Pregnancy Update: week 21

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Time for a update! Let’s see, I’m….

:: Currently 21 weeks pregnant

:: Totaling 13 lbs. gained so far in this pregnancy

:: Walking a lot and many of my shoes are no longer comfortable

:: Getting another ultrasound in a couple of days and hoping we’ll find out that all is well with the baby and whether baby is a boy or girl

:: Starting school back up with the kids after some weeks off

:: Thriving on our new schedule – I made one for myself and the two older kids, and it’s working great so far!

:: Making trips to the zoo again thanks to very generous friends who purchased another membership for our entire family!

:: Shopping for longer shirts and maternity shirts since my old shirts have been feeling a bit short lately

:: Enjoying feeling the baby move throughout the day

:: Sorry summer vacation is ending and this is our last week before college classes begin again, but I’m really glad that I ended up taking the summer off altogether

:: Looking forward to the time I will have off next year to enjoy the new baby and more time with my children because after the Fall semester, I won’t be going back to school until the baby is a bit older

I’ll do another update after my ultrasound on Wednesday and let you know if we find out if baby is a boy or girl! :-)

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Ultrasound Update

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Well, I had my 20 week ultrasound this past Monday. It went well, and we ended up with a great technician performing the ultrasound. She took a lot of time with me, and asked at the very beginning whether or not I wanted to know the sex of the baby. Of course, I replied, “Yes” to this.

Soooo……as to whether the baby is a boy or girl…….the answer is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They couldn’t tell! :-0

The baby’s legs were very closed, and the technician said that she couldn’t even make a guess as to whether it’s a boy or girl. Oh well! The good news is that I’ll be getting another ultrasound in the next two weeks or so, and I should find out then. I’ll be sure to update you then, too!

I am feeling the baby move a lot more now, and the kids can’t wait to be able to feel the baby move through my belly, though that’ll probably be at least another month. As for how I’m feeling, the nausea is 99% gone and even the tiredness that I had been feeling during the day is much improved. We’ve been taking lots of walks lately to get in some exercise for us all, and I’d like to start using a stretching band more often at home to work out my arms, but I just haven’t been able to make it a habit.

Oh, and David, our youngest, still doesn’t want anything to do with the baby. He wasn’t very happy to be in the ultrasound room, and when asked about the baby, he still says, “He’s gone!” :-)

P.S. The same thing happened with Isaac (pictured) where we couldn’t find out the sex at the first ultrasound. I ended up getting a second ultrasound where we were able to find out that we were having another boy.

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Frugal Friday: Cheap ways to enjoy summer with your family

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Two words I don’t want to hear from my children this summer, “I’m bored”. And in order to keep these words from slipping out of their mouths, my husband and I have had to be creative and intentional this summer in keeping the kids active and involved in fun activities that don’t cost a lot of money.

Here are some of the things we’ve done so far:

:: Summer reading program at the library – the kids earned great prizes and we made trips to the library probably 3-4 times a week!

:: Park district programs – right now Breanna is doing the “Pioneer Day Camp” for 3 days at a local farm. She loves it and is really learning a lot. So far they’ve chopped wood, made corn bread and butter, and today they’re going fishing!

:: Walk – we’ve taken many, many walks this summer to Walgreens, Aldi, the Riverwalk, the park, etc….  Yesterday’s walk was eventful. We decided to take a walk and go the “long way” which involves walking a good distance on a bike trail with lots of weeds and long grass growing on both sides of the trail. Not a good idea at 7:30pm. The mosquitoes were out in full force, and we did not escape.

:: Bought a cheap pool at Aldi and let the kids go “swimming” in the backyard.

:: Let the kids run in the sprinkler.

:: Bought water balloons to throw.

:: Fireworks – the cheap kind. We bought smoke bombs and a few other varieties that were fun to take on walks or to the park to light.

:: Made a volcano – I think we had everything for the volcano around the house, and Ruben did this fun project with the kids.

:: Bike riding – the kids either ride bikes or use their scooters often.

:: Zoo – we visit the free local zoo about twice a month.

:: Took advantage of free meals at Chick-fil-A – our local restaurant has lots of family-friendly promotions.

:: Played a family game – cards or a board game. For these games, David normally sits on someone’s lap because he is too small to understand how to play, and Isaac is on someone’s team because he can’t yet play on his own. :-)

These are just some of the fun and frugal things we’ve done this summer.

For more Frugal Friday tips and ideas, please visit Life as Mom.

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Local Zoo Entertainment for Free

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Isaac

This summer the kids need to get out of the house at least once a day – we usually know it’s time when they start chasing each other around the house, aggravating each other, or get hurt because they’re spinning in circles and bump heads or starting jumping off furniture. That’s when my husband usually turns to me and says we need to go do something – outside.

Some days we have things planned in advance like a trip to Chick-fil-A followed by the library and maybe a walk at the local Riverwalk. Other days, we just kind of decide at the spur of the moment when wildness breaks out, and we’ll do something like take the kids to McDonald’s for ice cream or walk to Walgreens.

I will tell you that we’ve never had a summer like this before where I feel like we need to LEAVE the house every day at least for a little while. Maybe it’s because the kids have gotten older? Maybe it’s because 3 of our 4 kids are BOYS. It’s probably a little of both.

Either way, it’s been interesting and challenging.

There’s one place that we’ve visited a few times this summer that’s been particularly fun for the kids. Our membership to the “big” zoo expired at the end of June, so we decided to visit a local zoo in our area that’s free for everyone.

The first time we went this summer, I was impressed with the changes they had made since the last time we’d visited. Just look at how close you can get to that tortoise.

And the new reptile house is so cool! There’s a huge Burmese python and lots of other slimy friends.

There are even a couple of alligators that actually move! The ones at the big zoo wouldn’t even flinch when we visited. These guys are pretty active and you can get a close up look at them because of how their habitat is set up.

There are lots of other animals, too – like this turkey who was asking for a close up. And there are wolves, owls, a mountain lion, a bald eagle, a goat, chickens, a llama, and lots of other animals. Gone are the animals that were there when I was a kid….the bears, mountain goats, and monkeys. :-(

But overall, I’m glad that we can take the kids to the zoo – the same zoo Ruben and I visited when we were kids – for free. It’s been a nice way to spend time together as a family, and it allows the kids to use up some of that energy outside walking instead of inside jumping off the beds or the couch or the t.v. stand…..

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See my latest blog design project: Real Housewives Clip Coupons!

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I’ve been waiting to share my latest blog design project, and I’m glad to say that I can now! I did a complete blog design for a wonderful couponer by the name of Kathryn. We started by moving Kathryn from Blogger to WordPress. While that process did have a few kinks at first, things went beautifully after we had the hosting and domain issues all worked out.

Overall, I’m thrilled with the way the design turned out. Kathryn was a true pleasure to work with, and I know she loves her new blog. She’s still working on getting the minor details settled on where she wants them to be (widgets and such), but the blog is ready for you to head over and check out! The blog is called Real Housewives Clip Coupons – great name for a blog, huh? :-)

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