Tuesday, October 26, 2010

31 weeks and Shower pictures!

Today I am 31 weeks! I am exhausted but other than that I feel great! My sister had me a little shower on Sunday and I wanted to post some pics from the shower! Everything was so cute! She went with an owl theme (because you know I love owls!!), and all the food was so good!!



Me and Mindi


Me, Mindi, and Mom.


All of the good food!






I wanted to post more pictures but my picture uploader is still not working right. It's driving me crazy!


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

30 weeks!!

Today I am 30 weeks!! I can't believe I only have 10 weeks left (or maybe less)! I was thinking yesterday about how my life is about to change. I am excited and scared all at the same time! I really just can't wait to meet her! I went to my 30 week checkup yesterday and everything was great. She told me I was the best patient and showed me my chart and for every appointment it said no complaint! Ha! This has been a pretty good pregnancy except for the cyst. I do have a few complaints just between me and you!

1. I can't wait to be able to bend over and pick something up with out dreading it before I do it!
2. I can't wait to be able to reach my feet to paint my toe nails, etc..
3. To be able to sleep good. On my stomach or any way I want. Also to be able to roll over at ease!
4. I can't wait to RUN after I have her. I know I could now but I would be scared because I haven't in so long. I don't want to over do it!
5. To be able to wear shirts that completely cover my stomach!
6. To be able to sit for a while and my legs/butt/feet not go numb!

I could go on but I will give you a break!! I am not even going to tell you guys how much I have gained! She said I was already at the max she likes her patients to gain! Ha! It looks like I will be going over that! I don't feel like I have gained that much but I guess so! Maybe my shoes were really heavy!

Finn has been sick for 2 weeks straight and it's driving me crazy! We had to take him back to the Dr Sunday morning and he had another virus. That is 2 viruses in the past 2 weeks. I told the Dr I feel like I can't take him anywhere with out him getting sick. It is so annoying. I don't want to keep him home all the time but I hate when he is sick! He gets high fevers and it scares me half to death! He said some kids just have a bad immune system and told me about some herbal immunity booster drops that I started yesterday. I will try anything at this point. I am going to be so paranoid when Wells gets here about him getting sick. He also said to feed him lots of fruits/veggies. I have been trying for the past few days and he is just not eating good. I am running out of things to fix. He likes fruit and green beans! Other then that he really won't eat veggies. I fixed corn, glazed carrots, and sweet potatoes. He wouldn't eat any of it. Any suggestions you have to help kids eat veggies would be great! I am running out of ideas! He used to be the best eater and now he has turned in to this picky little eater.

Here are a few pics from us carving our pumpkins! My picture uploader is not working right. Is anyone else having this problem?



Friday, October 15, 2010

10 Dumbest Money Moves!!

You know how some things happen for a reason and are meant exactly for you. Well, as soon as I finished my last post I went to yahoo and this link came up! It is talking about the 10 Dumbest Money Moves and How to avoid them! I thought it was interesting so I thought I would share!

1. Not having a goal.

You should decide exactly what it is you would like to accomplish, then remind yourself of that goal often. Trying to buy a house? Trying to be a stay at home Mom? Saving for your kids education? Retire in your 50's? Whatever it is, write it down, and share it with whoever you are trying to accomplish it with!

2. Not having a spending plan.

Track and categorize your expenses with a budget or spending plan! A plan that includes what you can spend on things like entertainment, food, bills/housing, etc..This will help fine-tune your finances and find places to save!!

3. Attempting to derive self-esteem from possessions.

Money DOES NOT buy happiness!!! Driving the best car, wearing the nicest clothes, going out of your way to appear successful doesn't help you in the long run!! Nothing wrong with nice things if you can afford them!!
Attempting to derive self-esteem from possessions is not smart on 2 accounts. It's expensive and it doesn't work!!

4. Doing what everyone else is doing.

This was talking about stocks and real estate. Something I'm just not interested in right now(or understand)! Basically it was talking about don't listen to the "experts" on TV about the right time to buy stocks and etc..

5. Starting to save large and late rather then small and soon.

If your 25 and you save 5 bucks every day...150 a month...and earn 10%..by the time your 55 you will have $340,000. If you wait until your 45 you will have to save 1700 a month for 10 yrs to reach $340,000.
Today you really can't earn 10% without taking a risk but you get the point!

6. Paying interest to buy things that drop in value.

There are only 2 situations that paying interest makes sense, at least mathematically. The first is when a purchase goes up in value at a rate greater than the rate of interest your paying to fiance it. For example a business loan or student loan. Something that's going to return more then it cost in interest payments. The other situation is when you can earn more on your cash then your paying in interest. Obviously there are times when we have no choice but to borrow. The point being the less you borrow, the better.

7. Turning down free money.

If your company is offering to match money for your 401k or other retirement plan, if your not participating in this then you are turning down free money. Not to mention ignoring an opportunity to get a tax deduction and grow your retirement savings tax-deterred.

8. Buying a new car.

The value of a new car drops 15-25 percent as soon as you drive it off the lot. Buy a used one with low mileage for thousands less!

9. Buying more house then you need or can afford.

Spend 25% of your gross income on a mortgage, regardless of what size house you think you need. When you buy more square feet then your actually going to live in, you're required to insure them, furnish them, clean them, heat them and cool them! All that cost more money, time, and stress! Buying a big house makes sense if your trying to make a leveraged bet on the future of housing prices, OR if your trying to impress your friends!! If your not doing either, buy what you need and save towards more productive things!

10. Not protecting your good credit.

Credit is easy to screw up and hard to fix. Even though you think it doesn't matter, some day it might. If you have already messed up your credit, fix it and keep it in good shape!

Jared had made me a budget a while back and I never used it. (Don't tell him that!!) I will have to get him to make me another one! I have been doing so good this week with my spending and I have been trying to cook alot!! I looked online and made my grocery list by what was on sale, for the most part. We only ate out a few times, which is good for us. I sat down and figured out a good system to pay our bills. It feels good to be organized and save money!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Changes and 29 weeks!

Pregnancy Highlights!
How far along: I am 29 weeks!!
Size of baby: Butternut squash around 2 1/2 lbs
Total weight gain: 18lbs
Maternity clothes: Mostly. I have some maternity skinny jeans from Old Navy that I am in love with!
Gender: Girl (Wells)
Movement: All day long
Sleep: What is sleep??
What I miss most: SLEEP and being able to wear cute clothes!
Symptoms: I am actually feeling the best I have all pregnancy.



This weekend I have decided to do some major changing. I am going to share this with you because the problem is now fixed and it will NEVER happen again. I haven't balanced my checkbook in over a year!(yes I know!!) I let my statements stack up and stack up and I got so behind I didn't even know where to begin. I had to get backup to help get out of this situation, that would be my Mom. She went back and tried to balance it as close as she could and now I have this huge weight lifted off of me because I know this is done! Now, every time I get a statement I will balance it myself as soon as it comes!  Jared and I share an account that we use everyday for everything. He forgets to tell me when he uses our debit card and doesn't always bring me receipts. ( I can't blame it all on him!) I was being so careless and not recording stuff (major stuff!!). It was a HUGE mess!! I was off from my balance a huge amount!! I will never let this happen again and I am changing my ways of being so careless with money.

As we were going over all this I couldn't believe the amounts of careless spending going on around here. It was making me sick on my stomach just to see the huge amounts of money that we pretty much just threw out the window. I told Jared we spend money like it grows on trees! I will admit I am alot worse than Jared, but we both have to do some changing with our spending habits. I am the worlds worst at buying whatever I want, when I want it. I don't think things through when I am shopping. I see things and just buy on impulse. I want to SAVE money not spend it on things we really don't need! I was thinking about our power bill. I leave lights on all day long. Lamps (I have alot of lamps), TVs, radio, anything and everything in this house that could be left on we leave it on! It's just careless things that could be stopped! Eating out is a MAJOR thing for us. We eat out alot and we don't try to eat cheap either. I found 2 $60 receipts from us eating out(in the last month). I mean seriously!! Why would we spend that much money eating out for no reason! That just makes me sick!



I know this is going to be hard for me because I am so set in my ways. I can admit I have a spending problem! If there is such a thing! Ha! I have been praying for God to give me the strength to change this. Please say a prayer for me and my family. If you have any good tips on saving money please share!! I do use coupons (when I remember!!). I need a good system and some way to get organzied with coupons and shopping!


Also, don't forget to check out the new Thirty-One fall goodies! Go to my website and view the catalog!

Here are some pictures of some new things I got!



DON'T FORGET this month when you spend $31 you can get the Organizing Utility Tote (pic below) for only $5!!!



You can order through my website as well!





Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Hello Third Trimester!!

Pregnancy Highlights:
How far along: I am 28 weeks today and now in my third trimester! Wahoo!
Size of baby: Chinese cabbage per baby center
Total weight gain: I had gained 18 lbs the last time I was at the doctor. I know you gain the most in the last trimester so I am a little scared!
Maternity clothes: Mostly. I can still wear some dresses that are not maternity. I think I am carrying her lower then I did with Finn because even maternity shirts will not cover me good.
Gender: Girl!!
Movement: All the time. She is a wild woman!
Sleep: Not so much! I have to use the bathroom about 10 times a night. Between that and turning from side to side I don't get very much sleep.
What I miss most: SLEEP and diet drinks.
Cravings: Everything.  Mainly sweets and lemonade!
Symptoms: My feet and back are killing me. Other than that I feel pretty good.




It is finally feeling like fall around here and I am loving it! Yesterday I took Finn to the park for him to play alittle bit.



He LOVES being outside so much. He is obsessed with a few things. Being outside, pens/pencils, and keys. I probably hear "pen pen", "key key", about 100 times a day!! He is starting to say more things so I am happy about that. I was starting to wonder if that boy was ever going to talk! He is a man of few words but he sure is sweet!