Three Months To Go!

Let me start out by apologizing in advance for my overuse of caps in this post.

I can NOT believe that in three short months I will be the mother of TWO kids! That's crazy! And I'll be honest with you, I am kind of expecting to have this baby a little early. Isaac was just over two weeks early, and my OB said that history has a tendency to repeat itself (although there are no guarantees). I'm half expecting to be in the hospital on Isaac's birthday. Which leads me to my second thought of the day.
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I also can NOT believe that my baby boy is going to be TWO YEARS OLD in just three months. He's getting so big! Potty training will be happening soon. J and I decided we'd start after Easter. I'm not looking forward to it, but it needs to be done. And he's been telling us lately (although not consistently) when he poops, and sometimes when he goes into the bathroom, he'll say, "potty". Maybe that's a start.

And now for a comical, and slightly embarrassing story. Okay, it wasn't so funny while it was happening, but now I'm able to look back on it and laugh.

On Monday, while Isaac and I were walking out to the car in the morning, we both wiped out on the wheelchair ramp that leads to the driveway from the porch (the people who lived there before us had a child in a wheelchair, and we just haven't taken the ramp down yet, although it's on our to-do list). Isaac just whined a little, and he was fine. I, on the other hand... well, lets just say that I haven't had that much fluid escape since my water broke when I was pregnant with Isaac. So I got nervous and called the doctor, who had me come in for an ultrasound and an pelvic exam. Everything was fine. Turns out baby used my bladder as an airbag, and my water didn't break, I just peed a little when I landed. I've never been so happy to have peed myself! :) Oh, the joys of being pregnant.

...aaand I can't believe I just wrote a blog post about peeing my pants. What is the world coming to?

Surveys and Stuff

Once in a while, if I have some spare time after Isaac goes to bed, or if it's a slow day at work, I like to take paid surveys. Of course, you don't make a whole lot of money doing this, but if you'd like to make an extra $20 here or there, it might be worthwhile to check out. In this post, I've highlighted a few survey sites out there. I'm sure there are way more than this, but these are the ones I use and have been happy with.

FYI - if you sign up through the link I provide, for some of these sites I'll get some sort of referral bonus.

Toluna - This is one of my favorite sites. You can get your rewards in the form of a check (which is what I usually choose) or music downloads, etc. There are a LOT of surveys available so you won't have to wait long to take one. And if you don't qualify for a survey, you'll be entered in a sweepstakes to win some cash. There are also several mini survey questions you can answer that you don't have to qualify for. These usually only take a few seconds, and you'll receive 10-75 points for them. Those points add up really fast!

 

Opinion Outpost - Another one of my favorites! Actually, this one is probably my favorite. The rewards come in the form of gift cards (Amazon GC, Citi GC), a donation to the red cross, or a check. And the minimum balance you need to cash out for some of the gift cards is only $5! If you want a check, though, it's $20. Either way, my balance is building quickly. Opinion Outpost won't give you quite as many surveys as Toluna, but for me that's fine because I don't spend all that much time doing it anyway.

Survey Savvy - I haven't actually gotten paid from this one yet, but I thought I'd mention it anyway. The surveys are much fewer and farther between than the other sites I've mentioned. They give you a dollar amount for each survey, and it's usually very good.

These next two site are a little bit different, but I love them:

Inbox Dollars - This is a site that will send you emails, and you get paid for clicking on them. You can get about $0.02 per email, but it adds up. The only bad thing is that you need $30 in order to get a check, and that can take a while if you only click on emails. If you want to boost your account balance, you can also take surveys. Their surveys, however, usually take a long time to complete for a minimal amount, like $0.50 usually. Also, you can respond to offers, but that typically involves spending money, so I never have. There are other things you can do, too, but I haven't really looked into them too much. It's really easy to click on the emails though, so that's generally what I stick to.

MyPoints - I've been a MyPoints member for years. Like, since I was in high school. It's awesome. The main thing I do is click on emails. You get 5 points for just clicking on an email. I have also shopped through MyPoints on various occasions. You can get a certain amount of points per dollar you spend at participating online stores. And there are a lot of participating stores. So if you're going to buy something online anyway, you might as well shop through the MyPoints link and earn some points. Points will get you gift cards to just about anywhere. There is a HUGE variety of options for gift cards. I usually will get a GC for a restaurant or Target. If you only join one site listed in this post, this is the one to join.

I just wanted to put these out there for my readers. I don't spend much time doing this stuff, but the time I have spent has been worth it.