Getting ready for Baby

I can't say I have really done anything yet to get ready for baby #2. I'm starting to get a little anxious to get things ready, but I'm waiting to find out if it will be a little boy or girl. We also have had a lot come up in December that made it a very busy and expensive month.
We have our ultrasound on December 31st, which we will be finding out the sex. If the baby is a girl I plan on re-using B's white crib and dresser. We then will purchase a big girl bed for her along with a new dresser. If baby #2 is a boy we will buy a new crib and dresser. Bailey's crib, which is a 4 in one will then be used as a head board and foot board for her big girl bed. I highly recommend spending the extra money for the 4 in one crib. Starts out as a crib, then converts to a toddler bed, a day bed, finally full size bed with a head and foot board. Instead of having a crib that you only use for a few years you can re-use it for many years as a regular size bed.

Our current crib that I love:
It's very durable, cute, and reuseable.


Here is the site where I ordered B's crib. The prices are great and there is free shipping!!
CSN Baby

Things still needed for Baby:

Move Office-- To make room for Baby's room
Paint
Furniture
Rocker
New closet organizer

We don't really need much more then that. Since this is not our first. I still feel like there is so much to do!

When it rains it pours!

Let's just start out saying that "When it rains it pours!" pretty much sums up our December.
So December has been a big financial month for us, not really so much for Christmas. I have had our gifts bought in November, luckily. We have had a lot of things that have come up with our rendals and our vehicals.

Here's the list:

New furnance - Rental
New Frig - Rental
Replace blinker - Car
New Tires - other car
New Door - Rental

Not to mention it's Tax season... So 3 property tax payments will go out the door next week.

Good thing we had an emergancy fund for some of the random things that came up. Bad new's is we have to start again to reach our goal.

Another year older...

So yesterday I turned another year older. Although I don't feel older (I say this every year to my husband and he gets so frustrated.), I'm not liking the sounds of the numbers I'm into. I actually feel pretty young, which I guess you could say is a good thing. Last night I looked back on my life thus far and am surprised by many things. I never thought I would get married when I was younger and now I am. I even made a pack with a best guy friend that if we both were not married by the age of 28we then would marry each other. I believe I got married first. (I think we got it from My Best Friends Wedding.) I didn't think I could have kids, but I think that is a female thing. I have had the opportunity to travel so much when I was younger with my parents. I really can't complain about things too much growing up. Looking back at my high school years, freshman to senior year I had changed so much. Some of the changes being good, some I hope my kids don't do, but then again you have to experience life. I have some great friends. College was one of the best times of my life. It was great to have so many people around to hang out with. There was never a dull moment. I would have to say I loved the many guys there were to look at! Looking back at the bad luck I ran into or struggles I had faced it has always turned out for the better. I was laid off twice before I was even 26 years old. Each job I got after was a even bigger jump in my career. I have a great husband and daughter who make me laugh daily. These are some of the thoughts that had gone through my head yesterday and I'm very Thankful for it all. Every bump, every good thing, everything bad.

Life: It just makes us who we are today.

Congratulations!!

I am so happy to hear that a great friend of mine is expecting a baby. I can't put her name here because she has not spread the word yet. She told be late last week. I'm so happy to share my stories and listens to hers while going through our pregnancies together.

Congratulations to a great couple!

Just a note... she had had some issues before getting pregnant. At one point was told she may not be able to have children or have a slimmer chance than the average female. So this is very very good news. I'll post more about the issues when it's official announced.

How's that E Fund coming along...?

A while back I talked about starting an E Fund. Well with hard work and automatic transfers we are almost there.
An E Fund is an Emergency Fund that you put money in to save for the future. It can go towards a unexpected expense that may come up. If you or a significant other is laid off from work this account could be used to live from. You can set your own goals and what you would use the fund for. Our goal was 3 months worth of living expenses. It's a great feeling to know that if somethings comes up you have the cash to pay for it. No worrying about where the money will be coming from and stressing about it. It's always a great idea to save. You never know what may come up in your life.

Here is how we got to this point:

1. Rentals - The rental property we bought a few years ago have been one of the best investments we have started.
2. Cable - This past summer we cut out the cable bill. We went with out for 6 months. All this money went into our e fund.
3. CC - We had one credit card balance that is now paid off. It was used for small things that added up when we bought our house. Most of that money is now going to savings and our e fund.
4. Pay with CC - We have been paying almost everything with our credit card. The balanced is paid off fully every 2 weeks or sooner. This has allowed us to see what we are spending all of our money on and we have earned free gas, gift cards, and a book light (a gift for Isaac).
5. Automatic Payments - Over the past year I read the Automatic Millionaire and realized we needed more automatic savings. Since these have been set up we have increased them several times. The money is gone from our account before we know we have it. I love Automatic!
6. Bargains - I rarely pay full price for something. Everything will go on sale at one point or another. If it's not on sale I will use a promotion code or coupon to get the price lower. This really ads to savings.
7. Determination

Organic Clothing.... Is it worth it?

While on a shopping trip last weekend to get a few in-between clothing items (pre-pregnancy clothing till maternity clothing) I found that Kohl's now carries organic baby clothing. The items were pricey, but I have not found organic clothing that is not. They were adorable though. So the question comes up… Is Organic clothing worth the price?

The cotton is as pure as cotton can get. It’s is also said that organic cotton is softer, which tends to be more comfortable next to your skin. Standards are said to be set higher in the work place. No child labor is accepted.

I will most likely purchase organic baby clothing or organic clothing in the future. Some questions I wonder and will most likely have to experience on my own are…
Do organic clothing last longer?
Are they as soft after they are washed?

I’m hoping these will become more of a standard in the future so they lower in price. For the time being I plan to purchase a few items and slowly add to our clothing collections. Balancing quality within our financial means.

So you will have to answer the questions for yourself. Is it worth it?

Juggling

We constantly are juggling through out life.
We are constantly jugging our family, friends, children, a career, a significant other, and so many more. What is often forgotten is OurSelves.
I tend to do this. I worry about others first, I come second. In most cases it is fine with me, but there are those days or times when we need some balance. I have found this in yoga. I don’t know what I would do without it. There is something that connects your mind, body, and soul. I inherited from my father the ability to not take the time to relax. I feel like I need to do 101 things in a day. Yoga has really helped with being able to relax and get centered with myself. I recently had to give up my current yoga classes because they are not prenatal. There are some positions while being pregnant that you should not do. For example, a reverse boat pose. These put pressure on you stomach. Hopefully I will be able to find a new class that works with our families schedule, but it not I have found a few back up plans. Recently while at Target (One of my weekly visits, yes I feel I have an addiction.)… I stumbled upon a yoga series. The ones that most interested me were the Prenatal Yoga along with Mommy and Baby Yoga. My daughter does not know exactly what yoga is, but she has a mean downward dog. One day I came home from work very stressed from a long work day. In the living room I decided to do a few poses to relax. One of the poses was a downward facing dog. My daughter first laughed, and then joined in. She thought it was so funny she laughed while in the pose. She continues to surprise us while we change her diaper. Yes I said it. She has a dresser in her room that we put a changing table pad on top of. While trying to put the new diaper on she will squirm away and say, “goga” then bare butt in the air a perfect downward dog, what a way to forget about stress in a day.

What do you do to relieve your stress, relax, and enjoy yourself?

If you are not familiar with Yoga here are a few of the poses I mentioned earlier.




What an adorable picture!!