52 Week Savings Goal for 2014

When I first started looking into the YNAB system, I read the e-book about the Four Rules of Budgeting written by the founder of You Need A Budget. He said that when you are making BIG purchases, no matter the reason, it's hard to stop and step back from spending that much money each month and refocus on living using less money and budgeting wisely. 

This past summer with Baby Cora on the way, we had some BIG purchases that needed to be made! Every month we were budgeting to drop almost all of our expendable income on something. From our Insurance Deductible to pay the Midwife, to paying for our Doula, nursery furniture, a new car... the list was endless. We depleted our savings in a hurry and haven't had a chance to build it back up. 

For 2014 our goal is to regain some financial balance. Rebuild our savings, which isn't nearly as easy to do as our budget is tighter than ever with baby related expenses and paying on those fabulous hospital bills we incurred back in October. 

SO, we have joined in the 52 Week Savings Challenge hosted by House of Rose!

I'm really confident we can complete it and I get a happy warm feeling inside thinking about having at least $1,378 in the bank at the end of 2014!

2013 A Year in Review

What did you do in 2013 that you’d never done before?
I'm sitting here trying to think of a less obvious answer than "Pregnancy & Childbirth", but really that's what this year revolved around. We also bought a mini-van, the first big-girl purchase I've made!

Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't really make resolutions at the new year, but I do something similar on my birthday (January 4, so basically New Years). Considering we weren't pregnant quite yet when I made that list, we met most of the goals that were realistic for the change.

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Yup - me! :) Also, my dear friend Tiffany gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, Juliet!

Did anyone close to you die?
No.

What countries did you visit?
I didn't even leave Texas this year...

What would you like to have in 2014 that you lacked in 2013?
I honestly cannot think of a single possession that I'd like that much. I'm very happy with my life and my little family!

What date from 2013 will remain etched upon your memory? Monday, October 21 - the birth of my beautiful daughter!

What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Becoming a Mother followed by a job promotion.

What was your biggest failure?
There isn't one thing that comes to mind, but I really struggled physically with Pregnancy and balancing all of that with work.

Did you suffer illness or injury?
Outside of the normal pregnancy stuff (nausea, vomiting, exhaustion, etc.) I was actually really healthy this year!!

What was the best thing you bought?
Best and biggest... My Mommy-mobile - a Mini Van!

Whose behavior merited celebration?
I'm really proud of John and I for the amount of debt we paid off in the first of the year! Going into the summer we were free of credit card debt! Unfortunately, we've had to use them again but the debt isn't anywhere near what it was and we're paying it off quickly! It feels so nice using them as the financial tool they're made to be!

Where did most of your money go?
Into the nursery! Or medical bills associated with the pregnancy/birth.

What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Meeting our daughter!

What song will always remind you of 2013?
I can't think of one...

Compared to this time last year, are you:
 
Happier or sadder?Happier!
Thinner or fatter?Thinner!
Richer or poorer?Poorer, which is ironic because we both made more money than we did in 2012!

What do you wish you’d done more of?
I wish we had traveled more and spent more time with our friends.

What do you wish you’d done less of?

I wish I spent less time worrying about anything & everything.

How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas is quite the event this year! We will have a family get-together with John's side the Saturday before Christmas. The Sunday before Christmas, we're having a quasi family reunion with my Dad's family. Christmas Eve & Christmas Day we will spend with my immediate family & some local extended family.

Did you fall in love in 2013?
 Yes! With my beautiful baby girl!

How many one-night stands?
 bahaha... no.

Who were your best friends? 
 Lauren, Tiffany, Kim & Kim

What thing did you do that was meaningful to others?
I did my usual volunteer projects but I'm not sure what of that would stick out. This year we kind of took for ourselves, and honestly we needed to do that.

What were your favorite TV programs?
Greys Anatomy, Walking Dead, Revenge

Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Nope.

What was the best book you read in 2013?
What to expect when your wife is expanding... My reading was pretty much centered around the pregnancy.

What was your greatest musical discovery?
How very annoying the music is on children's toys! Seriously, I think they commission the music for these toys with the request that it be the most repeatative and obnoxious as possible!

What did you want and get?
A natural birth!

What did you want but did NOT get?
 For the first time (practically ever), I coveted fashionable clothes. I was the size of two people, so I didn't get any.
I also wanted to go to Hawaii for our second honeymoon - we had a child instead. 

What was your favorite film of this year?
Catching Fire

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I turned 24, I'm sure John and I went out to dinner that night but really we celebrated both our birthdays and anniversary later in the month. The day after my birthday I had a lovely massage and then went out with my friend Kimmi!

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
 I can't think of something, this year was wonderful!

What kept you sane?
 Knowing that pregnancy would eventually end!

Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
 ha, well I'm still not much of a Pop Culture follower so....???

What political issue stirred you the most?
The mess associated with Obamacare, trying to figure it out and how it will affect our office and our clients. It really has been a big mess!

Who did you miss?
 I missed my Mom a lot this year! Especially since Joshua graduated High School this year.

Who was the best new person you met this year?
 I'm really fond of our Doula, Susan! Life changing, really.

Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2013.
Change isn't bad, sometimes it is coming, you can't help that change will happen and you should embrace it. I spent so much of the year scared with the changes that were coming and not knowing how to embrace them. I wish I had enjoyed my pregnancy more but I spent too much of it afraid. Afraid of how it affected our lives, marriage and of course afraid for the health of my child.

Quote that sums up your year:
1 Samuel 1:27
For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him.

Coralie - 1 Month

This month has gone by so quickly! Cora is still so tiny but her development changes daily! She's grown so much, I can tell a huge difference in her from her newborn pictures to today!

Cora at One Month:
- Mommy finally got her scheduled & in for newborn pictures!
- She generally sleeps 6 or 7 hours at night! Sometimes we revert backwards to the every two or three hours for a feeding.
- She still sleeps in her bassinet or in Mommy & Daddy's bed.

-Her awake periods are much longer and she's very alert.  She will nap about 30 minutes between feedings on average with only an hour long nap in the morning and evening. 

-She still loves her swing and bouncer
- She can hold her head up unassisted for long periods of time and loves belly time, particularly with her Boppy Pillow for support.
- She exceeded her birth weight! At her weight check, she was up to 9.5 pounds!
- Went with Mommy & Daddy to her first movie at the Drive in Theater! Catching Fire!

Cora at 5 Weeks:
- Slept for 8 full hours one night (after a very busy day meeting her Uncle Mike, Aunt Val & cousin Matt!)
- First church Thanksgiving pot luck! (Second time to church!)
- Her first Thanksgiving!
- Joined Mom, Dad & Granda on a Black Friday Shopping trip!

- She outgrew her first Newborn outfit! 

- She is really fighting gas but we're learning techniques to help her rather than giving her gas drops all the time.

 1. One Month Old! 2. Thanksgiving pot luck at church 3. Uncle Jacob came home & brought this nifty shirt from NYC 4. Meeting Uncle Mike & Aunt Val 5. Cuddling with Grandpa during Black Friday shopping 6. Thanksgiving outfits 7. Going for a walk at Grandmas.

{Working} Mommy Tales:

Next week I have to return to work. Words can't describe how much I'm dreading this. For now, until she has shots & is a little older, my Dad will be keeping her. Even with knowing she is well taken care of by Grandpa, I'm still really emotional and uneasy about this. Since we got her out of NICU, I've never spent more than 2 hours apart from her, I have no desire to be away from her. I should be able to return just part time, working 3 days a week, but I need to get the go-ahead from my boss tomorrow morning.

I'm also quite nervous about how it is going to work moving from exclusively breast feeding with maybe one bottle a day, to most of her feedings by bottle and needing to pump at work. I've heard of so many moms that go back to work and the combination of stressors and lack of time to pump end up depleting or eliminating their milk supply. Financially and emotionally we can't afford for that to happen. I really want (and need) to continue breast feeding her until she's 6 months and we introduce solids.

Cora's First Christmas Bucket List

All Those Darn Bad Babies

Does that sound ridiculous to you too? A preposterous statement to pair with the equally annoying question "Is she a Good Baby?". As if there is such a thing as a "bad baby". 

I think this may be my soap box as a new mom!

I know exactly what the question means - "Does she cry much?" "Does she sleep through the night?"

Quite honestly, I have probably been guilty of using this exact phrase. I just couldn't help but share...

... This Mom-Rant is brought to you by Sleepless nights & Hormones!

Baby Girl's Birth Story (Part 2)

{See Part 1 Here}

I rode out several contractions in the tub, until the water began to grow cold. I knew that I could always get back in the tub later, as long as my water was intact, so we decided I'd get out and maybe walk around the house. We talked about a possible walk around the neighborhood, but it was cold & the middle of the night. My contractions were lasting roughly a minute each and were mostly four minutes apart, but weren't terribly consistent. John was still a little on the edge of believing that I was really in labor, he kept looking for a more set pattern in the time of my contractions. I knew I was in true labor (finally!) but was also aware that it could be a long haul before our daughter was born. I took a shower, knowing that it could be quite a while before I had the opportunity for another one.

Out of the tub the contractions were much more intense but reduced in time to about 30 seconds each. I was frustrated but was still certain this was it. The intensity was making me nervous about when we should go to the hospital and we wanted to labor at home as long as possible, ideally until I was dilated to a 6 or a 7. Susan, our Doula lives in Fort Worth, which is about an hour drive from our house so we decided to go ahead and call her to give her time to get to us. I called her at 2:47 am, while I was on the phone I had another contraction and was able to ride it out with deep breaths. Susan agreed that I was in early active labor and that she would go ahead and come our way.

The next little while I spent time between contractions stacking our last minute items for the hospital next to the door, making the bed etc. Our room is always warmer than the rest of the house and I was getting too hot so we moved to the living room. We let our dogs come into the house and sit with us in the living room. I just found something nice about having a "normal" family moment in the middle of this experience.

Once settled into the living room, I was under the delusion that sitting on my exercise ball would help me get through some of these contractions. Boy was I wrong! I loved it in false labor, but now that it was the real deal I could have drop kicked the darn ball down the street! (In retrospect, it was because it opened up my pelvis and made the contractions more intense - a good thing but I wasn't prepared for it!)

I knew I needed to be resting through contractions but I couldn't get comfortable anywhere. Finally I found that I could close my eyes and relax in the rocking chair, but sitting through a contraction was painful for me. Each time I had a contraction I would stand up as it began, which made it easier to handle but the movement itself was so painful! I was wearing out quickly and knew I was at a point that I needed Susan to get there. During one of these transitions from chair to standing, I yelled loudly in pain - that was the point John recalls knowing we were really in labor and going to have a baby. (Looking back, this is the only time I would say I was in "pain" during labor. Honestly the majority of the time the physical feelings were "intense" but so different from any other discomfort I had felt at any other time in my life) At some point during my time in the rocking chair, I threw up. I knew that vomiting was just part of labor but it was certainly less than fun heaving during a contraction.

When Susan arrived just before 4 am, I was loudly moaning through each contraction just to cope and I was quickly getting discouraged with our natural approach. I hadn't pulled out the "I can't" words yet, but I had them ready to go if whatever Susan was going to do didn't work. Just after walking in the door, I told her what was going on & where we were at in the process between contractions. She told me she hated the exercise ball in her labors too & that moving in a contraction always makes them worse in real labor - that movement brings on contractions. (WHY is this not common knowledge?!?) The first contraction she watched me in she recognized that I was tensing up in anticipation of the intensity. She gently reminded me to relax, and like a miracle when I encouraged my muscles to release the tension in a contraction, the intensity was much more manageable!

Susan set up her diffuser (Lavender & Geranium) and it was like the best medicine ever! It was so easy to relax my muscles through the contractions and I rode them out in the rocker for a while. At some point I stood through a few of them and Susan taught John how to do hip squeezes. Hip squeezes = amazing! It was so special that John was able to help me through each contraction in such a 'hands on' kind of way.

Susan suggested moving to the bathroom and sitting backwards on the toilet. She explained that it would make the contractions more intense because it would open up my pelvis and help labor along, but it would give me the wall and back of the toilet to relax on between contractions and John would have access to do hip squeezes. I agreed and it was the best idea ever. The time I spent on the toilet (both at home and later at the hospital) were honestly the easiest and best periods of labor! I was able to doze off laying on a pillow propped up on the tank of the toilet. It was quiet, dark and calming with the diffuser sitting just a couple of feet away on the sink. Between each contraction I would close my eyes and silently pray for strength "Strength, Jesus, Strength" as I drifted off until the next contraction.

Somewhere around 5:15 am I knew I was getting close to Transition in labor & Susan did too. We knew that it was time to get me to the hospital before contractions were too close or intense to make the move. I was dreading the 25 minute drive to the hospital, but we wanted to make sure we had plenty of time for the drive, I really didn't want a home birth (nor were we prepared for one) and I sure didn't want to deliver on the side of the road! At 5:35 am John called Kathy, our Midwife and told her my contractions were just over a minute long each with three minutes between and had been going on like this for roughly two hours. Kathy instructed to come on into the hospital we planned to deliver at and she'd meet us there.

I've never wanted a home birth, but it was beyond less than fun moving to the hospital this far into labor. I went to the restroom while John threw the last of our stuff into the van & made sure the dogs were good for the night and into the next day. Susan tied her Robozo around my hips nice and tight to help keep pressure there during the car ride and suggested sitting on the floor of the van and leaning into a seat. I rode out one more contraction in our living room, I remember being very aware that our neighbors were about to be leaving for work and I didn't want to be the crazy moaning lady in my front yard! After the contraction John got me situated in the back of the van & we headed off to the hospital with Susan following. The 20 minute ride to the hospital was honestly pretty uncomfortable. I was much less successful at relaxing during each contraction, I'd read that transitioning from home to the hospital can result in a regression of labor. Thinking about or my nagging worry that we'd get pulled over & I'd get a seat belt ticket sure wasn't helping the relaxation much! At some point, about half way through the drive I shifted and caught a whiff of the lingering essential oils from my hair and was able to relax and resist yelling & scaring the poo out of John for the rest of the drive in.

Once at the hospital, John dropped me off at the entrance to the ER while Susan parked & grabbed a wheel chair to take me up to Labor & Delivery.

{Part 3}

Baby Girl's Birth Story (Part 1)

The last couple of weeks of pregnancy were less than fun for me, particularly because of all the contractions. We were also trying to do everything we could to naturally induce labor so I could get in the hospital we'd pre-registered at and have our Midwife or her backup deliver our daughter.

Friday 10/18, I took the day off work & went into the Midwife's office and had her sweep my membranes. I'd had the procedure before and each time it would result in some serious contractions that would last for hours. When I had been in her office the previous Wednesday, I was dilated to a 3, she said it was almost a 4. We were so hopeful that this last ditch effort Sweep would push me over the edge into active labor. After the sweep (at which I measured an easy 4, on my way to 5), I went and walked store after store and made my way over to the mall & walked the mall for a couple of hours trying to help the contractions along (it was raining). Unfortunately, my contractions never set up into a pattern. I'd had more intense contractions after the previous sweep, I was so disappointed. I spent the rest of the day Friday at home cleaning house and the rest of the weekend John and I just spent time together at home getting ready for the arrival of our Baby Girl.

Sunday (10/20) evening came & we had plans to go to some friends house for dinner (Brisket & fixings - yum! I ate a ton, which was very unusual for me to have an appetite). I hadn't really had any contractions all day, just one or two here & there. After dinner Momma Betty, Kim & I went for a walk around their farm talking about some of my concerns & nerves about becoming a mother. At the end of the walk, Betty prayed for the baby & I and some of my worries.

When John & I got home that night we watched TV & just hung out enjoying the time together. We talked about how we were worried that I'd be like my Mom & labor wouldn't progress the rest of the way naturally & we'd have to end up inducing. I was so frustrated that we were starting another work week and had "wasted" a weekend without going into labor. I was feeling really down that I was struggling to be productive at work because I was so uncomfortable and there would just be yet another wasted week in the office.

Neither of us was very tired but knew that we had to get some rest because Monday morning was quickly approaching. 11:30 or so I got up and gave John two Tylenol PM & I took one myself and we laid down to sleep. At midnight, like clockwork I had a contraction, the first in hours. I was so mad! I always had bouts of false labor throughout the night and I was just sure this was another repeat of every other night from the past few weeks. I breathed through the contraction & did my best to not disturb John. After several contractions I knew that they were much harder and just felt so different than what I'd previously experienced. To get through them I was groaning and John wasn't getting any rest.

I got out of bed and got in the bathtub to see if the hot water would calm them down so we could get some rest. Roughly two contractions into being in the tub I just knew it was real, that our baby girl was on the way! I called out to John and for about the next hour he poured water over my belly through the contractions and timed them starting at 12:50 am. With dark humor we realized we were probably in for a very long night and we'd both just taken Tylenol PM.

{Part 2}