Busy, Busy, Busy!

Well Saturday we heard about something called The Festival of Lights in a town called Natchitoches ( we still haven't completely figured out how to pronounce it). It was about an hour away so we thought we'd go check it out since it's suppose to be a really big deal. We got there, found a place to park and followed the masses into the center of town. There were thousands of people lining the streets for a parade which was huge! It lasted for 2 hours, there were clubs, beauty queens, local businesses, bands from all over. Most of them were throwing candy or beads into the crowd. It was a lot of fun!

After that we headed to find something to eat. It ended up being a little Mexican Restaurant. The service was terrible, but the food wasn't bad. The guy next to us got the biggest burrito I've ever seen! We ate and then headed down to the river front where they had all sorts of people selling their products, there was a live band, tons of fair type food booths. At 5:00 people started finding seats for the fireworks show. We didn't really know where to go, and we didn't have chairs so we found a place to sit on a couple of tree roots on a dirt hill. It wasn't the most comfortable but after standing all day, it was nice to sit!

The fireworks started at 6pm and it was awesome! They were setting the fireworks off on one side of the river and we were on the other side. They were set to music, and they had colored spot lights to add to the effect. It was probably one of the coolest fireworks shows I'd ever seen! They finished it off by lighting the 300K + lights along the river and front street.

When we got home I checked online to see if there was an update on our car, and sure enough.. it was here! The VPC (Vehicle Processing Center) was closed on the weekend so we planned to go pick it up in Dallas on Monday. We left at 6:30 in the morning and got there about 10:30. It took about an hour to do the paperwork and get the car. There doesn't seem to be any damage, a couple of scuffs we don't remember, but they say it was marked on the shipping document. It's not really that big of a deal. The battery was dead, so they jumped it, it died again, they jumped it again, then it died AGAIN, just trying to roll down the window! So they jumped it again and we drove across the street to an auto parts store to get the battery tested. It was dead beyond repair, so we ended up buying a new battery and installing it in the parking lot. At least it starts like a champ now! It has a squeaky wheel that we need to get checked out so we'll do that this week sometime.

Also on the way back we stopped at Babies R' Us since I had found a 15% off coupon online. I printed out two of them so we could pick up a couple of things. We got our pack n' play, a baby tub, a boppy and a few other odds and ends. We split up, I took the boppy and a few other things, and drew took the pack n' play to a different teller to check out. Apparently my coupon was a fraud! The lady I went to wouldn't take it, luckily the boppy wasn't very much so it wasn't a big deal, but I was bummed about the pack n' play. When Drew got to the car I asked him if his lady took the coupon and he said yes! Well, now I felt guilty, but it saved over $20! I guess they DID have a 15% off coupon, but somebody copied it and changed the dates it was valid until.

We also had some 10% off coupons for Baby Depot at Burlington Coat factory (these were real!) so we picked up the travel system, and the baby swing while we were there. We now have a corner of baby stuff in our hotel room, but in case she comes early.. we're prepared! Everything is really cool and I'm excited to use it!

I called and had the car insurance switched to a stateside policy today and they e-mailed me a new card so we can get the car registered. Since we are military we don't have to pay some of the registration taxes, and we don't have to get Louisiana drivers licenses. We just need to wait until the customs form gets mailed to us (the VPC hadn't received it yet) so we can go get the plates which we have 30 days to do.

We also have a time for our closing date... 11AM on the 17th!!

Some frustrating stuff for today. I had my OB appointment scheduled at 10:30. They called at 9:15 really apologetic but that the doctor my appointment was with wouldn't be able to see me... ever. Apparently she just has too many babies due the same time as ours to be able to accommodate me. They said they could get me in next Monday with another doctor. I said that wasn't acceptable. I'm 35 weeks, I haven't been seen in almost 7 weeks, and I have questions. She was able to squeeze me in on Thursday at 1:30, but I'd have to go to our Tricare office and make sure that I didn't need to wait for another referral. I went, and they said they could just switch the doctor since he is in the same office, I wouldn't need to wait for a referral, so that was good. I went to the doctors office to drop off my records and also pick up the new patient paperwork so I didn't have to do it on Thursday.

I'm still doing well.. I'm certain the baby is dropping now, as I definitely have an increase in pressure. I do have some cramping as well, but there are no other symptoms that are raise for concern. She's been dancing a lot this evening and I can feel pressure from my pelvis to my rib cage as she bounces around. I'm really anxious to see the doctor so he can give me some information and make sure labor isn't imminent or anything. I know it would be really early, but weirder things have happened.

So that's the update, sorry it's taken so long!! I'll update again soon I promise, as soon as I know more, I'll post!