Thankful Thursday

ABC’s of Gratitude
Babies – of course!
Breastfeeding – I loved nursing both of my girls (although I’m glad to be done for the moment), and I can’t wait to nurse the next baby!
Blogs – Craft blogs, spanking blogs, money saving blogs – fun, fun stuff!
Blogging – being a blog writer myself has allowed me to meet lots of wonderful people and have an outlet for all my spanko-ness.
Brothers – I have two, and I’m so proud of them both!
Bed – I love my bed, and I can’t wait to go spend some time with it!

Recent Blessings:

• We get to leave for Texas on Saturday! I’m soooo excited to get to go!
• Kelly and Grant are going with us and will be paying for half the gas.
• While it’s definitely going to be pretty tight, Nick’s paycheck was enough for us to be able to afford our part of the gas and have a little bit of money to go on while we’re down there.
• Morgan’s new glasses. Okay, a bit of back story: I mentioned a few months ago that Nick’s dad and stepmom took Morgan and bought her two new pairs of glasses.

        A few months ago her favorite pair got broken (I can’t remember how, but it wasn’t that she was being rough with them). There was insurance on that pair that paid for one complete replacement, so we went and got them replaced. Then, the earpiece got broken while she was at my mom’s house one night. Since we had already used the replacement, we just tried gluing it back on. It worked for a while, but the day she left for camp last month, she pushed them back up on her nose and they snapped again. And she had conveniently “lost” her second pair because she didn’t like them. The only reason she got them in the first place was because the store was running a BOGO deal.(This was the same day I found out I was pregnant – stressful much?) Anyway, we eventually found them and got her packed off to camp. And like them or not, she did wear them (except when she could get away with NOT wearing them).
        Then a few weeks later we went to the cabin for the weekend, and she had them hooked into the collar of her t-shirt while we were unloading. Of course if she’d been wearing them like she was supposed to…but she wasn’t, and they fell off in the gravel driveway just behind the car. She realized they were gone, and she and I were frantically looking for them when Nick found them for us – by stepping on them.
        The lenses were pretty scratched up, but once we got home Nick was able to get them back in one piece with some crazy epoxy work, but they could no longer be closed. We also tried making a workable earpiece for the other pair out of a matching pipe cleaner (don’t judge – we didn’t make her wear them in public like that!).
        ANYWAY, we knew we needed to get her a good pair before school started, and hopefully before we left for Texas. Her new insurance fortunately has vision benefits, so I took her today to get a new pair, and by combining insurance with a store special and a coupon, I was able to get her TWO pairs, BOTH of which she loves for a grand total of…..wait for it…….$9.98! Woohoo! We use Dr. Bizer’s Vision World, and if you have one in your town, I HIGHLY recommend them.

• The other day Nick’s dad and stepmom came by brought 5 packs of the diaper wipes we use as well as a pack of diapers for Daisy. The diapers are rather large, but they might work in a pinch, and we will certainly use the wipes! They also brought Nick 3 used golf clubs they picked up at a flea market. Back in March Nick played in a charity golf tournament using some borrowed clubs from a friend of a friend. The guy never called to get them back, and Nick has really gotten into the game. It’s rare for him to be able to afford to play, but he would go to the driving range quite a bit, and my brother took him out to play several times. Then a few weeks ago the guy wanted his clubs back, and Nick has been mourning their loss ever since. Unfortunately left handed clubs are hard to come by secondhand, so it was great that his dad brought him a few to get started with.
• A few days ago I got a partial payment on a photography CD for a photo session I shot a few months ago.
• I sold a couple of pillow covers to a girl at church, which gave me the money to pay for the sweet double stroller I got off Craigslist for $20!
• I’ve been wanting a bread machine for a long time now, and I found a great one at the thrift store a few days ago for $4.99!

Baby Update:

Your Baby in Week 12 of Pregnancy

By now, your baby weighs a full half-ounce and is about the size of a large plum. Most of his systems are in place, though there's still plenty of maturing to do. For one thing, his fetal digestive system is beginning to practice contraction movements necessary for eating, and his bone marrow is busy making white blood cells — weapons against germs once he's out of your safe haven. The pituitary gland (at the base of the brain) has started producing the hormones that'll enable him (or her) to make babies of his (or her) own in a couple of decades or so.

Source