Price comparisons....

Looks like the matching car seat to the double stroller I found at walmart and posted about a couple days ago, costs $153.54 all by itself!! (and of course the double stroller is another $205.54.

Whereas this travel system that is pink and brown that matched scarlett's big girl seat that comes with a single stroller only costs $140.00 and comes with a free 10.00 Walmart online gift card.... so it would be more cost effective to get the pink one with the stroller and just not have it match the double stroller... then at least we would have both to suit our needs?

Starting to get sick of thinking about all of it. Feeling tired in general. Man it is hot in AZ. This is going to be one LONG summer!

Yesterday we got our check from one of Joe's clients, and were able to pay our mechanic and pick up our car. I am so grateful to have it back! Also I am excited to have money to pay my rent this month.

Scooby wanted to take Pickshers!

We had a really fun afternoon-evening over at my Parent's house today. David and Jodell were in town, and Ben and Kimmy were over there too with their kids. Scarlett had such a wonderful time, and was just FULL of smiles all day. It was wonderful. I am so grateful to have so much family close-by. My mom also got me a couple of nice Old Navy shirts at a yard sale today that look brand new as well as a couple little things for the new Baby.

Car Repairs are going to cost $375. The distributor needs to be replaced. Hopefully sometime in the near future we will have some money so we can pay the mechanic to get it going again...

Zoey is now leading in the name poll... I shall keep watching it and see what happens. I looked up the name Zoey online today and apparently it means "Life" in Greek. Kinda cool :)

Trail Mix, Baby Slings, and Dog-piles.

Scarlett's new favorite treat in "the whole wide world" is Trail mix. Yep. I went to a RS Meeting with my Mom and they gave us as a handout a prescription bottle full of trail mix. I took it home to Scarlett and she chowed down the whole thing... With no prejudice to ingredients. She is a trail mix lover. We bought her a bag of Kroger trail mix this afternoon and she is quite enjoying it.  I'm thinking to look at the Sunflower Market to see if I can get a better deal on it by the pound... as I am too lazy to make my own. (image from here)

So the verdict is in, I suppose I had better get a double stroller. I had been eyeballing that nice graco stroller that Amiee sent me the link to, and found a really cool color combo one that's only available online from Walmart... I think this is also the same kind Crystal was telling me about. heres the image. I have added it to my registry... which now has the car seat i want for Scarlett and this stroller, and that's it, lol.

Oh, and today my question involves baby Slings... I have always wanted a good one... think it would be nice to be able to hands-free carry the new-by so that I can still be of help to the Scarlett. They have some ADORABLE ones on Etsy... (that little girl reminds me of Scooby, and the cool thing about these slings is that they dont have any snaps or rings, so you don't have to fuss with it, just lay them in it.. the print I liked best looks like this:





Today has been well, not the best day. I woke up this morning and checked my account to discover that even though I watched my account and attempted to transfer funds to cover a pending transaction, it was past some cut-off time, so I incurred $66 in fees. AND nobody at Chase bank gives a crap that I tried so hard to keep my account positive and they told me there was nothing they could do. Jerk faces.

The one perk of our day was that  on our way out the door, Joe's sister Nikki stopped by and I think half way joking asked Scarlett if she wanted to go with her instead of us, and she was like, "OK!" it surprised Us as much as Nikki, but because she couldn't bear to tell Scarlett no,  so we got to go to the grocery store alone. It was fun to walk the aisles with Joe, holding hands, leisurely, without the determent of a 3 year old with endless wants and needs. 

On our way home from the grocery store however, our car broke down... It was acting a little funny a couple days ago (which is why I have pretty much just stayed home), but apparently has now decided to completely stop running. So, there we were sitting in the 107 degree heat, with a car full of groceries. (image from here) We called Nikki and she agreed to come rescue us and our groceries. Joe stayed with the car because it had some video equipment in it he didn't want to have stolen, and once Nikki got me home with the groceries I managed to get ahold of my mechanic who said he was on his way to help rescue Joe, and bring the car over to his house to look at, and Nikki brought Joe and his equipment safely back home. So in the end, we are car-less. Both cars are now out of commission, and we have a checking account with a -$61 balance. So pretty much, things are awesome with us.

We have been home this evening watching movies on TV and I would definitely have to say the hi-light of my evening was when we had a family dog-pile on the couch... First i was just laying there.. then Joe came to snuggle, so he was piled behind me (we are large so we look more piled than just snuggled), and Scarlett came in and didn't want to miss out on the fun, so she climbed "Mom and Dad Mountain", and plopped right on top and wrapped her arms around Dad who had his arms around Mom who has baby V in her belly. {no worries, i wasn't being smashed} I couldn't feel more blessed to have so much love all piled on one love-seat. (image from here)

Car seats, Travel Systems, Double strollers?

So a month or so back Scarlett had the privilege of riding in her aunt Nikki Welton's van and ride in her cousin Rachel's snazzy big girl car seat.. and let's just say, she loved it.. it was a big success. Since then, my curiosity peaked and I have googled it. Last time I saw Nikki she told me the brand Evenflo and I Googled again... and SUCCESS! found it on Rollback at Walmart for $59! I don't have $59, but hopefully soon we will. And, if not, I started a registry at Walmart, and have it on there... I think I will be wise and register for different things at the different stores so that I get my bases covered.

Scarlett's car seat is old and her legs are getting too long to stay in the current seat...  plus I found a cute travel system at Target that I really like... and I think the two will look cute in the car together :)

BUT---- People have been telling me that I need to get a double stroller instead of just getting a nice cute single stroller..... My concerns are as follows: 

1-Scarlett won't want to sit in it anyway2- I won't have Scarlett with me all the time and will wish that i just had a smaller single stroller so that it wouldn't be so cumbersome. 

3- I am going to want to use this stroller to carry that baby seat so I am not just trying to HAUL it around everywhere... cause lets face it those things are SO heavy. 

I considered a side-by-side double stroller, but those are so NOT Shopping friendly. Then, I considered a Sit and Stand, but looking at this picture I cannot see Scarlett thinking that was very cool... If she wanted to stand she would probably want to walk... *shrugs* 

I think in the end it probably comes down to: once I have 2 kids I will probably never want to leave the house with both of them, because it will be such a pain. What do all of you think? 

Hoping for words of wisdom.

V is for Violet

I don't know if it has anything to do with the Poll (to your right if you still haven't voted) or what... but i am starting to lean toward Violet Faye for the name of my sweet little kicker. I think I will call her V for short. V for victory and valor... V for Vendetta!> (image from here)

Today I asked Scarlett if when the baby comes if she wants it to sleep in her room with her. She said Okay!  I asked her, "..So you can keep her safe and she won't be scared?" Yes, she responded.  My mom said yesterday that she would probably do fine with the baby in her room. I, am a smidge more skeptical... hate to send a lamb to the slaughter.. though I know Scarlett would mean well, she is also sort of a sit up at midnight and sing a song kinda girl, or "hey, this seems like a good time to play with my toys and jump on my bed" sort of spirit. We love her, but she does appreciate the need for her own space (at least with other kids who are not her siblings).

V (as we shall call her until I change my mind again) has been kicking and moving around a lot. I really cannot wait to know her... to meet her Sister, and to watch Joe ogle over her, destined to be surrounded by beautiful women in his home.

My Mom has come over the past two days and helped me with a curtain project for our arcadia doors. Two places (we have lived in) ago, I bought this shower curtain and liner, but then didn't need it while we lived in Cali, and decided not to use it in the bathroom here so I gave them too my Mom as she really liked them. The heat of this summer seems to be getting more and more ridiculous by the day and as a result, we truly found the need to keep out the sun and heat from off of our patio into our livingroom. My mom, still had the curtains I had given her, and suggested we use those... and the outcome, is definitely an improvement. The doors are a little taller than the curtains, so they kind of look like they are ready for a flood, but they do keep us from tripping over them, and the rings make it easy to slide the curtains open and shut as needed. See the picture provided.

Today after adding the final rings to the shower curtains, My mom and I went to Kirkland home, and we found this cute wooden Princess sign for Scarlett's room. I took some pictures with the laptop cam, which made everything mirror imaged... but I managed to flip these two back in my picture viewer software so that you don't have to read the sign backwards... and then it didn't work... so I had to load it into photobucket, and make the flip and save... so I hope you enjoy seeing this.

I did hang the sign myself, so if it isn't completely straight or well placed, forgive. I did know that Scarlett wouldn't be able to reach it, because the two polka dots below it were still on the wall... if she can reach them from bed, she pulls them off of the wall... :) I also took a picture of the awesome curtains that Rita helped put together for Scarlett (it was SUCH a task, she was a saint to go to all the effort of finding just the right thing. She also bought Scarlett's comforter set and sheets that you can see on the bed including the cover on that cute lime green pillow.

The Results are IN....

Yesterday at 1:00 we went to our ultrasound appointment. We brought Scarlett with us, so that she could begin to accept the reality that a new baby is going to join our family. The ultrasound was much clearer this time than it was with Scarlett. They had a big HD monitor mounted on the wall in front of us, so we didn't have to try to strain to look at the tech's little screen.. We could see everything so well, even her eyes. There is no denying it is a little girl, as we got a very clear shot of that area as well. Joe was so sure it was a boy, but is still just as thrilled as I am about it being a girl. So I know before I sounded pretty sure on the name, but now that I know its a girl I am less sure... So I may post a poll to see the most popular of the names on our top 5 list. The baby measures exactly right for 20 weeks, and the Due date is still November 4th. Kimmy, is that your birthday? (image from here)

She has long arms and legs and was moving all around stretching out, and even playing with her foot. She is so wonderful, I know it already. The technician said she is very photogenic! :)

That's about all the news I have for now but do want some advice on the subject of baby showers..

OK so I am having another girl, but no longer have ANY of Scarlett's Baby stuff. My best friend had two little girls a year apart a year after Scooby was born, and knowing that I had everything she might need, it felt wrong not to give. Unfortunately now I am a little concerned about how I am going to dress this little girl that is growing inside of me. Being that this is my second child, I know that I really don't NEED as much stuff as I wanted with the first baby... Gone are my grandiose desires for the ultimate nursery or anything of the like. We will probably just need a bassinet so that we can have the baby in our room when she is small, and then we are not quite sure where we will put her... in with Scooby seems daring. (image from here)

So the real question is, can I really have a baby shower for new baby girl... or will everyone really be thinking I am just a gift-monger? I have considered registering at Target either way. They will give me a free $10 gift card for doing so... and that way I figure at least if someone wants to know what I want or need they can find out and buy it off there. I know that can be helpful for long distance people too, because Target will ship it to my house. Thoughts are welcome.

Lots of love and pink hugs.

385th post on Red Rawlins

Yep, believe it or not I have made or begun to make 385 posts on this here blog including this one.

I wanted to give a quick shout-out to my pal Rob Miracle for my awesome apple image for my header.. I added the text myself, but he was kind enough to email me the image file so that I wouldn't have to steal it :) He says he was just trying to cut a dark spot out of his apple and accidentally had this outcome, so being a photographer, he took a quick snap of it, and I loved it.

I have to report that my daughter has been a lot more cheerful since we cut her hair... That might seem like an impossible thing for her hair to be THAT tied to her temperament, but It does seem to be the case. She also loves watching Shrek, twice a day if she has her way, and every so often will settle for Monsters Inc instead. She still loves to color, and build with blocks. Grammy Rita got her some really cool curtains and at least once a week she shows them to her Dad like they are the first time he's seen them... "Look dad, I got curtains!" and he comes in and Ooohs and Ahhs. Grammy also bought her a green mirror that we hung right at her eye level so that she can examine herself in the mirror, and she absolutely loves it. She has knocked it down twice now mid-adoring herself, but Daddy always helps her "fix it" and put it back on the wall.  I would post a picture of her curtains, but scarlett is asleep in her room right now, so I shall not disturb her. :)

Yesterday Joe helped me bring in one of our shelving units from our porch and I have filled it as an extended pantry, helping us to regain a countertop, and then this afternoon I did the illusive dishes that have been ignored for far too long. My biggest mistake was forgetting to stop and feed myself. Pizza Pocket in the microwave now waiting for me.

I just have to get through 5 more days and then we will go to the Ultrasound appointment, hooray! I am now down nearly 40 lbs since January. Joe has now told me that it is unfair for me to want to give my kid more than 2 names.... so I am begrudgingly attempting to pair down the names.

It is really hot outside today.. Moms car thermometer said it was 109! Much too hot for habitation... I was lucky enough to miss out on these intense heats last year when we were in Irvine... one of the few perks of that move.

This post was intended to be a bit more grandiose but, I'm tired and want to take a nap... so I suppose I'll end this now.

Heres to 385 more...

I cut scarletts hair... a lot.

Its summertime, and I am her mother, so I went ahead and gave her hair a good cutting. Scarlett seems pleased :)