2008 - What a long strange trip it's been . . .
This year brought us through many many changes. It's pretty amazing to me, when I look back -
At the beginning of the year Dodi was still pregnant (and pretty big, too). She had a Cesarean (which neither of us were expecting), giving birth to an awesome daughter. Since the pregnancy Dodi ended up going "out of town" three times, leaving me to single parent for a few weeks each time. Now, as we approach Christmas, I've got a healthy 8 month old daughter and a healthy wife.
OMG, Busy
I don't really understand it. We never seem to do anything anymore, but we always seem to be busy. It must be some sort of optical illusion due to the baby. We spend so much time caring for her that everything else just fades into the background. Even a trip to the store is like planning for a moon shot or an arctic expedition. If only we had mission control or maybe some sherpas. Babies do make the best excuse, though. Reason we didn't do a Christmas card? Baby. Reason we didn't attend that wedding? Baby. Reason we forgot to shower . . Baby. Everyone understands.
Best. Baby. Ever.
Ok, I know, I know - everyone thinks their kid is the best. But, seriously, mine totally is. She is the mellowest child that I have ever seen. She is not a crier (Hear ye, hear ye!). While she sometimes wants mommy or daddy around, she mostly amuses herself in her playpen (our living room). She may make some noise when she's hungry, but will always quiet down once she's fed. Nothing seem to really upset her. She is usually pretty good about going down for bed, too. We put her down, turn off the lights and, after a squall or two, she's out. Of course, I'm sure I'll go home tonight and she won't stop crying . . .
Right now she's fascinated by everything (except us). We had a hard time taking Christmas pictures because the cat kept walking by and distracting her. Whenever we pick her up, she's constantly looking around - she wants to know what is going on. Mommy and daddy aren't interesting, though, except as a jungle gym. Many nights Dodi or I will lay in Celerity's playpen and be mount-parent. Kiddo can just about make it over daddy's stomach, but not quite.
Babies cost money
Fortunately, we have a bunch of friends who had had children before we did and we've been getting tons of hand-me-downs and toys. We've really hardly had to buy anything, except to fill in when we don't have the right size/weather combination. Unfortunately, we have other expenses that we never planned for. Due do Dodi's condition we've pretty much had to have Celerity in Daycare since she was 2 months old. For a while we had her home one day a week, but that didn't work out. For the foreseeable future we will probably have her in daycare.
For the first time in our lives we're actually running on a budget so we don't run out of dough by the end of the month. Between our budget and the daycare we're just barely in the black each month. It's actually been a good exercise for us, getting a grip on our spending and really focusing on paying down our debt. We hope that by the end of next year we will be out of debt and starting to save.
We also started up a College fund for Celerity. It's a "529" account which will allow us to write off our contributions and she won't have to pay taxes on the money so long as it's used for education. Considering how things are now, I think it will be really hard to find a job in the future without a college education. We hope that having this money will enable her to follow her muse, rather than having to worry about working her way through, or being saddled with debt once she graduates.
More to Follow
I hope to be posting more, including Pictures and Videos over the next few days, so be sure to check back!
At the beginning of the year Dodi was still pregnant (and pretty big, too). She had a Cesarean (which neither of us were expecting), giving birth to an awesome daughter. Since the pregnancy Dodi ended up going "out of town" three times, leaving me to single parent for a few weeks each time. Now, as we approach Christmas, I've got a healthy 8 month old daughter and a healthy wife.
OMG, Busy
I don't really understand it. We never seem to do anything anymore, but we always seem to be busy. It must be some sort of optical illusion due to the baby. We spend so much time caring for her that everything else just fades into the background. Even a trip to the store is like planning for a moon shot or an arctic expedition. If only we had mission control or maybe some sherpas. Babies do make the best excuse, though. Reason we didn't do a Christmas card? Baby. Reason we didn't attend that wedding? Baby. Reason we forgot to shower . . Baby. Everyone understands.
Best. Baby. Ever.
Ok, I know, I know - everyone thinks their kid is the best. But, seriously, mine totally is. She is the mellowest child that I have ever seen. She is not a crier (Hear ye, hear ye!). While she sometimes wants mommy or daddy around, she mostly amuses herself in her playpen (our living room). She may make some noise when she's hungry, but will always quiet down once she's fed. Nothing seem to really upset her. She is usually pretty good about going down for bed, too. We put her down, turn off the lights and, after a squall or two, she's out. Of course, I'm sure I'll go home tonight and she won't stop crying . . .
Right now she's fascinated by everything (except us). We had a hard time taking Christmas pictures because the cat kept walking by and distracting her. Whenever we pick her up, she's constantly looking around - she wants to know what is going on. Mommy and daddy aren't interesting, though, except as a jungle gym. Many nights Dodi or I will lay in Celerity's playpen and be mount-parent. Kiddo can just about make it over daddy's stomach, but not quite.
Babies cost money
Fortunately, we have a bunch of friends who had had children before we did and we've been getting tons of hand-me-downs and toys. We've really hardly had to buy anything, except to fill in when we don't have the right size/weather combination. Unfortunately, we have other expenses that we never planned for. Due do Dodi's condition we've pretty much had to have Celerity in Daycare since she was 2 months old. For a while we had her home one day a week, but that didn't work out. For the foreseeable future we will probably have her in daycare.
For the first time in our lives we're actually running on a budget so we don't run out of dough by the end of the month. Between our budget and the daycare we're just barely in the black each month. It's actually been a good exercise for us, getting a grip on our spending and really focusing on paying down our debt. We hope that by the end of next year we will be out of debt and starting to save.
We also started up a College fund for Celerity. It's a "529" account which will allow us to write off our contributions and she won't have to pay taxes on the money so long as it's used for education. Considering how things are now, I think it will be really hard to find a job in the future without a college education. We hope that having this money will enable her to follow her muse, rather than having to worry about working her way through, or being saddled with debt once she graduates.
More to Follow
I hope to be posting more, including Pictures and Videos over the next few days, so be sure to check back!