are having an equally kick butt sale, if anyone wants those too, let me know!)

*It looks like they need to be printed directly from an email - these might be too small to be valid if printed off here... if anyone's interested and doesn't want to put their email in my comments (if I don't already have it) email me at chrissy828@hotmail.com... This is my coupon/fun junk email address so that Ben doesn't get mad having to filter through the floods of crap-mail on the home computer - I'll check it regularly for the next couple days for this!

**If you're a 'secret reader', please don't be shy - I blog hop too, and always feel a little stalker-ish :o) Everyone can use a good deal right now - I'd love to forward these on!

Weekend

Saturday: Lazy morning with Ben until he left for work, Costco with Pink Gramma, goofing around a little with my little brother, calling Ben only to get the,"Call you back, I'm at the South Center shooting." (line disconnects) - Always fun for a wife... Then waiting 3 1/2 hours to hear from him, watching Get Smart with Nick and Gramma (to keep me awake until Ben got off), beating Ben home by a few minutes with a yummy Costco Pumpkin Pie to eat while he tells me his stories about very eventful day! Ben finally got to feel the little boy move! Maybe I'm a nerd - he thinks so, but I wanted to make sure that Ben felt him first before I let others feel him move, so that was nice for the baby to finally be active when Ben was home!

Sunday: Both of us were really tired after staying up so late, Ben was pretty sore after running around in his gear all Saturday afternoon (how quick his body forgot about Iraq) so he suckered me into rubbing his back for a while before bed early Sunday morning. Needless to say when the alarm went off for church, I was not ready to move! I looked over at Ben and he tightened his eyes and made a pouty face... so we were naughty and slept in. We finally rolled our bums out of bed to go meet some old neighbors for the Seahawks game. I realized that my body IS actually different now that I'm 5 1/2 months pregnant, on our hike to the stadium from the parking spot we found. We planned to eat before the game somewhere but ran out of time, so there I was walking away and started feeling light headed, then dizzy, the air was really cold so I was feeling like I couldn't get enough oxygen anyway... Yeah, Ben stopped and grabbed me a water right about the point I thought I was going to pass out. I had such a head rush that noises were muffled, and things were getting blurry. So the notion that I wouldn't drink a ton of water before the trip into Seattle to avoid having to pee all the way there turned out to not be such a great idea! Anyway, we finally got up to our nosebleed seats (another fun task, huffing and puffing all the way, with frequent breaks) Ben grabbed me some food and another water and we got to watch the Seahawks blow another game with all the disgruntled drunk fans around us. We decided that NFL games in person aren't our thing, especially up in the cheap seats. There ware too many fights and stairs covered in vomit to enjoy it for me. I love football - but I think I love it more from home! Walking back to the car turned out to be not a problem for me, it had to be the no food/water thing!

After finally getting home we took out our lists and the suggestions from the blog and narrowed down our names for the little boy!! We got a top 5, and then each numbered them in order. Our top 3's were in slightly different order, but the same so we dropped the bottom 2.

We're both kind of excited having 3 names left on the (only) list, our little guy's getting closer to having a name! I like names you can't shorten whereas Ben wants to lengthen them to give him an option later to use it if he wants, so we have 2 that would be lengthened officially but we won't call him that - unless he's in trouble. With our last name starting with 'J', we always get the one's who like to call us by initials, and than was a big thing for Ben to avoid with the baby too - he hated it. I think our 3 will avoid that situation too. :)

So the final names are:

*Luke (Lucas)

*Noah

*Finn (Finnigan)

(We're still unsure about middle names as, with these names, the same one wouldn't work for each of them)

Can't beleive I'm doing this...

... I've got a short list of names I like, and Ben has his list that he likes... So now when we open the baby book of names - we just fix on those few and all others get passed over. We're trying to stay away from the really, really common and really traditional - the kid's going to have the most generic last name, we've got to give him something to work with :o)

So, please use my comments section to give your boy name ideas... It would be nice to get a few more that we can add to our 'both like' list!

Thanks!

as promised

Here they are - it's really kind of boring until we get the bedding set up... I SO, SO badly wanted to post Ben's muscle man picture, but he's starting to read this now and again... I'd hate to get caught! The dresser does house clothes already, as does the closet (you can see the stacks on the floor in the first picture) all from Auntie Aubrey and Brady - who grew out of them all way to fast! I've done very well! I haven't bought an outfit yet! Unless of course you count the outfits I bought for Brady, that I now have back :o) I'm saving up, Aubrey comes home next week... That means, there will be kiddo shopping.

We finally got it

Yesterday I left work early to take my car in, 3 hours of stop and go commuting a day tends to wear on the breaks. Apparently I need them done every 6 months - last time they worked on the brakes I know they stiffed me a little, I was by myself and didn't understand completely and I think they took advantage of that. This time, thankfully Ben was off and he went in with me. When they called to give the diagnosis I just passed the phone off and I heard him go back and forth a bit and come off with semi good news. We had to get all new stuff, BUT this time they were going to do it right, on both sides, and warranty it... Seriously? This needs to be negotiated? I made the mistake of assuming when they say everything they do is warrantied, that I didn't need to question it - Ben pointed this out to the guy on the phone that he was completely unimpressed that it wasn't done right the last time and we got a serious deal! (Still expensive - but not what it could've been)

While the car was getting fixed Ben and I took Dad's truck down to pick up the baby furniture, grab a late lunch and create a baby registry at good 'ole Babies R US ... There was a woman in there at the registry desk ahead of us, maybe in her mid 30's, looking at the suggested items for new parents list and she looked over and said, "I can't believe someone would get a monitor... I'm never going to leave my baby!" And she was disgusted that someone would register for one!! Ben just looked at her like she was nuts (I think she might have been though, which is the really sad part!) and did the panic, "Oh no don't leave the room!!" ... She continued on with all the safety cabinet locks and protective covers for sockets. She was making a fuss about all these things on the list and then totally confused over what a bouncer was and why you'd need a stroller, "Don't I just carry it?" (the baby) Needless to say I said a little prayer for that baby and we took our scanner and started on the other side of the store! Ben's certain he's going to meet her child in roughly 15 years at work... Assuming it's not smothered in its sleep by the mom that won't go out of ear shot :(

Dad was thankfully around to help unload the furniture at home and though Ben was going to wait to assemble everything until this morning, he changed his mind at 9 last night so we played in the baby's room instead. The dresser was already assembled and the crib was a piece of cake once we got the cats out of the way, they're nosey little punks, but I'd actually like them to hang out in the baby's room with the furniture and get used to it before he comes. That way it's old news and hopefully they won't give a rip about it later. This is what I'm praying anyway, if not my adorable little nursery is going to have to have the door shut all the time to keep the beasts out. I didn't have time to post the couple pictures I took of the process, but I'll get them up later. (except the one of Ben flexing his muscles for the camera - he was very clear that it wouldn't make the blog - but he didn't say I couldn't tell you all about it) :o) It was pretty funny!

Monday night Chelsey and Devin came over for dinner and 'catch up'. The boys were out in the garage looking at Ben's 'toys' in the safe, and Chelsey and I were trying to decide how long it had been since we've actually spoken more than just the 'how are you's?'... Yeah um, like 10 years! We were friends in Jr. high but didn't really have enough in common to keep us close beyond Lakota's walls. We got to talking and have more in common than I think we ever thought, and the boys hit it off well - it turned into a pretty fun little evening.

Free Photobook!

Snapfish is giving away a free photbook this weekend with new accounts!

Go here

Create an account before 9pm PST tonight

Upload pictures and create your book before Sunday (9pm PST)

Just pay for shipping!

The boy's room

I've already posted what the furniture looks like, here's a glimpse of the bedding we found and love! I loved the stuff at the new Restoration Hardware Baby & Child store but some of it's not exactly Target priced, so I wasn't really planning on being able to make that work. However, A coworker of mine snuck up on me when I was being naughty and looking at baby stuff at work and then surprised me with a gift certificate to RH as an early baby gift. That, combined with RH's discount for having a registry, AND the friends and family sale they're having this weekend for 20% off - I'm going to get this set for less than most of the sets at Babies R' Us!!! I'm so excited!

*The Friends and Family20% off coupon is good at the regular RH as well, so if anyone is interested, the code to use online or via phone order is FFBC801 (13th-16th)

Happy Birthday Babe!

It's the United States Marine Corps' 233rd Birthday!

Don't forget to wish your Marine a happy birthday today!

(And tomorrow's Veteran's Day too!)

More Blayne

So Texas is being stingy with their pictures! No, I imagine they're still settling in down there, I'm trying not to hassle them with demands - Jake's had family in from out of town this week to see the little guy, so I know Tiff's probably pooped!

However, Jake finally gave us another little cookie, and I thought I'd share him.

*Oh and just in case you've forgotten how cute Blayne's big brother and sister are, here's a new one I've got of them!

Here Aubrey!

19.5 weeks

*I got a sweet message from a friend wishing us luck tomorrow when we find out what the baby is and I realized that I did say we were finding out on the 5th... We actually had to change that because they realized I wouldn't be 20 weeks (exactly) by then and apparently I NEED to be... So the ultrasound is for a week from today, Tuesday the 11th. Thank you though, Mary! You'll have to check back again :o) 

My Sweet Guy!

Sorry, I gotta gush for a moment... Sunday 'we' (i.e. Ben) helped my Mom move into her new place... ALL DAY LONG! There wasn't really any help so it took a long time. After we got home we both slumped on the couch watching reruns of NCIS and House. We finally decided to hit the sack and when we stood up I got big hug and 'I love you', before I could tell him back, he put his hand on my stomach and said, "And I love you too"... YEAH, that's right. You.Just.Read.That!

I don't mean it to sound like he's been against this baby, because that's totally not it! I just wasn't expecting any of that sweet, mushy, connection type stuff from him until closer to or after 'it' was born. It was pretty cute! I love him!

Blayne Michael Ryan

He's finally here! He came VERY early this morning at 6 pounds 11 ounces, I had to steal these pictures off of the myspace page of Jake's brother Nick (who's actually in New Zealand and got these via email from his parents) - because my Aunt and Uncle are in Cabo this week. I'll update the post when I know more (and add better pictures when I get them!) ...Gotta love the Internet!

Congrats Jake, Tiff, Makenna and Brendan!