Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning for November/December

I had my meal plan all made with some favorites.....then I looked at the sale ads. And one of the grocery stores had a fairly good meat bundle... Now, it is a sale for the meats they have in the bundle... but it's still the amount we spend on meat a month.. so it's just some different things. So.... I re-made my meal plan. 



Thanksgiving Dinner... we plan on ham with pineapple slices (because my hubby is weird), shrimp (because it's coming in the meat deal), sweet potatoes (because I can, and they will be candied), corn, broccoli, Hawaiian rolls, black beans and rice, pumpkin pie and pecan pie.   

We are also making a pan of sweet potatoes for a potluck... Needless to say, Thanksgiving week my hands will be orange. 

Lunches, breakfasts, kids' lunches... yeah.. we're boring there. Nothing is changing. Chicken Sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly, macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets.  

For dinners.. To make sure I could make the amount of meat we'll be getting work for the entire month, I went on Pinterest...  We're getting 2 roasts....  so BBQ and tacos.. Not in the same meal lol.  That's AT LEAST 4 meals... along with leftovers for lunch-and I should be able to eat it all WOOHOO.  

Anyway.. It's pizzageddon this month at our house.. 
Pizza on Wednesdays and Sundays..  
Chicken fajitas 
Crunch wraps 
Chili
Ham and potato casserole (I make this every year when we get tired of ham leftovers.. super yummy)
Swedish Meatballs 
BBQ Pork
BBQ Beef
Tacos carnitas with pork and beef (I'll pull the meat out before I put the bbq seasoning on it) 
Chicken parmesan bake 
Pork chops


The Shopping (cue Jaws music... because that's what it feels like with 5 kids in grocery stores)

A friend told me about a wholesale grocery outlet about 90 minutes away from us.. so we took a drive and went to check them out.  I was not prepared. Not at all.  And I'm currently kicking myself repeatedly for not picking up more...  However, we spent $70 on stuff that would have cost us about $200 at Walmart.  
6 pounds of ground beef for $11.40
Tator Tots (looking at the receipt.. not a great price.. I remembered the Sam's price wrong)
Chicken nuggets $2.50 a bag (those bags at Walmart that are normally $10)
Cafe Bustelo K Cups $3.50 for an 8 pack
~Now, those were the most expensive thing we picked up~
Cocoa Rice krispie treats 2
fruit snacks
fiber one bars
fig bars
Lemonade (64 oz jugs for $.90)
zero bars
Hershey's Popped Snack Mix 2 (oh my goodness!! THE YUMMINESS)
Hershey's Baking Chips 2
Halls Breezers 2
Crispy Wheat Crackers 
Kraft Mayo (32 oz for 1.00!!)
Mayo 2
Texas BBQ Sauce (normally $4, paid $1.50)
Cream of Mushroom soup 2
Torani Caramel Syrup
refried beans 2
water flavor 2 
Cold brew coffee .25 each, we got 4
cold brew coffee (a different brand) .50 bought 2

Now, I fully know if I had my wits about me I would have been better prepared and had given Dennis a list of things to look for.... But I wasn't that prepared and I'm KICKING myself for it.  We are definitely going back next month... But after that it might be every other month simply because it's a long drive and an extra weekend. Also keep in mind if you're a stickler for expiration dates, stores like this are not for you.  
So... $70 for S&E Distributing..

Fareway
We were careful about what we picked up at Fareway because we always seem to go over...no matter what we do... So we only picked up what was on sale.  
$60 meat bundle
A 12 lb turkey we paid $4 for after the discount from spending the money on meat. 
Yogurt was only $.50 a container instead of $.65 
Steamable vegetables, 12 oz, were $.68. 
We had a coupon for the yogurt (YAY, they took store a printed at home coupon)...so we saved $14.36.  We spent $81.42.

Sam's
Kleenex was sale at Sam's, along with Pillsbury cinnamon rolls.. You know I can't pass up a chance to not make cinnamon rolls. lol We grabbed a bunch of tortilla shells and hoagie rolls to help eat all the roast.. Along with the Hawaiian Rolls to go with Thanksgiving Dinner.. because those are YUMMY.  Instant Savings saved us $6.75.  We spent $204.40

Aldi
Not much different at Aldi.  We grabbed our Thanksgiving pies there (because I have two shallow pie pans, neither one with a lid...) $5.99 for an 8 inch pumpkin and $4.99 for a 6 inch pecan.   Hamburger buns were $.85 for a 8 pack... I grabbed unsweetened almond milk to make maple lattes (SO GOOD).  We spent $148.98. 

And Walmart
Can't avoid Walmart can we? 
Now, to use the Savings Catcher you have to use Walmart pay... So.. kind of a pain, but the app does go through a lot faster than a card.. Also, you don't get a paper receipt... You can weight that on the pro/con scale yourself. 
Original Cool Whip-for the pies!! $1 
Ready Whip...One almond one coconut.. So I can have some. $3.38 each
We needed diapers and wipes (we usually use cloth, but the ladies in the nursery appreciate the disposable and it's nice to have a break from the cloth diaper laundry). We spent $188.73.

So complete total.. $693.53  We spent $134.01 on household goods.  So.. $559.52 on groceries for 5 weeks.  $111.90 per week.. or $18.65 per person in the house (6 of us eating food) per week. 

So.. Not too bad.  

Now. Ever wonder was $600 of groceries look like? 

Now you don't need to wonder.


Have a great week! 

~Tabitha

Snack Mix

We've been doing sandwiches for Sunday lunches for a few months now... We decided to do trail mix with the sandwiches.   

Right now I'm making two different trail mixes because mine has to be Elijah friendly... but I forgot to get a picture of mine... 

Raisins  3.98
reese's covered pretzels 3.24
hershey covered pretzels 3.24
almond m&ms 2 4.86
Protein Granola 2.99
sesame sticks  2.89
banana chips 2.19

We also had walnuts, but we bought those last month so I don't have the price. 

So here's everything all ready to go.. The only thing I measured was the walnuts because the rest just gets the entire bag dumped in.

We found this at Aldi.  It's pretty good. 

We usually get plain sesame sticks, but we saw these and said "yum" 

I have to mix stage by stage or I have problems... I just don't have anything big enough to mix it all at once.  

A few months ago we decided we wanted something different...but still sweet.. So upon looking at Aldi and then at Walmart, we found these yummy creations.

Just keep mixing, just keep mixing, just keep mixing, mixing, mixing..

Whew! Done.

All done and bagged... The kids get 1/4 cup each, Dennis gets a cup... and I get something minus the yummy pretzels.  But at least I can have almond m&ms again!

I was spotted by this little beauty.  For some reason, watching me making snack mix is fun?

So usually our snack mix changes from month to month.. but I think we've finally found a combo we like-at least for now...  Apparently I added too many walnuts (oops)..  Now, if you are keeping track of calories... well, this is definitely NOT low calorie friendly... BUT, for the most part,  the majority is actually healthy for you.  What I added:

6 cups of walnuts

12 oz (1 bag) banana chips

11 oz (1 bag) Protein Granola Oats & Honey

7.5 oz (1 bag) Honey Sesame Sticks

22 oz (1 small container) Sun Maid Raisins

2 bags 15.9 oz each almond m&m's 

8.5 oz Reese's Dipped Pretzels

8.5 oz Cookies N Creme Dipped Pretzels

That gave us 13 1 cup servings... Or for us, 6 weeks of Sunday snack mix.    As for the price.. 

Raisins  3.98

reese's covered pretzels 3.24
hershey covered pretzels 3.24
almond m&ms 2 4.86
Protein Granola 2.99
sesame sticks  2.89
banana chips 2.19

$23.39 for that much.. Plus less  than two dollars for the walnuts as the whole bag was only around $8.  

So.. $4.16 for 6 people for one week of snacks to go with our sandwiches...  Sure, chips are cheaper, but this has some healthy stuff to it instead of flavored potatoes and air fried in oil. 

That's it for now.

Have a great week!

~Tabitha

Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning October November

Is it nap time yet?  


I have been trying to type this out for 4 days now, it's currently the 15th, we went shopping the 13th.. The baby is finally asleep for now so I'm taking advantage while I can.  Now, let me tell you... I've got AT LEAST 8 loads of laundry to do... I don't want to think about how many dishes are out there.... but I just want to sit for a bit.  My hubby is doing his school.. he's currently in an IT class and every sentence is WWAAAAYYY over my head.  So here I sit...  lol


Meal Planning.. Things are a bit different this month, because for some days I am planning more than one meal.. Because I can't eat cheese.  So not only do I have food I can eat, but I am also making some extra snacks or freezer meals for me that are healthy and packed with protein. 

We have a massive amount of apples we're trying to get through.

My plans for baking throughout the month... apple chips, granola, granola bars and lots of things for breakfast.  

The meal plan seems really simple to me... but hey, we need simple some months.  

Breakfast-eggs, bacon, sausage, cereal, juice, coffee, breakfast burritos (from Plain and Not So Plain), waffles, monkey bread, apple crisp coffee cake.  

Dennis' work lunches haven't changed since last month-chicken sandwiches, pickle, nutty bars and avocado.  

The kids will rotate through mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly and pancakes.  

I'll rotate with breakfast burritos, tuna salad and salmon patties.

Saturday lunches we'll do hamburgers and tator tots.  
Sunday lunches are sandwiches and trail mix. 
Wednesdays are leftovers (maybe.. I do have a leftover day this months) or chicken strips and homemade fries.  

Dinners
Chili (my hubby is excited for chili season)
Pineapple chicken and mashed potatoes
Ham and Hashbrown Casserole 
Spasagna (a friend from church made this as an after baby meal-everybody loved it... but judging from the results of the ham casserole... they won't like it when I make it)
Chicken Fajitas
Pizza
Fish 
Grilled Fajita Boats
Crunch Wraps
Teriyaki chicken and potatoes
swedish meatballs


Ok so shopping. Now I have to confess. We were doing GREAT budget wise until we got to Walmart.  It's all Walmart's fault. 

Elijah is getting a little better with the shopping... But he ate through...all the stores I think lol.  Right now, mornings are his cluster feeding times lol, but thankfully he's light enough to feed and walk.  


So.  Sam's.  Chicken, tator tots, sub bread, taco shells, bacon... Pretty much the usual food. Nothing special.  We spent 219.57

Onto Aldi.  We did pick up an extra, a pedal exerciser.  When we were looking into exercise equipment last year, there wasn't anything in our price that could fit my husband's weight.. Ironic isn't it?   One thing we did see was a little pedal exerciser you can put on the floor and use like a bike, or put on a table and exercise your arms.  Most of what we were looking at was around $90... this one was $30.   And both of us can use it.  So we grabbed it...  We also picked up some fun things for the kids-Danimal smoothies and cookie dough. Total at Aldi was 203.31, minus the 30 for the exercise machine,  Makes food total 173.31.  

Now I told you Walmart was the problem.  But that's nothing new. We ggrabbed a few things to try since wehad a coupon...  Chocolate whipped cream was one of those.  We also had a coupon for free Raisin Bran with banana.. Sooo...non food items.. Hangars  $2.88, Diapers 24.27, a infant to toddler rocker for Elijah 37.87, batteries 6.24, benefiber 19.87.  $91.13 in non food.. There were some cleaning items in there-but I can't decipher the receipt.  Supper was an 8ish dollar pizza and two salad kits 7.66 so 15.66...SO total at Walmart was 319.71.  We had a gift card to help with that, coupons saved us 18.50 (that was before the 319)... Total out of pocket was 307.17. So after the non typical purchases, we spent 216.04. 

We also made a stop by Dollar Tree this month.. Mostly miscellaneous things.. Coloring books, the big kids needed new coloring pencils, kleenex, I grabbed some Mr Cleaning sponges while we were there..  Little containers for our dip for our chicken (we use a few different things every time.. the kids got some sectioned trays just for meals like that... because we thought they'd like them and lotion because we couldn't find it at Walmart... We spent 23.43 

Total for the month of food was $608.92. We're going to break that down by 7 people for the month because I'm eating more with the breastfeeding, that makes it $87 a person for the month...  not that bad.  We've certainly done worse.


Lots of cuddling going on today.  Elijah hasn't slept that much unless he's on me today.  So I'm slowing down and cuddling.  

Have a great week!...or however long it is until I get  another blog out lol.

~Tabitha

A Little Update

So baby decided to join us on August 26.  

It's been a long month for me.  I had prodermal labor for almost two weeks straight, but thankfully when God decided it was time, it went fast.   

I'm still in new baby fog and so very grateful for the ladies at church who provided us with a week's worth of meals.   

We were blessed with a little boy.  Elijah came at 5:22 AM.. an answer to a few prayers we had.  My husband's work had told him he would have to make up time or take some of the family caregiver leave if we had any more "close calls"..  My prayer that the baby would just come already, also had an added "please let Dennis be home".  We were both a little worried I'd be sending a text of a picture of baby to get Dennis home.  He also came early enough that the kids were all sleeping and none were scared by mommy in labor like they were with Hannah.   Eva crawled out of bed just as he was born, but was patient enough to wait a few minutes to come see what was happening.  Grace came in a few minutes later while Dennis was downstairs helping pull out cereal and juice for breakfast until grandma could get there to help.. We had just called her 10 minutes before, I wanted to wait to call her to make sure it was really going to happen-though I was sure, it was early to wake grandma up..   

Elijah is healthy.  He was pretty much attached to me for the first three days-completely normal and just what my hormones needed.  The constant (or at least mostly constant) skin to skin and holding baby are beneficial for both Elijah and I.  It helped his body regulate the blood sugar, temperature and I'm sure other things.  It helped my hormones regulate and bring my milk in, and I'm sure other things though I don't know exactly.   He got a clean bill of health from the doctor and the umbilical cord fell off in a couple days.  We waited to cut it until the cord stopped pulsing, making sure he received every last drop of his own blood from the placenta-about 1/3 of a newborn's blood remains in the placenta.   No jaundice, very little vernix, so I'm putting some coconut oil on the dry skin that's showing up.  

I'm doing well.  Starting to fell "normal" and getting back on my feet after about a week.  My feet did swell a bit for a few days but that's gone now.  I'm getting used to cloth diapering a newborn and a boy.  It's a whole new way to fold all those prefolds than I've had to use in 6 years now.  Knowing the cost of diapers, I am grateful we have the cloth.  But man can this kid go through diapers!   

Dennis and his mom have been helping when needed.  I'm back on my feet enough that I can do the cooking, though Dennis does help some when Elijah needs mommy sooner than food is done.   He's mostly the "muscle man" for a bit so I don't lift anything heavy too soon.  

The kids have been on hiatus from school this week... but we decided we're starting back next week because the no routine is driving US a bit crazy and they have hours of "I'm bbbooooorrrreeeedd"...  (of course with football starting they are now "playing football" as the game is on....  :/  Dennis could also benefit from the few hours of quieter time during their school to work on his school. 

So I wrote everything above a few weeks ago... Elijah is now 4 weeks old and starting to get some cute little fat rolls on himself...though barely noticeable..  He is finally fitting into most of the newborn clothes.  We've been back at school for a few weeks, with added geography.  The kids have been wanting to learn about the states for awhile, so I added that in.. Just basic stuff, but Andrew and Eva are having fun with it.  Thanks to freebies from the (what seems like millions) of homeschool blogs I follow, the state geography unit was free.. Just had to print off what I wanted and bind it.  

I have to get back to sewing already...sometime.. lol  A friend gave me a pattern for culottes for the girls, Elijah needs winter jammas, my mending pile is ever growing....  the list is literally two notebook pages long and I'm looking at patterns for little boy suits-just cuz they are adorable...and I can lol.  

I think that's all the updating I have..  Too much going on around here.. This post sat around in my drafts for 2 weeks before I got it finished and published, so bear with me.  :p  Things are a wee bit crazy right now.   


Have a great week! 

~Tabitha

Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning September/October

Ok so here we go, another month. 

Baby came August 26th, so little Elijah was 2 1/2 weeks old when we went.. and he wasn't a fan at all of this grocery shopping stuff.  But he didn't do too bad for being so tiny.  

We were able to reuse some recipes since we had freezer meals, plus we also have a church preaching conference in October that will put us in the city for basically 3 straight days..  We might be making a trip back to Aldi for some snacks and things to bake with to help with potlucks during the conference... We'll see what they need vs what I have.  

I do have some diet challenges for me we need to figure out.  Elijah is having issues with dairy and tomato ( well.. one or the other), so I have to quit both of those for a week or two.. That gets the majority through my system and his system.. If you eat a lot of dairy, it can take at least 3 weeks to get it through, then another 3 for the baby...  But since I've been cutting back since July for dairy, it's not that bad. So..  I bought some extra sandwich meat and when we have  a meal that has cheese I'll eat a sandwich and salad instead.  

So.  The meal plan.  

Pizza (Hawaiian, cheese, pepperoni, chicken alfredo)
Tator Tot Casserole (this will be in the form of freezer meals for Sundays)
Pork loin and veggies
Garlic Knot Pizza
Breaded Tilapia and veggies (we found a coupon for fish breading)
Simple Mexican chicken and rice
Pineapple Chicken Tenders, peppers and pineapple
Chicken Fajitas
Teriyaki chicken and potatoes

For breakfasts we have eggs, bacon, cereal, cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, country hash, omelets..  The bigger meals we do on Dennis' typical days off (Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday).  Sunday is our cinnamon roll/monkey bread day with omelet.   

Lunches we'll have leftovers, peanut butter jelly, chicken sandwiches with avocado, cucumbers and fruit.   

Simple things, but filling.  

So our shopping went pretty awesome.   We reused some of the meals from last month, so that helped the budget a bit..  Although we did get some treats based on coupons we found... so how much it helped the budget?.. lol  It's good to  get treats sometimes, though.   We were also able to cash in a gift card through the Walmart Savings Catcher-which gave us $10, though we had to use the phone to pay which made receipt scanning a little interesting for the apps.. 


Sam's.. We spent $292.81, saving $14 on the instant savings.  
Aldi.. we spent $211.93, we did grab a new pizza stone ($10). 
Walmart.. we spent $170, we did some extra from coupons.. candy bars mostly.. And grabbed some baby items.  We saved $9.50 with the coupons..   

So in total we spent $676.74.  That's about $170 a week for 3 meals and a snack for the week for 6 people...  But that number also includes household.


Have a good week!

~Tabitha

Grocery Shopping and Meal Planning August-September

It's August!  How can it be August already?  We are anxiously awaiting baby... Whose decided that teasing mommy with practice contractions is the way to go.. Hannah must have been coaching it.  I'm utterly exhausted today.  

I do have some freezer meals in the freezer just sitting and waiting..  This month I'm sticking with easy meals that I can just put together and then put in the oven..  Hubby is planning on cooking eggs and bacon the first few days, so we're getting the precooked bacon he can just throw in the toaster oven for a few minutes... or I can just throw in when I'm up and around.   

So the meal plans for breakfast really isn't changing that much.. Still eggs, bacon, yogurt, cereal, juice...  Coffee of course.  Sundays we'll do cinnamon rolls or monkey bread with omelets or scrambled eggs.  Saturdays we'll do waffles and eggs. Wednesday is cowboy hash.  We are buying a case of pop tarts for something to go with eggs when baby comes. 

Other than when the baby comes, we don't have any special meals planned except for a potluck with our church on labor day.. I have a dessert planned. 

Dennis is switching up his work lunches.. He's going to try chicken sandwiches instead of salads for a month, along with a pickle, nutty bar and avocados are cheap right now so we're doing avocado with some salt and some lemon juice. 

Our lunches are pretty much the same.. Pizza pockets, peanut butter and honey, peanut butter and jelly and mac & cheese.  I eat leftovers most of the time.  

Wednesdays will either be leftovers or chicken strips and homemade fries. 

Saturdays we're doing hamburgers, hot dogs and fries or potatoes on the grill. .. Both of these are easy meals also if we need something easy for right after baby comes.  

Sundays we have pita bread sandwiches and our homemade snack mix... It was pretty good last time, we'll see what we find at Aldi this time.  

As for the other meals... 

Pizza (Hawaiian, cheese, pepperoni and chicken alfredo)
Hawaiian Fajitas 
Bacon Parmesan Garlic chicken and Potatoes 
Pork Loin and potatoes and broccoli
Taco Bowls 
Chicken Parmesan Bake (freezer meal!) 
Teriyaki chicken and fries
Tator Tot Casserole
Caprese Chicken
Pork chops and evggies
Simple Mexican Chicken and rice
Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Casserole (freezer meal!)
Mexican Lasagna (freezer meal)
Five Spice Tilapia and Rice
Pineapple Chicken tenders with grilled pineapple and peppers 

The chicken parmesan bake, cheesy chicken casserole and mexican lasagna all have shredded chicken.. And I found chicken in the bottom of the freezer-so that's being used up that way.   I finally figured out how to premake the pizzas so I can have them in the freezer and ready to go...  So I'm working on those as I get the chance.  Hoping to have 3-4 of at least pepperoni, hawaaian and cheese in the freezer by the end of the week. But we'll see how that goes.   

We are also trying shopping a different way this month-as long as baby isn't here anyway...  For one, instead of having my shopping list by store, I'm going to have it by department (chip, produce, meat, dairy, baking etc)..  We're starting at Aldi instead of Sam's and we're going to get what we can at Aldi, then move on to Sam's and Walmart.. I'll have a list of prices for things at Sam's and Walmart to make sure we are getting a good deal..  We've been noticing a lot that when go to Aldi, they have some things for cheaper than what we can get at Sam's... But we've already bought it at Sam's....  


So... Shopping that way saved us money.. We started at Aldi where I was able to get pork chops and ground beef for half the price per pound of Sam's or Walmart. Filled in at Sam's and finished at Walmart..    

At Aldi we picked up a few extras. They had kids' tennis shoes for $10-$15, but the only one with small enough feet was Hannah... We have her next size up,  Paw Patrol tennis shoes for $13, I can handle that price!!!  We had coupons for fruit roll ups and fruit snacks, but they were at Aldi and cheaper than with a coupon so we grabbed them there.  The kids will love the treat. We also grabbed a 15 lb bag of charcoal for 5, I had priced it at $15 at Walmart. Oh, they also had hamburger and hot dog buns for $.75 a package!  That's a win!!  Total on food was $193.98, then $20.42 with the non food...  Making a total of $214.40. I figured $220, so we saved $5.60

Sam's it didn't seem like we got as much-but most everything is about $10 an item because it's bulk.  The only extra we grabbed was meatballs... It's not always a guarantee they have Italian meatballs in the frozen section and they make really good meatball subs..  So now, because I have leftover hoagie rolls from last month, we either have some easy lunches for when baby comes, or we have them for the next few months.. One bag lasts us about 6 Saturdays of lunches (8-9 subs with 5 meatballs each).  Food was 295.64, non food was 33.22.. making a total of $328.86. I figured $380, so we saved $51.14. 

Walmart we grabbed a few extras again along with supper..  So let's see if I can decipher the receipt.   Dennis and I grabbed a couple smoothies (Bolthouse Farms), we also had to round out the last of our snack mix for Sundays as Aldi didn't have the coconut clusters this month.  He found a coupon for candy bars and decided that would be a nice treat for everybody, so we grabbed some of those.  Walking down the isle he saw one of those kindergarten workbooks they always have..  Grace is working through her lessons very quickly, so we grabbed one of those for when she's done with what I have.  So.. Food was 140.85, non food was 23.53.. Making for a total of $163.38.
I figured $145, we went over by $18.38 (supper is usually not figured into groceries which is around $13 for 7 of us with grandma and our smoothies we picked up). 

So we spent $706.64 this month, from my guess price we saved $32.76... No, not much saved, but a little.  I'm just resigned that's the new normal.  We did go back to Aldi on Sunday and grabbed a much needed step ladder for the kitchen.. Now I can actually use all of my kitchen cupboards. It was $18, and came with a 3 year warranty.   So just on food we spent $630.47.  Now I know some of that will be carried over into next month.. because I am doing some freezer meals (doubling recipes that I'm making and putting one in the freezer) and ladies at church are helping with some freezer meals for after baby.  But I'm not counting those extra freezer meals into my meal plan, I'll just make a list of what meals we don't use and I have either those meals, or those ingredients to make different meals.   

So.. $630.47 for 5 weeks.. That's $126 for 3 meals+1 snack (ish.. lol) a week or $105 a person a week.   

A feature on the price tags at the stores I'm really loving is the price per unit they have already figured for you.  It's great to have that math already done when comparing brands especially with 4 kids in tow.  Having my list, I was quickly able to know that while the price of laundry soap per ounce was actually the same at Sam's vs Walmart, the container is bigger at Sam's, so we don't have to buy it as often.   I was also surprised to find out that about a lot of things we buy, the price per unit was within a few pennies of each other, but containers are bigger at Sam's.  

I think that's all I have for this post.  (Hannah is currently throwing a fit because I gave her almond milk in a big girl cup-it's the end of the world. lol) 

Have a great week! 

~Tabitha

Preparing for a Home Birth Getting Ready for Baby 2018!

I'm getting closer to having baby.  So it's time to set things up. 

We are having baby at home, so instead of packing a hospital bag, I put everything I need into the baby's bed.  In this case, it's our playpen with the bassinet in it.   I tuck a crib sheet around the "mattress" part of the play pen..  Downstairs we have the bassinet, so I can move baby around with me into the kitchen if needed.  

Miscellaneous birthing supplies...  Sometimes it's just the little things you have to think about that you don't think about if you're in a hospital-because the nurses take care of it.  On the left, we have new scissors for cutting the umbilical cord, a few plastic table cloths to help protect the mattress (dollar store!), along with a few extra sheets ready to throw on the bed to make quick bed changes after wards...  When I go into labor, I'll do a few double layers on top of our clean sheet..  Chux pads, sheet, tablecloth.. Then when one layer is soiled, all we have to do (ok.. all hubby has to do) is strip off a layer and throw what's washable in the laundry and what's disposable in a trash bag and the bed is all ready for me to lay back down on.   I'll only need a few layers to change every few hours or so right after baby comes.  Not in this pile is a container and a baggie for the placenta along with the cord tie..  It's up there now, but I forgot that when I took pictures.  In the next pile is a whole bunch of chux pads.   Just another layer of protection.   And last (but not least).  A package of depends.  Don't laugh.  I didn't have these when I had Hannah... I have them this time and it will help so much..  that and I'm told these are more comfortable than those mesh panties and huge pads that are the norm. (don't mind the hangars on the bed, the girls were cleaning their room...) Also not in any of my pictures is towels. Those are easy access in the bathroom so not in with the rest of the birthing supplies.

A few more miscellany..  Shepherd's Purse tincture and all purpose nipple ointment.  The shepherd's purse is a just in case measure.  You take it right after the placenta delivers to help prevent any hemorrhaging.  The APNO..  I was introduced to this stuff when I had Andrew.  This bottle is leftover from when I had Eva.  SO much better than just lasinoh-especially when you have issues, but it's really expensive and you need a compound pharmacy. 

A few more miscellany..  The blanket I made, and a lighter blanket made by a lady at church. 

Everything is all organized so it's easy to get to.  I have the diapers and clothes in the baby's dresser just across the room.. but for the first few hours at least, it's best to be skin to skin with no clothes.. We'll lay a prefold or flatfold diaper around baby's bottom and a shirt or blanket over both of us for warmth and privacy as the kids meet baby.  But that's it.  Skin to skin is so beneficial for momma and baby.   It helps regulate baby's blood sugar and body temperature and gets the hormones going that are needed for milk production.  Also missing out of this that I have added today are my nursing night gowns.  A friend purchased them from GVS and I have been wearing them, but I want to make sure they are clean, so since we are getting close, they went in the bassinet as did my nursing pillow when I pulled the bassinet out of storage. 

When I had everything packed in, I covered the top with another crib sheet to keep out curious hands and keep everything clean for baby.  Last night the dog managed to pull the top sheet off, drag it downstairs, and cover it in pizza sauce from the one crust Hannah gave her. :/  Because. Life happens. lol 

A few more baby items.   These are not for our baby, but for a friend and for a cousin.  I knew if I didn't get them done before our baby came, they wouldn't get done at all-even though these two special ladies are due a few months after us.   A blanket, burp clothes (triple layered fleece) and some precious little booties.  

So we are all set up for baby.. We just wait on baby to make it's appearance. 

Check out my other posts on getting ready for baby. 
Cloth Diapers
Quilt Making


Have a great week! 

~Tabitha