Ok, so I'm around 23 weeks right now and with each passing day I seem to get more and more questions about how I'm going to feed my baby when she gets here.

I know breastfeeing is said to be the ideal way, but to be honest, I don't think it's right for me. I'm taking off 2.5-3 months from work, so that means I'll probably have the baby with me for approx. 1.5-2 months of that time. (I can't see myself working to the bitter end and giving birth in the office; sorry, not my thing). To be honest I feel uncomfortable with the idea of breastfeeding and I would force myself to get comfortable with the idea if I was going to be home full-time, but I'm not. I would rather use a breastpump and mix with formula or just use exclusively formula. I like the idea of T being able to help with feedings so I'm almost certain breast feeding is out. To be honest I don't feel that guilty (even though others have been trying to make me feel that way) because I was formula fed as well many other people I know and we turned out to be healthy, functioning members of society! What's with all the new mommy guilt associated with formula feeding. Anybody else have similar experiences???

Paychecks hit my account on Friday, and then the EF will be up to 1500. Phew! I've been a little on pins and needles since I've paid off the car, worried since I used so much of my savings to pay the loan balance. But now I'm starting to feel a bit better about the situation. I've never had a huge emergency fund, I've always found 1000 to be enough to handle most of the issues that come up for us. I know, I know, I shouldn't say that because now something catastrophic is going to happen that'll cost way more than that!!

so now that we know we're having a girl, I started scouring the internet for deals. The problem is I do not like girly, frilly, lacey girls clothes. If my girl gets older and decides she likes those type of clothes then that's cool with me, but while she's too little to know or care, I'd like some awesome baby clothes that aren't so crazy in your face pink. Problem is the only sites that make fun baby clothes that I kinda like are super expensive since I guess it's a novelty. I was just at Target this past weekend and it seems anything on sale or in a reasonable price is insanely girly. Are most stores like this?? What to do?!

Turned 26 yesterday. This is the first time that I'm starting to think I'm not a youngin' anymore. Could be the number or maybe it's the fact that I'm carrying a little one in my tummy.

By the way, it's a girl!

Ok, so not really. We did just pay off the car debt and now have only 1 non-mortgage debt left (stupid student loans!) but the savings account is pretty darn sad. Turns out I forgot to get my car inspected, so that's an additional expense right there that I wasn't anticipating. It'll be nice once this student loan is gone forever. It's the albatross around my neck. I stupidly deferred it and it accrued interest back a few years ago, so now it's pretty much at where I started when I graduated. Blahhh.

I printed out Dave Ramsey's 7 baby steps to see where we fell in line with those.

Step 1: 1,000 in EF (Done next paycheck)
Step 2: Pay off all non-mortgage debt (half done)
Step 3: 3 to 6 months expenses in savings (nope)
Step 4: Invest 15% Gross to Retirement (Avg 9% between the two of us - over half there!)
Step 5: College Funding (soon as baby is born in 4 mos. we're opening a 529, but not done yet)
Step 6: Pay off home early (Does a 15 yr loan count?! we anticipate paying down even faster once everything else is gone)
Step 7: Build wealth and give! (not yet- soon!)

So it turns out we've actually started a number of the steps without even realizing it. I guess I'm not really 100% following Dave's plan. More of a modified Ramsey follower :P.