Spring Break and Our story continued part 3

Spring Break was last week and not at all long enough. We tried to pack in as much as we could. Dan has started work on the upstairs, we started buidling a flower bed and planted a few shrubs, we went to the zoo and celebrated my Dad's 50th birthday.

The weather has been great and the kids have loved being outside. We all got a little red on Thursday but we were happy to see that Titus our little red head does not burn easy he tanned very well. He has a cute little farmer tan.

Tatum was so hot at the zoo that she told her aunt Leslie while wiping her forhead very dramatic like "I am SOAKING HOT"!!! Hehe that's a new one!

Titus loves jumping on the trampoline but instead of calling it jump he says "bunch" I guess that's bounce and jump together.
Tatum calls the trampoline a jumaline

Titus is doing great with the potty training. This is the first back to normal week so I'm really trying to work with him. He went all day with no accidents. We even went to walmart with no accidents. He told me when he needed to potty. He has not gone #2 on it yet. He will get it figured out. Everyone has warned me that boys are way harder to train but so far Titus has not been tough at all. He has been doing this all on his own timing. My little man is doing so well!

Our Story Part 3
From the moment we decided we were going to have a baby we started saving as much money as possible. I was making $32K at my job so there was no reason we shouldn't be saving. We had been listening to Dave Ramsey since we were in college. We had our $1,000 emergency money for several years but started realizing it was time to add to it and start paying off some debt. We started trying to knock some out. We had a loan on our furniture that we paid off quickly then started working on my car. We saved up $5,000 before Tatum was born. Thank goodness because in May, Dan had to have his appendix removed. Our deductable was $1,000 that we were able to pay in cash. Tatum and I's deductable was also $1,000 a piece that we paid in full. It felt so good to be able to have that paid and out of our lives!

Now our savings was down to $2,000 and we still wanted for me to be a stay at home mommy. We decided I was going to quit, but I still had plenty of time before telling my boss. I wasn't due back to work until September after vacation days and maternity. I was loving being a mommy but having a hard time too. My emotions were all over the place still. I was worried about money, my baby cried a lot, and threw up a lot, Dan had no more vacation time and I didn't know how to make my baby happy. She was having problems nursing since she was early and so little. I had to use a shield and it was messy and a pain. Everyone kept telling me if I could stick it out 6 weeks then it would get easier and she would have it figured out.

At the six week mark things started looking up. I had a few babysitting jobs. One little girl I watched during the day was Olivia. Tatum had nursing down but I still wasn't sure of it. Olivia was only a few months older then Tatum. She was not able to hold a bottle yet herself. A lot of times the two wanted to eat at the same time of course. I would hold Tatum and put Olivia in the poppy pillow and hold her bottle. I had a new found appreciation for mothers with twins. I could not leave the house with two infants. When Olivia's mom picked her up then Tatum and I would head over to my cousin's house to meet them before they got off the bus and stay until their mom or dad got off work. On Tuesdays I picked up my sweet little cousin Ally from preschool. She was always a welcome distraction from my crazy weeks. She made me laugh and still does all the time and she helped out a lot. She was so funny. One time she told me that Tatum's crying was getting on her nerves!

I also took on a concession stand job. I ran a football concession that paid very well every Saturday from the end of August through mid November. We were making it without my job. I was tired but I was the one there with my baby. God had provided through November for sure. This was August and I could rest in the fact that surely we could think of something by December to get us through. By this time God was making it clear I was to stay at home. I went to my boss in mid August and told him I would not be returning.