My wife told me her new years resolution was no hospital stays which last for more than 6 months of the year.

She pointed out that in 2008 half of our year was spent in the hospital. Because it was Jan-June I kind of forgot how tough 2008 was.

Wife was in hospital from late january thru March 30, kids were born March 27 and DS2 came home in late June.

I told her to choose a goal she has control over. I don't want to spend ANY time in 2009 in a hospital, but if I have to spend it, it's not like I can control whether I get admitted or not- if I have to go, I have to go.

I have made it 2 days and have made it through my goals (listed previously) including #4. LOL.

I had Thursday-Monday off.

Thursday was a sick day because both boys had outpatient surgery. DS1 had hypospadius repaired (that means he can now write his name in the snow without a slant to it when he is older if you know what I mean). DS2 had a bilateral hernia repaired.

My parents came into town mid day Thursday and watched the boys while wife and I got the house ready for a party on Saturday (it was DW's mother's 60th birthday).

Saturday was the party and my MIL was shocked. We had 60+ people in our house and it was not crowded at all (good thing). That was first time we ever had that many people.

Sunday my wife made saurbraten for dinner and we cleaned up. Actually I took a nap and my wife and parents cleaned up.

DS1 was being fussy on and off all weekend. Never slept thru night at all- side effect of surgery is he has a stint (tube) up his penis, so I guess I don't blame him for being uncomfortable. I took Monday off from work so wife could work all day and I spent day consoling my son.

Wife balanced the checkbook and the $2500 cc bill which included the party on it could be paid in full.

My kids also got to open 5 gifts from people. They now have some toys to play with- they light up, make noise and keep them entertained. The best gift is a Buffalo Bills bean bag which they take naps in now and can climb on.

Both boys also ate their first meal from a high chair yesterday.

Here is one of the photos MIL got as a gift on her 60th B-day. Picure taken when boys were ~7 months old, they are almost 9 months old now.

What are you thankful for?

I am thankful that my twins are home and healthy. That above all else makes this thanksgiving truly the best ever.

I am thankful my wife still tolerates me, loves me and takes care of my kids when I am not around.

If you read the forums you know where this is going.

Last weekend was probably a weekend I will never forget. Portions of this are edited for brevity.

On Thursday night (9/4) I found out my wife had ~6k in cc debt on a card in her name.
We had a brief discussion Thursday then a much bigger argument Friday morning (9/5). DS1 was also not tolerating feeds and needless to say the argument continued on the way to the hospital.

DS1 was admitted to hospital overnight while wife stayed with him. I took DS2 home and decided to do a quick cc check of my own.

2 of my 4 cards had a balance (1.9k and 1.7k). My wife had changed addresses on both cards so bills were being sent to her mothers- I did not know either card had a balance. Some of the balances were 18 months old or longer.

A much bigger discussion followed.

I liquidated 10k of the emergency fund I keep in CDs, paying about $40 in penalties to pay off the cc debt. Two of the cards were paid off on Sunday morning 9/7 and the third card will be paid off on 9/8 when I get home from work.

My wife and I discussed our household budget over the long weekend. She had been dreading the conversation and putting it off for months.

The first few conversations we had like this 7-10 years ago were tough- I had to tell her rent came before getting hair and nails done, and she was not used to that (her mom did not require her to pay rent before she moved in with me).

The last few have been real easy. She initiated this one because she wanted money for a vacation to disney world in July of 2009.

We sat down and plugged various numbers into our budget spreadsheet. I had a raise which had not been added in, and we decreased the phone bill from $100 to $55 by removing some options from the line. We need a phone line for home high speed internet- we have a satellite dish so roadrunner/dsl is not an option.

End result was we save 20% of gross pay and pay our bills. And have $5000/year left over after all spending is accounted for.

WOW- my last raise was only 3k and we increased Roths once the raise hit the bank account.

Needless to say, looks like our kids can meet Winnie the Pooh and Tigger.