Cutting the cost on the grocery bill and a potty training update

 When we moved back here from Germany we took a major pay cut. So with the loss in pay came a huge rework of our budget. One the hardest places to cut is the grocery bill. I have absolutely NO PATIENCE for couponing. When I do take the time to cut out the coupons to them to the store, I end up leaving them at home on the counter.
 So I had to think of another way to cut corners and still feed my family. I started looking at how much leftovers I had every meal, and realized I was buying too much food. Our grocery bill averaged between $160.00 and $200.00 every two weeks. That was just outrages for a family of four (technically 2.5 since one still eats formula and the other eats very little).
 So I decided for a two week budget I would buy seven meals (instead of fourteen) and I would cook one day and the next we would eat leftovers. I was pretty nervous to start it; worrying that I would not have enough to feed my family for two weeks. But it worked out great.  I was able to take our bill down to right at $100.00 every two weeks.
So here is how I set my plan:

First I make a list of seven meals I plan to make ahead of time. For example,
-Chicken and Rice w/veggies
- Baked Spagetti
-Pork chops with brown rice and veggies
-etc.

Then I create my grocery list around those meals. I put the exact amount those things I will need.
Then I list what I need for lunches and breakfast. For us that part is easy. We eat sandwiches for lunch and cereal/poptarts for breakfast.
We don't get sodas or anything fancy to drink.
Koolaid and fruit juice is as fancy as we get.

I found having a very specified list and a calculator with you when you go grocery shopping will help you stay exactly in budget.
If I forget my calculator I always seem to go over budget somehow.

That is how I save my family some money with groceries.

 Next stop is making my own laundry soap, but I have yet to convince the hubs to let me do it :)



Update on Potty Training:
Sarah did great the first couple of days, and then after that fell off the band wagon. She will cry if she has to go to the potty now :/. She prefers just to run around in her panties and cries when she pees on herself. So I am not going to push it. We will step back and let her lead. I know she will go when she is ready.

Funny story:
Sarah sat on her potty tonight begging for a M&M. I told her that if she potties in her big girl potty she will get some. She sat there for 15 minutes crying the entire time for the candy.
I told her that she didn't have to sit there, she could get up and play; but if she realized she needed to go to go the the big girl potty.
So she finally got up. I went to the other room to grab laundry and all of a sudden I heard a scream, "MY FEEEEEEEETT!!!!!" I dropped what I was doing and ran into the livingroom only to find my adorable 2 year old standing a puddle of pee screaming, "MY FEEEEEET! PEE PEE ON MY FEEEEEEEEET!" and hollering like a dying cow. She continued to scream about her feet til I got her panties off and cleaned up the mess. I walked her over to the changing table and tried to calm her down. It wasn't until I put the pull up on her that she immediately dried up and asked for something to eat. Like she turned a switch. The pull up must have given her some kind of security because she didn't shed another tear over then incident.

Making my days productive and organized

 When I worked at GMAC as a supervisor I had to be very organized. At one point I had as many as 12 agents under me that I was responsible to counsel, train, monitor, and encourage to do their jobs. Keep all this organized I started keeping a calendar, and setting goals for each day that needed to be done.
  Now that I am a stay at home mom, and have two very full time girls to take care of I knew I needed to adapt my former system to get anything done (including making it to appointments on time teehee)
  Seriously, on days I don't do this I get nothing accomplished.

 So I went to Wally-world (Walmart to my not-so-southern friends) and bought a simple academic planner and some pens. These are the planners that have a full calendar on one page, then the days broken up individually on the next few pages where you can fill in you plans.
 I set a goal of THREE household things that have to be done that day. They become my priority. For example:
 *Clean Kitchen/Dining Room
 *Fold laundry that's been sitting forever in a basket
 *Sweep and mop floors
 Then I put my not-so important stuff on there like(and this can be any number of things that I think of either the night before or that day to be done, but isn't pressing):
 -Organize the girls clothes
 -Clean the guest bathroom
 -Write Grocery List
 -Get the brakes done on car
 -Etc...etc...etc...
  I also write on there what the plan for supper is, so I know what should be set out for dinner.
 Of course I record doctor's appointments.
  Once my primary objectives are completed I move on to the rest of the tasks. Whatever I do not complete for that day I move to the next with a new set of priorities.

My trusty planner with all my scribbles that keep my life sane.

 What do I do with the main calendar? I put down my workout routine, my weight and measurements for that month, and what order I will do everything in to hopefully give me the best results.

 

  The KEY to getting a good head-start on everything is getting up earlier than everyone else. Yes, that means 0530 to 0600 everyday. Some days I slack and don't get up until the girls do at 0730, but the days I do I feel very accomplished. 

  I prefer to get up early so I have time to read my Bible, pray, and shower before the chaos that I love so much starts once my girls are out of bed. Sure, I love sleeping in as much as the next person (to me sleeping in is no later than 0900 LOL ), but as a mom I need to be mentally and spiritually prepared for the day. So I grab my coffee, my Bible, and embrace the sweet stillness of morning. Then move forward with my little planner and face the day!

 

Potty Training....Let the adventure begin!

 After over a month of Sarah showing signs of potty training readiness we decided to give it a go. I don't think I have been more nervous about a milestone as this one. I don't want to rush or pressure her into doing it, and want to do it on her own time. So if it doesn't work this time then no loss, we will just try again in a month or two :)
So, after days upon days of research I decided to go with BumGenius cloth trainers with micro-fiber inserts, Pull-ups for back up(next time I am just going with White Cloud version...they work just as well and are cheaper), and primarily running around stark naked for the rest. Knowing that Sarah will do anything for food, I got a glass jar and filled it with M&M's, this is to be her reward for pottying in the big girl potty. I also got the really cheap flush-able wipes...this way I can wipe and toss it into the potty and dump everything at once.

My little starter kit!

 So this morning we got up and I showed Sarah her potty. She immediately got excited and said, "POTTY!" then ran and sat on it. She was so proud of herself to have her own little potty. So every 20 minutes or so I would say, "Sarah, need to go potty?" and she would take off running and sit on her little toilet with her clothes on.

 

Sarah and her "Princess" potty.

We kept her in a diaper all morning. She dressed herself in her heels and hat to go with me to Walmart to grocery shop. I kept talking to her about if she pees in her big girl potty she gets an M&M.

We put her down for nap after lunch and decided to give the rest of the day before bedtime a trial run to see how she would do. So as soon as she got up we explained what was going on and brought her toilet into the livingroom. Yes, so people may think that is weird...BUT to me at least if she sees it (being just started and being only 2) she can get to it quickly. As she progresses, so will the potty to the bathroom.

So...Sarah started running around the house all free-bird. She LOVED it. I mean who wouldn't right? So over the course of the afternoon she would go and say "Potty" and sit but nothing. She would only sit for 2 seconds so a couple times after she stood up she would pee. So 3 accidents later ( thank God for GreenWorks!!)I pulled out the M&Ms and set them on the shelf next to her potty. She got soooo excited. She kept saying, "I want!! More!!MORE!!" accompanied by the sign for 'more' and everything. Sam and I both told her (trying not to laugh at her persistence) that if she would potty on her big girl potty then we would let her have some.

 That is when the Sarah we know and love jumped to it. 

 She planted herself on her potty with her waffle and sippy cup and stayed there....5....10....15 minutes waiting to potty!

waiting patiently to get her M&M's

We tried to tell her several times that she didn't have to sit on her potty the whole time. Tried several times to lift her off the potty, but she would go back. She refused to play or do anything...she was determined to potty.

So at the 15 minute mark (by this time I am sure her little chubby bum and legs are asleep) she gets a shocked look on her face. I asked her if she peed and behold she DID! YAY

We praised her up one side and down the other...and she got her M&M's :)

At that point it was time for bed...and a DIAPER (no night time training just yet)

But we are thankful we made it through day 1 with very few messes and a happy girl at the end of the day .

Cloth Diapering Adventures: My first month

 After several months of subtle hints, and comparisons of price and how much much we would save, Sam finally agreed with me to start cloth diapering. (He is SOO good to me)
 Cloth diapering is quite a controversial topic I have found out. People literally either love it or hate it. Some find it disgusting, others prefer it to disposable because of all the "horrible" ingredients of disposables. I am not really here to make anyone choose one side or the other. We made the decision to do so merely for economic reasons. Cloth diapering saves money. 
 Getting started with it is expensive, to get away with the least you need is a over $100.00. Many people balk at that, but it is a one time expense. We were spending almost that MONTHLY buying disposables between a newborn and toddler. You do not want to go cheap with prefolds or covers; you get what you pay for. You can buy things that work just as well, such as flour cloth, microfiber towels to make your own inserts; you just need to be willing to change a little more frequently because the flour cloth is not as absorbent as a regular well stitched prefold.
  I was fortunate enough to be given 8 diaper covers for Natalie's size (thank you Rebecca!). So I ventured to Walmart and bought flour cloth (1.00 each) and two microfiber drying mats for dishes. Then I went to the local cloth diapering store and bought the cloth diapering detergent (yes, special detergent), Sarah two covers(on sale) and a wet bag( bag to store dirty diapers until you wash them...keeps them from drying and getting horribly stinky).
 Once home I set to washing the flour cloth like normal and cut up and sewed together my microfiber inserts. Washed and "line" dried my covers on an old DVD rack.

 This was it! I was committed.


 The first day was kinda odd. Throwing the wipes into the diaper genie alone was weird, and so was putting dirty diapers in a bag and just save them; but I was very surprised at how easily I fell into it. I honestly thought it was going to be more difficult than what they are. Natalie (while still breastfed) had one blowout. It was only because the diaper slid to far one way. Sarah didn't have any problems at all.
Even dealing with the poop isn't horrible. If you think about it, you are handling the poop whether you use disposables or cloth. With cloth you just dump it out and wash it. Toddler poop is a little different, they have to be soaked if it doesn't roll out. Still something I am getting used to but it isn't horrible. I keep a bottle of GermX in the bathroom and on the changing table and use it every time I pull off the dirty diaper and get done wiping their little bums.

 Once Natalie started formula she started wetting so much that just the simple trifold I was doing wasn't holding her pee. So I went back to the cloth diapering store and got 11 prefolds (indian cotton...the best stuff) and a snappy (the thingy that holds the cloth diaper on once it is folded) for $12.00! I am always so thankful to the Lord for always working it out that I find sales or special buys when I need something like this ... and that did the trick! She has had ZERO leaks or blowouts.


Sarah....that child is a different story.

She doesn't leak or blowout. The issue with her is she is just becoming a big girl, and is very close to being ready for the next stage of her life. Potty training is very near to us, and we will probably start sometime in August.
With her we half and half. Half cloth diaper, half disposable. I view the cloth diapers with her the next step before cloth training panties. She is recognizing now that she goes "pee" or "poooop" in her diaper, and will ask for a change. She will pull her diapers (cloth or not) off if she can get to them while laying down for a nap. She finds peeing on herself disgusting. So a few more weeks of this we will move to cloth trainers.

 We did catch her one day when we went to get her up from nap with her diaper cover on her head calling it her hat, her insert in her bed, and her stark naked from the waist down. It was hilarious :)

 My adventures of cloth diapering have just began, but I am more than happy I changed over. It is simple, neat, and makes me feel accomplished.

When nursing ends....

 (note: I wrote this blog for all the ladies out there who wished they could breastfeed and something happened and they could not. I wrote it for the mom's who had to stop suddenly and felt alone in the hormonal and emotional post-breastfeeding process. This is for all the moms who wasn't ready to let their baby go, but did out of love knowing it is all a process of your child's life, even if your heart isn't ready to do so. This is for the moms yet to be, and for the moms who have already been here. What you feel is not odd, you are not alone. It is just another part of wonderful mommy-hood.)

 I was fortunate enough to be able to breastfeed my firstborn a full year. There was nothing like nursing my little one and having her hazel eyes just stare into mine while I nourished her. I loved the look of contentment and happiness she would have, and the lazy look before she would fall asleep drunk from a full belly. I loved how she would nuzzle against me and how her little hands would rest on me while eating, made the moment almost euphoric.

Sarah at 1 years old

 When she self-weaned two weeks after her first birthday I was sad. I had fully expected to nurse her until 18 months or so...but Sarah, being Sarah, had other plans in mind. She was walking, eating "grown up" food, and had been taking a sippy cup for several months; Sarah was happy and content to continue growing even when I wanted her to stay my baby forever.

 I was fully aware of the hormonal and emotional shifts postpartum, but no one told me of the emotional and hormonal shifts of sudden weaning.  I did not have engorgement, I wasn't sore, I felt normal....but emotionally I was a mess. I felt sad,  easy to tears, extremely exhausted, and depressed.  I didn't understand what was going on. I finally did research on it and found that you have a similar dramatic hormonal shift in your body when you wean (especially suddenly) as you do when you get pregnant and have a baby. Depression is extremely common after weaning, along with regular hormonal issues. Average time span is two weeks for everything to even out and get back to your normal. Luckily, I was one of those.

 With my second my birth experience was awesome and I got to nurse within the first 45 minutes of her life. She latched on perfectly and we had no problem. She was born weighing 8lbs 6oz and dropped to 7lbs 10oz afterwards (which is pretty common in newborns).  Her first two weeks was great, she would nurse and sleep. At her 2 week check up she weighed 8lbs 2oz, so it looked like she was on the uphill for weight gain. Soon after she became what I thought was very colicky. She would cry (and I am not exaggerating) 8-10 hours out of the day. If she wasn't nursing or sleeping she was crying. She would spit up, but not an over abundant amount to be concerned with; and she was constantly gassy. She was having enough wet and poo diapers, so I "knew" she was getting enough.

 The beginning of June we went to TN for a wedding and I got to see my niece who is only 4 weeks older than Natalie....and my heart instantly became concerned for my daughter. Natalie still looked very tiny and very newborn like even though she was over a month old. Others noticed it too, and I thought it was maybe just her build...but in my heart I knew something wasn't right.

Natalie at 6 weeks. She looked much smaller than she should and constantly cried.

                                                         
 When we got back my fears were confirmed at her 6 weeks check up(she was 7 weeks before they were able to see her). Her weight was only 8lbs 8oz.  Only two ounces above her birth weight, and only 6oz since her 2 week check up. That was very, very, very low. She had met all her milestones but was not gaining weight hardly at all.
 The problem with my milk was a HIGH over production where she would only get the watery foremilk, causing the gas, and not the fatty more filling hind milk. I had tried pumping and everything, nothing would work.
 The doctor suggested I supplement with formula. I instantly agreed. I felt horrible for my little girl. She had been hungry all those weeks and I had no clue. I thought she just had bad gas, but that wasn't it at all; my milk wasn't enough for her.
 I started supplementing formula after each time she nursed, and she would gobble down the formula like she wasn't getting anything from me. Withing 4 days of formula feeding she started refusing the breast and only wanting the formula. My heart broke. I knew this was the absolute best thing for my girl. But my mommy heart instantly was devastated. I was supposed to feed her. I was supposed to be able to give her what she needed. How could I not see she was hungry. How this...why that... All the blame I put at my feet, but I would do anything to make sure my girl was happy and healthy; and if that meant only formula she would only get formula.





 Withing four days of starting the formula Natalie gained 15oz. (That's right! Nearly a pound!) She has grown and thrived. She has completely weaned from me and only takes the bottle.
 I am now going again through the hormonal and emotional shift from the sudden weaning. My milk immediately dried up. No engorgement, no pain, nothing. Like I hadn't breastfed at all.

She is like a completely different baby. She is calm, never crying, happy, and smiley. It was like she came to life.

 A part of me is still sad about all the time I will miss with her nursing, but I have found that although it is something other than me giving milk I am still feeding her. She still looks into my eyes and snuggles close while I feed her. She still loves me and sees me a mom. The bond I have with her is growing just as if we were still nursing.  Nursing is a great bonding experience, but it is not the only way to bond with your children. I look at my now healthy girl, and just think that two weeks ago she was a wisp of a human being.  Now she she is so happy and content; I cannot say enough how much of a different baby she is. She is getting chubby and tall. She has grown almost 3 inches since birth.

Natalie less than 2 weeks after starting formula.

 I am a happy mom to see her so happy. I know I made the right decision to formula feed her. I small part of me may be still a little sad, but what is motherhood without sacrifice? Mom's will always choose what is best for their children even if it causes them some pain. This will be something I will have to do over and over again the rest of my life. It is a small price to pay to have the great joy of children.

My beautiful girls <3