Goodbye Tori! Hello New Car!

So we did it!  We sold Tori the Taurus and bought a new SUV for me! :)

Oh man, if you have been following along you will know that we have been working really hard to reduce our debt and buying a new car was not in my plan - AT ALL!  But long story short, we were on our way to the ocean and somehow, some way, ended up back in Roseville buying a new car.

Let's take a little stroll through the back story a bit shall we?  I hate car sales/salesmen.  They irritate me and stress me out and always make me feel like I'm not good enough to be there.  Saturday was sure to be the same, or so I thought.

We went just to look and see what they had in stock.  We already knew that we wanted a 2012 or newer Ford Explorer and if they had one we liked, great!  If they didn't, no big deal, Tori was still kicking and going strong for us.  The hubs really wanted Snuggle Muffin and me in a bigger vehicle.  We live in somewhat of a rural area and we drive in the dark every single morning so a bigger, heavier vehicle is what he wanted us in if we could handle the cost.

We pulled into the parking lot of the car dealership and I instantly started getting anxious.  I hate how the sales people swarm to you like a moth to a flame, but luckily Ryan is there and takes care of me and handled it all.  We were approached by a very nice man who was offering to help in any way possible.  We tried to push him aside, "We are just going to go inside and feed the baby first and then if we see anything we want we will come find you."  He wasn't pushy in any way and somehow ended up letting us go inside to feed Caleb and pulled around the most gorgeous Explorer ever!

Fast forward 3 incredibly nice gentlemen, 2 different Explorers and 7 hours later and we were walking running away with this new beauty!  I couldn't be more excited!  I feel so safe in this new SUV and I know that Ryan feels better about Caleb and I driving in it daily as well.

If you live in the Sacramento area and are looking for a wonderful car salesman who doesn't push and bother, run to Future Ford of Roseville and ask for Kevin Frank.  This man was seriously the nicest and most genuine car salesman that I have ever met!  He even bought us dinner and held Caleb multiple times for us so we could sign papers or do whatever we needed to do.

I'm pretty sure Ryan already has a fishing/hunting man-date set up with the 3 above mentioned gentlemen as well!  That husband of mine, makes friends everywhere we go!

I was in no way compensated for saying anything nice about Future Ford or their employees.  I truly just feel blessed to have had such an amazing experience!

My Dearest Little - 7 Month Letter

My Dearest Little One,

You are now 7 months old.  You are officially closer to being 1 then a newborn.  That makes my heart hurt and smile all at the same time.  You are growing up so fast and as much as people have told me, even when you were still in my belly, that time would fly, I never quite believed them.  But let me tell you, they were right.  I don't know how it is possible that you are now 7 months old...just last week we were snuggling on the couch having your morning milk and figuring out what we were going to do while Daddy was at work all day, weren't we?  Now, you are hanging out with your grandparents playing all day and having a blast.

In the past month you have grown a ton developmentally and physically, but you are still not crawling.  You have no desire to be on your stomach and have yet to figure out that if you just push up a little harder you could be off of it.  We keep trying, but I must admit that I hate hearing you upset so it usually doesn't last as long as it should.  We keep wanting you to learn how to crawl and as much as people tell us not to wish for this, we still do.  I want you to keep on experiencing all of the amazing things this world has to offer you sweet little one.  Maybe this month, although Daddy and I are both pretty sure you will skip crawling and go straight to running - we aren't too sure how we feel about that. :)

We are still in a teething stage...most would ask at this point, "How many does he have?"  Well our answer is still the same, zero!  You don't have any teefers still and I'm pretty sure it is starting to make you upset.  You want all those yummy things to eat that require teeth and unfortunately, because you don't have any, we are the mean parents who don't give them to you.  I am thinking this next month you might get one, finally!  We are okay with you still not having teeth, it means less biting for us, but we know that you want them and that it is part of you getting older, so here is to hoping they come in little man.

Food is still your friend.  It is mine too, so don't be too worried about it.  :)  You went on a strike for a week or so of not wanting any food that I made you.  You were pretty sure that Gerber had perfected all things food and were not willing to try anything else.  I am glad to say, only because our freezer was stocked full of yummy goodness for you, that you have since given up on your strike and are back to eating our yummy baby food.  You have decided that you don't really like peas or carrots by themselves any longer but have discovered your LOVE - read obsession - with sweet potatoes and cinnamon.  Daddy and I can't blame you on the cinnamon part, who doesn't love it?  We tried fresh mango this month and you also love that.  You like it to be partially frozen still so it is like a slushy and I can't argue with you - soooooo good!

You are still the stars in my sky little snuggle muffin of mine.  I'm not sure that will ever change.  As I watch you grow I still wonder how I got so lucky to have you in my life and it just makes me cherish you even more.  You mean more than you could ever know to both of us and we hope that we show you that every single day.  Here is to another month of milestones and memories.

I love you,
Mommy.

******************************

7 Month Stats:
Weight: 20.7 pounds
Height: 26 1/3 inches
Clothes: 6-9 months (mostly 9 if it is a onesie, you have a long torso)

5 Easter Wants

Linking up today with Karli and Amy

Today I am showing you 5 amazing skirts/dresses by Lauren Conrad that I would love to show up in my closet in time for Easter on Sunday :)

Print Mini Skirt

Print Fit & Flare Dress

Organza Bow-Back Dress

Floral Tiered Chiffon Skirt

Tulle Skirt

I am obsessed with her items and love mostly all of them.  These 5 listed above are gorgeous for Spring and for the nice weather we have here in CA.

I hope you all have a great Easter!

Budget Update - March

So if you forgot, we are working hard to reduce eliminate our debt.  We started on February 1st and we are continuing once again this month.

We did amazing in February, you can read about it here, and I had even higher, more realistic goals for March.  In February we paid off a 10% of our debt which was amazing, but a big chunk of that was due to us getting our tax return back.

This month was trickier in the way to find out how to pay off as much as possible without that extra income.  Back in January we started the process of refinancing our house.  We haven't even been in it a year yet and the rates have dropped so it couldn't hurt.  We got our interest rate dropped a whole percent and are saving an additional $200 each month from this!

While we are saving these extra $450 a month now from paying off debt/refinancing, I am not seeing it yet directly.  It discourages me, but I have to realize that just because I don't see an additional $450 in our bank account doesn't mean I don't see a decrease in our credit card spending.  I do.  I see that we are able to use our checking account for a lot more things and use our credit card way less.

I know people say to just get rid of the card so you don't use it, but it isn't that easy for us.  For example, Ryan's debit card broke, in the sense that the strip no longer works and he can't use his card.  This means that either he has to use our credit card for all purchases until we get a new one or I do.  We, of course, limited our spending since this happened, but needing gas is a necessity that we can't go without.

So an overview of our debt elimination for the month of March: $2829!  While it isn't 10%, it's better than nothing and we are slowly, but surely, making our way to a debt free life.

Money is such a stressful thing that most couples don't deal with/talk about until it is too late.  I'm glad that we are both on board with this plan and I can't wait to see where we are in the next couple of months.

Sh*t You Hear At The Zoo

So last week we took Caleb to the zoo for the very first time and while I loved seeing him experience animals for the first time, I couldn't escape the vast conversations happening around us.

So without further ado, I give you,

Sh*t You Hear At The Zoo:

While standing by the Yellow-Backed Duiker exhibit:
"I now know where the term 'Doohickey' comes from." - Seriously?  That's not even how it's pronounced.

While standing by the Wolf's Guenon exhibit:
"Let's find the wolf!" - These people had no idea we were in the monkey area and were fully expecting to find a wolf inside this exhibit with monkeys? People are silly.

While standing by the Orangutan exhibit:
"There's a real life Orangutan!" - My mom saw a man hanging from the railing like an orangutan.  It was pretty funny.

While standing by the Chimpanzee exhibit:
"Chimpanzees are so cool!  They can make tools!" - the same man as noted above that was hanging like a monkey was now talking about the chimps.

While standing by a sign that said to be quiet because there are baby animals:
"Zoos are no longer fun when you have to be quiet!"