Rob's Dave Car

Background:
Rob loves Dave Ramsey. I don't just mean he kinda likes him. Rob downloads and listens to Dave's radio show everyday on his way to and from work. Rob has read Dave's Total Money Makeover TWICE. Rob went to Dave's Total Money Makeover Live Event. Rob talks about Dave all the time. So, it is no surprise that Rob began to get ants in his pants about getting his "Dave Car." For those who have never been introduced to Dave, a "Dave Car" is a low cost vehicle (Dave calls them clunkers), that you buy in order to maximize paying off debt. In our case, student loan debt. So for a few weeks now, he has been looking up cars for sale and consumer reports. The only positive I saw to this was that he needed a more family friendly car. Rob will be home with Lorelei every Tuesday/Thursday and babies cannot ride in regular cab trucks. So that was going to be a minor issue. We always take my car whenever we go anywhere, so I guess he really just needed something to get to and from work and to take Lorelei on any errands on Tues/Thurs.

Shopping Day:
After a few alone trips and much online shopping, Rob finally talked me into going to look at Dave cars with him. So, off we go to the dealerships. Now, these are not dealerships in which I am accustomed to. We head to Avenue Q dealerships. Anyone who lives in Lubbock knows that not much good comes off Avenue Q. But, I went with him and we ended up looking at a Honda Accord that he had seen previously at this dealership. He took a test drive while I sat in the air conditioned truck, as it was about 100 degrees and I was miserable. We went home so Rob could drop me off (he says he is a much better negotiator without me), he went to the bank to get cash, and headed back across town to Q. An hour later and much negotiating, he called me and told me he bought his car for only $3,100! He is very proud of this deal.

The Result:
Rob loves his 1995 Honda Accord. It has a sun roof, leather seats, a nice CD player, and power locks and doors! Power locks and doors might be standard for some folks, but it wasn't standard for Rob's F150 that he had. So now, we are on to selling the Ford truck and applying the difference to debt :)

Rob wants me to share this informative and shocking video about cars by Dave Ramsey:
http://www.daveramsey.com/etc/lms/drive_free/player.cfm

P.S.
He has just informed me to let him know when I am ready and he will get me my Dave car too. Goody.

Butt Ruffles

I love clothes with butt ruffles. However, I had no idea there would be a whole company dedicated to making clothes with such ruffles!! I was reading Parenting magazine and saw an add for this website. I guess there are other people who share my love of ruffles on baby's butts!

www.rufflebutts.com

Summer=not nearly as productive as I planned :)

I put off baby things until summer, since I have a whole two months with no work. I thought I would get tons done around the house and have things ready for Lorelei. I thought wrong. It is almost the end of June and I am no where near ready!! WHAT HAVE I BEEN DOING!??

Well, we started the summer by visiting Austin for a FamilyLife weekend away. It is a retreat for married couples, and it was such a good get away for us. Leaving LBK is always nice, but staying in a very nice hotel and spending all weekend together was refreshing! Two weeks later we went to Chicago for five days to visit family! While we did not go into the city (except for the Cubs game), we had a great time staying at Mom and Dads in Lake Forest. Pictures from the visit are above :) Now, we are home in LBK and I am trying to accomplish some things. I have come to realize that something I thought was a small weakness of mine, IS A BIG PROBLEM!! I am completely indecisive. I have always known this of myself, but I think it has gone too far! I spent several months obsessing over baby furniture until I finally decided on everything and as of today, it is all ordered and we are waiting for it to arrive! However, the same day I finalized furniture ordering, I began a new obsession. Strollers. So now, I have spent many hours over the past few days researching strollers and still have not decided. I never would have guessed that when deciding on a stroller, you have to take into account parent cupholders, adjustable handle height, weight of stroller, ease of folding, child snacktray, storage baskets, reclining seats, wheels, shock absorbers (?!), and to top it all off, there are yearly makes and models of strollers. It is like shopping for a car! With all my indecisiveness and endless research, it is a good thing Rob went with me to pick the paint color for the nursery. He let me compare colors for all of 5 minutes and then picked the color himself. And it turned out perfect!

We had the 28 week doctors appointment yesterday. I got my RhoGAM shot since I am an O- blood type, and that was about all! Nothing new. Just some measurements, the dreaded step on the scale, and the doctor's ever predictable question of "So, what questions do you have?" We go to the doctor every 2 weeks now, so I will go 2 weeks from today to my regular doctor, as well as to the ultrasound doctor for the 30 week sonogram!

I have big plans for the afternoon. Getting the house in order. By in order, I mean laundry..unloading the dishwasher..going through paperwork and bills, and possibly cleaning out the fridge :)

P.S. Be sure and check out Lorelei's cradle. Tom (Rob's stepdad) is building it by hand and it is beautiful! He has built several cradles before, among other things, and is a fabulous woodworker. The cradle blog is very fun to watch! Check back for updates.
http://web.me.com/tomoliver4/Cradle/Blog/Blog.html

26 weeks

I guess I have not been very good about keeping the blog updated. I have not even posted pictures of me throughout the pregnancy! So, they are posted. The first is most recent at 26 weeks. Then, 20 weeks, and finally 17 weeks. We went to the doctor last week and I had to drink the gross orange drink for the glucose test. The nurse called today to say I needed an iron supplement. Better than having gestational diabetes I guess :)

The nursery is painted! Well, I should back up. We thought we were going to clear out the guest room and use it as the nursery and keep our office the same. However, with a little rearranging of furniture one day while Rob was at work, I changed my mind! We are using the old office as the nursery. The guest room is now the guest room/dog sleep in crate room/office. It worked out really well and we get to keep the guest bed in tact! So, the nursery was painted a very light pink and looks so good! I have Rob to thank for helping with the paint color, as I am always too indecisive. We picked a good one...not too bright, not too pink. Now, onto making a final decision on furniture. The bedding is almost all here. The bumper was on backorder so it should ship out in the next week.

I got my maternity bathing suit today. It was not an easy task! It is very cute though and I already got to wear it today when we went to the pool today. It is nice that pregnancy is the only time one does not worry too much about what she looks like in a bathing suit :)

1 lb. 4 oz.

Well we went to have an ultrasound done yesterday (Happy Birthday Rob!) and Lorelei is 1 lb. 4 oz! Right on schedule for the EDD of Sept. 14th. Actually, they calculated me being 22 weeks and 5 days rather than 22 and 3 but we are right on track! It was so amazing that she was so much bigger than the last time we went! It looks like she takes up the whole space, as compared to in the beginning when she was a tiny blob and they had to go looking for her when they did the ultrasound. I will go back on July 7th for the 30 week ultrasound. The technician said she had long toes! Rob said his toes are long, but I have never noticed this!

I think we have decided on the nursery bedding and are looking forward to ordering it soon! A picture is below! I like it because it has white, pink, and green in it and just a few little birds for fun!



Only about a week and a half left of school and then I can enjoy summer!! We are going to Chicago in mid June! Rob has never been, and I have just been twice, so it will be fun to spend time with family and see the city at the same time! Rob will take his CCRN (Critical Care Nursing Certification) in two weeks, so he has been very busy studying and is ready to have that behind him. Happy Summer :)

Lorelei Hope Patterson

Made with My Cool Signs.Net

We have a name! Lorelei Hope Patterson! We both love the first name Lorelei (Pronounced Lor-a-lie) and Hope is the first name my Nana suggested! And it fits very well with Lorelei :) P.S. If she needs a nickname, it will be L.

I went to the doctor today for my 21 week appointment. Not much news-the visits are very short. I go back in 4 weeks and will have to do the glucose test for gestational diabetes. Then 3 weeks later, I have to get the RhoGAM shot, being that I am an O- blood type. So those appointments should be not too fun! We go to the sonogram doctor next week on Rob's birthday!

Last night, I was reading in my books and was shocked to realize that the 3rd trimester is only a few weeks away! We have a LOT to do! However, I did get the guest bedroom pretty much cleaned out this past weekend so we can begin to think about ordering our nursery furniture and crib bedding!

It's a...

It's a girl! We found out on Monday that little baby is a girl! The ultrasound tech said she was POSITIVE and that we could go shopping.  Well, still no shopping but at least we can stop calling the baby "it."  We have still not decided on a name although we have a few in mind.  However, for now-the choices are top secret!

We went to the ultrasound doctor last Monday (at 16 weeks) and she weighed 5 ounces and had 5 fingers (on the hand we saw)!  So that was exciting! We go again at 22 weeks.  I go to my regular doctor at 17 weeks, which is on Monday! This past week, we thought we felt her move for the first time!! It was a weird popping feeling! I felt it first and then had Rob feel and he agreed that it was probably a movement!!

I am trying to get started with digital scrapbooking and have yet to decide on a company/website to use.  I did experiment with cropmom today and liked it! Above is the very cute page that I made to announce the news.