Life has been good, but busy, lately!  Keeping it all in balance hasn’t left me any time for blogging…but I’ll be back soon.  Meanwhile, my Facebook status updates can keep you in the loop.

For the record- it is too early to sell Halloween candy in the grocery store!  Twice now I’ve almost picked up a nice big back of bite-sized goodness (you know, “for the neighborhood kids”) only to realize that it’s not even October yet!  Candy bought now would have NO chance of making it all the way to the end of next month.  Tricky, tricky, HEB, but I’m onto your little game…

I’m working on a new post!  Don’t give up on me!

We got home from the hospital on Friday night, and I’m still in major overload-mode.  Everything is going well; I’m just learning the basics of feeding and soothing and cleaning…while keeping up (or not) with daily routines and tasks…all in a body that feels even stranger to me now than it did before Abby was born!

I’ll get to processing more publicly soon, I hope, but in the meantime…

In the final days!  I think this was Sunday night; I went into the hospital on Tuesday to be induced.

30 hours into the process…almost there!  That’s 4 AM, if you’re looking at the clock.

…and here she is!

Ready to go home!

She sleeps A LOT!

]]> http://watsonsonline.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/meet-abby/feed/ 18 Lindsey abby 007 abby 015 abby 063 DSC01572 DSC01738 DSC01741 http://watsonsonline.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/budget-update-month-75/ http://watsonsonline.wordpress.com/2009/08/24/budget-update-month-75/#comments Tue, 25 Aug 2009 02:58:23 +0000 Lindsey http://watsonsonline.wordpress.com/?p=745 ]]>

We’re 24 days into our first month on the new tight-belt budget, and so far, so good!  I check the credit card statement about once a week, and I’m keeping a tally of the things we’re spending in each category.  I can already see some flaws in my system, but with only about a week left, our spending has been drastically reduced, so…success!

What has worked:

• Shopping with a list.  My grocery spending is way down, as are those mysterious “Target” or “Wal-Mart” expenses.
• Keeping all of my spending money in cash makes it easy to decide if I can or can’t afford a splurge.
• Eating at home IS cheaper.  I have made an effort to cook out of things that are already in my pantry, and of eating leftovers until they are GONE, not just until I am tired of them.  We’ve both been brown-bagging it since going back to work, and it’s been satisfying to feel so responsible.

TRUE STORY:  Last weekend we went to the Dr. Pepper Museum (on free admission day!).  We knew that later in the afternoon we wanted to hang out at Common Grounds.  SO, we packed a picnic lunch and in between those activities, we ate on the grass overlooking the Brazos River.  It cost us nothing, and was so much more pleasant than sitting in Chick-fil-A!  Well worth the 20 minutes of pre-planning before leaving the house.

Needs “tweaking”:

• My “spending” category is too general, or I have not allotted enough money for it.  I am WAY over in this category, even though we have been very good, due to stupid stuff like weekly hospital co-pays and the fact that I needed a billion stamps for thank-you cards.
• Purchases like shampoo, toilet paper, and dog food are just going to have to be classified as “groceries” because I usually buy them at HEB.  It’s just too much hassle to tally them separately.
• I’m going to have to watch myself on “playing the system”– in the past month I have considered categorizing a nursing bra as “groceries,” and those pesky co-pays as “childcare”  just to try to make my numbers add up.  But what’s the point of rules if I change them?

Anyway, with TH coming soon and a weird month of extra expenses but also lots of gifts and “free” meals, I don’t know how helpful our “budget” will be until we settle into more of a routine.  But, at least we’re thinking hard about spending and seeing a general decline.  For now, I think that will have to be good enough.

One more week until TH is due! Not that that gives me any hint about when he/she will actually arrive…but, still…holy moley!

New question on the Baby Talk page..head on over and give me some advice!

Due to a typo in one of my narratives, I accidentally coined a new word:  perseveracne.  I’ve been petstered by some perseveracne of my own recently, so add to my list of New Year’s Resolutions:  better skin care.

I’m coming off of three days of awesome hang-out time with my swell siblings and cool and fun parents.  We had our family Christmas last night, complete with all of my favorite traditions: stockings, breakfast, Elf Leslie, Mom’s cocoa, and new pajamas!  Having the family together is my favorite happiness and it is harder to pull off now that Laura is all grown up now.

Today all the girls in the fam gathered in my kitchen (my evergreen countertops contributing to the festive atmosphere) and we did all of my holiday baking.  Laura and Leslie and I cooked while Mom worked on a sewing project.  

For the rest of the week, I am looking forward to time with the other side of the family and a fun road trip to see some folks and some sales in Houston!  I LOVE Christmas!  

I hope that all of you friends out there are enjoying the sweetness of rest, family, and peace this week.

I had bought a really cute grapevine wreath to clip my Christmas cards to this year, and up to yesterday I was totally depressed because I hadn’t gotten ANY mail yet! I’m blaming it on the late Thanksgiving (I just put my own cards in the mail yesterday) and the recent move. Yesterday, as I was about to become a total grinch, I got some cards! Congrats to KarenD, Teresa, and my mom for adding some Christmas cheer to my bare wreath.

In other news, I heard a great warm-weather Christmas quote on the radio as “Let it Snow” played in the background: “Well, don’t hold your breath for snow here, because it will probably be in the 70’s, but at least it can snow in your heart.” THANKS.