August is 1/3 over? You've got to be kidding me. It's felt like a whirlwind for the past few days.

One good piece of news: I weighed in Monday night (couldn't Sunday night because I was out of town) and had lost 4 lbs.! I'm cautiously optimistic about this number; I'd just gotten back from my business trip and hadn't eaten dinner yet, so I feel the number is a bit skewed. But if I'm good this week, maybe I can at least hold onto that loss.

The loss brings me to 146 lbs., and according to my Wii Fit, that takes me out of "Overweight" BMI and into "Normal"! That's even more motivation to try and keep going.

My fitness goal for tonight is just 20 minutes of yoga, so I'll try to fit that in. I'm so exhausted, though. Even though it was my turn to go to trivia, I let NT and AS go because I just feel like sitting quietly.

So, let's see if I can rush through my updates:

Looks like NT is finally getting his promotion and raise! He'll get the official job description and hopefully salary offer tomorrow. I spent some time figuring out what he actually made this year, because with the promotion he'll no longer be eligible for overtime pay, and we want to make sure he's not actually getting a pay cut! His base salary is $41,200, and we figured out he made nearly $45,000 over the past 12 months. That will be good info for him to take to the meeting tomorrow.

If NT gets a raise, I've promised he can get a few nice work outfits to upgrade his image a bit.

Saturday's dinner party went smashingly. Our vegan chef was a great guy, and we had a really fun crowd of people that got along well. Among them was kashi and her husband! She's awesome, of course. Fun to meet my first SA blogger, even if she's a latent one. I'll try to post some photos of the food.

Sunday was not so fun. We slept in and didn't have much time to hang out before I had to leave for my Memphis business trip. AS was hungry and out of sorts and there was a minor squabble between me and NT over money. But I got to the airport in plenty of time and had a pretty good time with my co-worker; we went to a restaurant and listened to a blues-rock band while we ate, then got a nice early night at the hotel. I spoke with NT and AS that night and felt much better.

Monday was an all-day meeting with my company's biggest client, a huge company. I think I comported myself well, asked smart questions etc. I'm not so great at the socializing during breaks, but it's not like I'm an account manager or anything. I learned a lot and have some hopes that my co-worker will be able to become an equal partner on my biggest (and least desirable) role at work, taking some of the pressure off me. (Once it became clear I wasn't going to get a raise, promotion or office with the extra responsibility, I lost any interest in taking ownership of this onerous task.)

Monday night I got home about 9:30 pm, had my successful weigh-in and a late dinner. Now I'm back on my diet program and hopefully my exercising too (the main reason I want to work out today is to not break my chain of working out every day it's been scheduled, even if I don't do exactly what's on the calendar).

AS's pregnancy seems to be going along. She's having normal symptoms such as food aversions, food cravings, nausea, irritability and tiredness. Today she had some cramps, but that's not an indicator either way; I had terrible cramps in my first trimester and had a perfectly healthy pregnancy. These early weeks I just feel like we're in a holding pattern; I don't want to do too much planning until she sees the OB. Hearing the heartbeat will go a long way toward allaying my nervousness. But I feel pretty optimistic. Just waiting to really unleash my excitement and adoration. But we already have a nickname for the embryo: Bunny.

I did draw up a rough calculation of what our budget might look like with $1000 more in child care, assuming a certain amount for NT's raise and a few other likely adjustments. It doesn't look too bad; we'd either have to cut down on spending money or extra debt repayment (or some from each). I figure whichever we cut back, we'll still probably bring in extra money here and there, and we could put it toward whichever budget item is lacking.

I was worried about the S&P downgrade affecting our mortgage when it readjusts in November, but the Fed has promised to keep interest rates low, so hopefully that will translate to a low rate on our ARM.

We have about $700 in extra money so far this month, and we may get more if NT gets OT pay next week, and if my Chase Sapphire rewards come. (That reminds me, I've got to get AS to get her spending up to $3000 before the 3-month period ends this month, or else we'll lose that $500. It would be a shame since she's got less than $500 to go! I think she still has to buy plane tickets for her business trip coming up, so that will push her over the edge if she does it in time. I can't remember when we got the cards but I believe it was mid-May.)

Anyway, much of this extra money will probably get put aside for NT's work wardrobe, AS's maternity wardrobe, and possibly so I can start a food website as I've been talking about for months. Oh, and maybe we'll set some money aside for baby-related purchases, though I'm hopeful we can get lots of hand-me-downs like we did with AA!

OK, I gotta go do yoga before I lose all motivation!