Wednesday, April 18, 2012

The girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Since my last post was about Maggie, I thought I would write a little about Lucy.
Lucy is my fiery baby. She is very passionate about everything she does. When she's happy, she is smiling and laughing at everything. When she is upset, she screams so loud I think they can probably hear her in Wisconsin.
Picking her name was very difficult for me. I had picked Maggie's name out when I was much younger, so that was a no-brainer. I was at a total loss for what to name a second daughter. I had considered Lily, but I thought two flower names would be weird. My husband and I discussed her name endlessly and decided on Lucy. We considered Lucille or Lucia, but neither seemed right.
Being a huge Beatles fan, she is also named after the song "Lucy in the sky". When she was born, the first thing I noticed about her was her huge eyes. They are so dark blue that they're almost purple. When she's happy they are shiny and clear. When she's sad, they are dark and cloudy. She truly is the girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
I can't wait to see who she grows up to be!

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Coming out of her shell

Maggie is a funny, smart little girl who loves to run and dance and sing. She loves to watch other kids at the playground or when we're out, but she has always been hesitant to go over and play. I'm stuck straddeling the line between making her go over to play with kids and sitting back and letting her do things her own way.
Three weeks ago, we signed up for a playgroup at our local park with lots of kids her age. The first day she pretty much sat on my lap and watched the whole time. Today, though, she went over and tried to hold another little girl's hand. She was also interested in following the other kids around so she could play next to them.
I love being able to stay home with them and have my husband stay home with them while I'm working, but sometimes I worry that she is going to have a harder time socializing with other kids.
I love how this playgroup is helping her come out of her shell.

Monday, April 9, 2012

Dollars and Sense

It all started innocently enough. I was only working 6 hours a week my freshman year of college so I was a little short on cash. One day as I was walking to class, I passed a guy giving away free candles if you signed up for a credit card. Sounded good to me. I got a free candle and a little extra spending money. Until I kept spending and kept spending and kept spending. Then I signed up for another credit card and another and another.
Then I graduated got a decent paying job (well, not that decent paying but I was also living with my parents) and paid my balance almost all the way down.
I thought I had learned my lesson until I moved in with a friend of mine and we started going out A LOT! And we needed clothes to go out in and new shoes and new purses and cabs to drive us to the bars we were going to.
Then I got engaged and started wedding planning (lots more money!). About six months before my wedding, my husband fiance lost his job. And I was in school full time (again). So everything went on the credit card again. My wedding dress, the bridesmaid dresses, the dj, the limo.
When it got out of control, I signed up for a debt consolidation company and started to make a serious dent in my debt. More importantly, I was not allowed to use my credit cards any more so I learned to live without them.
And today, I paid the last of them off. Which is giving me an extra $600 a month to spend on anything I want. I am SOOO excited!! And proud of myself!! And I will never let my daughters get into the same financial problems I did.