Think Pink

We had our ultrasound today, and... can you guess? We are having a little girl! There has only been one girl born in Target Man's family since his grandmother's generation. Yep, she had boys, who had boys, who had boys... but now in February a little pink will be added.

We are excited and I really want to go buy something cute and girly, like shoes! It means we might actually have to buy some things for this baby, if we don't want her confused for a boy. When Target Baby was born, I didn't even get anything out until the day after I was supposed to be induced (busy hospital, nasty ICP, long story). Anyway, I might need to be a little more on top of things this time.

In other even more important news, the baby looks healthy. Heart, facial structure, etc. look great. Currently, this baby is right on track and weighs in at 15 oz. She was being very modest for the entire ultrasound and had her legs pressed together and feet crossed at the ankles. She kept that position the entire time, even though she was tumbling and doing cartwheels. She was even holding the umbilical cord in her hand right at her legs. The wonderful tech had me stand up, roll over, all that kind of stuff with no luck. Finally, she sent us over to my Dr and told us to come back after and we'd try again. Thankfully, she had uncrossed her legs and we are pretty definite that this baby is a girl. Anyway, I'm glad we know, and she finally decided to cooperate. Now, I will just have to retrain my brain from calling my kids, "the boys".

Pumpkins

I love Tuesdays. They are our family's little private Saturday during the week. Target Man is off on Tuesdays (Christmas season of course varies a little) and we reserve the entire day for family. Yesterday we headed to a local pumpkin patch.

It wasn't the greatest time to go as this place has all of its big festivities on the weekends, and the pumpkin patch was really picked over. But we got to explore without anyone else there, and the boys had a great time. Target Boy came home with 4 little white pumpkins that he wouldn't let anyone else carry. He kept dropping them every couple of steps, so it took awhile to actually get out of the patch.

After we left the pumpkin patch, we headed over to our local farmer's market to check out their selection. Because Target Man and I always seek out the perfect pumpkins for carving, we figured the farmer's market, which boasts having over 60 different kinds of pumpkins all of which are locally grown, would be a good alternative to the patch. It was great. We found our perfect pumpkins, watched Target Boy continuously load pie pumpkins into the wagon, and kept Target Baby from throwing to many of the little ones. We had Target Boy narrow his selection to two little pumpkins and then we headed home.

It was a perfect pumpkin Tuesday.

Healthcare Customer Service

I just had the most incredible customer service phone experience in my lifetime. And get this, it was with a health insurance company! Target Man destroyed his ankle in July and we had to take him to the ER. Well, in the past months I have been getting denied claim statements, due to the insurance company not having the medical records to show it was an emergency. I have been putting off calling for awhile, but decided today, mostly cause I actually got a bill yesterday, that I would devote all of naptime tracking down what I needed and resubmitting the claims.
My first call was to United Healthcare's Optimum Choice costumer service line. In under 15 minutes everything was completed. That included hold time. They took my info, resubmitted all claims, have already paid the hospital, and called the two offices that have sent me bills. I am completely impressed and ready to tell everyone that if you have this insurance as a choice, go for it! We owe what we should for the ER visit, $150 as a copay! I think I may actually write the company and tell them they did an awesome job, that's how impressive it was.

Now, I have the rest of naptime to do whatever I want (or at least get the floor mopped!)

$2.54

I just spent $2.54 at Target and got:

4 - 8 oz Horizon Organic Milk single serve cartons

2 - Instant Carnation Breakfast, 10 packets in each (to fatten up Target Baby)

1 - Big/Normal (its upstairs, I'm not checking the size) Crest Toothpaste

1- Fun Size Snickers bag

The only thing I paid for was the Snickers. It was Target Boy's special treat he got to pick out for being amazing (meaning he actually told me he needed to go "brown poopy" and then went all by himself) this morning.

I LOVE COUPONS!

Answer to a Question

So to those of you who don't know, yes I am pregnant. We are having baby number three sometime during February. I am due Feb 22 and am 19 weeks this week. Our ultrasound is scheduled for Oct 16 (two weeks from tomorrow) and hopefully this baby will be more cooperative than Target Boy and we will know what we are having!

Finally, Birthday Pictures

I know its been over a month, but here it is, the long awaited post about Target Boy's Birthday.

Target Boy turned three on August 15th! I decided maybe I would actually try to throw a party together and hold it on a weekend where Target Man could actually make it. I got most everything together, sent out (meaning emailed) invitations to the three little kids his age (plus Emerson) and amazingly both Target Man's and my parents were going to be in town. But, the boys got sick, and then I got sick, and then Target Man got sick. So instead of having a Monster Truck Birthday Bash, we had a lay on the couch and try not to die Saturday.

My awesome cake/monster truck track!

So two weeks later, minus all the grandparents, and two of the three little kids his age, we had the party. Target Boy was so excited about his cake. I made it the day before and he just kept pulling his stool over and staring at it, saying, "Its soooo cool" and "Is Emerson here yet?" He had such a hard time waiting. Saturday we had a great time making cool Monster Truck shirts, pinning the tire on the truck, beating the heck out of the pinata I made, and most of all, finally playing with the cake. I say playing, cause I think Target Baby, Emerson, and maybe Grace were the only ones who actually ate the cake. (Three days later, after hours of playing, and crumbling to pieces all over the kitchen, I finally threw it out during nap time!)

Target Boy is such a cheater at this game!

My paper mache pinata, which I was so done with it got wrapped in tissue paper like a present.

Caleb showing off his loot (which I think his mother confiscated shortly after this was taken!)

Adventure # 2

So first of all, Happy Birthday to Me! Second, for my birthday one of my wonderful visiting teachers watched my boys for a little over an hour yesterday evening, while Target Man was working. Instead of doing anything really exciting, I went grocery shopping by myself for the first time in my married life. I got to stroll through the aisles of Martin's without threatening anyone's life. It was peaceful.

I came prepared with my list of items, coupon binder, and envelope ready to go. I had a mission. This was the result.



After all was said and done my total was 94.42. Then I scanned my bonus card, off came 30.50. Then I handed in all of my coupons, off came 23.35. Final total with tax: 42.46! Plus, this is the really awesome part, I earned rewards for $0.90/gallon off an entire tank of gas! We are taking my dad's van to Kentucky next week and this will save us 27.00 when we fill it up!

One more thing to mention, I actually bought expensive laundry detergent for our new adventures into cloth diapering (another post, for another time), and decided its not what I want, so I'm going to return it. So, subtract 6.99 plus tax from 42.46.

I spent under $4o for 6 boxes of cereal, 12 boxes of hamburger helper (not so healthy, but great for when I feel icky, like the past 4 months, and the coming 5), 8 boxes of scalloped/mashed potatoes, 4 boxes of toaster strudels (personal breakfast favorite), 2 bags steamer veggies (free!), 2 lbs apples, milk, 2 dole salad bags, toilet paper, and 1 yoplait yoplus yogurt!


I'm addicted!