Not A Happy New Year And A Challenge

We're struggling this New Year.  We've been rotating a man down since 2014 started and we're still not out of the woods.  Yet.

The Mitt

First one to go was George.  He touched a hot fireplace during our last holiday get together on New Year's Day.  The first couple hours were tough.  But after that, it was smooth sailing.  Just proudly telling everyone, "I touch a fireplace!" While showing off "my mitt." Must be the 3rd child thing. 

Shortly after, I got sick.  Head cold sick.  Down for the count, lying in bed, please-cut-off-my-head-so-i-can-feel-better sick. Ugh.

Then it spread.

Oldest

Isn't that the worst?  Actually, it's not.  Having just gone through it, I can say that being sick yourself is worse than your child being sick.

So many times, when my little guys are feeling bad, I get to a moment where I just wish I was sick instead of them because it would be better that way.  Well, no.  It's not.  And I'm saying it here so I remember it.  Not. Better. 

So far, the middle child has somehow avoided it.  The youngest has a cough but full energy.  And my better half is totally down for the count.

He's the not-out-of-the-woods-yet part. 

But 2014 hasn't been all bad.

Big Boy Bed

(Excuse the world's worst picture) 

Confession: I sneak into the boys' bedroom at night to check on them before I go to bed and sometimes I take a picture.  They are always bad pictures.  The cuteness is never captured.  But this is the first one where all three are together. 

George has a big boy bed!

It's the trundle/pullout (sold separately) part that I talked about here.  It slides right under their IKEA bunk bed...even with the plush rug in place.  I love it.  

But we still have the crib in the room.  And if you're counting, yes, that's 4 beds in the smallest room of the house.  It's there because George gets silly at bedtime, so sometimes we have to put him back in his crib.  Ok, most times.  He's the third child.  We'll get there. 

And lastly...with every new year, I update our family budget.  With money planning top of mind, I found this:

Challenge

It's my challenge.  And if I succeed, I'll have $1378 in an envelope at the end of the year.  If it's too hard to read the chart, let me explain.  For each week of the year, you put away that dollar amount.  So week 1, it's $1.  Week 2, it's $2.  And on.  So by week 52, the total amount saved will add up to $1378.  It seems totally doable.  

It's like that math problem in high school where Johnny starts saving a little money when he's 20 and Danny starts saving a lot when he's 40 but Johnny ends up with more.  I'm not Johnny.  But here's my chance to feel like him...and turn 2014 around.  I've got 50 more weeks to do it!