Seriouly Scored On Some Diapers

The Honest Company

Saturday night, or Sunday morning at about 1 o'clock, I found an email in my junk from The Honest Company. They were having a huge sale, up to 40% off when you spend $100. Even better? You can purchase a bundle in which all of the products are already 35% off, combining the promotion and the bundle price is a double whammy. 

I crunched the numbers using a size 3 and figured out this breakdown per package:

Normal price: $13.95, coming out to about $0.41 per diaper.

Bundle price: $9.07, coming out to about $0.27 per diaper.

Bundle w/ 40% promo: $5.42, coming out to about $0.16 per diaper. 

$0.16 per diaper!

On top of that, diapers are bundled with wipes and those ended up being $.02 per wipe, as opposed to $.07 per wipe.

$0.02 per wipe!

Can you tell I'm almost a mom now? I never thought I'd be so excited about prices of diapers and wipes.

Then I went on Amazon to compare prices of the jumbo economy packs using their lowest price of subscribe & save. They sell Pampers for $0.27 per diaper, Luvs for$0.23 per diaper and Huggies for $0.22 per diaper. Yep, I was pretty much shaking my tail feathers :)

I was so stoked I had to brag to Kelly about all of the money I saved, I think after the first couple of "great job honey!"'s, he was a tiny bit sick of me talking about it. I decided to text my sister-in-law who might find this information a little more exciting than the hubs. 

I was so so excited to find this deal because I absolutely love that The Honest Company is all about being good to your baby's skin.

The inner and out layers are plant based. The diapers themselves don't contain latex, lotions, fragrances, gluten, a lot of the most common allergens, phthalates, optical brighteners, heavy metals, or organotins (MBT, DBT, TBT) and are made without chlorine processing. 

In other words, they are about as 'pure' as you can get with disposable diapers. It makes me feel very confident that we will be treating our little girl's sensitive skin as gently as possible.

Plus, the prints on the diapers are just about the cutest things I've ever seen. 

The Honest Company

She got some cute pastel tribal prints, strawberries and cute little skull prints because she's totally going to be a rockstar. 

The Honest Company

This is the first time I've purchased diapers, thanks to the diaper party that Chris & Kaileigh threw us. I've read a bunch of posts online on how to stockpile diapers at the lowest possible price, this way you're not making midnight diaper runs and having to pay full price. 

The hard part is...I've never been a mom. I don't know how many diapers babies use. Plus, babies aren't robots, they all use different amounts. Thankfully, there are lots of helpful mommies out there who have tallied up their diaper usage for the first year of their baby's life.  

These are a few of the great references I've found to estimate diaper usage in the first year, along with the rock bottom price you should ideally be paying for diapers.

How To Save Money & Build A Diaper Stockpile (Parents.com)

How To Save Money & Build A Diaper Stockpile (Thriftyfrugalmom.com)

Stocking Up On Diapers: How Much To Buy And At What Price (Southernsavers.com)

The Infamous Diaper Count (Mommyneurotic.wordpress.com) 

10 Secrets to the Best Prices on Diapers (Passionforsavings.com)

All of these mothers say that they typically try to pay no more than $0.13 - $0.14 per diaper and no more than $.02 per wipe. My goal is to stock up as much as I can ahead of time to avoid paying any more than these prices for diapers and wipes. 

I'm going to stick a pen & paper on our stockpile and every time we open a new pack, mark it down. Hopefully in a year from now, I can look back and count how many of each size diaper we used along with how much we've spent for the year on diapers. I'm writing it down here to hold myself accountable so I don't flake :) 


PS.
Two days, two posts about diapers. Think this blog has gone straight to babyville. 

A Diaper Party For The Guys

So, one of the coolest things ever for a dad-to-be, Kelly's brother and sister-in-law threw him a diaper party. It's like a baby shower, but for guys. 

This is a zero-picture post because this happened to be a guy's only party and they had much better things to do then take pictures...you know, like drink beer and stuff.

Instead of a shower with a registry, the guests simply have to bring a package of diapers. Easy as that! By bringing diapers, guests recieved a raffle ticket to be put in the drawing for a few different gift cards. I believe they had a few for Cabelas and some gas stations. His cousin drew one of the gas station cards and ended up giving it to Kelly, which was really sweet. 

They made a bunch of easy food that could sit out for a while, sloppy joe's in the crock pot, chips with queso and salsa, oreo cake balls and some other munchies. The party was in the shop at the farm where they could have the heat on. They listened to a few football games, played darts, bean bags, and beer pong. And drank beer. Don't forget the beer. 

Kaileigh even make a cake out of beer bottles and the top beer had a baby bottle nipple. Now obviously a beer cake isn't going to last long in that situation, so I've googled a picture of what I imagined it looked like :) 

Buzzfeed

It was a great way for Kelly to get together with the guys to celebrate becoming a dad, without all of the fluff and stuff of a baby shower. And as he didn't get home until about 3:30 am, I'm assuming they had fun!

It was like a mini Christmas morning when I finally got him out of bed the next day. We ended up with an unbelievable amount of diapers. 17 packages of diapers and quite a few packages of wipes as well. And ye of little faith here had a thought that, being guys, they would all bring size 1 diapers, I was wrong! We ended up with all sizes, newborn through 4! And just because I could...I counted them. 969 diapers. 969! 

We're so grateful to Chris & Kaileigh for throwing this party. We're incredibly fortunate to have such amazing friends and family to celebrate the great things in life. 

Everyone was so generous, we now have a giant pile of diapers to help get us through the first year of her life! 

Pregnancy: Tips for Second Trimester Bliss

During my first trimester, everything I read said that the second trimester would bring more energy and less nausea. 

Needless to say, I thought people were insane. What, my body just knows when it's been three months? Then - BAM - I magically feel better? No way. 

Yes way. These people do not lie. I remember being sick every single day, then waking up one day and feeling pretty good. That day I did get sick a couple of times, but overall felt pretty okay. It went on like that for about two more days then, just like magic, I felt one hundred times better.

By this time for me it was June, just beginning summer in Michigan. Here are a few things that helped to make the next three months comfortable.


1.) Maternity Shorts

I bought two pair. A grey denim pair for daily use that were a shorter length and had just two small, stretchy panels on the side that were easily mistaken for pockets. No belly panel and not one person realized they were maternity shorts. The second pair I bought for the barn. They were a longer length and had the full belly band cover - with all of the bending, stretching, turning and twisting, I didn't need any of my front or back accidentally popping out!

2.) Forever 21 Tank Tops

These camis are the best. They are thin and come in a ton of different colors, but my favorite thing about them is how nice and long they are. Instead of spending $10 or more for those shirt extender bands that only work as shirt extenders, I recommend investing in a few of the F21 tank tops. 

3.) Maternity Pillow

My sister surprised me with a full body, maternity sleeping pillow. It's great! I even took mine camping with us to Silver Lake. There are several options out there for different shaped pillows and it will make your nights much easier having one, especially when you get into the third trimester. One tip, don't throw away the nice zip-up bag it comes in, save it for storage. 

4.) Air Conditioning

Okay, I realize that if you don't have air conditioning, you are most likely not going to put it in solely because of your pregnancy. I feel for those poor mommas who have to spend their third trimester in the hot summer months. 

In June, we had our family reunion in Charleston where we all played 18 rounds of golf. I was on a team with one of my cousins and our grandpa, and by the 17th hole I just couldn't play any more, I was dripping hot and so uncomfortable. That was when my saving grace grandpa did something wonderful. He dipped one of the golf towels in our cooler full of ice water, rang it out and draped it over the back of my neck. Today, I can still remember how absolutely amazing and refreshing that felt. Same idea here, if you're going out, take a frozen water bottle with you. When you get hot, you can rest it on the back of your neck or hold it up to your face. 

One of my favorite things to do is sit outside and read, so I just moved my chair under our giant shade tree, filled up our kiddy pool with ice cold water from the hose and stuck my feet in while I read. If there's no breeze, take a fan outside - you might get some laughs, but who cares, you're pregnant! Try anything to keep you from becoming overheated because, when that happens, life becomes unbearable for you and everyone around you. 

5.) Lumbar Pillow or Stand Up Desk

When working at the office, it suddenly got quite uncomfortable to sit at a desk for eight hours. My back would get quite sore, which never happened before. 

I found what helped is when I took an extra sweater and rolled it up to form a sort of lumbar pillow to set behind my lower back in my office chair. This lumbar back support pillow would work perfectly for something more long term than a sweater.  Another option is to use a stand up desk. I was able to use this standing desk, which was awesome because it sits on top of your current desk and is adjustable. That meant I could stand up for an hour, then it easily drops back down so that I could sit for a while.   


So that's it! A pretty short and sweet list because, like I said, I felt much better the second trimester. A few clothing items to make you slightly more comfortable in your growing body and remembering to stay cool in the summer months. 

What season was your second trimester? Any suggestions for making it more comfortable? 

Maternity Leave

I'm on it! Officially as of today :) 

With just four and a half weeks until this little girl's predicted arrival, I decided to take the last session of the year off. It happened to be perfect timing too, because it's been getting too much to throw saddles around, arena set up, mounting & dismounting riders and all of the other physical aspects of being a therapeutic instructor. 

So this will be crazy. I haven't had four weeks off since I was seventeen. And in all actuality, it's more than four weeks because I'm not going back until the end of January, but I figure getting acquainted with our little one and learning the ropes of being a momma and a three person family is going to be a 24-7 job in itself. 

Crossing my fingers that my to-do list, combined with a good amount of afternoon naps, will keep me busy enough that I don't drive everyone and their brother up a wall! Wish me luck...actually, wish my husband luck :) 

Hoping you have a great weekend! 

Pregnancy: Surviving the First Trimester

The first trimester was not fun. I suppose that the first month and a half really doesn't count, because I didn't even know I was pregnant until I was about a week late and took a test. 

About 2 months was when it started to be not so fun. That was when the sickness started. 'Morning' sickness...ha. 'All day all night' sickness for is more like it. Here are a few things that helped me through, in case you're in the same position as I was. 

Baby Shower

Hello Lovelies :)

My sister, with the help of my grandma and a couple others, threw us a baby shower a couple of weeks ago. It was so beautiful I couldn't even believe it. It was very casual, but her adorable touches just made it so perfect. Baby and I were surrounded by love of friends and family and it was such a wonderful day.

I thought I'd share some pictures, if you're interested...

Makeover : Dresser to Changing Table

We don't have a ton of space in the nursery so decided to double the changing table with a dresser. 

One of our aunt & uncles on Kelly's side gave us this dresser that had been passed down from their aunt and uncle for their child. Also, it was built in the town where we grew up and still live today. And it was the perfect size. Pretty wicked awesome, huh?

With all of it's lovely, sweet history, this little guy still needed a makeover.

Nursery Makeover

Hello Lovelies :) 

We finally started our nursery last month! 

Firstly, I'll give you our house layout. We live in a two-story old farmhouse with the kitchen, dining room, family room, laundry, master bedroom and bathroom downstairs. Upstairs are three small bedrooms and a walk-through room at the top of the stairs that we use as an office. 

We've been slowly working to condense our messes into organized totes to store in our basement (did I mention that we've been doing this slowly? Sloowwwwlyyyyy.) But two of the rooms upstairs are completely chuck full of stuff. 

So, what room did we pick for the nursery you ask? The messiest, of course! Check it...

Our grandmothers jaws are probably hitting the floor right now, appalled. Sorry! This room holds all of Kelly's hunting gear. It also holds all of his childhood memories - scrapbooks, baby books, clothes, games, beanie babies, school work...just about anything you can imagine. It stores our winter clothes, suitcases, old bed sets, games and some random holiday things. It is just a catch-all really. 

Here's another angle, just to get the full effect...

See our little carpet walking path there? 

So it was some major work and to spare you all of the gory details, I'll just say that between recycle, garbage and goodwill, we were able to condense this mess into 5 totes. FIVE. Yes, we deserve a pat on the back. And cookies. 

So after the cleaning came a little wall-patching and, voila!

What is super awesome (yes, 'super awesome' is in my vocabulary) is that the carpet in this room was brand new when Kelly bought the house about five years ago and since this room has only been used for storage, it's in great condition. 

Great carpet, check. Great paint color, not so check. 

I have what has become a bad habit of painting everything white. Kelly really wanted me to do an actual color for this room, but I convinced him that since we had leftover white paint from the kitchen that we should use it. 

Crue just making himself comfortable on the clean, plush carpet. 

And because there's not a whole lot that I love more than a good before and after side-by-side...

Fresh and clean! We've since put the crib together and have done a dresser makeover for a changing table. I'll be posting with more updates soon :)