a step in the right direction

Nathan starts a new job tomorrow with Everest College in their Admissions Department. I am excited for many reasons: it is going to help stabilize our income, it will give us some much needed time apart during the week, it'll help us pay down debt and build up savings, and best of all... We are going to have insurance!! Yay!!!

Staring in January we are going to have health insurance through his new job. That will take a major load off my mind when it comes time for having a baby. It will cut back on the cost tremendously.

In other baby news- we found out that my cousin Desiree is having a little boy. Nathan is a little disappointed- he wanted us to be the next ones on that side of the family to have a boy. Oh well- maybe we will be the second!

Now on to some pictures. It's been a while since I posted anything.

First, pictures of baby Bailee- who belongs to our friend Sabrina. (Side note- I don't remember if I have posted anything about this before- but I hope my babies turn out to be as awesome as Bailee. She is always happy and smiley and so gosh-darn cute!)

Here she is at the pumpkin patch, wearing one of the outfits I bought her! Adorable!


And here she is in her Halloween costume! Since she was a giraffe, I had to post it! It matches my future nursery theme.


Now a few pictures of my new niece, Marley. You can see all the newborn pictures that we took of her on our family blog.

Isn't he so cute holding a baby?! I love it. His brother gives him a hard time, saying he looks stiff or whatever when he is holding her- but I think he is just being cautious. He doesn't have a ton of baby experience after all.

Awwwww! He'll be a great daddy one day.

And here's a more recent one that I stole off their blog! I haven't had many opportunities to even see her, let alone take a ton of pictures. I did get a chance to hold her on Thanksgiving, and tonight at family dinner. I love her "new baby" smell. lol Everyone on that side of the family is trying to persuade us to have a baby. Sarah has tried explaining to Nathan how much joy a little baby can bring into your life, and our brother in law, Robert, keeps telling him that even if you hate everyone else's kids, it's different when they are your own. They can't seem to tell him enough how much he'll love being a dad.

I hope all their persuasions don't put him off- he has seemed to be coming around to the idea lately. I don't want him to feel too pressured.

And last of all, a picture that I posted on our regular blog that I thought needed to be posted here too:

This is what our future child will supposedly look like. I morphed a picture of me with a picture of Nathan. haha- I've gotta say, she turned out pretty cute for one of those picture morphs! They are usually pretty scary. Even if our kids don't turn out looking like her- I am sure they will all be super adorable!

baby blues or baby greens?

I think I have a case of the baby greens. Well- in between blue and green. It's not pure jealousy- there is a bit of depression mixed in with the jealousy. Marvin and Sarah had their baby last week and I recently found out 2 of my cousins (Desiree and Miranda) are pregnant and the wife of someone I went to junior high with too! I feel like everyone is having babies except me!

It's not that I am not happy for everyone else- I am so excited for them! It's just that I really wish that it was time for us to have a little bundle of joy too. I have been feeling really down ever since my new niece showed up; maybe a tiny bit broken hearted. I thought it was the new mom who was supposed to get baby blues- not the new auntie! I don't know what happened to me- maybe it's because this would be around the time I would be delivering if we had gotten pregnant the first time we tried or that this would be the time that we had orignally thought of trying for a second time.... I dunno. Oh well, I am sure I will get over it soon. There is not really anything I can do about except to just get over it.

Hopefully Nathan and I don't wind up with an unexpected pregnancy- he forgot to re-order my birth control on time, so I will have to miss a month of my Nuva Ring and, I guess just use condoms. It makes me really nervous. I have way more faith in my birth control ring than I do in a little piece of latex, and like I said in my previous post- we are sooooo not in the right place for a baby right now. I just keep telling myself- it's only one month, it's only one month....

I'll post some pics of baby Marley soon. Nathan has the camera at work right now.

baby cravings....

All I can think about lately is having a baby, and despite what everyone else thinks- it has nothing to do with the fact the my sister-in-law is going to pop one out in the week or so. I have no feelings of jealously or anything like that, and Nathan and I are in no way trying to compete- or "catch-up" to them. I am just so anxious to start a family with Nathan. I think about what our kids might look like, fun family activities we will all do in the future, decorating the nursery and baby proofing the house, play dates, even planning out disciplinary strategies! Our future family is like ALWAYS on my mind.

We have a plan in place though, and I just have to be patient and wait for the time to come. In the mean time, I am trying my very best to be happy where we are. Owning our own business has been tough, and exhausting, and even if I wanted to put a bun in the oven right now, it would be near disastrous. We don't have enough money in saving to pay for the all doctor's appointment and delivery- let alone all the baby gear we would need. AND we have like no time lately; we spend 60 to 80 hours a week at the shop, and it's not even close to being an environment that I would be comfortable bringing an infant to everyday. It will be eventually- we are planning on getting the place all cleaned up so that one day we can have like a pack-n-play in the front office- so that when we DO have a baby we could bring him/her there for a few hours if I needed to come up and work.

I guess that's one good thing about having a plan that's about a year away- it gives me plenty of time to think about things that need to get done before hand and actually do them. It's not just me anymore either- Nathan, I think, is coming to terms with the fact that we are going to be doing this baby thing and is acknowledging and, often participating in my planning process. He's still pretty turned off by the thought of kids- having been around a lot of ill behaved little ones in his past- but I think that spending a little time around Bailee (our friend Sabrina's baby girl) and seeing how well mannered she is, has eased his mind- at least a little. He's still nowhere near as into it as I am- and I really don't expect him to be, until I actually get pregnant. I really think that when the time comes he'll be super excited.

We are planning on getting some baby gear stocked up, when we see it on sale and stuff. I found a swing that I am in love with at Babies R Us. We might be putting it on lay away soon. It's not super expensive or anything, but it's just more manageable to pay the $170 over a month and half than in one day. I would also like to get a crib soon, because I think I have mentioned before, that we can use that in the guest room as a full size bed until the baby comes. After the crib, the only other big thing we would be thinking about getting is a travel system (carseat/stroller.) I am not stocking up on toys or clothes- mainly because I am still planning on having the gender be a surprise and I don't want to be stuck with a bunch of clothes I can't use.

The other thing I am trying to do to prepare is lose some weight and get healthy. It's so hard though. Nathan and I have become fast-food junkies with this business, just because it's convenient. I am really going to be trying to work out more, and eat healthier and drop some weight to get in my "normal" weight range for my height. I have my cousin's wedding the end of October and family pictures mid November to help motivate me this time. I just need to figure out a system that's going to work for me. My work schedule makes it so hard. Ugh! But I need to do it.

Alrighty, that's enough blogging for now. I will probably post pics from Sarah's baby shower in a few days and once her baby, Marley, shows up- I will probably have pics of that too. See ya then!

new plan! ...hopefully...

So, Nathan and I just took over a ceramics company. We're pretty excited to be self employed! This is either really going to help our baby situation or make it a lot tougher. But it looks like that just about a year from now, we are going to start trying; late May, early June. I wanna shoot for leap day 2012! How cute would that be?!

sad news...

So Nathan and I sat down a couple weeks ago and took a good hard look at our monthly budget, and there seems to be a pretty big gap. This gap is no big deal while I have a job, my income easily fills in where needed, but I don't want to work after I have a baby. It's really important to me to be able to be a stay at home mom. So, unfortunately, we are pushing our baby making plans out for at least a year- maybe even a little more. We're going to start building up our savings that it will not only cover the costs of delivery and baby gear, but also those little gaps in the budget. I want to have enough saved to cover those gaps for at least a year if not more- so I can focus on raising our baby and giving him or her the best life possible.

When we first made this budgeting discovery I was absolutely devastated. It was the worst news I have gotten in my life up to this point. My heart hurt for days. But the more and more I think about it, the better I feel about it. I know in my heart that it's the right decision for us to wait and build up our savings. I am also excited to spend more time, just me and Nathan. And don't think for a second that I have removed babies from my mind at all! We even bought some other little things for the future nursery while we were out the other night. So, we haven't given up on the idea by any means, we are just giving ourselves a little more time to prepare. When you look at the picture of our lives, the wait isn't very long at all. One year? Psssshhhh- the one year Nathan and I have been married so far has flown by. I'll be pregnant before you know it! lol

So anyway, I probably will only post every month or so until the time gets closer and that's why it's been a while since I have said anything on here.

attention: i am officially baby CRAZY

Yes, I have officially passed being one of those women who some day wants a baby of her own and gone straight to baby crazy. I was out doing some casual shopping so I stopped by Burlington Coat Factory/Baby Depot at Arizona Mills to look at the baby bedding I had picked out for myself and--- It was gone!! I had a minor freak out in my head and then told myself to calm down- the one over at Superstition Springs might still have it.

When I got home I explained the predicament to Nathan- I told him we needed to go over to the other store, and if they have it- we must buy it! Surprisingly, he agreed to do just that. We headed over to the east side, and there it was- the last one on the shelf. A 4 piece bedding set (sheet, bumper pad, blanket, and dust ruffle) AND it was on sale. We got like 20% off. I love it, and Nathan really likes it too! LOOK!

It's a jungle theme-- well more like a safari theme. But it's not your typical cutesy baby animal nursery set. It's more funky and artsy. I LOVE IT!

This is just a close up of the zebras on the blanket. All the animals are just silhouettes. It's pretty cool.

This is the blanket and the bumper laid on the floor. I love the colors, I have so many nursery ideas already- and how I can make it work for a boy or a girl.

So, yep, you can officially say I am baby crazy. I own baby bedding- for a crib that I do not yet own and a baby that I am 6 months away from even attempting to conceive. Obsessive much, Tarin? My sister in law is a couple months pregnant and I'm pretty sure they don't even have bedding yet. I don't mind being a little crazy- it's not like the bedding is going to rot and go bad- the bag might get a little dusty... but it'll just have to wait up in the closet until Baby Lunt is on it's way!

it's like crack!!

Shopping for baby stuff is like crack for me! SUPER addicting. I went back to Babies R Us- because I wanted to check out the price of a chair and put it on lay away.


THIS is the chair. I absolutely love it and it matches the nursery bedding I have picked out PERFECTLY. Not to mention, it would work in the living room until we have the baby or after the baby grows out of the nursery stage.

Unfortunately, this perfectly fabulous chair costs a little over $400. I just couldn't justify paying that much- even over time, putting it on lay away. The crib and the crib bedding combined doesn't even cost that much. *sigh* Maybe one day I will have the money to buy awesome furniture that costs more than a couple hundred dollars.

Anyway, while I was there, the whole baby shopping being like crack kicked in when I saw these:



Aren't they freakin' adorable?!! I couldn't resist! I had to get them to add to Sabrina's present for Baby Bailey! I think she will now have that whole collection- haha! 2 shirts, 2 bottoms, 1 dress, and some sassy little baby shoes that will match any of the 5 outfits! They are coming over tonight for dinner, so we'll get to meet Bailey for the first time.

Nathan was like, "You are really excited to know someone who has a little baby girl aren't you?" He says I am living vicariously through Sabrina. That's about all I can do at this point! Our baby making days are still practically half a year away.

what to expect before you're expecting...

So I finally broke down and bought my first baby related book. My planning side got the better of me, and I had to get it.

I started reading it the same day I picked it up. And started learning things right away. It talks about preparing to get pregnant and one of the first things it says to do is to get a physical and dental exam. I never thought the health of my teeth could effect my future pregnancy- but apparently, "gum disease is associated with pregnancy complications such as preterm labor, preeclampsia, and gestational diabetes." Better safe than sorry I guess. I'm not going to rush in to the dentist, but I'll probably make an appointment here in the next month or so. I know I probably have a cavity or two- so I'll have to have some money saved up for that. Hopefully dental work won't blow our vacation savings. In June or July I'll go in for my physical and get all the blood work and stuff done to make sure I am healthy.

One thing I was excited to read though, is that what I am doing is exactly right! (I knew I wasn't crazy!) The book said that more and more research is showing that you really should take at least an extra 3 months before you conceive to prepare yourself for conception/pregnancy. We are still about 6 months away from our goal conception date- but I'm glad at this point. The book also mentioned that it will be easier to conceive if I am within the ideal weight range for my height. So that's with the 20-24 BMI range or between 121-153 lbs. I've got a lot of work ahead of me! As of this morning, my Wii Fit told me I am 195. That means I have 42 pounds to lose by mid August (they recommend being at your ideal weight for a while before your try.) That means that to reach my goal by August 21st- I have to lose 2lbs a week. I am comfortable with that goal- it doesn't seem to unreasonable or unhealthy. It won't be easy but I think I can do it!

As of yesterday, I have started keeping a food journal- where I am going to write down everything I put in my mouth to help me be more aware and make healthier decisions. I'm also tracking goals pertaining to my health in my food journal. I have my weight goal written down, and I've decided that once a week I will do a weigh in Wednesday and record my progress. I also have a goal to take my prenatal every day. It's not really necessary for me to take it at this point, but it doesn't hurt either. It will help to fill in the nutritional holes my daily diet might not fill in. As far as food goes, I am going to try to eat more whole grains and lean proteins, more greens, and almonds & blueberries (rumor has it, those two can help boost your chances of conception.) And of course- cutting way back on the fast food- no matter how convenient it may be!

I'm going to try and exercises every day (except Sunday) too. My goal may seem overly ambitious at this point, but I am going to try it! If it doesn't work, I can re-evaluate next week. I borrowed my sister's Fluidity bar and dvds and tried out my first work out with them today. I thought it would be pretty easy and low impact, but it was pretty tough! I had to do the wimpy beginner moves on a lot of the exercises- but I think the more I do it, the less strenuous it will be and the more fun I will have doing it. I can already tell I am going to be sore tomorrow- but I don't mind sore, because that means I actually did something! I decide I really like this program, and stick with it for the next 4 months, I will have the most amazing butt ever! My legs and abs will probably look pretty good too. I am going to try and do the 30 minute fluidity work out, and about 15-20 minutes of Wii Fit Yoga every day, and take the puppies for a walk a few times a week. As I start actually losing the weight, I'll probably take up jogging again, but at my weight right now, it's kinda rough.

When I think about losing the weight and being more healthy, I get so happy. I think it's because I have such a great motivation this time. And even though I am going to gain a lot of the weight back during pregnancy, I feel like if I can get going on eating healthier now, and doing some of the lower impact workouts, like the yoga- once I have the baby, I'll have those habits in place and be ready to work on losing the weight again.

I have to go hop in the shower and get ready for work now, but I'm sure I'll be back on here a few days, talking about something else I have learned from my book! I carry it with me in my lunch bag to work and read it on all breaks. I just can't put it down. I can't wait for Nathan to have some down time when we are both home, so he can sit down and read some of the advice for the "wanna be dads."

oh the joys of...

Insurance! ugh!

Shopping around for insurance is the crappiest thing ever! I am looking forward to future babies, when Nathan will have finished his degree, and have a real job with actual benefits and we will be on a group policy that includes maternity coverage!

Finding an individual policy that includes maternity- that doesn't cost like $600 a month or more- is pretty much impossible. Our current insurance is pretty affordable, and includes maternity....after a flippin' $12,000 deductible! Which, for those of you who don't know how much it costs to have a baby, basically means you don't have maternity coverage. The only way we'd even touch that deductible, is if there were complications during the pregnancy/delivery.

So, we've been shopping; and not the fun kind of shopping! In fact, I am not even going to call it "shopping around" for insurance insurance anymore. I am going to say "hunting." Hunting seems more appropriate- especially since this whole process makes me want to shoot something!

Anyway, HUNTING for insurance has been a pain! I, personally, think that an HSA is going to be the way to go. Paying cash out of our pocket, or rather, our HSA and getting cash discounts through the insurance network we are on. It's not cheap- but it's not outrageously expensive either. It's definitely do-able. We had a couple insurance reps come over and pitch us their association and HSA plan and I really like it- it makes sense to me- I think the price point is good... but Nathan decided he wants to keep looking. He doesn't like the thought of paying a monthly premium and then having to put money in the HSA on top of that. He wouldn't mind it so much- except he doesn't think we are ever going to reach our yearly deductible. If we did meet it though, everything from that point is covered 100%; it's not like 80/20 or whatever until you reach your out of pocket max.

So, Nathan is talking to some other insurance people that are going to present us with some other options, HMOs, PPOs, HSAs... none of which cover maternity- so we are still going to have to pay cash for the pregnancy. We just have to see if we would get the same kind of discounts-- I'm not sure I fully understand that part of it all yet- but the guy we were talking to about HSA that I like, said that because our HSA is part of the Cigna network that the hospital would give us a bigger cash discount? I guess that's just more research for us to do before we make our decision.

Oh, and my biggest annoyance with hunting for insurance- is having to talk to all the underwriters about my"pre-existing condition" that usually ends up with my kidneys not even being covered by insurance anyway. In fact, this HSA that we are looking into won't cover my urinary tract either! Who knew a couple kidney stones could be such a pain- even after they had passed! I don't think it would be such a big deal if I hadn't needed surgery for the one.

Will you look at all that insurance mumbo-jumbo I just spouted?! I know waaaaay more about insurance policies and terminology than I ever wanted to. I guess that's a good thing though. Better to learn about it and actually know what you are getting into, than to blindly sign a policy because some agent or broker or ad makes it sound like a great deal.

I'm sure this is not the last you will be hearing from me about this topic. It's not fun, and really not that interesting- but it's part of life- and a BIG part of growing our family.

present for baby bailey & baby books

As I had mentioned in my earlier post, Nathan's former boss, Sabrina, recently gave birth to a baby girl! Bailey Louise Myers. So of course we were going to get her a fabulous gift- I love any excuse to go baby shopping.

Since Nathan obviously know Sabrina way better than I do, I asked him for some pointers in what to get. The guidelines Nathan gave me for my shopping was: nothing pink- and nothing too frilly.

So I went to Babies R Us, thinking it was going to be hard to find something super cute with no pink or frills and then...I saw it! The cutest most adorable little outfits in brown, yellow, and orange. No pink. No frills. Just super stylish, baby awesomeness!

And look! They are interchangeable! That's 4 outfits!

I was so psyched about my purchases that I had to call Nathan, squealing with excitement. I was able to contain myself enough not to invade his store and wait til he got to actually show him. He wasn't nearly as excited I as I was- but he did agree that they were cute and that Sabrina would probably love them. I have to admit- I secretly wanted to keep the outfits and store them away, just in case I have a girl one day. I love them THAT much.

Later that evening, Nathan had to fix a kiln at the Ahwatukee store, so I went with him and went to Barnes & Noble a couple shops over. I had like an hour to kill, so I headed over to the pregnancy and parenting section. I didn't buy anything- only because I am broke until next paycheck- but I did find a few to add to my shopping list.

I sat down and read a chapter or two out of the book about how to choose the sex of your baby. Don't worry, it's not genetic manipulation or anything like that- it's just things you can do that supposedly increase your odds of having one sex or the other. I had already read a lot of what was in that book on the Internet- but the book did go into a lot of detail about tracking exactly when you are ovulating and stuff like that. When it started talking about examining your cervical mucus on a daily basis to determine the best time to conceive, I kinda lost interest. That didn't sound super appealing to me, so I probably won't be back to buy that one.

A month or so back I was doing a bunch of research on the best ways to conceive a boy- but that was mainly because Nathan and I had only agreed on boys names up to that point and I was really excited about the names we had picked. Now we have girl names we like too, that I am equally excited about and it doesn't matter as much. We are going try a couple things that are supposed to increase the chances of a boy- but, sorry, I am not going to go as far as to checking my cervical mucus and tracking my body temperature and all that.

The next book I looked at talked about what foods are best to eat while you are pregnant. It broke it down by trimester and listed about 25 foods in each section that were best for you and the baby at that particular stage in the pregnancy. Then it broke it down by each food item listed and gave a full page about why it is good and all that. It also listed the foods that aren't so great. I thought that was pretty interesting, so I added it to my list of books to buy.

I flipped through some baby name books- but didn't really find any names that jumped out at me; which is totally fine because we have 2 or 3 boy names that we have agreed on a a couple girl names too. I am constantly running names I like by Nathan though- so I wanted to see if any caught my eye. Oh- sidebar on picking out baby names with your husband- this does not work the way I imagined it would when I was in junior high and high school picking out adorable baby names. All those cute little names I had in my mind for my future children were all vetoed by my husband! Finding names that we BOTH agree on, was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I am glad we are thinking on it now, instead of stressing about it right before the baby debuts! So anyway, I am not going to spending any money on baby naming books.

The book I am getting for sure, that just about every pregnant mother gets- is the "What to Expect When You're Expecting." I flipped through and it has some good info. I'll probably go back and buy that one on the next paycheck. When I get closer to conception time, I want to get one of the pregnancy week by week books. I also want to pick up some of the expectant daddy books too- for Nathan. And for once the baby is actually here- I found a bunch of parenting books that I think would be interesting to read.

It was an enlightening trip to the bookstore. I will let you know when I actually buy the books, and the super interesting stuff I learn in my studies. =p

That's all for now! I'll probably post again when we delivery the present to Bailey and Sabrina!

one year- where are we going from here?

Well, we did it! We made it through the first year of marriage without getting pregnant! Everyone thought we'd be knocked up right away for sure; people were even placing bets on it!

But Nathan and I had said from the get go that we didn't want to get pregnant our first year of marriage- we wanted to spend that time settling in to our new life together, getting to know eachother, and planning the future. And that's exactly what we have done. We've spent this past year learning all about one another, moving and settling into an actual house, raising puppies, figuring out our financial situation, trying to find just the right insurance, and much, much more.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to plan- and Nathan is an Eagle Scout; always prepared. So, as you can imagine, we aren't going to let pregnancy catch us by surprise! A lot of thought and planning and preparation has gone into our decision to get pregnant- and that's why I decided to start this blog. #1- to keep help me keep tabs on my planning, and #2 to keep close friends and family informed on the whole process- once we make the announcement.

That's right, I am writing here about 6 months before we are planning on "trying" and we aren't going to tell our family until I enter my second my trimester. That's why this blog is private- because we don't want anyone to know yet! Once we make the announcment it will probably stay private- but the invites will start going out to anyone that wants access.

I can't even tell you how excited I am to start a family with the love of my life- even though it's still quite a ways off. I have always known I wanted kids- Nathan, on the other hand, isn't such a big fan of kids...so, he isn't quite as excited as I am yet. Right now, he's in provider mode- crunching numbers and making sure we have enough money saved up not only for doctors appointments and labor and delivery, but all the nursery garb and baby gear too.

There has been so much baby news swirling around lately: Marvin and Sarah found out they are expecting, Kendyl just had a baby boy a few weeks ago, my friend Megan is expecting her second baby, Nathan's former boss Sabrina just had a little girl...it makes me so anxious! I can't wait for September to get here so we can get this show on the road!

Baby Lunt will hopefully be it's way before the end of the year, and I'll be keeping notes on here all along the way. It should be a fun little experience!