Drum roll, please.

Owen slept through the night last night!!!!!!!!!!!!

Back story: We have been doing a bedtime routine for less than one week. We have been trying to keep him up a little more throughout the day, as long as he stands it and doesn't get too fussy. Just sort of prolonging things. For example, if he wakes up at 1pm after a nap, we will play for a little while before we feed him lunch.

The routine consists of me getting home from work at 9pm. Loving on him for a few minutes. Having a nice calm bath with Johnsons bedtime bath. (We only wash his hair twice a week because that's his least favorite part, and his hair stays magically clean). Then, he gets rubbed down with Huggies Soft Skin lotion. Gets a fresh diapey and a nice terrycloth or fleece sleeper put on. Then he has a warm bottle and is rocked until he falls asleep.

The first night he slept five hours, and we were thrilled. Even after he woke up after 5 hours, I changed his diaper, fed him another bottle and then he went back to sleep within a half an hour. He woke up about an hour later, but we thought he was getting better at telling day from night.

The second night, he slept something like 6 and a half hours!! That was even better!! But, the downside was that he went to sleep a little earlier because I came home from work earlier, so he got up earlier. That was a hard day that started at 4:45am.

Night before last, we thought the past two nights had been a fluke. He woke up at 12:30 after going to sleep at 9:30. We were so sad. But, he still was only up for about a half an hour, and went right back to sleep and slept for like 4 hours. We think he may have had a tummy ache because it had been more than 2 days since he pooed. (His usual is once every two days).

But last night!!!! He was in a good mood when I got home (most times he is so sleepy that he is a little cranky), but he was in an awesome mood, smiling for 10 minutes at us, and carrying on a conversation! We talked and he made little cooing noises back at us!! He had his bath, and even tolerated having his hair washed without crying! He had his lotion rubbed on, which made him fuss a tad, but once we got to the bottle, he was fine. He fell asleep around 9:45pm and didn't wake up until a few minutes before 6am!!!!!!!! I attribute this success to routine, staying up longer during the day, gentle sounds and lights around and after bathtime, and of course, the thumb. When he woke up, he fussed for a second, and then I heard him start sucking his thumb and then silence for another half hour. When I looked at him right before 6, he was still sucking his thumb. Shortly after that he woke up for good. Thank God for thumbs!!!!!

Here are some pictures that Clint has taken with his cell phone and sent to me at work, so I don't miss him too too much.

Adorable, right?

We have also definitely decided on April 26 for his baptism! Yes! My Aunt is coming from North Carolina, and it's good with both of the God-parents. In other church news, we are working in the nursery this weekend for a little extra $$ and because the new girl can't do it this weekend. I told our minister that if she ever can't do it, we can come back to it.

Speaking of money, I am turning into quite a bargain shopper!!!! It gives me such a thrill!! I got a one day pass to Sam's Club thanks to our Allstate Insurance and my friend and fellow bargain shopper, Erin. They had our brand of formula, Similac Advance Early Shield, in 33.4 ounce containers for $27!!!!!! Usually it is $23 dollars for 23 ounces! I bought two for a total of $54 which will probably last about two weeks! Also at Sam's I bought an enormous package of chicken for $11, and an enormous package of western style pork ribs for $8. Since I am still on my mandarin orange and canned pineapple kick, I bought a case of each (8 and 6 cans, respectively), for a total of $15. Along with a couple other little things, I spent $108. (Considering half of that was formula, and I got at least 6 meals worth of meat, I feel excellent about it.

Then today, I went to Kroger for other essential things. I had a list of about 15 things, but came home with much much more. I got some veggies, english muffins, potatoes, etc... Then I realized that Kroger was still doing their promotion on certain brands, where if you bought 10 participating items, you got five dollars off your grocery bill. Just so happens, tons of the participating items were things I usually buy anyway! Including 4 Powerades for Clint at $1 each. Also, I don't usually buy frozen meals for myself, but Clint takes them for lunch a lot, and there a couple that I enjoy and will occasionally buy. Well, Stouffers frozen meals were on sale for $2 each, AND I had two separate coupons for Stouffers, saving over $2. So, with me back to work and Clint home with the baby, sometimes all he has time for is a frozen dinner. So, I bought like 12 of them!! ALSO they were a part of the promotion where if you bought 10 items you got $5 off!!! I also had a $5 coupon for complaining about Cottonelle toilet paper, so I bought a 12 pack of mega roll toilet paper for $1.49 after a sale and my coupon! I got a roll of paper towels for $.59, and Huggies were on sale for $10, and I had a $2 off coupon that expires in May, so I bought some in the next size, because I still haven't had to buy diapers yet!! So I got 40 size 2 diapers for $8!!!

So, I was excited to see the total. I put all my stuff on the conveyor belt, and the total was $138. Then, I used my Kroger plus card, saved a total of $10 because of the promotions, and used my coupons and the total was.......... $74!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's almost half!!!!! Clint was so proud of me. We also have been finagling our bills around so that our payments are manageable while Clint is laid off, and once he goes back to work and is at full salary, we will be able to pay off his car by the end of summer!!! Then, we want to put all that extra money towards other bills! We have a good plan.

Ok, this is like the longest post ever.
Today is a good day.