Baby News

Jan, when we found out we were pregnant

I haven't been very proactive in updating our blog! It's old news now that we're pregnant with a little boy and expecting him on November 18th. Because of the new addition to our family, we've been busy preparing little by little. A few weeks ago, I cleared out our second bedroom, so it can be turned into a nursery. I'm glad I did it early, because now it's done and out of the way! That was one of the biggest things on my to-do list for a while. Now that it's cleared out, we will be storing all baby-related stuff there instead. This week, I decided to look on Craigslist to see if there was any cheap furniture that we could use. We landed a $10 glider and a $10 shelf. The glider is definitely not pretty and squeaks. When we brought it home, we dusted it, threw the fabric into the wash, and Jan tightened the screws and nuts. It looks much better already, but I'm planning on refinishing the wood, making new fabric covers, buying new foam for cushions, and Jan is going to put some WD-40 on the joints to remove the rest of the squeaking. It will look great and be way cheaper than buying a new one. Plus, it will be customized and give me a project to work on to pass the time while we are waiting for our little bundle of joy! I'm also planning on painting the shelf blue to match our nursery colors, which are orange, blue, and green. Because of the rewards program through one of our credit cards, we had enough points to get $225 worth of gift cards to Burlington Coat Factory. They have a baby depot, and they are much less expensive than anywhere else we've seen. We bought our crib and mattress there and only had to pay about $10 out of our own pocket. Jan got excited and has already put it together :) We are also going to pick up an inexpensive dresser from Wal-Mart that is going to double as the changing table. Everything is slowly coming together! It will be fun to see the final product and see how frugal we can be in the process while still getting a cute nursery.

The 2-door Scion

Our most expensive purchase because of this baby has been our new car! Since Jan's Scion was only 2-door, we wanted to upgrade to 4-door, so I don't break my back getting the baby in and out of the car seat. We had been talking about it for a while and looking at our options. We ended up going with a new 2012 Corolla, because the used 2010 with 30,000 miles was only $300 cheaper than the new one after we printed off a promo that dealership was having. We are glad we printed it off, because when we just mentioned it, the sales rep said they didn't have any promotion they could offer us. Yeah right... Anyway, we got the promotion for an LE and they gave us an L instead. The LE has cruise control, heated mirrors, and bigger tires. When we got on the freeway and realized there was no cruise control, we went back and complained. We can do without the other stuff, but we demanded the cruise control. Not only did the car we test drove have cruise control, but our little coupon said the promo was for an LE. They are going to install it for us for free. We made sure they gave us a paper and signed it, so they can't go back on their word.

Our new 4-door Corol

So, we are gradually getting ready for the baby. And the baby is becoming more and more noticeable! Almost half-way done! Here's my belly at 6,16,18, and 19 weeks. We will be getting our official ultrasound done at the doctor's office at the end of 22 weeks (7/19/12). Will (hopefully) post more pictures along the way :)