Pennies from Heaven

Coming into this pregnancy we really had no idea how we were going to pay for everything. It was so overwhelming to think about all the stuff we had to get for our baby. We are both still in school and working part time. We were doing ok financially, but we really didn't have any extra money, just what we needed to get by. The thought of adding the expense of a baby was a little scary. We felt like from the very beginning that having this baby was the Lord's will and this gave us confidence that everything would work out ok. The first blessing we received was a free crib set. I had a habit of checking craigslist every morning when I got up for any good baby deals. This habit had been pretty unsuccessful so far, but I was determined to find a good deal so I continued checking. One morning I found an ad for a crib, cradle and changing table. There was no price listed but I figured it was worth a look. When I opened the ad I found that the lady was giving away the crib set for free because it had a stripped screw. Whoever would come pick it up could have it for free! I emailed her right away and she got back to me to tell me I was the first to respond the the ad! We where super excited. The only thing we were worried about is the crib fitting in our car. We have a 1990 Toyota Camry and since its so old the back seat has trouble folding down for some reason, something is broken with the mechanism I guess. To fix the problem we took the entire back seat out of the car...It was a bit of a mess but my husband is pretty handy so we got it all back together later and we got the crib set home.

Here's the set we got :)

 Most of our other "pennies from heaven" came from Derek's awesome Aunt Judy. She is really into couponing so she got us a ton of wipes and diapers. A friend of hers also gave her a car-seat and bathtub to give to us because she had no use for them. She also gave us an awesome old rocking chair and made us some great receiving blankets. She and a few other members of Derek's family are also pitching in to pay for a nice breast pump for me. I don't know what I would do without all of her help. Thanks Judy!

 Our last blessing came in the form of a stroller. I was on our ward/apartment facebook page and someone had mentioned something about some strollers that needed to be taken away because they had been left in a stairwell for a long time. I walked over to the stairwell to take a look and sure enough there where two strollers, one big one and one of those umbrella strollers. Some neighbors where outside so I asked them if they thought it was ok for me to take the strollers and of course they didn't object. They where super dirty because I found out they had been left there for about two years, but they cleaned up just fine. Here is the bigger one.

I am also getting a baby shower this Saturday which I am super excited about. I didn't think I was going to get one because I don't have too many close friends around here and no family except for a few members of Derek's family around to throw me one. Luckily a friend of mine from the ward and the relief society president asked if they could have one for me. Yay :)

 I almost forgot,we also recently got approved for medicaid which will pay for the rest of our dr. bills and for the birth. This pretty much covers every expense that we where stressing out about. I feel so blessed. I know that Heavenly father is watching out for us and that he really does love to see us happy. He really does answer our prayers. All of these blessings really have been "pennies from heaven."

Pregnancy so far

Since I just started this blog I thought I would give everyone an overview of how my pregnancy has gone. I am currently 34 weeks along, only 6 weeks left! I can't wait to meet our baby girl. We are going to name her Eden. We don't have a middle name yet but we do have some ideas. My pregnancy has been pretty good I think just from what I've heard from others.

I was never very sick thankfully. I felt a little nauseous sometimes in the first trimester but it was manageable. I did discover that my motion sickness that I've always had got much worse. In my very early pregnancy I went on a marching band trip to Texas so of course we flew. I usually do fine with turbulence but on both flights I nearly got sick I was so nauseous from the turbulence. It was awful :( Other fun pregnancy symptoms I've had are heartburn and reflex(Its gotten worse and worse towards the end here. I also have very swollen feet already. They have gotten so bad that I couldn't even wear church shoes today for church. I had to wear flip flops, which is somewhat unacceptable for church standards...Oh well, I think they'll forgive me :) I've had a few aches and pains as well. I have scoliosis in my back so my back has been hurting a lot lately. I've also had some hip/sciatica pain that has come and gone. Overall nothing too terrible. My favorite thing about being pregnant is feeling her move. It's so fun to try to figure out whether its a knee, elbow, hand, foot, or even bum that's stretching out my belly. She's fun to play with already. When she leans against my tummy, I'll poke back and then she moves and pokes back, so fun. We are so excited to meet her!

Introduction

I've been wanting to start a blog for a long time. I actually have one that I posted like maybe 6 posts on and none of them are very exciting. I've been married for about a year and am due to have a baby at the end of August so I realized that this gives me something to blog about, my new family :). My husband and I are still in school as well which will make parenting even more challenging. We are both studying to be nurses as well so we can share interesting things that we learn along the way. Right now our lives aren't super exciting. My husband and I are enjoying our last summer together, just the two of us. I am also having fun preparing for our baby girl. There is still so much to do! Mostly just organizing and cleaning. I'm also working on some decoration's for the baby's room. Usually I'm not very "artsy" but it saves a lot of money to make my own decorations instead of buying them. I'll post some of my creations later along with other ways I've saved money preparing for our baby :)