Human Llama Racing to the Finish!

As of this week we are 25/40 weeks into this pregnancy and our food budget is feeling the pinch almost as much as my wardrobe. Between the hubby's non-stop grazing and my increased snacking and the odd craving or two, we are spending soooo much more money on food. For the most part it has been healthy, but there is always in the back of your mind this nagging voice saying "slow the heck down!" I work across the street from a PCC market, which is a high end local and organic co-op market, so the worst of the snack food isn't even an option, but even though I'm buying somewhat healthier snacks I'm still eating and spending a ton. This has got to stop, especially in light of trying to save money for the three months that I'm going to be on leave, for the eventual downpayment of a house, and for the third mouth to feed and clothe.

Llama chowing down. Sometimes I resemble this...

The first half of this pregnancy felt like it crawled by, and now it feels like I have hardly any time left! We've still got almost three months, but I'm crossing off the last month as usable time since I'm unsure how much energy and motivation I'm going to have. I want to get as much done now as possible without rushing things. We took our homebuyer's education seminar last week, are getting ready to open an IRA for the spouse's retirement future, deciding whether or not we're ready to start the pre-approval process for getting a mortgage knowing that there are things we are probably going to need to fix. I spent one night this week completely reorganizing our financial documents and getting ready to complete our taxes once we receive the last W-2. I always try to get them done in February just to get them out of the way.

All of the preparation for the future and examining finances makes it startlingly clear how easy it is to slide into poverty in this country. I refuse to sink into the cycle of only buying the cheapest food available as you will pay for that in the end with the health impacts, but that does mean reprioritzing to make it all work out. We're fine now, but things are definately going to get tighter as the year progresses. Trying to figure out if it is financially better for me to reduce hours to 32-25 instead of 40 after maternity leave to allow the hubs to work more or to basically leave him only the weekends for paid employment. Paying for childcare for an infant is somewhere in the range of $50-$100 more a week than a 1-year old (and even then it is still in the $150-$200 range), so if we can swing it by alternating our schedules for 9 months until his first birthday we'd save a ton, like almost $4000 over 9 months.

We still need to pick up the cradle from my cousin, find a dresser to use as a changing table, figure out clothe or disposable diapers, and look into breast pump rental; since we don't know how long my health will allow breastfeeding since no MS drug is approved for while breastfeeding it doesn't make since to purchase one and potentiall only be able to use it for 2-3 months. Plus there is the delayed christmas that we are having in February when the in-laws get back in the country from Asia - still need to finish the presents for that... 

And then there is work. I'm trying to not freak out since I'm not in a position of authority to control things at all, but I'm concerned about the state of things while I'm gone. We are going through a period of hiring new staff right now and  depending on how long that takes, the new lead at my location may or may not be up to snuff by the time I leave. When I've left in the past, such as for my periodic month off the continent every few years, it always takes me a few weeks to get things caught back up even with people covering my position while gone. That is not to say that my coworkers are incompetent, but there are always things that get over looked that I end up having to clean up once I get back. I'm resisting the urge to make a daily checklist for the position of what you are supposed to do for each task. I feel like my efficiency level is such that I could reduce my hours and get everything done, but I'm not so sure about others. It's probably just my ego talking, or at least I hope it is. I'd rather be proven wrong in this instance.

I suppose that it is perfectly normal to have a mid-pregnancy freak out and this is my month to have it. Luckily everything with the pregnancy itself is going well, although the next big test is coming up in 2 weeks - the dreaded gestational diabetes test. High hopes that it turns out normal, but seeing as how all predictions I've had about the pregnancy have been wrong I'm going to try to leave my expectations at the door.

A Year of Changes

For our little family, 2013 is bound to be different from 2012 for several reasons, some obvious, others not so much.

There is of course the most obvious - the impending birth of our first child this spring. This will no doubt change our lives for the better. Instead of the spouse and rabbit and I, we will now how another noiser mouth to feed, clothe, and cart around with us. I cannot express the level of excitement in the house as we slowly accumulate stuff for our new little man. And yes, that does mean that unless the US was really off, we're having a little boy. I'm still out numbered males to females in the house.

Our camera shy little guy finally gave a decent profile after over an hour

Other highly probable changes due to occur:
We move somewhere new to  accomodate the added human in the household. We're still unsure that we can afford to realistically buy a place in the areas we'd like before the little one is born, but we are trying to get our act together so that if the oppurtunity presents itself we will be able to pounce. We've signed up for a Homebuyers Education Seminar later this month which will earn us a certificate good for 2 years allowing access to lower interest and down payment rates than we'd be able to get without it. Even if we don't buy something, we'll still probably move to a larger rental somewhere hopefully nearby. I'd still like to avoid buying an additional car.

I start on a new MS medication. One big mystery for us is how my immune system will come back post-pardum. That will determine how quickly I need to get back on medication, but I assume that it will more than likely be about 6 months from birth, which would be this coming November. No MS drugs currently on the market are approved for while breastfeeding, so I'd like to avoid going back on something as long as possible but realize that could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 1 year. As a result I need to start researching medications again to try to find the most tolerable. I liked the results I was getting on what I was on previously, but that is no longer an option as I ran out of injection sites.

The hubs starts a new job. With the added mouth to feed, the spouse will most likely be finding either a second part time job or finding one full time job with better pay. This is very much so up in the air, and I have little to no control over any of it, so there's really not much more I can say. We'll see what he finds. I have high hopes for him, but every time I try to push or encourage one direction or another it seems to not really work, so we'll see what happens.

And then there are all of the larger geo-political changes that are going on in the world around us, such as the financial mess caused by our elected officials and our culture of refusing to say no to our wants. It seems like we satisfy our wants while starving our needs. We want to have low taxes, but we also need to ensure that there is a social safety net for those who are unable for a variety of reasons to take care of themselves. Being poor is not a crime and we need to stop penalizing the less fortunate as if they are convicted criminals. The suggestion by many to have mandatory drug testing to receive government assistance won't solve the fraud issue (which when actually investigated is not nearly as rampant as some would have you believe); it will just serve to make people more distrustful of the system. We want to have access to all sorts of firearms as civilians, but we need to take a hard look at our culture of glorifying violence and the tools that allow people to live out those darker tendencies. A firearm may just be a tool for destruction and not in itself able to inflict harm, but the ramifications for those whose carelessness results in someone else taking their tool to commit atrocities are paultry. If I had my way, the registered owner of a weapon that is used for a crime should be able to be charged with aiding and abetting for not properly safeguarding their weapon. It is just a pipe dream of mine, but something has to change.

Life has a funny way of working itself out, and that is without our constant attempts at steering its course. May the new year bring many pleasant surprising and thought provoking challenges.