We are so excited!!

No, I'm not in labor, but I'm still really, really excited. We just made our last credit card payment ever, meaning we are now officially credit card debt free! We started out in August of 2007 with 25,000 (yes, THOUSAND) dollars in credit card debt. (Luckily it's been 0% interest the whole time, but still...) With my paycheck today, I submitted the final online payment of $600, so we have a credit card balance of 0! YAY! We will never, ever use credit cards again (well, except to book flights or hotels, but we will only book them after we already have the money in our vacation fund, and that money will be immediately transferred to pay off the card).

I am so glad we got smart about our finances after we got married. I read this book called Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, and it was an awesome kick in the pants. I honestly don't even know what most of that 25k went to; useless, stupid purchases, probably. (Well, except for our 6k honeymoon to Paris; I'm not going to lie, I would charge THAT all over again; it was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience, and I don't regret charging that, especially since Dan was still in school when we got married so there is no way we would have been able to save up the cash for that.) But everything else? Stupid, stupid purchases. I'm glad we're no longer paying on things that I can't even remember what they were for!

We just sat down in August of 2007 and created a budget and found that even with budgeting with entertainment and vacations, we could still put a sizeable amount towards our debt, which helped. Once Dan got a "real" job after college, we were really able to accelerate the payments towards our CCs, even with still budgeting for entertainment and vacations. (Dave Ramsey's advice is to not use CCs ever, because even though people say they'll pay them off every month, they rarely do). So we paid cash for everything, and once that $$ was gone, it was gone. The minute we got paid, I'd take our "snowball" amount, as Ramsey calls it, and immediately apply it to our credit cards, so there was no temptation to spend it. I cannot believe that we were able to pay off $25k in two and a half years; if you had told me that back in 2005 or 2006, I would have said, "Nah, there's no way." But we did it; yay!

Next up? We'll pay off my car. It's currently got 15k left on the loan, and isn't scheduled to be paid off until May of 2014. But with using our "snowball" amount that we put towards our credit cards each month, we should have it paid off by February of next year--over three years ahead of time! Then it's on to student loans... but I'm just going to take it one step at a time. I feel so great right now; I'm so proud of us! :)

Getting closer...

Here's a shot of me at 38 weeks (Wednesday). Not really much change from 37 weeks, but they say the later you get in your pregnancy, the more you change week by week, so I want to be sure to document each week until the baby is born.

Our weekend

We had a fun-filled, busy weekend. Friday night, I got a bunch of laundry done and my kitchen cleaned (yes, I really do consider that fun, or at least satisfying!) Then on Saturday we had our second-to-last childbirth class, and we went to Biaggi's afterward (we kind of got in the habit of always going out to eat after our class, which is fun). Here I am before we headed to the class; I'm 37 weeks, 3 days in this picture.



We then headed to Rori's birthday party for her friends, which was held at Bounce U. The kids LOVED it, and Dan and I even said that we would have fun doing all the activities (when I'm not pregnant, of course!)


Rori and Kirsti racing down the slide










Waiting to get crowned...









Today was Rori's family birthday party, which was also a lot of fun. Dan and I got her a really cool hoodie and matching tank top to go underneath (she LOVES clothes, even though she's only 7; she always has). We also got her a book (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs) and a lip gloss/chapstick/nail polish/body gel set from Lip Smackers. She seemed to really like it :) She had a Princess & the Frog theme for both parties, so that was really cute.




Laughing at our singing....




This was a gift from her mom and dad, but I thought her expression was so cute!


Opening our card...


Opening our gifts...


She seemed to like the hoodie we got her!



Last night, when we were shopping for Rori's gift, we also got the "coming home" outfit for the baby. We, obviously, bought one for each sex, and then we'll just return the one we end up not needing. They're so cute, but so tiny! I can't believe I'm going to have a tiny little human being that will fit in these soon!

So I'm full-term as of Wednesday!

I can't believe it! On Wednesday the 27th, I officially turned 37 weeks, and therefore am full-term. We had our midwife appointment, which went well, although I tested positive as a carrier for Group B strep, which means that can pass from the mother to baby during the birth, so I'll have to have IVs with antibiotics during labor to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby. It's not a big deal, I suppose, but I was thinking I wouldn't have it, since our midwives told us that 70% of women test negative for Group B Strep. I wasn't really thinking that I'd be in that 30% that tested positive! Oh well, at least we know, so we can take steps to reduce the risk of transmission to the baby (they say that antibiotics during labor are 96% effective with regards to preventing transmission to the baby).

After our appointment, I went out with some friends to try this new place called Bonfyre; it was a really cool atmosphere, and the food was pretty good (although the butternut squash soup I had was spicy, which seemed weird!) It was funny because they were all saying, "Oh, I bet we won't be able to get together again before the baby is born; you could go at any time!" I'm thinking, "Yes, anything is technically possible, but I have a feeling this baby is going to be in here for a looooong time!"

This weekend we have Rori's two parties; her family one and her friend one. I cannot believe she is almost 7; I remember the day she was born so clearly, and can't believe how much time has flown by! She is so excited for the baby and will be such a cute helper; I can't wait to see the two of them together.

Our Weekend

Well, we had a nice, relaxing weekend. We saw two movies--Sherlock Holmes and The Lovely Bones--both of which were excellent. We figured we should see as many movies as we can now, since who knows when we'll be able to go again once the baby is born! We also had our fifth childbirth class (only two more to go!) This one was on complications, which was interesting and reassuring, since they detailed the common fixes for any complications that may arise.

I turn 37 weeks on Wednesday; full-term! I can't believe it. I still kind of hope this baby goes late, though; I really would like a March baby. Then again, I'm kind of sick of being pregnant, so maybe I don't want to go 12 days over!

Childbirth classes are going well!

We had our third one today (it's technically the fourth class in the series, but we missed the second one since we were still in Utah), and we talked a lot about pushing and crowning.... yikes. Looks painful! Dan, of course, is so sweet and always pays so much attention during the classes and asks a lot of questions; it really means so much to me to have such an amazing husband who is so involved with this pregnancy. How did I get so lucky?!?

Afterward, we went to Toys R' Us to get our stroller, which Nancy got for us as a shower gift. I can't wait to put it together and actually get to USE it! It's really cute; I'll post pictures once we get it put together. I think we're also going to get the crib and bassinet this weekend, thanks to all the gift cards we got from the shower (and the big one from my mom! :)) Dan also wants to see Avatar, so I think we'll do that today, too.

The ultrasound went well!

Although I'll be honest; I don't really understand why people get SO gaga over them; I couldn't really tell what I was looking at half the time. But it was still cool to see, and the good thing is, the baby is not breech! YAY!

Here's a profile shot of the baby; it's not the best, since I had to take a picture of a picture :)



So the top/back of its head is to the right of the picture, and then you can see its nose and upper lip more on the left side (the baby basically looks like it's laying on its back, and it's kind of kicking itself in the nose with its foot). I admit, when I saw this profile shot, I did feel a rush of excitement, like, "Oh my gosh, there really is a BABY in there!" I think it's pretty cute, if I do say so myself ;)