"Cha-Ching!"

Babies are expensive!

Last night, Brian and I spent some quality time with our financial planners. We try to recommend them to all our engaged friends in Memphis. They are a great third party in our marriage :) When we got married, they helped us combine all our finances, save for our retirement, save for kids, and get our wills set up and notarized. In our opinion, every couple should have someone like this. We recommend our folks, and if you are interested, you can contact them here.

In my attempts to get ready for Baby Fields, I have been thinking about short term costs. Maternity clothes, daycare, diapers, crib, car seat, stroller, food, etc. All of the little things that add up to big bucks. Brian has been thinking private school tuition, college, monthly household expenses, rising insurance costs, etc. - long term costs. I guess that is why we balance each other out. According to our financial planners, we are both big-time savers. When/If Brian gets a bonus at work, we do not think "Great! What can we buy?" We think "Great! Let's throw it in our Roth IRAs!" So this whole baby thing has been interesting. We have been saving, saving, saving, and the moment has come to spend.

So what do a couple of conservative twenty-somethings do?

Freak out. Well, at first. Then comes the planning (our other favorite thing to do besides save money). We did as much advanced planning and saving as we could... now comes real life. But we feel blessed and ready, and know it's just a part of the journey.

We do know one thing for sure - we will love this little money-eater more than words can say.