Being a young mom means we met a little early, but I get to love them longer.


Here are some links to helpful posts I have done in the past :)

Learn about car seat safety HERE!

Need breastfeeding advice? Click HERE for lots of helpful tips!

Lilypie Fourth Birthday tickers

Lilypie Second Birthday tickers

Lilypie Breastfeeding tickers

Monday, August 8, 2011

$$$$$

So today we finally got my motor mounts fixed.. $400 down the drain. That was pretty much the last of my Pell Grant. We have a little over $100 left.

Jessika's post got me thinking about our finances for the rest of the year. We are fine month to month with bills, but we don't really have much extra. When I work it gives us extra money, but after I have Brentley I am not sure what I am going to do. My boss actually okayed me to bring Brentley to work with me if I am breastfeeding him. I sit the whole time, and since he would be a newborn he would pretty much just eat and sleep. The most I am ever there is 6 hours, so it's really not that long. I'm thinking I will at least give it a shot because we could really use that money. If it is too difficult I guess I will just have to figure something else out.

I won't get anymore Pell Grant money until January. Between now and then we have halloween, Grace's birthday, and Christmas. For halloween Chris wants Brentley to be Superman. I really want Grace to be a ballerina, but I've never really seen any cute ballerina costumes for a two year old. I'm thinking about buying an actual tutu and leotard to let her wear.

For her birthday I want to do Barney. We are probably going to go pretty cheap with the decorations.. like more plain color things (purple and green), and then a Barney cake and some Barney balloons. I really want to get her a disco ball light for her birthday. My sister has one, and Grace loves it.

Then for Christmas.. I have about $500 saved up for Christmas time. I have been really good about not spending any of that, and I am determined to save it for Christmas time.
I already have a few things for them.. I have the pillows and pillowcases I made for them. Then I have several Barney books for Grace that I got awhile back.

I would really like to get Grace a portable DVD player and one of those basically indestructible kid cameras. And I know I want to get Brentley a children's Bible. I was also thinking about getting Brentley one of those jumperroo things as his big present. I'm not really sure what else to get the kids. Especially Brentley.. it's so hard to shop for a small baby. Grace only had like 5 presents and a stocking for her first Christmas. We just couldn't think of what to get for a newborn. And one of the things we got her I would never buy again. If anyone has any suggestions for what to get for a 4 month old that would be great!

And then of course we get ornaments. I am really big into the ornament tradition thing. Every year we get a family one, one for Grace, and one for Chris and me, and now we will need to get one for Brentley too. The family one we get will be personalized, so it won't be cheap.

And then there are pictures.. I want to get newborn pictures of Brentley, Grace's birthday pictures and halloween pictures of Grace and Brentley (can be done in the same sitting because they are so close to each other), and then our family Christmas pictures.. these are what I'm really worried about paying for. We always get them at JC Penneys which can be sort of pricey, but we'll figure out how to get them done somehow.

As long as I get to work some more after Brentley is born I can continue to save money, so lets just hope it really will work out to where I can take Brentley to work. It would be a blessing to be able to continue to make money without it interferring with breastfeeding. And if for some reason breastfeeding doesn't work, then Chris can watch him and Grace while I go to work.

13 comments:

  1. I hate money. I know most people like it but it gets me so frustrated!!
    We have pics to get done to but our jcpenny membership expired this month:(
    We ran into the same problem with Ellanoa last year. She was only 4 days old at Christmas. So we got her some toys that we could give her at like 3 months and 6 months. And it helped a lot. When she starts to outgrow some toys we just pull out the other ones. He will have 8 months before his bday so it could help. With 2 babies it's harder to buy in between. So having them already there and pulling them out when time comes helps.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our JC Penney membership will expire this December :( I have no idea how much it is to renew, but I would really like to. Is it expensive to renew?

    Grace was almost 2 months old at her first Christmas. That's a good idea about buying toys he can use as he grows!

    I would like money if I had tons of it lol, but since we don't I would love for someone to hand me a winning lottery ticket lol.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it's much. We just don't want to renew it because they lady iwho is there now doesn't take good pics:( and isn't really that good with the babies.

    Yea it has helped us out. We just kept the toys she couldn't really do anything with put up and then toke themout when it was time. We actually just switched out a bunch of toys.

    I know!!! I wish someone would buy me a winning lottery ticket. I would in know way waste it!!! If I ever win I will make sure to give you some:)

    ReplyDelete
  4. i would go with a sentimental gift for a four month old..like a christmas ornamnet.? something he will have when hes older and can appreciate it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jessika, that stinks! I love the people at our JC Penneys. I hope they don't ever leave!

    Okay!! If I get one I will make sure and set some aside for you too :) I have always said that if I win the lottery I would put a Chic-Fil-A in Ringgold. I think it would get amazing business, so I would never run out of money.. However, with the recent tornado they are beating me to it :( A couple of places aren't rebuilding, so they are most likely going to be putting a Chic-Fil-A in lol.

    Erica, that is a good idea too! I would kind of like to get Brentley a personalized blanket. Grace has one, and I think Brentley should too. I have no idea how much that would cost though.. I'll have to look into that!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yep. I hate it too. It seems like every time Jessie gets a raise, bills go up. Last time, when he started Nabco, we moved. Bills doubled, from paying half to everything. Now that he is at Comcast, we have groceries, heathcare, a bigger phone bill because we move to our own plan, gym membership, her dance costs more than Kindermusik...Just eh. lol It sucks.

    That is what I was going to suggest. The leotard is only $7.00 at WalMart, and then I have seen cheaper tutus, like $13.00 at GiGi's cottage.

    Good ideas! Samantha was 3 months on her 1st Christmas. We got her a tummy toy, that lady bug one. A door bouncer because she didn't already have it. And a thing to go on the side of her crib that lit up and played music. Since they were bigger gifts, that is all we got her. For her stocking, we put Baby snacks in it for later, like those puffs and such.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Our bills have gone up since it's summer.. Our electric bill went wayyy up :( And our water bill went up $5. Plus Comcast failed to inform us that the price we were paying for internet was a promotional price, so our internet bill went up $15 :(

    I like the idea of snacks for the stocking. I hate putting tiny toys in because they just get scattered everywhere. For Grace I am going to be putting things like toddler snacks and animal crackers. I don't even remember what we put in Grace's stocking for her first Christmas lol..

    ReplyDelete
  8. Really? That sucks. Is it cheap in the winter? Ya. Charter did that to us. I cancelled our cable contract and went to satellite, but I had to keep the internet. It was pretty much our only choice. RTC was too much. I was mad. Now we get cable free since Jessie works for Comcast, and we are stuck for another year and a half in a contract with Dish Network. :(

    Ya. We are not big on little toys. Samantha gets some now, but not many. Ha Ha. Ya. We did stuff like that the year before last I believe. But last year I think we did candy. She is not big on candy though, so we just did like 2 big boxes and left it at that. Kids get enough candy from everybody else at Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
  9. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Ehh it's not cheap, but it was better than it is now. It went up $50!! It's been like that two months in a row. Last month we kept the air up higher and it was still the same price. This month we put aluminum foil on all the windows to keep the sun out. It seems to help. Plus they finally fixed our door, so I'm hoping we will get a cheaper bill next month.

    Grace has a lot of little toys that my mom has given her from Cheyenne, and I HATE them! She always strolls them all across the house, hides them in cabinets, pushes them under the couch, etc. etc. I'm about ready to toss them all in the trash lol.
    Grace isn't a big candy eater either. She would much rather have cookies, crackers, or purple grapes. Those are her favorite snacks.

    ReplyDelete
  11. That's good. I'd be pretty mad about $50.00. Ours slowly rises. It stays around $60 to $80. The worst month is July. It is $100.00. But that is what I have in the budget. So anytime it is below that it is just extra.

    Oh ya. My Mom is the one who buys Samantha little toys like Pet Shops and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. She does it to bug me. Samantha does pretty well about keeping them in the basket they go in, but I want her to play with toys her own age. Not Baby toys, but not Kid toys like My Little Ponies and such. Ha Ha. Grace seems so funny. Troublemaker. lol. Maybe Brentley will be the calm one.

    Samantha Loves cookies and ice cream. Those are her favorite sweets. I WISH I could get her to eat grapes. She isn't a big fruit eater. She will only eat bananas or mandarine oranges. I feel like an awful parent. lol.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yea when it was up $50 I about passed out lol.

    Grace is definitely into everything. If she's not supposed to be touching it she does lol.

    Grace isn't a big fruit eater either. She likes purple grapes, apples, and mandarin oranges. She won't even eat a banana. And vegetable? Forget about it. There is not a single vegetable she will touch unless I hide it in something. You aren't the only one to feel like an awful parent. I'm terrified Grace is going to be fat :(

    ReplyDelete
  13. Goodness! That much, that quick. That's rediculous!

    Ha Ha Ha. I bet your house is child locked down!

    Awe. :( She won't be fat unless you allow her to eat whenever, and whatever she wants. So far, Samantha has stayed healthy for her age. She isn't overweight and she definitely isn't underweight. We limit her to 3 meals and one snack between lunch and dinner. The only time I make exceptions is special occasions. Occasionally she can have icecream or something for snack, but usually her choices are some sort of cracker, fruit, or dry cereal.

    ReplyDelete