Day 6 - Thankfulness Challenge

Day 6 Thankfulness

Today I am especially thankful for my mother.

She came and helped me with the boys.

She is always there for me when I need her.

Day 6 is her birthday, so I wanted to celebrate her on this day.

She encourages me

She loves me

My mom is always there when I need a listening ear.

Thank you for all that you do mom!

3 months old and....

Pneumonia (HA! I finally spelled it correctly without using spell checker!). Thats right. My little Levi Bug is 3 months old (barely) and has pneumonia.

I'm sure you are probably wondering how I knew he was sick enough to take in. I didn't.

This is how my weekend went. Friday I get up and a gal drops her little girl off for me to watch. Jacob has a runny nose and a slight cough. Which is lovely, considering he was JUST over the last cold just a few short days ago. The day went pretty well. Put the kiddos down for naps, Levi at 11:30, the older kids at noon. Big kids get up around 1:30 and 2... Levi is still sleeping. While this is awesome, its SO unlike my kid. He just does NOT nap. 30 mins here or there, but Jacob was a 1-4 hour napper as an infant. Heck, he still takes an hour to two hour nap. Finally around 5:30 Levi wakes up. Awesome. He has now slept for 5 hours, I'm betting he is going to be up ALL night. I feed him, he is chill, so I lay him on his play mat. The little bugger goes BACK to sleep!! He was awake for less than two hours. He slept from 7:15pm until 4:00am. 9 hours! Ate, and then went back to sleep until 6:45am.

At this point, I know something isn't quite right. Also, Jacob is up and REALLY not feeling well. So I message the gal who's kid I am supposed to watch and let her know its a no go. Get some wonderful advice from my mommy friends. Plus, Levi at this point is running a fever and I have NO idea how much he weights so I can dose him correctly. So I call my mom to meet me at the ER.

2.5 hours later at the ER, Jacob has an upper respiratory infection and Levi has pneumonia. Sucky. We then go to get the anitbiotics and not a single pharmacy in the area carries the one that was prescribed to us. I love our pharmacy. The gal working called around, I spent an hour there just trying to get it filled. Finally she called the hospital and got the dr to change it to something else. $73 later I have antibiotics for my littlest.

5 hours after leaving the house this morning, we are finally home. Jacob goes down for a nap, he is exhausted. Levi is still sleeping in his car seat. I run the rent check across the yard and come home. The baby wakes up, I get him up and take his temp. It was 101 :( So back to the ER we go. The only instructions on my discharge papers were to bring him back if he had a fever. After another 2 hours there, I was sent home basically telling me that I am a crazy overreacting mom.

Well this crazy overreacting mom caught pneumonia in her 3 month old before he ever really had any symptoms. So there.

Day 5 Thankfulness Challenge

I am thankful for my mommy instincts.

Without them, Levi could have gotten much sicker.

Getting out of Debt

In honor of Dave Ramsey's Debt Free Friday, I thought I would talk about our debt.

As of today, we are $39k in debt. Two unplanned cesarean births, other medical expenses and "stupid tax" has led us to this place. Hubby and I started this journey together in April of 2010. Together since starting we have paid off OVER $26k in debts!

Well we must have an income greater than that? Yep, I think last year we made almost $35k. "Well thats impossible!" Not really. We settled accounts, sold a car (or two), worked (you know, that thing you do that makes you get up every morning and then they give you money?). We gave up things. Its not been an easy road to travel, but its been worth every step.

Just this last week we paid off my credit cards (the hubby has never had any). We have our starter emergency fund ($1k) and are working our debt snowball. I use envelopes for things. Actually we used to just take Jesse's tip money and spend it as needed. But now we are taking it and any other cash we end up with and splitting it between 8 envelopes.

1. Food
2. Extra Gas Money
3. Giving
4. Misc
5. Clothes
6. Repairs
7. Gloves
8. Christmas/Gifts

Let me explain a few of these. Number 1. Food. I try and grocery shop once a month to once every two months on $100. Every other month for sure we buy meat, so an extra $60. The food envelope is for that quick trip to the store, or for meals out. Number 2. Extra Gas Money. On payday, I take out $160 in gas for our two cars, $80 each. Well Jesse usually ends up needing 1-2 extra tanks of gas each 2 week period. So we put tip money into this one. The envelope also lets us know if we can afford to take a drive somewhere, just for fun.  Number 7. Gloves. Its an odd envelope, but Jesse buys gloves about once a week at work. At just under $5 a box, this adds up fast. He does it so his hands aren't all greasy and nasty when he comes home.

My envelopes

This is working for us. We have more money now, than when we were both working two jobs and didn't have kids! I will periodically keep you up to date on how this is all going for us. We start teaching a new Financial Peace University class in January.

Day 4 Thankfulness Challenge

Today I am thankful for my hardworking hubby

Without him, the things I am able to do would not be possible

 

Filing

and shredding. Sheesh. Now that we have some more things paid off (a post for later), I need to get my important papers together. This is so I know who is left to pay off.

My hopes are to do this for 15 mins or so each day until I am totally caught up. Then stay on top of it. That is the key... staying on top of it.

Day 3 - Thankfulness

Today I am thankful for the parents I have

Without them, I would not be the parent I am today

This was taken Summer 2007 before my brother went to basic training

*sorry its not more of an exciting post... I've been screamed at, puked on and changed my clothes more times than I would care to today....

Week 1 down

Well I made it through the first week of the 15 by Christmas weight loss challenge. Last night we even went to Texas Roadhouse, where despite the fact I ate FOUR rolls (no butter), I don't feel bad about the choices I made. I went with the oven roasted chicken, house salad with dressing on the side, and fresh veggies. I didn't eat the skin on the chicken, only dipped my fork in the dressing and ate all the veggies!

I think eating out while dieting/trying to lose weight/stay healthy is hard. Not only do you get the guilt from spending money on eating out (I'm sorry but the $40+ it costs a family of 4, with only 3 people eating, to eat out, will feed the same family a few meals at home) but you also get the guilt from eating your WEEKS worth of calories in some meals. Yikes!

I started last week at 185.8 (the joys of having a baby) and with watching what I eat, exercise, nursing and stepping on the scale daily... I finished the first week at 182.6!! That is a loss of 3.2 pounds! Have to say, I am pretty excited. I also don't feel like I am starving myself. I am finding new things to eat and love. Like the Fiber One 90 calorie chewy fudge brownies. Mmm. Also the Dannon Okios Greek yogurt. Loving the blueberry fruit on the bottom one. It smells like blueberry muffins.

Day 2 Thankfulness Challenge

I am thankful for a house with heat. 

According to yahoo weather its a whole 21 degrees outside.

30 Days of Thankfulness Challenge

I am sending out a challenge to all of my friends. Blog (or comment if you don't have a blog) for the next 30 days about something that you are thankful for. Sounds easy right? Well it usually is.... for the first week and then people "get busy", forget or other various excuses. And it does not need to be a separate post. Just make sure you tag it as "thankfulness" so I can check and see what YOU are thankful for. I think it helps to put things into perspective.

Thankfulness Challenge Day One

Today I am most thankful for the family that I have.

The ones who are still with us,

And the ones that are not.

I know that on today, my Grandfather's Birthday,

He is looking down on me and smiling.

I have a wonderful husband who works hard

Two beautiful little boys.

Parents that love me.

I am thankful.

Halloween 2011

Of course its the topic of conversation for blogs across the nation. Especially mommy blogs!

This was Jacob's 3rd Halloween. He was Eyeore and only 10 months for his first one.

For his second Halloween he was almost 2 and dressed as a construction worker.

This year he is almost 3 and was a fireman. Little brother was a bulldog.

Don't have one of the littlest in his, but when I do, I will post it as well.

Jacob is ready to go back out again! Too bad for him Halloween only comes once a year. He was well behaved and polite. Held someone's hand while we walked from house to house. Also, said thank you every time someone put candy into his bucket. Then back at my parent's house he had a BLAST handing out candy to other kids. At first he was unsure about giving candy to others but then he really got into it. What a great into to the season of Giving.