I Can See Clearly Now, the Rain is (almost) Gone

I have been a bad blogger. By stopping my weekly updates I've allowed myself to slack off even more. Not that I'm slacking in everything. I just find that having an active and clingy 7 month old doesn't allow me much time to concentrate on any writing. I'm lucky if I can even pee without a child in my arms.

The past month and a half has been full of ups and downs. Our biggest high was Alex finally finding a job. Unfortunately we experienced our lowest low at the same time and are slowly digging ourselves out. I hadn't really discussed that with many people out of shame but I figured I might as well let it out.

We are so thankful for the generosity of our family and friends over the holidays. I cried hard when I received a package from my snarky girls on the Bump. Those gift cards were a Godsend and fed us for a couple weeks and allowed us to have a Christmas tree for Sebastian's first Christmas. I don't think I could ever express how grateful I am for their friendship and how grateful we were or those gifts.

We still had to budget like crazy and cut our grocery bills down to around $50 a week. It was hard and I'd sometimes cry in the car because we couldn't get the fresh foods I wanted to get for Sebastian. Luckily, I still breastfeed and most of his nutrition comes from that.

However, cards run out and we had already borrowed too much from family so we had to turn to community assistance. I never thought we'd have to resort to the food bank but now I realize that most anyone could be put in the position of needing to use it. Alex went each time and the stories he brought back were so sad and mirrored our own, families with small babies, families that looked like it was their first time, mother's crying because of the humiliation. I'm glad I didn't go (we would have had to wait outside with Sebastian)because I would have been a mess as well.

So now we wait for Alex's paychecks to kick in. Our phones were turned off, as was our tv, but we still have internet (for the moment) and a roof over our heads. My mom left me money so I could get Sebastian's pictures taken and has sent him clothes since he's growing so fast.

So what have we learned from this ordeal:

-We are stronger than we think.
-It's ok to get help sometimes.
-You can survive on $50 a week or less on groceries. You don't need to spend $200.
-Going through food bank boxes can be like Christmas.
-You don't need presents to have a good Christmas. Christmas is spending time with family.
-Meal plan from the fliers up.
-Be grateful every day for what you have.
-Give back.

Once we are back on our feet we plan on giving back to the food bank. We want to donate as well as volunteer. You never know who will need your help.