...And Taxes

Somehow my last two posts ending up being about the tragic deaths of two young mothers (cheery stuff, sorry), so any way is up from there right?  Somewhere above that is filing one's taxes... As much as I love eye candy, (not to be a Debbie downer but) we're all about real life over here, not a bunch of motherhood and Photoshop BS (you mean you don't glow like that as you scramble about in your yoga pants?)

Well, I guess the kids kinda glow when the sun comes in the picture window.  Close enough... ;)

Anywho back to taxes...  Do you file your own?  Have/pay someone else to do it for you?  Owe?  Get a refund?  What do you do with it?  Pay bills?  Save?  Go shopping/on vaca?

I've always done my own, but then we did the accountant thing for awhile when we started our own business (which ended up being more of a PITA than it was worth in the end), and now we do them on our own again.  These guys offer an easy and free/low fee service to file online, though there are many options out there.  It is really handy to use the same software/site every year because you don't have to reenter everything, just update it when you get your year end forms.  Even with a small business, it is not that bad doing them yourself, though I admit to being a numbers person. 

We used to owe (a lot) being DINKs for so many years, and then last year got our first refund in a long time.  We updated DH's W-4 withholding (and I didn't work outside of home) last year, but apparently it didn't take (and we didn't notice/follow-up w/HR), so we ended up with an even bigger one this year (oops).  I know better than to think this is a good thing, but what are you going to do, I've had other things on my plate.  If you like to get a big check at the end of the year, decrease your withholding/increase exemptions on your W-4, set up an auto deposit to a savings account and you get the same (plus interest and the liquidity during the year) in the end.  Even having less withheld so you owe is a better deal, assuming you have the money saved.  I guess the good news is we have an unexpected windfall to go to my car, my IRA and the kids' 529s.

Happy Filing! :)

Getting things done

In the spirit of positivity, I'm not going to focus on the things that didn't get done this year. Because honestly, our lives are an embarrassment of riches and I have enough sense to know what is and is not important.  Just two years ago I could not have imagined we'd be where we are now.

As momentous as last year was for us, (me leaving my job, us getting pg (again), then nearly losing the babies (again), spending Aug-Dec in bed, and welcoming our two healthy, but tiny bundles), this year was big in so many smaller ways.  Extended bed rest is not the easiest way to transition from life as a working girl to that of a stay at home mom, though while being a full time caregiver/mother to twins (with a post-BR body, carpal tunnel, shingles, etc.) you have very little time to do much else but survive rather than to dwell on what you are not doing.

@ 11 months

Guess who's the alpha baby?

Most importantly, the kids are thankfully thriving and happy (most of the time).  They are both so amazing and different.  It has been a true gift to be able to watch them both grow and learn so much this year, even though I've learned that I don't think I am one of those women who was born to be a stay at home mom and physically I'm in such sad shape that they kick my ass on a regular basis.  Mari finally got her first tooth (on Christmas) with several more in the works and he also has several new ones emerging or near.  We are finally finished with both our breastfeeding/pumping regimen and with decorating their separate bigger kid rooms (pics to come), which we moved them to in the spring.  We ended up not doing a lot of formal activities this year given my deference to and the dominance of their schedule and the fact that our pedi gave us reassurance that it was all unnecessary, but we look forward to that next year.

Nearly all of our ventures out of town were for extended family this year, as we pretty much opted out of elective travel for the obvious logistical reasons.  We were up in WI for Abbie's baptism in April and again, but to Lake Geneva this time, in May for Mother's Day.  We went to OH later in May to celebrate my grandmother's 90th b-day.  We were up in WI again while DH went to India in June and then again for Thanksgiving.  We were going to go on a family (just the four of us) vaca over the twins' b-day and Christmas since DH has two weeks off, but we decided that it would easier to try to go away after we were completely done with pumping and party planning and the kids are a little bigger, probably in the spring.  We spent a quiet Christmas at home (best decision ever).

Given our time went primarily to the kids this year, most of our goals that weren't kid related, were money related, so you'll likely find it a bore unless you are looking for tips from this Indian engineer and (not a home) economist.

We paid off DH's car and paid further ahead on mine.  We had invested the money we would have spent when we bought both new in late 2009 (when the market was in the toilet) and financed them at a low rate, giving our retirement accounts a nice bump from the margin.

We are in the process of refinancing the house (again), back to a 15 fixed rate.  This is the third (and hopefully the last) time in seven years we've refied (can you tell I don't feel like moving?), first to go from a 7 yr ARM (see seven yr plan) to a 15 yr, then we ended up back to a 30 yr fixed when I left my job (out of an over abundance of financial caution since we were not yet pg again, out of IF coverage, and had never lived on half our household income).  We are very happy to lock in a near 2% rate, which is a full three points lower than where we started and two lower than our previous refis.  It is finally low enough to justify rolling in the small HELOC (so no subordination this time, thank goodness) we got when we first started doing our major home renos, and never paid off due to IF, so we'll now just have one payment only slightly larger than the ones before (not including the loss in tax ded), but paid off much much sooner, saving us a crazy amount on interest.  DH wants to have whatever house we are in to be paid off by the time the kids go off to college, though he has no plans to retire.  I however do, and my plan is to not die in this house.

We opened and funded 529s for each of the kids and set up new larger 20 yr term life insurance policies to ensure that even if something were to happen to one or both of us before they are grown, that a tragedy would not be a financial hindrance to them getting whatever education they are interested in attaining without having to beg, steal and borrow to get it as neither of us are counting on large inheritances.

We fully funded an IRA for me (for 2011) in the spring (since I had no 401K contributions this year) and increased DH's funding of his 401K.  Since I turned down the many offers of freelance work this year and had no individual earned income, we are now only eligible to make a spousal IRA contribution for me until I decide to work again.

We finally had our old deck removed and had a new brick patio installed. We upgraded our dishwasher (which I love) and replaced our washing machine (again). I thank goodness daily that we did the all the work we did to the house when we did (pre-kids) so we can focus on them and other things, but lament that we didn't do it all, given the uncertainty in our lives back then.   Even the few days of work outside was disruptive enough that upcoming major renos (the kitchen and master bath) are not getting done while we are home. They will wait until the kids are out of the house during the day or when we are on vaca or something.

For 2013:

I need to decide when/if/how I am going back to work and in turn we'll need to find a child care solution that has eluded us so far, one of several reasons why I continue to turn down freelance work, despite repeated requests from the firms I contract with and a surprising number of other opportunities. A major issue with my freelance work (much of it at home) is that you basically need to have full time availability for clients, even if you are only working part time hours.  This would be more doable if I was just scheduling work around cycling (which was why I initially left my job) and another entirely if you need to have responsible sitters basically on call to watch your twin babies.  And since I was pumping this year, I honestly just decided I didn't want to add more stuff to the mix.  Win for the kids, loss for the bank account, welcome to parenthood.

My MIL was set to return in late January again, though now that BIL/SIL are expecting next summer, that may or may not happen.  If/when she does, she will likely do mostly the cooking that she loves so much and help out like she did when she was here before.  

If I were to/when I do go back to work full-time outside the home, we've talked about what we think would be best for the kids and I think we've decided that a high quality out of home child care/Montessori school program might be best for their learning and socialization, though it would be more work for us and a nanny would offer more flexibility. Though with MIL here for a part of each year, it doesn't make a lot of sense to have her not be able to see them during the day, since that is a big part of the reason why she is here.  Being limited to Hindi/Marahti speaking nannies is just that, limiting, (even though where we live there are a disproportionately high number of Indians) and even though she is lovely and I would eliminate the communication issue, the dynamic of MIL and the nanny could potentially complicate matters, as thankful as we are to have her spend time with us. If we had a second guest room, I would have already just hired an au pair.

We've decided to make the move back to an HSA eligible health plan for next year.  We've had them in the past, through my job and then DH's, and they are awesome when you are young and/or healthy, but we've been on DH's PPO for the last few years due to their rich benefits and (now exhausted) IF coverage, our "issues" getting and staying pg, and since the twins had not yet been born when we had to choose last year.  I will never get over the irony of all the money we spent to get pregnant, but all the surgeries (including my emergency CS and cerc) and hospital stays (including four days in a sweet suite) cost us a few hundred dollars.

Between the premium savings, his employer HSA contribution, and what we usually put in an FSA (which is now limited) we will have funded the total family OOP max in our HSA account, though you are able to fund up to a total of $6450/yr pre-tax as a family in lieu of an FSA (unless you want to fund a vision/dental only FSA, like I did for my Lasik in '07 in preparation for babies).  What we don't use will roll over to meet the needs of future years, and can be invested in the hopes of earning more than a few percent.  All preventative care/immunizations/well child care is covered at 100% with no co-pay, so we'll actually save money vs/ this year for all of that.  HSAs are supposed to be about empowerment and accountability, but in reality they are sadly really about rewarding both healthy people and investment firms, cost shifting and tax shelters, but I digress.

When I go back to work, besides obviously child care, our financial goals remain:  finish paying off my car (if still outstanding), max out all: retirement savings (401K & IRA), HSA, child care accounts and 529 accounts, and save some more.

I am also gym shopping now that we are done pumping and the kids are bigger. I learned the childcare at the Y is closed in the afternoons, so that is out.  A new gym opening near us this spring has closed circuit TV so you can watch your kids on your machine while you are working out, which is perfect for the overprotective and paranoid, like me, though I don't want to wait that long to get busy.  Another new one has free childcare, but it seems like it isn't something that should be free, though I guess that is an incentive to go frequently.  My last gym was at my last job and before that I was at a very nice, yet very oversubscribed one nearby that I'd like to avoid if at all possible.
My focus for the new year is an attempt at balance. I'll need all the luck I can get.
Onward and Upward!  Happy 2013!!!

What would you do for a million dollars?

...To send your two kids to college... (That's what it will cost in 20 years BTW, and we thought infertility treatments were expensive)

DH and I already think/talk/plan a lot for our kids' futures (we're planners like that) and the other day on our long road trip up north we were talking about a friend and engineer colleague of DH's who since he is employed by a top university just north of Chicago, which DH does many projects for, he would have been able to send his daughter there for free.  Though she decided to study elsewhere farther from home (his wife is a prominent attorney and their younger daughter is disabled) so they ended up not getting it gratis in the end.  I'm familiar with this lovely perk, several of my professors and staff back in the day did or were planning to take advantage of this, but of course it eliminates the options that your kids have when it comes to college picking, so we discussed how important it is for kids to have this choice.

I know when I was looking at colleges, my parents were pretty hands off, like with most things, though they both made it known that our state university would be just fine with them.  So I applied to and was accepted into their honors program as one of my fall back options.  While a great school, it was too big and too Greek for me.  When I applied early to my first choice (an Ivy) and was deferred to the regular admission pool, I was pissed and decided to go to my second choice (a seven sister), which I quickly got very excited about.  Unfortunately, I ended up being very unhappy with the environment and education generally, though I made some great friends, so I transferred out to another school in Boston after my sophomore year.  I have warm feelings for the school I graduated from, though it could not have been more different than the first.  I wouldn't necessarily recommend the course I took to finish my degree, but I own it and I think where you choose to go to school is one of the more important and earliest big decisions you make as a young adult.

Though it would likely mean a pay cut for him to work on the other side when the time came (he's a consultant), it obviously would pay off in the end.  I'd love for the kids to go to college out East, like I did, but there is always summer school in Boston, and grad school wherever they want. 

Would you make this choice for your kids?  Or have it as a fall back and let them choose the school or the money (to buy a house or something)?  One of the nice features of 529s is that you can always change the beneficiary or you are allowed to withdraw an amount equivalent to a scholarship without penalty.  But not saving in hopes of this working is not really a responsible option as you never know what'll happen (they outsource their project management between now and then, get rid of the perk, etc.)

Financial/legal goals/to dos

As we prepare for the twins' arrival, we've got some things to do...

Increase life insurance to $2M for both of us and add disability for me (must wait until post-pg for me)
Update wills, set up trust and designate guardians for twins
Ramp up existing 529 education/college savings (to target reco of $1K/mo/ea.)

Other:
Refi back to 15 yr. mortgage when rates hit 3%
Pay off remaining 30% balance on new cars, eliminating non-mortgage debt
Make max IRA contribution for me

And when I go back to work (TBD):
Max out pre-tax child care and 401K savings accounts
Build up savings accounts
Finish remaining planned, but not imminently needed home renovations (kitchen/master bath/patio)

Making it happen

Since we are planning to live on less than half of what we are used to, and since I figured replacing FT work stress with FT money stress would defeat most of the reason for leaving my job, and we are determined to have children regardless of the cost (though we are not going into debt), we decided to make some changes...

We'd probably have sold our house already if the market was better since we have so much tied up in it and we'd both rather live in the city, but instead we decided to refi (again).  This made me kind of sad as it was just over a year ago that we finally pulled the trigger on moving to a 15 yr. from a 30 yr. mortgage (before me leaving my job was on our radar), since we were already paying extra and wanted to lock in a super low rate.  We figured this was the best way to make staying put worthwhile and build even more equity faster, since property values certainly aren't appreciating any time soon.  Just to show the power of this, we've paid off another 5% of our principle in the last year, the same as we had the previous four.  Crazy, right?  The 15 year would have saved us six figures in interest over the life of the loan (and a decent amt. in just the first yr.), but it also obviously ties up more money, so away it went.  Since our property taxes have nearly doubled since we bought five years ago, the refi saved us less monthly than it could have, but it's significant none the less.  We will pay extra when we can.  We also saved by using the same company we refied with last time.

I have also paid ahead nearly two years on my new car payments, so I have the option of not making additional payments until then, if I choose.  So I also have a lot of equity in my car if we decide to cash out and downsize.  Or if we don't use our savings on treatments, I will just pay it off and drive it for a long time.

I also (sadly) lowered my contributions to my 401k from the max to the match level (6%) and have been squirreling away the rest.  The money we have/will put in a Roth is also tax preferred, but it is easily accessible without penalty (the principle anyway) for worst case scenario, unlike 401k funds which will not be touched.  I convinced myself this wasn't the end of the world, since we are already way ahead of the game on retirement savings in large part thanks to DH.

As you've probably noticed, we haven't been traveling or buying as much stuff as usual.  These are all just negligible parts of the budget now.  It's amazing how much money can be spent when it's there and all other bases are covered (and you have expensive taste).  We've also held off on our remaining planned home improvements as they are big, but not emergent.  Tying up more cash in a new kitchen and master bath will just have to wait.  All the unexpected trips to India were mighty expensive, but that is why we live below our means as a general rule, so that the unexpected doesn't cause undue additional stress.  DH has been instrumental in getting me to be even more conservative with my spending, as he is crazy disciplined.

I will have used up all of the $5K we put in my FSA by this week (on prepaid acu, RPL testing, FET, etc.), but we've discovered that since I am leaving my job that this makes DH eligible to set up one of his own after open enrollment.  We have enough time to find out if this coming cycle works before setting aside another $5K in his FSA to help cover our next fresh cycle, if we need to do another this year.

Most importantly, DH's take on his job situation is that he would have to be involved in a work sex scandal to be at risk with the amount of new business he is bringing in.  Did I mention that I married him because he's adorable and funny?

Oh and that "new" job of mine...  Since my reputation apparently precedes me, they are already staffing me for a quick project before my FET, in Vegas!  I'm not actually a huge fan (I'm lame, I know this), we went for DH's 30th, but there are worse things than getting paid for 40 hrs of work, when it's really only two days, and those are at Mandalay Bay.  Extra bank for me! :)

A long time coming...

Well the big news is... I've quit my job. It's not news that I've been miserable for a long time, but there wasn't much that I could do about it, as I was basically an indentured servant due to my signing bonus and tuition reimbursement. I also wanted to stick around to collect the year end bonus that isn't given until March. I clearly didn't really know what I was getting into when I started, and sadly took a lot on faith to join former colleagues from my last job at my current company. A lot has changed for us too as I started the same month as our very first IUI, so we had no idea we'd still be struggling and now without insurance coverage. The sad thing is I could have left sooner if we weren't dealing with the quagmire that is IF. When will it end? How much money will we have to burn through before we get a take home baby? Unfortunately these are still unanswerable questions.

Lately there has been a lot of weird stuff going on that has accelerated my desire to leave from ASAP to yesterday. I won't bore you with the details, but I've known for a long time that I wouldn't be staying here forever, but it has just gotten worse and frankly pretty ridiculous. So probably a little late in the game, but we've been really saving our pennies lately to make this happen, so we've got plenty to do cycles OOP pocket if/when it comes to that.

Who gives up a "secure" six figure salaried job w/otherwise good bennies and a 10 minute commute when the economy is still puttering? Well, apparently this one right here does... Since our priority right now is my health, sanity, and getting and staying pregnant, I honestly don't really care.  We can live off DH's salary and I figure I've got 30 years to climb the corporate ladder, or more likely make a way for myself.  I've had a job since I was 12, and often more than one, so I've always had my own money, but now we're a family and we'll be spending our money differently than we have up until now. Though I think long term, we want to have two incomes to live the life that I/we want.

But I do have a new gig set up. Well, if what's old is new again. Almost six years ago, I left my consulting job to move over to the corporate side of the table. Then came commuting two years to a job downtown, another 2 at another company on the N. Shore, and then the year and half where I am now. I am going back to my consulting firm to do contract work. They would happily hire me full-time, but I will get plenty of work (or as much as I want) working hourly and just having some money coming in will be nice. They are also conveniently headquartered in Boston, so if/when we need IF coverage, I could opt to get on their rolls (as MA has an awesome mandate). I'm thinking I might do some freelance consulting before and after babies.

The only major drawback (since the firm and its quirks are basically a known commodity) is that I'll have to start commuting downtown again. I did this for nearly two years when we first moved to the burbs, but it's been awhile. I will likely take the Metra again (suburban rail) while I can for the hour plus trip, which is conveniently just a few minutes drive from our house, but can drive when I have appts. (though getting to Gurnee and then downtown during the AM rush will be interesting). Fortunately, the weather is warming up and the haul and walk across the loop will be less painful than it is in winter.

I can't wait to get out of here, as I know better things are on the horizon...

300 posts and randomness

I know it's been crickets around here for a few days, but my internet @ work has been on the fritz (the horror!). Anyway, I'm back for my 300th post. Wahoo!

Sara's Bear (since I'm an absentee sister).

Things have been beyond nuts. My sister Sara had her second chemo treatment yesterday (she goes every third Monday), and is losing her hair. My family is still strangely divided over whether she should even be undergoing this treatment, mainly because my sister E (the one w/all the kids) decided for whatever reason that in her opinion, it was a bad idea. In an e-mail to me, she said it would be a "long 5 mos. for poor Sara", so not exactly a compelling argument against potentially life saving treatment.

Honestly, I haven't even talked to her about it, because she is overly dramatic and the only thing that really matters is that the case was made (pt. #1: the oncologists recommended it) for moving forward given the change in her tumor grade. Chance of recurrence w/o chemo: 30-40% w/a poor prognosis vs. 10% recurrence w/the chemo. I have a strong feeling that it has to do with her own self-interest (hello no more free childcare) due to her surprisingly reactionary views on the treatment. Though the mere idea of denying Sara treatment that any of the rest of us would receive without question, goes against everything my family has ever stood for as it relates to her.

E and my mother are very close, and not only is she upset with my mom for proceeding as she did (not opening it up to some kind of family vote or letting her decide) but is keeping her kids completely out of the house (where they usually spend a few days a week) which is causing added consternation for my mom, Sara and my ailing grandmother. E apparently is under the impression that any exposure to someone doing chemo could be harmful to the kids (when the only guideline is to not share a toilet for 48 hrs. after treatment, which none of them would), and though it is clearly better for Sara not be around them all the time given her comprimised immune system (though they don't go to day care or anywhere where they would pick up anything on their own, they presumably only catch what mom and dad bring home from work), at this point it seems like a power play. Though she obviously has the right to do what she wants with her own kids, after the ridiculous way she treated me over the holidays, I'm about ready to throw in the towel with her completely.

The latest development in the saga was that my father (who has been divorced from my mom for almost 30 yrs. and E cut off a decade ago), who was aware of what was happening, but detached and self-involved as he often is, decided out of nowhere that he wanted to interject himself into the situation, and in my mother's mind, interfere with Sara's treatment. So she called me on Friday all upset.

So at dysfunction junction, what's my function? I get to play mediator, again. I should have kept studying for the foreign service exam and worked for the State Dept. (like I considered after college), as working for Mid-east peace has got to be easier than this. I had a difficult conversation with him over the weekend and explained to him that while he can certainly meet w/the Drs. to educate himself about what is happening after the fact that: 1) the decision has already been made, 2) it was my mother's to make - though he was informed (he is co-guardian to Sara, but has basically opted out, since her dx in Sept.), and 3) in my mind it was the right (albeit difficult) one to make. My mom is an RN and knows the Drs. well who are caring for Sara. I wish I had been able to keep my cool, but unlike most of the family spats of the past that were about hurt feelings and unmet expectations, this is actually important and I got upset. He respected my position and ended up calling my mother just before the treatment yesterday to say he wouldn't be making it to the appt. w/the Drs. after all. She was thrilled, as she hates dealing w/him, but I'd be naive to think the problem has actually been solved.

It's Sara's 41st birthday on Saturday, so we are going up for a quick visit this weekend. It is also E's 38th on Thursday and Ben's 4th on Monday, but who knows if they will even come by. My poor mother, between caring for my terminal grandmother, Sara w/her chemo, and worrying about us, not to mention all these unnecessary shenanigans, she's in a worse spot than any of us and regardless of what we think, she needs and deserves our support.

On the home home front, I finally took some time this weekend to tackle our huge piles of medical paperwork, in preparation for tax time. All told, we spent almost exactly $10K OOP on medical expenses last year, almost entirely related to IF, and have nothing to show for it. And we have IF coverage and a $250 deductible PPO. Between the IVF and IUI meds, acupuncture, embryo freezing, our uncovered mtgs. w/Dr. David, two surgeries, etc., etc., I guess it all adds up. We cleaned out our HSA (from 2008) by summer, but the rest didn't come close to enough to write off.

How crazy is it that if we had kids (like we planned) we'd be getting huge tax credits and if we adopted (this yr. anyway) we get huge tax credits, but since we are chipping away at a medical issue, no dice.... In 2012, if we are lucky. This year, we owe, a lot, again...

We thought we had a lot riding on our IVF cycle, but now it really all rides on this FET. And unlike in November when we had the luxury of time off, now I will be living on the road in April and May, 16 cities in 7 weeks. Encompassing all my monitoring appts, transfer, and 2ww. To avoid this would push us back at least two months. Since it is probably unwise to quit my job when we don't know where we are w/treatments, and as we are staffed such that there is no one to take my place on the road, that is just the way it's going to be, for now...

Ironically, we could get the IF benefits we need if I took even a PT teller job at my local bank branch, but the loss in salary makes this a pretty ridiculous proposition at this point. Besides applying for jobs where I know there is coverage, I just got a lead from a headhunter about a somewhat promising job in the city, but even with a comparable salary and the possibility of IF bennies (which of course I wouldn't know about until after an offer), the long commute and being limited to clinics in the city is obviously off putting. We are in this strange limbo, not knowing what will work (and stick) when (if ever) and for how long to be able to make reasonable decisions about the other aspects of our lives (though our lives are all about this now).

So I continue to look around, we continue to stock pile cash (no shopping, no vacations), and we continue to pray that come May we will be pg again, and it will stick and we can get on with our lives... I never really wondered what purgatory looked like, but now I know.

Without great challenges, there can not be great victories

For anyone following my blog since I started in January (and even for those who have hopped on since), you know it's been quite the challenging year for us, to say the least. So as part of wrapping it up at the end of the year (how did this happen, BTW?), I've paged through my blog to help remind myself of all that we were up to this year. :)

Of course, the main focus of our year (and of this here blog) was the same as the last two. Getting us pregnant. And we did it! (and just in the nick of time). It took a few more surgeries and a few more cycles and few more doctors (and a lot more tests) and more than a few setbacks, but we finally did it. And for this, we are eternally grateful.

I skipped the year-end letter again this year, and we aren't announcing officially until February, but here are some other things we managed to do in 2010, in no particular order...

School:
I finished my executive business program at Notre Dame in February and took an interior design class for fun in the fall. I'm on hold for further classes now, due to my pending work travel schedule.

House:
Not much new this year, just bits here and there, after lots of big projects the last few. Our big feat was waiting patiently for a new exterior paint job (which we got courtesy of the HOA in late summer) and we are still working on our radon issue that we discovered this year. Most mitigation systems actually lower the value of the property, so we are still debating exactly what to do about this. Next project, the nursery. :)

After an unnecessarily long refi process, we closed on a 15 year fixed mortgage at the beginning of the year and have since saved a ton on interest (which will be fun at tax time) and paid off a good chunk of our remaining principle. Five years ago, our plan was for this to be our seven year house, but given the unexpected delays in starting our family and the eroding housing market, we are sitting tight for now. Thankfully, we've got plenty of room to grow. :)

Health:
Not a great year on the health front, as I was on a ridiculous amount of meds and had tons of awful s/e (ironically entirely from my two surgeries, rather than IVF). I had a random health scare in August that led to all sorts of trouble and then the mammogram in Sept. While we ended up okay, it was a tough run. The good news is we've conceived what we plan to be all of our children (before 35!) and don't plan to undergo any further treatments, with a likely FET in late 2012.

Family:
It was a really tough year for us on the family front. We lost S's dad very unexpectedly, which was made all the more tragic that we had all been waiting for a baby for them to come all the way from India to visit us again. My grandma K was dx with terminal cancer and my sister S was dx with stage 1 cancer.

Travel:
This got skimped on this year with all we had going on. We made a work trip for DH into a ski trip in March and did our best at Deer Valley in Utah. We made another work trip for me to NYC into an IF trip to see Dr. David in June. Our only "real" vacation was our week on the Cape and Islands when I was post-op in August, but this was sadly overshadowed by my own and family health issues. What was supposed to be a vacation to India (and the Maldives), was instead a funeral trip. Since I took my LOA from work for IVF unpaid, I was able to roll over the one allowed week of PTO to next year (for a total of 7, so maybe we'll take a mini-vaca before baby?) and have cashed out the other.

Money:
We opened another 529, this time for baby S, paid off the last of my student loans, and stepped up our savings and retirement contributions to the Roth IRA and 401Ks. We've been making double payments on both our new cars for the last year and are on track to have them paid off at the end of 2011, as to rid ourselves on all non-mortgage debt and give us a cushion for me to stay home and spend time with baby.

Charity:
I was nominated and served on the executive committee of one of my fave NPO's board through the end of the summer, which was a huge time commitment, then I opted to take a one year leave of absence from the board starting this fall.

Work:
Through no fault of my own, stagnation is the name of the game on this one (my sales campaign has been pushed back, yet again), which is one of the many reasons why I will be leaving my high paying, but highly unfulfilling and frustrating, job after I cash out on my mat leave next fall.
DH's industry is not doing great in this economy, but despite this he has had some big wins at work (often against his old firm ;)) and is well positioned to have a good 2011.

Now on to the new year when we have few set plans other than to have a hopefully healthy baby (and a newly minted U.S. citizen husband!) and enjoy life! :)

Mint.com

If you haven't yet, I highly recommend you check out Mint.com. It is a great (free!) money management website that I wanted to start using long ago, but unfortunately our credit union did not link to the site. That is until recently. Now I have all our bank accounts, most of our loans, investments, and our credit cards linked up to the site. You can set up e-mails to remind you to make payments, budgets for individual categories, track spending, etc., etc. It's a very easy way to look at all of your money in one place. Happy Minting! :)