Fitted Diaper

I barely have time to sew anymore, but I did manage to make the Guppy a new fitted diaper. A friend from LLL very kindly put snaps on it for me..

Fitted Diaper

Plastic Surgery

This morning I was reading the new secrets over at PostSecret and I saw this one:

What relief this person must have felt, mailing in that last bill. It made me think how much I look forward to doing the same, to being finally free of debt.

I got my first credit card when I was 16. I thought I was so grown up and cool. For the first four years, I was extremely responsible with my card. I would pay off the balance in full every single month. But, life happens. I got pregnant with the Mermaid and had to quit all three of my jobs. I was unable to pay the balances off in full. By the time I was four months pregnant, I had about $1,000 on the card.

When I was about six or seven months pregnant with the Mermaid, the Knight and I foolishly moved out of his parents house into our own apartment. The Knight was working at a different job and earning less than half of what he earns now, I was still in school.

At first everything was fine. But, life happens. My commute to school was an hour and a half long both ways, so as you can imagine we were putting a lot of money into gas. Gas prices went up. My car broke down a few times. Pretty soon we were relying on our credit cards to get us by. Groceries went on the cards. Christmas went on the cards. We even used the cars to pay utility bills! Pretty soon we were way over our heads in debt. Something had to be done.

My mother offered us the top level of her house to live in so we could pay off debt and save for a house. We stopped using the cards. But because we didn't really know how to go about it, we were unable to save money and put a dent in our debt. Every month we would wonder, where did all the money go?

So we decided to do Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. And we are doing much better. We know where our money is going, because we have a written budget. The first step of the Total Money Makeover is to build a small emergency fund, so that if an unexpected emergency occurs (car breaks down, fridge breaks, etc.) you wouldn't have to use a credit card to get by. It took us almost a month, but we finally have our emergency fund. Which means that we no longer need to keep our credit cards around in case of an emergency. So, Saturday night the Knight and I got plastic surgery. We cut up every single one of our credit cards. How relieving! How empowering! With every snip of the scissors we said NO MORE! No more being a slave to debt! And this is our result:

We are now on Step 2, the debt snowball. I have a great feeling about this. I know that we will get out of debt as soon as possible. And then, I will know what it feels like to be in the same position as the person that sent in the secret. I will know what it feels like to be debt free.

Plastic Surgery

More Moms are Breastfeeding Their Older Children

The Boston Globe recently ran a great article about how more and more moms are breastfeeding their children into the toddler years and beyond...and they are not just the "hippy" moms, either. According to the article:

Figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and from Abbott Labs' Ross Mothers Survey show a steady increase in the number of women who initiate breast-feeding, from 57 percent in 1994 to 72 percent in 2005. Less well-known is the gradual increase in the age at which breast-feeding stops. In
1997, 26 percent of mothers were still nursing their babies at six months; in 2005, 39 percent were. In 1997, 14.5 percent of mothers were still breast-feeding at 12 months; by 2005, the number had climbed to 20 percent.

I think it's great that moms are breastfeeding their children longer. The benefits of breastfeeding do not simply stop when a child turns one. There are both nutritional and developmental benefits for nursing a toddler, for both mom and baby.

And while we are on this topic, a new documentary on extended breastfeeding was recently released in the UK, called Extraordinary Breastfeeding. Here's a little snippet:



Here is my personal stance on this issue: kudos to the women who do breastfeed that long. Could I breastfeed the Guppy until she is 7 or 8? I can't see myself doing it, but I wouldn't right it off completely. I couldn't see myself breastfeeding a two year old either, before the Mermaid was born. I am NOT stating that moms who do breastfeed that long are wrong, I fully support their decision to continue the breastfeeding relationship with their child as long as their child wishes to as well. My goal with the Guppy is to breastfeed until at least two years old, then let her lead. If she self weans, great. If she doesn't....well, I can see myself going as far as four years old, but beyond that, we'll just have to see when the time comes.

So what is your opinion on extended breastfeeding? What is the longest you've nursed your child/children, and how long is too long for you?

More Moms are Breastfeeding Their Older Children

The Crying Game

A while ago I found this book review on a new book being released, titled The Crying Game. After all the popular books on the market that advocate crying it out, it's nice to see another book that talks about how crying it out can be detrimental to your babies health. You can read the review here.

The Crying Game

Fantastic Friday: But it's Saturday!

I've been really slacking this week with posting in this blog. I've tried, but I've had a pretty hectic week. Then yesterday, on my day off, we all catch the stomach bug. So I was busy picking up vomit and treating the Guppy and the Mermaid and I didn't get a chance to post Fantastic Friday.

Weight: For my future MILF post, I maintained. A little disappointed about that. In fact, lately I've been very frustrated. It didn't take this long to lose the weight on WW after the Mermaid was born! What gives? Total weight loss: 12.5 lbs.

House: Pretty much a mess. I'm barely managing to stay on top of my routines and the laundry. *sigh* FlyLady would be so disappointed.

Finances: This is the one good area this week. We finished Step 1 of the Total Money Makeover and we are moving on to Step 2, yay!

Environment: Eh. Compact Life is pretty much out the window right now with Easter shopping. Hopefully I can jump back into it soon.

The thing is, I've pretty much been in a rut all week. Adjusting to working is hard. I've just been feeling "blah" allll the time. What gives? Please send good thoughts and prayers that I can get out of this rut soon!

Fantastic Friday: But it's Saturday!

Time To Laugh

Thought this video was hilarious. Enjoy!

Time To Laugh

Pregnant in America

Previously, I had given the heads up on a riveting documentary on childbirth called Birth as We Know It. Now I'd like to point your attention to another documentary that looks just as riveting. Pregnant in America explores the system of maternal care in the United States and forces us to ask questions such as, Why is the c-section rate in the U.S a whopping 33%? Why are laboring women subjected to so many unnecessary interventions?
The system of prenatal care in this country needs to change. And it needs to start with pregnant women. Women who are expecting need to educate themselves on their rights, their options, and what is best for them and their baby.
Here is the trailer for Pregnant in America:

Pregnant in America