getting our house in order (part 1)

In church right now we are discussing working on getting our house in order. Not necessarily our actual house (although for some people like me, that may be part of it). It means getting your life in order. The main point being, how can you truly serve God if you have all these other distractions going on. I mean think about it. Are you really focused on God and getting closer to him when your children are disruptive, or your house is dirty, or you can't find your water bill, or your finances are out of whack and you don't know if you are going to be able to pay rent this month? The answer (at least for me, and everyone else I know) is a big fat NO! SO you have to get your house/ life in order so that you can truly focus on God and the things that he needs you to do.
So I had to sit down and look at the areas of my life that I need to get in order and get on schedule to make my household run smoother and help hubby and I be focused on our main priority: God.
Getting my house in order for me is finances, organization, cooking, cleaning/ laundry, and personal maintenance. I didn't include anything spiritual yet, because that's the point of getting my house in order. I can't even focus on God, cause I'm so stressed about other things. So I listed each category and reasons why these are out of order, and what I'm going to do to fix them.

Finances:
Whats Wrong: no real budget, bills are getting paid but balances are not decreasing, no real money going into savings each month, output is waaay to close to what we bring in.

Solutions: We sat down and created a current realistic budget. this way we could see exactly what we had left at the end of the month, and what we could change to increase that. We also took all our debts, listed their monthly payment amounts, interest rates, and total balance owed. By doing this we were able to pinpoint which debt we wanted to pay off first. its a loan that has a high monthly payment and an extremely high interest rate (basically 80% of our monthly payment was going towards interest). We decided to take that one and use the overtime money that my husband gets every month (pretty much as much as he chooses), and pay an extra $200/m towards the principle. doing this will cut the balance in half in a year.

We also have 3 credit cards and two store cards that we pay a total of $250 per month on. Now this is more than what the monthly minimum payment is for each card, but we need to do more. In December hubby gets a bonus from his job. We are going to take a portion of that bonus and pay off the cards. (the rest of the bonus goes in the savings for things for the baby and general savings). Now we know that we have to use the cards in order for them to stay active and for the companies to not close the cards or lower the amount we are approved to use. In order to prevent that, we decided to use the cards to pay our utilities and miscellaneous bills (IE: electricity, water, cable, cell phones, Internet, and student loans). We will use the store cards for any clothing or household needs that come up, but it has to be within the amount budgeted for that within that month. Once we do that, we pay the balance off each card in full each month (before interest charges) using the money we were already using to pay those bills. The $250 we were paying on credit card payments each month will now go into our savings account.

Oh speaking of student loans. they are in default (bad, bad, I know, I know). Well I talked to the loan reps yesterday and we are starting the payment plan to get them out of default next month. These payments are high and are one reason why we had to alter our budget, but it is worth it to get hubby's credit back in order so that when we refinance this house or buy another house, we can get more bank for our buck. lol. Also of course we just want hubby's credit to be good overall. Plus this payment plan is only for 9 months and then we will be able to go back to his previously lower payments. 

I still have to figure out how to lower our food budget. I know I will be cooking more, but groceries are expensive too! I will be searching for things online and report back. I'm also gonna start printing coupons.

Another thing that affects our finances somewhat is my job. We talked about it and decided that even though I don't like my job, it is the best thing for our family right now. I work from home for the government (not gonna say what I do), but  I get to write off the square footage my office from my mortgage, my computer, a portion of my Internet, electricity, and water bill. I also don't have to buy work clothes, or use my gas. so we save on gas and on mileage and wear and tear to the car. I'm also more likely to buy lunch when I am around a group of people going out to lunch, so this makes me stay home. So with all of that, we decided its way more cost efficient, unless I find a great paying job, for me to stay where I am now, after I come back from maternity leave.

We are also in the process of trying to find a home based business to start so that we can generate more income and have more tax write offs. I will report back with what I have found.

Checklist

I needed to make a checklist of everything else that I need to do by the end of my pregnancy, month by month: I'll hopefully update it as i go along

October:

• work out
• get maternity photo outfits together (pink, purple, red sundress for beach pics for me, and linen outfit for D, hopefully it won't be too cold, but I really want those nice beach shots. and black pants and a white button up for the pics in the house for me, and same for D). I also need to decide on jewelry, hair, nails, and make-up
• End of 2nd trimester!

November:

• Breastfeeding class
• maternity pictures
• Tea and Tour (hospital tour)
• Doctor's appointment
• Veteran's Day!
• Childbirth class (2 days)
• another doctor's appointment
• Thanksgiving! (which I am hosting this year)
• Black Friday (I definitely want to shop the sales to see if there are any small items we need for the house, or something I want to get for the baby)

December:

• Baby Shower!
• doctor appointment
• I'm also having another shower, given to me by my church but IDK when that is
• Some of the guys from my church are thinking about trying to give D a man shower lol. I was told that at a man shower you grill, watch the game, play video games and ping pong, and the guys give diapers, and gift cards to home depot and gift cards for baby furniture and stuff. Man stuff. lol. I think its a really cute idea and hopefully they decide to do it.
• Sometime after both showers, we will go down our lists and see what else we need and go pick everything up
• Do thank you notes
• Get crib put together
• Complete her room
• Do a birth plan
• Pre-register at hospital
• do any pre-certs required by our insurance
• get emergency lists and emergency kits together
• Start touring day cares
• Decide on a pediatrician and go on tours
• doctor appointment
• Christmas!
• Pack hospital bags and make sure everything is set up
• New Years Eve!

January:

• New Years Day!
• Dr appointment
• purchase whatever I am going to use for belly binding
• D's B-day
• Dr appointment
• wash newborn clothes
• Doctor appointment
• make sure house is totally in order
• doctor appointment
• Due Date!

Busy, busy, busy

Wow time is flying by. I have less than 100 days until baby due. I have soooo much on my plate to take care of.

For the month of November we have a weekend long childbirth/ infant care class, a breast feeding class, A tour of the maternity ward, 2 doctor's appointments (eek, I start my two week appointments next month!), and maternity pictures. Not counting the 2 holidays we have in November. Then I have my baby shower the first weekend in December. That's alot. I still need to figure out a birth plan, find a daycare and get on the waiting list, and find a pediatrician. I also would need to finish her room after my shower and pack our hospital bags, I plan on doing all that in December. I'm sure there are other things I'm missing also but I will figure it out as I go along.
 
I still need to finish organizing and unpacking (5 more boxes to go!) our new house, I also want to decorate for the holidays.I don't think we are really gonna do gifts this year, cause all our funds are going to baby, and I don't really need anybody to get us anything else. Unless they want to get me a prenatal massage or a mani and pedi.  I'm going to have to buckle down and finish our room in the next two weeks cause some of our pictures will be taken in there.
 
Oh yeah and did I mention that Hubby's family is coming over to see the house this weekend, I still have to figure out what we are wearing for the pictures, which poses I like, and what I am wearing for my shower? Yay me. lol. I am not complaining at all, this is the fun part of pregnancy. Its just a little overwhelming.
 
I need to start making my lists of things I need to do. I like checklists cause I feel a sense of accomplishment when I check stuff off or finish my list. I have an app on my phone called color notes that is great for this. I'm also going to make my lists here.
 
I am going to try to take a photo today. I've totally given up on my idea of doing a album of a photo a week, but I am going to do either a photo book or scrapbook of my maternity shoot and display it at my shower. That's why we are taking pics so early, I want people to be able to see them, not just have pics for us. I haven't decided yet which one I'm gonna do, photo books are really pretty but expensive, scrapbooks are nice, but they are more work and the presentation isn't as nice. I'm probably gonna go with the photo book, but we will see.

I'm going to make my checklist for the rest of this week and next week
I'm not going to put dates by things, cause I'm kinda paranoid about people knowing where I am and what I'm doing on any given date (probably why I don't update my status much on face book)

• Go grocery shopping for gathering
• Try to finish unpacking boxes
• Pick up clutter around the house
• host get together
• clean up after get together (lol)
• grocery shop for next week
• gym at least twice next week
• work on ideas for shower pictures
• continue to think about what we are going to wear for photos
• of course I have church and bible study included in there also

that's really all that I can think of right now. I know there is more I need to do this next week, but I cant currently wrap my mind around it. Oh well, I will update it as I go.

Oh yeah, I did finally finish my registry. I'm a little worried that people are going to think it's too many expensive items on there, but I was told not to register for small stuff or clothes, and that people would give those anyway. So the only thing left was the bigger items. I didn't want to register for things we didn't like just to have cheaper stuff on our registry. Then we would be stuck with a bunch of stuff we don't even like. I figure if a few people bought us the stuff on our registry, then great. We would just have to get the other things ourselves but at least I would have a list of the things that I need and want. I also finally picked out her bedding! It's light pink and lavender with butterflies on it. I love it so much. I want hubby to paint her walls a light grey, but I'm still working on that. lol. That will also be the theme and colors for my baby shower. And now that I decided on that, I can start working on her crystal mobile and the other things for her room. I'm going to get a wall decal with her name and butterflies for above her crib. My mom is buying her crib, so we still need to get a dresser for her room and get a glider. I will probably get this glider I saw in walmart. I love the pottery barn style gliders, but I do not want to spend $300-$800 on a chair. I will probably pick alot of stuff up during the after Christmas sales.

Baby Update

Ummmm yeah, so I have no excuse, other than the fact that we closed on our house, moved in and cleaned out our old apartment one week, went on vacation the next week, and are now trying to figure out a routine that work for us in this new space.
I'm so far behind on my updates IDK why I'm even doing them anymore, but I will try to press forward. lol

How Far Along? 25 weeks 3 days (week 26)

Symptoms: I get really tired out of nowhere sometimes, but other than that and breast tenderness, no real symptoms

Total Weight Gain: I’m now 178, but my doctor says this is ok, considering my actual weight before I started working out and doing the colon cleanse prior to pregnancy, I was at 163, I have gained 15 pounds. I'm looking to get down to about 145 after I have the baby though.

Measurement: I am measuring at 37.5 inches. No denying that I am pregnant now! 

Maternity Clothes: I am in full maternity wear. except maternity underwear.  I refuse to wear those.

Stretch Marks: none yet. I have some itching every now and then, but I try not to scratch, and then I make sure to apply my belly cream.

Sleep: Some nights I go to sleep right away with minimal bathroom breaks, other nights it takes forever to get comfortable and then I get restless leg syndrome, and those are the nights I have to get up a million times to go to the bathroom, so its kinda a toss up on sleep at this point.  

Food Cravings: All my adversions are gone.  I can eat anything! lol. I usually start my meal really hungry, but then end up not being able to finish it all. It's weird. I am currently craving orange juice. Specifically Simply Orange juice with mango. Its delicious! 

Best Moment This Week: Seeing my belly move a little bit when she kicked. I was only able to see it once, but I'm sure over the coming weeks, I will be able to see her more.

Movement:know that will change soon.

Labor Signs: none! Prayerfully not for at least another 11-12 weeks

Belly Button In or Out? Pretty much an outtie at this point. There is like a little part at the top that doesn't fully stick out yet. it feels so weird when it bumps into things. lol

What I Miss: I really miss sleeping on my back. That was my usual way of sleeping before pregnancy, and I cant wait to be able to go back to that again.

What I Am Looking Forward To: I look forward to us taking classes in November, my shower in December, and my maternity pics. Hopefully in November. And I am really looking forward to the holiday season.

Milestones: Movement!

Weekly Wisdom: Slow down! Funny that this is still my weekly wisdom. I have learned that I have a bad habit of not being able to rest. I have been pushing myself past my tiredness and then end up crashing for like a day or two. I need to stop trying to go every where and do everything and stop believing I can be as active as I was before.

And goals for this week are: to cook at least twice this week, go to the gym at least once, and finish unpacking our suitcases from our vacation. Oh and also work on our budget.