Impatience

This is how Ben looks when he's waiting for his morning waffle.


It can't toast quick enough for him. He does look pretty cute.


We are all getting sick and tired of waiting for some snow to stick.
We do enjoy watching the flakes, but we are ready to make some serious snow angels. Rocko enjoys playing in the flakes.




They are forecasting 4-8 inches tonight for us. Keep your fingers crossed!

Saving Money and Making Money

In an effort to cut back, we bought Ben a nice soccer ball from Walmart. We set up the cones that we already had from when we play hockey in the hallway. Sometimes, I seriously can't believe this is my house.

David and Ben went out and played some soccer in the backyard. I think this will have to be a new weekly activity as $40 for soccer camp is going to be out. It's only an hour a day for a week anyway. Plus, Emily wanted to play too. So, this is David's new title...soccer coach. Except Emily was inside sleeping off a 102 degree fever and Ben was outside with Dad freezing. So, soccer will have to wait a month or two.

But just like that, we saved $80, well $76 because the ball cost $4.



In an attempt to be frugal and still have fun, we headed to Home Depot for the bi-monthly kid craft. Lowes also does this once a month. It's a free wood project for kids. Parents need to help or do all of it in our case. But, the kids seem to have fun and the best part is they have something to paint later.

This weeks project was a wooden trinket box. It's usually manly, like football helmet bookends. I liked this one and managed to steal an additional one on the way out. Grammie...this may end up in your mailbox one day when we get it done.





In other good news, my friend who lives around the corner needs a babysitter once a week. She has 4 kids, but 2 are in school. So, starting next Thursday, I'm watching her adorable little girl (who is 2) and her son (he's 4) will arrive via preschool carpool at noon. It's a little gig that will give us a little extra cash.

I was so excited. It seems strange that I will actually make money for the first time in 4 years.

And it couldn't have come at a better time.

Arrogance

There will be no Wii for me with what was left of our tax return money.

Everybody has been feeling the economic pinch lately. David works for the State and we really hadn't noticed much. Sure when gas was $4.00 a gallon, I cut back on driving, but that was really it. I think I was arrogant in assuming that these economic times wouldn't hurt us that much. That it happens to everybody else but not us.

I stay home with the kids and we do fine with David's salary. By fine I mean, enough to pay the bills. We live paycheck to paycheck and don't save any money. I also run a pretty tight ship. I buy what is on sale at the grocery store. Neither David or I buy much of anything for ourselves. I broke down and bought 2 new shirts on sale for $8 each at Target when Emily mentioned that my current shirts had holes in them. Sure the kids have every toy under creation, but I didn't buy them. We don't have credit card debt because we don't live beyond our means.

I knew the State of Arizona, as with every state, would be doing a lot of budget cuts. David has been there for 10 years. I thought we'd be safe. My hope was that they would lay a few people off instead of cutting salaries for everyone.

A few weeks ago, they stopped overtime. David always got several hours of overtime in both his paychecks every month. This was a hit for us financially, but I thought we could manage. Yesterday, they cut their pay by 5%. Basically, he got a 5% geographic stipend which is now gone.

All together, this will be a $400-$500 loss per month for us.

It's enough to have kept me up last night. Well, that and the fact that the dog raided our pantry while we were at ballet. She ate an entire loaf of wheat bread, a box of wheat thins, Parmesan goldfish crackers and cheetos. Dog gas can wake up anybody.

So, how do you tighten an already tight ship? I've been going over things in my head. I made some calls to Direct TV, Qwest and Verizon to reduce our current plan. I'm telling myself it all adds up, but I think I've saved $20 so far.

The other issue is while we are losing money everything else is going up. We got our gas and electric bill for last month and they totalled over $350. When I looked at the accounts online, we used less energy and gas compared to the same time last year but due to their rate hikes, we paid more. I feel like we are in a battle that we can't win.

We will find ways to cut back I'm sure. I think I will become Emily's ballet teacher and David can coach Ben in soccer in the backyard. Ben doesn't HAVE to go to preschool in the fall. He can wait a year and I'll teach him his letters, numbers, colors and shapes. We'll head to the park or go on hikes and bike rides. There will be no vacation this year.

We'll dip into our little savings every month and be grateful that at least we have that to fall back on.

And we'll wait and pray...as they say more cuts are coming.

Tax Time

I always look forward to tax time especially now that I'm married with two kids. It's like a little savings account that I can't touch all year and then BAM! I get it all at once.

I know the idea of taxes is to break even and not owe or get anything. At least that's what any accountant will tell you. But for me, an extra $300 a month would just get piddled away. I make do with what we have each month and then I always look forward to the big return.

We don't go on some grand vacation or splurge on a Wii. Instead, we will use it to pay our real estate taxes for the year. Boring. Then, we will probably just save it and use it for a little vacation this summer. It'll be nice to have a tiny cushion back in savings as it was depleted after our last trip.

I do our taxes on turbo tax and always have. I just e-filed my federal taxes today and I'm sending off the state tomorrow in the mail.

Hey, when somebody owes me money, I want it! Maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to talk my husband into that Wii!

What are you doing with your return? If you are getting one...

Nap for Three

Emily got a little cold last week. Ben got it a few days ago. The cold passes quickly. The lingering cough, especially at night, does not.

Two nights ago, Ben wasn't feeling great. We knew he would wake up in the middle of the night needing more medicine. We decided that Ben would sleep with me so that I could take care of him and David would sleep in Ben's bed. Stuff like this happens all the time. No wonder it took a year to get pregnant.

Ben was up a lot throughout the night. Then, Emily came in the room looking for her Dad of course. I told her not to wake him and climb in bed with Ben and I. She tossed and turned and coughed. Nobody was getting much sleep at that point. The kids were awake at 5:30.

It was going to be a long day.

1:00 came and I decided we all needed to get a few hours of shut eye. We piled in my bed and turned on Toy Story. Emily was out in about 3 minutes. I was dozing for an hour until Ben finally fell asleep. Then, everyone crashed out for a good hour. It was lovely. There's just something so sweet about the warmth and silence of an afternoon nap with your babies.

I woke up and looked over. They were spooned together and looked adorable. I snuck out and grabbed the camera. They had moved.

I snapped Emily sucking her finger. It used to be her thumb until a month ago when it got a sore on it from being so chapped. I was hoping she'd break the habit. Nope, just moved on to her finger.


Ben was starting to wake up because the camera made a clicking noise. I love his disheveled hair.


There's a price to pay for indulging in an afternoon nap. The kids weren't tired until after 10:00. We all piled in our bed and watched The Bachelor! Meanwhile, David and I were trying to figure out how we are going to fit another baby in our California King bed.

We'll make room. There's always room for a new baby.

A Year of Trying

When David and I met, we knew instantly that we were meant for each other. Within days, we had the talk of how many kid we'd like to have. We agreed two, maybe three, with both of us leaning more towards three.

We got married on Nov. 12. By Christmas, we were pregnant with Emily. I knew right away too. I was brought to tears because somebody stole my gnome from the front yard. We were training for a half marathon and I had run 8 miles the weekend before. I couldn't even make it to the end of the street. There were all sorts of signs. I took a test days before my period was even due and it was positive.

We decided to try for our second child in May of 2005. I told David we were pregnant on his birthday, June 12. Again, it took less than 2 months and I knew way before I was even late.

Emily and Ben were both difficult babies. We tried to go out to eat with my Dad and Suzy and David's Mom and sister who were visiting and Emily screamed the entire time. She was about 3 weeks old. She liked to cry. A lot. Ben wasn't any better. David would jump through hoops trying to get him to fall asleep every night. He was a screamer and didn't sleep 8 hours for a year. Thank God they were healthy. But, they drove us to the edge.

Emily was only 17 months when we brought home Ben. It was like having 2 babies. Emily wasn't cranky at that point, but she had developed a love for not sleeping. She's still that way. I remember one particular day, Ben was maybe 4 months old and he was screaming his lungs out. I had to call David at work. I told him to get home before I did something horrible. I hid in the dark closet until David arrived 5 minutes later.

After thoroughly being traumatized by both our kids, we thought two would be it for us. However, we always thought maybe, just maybe. We hadn't taken any permanent action, so anything was still possible.

Last January, David came home from work and said he wanted to try for another baby.

What? What? What?

I had gotten comfortable where we were at. I needed several days to think it over and finally, my birth control pills went in the garbage.

Of course, we both assumed I'd be pregnant in 2 months. I almost backed out from being in my Aunt Rosie's wedding because I truly believed I would be 8 months pregnant by then.

2 months turned to 3, 4, 5, 6...12

There was just a point where we thought it was going to be too late. Yet, I always knew if we stopped I'd wonder what if we'd tried for just one more month.

I had just told David a few weeks ago that I was making my annual appointment at the gynecologist. The plan would be to resume birth control at that point.

Obviously, that isn't going to happen.

We were at the grocery store yesterday and I decided to get a pregnancy test. Not because I thought I was pregnant, but because I just didn't want to think "what if" anymore. I was several days late. As I was taking the test, I truly believed we had just wasted $10. I had a little cramping, but I assumed that was my period and nothing else. There has been no other signs or symptoms.

Needless to say, I was shocked. David was shocked. After a year, we just didn't think it was going to happen for us. We were okay with that, but we are ecstatic that our life is going to head down the opposite path.

We told Emily who was excited and asked if we could call it "heart". Um, no. Then, she said she could feed it and play with it. Now, she's on the right track.

Ben was a little more confused and actually lifted my shirt to try to see the "baby in mommy's belly". The morning before we found out Ben had said he wanted a baby brother or sister. He had never said that before. I'm happy that Ben will now be able to call himself a big brother. A title I truly didn't think he'd ever have.

Now comes the hard part. The waiting and planning and waiting some more.

We are due October 7th.
We are truly blessed.

A Day of Miracles

The day started like any other Sunday. Sleeping in, reading the paper, making something with bacon for breakfast, walking the dogs...

Today is Superbowl Sunday.

Our Arizona Cardinals are in the Superbowl.
This has never happened.
Yes, they lost, but just barely. It was a fantastic game.

Just being in the Superbowl was a miracle for the Cardinals.

But, that wasn't the only miracle today.

After a year of "trying" for another baby, we found out we are pregnant.

A day of miracles indeed...