The Joys of Parenting

The government recently calculated the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 and came up with $160,140 for a middle income family. Talk about sticker shock! That doesn't even touch college tuition.

But $160,140 isn't so bad if you break it down. It translates into:

* $8,896.66 a year,

* $741.38 a month, or
* $171.08 a week.

* That's a mere $24.24 a day!

* Just over a dollar an hour.
Still, you might think the best financial advice is don't have children if you want to be 'rich.'
Actually, it is just the opposite. What do you get for your $160,140?

* Naming rights. First, middle, and last!

* Giggles under the covers every night.

* More love than your heart can hold.

* Butterfly kisses and Velcro hugs.

* Endless wonder over rocks, ants, clouds, and warm cookies.

* A hand to hold usually covered with jelly or chocolate.

* A partner for blowing bubbles, flying kites

* Someone to laugh yourself silly with, no matter what the boss said or how your stocks performed that day.
For $160,140, you never have to grow up. You get to:

* finger-paint,

* carve pumpkins,

* play hide-and-seek,

* catch lightning bugs, and

* never stop believing in Santa Claus.

You have an excuse to:

* keep reading the Adventures of Piglet and Pooh,

* watching Saturday morning cartoons,

* going to Disney movies, and

* wishing on stars.

* You get to frame rainbows, hearts, and flowers under refrigerator magnets and collect spray painted noodle wreaths for Christmas, hand prints set in clay for Mother's Day, and cards with backward letters for Father's Day.

For $160,140, there is no greater bang for your buck. You get to be a hero just for:

* retrieving a Frisbee off the garage roof,

* taking the training wheels off a bike,

* removing a splinter,

* filling a wading pool,

* coaxing a wad of gum out of bangs, and coaching a baseball team that never wins but always gets treated to ice cream or pizza regardless.


You get a front row seat to history, to witness the:

* first step,

* first word,

* first bra,

* first date, and

* first time behind the wheel.

You get to be immortal. You get another branch added to your family tree, and if you're lucky, a long list of limbs in your obituary called grandchildren and great grandchildren. You get an education in psychology, nursing, criminal justice, communications, and human sexuality that no college can match.

In the eyes of a child, you rank right up there under God. You have all the power to heal a boo-boo, scare away the monsters under the bed, patch a broken heart, police a slumber party, ground them forever, and love them without limits. So, one day they will, like you, love without counting the cost. That is quite a deal for the price!!!!!!!

Love & enjoy your children & grandchildren!!!!!!!

It's Been A While...

But, Things are good. For now at least. Donn got his job back at UPS, which is AWESOME. They're even willing to pay for him to go to college. It's so exciting! THings might actually look up for us for once. But of course it's always 2 steps back. I don't get it. it's like you work hard for what you have, just to die in the end anyway and all those things that you work for go to someone else. Must be nice to be Paris Hilton. To have the money handed to you so you never have to struggle in life. What a bitch.

Adrian has started solids now. It's funny, he gobbles it right up. At first he tried to blow bubbles with it, but now he eats like hes done it his entire life. Guess he was more than ready to start solids. Too bad i was supposed to wait until his 6 month checkup to start him on solids lol. Ever since I started working though, i've been having problems with milk supply. so 4-5 times a day he gets to be breastfed, and the rest i have to formula feed just because i'm not producing enough milkies for him anymore. it makes me sad :-(

here's his 5 month pictures... isn't he a cutie??? oh, i love being a mom. :-P just like on the turbo tax commercials... isnt my little tax deduction cute? just kidding... but he sure is a cutie.

Argh!

It's so boring around here now days! Donn got a job working for UPS in Redmond at nights, and so he sleeps all day :-( and all I get to do is listen to him sleep. Oh, and cook for him and take care of the baby. I don't mind taking care of Adrian, but now I get even less help from him than before. It's great that he got a job, and I'm really glad about that, but he needs to figure out how to help at home still. But, there's not much else I can do to help him out. He wants me to make sure the house is clean before he gets home, and still take care of the baby all day, and I don't understand that. But then he thinks that I should re-arrange my schedule for him, but how can I force the baby to stay up all night??? I don't think so.
I told him to lose Angie the other day, and you know what he said? She has a "stalker" personality, so she would just come over if he stopped talking to her, and bug me at my house. Her living next to me bugs me enough as it is. I already told her she is not welcome at my house. But hey, he doesn't care. He told me I just have to suck it up and deal with it. What an asshat. I don't understand why I didn't leave last night when he told me to get out. (we were fighting AGAIN)

Wa-hoo!

My alter-ego and I (from here on out referred to as "we") have figured out how to block individual numbers from calling my house! Call me all you want, but you'll never get through!!!

In other news, my mom's house flooded. We feel sorry for her. My neighbor's yard caved in, we feel sorry for him too. (I this we thing lol!) We have decided bad grammar even on the computer is unacceptable. We must go take care of Adrian now!

I just had to share Christmas pictures... I may not be able to afford a whole lot of them, but I get the session for free, so I can share them with everyone!

Yay for Friends!

Yesterday I went to Seattle. It was fun, but a little boring too. We spent the afternoon at Macy's and then we went to dinner. Not exactly what I expected, but it was fun all the same. Josh definitely makes things interesting to say the least. He's pretty cool I guess. I haven't seen him in like 6 years or so I would guess, but he definitely was cool to hang out with.
Donn was mad that there was a guy there, but I said, "hey, at least he's gay!" But for some reason he said "I'd rather be be straight then gay!" What kind of logic is that? Why would you want your wife to hang out with a straight guy over a gay guy? His theory is that a gay guy knows what women want and how to get them in bed. What gay guy wants to get in bed with a female? Not too many! What a loopy nut-job!
But I missed Adrian. I love my son, I don't regret the decisions I have made in my life, because if I did, then I would regret my son. and I don't. I love being a mom. I love waking up with him in the mornings, and he ALWAYS has a HUGE smile on his face. That's the best thing in the world for a mommy. I may have made some stupid choices on the path to getting where I am, but I don't regret any of them. Every choice was a stepping stone to getting me where I am. If I wouldn't have done those things, I wouldn't know what I know, now would I?
I'm glad to be home, but it is fun to spend time with friends. Next month we'll have to do something again, but this time Adrian will come with. I realized it's fun to be young and careless, but I wouldn't want to be there.

This is funny!

A Northwest Girl….

Three men were sitting together bragging about how they had given their new wives duties.
The first man had married a woman from Alabama and bragged that he had told his wife she was going to do all the dishes and house cleaning.

He said it took a couple days but on the third day he came home to a clean house and dishes.

The second man had married a woman from Florida. He bragged that he had given his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes, and the cooking. On that first day he didn't see any results, but the next day it was better. By the third day, his house was clean, the dishes were done, and he had a huge dinner
on the table.

The third man had married a Northwest girl. He boasted that he told her that her duties were to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn
mowed, laundry washed and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see nything, but by the third day most of the
swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye. Enough to fix himself a bite to eat, load the dishwasher, and telephone a landscaper.