My little money pit

We've all heard it - kids are expensive. I used one of those useless online calculators to tell me how much my child would cost before I had her. I don't remember what it told me, but as it turns out my kiddo is more expensive than most.

The biggest expense is feeding her. She's on Similac Alimentum formula (almost twice as expensive as normal formula, in case you didn't know, and twice as smelly) because it seems she has quite the sensitive tummy. In addition, following a modified barium swallow test we had done several months ago (did I mention that somewhere? I can't remember...) it was advised that we thicken her bottles with a gel thickener. The test showed she was at risk for aspirating non-thickened liquids (sucking them into her lungs). And then there's the Prevacid that she takes twice a day because of her reflux. And the purees she eats every day.

Here's a rundown of our monthly "feed Amelia" bill:

• $28/can of formula - we need two a week. Luckily I usually have some sort of coupon or formula check, so I'm gonna call this $23/can in reality. = $184
• $65ish/case of gel thickener - we need two per month = $130
• $ .50/Gerber puree, which she eats two of a day (occasionally I have coupons for this or catch a good sale, but typically they are $ .99 per two-pack) = $30
• $25 copay for Prevacid once a month
• $4 for her prophylactic antibiotic for the UTIs

____________
$373 a month
And that's without diapers, wipes, and any other odds and ends we may need along the way.

Throw in another $100/week for the babysitter (I know, we get off cheap compared to a lot of people!), and that means my child costs about $773 a month. HOLY CRAP. Oh, and did I mention a $15 copay every time we go to the doctor or have had tests run? I can't even begin to calculate that. (Well, I could...but I'm too lazy.)

The plan has been to start weaning her off the expensive stuff and Prevacid, but so far we haven't been successful. It's worth it, of course, to keep her happy and healthy. Like this:

  

But if this continues, she'd better find a job before she hits kindergarten.

These things I'll never say

5 bonus points if you recognize the post title as Avril Lavigne lyrics.

This weekend I drove three hours north to go to my best friend's baby shower. I first mentioned her here when I found out we were going to be pregnant "together". (Quotes because we really only see each other once a year now.) I love her more than just about anyone in the world (she is close in ranking to my husband...maybe even above him some days!). There is absolutely nothing we can't and haven't talked about, from love to family to ovulation and everything in between. We "get" each other like no one else.

But the one thing we've never discussed is money. Because you see, she has it and I don't. Let me say that I get that she worked her ass off in college - completing a 7-year doctorate program in 6 years, never getting summer or Christmas breaks off - and I don't begrudge her the rewards of that hard work. But she makes more than C and I combined, and that's not even with her husband's salary which I don't think is anything to scoff at either. It's even tougher because we are really struggling financially right now (yes, good timing with a baby on the way). So when I went to her house this weekend (her house that cost more than double what ours cost... and yes, I'm a horrible friend because I looked up the sale price on the auditor's website), it was like rubbing salt in the "we need a money tree" wound. Things I couldn't say to her this weekend:

"I wouldn't have missed your shower but it took a full tank of gas for me to get here and back and now I'm afraid we can't afford groceries this week."

"Of course I want to go to dinner with you...but can we please go somewhere I can eat for under $10?"

"An iPad 2 and a new cell phone, huh? Yeah...I still have this refurbished Blackberry and C's using my old phone that is the same one you had three phones ago."

"I'm glad you guys have nice cars. I still have the same one I drove in college and I'm trying to figure out how to get a new one so I can even fit a carseat in it."

So yeah. It was great to see her but I did come home a little depressed about being one of the have nots.

On a happier note, here's a pic of us and our bumps - me at 33 weeks, and her at 30-ish weeks.