Ahhhh.....

I love having the internet back. Granted, it's not MY internet but it's a connection and I'm online and right now that is all that matters! It was getting really old constantly straining to read things on my phone or waiting for the pages to upload. It's awesome that I was able to check things if I needed to on there but not nearly as nice as having an actual BIG screen to look at. (not that my computer screen is overly large.....)

Last week I was REALLY stressed out. I made it to 25 weeks and then spent most of the week anxiously awaiting the "crisis" day of my last pregnancy. Fortunately it was a very uneventful day & here I sit at nearly 27 weeks with no bleeding and AT HOME! I have felt a few contractions but nothing consistent or too bothersome. I just make sure I drink lots of water and take it easy when I need to. This has really hindered my packing progress but that's a small price to pay. When I hit 26 weeks it felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders & I felt much less tense and apprehensive. Of course 26 weeks is not an ideal time for Cupcake to make her appearance so I plan to keep baking her for a bit longer but it's still nice to know I was able to make it to this point without any problems. I have a feeling I'll have a bit of anxiety when 33 weeks rolls around as well but I'll deal with that then.

Packing. Is what I *should* be doing BUT as I said before having the internet back is SO glorious that I'm spending the entirety of Elliot's nap using the computer - doh! We are picking our keys up on Thursday before Haverkamp closes & I am SO excited. I was a bit sad at first about leaving this place as it is Elliot's first home but I really think our new place will be great for us. It is smaller which once in awhile makes me panic a bit but we are planning on having a storage unit for those things we don't need to keep our closets all clogged up with. The most interesting room to set up is going to be our bedroom as it's MUCH smaller than it is here AND we have to fit Cupcake in there somehow.....

My mom has been the garage sale queen this summer & has scored some great deals. We found a great bassinet that we'll use for Cupcake when she's still little & that will help save on some space. This little girl already has quite the wardrobe though! We thought Elliot had a lot of clothes but her selection may put his to shame which is really saying something! Fortunately we've been able to get a lot of this stuff in excellent condition at garage sales & consignment stores. She may have more stuff than Elliot but her wardrobe will probably come cheaper. I have a feeling we won't be able to say that for long though! It's awesome to know we're getting some great stuff while still saving money. I'm pretty sure that is the only reason Petey puts up with it, too!!

We've decided on another way to save ourselves some money in the long run. We are going to cloth diaper Elliot and Cupcake. We've done our research & have decided to use mostly one size pocket diapers. These are diapers that should fit BOTH of our kiddos at the same time as they are rated to fit kids from 7-35lbs. There are so many choices out there that it has been mind boggling to decide which ones to try. I really love all the cute patterns you are able to get but those tend to be more expensive so we probably won't have too many in our stash..... I finally did some ordering last week & the three I ordered got her fast & since then I've been even more addicted to reading stuff online & finding new ones to try. As of next weeks sometime we should have a stash of about 11 cloth diapers and we plan to grow that substantially over the next few months. We figured that for the amount of money we had spent on Elliot's diapers in his first year we could buy a sizable stash of cloth diapers that would last both of our kids through potty training & many of those diapers should be good to go for any other future children we may be blessed with. Needless to say those savings add up to somewhere in the 1000's of dollars even after factoring in laundry detergent, energy & water use and consumption. Plus, it's better for their little bottoms & ultimately better for the earth. I'm not one to get very "crunchy" & environmental but I have to admit it feels decent to know that my kid's diaper won't be sitting in a landfill forever.

In other news - I miss my husband. His internship has been awesome and he was so lucky to find this place or be found by this place. (depends how you look at it I guess) It's funny how things turn out! We thought for sure that he was going to be working some non-engineering job here in Ames or Des Moines & not making all that great of money but sure enough just when we had about given up any hope of internships being left he had an interview with Mark that went exceptionally well. Mark is a great guy - from what I can tell of my limited time with him - & Petey meshes really well with everyone there. He's also gotten some incredible experience & been able to work on stuff he probably wouldn't have been able to at many other internships. Plus, the pay is fantastic AND he will get to continue working for them over the school year! Obviously he won't work as many hours but there is no where in Ames that would pay him that much for his time & he most likely will get to bring a company computer back with him to run all of his engineering stuffs on. We're pretty excited about this if you couldn't tell. Two & a half more weeks until he's done living in Dubuque though & I get him back AND we get to go on our anniversary trip to the Twin Cities. Nothing too exciting - just a baseball game & Dave & Buster's & sleeping in! We're excited to relax & spend some downtime together without Elliot before the craziness of the school year begins & Cupcake makes her appearance.