No Spend Month - Gratitude

As Craig and I do our financial thing to prepare for baby #1, a new friend of mine is having a very different experience with her pregnancy. I've enjoyed reading her baby updates so far and even her scary updates have taught me a lesson.

I spent last month working on the Gratitude Project - a month-long journey into discovering how other people learn gratitude. I often post about the little things I'm grateful for but as Craig and I take this annoying financial journey (yes, it IS annoying), I'm pausing to mark a few other things I'm grateful for.

1. I'm grateful that even though it's 4:30am here and I've been awake for 1.5 hours, it wasn't the pregnancy or pre-term contractions that woke me up. It's just a cold. I have an annoying cold because some of my coworkers thought it would be a good idea to come into work sick. So, now I'm sick. But the baby is fine.
2. I'm grateful that I feel great! My first 20 weeks of pregnancy were hell. Between flying early to the US, my grandmother's death, family drama, work drama, health scares, and horrific flights - I'm amazed I got to week 32. A lot of my friends are not feeling so hot in their pregnancies right now and, aside from this cold, I feel really amazing. I'm not super tired, I'm more active (walking around the mall counts, right?), and I've learned my limits.
3. Finances will always be a tough one for me but it's a hurdle I'm willing to jump over. My Mom once told me that gaining control over your finances won't happen over night and it won't happen in a month... but it will happen if you take control at some point. We're taking control and we have goals set. I'm grateful that I'm dealing with this stuff at an early stage in our marriage and while we're young ... because if I had to do this in my 40's, I'd be screwed. 
4. I'm grateful for the State of Israel and for what they do to help pregnant women. I get 14 weeks of paid maternity leave (paid for by the State of Israel's Bituach Leumi - like social security). My hospital stay is free. I get a small amount of money for giving birth. The Jewish state takes the whole be fruitful and multiply thing very seriously. Everything else here may cost a fortune but they try to make the pregnancy process much easier. The birthing centers are run by midwives and nurses who aren't so keen on admitting you earlier than you need to be there. They've been known to turn women away only to have them return an hour later and be admitted. I'm grateful for all of this because they'll let my body do what it's supposed to do - go through the labor process.
5. I'm grateful that when I need to vent about something, my parents are there to listen. I call my parents about once a week and I email regularly with my Mom. They know I'm scared to be going through this alone. In fact, this will be their only grandchild born overseas. It's a scary thought that your youngest child is about to give birth in a country where she doesn't fully grasp the language but has been surviving for nearly 6 years. I don't have the luxuries I would have in the US but, at the same time, I have more luxuries here being pregnant. 

I could go on and on and on about what I'm grateful for right now. I'm obviously grateful for my husband for letting me handle certain things on my own. He still offers to do the laundry even though he knows I'm going to say "no". He encourages my independence.

I'm also grateful that g-d has given me the strength to do this financial thing. It's hard - very hard. But we're doing it. We splurge a little (if you can call toilet paper, potato chips, and pretzel bites splurging) but we're mindful of what we won't be able to buy because we bought other things. Last night we picked up our "free" items (which actually came in handy). We also bought toilet paper and a four-pack of potato chips for me to take to work. The total: 45NIS/$12. We also stopped for pretzel bites because I was hungry (I'm still getting the hang of this pregnancy thing). The total: 18NIS/$4.78. Knowing that I spent almost $5 on something stupid like a cone full of pretzel bites reminds me to bring food with me for moments of starvation. The total for yesterday: 63NIS/$16.76.

We now have 829NIS/$237.32 left for the rest of the month.