Spending Fast Recap

So, last year, my friend Cami, did a spending fast for one month and I decided to do it with her. I know this sounds dramatic, but honestly, it was life changing for me. I’m a spender. Not the way a lot of people think of “spending” where I buy expensive things. Not at all, in fact. I don’t remember the last time I bought something for myself that wasn’t from Target. But I’m a spender in the pick-up-random-things-at-Target and buy-something-online-cause-it’s-on-sale kind of way. That kind of stuff adds up. I also like to grab lunch when I’m busy and don’t want a PB&J. And dinner out of a bag sometimes sounds SO MUCH better than anything where I have to stand in the kitchen for an hour to make and then another hour afterwards to clean up. AND, I love eating out. Like in a restaurant where someone asks ME if I’d like a refill or more dressing. Anyway, the rules are this: no buying ANYTHING except groceries and gas (and bills, obviously), with a $50/week grocery limit. That’s it. And last year, I stuck to it. It changed a LOT of habits of mine. I still only go to the grocery store once a week. If I’m out of something, I go without till the next week. To be honest, I think it’s made me a better cook. I’ve gotten creative a few times, to say the least. I really learned what I can absolutely live without. And every once in awhile, I’ll go on a spending fast week, just to rejuvenate those frugal spirits in me. I didn’t tell Greg about it. Two reasons, mostly. One, I wanted to do it for myself and two, I wanted it to be a surprise. Greg’s a really frugal guy and although he rarely, if ever, gets on my case about my spending, I knew it would be a welcome surprise for him. Well, as any bad habit goes, I got a little rusty, so when Cami asked if I wanted to do it again this year, for the month of February, I jumped on it. I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. Greg was gone (not physically, but mentally... and also physically) studying for and taking the bar. The twins are older and just need a lot more, food- and entertainment-wise. I’m pregnant. Getting fatter and lazier by the second. And, wanting to buy things for the baby. Then, the doctor put me on “limited physical activity” bed rest. But I persisted. I should mention that I wasn’t as hard core this year and didn’t give myself a grocery budget. Other than that, I made it till February 26th, when 1. Greg finished the bar and had initially announced that we’d go out and party like rockstars so I didn’t plan dinner, and then we ended up ordering pizza. 2. I started freaking out that the baby will be here in less than 3 weeks and I have not done one thing to get the twins’ room ready to give up their cribs to the baby and went to Hobby Lobby. So I guess I went on a 25 day spending fast. But it was wonderful. It really is crazy how much little-bit-here-little-bit-there spending we can go without in this household. And it was a good time to do it, right before the baby gets here. I kept it a secret from Greg again this year, only because he was studying for the bar and if I told him he couldn’t go out for lunch, he would have just starved himself. There you have it. I’m amazing. A true inspiration, really. And next year, I’m going to post it on my blog before I do it, and you’re all going to join in tell your friends how amazing you are. And then we’re just going to spread amazingness throughout the world and it will all be because of Cami. (Seriously, check out her blog. She’s going the whole year of 2011 without buying anything new (besides groceries and stuff). No, she’s not crazy, she just really IS that amazing!)

Good Times

They love each other. A lot.

This morning Kate was the princess and Ethan was her prince. They danced in circles singing the song from Sleeping Beauty.

I figure as long as this behavior doesn’t last till they’re 16, I don’t need to be worried.

(Right?)

After looking through these photos, I’ve noticed that that wall is very bare.

Prepare yourself

for one hot-lookin’ lady:

There are 2 reasons I know I was meant to live in the 21st century

#1: the DVR

#2: Modern Medicine

As most of you know, my body was just not made to have children. But thankfully, Heavenly Father put me on this earth at a time where that can be fixed:

• After 2 years of trying, pregnancy #1 came with the help of Clomid
• At 20 weeks pregnant, I found myself in labor and delivery learning that I have an incompetent cervix. With the help of a cerclage, very strict bed rest, weekly visits to the doctor for monitoring, and weekly shots of progesterone, I was able to deliver the twins at 34 weeks
• They then had to stay in the NICU for 2 and 3 weeks because of feeding and breathing issues. I won’t even go into the modern miracle that the NICU is.
• After they were born, I had a surgery where a permanent cerclage was put in place so I wouldn’t have to be on bed rest for future pregnancies
• With pregnancy #2, I’ve had the weekly progesterone shots, but I’ve been able to maintain “active mom” status
• Something about the flight home from California 2 weeks ago put my body into all sorts of distress and I was in the hospital contracting for all of Saturday and flat on the couch all day Sunday. They gave me steroid shots for the baby’s lungs and some other shots to stop contractions and started me on a pill (terbutaline, for those who care) that I now take every 8 hours. These pills make me shaky like Mohammed Ali (is that insensitive?) but keep the baby inside where he should be, till hopefully 36 weeks. My status has been demoted to “limited activity,” which means I can’t really clean, do grocery shopping, carry my children, or jump on trampolines.

Today marks 34 weeks. That’s a huge milestone which I’m very grateful to hit. Next week Greg takes the bar and I would really love it if my husband could be there when our child is born. If I’m being picky, I’d really like to make it to my 38 week C-section date, but I’m starting to think that’s just a dream. Either way, we’re doing well and 34 weeks is a whole lot better than 32 weeks. And making it to 32 weeks without ANY bed rest is truly nothing short of a miracle.

So this is my ode to modern medicine. I heart you. I am so grateful that research has gone before me and made it so that I can get fat like a cow and have 3 little squirts in my house.

But after these past 2 weeks, don’t be surprised if there’s never a 4th.

Happy Birthday Gram!

Last grandparent post this week, I promise.

My grandma on my dad’s side turned 75 this week. My aunt threw this amazing birthday party and sent us all hats to take pictures in (they have pictures of her throughout her life, but they’re a little crooked). How cute are they? Funny story about the picture, though. We did the whole set the camera up on a chair, set the timer to take 5 photos, run in to place, try to hold 2 squirmy little ones, all while trying to balance these hats on our head routine. Maybe 3 times. This is the best we could get. You might notice that Ethan’s hat is on it’s way down, but we went with it. Later on, I was putting the hats back in the envelopes and realized there were ELASTICS in the bag! Could have been useful, I guess. IF you’re amateur like that. We’re professionals. Obviously.

So my grandma is quite an amazing lady. One of those gets more done in the morning before I even wake up than I get done all day kind of lady. She’s super into genealogy and has done something like 13 billion names. She’s a social butterfly and is always a part of a book group, dinner group, and who knows what else. She loves her grandchildren and was always at ballgames, ballet recitals and the like. I hardly have a childhood memory without her in it. She is very crafty and can whip anything up without even directions. One of my favorite qualities, though, are her stunning good looks, which although they skipped a couple generations, she passed on to her great granddaughter.

Darling

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I love my grandparents. All of them. I was lucky enough to grow up very close to all of them and I consider it one of my greatest childhood treasures. I’ve already mentioned some of the wonderful things about my grandpa (most affectionately known as Bumpa (in case you don’t recall, here’s a recap: kindest man alive, always has Diet Coke and Almond Hershey’s bars on hand, and single handedly keeps Costco in business)), so I’d like to say a few things about this gem of a lady, most affectionately known to her grandchildren as Darling. She is just that, a lady. Anyone who’s ever met her will confirm it. If you ever want to know the proper way to say or do something, she will know. And besides oozing with class, she’s always had a GREAT wardrobe, she can identify EVERY See’s Candy (my personal goal in life), and she’s managed to convince all of her grandchildren that they are her favorite. To ensure the top spot, though, I gave my little darling Helen for her middle name. I think they share a special bond.

Ethan was not feeling so hot this day, but he brought his A-game for the next visit

And this concludes my California trip blogging

Some more favorites from the trip

Pinkberry

Gramps let them pick their own. Couldn’t have made them happier if you tried.

Disneyland

The joys of going in January when you are the only ones there. Ethan gets a blue teacup and Kate gets a pink one.

Playing with Uncle Matt in the front yard

Walking on the Mountains

Greg has been studying hard core for the Texas bar, so the kids and I took off to California for some good times. I didn’t really have an agenda for the trip except I knew we would visit Disneyland, since Ethan has been praying so hard for it. What I didn’t expect was this little adventure. As soon as we were pulling into my parents house, Ethan got all excited about the mountains and kept asking if we could go walk on them. I figured, sure, but I knew there was no way it would live up to his expectations. I stand corrected. We ended up going 3 times! It should be noted that the first time we went Ethan was in heaven- he was a man in a mountain. Kate was in, well, not heaven. She would have liked it, I’m sure, if there wasn’t so much dirt and if she didn’t have to walk. However, after a little pep talk from Nana on trip three (and some good socks), she saw the light and had a grand old time.