Zach and I were a little rebellious for Valentine’s Day! Since I am past my 34 week mark (pretty well past it actually) I’m not supposed to be traveling far from home…wellll we went to Jacksonville! After each shower I went through everything we were given (and it was a TON) and worked hard to come up with a list of things we could bare returning. We seriously got a million of some items (we had a total of SIX medicine care sets) and none of other items we needed (didn’t get our baby monitor for example). Right now, like many people in this economy, we’re struggling for cash so I thought the smartest thing to do would be to return things and use that money to buy the things we need before this baby arrives!
I worked my BUTT off to get it all figured out! First I had to add a TON of stuff to our registry then check off that we got it because BabiesRUs only allows returns with a receipt (yeah like anyone actually gave us one of those!) or if it’s checked off on your registry. Of course online you have to check off each item one by one and let the page reload in-between items in order for them to be checked off. So it was a long process. Then I went through every book, googled online, and asked friends (coughRACHAELcough) what we would actually need and came up with a solid list. I went through that list and checked what we already had and then found the other items we needed (or just would like to have) on the BabiesRUs website so I could come up with the amount of money we’d need to complete it all. Am I organized? Heck yeah…too bad I didn’t have the blog when I planned the wedding…it would have been entertaining for people how hardcore organized I was then!
So yesterday morning was the BIG day! I loaded up the back of my car (FULL) with all the returns and we drove down to Jacksonville! Here is Zach unloading it all, in the rain of course!
I asked him if he was embarrassed that we were bringing back so much and he said he was only embarrassed when I took this picture of him walking into the store!!! If you see something we returned that you bought us, sorry! Don’t think it’s because we didn’t like it, we truly appreciated each gift, even the ones we didn’t keep. Those that we returned allowed us to get things we really needed so without each return we couldn’t get it all!
I was nervous as to how the employees would respond to the 82 items we brought in. I had called earlier in the week to warn them and they said to bring it all but that a manager would have to be involved and may not allow it. And they said that several of the items were probably ordered online and would have to be shipped back through the mail.
Well it was our LUCKY day! The lady behind the service desk was SO SO SO nice. She returned it ALL. Even the online stuff. Even stuff that wasn’t from their store!!! (Zach heard them later putting things away and one of the employees said, “we don’t even sell this what should I do with it?” haha). My organization came in handy as on my “return” list I typed what the item was called online and the price we should get back for it and they used my list when stuff wouldn’t ring up in the system! 🙂 All the items FILLED THREE shopping carts! She said it was the biggest return she’d ever seen and we got $1073!!!
Here I am SUPER PUMPED with the looooong returns receipt!
We spent a couple hours roaming the store and had so much fun! My “things we still need” list came in super handy as well as I typed out what we needed, the name, and the price so it made it easy to find it all! We did two carts: one with the stuff we needed, and one with the stuff we’d like to have if we had the extra money!
Here I am at the end using a calculator to figure it all out. Our goal was to not spend ANY money out of our pockets 🙂
In the end we did AWESOME! We got it all, several of the fun things we just wanted (like ADORABLE burp cloths!), and had enough money left over for me to order the items that are available online only! We were able to buy BOTH “big kid” car seats which is awesome and even got something I didn’t even have on the list at all…one of those play pen things (like a big baby gate) which makes SO much sense for us to have with our super open floorplan and two dogs! Yay! The receipt was super long too but the wind was blowing 🙁
Luckily, it all fit in the car! How fun to go on a shopping spree and not spend any money!!!
We had made reservations at Maggiano’s to celebrate Valentine’s Day for 1:00 and we got done shopping (without even paying attention to the time) at 12:50! Perfect! The baby was starving and my feet were killing me so I enjoyed the break and spending quality time with my man!
Here is the jacket I got him for V-day. He loved “Edward’s” jacket in Twilight and so I hunted everywhere for one like it (they specially made it for the movie) and this is what I found! It looked super good on him 🙂
We took this picture so I could remember what I order! I LOVE this (ravioli) but I forget every time what it is that I like 🙂
It was so great walking allll the way to our table because FINALLY after 9 MONTHS of being pregnant I got so many looks and so many “oh she’s so cute” smiles. Made me feel good 🙂
It was such a fun day just being together and getting to be excited about the baby coming! We matched in black (I got dressed first, thank you) so Zach said this would look good in black and white haha!
Oh yeah also for Vday he got me my massage chair (Shiatsu…totally worth the money) so I told him he didn’t need to get me anything else but he wrapped up my Bible and when I opened it told me we can get me a Bible Cover (I need one badly!)
It was a great day for sure…we got home around 5 and we started checking things off the “to do before Clover is born” list. Zach organized the attic and we both organized the garage. It looks so good! Scott Palmer (high school friend of mine and former VSU football player) came over around 9! It was great to visit with him especially since he has joined the Army. However, it did make my long day even longer!
All the activity (or just maybe it’s time for this to start?) made me have a MILLION contractions. Pretty painful ones too. I guess that means I’m starting to dilate? Not that we’re getting worked up over it but I know with the Bradley Method early contractions are good because they make labor easier later so I say bring ’em on!!!
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You look so cute in your pictures, Emily! You seriously DO NOT look 9 months pregnant! It’s crazy!
Nana’s saying to me when I was pregnant with you…..”the more they hurt, the closer you are to being a Mommy!”