It's a Miracle

Pretty much anyone who knew me a year ago, knew that both of my dogs were stolen after they managed to escape under the fence in our back yard. Some kids picked them up and sold them on the street. At the time we had had T-Bone for almost 1 1/2 yrs while we had only had Pillow for a month. I was devastated to say the least. Pillow was found a couple of days after the fact, when a family saw one of the many fliers we had put up about our lost dogs and called. T-Bone, I came to realize, I would never see again. Especially since the cop that we talked to said that at the age T-Bone was, they were probably fighting him. And I would rather him been dead, then been fought. I went to the shelter in Peoria everyday to look through all the stray dogs that had been picked up, but none of them ever was my T-Bone. The folks at the shelter came to know me by name and were always very helpful, kudos to them because I could never do that job, deciding which animals live and which die. I eventually gave up hope of ever finding him, I just kept praying that if anything he was with a family that was taking care of him. Well, two days ago I got a phone call from PAWS. At first I figured they were calling about rabies tags because Pillow needs up to date ones still. But he just said, "We picked up a dog registered to a Lindsey Koch, named T-Bone" I was sitting on the couch at the time and seriously almost fell off. He's like, "You've been missing him for a while, haven't you?" I said for a year, and it was, almost exactly to the date. He continued, "Yeah, I picked him up on Ann St in the south side." I told him I would have to come and get him tomorrow as Vince was already gone to work and I had no vehicle. I called Vince the moment I got off the phone with PAWS and told him the news and he is just like, "I knew he'd turn up eventually, he's an escape artist." Yeah, so he says, he's always gotta be right, lol. The only reason that T-Bone was able to be given back to us was because of the microchip and had put in probably six months before he disappeared. Otherwise, they never would have known who's dog he was. I'm all for microchips now!! In dogs anyway, not people. When we got to the shelter the next day they told us that since he wasn't current on his rabies shot we would have to pay an extra $20 to get him out. Ummm..ok, he's not current on his rabies shot because he was stolen and how the heck were we supposed to have any control over that. I tried to explain this to the guy, but he's just like, "It doesn't matter" He was being an ass and wouldn't listen and obviously didn't care. Ugh, so we had to dish out more money, plus we have to get him his shots in 2 weeks or we'll have to pay $100 ticket and then get his updated rabies tag which is $30, which I recently learned that in Tazewell, is only $10. What's up with that?! So we are spending about $170 to get our dog back. But I love T-Bone so much, so of course we are going to spend the money. And now, my little family is back together again, a year later. And in less than a month, another member will join our little clan :) It really is a miracle.

So now then, Vince is still working at the same place and on Friday they laid a bunch of people off. Everyday is a suprise at his work. Will you stay or will you get canned? It's very nerve racking. I've been searching online for ways to make money and finally came across a GPT(get-paid-to)website where you complete offers and other easy stuff. I hate not being able to help support us. I think it's because I was the bread winner of our family for over a year and now I'm not doing anything. I thought I would enjoy sitting at home and being a little house wife, which I'm guessing would be easier if I wasn't 8 months pregnant and just wobbling around the house, lol. But anywho, so I've been on this site for a few days and I've already made $28, which isn't a lot, but I hate not contributing anymore to our money tree. I don't like not having my OWN money, so this is the best I can do for now. I wrote a bulletin about it because I know everyone is tight on money these days and a little extra cash can go a long way, if you let it. If you didn't see the bulletin and are interested in making a little extra money for yourself just follow this link: http://www.treasuretrooper.com/483074 I promise it's not spam and you don't need to put any money upfront. So now I'm thinking I might end up going back to work sooner than expected because I can't deal with not helping with our funds, but I guess it also depends on how I feel and what shifts we would both work. I really don't want to put the baby in daycare so if we could work opposing shifts then someone would always be at home with the baby. I realize though doing that, Vince and I would never see eachother though. I just don't know what we are going to do. Hopefully Vince can find another job that isn't laying people off every week, so pretty much anything that has nothing to do with CAT, which is probably half of Peoria. I suggested he apply at some restuarants as a cook since they make decent money, and he's thinking about it. I just hope our money problems turn around soon, but in this economy, I doubt it.

As Time Goes By

I can't believe I only have a little over a month to go. The time has flown by. I am really hoping that this baby isn't too far overdue, but I have heard that first babies usually are late. My mom told me she went over the due date with all four of us, but my grandma was always a month early. I just don't want him to be huge and then be in terrible pain trying to push him out. I couldn't sleep at all last night. If I laid on my left side my back would get this shooting pain and if I laid on my right side my left leg would go numb and my ribs hurt. I just couldn't get comfortable at all. I'm nervous about having the baby and actually being a mom, but I am getting so uncomfortable now, I just want him out. He's been moving around so much, I'm hoping that he may have flipped over, but I really can't be too sure unless they do another sono. I really don't want a C-section and I'm afraid if he is still breech by that time, a c-section will be my only option.

We got our first CILCO bill for the new house and it was big. I knew it would be because our furnace used to be a coal furnace that was made into a gas furnace. So it is frickin' huge. You can open the door that they used to throw the coal through and the flames that are burning the gas look a bonfire. So I knew it was going to use a lot of gas, I just wasn't expecting the bill to be over $500!! So Vince decided that he is going to buy a wood burning stove and hook it up to the furnace and just use that for our heat. I hope it works. Since the furnace is so old, there are no fans in it. All it does it burn the gas and the heat rises up through the vents in the house, so his idea could work, I just don't want the smoke that the wood burning stove gives off, to come through the vents as well.

Vince got a raise a couple of weeks ago, but now they are talking about laying off people soon. They asked him if he would be willing to move to first shift if it came down to it. He said yes, but they asked everybody else as well so who knows who is staying and who is getting laid off. The extra money from his raise has been nice though, especially since I'm not working anymore. Well, today he got his check and it was a lot smaller. The reason is because child support is finally starting to come out of his check. He sent in the paper work months ago and they just now started deducting the money. This really sucks. I know he needs to pay child support, I'm not saying that. He has a son from a previous relationship and he needs to help support him, every father should. The thing that bothers me is, she is living with her husband's mom, so it's not like they have to pay rent. What bills are they paying? Who knows, but Vince and I are barely surviving as it is and now more money is being taken from us. I don't know what we are going to do. I'm so scared that we won't be able to support this baby the way we want to. I just wish money wasn't such a big issue. The only good thing that might come out of this is maybe now we might qualify for LINK. That would be awesome!! He was making too much money before, but we were still struggling. I always hate going grocery shopping because there is so much food I would love to buy, but we just can't afford it. Our shelves are almost empty as it is. I don't want this baby to know we are poor. I hope things turn around before he figures it out. That's about all I have for now.

Laid Off Is a Scary Word

Everything is still going ok. Vince was back to work this week and now I am needing to step up and be a little housewife or house girlfriend, lol, whatever. I can't say that I mind it though. Being home and taking care of the house is what I've been wanting to do for awhile. Now I just wish the house was done. We still need to put quarter round in all the rooms and need to lay laminate in two rooms. The baby's room hasn't even been started. There is a leak in his room and so we haven't done anything yet and I really want to get it done. We got this really cute light blue paint and I can't wait to see it when it's done. One of the rooms still needs to be painted and I need a kitchen faucet that works!!! I've been using a bucket to get water from the shower and dumping it into the kitchen sink in order to do dishes, but it's been kinda hard for me to get motivated to do the dishes. I just don't feel like standing at the sink for an hour doing dishes with my belly. My back starts to hurt really fast and it just isn't comfortable.

What is really getting me nervous now though is Vince says at his work they are talking about more lay offs and that scares the crap out of me. He has only been there since July and he still isn't company. He is afraid that since he is a temp that they won't see any reason to keep him. But he is a great worker and he deserves a good job, plus the fact that we have a baby coming and we really need him to have a job. He has been thinking about getting his CDL license for awhile and now this is a little more of a push for him to look in to it. Even the people with CDL's on the lower end of the wage scale make more than he does now. The only thing is, it will take awhile for him to get it. He'll have to study and practice before he even takes his test so who knows how long that will be. I just hope everything turns out ok.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow and I'm going to ask her about natural delivery. My mom was saying I should look into lamaze if I plan on going natural. I'm too late to sign up for any classes though, I'm hoping just reading some books about it will help and if all else fails I will get an epidural. I can't believe I only have 6 weeks left. It's crazy!! I've been having trouble sleeping lately too. It's just really starting to get uncomfortable now and this kid can really kick! I'm still waiting for him to move to the correct position. His little head still feels like it's underneath my right ribcage and now it almost feels like it's starting to bruise in that spot. I just want him to move!! I think that's about it for now.