3 things you should never pay for.

Toothpaste, contact solution, and soap. (and now with a baby... Desitin)

I'm no extreme coupon-er, but way back in the day my mother-in-law showed me the secret to CVS.

1. Always keep toothpaste, contact solution, and soap coupons. You need these things always, so saving them you are not saving a coupon that you won't use.
2.CVS always has those bucks back deals. Example: 2.99 for Colgate toothpaste (limit 2) get 2.00 cash back. Insert two 1.00 coupon. Total 5.98 - 2.00 coupons= 3.98 then in your receipt you should get 4.00 cash back. Lotta math I know! But basically you just made 2 pennies off CVS.
3. Those bucks back... You don't have to wait until your next shopping trip to use them. Stand right there (with a friendly smile so the cashier lady doesn't get annoyed) make your next transaction and buy your next items using that 4.00.
4. Desitin is an item runners use to avoid chaffing... So go get fit and run some races! The goodie bag always has a tube of it. I'm pretty sure we have enough for the entire first 3 years of D's life!
5. You can't be brand picky. Free is free people! I used hotel soap this morning from one of my moms business trips, yep we are cheap! She has hundreds of bars of soap, I help her keep her stockpile down.


I'm no pro like my mother-in-law, I've seen that woman walk out the door where the store owed her money!! She's had a few more years to practice.

-I didn't ask her yet, but I'm sure if you have coupon questions or want some lessons she would share her secrets:)

Back to my Monday!

Late

The man of the house works some serious long hours. We rarely eat dinner together. He technically only works until 7:30 but since he's a perfectionist and cares very much about his patients it often ends up being 9 or 10 when he gets home. Little guys in bed and I'm half asleep on the couch. We know that having a job in general is a blessing, but it would be nice if he had some better hours. As I say that next week his schedule changes and even though it's the same amount of hours it's still not a "hey I have a kid I would like to see" schedule. Maybe in the future? Last night was one of those really late nights. We decided to bring him dinner and visit while he did paperwork.


Dathan is clearly helping!


Getting some mat time


And no visit is complete without the "my son will stand/walk before he's 5 months physical therapy session" haha we dream big in this house! Does this next picture count?


He's not leaning against his dad or anything... Ok so maybe a little!

Swim and Sleep

While daddy swam laps, momma and D went in the baby pool for our 1st swim! How fun it was, D had the biggest smile the whole time...




Of course right after he was so tired, he fell asleep and didn't wake up until the next morning.




Look at that tired little face!




This kid likes his sleep! The first 6 weeks we had some serious issues with sleep, he had reflux so he couldn't sleep on his back. The doctors then started to get into what in my diet was causing him so much gas/pain. Looks like dairy products may have been the cause, if I drink milk or eat cheese the peace in our house is non-existent. We were also given a book from our babysitter, "the baby whisperer" it gave us some insight on why we could never get D to sleep. Apparently we were missing his cues that he was tired and just waiting too long to put him down. Let's put it this way after 4 days following the general routine that the book advises we were getting 6-7 hour stretches at night. Now 4 weeks later, he sleeps 8-8 with one wake up to eat. Not bad for 2 months! So, even though needing a babysitter so I could work one day a week made me sad... I am soooo thankful we met her (thank you The farming momma introducing us) and she offered that book and a couple others. I'm pretty sure I would be walking around like a sleepless zombie right now with a very unhappy baby!




-love the blog app. Love love love!!

Mini blue Testament

This is Mr. C... Or better known by his miniature friends as Preacher C. See that there book in his hands, it's his mini New Testament. It used to belong to Preacher C's dad. (cute bed/nap hair huh?)


But now he uses it to preach the
Good News to all the little people he meets...


C's mom said he carries that book everywhere, even sleeps with it!

Car seats

My car has no AC. My kid hates his car seat (92% of the time). If you see me driving down the road windows down, music blasting, ignoring Dathan. I'm not a horrible mom I swear...


If it were legal and safe I would let him ride in my lap, it's not. So until we get the AC fixed and I don't have to ride with the windows down, screaming to the whole world is how we shall ride!

-I think I like this blog app... Just have to figure out how to use it to its full potential.

Blogger app

I've been trying to figure out a way to post more often. I always put off blogging until later at night, then life happens and I never get my computer out. Today I was determined to find a way to post from my iPhone, there are lots of options! You can email, text, or use the blog app, this post is brought to you by the blog app. Not sure how it will look but this is my "test post"...

And with that I leave you with a cute picture of the star of this blog, no not me... This guy!

the little dude

This is Dathan Drew. He was born Feb 16th at 11:36am. 21.5 inches 7lbs 11oz long and lean like his dad. The birth story will have to wait, but how he got his name here you go. What had happened was...

Growing up Drew had always loved the name Nathan, he had imagined his first son would be named Nathan. He let everyone know that, including his former girlfriends. When we found out we were having a boy, Drew was so excited! He could name his little man Nathan Drew, I however felt a little awkward about that (since his former girlfriends knew that name). I just felt it wasn't the name our little guy should have, very common and it wasn't a name we had come up with together. So Drew said if I could come up with a better name (in his mind highly unlikely) he would think about it. Everyday I was throwing out names and so was he.

Then Drew mentioned the name Dathan and immediately I loved it. Drew then told me that Dathan was a name from the Bible in Numbers, a rebel who rose up against Moses. Now I am not in any way promoting rebels, in fact I pray that Dathan will someday stand strong in Jesus. Dathan seemed to me a great compromise from Drews childhood dreams and my need to have a name we chose together.

After we picked out his name, a month before he was born, the Olympic Trials for the Marathon were on TV. If you know us, you know we LOVE running. Guess who placed 4th, a guy named Dathan Ritzenhein. That friends, solidified our name choice.

Check out his onesie... Thanks Korryne, queen of artsy things! Perfect for his debut on the blog.

I hope to update often, so much has happened from Makenzie's mom returning from deployment to Mr. Dathan's arrival!