OFB Baby Update: Nine Months


19 Comments
Baby Bucks

In the Baby Bucks series, we babble about babies and money and sleep deprivation and cuteness overload. In that order.

General Baby Thoughts

Yowza, our house was not prepared for having a mobile baby. Our girl has her favorite areas of destruction in our living room: the bookcase and the entertainment center. Inevitably, by the time Johnny gets home from work each day, DVDs and books are strewn everywhere. Why didn’t we think to get pieces of furniture with doors on them?! She also enjoys crawling as fast as her little legs will carry her to try to grab hold of Persie’s tail before Persie skitters away. These days there’s never a dull moment where our girl is concerned.

Early this morning, Johnny and I are headed to our girl’s nine-month appointment. We’re very curious to see what her height and weight percentile are since she’s already wearing size 12 to 18 month clothing! What the? And it will be interesting to see how she reacts to the doctor since her stranger danger radar is at an all-time high. My mom is in town visiting, and let’s just say our girl is taking her sweet time warming up to her. So we’ll see how Baby Girl reacts when the doc approaches with the stethoscope!

Financial Baby Updates

As much as possible, we’ve been trying to feed our girl the same food we eat. She is still all gums, so we are a tad limited. That said, she loves Cheerios, cheese sticks, steamed carrots, avocado, peaches, cream cheese on toast, and yogurt. So all that food fits into our normal food budget. Still, when we’re out or in a hurry, we use little food pouches (since she refuses to be fed by anyone but herself) and various pre-packaged snacks, which cost us about $40 last month.

As far as clothing is concerned, we bought another fleece footie PJ from Costco for $8. I also spent $15 on two pairs of leggings and some cute bows from Target. We also got her a Halloween costume (!!!), finally. She’s going to be the cutest elephant you ever did see. And we spent a whopping $13 on it. Hooray for cute + cheap, right? Now the question is whether she’s too young to be taken trick-or-treating. Johnny says yes. I say no.

Per the usual, we spent about $40 on diapers and wipes last month. Also, today’s doctor’s appointment comes with a $15 copay. Aaand that’s it. So the grand total for month nine comes to $118. Johnny’s grandmother very generously gifted our girl with $100 to spend as she pleases, so I’m going to see how far we can stretch that in the coming month on clothes and toys. I’ll keep you posted :).

And now onto pictures. Our poor girl is battling her first really terrible cold, but she still let me document her nine-month-ness. What a trooper!

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Fingers crossed for minimal tears during her shots this morning! But if we must cuddle her a bit more and give her big cheeks a few extra kisses, I suppose we’re okay with that. πŸ˜‰

For the been-there-done-that crowd, does this sound pretty typical? How do we relate and differ? What are your kids’ costumes for Halloween?

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19 Comments

  • Reply sarah @makingitmyhome.blogspot.com October 8, 2013 at 7:49 am

    my 9month old nephew is being dressed up as Yoda!

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:11 am

      Oh dear! That will be so cute!

  • Reply Halsy October 8, 2013 at 8:48 am

    Sounds like you are continuing to do well with your baby budget. We are really fortunate in our daughters 16 months we have only had to pay $20 once for a sick visit. We have free well visits and when she needed her ultrasound and was in children’s hospital for 2 days it was “free” because we had already met our deductible for the year. My goal the past two Halloweens has been to spend no more than $15 on a Halloween costume. Last year I think we spent $13 and this year $11 so I think you definitely did well on your baby girls costume! She will be an adorable elephant! Not looking forward to buying winter clothes! My daughter needs some sweaters because she doesn’t have many and all of a sudden all of her tops are too short on her belly πŸ™‚

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:17 am

      We have free well visits, too, Halsy! But it’s been three months so I completely forgot! πŸ™‚ Way to go on cheap Halloween costumes two years in a row. And agreed on needing winter clothes… currently, the warmest thing our girl owns is a jean jacket, which isn’t gonna cut it in Utah!

  • Reply Melanie October 8, 2013 at 9:00 am

    She’s sooo cute! I love the baby posts because I get to see adorable pictures of her. πŸ™‚ It’s nice to know for the future when I have children, what kind of costs “real” parents have. Makes it seem far less intimidating than one might conjure up. I vote for bringing her Trick or Treating πŸ™‚ She’s only a cute baby elephant for one time, right?! Also…you guys like to buy candy sometimes right? So do a little trick or treating, gather up some candy, show off her cuteness, and then you will “save” money on some candy snack for a few weeks!!! πŸ™‚ πŸ™‚

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:20 am

      Thanks, Melanie! I’ve been surprised by how reasonable this first year with a baby has been financially, too! And cute elephant aside, I’m definitely excited for Halloween candy! I think I’ve just about gotten Johnny on board :).

  • Reply Jen @ Cuddles and Chaos October 8, 2013 at 9:17 am

    Oh my gosh, THE CUTENESS! I’m a sucker for cheeks and baby toes. I’ll be sure to have my husband thank you for the intensified baby fever.

    Also, my little one was an elephant for her first Halloween. The cuteness was unbearable. This year she’s going to be a dragon (and is totally digging the whole ROARing thing). I’m just glad she’s going to be nice and warm. The 7-year old wants to be a hula girl, which already makes me shiver.

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:24 am

      Haha, Jen, I’m the same way! I ogle little babies all the time and I still have a little one of my own!

      A dragon and a hula girl! Those will be so cute! I’m starting to realize that our kids’ costumes are just as much fun for us as they are for the kids!

  • Reply Chris October 8, 2013 at 10:37 am

    “Now the question is whether she’s too young to be taken trick-or-treating. Johnny says yes. I say no.”
    So…that means she’s going trick-or-treating then. Sorry Johnny, you lost.

    For the record, I was a care bear for my first halloween, and I still think it was the coolest costume I’ve had to date. It’s good to hear your baby (and budget) is nice and healthy!

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:31 am

      I think Johnny’s coming to terms with losing this one. Our girl is going trick-or-treating. The end.

      I’m impressed you know what you were for your first Halloween! I have no idea what I was any years before I was like 8, and no pictures to remind me, either. I was the forgotten middle child, haha.

  • Reply Kasey @ Debt Perception October 8, 2013 at 12:08 pm

    I don’t have a kid of my own but I just got back from helping a friend and her 7 month old transition into a new nanny. Her son is going through the stranger danger phase now too, only he’s cool with me. For the first few days the nanny couldn’t even look at him! He’s only 7 months old but already in 12 month clothes! He’s actually about the size of a two year old girl we saw at the store! Crazy how big babies can get!

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:33 am

      That’s awesome your friend’s kid was cool with you… our girl likes certain people, too. I think babies have a good radar of people they can trust right away. You must be a sweetheart!

  • Reply Taynia | The Fiscal Flamingo October 8, 2013 at 7:01 pm

    Squeal!!!! Cuteness overload. It’s too much to handle.

    Sounds spot on with what we spent when our daughter was that age. We spent a little less in diapers as I couponed for those. But I made up for it with the cost of formula. If I remember correctly, we budgeted $80 a month.

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:36 am

      Thanks, Taynia! I’ve been surprised how reasonable our little girl’s finances have been so far. I’m trying to enjoy it now since I’m sure it will just get more expensive from here on out!

  • Reply Rob October 8, 2013 at 10:27 pm

    “Now the question is whether she’s too young to be taken trick-or-treating. Johnny says yes. I say no”

    Oh let her go out with her dad, Joanna. Johnny will make out like a bandit in the treats collecting! Besides, since Halloween is my b/day – you all should celebrate – boo!!! πŸ™‚

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:38 am

      Rob! You read it wrong. I DO want her to go. Johnny’s the party pooper. But I think I’ve just about got him convinced to let her go. So, don’t worry, we WILL be celebrating on your birthday!

      • Reply Rob October 10, 2013 at 6:51 am

        Ooops! Mea Culpa! I stand corrected, Joanna. (Must have been a senior moment!) πŸ™‚
        Tell Johnny that Rob says don’t be an old party pooper and to let her go out on Halloween. What better way to meet lots of new neighbors!

  • Reply melissa@the bix blog October 9, 2013 at 12:43 pm

    i have been reading for awhile and have been hoping to soak up your words of wisdom and maybe thru osmosis start getting our finances on track. do you have any beginner first steps to knock out first so i can feel like i have accomplished somehting? you guys need to have an app! for real! can i send you my receipts and you give me a plan?

    your daughter is adorable!!! OMG those cheeks are just too much to handle.
    we have two sons and our baby (6 mos) will be an ear of corn ($6 big ones at a consignment store) and our big boy 2yrs will be a farmer – adorbs πŸ™‚

    i agree that shes too little to take actually trick or treating, but you can park her out front of your house or take her on a spin around the block to get the “shes sooooo cute” comments that make any mom just a pile of mush πŸ™‚

    • Reply Joanna October 10, 2013 at 12:51 am

      Hey Melissa! Thanks for reading. I think everyone’s first steps will be different, depending on their individual financial situation. That said, Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover really fired us up in the beginning!

      OH, I love your costume ideas for your sons! They’ll be so cute! I think we’re going to tag along with my sister and her kids this Halloween. So our girl will kind of get to trick-or-treat, but we won’t seem like the weird parents trick-or-treating alone with an 8-month-old, haha. πŸ™‚

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