DC Baby Shower!

I am so behind in updating so I am trying to catch up.  We have been so busy with the contractors here, traveling for Thanksgiving, working, and everything else.  Anywho- my friends in DC threw me a baby shower on November 19th.  It was so wonderful of Pari and Kelly and I am so happy so many people came and brought beautiful things to baby girl.  Ben and I are so truly blessed to have such wonderful friends.

Tons of delicious food!

And a very tasty cake!

Presents for baby girl...

Our friend Debbie made this for baby girl. 

I absolutely LOVE it!

Opening my last gift.  Johnson & Johnson products for baby girl!

Thank you to all my friends that came out for a wonderful afternoon.  I had such a wonderful time and I love all the gifts for baby girl.  Yay for baby showers!!!



Catching up with birthday fun and the nursery

The past two weeks have been a little busy in the Novak household so I am a little behind on my blog updating.  So here are our updates starting with November 7th...

Free dinner at Fuddruckers (they sent me an e-mail for a free meal for my birthday)

I also went to Victoria Secret and got a free bottle of shower gel ($10 value) and then over to Express and I got a free lip gloss ($7 value) (all courtesy of free birthday items with my birthday coupons).

On Friday, November 11th (2 days before my birthday) I came home from work and Ben had set-up a 3-course fondue dinner for us to celebrate!

Cheese fondue (first course)

Meat course (second course)

Chocolate fondue (third course)

So yummy!!!

Sunday morning (11/13/11), Ben surrounded me with presents (and breakfast) in bed.

I have been "hinting" for a door knocker with our last name for about 6 months.

My new camera!

On Monday, our contractors started on the nursery.  They were finished on Wednesday, here is the finished project!

Walking into the nursery.

New wall (on the right) and the new door!

Beautiful, happy yellow paint.

New door.

Ben building the first piece of furniture.  The changing table.

The finished product!

So, that's what we have been up to the last couple of weeks.  Busy celebrating and getting ready for baby girl.  We are super excited to have the construction done on the nursery and now we (and by we, I mean Ben) is putting together the rest of the furniture and adding all the fabulous details to her room.  Once it is all done, I have will post about the nursery.  Have a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving!



28 weeks

I am 28 weeks (and 2 days) pregnant!

Baby girl is about 2.5 pounds and 14.8 inches long.

She is still the size of an eggplant.

Her lungs are mature now.  So in case she comes early, she is ready!

New this week: I am having a lot of trouble sleeping.  I get up 3-4 times a night.

Weight gain: Probably 20 pounds

Clothing: I am wearing maternity jeans, but all of my shirts are regular.

Time left: 12 weeks or 82 days

Nursery progress

Some of you have been to our house and some of you have not.  For those of you that have, you will remember that our 3rd bedroom (the loft) was our office.  For those of you that have not, now you know that our 3rd bedroom (a loft) was our office.  We are turning the 3rd bedroom from a loft office into a nursery with 4 walls and a door.  Here is the progress we have made in the last two days...

Monday (day one)

Starting to frame the wall

More framing

Dry wall

Tuesday (day two) they framed and installed a door!

Yay for a door!

A door and a wall!

They are painting the room yellow.

It is so cheerful!

View from the outside hallway, again, yay for doors!

27 weeks

I am 27 weeks pregnant!

This is my last week in my second trimester (yay!).

Our daughter is the size of an Eggplant.  She is about 14 inches long and weighs almost 2 pounds.

This week our daughter has been practicing inhaling and exhaling with her rapidly developing lungs.

Weight gain so far: I'm guessing 19 pounds

Fun fact of the week: I love almost all foods again!  Still no red meat....but hey, everything else sounds good.

Time left: 13 weeks or 89 days (oh my goodness!)

Sunday Savings

Super doubles were going on this week at Harris Teeter!  I hooked up a bunch of good coupons and deals and then made my way to CVS.  I didn't save as much as I would have liked, but we were out of a lot of stuff and needed to stock up.  I did much better last Wednesday during the first day of super doubles, but still wasn't too bad.

We needed milk and juice.  The Sara Lee cake was free.

The 3 pizzas were 1/2 price plus I had $2 off for each.

The meatballs were buy one, get one free.

The muffin mix was buy one, get one free.  The chips were free with a coupon. 

I had coupons for the juice and sugar.  Everything else we needed

(except the Teddy Grahams, I was craving them)

The cokes were buy 3, get 2 free.

Original total:  $147.58

Total spent: $98.62

At CVS, I was working towards getting a $4 extra care bucks credit and spending the $30 to get a $10 gift card.

I only had a few coupons to work towards my items.  I had coupons for the Clorox wipes, Pledge, ALL, and Colgate toothpaste.

Original total: $81.13
Total spent: $38.52


Original totals: $228.71
Total spent: $137.14

26 weeks

I am 26 weeks pregnant!

Our daughter is the size of an Eggplant.  She is between 13.6 and 14.8 inches long and

weighs between 1.5 and 2.5 pounds.

New this week: Her eyelashes have all grown in.  She has also started to take some breaths, but it's of amniotic fluid at the moment.

Weight gain: 17 pounds

Time left: 14 weeks or 97 days!

Baby girl Novak

I know that I have been updating weekly about my pregnancy and how much weight I've gained, etc. but I haven't really talked about how excited I am to meet my little girl.  Ben and I are over the moon that we are having a daughter and I can't help but look at little girl stuff ALL. THE. TIME. 

I keep thinking that it has hit me and that reality has set in that I am a mom.  But no friends, that reality has not really hit me yet.  I'm sure it will hit me the second day baby girl is here, and hit me like a ton of bricks.  She will be up crying at 3:30 in the morning and Ben and I will be running around trying to get her to stop.  At least this is the scenario I have playing in my head as to when Ben and I will realize that we really are parents and not just playing them on TV.  ha!

So in preparing for our daughter that will do nothing but sleep, eat, cry, and (hopefully) smile at us for the first few months, I have of course been designing a play room.  This has been in my mind until I saw a picture on potterybarnkids and it was my mental creation come to life.

I love the purple and white, especially since her room is going to be pink and green.  It is so feminine and organized and I love the baskets for all the toys.  Hopefully someday, something similar to this will be a reality for our daughter, but until then, I will continue to dream of the fabulous purple playroom.

Sunday Savings (on Wednesday)

So, no I do not think it is Sunday, nor did I forget to blog on Sunday.  I was waiting until I did my Super Doubles shopping at Harris Teeter today to blog for my Sunday Savings.

We shall start with last Wednesday...

I went to the mall with Ben for dinner (Chick-fil-A) and some coupon redeeming.
We went to Bath and Body Works to get prizes for my prize box.

We picked up 41 bottles of hand sanitizer at 75% off.  They were $1.50 each and I paid $0.37 each.  With any $15 purchase, I received any item of my choice up to $13 for free.  So I picked up a bottle of body lotion (normally $12) for me (For FREE!)

Original total: $73.50

Total spent: $15.93

We then went over to Macy's because Clinique is giving away a free gift right now with a consulation.  So, I tried out some new eye shadows (for free) and then received a free lip gloss and a free 'all about eyes' eye cream.

On Saturday...

I made a quick run to CVS to pick up some last minute Halloween candy.

I ended up with 6 bags of Snickers, 2 bags of Nerds, and 3 bags of Kit Kats.  I had a $4 off $20 purchase coupon, (3) $1.50 off candy coupons, and (1) $1.00 candy coupon. 

All of the candy was on sale for $2.50/bag.

The nerds were orginally $3.99/bag.

The snickers were orignally $4.59/bag

The kit kats were orignally $4.79/bag

Original total: $50.48

Total spent: $18.59

Today I went to Harris Teeter and CVS.  Super Doubles started today at Harris Teeter.

I got lots of good stuff at Harris Teeter today and will probably go back again this week once I go through my coupons again.  The only things I bought that I did not have coupons for were the yogurt (they were on sale) and the orange juice (regular price, boo).

I purchased: 2 boxes of Cheerios, 2 boxes of tacos shells, 8 yogurts, 1 Buitoni meal, Lysol wipes, Bounce sheets, 2 packages of gum, 3 pack of yeast, 1 bottle of Pellagrino water, carpet cleaner, swanson flavor additive, ban deodorant, aveeno lotion, garnier fructis shampoo, Texas toast, Hagan Dazs icecream, country crock butter, and band-aids.

I won't bore you will all of the coupon match-ups and sales.  However, I will tell you that:

I bought the Buitoni meal and received the Pellagrino water, Texas toast, and ice cream FOR FREE!

With coupons I received the band-aids, lotion, and butter FOR FREE!

Original total: $75.19

Total spent: $33.25

I then drove to CVS to pick up the few items I needed that would help me redeem the free $10 gift card.  I had coupons for everything I bought and a store coupon for $3 off any purchase.

Original total: $51.04

Total spent: $25.94 and I received a $10 gift card to Old Navy!


Original total for the week: $250.21
Total spent for the week: $93.71