34 Week Update

We had our 34 week appointment yesterday and everything looks great with Malia. She's measuring great, moving enough, etc. She's head down and in a good position too...the nurse practitioner doesn't think she'll turn before delivery. We also talked about arrival dates. Her official due date is June 8th (40 weeks), but if she's progressing in a good way, they'll induce June 1st (39 weeks) - although it could take up to 48 hours for her actual arrival. Tyler's last day of work before summer is June 3rd, so we'll be cutting things pretty close! They're thinking she'll be an average sized baby - maybe 7 lbs? - based on how she's growing. I couldn't ask for a better pregnancy even though I still have to follow a low carb diet and check my blood twice a day.

Oh and baby shower this Saturday! I'm excited to see family and close friends at the event. My mom has put a lot of time and effort into making the shower absolutely beautiful, unique and fun so, I'm excited for the day. Hopefully Malia will be having fun that day too as a little passenger.

In non-related baby news, Tyler and I are still couponing (yes, we're into it as a couple!) and with two newspapers (8 total copies) we've managed to stockpile enough toothpaste, floss, razors, shaving cream, mouthwash, laundry detergent, ziplock bags and cereal to last us the rest of the year on our normal grocery budget. Sweet deal right? I've never had so much fun at grocery stores. Oh, simple, newly discovered joys.

Couponing Day #1

So, I believe I've mentioned this in the past, but I've decided to try and get into couponing. I have plenty of time and limited funds, so couponing seemed like a must have hobby/part time occupation.

After bringing home four Sunday papers, I got to clipping and boy does it take a while to clip all those coupons! Then I checked circular ads for the five big grocery stores within a few miles of us: Albertsons, Safeway, Frys, Bashas and Walgreens. I matched what the stores had on sale with my coupons and got a few good deals...

• 4 bottles of All free & clear laundry detergent (32 load bottles) for $2.50 each - perfect for baby clothes
• 4 packages of Bic hybrid advance razors (7 cartridges in each package) for .50 cents each - my favorite deal since these razors can be as much as $8.99 per package!
• 3 tubes of Sensodyne pronamel toothpaste - for $2.79 each - my biggest splurge, but I saved $2.00 on each
• 4 tubes of Colgate toothpaste - for .50 cents each (I think we're good on toothpaste for a while!)
  
• 8 boxes of Hefty One Zip bags in various sizes - for $1.00 each
• 3 Freshetta pizzas (yum) - for $3.00 each
• 10 Dannon yogurts - for 24 cents each
  

So far I've saved $28 with manufacturer coupons and then another $45 with in store savings. Not bad for a first outing. And I still need to buy more edible groceries =) I'm not sure I'll ever be as extreme as the ladies on the Extreme Couponing show...even with my small batch, I got one rude cashier (due to 3 of my coupons disappearing at checkout and me trying to quickly look for them!). I'm not sure I could handle the pressure of tying up a register for 3 hours like those ladies do, but I am further motivated by the deals I found - especially on those razors. There's a humble kind of security knowing we don't have to pay for a few staples for a while...and who doesn't love keeping more money in their bank account? =)

So much for carb control...

I've read online pregnant ladies with gestational diabetes should keep carbs around 35 g. per meal...but after work yesterday I decided I'd be safe eating a foot long coney island chili dog from Sonic - oh, they're sooo good - no sides, with water. Got home, ate and then googled the hot dog's nutritional facts. Uh, yeah, 157 grams of carbs in that sucker. Seriously!? Tyler thought it was hilarious...I felt my stomach turn over (and it wasn't the baby). I can do tacos from Taco Bell at 15 g. of carbs a piece, but the Sonic dog? Sadly, I wont be having another one until after the baby.

The fun news...I've already lost a number of pounds on the diet which the doctor said to expect. +15 lbs of weight gain now which means I wont have much to lose after birth - yay! =)