Getting Back on Track

I've taken a few weeks off from the blog world to ya know, get my head out of the toilet and my stomach out of my throat.  The nausea is finally starting to pass and I can't say how excited I am.  Many women love the first trimester of pregnancy, the miracle of it all and while I appreciate the miracle I do not enjoy being overly exhausted or nauseous or vomiting.  I count down to the 12 week mark and cross my fingers food will magically start sounding good again.  It's starting to, slowly.

I've started cooking actual meals that have a meat and 2 veggies rather than hot dogs with fries, chicken nuggets with fries or tuna helper.  I think my husband was quite relieved to see me in the kitchen making homemade sloppy joes, mashed potatoes, and corn.  This is the first "real" meal I've cooked from scratch in weeks, and it felt good.

I've also started getting back on track with my grocery budget.  The $30 challenge will start again for me, and I'm actually trying to get it down to $25, cuz I'm just that way, always trying to spend less and save more.  When the nausea hit me hard and nothing sounded good or smelled good, I "splurged" at the grocery store.  Now when I say splurged I'm sure many people will think I spent around $100, Heck no! My splurging was more like $40 instead of $30 and going in with no meal plan and no grocery list.  This being said, I should have stuck to my original budget and planning methods because we have started running out of some essentials but due to the fact that I was buying more quickie stuff than actual meal stuff I didn't keep these in stock or even pay attention to the fact that they were low.  Every penny counts when your budget is small and even a $3 item, that's not meat, can be difficult to fit in.  So I'm playing catch up now.

I had no desire to craft, sew, or do anything that require extra energy for that matter, but I'm starting to get the itch again.  I have a list, a small one, of baby items I want to make for this new little one. 

1. 1 yard flannel receiving blankets
2. hooded towels
3. binky clips
4. messenger style diaper bag
5. hospital gown

Nothing fancy but some essentials.  We kept pretty much everything from Grant's baby days, except clothes, so most items there's no need to repurchase.  However there were a few baby items I found completely useless with Grant and I refuse to have useless items in our small space.  Grant was a big baby, over 9lbs, and I couldn't even swaddle him in regular receiving blankets because they were all too small.  Same goes for infant towel, I had to use 2 from the very beginning to wrap him up and actually have all of him covered.  These were the first things I thought of when I was figuring out what I needed for another baby.  That being said, I'm hoping to get the sewing machine out again soon and have some goodies to show off.

I also have quite a few events coming up that will require my craftiness capabilities.  Grant's 3rd birthday is coming up and he's obsessed with trains, so that's our theme.  Halloween is after that and I think it's becoming a tradition I make his and my nieces costume for our trip to the zoo's Halloween celebration.  My cousin is pregnant (2 weeks ahead of me) and I'm doing her baby shower, cowboy or cowgirl depending on the gender.  My sister is getting married next summer and I'm in charge of the bridal shower, think modern country, and cupcakes for the reception.  Add in the birth of my own baby right smack in the middle of it all and my year is pretty hectic.  My creative juices are already flowing and I'm planning and gathering ideas on how to make all of these events budget friendly, and amazing!

So you see I haven't dropped off the face of the earth..
As if you thought that.
And I should have some great stuff coming up to show off, which is my favorite thing to do on this little blog of mine.

This picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post but I felt it need a picture.  Grant is a little camera shy.  Actually as soon as I get it out he runs, or turns his back to me saying "I don't want to".

Do you think maybe the kid sees my camera way too much, haha.