Yes, I'm still alive. Yes, still pregnant. :)

Just call me busy. Or lazy. Either one. :)

Oh, and be prepared for some stream of consciousness writing. I'll at least categorize it for you.


Work Life
School is officially out for summer and I am happy to do nothing but lay around and grow babies. My husband is off work for a month and I'm super excited about that. I'm so glad that God has timed this pregnancy just right. There is absolutely no way I'd be able to work right now at this point in my pregnancy. I give huge props to those moms who work right up until their due date and sometimes after.
My maternity sub (who is awesome) has my substitute plans, all nice and labeled by the week, and I'll go to Open House just so I can meet my kids and explain to the parents the deal and that I'll be back to work on October 3rd.
I'm sooooo glad Mike is hommmmme!!! He has a little over a month off and he has finished his first year as a successful assistant principal. I'm so proud of my man! He worked so hard for his administration master's and a successful first year made all of that hard work from those two years of school and interning worth it!

Babies/Pregnancy
Babies are gorgeously chunky. At 32w3d, they were measuring 4 pounds 1 ounce and 4 pounds 4 ounces, so in the past few weeks, they are probably inching up closer to 5 pounds each, which are beautiful weights. We have another ultrasound at 36 weeks (if I make it that far...eeeep!) to get another weight estimate. Right now, I'm 34w3d. Baby A is head down (explains my poor trampoline bladder) and Baby B is breech. We have filled out the paperwork for our c-section and chosen our surgeon and we are way excited! Even if it's not a scheduled c-section and I just happen to go into labor, I know whichever doctor from the practice will do a beautiful job, so no worries there. Weekly non-stress tests have started, showing that their heartbeats are good and no preterm contractions. We constantly reflect on how amazingly lucky we are to have dodged so many of the complications that tend to come with having multiples, and we hope that delivery will be just as fantastic and uneventful. Well, the babies' arrival will be eventful, but you know what I mean. I knew what to expect at today's NST because I had one two weeks ago when I was afraid I was leaking fluid. Turns out, Baby A pushed a little too hard on Mommy's bladder and I peed myself. That's okay. I'll be happy to share this story at her wedding.

Nursery
Nursery is done. Pictures to come. We had a fantastic shower hosted by my mom, aunts, and cousin's wife that was just stunning. Over 62 women came and spoiled our little girls with tons of stuff off our registry and some of the most adorable outfits in the world, in pairs of course. Mike and I love to sit in the nursery, turn on the sound machine, and just imagine. :) All we need to complete it is two gorgeous, curly headed little girls. ;)

Couponing
Harris Teeter Super Doubles are my BFF. Mike bought about 340 dollars worth of stuff for 120. We are WELL stocked and really only need to get milk, meat, and bread for the next several weeks. Mike put together a shelf in the fourth bedroom upstairs and that serves as our stocking area. Don't worry. We're not those people on TLC who are going to be hiding toilet paper under our daughters' cribs.

Technology
I have a white iPhone 4. It is my love, and it shares a space in the bed each night between us because of the White Noise Machine app. Our daughters have a Baby Crack machine in their nursery, but I needed the Mama Crack, so there we are. Some of my favorite apps include Angry Birds, Instagram, Twitter (@hollycrider), and Key Ring. Key Ring is an awesome way to consolidate all of your store cards so all you have to do is pull the store up and the cashier scans it. Don't worry. Mike has his mistress too. He got an iPad because "think of all the cool videos I can take of the babies, and we can Skype with my parents and they can see the babies." All he has to do is throw in "the babies" and he knows I'll go for it. I wanted him to get it and he can use it for work as well for all of his meetings, observing teachers, etc.

Church
We are now members of Growing Oaks Community Church. Our five-year church search is over. We could not be happier with our new church family. :) Feel free to come visit www.growingoaks.org or visit on Sundays at 10:30. We are so excited about the direction of our church and we absolutely love it. Church is a joy to attend now, not a chore. Part of has to do with a change in my attitude and heart, but a lot of it has to do with finally feeling at home somewhere.

I'm going to post some pictures this weekend of the completed nursery, shower pictures, etc. Please continue to pray for our little family. I would love to bake for about two more weeks at least. :)

Extreme Couponing Test

Okay. I need to share our first Extreme Couponing Adventure. We hit up a few Kroger sales and the Harris Teeter Triple Coupon event and matched our coupons up to the sales. No, we did not walk out of the store with needing a forklift for our groceries while only paying a penny and dancing out of the store, but we did a dang fine job.  Here are our totals for the month of May comparing how much retail product we brought home against what we paid and our totals saved. Totals saved includes the usage of coupons and store rewards card (HT's Vic Card and Kroger's Savings Card).

Kroger Trip 1

Retail: 105.26     Spent: 42.21       Saved: 63.05

Kroger Trip 2

Retail: 137.61     Spent: 70.71       Saved: 66.90

Kroger Trip 3

Retail: 25.48        Spent: 14.52       Saved: 10.96

Kroger Trip 4

Retail: 76.99        Spent: 9.53         Saved: 67.46

Harris Teeter Trip 1

Retail: 28.10        Spent: 5.88         Saved:  22.22

Harris Teeter Trip 2

Retail: 54.72        Spent: 15.67       Saved: 39.05

Harris Teeter Trips 3 and 4 Combined

Retail: 172.00     Spent: 66.00       Saved: 106.00

Total Amount Retail: 600.16

Total Amount Spent: 224.52

Total Amount Saved: 375.64

Percentage Saved: 63%

Particular Deals for Items Purchased:

4 packs of Chinet plates for 19 cents each.

4 tubes of toothpaste for .64 cents altogether.

2 pouches of Starkist Yellowfin Tuna for free.

30 boxes of penne, angel hair, linguine, rotini pasta for 1.00 altogether.

11 bottles of laundry detergent for 9.00 altogether

3 rolls of Scotch tape for free (This was a Walgreens deal for buy 1 get 2 free, and I had two coupons for a 1.00 each to pay for the 1.99 purchase. At Walgreens, you can use a coupon toward the free item!)

3 packs of baby wipes for 2.97 altogether

5 bottles of dish soap for 2.43 altogether

6 boxes of brownie mix for 3.00 altogether

5 boxes of dishwasher tabs for 13.75 altogether.

4 boxes of cereal for 3.40 altogether.

.75 cents a bottle for Frank’s Wing sauce (We have coupons to purchase some worcestshire sauce, Frank’s regular hot sauce, tabasco sauce, brown mustard, yellow mustard, soy sauce, and ketchup and ALL of these items will cost us NOTHING…if we can ever find them on the shelf!!!) We haven’t been lucky the past couple of trips to HT and they have all sold out.)

So we spent roughly 225 dollars for a month's worth of groceries, including meats, snacks, beverages, and all of the nonfood items that we have stocked up about a six week supply. This means that now for the next month or so, all we need to do is buy meat, produce, and a few snacks now and then.

So where do we go from here?

We've made a list of things that we never want to have to spend money on again or at least barely spend a quarter. This includes toothpaste (um, yeah, now that I can get it for less than 70 cents for 4 tubes of it, who in the world would ever pay 2.50 a tube???), all condiments (clip the coupons, watch the sales, match them up, you'll never pay for condiments again), laundry detergent (even if I have to pay for it, I will never spend more than a dollar per bottle, unless it is Dreft for the girls, and I even want to see what I can do with that), dish soap, and paper plates. I will never ever pay more than 2.50 for dishwasher tabs, never pay more than .50 for brownie, cake, or cookie mix, etc. We're learning, and I'm telling you, Mike is LOVING this. It's like a video game for him!!! We're still not professionals at it, but we are learning! :)

The Final Countdown!!!

20 school days left. 20! We can do it, y'all. :) I love my students, but I also love summer. State testing is this week, so of course, prayer is here to stay in public schools! ;) I also get a long summer with going back to work in October!

At the same time, this means the arrival of M and N is just around the corner. I've told people since December, "Oh, I'm pregnant and I'm due this summer." Guess what, y'all. Summer is about here. Eeeeeeek! Am I ready? I think...? :) The nursery is looking good, and I'm so excited for my big family shower on June 4th! :) We have been working on our diapers and wipes stockpile, and we are looking at getting our glider sometime soon!

Couponing adventures are still going strong. We picked up a few more free boxes of pasta this week, so I'm excited about that. We have a laundry detergent deal that we are working on, and I'm working on my binder all the time. Mike has SERIOUSLY been bitten by the couponing bug. Call him Coupon Dad for sure! :) Harris Teeter is doing triple coupons this week, and I've got my transactions split up for that!

I have my 28 week appointment tomorrow!!! New ultrasound pictures of the babes (yay!), Rhogam shot (boo....but necessary), glucose tolerance test (boo....but necessary), and routine appointment (yay!) are all expected tomorrow afternoon!! These girls are seriously Marco-Polo-ing it up in my tummy. Tap tap on top. Tap tap on bottom. Lovin' my daughters!

Enjoy the week, everyone!

Coupon Mom (...and Dad)

The couponing frenzy has started in this household, and believe it or not, Mike has started a lot of it.

Let's face it. Who can't afford to save a little money these days? It's amazing how an extra line on a pregnancy test, or two little sacs on an ultrasound screen can make you get your financial butt in gear. Mike and I used to be the types of people to just walk into Walmart and spend money and not even price compare or bother to look at how much something costs. Now, it's all about coupons, price comparisons, etc.

We have been watching TLC's Extreme Couponing. Now, some of those women are just plain crazy. I do not need 100 boxes of cereal, or 400 tubes of toothpaste, or 1000 packages of diapers (okay...maybe the last one), but even though these gals do take it to extremes, they do actually touch on something important. With a little bit of research and organization, you can really walk away with a lot of stuff for just a little bit of money. We have spent the past several Sundays getting a couple of extra newspapers and clipping away. Last weekend and this weekend, we put our talents to work. Here are just a few of the deals that we touched on this week!

*Kroger had some crazy sales this weekend. Their Ronzoni pasta was on sale 10 boxes for 10 dollars. So I went to the Ronzoni website and printed off four coupons (the max number) for 1.00 off of two boxes. This means Mike and I walked out of Kroger's with 10 boxes of pasta for 1.00. Anyone got any good recipes for rotini and angel hair?

*They also had their Pepsi 24 packs for 4.99 when you buy 2. I had a coupon for 2.00 of of 2 boxes. This means we bought 4 packs (96 cans of soda) for roughly 16 dollars.

*We bought some Tostitos Chips and Tostitos Salsa, one of my favorite pregnancy snacks. I had a 2.00 off coupon when you buy a bag of Tostitos and a jar of salsa. Also, when you buy a bag of chips and salsa, you get a free 2 liter Pepsi. We took advantage of this deal today and last weekend! Also, we had a 2.00 off coupon for two bags of Lays chips (Mike's favorite). When you buy 2 bags of chips, you also have a coupon for a free 2 liter Sierra Mist. Again, we did this last weekend too! :) We ended up with 4 2-liter sodas for free.

*CVS had a deal on a 6 pack roll of paper towels for 3.99. Mike got 18 rolls of paper towels for less than 12.00.

*CVS also has 24 packs of bottled water for 2.22. Mike is going to hit that up this week. It's a CVS brand of water, so hopefully it tastes pretty good!

*I have been craving Kool Aid and that has helped me stay hydrated. Again, Kroger had 10 packs for 1.50, and then I had a coupon for when you buy 10 packs, you get 5 free. Walked out with 15 packs of Kool Aid for 1.50.

*We bought three boxes of cereal for 1.98 each, and I had a 1.50 coupon when you buy 3 boxes!

*Gotta love double coupons. I had a coupon for French's Worchestshire sauce. It was on sale (huge bottle) for 1.55, had a coupon for 50 cents that was doubled, so I paid 55 cents for it.

*Walmart has been good to me with diapers. I had a coupon for 1.50 off of any size Huggies diapers. On the package of the diapers, there was also a manufacturer's sticker coupon for another 1.00 off that you can use in conjunction with your coupon. I had 4 1.50 coupons x 4 1.00 coupons, so I saved 10 dollars off of 160 diapers. I don't plan on buying a lot of diapers at the store, however. I'm just making a mini-stockpile to get us started. When the girls arrive, I will do the Amazon Mom Subscribe and Save where I set up a delivery system (free shipping!) where diapers and formula will arrive on a set day once a month, and you save about 30% in retail. Best of all, I don't have to worry about running out, or carting two infants all over the creation to get something.

*Finally, we got 200 loads of laundry detergent for 11.50. This is a cheat however, since I had a 10 dollar gift card to Lowes and 2.00 in coupons ;)

We have been saving our receipts and pinning them to our corkboard so that we can admire how much we saved ;) Mike has also been creating a spreadsheet of items that we buy on a regular basis and how much they are. We have been doing the surveys on our Walmart receipts in the hopes of getting one of those 1000 dollar gift cards. I also received a spreadsheet from a fellow Mom of Multiples of companies who either have a multiple child program set up or who will send out coupons and samples of formula, wipes, diapers to moms. I have emailed about ten companies tonight and I called Gerber, who was incredibly excited to help and they are sending me some prenatal coupons for the girls and the representative said, "Please call me when they arrive and we'll send you more!" Awesome. :)

Finally, we participated in our Childbirth Preparation and Lamaze class yesterday morning. It was a lot of fun (no, really!) and it was nice to have your questions answered by a Labor and Delivery nurse. We also got a tour of the birthing center and she showed us the "twin room" where Mike and I would be staying. I'm so excited!!! :)

I think that's it! State testing starts next week, and I'll be sooo glad to start my summer in a few weeks! :)

We've Gotta Eat Wednesday/Weatherspotting/DIY Shelf/Babes Progress

This week's We've Gotta Eat Wednesday is brought to you by this...

One big, scary looking funnel cloud.

This was our dinnertime conversation piece in between bites of marinated pork chops and oven fries. Tonight, we went the easy route and marinated some yummy lean cut pork chops in some Italian dressing and threw them on the George Foreman. I love that thing. My forever house would have one of those indoor grills built into a granite countertop, but a George will work for now. You can marinate anything in Italian dressing and it tastes delicious!

Oh, and we're okay. The cloud was headed north after an interesting afternoon of dodging the storms and wondering what we're going to get.

I also had a lovely little project. I went to Michael's craft store in search of a shelf with a few knobs to hang things on. I found the perfect unfinished wooden shelf for 14 dollars! Then, I picked up some white acrylic paint, an M and an N wooden letter, and some pink and brown paint. I sanded the shelf, painted, and Mike installed it with drywall screws. We won't talk about how I have a white spot of paint that I need to get out of the coffee table grain. Instead, I'll show the finished product.

Looks pretty good, if I may say so myself! :)

In baby news, we are 25w1d, and I had my six month appointment yesterday. So far I've gained 20 pounds (most of it consists of babies, fluid, all that normal stuff...and a bit of it is Golden Vanilla Oreos). One baby has a heartrate of 148 and the other baby is 158. Babies can't be distinguished into A and B from the outside anymore because they are just so big now. :) Can't wait until May 16th when I have my 28 week ultrasound, but boo to my nasty glucose test and Rhogam shot in the butt. Oh well. It is all TOTALLY worth it to ensure that these girls remain healthy.

More to come soon! :)

Baby Shower and Nursery Updates!

What a weekend! :) We went to Ohio during spring break and came home yesterday afternoon. We had the husband's side of the family family baby shower with all of Mike's side of the family! We are so incredibly blessed!

Gorgeous cake!

Diaper cake made with newborn size and size 1's.

Awesome spread of food. The menu consisted of chips and dip, ham salad sandwiches, cake, sugar free cupcakes, mixed nuts, homemade cheese ball, crackers, cucumber sandwiches, vegetable pizza, bottled water, punch, and soda.

How adorable is this guy?

Cute matching elephant sleepers!

My awesome mother-in-law, husband's aunt, and husband's cousins for helping make our day awesome!

Run-down of gifts received at the shower:

• TONS of onesies and sleepers that are much needed!
• Adorable matching outfits in all sizes.
• 20 bibs
• Double Snap and Go Stroller (Thanks, Granny and Papaw!)
• Carseats to fit into stroller (Again, gotta love the soon to be grandparents!)
• Bottle brush
• Playtex Ventaire Bottle Set
• Laundry basket full of goodies
• Assorted teethers, pacifiers, stuffed animals
• Diapers in Newborn and Size 1
• Several packages of wipes.
• Swaddle Me Blankets
• Sony Baby Call 900mhz monitor
• Carter's receiving blankets
• Several personalized gifts, including lovies, blankets, smocked dresses and bonnets.
• Matching stroller blankets
• Lots of bath supplies, diaper creams, etc.

Needless to say, we are incredibly blessed. Incredibly!


We've made some updates to M and N's nursery. :)

Bedding is from CoCoLo in the Mia Rose design.  (M's crib)

(Same bedding, only in N's crib)

Graco Charleston changing table with diaper cozies on each side. Both cozies are filled with newborn size diapers. The top baskets, from left to right, contain wipes, then extra bath items, hand sanitizer, and lotions, and the right one contains bibs. The bibs will be moved to the kitchen pantry later. The bottom shelf baskets contain size 1 diapers.

N's crib again, with the dresser next to it. All of the girls' onesies are folded and arranged by size with the smaller sizes on top. I think at last count we have nearly 70 onesies of different sizes! Pants and shorts are in the second drawer, sleepers in third, and receiving blankets and afghans are in the bottom.

Gorgeous lovey that we received at our shower. Each girl has one and her name is stiched on the bottom. This one belongs to M, and N's is in her crib.

I received this tip from another fellow Mom of Multiples, and I think it is genius! I got a cheap, over the door shoe organizer with see through pockets and hung it on the closet door. It houses socks, shoes, hats, teethers, pacifiers, nail clippers, extra creams and lotions, etc. That way, I don't have to leave the room to get something I need and I can see things immediately.

This is the beginnings of the closet. Unopened boxes of diapers are on the floor on the left side, along with their clothes basket and a basket for their toys. Extra clothes hangers are on the left, along with their bathrobes and frilly blankets. On the right are clothes with the newborn sizes closest to the door. Matching outfits are hung up side by side. I need to get some of those cute size dividers! Extra cases of wipes are on the top shelf along with the start of their library and a basket holding hooded towels. The middle shelf contains a lamp that is going to be returned!

Seriously. How adorable are these?

Up close picture of one of the diaper cozies. There is one tied to each side of the changing table.

Up close picture of changing table baskets and supplies.

We received this at our shower off of our registry from Mike's aunt and uncle. It is a Sony BabyCall 900mhz baby monitor. One of the other receivers already has a place on our nightstand in our bedroom. This thing picks up evvvery sound!

One last thing! I had a gift card to Kohl's and a ten dollar coupon off any purchase, so Mike and I made a quick trip to Kohl's. I got this awesome dry-erase calendar/corkboard for pretty much free. It's perfect for a busy family!

It is hanging in our hallway by the kitchen. We love it. Did I also mention it was free?

Have a great week! Happy Easter, for He has risen! :)

I'm not going to be a once a week Blogger...

I promise. I've just been really busy. Oh, and really pregnant.

Spring break begins on Wednesday, and I am ready! I've been enjoying this gorgeous weather and loving all things spring. I went to Buff Natural and got a pedicure this weekend in the same shade of pink that I'll be wearing to my first baby shower!! :) We leave for Ohio early Wednesday morning and will return Saturday. My mother-in-law and my husband's cousins are throwing a shower for me on Friday. I can't wait, and we are so thankful! I'm packing a cooler of snacks and drinks for the drive up and back and upon doctor's orders, definitely getting out and walking every two hours.

The girls are moving more than ever, all twisting and turning. Today, one got right behind my belly button, kicked some nerve, and it sent me straight to the bathroom to pee! Good thing I was home. That was weird! One got the hiccups the other night, another likes to poke her little butt out on my left side.

We attended an Easter party at my mom's church yesterday. The weather was horrific, but it passed quickly. I made a strawberry lemon cake that was cheap, delicious, and gone so quickly that I didn't get a picture of it. It was also not from scratch, and it costs maybe four dollars to make. I took a Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix, created the batter and baked it in two 9-inch pans, let it cool, covered it with Classic White frosting, and then quartered up some strawberries and pressed them into the tops and all around the sides. It was really pretty!

Oh, I got an awesome early Mother's day present from Mike...

Yep. That's a new Coach diaper bag and wristlet wallet behind it. Isn't is seriously just delicious?

Time to finish up packing! More fun things to come soon, and there's sure to be an update while we're in Ohio! :) Enjoy the week.