I am Woman

I was lazily surfing through the channels on TV tonight when I came across the season premiere of Ugly Betty. I've never seen this show and I only watched the first few minutes of it, but the first few minutes got me thinking. Apparently at the end of last season Ugly Betty received two proposals - one was to go to Rome with a young man, the other was an actual wedding proposal from a different young man. In the end she chooses neither of the young men and the show picks up with her "talking" to her mother (her mother is dead and so she is just sitting at the grave site talking). She says she chose neither young man because she needs to find out who she is and where she wants to go in life - that she needs to think about her career and other such stuff. Well, this sparked a series of thoughts that have been tumbling in my head for quite a while and I thought I would write it all down.

I will readily admit that I was scared to become a mother. There was a lot I was giving up - a way of life that was, to put it bluntly, selfish. I spent time with my fabulous husband. We did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We stayed up late, slept in on the weekends, took vacations, went to school, worked, and overall enjoyed being young college students in love. Then we had a child and I suddenly realized that I hadn't "had it all" but in fact had been missing everything.

I never thought twice about getting married - and I married my first boyfriend. I had many fears about motherhood but those were all swept away when Samuel came into my life. I've only been a Mom for 4 months - today! I've had many sleepless nights (especially this week since Samuel has had a head cold), many poopy diapers, emotional breakdowns, and frustrations. But never once have I wanted to go back to the way things were, never once have I regretted my decision. I never knew I could enjoy something so passionately. I love being a Mom and Wife. As I embrace those titles I find I enjoy life more. A simple smile lights up my day, a little cry breaks my heart. A husband. A son. And me. Complete.

To all women who think they need to "find who they are" whether they are the working woman or the mother who is second guessing herself: the best way to find yourself is through selfless service, otherwise known as a family.

Finance Fridays

This week in review: Lehman Brothers claims bankruptcy, - their stock which was at $60 at the beginning of the year was at $1 Monday morning - AIG receives an $85 billion bailout by the government, the Dow Jones sees its biggest drop since September 11, 2001. What does this mean? Should we push the panic button and pull all of our money out of the stock market and banks and hide it under the mattress? As discussed in a previous post - hiding money under the mattress doesn't do anyone any good.

A history lesson: October 29, 1929 the stock market "crashes" leading to a 10 year economic depression which would come to be known as the Great Depression. What happened? The U.S. had just come out of the roaring 20's. It was a time of great wealth and the stock market was reflecting this. A recession hit in October of 1929 and stocks started to decline. The market was still above average - but because of the wealth seen earlier that decade the decline was felt a little sharper. October 29 people hit the panic button.

Conclusion: Do NOT hit the panic button. If you have money in retirement funds, mutual funds, or index funds - leave it. You signed up for recessions like this when you decided to invest long-term. These funds are built to withstand recessions and will turn around when the economy starts to turn around - you would lose money if you pulled out now. If you have money in a single stock and that stock has dropped more than 7% then you should think about pulling out. Do not let your pride make you lose all of your money. If you do not have any investments do not think about investing right now. I have a feeling we aren't through with this recession yet and it may get a little worse before it gets better. My philosophy: invest high, sale even higher. Watch the stocks and see which ones handle this recession the best - those will probably be good buys a year from now.

Work hard to pay off any debt you may have, save your money, and when the market starts to swing back up prepare yourself for the next recession. Yes, the laws of physics apply to the stock market: Everything that goes up, must come down.

Samuel and Pretzels

I realized recently that I haven't posted pictures with Samuel in quite a while. So, I thought I would take a few minutes to brag about my son as well as a few other things.

Samuel is about 3.5 months old (15 weeks). He loves talking, laughing and playing. And I love talking, laughing, and playing with him. He is quite the long, skinny baby. Everyone loves his beautiful blue eyes - and they are quite the deep blue. He also loves his grandparents and aunts and uncles. I think Grandpa Hillock is one of his favorite people right now... seriously, sometimes it feels like Samuel loves his Grandpa more than he loves us, his parents. Samuel loves to talk his Grandpa's ear off (he's either telling him how mean his Mom is or how Grandpa did such a great job raising the best Mom ever - I like to think it's the latter). He also got to spend the whole day with Grandma Walser a couple of weeks ago and saw horses and petted Micao, the dog. He then spent the rest of the day telling me all about it. So, here are a few pictures of my beautiful boy:
My new favorite picture...
Thanks Stephanie for showing me how to carry Samuel in my sling... he really loves it. (Please ignore the lopsided shoulder look).

And here is a picture from this afternoon. You can kind of see his blue eyes in the picture. Every time I look into his face I am surprised by the amount of love and trust I see look back at me. Whoever knew that a 3 month old could love so much?

On a lighter note... I made homemade pretzels the other day. While they didn't turn out looking like pretzels they tasted like pretzels. In fact they were so good, Carlin says I should try selling them...What do you think? Would you want to eat these?

Finance Fridays

I'm trying to do my Finance Fridays every other week but since I've posted a lot this week I'm going to keep this one relatively short.

Watch Fun with Dick and Jane (the movie). If you have already seen it re-watch it paying attention to the financial side of the movie. Let me know what you think!

Quirks

I just got tagged in my first tag ever! This makes me so happy... so here goes:

THE RULES:

1. link the person who tagged you

2. post the rules

3. tell 6 unspectacular quirks of yours

4. tag 6 fellow bloggers by linking them

- I have to have my alarm clock set at a quarter hour interval - e.g. 7:00, 7:15, etc. The other day Carlin set the alarm at 7:04 and it drove me bonkers.

- I hate belly buttons. I don't want to see your belly button, I don't want to see my belly button, I don't want to see other people touch their belly buttons and no one, including Carlin, is allowed to touch my belly button. My biggest fear when I got pregnant was that my belly button was going to pop out, luckily it did not. I could go on... but I think you get the point.

- I am a routine person. I have a routine for everything. For getting up in the morning, going to bed at night, cleaning, etc. I do not like my routine to be interrupted. I even, unintentionally, put my son on a routine because I'm so routine-driven.

- Everything is in alphabetical order. My movies, my CDs (if they were out right now), sometimes even my spices and canned foods in my pantry.

- My closet is color coordinated by type of clothing. For example, my long-sleeve-button-up shirts are in order from lightest to darkest...

- I hate artificial grape flavoring. I like grapes and grape juice and, the one exception, grape skittles. I don't like grape suckers, grape pop, grape candy. This even includes grape smelling lotions and shampoos - yuck.

Ok, so I tag... Coty, Hailey, Dina, Nichole, Shawnee, Whitney (sorry if anyone has already done this, you can just ignore it)

In case you were wondering...

Last Friday was my last day of work which means I am officially a stay-home Mom. This couldn't have come at a better time because my poor little boy seems to be fighting a mild, allergy form of pink eye and a growing spurt. His right eye is glassy and goopy and sometimes a little pink and irritated. He is not running a fever and it doesn't seem to be bothering him much, but I have to constantly clean it out with a warm washcloth.

Samuel has also decided not to spoil me anymore by sleeping through the night. He now wakes up at least 3 times during the night convinced he is starving. I, unfortunately, do not seem to be able to produce enough milk to satiate his new appetite. I am now considering buying a soy-based formula to see if that helps curb his appetite. Hopefully this is a growth spurt and he will calm down soon.

Speaking of eating - I have really become creative with my no-dairy diet. I have also found it to be healthier and better on my budget since I no longer go out for ice cream. An example of creativity happened just this afternoon when I made myself lunch. It is a cool, rainy day and I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich - however, cheese really hurts Samuel's stomach. So, instead I made a grilled ham and tomato sandwich - yummy.

One last thing... for those who are wondering what ever happened to Carlin's iphone birthday present. Well, the monthly phone plan was too expensive right now so we didn't get it. With all of the changes happening in our lives right now I haven't been able to make up for it - but I have big plans that I cannot divulge since my husband reads this blog. Just stay tuned...

My Spice

You Are Garlic

Of all the spice types, you are the most universally loved. You get long with pretty much everyone, and you leave a lasting impression. You adapt yourself well to situations. You can fit in or stand out, depending on what you're called on to do.

What Spice Are You?