MOVED!

So there's been a nice furniture move at the moran house, lately and I'm diggin it bigtime :) Here's the living room:

Nice and fresh and roomy:

The dining room is now only for dining (moved the computer desk out of there)

And here's my new cluttery, catch-all bedroom (but it's worth it to make space for baby to be able to crawl around):

And the 'junk corner' in my room:

And here's what natalie was doing during all that moving:

That's right, playing in her baby condo/timeshare. Thankfully, she didn't wholly hate it :)

A very full day.

So today we all woke up at 4am to Grizzy barfing all over the bedroom floor. Grass, dogfood, you name it. awesome.

a few hours later, while getting ready for Natalie's ped appointment, I got a call from my boss... cutting my hours from 22 per week to 15. I (we) were shocked/horrified as we are so strapped already, but we had to keep it together to be strong & happy/chipper to help her through shot day.

then our awesome baby did so great with her 6 month shots! She had to drink a virus cocktail and get 3 shots in the thighs. Ouch. She cried a loud, screachy cry and turned bright red & hot (from being so mad) and then we blew on her and kissed/hugged her and she stopped crying before we even got to the front desk of the doctor's office! what a brave, big-girl!

keeping in mind that there is practically no food in the house until payday (friday), after baby's appointment and subsequent nap, we ventured over to the in-laws house under the guise of delivering the future best-picture dvd (a home video collection complied by my most awesome sister & brother in law!!! thank youuuuuuu!!!!!), and we mooched home-made ice cream & cheesecake off them. yum!

a family nap later, we made chicken fried rice, egg rolls, and chocolate chip cookies for dinner and mashed bananas for baby (pictured).

after her night-night, I settled down to check my email. and there was one from dad. Here's how it read:

I would like to take my Granddaughter to visit her Great Grandparents. There would, of course, be no cost to her parents for this escapade. You are welcome to accompany us at, again, no cost. The weekend of October 15-17, coincidentally Grandma's birthday, is the time frame I am considering. The weekend would begin with my driving on the morning of the 15th, picking up my riders, driving to the Airport to make the flight. From there, we would leisurely drive the 1 1/2 hours to Great Grandparents. While in there, I envision showing off my Granddaughter(Natalie Rose) and Daughter(that be you) to any and all peeps that we meet/visit/see in the mall etc. The flight back would be Sunday the 17th at some as yet undetermined time back, followed by a brief ride to take you home. I will, of course, return home and all will have had a good time. If the above scenario appeals to you, please let me know so arrangements can be made both in Florida and Illinois.

Lots of Love from Dad and Grandpa

Natalie & I accepted the generous invitation! Sheesh, what an eventful day.

Being Cheap & Healthy!

Cheap Teeth Whitening: Read this article about combining two products that whiten your teeth for less than $5.

Save money on liquid hand soap & dish soap, while going 'green' at the same time. Dr. Bronner's (or the like) Castile Soap is so concentrated that it makes regular liquid soap in a one teaspoon to a gallon ratio! So the 32oz bottle will last you practically forever!

Making my own baby food also not only saves a ton of $ (costs me $.05 per oz compared to store-bought costing about $.30 per oz), but it is a LOT better nutritionally for baby! Read this article for more on that. And here's my favorite homemade baby food website of all time.

And speaking of baby, save money by skipping the immunization pre-medicating for baby, too! Check out the latest in pediatric news on that recently posted in this MedScape Today (by WebMD) article which reveals that pre-medicating baby causes baby's body to react to shots with less immunity! Whoa!

And speaking of groceries, everybody says to buy produce in season, which is hard to know off hand, so here's a list I recently found:

The Cheapest Fruits and Vegetables Month-By-Month

January - oranges, grapefruit, tangerines, tangelos, lemons, papayas, cabbages: red, white and green; leeks, broccoli, cauliflower

February - oranges, tangelos, grapefruit, lemons, papayas, broccoli, cauliflower

March - pineapples, mangoes, broccoli, lettuce

April - pineapples, mangoes, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce

May - cherries, pineapples, apricots, okra, zucchini, rhubarb, artichokes, asparagus, spring peas, broccoli, lettuce

June - watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, cherries, blueberries, peaches, apricots, corn, lettuce

July - watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, apricots, kiwi, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, tomatoes, summer squash, corn, green beans, lettuce

August - watermelon, strawberries, cantaloupe, blueberries, peaches, apricots, kiwi, raspberries, plums, cucumbers, corn, eggplant, tomatoes, summer squash, green beans, lettuce

September - grapes, pomegranates, persimmons, eggplants, pumpkins, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce

October - cranberries, apples, pomegranates, grapes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, winter squash, broccoli, spinach, lettuce

November - cranberries, oranges, tangerines, pears, pomegranates, persimmons, pumpkins, winter squash, sweet potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, spinach

December - pears, oranges, tangelos, grape fruit, tangerines, papayas, pomegranates, sweet potatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower

Always a Good Deal - bananas, potatoes, celery

The Most Awesome CSN Store Giveaway EVER!!!!

OK, ladies (and gents) I never do this, but I have the most fantastic giveaway I just HAVE to share with you!!! It's for a $125 Gift Code to CSN STORES!!! What do they have they you want, you may ask?! I have no idea at all, but I know what *I* want, so if you love me at all, go to CSN.com and get the link for the baby food machine i NEED for natalie!!! do it NOW, people!

Then go to Susan Heim On Parenting blog and enter to win this for my sweet, precious baby girl. Then do EVERYTHING it says to get more entries!!! PLEASE, i never ask for ANYTHING!!!! so this is it...

IF YOU LOVE ME OR NATALIE IN THE SLIGHTEST THEN YOU WILL DO IT!!!!! **insert every cheap guilt trip tactic here**

thank you. seriously, stop reading and go do it. thanks.

~Katy (katymoran79at_hotmail_dotcom)

I like Squash!

I never liked squash until last week, when I gave it a try as an adult and... yum! So I made some for myself today:

I stir-fried it up with some onions, butter, salt, pepper, & powdered ginger and it was so delish!

Life in my world

So, here's a little of what's been going on with me (us) lately...

I am currently eating a strawberry fiber-one poptart/ sharing it with the dog, but upon typing the word 'fiber' I must admit I'm rethinking the sharing with the dog thing. I just got off the

phone with grandparents and found out grandpa had a fall a few weeks back and banged up his arm, nose, etc bad enough to go to the hospital and nobody even told me (btw, I hold the entire family responsible).

My landlord has been remodeling the main bathroom and it's now all fresh and new in there but it was pretty tough for a privacy-loving family like mine to open our house to the public for a week and a half while the landlord & his handywoman came and went as they pleased. But we're finally back to normal now (Yay for that).

And in the middle of all the bathroom ordeal, a thunderstorm took down our phone line at home and, in turn, our router got fried (somehow) so we had to mooch wireless off my neighbor until the at&t guy could get here a few days later. fun, fun.

Then, the other day, Natalie was kicking the edge of the table with all her might, while she was in James' lap and skinned one big toe and bent the nail back on the other one! They both ended up bleeding but she never cried at all, so it took us a while to figure out what had happened to them and when. Talk about a high pain tolerance!

Hubby's job is stupid as usual, so not much news there. His boss is the same misogynist as always so whatevs about that.

And in closing, here's a gratuitous cute baby photo:

Upy-datey

The proud big brother:Road trip with happy hubby :)

Love my baby-cakes!

Natalie's Visitors..

Family cuddle time (taken today- Natalie is 4 days old):

The doctor & Natalie moments after she was born:

Our little family still in the hospital:

Daddy doin' his calming her down thing:

Dad & Tara & Morgan came to visit:

Andrea (and her 4 month old Jacob) came to see her:

James' dad... Grandpa George

Natalie being cute:

Our friends Heather & Shay who just had twins of their own:

A cute Dad & Morgan pic:

Morgan LOVES being 'Auntie M'

James' mom holding her little grandbaby:

Patricia was her first visitor and stayed with us Saturday through Wednesday, cooking, cleaning, shopping, and baby gazing at all hours of the days & nights:

Overall a very tiring, but surreal experience that gets more fun (and less painful for me) everyday. She is so.... everything. I never thought my heart could grow so much!

Some bumpy pics...

This is what this mommy-to-be's kitchen sink now looks like:

And these are some not-so-cute preggo pics that are not suitable for facebook, but my REAL friends (& family) can still see 'em :)

Life at 33 1/2 weeks pregnant...

There are so many pregnancy 'symptoms' that I always expected to have like morning sickness, acid reflux, moodiness, swelling extremities, etc. And not only have I not have any of those so far, I have a whole bunch of other ones, which are apparently 'normal' too, but less talked about. Things like nose bleeds & stuffy nose, headaches, leg cramps, boobs leaking, vision worsening, extreme thirst, among lots of others. And as James puts it; those things 'were not in the brochure." I'm not complaining, just surprised by so much. I mean, this pregnancy-thing is one crazy ride!

In other news, I've been so nesty lately. in fact, last night i actually dreamed that i couldn't sleep & got a bunch of nursery stuff done I've been meaning to do. but then i woke up and none of it was done :( so before work this morning i sterilized pacifiers & teethers, washed all the crib bedding, packed both diaper bags and detagged/unpackaged all the new washcloth-type stuff that needs to be washed. Then at lunch, I washed that other load of baby stuff while I wiped down the crib, put the fresh bedding on and removed the cloth part of the car seat to wash. Glad to have so much done now, but I still have a lot of bottle sterilizing, clothes folding, and still some shopping to do. Not to mention setting up the car seat & mirrors in my car. ahhhh, the thankless joys of motherhood are mine already :D