Babies, Babies, Babies!

I guess we are of that age. The age that involves babies! We have had more friends have babies in the last year. In fact 2 more were added 2 weeks ago!

We got to meet the newest one today and it was heaven. The little peanut was all snuggled up on me and I was so sniffing his head. (and trying to be discreet about it as to not freak out the new mommy!) I looked at Mike and gave him that look, the look of a woman who is ready for another. We have one who isn't even walking yet, but I miss my baby. I want to sit and rock and snuggle and nurse. Don't get me wrong I love my little guy like crazy, but there is a difference between the activities of the peanut and the crazy-chase-after-him-before-he-gets-to-the-dog-water-dish-or-flies-down-the-basement-stairs-after-the-cat antics of my almost 10 month old. I realize I'm getting WAY more sleep than the new mommy and for that I am grateful. However, I'm not getting any younger and I'd sure like to have a few more.

The biggest question I have is how would I stay awake enough to take care of my little guy if I am pregnant with another. From what little I remember, I pretty much slept through my entire pregnancy. Made for a pretty easy first 9 months of marriage! (Little guy is a honeymoon souvenir.) I'm not sure I'd want to miss 9 months of my little ones life just snoozing away on the couch. That and the fact that he takes an awful lot of energy just to keep one step ahead of and, again, he's not walking yet. I'm sure we'll figure it out when the time comes!

Gratefully, we have figured out that it isn't nearly as expensive to have a baby as one would think. I look forward to sharing many tips, tricks and ideas on this subject as we have been able to provide very nicely for our little guy without spending our entire retirement or going into credit card debt to do it. In fact, not counting his birth, I would guess that he has cost our family much less than $1000. Considering the estimated cost of raising a child in the 0-2 year age range for just one year is over $9000 I think we are doing really, really well.

http://moneycentral.msn.com/articles/family/kids/tlkidscost.asp if you'd like to see the chart.

I know that it is not fully in our hands to decide when the next little one should join us. However, we look forward to growing our family in the future. And, of course, we'll be doing it frugally!

Heather