NEW Challenge Accepted

tricks.

2012-02-12T11:03:00.000-06:00

fin's our little show monkey now. :) she can wave "hi" and "bye" (either if you're waving to her or just tell her to wave), shakes her head "no" and "yes" (she can't quite get the nodding thing down, but she tries), claps, gives kisses if you're lucky, plays peek-a-boo, dances and finds her baby, book and ball. she's pretty consistent with finding her baby when you ask her to and her ball and book depend on her mood. we're working on blowing kisses and signing "more", "all done", "mama", and "dada". we think she's getting "all done" but it's hard to tell. without further ado....here she is!

park.

2012-02-12T10:51:00.000-06:00

our neighborhood recently upgraded the park and it's awesome! there's a huge playground for the big kids and a cute one for the little kids. there's not much fin can do at the park yet, but she likes to play in the wood chips and check things out. she does not like to swing. it's strange. she used to at last swing for a few minutes, but the last few times we've gone she wants nothing to do with them. we can't even get near them. the wood chips are a different story. she looooves them. she does try to eat them, but she also just likes to dig around and hold them. it makes a mess, but she loves it so much we don't mind. fin also likes to just watch the other kids and she squeals with delight. we'll slide with her and let her try to climb the stairs.

9months.

2012-01-24T13:11:00.000-06:00

she certainly keeps us on our toes now. :) she...

*pulls up on EVERYTHING
*usually lets her self down from pulling up gracefully
*says dadadada alllllll the time. she'll throw in a mama, baba, nana, gaga sometimes
*loves to read and turn the page for us
*climbs all over us or whatever is in the way
*does not love the car seat. we just installed the bigger one so hopefully that'll be better
*fights her afternoon nap hard. she'll play in there for an hour happy as a clam before she finally falls asleep
*takes 2 naps, 9ish and 1ish both exactly an hour
*goes to bed around 7, still gets a bottle right before bed but hasn't been falling asleep with it which is good since the bottle goes away in a few months
*wakes up around 6:30/7 (man i wish this was a bit later, but i can't complain about my good sleeper)
*mostly sleeps on her tummy (with her butt in the air), but sometimes on her side
*waves "hi" and "bye" (this is a new development so we'll start working on blowing kisses)
*goes to the little gym on fridays
*doesn't like to be too far from me and will come find me
*is getting braver trying to stand on her own, she'll let go for a little bit now
*eats pretty much everything, i usually share my lunch with her so i give her a try of whatever (veggie soup, lasagna, chicken korma, rotisserie chicken, whatever).
*so far hasn't been allergic to anything she's eaten
*loooooves kiwi (slippery little suckers, but she can pick them up)
*has eyes like a hawk, i swear she's going to be a surgeon. she sees the tiniest things on the floor and picks them up pretty easily
*studies things very closely

stats from her 9 month appt:

height-- 27.5 inch (45%)

weight-- 18 lbs 11 oz (60%)

head circumference-- 17 3/4 (83%)

christmas.

2012-01-24T13:10:00.000-06:00

fin's first christmas was definitely a success! a few months ago b and i were talking about what we wanted to to christmas break. did we want to stay in houston? did we want to go to austin? we thought about staying here and spending fin's first just the 3 of us, but after thinking about it we thought we'd just wish we were in austin with everyone. it's not like finley's going to remember so we decided to head to austin. we knew it was going to be a busy week, but man it flew by. we spent the first 2 nights at gigi and pop pop's, including christmas eve. christmas eve morning we went over to the shuley's house to do christmas with grandpa. we had a delicious brunch, opened some presents and the 3 kiddos played. then fin took a nap and it was time for church. she did a great job at church. after church we headed to p.f. changs for the traditional christmas eve chinese dinner. growing up we ALWAYS had chinese on christmas eve (still don't know why) and now we've expanded it to include everyone. this year i think there were 24 of us. yea, it's tons of fun. we weren't sure how andrew and finley would do since they are both set in their (very similar) schedule and this was going to be past bedtime, but they were awesome. it probably helped that they were entertained and everyone was willing to help out. we ate and ran to get fin home at a decent time to go to bed.

christmas morning we woke up and fin checked out the presents under the tree. she found one that interested her greatly-- her little einstein activity table-- and that kept her entertained for a while. she took a nap and then back to opening presents. she of course got spoiled terribly. she actually really liked to rip the paper off her presents. then we went to coco and mo's house for the afternoon.

8months.

2011-12-21T10:20:00.000-06:00

*crawls all over the place (the traditional way)
*pulls up on short things, i am her favorite jungle gym
*has a tooth!
*says mamamama (used to, doesn't say it much anymore), dadadada (her favorite), babababa
*loves to blow raspberries
*loves "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"
*dances (not when we tell her to, but when she hears music)
*is a great eater, usually purees, but now some finger food too like cut up green beans, banana, avocado, carrot (cooked of course), kiwi
*loves yogurt, yogurt melts, and puffs (not sure about cheerios)
*gets 4 bottles (7am, 11,3,7), 3 solid meals (8:30, 11, 6) and 1 snack (4ish)
*goes to bed around 7 and gets up at 6:30/7
*does not like to have her diaper changed or get dressed
*immediately tries to roll or crawl away during diapers
*loves ruby
*is a bit hard to put down for a nap, she'd rather be crawling and pulling up than sleeping no matter how tired she is, i leave her alone and she eventually goes to sleep
*takes 2 naps a day around 9am and 1pm
*loves animal noises

thanksgiving.

2011-12-09T10:38:00.001-06:00

the last few years we've all gone to the shuley's house for thanksgiving. every year it gets bigger and bigger and this year was certainly no different since we added andrew and finley into the mix! everyone brings a couple things and we always end up with tons of great food. this year i brought tomato basil soup, mashed potatoes and hot chocolate (with fun stir spoons). fin (and andrew) was a trooper. luckily she took a good nap before we went over there and hung out till bedtime. we kept her up just a tad bit later than normal and by the time we got back to mom's house she was definitely ready for bed. for thanksgiving dinner she had sweet potatoes, puffs and her first taste of real mashed potatoes. she probably could have tried some turkey and other things, i'm just still pretty cautious about table food for now. although dr. eddings told us at her 6 month appt. that closer to 9 months she should start eating what we're eating. she's almost 8 months now so i think we'll start that soon. i mean, obviously only things she can gum, but that will be a lot more than she gets now! anyways, finley's first thanksgiving was definitely a success. oh! she even crawled the REAL way for the first time that night. i guess she was waiting until she had a huge audience to show off. ever since she's been going non-stop! so proud of her.

playing at coco's

represent

erin and i were talking inside and then saw this blur run by out back. finley, your dad and grandpa are crazy. p.s. they were "watching" the kids outside.

fin and gigi!

so lucky to have jenna as a friend for the last 20ish years!

savings.

2011-11-29T19:52:00.001-06:00

i decided to keep track of how much it was to make my own babyfood to see if it really was a savings. that's the main reason for making it. i mean, it's nice to know what's exactly going in her food, but i certainly don't think there's some conspiracy out there and they're putting weird things in babyfood. i keep store bought babyfood around in case i forget to thaw some or didn't get around to making anything. anyways here's what i've found:

fresh
4 bananas- $1.08 made 16 oz
4 yellow squash - $1.93 (used 3) made 6 oz
1 butternut squash- $2.88 13oz
4 organic gala apples- $4.20 (used 3 1/2) 15 oz
3 organic bosc pears- $4.02 13 oz
1 cauliflower- $1.50 18 oz
2 acorn squash- $6.34 30 oz (!!)
3 sweet potato- $2.93 (2 1/2) 34 oz (!!)

frozen
10 oz peaches- $2.29 made 6 oz
12 oz mango- $1.90 10 oz
19 oz peas- $1.42 24 oz
16 oz rhubarb- $2.42 10 oz
12 oz carrots- 10 0z

so all in all most of it saves money. i buy green beans and prunes made b/c i don't want to deal with skins. also apples, pears and peaches don't seem to be worth it to make. i also got a can of pumpkin which she LOVED. andi now buy unsweetened applesauce (get lots). and i also made spinach. i don't think i'll be able to make the meat when it comes time for that. just thinking about it makes me gag.


some of the freezer stash

inchworm.

2011-11-22T13:33:00.000-06:00

finley is determined to crawl. that's all she wants to do right now. she's figured out a method that works for her so i don't know if she'll ever crawl the traditional way. our little inchworm is getting faster everyday. this video was a couple weeks ago and she started pretty far back there. this is about half way to her goal.

storytime3.

2011-11-22T13:22:00.000-06:00

FINALLY we got in! surprisingly she slept till 8 monday morning (after waking up at 5:38 then falling back asleep around 6:30) so we went to the 9:30 storytime. we got there 15 min. early and got a ticket. there were already lots of people there. they have coloring activities out, computers and some toys so the kiddos are entertained till it's go time. it was really fun! mostly songs which was good b/c i didn't think she'd really sit there for 30 min of stories. at the end there was a parachute and bubbles which every baby loves. so we'll plan on going on mondays as long as she's awake.

7months.

2011-11-22T13:18:00.001-06:00

she's closer to a year old than a newborn!! so bittersweet. she...

*sits herself up from a laying position
*has her own way of crawling-- it certainly gets her where she wants to go (especially to the off-limits pumpkins)
*likes to hang upside down, fly, dance, play peek-a-boo
*loves animal sounds and hanging out outside
*takes 2 naps a day (9ish and 1ish) for about 1.5 hrs each
*goes to bed around 7
*wakes up at 6/6:30 (!!) we're trying to push this back since sometimes it's as early as 5:30
*has eaten peas, sweet potato, squash (butternut, acorn, yellow), green beans, apples, pears, peaches, prunes, carrots, and avocado.
*loves to eat puffs and mum mums
*doesn't have any teeth yet, but those bottom ones look like they'll come through soon
*went to little gym and gymboree (loved both)
*studies everything, especially people's faces
* eats 3 solid meals (8:15, 11, and 6), and 4 6-8 oz bottles (7,11,3,7)
*loves ruby
*loves to beat on things
*is a rolling madwoman
*is ticklish

storytime2.

2011-11-22T13:08:00.000-06:00

was a fail also. well, i guess it was partly successful. fin got up super early monday morning (5:30 eek!) and then took a short nap so we were up for the first storytime at 9:30. we got ready, go there on time and i followed some women in with their kiddos so i could see exactly where to go and what to do. so they ran out of tickets 2 kids in front of us. ooooof course. it was kind of successful because we got a library card and a few books. maybe third times the charm, we'll be back next week.

napgate.

2011-11-14T16:23:00.000-06:00

finley is not so easy to put down for naps these days. it started about 3 weeks ago. she's so determined to crawl that that's all she'll do in her crib. some days it literally takes an HOUR of her "crawling" and rolling around before she'll fall asleep. she's happy as a clam in there so i leave her, but i know she's exhausted. she's rubbing her eyes, yawning, but still keeps going. sometimes after that she'll sleep for a while, but other times she's up after 30 minutes to keep on practicing. she's so very close to crawling. probably due to all this extra practice. i've started to pat her back for a bit to get her super sleepy, but she's so nosy she cranes her whole body to look at me and try to grab my hair. i put my head down on the crib rail so she can't see my face (mainly b/c i'm trying not to laugh) so my hair hangs over. too tempting and she ends up trying to get me. i always know i'm in for some entertainment when i put her down.

storytime.

2011-11-07T20:55:00.000-06:00

was a complete fail. storytime starts at 11:30 at the local public library. they let you in until 11:40. finley and i showed up at 11:42. yep, 2 min late. i even asked the ladies at the counter if i could go in, but they said no. awesome. apparently they don't have kids or they don't remember what it's like to get a 6 month old out of the house promptly. fin eats at 11 normally so i bumped it up to 10:45 today so we could be on time. all was going well until we were headed out the door and she had a poopy diaper. ooooooof course. so i changed that quickly, found the library (never been before), got an amazing parking spot and still was 2 min. late on top of the 10 min. late. sigh.... i guess we'll try next week.

also? i felt uber old b/c the library is on a community college campus. you know, with college aged kids. and there i am with my baby.

NY.

2011-11-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

well what i really want to do it say "see erin's blog" b/c she documents things so well, but alas, i will do my best to recount fin's first vacation. our first family vacation! nanny and papa live in NY and hadn't met their 3rd grandchild yet so we thought we needed to make that happen. she's at a great age, the perfect time of year to visit up north and i just couldn't wait for them to meet. so we spend the 2nd week of october having a blast in cooler weather. early, early, early saturday morning we woke fin up and headed to the airport. checked in, got through security, grabbed breakfast and got to our gate at the perfect time. i was pretty anxious about the plane ride b/c i didn't want to be that mom, but i had to keep reminding myself 1. i'll never see these people again and 2. she's a baby. there's only so much you can do. needless to say, she did amazingly well. everyone around us was so nice and oohing and aahing over her. she had maybe just a few minutes of not being happy, but i don't blame her. i was ready to get off the plane too. she got a bottle going up (on both flights) but didn't need it for landing. her ears didn't seem to bother her at all thank goodness. when we landed mom, erin, grace and andrew were already there with nanny and papa. i was so excited for them to finally see finley in person! it was great. we gathered ALL the luggage (you should have seen how much 4 adults and 3 children need) and packed up 2 cars. one for the luggage and the other for all of us. erin and brandon installed 3 car seats perfectly and we were on our way. all 3 kiddos were angels while we were getting everything in order. of course we had a feast at nanny and papa's that night. wouldn't expect anything less. we spent the week going to parks, climbing mohonk, apple picking, shopping at woodstock, and pigging out (friendly's, dallas hot weiners, chinese food, pizza, and of course nanny's home cooked meals/desserts). it was so weird to take your own daughter (that's weird to say anyways) to the same parks you grew up going to.

chillin at the cleveland airport

love this pic of erin and grace napping

all packed up and ready to go!

by the end of the week we were pros at getting everyone out of the house in a timely manner. it actually wasn't that stressful. it helps that we were all on the same page with the importance of naps and keeping the kiddos happy. erin and i have the babies pretty much on the same schedule so that helped a ton. grace is an amazing little girl so she's the easiest one, just one of the gals. she grabs diapers for you, keeps the babies entertained, sings to them, plays with them, nicely reminds them to be gentle, she's just great. not to mention she's hilarious, polite, beautiful, witty, creative and just perfect. she's a great role model for finley.

we had an amazing week and i'm so thankful finley got to spend all that time with her great grandparents, great aunt and uncle, 2nd cousins, grandmother, aunt, cousins, mommy and daddy. she's one lucky little girl. i've got it pretty good too.

halloween.

2011-11-03T13:26:00.000-05:00

we took fin "trick-or-treating" on halloween, but we did it a little different. clearly she can't eat candy, but i definitely wanted to show her off. i decided to do sort of a reverse trick or treating so i made some cookies and we delivered those. we dressed her up as a ladybug and went to 4 houses. really just the neighbors we talk to frequently that we thought would want to see her. they loved seeing her! the people directly next to us are really fun and they had a pumpkin pinata for the kids so we hung out with them for a little bit till fin was ready for bed. once finley was down for bed we took the monitor with us to the driveway and passed out candy from there. i'd call it a successful first halloween.

mirror.

2011-11-03T09:59:00.000-05:00

for about a year now there has been a tall wall mirror with no home just hanging out against the wall in the living room. we finally have a use for it! well, finley does at least. she loooooves to stare at herself and try to play with the other baby. she'll stare, get excited and rock back and forth, talk, scream, hit the mirror and look at me like "isn't this awesome??" we try to visit the mirror a few times a day, and stop by the mirrors in the bathroom as well.

6months.

2011-10-16T17:16:00.002-05:00

happy half birthday finley! at half a year old she

*sits all by herself (started a couple weeks ago)
*starting to get frustrated on her tummy when there's a toy she can't reach
*rolls from back to tummy both ways
*still only rolls from tummy to back in her crib and not that often
*sleeps 7ish-7ish with no feedings (allelujia!), occasionally she'll have a little chat with herself around 3/4am, but usually goes to sleep quickly
*eats 6-7 oz of formula at 7am, 11, 3 and bedtime
*has a great laugh (likes when we roar at her)
*is fascinated with ruby
*puts herself to sleep for naps and nighttime
*would rather sit up than be on her tummy/back
*has tried sweet potato, avocado and carrots-- i guess she liked them kinda? carrots more than anything but they didn't really taste like much to me
*eats cereal/veggie twice a day
*went on her first plane ride! and did awesome
*"talks" up a storm, now moving her mouth up and down babbling, i think she picked it up from hanging out with drew for a week
*scoots around
*sleeps with a blankie at naptime
*takes 2-3 naps, just depends on how long they are
*still no teeth, but maybe see the bottom front 2 coming in
*loves grabbing her feet and eats them occasionally
*stays up about 2-2.5 hrs before needing a nap, we push that time to 3-3.5 hrs before bedtime
*has found her ear and head-- only with her right hand, hence singular ear :)
*gets on all 4s, but only in her crib
*loves her bath
*still has grayish/bluish eyes, but sometimes i see a hint of brown in them
*wakes at 7, naps 9-10:30/11, naps 1-2:30/3, sometimes takes at catnap around 4, bedtime at 6:45
*is the best....still.

veg.

2011-10-02T09:44:00.000-05:00

the other night i was making dinner and we were going to be having mashed sweet potatoes so i thought i should keep some to the side and let finley have a try. so before i put the good stuff in them, i separated a few days worth for her and decided to give it a go.

she didn't mind too much at first, but as we went along she was kind of changing her mind. day 2 i think she liked them even less.

"daddy, help me"


we've started teaching her some sign language and she LOVES when we do "all done"

day 2. it looks like she's saying "no more" but really she was trying to grab the spoon.

pumpkin.

2011-10-02T09:21:00.000-05:00

well fall is here and it actually kinda felt like it yesterday! it was the perfect day to go to dewberry farm to check out the pumpkins. we've never been before and it looks like it will be a ton of fun when finley gets older. we had a good time yesterday, but there were a lot of activities for older kids. there was a pumpkin patch you could get to by hay ride or walk--we walked, it's not that far and she doesn't care if we go on a hay ride.

ready to go! got the cow print diaper on to go to the farm!

trying to figure out what's so scratchy...

miss prissy pants doesn't like grass. although it was pretty crunchy here.

they also have a corn cannon, corn maze, huge slides, flower picking, go cart thingies, awesome trampoline thingy, playgrounds, and animals including pony rides. we went after fin's afternoon nap (3 hrs! she must have know the fun she was about to have and rested up for it) and it only took about 30 min. to get there. we walked to the pumpkin patch, took some pics, learned that fin HATES grass, checked out the flowers and baby animals, took some more pics, bought a little pumpkin for finley and headed home. she did a great job hanging out in her stroller and checking everything out. it was super crowded, but not obnoxious and the weather was warm, but waaaaay better than 100 degrees. really the only time she got upset was when she was sitting in the grass. we put a burp cloth under her legs, but she still didn't like it. we should have brought a blanket, but oh well. i've been so excited (like since i found out i was pregnant) to take her to the pumpkin patch so i was in love. it was the perfect day.

fin was distracted by the flowers.

she loved her perfect little pumpkin!

yea, she's crying. no excuses here. the grass was quite soft.

they'll both put anything in their mouths. see stroller strap above.

roll.

2011-09-29T15:24:00.002-05:00

it's official! finley's a roller!! i wanted to wait a few days to make sure she kept doing it and sure enough in the past few days she's mastered rolling from back to tummy. so on tuesday she just decided she was ready to roll, probably b/c i kept telling everyone she was never going to do it. a little reverse psychology. *wink*wink* it's funny to put her down on her back, go get something and come right back to her on her tummy. she can roll to both sides, but still doesn't really want to roll tummy to back. i let her get a little mad hoping she'll flip right over, but it's pretty pathetic so i end up helping. i know i know.

babylegs.

2011-09-29T15:13:00.001-05:00

welcome to my first tutorial! babylegs are essentially baby leg warmers and they're stinking adorable. jenna gave fin some and i love them, but she hasn't gotten to wear them too much since it's still a million degrees outside. i like them though b/c first of all they're cute and secondly they make diaper changes easy. however, they're like $10-$15 so i didn't really want to buy her more, but then i saw how to make them online. so. easy. allow me to show you.

all you need is a pair of knee high women's socks, scissors, needle and thread. so since i had everything but the socks this was super cheap. i got the socks at target for $2.50. i washed and dried them first.

1. cut the foot part off the sock, right above the heel.

2. flip them inside out and fold over a small hem.

3. whip stitch the hem and voila! babylegs!! i made one pair yesterday and 2 pairs today during her nap. 2 pairs took me about 30 minutes. the longest part is threading the needle and tying a flipping knot.

then fin wanted to model them.

not too sure about the argyle ones.


sorta feeling the bright orange tigers.

loving the blue polka dots! or maybe it's the ruby shirt.

5months.

2011-09-20T10:37:00.002-05:00

why is she getting so big so fast?? at 5 months she

*is the happiest baby i know
*still doesn't like a paci, so we're not gonna start now!
*is on a schedule-ish (this makes life so much easier)
*sleeps 9-10 hrs at night, eats, back down for another 2-3 hrs (sleeps 7-7)
*has rolled over a handful of times from tummy to back. we really haven't actually seen her do it, but when we get her either in the middle of the night to feed her or in the morning sometimes she's on her back
*is such a chill baby-- unless she really wants/needs something
*likes to play by herself
*sits up by herself (if i get her set up) for a few seconds
*likes tummy time and grabs at the toys in front of her
*is great at grabbing what she wants
*squeals. non.stop.
*eats cereal/oatmeal twice a day (no fruits or veggies yet, but probably soon)
*doesn't quite have teeth coming in, or at least none that we can really feel
*puts everything straight into her mouth
*pushes up like a seal
*sucks on everything BUT a paci, including, but not limited to, our fingers, clothes and shoulders
*eats 4-6 oz every 3-4 hrs (breastmilk and formula)
*loves to go for walks in her big girl stroller
*giggles when you tickle her neck/chest
*loooooves ruby (not sure the feeling is mutual)
*blows raspberries alllll the time
*wears 3-6 month clothes-- 6 months if they're on the small side
*weighs 15.8 lbs (approximately)
*changes every day!!!!

baptized.

2011-09-08T14:04:00.000-05:00

aug. 28 we got finley baptized. it. was. perfect. kind of a rocky start planning it and what not b/c there was some miscommunication with the church (long story), but alas it all worked. the best part was that deacon tim did it. deacon tim also did our marriage prep before our wedding and we loved him. we were lucky enough to get to do it one on one (as opposed to a group of 7 or so couples) and he's so easy to talk to it wasn't awkward at all. he keeps us involved at the church, calls/e-mails to check on us, and introduced us to some great people. so it only made sense that he do our daughter's baptism. it was such a great day. all our family came in from austin and we invited a few friends to help us celebrate. we couldn't have asked for a better day...or better family and friends.

cloth.

2011-09-02T10:33:00.001-05:00

when i was pregnant brandon mentioned a couple times using cloth diapers. i immediately dismissed it saying it was gross and too much work. he didn't really push it and i never really looked into it. then we had finley, went through diapers like it was nobody's business and i started to rethink. i did a lot of research about the benefits-- for finley, our wallet, and the earth. Then I ordered a trial pack from jillian's drawers (send you 12 brand new diapers of different styles to try for 21 day, return them and get your money back-- except shipping). I also borrowed one from a friend who loves cloth diapering. She stepped me through how to wash them and other things I'd need. Not only did she let me borrow a diaper, but also a wet bag and a wet/dry bag. Anyways, after using them for about 2 weeks we've decided to take the plunge. I've read lots of reviews of different kinds, but what it really comes down to is personal preference. So here's what we're trying:

FuzziBunz- pocket diaper, meaning you stuff in an insert. when i change her diaper i take the whole thing off, take the insert out and put both pieces in the wet bag. these are nice b/c they dry pretty quickly, not too bulky and size-wise should last her till she's potty trained. plus they come in great solid colors. the fleece inside is super soft so she's gotta love that against her tush. :)

Flip- cover. these actually might be my favorite. they make the most sense to me. it's a cover with an insert. when i change her you take the insert out, put that in the wet bag and reuse the cover with a new insert. money wise this seems to be a good move. the covers can be used multiple times during the day (as long as it's not dirty, although you can just wipe it down). this one can also be used till she's potty trained.

GroVia- grovia has several styles and the one we got is a shell/cover. basically like flips, but the material is different so if it gets dirty i can't just wipe it down. it has an insert that snaps in which is nice. this too will fit till she's potty trained.

BumGenius- all in one (AIO). we don't have any of these yet although they were part of the trial and i did like them. AIO are just like a disposable diaper except you wash it and reuse it. there's no stuffing, but that also means it takes a bit longer to dry b/c they don't come apart (unlike pockets). we'll probably get some to have.

Alva- i'm ordering some of these. they are cheap cheap cheap. maybe too good to be true. people seem to love them, but i'm gonna just order a couple and see for myself. they're an all in one, like bumgenius.

i'm really excited to make the switch. i can totally see how it can be addicting (there are tons of awesome prints) so i have to keep in mind that part of this is to save some money and not go crazy buying more than we really need. that's also why i picked gender neutral so we can use them again for the next one. i mean, i of course bought some girly ones, but not ALL of them. and it's really not that much more work to change her. we wash them after she goes to bed, i get them all ready in the morning and we're good to go. we still use disposables at night. partly b/c we still have quite a few and partly b/c i don't trust a cloth one for 12 hrs yet. another challenge accepted. :)

bliss.

2011-08-22T09:09:00.001-05:00

today is the first day of school. this is the least stressful first day of school ever! fin's napping and i'm drinking coffee and watching project runway. i'll be productive later. or maybe we'll just play.

** during nap #2 today she rolled over from tummy to back for the first time!!! she was pretty mad to be taking nap and got so into her tantrum she flipped right over. who knows if it'll happen again any time soon, but at least we know she can do it!

cereal.

2011-08-21T21:46:00.000-05:00

yesterday, at 4 months and 4 days, fin tried rice cereal for the first time!

she wasn't too sure at first...

but gave it another try...

and came to the conclusion that she liked it!

then decided to hold her own bottle after.

4months.

2011-08-16T14:11:00.002-05:00

holy smokes. 4 months! she's getting to be so big and learning new things everyday. she...

is more interested in rolling now. gets to her side and hangs out there.
sleeps on her tummy at night (we can get a good 9-11 hr. stretch that way!)
puts herself to sleep with hardly any fussing.
gets up at 7am-- she picked this wake up time and i like it too.
isn't hating naps! she sleeps on her tummy for 3 good naps a day. puts herself to sleep and if she wakes up after 45 min. she'll either put herself back to sleep or i'll pat her a bit and she'll go back down. phew.
loves to snuggle.
recently has stopped being swaddled b/c she sleeps on her tummy
gets all bottles now. she started preferring bottles over nursing and i did not want breastfeeding to become stressful for either of us sooooo all bottles.
eats 4-5 oz every 3-4 hrs. (about 25 oz. a day, mix of breastmilk and formula)
laughs!!
talks up a storm. to us. to her toys. to her mobile. she's not picky!
likes tummy time...i think. she rarely screams during it anymore and stays there for about 15 min. at a time.
likes her bumbo!
doesn't like to be held like a "baby," she's too curious and wants to look around
grabs things on purpose and usually gets them pretty quickly. this may be my favorite thing so far. it's awesome to see her look at something, reach out and take it.
puts everything in her mouth.
gets distracted very easily.
grabs things in front of her during tummy time.
loves playing on her mat and trying to get the hangy things.
doesn't like her paci (hasn't liked it in a while)
still wears 0-3 month clothes-- even some newborn still!
doesn't like to be held all the time, loves to lay on the floor and stretch or sit in the bumbo and be nosy
grabs her feet
is so stinkin' smart

stats from the doc 8/16

height: 23 3/4" (67%)

weight: 13 lbs 14 oz (46%)

head circumference: 16 1/4" (73%)

Happy 4 months!!!

tummy.

2011-08-04T09:48:00.000-05:00

as we speak finley is taking her first nap on her tummy. i can't tell you how many times i've checked the monitor, stared and made sure she's still breathing. yes this is how we all slept growing up, but now we have too much information and this makes me very nervous. lots of babies sleep like this, she's just never done it before. she's almost 4 months and has really good head control, but you just never know. we had a bit of a rough night last night so i know she needs a good nap and her normal 38 minutes isn't really all that good in my book. so we'll see how she does and i'll just watch her like a hawk. and now i'm back from getting her back to sleep. slept for 45 min, took me almost 30 min. to get her back to sleep. huh, not sure that's worth it but she's so dang tired! :) oh finley...

anniversary.

2011-08-02T15:59:00.000-05:00

it's crazy to think that on our 2nd anniversary we got to include finley. last year we went to cancun for a little vacation to celebrate our 1st anniversary. we decided to go on a trip to celebrate b/c we were hoping it would be the only anniversary as just the 2 of us. lo and behold it was. :) when i married brandon i never would have thought that just 2 years later i would spend aug. 1 going to a mom's group playdate with our beautiful daughter. that while i was snuggling fin, giving her her bedtime bottle, brandon was setting up roses and 2 big cup reeses cups (b really does get me) on the coffee table. that we would just spend the evening drinking wine and talking about our dream come true and it was the perfect way to spend the night. that i would be a stay at home mom (another dream come true). that we would have our dream house--granted in houston--but our dream house nonetheless. the last 2 years have been a whirlwind including traveling to singapore, hong kong, costa rica, mexico, new york, to moving from a 3 bedroom house we were renting to a one bedroom apt for 6 months, to building the home we'll raise our kids in, to bringing finley into this world, to stopping teaching after 4.5 years to stay home with fin. in our eyes the past 2 years have been perfection.

giggle.

2011-08-01T21:29:00.000-05:00

She's getting the hang of this whole laughing thing! She's done it a couple times randomly and now i can usually get her to do it at least once a day. She normally has a look like "is this what i'm supposed to be doing?" Although she hasn't quite mastered it completely, you can't tell me this isn't at least the start of a laugh.

bath.

2011-07-30T10:17:00.001-05:00

little miss finally likes her bath! at first we used the hammock thing when she was itty bitty and now she sits in there like a big girl. it's part of our nightly routine even if we don't use soap every night. we've started to let her "soak" and it's definitely her favorite part of the day....mine too. she sits in there with a warm washcloth on her top half and one on each leg. then we just keep putting warm water on them so she doesn't get chilly. we may or may not give her a little foot massage too. (spoiled. rotten.) last night we were letting her soak and she was looking to the side making the sweetest noises. so stinkin' cute. she sounded so content and peaceful. she'll try to suck on the washcloth but i don't really let her. sometimes she sneaks it in her mouth though. who would have thought that giving her a bath would actually calm her down?? so glad she likes them now. after her bath she hangs out nakey for a bit and gets her last little burst of energy out. then snuggled in her footie jammies, bottle and she's knocked out--at least for a few hours. :)

bathtime finley style

*update on formula and sleeping. she teased us with 2 nights in a row of sleeping 8.5 hrs then another 3. hasn't done it since (that was mon/tues it's now sat). for about 3 days we had a pretty good "schedule" going and then of course she abandoned it. :) just when you think you have it figured out. so she's eating 4 oz of formula before bed (8ish) then up at 1, 5/6, 8. i don't know what's going on with her. we'll keep on trying!

formula.

2011-07-25T13:10:00.000-05:00

well after almost a month of terrible sleeping, we might be back on track-- at least for now. :) it's kind of bittersweet for me b/c it took giving her formula. we had tried lots of different things for the last few weeks and nothing was really making a difference. we had a few nights of being up for HOURS in the middle of the night. not good for finley and not good for us either. i thought maybe she was hungry b/c she was getting up so much in the middle of the night so i tried to feed her more during the day, but that wasn't really doing it. then i talked to a couple people who suggested formula. not really what i wanted to do. i love that for a year (or just about) i've been the one giving her all the nutrition she needs. now that sounds kind of selfish, but it's true. after a really bad night and talking to erin & mom we decided to give it a try. the first night was a little better, but we didn't really give her that much. first i didn't know how she would do with it and second i was hoping to not have to give her that much. i don't think there's anything wrong with formula, it just wasn't what i had in mind. on the other hand i certainly didn't want fin to be hungry and poor baby was super tired. she wasn't sleeping at night OR taking naps so we had one overtired (and apparently hungry) baby. so now she gets some formula and breastmilk and doing much better. we keep playing with how much and how often, but it's all going much smoother. i'm good with it and we're all much better rested now. here's hoping it stays on the right track!

3months.

2011-07-17T11:48:00.001-05:00

time is still flying by. she's already 3 months and things are changing quickly! she

still likes to be swaddled at night
is actually not sleeping so well :/ the last 2 weeks she's been getting up around 2/3, back to sleep (sometimes not so willingly), up an hour and a half later, brandon pops her paci in, back up another hour and a half later... it's a mess. so now we put her to bed a bit earlier
hates naps. LOATHES them. 45 minutes and she's up
likes the paci again
eats like a champ- still about every 2.5-3 hrs.
gets one bottle a day
isn't too keen on new people holding her
LOVES to talk. she's found her voice and loves exercising it
smiles like crazy
still loves to be bounced & rocked
is obsessed with the sound machine
calms down with a stroll around the block
tries to grab things-- takes all her concentration, but she's successful sometimes
doesn't hate tummy time as much ( i wont say she necessarily likes it)
isn't that interested in rolling over yet
likes to hang by herself, gets a little overwhelmed with too many people
loves to read
stares at her mobile (this makes me very happy since we made it)
sucks her hands like it's going out of style (sometimes sucks her top lip)
has the best pout face

Happy 3 Months!!

success.

2011-06-30T12:00:00.001-05:00

yesterday we had a turning point with tummy time. i think we actually ENJOYED it for more than 37 seconds. this is huge in the hawkins' household. she normally screams from the second i put her on her tummy or plays dead. no really, i swear she thinks if she doesn't move i'll flip her back over. playing dead isn't really that productive either. but yesterday i put her on her tummy, she kinda cooed (maybe even a little smile) and she lifted her head like it was nobody's business. didn't even cry. took a look around, turned her head to the other side and did this a few more times...without making me afraid the neighbors were gonna call cps on me due the cries. we did this a couple more times throughout the day and it was the same thing! even this morning she did a great job. so i think we're turning the corner with this one. thank goodness. here's a little excerpt:

yes, this is my life. :)

habit.

2011-06-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

Dr. Eddings reports that she is indeed perfect. :) and that she doesn't need that middle of the night feeding. she's just in a habit of getting up, but doesn't really NEED to eat then. so we're going to start to try to drop that one. that means instead of ME going in to get her when she wakes up, brandon will have to. now normally i let brandon sleep. i mean what's the point of waking him up? i only wake him up if i absolutely can't get her back to sleep which has only been a handful of times. anyways, she said that if i go in she'll think she's getting fed and we don't want to tease her. there may be some crying involved, but usually after about 4 nights of it we're good to go. we of course don't HAVE to do this, but i think we'll give it a try either this week or next. she's slept 9 hrs a couple times, 8 hrs a few times and usually at least 6 hrs so i know she has it in her and she's not starving. dr. eddings said to expect the best out of her which was those 9 hrs. we're planning on trying this in the next week or two. wish us luck!

2months.

2011-06-17T16:37:00.001-05:00

in just one month our little sweet pea has changed so much. here's what we know. she...

still loves to be swaddled. we've moved to the miracle blanket.
takes catnaps. she's like an alarm clock. 45 minutes and she's up. and that's a GOOD nap.
likes to suck her right hand. she hasn't quite found the thumb specifically (probably b/c it's always tucked under)
is still a rockstar sleeper at night sleeping a 6-8 hr stretch, eats, and back down for about 3 more hrs
goes to sleep at night between 8 & 9* (*footnote: i started this list about a week ago as i would think of things. since then she has had a few pretty rough nights...like waking up every 3 hrs, crossing our fingers it's a growth spurt or something!** another footnote: last night she slept 9 straight hrs.!! crossing our fingers that this one is NOT a fluke)
is getting used to baths
doesn't seem to like the paci as much any more
gets tired of being held. she likes to stretch and wiggle during the day
likes to talk--and by "talk" i of course mean coo
gets terribly excited to have a conversation
sleeps in her crib alllllll night (i think that's more of an accomplishment for me, not her)
takes most naps in her crib
still loves to be read to. she loves rhyming books and really looks at the pics now.
has a good grip...on my hair. :)
still loves the sound machine
eats like crazy now-- at least for her
is still perfect

stats from the doc 6/20

height: 22 3/4 (62%)

weight: 10lb 12 oz (44%)

head circumference: 15 1/4 (47%)

Happy 2 months!!

events.

2011-06-13T16:23:00.000-05:00

Here is what we've been up to the last couple weeks.

celebrated my 28th birthday:

Hanging out at home, playing on the playmat, smiling a bunch at the birdies and talking to them.

Trying another way to do tummy time because she still HATES it.

I like tummy time sometimes b/c all sorts of bodily functions occur. Boogers come flying out, she'll toot, burp, spit up and get lots of energy out.

Fin had her first trip to Austin to celebrate Erin's 30th b-day.

snuggling with coco and ruby. ruby's not allowed on the couched at our house so she was in heaven.

studying her uncle. she decided he's up to par and even gave him a little smile.

grace can't wait to teach fin all kinds of things. like how you have to sit on your bottom in a chair. she's gonna be a great role model. :)

gia and grandpa with andrew and finley. i bet andrew can't wait to teach fin all kinds of things like how to get a good laugh.

We also went wedding dress shopping with morgan, but the only pics i have are of her in a wedding dress. i don't think morgan wants to make that public yet. but lets just say she looks stunning. and fin was a trooper up until the very last spot when she let it all out. i really thought we were going to get kicked out. luckily the bjorn saved the day....again.

we've had lunch with friends, family has visited and we're trying to get in a bit more of a routine during the day. i still can't believe how fast the time goes during the day!

confession.

2011-06-03T09:15:00.000-05:00

so i had this weird fear when i was pregnant that when i met fin for the first time i would think "who are you?" like what if i didn't have that instant connection. i mean she was with me for 9 months, but actually seeing her face to face, i was worried i wouldn't KNOW her. i asked brandon several times before having her if he thought she'd feel like ours. luckily as soon as i saw her i knew she was our finley. she was exactly who i thought she'd be. so tiny and perfect and well, finley. i knew instantly she was meant to be ours.

i also now understand why mom ~~was~~ is so obsessed with erin and me. worrying all the time, just wanting to be with us, protecting us, you know, the mom thing. she always said i would understand someday, and well, i do now. i HATE being away from fin, even at night with her in her crib. i know she's just sleeping, but i like to be with her. all the time. i was at a pool party last night with the girls from work who are hilarious. fin came with me for a bit, but brandon picked her up on his way home since it was so hot. the entire time i was thinking about her and left way earlier than i normally would have. i just wanted to be home with brandon and fin, which may sound boring, but it's quite perfect actually.

i think i figured out why i can't fall back asleep after her 3:00/4:00 AM feeding. i can't wait to start the day with her. i just want to hang out with her and talk to her and teach her and snuggle with her.

so even though it's only been about 7 weeks, i just don't remember what life was like without her. she made her way into this family like she's always been here. keeping smiles on our faces (even when she cries, b/c we know she's fine....plus she snorts) and keeping us on our toes. she's the best.

love.

2011-05-31T12:58:00.001-05:00

i don't have too much new to report. just the fact that we love her so much. we sit and stare and tell her how perfect she is all day long. she's going to have a huge ego and i'm okay with that. :)

last post was about a rough night we had. luckily since then we've figured things out. that little booger was getting too strong for a regular swaddle and hated the sleep sack, so we've moved to the miracle blanket. it is nothing short of a miracle. ever since then she sleeps 6- 6.5 hrs in a row. every. night. then back down for another 2-3 hrs. so we put her to bed around 10 and she gets up around 4 or 4:30. it's pretty awesome. we've now moved her completely to her crib. insert smiley and frowny face. i loved having her in our room, but it's time and she's ready to be in her crib so she's there now.

the other night though one of my fears came true. it was one of her first nights in her crib all night and i got up to feed her at 4:30 then went back to sleep. i woke up at 7 and thought it was eerily quiet (normally i'd hear her sound machine at least) so i checked the monitor and it was off. the battery died. we plugged it in and when we turned it on she was screaming. i don't know how long she'd been screaming, and i know she's not going to starve to death or lose trust in me that fast, but i still hated it. brandon insists she hadn't been crying that long. he's the rational one and i hope he's right.

needless to say we're in love with her and couldn't have asked for anything more. she coos a lot more now so she's certainly finding her voice. she also thinks she has complete control over her head. i can tell when she's tired b/c she'll just rest it on my shoulder instead of looking around with those big ol' eyes. AND she's starting to smile more and more. now she smiles a lot at her mobile. i can't get a picture fast enough, but don't worry, there will be tons once we can catch them.

firsts.

2011-05-23T08:19:00.000-05:00

we had 2 firsts last night.

1. we cooked, ate (while it was hot) and cleaned up dinner. together. if you've had a newborn you understand this.

2. she decided she'd like to wake us up every 2- 3 hrs. last night went like this.
9:30- down for bed
12:30- eat
3:30- eat
5:30- eat (and try to stay up for the day. ummm...no.)
7:00- wake up for the day

so one was a good thing and the other quite tiring. the sleeping/eating thing may be ~~our~~ my fault. we're trying her in the flat part of the pack n' play and last night i wanted to try the sleep sack instead of swaddling, brandon did not want to but he lets me experiment. i'm sure he was really glad at 12:30 when i woke him up and said, "you win. swaddle her." she is not a fan of the sleep sack. hoping tonight goes better. that really was the first time we'd had a night like that. but dinner was nice.

dilemma.

2011-05-20T15:07:00.000-05:00

finley's taking a nap (thank goodness. yesterday afternoon was kinda rough with her not napping from 12-6), and everytime she takes a nap here is what goes through my head:

should i take a nap? go to the bathroom while i can? eat something? get something productive but not too noisy done? watch a favorite show? blog? paint my nails? take a shower?

needless to say i rarely get anything productive done. and that's ok. plus normally i'll think she's not going to sleep that long to i'll either do this or watch tv and then without a doubt she's out for 2 hrs and i totally could have taken a nap. or vice-versa. anyways, i'm going to try to take a little rest (cue her making noises. no really, i swear she knows when i'm going to lay down). she slept for 2 1/2 hrs earlier today but she was on me so i couldn't exactly do anything. good thing i grabbed the remote control so i could catch up on grey's anatomy and might have watched real housewives too. don't judge, i deserve some mindless tv.

1month.

2011-05-18T09:21:00.002-05:00

here is what we know about our perfectly perfect daughter so far. she...

loves to be swaddled (but always gets her left arm out by morning)
wants to be on the move all the time
is stubborn (at least when it comes to naps)
is stunningly beautiful
is relaxed
fits in the crook of our necks
loves the sound machine
loves books
makes us smile
calms down during a walk
is a rockstar sleeper at night (4.5-5.5 hr stretch!)
does not like to get dressed or get a diaper change
likes car rides
loves to keep her hands in fists by her face
is a daddy's girl
loves to snuggle
is strong
does not enjoy tummy time
likes the paci sometimes
calms down immediately if you "shhhhhh" her
loves staring at the fan
is a noisy sleeper
has stolen our hearts
could not be more loved

Happy One Month!!!

"routine."

2011-05-13T13:08:00.000-05:00

well fin and i have a bit of a "routine" now, which i like a lot. now it's by no means strict or terribly reliable. and its not realy based on times exactly, but its a routine--for us anyway. here's how the day goes.

*she wakes up (hopefully between 7 and 8) to eat
*she "plays"-- in her bouncer, swing, play mat, in my lap reading, listen to music-- for about 2 hrs
*rock her to sleep-- now depending on her tiredness this first nap can take a while to kick in, or sometimes its nonexistent-- she'll sleep for about 45 min if i'm lucky
*wakes up, put a cute outfit on, and eat
*she "plays" and we go on a walk-- normally the walk will knock her out and she'll sleep in her car seat
*wakes up, eats
*plays
you get the idea. this stays pretty constant till a bit later in the afternoon when her "witching hour" sets in around 5:00. this is when she's pretty fussy for no reason. or at least if there is a reason brandon and i can't figure it out (or haven't yet). at this time we have to pull out all the stops. that means either go for another walk which starts with her screaming bloody murder (no seriously) or putting her in the baby bjorn. both work miracles for now. the great thing about the bjorn is we can actually get stuff done too. we put her to bed around 9 or 10 and let her sleep till she wakes up hungry. i try to go to bed at the same time so i can get as much sleep as possible. i don't really wake brandon up in the middle of the night during the week since he can't feed her. if she needs to be reswaddled i definitely wake him up b/c i just don't do it as well as he does.

so that's basically our day/night in a nutshell. it revolves around a 2.5-3 hr schedule and it works for us. sometimes we'll get lunch with brandon or run an errand. i try to plan those to happen right after she eats. she doesn't mind the car ride and is generally happy as long as she's full and has a clean diaper.

and 2 other awesome things this week! 1. i fit into my favorite pair of sevens!!!!! it's nice to wear pants that have a zipper and a button. i'm back down to 100 lbs. i'm extremely blessed with my metabolism and i will never take that for granted again. i eat worse {and probably more} now than i did when i was pregnant. but i'm "trying" to stay over 100 lbs for insurance reasons. and 2. finley put herself to sleep in her crib TWICE! when it's time for her nap i give it a try (put her in her crib when she's just nodding off) and if it works great and if not we try the next nap. oh, and 3. she's still doing a great job sleeping at night. wakes only to eat and passes back out. in fact the other night she went to bed at 9:30 and got up for the day at 9:05. it. was. awesome.

so basically i've learned that this whole parenting thing is trial and error. we figure if the night is terrible we just wont do the same thing again. and if it was awesome then we just got lucky. :)

books.

2011-05-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

finley is already a lover a books. this makes me very happy. we read at least 2 books a day--normally quite short ones that rhyme. we read books to her while i was pregnant and of course i would read at least one book a day to my kiddos at school, so she's already heard a ton of books. sometimes she really will look at the pictures (how much of it she can see i'm not sure) and sometimes its like she's ignoring me, but she's quiet so i assume she likes it. sometimes she likes them SO much she falls asleep. she was enjoying books so much that i had read the ones i could reach from the chair and the only other thing i had to read was my nook. so i started reading my jen lancaster book "pretty in plaid" to her. which she also thoroughly enjoyed. i feel like i should read her something educational though. i LOVE jen lancaster, she literally makes me laugh out loud, but it's pure nonsense. well actually they're all based on her real life, but they. are. ridiculous. i finished the book so maybe i'll move on to classics. a little "pride and prejudice" oughtta put her sleep nicely. :)

flying.

2011-05-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

when people say "it goes by so fast!" they're not kidding. i can't believe it's already been almost 3 weeks. 3 weeks have never gone by faster. everyday flies by. i guess that happens when you spend them feeding, changing, rocking and admiring. and who knew you could fall in love with someone so fast?

things are still going smoothly (knock on wood). she's certainly more alert during the day and really doesn't like to take naps in the morning. i try to not let her stay up for more than 2 hrs at a time, but she doesn't want to miss anything that's going on. i promise her that she's not going to miss anything. that i too am going to close my eyes as soon as she does. i'll take one for the team and not do anything terribly exciting, but apparently she doesn't believe me. right now she's taking her first nap in her crib. i thought maybe i should try to introduce her crib a little at a time. i took advantage of her being exhausted (and full) when we got back from the doctors. she's not too fussy on a daily basis--only if she really needs something. when she gets worked up she really gets worked up. we're talking snorting, screaming bloody murder, who knew her mouth could get that wide.

first nap in her crib!

at night we've been experimenting to see what gets us the most sleep. :) since she's gaining weight we don't have to wake her up in the middle of the night to eat, she can just let us know. so we usually put her to bed bed around 10 or 11. she sleeps for 3-4 hrs, eats, goes back to bed (most of the time very easily), and sleeps another 2-3 hours. i think she's actually a pretty good sleeper at night so far. we have a routine down and she LOVES the sound machine. we have surround sound b/c she has one going near her and we have our own.

brandon went back to work this week. i would of course much rather him be here with us, but we're so lucky that he could take 2 weeks off. he's been going in at 6:30 like he has for a long time, but now he actually leaves at 4:30 like he "should." fin loves when he gets home. i think she gets tired of just me all day. it's definitely harder by myself. harder meaning when am i supposed to eat? or go to the bathroom?

this is the face she made at the doctors today after she was poked and prodded.

we had her 2 week appt. today and i can't say enough good things about our doctor. she'll just stay in the room with you as long as you want. she's someone you want to get cofee with. love. her. so anyways, our little oinker is 8 lbs. 2 oz! dr. eddings said she would have been happy with just 7 lb. 3 oz. our little over achiever. :) her head is 14 and she's 20.75 inches long. she came out at 20. dr. said she's still perfect! and they also pricked her heel which she was NOT a fan of.

other things finley's not a fan of:
diaper changes
baths

hm...that might be it right now. time really is flying by.

week1.

2011-04-24T19:56:00.000-05:00

here's what's happened week 1. grab your coke and popcorn, its action packed. :) and don't worry, i wont do this every week. just her first week here with us.

april 16, saturday:
finley decided she'd like april 16 to be her birthday. LOTS of family and some friends came in to meet our sweet finley. i heard they took up the entire waiting room and even had a pizza party. we stayed in the hospital that night and got a little bit of sleep. tough to do when nurses are checking me and her throughout the night.

april 17, sunday:
had some visitors over. ummm...pretty chill day. sunday night we took advantage of the nursery to get some sleep. fin would eat and then go sleep in the nursery. then she came back 3 hrs later to eat and then back to the nursery. then we kept her. it was a good decision, we felt much better monday after getting some sleep.

april 18, monday:
we got to come home!! filled out some paperwork, fin got her hearing checked (passed!), pediatrician checked her one more time and we got discharged. of course we were walking out the door when fin decided it was time to eat again. she didn't mind the car ride (slept the whole way) and that afternoon we just took it easy. everyone went back to austin, except mom who's helping us for a few days. monday night was pretty tiring. she decided she'd like to snack every hour. it wasn't TERRIBLE b/c she'd wake up, snack and fall right back to sleep. i just had to get up every hour.

april 19-22, tues.- fri.:
i'll combine these days b/c luckily we pretty much do the same thing everyday. the nights have been going really well now (knock on wood). she eats about every 3 hrs so that means she goes down to bed around 11 in her pack and play napper (best. thing. ever.), wakes up 3 hrs later to eat (around 2 or 3), sleeps another 3 hours or so, wakes up to eat (around 6) and sleeps some more. i know this can change any second, but for now it's awesome. normally at night brandon will change her and bring her to me and i do the feeding. works for now!

during the day she's been more and more alert. she just likes to look around and check things out. she wants to start lifting her head and she's pretty strong already. she LOVES to be snuggled and swaddled. i know most babies love this, but i think she especially does b/c she was so tight in me. :) we put her in the swing for the first time and she liked it once it got moving.

so all in all we're having a great time. went to the doctor yesterday and i quote "she's perfect." now THAT'S what you want to hear. she weighed 7 lb 1 oz which is great. babies lose weight during their first week of life and then should be back to their birth weight by 2 weeks. she's already just about there (7 lb 3 oz). that made me feel better b/c with nursing you really don't know how much she's eating. we'll go back in 2 weeks for another check up!

miracle.

2011-04-22T11:53:00.000-05:00

this whole pregnancy thing is quite the miracle if you really think about it. now seeing finley in person it's crazy to think that my body just did that. not even the delivery part, but the making of her. i've been a little paranoid since the beginning about everything going well since i've never done this before. it's a relief now that she's here. and i can't believe my stomach got that big. lets take a look throughout my pregnancy. *normally i wouldn't show bare pictures of my stomach, however you really get the idea this way. and there are only a few so don't worry. :)

5 weeks

37 weeks

7 weeks

23 weeks

28 weeks

32 weeks

35 weeks

37 weeks

done and done. it's a good thing they warn you that you'll still look 4-5 months pregnant after giving birth. it's a start. :)

BIRTHDAY!

2011-04-19T19:31:00.001-05:00

she's heeeeeeeeeere!!!!

if you're reading this i know you already know, however, it's just a little exciting. i'm going to try to keep up with the blog as best as possible so i can look back at it. everyone says it goes so fast and i already see that. sat. - tues. has flown by. but lets start back at sat. no, friday.

friday i went to work as usual and planned out everything for next week just in case. i thought if i end up being at work at least it'll be fairly easy b/c i've put everything together for the whole week. i was wrapping things up after school (trying not to stay too late) and talked to a few people. several people said i was definitely not going to make it to work the following monday. i was hopeful (to NOT be at work, not the other way around), but really thought i'd make it through the weekend. tamara even gave me a hug before she left she was so sure i wasn't coming back. and call it kids' intuition, but the kids were way clingier when they were leaving then normal. they were hugging on me, writing me notes, hugging and kissing on finley (my stomach of course) and saying "bye finley!! we love you finley!!" which they've never done before. at home brandon and i were super busy, like we had a feeling too. we got tons done around the house and i really wanted to make chocolate chip cookies so we ran some errands and made cookie at about 9:00 pm.

saturday morning i woke up at about 6:15 with a major cramp. a feeling i'd never had before, but once again didn't think i would be having a baby on saturday. they kept coming about every 15-20 minutes so i wake brandon up and say "i think you should put the car seat in and get your bag together." his eyes popped open and just as quickly shut as he slept for another hour or so. meanwhile, i got up and started walking around to see if that would stop them or what. had a little breakfast, paced some more and then finally REALLY woke brandon up.

i called mom to see what she thought was going on and called my doctor. mom really thought this could be it and even though i told her not to jump in the car and come, she did. turns out its a good thing. pretty soon after mike and mom got here, mom convinced me to head to the hospital-- around 2:30. my contractions were coming about 5 minutes apart and a bit more painful.

on the way out the door to the hospital. you can't see my kung fu grip on brandon's back, but it's there. this is mid contraction.

checked in to the hospital and sge asked if i was there for a tour. i told them i THINK i'm in labor and after she examined me she said i was 5 cm and having a baby today!!! that was actually more shocking than if she had sent me home. i really just thought it was false labor or something. i guess i thought contractions would be more painful. not that they didn't hurt. they did. i definitely had to stop what i was doing and breathe. but on tv and movies people are like ripping their hair out and screaming at the top of their lungs. granted, i did get an epidural so i'm sure it was about to get a lot worse. lucky for me, everything went quick and smooth.

cut to the chase i progressed well, got my feared epidural, and started pushing around 6:45. at 7:15 our beautifully perfect daughter came screaming. i of course started crying and couldn't believe she came out of me. still can't. our few days in the hospital were smooth and being home has been good too. i'll do another riveting blog entry about life at home.

mark your calendars, april 16 is finley's birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

ta-da!!!! my delivery nurse was just as excited as we were. and she was glad she was there for the actual birth, since her shift was over at 7. she didn't want to see me through 99% of it and miss the best part!

bittersweet.

2011-04-14T18:17:00.000-05:00

today i told my kiddos that after i have finley i wont be returning to work. ever. they took it pretty well and i told them while my sub was in there so they could put a face with a name. i just don't want them to be worried about anything. and i didn't want them to think i abandoned them. it's weird that i only have 5 more days of teaching. i love teaching. i complain, yes, but i couldn't imagine doing anything else---except raising my finley. this has been my best year of teaching by far. i have the sweetest kids who are constantly asking how finley is doing and helping me as much as possible. this is exactly what i needed this year. i'm really glad i'm going out on a good note. maybe it'll make me want to return to teaching years from now. don't get me wrong, i can't wait to be a stay at home mom. i can't believe we're lucky enough to be able to do this. it'll just be different. and kinda perfect timing with all the budget cuts. my job would have been safe, but with me leaving someone else gets to stay. so here are some funny things i have heard from kids just this week alone.

kid: "do you take showers?"
me: "of course"
"like, with your baby?"
"of course. she's with me all the time."
"does she get heavy in there?"
now i'm confused b/c how is that different then right now?
"well, it's just like me standing here with you right now."

saw a boy that i had last year. after giving me a hug he points and laughs at me and says:
"HAHA...you're fat!!"

i guess the dress i wore yesterday made me look uber-pregnant.
girl: "i didn't know you were REALLY pregnant!"

when a boy came in my classroom he gasped and said:
"mrs. hawkins, you look beautiful! i bet finley is going to be beautiful like you."

and this is why it's bittersweet to be leaving. i'm sure i'll have some pretty good finley stories too. :)

casserole.

2011-04-10T10:12:00.000-05:00

after typing that word it sounds kinda gross. anyways, mom and i spent yesterday afternoon making casseroles to freeze for after finley comes....which could be any day now or 2 weeks from now. nanny sent us salisbury steak and spaghetti sauce to keep in the freezer too. mom and i made mexican lasagna, fancy mac and cheese, hamburger casserole, and chicken and rice. we love casseroles and we love leftovers so these will be incredibly handy to have once everyone leaves us and we want to just throw something in the oven. Brandon said he is now ready for fin to come b/c he wants to eat the mac and cheese already.

I guess this is why people say it looks like i swallowed a basketball.

we also hit up the garage sale in the neighborhood across from us. it's quite a nice neighborhood and we got some good stuff. like baby clothes for $.50. cute clothes too. this one house had their garage set up like a store. it was crazy. like lamps on, nice tables set up, it smelled good, selling cookies and water. They really know how to do a garage sale. we were going to grab the lamps, but someone beat us to it. oh well. we got some cute wooden letter things for fin.

so another successful weekend that will capped off with a mani and pedi with mom later.

pool.

2011-04-04T17:32:00.000-05:00

alright, we're close enough to her due date to start taking guesses as to when she's going to make her appearance! if we go by her due date we only have 19 days left!!

so....when do you think she'll grace us with her presence??

and i go back to the doctor tomorrow afternoon so i'm making my guess before we go and get anymore information. i'll share my guess after you make yours. that way i don't influence you. :)

and winner gets.....i don't know. something free.

full.term.

2011-04-03T08:21:00.001-05:00

My girlfriend at church who was due the same day as me had a c-section on Friday. We went to visit them in the hospital yesterday and THAT was a reality check. Hailey was born 36 weeks and 6 days and is doing great. 2 things crossed our mind. 1. That's inside me 2. She could come out any time now! i think i was more freaked out that finley is probably about the size of hailey.

it was also nice to visit b/c she's at the same hospital we'll be at. bridget and i have quite a bit in common like getting married at st. mary's a week apart, same due date, same doctor's office, same pediatrician. it's bizarre. her and her husband went to A&M and are both engineers. she works across the street from brandon. anyways, we got to hear first hand how methodist is and she loves it. since it's so new (first baby born there was valentine's day) there aren't very many people there. in fact there was only one other baby there yesterday. it's a beautiful hospital with big rooms and the best thing is that immediately after finley is born she stays in the room with us. like for her bath and everything--unless they NEED to take her to the nursery. they'll of course also take her to the nursery any time we want them to if we'd like some rest. everyone says to take them up on that and not feel guilty about it b/c once we go home...it's all. us. :)

And a huge sigh of relief now b/c fin is considered full term. We made it!

compliment.

2011-03-31T18:00:00.000-05:00

i got the best compliment yesterday.

"you're what pregnant is supposed to look like."

thank you, and i'll remember that for the next 3 weeks while i get even bigger. :)

progress.

2011-03-29T21:57:00.000-05:00

had our 36 week appt. today and everything is coming along. fin's super low and i'm almost 2 cm dilated. i was a little nervous that i wouldn't have made any progress, but we're moving right along! dr. p didn't say anything about thinking she may come early, but i know erin thinks she will. the dr. went over when to come in (like if i have contractions 5-8 minutes apart or my water breaks) and its weird to think that i'm already there. this really has flown by. still praying she stays in for another couple weeks. we had a heart to heart the other day. i told her that while we SAY we can't wait to meet her, we really can. and she can take her time and bake as long as possible. hopefully she'll listen.

i weigh about 117 lbs so i've gained 23 lbs so far. i should gain about a lb a week from here on out so if that's the case and she comes around her due date i'll have gained about 26lbs. it really is all in my stomach. i think my face is a tad bit chubbier, but everyone insists that it's not.

i think i'll miss being pregnant--it really hasn't been bad at all-- but i am looking forward to eating whatever i want and being able to see my feet. most women eat whatever they want while their pregnant but since i have GD i am pretty aware of what i'm eating. which is a lot different for me. i have a whole new appreciation for people who go on diets and/or have diabetes.

prepared.

2011-03-25T22:15:00.001-05:00

it's really setting in that she might make her appearance any time now. i'll be 36 weeks tomorrow and of course want her to stay in as long as possible, but i'm preparing as if it'll happen tomorrow. at school i now make sure i have EVERYTHING ready for the next day or so before i leave just in case. i reorganized everything to make it easy for whoever may have to come in at the last minute. if she hangs in there until her due date i know who my sub is, but before that will just be any old sub picking up the pieces. and at home we're thinking about what needs to go in our overnight bags and trying to keep the house in order. all her things are put together and i think we're as "ready" as we'll ever be.

sleep.

2011-03-17T09:32:00.000-05:00

...is not something i do at night anymore. here are the main reasons i think i'm not sleeping at night:

-- going to the bathroom every 5 minutes--ok, a little bit of an exaggeration
-- charlie horses
-- only sleeping on my sides is getting a little tiring, and really not that comfortable
-- hunger
-- my mind is racing
-- *she's moving around like crazy

i am really glad she's having a grand 'ol time in there. it means she's doing well and must be growing, but a good kick to the rib or a punch to the bladder does not make for good sleep. it's frustrating me not too badly this week since it's spring break. i tried to take a nap yesterday and that was unsuccessful too. hopefully if this keeps up i'll be able to get through a day with 6 year olds. when i get back to work i only have 5 more weeks with the kiddos... if she hangs on until the 23 that is. just keep telling myself that.

i'm not complaining. really, i'm not. i wouldn't trade a good night's sleep if it meant finley wasn't baking in there. :)

productivity.

2011-03-14T16:55:00.001-05:00

i don't think of finley as a deadline, but i know there are things i need to get done before the big day arrives. and since you just never know when that will be, i'm trying to do everything now. i'd rather have it done now and just take it easy the weeks before.

so on my first day of spring break here is what i've done thus far (it's about 4:45):
* slept till 9 (on and off. ruby started barking from 6-7 b/c of a storm)
* made a vet appt.
* set up a time for the furniture people to come
* put together the pack n play
* 2 loads of laundry (which included taking tags off and organizing new baby clothes/bibs/sheets)
* sterilized a bunch of bottles and pacifiers
* took returns back to BBB
* picked up a prescription
* wrote all the thank you cards from saturday's shower (while watching sex and the city)

there are more things on the list to do this week, but i'm glad i have spring break to get a lot of things done. tomorrow we interview a pediatrician. we'll go armed with questions and hopefully leave knowing who's going to be Fin's doctor. She came recommended by a couple people and she's really close to us.

about 6 weeks to go!! and i can't wait till our 35 week appt. next monday. i'm so stinkin curious as to how she is inside me and how big she is. i'm a little anxious just b/c we haven't seen her since the 20 week appt (and the 35 week appt. seemed so far away at the time!!) but everytime i go to the doctor i'm measuring great and her heartbeats great so i know it'll be fine. it's just weird not to be able to see what's going on in there! and apparently i'm anemic now too. i just have to take iron pills so its no big deal.

i'm adding to my list of what i want to eat after:
- hot dogs
- captain toms seafood (i know i can eat seafood now, it's just that capt. toms is not exactly the cleanest place)

ninja.

2011-03-01T18:18:00.000-06:00

well brandon has always wanted a ninja and i think he may just get one. she's practicing her moves daily, hourly really. my stomach looks like it has a mind of it's own. brandon and i sit there and just watch it (her, i guess). we can feel hard parts we're just not sure what we're feeling. i think i keep getting kicks in the rib cage. it seems she's trying to make more room in there. i try to sit up a little straighter to give her some space and make me a little more comfortable too. so our little ninja will be here in about 8 weeks. today someone asked me when i'm due and i answered "next month." THAT was weird and makes me very happy. not just b/c i'm getting a little (read, A LOT) more uncomfortable, but we can't wait to meet her.

since it's only about 8 weeks away i've started thinking about things i'm DYING to have that i haven't had in the last 32 weeks. here is what i'd like so far:
** sweet tea (HEB, Chik-Fil-A, McDonalds)
** turkey sandwich
** coffee. caffeinated.
** sushi (from hikari)
** white wine
** as much chocolate as i want

went to the dr. yesterday and everything still looks great. i gained 4 lbs which puts me at a total of 20 lbs. up to this point. i don't have to prick 4 times a day just twice. i had 2 pieces of pizza, cheese and crackers and M&Ms for lunch today and i was 84 2 hrs later. i just need to be under 120. should have had more pizza. :)

AND we have a middle name... sophia!
so finley sophia hawkins, see YOU in a couple months.

phew.

2011-02-14T20:02:00.000-06:00

so i saw the nutritionist today and to make a long story short i should just be able to eat like a normally would. for some reason i just didn't trust this glucose test. it seems a little absurd to me, so i did a little experiment myself. i would NEVER eat that much in sugar and carbs, so i got my monitor, starting testing and ate normal for a couple days. and voila, my numbers are great. basically they want you under 120 2 hrs. after you eat. my range as been 85-100 with me eating like a would with just minor tweaks. like last night i had a huge bowl of pasta but skipped the roll. apparently i should have eaten the roll b/c i was 88 after. THAT i feel is more accurate. so i think the test is a crock :) and asked the nutritionist about it. i guess b/c i do normally eat pretty good my usual diet will still work. i need to eat more on a schedule (easy enough) and she said it's trial and error when it comes to what my body can handle. she gave me a set meal plan-- broken down to how many servings of carbs, protein, fat, etc. for every meal, but after she saw my numbers for the past few days basically told me i didn't have to follow it. phew. measuring seemed like a real pain. granted, if i had crazy numbers i would have done it. something just didn't feel right about it all, so i'm glad i tried it my way. i figured if my numbers were outrageous with a normal day that would prove that yes, kara, you do in fact need to watch EVERY little thing you eat. i just wasn't buying it.

i did lose a lb from 2 weeks ago and the nutritionist said that's actually pretty normal after you find out you have this b/c people "freak out." yea, that was me. she definitely wants me gaining more weight (since i started out underweight i should gain 30-40 lbs--yea, right) about a lb a week which would put me at about 27 lbs. she was putting me on a 2000 calorie a day "diet" but she's letting me eat what i want. i go back in 2 weeks and take another look. sometimes as the pregnancy goes along your body has a harder time, so we'll see. if my numbers are still could maybe i would only have to test once or twice a day, and maybe eventually just when i feel like i need to.

then i saw dr. patronella, who says i'm growing perfectly, fin's heartbeat was great, my blood pressure was great and she's not worried at all that finley's getting too big. so all in all, good news. i feel a huge sense of relief (this has been in the back of my head since last week) and just want to make sure i'm doing the best for finley. but i also really want a cupcake at my shower this weekend. pair a carb with a protein so a cupcake and a couple pieces of cheese should do the trick. :)

ugh.

2011-02-09T14:14:00.000-06:00

well 3 hrs, 4 pricks and one terribly disgusting glucose drink later come to find out i do in fact have gestational diabetes. i had a feeling since the beginning that for some reason i would have this. it's almost funny (almost) that i've NEVER had to watch what i eat in my 27 years of living. i've been extremely fortunate to be able to eat whatever i want and now is the time that everyone says "you get to eat whatever you want! you're eating for 2!" i actually can't. like i said, almost funny. i've done some research about it and it's really not the end of the world, it's just a little overwhelming at the moment. the risk is that i'll have a big baby. weird, huh? i mean for me it's kinda weird. i don't fit any of the criteria for people at risk except that i'm over 25 (excessive weight gain? nope. history of diabetes in the family? nope. obese? nope). it does not mean she will have diabetes or that i still will after she's born. all should be back to normal once she comes. and when i was leaving the doctor's office here is a conversation i had with the receptionist:

receptionist: "so did you pass?"
me: "nope"
r: "really?? you look like the poster for health. so thin and in shape. i can't believe it!"
me: "yep, just not my day."
r: "wow."
at this point i almost jumped over the counter. clearly she couldn't tell i had just cried in front of the nurse so i don't need her to tell me how surprising this is.

i'm only letting myself sulk for the afternoon. then i'll snap out of it. we've got way too many other things to be thankful for to let this bug me this much. it sucks, yes, but there are certainly worse things. there's nothing i did to cause this. i know this, i just need an afternoon to be mad. i told erin it's my karma for having such a smooth pregnancy thus far.

so i have to change my diet a bit (eat quite a few small meals throughout the day instead of just 3 big ones) and check my blood sugar 4 times a day. i see the nutritionist on tuesday for more details. till then i keep track of what i'm eating and she'll show me how to check my sugar. after reading about it and see what's recommended to eat it's actually not that different from what i already eat. i was actually trying to eat better with her anyways, now it's just a matter of really paying attention to it. and cut out sweets. you know i love me some sweets, but i'll do anything to make sure she's as healthy as possible. somebody just make sure to get me a big bag of reeses for after. and not like the minis, the real reeses. i already told brandon to make sure he gets some cadbury eggs for me to have after.

i can handle this for the next 10 weeks.

PB.

2011-02-07T20:43:00.000-06:00

PB= pregnancy brain. this should be a real diagnosis. doctors should warn you that you will turn into a stranger. a stranger who is unorganized, forgetful, and ditsy. I pride myself at work that I remembe EVERYTHING about my kids. Who's allergic to what, who doesn't get along with who, who rides what bus, who's mom wants to hear every detail about everything, where I put something 5 seconds ago, you get the drift. this year i'm like another person. it's so bad even a couple administrators have said something to me. not like in a bad way, just "kara, that's not like you." don't worry, i'm still completely capable of being charge of a room full of 6 year olds, but thank goodness they keep me on track.

there was also the time i thought my car was completely broken in the driveway and had a friend come pick me up and bring me to work. only to discover that my car just needed gas. i've NEVER missed the light that comes on.

and the other day tamara had to convince me that i am in fact 27 years old. she's only a few days older than me, but i still didn't believe her. who does that?

several people had told me that my brain will not return to me. eh, i'll get used to it.

peek.

2011-01-23T19:37:00.000-06:00

2 productive weekends in a row, and we're working our way through our "MUST get done before April" list. this weekend tracy came to help b paint finley's room. they were speed demons and had it all done (except touch-ups) by the time i got home from teaching sat. school at 1:00. it looks perfect. we didn't really want the typical "baby" room so we went the opposite of pink and her room is blue-ish. the color is technically called "jamaica bay" so it's more in the teal family. its definitely the color i had in mind, thank goodness. they also took down her light and put up a new fan/light. it's white so not terribly exciting for most people, but i'm stoked about it!

so here's a sneak peek at what we're working on. the kitchen chair gives us an idea of what her dark furniture will look like in there since we have to wait a bit for that. try to keep up with my crazy ideas. :) There are a few other projects we're working on for her room that you'll just have to wait to see. We can't explain our madness...


Bumper (obviously) and pinwheels i made that we're framing on the walls


Made from scrapbook paper. We'll probably just use 4 of them.

queen.

2011-01-17T16:17:00.001-06:00

she. is. a dancing queen!

i think you can see when she's moving. i can see it, but i also know my stomach doesn't usually move like that. :) sorry it's a weird angle.

sure this keeps me up at night, but i think i'll miss it in a few months when she's out. it'll be great to actually SEE her doing all these kicks and punches, however, it's nice to have company all day everyday. another thing that wakes me up are charlie horses. now THOSE i will not miss.

we've read that whatever music she hears now quite a bit she'll like when she's out. that we could actually play it or sing it when she was upset and it would make her feel better. my fear was we were going to have to sing the days of the week and months of the year songs b/c that's what she here's EVERYDAY when i'm at school. maybe i'll start playing the songs that are on this blog to her every night. they're a little more enoyable.

loot.

2011-01-16T19:11:00.001-06:00

we are eternally grateful to the shuleys for giving us so much stinkin stuff. and the best part is, it's all stuff we (I) love. erin has great taste so i knew the clothes would be super cute and i also know she'd only get the best for gracie girl. here is our dining room at the moment:

i would say 90% of this stuff was given to us. not just from the shuley's, but also the rest of our family who couldn't wait to spoil finley. we tell each other everyday how lucky we are.

not only are we grateful to the shuley's, but also for having a house with a few "extra" rooms so we can organize everything and keep finley's room empty-- per my request. it just makes me feel better to have a clean slate to work with. right now we have a template of where the furniture may go when it eventually comes in. our awesome furniture is a-whole-nother story though. let's just say we went in nov. to order it so i could have peace of mind and get that done. it should be here any day now, or so we thought. b called to check on it, and it'll be here the 2nd week of march. yes, MARCH. and yes, finley will be here in april. if you know me at all, you know i like to be prepared. getting her nursery done a month before is not prepared enough for me, however, i'm thankful for so many other things at the moment this is really not a big problem. we'll make it work.

anyways, we've got a ton of stuff already (even without 2 showers coming up!) for her and now we're just trying to get it all organized. this weekend we finally got a new car!! that's a huge thing checked off the list and we loooooove it. so we're trying to get as much done now as possible and be prepared as possible for our world to get turned upside in the best way possible.

done.

2011-01-05T20:28:00.000-06:00

2010 has come and gone and my new year's resolution is complete. i'm not gonna lie, it was a real challenge for me. i wanted something that was challenging b/c most people want to lose weight or stop smoking (which i would assume are hard for them). i've been extremely blessed with good genes and smoking never has been my thing to say the least. this was my "weight loss" and i'm giving myself a pat on the back. although life took a huge (awesome) turn a few months ago, i say i passed. done and done.

yes, the past months i've had to get new clothes, but i can't very well squash finley into my kids jeans and nobody wants to see my bare belly if i were to wear my normal shirts. you're welcome. 2 weeks ago was really the first week i bought a significant amount of maternity clothes from old navy (3 sweaters, 3 long sleeve shirts, jeans, a dress, and a tunic which translates into $150). yea, i heart old navy and their cheap clothes. it helped that 75% of what i got was on sale. i went with erin and knew b would be glad i got so much so i'd stop complaining about being uncomfortable. and being the awesome husband he is, he was quite pleased with my shopping.

i know i kinda dropped the ball when it came to keeping track of what i "normally" spend, but we'll say about $150 a month. so i saved $1800 give or take. i guess if you subtract my maternity shopping and my singapore shopping it's about $1500 which i think is still pretty good. really does make me stop and think before i buy. erin had to talk me into a sweater at old navy that was on sale for $9.99. i'm pretty sure this will stay with me for a while, and anyways life's turning into all-about-finley anyways so my shopping opportunities will be limited. wouldn't trade it for the world.

drew.

2011-01-02T18:02:00.000-06:00

drew came at the perfect time, dec. 20, 2010. erin was able to be home for christmas eve/christmas day and i was able to spend the most amount of time possible with him! 2 whole weeks almost! Needless to say we are quite the happy aunt and uncle and can't wait for our own little bundle to come in a few months. since we got to spend lots of time with a newborn we were mentally taking notes...however, andrew is pretty chill (at least for now) and erin makes it look easy. don't worry, i have no misconceptions about what a newborn is like and know finley will have a mind of her own. luckily i have some outstanding moms to look up to and help us. hanging out with andrew and grace made us that much more excited for april to come. and maybe it was a little reality check too. :)

reflect.

2010-12-31T16:20:00.001-06:00

the past 2 years as told through pics:

12/08 Yes!

12/09 Mr. and Mrs.

12/10 Mr. Mrs. and Finley on her way!

Can't wait to see what the picture looks like next year!!

loves.

2010-12-30T21:39:00.000-06:00

my 2 loves. b is such a good daddy-to-be reading "Dad's Pregnant Too!" ruby is going to have a hard time when our 3rd love is actually in our arms and we're not just reading about how to prepare for her...

finley.

2010-12-16T21:22:00.000-06:00

enough said. :)

reveal.

2010-12-13T20:46:00.000-06:00

we finally decided on a name, but we want to tell our family in a fun way. we decided to put her name on the x-mas cards too so they say love, brandon, kara and ________. they went out today and should get there on tuesday. we're staggering the cards to make sure mom and mike, dad and heidi, erin and chris, sam and gayle, and tracy and brent get them first. the others will probably go out tuesday. we thought this would be a neat way of telling everyone and we're giving everybody a warning to make sure to check the mail in a couple days. when we told some family members today i think we actually stressed them out. hopefully just for a minute. i mean erin really tried hard to get me to tell her, but i resisted. i was literally sweating when i got off the phone with her she was making me work so hard. finally she just wanted me to narrow it down to 2 names, but i wouldn't even give her that. she was the one i wanted to surprise the most with the name since i didn't really surprise her in a creative way when we found out we were pregnant. so she can hold her horses a couple days. i made her put chris on the phone so maybe he can talk some sense into her. can you talk sense into a 37 week pregnant woman?

it's a huge relief to have a name picked, and one we both love.

plus not only did we pick a name, but b got to feel her moving around too! and i finally broke down and bought maternity pants. i thought it was difficult shopping before all this, but let's just say they don't make kids' maternity. which is a great thing, but i would really benefit from it. xs petite is still too big for me, but i found one pair that'll work.

mid.

2010-12-06T21:13:00.001-06:00

well, we're half way there!! this is both awesome and terrifying. the first half really did fly by when i think about it. which means the second half will probably do the same. i feel like there's a ton to get done before april, but we're working as fast as we can. one big thing we crossed off the list was the crib and dresser. thanks mom and dad! we don't have it in our possession yet (about 6-10 weeks to get it), but here's what it looks like:

today we had our 20 week appt and everything was "perfect." what more could we ask for? as soon as the ultrasound was on her we caught her mid yawn. it was hilarious (and quite a yawn). i never thought about her yawning in there, but the ultrasound tech woman said she'll do everything in there that she'll do out here. it was pretty darn cute. but the recording wasn't turned on yet so we didn't get that on the dvd. :( oh well, i'm sure we'll see her yawn plenty in her life time. her heart rate was 142 (that's good), weighs .8 lbs and my weight gain is pretty good. i feel like i'm eating (or want to eat) all the time. teaching, however, is not conducive to eating or going to the bathroom.

so far things have been going great. my only "problem" is i'm pretty tired, but working with 6 year olds all day doesn't really help that and i'd probably be exhausted whether i was pregnant or not. this just gives me a better excuse to call it a night at 8:30. and i'm pretty sure i feel her move now, and that's pretty weird. awesome, but weird nonetheless.

while in the waiting room today i got to thinking that this was about the time 4 years ago i decided to take a job in houston not knowing ANYBODY. then remembering that a high school friend lived somewhere in houston. then calling him up once i actually moved. erin would call him my "houston husband" even though we weren't even dating. about 3 years ago he had the guts to tell me he liked me. 2 years ago asked me to marry him. and a little over a year ago became my husband. i guess everything really does happen for a reason. she's on her way.

name.

2010-11-30T19:40:00.000-06:00

no we haven't chosen a name yet. it's waaaaay harder than you think it should be. i've loved a name FOREVER and as soon as we found out we were having a girl i thought, "yes! i get to use that name now!" but now that it's actually here i'm not so sure. and of course b is a researcher so he's not down with making a decision that quickly when we obviously have time. we have several we like so we're trying them out. every few days we call her something different. this way we can see what feels right. it really is a huge decision. you have to think of initials, nick names, ways kids might make fun of the name, etc. i even think as a teacher and what i would think if i saw that name on my roster at the beginning of the year. *le sigh...

and p.s. i weigh 101 lbs!!!! i've gained about 10 lbs which is awesome for me!

progress.

2010-11-22T20:56:00.000-06:00

let's go all the way back to week 5 (so pretty much right after we found out the exciting news):

Needless to say, my stomach does not look like THAT anymore. Move right along to 17 weeks, then 18 weeks (tonight actually). The in between pics are not terribly exciting. It seemed like around 11 weeks she started to grow quite a bit and now I feel like I'm getting bigger by the second.

i always thought erin was crazy when she said she felt HUGE when she obviously wasn't, but i get it now. and my stomach itches like whoa. TMI? i think not, i'm just being honest. apparently my skin is not used to stretching like this. awesome.

bgh.

2010-11-11T18:37:00.001-06:00

as if you haven't heard already....we're having a GIRL!!!!!!!!!!! i know either way we'd be this excited, but i can not wait to meet this little girl. b and i were both thinking girl (although i didn't really come to my decision until we were literally walking into the doctor's). not sure why i picked girl, but maybe i did have some sort of "feeling." people kept asking me if i had a "feeling" and i just thought i was broken. i had no idea what they were talking about. there really is nothing like seeing your baby. i knew seeing her was going to be incredible, but there really is nothing like it. the first time we saw her at 7 weeks, she looked like this:

and now she looks like this!!

i mean really. it's amazing.

we're a little over 16 weeks and i think i look like i'm pregnant, but i can't count on one hand how many times i've heard "are you sure you're pregnant? haha" insert their smile here. i, however, don't find it that humorous. good friends and family can tell i have a little bump. she's in there. :)

i told my kiddos the other day after one kid straight up asked me if i was having a baby. see? even a 6 year-old can tell. i digress. they were REALLY excited and had some interesting ideas for names. such as: spirits, skittles and stellaluna (we'd just read that book). we don't have a name yet, but i'm pretty sure we wont be going with any of their suggestions.

so if you were reading this blog just to keep up with my shopping, i'm sorry to tell you that's not really high priority any more. it's all about baby girl hawkins (bgh) now. :)

lucky13.

2010-09-25T10:46:00.001-05:00

turns out friday the 13th isn't so unlucky after all. yesterday b and i found out we're going to be adding to the family in late april!!!!!! i bet many of you are thinking "congrats" first, but THEN "how can you go without buying clothes now?!" and its kinda funny because several girlfriends of mine asked me what i was gonna do if i ended up being pregnant during this and i just said "yea right!" well i guess now we've taken on a new challenge. a bigger, better, more exciting, more life changing challenge. and erin must have amazing sisterly instinct because she totally called it and was the ONLY one we told the day of. and she thinks i'm crazy because i took 4 tests (make that 5). don't judge...i wanted to make sure!

new challenge--accepted. :) (that's the biggest i could make that smiley face)

**i wrote this on Aug. 14th

karma.

2010-08-05T09:19:00.000-05:00

I know I've been uber-slacker with this lately so I'm going to try to catch up a bit today. Let's start with spendings in June, shall we?

The above is what I had written before I went to check my bank account. I can't go back more than a year so that means I can't look up June. Ick. That's what I get for not keeping up with this. That also means I can't look up July. Double ick. I know the anticipation was killing you, but at the end I'll either guess or average what I was spending a month and put it in for these 2 months. My not-terribly-accurate way of tracking my savings has gotten even worse. Eh, oh well.

This allows me to write about something else. WEDDINGS! I was the girl who would buy a new dress for just about every "special" occasion. And trust me...I have a very broad meaning of "special." Going to the theater? Need a new dress for that. Going to a graduation in the middle of nowhere in NY? Need a dress for that. Going to dinner on the 3rd Tuesday of the month? Need a dress for that. (well now I feel like apple-- ya know, "there's an app for that".) Needless to say we've been to like 6 weddings so far this year. Normally I would probably buy new dresses. Maybe not 6 dresses, but definitely at least a couple. I don't want to be the girl in the same dress in pictures. I know, there are much bigger problems in the world, it's just a thing with me. I certainly did not need to worry about that. at. all. I have about 20 dresses that can be deemed wedding appropriate. Yes, 20. I just ran upstairs to count them. That's not even counting skirts and casual dresses. Of those, 10 of them are little black dresses. Is 10 LBDs too many? I honestly don't know how to answer that. They're so terribly handy. I told you I was checking my shame in at the door and being honest here. Maybe that IS normal for girls, but I do feel kinda guilty about it. But it must be important if it's in wikipedia.

right?

birfday.

2010-07-15T15:48:00.001-05:00

Mom and Erin gave me birthday money so i had $250 to spend! I went into it super excited and ransacked the racks of forever 21. I forgot how miserable it is to try on clothes. I'm not going to get on my soap box about how frustrating it is to be (literally) kid-size, however, erin and mom had to keep my spirits up. I got a couple things from forever 21, marshalls, macys, target, and j crew. i officially spent my last birthday money today. i knew i couldn't spread it all out to last the rest of my challenge time so it's all gone now. it was almost stressful b/c i wanted to make sure i didn't buy things i wouldn't really wear. i had to be uber picky and buy practical things.

domino.

2010-06-18T22:03:00.000-05:00

The other day I was terribly bored (I know, I know. No one wants to hear about the teacher being bored in the summer), so I thought to myself "this is normally when I would go shopping." But I couldn't. So then I thought maybe I'll go to the mall and get some stuff for Brandon! Then it would be like shopping for me, but not really. But, I talked myself out of it mainly b/c I didn't want to be in the Garden of Eden, if you will. When Brandon got home that evening I explained this internal conversation with him and he realized that he too hadn't been shopping in the past 6-ish months. We realized he would usually just be dragged to the mall with me and we'd stop in places and grab stuff for him too. So this really is having a domino effect. And a positive one at that.

We did go to the mall tonight and while we were there we stopped in Fossil to get B some new shirts and we were actually feeling cheaper than normal and almost didn't get him anything. We ended up with 2 awesome sale shirts.

It wasn't bad to be in the mall tonight since I get to have my birthday present tomorrow (a little late, but still JUST as awesome if not more so). Mom and Erin got me money to get some clothes so we'll do that tomorrow. I'm. Stoked. I do have to make very smart choices with what I get since this has to last me about 6 more months.

About half way through!

may.

2010-06-05T08:36:00.000-05:00

I feel like this is where a lot of the shopping comes in. It was getting close to the wedding and summer was starting. Here goes:

zappos-- $30
marshalls-- $100
nordstrom-- $23
target-- $46

Oh wait, I just realized I was adding up June instead of May. I'm gonna stop here, but let's just say that's a preview of what's to come in June. There was a bit more though. So, let's try again, this time May:

target-- $78
etsy-- $108 (this was my reception dress. does this count?)
target-- $69
saks-- $55

grand total of $310. Can't wait for my birthday presents! Sangeeta already sent me a couple dresses that are adorable. Thank goodness.

glimpse.

2010-05-25T19:45:00.000-05:00

Ugh. Today I ran into Target after work to grab some cards and other school stuff (that dollar area is AWESOME for treasure chest ~~crap~~ stuff). Anyways, of course right next to is was all the clothes. Alllllllll the clothes I've been avoiding for so long. Man. They have some super cute stuff. My mind was capturing it all in the 30 seconds I saw it. Cute bathing suits, adorable tank dress with frillies on the bottom, floral dress with a bow thing in the front. Man, oh man.

Is it June 9th yet?

desperate.

2010-05-11T19:20:00.000-05:00

I am getting so incredibly bored with my clothes. Apparently I must be wearing the same stuff over and over b/c I wore one of Erin's dresses this week to work (and actually a diff. one last week) and several people asked "Kara, did you go shopping?!" Everyone knows my wardrobe by heart now. So. lame. Brandon must be tired of seeing the same outfits, but he's probably NOT tired of seeing a little more money in the bank. He can deal. I pulling things out of my closet that I would normally never wear. I suppose that's what all this about. Thank goodness my birthday is coming up in about a month. I'm already planning what I'm going to buy. Nothing terribly specific (mainly b/c I have no idea what's out there), but general ideas. I almost checked out a couple websites to pick some for my birthday, but I'm afraid if I start looking I wont be able to stop. And speaking of what I want, I love bathing suits. Like I get at least one new one every year. However, I think I'm going to forgo this year since I really don't get much use out of them. That and I may or may not have bought 3 last summer, but that's beside the point. I was going to Costa Rica for my honeymoon. I needed bathing suits to choose from. I'm getting a little bit of a shopping bug, but I can definitely make it another month.

april.

2010-05-03T20:40:00.001-05:00

This has sort of turned into just documenting how ~~little~~ much I'm saving as opposed to my experiences as a non-shopoholic. I suppose I've just been too busy at the moment to update, but also I haven't really had many experiences. I avoid all malls and targets as if I'll catch the swine flu if I even think about going near one. That strategy seems to be working for me b/c I really feel no pain at all not going shopping. In fact, not only has it been a money saver (at least I think it will be), but also a time saver. I was one of those girls that would go to the mall when there was nothing better to do, wasting my money on things I didn't really need but felt I couldn't pass up or even better things I would someday need. You know, like in case I had some black tie affair to go to, or a random ski trip I needed to be prepared for. You know I don't like to be unprepared. So it's that time again where I hold my breath, pray for outrageous spending in '09 and confess my previous spending sins:

$38-- Target
$36-- Sephora (not counting this since make up is not on the banned list)
$36-- Marshalls (oh Marshalls, how do I love thee)
$96-- Forever 21 (don't judge, stuff is cheap there. I probably bought the entire first floor for this)
$77- Target

That's a grand total of $247. In other bank news this is also the month last year that I bought Brandon's wedding band :) and got my tax refund. So there were 2 awesome account happenings as well.

march.

2010-04-11T17:27:00.000-05:00

March. Was. Insane. and thank goodness because I did not even notice that I wasn't shopping. Yes, I remember that I did in fact do a little shopping in Singapore, but this is the time that girls like to shop the most. Stores are coming out with spring dresses, flouncy skirts, and super cute tanks. I? Cannot even bare to look at magazines for fear that there will be an amazing Target ad or something. Luckily in March I had no time to even think about flouncy skirts. I was too busy thinking about surviving the last couple months of school and packing up all our crap for the "big" move. Anyways, I've counted up March of '09 (pretty easy this time) and here it is:

$68-- Banana Republic

Huh. Seems like I actually SPENT more this March than last March, but hey, last March I didn't go anywhere cool. I'm not letting it get me down, I just keep looking at last February and it encourages me. If nothing else I'm learning self control which, come to think of it, I kind of already feel like I have. So if nothing else I'm EXCERCISING my self control. Yea, that sounds good. and maybe realizing my shopping problem wasn't as bad as I thought. Eh, it'll make a good story.

$110.

2010-03-21T18:21:00.002-05:00

I had an internal struggle before leaving for Singapore. Everytime I mentioned going there people would say "Oh, they have GREAT shopping!" I'd just smile and think to myself "Why do they insist on teasing me so?" Several people asked if I was going to let myself shop and I'd hesitate and say probably not. I mean, I took on this challenge so I needed to stick with it. A few people (and these are my favorites) thought that was ridiculous and I definitely needed to let myself have fun. I decided to listen to them. I mean going half way around the world is kind of a once in a lifetime thing and I surely wanted to make the most of it. And let me tell you, when they say Singapore has great shopping, that is an understatement. Sure they have all the fancy pants stores, but then they have all these awesome small stores. Like tons of them. So I made a decision to let myself spend no more than $150. I think that's a fair amount. And I didn't shop at any stores we have here in the US. Although MOST of the stores in the malls over there aren't stores we have in the US so that was easy. I feel a little guilty for going shopping, but I'm trying to let that go.

Here is what I bought for a grand total of $110:

Yea, that's right-- about $18 per item. Ha.

february.

2010-03-04T21:08:00.000-06:00

Who knew I'd be so glad that I had a frivolous February in 09?! This is slightly more rewarding than January was. Here is why:

$61-- Target
$35-- Nine West
$80-- Target
$75-- Macy's
$96-- Nordstrom *ouch*

That makes a grand total of $347. Yowza! I feel like I should put in a disclaimer that I was indeed getting married last year so I tended to use that as an excuse for just about everything I bought. I can't say that EVERYTHING from Target was clothes/shoes, but I know myself and my Target obsession so I'd have to admit that most of it is probably clothes and shoes. I also ~~have~~ had a tendency to buy clothes at Target, go home, try them on and talk myself out of some of the things I bought. We knew this was going to be a very rough estimate, and I'm actually strangely happy to see that number. *Insert sigh of relief with a hint of embarassment for how much I spent last February.*

passed.

2010-02-27T16:37:00.000-06:00

Today Erin made me go to Forever 21 with her. If you are a girl, you are aware of what amazing deals Forever 21 has. Nobody is saying the clothes at F21 are going to last you a lifetime, but you also didn't have to save up a lifetime to afford them so I think it's fair. Anyways there and Target are the 2 stores I am most afraid to go in to due to their fabulousness and cheapness, however, Erin insisted. It. was. tough. I left with $16 worth of accessories (I hope you had faith in me and didn't think I was going to say "clothes") and my pride. I bought some headbands, clips, and a couple necklaces. These were the first accessory purchases I've made, so I think I'm doing pretty good 2 months into it. Wow. Only 2 months into it. Actually I might be being a tad dramatic, it hasn't really been that bad. Life's been pretty busy so I don't really even have anywhere fun to wear new clothes to at the moment. I'm just waiting for my kiddos to say something like "Mrs. Hawkins, why do you always wear that?" Trust me, they have no shame. I'm hoping Mother Nature gets it together here pretty soon and starts warming up so I can start busting out some springy clothes. Sweaters? I'm over them.

I also left there knowing exactly what I'm going to do for my birthday. June 9th is going to be a great day in which I go armed with birthday money, Mom, and Erin to F21 and Target. I get such a warm fuzzy feeling just thinking about it. *sigh*

I think I'll go "shopping" in Erin's closet this weekend. I'll be back in A-Town in a couple weeks so I can return them then.

Feb. 27th challenge: passed (with a hint of slight pain)

january.

2010-02-01T17:26:00.000-06:00

An alternate title for this post could be january=lame. I just checked my bank statement from January 09 and it was sorely disappointing. According to Bank of America I didn't spend a dime on clothes last January. Hmmmm..... I find that hard to believe, but I only had the one account and I NEVER use cash so it must be true. I literally said out loud, "You have GOT to be kidding me," when I realized it wasn't such a feat to go through January without shopping. Apparently I did it last year only probably didn't complain as much at the time. I did however spend a crap load on eating out. Please don't tell me I made the wrong resolution. I'm trying really hard not to be pissed off, I was just hoping for a little more gratification than "congratulations, all this pain (yes, pain) you're going through is for not." Crossing my fingers for foolishly extravagant spending in February 09.

"shopping".

2010-01-31T20:30:00.003-06:00

Today I went "shopping." Don't worry, it's not what you think. Remember how I said I had some articles of clothing I got for Christmas that needed to be exchanged? Well today was the last day to do so, so I made a trip to the mall with my biggest supporter, Brandon. Right away I knew it was going to be difficult, so we parked by a neutral entrance and not one that goes directly into a store. I'm a strong girl, but I don't need unnecessary torture. As soon as we walked in there was an amazing dress in Neimans, but luckily it would have been a dress that was not possible to buy whether I was doing this crazy resolution or not. I mean a Carolina Herrera dress for $2200 is not exactly in the Hawkins's budget.

Anyways, things were going well until I saw them. The greatest pair of Toms I've ever seen (cue light shining down accompanied by a choir singing alleluia). No really, it was love at first sight. Check it:

I mean come on. They have "Kara" written all over them. Or I guess they have "Kara's birthday present" written all over them. Don't worry Prima Classics *sigh*, I won't forget about you I promise.

So...long story short, it was tough, but I made it w/o too much distress.

business.

2010-01-25T21:46:00.000-06:00

I know it's WAY to early to be making exceptions to the rules, but I have a legitimate reason for a new shirt. I've recently gotten involved in a business adventure (get your mona vie on) and I need a mona vie shirt. Distributors wear the shirts to the tastings and also just to spread the news of this fab juice. It's not personal, it's business. I've pretty much already decided I will be purchasing one--I mean come on, it can be a tax write off since it's part of my journey as a personal business woman. I hope nobody thinks I already lost this challenge. This is the year of not only saving money, but MAKING money and this shirt is part of the latter.

Here's my next problem, but I think I've already trouble-shooted (hmmm...shot?) this one. B and I will most likely be making a quick stop in Moscow in March on our way back from Singapore. And by quick I mean quick like a day. 24 hours. That. Is. It. The ~~normal~~ old Kara would definitely be buying loads of new outfits for an international trip, but the new Kara sees that it's not necessary. HOWEVER, were you aware that the temperature in Moscow today was -18? Sure, it'll warm up in March to a toasty -8 reaching maybe 0, but that's still pretty darn chilly and I don't know if I have the appropriate attire for that. My thought is to bug my cousins in NY to bring down some skiing things when they visit in March so that I wont need to buy anything really. Fashion will not be the concern in negative degree temperatures.

And there were a couple thoughts of how to track my savings. Mom and Nicole had the same idea, which I think was so stinkin smart. I'm going to take a look at my monthly bank statements from last year and get a rough estimate of what I spent on clothes. Receipts from Target are tricky b/c Target has so much more than clothes, but I would say the majority of money spent there was on clothes. I will have no shame and will publish about how much I spent last year (eek!) as long as there is no judgement from the audience. :)

Done and done.

candyshop.

2010-01-16T10:54:00.000-06:00

Everyone needs a Morgan. We all know this and here is another reason why my friends are amazing. Morgan is one of the most giving people in the world and here is just one example of why. (This does tie in to my blog, I promise).

CandyShop Boutique

Basically Morgan's going to do a clothing swap at her apt. and everyone pays a little "admission fee" and then you can get your shop on. The proceeds will then go to Morgan's choice of Royal Kids Family Camp where a few years ago she met an amazing little girl named Candy (hence the name). Anyways I'm definitely planning on attending/contributing to the first annual CandyShop, but it will only be a monetary donation. I think it's pretty obvious I am really not in a position to be giving up my clothes, but I can certainly give some moola. I also want to go and hang out and hopefully it wont be too torturous. I have a couple months to prepare and spread the word to my H-Town peeps.

Morgan makes things happen.

affect.

2010-01-12T18:16:00.001-06:00

Apparently my friends are also being affected by this "experiment." There is an event coming up in which we kind of want to match. You know I don't love being twinkies (no really morgs, i don't), but my brf.s and I like to get t-shirts when we do something fun together--as proven below.

Now 17A is not doing disney again, but Morgan's birthday weekend is going to be just as fun. 2 of the 4 immediately thought we should get t-shirts and then remembered that I can't buy any new clothes this year. I would HATE to punish the birthday girl and they kind of already thought this through. They will happen to order an extra one that I will borrow and then give back straight away.

Problem. Solved.

tracking.

2010-01-10T13:33:00.000-06:00

Mom and Tamara brought up the fact of how rewarding it would be to keep track of how much I'm saving. I'll need some ideas of how I can do this since I'm kind of avoiding clothes all together so I don't really know what I WOULD be buying. Of course an exact number at the end isn't necessary, but I like the idea of having a rough estimate of what I saved. If anything it would probably be an underestimate. I think if I had some sort of number at the end it would be less likely for me to revert to my old habits or go on a shopping spree right after. I'm not gonna go blow everything I just spent a year saving...at least not on clothes.

Note to self: read this at the very end when I all I really want to do is go on a major shopping spree.

clearance.

2010-01-05T15:08:00.001-06:00

Today was probably the first time temptation was surrounding me. I had to go into Old Navy to exchange something for b and of course there were signs all over the place exclaiming just how cheap and fantastic everything is right now. If there is anything I love more than shopping, it's sale shopping. I get quite the high when I snag shoes that are normally $250 for $20 (true story by the way--those Cole Haan heels are to die for). I did very well though if I do say so myself. I walked straight to the boxers, grabbed what I needed and headed right to the check out line eyes forward. I'm not gonna lie, the line was long so my eyes did take a swift look around and saw a few things that I would normally purchase. AND Target is right next to ON and I drove right past it without even batting an eye.

If I can pass up an Old Navy clearance, surely I'm off to a good start. I can honestly say it wasn't even THAT difficult.

362.

2010-01-03T17:46:00.002-06:00

Too soon to start a countdown?
I think not.

official.

2010-01-02T17:32:00.000-06:00

and the official rules are.....drumroll please.............

1. no clothes of any kind
2. no shoes of any kind
3. accessories are ok--belts, hats, necklaces, etc.
4. clothes may be received as gifts for x-mas and birthday. (guess it'll be another 6 months then! insert big ~~fake~~ smiley face here)
5. clothes may be GIVEN by me as gifts
6. undergarments are definitely ok
7. borrowing is allowed as long as I give back immediately
8. clothes I received as x-mas presents just a mere week ago may be exchanged by the end of the month--look, some things I got just don't fit and it seems a waste not to be able to exchange them for something that does fit. I got these items before I had this amazing idea.

I think that's it. Someone mentioned that I need to figure out my purpose for doing this and thus the rules would come. I've thought about this and my purpose is definitely money saving and also proving I can use what I already have so I think the rules fit that nicely.

These rules are pretty set in stone unless you just think something is missing. B and I did some running around today but luckily world market, best buy and the recycling center weren't too tempting clothes-wise. although a week from now those recycled paper bags may be looking good--a little project runway-esque.

rules.

2010-01-01T13:23:00.001-06:00

There is still some debate about the rules of this year-long challenge. I am open to suggestions and opinions as to what I can and cannot buy. So far here is what we (my family and a few friends) have come up with as solid rules.

1. I can't buy any clothes whatsoever-- new, used, old, ugly, fabulous--NONE
2. I can't use gift cards to get new clothes.
3. I CAN buy accessories, and thank goodness for that. If I'm going to be wearing clothes that I've had forever I'll need to spruce them up somehow. A chunky necklace or quirky hat should do the trick.

The verdict is still out on the following, and therefore I will be taking ideas.

1. Can I buy shoes? My love of shoes goes deeper than the love I have for clothes.
2. Can I receive clothes as a gift? I think yes as long as it's a legit holiday---and not a random one like Arbor Day. If we say yes to this one we may need to make a list of appropriate clothes-giving holidays.
3. Can I borrow clothes? Erin has quite the collection of clothes as well and we happen to be the same size. I'll give them back promptly, I promise.
4. Can I buy clothes for others? As torturous as it may be to go shopping with my husband, he will most likely "want" my opinion. Or if I see an adorable outfit that screams "GRACE!" I should probably be allowed to buy it.

On day one I feel no separation anxiety from the stores. Although yesterday my stomach was killing me and Brandon said, "Do you think it's b/c you're thinking about not being able to buy clothes for a year?" I replied very seriously, "I don't think so." Then he explained he was kidding.

challenge.

2009-12-31T16:26:00.000-06:00

For those of you who know me even a little bit, you know how much I love to buy new clothes. It's not a "problem" exactly (it's not like we have mounds of credit card debt due to my love of all things fashionable), but it's certainly not a help to our bank account. While at dinner the other night with some friends we were discussing our New Year's resolutions. I mentioned that I didn't have one, but I was in fact thinking about not buying new clothes for a year. Laughs were heard round the table and skeptical looks could be seen a mile away. And so starts my year long journey toward proving people wrong and saving money along the way.

Challenge accepted.