dollars, trucks and breathing.

this post consists of less baby stuff, more daily life stuff.

first off, only 10 more days until the big gender reveal!  i think i'm starting to second guess myself as the time gets closer.  i don't necessarily feel that i'm doubting my gut, but as it gets closer and closer i realize it could be either! it is a 50/50 chance of course.  krissy d texted me today and told me she's changing her mind to team blue.  also, a friend told me that your leg hair grows longer if you are having a boy. could be a load of crap but my leg hair is definitely growing at a rapid speed these days.  well all this hype (that only i'm creating of course) leads me to the breathing part of this post.  for the last week or two, i've had a hard time breathing.  i can't catch a deep breath of air.  this mostly was happening in the evening but now it's pretty much all day everyday.  also, my heart sometimes feels like its beating out of my chest.  i've experienced this feeling now and again growing up, but never got it checked out or worried too much about it.  it is usually brought on by stress or anxiety.  anyway, i called my doctor yesterday after having a slight emotional breakdown (from the stress of not breathing well) and she wants me to go see a cardiologist next week to make sure my heart is ok. um, scary! she also said that pregnancy is basically a 9 month stress test on your heart. this does NOT help the stress and anxiety factor!  i hope that this is all nothing.  i didn't even realize i was stressed or anxious (i mean come on, i'm a stay at home wife who cooks meals and cleans the house and does crafts.....what's there to be worried about?).  long drawn out story short, i see a cardiologist next wednesday, two days before our anatomy scan ultrasound.  lot's to learn next week!

this weekend amongst all the college and nfl football, we realized we haven't been to church in a while.  i felt called to go sunday so, we went.  the name of the message was "the road to recovery" and it was all about finances.  andy stanley's message was similar to dave ramsey's on this topic.  basically saying, why pay interest when you can make interest?  and how we shouldn't be in debt (car loans, credit cards, etc.).  this is something jon and i talked about doing a few months back but never sat down and started the process.  well, we walk out of the service and jon says to me, "did anything stick out to you the whole time he was talking?" and i said, "yes, the truck. i think our first priority needs to be paying it off. what about you?".  he said, "it was also the truck.  i think we need to sell it".  i was shocked.  that truck is his baby! his truckbaby. not his furbaby or his wombbaby but its very close to his heart nonetheless.  he went on to say that its the mature, responsible thing to do for our family, our finances and our future.  can i just say how proud i am of my husband? he is such a selfless man who always puts others first and i just appreciate and love him so much.  so our hope is to sell the truck, pay off the loan, and make a good chunk to put directly toward our jeep payment.  then it should only take a few more months to pay the jeep off completely and bam! no more debt.  we are even taking it one step further and getting rid of our credit cards and doing the envelope system.  every dollar of our income is accounted for at the beginning of the month and put it in its envelope (ex: gym membership for next year, vacation fund, baby fund, gas money, groceries, etc.).  the same amount goes in each category every month (ex: gas envelope will get $150 a month) with this, you don't spend money before you have it.  you take from your envelope and if you don't have enough, you don't buy that particular thing until you have the money.  on the flip side, you may end up with extra cash in a particular category at the end of the month but it will just carry into the next month (ex: gas gets $150 each month but we only used $120, therefore the extra $30 stays which means there is now $180 in there).  we averaged our expenses in each category from the last 3 months and figured out what amount each category/envelope will get.  it will take a few months to work out the kinks but i feel so great about this change.  we have been bad about spending money before we have it and then find ourselves somewhat scrambling and scrounging at the end of the month.  this will stop that problem.

bye bye truckbaby :(

i'm aware this post is very boring but i'm excited about the money changes we are making.  we have always been very responsible with our money and have never been in "debt" (aka credit card balance) for over a month but this will be awesome.  if this at all intrigues you and you find yourself possibly wanting to do this yourself, feel free to ask me about it. 

OH! one more thing.  all i've been hearing about lately is pinterest.com.  naturally, i checked it out and oh my am i in love!  watch out, this blog is about to turn into a baby, craft and recipe blog.  i'm getting so many ideas from that website and its getting my creative juices flowing!

and now for my belly picture.

my belly button is already popping out, dangit!