Sneak Peak

I've been working on a project for our sissy girl. She will be moving into her big girl bed within a few months of the unborn being born and I want her to have a nice snuggly blanket for the occasion! It's slow progress, but I love how it is turning out. I got the idea for these granny stripes over at Attic 24 - one of my favorite crochet blogs! I can't wait to show you the finished product in the next few weeks. Okay, maybe months . . .

The Unborn

Sadly, that is what we call baby #3. The Unborn. I have never been at this point in my pregnancy with no name before. It is driving my crazy. In all reality, I have 12 weeks or so but it is still bugging me. We just can't pick a name that we love. It used to be we just couldn't agree. Now, I just haven't heard anything that speaks to me. I expect to hear the name and just KNOW that that will be his name. I've never felt such pressure before. Help me out, folks and give me some GOOD suggestions. We like names that are not common, but not too uncommon. Cool, but not celebrity cool. Old fashioned, but possibly making a come back. Wow, no wonder this is so hard for us ...

The Kiddo's

Just a little update on my two lovelies . . .

Gavin 5 1/2 years:



Wants to be a knight when he grows up
Favorite color - green
Loves to wrestle with his sister and has "body slammed" her several times
Favorite outfit - Loves hanging out at home in his "unders"
Is nervous about Kindergarten
Still loves broccoli and most all veggies
Is Mama's Boy
Has THE BEST imagination
Is a Lego master
Hates milk
Loves to play board games, but is a sore loser
Has lots of friends at church but
Could play by himself all day long
Is learning to read
Loves to be read to




Charlotte 18 months:



Constantly looks like a ragamuffin
Loves to talk even though you can't understand her
Says, "YEAH" to every question you ask her
Knows lots of animal sounds
Favorite outfit - a onesie paired with her crocs, no shorts or pants please!
Walks around the house with her blankie at all times
Drinks LOTS of milk
Favorite thing to play with - STICKERS!
My meat and potatoes girl
Is Daddy's girl
Is freaked out by Baby Einstein movies and anything like it
Loves to go outside
Puts her shoes on first thing every morning
Defends herself quite nicely
Likes to sit on the potty like a big girl, even though she doesn't go
Loves to climb on EVERYTHING
Has 12 teeth

Down in the Dumps

I've hit the bottom this week. We came off of VBS week with Charlotte being sick. Then Gavin started showing sympotms and now I have jointed the crew. Charlotte is still sick. It's been eight days. She is MUCH better than the rest of us and on the mend, but it seems that I am looking down a long week of recovery. This is the second week I have had to stay home from church. BOO HOO to that. I despise missing church. My sciatica is ruling my body this week as well. So. Much. Pain. I can't wait till this little guy is on the outside!

On the up side, I have had lots of time to sit and start updating my Etsy site. I'm happy to say I've sold three hats and seven hair clips this week. Yay for that. It is going straight to the vacation fund.

If you don't see me much in next week, know that I am rotting on the couch blowing my nose till it's red and feeling miserable. Oh and I will also be feeling guilty for all the t.v. my kids are watching and how I am not reading to them because I can barely breathe.

I do have to say, I love my husband. He totally took charge this weekend and let me sleep whenever I wanted/needed. He fed the kids, took them outside, went grocery shopping, vacuumed the house, did all the laundry, made a special trip to CVS just to buy me some coke ( I know, I broke down and drank coke: just add it to my list of things I'm feeling guilty about), he washed and vacuumed the car, he cleaned out our storage area and sorted things out for the upcoming garage sale . . . I could go on and on about how awesome he is, but I'll just leave it here. I'm running out of steam and my kids don't seem to be occupied by the boob tube anymore. Great.

Hope you have a better week than mine!!

Baby Wipes

I posted awhile ago that I was thinking of making my own wipes. I was able to get the good Bounty paper towels at a REALLY GOOD PRICE due to couponing, sales, and CVS. So, I decided to give it a go. Turns out, I LOVE my homemade wipes. I think they are really great. They have no chemicals in them, they are sturdy, and they clean up my babe's bum very nicely!

Here's a picture of my happy wipes sitting on my changing table just waiting to be used!



1 T baby soap
1 T baby lotion
1 T baby oil
Bounty Paper Towel Roll cut in half
Round tupperware container

Budget

This might be a bit personal, so I won't blame you if you chose not to comment. However, I am very interested in what you all spend on groceries per month. Ever since Ryan and I read Dave Ramsey's book - Total Money Makeover - we are on this mission to save, save, save!!!! We are a little on the extreme side right now, as we've just started. I have found lots of ways to save money in our budget over the last month or so, but our grocery budget is a hard one for me. We do the cash envelope system, but I always feel like my grocery envelope is empty towards the last week of the month. I just am not sure if our budget is realistic or not. It doesn't help that here in IL we have to pay sales tax on food. We did not in Michigan. Also, groceries are just more expensive here, too. So, if you don't mind sharing, what do you spend on groceries and how do you plan it all out from week to week?

Happy Hump Day

My kids are dirty - really dirty

We've been couped up all week b/c it's TOO HOT to go outside

I'm out of coffee creamer

I can barely walk at times because of my sciatic nerve pain

BUT . . .

my kids have been sleeping in

our air conditioning is heavenly

the construction going on RIGHT OUTSIDE our window has occupied my kids for hours

my house is CLEAN!

and I have Starbucks new iced Via to drink!

Happy Hump Day! Hope your week is going well!

Birthday Fun!

My birthday always seems to stretch out over an entire weekend because of the Holiday. No complaints here!

The kids had fun helping me make the cake . . .






And we all had fun EATING the cake! I ended up using this recipe. I switched the devils food cake mix for a chocolate one, though. It was DELISH!


On Saturday we headed out to Ryan's grandparents house for some rest and relaxation. It's hard to believe they will be turning 81 this year. Ryan's grandpa is as active as ever. He LOVES to paint pictures of landscapes and he even sent us home with one this time! I'll have to take a picture of it and post it. It is really amazing! Sadly, I did not get a picture of the grandparents this trip. I guess I'll have to wait till next time!

Sunday, we headed to the beach in the a.m. One of the perks of having an evening service at church is that we have most of the day to spend together. The beach was heavenly. Definitely my favorite activity of the weekend.

I thought this was so funny - she did not fall out of the chair.

Hope your fourth of July was as much fun and relaxing as ours was!

I can't believe . . .

I am turning 29 tomorrow!!!

Gavin can blow bubbles with his gum!

I gained SEVEN pounds this month . . .

What a challenge it is to parent my second child.

How UNbelievably tired I am ALL. THE. TIME.

That my five year old son noticed and commented on the fact that my chest is growing as well as my belly . . . yeah . . .

Gavin tells me I'm fat almost every day. Thanks, buddy.

The amazingly exciting thing/things that could possibly may be happening with our family in the next few weeks (more to come!!!!)

VBS is right around the corner!!

How hard it is to sleep despite the extreme exhaustion.

We haven't been to the beach one time yet this summer! Hopefully, this will change this weekend.

How much stuff I've cleared out of the house for the big garage sale. Date to be determined!

We still have no names picked out for baby boy.

Calling ALL chocolate lovers!!!!

I need your help! My birthday is coming up and all I want is the most delicious chocolate cake/dessert that I have ever tasted. AND, I want to make it myself. I really like baking and I would enjoy the dessert even more if I knew I made it. Anyway, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE leave me comment with a recipe or a link to the most delicious chocolate dessert you have ever had or made. You have three days, give your best shot!!!!!

Family Photos!

Here are a few shots of our Dobbertin Family Photo Session. The pictures were taken by Trisha Priebe.

Our pretty little girl who will not smile.

My niece, Jayne. I love this little girl - tears and all!

Jayne and her mama, Kate

The Ryan Dobbertin Family

The WHOLE crew

Ryan's mom and dad, his three brothers, their wives and all 11 (soon to be 12) grandchildren

I loved this pic. Not a great smile of Gav, but it captures him perfectly!

My adorable Nephew Liam - Love this picture!

Will - what a cutie!

Baby Wipes!

I am seriously considering making my own baby wipes and was curious to see if any of you have ventured into this before. A friend of mine gave me this "recipe":

1 T baby wash/shampoo
1 T baby oil
1 T baby lotion
2 cups water
Bounty paper towel roll, cut in half
Round tupperware container

Have you tried this or something similar that worked well for you? What are your thoughts?

Whirlwind

The last two weeks have been quite the whirlwind! We . . .

Had Ryan's brother, wife and two kids here for the weekend

Headed to Michigan for a week - went to two different pools, had a fish fry, celebrated my mom's birthday and Father's Day, visited the Detroit Zoo, took lot's of naps

Dealt with Charlotte being sick throing up for the first time

Measured Gavin, who grew almost TWO inches in the last two months

(Ryan) got an award at work - because he's AWESOME

Had a Dobbertin family photo session (pics to come later)

(I) Have not had any time (okay, energy) to crochet lately

Have watched my belly doubled in size!

Have been couponing like crazy - Ryan is even into it

Are reading Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money Makeover"

whew! I feel like that is only half of it, but you get the idea. We've been having a blast, but are now catching up on our sleep! Hope your summer is shaping up to be as fun as ours is!

Fun Day!

We had such a fun day today! Ryan took the day off of work and we headed to our big ultrasound! When I was pregnant with Charlotte, I didn't have any caffeine or sugar on the day of my ultrasound. She was sound asleep with her legs closed shut when they were trying to determine her gender. This time around, I made sure to drink a little caffeinated beverage before we left! BOY did it work! This babe was dancing all around and showing us HIS stuff. That's right. It's a BOY! We are thrilled, especially Gavin. He got his brother! Now, we are busy playing the name game. Boy names are SO HARD for us to pick out. We can hardly agree on anything. Got any suggestions for us?

Coupon Adventures

Just came back from a few couponing adventures! This stuff can get pretty addicting! I'll spare you the details since most of you already know how to score great deals. Long story short, I walked out of CVS with six Dove deodorants and paid $.86 out of my pocket. Then I headed across the street to Target and scored a scrubbing bubbles power sprayer kit and refill for FREE. The cashier had to adjust the coupon so I wasn't making money off of the deal. It was great! I found these two deals listed at moneysavingmom.com and hip2save.com (thanks, Kelly!).

So, what are your favorite coupon websites? I would love to get some more input. I am keeping close track of everything I spend this month to compare it to what I used to spend on various products. I can't wait to see the savings add up!

Deal!

I snagged these crocs for Gavin at a garage sale the past weekend. They were a little dirty so I ran them through the dish washer. They still had a few spots on them when they came out, but Ryan cleaned them up with the magic eraser. They look good to me (especially since I know they will be dirty again in about two days!)! I'd say it was $1 well spent!

K.I.S.S.

One of Ryan's most commonly used phrases over the last several years has been, "Keep It Simple, Stupid!" I assure you, this is not directed at me. He is not calling me stupid. We just look at some families around us and see how over scheduled they are, how much "stuff" they have, how many sports their kids are involved in and so on. I realized that some families just work well that way, but we are not one of them. We strongly feel that the simpler you life it, the better and happier you will be. We always try to keep our "things" down to a minimum and our schedules at an appropriate (for us!) level. As we've been reevaluation several aspects of our lives, we came to to conclusion that we have somehow lost our minimalist attitude when it comes to the kids toys. Admittedly, buying toys for our kids is our biggest weakness. Combine that with out of control grandparents (you know who you are!) and we've landed ourselves in what looks like a day care center on some days! I went on a rampage this weekend clearing out toys we don't use and/or don't need. Gavin was so awesome during the whole process. He was willing to give up so much with little to no complaining about it. This mama was proud! I feel like the decluttering felt so good that I am moving to other areas of our house this week to see what else I can pare down! So, that's what we've been up to. We're tryin' to "keep it simple" over here!

I emptied out this entire bin full of toys - Charlotte isn't quite sure what is going on!

Here's a load of stuff that I am going to either sell on Craigslist or in a garage sale

I don't feel even the least bit bad for getting rid of toys because this is what my kids end up doing all day anyway!

That's almost 9 feet up!

Brother or Sister?

Gavin really wants a brother. He says, "I already have a sister, so now I need a brother." We find out this Friday what the gender of babe 3 is, so I have been trying to prepare Gavin just in case it is a girl. Today I said, "So, are you going to be upset if we get a sister instead of a brother?" He replied, ever so sweetly, "No, I will love a sister just as much!" How sweet is my boy! I told him I hope it is a girl so that I can always say he's my favorite boy in the whole world!

Coupons!!

My brother and sister were here over Memorial weekend (we had a blast) and my sis gave me a short tutorial in coupons and how to get her oh so fabulous grocery deals. I know I'm probably a little late jumping in on the coupon thing. But the other day, I went to CVS and purchased a pack of clearanced diapers for $2.12 and then got $2.00 in cvs extra care bucks. So, after the $2 ECB, I pretty much paid .12 for a pack of diapers. I will be using them when we go to Michigan in a few weeks. Normally, I would have just bought a back of diapers at target for $7.99. I'd say I got a pretty good deal! Yay! for coupons and yay! for sister in laws!

I Can't Believe . . .

I can't believe . . .

Gavin is now training wheel free!

I have to pee five minutes after I just peed.

I am still getting sick if I don't take my med's.

How good I feel at 18 weeks pregnant (when I'm not throwing up, that is). I never knew pregnancy could be anything but miserable!

How grown up I felt after attending a Parent's meeting at Gavin's school for next year.

The great deal I got on cloth diapers! I am now equipped to cloth not one, but TWO kids! Yay!

We get to find out the gender of babe #3 in a week and a half (hopefully, that is!)

How tough Charlotte is - she'll smack her head on something, flash a dirty look and just say "OWWWW!" and then get on with life.

Gavin can count to 100 (with a few helps)