Time has passed...

So much time has passed since my last post and so much has changed. My life at some points feels like it is in a constant state of flux. I recently lost some one I was very close to a few months ago and in that moment I felt weak. Weaker then I had in years, and I didn't know who was going to save me. But then days passed and time went on and I started to grow. I picked up my pieces and grew stronger. Those moments when you feel like you cannot handle the change and the challenge, those are the moments that define us. But I didn't feel inspired to write today because of that sadness and burden, I was inspired to write today because of the happiness that is filling my home.

There are mega blocks all over the floor in front of my kitchen. A whole bag, dumped out and scattered, because today Aries decided he wanted to build things and the twins helped. It was beautiful to see as I sat at the table. I sat there working on paperwork and watched my boys learn.

I grabbed a cold bottle of tea from the fridge, because my roommate Caitlin remembered to stock it. The fridge is covered in photos of family and friends.

I got to spend time cuddling each of the twins to sleep tonight. Aries went to bed watching his new favorite movie 101 Dalmatians. A love he now shares with his dad.

I got to hang out with Jeremy, laying around watching dumb videos and looking at funny pictures on iFunny. Just hanging out.

Aries told me today he was HUNGRY, not just that he wanted a snack. Every day, new words, and sentences.

The joy of getting to wear new clothes I got for this season.

Justin found out today they will be extending his work hours back out, so that means more money for Christmas and for our savings.

Everyday I fall more in love with the man of my life as I watch him play with our kids, and spend time with them. He is a amazing father.

Caitlin starts her new job tomorrow, and her new school next week. So much change and she has arranged it all herself. I am so proud of her.

I found the twins matching dinosaur costumes, and Aries has his own, so I will have 3 little dinosaurs to take out trick or treating this year.

All of these beautiful things are why our house is so happy. We have so much good in our lives, so much to be thankful for. Life is never a perfect thing. Things happen, and people come and go. But the truth is if you cannot make it through the hard times and struggle you never get to enjoy the good and all it has to offer. Since having the twins I haven't been as strong as I need to be but I am learning I can be. I can find myself. I can do this. Life is beautiful and I won't let events or people hold me back. I never have before now, and I am not about to start!
Here are just a few of our special moments:

Aries pushing Pikachu in a stoller.

Aries and Draven watching TV together.

Me and Justin in our family photos 2015.

Me and Aries cudding before bedtime.

Caitlin working her magic on the twins before bedtime and playing Xbox.

Jeremy rocking guitar hero at Dave & Busters.

My Top Five Baby Items

I think every parent uses different things on their babies, and even from baby to baby. I use stuff now that wasn't around when I was a baby and I will probably use different things on my next baby. For now though I do have my top five baby items I have used with Aries and loved. Now these are not in any certain order.

First: Baby Swaddlers

Swaddlers are blankets you can buy that have velcro so you can easily wrap them snuggly around the baby. This one in the picture was the first one we had, given to me by my amazing friend Linda. Kim, Aries's Grandma, went out and bought him more once we realized how much he loved them. He would flail his arms and wake himself up, so once wrapped nice and snug he slept great. He has outgrown them now that he is 3 months old, but they were a HUGE help at the time!

Second is Our Portable Co-Sleeper

This is considered a co-sleeper bed because you can actually put it in bed with you. He is still using this bed now. It was a great purchase because it made it really easy to move him from room to room depending on where we needed him to sleep at night or during the day. It also folds up for easy storage and transportation. In the picture below it is on a standard microwave stand. We have had it on the floor and on our couch. This piece will be used for our next baby for sure.

Number Three is Nuk Orthodontic Bottles

These were a fairly expensive purchase, but well worth it. Because of the orthodontic nipples Aries was able to get easier and better suction, and I don't have to worry about the effect the bottle will have on the development of his teeth. They also have a great air release system so he swallows as little air as possible. We are still using the smaller bottles on him as well.

Number Four: Bath Seat

My friend Blair gave me the most awesome bath seat ever. I have used this bath seat since he was able to take baths. At first he wasn't a fan of baths at all. Now that he is older he loves them and the water. He takes advantage of the way the seat is made and slides down in it so he can splash and kick more. I see him using this for quiet a bit longer as well.

Number Five YouTube

Okay, I know this one isn't exactly a baby product, but if it were not for YouTube we would have had to invest money in baby music CD's or something. Aries is a noise baby, he just does not sleep well without sound. So for the longest time we would search up videos of baby lullibies. Then we decided we needed a set song list, and made one. So every night we turn on Aries bedtime music and he knows it is time to sleep. If he sleeps during the day he listens to different music or the TV while he sleeps. Thanks YouTube!

Krogers Coupon Trip 6-11-13

Made  BIG Krogers coupon trip today! Very happy with how it turned out! The retail on this was $110.29 and I only paid $37.46! I am gonna post some details on how I got this deal, but for the most part I just picked and chose which items I wanted from the match up on Kroger Krazys. So please feel free to check out her site and get yourself some bargains too! Just click the link above.

Now nearly half my purchase cost was the pop. It is on sale three 12 packs for $9.00. I ended up with 6 of the 12 packs(for $18) and used $4 in newspaper coupons, making it 6 of the 12 packs for only $14. Which is pretty awesome at $2.33 per 12 pack of name brand pop. Which to my surprise each 12 pack of Dr. Pepper 10 came with a free redbox rental! So we basically get $2.56 in free stuff (redbox in my area is up to $1.28 a night per movie).

The Airwick Freshmatic was FREE, after sale and coupon, and then the refills after sale and coupon cost me  $3.98. So for the entire set up, I paid $3.98 which normally retails for $9.97.

The 4 Smart Balance Butters I paid 84 cents each for in the end, because my Kroger retails them at $2.59 each, instead of the lower estimate I got from Kroger Krazys. That's still a HUGE savings, so not a big deal to me.

The Pampers baby wipes (72 count) retailed at $2.49 each, after sale and my coupons I paid 49 cents each, and got two packs. Trust me, if I had more coupons I would have gotten more!

Now before every coupon trip I write out a detailed list of what items I am getting, along with the appropriate price before and after coupons. This way if there is a price difference, which happens, I can adjust my trip and decide if the discount is still enough to buy the item. This trip worked out very well, considering it was pretty complicated. First off Kroger is have a buy 4 participating items, get $4 off your purchase sale, so if I wanted the discount I needed to get my items in sets of 4. One item I had planned to buy my Kroger did not carry, so there went 2 items off my transaction, which threw it off. But later on in the trip another pair of items I learned were not in the sale, so it evened out, only 4 items I didn't get. Had it been different, say I had 3 sale items, I would have had to make that hard choice, do I get something I didn't plan to get, just to get my $4 off? Or do I put 3 items back? I am very happy this trip went so smoothly and if I can gather up another list of items I may make another round this week, since this sale is pretty awesome.

Couponing!

So I have decided to take up extreme couponing. I have taken several steps to prepare myself for this, and feel I have finally started and wanted to share my experience!

At first I thought I could just clip some coupons and head to the store and the deals would rain! LOL. Wrong. To save a decent amount, besides maybe a dollar or two on a huge shopping trip it takes careful planing,clipping, and organizing. Once I realized this, I decided to ask for help. I talked to a few friends and then hit the jack pot with Tiffany Phillips, AKA, Money Saving Mom of 5. You can check out her blog here: http://www.moneysavingmomof5.org/
She is your everyday mom, with the knowledge and skills you need to coupon like a pro! Also she teaches classes on it too! I went to her class in Bellefountaine, Ohio on Feb 16th. You pay $5.00, it pays for the huge packet you get, and helps cover her gas. She drives all over and teaches these classes, and is always available to answer any questions you may have. Visit the link on her blog to find out her class schedule, and go if you want to learn! Her class cleared up so many questions and confusion I had and between the packet she gives out and the notes I took during the class, I felt ten times more prepared to go out and get a bargain.

So my obvious first step was I took the Coupon Class. This helped me line up my other steps to get me rolling.
Next I organized a list of the prime stores I planned to shop at. Most of which required membership/reward cards. Before now I was very much guilty of getting everything from Wal-Mart. From now on, I won't hardly be going there because that is just not where the coupon bargains are!
After that I bought  two Sunday papers, and set a alarm in my phone to remember to get one next Sunday. I easily forget these and they are very important. I am missing out on deals this week, because I don't have the coupon inserts from the paper.
So after I got my stores in order, and have my first set of coupons, I set down and reviewed several blogs that post coupon comparisons, and planned a trip. I lined up my coupons with products and locations, and was ready to roll.
Then finally I went on my first trip, only to one store, it was hard not having those other coupons to make a trip to all the stores. So I settled on Walgreens.
I got food and some bathroom items, and between coupons and sales I saved 67%. Which I was pretty proud of for my first trip out.

It is gonna take me a week or two to really get into the groove of it and have big savings on a regular basis, but I know if I stick to it I can.
Oh and I am helping others because any expired coupons I don't use I can send to families in the military over seas and they can use them!

30 Things I want my kids to know about me Part 3

Here is the third installment of my 30 things list.
Number 5:
What are the 5 things that make you most happy right now?
1. Justin. He makes me smile everyday and is the light of my life.
2. My pets. I love my dogs Coco, Cami, and Furby. Even though Quinn isn't living with me currently, it makes me really happy to see him.
3. My crafts. Being creative and making something always makes me happy.
4. Being Pregnant. It may not be the actual pregnancy itself, because I am sick as hell, but I am finally going to have my own baby and be a mom. I feel like a real woman.
5. Sleeping, honestly. Being pregnant has given me such super real and weird dreams that sleeping is actually more enjoyable then usual.

Number 6:
If you could have three wishes, what would you wish for?
1. Wealth. Pay off my debt, buy a nice house, buy a nice car(my dream mommy van), and have money to send my kid to college and go to Disney World.
2. Perfect health for me and my family.
3. World Peace? I really don't know because the first two make my life perfect.

Number 7:
What is your dream job, and why?
This is an easy answer. I want to own and run my own thrift store. I worked for a year at a GoodWill store and LOVED what I did. But being there made me realize there are so many things they could do to help out the environment or the community. They could have donated broken ceramic dishes to the local high school to make mosaics with or we had a teacher come in asking for wire hangers, paying out of his pocket, so his students could do a project. Our store didn't sell them, they threw them out, BUT we weren't allowed to give anything away, not even trash. I want to run the kind of store that builds community value, helping where it can. A place that recycles more, and throws away less, and makes the world a better place. That's my dream job.

Number 8:
What are 5 passions you have?
1. Art. That is my biggest one. I love to paint, draw, scrapbook, and just plain create.
2. Being Eco Friendly/Frugal. I like to save money and do good for the environment. I know I could do more, but I try to save on my trash output, reuse when ever I can, and recycle.
3.Reading and Writing. I love a good book, and I love to write when ever I can.
Since I condensed my passions I only have three.

Number 9:
List 10 people who have influenced you and describe how.
1. My Mom. She was a super strict parent, and although she made a lot of my life hell she taught me important things like proper cleaning, and the importance of being organized.
2. Helen Keller. Never met her obviously, but I learned about her in elementary school and her will to learn and survive was and is very inspiring to me.
3. Maya Gaskins-Hickman. This girl taught me that being weird is ok, and she taught me how to shop, and trust me, that is more important then you would think.
4. Justin Moran. He taught me what true happiness is, and that everything is worth working through.
5. My first high school love. I would rather not name. He taught me that there was love out there, before him I had never been happy with a guy and didn't know I could be.
6. Mr. Stone. He was my 6th grade teacher and he was the first teacher to really open my eyes to my love of education and learning. He made learning cool.
7. Mr. Hurt. He was my middle school art teacher. He changed my perspective on art and let me run loose with the art supplies. I thank him for opening those doors.
8. My Grandma 'Mamaw'. She showed me not all love is the same. She taught me how to knit and do plastic canvas work, and never discouraged my creative side.
9. My Dogs. Oddly yes. You come home every day to them and they are happy to see you and love you. I try to remember that, because no matter what everyone deserves to be loved, your dog thinks so.
10.Jeremy Malone. Yes that dork. He has taught me it is okay to be goofy, to love weird things, and to have a passion for games. His influence has taught me to enjoy life more.
 

Flea Market

I just recently had my first weekend at Market Place of the America's, a large all indoor flea market. I have a wonderful 10 by 10 booth, with some very nice neighbors.

Above and below are a few of the pictures of my booth, I have tons of great items for sale, for very low prices.

All the clothes I sell are only $1 each. Plus I toys, books electronics, and more.

My booth is nicely located in the 'San Fransico' area of the mall, and is across the hall from the 'Dollar Store'.

I am also selling Pandora Style Beads for only $1 each.

Along with the beads I have been making my own jewelry as well, and they are only $2 each. I have wolf, turtle,button and skull earrings just to name a few.

I started doing flea markets when I was 17 and loved doing it then. I would sit outside, no matter how hot or cold and sell what ever it is I had at the time. My goal is to make enough money off this to open my own thrift store. I make things and buy things at such a low price I am able to pass the bargain onto customers and make a good profit at the same time. It isn't always easy, but I enjoy what I do. I especially enjoy when I can sell some one something that they truly would enjoy or just love to have. I hope you decide to come visit me and the other great vendors at Market Place of the Americas in Columbus.

Just an Update

Not much new has happened this week really, but I love to write so I am sure I can come up with something.
Basically Chris and Kat have been applying for jobs all this last week. I got more stuff unpacked that we brought back form Iowa. I am finding tons of treasures I had left behind. We now have all of my DVD's here and many more books. Discovering everything I packed up is like Christmas! Very few things are broken or unusable. There were some issues with mold and some bathroom items dried up, other then that most things survived. It has been bringing back some great memories as well. Sitting back it feels great to know how far I have come in life. My belongings really show how hard work has paid off. We brought back one of my old dressers that is missing two drawers. I keep it because it reminds me that I didn't always own nice things. Plus we need another dresser. When I got that dresser though, it was that dresser or nothing because there was no way we could afford to go out and buy one, where now if I wanted to, we could convert to all matching furniture. I love what we own, and the people I have in my life now.
Having kids here has been nearly as much a pain as joy, but I wouldn't change it for the world. They are great kids, but not perfect like any other kid. I was able to get them free bikes today! We are working harder in getting them potty trained, because Melissa will be going to kindergarten next year. They are smart kids though, and learn quickly.
I guess I would say over all I feel pretty blessed. I keep my life drama free, I have people as my family because they chose to be, and I have everything I need. I am very interested to see what life has in store for us from here!

Christmas Time

Once again Christmas has rolled around on us. The year has flown by and we are putting up trees and shopping like mad! I think I finally have all my shopping done. I wrapped it up on Black Friday. I would love to write a blog on the Black Friday deals I got, but 90% of the are Christmas gifts, and cannot be revealed until December 25th. So, that being said, this blog is going to be about just Christmas sadly. First off, I already had a head start in my wrapping and used a ton of gift boxes I purchased last year marked down after the holidays.

That is my huge stack of wrapped gifts, all for Chris, Jeremy, and Justin. I still have a lot more wrapping to do before I am finished and I am custom making a few gifts as well. So I have a lot do do before I am done, but I am excited to see what everyone thinks of their gifts this year. Last year we were really tight and Christmas just wasn't that great. I also have my tree up and decorated, but I want to add some more ornaments before I take pictures. This year is a blue and silver theme.

Piggy Banks

Everyone knows what a piggy bank is and its' purpose is to save money. I had a pink plastic rabbit and a clown bank when I was a little kid. Both of which I murdered so I could get the money out because I was a greedy little butt munch back then. I have always thought piggy banks were really cute, and picked up a few at yard sales and such. Then, a few years back, a great idea dawned on me. I knew I wanted to have kids some day and wanted to be able to provide a great future for them. Since I was always pretty poor it worried me a lot. Especially about sending them to college and such. So that is what started my piggy bank collection.

I fill my piggy banks with pennies, mostly. This keeps me from thinking about high dollar amounts stashed away, these two banks above maybe hold a couple of dollars worth of pennies each. If they doesn't sound like much, it adds up when you have a lo of banks like I do. I have a all shapes and sizes.

The bank above I got on Halloween clearance this year. Basically what I plan to do is when the baby is born, I will take and cash out the banks into a savings account or invest in bonds, or similar things to help the money grow.  Then probably about every five years I will do the same thing again. The sooner the banks fill up the sooner I will cash them out. So in many ways it is true what they say about a penny saved is a penny earned

Coco, My dog

Yep, this post is about my dog. But coco isn't any ordinary dog, she is the best dog I have ever had and she is my baby.

I got Coco four years ago from a breeder in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Now, I had been several different places and looked at several different puppies. One places was a seriously tragic puppy mill, where some of the dogs didn't even have full coats of hair. Another was a great place in Des Moines, Iowa where I could have gotten a beautiful merle colored puppy. I played with them for a while but none of them stole my heart. So finally I went to a family home in Cedar Rapids. They only had two puppies left. One girl and one boy, so tiny and calm. They had their small children playing with them the puppies were just calm and content with the handling. I picked up the little girl and held her, and from that moment on I knew she was meant to be my baby.

I paid for her, a hefty $200.00. I held her the entire ride home, and I have never regretted spending a single penny on her. When I showed her to my mom, she came up with the name Coco for her, because of her chocolate colored fur. She is a full blooded Deer head Chihuahua. Where I lived at the time the floors were always cold and she was so tiny, it seemed only obvious she should sleep with me. So she did and has everyday since then. She loves to cuddle and is always ready to curl up with me.

Coco suffered a bad back injury about a year and a half ago, we believe she fell down the carpeted stairs at my moms house. It caused severe swelling around her spine, which cut off the nerves to her entire lower body. She was basically paralyzed from the waist down. After several visits to the vet, I had to put her on special wet dog food with added lubricant, so she could pass it. Then I also had to take her outside every few hours and squeeze her bladder so she would pee. She had to have some one supervise her nearly all the time. She is the kinda dog that was everywhere I was. So if I left the room she would struggle to follow me, dragging her hind end, hurting herself. So I had to devise a system, I placed her in a tote with clear sides so she could always see me, and then moved the tote from one room to another as I did, so she would feel safe.

Coco was like that for about a month, and then the next 4 months or so she slowly regained use of her back end, and then slowly went back to normal. She is pretty healthy today, but I have to watch her to make sure she doesn't fall or jump onto high things. The vet told me when I saw him that she may never recover, and may always be handicapped. There was no hesitation for me to say that I would care for her if she stayed that way. There isn't anything I wouldn't do for that little doggy. Coco is always happy to see me, loves me unconditionally, and never lets me be sad alone. She is a amazing comfort, and I would never give her up for anything.

I hope everyone can have a pet they love as much as family. Coco is cuddled up next to me while I write this, and I love her!

 

Getting Pregnant

So, if you know me personally you know I am trying to get pregnant. Also if you know me, you know I can't get pregnant the natural way. I use a medicine dropper for babies to self inseminate myself such as the one pictured below.

Since this object is small I am able to ease it in without too much pain. I have done research before on getting pregnant and I am doing more now. Before I generally understood the concept of following my ovulation cycles and loosely followed them. Basically I used the method of counting days after my cycle, but looking back now that is not exactly accurate since I have a long cycle, lasting up to 32 days between periods. So, this time around I am actually going to be purchasing a ovulation prediction kit in hopes of increasing the chances of success.
With a ovulation detection kit you actually know before you ovulate that it is about to happen. Where as with the counting method or taking your basal body temp it is more of guess or you know afterwards. The kit tests your urine for a hormone called Luteinizing Hormone, which right before your ovulation becomes very high.
As for the cost, there are a variety of places you can purchase them. Amazon.com offers them for only $13.02 for a 7 day kit. Then I can also pick them up at my local WalMart.
I haven't purchased any yet, because I am still waiting to see if I get my period this month. I keep my fingers crossed that we did something right this time!

Very Personal Post

Warning! If you don't want to read super personal and medical things, skip this post. It may make you blush a little!

Now that all that is out of the way, back to what I wanted to write about. I finally got to go see a real gynecologist for the first time on Tuesday. Pretty bad since I am 24, but all I have seen is nurses.  I have never been able to have sex, and it is not for lack of trying. I am just very lucky that I have had great relationships with great guys who didn't push me on the matter. I don't know if I blogged about this before, but some time last year I watched a special on MTV called I Can't Have Sex. One of the girls on there has the same trouble and symptoms as me and I self diagnosed myself with a condition called Vaginismus. Basically it causes the pubococcygeus muscle, to spasm and tighten when ever something gets near it. Like how your eye will blink automatically when something gets close. This muscle is located only a few inches into the vagina, and this reflex can cause extreme pain, and even prevent gyno exams. That makes me super nervous because I still have not been tested for cervical cancer. 
This condition is some what common, although I had never heard of it before then. When I was at the doctors he did verify that it was the condition I had. There are several methods to treat it, there is physical therapy(which I have been doing on my own), psychological therapy(which I don't know if I can afford), and there are some medications. Basically the goal is simple, I have to teach my vaginal muscles how to relax. The process is painful for the physical part, but not unbearable. There is a chance because of this that I may never be able to have children. I have been trying once again to self inseminate myself, using a medicine dropper. If I cannot get pregnant this way, I may never have biological children. I would love to adopt, but then I want to have my own as well. Also, getting pregnant may make the condition worse. The doctor said that if I were to get pregnant, due to my vaginismus, my vagina would not react correctly to the birthing process and I would either never go into labor or be in perpetual labor, because my cervix would never open.
So, basically I have a lot to be depressed about, freaked out about, and think about. I am just so lucky to have a man supportive as Justin by my side through all of this. How many guys you know would marry a girl, knowing he could never have sex with her??