Tuesday, June 24, 2014
A wedding and Botox
Well Gavin had 18 Botox injections on Monday the 16th and Tim and I got married June 21st. While on my honeymoon staycation, home alone, while Tim works, with all of our boys I promise to do a more thorough update but here's a preview.
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Frugal
Before I had my boys I never realized how much I supported consumerism in our economy. Every penny in my pocket went from hand to mouth, or back, or car. I lived a very one use life style and wasn't really raised to live very environmentally conscious. We had paper towels, Tide laundry soap, and plenty of toys. My mother was just very good at managing money, but never really shared the process with us. When I moved out on my own for the first time at 17 it wasn't so bad. I was working a job as a Switchboard Operator for a local hospital and made decent money. Enough to afford a fancy newer car, whatever food I felt like throwing in my cart, going on with my friends, and shopping for new clothes.
After I met Tim and became pregnant with Ethan, I quit my job as the Front Desk Manager of a local hotel. I was constantly on my feet, under appreciated, and just stressed. It was directly effecting my pregnancy and my baby was more important. Two weeks after my financial contribution ceased to exist, Tim was laid off. We now found ourselves just short of homeless with car payments close to default with a baby on the way no less! We sold our cars and actually ended up staying in one bedroom of a should have been condemned house with no functioning toilet or furnace. Talk about scary. We stayed in the master bedroom, ate as minimally as we could with me being pregnant, and prayed for Tim's unemployment to quickly arrive. We were in the house for almost 5 long months living like this. No A/C, pouring 5 gallon buckets down the back of the toilet just to flush, battling bugs and other "friends." We finally received Tim's unemployment and my tax return, by the grace of God, and were able to rent a small two bedroom apartment that was just a step up above where we were. Tim finally secured full time employment just shortly after I had Ethan, our first born together.
When Ethan was just four months old we found out we were pregnant with TWINS, non the less. After a very complicated pregnancy and a traumatic birth, we were blessed with Gavin and Gabe. Due to being born 10 weeks early after having Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome we were now faced with brain injuries, Cerebral Palsy, and a lifetime of complications to contend with. We will still only a one income, now special needs family, barely above the federal income poverty line. We were left to figure it out on our own. Thankfully Gavin and Gabe's Cerebral Palsy are qualifying diagnosis's for Social Security Disability, for without which we would severely struggle for me to stay at home with them. Not that staying home even with SSI allows us to not make sacrifices.
Last year our total family income for a family of 6 was just about 17,000 for the year. We rent a nice 3 bedroom home with a partial basement and nice big yard, own a 2005 Honda Odyssey Van, and a 1995 Ford Escort Wagon. We pretty much pay the bare essentials bill wise with no added extras; electric, water, gas, trash, rent, renters insurance, car insurance on both vehicles, gas, van payment, internet, netflix, cell phones.We spend about $70 a week on groceries to eat clean for our family of 6 but do get supplementation from WIC and friends and family enjoy feeding us as well. :) We cloth diaper, thanks to gifts from friends and family and for BumGenius's Share the Love Program. We make our own cleaners and laundry detergent. I do not use paper towels. We use a shampoo bar to wash our hair as it is less wasteful then conventional liquid shampoo and its organic and free from all the synthetic and harsh chemicals. I also plan on writing a dedicated post to our house hold purchases monthly and cleaning supplies.
We are very blessed to have immediate family that understands the challenges of raising two special needs kids and a third with a diagnosed behavioral issue on less then 20,000 a year. We also receive some assistance with therapy co-pays and Assistive technology/ equipment from Illinois's Early Intervention program and Illinois Assistive Technology and United Cerebral Palsy for their wonderful lending libraries.
I am growing our first garden this year. It is about a 25-30ft by 15ft plot. I have spent about $60 on it so far between seeds, fencing, and starter plants this year. It has already paid its self off though. I have already harvested 30 bags of spinach, buttercrunch and romaine lettuce this year, an estimated retail value of $65. So if anything else produces in my garden I will have already made our money back. More posts of the garden to come as well.
This is just a little incite on how our family functions on a minimal income. We very much enjoy striving towards a self sufficient and debt free lifestyle. It is not for everyone. Less is More. I will write a dedicated post on how we feed our family of 6 on such a small budget, cloth diapering and our system of doing it, paying for special needs related purchases, gardening, and homemade cleaners soon!
After I met Tim and became pregnant with Ethan, I quit my job as the Front Desk Manager of a local hotel. I was constantly on my feet, under appreciated, and just stressed. It was directly effecting my pregnancy and my baby was more important. Two weeks after my financial contribution ceased to exist, Tim was laid off. We now found ourselves just short of homeless with car payments close to default with a baby on the way no less! We sold our cars and actually ended up staying in one bedroom of a should have been condemned house with no functioning toilet or furnace. Talk about scary. We stayed in the master bedroom, ate as minimally as we could with me being pregnant, and prayed for Tim's unemployment to quickly arrive. We were in the house for almost 5 long months living like this. No A/C, pouring 5 gallon buckets down the back of the toilet just to flush, battling bugs and other "friends." We finally received Tim's unemployment and my tax return, by the grace of God, and were able to rent a small two bedroom apartment that was just a step up above where we were. Tim finally secured full time employment just shortly after I had Ethan, our first born together.
When Ethan was just four months old we found out we were pregnant with TWINS, non the less. After a very complicated pregnancy and a traumatic birth, we were blessed with Gavin and Gabe. Due to being born 10 weeks early after having Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome we were now faced with brain injuries, Cerebral Palsy, and a lifetime of complications to contend with. We will still only a one income, now special needs family, barely above the federal income poverty line. We were left to figure it out on our own. Thankfully Gavin and Gabe's Cerebral Palsy are qualifying diagnosis's for Social Security Disability, for without which we would severely struggle for me to stay at home with them. Not that staying home even with SSI allows us to not make sacrifices.
Last year our total family income for a family of 6 was just about 17,000 for the year. We rent a nice 3 bedroom home with a partial basement and nice big yard, own a 2005 Honda Odyssey Van, and a 1995 Ford Escort Wagon. We pretty much pay the bare essentials bill wise with no added extras; electric, water, gas, trash, rent, renters insurance, car insurance on both vehicles, gas, van payment, internet, netflix, cell phones.We spend about $70 a week on groceries to eat clean for our family of 6 but do get supplementation from WIC and friends and family enjoy feeding us as well. :) We cloth diaper, thanks to gifts from friends and family and for BumGenius's Share the Love Program. We make our own cleaners and laundry detergent. I do not use paper towels. We use a shampoo bar to wash our hair as it is less wasteful then conventional liquid shampoo and its organic and free from all the synthetic and harsh chemicals. I also plan on writing a dedicated post to our house hold purchases monthly and cleaning supplies.
We are very blessed to have immediate family that understands the challenges of raising two special needs kids and a third with a diagnosed behavioral issue on less then 20,000 a year. We also receive some assistance with therapy co-pays and Assistive technology/ equipment from Illinois's Early Intervention program and Illinois Assistive Technology and United Cerebral Palsy for their wonderful lending libraries.
I am growing our first garden this year. It is about a 25-30ft by 15ft plot. I have spent about $60 on it so far between seeds, fencing, and starter plants this year. It has already paid its self off though. I have already harvested 30 bags of spinach, buttercrunch and romaine lettuce this year, an estimated retail value of $65. So if anything else produces in my garden I will have already made our money back. More posts of the garden to come as well.
This is just a little incite on how our family functions on a minimal income. We very much enjoy striving towards a self sufficient and debt free lifestyle. It is not for everyone. Less is More. I will write a dedicated post on how we feed our family of 6 on such a small budget, cloth diapering and our system of doing it, paying for special needs related purchases, gardening, and homemade cleaners soon!
Tuesday, June 10, 2014
A day in the life
I have been terrible about updating out blog as of recently. Our day to day life is nothing short of a wild roller coaster ride, the main goal being keeping all four of my lovely boys alive, second to feeding, bathing, clothing, and entertaining them. :)
Having three under three and a sort of big seven year old helper has been interesting. Gavin and Gabe still have therapy daily, Xavier has biweekly baseball games and normal summer adventures, and Ethan is keeping me on my toes with his intent on being a part of everything mama has going on.
The twins are still getting physical, speech, occupational, developmental therapies and seeing a nutritionist all once weekly. It keeps us very busy along with all our specialty doctors appointments and just keeping our day to day life straight.
Gavin will be 2 years old August 2nd. That is when they stop adjusting age. For all the new readers he has Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy secondary to Periventricular Leukomalacia. He also suffers from GERD, vicious cycle constipation, diphagia, aspiration, and sensory issues. He is still being orally fed. We are successfully bi-passed the feeding tube for the past 6 months and hopefully we keep on the up and up and can orally eat the rest of our lives. :) He is now 34 1/2 inches tall and 23lbs 8oz. He is starting to sit independently for short periods of time. He is really enjoying his borrowed Squiggles Stander and Rifton Pacer while we wait for our own. Our therapists and doctors have also ordered him his first wheel chair, a Kid Kart. Hopefully having a tilt in space chair with a tray will allow him to work on his fine motor skills while feeling safe in a supported environment. He has definitely mastered the art of the belly crawl and can now belly crawl over objects, turn around, and back himself out of corners. He is starting to say 2 words together and can now spontaneously say about 20-30 words. :) He is still very hoarse and does still have motor planning issues when it comes to his speech so sometimes it may take 2 or 3 tries before the words come out. Today he was crawling around saying "ga... gabe....gabe...break it."
Gabe is everywhere! We are now a walker. He still has lot of tone issues in his hip abductors, knees, ankles and toes. He has successfully over come his upper body tone/ While still there, he can functionally use both arms for age appropriate tasks smoothly now. He still has a lot of balance and coordination issues. We have lots of bumps and bruises. He is still having feeding difficulties as well. We are still on a level 1 nipple and have to thicken to nectar consistency. He still swallows just about everything whole and doesn't have the best sensory control and often overstuffs when it comes to meals. He is growing like a weed though at just shy of 35 inches and 28 lbs. While hes 5lbs heavier then Gav they really don't physically look different. The CP clinic doctors just explained that Gabes muscle mass weighs more.
Ethan is a little turkey. We are about completely potty trained as we approach his 3rd birthday. We are peeing in the potty during the day and wear a pull up still at night. Most days he wakes up dry, but I think he just wants them for security. He gets very emotional with accidents.
Xavier is keeping us busy with his 7 year old antics. We are dawned the age of sarcasm in our home. Xavier just "looooves to do his chores." :) It is bitter sweet seeing our little boy grow up. It is so exciting the skills, questions, and conversations he initiates now but it is sad that he doesn't think he needs our help anymore. It really makes me sad how much kids his age are exposed to and how fast he is growing up. It really makes me think even harder about homeschooling the three little guys.
As for Tim and I, we are getting married June 21st so we are been in the midst of wedding planning. :) We are having a small wedding with about 80 people. It should be a good time. I have also planted a massive garden this year. I am determined to bring the homestead to our small home, even if we are in a small rental. Our Landlord has been very gracious in letting me plant a 14x30ft garden at the back of our lot and scatter by containers and raised frame beds around the property. This year is my first year gardening and I hope we are able to can enough to supplement part of our grocery bill this summer through spring. Tim is currently trying to find new employment and we now make too much money to get assistance with the boys so we are sort of stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Food stamps used to supplement the Pediasure the boys drink. Now we have to find a way to pay for it and food out of pocket with less money then we had before. It all seems so backwards.
In my garden this year I have planted: sunflowers, wild flowers, garlic, pumpkins, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, beans, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, strawberries, corn, onions, 4 tomato varieties, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, sweet basil, purple basil, oregano, sweet mint, lavender, a raspberry vine, and a blueberry bush. This month I plan to add sweet potatoes, water melon, winter squash, pumpkins, more corn and beans for a later harvest, and to replant my lettuce. I am also hoping to plant a second fall garden after we harvest and turn over this one in late August. I plan on planting beets, more broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, peas, lettuce, turnips, garlic, kale, and a second set of spinach. My spinach is currently bolted to seed so hopefully I can successfully harvest it in order to replant.
We are also trying to cut costs this year by hopefully buying a deep freezer. That way we can can some of our produce and freeze the rest. If we get a deep freezer we will probably also buy half a cow from a local farmer.
I am also trying to work into our tiny over stretched budget a clothesline. We currently have a clothes drying rack we were gifted (from my mom :) ) that we use daily but we really need a large line for the 6 of our clothing, towels, and linens. It would save tremendously on electric and help our clothes last longer as well. I registered for one or if we get money for the wedding that will be one of the first purchases :) fingers crossed.
I am officially down 40lbs since January. My blood pressure is now low to normal and I have a check up today. :)
I am also thinking about updating and revamping the blog. While it is mostly about the boys I would love to figure out how to categorize my posts with gardening, the boys, saving money, living green ect. So changes may be coming soon!
Having three under three and a sort of big seven year old helper has been interesting. Gavin and Gabe still have therapy daily, Xavier has biweekly baseball games and normal summer adventures, and Ethan is keeping me on my toes with his intent on being a part of everything mama has going on.
The twins are still getting physical, speech, occupational, developmental therapies and seeing a nutritionist all once weekly. It keeps us very busy along with all our specialty doctors appointments and just keeping our day to day life straight.
Gavin will be 2 years old August 2nd. That is when they stop adjusting age. For all the new readers he has Spastic Quadriplegic Cerebral Palsy secondary to Periventricular Leukomalacia. He also suffers from GERD, vicious cycle constipation, diphagia, aspiration, and sensory issues. He is still being orally fed. We are successfully bi-passed the feeding tube for the past 6 months and hopefully we keep on the up and up and can orally eat the rest of our lives. :) He is now 34 1/2 inches tall and 23lbs 8oz. He is starting to sit independently for short periods of time. He is really enjoying his borrowed Squiggles Stander and Rifton Pacer while we wait for our own. Our therapists and doctors have also ordered him his first wheel chair, a Kid Kart. Hopefully having a tilt in space chair with a tray will allow him to work on his fine motor skills while feeling safe in a supported environment. He has definitely mastered the art of the belly crawl and can now belly crawl over objects, turn around, and back himself out of corners. He is starting to say 2 words together and can now spontaneously say about 20-30 words. :) He is still very hoarse and does still have motor planning issues when it comes to his speech so sometimes it may take 2 or 3 tries before the words come out. Today he was crawling around saying "ga... gabe....gabe...break it."
Gabe is everywhere! We are now a walker. He still has lot of tone issues in his hip abductors, knees, ankles and toes. He has successfully over come his upper body tone/ While still there, he can functionally use both arms for age appropriate tasks smoothly now. He still has a lot of balance and coordination issues. We have lots of bumps and bruises. He is still having feeding difficulties as well. We are still on a level 1 nipple and have to thicken to nectar consistency. He still swallows just about everything whole and doesn't have the best sensory control and often overstuffs when it comes to meals. He is growing like a weed though at just shy of 35 inches and 28 lbs. While hes 5lbs heavier then Gav they really don't physically look different. The CP clinic doctors just explained that Gabes muscle mass weighs more.
Ethan is a little turkey. We are about completely potty trained as we approach his 3rd birthday. We are peeing in the potty during the day and wear a pull up still at night. Most days he wakes up dry, but I think he just wants them for security. He gets very emotional with accidents.
Xavier is keeping us busy with his 7 year old antics. We are dawned the age of sarcasm in our home. Xavier just "looooves to do his chores." :) It is bitter sweet seeing our little boy grow up. It is so exciting the skills, questions, and conversations he initiates now but it is sad that he doesn't think he needs our help anymore. It really makes me sad how much kids his age are exposed to and how fast he is growing up. It really makes me think even harder about homeschooling the three little guys.
As for Tim and I, we are getting married June 21st so we are been in the midst of wedding planning. :) We are having a small wedding with about 80 people. It should be a good time. I have also planted a massive garden this year. I am determined to bring the homestead to our small home, even if we are in a small rental. Our Landlord has been very gracious in letting me plant a 14x30ft garden at the back of our lot and scatter by containers and raised frame beds around the property. This year is my first year gardening and I hope we are able to can enough to supplement part of our grocery bill this summer through spring. Tim is currently trying to find new employment and we now make too much money to get assistance with the boys so we are sort of stuck in between a rock and a hard place. Food stamps used to supplement the Pediasure the boys drink. Now we have to find a way to pay for it and food out of pocket with less money then we had before. It all seems so backwards.
In my garden this year I have planted: sunflowers, wild flowers, garlic, pumpkins, radishes, carrots, cucumbers, jalapenos, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, beans, broccoli, spinach, lettuce, strawberries, corn, onions, 4 tomato varieties, red bell peppers, green bell peppers, sweet basil, purple basil, oregano, sweet mint, lavender, a raspberry vine, and a blueberry bush. This month I plan to add sweet potatoes, water melon, winter squash, pumpkins, more corn and beans for a later harvest, and to replant my lettuce. I am also hoping to plant a second fall garden after we harvest and turn over this one in late August. I plan on planting beets, more broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, peas, lettuce, turnips, garlic, kale, and a second set of spinach. My spinach is currently bolted to seed so hopefully I can successfully harvest it in order to replant.
We are also trying to cut costs this year by hopefully buying a deep freezer. That way we can can some of our produce and freeze the rest. If we get a deep freezer we will probably also buy half a cow from a local farmer.
I am also trying to work into our tiny over stretched budget a clothesline. We currently have a clothes drying rack we were gifted (from my mom :) ) that we use daily but we really need a large line for the 6 of our clothing, towels, and linens. It would save tremendously on electric and help our clothes last longer as well. I registered for one or if we get money for the wedding that will be one of the first purchases :) fingers crossed.
I am officially down 40lbs since January. My blood pressure is now low to normal and I have a check up today. :)
I am also thinking about updating and revamping the blog. While it is mostly about the boys I would love to figure out how to categorize my posts with gardening, the boys, saving money, living green ect. So changes may be coming soon!
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