Family Update!

Whooo ok so I thought it was high time for a general family update!

Lots of different stuff so... the bulleted list!

• JOBS-  Ok I'm not sure if I mentioned this on here yet... but I do have a regular part-time teaching job now!  I'm teaching the three and four year old preschool classes at our church.  Pay is less than what I would make subbing regularly but it's STEADY work and I finally get to have my own classroom.  So yay!  Hubby still has his job with the medical supply company and it's going ok.  They've cut overtime and hired a 4th driver so he isn't making as much overtime as he was before (which we unfortunately had come to count on) so that hurts a bit BUT on the flip side it's nice having him home more.  He is always on the lookout for other opportunities though.  AND also I will be starting this Tuesday evening tutoring a 5th grade boy once a week.  I know him from subbing at his school so I think it will be great for both of us.  It'll be a little extra income too and I don't have to be away from my baby that much more (only an hour each week)
  
• FINANCES & WORKING TO BECOME DEBT FREE-  hoookay so I think I mentioned this once but we are doing Dave Ramsay's steps to financial freedom.  We haven't even gotten the first baby step BUT are working toward it.  We are currently trying to sell our Jeep.  Unfortunately at the moment it has been listed for a month and STILL hasn't sold.  We've dropped our price by $500 and still nothing.  So next week we are gonna offer bottom line (what we owe) on it and pray someone takes it!  If not then we are gonna have to figure out what else we can do to get our monthly payment down enough we can have some money left over after bills to actually save.  (We're exploring things like refinancing our current loan for a lower interest rate, possibly trading the Jeep on another vehicle and trying to get the payment down where we need it and then selling our Malibu, or even trading both the Jeep and Malibu for something...)  Anyway prayers in this matter for us are greatly appreciated!!!  I'm really anxious to "get the ball rolling" on our debt snowball so we can be DONE with debt, especially credit card debt!
  
• JACKSON'S FIRST BIRTHDAY is coming wayyy too soon for this mama!  I have started to plan his party though.  I'm going to be doing a couple YouTube vids about it (if I can find the time), but we have decided on a theme (Little Monsters), venue (we are cramming our family and close friends in our house), and date (the 23rd, Saturday after his birthday).  I'm planning on making the smash cake & cupcakes (note- PLANNING... will have to do a trial run beforehand) and doing $5 pizzas and finger foods.  Hoping to keep it low budget (after all, he doesn't really care-- it's basically for me lol!)  I have a board on Pinterest you can follow if you'd like to see my inspirations!
  
• FALL IS HERE!  My favorite season by far!  We are hoping to get away on a little weekend camping trip, either with my brother & his family or just the three of us at some point, just depends on money (blah).  Then we will have Jackson's first Halloween.  I am planning on taking him out in his costume with my nieces (though we won't be asking for any candy ;)).  Then the next thing you know his birthday & Thanksgiving will be here!  I love the Fall weather and pretty leaves... and the fact that it ends with my son's birthday just makes it all that much better!
  
• BABY #2.  Thought I might as well address that now since lots of people have asked me this.  Haha.  So no we are not currently trying for or hoping for another baby ;)  But yes we do want more kids.  Some days when I happen to see a newborn or when I realize how BIG Jackson is getting now, I can feel that baby fever start to creep up.  But then my common sense takes over and while we would welcome another baby if God decided we needed one now-- I would really like to wait a little longer.  Till Jackson is sleeping through the night would be nice for one, and also I think we need to be at least in a little better financial position than we are at the moment.  I'm not going to wait until we are debt free because honestly that's going to take us several years I'm sure.  But it would be good to wait until we are at least able to SAVE money for when I am off work-- because that's when we got into the most trouble with credit cards was when I was on maternity leave with Jackson.  So yeah I'd like to have enough saved up that it will cover my lack of income for at least 8 weeks.  But that being said we actually aren't doing a whole lot now to prevent pregnancy.  Despite breastfeeding, I still got my cycles back at 5 months postpartum (and I hadn't even started Jackson on solids yet at that time!  Lol I felt gipped!) I'm taking ovulation tests and we are trying to avoid my most fertile time (though my cycles are irregular now that I am nursing), and we are otherwise using a particular "method" that isn't exactly super effective.  So there is a chance I could get pregnant now but it's pretty low.  My original plan was to prevent until Jackson turns a year and then we would just not try but not prevent.  That's still the tentative plan but that may change.  I don't think we will be doing that whole "TTC" thing this time though.  We did that with Jackson and it took us a year to get pregnant and it was just stressful and such.  This time we plan to just quit preventing and then when it happens- it happens! 

Alright I think that's about it for this update!  Until later!

10 Months Old! Double digits!!!

Well Jackson has officially hit the double digits!  He's 10 months old!  Only TWO months away from his first birthday *tear*.  Anyway so here's all about Jackson at 10 months!

Weight/Length: About 22lbs, 28.5in long
Clothing Size: 12 months
Diaper Size:  Size 3
Feeding: Breastfeeding- still going great, usually nurses about 6 times a day, in the morning, before both naps, once in the evening about an hour before dinner, before bed, and then usually once or twice at night (I'm pretty sure nighttime nursing is just for comfort because it increases with teething and I don't think its very long-- I barely wake up).  Now that I am back to working, he takes breastmilk in a sippy cup or bottle twice during the day when I'm gone (about 4-5oz each time), and I pump once (with my double electric) and usually get 8-9oz so it balances out... now I do get a little supply dip the week or so before my period so I just try to pump on my days off to counter act that so I have enough milk for him during the day.
Solids- usually eats 3 meals a day. He eats mostly table food, just whatever we are having.  He still does get purees at times though, like if we are eating fast food or for whatever reason he isn't eating the same time as us.  He'll also have some snacks here and there-- usually when I'm fixing dinner or something. 
Milestones: Babbles/"Talks" constantly.  He's starting to understand that my husband is Dada and I am Mama which is awesome ;).  He can scoot/army crawl BACKWARDS but not forwards, which frustrates him to no end.  If we stand him up he will stand holding on to something (our hands, furniture, etc.) but he isn't actually crawling or pulling up/cruising just yet (which I am somewhat grateful for-- he's gonna be a handful when he is fully mobile!).  He has one tooth that's mostly all the way in and is now working on his second bottom tooth.  Teething is tough stuff!  He also has shown some separation anxiety lately when I've left him with my mom and gone to work.  He will cry after me (only for a few minutes though).  It makes leaving him hard!!!
Sleep: Nighttime sleep is really hit or miss lately, and I think that's due to the teething.  Some nights are great and he only wakes up once, others not so much.  On a good night though he will go to bed between 7:30-8 (moved up a bit due to him cutting out the third nap) and sleep till somewhere between 11-2 (yes, we made it to 2am one night!!!) and then he wakes up, I bring him to bed with us and nurse him back to sleep.  He will sometimes sleep through till 6-7am when he's ready to be up for the day or he will wake up around 4 then nurse back to sleep til 7 or so.  With teething though he wakes up more often and wants to nurse more so that's kind of a hassle but I don't mind TOO much seeing as how it's cause he's not feeling good.  We do give him Motrin sometimes and that helps.  Naps are usually good-- he usually takes two now, once in a while he'll still do the third but literally ONLY if we are in the car and he didn't nap great earlier that day.  He usually takes one at 10 and another between 2-2:30.  And they vary in length anywhere between 1-2.5 and a couple times up to 3 hours.  The three hour ones usually only happen if one of the naps gets cut short though ;)  He's a good napper though so no complaints here!  He nurses to sleep for me and for my mom and my husband will go to sleep after having a sippy or bottle of milk with just his paci and his little monkey lovey.
Likes/Dislikes:  They have been about the same as last month.  He really has taken a liking to toy cars (specifically turning them upside down to spin the wheels!) and "Little People" toys. 

Visiting with Cousins!

My cousin Stefani and her family came in from Europe for a visit the last three weeks (which is why I have been MIA on here)

We've been trying to fit in as much time together as we can!  So here are a few pics of our fun-- and there will be more later!  We also recorded a joint 10 month update of our boys (who are 6 days apart!) and hope to have that up here soon!