Just the Kiddo’s

Mini/Grocery cramming

Published on April 19, 2014 by a.simple.mama1 Comment

A few weeks ago my husband bought a Mini Cooper as his commuter car. He loves it and we are trying to really take advantage of the great gas mileage compared to our SUV’s, so we drive it almost everywhere. Although now that we’ve been used to having our larger cars, we’ve discovered the few hardships of having the Mini in comparison.

For instance, we have to load J through the rear hatch of the Mini because there just isn’t enough room to get the car seat loaded and buckled in from the front door. Luckily the hubs has long monkey arms so he can reach over the rear seat to get J buckled. Also, shopping of any kind is limited. The first weekend we got the Mini we went to Home Depot for a few things…and forgot we had the Mini, so the large piece of dry erase board we bought had to run the full length of the car and the front corner poked me in the side of the head the whole way home.

Well we still haven’t fully adjusted to the size difference yet. On Friday night we made our bi-weekly grocery run. Costco and Wal-Mart for 2 full weeks of food and a few other items.

My menu board for the next 2 weeks has the following items: (all mostly homemade dishes)

Chicken Noodle Casserole
Chicken Pot Pie
Soy Garlic Fish
Artichokes
Mac & Cheese
Nachos
Chicken Fingers
Meatballs

Our grocery list:

Costco-

Chicken
Ground Beef
diapers & wipes x 2 (one set was a baby shower gift)
orange juice (individuals)
Milk

Wal-mart-

jelly
fudge bars
baby yogurt
mommy yogurt
frozen peas x 3
burner buns
butter
avocados
marinade
egg noodles
mix frozen veggies
cream of chicken soup 2 cans
pie crust
tortilla chips
artichokes
fresh berries
carrots
cereal

plus the following household items:

toothbrush
face lotion/wash
shampoo
dry & wet cat food
sponges

We hit Costco first to get the large items out of the way…after we got those few (large) items loaded we weren’t sure we’d get all the rest of our groceries in the car with J and the two of us…But the Mini surprised us – it really is larger than it looks! Not too bad for around $260.00

Also had this cutie-pie moment 🙂 J’s starting to give love via hugs and “kisses”

If the stuffed dog hadn’t cost $17 he totally would have gotten it just by sheer cuteness and obvious attachment…sorry to whomever ended up with the slightly drooly pup.

Budget this, budget that…

Published on April 16, 2014April 16, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

First comes “adulthood”. Time to be out on your own, work, pay your own bills, learn the way of the world. AKA: work to pay rent, eat out more than you cook in (unless it’s ramen or frozen pizza), beg groceries off your parents (or eat at work), spend whatever money you do have leftover on booze or clothes or other worthless items, and sleep less than you have any other time in your life purely by choice (since now you are responsible for yourself and staying out until 2 am when you have to work at 7 is no biggie all of a sudden.) Ahhh adulthood, this is the life!

Then comes the REAL adulthood. You’ve been out on your own for a while now. Mom and Dad aren’t paying your car insurance or your health insurance anymore. You spend money on gas and food and rent almost equally. You still spend money on total crap but you are more aware of where your money is going and you’re starting to put some aside for those rainy days. A few hundred in your savings account seems like a really great accomplishment. You have pets, you have credit cards, you have debt but not too much…yet. Hmmm this “adult” thing isn’t as easy as it looks…

Then you get married. Joint Adults. Combine financials, belongings, goals, savings, dreams, debt x 2 now… Start to buy things for the future. House = debt. Car = debt. New furniture, sure! = debt. Those paychecks are getting a little more stretched now with all these great things that come with being an Adult, but hey – we’re building our future here!

And then the magical moment of offspring. After all, this is what we were aiming towards all along, right?! We’ve got insurance, we’ve got the house, the cars, the “stuff” to fill in the gaps. We are ready!

Errr….wait…medical bills still almost 8k? ^@%#$@%…Can we win the lotto? No? Ok, now time to BUDGET!

The word Budget always seemed to (younger) me like something that was only necessary when you were really irresponsible with your spending. When you had plenty of money to cover your bills but you chose to spend money on things that weren’t necessary instead of paying for the necessities. Well, that’s still true, BUT budgeting takes on a whole new meaning when you become a PARENT. Now budgeting is a godsend. Probably the only way that families manage to stay afloat with all of the unexpected bills (new fridge, new car, medical) on top of the already necessary bills of everyday life as an Adult.

Budgeting doesn’t have to be such a “bad” word though. There are different levels of budgeting depending on how your family spends money and how comfortable you are with your bills vs. income. Now that I’m a parent, I doubt there are many families out there who are so comfortable with their spending that they don’t budget at all. Maybe not a lot, but being aware of your spending is still budgeting to some degree. Over the last 10 months our family has had to increase our budgeting quite a bit. We are much more cautious and conscientious about how we spend our money and what we spend our money on. Not that we have it down yet, we are constantly adjusting until we find what works best for our family. And we still aren’t as careful as we probably could be. There are still months when we are living paycheck to paycheck. My hope and goal is to get to a point where we aren’t doing that anymore. Even if it does take us a few more months (or years) to get to that point… As adults and parents we have the responsibility and privileged to do whatever it takes for our family, even if it means learning to budget.

Working Mama’s

Published on April 14, 2014April 14, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

There are few mothers I know who are blessed with the opportunity (and the desire) to be a stay-at-home mom. For some of us mama’s we need an outlet for ourselves, and work provides that for us among the other obvious monetary reasons. For other mama’s their dream is to be a mother and a wife, and those two things provide plenty of work and rewards on their own. I find myself somewhere in the middle. I love being a mama, and given the opportunity, I would make the most out of being a stay-at-home mom. However our family, like many, is faced with the necessity of two incomes…so alas I continue to work.

That being said, my situation is different. I have the very rare opportunity to bring J with me to work every day. Yup, I work for my Dad. And when J came along, our agreement was that I would continue to work full time if J could come with me. Not that I had to beg or anything, this also means that my parents get to see their little one almost every day. Win-win. In a way I get the best of both worlds. I get to be with J every day, all day, and I get to earn a living. But there are always drawbacks…

For one, even though J is with me every day, I really don’t get to spend a lot of quality time with him. I do have a job to do every day. And even though he’s in the same room as me, and I get to give him snuggles all day long, he does not have my undivided attention unless he’s nursing for naptime. Then I have to try and squeeze as much productivity into his 30 minute naps as possible without waking him up with my typing or paper rustling.

On the pro side, I do get to see him every day all day long. And he gets to see his gramma and grampa almost that often too. I do love that part. He doesn’t constantly get sick from all the germies in daycare, and I’m not shelling out 1/2 (or more) of my paycheck every month to a daycare.

Then again, in daycare he would get a lot more social interaction with other kiddo’s on a regular and daily basis. He’d get to play in a setting built for him, and he’d probably get a lot more focused attention…

But isn’t it saying a lot that I get to be with him 24/7? Is that enough? Or too much? Or not enough? Or is he missing out?

Ahh, this must be the same battle that other mama’s have on a daily basis as well. What is really best for my kiddo? If I stay home, they get me but maybe not a lot of anyone else….but if I work then they don’t get enough of me and too much time in someone else’s care.

One of the many never ending battles that us mama’s face in the lifelong debate over what is best for our children and how to make the best out of whatever situation we are in as a family. Be it finances, needs, desires…it’s a matter of balancing what is best for the family and what is best for our kids. I’d like to think that no matter how “perfect” someone else’s situation seems, or how envious us mama’s get of other mama’s, that we are all having the same struggles. Somehow I find comfort in the fact that I’m probably not the only one wondering if I’m doing the right thing, or doing things right.

He does have a pretty good setup in my office though…his “office” space is bigger than mine!

Pretty sure he’s got more toys at work then at home!

Empty shelves and cardboard boxes are the best toys ever!

Water bottle baby gate?

Family Pets

Published on April 13, 2014April 13, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

Izzy, Chloe and Zeke. Our first children, really. They are what we used as “practice” for our future parenthood. We got Chloe and Zeke our first year together. Kitties are pretty easy though, but still gives you something besides yourself to take care of every day. Then we got Izzy as a puppy the year after we got married. Izzy was the real practice…a 4 month old puppy. She really introduced us to sleep deprivation and cleaning up the house every morning (yay potty training).

When J came along, we weren’t sure how the kitties and Izzy would react, when we’d introduced Izzy to the family, Chloe didn’t come out from under the bed for a month and threw up all over the house in protest…what were we in for with a baby?!

Well, we lucked out. Izzy was a great mama bear and didn’t even budge when J cried at all hours of the night. She stayed close and made sure everyone was OK. Luckily Gramma was around to give Izzy a little extra (and needed) TLC the first few weeks we were home with J. The Kitties didn’t even seem to notice there was something new in the house. Although they did lay claim to all of the baby gear…”this crib is for us, no?”

Keeping a close on on baby J 🙂

Chloe was always a little persnickety…she used to scratch the heck out of me anytime I picked her up, and she wouldn’t come too close for too long. Not a cuddly kitty and she certainly had no tolerance for being snuggled. Then came J. There’s something absolutely adorable about a kiddo connecting with a pet. Chloe will be J’s kitty from now on. She stays close to him, puts up with him pulling her tail, her fur, her whiskers, and she doesn’t make a peep. Chloe found her person 🙂

Zeke is starting to realize that as J becomes more mobile, he will be an acceptable source of attention. He’s coming around, but hasn’t quite warmed up to J as much.

Izzy is a little unsure when J tries to lay on her or give her smooches, but she’s so great with other little kiddo’s that once J gets a little bigger she’ll come around and they’ll be good buddies.

Being parents to pets is a little different that parents to kiddos, but we still hope that we raise them right, that they get enough love and attention, and we spoil them all the same. We love all of our children.

Springtime fun!

Published on April 12, 2014April 12, 2014 by a.simple.mamaLeave a comment

Had to take advantage of the beautiful Colorado spring weather before the snow returns of Sunday…

Using my new favorite outdoor product the GoPod by KidCo. Perfect for outside play for those little ones who are now mobile! It even has a snack and drink holder and places to attach toys. We got it off our registry but this is the first time we’ve used it. Now I’m hooked – it’s pretty awesome!

And a quick hike at Mt.Falcon Park near Red Rocks… tested out a 30 year old backpack graciously given to us by a family friend. I think we will need to invest in an upgrade if we (hopefully) turn hiking with the family into a habit 🙂

Izzy got lots out outdoor playtime too 🙂