A Raise and a Plan

About two weeks before we went away for our anniversary, Dave had asked his boss about getting a raise.  We didn't think he was gonna get much, if anything, but he figured he'd give it a shot.  He ended up getting a 25% raise and went from being paid hourly to being paid salary!  We're so excited!  This is gonna be a huge help for us in terms of getting a house.  Now we're just waiting for 1 of 2 things to happen before we can get one.  I need to get a job at a public school and I need to finish my Master's program.  When one of those things happens, we're gonna start the house-buying process.  I'm expecting to be done with my Master's program by August of 2011, or, at the lastest, December of 2011.  Either way, we'll be starting the process next year!  Our goal was to have our own house after 2-3 years of being married and it looks like we're gonna be able to do that.  Plus, we want our own house before we have a baby.  We do have a back-up plan for a baby in the apartment just in case, but we're hoping to have a house first.

Also, I've really been thinking about our plans of my being a stay-at-home mom.  First of all, we were concerned because of money; we didn't think we'd be able to afford it.  Second of all, I would feel bad if I were always out doing fun stuff with the kids or even if I ever went out on my own while Dave was working to pay for it.  I started thinking about the possibility of my having to work instead of staying home when we have a baby.  I started looking into daycare licensing to run a day care at our house.  Honestly, though, I don't want that.  I felt like if I were to do that, I'd feel as though I'm never away from work.  Plus, I really really love teaching and want to do that.  At first, the thought of working while having kids kinda bothered me.  After talking to some other people about it, though, I feel so much better and am actually excited about it.  From talking to other people, I've learned that research has shown that dads of kids whose moms work are more involved in their kids' lives, and I've also learned that being a parent and a teacher helps you to be better at both parenting and teaching.  Plus, having a job as a teacher is the most convenient job you can probably have while being a working parent.  I'll have summers off, snow days, vacation, etc. to be with our kids and I'll be out of work every day at 3:15.  I know we have plenty of time since we're not pregnant and not planning on being so for at least another year, but Dave and I talked about it.  I'm a planner, so I like to have a plan for what we want to do in the future.  Even though we had both originally wanted me home with our kids when we have them, we decided it would be fine if I work; so that's our plan!  I'm excited that we have a plan and we've both been a lot less concerned about financial issues since we've decided this.

Those are the big updates for now!  =)