Neglected...opps

Hi to the few of you who actually read this blog. I have been super busy and often times forget to update this, especially since most of my stuff is on facebook.

Here is an update on our family and what we are up to:

David has been at ISD Corp. for 2 months now and is really enjoying it. He likes being able to leave for home at 5 and get home shortly after. Its a close job!

I have been keeping busy as a Stay at Home Mommy. It is a huge blessing for all of us that I am able to stay home and take care of the boys. I also watch Colton on Fridays while Katie is in class. I run a blog called Cloth Diaper Addiction and really enjoy it and I am learning quite a bit about cloth diapering. The blog is only 3 months old and I already have close to 300 followers. I also have a facebook page to go with my blog and we are almost to 600 followers on that. I am meeting some other great ladies who cloth diaper and love to share their stories. For the blog I do reviews on cloth diapers as well as other great parenting products. I contact companies with review requests and they will send me a product for free as also a second item for a giveaway. I love being able to try out things that we typically would not buy for ourselves. Having the blog does take some work though because you have companies that are rely on you to get word out about their product but its fun and I enjoy doing it.

Elijah just turned 2 on the second. So we celebrated his golden birthday with a tractor themed party. I think he now owns every tractor toy that is made. Grandpa C. also built him an awesome big barn for him to store all his tractors in. We are working with him on his sleep habits. He has a hard time going to bed and will wake up quite a bit during the night. He was 28 pounds and 36 inces at his 2 year check up.

Ezekiel is doing good too. He is rolling over both ways now and loves to grab and at his toys. We gave Zeke his first bottle at 4 months and he did really well taking it. After slowing introducing it we decided we were ready to wean him and switch him over to formula. This past week he broke out in a horrible rash and the doctor wasn't quite sure what it was. He also started projectile vomiting and so the doctor suggested we give him pedialite. His rash is now gone and he seems to be doing a little better with the vomiting. He was 6.4 ounces at his 4 month check up and was 17.2 a week and a half later when we went in for his rash! He is big growing boy!

12 weeks?

Tomorrow will be Ezekiel's 12 week birthday! My time truly has flown by during this maternity leave! Everyone is doing great over here in the Coffey house. Elijah is still loving on his little brother like crazy, he has his naughty moments to and we do time outs when that happens. He doesn't like that but it seems to work and calm him down. I'm waiting on a book to come into the library to read, "The Strong Willed Child" by James Dobson, I hope to get some insight on how to deal with Eli's strong willed nature. Ezekiel is doing great also. He sleeps about 6-8 hours a night usually from 11-6 or 7. Which is so wonderful! He is still eating like a pro and growing like crazy. I like the fact that he is 12 weeks old and has not had a single bottle yet! Makes me feel proud of myself for sticking to nursing when it was getting hard. It saves a lot of money too! Both boys are still in cloth diapers. I don't think I will ever go back to disposables. As a matter of fact I'm about ready to sell off the 2 packs of size one diapers and 3 packs of size 2 diapers I had gotten while still pregnant with Zeke! Make some money off them and buy some more cloth diapers. Eli seems to be really interested in the potty to lately. He always tells me as soon as he goes poopy because he wants to be changed (even though he fights the changing like crazy). He also loves to just sit on his little potty and tries to go on it as well. Its so funny to watch.

David and I also have some very exciting things going on in our lives. I was supposed to go back to work on Monday because my maternity leave would be over, however, David was offered a position at ISD Corp. as an Information Technology Engineer which will allow me to be a stay at home mom! This is truly a huge blessing that we have been praying about and are so excited for this opportunity that has been given to both of us.

2 Months Alreay!

We went in on Friday for Ezekiels 2 month check up (9 weeks old) and he is a growing boy! He weighed in at 12 pounds, 14 ounces and was 23 inches long. The doctor was very pleased, especially since it took him 3 weeks to get back to his birth weight. We asked about him spitting up and she said not to worry about that either since he was gaining weight so well. Elijah is doing well also. He still loves to hold Zekey when ever we let him. He always checks on him and asks where he is first thing in the morning when he wakes up. We have both boys in cloth diapers full time and that is going great. It has helped with Elijah's scratching on his bottom. Only 3 weeks until I have to go back to work...bummer!

New Blog

Hey everyone, I started up a new blog...dont worry I will try and keep this one up and running with the family items. My new blog is about cloth diapering. I hope to get a lot of followers and be able to get some items from companies to do reviews on. A lot of times they also give an extra item for me to give away to a lucky reader! Head on over to Cloth Diaper Addiction and become a follower. Even if you don't cloth diaper yourself it will be a fun site to follow. I hope to include lots of other items about parenting and motherhood and the joys of having children. You can also 'like' me on facebook under cloth diaper addiction. The more the merrier! I hope you 'like' and 'follow' me!

Here we go...

Things are going great over here in the Coffey house hold. David had been doing a lot of work in various gardens around the county...Dale and Joys, My Mom and Dads, and our own (we just have a few buckets of strawberries and raspberries). The gardens are looking great and I can't wait until we have fresh produce to munch on.

Im still doing good. Im enjoying the summer off with my two little guys. There is never a dull moment! I signed Elijah and I up for a laptime session at the library once a weeks. We have only had it once so far but it seemed to go well. Zeke slept through the whole thing thankfully. I also got both boys signed up for the summer reading program and we are reading away. It will only be week two when we go back this week and Im pretty sure Elijah has read enough books to finish level one! (There are only two levels) He loves to read and have us read to him. Tonight he actually fell asleep in his bed while reading his book. It was too cute! Elijah is also learning his ABC's and numbers. We usually do them both a couple of times a day and I will find him counting his cars and tractors randomly while playing...not always in the correct order but with numbers non the less! Its so cute to see him growing and learning more and more each day. We have decided to offically switch Elijah over cloth diapers full time. Im hoping to go this week to ecobuns to pick his out. The ones Im getting for him are nice because they can fit newborn up to toddler so they fit both Zeke and Elijah so that when we get Eli potty trained we can use the diapers on Zeke! Eli seems to have a big interest in the potty lately. Whenever we do a diaper change he wants to sit on his potty. I hope that he potty trains early then we will only have one in diapers. I have heard that putting kids in cloth helps them to potty train fast so we shall see.

Ezekiel is doing really good as well. He is growing like crazy and is getting so long! We haven't had a weight cheek for a few weeks so we don't have an official weight to share. He is still nursing really well but he seems to have a problem with spit up. We can sometimes get him to burp but not to often. He spits up quite a bit like Elijah did. Elijah had reflux and Im wondering if Zeke has it to. With Eli we put a little bit of cereal in his bottle to help keep it in and that worked but with nursing you can't really add cereal to thicken it up. We have his 2 month check up next week and we will find out what his weight is, length is, and what we can do for his spitting up. Zeke can often times be found laughing and smiling in his sleep and its to precious. He is sleeping well through the night...about 6-7 hours before waking up to eat. He is still cloth diapered full time for the most part. We occasionally will use disposables mainly because we have a lot to use up. I will probably just sell what we dont use.

Picture time:
Elijah had to try out our new double stroller as soon as daddy finished putting it together. He claimed the front seat and started reading his books!

Ezekiel loves to sleep on his belly...back to sleep i know... I only put him on his tummy during the day when I am awake and right there by him to keep an eye on him. I do love the little butt in the air though!
Ezekiel and Elijah have matching diapers. They are the Thirsties duo diaper cover in blackbird print. I love this cover a lot however you have to use a prefold with it which isn't hard...unless you are trying to put it on a very squirmy wiggly 1 1/2 year old who hates being changes. But i do manage to get it on him somehow. lol

Elijah caught reading Daddys 'funnies' as we call them. He loves the comics just like his daddy. He usually will pick out and name all the trucks, tractors, cars, and fire trucks that he sees in them.

Free Coupons

I have the following coupons available. If you are interested please email me at kristina(at)thecoffeycan(dot)com NO SPAM! Please be willing to send a SASE or arrange a local pick up

$1.00 off any Gentle Naturals Product ex 6-30-10
$5.00 off any Gerber GoodStart 2 Formula ex 11-10-10
.55 cents off any two boxes Gerber infant cereal
(2) .75 cents off 3 4-pcaks or 3 32ounce bottles of Gerber Juice ex 8-15-10
$3.00 off any Huggies Pure and Natural diapers ex 6-30-10
$1.00 off Huggies little swimmers sun care product ex 6-30-10
(3) $2.00 off Huggies Pull Ups ex 6-30-10
$1.00 off pull ups wipes ex 6-30-10
(4) .75 cents off Gerber ultra-thin nursing pads ex 6-15-10
(2) $5.00 off any Enfagrow Premium or next step formula ex 6-30-10
(2) $1.00 off any pampers cruisers ex 8-31-10

Diaper Giveaways

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately about cloth diapering because that is what is on my mind. A lot of blogs have give aways and will pick a person to win a cloth diaper. Here is one blog I found that is giving away the Thristies diaper cover (duo wrap) which is what I am using and LOVE! So I wanted to share the blog with those of you who actually read this blog. Check it out!

www.thebudgetmommy.com

they also have lots of other neat deals and reviews of lots of great products.


here is the direct link:

http://www.thebudgetmommy.com/home/2010/5/17/thirsties-duo-wrap-insert-tiny-bubbles-giveaway.html

Cloth Diapering and Nursing

After much researching and debate David and I decided to give cloth diapering a try. This was a hard decision to make because I didn't want to have a baby wearing a huge bulky diaper and honestly, shaking a poopy diaper above a toilet does not seem that appealing to me. (and it still doesn't) We are hoping this will get us one step closer to allowing me to be a stay at home mom by helping us save some money. I have been keeping track of the amount of diapers used since Ezekiel was born. We used around 190 newborn diapers and around 100 size one diapers in a mere 4 and a half weeks! Now granted I did get great deals on those diapers and didn't pay full price for any of them, but I don't know if I will always be able to get the good deals in the future. So anyways we are taking the great adventure and are trying out cloth diapers. There is a local company in town called ecobuns (ecobuns.com). It is ran out of a ladys home and she has great insight on all the items she sells. Dana (SIL) and I went over to her house one day and she gave us a mini diapering class and explained all the in's and out's of cloth diapering. She showed us all the different types of diapers and how they worked and shared the pros and cons of each kind. We ended up being there for almost two hours going over things and trying to decide what way we wanted to go with for our diapers. I ended up buying prefolds and covers and Dana got AIO (all in one) diapers. So far we both love our diapers and have purchased more. I will still be using disposables for long days away from home and when we go camping just because we don't have the supply needed to make it through the longer periods. Here is a picture of my covers I purchased:
There is a new way of cleaning off poopy diapers too, Its a sprayer that hooks to your toilet. It is kind of like the sprayer that is in your sink but it is hooked to the water behind your toilet and you can spray off the poo into the toilet rather than having to shake it out and worry about dropping the diaper into the toilet. However they run kind of high as far as price goes so Willy (BIL) is making a home made one for about half the price for Dana and I to have on our toilets.

Zeke looks great in his diapers by the way...okay he doesn't like to get his diaper changes that much so that is why he is mad in the picture with the blue diaper cover on.


Elijah is still using disposable diapers at this point. We wanted to see how it goes first with Zeke and then make the decision to switch over with Eli or not. I might buy a couple of nice AIO's for him at night though instead of buying overnight diapers. Here is a picture of Eli because he is a cutie pie too! Did I mention he loves his fruit!
Switching topics now...

While browsing blogs today I came across one that I was able to relate to as a nursing mom. After I had Elijah I tried nursing and it didn't work out. He lost weight and didn't gain it back the way he should have so we had to start supplementing and it just kind of went down the drain from there. He ended up completely on formula. This time around with Zeke nursing is going really well, even though it took him 3 weeks to get back up to his birth weight. He latches on well and eats for a long period of time. I have to admit there are times when I just wish he was formula fed, it gets tricky when you have a 20 month old getting jealous and decides to jump, bite, kick etc, while you are nursing and knows you can't put him in time out or give him vinegar for biting because you are in the middle of a feeding. Hopefully this will calm down after a while. So back to the blog I had mentioned. The lady wrote about nursing in public and overcoming her fears of doing so. The article can be found at: http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2010/05/overcoming-fears-of-nursing-in-public.html This really hit home for me because I am just like she was. It is uncomfortable going out in public and having to nurse the baby. But I find myself gradually working up my nerves and becoming more comfortable with it. At first I was locking myself away from family and friends to go and feed Zeke, and I would miss out on 20-30 minutes of conversation and time with them. I enjoy spending time with people...I don't enjoy spending time alone by myself, locked away in a room. So I am gradually overcoming my fears and am starting to nurse more in 'public' I should say more around family while using a nursing cover. It is hard though to make sure Zeke is latched on and keeps latched on while hidden under the cover but eventually over time as he gets old he will hopefully start to get the hang of latching himself on with out a bunch of help from me and this will become even more enjoyable.
I do have to say that I am proud of the fact that Ezekiel has never had a bottle at one month old and Im pretty sure he won't get one for a while because things are going really good for us. I have pumped once, more to help ease some pain, and that milk is probably going to need to get tossed out.

And to end the post...Elijah is such a great big brother to Ezekiel. He always asks " Hold me?" when he wants to hold Zekey. He will sit so good on the couch and hold him, he will look at him and talk to him and give him so many kisses. Its the most precious thing in the world.

Way over due!

We have been super busy here the last two months getting ready for the new baby and then having the new baby. But I finally have time to update and hope to do so more frequently now that things have calmed down for us.

On April 23 we went in for our scheduled c-section (we were hoping I would go into labor on my own so I could do a VBAC but that didn't happen) we went in at 8 am and the section was schedule for 9. We didn't know what we were having so we were very excited at this point. Finally around 9:20 we heard that the baby had a ton of dark hair, which is way different from what Elijah had when he was born, then at 9:26 we heard the cry of our new little baby and David looked over the sheet to tell me that we had another baby boy! Ezekiel Henry! He weighed in at 9 pounds 4 ounces and was 21 inches long. He was a big baby and the doc said I probably wouldn't have been able to have him naturally if I would have gone into labor on my own. David was able to cut the cord and bring him over to me to see. I got to see him for a couple minutes then they went upstairs with the nurse. I went back into recovery for not quite an hour and was brought back upstairs to my room. Shortly after being in there Dr. Worpel came in and talked to David and I and told us that Ezekiel had wet lungs. Normally when you labor and deliver naturally most of that fluid gets pushed out of the babys body and because Ezekiel was a c-section he didn't have that chance to get that stuff out. So he was put on oxygen right away to help his heavy breathing and she said it could take 12-24 hours to clear up his lungs and then he would be able to come into the room with me and I would be able to hold him. They said if I started feeling better then they would wheel me down to the nursery to see him. Finally after 7 hours the nurse came in and told us that his levels were back where they needed to be and he could come down to our room and I would finally be able to hold him. He was put on limited holding (only mommy and daddy) until the next afternoon. They had to tube feed him once and then they bottle fed him for his second feeding and he did well with that so they let me nurse him for his third feeding and he has been nursing since then. No bottles yet! When we left the hospital he weighed in at 8.10 and 4 days later was still at the same weight so we had to go in for a weight check at 2 week and he was 8.12. He only gained 2 ounces in a week and was still below his birth weight. We go in on Monday for his 3 week check up and will see how he is with weight gain. Hopefully it has gone up enough that I don't have to supplement and give him a bottle. He seems to latch on well and will eat for 20-30 mins every 2-3 hours.

Elijah loves being a big brother and is always wanting to hold Zekey and hug and kiss him. The first thing he does every morning after I get him out of his room is run into mommy and daddys room to check on Zeke. He is starting to want to pick him up out of his bouncy seat and swing so I have to keep and extra close eye on him with that.

I'm feeling quite well since having the c-section. I can get around really well and I am no longer sore. I can even fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans! We are hoping that over the next couple of months we can figure out some way for me to be able to be a stay at home mom.

Week two and three of couponing

Week Two: This was Meijer band week with the sales which means that most of the items on sale were meijer brand and you can't really get coupons for that stuff. However they did have the Buy 10 for $10 get on free so I did get some good deals that way. Week two I spent $63.24 and saved 32.19 Not to bad for it being Meijer week.

Week Three: This week was kind of a last minute shopping trip. Elijah has a double ear infection so I figured while I was at the store I might as well do my grocery shopping while I was there. I only had about an hour to put together my list and gather my coupons but I dont think I did to bad. Here is what I got:


They had a lot of good deals this week. Bread was buy one get 2 free! Plus I had a .55 cent coupon so it was even cheaper. It was 2.99 a loaf but I got three loaves for $2.44 a total of .81 cents a piece! They also had the Jacks pizza that is uaully $3.33 each and I got them for $1.09 each. I spent $6.20 on grapes but they were cheap for $1.24 a pound and my boys and myself love to munch on them. Cream cheese was probably my best deal. I bought 4. They usually would be $6.96 for 4 of them but I paid$3.00 for 4 of them! Shredded Cheese I got 6 bags for $1.16 a piece and we love cheese over here so its a good deal! There were a lot of other good deals that didn't make it on my list so Im probably going to head back over there some time this week to pick up those few missing items.
Total spent tonight: $67.85
Total Saved: $54.67

The 'Pantry'

Now that we have started couponing our pantry is starting to change looks. This is the picture I took the first week I started: (two weeks ago)

This is what it looks like today. There is so much stuff in there! And I'm sure it will continue to grow which means more cleaning it out. The games on the top shelf need to be moved to the large storage closet.

Tuesday

We started a new schedule this week at our house and are slowly getting adjusted. I think its hardest for Elijah because hes the one who gets to nap. lol. I'm now working 7:45 - 2 instead of 2 - 6:30 which is so much nicer. I like having the whole afternoon and evening off rather than the morning and a few hours at night. Elijah got out of his crib yesterday when I put him down for a nap and he fell out and hit his head on the rocking chair which resulted in a big ole bump/bruise on his forehead. Poor little guy. But he is doing fine now. He fell asleep in my arms today for his afternoon nap so I put him in his toddler bed for the very first time to sleep. He is so small in there! For the most part he will still be in his crib for sleeping but we have to make sure he is out or close to being out before we put him in there otherwise he will climb out and hurt himself again.

I haven't been shopping yet this week to get groceries. I don't think I will get as many cheap items because its brand week (all meijer items on sale) and its hard to get meijer specific coupons for those. But I hope to do well anyways! I got a big packet of Target coupons in the mail today (well Nick did and gave them to me) and they can all be paired with a manufatuer coupons which means double the savings. So I might make a trip out to Target too but we shall see. I have a few (5) blogs that I follow that have all the good deals posted on them and on one blog I found this great way to organize your coupons. Lucky me had the perfect basket, that already sits on my desk, that I can use for this organizing. What you do is take small envelopes and I used note cards and labeled each one into categories. The note card sticks into the envelope (flap cut off or folded in) and then goes into the basket. This is a really cool way to organize the many coupons I have. Plus if I want to bring it shopping with me it will fit into the seat of the cart. However I dont think I will be doing that seeing as how Elijah is my shopping buddy and they would all more than likely end up on the floor! YIKES! Usually I put the coupons I am planning on using in on envelope that is labels "Coupons to use this week" and bring just that with me. Its really handy. Here is a picture of my organizer:

Meijer Saturday Trip

This is getting exciting for us! But I don't think I have a whole lot of storage spots available! But I will not need to buy anymore diapers for Elijah or the future baby. I have plenty of those stashed up. I also have plenty of cereal as well. I hope next week to find some good deals as well but I don' t think I will buy as much stuff as I did this week. It was a lot of fun to see how much I can save and how much food and toiletries I bring home for that amount of money. So my final trip for this week was back to Meijer for their Super Saturday Sale! Here is a picture of what I bought.

And the run down:

Non coupon items:
Loaf Pan
(2) Cheese Toast Meijer Brand

Sale Items, Coupon Items:
(2) Post Cereal: Reg $2.39
Sale for .99 cents.
Final Price 1.98 for 2 boxes
Saved: $2.80

(2) All Liquid Laundry Detergent: Reg $5.14
Sale for $3.00
Coupons: $2.00, $1.00
Final Price: $3.00 for 2
Saved: $7.28

(5) Colgate and Aquafresh Toothpaste: Reg $1.97 and $2.17
Sale for $1.00
Final Price: $5.00 for 5
Saved: $5.45

(2) Quilted Northern 6pk double rolls Reg $2.13
Sale for 1/2 off
Final Price: $2.13 for 2
Saved: $2.13

(5)DelMonte Veggies Reg. .99 cents
Sale: 69 cents
Coupons: $1.00/4, $1.00/5
Final Price: $1.45 for 5 cans
Saved: $3.50

(2) Kellogs Frosted Mini Wheats: Reg?
Sale: $2.50
Coupons: $1.50/2
Final Price: $3.50 for 2

Honey Nut Cherrios: Reg $3.39
Sale: $2.39
Coupons: $1.00
Final Price: $1.39
Saved: $2.00

(2) Gold Fish Crackers Reg $2.19
Sale: $1.00
Final Price: $2.00 for 2

Soft Soap Hand Soap Reg $2.84
Sale: $1.50
Coupon: .35 cents
Final Price: $1.15
Saved: $1.69

FINAL GRAND TOTAL:
Total Before Coupons and Savings: $61.18
Total After Coupons and Savings: $30.30
Total Amount Saved: $30.88

I saved more than I spent!

Friday Trip Out

Today we ventured out to Target and to Meijer again. Today is my last Friday off until April when we have our next baby. So we made a day of it by shopping and saving. First we hit up Target to get some shower and wedding presents. I also was checking out diapers because I have some good coupons to use there. While looking I found a pack of size one diapers that someone had purchased online and then returned to the store. I guess when that happens they mark them really cheap to get rid of them. The top of the pack was also opened and taped back shut but for the price that I got them for it is worth it. (price to come after picture). They also have a TON of clearance going on right now. I found two 2T shirts for Elijah next winter that are so fun and 50% off so I picked them up. Those were my major deals for Target. Then we went to Meijer (had to take mom to get grocerys) and I brought along a few more coupons that I printed off. I got 4 boxes of granola bars and a G2 Gatorade drink. Here is the picture of my deals for the day!

Okay, so here is the run down:
Sunbelt Granola bars on sale for 2/$4
I used two BOGO coupons
Final Price for the 4 Boxes of Granola Bars: $4
Amount Saved: $4. 38

Gatorade G2 on sale for .99cents
Used a .50 cent off coupon
Final Price: .49 cents

Two Shirts original price: $6 each
Clearanced out at $3.00 each
Final price for 2 shirts: $6.24
Amount Saved: $6.24


AND THE DEAL OF THE DAY...
Huggies Diapers Size 1, 84 count
Regular price: 16.99
Marked down price: $4.26
Coupon used: $1.50
Final Price: $2.76
Which averages out to be around .03 cents a diaper! When usually that pack would be about .20 cents a diaper! WOO HOO!!

Couponing week one:

Today we adventured out to Meijer to do our weekly grocery shopping. I ended up with two grocery orders.

Order one consisted of the following:

2 pks Huggies diapers
regular price: 9.97
sale price: 8.97
final price: 6.72 each after coupons
received a $4.00 CAT OYNO coupon

2 pks Huggies wipes
regular price: 5.99
sale price: 5.49
final price: 4.86 each after coupons

5 boxes of Betty Crocker fruit snacks
regular price: 2.22, 2.22, 1.88, 1.88, 1.88
sale price: No sale
final price: 1.53 each after coupons
received a $3.50 CAT OYNO coupon

5 Breakstone Cottage Cheese doublers
regular price: 1.00
sale price: no sale
final price 1.00 each
received a $5.00 CAT OYNO coupon

Total before coupons and sale prices:
$48.92
Total after coupons and sale prices:
$37.59
Amount Saved:
$10.65
Received:
$12.50 CAT OYNO (coupons good for money off your next order)



Order number two:
The second order consisted of all my 'regular' grocery items as well as a few extra things that I was able to get for really cheap.
Here are the really good deals:

-Buy two milks get a 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk free (with coupon) valued @ 2.79

-Italian sausage
reg $3.89
final price $2.15

-(2) Quaker Oats 18oz.
reg. $3.28 each
final price $.98 cents for both! could have been free but couldn't get the extra coupon to print!

-(3) Goldfish crackers
reg.$2.19
final price $1.00

-(2)Starkist Tuna pouch
reg $1.89
final price $.04 cents each!

-(2)Aunt Jemima Syrup
reg $3.48 each
final price .99 cents each!

- 2 pk Gerber pjs
reg $9.99
final price $5.99

-(4) Delmonte canned Fruit
reg. $1.49 (2) and $1.36
Final price $.49 cents each

-(4) Cereals (Frosted Flakes-2, Corn Pops, Apple Jacks)
eg. $2.69, $3.39, $2.95
final price $1.75 each

I obviously bought more than what was listed above. Those were just the good deals I got. I used the $12.50 CAT's that I got from my first order on my second order. My Final Totals were:

Total before coupons and sale prices:
$86.59
Total after coupons and sale prices:
$42.52
Amount Saved:
$44.07

The two orders combined I paid the following:
Total before coupons and sals prices:
$134.83
Total after coupons and sale prices:
$80.11
Total Amount Saved:
$54.72

I do have to say this is the most I have saved using coupons ever! And I am happy to be saving it. I hope in the future I can learn new tricks and save even more but I am proud of myself for getting this far. I have always 'clipped coupons' but never to this extent and its nice to see that the 2 hours I put into this with finding all the coupons is worth it! I would also like to thank Rosaria who checked us out at Meijer, she was very helpful and friendly and didn't mind the coupons at all! There were even a couple that I had items for and they were not working so she did the adjustment thing and made the computer take them! YEAH! Oh here is one last picture for fun...
Yes that right, thats my grocery list! YIKES! What a mess! Yet I still survived! WooHoo!

Savings of the week...

I think I am going to start adding some different things to my blog besides family updates and such. Today I will start of by sharing some of my great deals that I have gotten over the last two days.

Friday we make the trek up to Muskegon to the Lakes Mall to visit the motherhood maternity store. I was looking online at some of their sale items and was going to buy online but I don't really like to return stuff so we decided to make the trip. I was looking to get a dress or two for a few upcoming weddings that we have as well as some nursing bras. I was lucky enough to find 2 new dresses, 2 long sleeve t-shirts, 1 sweater, 1 pair corduroy pants, and 3 bras. I was really excited to finally find some dresses to wear and other warm clothes for the winter. I spent $175 dollars which seems like a lot but I saved $112 dollars which is also a lot. Plus, Motherhood has good quality clothing that will last for all the rest of my pregnancy's and I will be able to use them over and over again.
While at the mall we also stopped in at The Childrens Place. I've been looking for some pj's for E and they have their monster sale going on. I found 2 pairs of pj's and 1 red and white stripped sweater for him. The pj's were on sale for 6.99 and the sweater was only $5 bucks! Which is really cheap for childrens place. I dont know how much I saved there at the moment. but I know it was a lot!

Saturday (today) mom and I went over to Carters to look for a b-day present for her neighbors son who will be 1. Of course you can't go into that store and not buy anything. So once again I was looking for p'js and found some along with a lot of other stuff. I bought a baby present for a friend, a spring jacket, 2 sets of pj''s, 1 pair of fleece pants, and a shirt for E. The original prices for everything before taxes came to a total of $125 dollars! That is so much money! But they had a lot of sales/clearance with an additional 30% off and then I had a coupon for 25% off your total purchase so I was able to get all those items for a grand total, after taxes for only $18.88! Now thats a great deal!