Fast forward to the summer of 2006. James and I had been married a little over a year, we were 25, and realized that our routine of full-time work sprinkled with a few evening classes was making for pretty slow progress. We'd reached the point that it seemed like we needed to make the leap for James to quit work and start going to school full-time. We also realized that if we continued to put off having children until he was done with school, it was going to be a LOOOONG time.
We weren't exactly sure HOW people manage to have families and go to school at the same time, but we knew that BYU Married Student Housing (AKA The Rabbit Hutches) were full of examples of families that were managing to pull it off. So we took the leap. Unfortunately that financial aid that we thought was going to fill in the gaps was pretty much non-existent. The cruel trick is that financial aid goes off of your PREVIOUS YEAR'S taxes. (Back when we were both working full-time.) Not helpful. So now we were living on HALF of our previous income with the clock ticking of when this baby would come and we would have NO income in sight. Congratulations!
This time that I had always looked forward to was finally here, but instead of it being a happy time looking forward to welcoming a baby into our family, it became a pretty scary time not having any idea how we were going to make our dream work. It was never in my plans to leave my baby and return to work, but as reality was setting in, I began preparing for the heartwrenching day when I would have to drop my baby off somewhere and spend the day at work. For now the plan was to work and save as much as we possibly could (on HALF our income) until March when the baby would come, and then HOPEFULLY something would fall into place.
Imagine our surprise when we woke up one morning in JANUARY and 3 hours later had a son.
I can't say that first year or two was EASY, but it definitely wasn't impossible, and it wasn't nearly as hard as it seemed it would be. Our first time applying for financial aid (which was while I was pregnant) we pretty much got nothing. Our previous year's taxes showed we were a married couple who both had full-time jobs, so no financial aid needed, right? Our next year's taxes showed a few months of both of us working full time and the rest of the year me working full time, so we got enough financial aid to cover school costs, but nothing to live on. Not too long after Sam was born, my super-hero husband got a part-time job. (Enter: the era of having a totally awesome husband that I pretty much only saw while sleeping.)
We were fortunate to have family and friends who were very generous in supplying us with everything a baby could ever want. (We also learned pretty quickly that for quite a while babies really don't need much more than a person to hold them. Preferably one with boobies.) 
I returned things we didn't need to get store credit for the things we did, and sold things on ebay. (Preemie clothes fetch a pretty good price!) I made some slings and returned the play pen. I can't even begin to calculate the money we saved on not having to buy formula, Praise Jesus! We had a garden that wasn't super successful, but we did have all the cucumbers and zuccinni we could ever want. (Coming up with creative uses for it was pretty interesting!) We saved a TON of money on food (and a million other things) just by me being home. When you're not working full-time you have time to look for things on sale, and you can spend the time it takes to make things from scratch. Besides the priceless benefits of being able to BE with your baby, it just made good financial-sense for me to stay home. With the amount of money I made working and the expenses that my working would entail (gas money ... quicker, easier food ... vehicle maintenence) I would literally be handing my check over to a babysitter and probably be losing more money than I made. Who knew?
Since James had to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner away from home (and usually while driving to school or work) I made a lot of sandwiches. Bread was expensive so I started making it every other day. We ate A LOT of beans. and rice. and fish my uncle had caught. Soups were the best way to stretch meat, and I could use a few really cheap ham hocks to make a HUGE pot of soup. Sometimes my made-up concoctions using whatever I had on hand or whatever I could find super-cheap didn't turn out all that great, but we ate them anyway. Sometimes they did turn out great, like this one potato soup I made with dill and sausage. BUT ... after eating it every day for several days, the sausage and dill flavors were a little much, and it didn't taste as great anymore! Thank goodness I married the least picky eater ever. That sure came in handy during those days!
This soup is my favorite from that era. This recipe is just a rough outline, I've made it lots of times adding lots of different things to it. It's got that nourishing, comfort food quality to it, and it has the distinction of being the first of many foods I spilled on my baby's face while nursing.
Sunshine Soup
(I found this on a faded little square of scratch paper, so it's not exactly a detailed recipe.)
1 pound Yellow Split Peas
4 cups chopped Carrots (about 8)
2 cups chopped Celery (about 4)
4-6 cups Chicken Broth
1 Onion (sauteed)
2 tsp Chili Powder
2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1 can Evaporated Milk (add at the end)
I made it stretch even more by using it as a sauce to pour over rice. I've added Cream of Celery soup to it, and once an antique package of powdered Cream of Asparagus Soup, Curry powder is great in it, as are ham hocks or bacon. It's just a really basic, really yummy and versatile soup base that you can do a million things with. I still love it.
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