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Wow, it's been a long time!

August 24th, 2011 at 02:36 am

Can't believe my last entry was almost 2 years ago. Quite a lot has changed. Baby M is now over 2 years old, and Mystery Baby #2 will be making his/her appearance in approximately 9 short weeks.

DH and I purchased our first home in May--since we were quickly outgrowing our old apartment.

In my last entry, I was debating between 2 jobs. I ended up switching to Job #2, which was a 24 hour position at a local hospital. Best decision I ever made!!! Wish I did it MUCH earlier. Benefits are much better, the $$ is better and I now have a grueling 5 mile commute. Smile Plus, I seem to never work 24 hours. (40+ is more like it)

Financially...eh...still pretty scary. Going to tally up the numbers, so I can see how scary it is in black and white.

Glad to be back!

5 weeks old already!

July 27th, 2009 at 05:46 pm

Hard to believe Baby M is already 5 weeks old. Went in for the c-section on June 17th, and had a beautiful baby boy!! He was 8 lbs, 7 oz, and 21.5 inches long. Now, he's over 12 lbs.

The past 5 weeks have been quite an adventure. It a whole new life to get used to. The sleep deprivation is the easy part for now!

Now the challenge is to make our dwindling maternity leave fund last. DH has gone back to work, and has also picked up a little part time gig at a local coffee house. Early morning hours(3.5 hours), 4 days a week. Every little bit helps!

Here's a couple pics from when he was 2 days old. He's filled out quite a bit since then! Smile The sweater/booty set is what DH came home from the hospital in when he was born.



Wish me luck!

June 16th, 2009 at 05:50 pm

At this time tomorrow, I'll be a new mommy!

Baby never turned, even after all my efforts, and an unsuccessful 'version' by my doctor. So, C-section it is...

It's strange to think this is my last day of work for 8-12 weeks. (Depending on how well I feel, and how I can s-t-r-e-t-c-h our savings.)

We're both excited to start this next chapter in our lives! I can't wait!

Even closer now!

May 13th, 2009 at 08:03 pm

Less than 6 weeks to go!

Still working a lot, trying to reach our goals of $8000. (This would cover 8 weeks of leave, as previously discussed with boss) When I just signed my Leave of Absence request yesterday, they actually plan on me being out for 12 weeks. DH was happy to hear that, but doesn't quite get that there's probably no way I can take that long off. I didn't budget our savings for that, and his salary alone just won't do it. But we'll see. We had our baby shower a few weeks ago, and got to spend the afternoon surround by such loving family and friends!

It's all starting to feel real now.

Now, if only both of our cars didn't have the 'check engine' lights on, I'd be much happier! Not something you want to worry about when you're 34 weeks pregnant!

Here's a sneak peek of baby from the 3D ultrasound!

$7 a pack!!!

March 6th, 2009 at 05:01 pm

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.

A fun little payday game:

February 13th, 2009 at 07:50 pm

It's called "Who's Wants Our Money?"

We have $684.25 to divvy up. But VW credit wants $406.84, "personal loan" needs $200, student loan wants $250, maternity/baby fund should be paid $200 as well. Haven't paid the oil bill either. Oh, and we need money to live for the week: gas, groceries, etc. I didn't go grocery shopping at all last week, so cupboards are pretty bare.

It's so hard to figure out who should get what, and when. None of them will give big late fees or interest hikes if we're a week late. I ended up paying "personal loan" because if we don't, they'll be a warrant out for DH! $90 for living money, tranferred 250 to ING for leave fund(gotta pay ourselves first, right?)

That leave $144.25, which now isn't enough to pay oil bill, car or student loan. Ugh. My head hurts.

On the baby front, things are going well. Told boss about 3 weeks ago, and she took it well. We've already started training someone to help out when I'm out. Boss actually said 'we need to start training now, because you may not be able to work until you're due'. I hope I don't get put on bedrest or anything like that, but at least she's thought of that possibility. I am now almost 22 weeks along, feeling movement(finally!)and getting bigger every day!

My good brother (that lost his house, etc) just started his new job this Monday.
His wife got a yearlong temp job as well. They are both kind of stressing about logistics of driving one car, 2 jobs, and a kid in daycare. I think honestly that his wife was thinking of NOT taking a $22/hour job, because the only way they could work it out is to drop her off at work an hour early, and she'd have to hang around after her shift for 1/2 hour, while my brother runs to daycare to get baby. I talked to brother today and basically said: Suck it up, bring a book and deal with it. You need this job, you need this money, and it's just a temporary inconvenience until you can buy a POC car, or move closer to both jobs. I hope she realizes that's what she has to do. They were going to try to talk to temp place today about changing hours. Well, if they won't, then you'll have to put up with it, because there's 50+ people in line behind you that will do ANYTHING for a job right now.

Savings have hit a record!

January 2nd, 2009 at 05:05 pm

Our savings have reached $3070.94. That is a record! We've never had over 3000. We've never had over 2000. We rarely have had it over 1000. Yay us! I did notice that ING has dropped rate to 2.5% though. 38.3% of the way towards our goal, although we won't stop then either.

Now if my per diem job would just offer me some shifts for January, we'd be all set. I know someone will call in, be sick, take a day off, etc, but I like to see some definites inked out in my planner, rather than the last minute "can you work tonight?" ones.

New Year's Eve was pretty mellow (i.e. "cheap") because of the snow...NSD. We made pizza, watched a few movies, then the ball drop, then went to bed.

Hope everyone had a great holiday. Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve ideas?

December 31st, 2008 at 02:13 pm

Well, the holidays are almost behind us. And we've survivied, without too much drama. Except for Christmas Eve.

I did not want to go to Evil Brother's for dinner, since he had stomach bug for 2 days. The same bug Mom had that led her to ER. You'd think she'd be sympathetic to my situation, however I got the "I guess spending time with your family on Christmas Eve isn't important to you" guilt trip. ???? I shot right back with "no, being sick for a week and ending up in the ER like YOU did isn't important to me". Why is she like that?? What can I say? Our Christmas Tacos that I made for the 2 of us were delish-Feliz Navidad! I'm trying hard to stand up for myself and do what's right for me/us, rather than appease her. I hate being the 'good daughter'.

PS...My Dad got the same bug Christmas night. So glad I stayed strong and didn't go.

But that's over with. Now DH's 16 year old brother is visiting for the week from Midwest. Besides sleeping and XBox 360 for HOURS, what do they like to do? He's at that age where it's not cool to get excited over anything. He always looks bored. I don't want to break the bank trying to entertain him if he truly is happy eating Tostitos and playing Call of Duty all week. But I'm getting stir crazy just watching it! DH's getting bored too I think, and he likes his video games as much as every other guy.

I'm thinking of maybe going bowling tonight, but I know that can get pricey. There's also a First Night going on close by for $5 a person, but that event is getting smaller every year. We usually just watch some movies, pop open the sparkling cider and watch the ball drop. But I feel we should do something fun. Any ideas?

Now it's started snowing. If it gets too bad, maybe we'll have Pizza Night. I have all the fixins to make the dough(love my bread machine) and all the different toppings they can choose from. Cheaper than bowling too.