My husband and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. We have just 2 more years until we will be married as long as my parents were before they divorced. Growing up as their marriage fell apart taught me many lessons that I was able to take into my own marriage.

Here are our 15 tips for a happy marriage:

#15 – Watch a television show together 

This might seem like a silly tip, but it is one that we have always done and enjoyed. Pick a show and watch it together. Don’t cheat and watch an episode without your spouse. It is 30 minutes – 1 hour that you can sit together and be entertained.

#14 – Take The Love Languages quiz 

Take the 5 Love Languages Quiz to see what each of your’s love language is. It will give insight into your spouse’s thinking and what you can do to help them feel loved and appreciated.

#13 – Tell your spouse what you want 

Don’t assume your spouse is a mind reader. Speak up and tell them exactly what you want or need. If you need time to write, tell them. If you need help with the housework, tell them. If you aren’t handling an emotion well, tell them.

#12 – Have a date night at home once a week

Prepare a meal or pick up take out and pop in a movie or even play a board game. Spend some time together enjoying one another’s company. It is an inexpensive way to connect with your spouse.

#11 – Buy your spouse a little something each week without being asked 

Show your spouse you are thinking about them by picking up a little something for them each week. It can be as small as a bottle of soda or a gallon of tea. It doesn’t have to break the bank. Just pick them up something without being asked to show them you are thinking of them.

#10 – Spend at least 10 minutes a day talking without distractions 

Set a timer if you need to, but plan on spending at least 10 minutes a day talking to your spouse without distractions and make sure you really listen to them!

#9 – Split the duties 

Don’t assume one person can do it all! Split the household duties both inside and outside the house. And if you ever need help, make sure you ask them for it! Don’t assume they can read your mind.

#8 – Have a date outside the home at least once a month 

It doesn’t have to be expensive. Even a picnic to the park would work. And you don’t have to leave the kids behind if you don’t have a babysitter. Just get out of the house and spend time with your spouse.

#7 – Have a budget 

Money is one of the biggest triggers for fights between couples. Have a budget that tells your money where to go. You can even give each spouse a weekly personal allowance that allows them to spend their money on anything they want without having to talk to the other spouse. Check out my Saving for Disney course to learn more!

#6 – Be considerate of the other person’s feelings

Just like you consider the feelings of your friends, always consider the feelings of your spouse. Apologize if you make a mistake. Excuse yourself if you fart. Be respectful and kind just like you are to other people in your life.

#5 – Have a common interest – like Disney! 

Sharing a common interest is a great way to engage with your spouse. Find something that you are both interested in that you can do together. For us, it is Disney. We both love it, enjoy talking about it and definitely enjoy visiting it.

#4 – Vow to never go to bed mad 

Don’t let things fester. Take the time to resolve them before bed. Be willing to listen to the other person without reservation. Sometimes you have to concede in order to end the fight. But come to a resolution before you lay your head down at night.

#3 – Give each other space

Let your spouse have a night out with the friends, talk on the phone in private or head out the door for some alone time. Everyone needs their space and be willing to give your spouse theirs.

#2 – Don’t force your spouse to be around your family

This is a big one. I’ve always heard that when you marry your spouse, you marry their family. But that doesn’t have to be the case! If your spouse doesn’t get along or like some of your family, don’t force them to attend get togethers. It will save stress and headache….trust me!

#1 – Put God first 

If you have God first in your marriage, you will have a healthy, loving relationship with your spouse. Attend church together, do a bible study, pray together. Just keep God front and center.

I hope that helps you and your spouse!

I am so blessed and my heart is so full of love and pride this morning. My sweet children understand how hard their mom works especially during this time of the year. They knew that I was up until 3:15 am, so the older 2 kids took it upon themselves to get their little sister up at 6:45 am so I could sleep a little longer. I had already nursed her and she was playing contently in her bed, but they decided they needed to take care of her.

I woke up to my 8 year old son Facetiming with his grandmother on how to change a diaper. I heard him saying “Well it’s a little tight over here and a little loose over there but the tabs are in the front!” I laid there in the bed with my heart swelling with love and pride for these precious babies. How did I get so lucky?

So from our wonderful house to yours, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are able to have such a sweet and amazing moment as I did this morning.

First I want to start by thanking all of you for being so understanding of my need to take time off from the blog. I know you can choose to get your deals elsewhere, so it means a lot to me that you continue to choose CouponingtoDisney.

Today I am beginning to work full time on the blog again. I am so grateful that my friend was able to help for a little longer than expected. I am excited to be working again and I have a lot of big plans that I hope to implement over the next few months.

My postpartum recovery with Molly Kate has been very difficult. In addition to the normal things you deal with after giving birth, I also dealt with clogged ducts that turned into Mastitis and a cough/cold that just wouldn’t go away. I was finally able to get on the right antibiotics and I feel so much better! It’s wonderful to feel like myself again.

Molly Kate is a great baby. She is very happy and easy going, most of the time. The antibiotics that I had to take upset her stomach and I spent 3 days in a rocking recliner because I could not put her down for more than 2 minutes at a time. Once the antibiotics left her system, she was back to being easy going.

She also has a slight case of hip dysplasia. She has to wear the Pavlik Harness until August 7th. She has spells where she gets really aggravated that she can’t curl herself up into a ball, but for the most part it doesn’t seem to bother her.

She is still waking about every 2 hours at night to eat. She is currently going thru her 6th week growth spurt where she literally wants to eat around the clock for a few days, so I am hoping as soon as the growth spurt ends that she starts sleeping longer stretches at night.

My older 2 kids are adjusting well to the new baby. They are so excited to have a little sister and want to help and tend to her as much as they are able to. We also made the decision to take them both out of public school and homeschool them this year. We are using K12’s independent program and have already started working on lessons to make the adjustment to full time homeschooling. I am very excited about what the future holds for them!

I hope you have had a great summer so far! We are enjoying the bright sunny days, but not the high temps with high levels of humidity. Alabama has some crazy hot summers! Thank goodness for pools.

Molly Kate was breech from about 24 weeks to 34 weeks of pregnancy. Every time we peeked at her on an ultrasound, she had her feet up by her head. Once I learned about hip dysplasia in breech babies, I decided to be pro-active and began to see a chiropractor who specializes in the Webster Technique. The Webster Technique is non-invasive and it involves them adjusting your hips and pressing on knots in the ligaments that support the uterus. They don’t do anything to the baby.  I believe the night of my first visit, she flipped. We had an ultrasound in the 35 week and she had indeed flipped head down. I continued to see the chiropractor weekly until delivery to ensure that she remained head down.

When she was examined in the hospital by the pediatrician, I told them how she was breech for 10 weeks and requested a hip ultrasound (something they wouldn’t have known to do since she wasn’t born breech). She had her first scan at 10 days old which showed slight hip dysplasia. We were referred to a pediatric orthopedic at Children’s Hospital who repeated the ultrasound at 27 days old. There was improvement, but not enough. He said we could watch it and see if it corrects itself or we could go ahead with the Pavlik Harness. I told him to make the decision for me and he chose to go ahead and do the harness. He said we would have no regrets this way.

They fitted her with the harness in the office and told us that she has to wear it 24/7 for 6 weeks except for baths. It doesn’t seem to bother her which is good. I am having a hard time adjusting to it. I can’t hold her in the same positions, I can’t nurse her in the same positions, life has definitely changed. I know it is the best thing for her and 6 weeks won’t seem like such a long time.

If anyone has experience with the Pavlik Harness, I would love to hear about it. I also had to start pumping more bottles for her as it is very difficult to get her into a good position to breastfeed. If you have any pumping tips, I would appreciate them!

Molly Kate is currently asleep on my chest as I write this. She loves to be held and cuddled and I love to do it. She is such a wonderful blessing and such a sweet baby. Life is so good.

Molly Kate was born on May 30th, 2014. She weighed in at 8 lbs, 5 oz and was 20.75 inches long. We had an issue with her weight dropping the first week, but now that my milk is established, she is gaining quickly. Because she was breech for 10 weeks (I was able to get her to flip in the 35th week by visiting a chiropractor that specializes in the Webster Technique), the doctors performed a hip ultrasound. It looks like she has a touch of hip dysplasia. We are due to visit the pediatric orthopedic later this week.

She is a very good baby. She sleeps about 1.5-2 hours between feedings at night and usually goes back to bed without any issues. She spends her days eating (I call her my piggie), hanging out in our arms or sleeping in her moses basket or Mamaroo. Both Emily and Jacob are crazy about her. They are so excited to have a baby sister.

Life with 3 kids is so different! And having a baby at 31 is a whole lot different than having a baby at 21 (Emily and Molly Kate are 10 years and 17 days apart). I wouldn’t change this for the world though. We are so glad that she is finally here. 

I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday! 

 

We are home with our little blessing Molly Kate. Everyone is doing really well. The kids love to dote on her and the cat and dog are like “hm, she’s interesting” and walk off. God is so good to our family!

A few months ago, my nephew Steven’s dog got out of the fence and we weren’t able to locate her. She is a full blooded Dachshund so we think someone picked her up and took her home. Ever since, something has been missing in Steven’s spirit.

Today, God really laid on my heart that it was time to get Steven a new dog. So this morning I emailed 9 different rescues about Steven and how he was looking for his best friend. Well one guy emailed me back and said he had the perfect dog, Belle.

So I told Steven we were going for a drive and surprised him by taking him to the rescue. Belle came right up to him and started loving all over him. He took her for a quick walk and she didn’t drag him or try to escape. We adopted her and headed home.

And Belle truly is the perfect dog! Not only does she love Steven, but she gets along great with Dixie (if you remember, my Mother in Law raises my nephew) who is his grandmother’s dog and my kids. She is very relaxed and already at home here.

What is so ironic is it has been a year to the day since we adopted Tink (our cat) from the rescue. Both Tink and Belle were their given their names by the rescue and both times I felt that God was telling me that the perfect animal was waiting on us.

Plus if you put their names together, it’s Tink[er] Belle! How perfect is that?

 

We had our anatomy scan a few weeks ago and we are excited to be blessed with a baby girl who is due to join our family on June 2nd, 2014.

We are naming her Molly Katherine Faith Cooper and will call her Molly Kate. Here is what the name means to us:

Molly Kate was the top name for a girl when I was pregnant with Andrew.

Molly means ‘Wished for Child’ and it is very fitting after everything we have been through. Plus I have a really great friend Molly who is always there when I need her.

Katherine means ‘Pure’ and it is the name Emily had picked for her.

Faith is not only what has carried us through our heartbreak and the journey to have another child,  but equally important it is  the middle name of my very best friend who is in remission from Pancreatic Cancer (almost 2 years now!).

I am so very blessed. Thank you all for being a support to my family.

(And a big thanks to a great friend of mine who took the time to take this picture.) 

With a joyful heart, I am excited to tell you all that I am expecting a new miracle in June 2014!

 

We never consider ourselves cat people until we started watching all these You Tube videos of cats doing funny things. Our favorite videos include the surprised kitty, the cat vs the printer and of course Ninja kitty. So after seeing how much joy cats bring to people’s lives, we decided we had to have a cat in our lives too.

Two weeks ago, I had this overwhelming feeling that our cat was waiting on us to come get her. I can’t explain it, but I couldn’t think about anything else but the need to own a cat. So I had hubby call around to all the local shelters and he couldn’t get in touch with anyone. So finally he decided to call PetSmart because he knew that our local animal shelter adopts kitties through their store. When he called, he learned about this beautiful black and white cat who would be perfect for our family.

So we set off to meet her. And she is perfect in every way. She is sweet, loving and tolerable of our 12 year old small dog. We knew right away that she was the cat meant for us.

And what makes her even more perfect for us is that her given name is Tink. I’m not kidding. The shelter (or her previous owners) had already named her Tink! Being the Disney loving family that we are, we could not leave her behind. ‘Ohana means family. So we unofficially named her Tinker Bell Ohana Cooper and call her Tink for short. Well I call her Kitty Kitty in a high pitched baby voice. HAHA.

So now we are cat people and we couldn’t be happier. She even likes to help me work, although she spends most of the time trying to attack the cursor on the screen. Such a silly kitty!

A couple months ago, I cut off my long hair and donated it to Locks of Love. It was such a wonderful thing to be a part of and I am so glad that I grew my hair long so I would have enough to donate.

To donate the hair, I just took a gallon sized plastic bag to my hair stylist. She put my hair up in a pon tail and then she cut the entire ponytail off. I put the hair in a bag, printed out the hair donation form and took the entire thing to the post office and mailed it for about $2. It was so easy to do!

About 6 weeks after I mailed off my hair donation, I received a thank you card from Locks of Love. It’s wonderful to know that for just $2 I was able to make an impact on a stranger.

Go here to learn more about donating your hair to Locks of Love.

If I could cut one week of the calendar each year, I would choose the week of October 12th – October 18th. These 7 days are the worst 7 days of the year for me. During this span of time, I lost my aunt in ’91, my father in law in ’08, my uncle in ’11, and my baby in ’10.

Of all the precious people I have lost, losing my baby was the hardest thing I have ever lived through. Our sweet precious Andrew was only here with us for 18 short weeks, but he has forever changed who I am, what kind of mother I am and how I relate to those around me.

Today is the 2 year anniversary of the day we found out that Andrew had passed. By sharing his story and the ups and downs that I have gone through, Andrew’s life has been able to make an impact on thousands of wonderful people. I can’t even tell you how many people have emailed me to tell me how my story changed them forever. How many precious mothers lost a baby after I did but made it through because they knew I had already made it through the loss of my child.

They say time heals all wounds, but I don’t agree. Time makes my wounds more bearable. I don’t find myself in the floor as much as I used to. I don’t find myself crying every time I am alone. But it still hurts, it still can take my breath away, it can still bring me to my knees.

Andrew is my son. He might not have taken a breath on this earth, but he was a part of the love my husband and I share. I love him just as much as I love my 2 living children. And I grieve for him just as much and just as hard as I would have grieved if Emily hadn’t survived her near death experience that happened just a month before we lost Andrew.

Rainbows are my sign from Andrew that he is still with me. Every time I have been broken, God has sent me a rainbow. The first rainbow was sent to us on the first day of our trip to Disney World in January 2011 which we took to celebrate Andrew’s impact on our lives. I put a circle around the area of the clouds. Do you see what I see? When one of my amazing readers pointed out the baby in the clouds, I fell to my knees in Hollywood Studios. A definite sign from my Heavenly Father where my baby is and that he is okay.

The thing that I have found since experiencing this loss is how many mothers share the same story. How many wonderful families have loved and lost their precious babies. My heart goes out to everyone who knows this pain. I am here if you ever want to talk.

Today also happens to be National Pregnancy and Infant Loss day. Our hope is that everyone will light at candle at 7 pm in their time zones to create a wave of light around the globe to remember those precious babies that never walked on this earth but left their footprints on our hearts. Will you join me in lighting a candle? Please feel free to leave a comment letting us know who you are lighting your candle for.

I live just outside Birmingham, AL. I just had all my weather alerts go off letting me know that we were under a tornado warning. A tornado warning a week before Thanksgiving. Needless to say after my area got hit by the tornado on April 27th, 2011, I freak out. My husband was at Walmart buying groceries with my mother in law, my kids are at school and I am here at home. Thankfully we are all ok, but I still can’t feel my toes (from all the rapid pacing).

I have set up a ton of weather alerts. I want to make sure that I always know if we are going to have a tornado in our area. My alerts called, emailed and texted me. And our new home alarm system even started sounding it’s alarm. We bought it because it alerts us if there is a tornado warning in the area.

• Weather Call 
• Vivint

I took the picture above from my front yard after the tornado circulation had moved away from us (I am not crazy enough to stand in my front yard during an actual tornado warning.)

I cut my teeth on the grocery business. My grandparents have owned and operated the same 8 aisle grocery store since 1978. I worked there for 5 years when I was a teenager and I learned many successful skills that help me to be a great couponer and blogger. (Because we had to hand key in the prices when I worked there, I memorized every single price in their store. Now I can recall the price I paid both before and after coupon for every item in my house!)

My grandparents operate their store on a skeleton crew, literally. Ok, not literally. My mom was feeling silly on Halloween and did it. It was just so funny I had to share.

 

Today is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Everyone is invited to light at candle at 7 pm in their time zone in remembrance. If everyone lights a candle and keeps it burning for at least once hour, there will be a continuous WAVE OF LIGHT over the entire world.

Today marks the 1 year anniversary of the day we found out our third child had passed away. Throughout the tough year, I have been overwhelmed by the support and compassion shown to me by other mothers who have also suffered the same pain. 90% of women that I have spoken with have lost a child. Many of you reading this post have either lost a child or know someone who has. Please know that today I am praying for you as well.

I am lighting my candle for my son, Andrew Johnathan.

(And sorry for the lack of deals lately. I honestly just haven’t had it in me. I hope to be back to the full swing of things next week. I don’t know what I would do without you. I love being able to interact and help so many of you on a daily basis. Thank you for sticking with me!)

Yesterday marked the 3 month anniversary of the day the tornadoes ripped through Alabama. Today marks the day that couponers around the United States came together for my hometown. They sent box after box of things they got for cheap or free with their coupons. We ended up with a total of 696 boxes from every state in the United States! Absolutely incredible.

So if you sent a box we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for impacting hundreds of families with your donations. I tried to keep up with all the addresses but I couldn’t write them down as fast as the boxes were opened and the items distributed. The items were put to good use here and in other affected areas and helped many people who didn’t think anyone would want to help them.

It was very humbling to be able to organize this relief effort and thank you so much for being a part of it!

Kristin

I am blown away. I am going to be honest. I had hoped anticipated that we would receive 50 boxes. We are now at over 500 boxes! Thank you all so much for sending your donations!

I want to send a HUGE MASSIVE thank you to everyone that has sent a box. I tried to keep track of everyone, but unfortunately I failed. There were days the volunteers beat me to the boxes. They are just so eager to get these things sorted and out to the people. But we are SO VERY VERY VERY grateful from the bottom of our hearts.

Here’s the previous information if anyone needs it…

Online: You can ship items directly to the church via Amazon, Walmart, Target, etc. A few people have ordered cases of diapers, wipes and even food. Anything that you want to send would be appreciated!

Share it: Please feel free to share this information via your blog, email, Facebook, Twitter, whatever. The more people that know of this option, the better!

April 27th my town was hit by a tornado. We suffered loss of homes, businesses, vehicles, etc. Praise the Lord we did not suffer many losses of life. Unfortunately, it wasn’t over. Later in the day, more tornadoes touched the ground in Alabama killing at least 250 people. They are reporting that the tornadoes were EF3, EF4 and EF5s (which is the worst kind).

Southerners are in dire need of some of the most basic necessities and I am working with my local church to start an online donation drive to help the victims of these storms. If you have any items that you would love to mail to us, we will gladly take them. Here are a few things that we are in need of:

Updated list:

Baby supplies (including diapers, wipes, A&D Ointment, baby food and juices)
Blankets
Bungee Cords
Can openers
Charcoal grills (small)
Construction materials
Convenience food (snack type)
Deodorant
Diabetic Monitors with Strips
First aid kits
Gloves
Hand tools
Non-perishable food items
Over the counter medications (mainly tylenol)
Pet supplies
Ropes
Shampoo and Conditioner
Soap Powders and Cleaning Supplies
Socks and underwear *NEW*
Sunscreen and Bug Spray
Tarps
Trash bags
Water
Yard tools (rake/shovel)

We will gladly take anything that you are willing to send, but we no longer need clothing. I hate for you to spend the postage on something we might not use for months when a local shelter in your area might be in dire need of it. All of the clothing we have received so far is very much appreciated and has been sorted and distributed (or stored based on season) to the victims. But it appears that everyone that needs clothing has received it and there are no more requests for it.

You can mail your donations to my church. We will ensure they get into the right hands. You have my personal guarantee that all donations will be distributed:

Disaster Relief
c/o First Baptist Church of Moody
902 Church Street
Moody, AL 35004

If you would like to send a monetary donation, please memo your check as Disaster Relief.

Last weekend my friend Missy emailed me to let me know that she and Tammy (the lady that she was shopping with on Extreme Couponing) were making a road trip here from Orlando. So on Thursday, they drove the 12 hour drive from their house to mine and brought with them a HUGE HUGE HUGE donation for the Disaster Relief drive.

I met her at the donation hub so we could unload her van which was literally squatting! She had it packed like a sardine can and had even more on top. The volunteers were blown away and kept saying how they couldn’t believe that someone would drive all the way from Orlando to bring the items to Moody, Alabama.

After unloading all the items at the church, we went out to dinner at our local Mexican restaurant and then hit Walmart. Shopping with Missy and Tammy was so much fun! She brought a huge stack of coupons so we could get even more donations for the church.

We were all having so much fun that they decided to stay for most of the day. We went to Target where we made out like a bandit with more donations then we brought all the items along with the packages from the AMAZING readers to the donation hub. Then we had more time for another shopping trip to Walmart (this time we bought items to aid people as they fix their homes) before they had to say goodbye to drive back to Orlando. It was an awesome, fun filled 22 hours. Thank you so much Missy and Tammy and all the couponers in central Florida who contributed to the tornado victims. You are all awesome!