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.