Date Night Club

I saw this idea on Everyday Celebrating and thought this would be a great way to make sure that Rustin and I keep date nights a regular event after Molly gets here.



The Red envelope is the intro letter for our subscription to the Monthly Date Club, a "gift" from Molly. The green envelopes are "Bonus Dates". These are 6 stay at home date nights. Anything from watching a sporting event, to a movie with candy and popcorn, to making homemade icecream. The manila envelopes are labeled with the month and have a letter from Molly telling us where we're going that month. Some of the dates are simple like dinner and a movie or a trip to the new Drive In here in town. Most of the manila envelopes are pre-paid dates. They have a giftcard or coupon/groupon so that the dates are semi paid for already.

I look forward to opening these envelopes each month because even though I put them all together I closed each envelope and then mixed them up before I labeled them so they won't be a surprise for just Rustin.

A Molly Story Part 3- Meet Molly

Thursday morning Rustin woke up early to leave for work. He had to be in San Antonio early so he could move a family to Oklahoma. This would be his last out of town job for a while, but he'd be back late Thursday night. When I woke up on Thursday morning I was having contractions but my water hadn't broken so I wasn't going to worry. I went on about my day running errands until about 9:30 when I realized my contractions were getting really close together (5 min.-ish). I called my mom and had her come over just to sit with me for a little bit. By the time she got here about 15 min. later I was throwing up and my contractions were only about 4 min. apart. So she tossed me in the car and we headed for the hospital.

Rustin was about halfway through his job and drove the load on to Brownwood where his sister, Elisa, and brother and law, Clint, live. Clint hopped in Rustin's truck to finish the job and Elisa brought Rustin to the hospital. By this time I'd- had my epidural and things were going ok. Rustin got to the hospital about 2 o'clock and there wasn't much wait time after that. We spent a few min. visiting with my parents, my aunt Terri, his mom & sister and my grandparents before things really got going.

I moved along rather quickly and by 4:30 Dr. S had been paged and my wonderful nurse Brandy was getting me ready to push. According to my mom Dr. S came busting out of the elevator and flew down the hallway toward my room. 5 pushes and 9 min. later (4:58pm) Molly Ann Mahan entered this world.

Clean Up in Frozen Foods

So back here I told you all about the meals I'd made for after Molly gets here. Which is great in theory but every time I went out to the deep freezer in the garage it made me cringe. I didn't even know what all was in there or where it would be. So I looked for different ideas on how to organize a freezer.

I liked this one but it wasn't practical for a deep freezer.


These freezer totes would work but they were super expensive.


I thought about using these file trays or stacking trays but wasn't sure if I could fit as many as I needed.


So this is what my mom I came up with.


I put all 45 of the meals in 3 laundry baskets. (chicken, beef, other)Then I put 5 meals into each grocery bag (2 chicken, 2 beef, 1 other). Next I labeled each bag with what was inside. The plan is to take one bag from the freezer in the garage and put it in the inside freezer each week.



I know there are 7 days in a week and I only put 5 meals in each bag but I wanted to keep convenience meals like fajitas(3), pizza (2), turkey, ham, sausage wraps, hamburgers, and hot dogs separate from home cooked meals.

39 Weeks

How far along? 39 weeks
Size of Baby: watermelon
Total weight gain/loss: 39 lbs
Maternity clothes? of course
Stretch marks? yep
Sleep: mostly 2 hour stretches
What I miss: picking up heavy things, my crossfit workouts
Movement: now that shes head down the kicking is mostly in the ribs
Cravings: waffles
Symptoms: def. nesting.
Showing: for sure
Gender: Molly
Mood: Impatient

A Molly Story Part 2.5~ Turn Baby Turn!

So the ECV (external version) was a success!! The nurse I had was very sweet but was new and there were a few glitches* before we got started, but once she got the IV in we were good to go. Dr. S started the procedure right away and Molly wasn't having any of it. On the pain level it definitely wasn't the most pleasant experience and I don't tolerate pain very well (My mom even had a hard time watching it) but I think I did pretty good. Her heart rate stayed stable so Dr. S tried again, this time trying to move her in the opposite direction. Again baby girl wasn't budging. Her heart rate was still good so Dr. S decided to try one more time. Before the last try she tipped the bed back as far as it would go so that I was at a 45 degree angle with my head towards to the floor. They checked head placement and found that she had indeed turned and was head down ready to go. Dr. S didn't think it was necessary to schedule an induction or c-section which made me happy! They kept me hooked up to the monitors to make sure we were both OK. Then they discharged me about an hour and a half later to go home and wait for her to decide to make her appearance.

*By glitches I mean the moron sweetheart that was my nurse blew the vein in my hand and hit a nerve.

Usually needles etc. don't bother me but when my whole hand turns black and blue and makes me look like a crackhead I'm not a fan.

Dad's Birthday

Last Sunday we celebrated not only my dad's 54th birthday (7/13) but my Papa's 79th birthday (7/17) as well. We enjoyed a lasagna lunch with pecan pie for dessert. It was simple and a great time to sit and visit with family. About halfway through lunch it hit me (again) that this would be the last time we celebrate these birthdays without Molly. I was hoping that she'd be here on 7/15 and we'd be able to celebrate all 3 of them together but God has a different plan for our little one.

Week 38

How far along? 38 weeks
Size of Baby: leek
Total weight gain/loss: 38 lbs
Maternity clothes? of course
Stretch marks? yep
Sleep: getting better. more bathroom trips than in the past
What I miss: sleeping on my stomach
Movement: lots more now that shes head down
Cravings: crackers
Symptoms: def. nesting. My feet are beyond sore all the time and my emotions are a little more "all over the place" this week
Showing: for sure
Gender: Molly
Mood: Thankful. I'm thankful that I have a loving husband to experience all this with. Also, I'm thankful that I have a mom that is willing to sacrafice her days off to help me with errands and help clean my house (I mean really CLEAN...is nesting contagious???) Plus she keeps her opinions/advice to herself until I ask for it. Mostly not to overwhelm me I'm sure. :)


I thought my cart this week at Wal-Mart really summed up week 38