baby

Frugal Girl turned 1 and we have had a couple of little celebrations to mark the occasion.  Grandma made an adorable unicorn cake for her.  It tasted as good as it looked!

I made this delicious roasted chicken.  You can throw the entire carcass into a stock pot, and boil the remaining meat off to make an easy chicken noodle soup.  Just add a quart of chicken broth or water and carrots or other veggies.

Shae made some tasty cupcakes.  Frugal Girl looked to big brother for some guidance on the candle.  He knew what to do.

She didn’t need any help eating the cupcake though!

We opened some presents, including this big one.

She had her 12 month vaccinations and checkup.  29.5″ tall (63 percentile), 20 lbs 2 oz (56 percentile), and a head circumference of 18.5″ (94 percentile).

She isn’t walking yet on her own (probably because of the high center of gravity), but she does enjoy cruising along furniture.  She really enjoyed the trip to the zoo.  Anything that she could see up close she liked including the primates, turtles, and fish.

All in all, she is a happy healthy girl.

Thank you to everyone who has contributed to making the first year as easy as possible for us parents!

9 in, 9 out

Frugal Girl turned nine months old and had another round of vaccinations.

She received her final Hep B vaccination, along with a flu booster shot.  She also had a toe prick for lead/iron levels.  Everything seems to be on course and she is now 28.5″ tall (70% the nurse didn’t stretch her out so I think the measurement is a bit under), 19 pounds even (88%), and has a big head measuring 18″ (88%).  She is up to 6 teeth and has a couple of new ones ready to come in on the bottom.  The separation, stranger/danger phase has come home to roost and there is a clear pecking order of who she prefers.  Here is a hint, Dada is not at the top.

In other news, we opened up Frugal Girl’s first savings account.  Thank you to everyone who has gifted money to the little saver.  We are that much closer to a dowry!  😛

Also she will likely be getting her first passport as soon as those lazy parents get their act together.

There is a new addition in our house, Frugal Girl!

Her favorite activities include eating, sleeping, and pooping.  Big brother Frugal Boy is still adjusting to the new family member.

It is still a little too early to tell how much it cost to bring little Frugal Girl into the world.  Our preliminary estimate is about $5000 (insurance deductible of $2500 x 2 patients).  Of that, Shae’s employer, will cover about $4300, and we will be on the hook for the remaining $700 of the deductible.  We can use pre-tax dollars to cover our portion by using a Health Savings Account.  Anytime that you have a life changing event, you can change your benefits enrollment through your employer.  Having a baby counts as such.

Shae and I did not get Frugal Girl a special birthday gift.  Instead, she gets to start life with a jump started college savings account.  As soon as we learned that we had conceived, we opened a new 529 plan and started contributing to it every month just like we do for Frugal Boy.  Thanks to the bull market and those early contributions, Frugal Girl is already at $3,000.  If you figure that investments will naturally double every ten years, we’ve already managed to spare her from roughly $12k worth of student loans.

Relatives are already calling her a princess.  A princess would have to marry other royalty, so we might have to start saving up for a dowry.  ;-P