A Month of Gratitude: Day 15

I am grateful for many things we don't often think about. It's easy to take conveniences for granted, but today, I am thankful for grocery stores. I'm especially thankful for pre-cooked meals at the grocery store. The leftovers I planned to cook last night turned into a disaster. I guess some things are not meant to be refrigerated and reheated. Never mind what it was supposed to be, it came out a gloppy mess.

The S.O. ran to the store and bought chicken and mashed potatoes from the deli area at the grocery store. We added a vegetable, and dinner was ready in a few minutes with no tears (well, just a few).

I am really thankful I don't have to grow my own food and butcher my own meat. I could if I had to but I am so glad I don't have to.

A Month of Gratitude: Day 9

I am grateful for people who work in retail who go above and beyond the call of duty in the name of customer service.

Today, Milo kicked off a shoe in Costco. Of course we didn't notice until we'd walked a ways. We looked all over for the shoe (this would be the second shoe we lost at Costco in the past two months) to no avail. I stopped a random employee and asked where to go about a lost shoe. She pointed me to membership services, noting it probably wouldn't be there yet.

I would have been so sad to lose these.

We set about finishing our shopping, without much hope of finding our lost shoe. Just as we were about to check out. The employee who had pointed me to membership services chased us down with Milo's shoe in her hand. I had to give her a hug. It didn't take much for her to find the shoe, but it sure meant a lot to us. Maybe she sees it as her job. I see it as an extra step and an act of kindness -- especially on a day when things were looking a little bleak.

So, today, I am thankful for that Costco employee and other people who make shopping a pleasure instead of a dreaded chore.

Week of Gratitude: Black Friday

Today, I am thankful that most of my Christmas shopping is already done! Be careful out there.

Momma's new shoes

I figure I'll be spending a lot of time in loose-fitting clothes this summer as I try to get my pre-pregnancy body back. Because of that, I decided Momma needs a new pair of shoes -- a pair of not-sneakers-or-flip-flops, cute, comfy, will-go-with-practically-anything shoes.

So, thanks to L.L. Bean and their new free-shipping policy, I found such a pair.

I can imagine these with skirts, shorts, capris, jeans, etc.

And they didn't cut into Baby's college fund.

Irresistible*

Baby's official due date is four days after Easter, but I just had to have this for him. Besides chances are he'll be here a little before Easter. In which case, he will need this.

*Irresistible - enticing; tempting to possess

Shopping

The S.O. and I spent three hours Sunday creating our registry at Babies R Us. Babies sure do need a lot of stuff, don't they? About an hour of that time was spent talking to a sales associate about car seats and strollers. I thought for sure I wanted a jogging stroller or an all-terrain stroller. But I know how big and bulky those type are, so I thought we'd also want something more portable, like an umbrella stroller. After talking to the salesperson and test driving several different strollers, we decided on an umbrella-type stroller. It's portable, but has back support so we don't have to worry about Baby having a slouch before he's an angsty teen.

And because they're coming out with new colors soon, this year's models were marked down significantly. So, we went ahead and bought a stroller.

This is the stroller we bought:

It's a Maclaren Triumph. And we pretty much love it. It fits perfectly in the back of my Element. It folds up and opens easily. And it pushes smoothly. The downside is we won't be able to use it until Baby is old enough to sit up on his own. However, most of the strollers we were considering fall into that same category. Up until then Baby will get hauled around in a baby carrier of some sort. If mama kangaroos can do it. I can too.

We also bought a baby keepsake book. I went ahead and bought that so I would have the one I want and to make sure we definitely had one. I want the hospital to put his little footprints in the book when he's born.

Then, today, I ordered some fabric. It looks like this:

My wonderful friend Kate is going to help me (read: do all the work) make curtains with this fabric for the baby's room.

So we have begun to scratch the surface of the items we need.

It kind of freaks me out to actually be buying things. The worrywart part of me is afraid of what might happen. The realistic, practical part of me knows that if something goes wrong now (see how the worrywart side won't even allow me to articulate what might go wrong?), it won't be any easier if we didn't buy anything.

I shop

Despite some of the advice I've read, I went ahead and bought some maternity clothes. Yes, I know it's early. But the coat I was looking at was more than 50 percent off and wasn't going to be available long. So I ordered it. It's very cute and not totally maternity looking, meaning I may be able to use it for more than one season. And I ordered some maternity leggings, which are great for now, and because they have a very stretchy waistband and aren't too tight, they'll work when I get bigger and will probably be perfect for right after the baby is born. So, I just got a couple things to help me get through until the bump really starts popping out and I have wear real, honest-to-goodness maternity pants.

I've also been looking at some maternity tops, mostly t-shirts, because that's the kind of person I am. Here are a few of my favorites.

From ThinkGeek.com

 

And from CafePress.com:

Yes, I'm a geek and a dork and not all that fashionable. But I love weird and/or goofy t-shirts, and becoming a mom -- with all the responsibilities that entails -- isn't going to change my dorkiness.