A Good Day

We had our 13 week prenatal visit today – tomorrow’s officially the end of the first trimester.   I’m grateful that things are going so well, and we’re both so glad that we found such a good midwife.   The $3000 we’re paying her is money well spent, even if it’s not covered by insurance.   Our visit today lasted almost an hour and a half, and she spent about 30 minutes giving me a foot massage while she discussed my recent lab results and talked with us about our pregnancy.   Try getting that from an OB!!   From talking with other women who’ve worked with her, it sounds like  the foot massage is a regular thing.   Yipee!  

We came straight home after the appointment, so that we weren’t tempted to hang out in the great town where our midwife is – since it’s also a pricey town.   Our credit card billing cycle ends on Saturday, and for several months now, we’ve worked with a goal of never letting the balance get above $1000/month.   We put everything on that card, and we pay it off every month, so it’s a very good budgeting tool for us.   All of our groceries (except Costco), gas, shopping, most recurring bills, etc – it all has to be below $1000 each month.   We like the flexibility of it – we can spend more in one area and less in another as long as the total for the month is under a grand.   Well right now, we’re at $986, and we have three days to go.   I’m especially proud that we’re still under the wire this month, considering we had a wedding last weekend where we found out at the last minute that my husband was in the wedding party and needed a tux ($140 that we hadn’t budgeted for) in addition to the present that we had already bought.   We just tightened the belt even more the last couple weeks, and it looks like we’ll squeak in right around the $1000 mark.   If we go above $1000, it’s not the end of the world, since we spend less than we earn each month.   But we like the challenge of it, so we might as well aim high.