The Best Laid Plans

Well it's just over a month into the New Year and I have to say, I am pretty proud of myself.  My lofty list of New Year's Resolutions has been the blueprint of my 2013 and the structure is starting to take shape!  I've hit the gym hard for the last month and my body feels it.  But no pain, no gain, right?!  I've still got a ways to go but I feel great and the scale is going down!  My fervor for fitness has motivated me to focus on healthy meals for my family.  For the majority of January, we've enjoyed a nutritious, balanced meal together each night, and thanks to all those Pinterest pins, I've been trying new and fun recipes and finally got out of my menu slump!  With a pre-planned menu, my shopping visits are weekly and accompanied by a strict list and stack of coupons. This mama is really saving some dough!  I created a simple task list for daily, weekly and monthly chores and my house has never been so clean!  I've started spring cleaning early and have taken the time to reorganize the interiors of all the cupboards and closets in my house!  I'm ....

"Mom. Mom. Mommy. Mommy. Mommy.
Mama, wake up, I want some cereal." 

...shaken out of my resolution dreamland and awake to my reality of unfulfilled good intentions.  Visits to the gym have been replaced with sick kids and lame excuses piled precariously atop one another.  The only pain my body feels is from being squished between a small child and my hubby every night for the last month.  The scale might as well just hop into the trash basket at this point!  I did have a five day streak of meal planning way back in early January... I'll give myself credit for that... but since then, it's back to the 4:30 panic of having no clue what we'll eat for dinner!  This lack of preparation has led to more than one last minute visit to a local restaurant!  I'm ashamed to admit I went out in the cold to get McDonald's one day out of sheer desperation!  I put it on real plates and we did sit at the table together... any chance that outweighs the pure lack of nutrition the meal offered?!  These restaurant visits aren't exactly in the budget, so my financial resolution of being more intentional with the daily spending has been ignored!  And my house.... don't even get me started.  I made a valiant effort in my bedroom - reorganizing the closet and the storage under the bed and even weeding out clothes to donate, but all that work got me feeling tired and I lost momentum!

OY!  

The phrase goes...."The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." 
In other words, you can plan all you want, but that doesn't mean your plans will come to fruition.  

This appears to be the theme of 2013 for me! 

I also had a lot of long term plans for 2013.  We'd pay off one more student loan and then really buckle down to save for a house down payment.  The plan was to be in a house in September or so.  Once we were in and settled, we'd try for baby 3 and during the 9 months of baby-growing, I'd continue working part time to save up for a new-to-us minivan.  It was a well thought out and logical plan. 

My prego sister, Christy texted me in December, 

"I think its about time you had another baby."

  

I quickly responded, 

"I have a financial plan and I will just have to live vicariously through you.  

I don't want to move and pack and paint a new place while pregnant.  

Plus I am way too fat to get pregnant!"

Persistent prego then called me saying,

"I had a plan too and it didn't go as I had hoped. (previous miscarriage)

I'm a pretty good painter and could definitely help you move.

And you're going to get fat anyway, you can just lose it all afterward!"

Unconvinced, I laughed her off and we hung up.  I jokingly recounted her persuasive arguments to my husband who replied, "that's what I've been saying all along!"  After a bit of conversation, we decided to stop preventing. Our daughter took 10 months to conceive and our son took 6 months.  Following this timetable we would still have plenty of time to make some financial headway!  

Less than one month later, I bought a pregnancy test.  I knew I wasn't pregnant, but just wanted to make sure.  After snuggling my crazy little monkeys until WAY past bedtime, I got ready to go to bed and realized I had forgotten to take the test!  While it was taking a few minutes to register, I popped a couple Nyquil to combat the icky flu/cold blech that had plagued our family for the past couple weeks and returned to check the results.  I glanced quickly and saw that I was not pregnant,  just as I had thought.  I threw it in the garbage and walked to my room.  Just as I was closing my door, it clicked!  Wait a minute!  I snatched it out and what do you know...

...two lines, I AM pregnant! 

Sheer excitement shot through me. 

Then momentary panic, "Crap I just took Nyquil!" 

Then more excitement!

 

All the plans that I had so carefully planned out were not going to happen as I had envisioned, and I couldn't care less!!  I had wanted to do something fun to break the news to Justin, but I was so awestruck and shook him awake and blurted it out!  I couldn't believe it!  One month was all it took!  And to top it off, I found out on my sister's birthday!

 

We broke the news to family via Teddy.

 

My sister Christy's reaction was my favorite.  She looked at his shirt and you could see her eyes reading the lines.  Then she started talking to her hubby about the big brother/big sister shirts she had ordered her kids for when she was in the hospital.  About 3 minutes passed, then she read his shirt again and asked, "Does his shirt say 'Best Big Bro'?"  I just smiled and she squealed!

 

So without further adieu,

may I introduce the newest member of our Homme clan

due to make his/her appearance September 14th!

Hard to see features when baby is the size of a raspberry, but the little arrow on the left are the feet, the right arrow is the head and the little white spot in the middle is the little heart beat going 167 BPM!