Counting the Cost

Hip, hip, hooray! We have successfully weaned William off of formula and on to cow's milk. I cheer not only because mixing formula can at times be a pain in the neck, but because our weekly expenditures have dropped by some $20.00.

Naive that I was, I had never expected to have to shell out so much money for infant formula. Andrew was primarily breastfed for his first thirteen months since he refused to take a bottle throughout most of his infancy. What little formula we did have to use came free, courtesy of the salespeople who frequented my dad's medical office. The whole time I never guessed that one 25.7 oz. can of Nestle Good Start* would run me $24.99 every 5-7 days. Thankfully, we only had to formula feed for four months.

We still have William drinking out of a bottle. Previously, the evil sanctimommy in me would have jumped on my soapbox and lambasted the current me for keeping my one year-old on a bottle instead of transitioning him to a cup. However, these are different times and this is a different child. William has undergone so much change in under five months. Having just moved him off of formula, I think we'll wait a while longer to make the switch to a cup. I don't want to rip the rug out from under his feet by taking away from him everything that is familiar.

Here's another thing I hadn't thought about: laundry. Of course I knew that my weekly loads would increase, but I hadn't figured they'd go up by that much. Already into the third day of the week, I have done four loads. I anticipate having to do another two in a few more days. I know those of you with 3+ kids are laughing at me and thinking, "Aww, that's nothing!" I just never anticipated that a (relatively) little guy like William could put such a spike in the weekly wash.

Finally, we come to the part where I'm supposed to quit whining and say that when I look at our precious William, it's all worth it and I'd wash 10 more loads on his behalf. So, there you have it. I said it - and I honestly mean it.

* Incidentally, Nestle Good Start is the brand our adoption pediatrician recommended we use because, according to her research, it has the most optimal casein to whey protein ratio, making it easier for babies with digestive problems to consume. That being noted, if you act now and buy one SuperGutDustBuster, I'll throw in three free with a bonus attachment. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming...