Getting Through the Holidays on LIMITED Income.

Before my baby girl was born, the thought of the holidays depressed me. Originally, I was to stay home until the baby was 12 weeks, meaning my leave would be through to Christmas. Living on one income gets us by, but leaves very little and sometimes nothing at our disposal, after bills, gas, and groceries. Consequently, that meant we would not have money for a tree, gifts, etc. After she arrived, my thinking completely changed. This was going to be her first Christmas, how can we not give her a real Christmas? Determined to do so, I searched the net for anything I could do for even the littlest amount money.

I looked into surveys and affiliate marketing. At that point I wasn't looking for a job to do at home, just something small to bring in some extra dollars. Affiliate marketing, I decided would take too much effort, so, I did surveys. Two particular sites that help me were survetmastermind.com and surveysponsors.com. You don't earn cash, but you get points for each survey you complete, and those points can be redeemed for things like gift cards. In just 3 weeks, I earned $125 worth of gift cards for target! I found a nice-sized tree on sale for $20, a 50 count, box of tree ornaments for $15, a 15 foot gold garland for $4, the lights, $6! This will be our first Christmas as a family, and I am glad I'm able to make it a real Christmas.

The star on top was $7:99, also from Target.

As for the gifts, I wrapped up some stuff that the baby will not be using until she is three months old. Things like clothes, teethers, and toys never worn or used that we received from the baby shower. I had a little bit of GC credit to get her some extra clothes and toys! For my husband, I got another gift card for Saks, with my Chase debit card reward points, and bought him a nice Jack Spade wallet. Without putting a strain on our very skimpy income, Christmas will be good this year. 

Momma, You are the BREASTest!

The decision to breastfeed my Riley was made long before Ro and I decided we were ready to have a baby. I chose breast not because of the widely known fact that it makes the child smarter [which is true in a way], nor is it because of its weight loss characteristic. I chose breast because I don’t believe in polluting my baby’s body with artificial, made-in-a-lab supplement [formula]. Formula is great, sure, but for as long as it has been around, the creators have done nothing more than attempt to duplicate breast milk, meaning breast is best. Formula is simply, the easy way out in my opinion. There are some mothers out there who have no choice but to rely on the supplement and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. When it comes down to it, it is your choice what you want to feed your baby. Everyone is different, and what works for some may not work for others. I don’t think either person’s ways are better than the other, just different.

I don’t have much support from my family when it comes to breastfeeding; my mother did not breastfeed any of her children, and is a huge advocate for formula [60's baby- go figure!] I have heard all the excuses from her, …you don’t have enough milk, you’ll never have enough milk… you’re never going to sleep… you HAVE to give her formula… breast milk is just water… she went on and on and on. That, was my biggest challenge, getting support. When you don’t get it from the people you trust most, where do you turn? I struggled with this the first few weeks after Jewel’s birth. My mother's blurts were getting to me. What if I wasn’t making enough milk? What if I couldn’t pump enough when it was time to get back to work? How do I know if she’s getting enough hind milk [fatty stuff] and not just foremilk [low-calorie thirst quencher]? All these worries were stressing me out, and too much stress effects your milk production- which stressed me out even more! I knew my research, but began to doubt myself.
The day I gave birth, my mother gave Riley some formula, this was upsetting to me, but I let it happen.

I vowed never to give in again, so I turned to Kellymom.com. This site also inspired my blog. It was a life saver! I found many stories from moms who had the same EXACT experience. There, I found my support. I took a deep breath and smiled. I knew that I would be just fine. All I had to do was believe in my body; this was the way nature intended, therefore it will work out. I stopped checking time, and worrying about ounces. I went with my instinct. Whenever Rye wanted breast, she got it. Never minded for how long or how many times. I now have a very chunky 13lb 5oz 11wk 6d old!

She's actually 6 wks here, but chunky right??

She is exclusively breastfed with the fattest cheeks on the planet. As far as pumping goes, the first few times I pumped, barely got an ounce because it was too early. Establishing breastfeeding is VERY important!!! The most crucial part to success. Most people quit before 8 weeks because they either give up or don’t believe they will have enough. The caveat to this: it takes up to 8 weeks for breastfeeding to be established. After this period, the milk will flow, no matter what. So my fellow breastfeeding mommas, keep going, there is light at the end of that tunnel, and boy is it bright!

 Here we are- 10 wks old.

I dream that one day, she'll just come out and say, "Momma you are the BREASTest!"

Frustration

Riley had her second monthly check up this morning. Ro and I decided that we will not be vaccinating her, or any of our future children. I really do not want a pro/con war so I will nip it there for now and discuss our reasons at another time. When the doctor heard that she will not be immunized, he came in to talk to us, and outright said that we have to find another practitioner. Usually, I would respond intelligently,  but I sort of knew it was coming and decided to leave it at that. He sad excuse was that we would be putting other patients at risk. I then thought to myself, If these patients of yours, are supposedly vaccinated, then shouldn’t they be protected against such diseases? Either way, I’m over that! My frustration kicked in, when I called around the Westchester area and could not find a single doctor who would take a non-vaccinated baby. Riley is not sick so she really does not need to see a doctor, but it’d be nice to have one pediatrician as a go-to practitioner. I guess this is another wave we must surf through… sigh!
My sweet pea is growing so fast. As an exclusively breastfed baby, she is already 13 lbs 3 oz and only 11.5 wks!! She was 24.5 inches long today. Gosh I feel like she’s leaving for college already…I know it will be in little time wahhh!!! AAww how I miss when she was just a newborn [cries].  The time flew by so fast, yet it seems like ages ago… if that even makes any sense.

"honey, I can't buy my shoes"

"honey, I can't buy my shoes"
"why not?"
"because we have to save the money for a crib"
"are you pregnant?"
"yesssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

I will never forget the day I found out I was pregnant. It was a Saturday, and Ro dropped me off in the morning- during the car ride, all I could talk about was the cutest booties I had been eying for weeks. Ro told me to get them after work and I was just so excited! My biggest worry that day? I really hope Bakers has my size! My period was 6 days late, but I still didn't worry. While at work, one of my co-workers called in to chat and mentioned to me that she was also late and was thinking about taking a pregnancy test. She talked me into taking one with her, so I ran out to get one. I wasn't worried at first, but got extremely anxious during my waiting period (which was very short). The results flashed almost instantaneously. Pregnant, it read. I took a deep breath, just could not hold it in until the end of the work day, and called Rohan. Telling him was scary, but he was vary calm and that sparked my excitement. I was so happy! I just kept hearing in my head, over and over again, a little person, calling me "mama". My heart cried a little. It was the most incredible feeling yet. I couldn't wait to be our little munchkin's mama!

My Pregnancy Journey

Here I am at 8 weeks.

 My belly is not that much bigger, but you can definitely tell that I'm baking. Although don't really feel pregnant :/

12 Weeks

Haven't grown too much and glad we made it to 12 weeks. 
I've been pregnant before and miscarried at 6 weeks,
so I've been very nervous until now. Thrilled that I made it through the
first trimester with no morning sickness or feeling icky.
Feeling great and "regular"

19 Weeks and a Coolatta Kick!

I felt her move for the first at 19 weeks and she never stopped after that. Yes! SHE, found out the sex at 17 weeks and confirmed at 19 weeks!

20 weeks!

20 Weeks! At this point, there's pretty much no turning back is there? haha :) We're half way there- hang in there little munchkin.

24 Weeks

Still don't feel pregnant. Cravings were crazy here though-
every week I was in a different country. There was Ghanaian week, then Chinese week, oh and Mexican weeks, Japanese week, and Indian week. I love it!

30 Weeks

30 WEEKS! 30 WEEKS! 30 WEEKS! 30 WEEKS!
30 WEEKS! 30 WEEKS! 30 WEEKS! 30 WEEKS!

Third and FINAL trimester, you're finally here.

32 Weeks

Baby Shower. Check!

35 Weeks

Excuse my crazy closet :) - feeling like I'm gonna be pregnant forever! Because I'm feeling NOTHING (as in labor pains) except for Riley's kicks and lame ass Braxton kicks.


















Finally finished the nursery- Riley you are welcome to greet us any day now :)

Finished the Nursery

38 Weeks

The was after my last visit to the doctor- also my last day of work. due in two weeks but I think Riley wants to stay in there longer :(

My Darling Riley

You arrived at 1:25 p.m. on Monday, September 27th, 2010. You had jet black hair and dark brown eyes. You weighed 7 lbs 8 oz and were 19 inches long. You had the longest eye lashes I had ever seen. Your tiny nose, your loving smile and you lips-shaped birthmark blew me away. Your daddy and I were beyond happy to finally meet you. Mommy is in a tremendous amount of pain right now, but so glad we are finally leaving the hospital to go home. Baby girl, we will love you unconditionally for all eternity.

Welcome to the world my love.