I recently declared a sort of open season for spending. Basically, we had a lot of money coming in, and so I wanted to satisfy a bunch of wants before the inevitable belt-tightening of preparing for baby #2.

So spend we have. I won't go into it all, because a lot of it is pretty frivolous and I'm not what you would call proud or boastful about that particular fact. But I can say that we have the money to pay for it all, and that we've managed to also put a bunch toward debt, and that I now have a fall wardrobe (I'd gotten rid of most of my clothes because they were either maternity stuff that I'd kept using, or were worn down beyond repair).

We have a couple more things on the list, but spending season will soon come to a close. Whew! It was kind of fun, but also a bit guilt-inducing. Not the way I'd want to live normally. On to some more boastworthy stuff!

One of my big goals for the year was to either get a raise or to get a new job, whether a better-paying or a more satisfying job didn't matter to me. I haven't succeeded on either front, but the other day I made another plea to my boss, and he seemed to think the time was right -- he has sprung into action. He wrote a very compelling memo about why he thinks I deserve a raise and promotion. The president of our division replied to him today -- favorably according to him -- so he has indicated that if our DC headquarters approves it, I should get something! Even if it doesn't work out, I'm really glad I tried again. The first time, no one seemed very receptive, so I didn't feel like pushing anymore. But AS encouraged me to have another go. I'll update the second I find anything out.

I just realized I haven't updated our Roth contributions progress for a long time -- it's on autopilot, $300 each month, so I forget. Well, we're at $2700 and on track to make our $3600 goal by mid-December!

Oh yeah, weight loss! I weighed in last night because I forgot on Sunday, and I'm down two more pounds, to 143! That's only 4 lbs. away from my goal. I've been reasonably good about my diet, and even though I haven't worked out with weights or anything, I've been walking a TON -- including a 45 min. walk home from a restaurant when we missed the bus Friday, and 5-6 hours of wandering around the Mall of America on Saturday. So excited that my goal is in sight!

There's been progress on the estate planning, too -- the lawyer's assistant wrote to say she's put our wills in the mail. Once we review them, we can sit down with our lawyer and sign them. I asked her for a cost estimate because this took a LOT longer than I thought it would. I'm kind of freaked but I also know we'll be able to come up with the money. It's important in case anything happens to anyone, since our family is not traditional in structure.

I wrote back to the assistant to let her know that AS is pregnant, so we'll want to proceed with planning the third-parent adoptions of AA and the yet-to-be-born little one. Considering it's taken over 9 months (so far) just to do the estate planning, I assume we should start now! I also want advice from the lawyer as to whether I have any legal rights as the adoptive non-blood parent regarding parental leave.

I think that's all! Life feels crazy right now, but in a very good way. AS is on a business trip to NY today and tomorrow, but that's the only sad thing right now. And as I kept telling her, I'm glad the trip got here so we can get it over with and be back together without it hanging over us! We got to see an early ultrasound of her (our) baby yesterday, and so it feels all the more real now. We also made a public announcement (Facebook), so no more having to change the subject when people ask us about our future plans. Yay!!