My Cub is now 3!

Three years ago, I was hugely pregnant, patiently awaiting my due date. I remember this day, mostly before the birth because it was busy. I still had to work, and got started early in the day. Hubby and I were at another hospital doing some paperwork, checking and re-checking documents, and signing everything. It was getting on around 10:30 a.m., and I had an 11:00 appointment with my OB. It was only a 5 minute drive away, but we knew it would take us longer to find parking than it would be to get there.

We made it to the appointment area, with several other women who were in all stages of pregnancy. I had my blood pressure checked, and my weight recorded. I had lost a fair amount of weight in the beginning, so I was regaining lost ground, lol. We were taken to a room where I would be checked by the doc. We waited, and talked about whether we should go for lunch before we finished going back to the other hospital to finish signing off on the documents.

Doc came in and chatted with us. I was still only 3 cm dilated, as I had been for two weeks. Doc was asking again when I was due. March 22 was the official date. I was 39 weeks + 2 days gestation.(Good enough for me, let's get this show on the road!) While doing his examination, I had a contraction. On his hand. (I'll let you figure that one out for yourselves.) He looks at me and says, "How do you feel about having a baby today?" I was elated! I thought he was going to make me wait either until my due date was past, or my water broke, whichever came first.

We were allowed to leave for a short time while we got some things taken care of (not the paperwork) and came back a short time later to be given medication to help my labour along. I knew I had been in labour for a few days already, but no one else really believed me. The contractions were too weak to show up on the monitors, and I wasn't dilated enough. An hour or so with pitocin, and labour was gearing up full force.
I had an epidural, and a short time later, I became a mom to a beautiful son, and hubby became a dad for the first time. (BTW, the epidural worked enough that my feet were fully frozen when he was born. I felt everything else! An hour after he was born, I felt frozen from the neck down, lol!)

That was 3 years ago already. How time flies! We have had some great moments with him. We have had some terrible days with him, thinking we were going to lose him. But he has survived and thrived through it all, and is a joy to behold everyday.

I opened his RESP yesterday, and got him his first bank account. I figured it was time I started working on his future as well as his present.

Happy Birthday Cub! Mom-mom and Dadda love you!

Writing

I really enjoy writing, and have thought about writing a book for some time now. I have a specific book in my head that I'm slowly working on putting to paper, or to be precise, putting into our computer.

I know that in order to ever finish this book, or to ever write any others, one must take the time to actually sit down and write. Which is how the My Life Journey blog came to be. Blogging daily encourages me to develop the habit of writing daily. The other benefits I've gained from blogging are all unexpected bonuses as far as I'm concerned.

I know that they 'bestseller' book in my head likely will never become a bestseller on the market. It may never even become published. Honestly, I could care less. I just love to write. However, years ago, I had dreamed that I would become a famous author, with fans clamoring to get my autograph on their copy of my latest tome. I've matured, and so have my ideals since that 14 year old girl daydreamed of such a thing. I know I will very likely not get rich and famous from my written stories.

But I am hoping that somehow, I might get one of my little blurbs published. Maybe an E-book. Who knows? I'm open to the possibilities, but am well grounded by the realities. I'm no Stephen King.

I'm trying to get in about 30 minutes of writing each day, between blog and book, just to keep my mind active and to exercise my fingers. My keyboard hates me most of the time though, and I have to edit half of what I've typed mere seconds after I've typed it. I detest obvious spelling errors, and feel the need to fix them immediately.

Thanks to you folks who stop by here to read my ramblings. It's good to know that there are people out there in this great big world who actually like reading my stuff. I may someday throw a chapter of my book on here to get some feedback from you nice people.

Save As Much As You Spend

A few years back, we were in terrible financial straits. I didn't know how we were going to pay the bills in a given month, and we were behind in payments on everything! A fair sized chunk of our debt was on amounts owing for missed payments on rent, utilities, car payments, and insurances.

I did what I thought was best at the time, and went to the bank. Surely they would be able to help me. They deal with money and debt every day, right? Short of a loan (which I wasn't asking for), they should be able to provide me with some advice or tips or whatever to help me get out of the predicament that I was in. Naive, huh?

Although the money management specialist I talked with was unable to help me at that time, she did mention something that I totally blew off the second it came out of her mouth. "Whenever you have a car payment to make, put an equivalent amount in your savings account for those months when you are in the low end of your income."

What the heck good was that going to do for me? I needed to figure out how to make up what I was already behind in, and I needed to do something fast!

Eventually, I did what was necessary, took a few hits on my credit report I'm sure, and started clawing my way out of the hole we were in. Bu that absurd piece of advice never left me. It's been lingering in the back of my mind for a couple of years now.

I found a link to another blog post in which the author talks about putting an equivalent amount into savings that she spends on luxury/treat items. What a fabulous idea! For each of us, we would have to define what a treat item or luxury item is. The benefit would be two-fold, as one would have to both cut down on spending AND increase savings!

Kinda of like the absurd idea my crazy banker lady told me so long ago.

I'm hankering with this idea, and how it would work for us in our house. We must, must, must increase savings, but I'm terrible at not touching those accounts. If I were to put those amounts into a locked-in account, like my RRSP, then I wouldn't touch them. The benefit would definitely be that I would be putting away for my future and working on my Yearly Financial Goals at the same time.Win-win.

Keep an eye out sometime later in the month for another post about this. I feel a personal challenge coming on!

Join the "Made With Love Swap"

This wonderful blogger over at My 1/2 Dozen Daily is hosting a "Made With Love Swap". Something beautifully handmade, that you made with your own 2 hands. It can be anything whatsoever, as long as you make it! It doesn’t matter whether you’re a beginner or a pro,she'd love to have you join in!


Rules:

1.Must be hand-made!


2.Must be sent out by April.15th. *This gives everyone a week to join, then a week to fill out and get in the questionnaire, and 2 weeks to make & send out the item(s).

She has a list of ideas on her blog this morning. If you're the crafty, creative type, you may want to join in! It sounds like a ton of fun, and I am definitely going to join in.

Please pop on over to this page and leave a comment there if you'd like to participate. I'm excited to see what type of crafty thing I might get! I love handmade things that are useful, so I'm going to knit some dishcloths for someone.

Have a Happy Tuesday everyone!