As you may have seen via Instagram or Facebook we are expecting our first child in July. We are beyond excited.

As we continue on our adventure to becoming parents I have decided to write on this blog a bit more. My hope is that it does not stop after this post. My wife is a way better writer/story teller than I am so I would check out her blog as well (www.rachelkleist.com).

Other than announcing that we are going to have a kid in July, I decided that in this post I would also like to write about the mental notes I am taking as I journey closer to being a father. These are things I plan to teach our child as they grow up.

I would like to call this session:
“WHAT I WILL TEACH YOU ABOUT GROCERY STORES”

Lesson 1: Don’t go to the store hungry. If you choose to ignore this lesson (lets face it, you are your mother’s child you won’t take this to heart) you will walk into the store to buy a three dollar bottle of BBQ sauce and walk out with $50 worth of ‘car snacks’ which you will devour on your way home. It’s just science.

Lesson 2: Please please please, I repeat PLEASE let me show you how to use the self-checkout (CAUTION: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS ON YOUR OWN). The other day I witnessed a young girl, I will say high school age, attempt to pay in cash at one of these self-checkouts. I say attempt because she was trying to put the total amount of money in to the machine, as in two 5 dollar bills and two 1 dollar bills. She was getting quite frustrated when it kept spitting the money out at her and the light was flashing red. ONE BILL AT A TIME, I don’t want you to be that person.

Lesson 3: Coupons. READ THE FINE PRINT. Just because you have five 20% off coupons does not mean you will get that item for 100% off. If that was true I would be on one of those extreme couponing shows on TLC.

Lesson 4: You and your cart do not need to block half an aisle while you decide if you want Captain Crunch or Lucky Charms (just get Honey Nut Cherrios). Be aware of the other people in the aisle with you, because you and your cart are not see-through; just step out of the way.

Lets start with this for now and once you have mastered these lessons I can teach you how to move around in Costco on a Sunday and/or buy only what you want to when you go to Target.