Work, Babies and Puppies

Hi, everyone! It's been such a long time and I know last time I said I would start writing more in this blog but goodness, we've been so busy! We moved into a bigger apartment and finally have most of everything put away. Also, we've been going through some personal stuff lately (everything and everyone's fine! :) but we really want to start making some changes in our lives, all for the better.

Current changes in progress: spending more time with these crazy people.

Jarod's work hours have taken such a hold on our lives and our family that we really want to stop concentrating so heavily on paying things off AS. SOON. AS. POSSIBLE. It's been such an unnecessary stress in our lives. We have more than enough to pay our monthly bills and we live comfortably. That's not to say that we no longer hold paying off our debt as a priority. Because it is. But the incessant need (and stress) of doing so in such an unremarkably quick period needs to stop. Aka it's stressing us the hell out and it's has been the source of our arguments these last few weeks, which is no good.

Our goals are to pay ALL of our debt off and have a 20% down payment for a house in three to four years. That's still our goal and priority. But neither one of us wants to be a complete stress-case anymore. More on our debt journey later.

Also, a very big decision about the size of our family has changed (once-again :) so we are completely and utterly (I promise and I've, also, pinky-promise, cross-your-heart, very-big-deal-kind-of-promise, promised Jarod) that we are DONE. I'll elaborate more on this in a later post just because this sort of thing deserves it's own post :)

But we did decide to add one more little bundle of love just recently. She's perfect. I love her and call her my fourth baby. Bonus: she will never talk (bark) back and/or purposefully defy me, just cause. Did I mention that I really, really like her? :) Her name is Mila. She's a 9-week-old black lab; the first bigger breed dog that Jarod and I have ever had so it's quite remarkably to see how much she grows every day. Also, since she's the first bigger dog we've ever had we're, also, quite paranoid about training her and she's going to puppy-training classes asap!

We did go to a local animal shelter for a five-year-old Lab mix that seemed possibly perfect for our family but he was no longer there. Also, I think he may have been on the larger side for labs and we'd prefer a medium-sized one. I've been scouring petfinder (dot) com for the last few weeks trying to find a Lab that's good with young kids, gets along with cats and is well-mannered. Nearly impossible. Jarod suggested a puppy because he wants a very attached pup and who can resist puppies?! To which I replied, "Absolutely not. That's waaay too much work."

And now here I am writing this blog next to a lounging two-month-old little lady who farts approximately every ten minutes. What can I say? Love gets the best of me <3