Baby Bargains #1

YES - I COUPON!

And I love it <3

I especially have loved getting baby bargain's lately.  This video is from this week's "haul."



TTC Cycle 1 - CD 10 (1st OPK test) Vlog #3

Documenting my 1st Ovulation Predictor Kit (OPK)

Cycle 1 - Cycle Day 10

TTC Cycle 1 - CD9 (Vlog #2)

Vlog update on:

-Where I am in my cycle

-"Sperm Meets Egg" Method of TTC

-NuvaRing withdrawl

Friend's Baby Shower Today

So today I went to a baby shower for a long time friend.  She is having a baby girl in August.

I just wanted to say how much I really enjoyed the shower and seeing all the adorable baby things.

It does make me want a baby, just that much more.  

Of course, since she is having a girl, a lot of girly girl things were given/received at this shower.  Some of the most adorable clothes!  My daughter went along and even said she can't wait to go shopping for baby clothes when it's that time for us.

I took a photo of the GIANT diaper cake!  I've never seen a diaper cake so big before!!!

 The whole bottom are diapers too.  Just amazing.

Pre-Baby Bargain Buys

So I'm a COUPONER and have been for a few years.

At one point in our lives it was to the extreme, but now it isn't quite so often, and not as "cut throat" as it used to be.  But I still like to get myself a good bargain especially BABY BARGAINS.

So if I find any good baby bargains along this journey, I'll share those here too!

This bargain happen to come from CVS today:

Obviously the Bayer wasn't a baby buy, but they were FREE!

I got 3 packages of Huggies Snug & Dry Diapers
Size 4
(Reg: $11.99/pack)

**Sale was: 2/$20.00 ($10 each)**

***Spend $30 get $10 in ebc's (Earned Care Bucks)***

So I bought 3 packages

-1x $3.00 coupon

-2x $2.00 coupon

-$6.00 ecb's (from previous trip)

Total OOP: $19.01

BUT - I also received $10.00 more ecb's so that's like getting 3 packs of diapers for $9.01!!!!  (Remember reg: $11.99 each!)

That came out to be $0.094 per diaper!

I believe I've heard that stock up price is around $0.14 - $0.16 per diaper, so this was a really great bargain.

I have a diaper stash going for when it is baby time.  Maybe... maybe, I'll share that at some point. 

We have a NEW BABY!

We may be in the TTC process, but we brought home a new baby today!

A FUR BABY!

Meet the newest member of our family, Pongo, the Guinea Pig.

This was total spur of the moment.  We had been talking about getting our daughter a gerbil or a hampster, something that should could snuggle with.  We were afraid of a smaller pet escaping and getting lost in our house, so we opted for a larger version, a Guinea Pig.  And we just happen to be next to a pet store today...

The pet store only had one on hand, a male.  I knew Guinea Pigs all had different personalities and temperament, so we wanted to feel the little guy out before we jumped into adopting him.  The sales guy was a great help, and reassured us that this was a great GP and that he had a great temperament.  Although I'm sure the poor little guy was scared to death with 3 different people passing him around, he handled it great and we pretty well fell in love.

We had fun choosing this little dude's home, toys, food, bedding, the whole nine yards.  We couldn't wait to get him home and into his new house.

Our daughter is just smitten.  We all went through names together and Pongo was cute and we all agreed together to give him that name.

We spent most of the evening playing with him, brushing him, holding him, and watching him.  I just love to see our daughter so happy and in love.

Brushing and bonding with her new pet

Although completely unlike a REAL BABY, this will be a great way for her to learn some responsibility before she herself becomes a big sister.

TTC Cycle1- CD7

Today I am on Cycle Day 7 - I know, it's so early yet - but I'm so excited because now it's time for the countdown to ovulation!

AF ended for good yesterday (Friday, June 22nd).  It was right on schedule too.  I was worried with not inserting my NuvaRing Wednesday like I usually do, that my hormones may get out of whack and wonder what it's supposed to do since there was no birth control to signal AF to stop.  But AF slowed down Wednesday, slowed down a lot on Thursday, and by Friday there was no sign of "her."  So that keeps me at a 28 day cycle with a 5 day AF.  Let's hope that sticks!

Symptoms of going off birth control have been noticed.  Even though I'm no longer on my AF I still feel a lot of crampiness.  Maybe not painful cramps, but more that I'm aware that my uterus is in there and trying to tell me something.  I just really don't feel like myself.  I'm sure it will take me and my body some time to figure out what it's like to not be on birth control anymore.

I'm using the iPhone app- What To Expect Fertility Tracker - to keep track of everything.  It is showing that my most fertile days are June29-July3.

Here's what my month looks like:

Pink are AF days and Green are Possible Fertile Days

My next update will be what our plans are for next week.
Currently the ovulation countdown is at 6 more days till my first possible fertile day!

TTC Vlog #1 (2 parts)

YAY FOR MY FIRST VLOG!

So I did this vlog on Tuesday (4 days ago), but had such a hard time figuring everything out (YouTube, camera, computer, compressing the file... on and on).  Then I had issues with Google+, but I think I've got it now!

This vlog is basically an intro, background on me and my hubby, past experience with baby #1, and also a run down of TTCing products I have and/or am currently using.

Watch PART 1 here:

Watch PART 2 Here:

So currently I'm on cycle day 7.  See my next blog post for the newest update!

Cycle Day #1

Today is officially Cycle Day #1!

I decided that day one would be my first full day of AF.  So even though yesterday could have been considered cycle day 1 - it was after 6:30pm and that just seemed too late in the day.

I have been on the birth control NuvaRing since 6 week postpartum with my first little one.  So it's been all of 6 years that I've been using it.  I've not had any issues with it.  It was easy and effective so I just continued to use it all through out this time.  I highly recommend women at least give it a try.

This past Wednesday (June 13, 2012) was when my NuvaRing was removed and will be left out for the first time!!  So exciting! 

As I posted earlier, I was "getting serious" about this baby making thing and wanted to get my body and health into check.  Here's an update on that:

*I have been drinking a lot more water - but have slipped up and had a few sips of Coke here and there, baby steps...

*I did my first try at Once A Month Cooking and used a whole foods recipe menu.  So eating healthier lately, trying to make better choice.

*Exercise -  I haven't had any specific exercise sessions, but I have been quite active.  

*I started my prenatal vitamins and continue to take Juice Plus twice a day

*I also started using a Shea Butter Belly Lotion already too.  Doesn't hurt to start too early, right??

Already I am hitting the potty a lot more from all the extra water and fluids.  And usually I don't have problems with headaches, but lately those have been hitting me.  I'm sure it's caffeine withdrawal and also my hormones shifting from going off the birth control. 

I already know this cycle is going to go by so slow!!!  I'm ready for this AF to be over so I can start the count down to Ovulation!!! 

Welcome to the new TTC Blog!

WELCOME to my own personal way to document my TTC journey for baby number 2.  I has originally started to post updates on another blog that I try to keep up with, but thought it best to separate the two.

There are two blog posts below this post - both are from that a fore mentioned blog that I wanted to transition over and have everything start from the very beginning.

So getting this blog together should be fun.  I wanted a place to really keep everything packaged into one place.  A place for my ovulation tracker, TTC updates, hopefully pregnancy updates, vlogs, mainly a virtual scapbook.

What I'm most excited and nervous about are trying out the idea of video blogs.  My new digital HD camcorder arrived in the mail today, so once I've got that mastered and figure out how to upload videos - they will all be added right here to this blog.

My plans for the first vlog are to mainly introduce myself, lay out my TTC plans, and maybe share some of my background from pregnancy and baby #1.

Obviously I am very excited about this and as you will find out, I am a very organized person.  More then anything, all of this is blogging is for me to be able to look back and see the journey every inch of the way.  

Time to Get Serious

It's time to really get serious about this baby making.  Today is my last "cheat" day.  Many days, if not most are "cheat" days for me when it comes to food.  I have a huge sweet tooth, could not live without Coke, and just don't worry too much about what I'm eating.  Well that all ends after today.  Time to get this body into the best shape I can before it's time for the big "O."  (Ovulation)

Last day for coffee, caffeine, junk food, alcohol, and not working out.  Oh how I'll miss it all...

I know it's all for the greater good.  The greater good for myself and hopefully a future baby that will be living in there.

So here is the plan:

I'm currently already taking and have been taking Juice Plus (SO good for your body!!!)

Adding in the prenatal starting tonight

Work out routine starts tomorrow AM

WATER WATER WATER

New Whole Foods diet is in the works 

So here's to Day #1 of this journey!

June has arrived.. (TTC#1)

I can't believe it's June.  This month has a special meaning and we've waited over a year for it to arrive.  There are no anniversaries, birthdays, graduations, births, etc.  June is the month we've talked about and talked about.  A month we've gone back and forth about and now it's here.

June is the month we have decided would be "the time" to start trying to add to our own family.

Our one and only child is now 6 years old.  I'm sure that seems a little old to be thinking about adding a sibling, and every family is different.  But I knew when we had her, that she'd have to be in school before we'd add in another baby.  She will be in 1st grade this fall!  Which is a whole different subject...

I started getting the "baby fever" again a year and a half ago.  It was a lot of feeling out the situation and talking it over.  Is this something we really wanted to do, was it best for our family and our spoiled only child?  Could we handle it?  Could we make it work with our jobs/schedules?  If you can't tell, I'm a planner, an organizer, and in no way spontaneous.  Hints why it's taken so long to get here.  But we are excited and ready!  (crazy to be saying that!)

It's been a year and a half of hearing about people getting pregnant, having babies, trying to have babies... and feeling that excitement for them (and there were A LOT of them), and also feeling excited that hopefully at some point I'll be able to tell of my own joy.  Just this week alone 2 friends announced their pregnancies and a cousin had her baby boy.  Babies all around.

And now here we are.  June.  The start of a huge journey.

I plan to use this blog as a type of journal.  A way to keep track of all the details.  I'd like to try some video blogging, something that is all new to me.  But I want to remember IT ALL.

With my first child, I did pretty good keeping track.  I kept a pregnancy journal and wrote down all the updates on dr. appointments, photos, nursery stuff, baby showers, gifts, and of course the labor/delivery.  I am so glad I did.  This time, being 6-7 years later, I'd like to use the advances in technology to my advantage.  Maybe I'll share that journal on a video blog at some point?

So consider this my first TTC blog, even though there isn't much to tell for a few weeks. 

I'm over the moon excited, that is for sure!  So here goes nothing...