Perfectly Imperfect Mom

Today has been a great day. I went to the beach this morning with Bran and we were there for about 2 hours. We went in the water and it was so fun jumping the waves. I used to love doing that when I was a kid and it's more fun now for some reason.
Then later I went to see Something Borrowed with my friend Maggie. It was really good. They kept it pretty close to the book with some changes that made sense for a movie. I am really hoping they make Something Blue. I loved that book more so hopefully they will do it. I love all of Emily Giffin's books so if anymore get made into movies I will be stoked.
Not much else is going on. I did get home and Tyson was having some issues with sniffling and his nose. I hate that he has this tumor that is making it uncomfortable for him. He doesn't act like he is in pain or suffering but at times like tonight, he does seem uncomfortable, like he has horrible allergies. I gave him a little baby benadryl and it helped so that is good. I just want my little guy to be healthy and not have cancer but this is the way it is and I have to just deal with it.

Last year Branden and I discovered Dave Ramsey and his 7 Baby Steps to Getting Debt Free. I fell in love with him and his amazing way of living life. He lives well within his means and his motto is "Live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later." Meaning if you can sacrifice the expensive, over priced things now, later in life you will be able to live a debt free, stress free life with amazing things such as a nice home, a nice car, savings you can eventually live off of and things like that. He talks about paying cash and paying off debt. Taking responsibility for that debt and moving on from it. He has been there, done that and is an inspiration.
My husband and I knew we wanted to be debt free when we had a baby. We didn't want to have to worry so much about every little bill we had. We do not follow his steps 100% but we do try to use them as guidelines on the big things. The first step is simple, start a savings account with $1,000 of Emergency Funds. This was pretty easy for us to do right away and we moved on to step 2. Pay off Debt! This was takes time. He gives great tips on how to make this happen and we were able to pay off pretty much all our debt except my leased car and my husbands student loan. We haven't started on that one only because he has it down to half of what he owed and its not gaining interest and he doesn't have to pay it while he is in  school, so we decided to hold off on that. We definitely sacrificed in a way to get our debt paid off. My parents, who are incredibly generous gave us money towards a honeymoon that we put towards our Emergency Savings and paying off some debt. We still had much more to pay off and only had about $1,500 by this Christmas that needed to be paid off. I was already pregnant so we were set on getting this taken care of. My parents, not knowing we were doing this, had given us all a present for Christmas and they always make things equal so since my sister got an amazing lap top they gave us a check as well to even things out. I was in shock. I was not expecting this at all. I as almost in tears because it was just under what we needed to pay off our last remaining debt. We took my next paycheck and paid the last of it off and were credit card debt free and my husbands car was also paid off at this point. After this we decided to start saving part of my paychecks to help for when baby comes. It has been a bit of a sacrifice as we used to love to go on little trips throughout the year and once I got pregnant we decided to not do that until we felt comfortable with our savings but it has been worth it.  I feel like the best advice anyone can ever give another person, especially their child is to live this way. Do not open a credit card to "build credit". Dave explains how this is not necessary. Its amazing how one book can really open up your eyes to a whole new way of living.
Our next big step will be buying a car with cash and trying not to finance any of it. If need be we will but we now know how to go in there and get the price we want.
I highly suggest anyone out there who feels horrible about their financial state to look into his books. He is so inspiring, encouraging and smart about money that it makes you feel like you can really become a millionaire one day. The book we bought was called The Total Money Makeover, try to buy it used to save some money ;-)  His site has a lot of information so you may not even need the book. Check it out!

Today I had a doctor appointment and the baby is already measuring 2.5 weeks ahead! I have a feeling he will be a big boy like his Daddy. I also got some pamphlets on hospital classes and yoga. I need to definitely look into those. I asked the doctor who I saw about induction since that has been my main concern and her answer was perfect. We try to avoid induction at all costs! I love it. She likes to do things as natural as possible but thinks epidurals are fine, I told her I was a wimp so I probably will get one but I love that she is more into the natural things.
After that I went to lunch with my Mom, my friend Maggie and her Mom, Susan, who was in town from California. It was great seeing them and having lunch. I basically lived at Maggie's when I was in highschool and have always been close to her Mom. I really wish she still lived here.
On another fun note, I am trying to plan a Baby Moon for me and Bran. I hope I can pull it off as a surprise for Branden. He always plans the surprises for us and since his birthday, our anniversary and Father's Day are all coming up I thought it would be nice. He got me a great Mother's Day gift to a spa and I just feel so lucky and want to show how much I appreciate all he does. Last year for our anniversary he surprised me with a mini trip to Naples and it was so sweet and relaxing. Since the baby is basically due on our anniversary I want to do something now before I get to uncomfortable. I will keep you posted!

Mags and Me

Susan and Me

26 weeks

I am such a terrible blogger lately! I swear I have a good excuse. I have had finals and tests, works and house guest.
Branden's cousin Sarah and her husband Todd came and stayed with us from Tuesday to this Sunday. It was great seeing them. Sarah is Branden's closest in age cousin and we all just get a long really well. They got here Tuesday so we went to lunch at Le Tub's which is a cute little restaurant on the intercoastal. Then we stopped by the beach and stuck our feet in the water. Then we headed home and they napped and we went to Kmart and got a cheap little dresser for Adonis' room. We actually saw a guy who worked there named Adonis! I was so excited!

27 weeks at the beach!

Then Wednesday, I worked all day and night. I was worn out. Thursday I took Todd and Sarah down to the beach and then worked for about 4 hours and then came home and we all hung out and bar-b-q and then went for menchies after.
Friday, after I had to take a make up exam, we went to Nami's for dinner and then to Hard Rock. So fun! I miss having fun nights out.

27 weeks at Hard Rock

Sunday night I had a final, so glad that class is over with! I have two more left. One on Tuesday morning and another on Wednesday morning. Then Thursday is my last day work for the one family I have been working for since last summer. They are moving which I am sad about but at this point in my pregnancy, the days are just to long for me. I will start watching the kids I have watched for the longest time again on Tuesday and Thursdays, which I am excited about. I watch the two younger ones on Thursday and it was great seeing them. They also gave me a ton of baby clothes since their son turned one in September.
I have to take my glucose test soon! I was going to go today but ended up running errands with Branden and then we started working on the baby's room! I will post pics soon, we still need to paint and get curtains.
I think I will go Friday to take it. Its so annoying because I have to do a walk in to the lab place because they never have openings and you can just walk in. I hope it doesn't suck to much.