Took cat to vet today about that thing under his tongue. Well, vet couldn't really see it too well, but did see that he needs his teeth cleaned-they were bleeding in the back. So he has to go back next Thursday, get put under for the cleaning, and then they can assess the tongue growth. Vet also didn't like the way his fur looked, he's lost a pound since last visit, and his thyroid felt enlarged. My sister has/had the other 2 cats from this litter. The girl cat has thyroid problems also, fur falls out, doesn't eat well, and just looks sickly. The boy cat was a big healthy looking thing, who had to be put down the day after Christmas. Congestive heart failure, and blood clots. One day he was fine, the next day he was gone. This visit for our cat was $105, quote for next week is $236, but who knows what it will end up at once they see that growth. Now we also need to get our girl cat in for her checkup too, and check out her thyroid, etc. Crappy cat genetics I guess.

I noticed on Sunday(but didn't really pay attention to it) and again last night something funky going on with one of our cats. When our male cat licks his face, you can see some weird looking fleshy growth come out from under his tongue. It's about an inch long. Definitely a new development, it's gross looking and I KNOW it hasn't been there for long. DH said don't worry about it, but I know something's up. He eating just fine, but I want to take care of it before it gets worse. He's always been a big drooler, but it's been even more lately. And he also occasionally 'coughs' like he's trying get rid of mucus or something. Of course, googling it mentions a blocked salivary gland, cyst or tumor...always worst case scenario to scare us. So he's got an appointment on Thursday, and it will have to come out of the baby fund. But the cats are our first 'babies', so we have to make sure they're healthy.

Still frantically trying to save for leave, before baby comes. We have 14 weeks to go, if I carry to full term. We're about $700 behind schedule, but we'll get there. We still have the biggest savings account we've ever had!

Since we've been focusing on saving, we haven't been putting extra towards the CC debt. It kills me to just pay minimum, so I have been doing extra on the highest APR card. But now it seems everyone is jacking up the rates.

We have 3 small cards(still have a very ugly Discover card balance at 13K at 17% and a 2500 Visa at 7.25%) Our BOA is $1080, at 19.99%; Capital One $830 at 22.9%, and Home Depot $1100 at 22.4%.

My question is: would it be in our best interest to get a $3000 personal loan from our local credit union, and just pay off those three? The CU website has 'rates as low as 7.25%', but I figure even if they were 10%, it's still lower than the credit cards. I feel like it would be some load off of our shoulders to pay something off. Or just keep paying minimum and not stress until after baby comes and we see what THOSE expenses are like!

I did recently pay off our Care Credit, and only owe 2 more $200 payments on one loan.

We're making progress, just not as fast as I'd like.

Just got a text from DH, and overnight, cigarettes have gone up to $7 a pack! OMG!!! I don't know if the price increase is just at the little convenience store near our house, or statewide. He smokes, I don't. Obviously, I'm thinking (along with all of you) that this is the perfect time to quit. Let's just hope he sees it the same way! Doing the math, that's $2555 a year! Shopping at Aldi's, I typically spend $40/week, or $2080 a year. $500 a year more on cigarettes than FOOD?!!!! All I do know is that his weekly allowance is not going up. We just don't have that kind of money. I really hope he quits, but I can't force him, he has to come to that decision on his own. He's given up quite a few nastier vices, so I hope he's ready to give this last one up.