Remember when I outlined all N’s job uncertainty in this post back on May 2008? Back then we still had no idea where his job search would take us and we were pretty worried that we would end up stuck with the status quo if no better offers came along.

We were barely making end meet, were financially frustrated, itching to start a family, had no chance of buying a home and were ready for a little more job security. Too bad my lady doctor said I was not fertile because of my low weight and N’s job told him they really valued him but could not increase his salary from here on out. That was 5 months ago…

Can you believe how much has happen in 5 months? Holly crap! N got the job in Evansville, IN so we started planing our cross country move. We got engaged 7 days before we were scheduled to move. We made the week long cross country move with minimal drama. We were in our new home for 3 weeks, were planning our wedding for July 2009 then we found out we conceived our first child! I just did the bills and we actually have several hundred dollars left over after everything was paid oh and houses are damn cheap here!

That really is a ton of stuff that fell in to place all at once for us. I guess it makes up for the 3 years we spend in limbo land huh? I almost can’t believe all has worked out for us in such a freaking short amount of time.

Now I just need to master taking photos of water already (I didn’t forget Wordless Wednesday, just a bit late) Lotus says anyone can do it and my camera has a freaking macro setting but my water photos suck big time. I guess you can’t have it all huh? Here are my crappy attempts and a funny video!

I am 100% satisfied with my wedding dress purchase. I’ll admit I was feeling a bit apprehensive about buying a wedding dress on Ebay but I did my research, covered my butt and when it arrived today is was better than I thought it would be!

Yesterday I got a survey request from David’s Bridal, they wanted to know how my dress shopping experience went when I visited their store. What a perfect opportunity to share my 2 cents! I took the survey and gave them a piece of my mind. I also told them about finding the same dress in my size for less.

Anyway, when I tried this same dress on at the store the beading was all white and it was very pretty but my dress that just arrived today has sparkly silver beading mixed in with the white beading. It sparkles when light hits it! It is so pretty and looks way better than the one I tried on in the store.

Plus the size 2 fits my chest area perfectly, the dress is still big in the hips but that works out great with getting pregnant. I am sure my hips will expand a few inches huh? The dress gives me just enough room to grow with pregnancy. I figure I’ll just do alterations on the dress after I have our baby and right before the wedding. See everything happens exactly when it is meant to.

In other news I am also having less nausea today, that is always a good thing! I think the giddy excitement for everything is just starting to hit me. Yay for weddings and being pregnant! It is not happening in the most preferable order but we are just darn grateful anyway!

Exciting news: 

That is the 3rd pregnancy test I’ve taken. I have been feeling woozy. I am not sleeping through the nights, I am peeing a ton, have been dizzy and super achy in my lower back. I have been keeping a journal of my thoughts each day we tested. Looks like we’re having a baby.

Pregnant? Oct 9th 2008

N and I were discussing my monthly fertility chart yesterday. We use the TCOYF method of natural family planning. It is recommended that both partners take part in the process so N participates by recording my temperature data on the chart every morning. I am in charge of interpreting the chart and then we both make mental note of my fertile days.

Anyway we were discussing my fertility for the month yesterday, N was asking when we should try to “make a baby” so we grabbed the chart and started analyzing. We realized our chance of already being pregnant was good.

I have been feeling fatigued, have been having sleep irregularities, am feeling achy, crampy and have even been feeling nauseous. Today will be 8 DPO so that means I just have to wait 6 more days to know if I am pregnant or not.

Here is the next entry:

October 12th 2008

I took a second pregnancy test, it looked like it had a very faint pink line. The first pregnancy test was very obviously negative, it has a evaporation line but had no color. The second one totally has a faint pink line. Seriously, it is super faint though. Here is a photo:

N and I even had an argument about whether or not it was a pink line, he claims he can’t see the line. According to my chart I ovulated 10/1 so that means I am now 13 DPO.

I have been feeling tired and achy still. In a few days we’ll know for sure if we are pregnant or not. If we are that means that I’ll be having a baby 3 weeks before our projected wedding date.

Now that gets us to today, October 14th 2008 and we have unmistakable double pink line action now. Too bad I don’t have insurance, oh and what are we going to do about the planned wedding and the dress I just bought? Do you think I’ll be able to get married 3 weeks after having a baby? I guess at least I’ll have nice plump boobs.

Oh, and Hailey actually pooed today! It was very little and it was super dry but at least she did it. Now we just have to fix her diet so she stops having pooing issues.

Guess who just snagged an Oleg Cassani CT285 wedding dress, a David’s Bridal long line felina strapless bra and a David’s Bridal wedding dress slip all for $281.35 (including shipping)… I did and we are stoked!

The dress retails for $1100, the slip for $49.00 and the bra for $80.00, we got such a steal and did a heck of a job staying under our $400 wedding dress budget.

The dress is brand new, the bra was used for a fitting and the slip was worn previously but I don’t mind. All I wanted was for the dress to be new and authentic. Now all I need is the matching veil and some shoes I like!

N says we should take the dress, bra and slip in to the David’s bridal shop for alterations, to get the matching slip and to rub in the great deal we got on the dress. I am considering it, we are going to have to hold off on the alterations though especially since the period is late again…

Just wanted to share that great deals I got with everyone. It really does pay to shop around! Those bridal shops want to create a sense of urgency at the shop so they can pressure you in to completing the sale. They work hard at it and we almost fell for it. Good thing we didn’t because it saved us a whopping $947!

Also, thanks a bunch for all the thoughts and advice about Hailey and her poo shenanigans. We are attempting to remedy a possible health issue of hers. We suspect she is constipated and that is why she is pooing in strange places (thanks to much google searching and your comments).

Now she is locked in the garage with a litter box, water, a bed and some wet/ oily cat food. Apparantly cooking oil can help with constipation. So we’ll see how often she poos and what the consistancy is. Fun huh?

It is raining like crazy here today! N and I just checked out a local bridal consignment shop that had many dresses that were similar in style to the one I like. They were all smaller than a size 8 too!

Also, I have another article published on the web today, I am a guest author @ itsevansville.com.  Turns out some classic Broadway productions are being performed in Evansville over the next few months, yay good theater! So I wrote about it for their site and can’t wait to see a few shows with N. If you have time head on by my article (linked above) and show some love!

Now for the “too good to be true” discovery: Remember the first wedding dress in my last post that I loved? Well I found it on Ebay in my actual size! I am pretty amazed and excited. It is 80% cheaper than the one I tried on at Davids Bridal, it seems too good to be true huh?

Now I am not all for making big purchases on ebay (especially clothes), it makes me kind of nauseous actually so I did some research. Ebay has a buyer protection policy in conjunction with paypal. If you buy something that is described one way but it comes as something completely different you can report the seller and paypal will work to get your money back.

Also, if you are smart and link your major credit card with your paypal account (not a debit card) you can do a “chargeback” through your credit card company directly. Often times doing a chargeback is easier than going through a 3rd party company (like paypal or ebay) to get resolution.

So, my game plan is to wait until the ebay auction is almost over, nobody has bid on it yet. I have taken screen shots of the sellers auction page to prove how the item was described on the auction page. Lastly, I’ll be funding my paypal account with my trusty visa card as they have an awesome chargeback/ buyers protection policy.

If I don’t win the dress I’ll just find one that is similar to it at a consignment shop or on craigslist. N found me a size 4 Oleg Cassini that is similar to the one I like in St. Charles, MI for a good price. I also found one in Kansas that might work. Basically there are pleanty of other options so we feel good about not buying in to the David’s Bridal “pressure sales” tactic and dropping $900 on a dress. Especially since their “special discount” sale that was going to save us $200, that ended 10/6 appears to be on again. What a scam!

Guess who is hitting the boxed wine tonight big time, all thanks to the pain of petite wedding dress shopping… ME!

We went to David’s Bridal and I tried on several dresses. The one we loved was Oleg Cassini CT258 and it was on display in the window of the shop. We looked through all 12 of the dresses in the shop that were in my size.

Nothing was coming close to the dress in the window (which is very similar to the initial Jacqueline Exclusive #9811 dress I found) so we told a consultant we love it and wanted to try it. It was a size 4 and it was about 4-6 inches too big on me. It was also $1100 which is out of our budget.

The consultant pinned the dress to give us an idea of how it would fit me if it were my size, it looked amazing but I was still swimming in it.

They said if we bought it in the next 24 hours they would take $200 off the price with the sale that was only running for another 24 hours. They also offered to order in the size 2 for me but I had to buy it first before knowing if it would fit or look nice.

I am sorry but I can’t stomach paying that much for a dress plus how can I feel good about buying it without trying it on? Additionally I’ll have to pay for alterations on top of the already out of our price range cost of the dress. And there are so many ladies on craigslist selling dresses who were suckered in to buying a dress they loved in a size that the store didn’t have in stock to later learn that the dress didn’t fit them. Ugh, no thanks buddy!

On the positive side I did get to try on a dress that I sort of liked that WAS my size. It was my plan B dress though… It is a David’s Bridal #T8017. The picture on their site makes it look way poofy. When I put it on it looked nice. N and I both liked it but preferr the other style dress much more. Here are the shots of me in it.

Now we are scowering criagslist and contacting bridal shops around us to find either a:

• Oleg Cassini CT258 in size 2
• Jacqulin Exclusive 9811 in size 0
• Forever Yours Intrigue 38223 in a size 1

To all my midwest blogging buddies, if I find one on craigslist in a city near you will you scope it out for me and let me know if it is actually in good condition before I rent a car to drive to the dress and try it on? I would love you forever!

Over the weekend N and I went wedding dress hunting. Yeah I know the dress is supposed to be a surprise for the groom and all. Problem is I just moved and am now living 1500 miles away from them, I have no “people” to go dress shopping with.

I figured it would really be sad if I went alone so N and I talked and we are okay with doing the dress hunting together. Once I find a dress I love I’ll do fittings and all the finishing touches by myself, unless one of my lovely readers happens to be near Evansville, IN and wants to be my dress buddy.

So back to the dress hunting story, we spent the entire day roaming our new home town. We visited USA bridal with hopes that my favorite dress would be in the store since they supposedly carry it. Upon entering the store we discover the selection of dresses was quite limited.

Actually they only had 3 dresses in my size and only one of them actually fit me. It was a dress with color, actually a color we were toying with having on my dress anyway. So despite the “sweetheart” cut and the looonnng train I tried it on. N snapped some photos for your viewing pleasure and our reference.

The chocolate brown definitely does not go well with my skin tone and hair color, nor did the dresses with red. We did see an Alfred Angelo that was in a lighter green that we were considering. You can sort of see it hanging in the dressing room behind me in the photos.

It looked good with my skin and hair and the light green would not overshadow or compete with the forest setting we have chosen for our wedding. Too bad the dress was not in my size!

After wedding dress hunting we went to Joanne’s to shop for a cute dress pattern and some fabric. Guess what the smallest size is for the patterns I loved? You guessed it, not my size!

I am just haveing some all around size issues right now, nobody carrys my size in anything! Plus I need to get some meat on my collar bone so I wont look as freakish in a sleeveless wedding gown, oh well. I’ll post the photos from David’s Bridal tomorrow.

Yesterday N and I went to Owensboro, KY to do another mystery shop and to spend some quality time together. On our way to the mystery shop we stopped in at Abbingtons Bridal House to scope out some dresses.

Sadly they did not carry the Jacqueline Exclusive dresses I liked but they did offer me some constructive criticism about what kinds of dresses I should consider for my body type and the owner even jokingly asked me to model a dress in an upcoming bridal show because he loved my hair.

I also found another dress that I am  adding to the “I like” file. Here it is:

After we were done at the bridal shop (no I did not try and dresses on) we headed to starbucks for a pick me up and I ended up dripping caramel sauce on my yellow top, great!

We then drove around the historic neighborhoods and ogled the cheap and adorable houses for sale. This is one of N’s favorite pastimes by the way. I am learning to get used to it, in the beginning it annoyed me beyond belief because it was like window shopping and I hate window shopping. When I see something I want I need to have it, falling in love with stuff I can’t have is not my cup of tea.

Anyway we also visited the Ohio river bank in Owensboro and relaxed a bit. It appeared another couple had just married there and we watched them taking wedding photos. This inspired us to take a few photos of our own:

Like I said in a comment yesterday I have been only been perusing dresses online because I don’t want to get my heart set on one particular dress and have it be unavailable. I am not really a “by the book” kind of girl so my dress selections are a bit different, I think different is good!

So here we go! Since I am 1500 miles away from all my girlfriends in Arizona we are going to have a little wedding dress day right here on my blog! It is like you are in the dressing room with me helping me pick a dress huh? Shh, just pretend okay? If you click on the images can see a larger image of the dress.

This first dress caught my eye about 5 years ago when I was working the front desk at The Radisson in Flagstaff. They were holding a bridal convention or something and there were wedding books lying around so my coworker and I started flipping though them. This was the one and only thing it the book that I liked.

I love the way it has that flash of color. I am also questioning the red though, will it look strange with my hair color? Although I have seen it in other colors like white with a peach trim & trail and sage green. I would really love if I could find it in a forest green, that is the color I would like my bridesmaids to wear. Would forest green look funny on the dress?

This next dress is super adorable, it reminds me of my Jazz choir days of singing 1940′s & 50 tunes and dancing around the stage in cute period dresses. (Yeah that is me singing the in the photo on the left.) Isn’t the belt cute? The dress is so pretty, girly and unique. My only concern is that is it short. Is a short wedding dress inappropriate for an outdoor forest wedding?

This last one N really loves. I like it because it is also unique and it reminds me of a ballerina tutu with the tulle fabric. It is actually very pretty and is the dress with lots of shiny accents on the skirt but it is not too over the top either. This is the dress I am most leaning towards. Problem is the dress shops in and around Evansville don’t stock it so I may need to find another option.

I am not really set on having a long flowing train and I really like the tulle layering look for the bottom of the dress. I am kind of uncertain about how long a frail my arms will look in a strapless dress and of course I wont know what I love for sure until I actually try on the dresses I have found. Trying them on changes everything! So there you go, my dress options are now shared!

N and I are making some progress this week. We started making some decisions about our wedding party. I have notified my maid of honor and N is trying to nail down the number of groomsmen he’ll have. When he knows how many groomsmen he will have I’ll know how many lady friends to make my bridesmaids.

We already know we aren’t paying for or forcing the bridesmaids to wear a a specific dress style. I’ll probably pick a color scheme and then let my girlfriends pick out their own dresses. I am also thinking of having both my brothers give me away, since my father hasn’t been in the picture for the last 24 years.

We are still trying to come up with wedding venue ideas. Our first choice is to marry in Flagstaff in the pine forest with a view of the San Francisco peaks. We have looked at renting the Riordan Mansion, Snowbowl Lodge, The Observatory and we have also contacted many vacation rental homes near the forest.

I used the site theknot.com for my guest list and budget figuring. Looks like we will only have about $720 to spend on the wedding venue if we have both the ceremony and reception in the same spot. We still haven’t found a spot we like for the price we want to pay.

Today I also went out for round 2 of peony dividing. After soaking the planting bed and cutting back the foliage N helped me dig up the clumps so I could divide them up. There are so many! If you want some and are willing to pay shipping shoot me an email and we’ll work out the details.

After a large enough section of the planting bed was cleared I was able to plant some of my bulbs there in addition to the divided peonies. N even made me a nifty little bulb box to plant the bulbs in so they can’t get munched by the squirrels!