I definitely thought that I would "project" this baby out this week......everyday was full of to-do's and I was honestly worried I'd given myself too much. But now it's a new week and I look back so satisfied with everything I was able to complete.
I managed to get seven meals prepared and frozen. This is something I didn't do with Denay, but I wanted to be a little more prepared this time around! I made two chicken noodle casseroles, two baked potato soup, two macaroni and cheese and one mushroom chicken with rice and veggies. Unfortunately, now I don't have any room in my freezer for meat for meals so it will mean frequent trips to the store but at least this way we will be able to eat something other than grill cheese, pancakes and cereal once or twice a week once baby comes :)
The other super-duper major thing (other than my impromptu kitchen makeover) that I crossed off the to-do list was getting this baby a carseat. We decided even before we were pregnant that we wanted to sell our Graco travel system and get and seat compatible with our BOB stroller but one that was smaller and only usable for up to 22lbs. After trying to sell it for months and getting not a single inquiry, the opportunity came up for us to donate the set (and some other big baby items) to a local mom who didn't have the means to get what she needed for her baby, who is due around the same time as my bambino. We had been looking for a new carseat for months and couldn't find one that we liked that was compatible with our BOB. We fell in love with the Maxi Cosi Mico seat (which is second best rated by Consumer Reports) and decided we'd just make it work with our stroller. We tried looking used and ended up finding one about two hours north of here. It was just a year old and had a small bleach stain on it but she was asking $100 less than the retail price at Toys-R-Us. Then we started looking new in the states and figured with the free shipping they were offering, we could ship it to a friend of my mom's (who was making a trip over here) for about the same price as the used one once we factored in how much in gas it would cost us to drive up there and back. THEN, we found out it was illegal to use a carseat purchased in the USA in Canada. So it really felt like we were back a square one and with finances seeming to get tighter ever week, we were really trying to figure out how to make this work. Then my husband remembered that a few weeks before I had, on a whim, checked our AirMiles balance and had quite a number available. So we checked to see if we could redeem them for Toys-R-Us gift certificates, which we found out we couldn't. But we could get HBC gift cards. So we called The Bay and to our delight, were told they stock the seat in the color we wanted. Yay. So we ordered all of the cards we could with the AirMiles we had and they came in the mail just over a week later, on Thursday. So I called to double check that they had one in stock before I drove an hour there and found out they had one left. The lady told me she would put it aside. I got a all back from her about 10 minutes later and she had checked the stock room to find them didn't have any ones in boxes, just the floor model. I told her that wasn't a problem and that I would be in the next morning. I got to the store and found the women I'd been speaking with, we checked out the seat and then she proceeded to inform me that because it the seat was the floor model, it was on sale for $35 the regular price. I was floored! We got to the till and after the cashier rang through my five gift cards, I asked her if she could check my HBC rewards card for anything I could redeem. She came back and said that there was $10 worth and took that off the price as well.......so when the dust settled, I took home a brand new seat for $60 when it should have cost me over $250.
The other super-duper major thing (other than my impromptu kitchen makeover) that I crossed off the to-do list was getting this baby a carseat. We decided even before we were pregnant that we wanted to sell our Graco travel system and get and seat compatible with our BOB stroller but one that was smaller and only usable for up to 22lbs. After trying to sell it for months and getting not a single inquiry, the opportunity came up for us to donate the set (and some other big baby items) to a local mom who didn't have the means to get what she needed for her baby, who is due around the same time as my bambino. We had been looking for a new carseat for months and couldn't find one that we liked that was compatible with our BOB. We fell in love with the Maxi Cosi Mico seat (which is second best rated by Consumer Reports) and decided we'd just make it work with our stroller. We tried looking used and ended up finding one about two hours north of here. It was just a year old and had a small bleach stain on it but she was asking $100 less than the retail price at Toys-R-Us. Then we started looking new in the states and figured with the free shipping they were offering, we could ship it to a friend of my mom's (who was making a trip over here) for about the same price as the used one once we factored in how much in gas it would cost us to drive up there and back. THEN, we found out it was illegal to use a carseat purchased in the USA in Canada. So it really felt like we were back a square one and with finances seeming to get tighter ever week, we were really trying to figure out how to make this work. Then my husband remembered that a few weeks before I had, on a whim, checked our AirMiles balance and had quite a number available. So we checked to see if we could redeem them for Toys-R-Us gift certificates, which we found out we couldn't. But we could get HBC gift cards. So we called The Bay and to our delight, were told they stock the seat in the color we wanted. Yay. So we ordered all of the cards we could with the AirMiles we had and they came in the mail just over a week later, on Thursday. So I called to double check that they had one in stock before I drove an hour there and found out they had one left. The lady told me she would put it aside. I got a all back from her about 10 minutes later and she had checked the stock room to find them didn't have any ones in boxes, just the floor model. I told her that wasn't a problem and that I would be in the next morning. I got to the store and found the women I'd been speaking with, we checked out the seat and then she proceeded to inform me that because it the seat was the floor model, it was on sale for $35 the regular price. I was floored! We got to the till and after the cashier rang through my five gift cards, I asked her if she could check my HBC rewards card for anything I could redeem. She came back and said that there was $10 worth and took that off the price as well.......so when the dust settled, I took home a brand new seat for $60 when it should have cost me over $250.
That lovely diddy is now installed in the truck and ready for baby! Sorry for the very long explanation but I wanted to share how God worked all this out for us and truly provided in a very real way!
Now.....I'm REALLY ready for baby. I picked up a friend's exercise ball today to labour with and retrieved my co-sleeper from another friend and we just got back from pacing Walmart for over an hour (it's raining hairy animals here) and stocking up our cupboards and shelves.
So now, we wait.......I've had a lot of people ask if I feel like it's soon, and I don't know so I think that means it's probably not. But I do know that it wasn't until 39 weeks (the day before I had Denay) that I got to point I am now, where I'm ready and I just want to get this show on the road.....
3 comments:
Awesome news about the carseat!! Did you ever end up getting a double stroller?
What meals did you end up freezing?! I have such a hard time finding recipes that are as good after thawing them... p.s. - i love your blog! i found it thro Shawna. ;)
I've been waiting for this....
when we were over and shopping for the car seat with you...I was thinking that we should buy it for you....and just as quickly as I thought it.....a small voice said...no, wait, let me show them how I can provide. I really had NO idea how creative the provision would be!
Don't you just love the God we serve? He is so faithful!
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