23 weeks!

Hi friends and family! I am LOVING this fall type weather this week and I hope you are too. Last weekend we had a major storm roll through which cut out our power for a couple days. I never realized how awful it is without electricity when you have a small toddler. I realized that almost all his favorite meals are heated up so I had to scramble around town finding him something to eat that he would enjoy! Unfortunately we can't do the peanut butter and Jelly sandwich as a snack because of his peanut allergy :(

We spent the weekend doing some projects around the house and spending time together as a family. It was nice to have a weekend to relax! Brandon and I are fixing up an older hutch I found at a garage sale along with a side buffet table I bought a few years back. I am happy how they are turning out and I'll post pictures later this week when they're done!

I am excited to finally be 23 weeks now. The closer I get to the 30 week range the better I am feeling. I am still so nervous with this pregnancy! It's been extremely hard to relax this time around and I'm constantly having nightmares of baby arriving too early or something being wrong. I really think the ectopic along with all this babies surprises has given me a bit of anxiety. I'm hoping I can chill out the remainder of the pregnancy and enjoy it…especially because it may be the last one I'll ever have!

I also wanted to update everyone on the job I had originally accepted. I went to a training last week and was given a schedule of the clients I would have. Instead of needing me 10 hours a week like they said when they hired me, They had a schedule for 25-30 hours. This normally wouldn't be a big deal but the hours were a little crazy. 9am-11am. 2:30-7:00 and Saturdays. After calling around to several daycares, They told me they would not be able to take Mason for hours like that unless I paid full time which was $35 a day mon-fri. I later found out with this job that if my clients cancel on me, I wouldn't get paid for that time. Brandon and I started crunching numbers and realized that the cost of child care would almost be a wash with this part time job. I was obviously devastated but was able to communicate these concerns with the woman who hired me and she said she'd be happy to have me come on board in the future if I can make it work with our family. 

The good thing that came out of this is I learned a lot about what is and isn't possible for our little family right now! The only way to really be profitable would be for me to be full time again using my degree. Brandon and I both discussed that this may be when Mason goes to Preschool and baby girl is close to Mason's age. For now I am content being a stay at home mom and really watching our spending!! I have learned so much about what we need and what we don't need since staying home. I look back at the old me who used to be almost everything brand new. Now I get almost more joy finding something older or used and making it beautiful again! My uncle was getting rid of a couch and I realized this could be something we could use without having to buy a brand new one. He doesn't smoke, has no pets or kids, so I knew it would be perfect! I found a cute slip cover and voila! I now have an amazing piece of furniture for less than $60. It's really helped finding alternative ways to decorate our home and ways to find entertainment. Instead of going out to eat as a family we do take out once every couple weeks instead. It's amazing the savings we've found just doing minor little adjustments.

I could probably write a novel on how we've saved money the last year with me being home but I won't bore you with all that today. Basically I'm happy that i've been forced to be smart with out money! It will make the time when I go back to work feel a lot more fortunate! Have a great week everyone.