Blanket Kid

This is C's stripe blanket.  I bought it at a garage sale when I was pregnant with Miss M and didn't know the sex.  C is an attachment kind of gal.  On this particular day she wanted her "striped blanket" by her.  I had no clue what she meant.  The tears flew.  Tantrum ensued.  I brought her another striped blanket (not remembering that her blue blanket has stripes too).  This added to her anguish.  I told her to come and show me where the striped blanket was.  She quickly got up and lead me to her room.  There was her blue blanket and boy was she relieved.  She wanted to use it to build a fort with her sister.  It isn't big enough for that job so she found another use for it..on her head.

Wherein I attempt to make my own laundry soap

On Sunday, I was in a bind.  I had put my last disposable diaper on C and was waiting for the order of EcoSprout laundry soap to arrive to clean my cloth diapers.  I realized that no mail was going to be delivered the next day since it was Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  A trip to Target was in store but not just to get more disposable diapers.  You see, I needed to wash those cloth diapers stat before they became a biohazard!  I looked online (really, just on pinterest) and searched for DIY laundry soap.  I found a recipe that required three simple ingredients and I happened to already have two of the three!  All I needed was some Arm and Hammer Washing Soda.

So off to Target we go.  M decides she wants to spend her saved up birthday/Halloween money to get a toy.  We look for the washing soda but no luck.  M still gets her toy and makes her mama proud by not just using her money towards a toy for herself but also spends half of her money to buy her little sister a toy.  Very cool.  And totally her idea.

Since Target was a disappointment, I decided I had to enter no man's land.  Yep, Walmart.  I despise Walmart.  I. Do. Not. Shop. There.  But the word on the street was that they sold this washing soda and desperate times call for me doing things that I really don't want to do.  So I go to the store whose-name-I-can't-type-anymore and there is the washing soda.  Yay.

The other two ingredients beside the washing soda is borax and fels-naptha soap.  The basic idea to make the detergent is to shave the soap and then mix it with some borax and washing soda.  It is not fun to grate that soap so I ended up only doing about 1/3 of the bar.  I then mixed it with 1/2 cup of both borax and washing soap.  Even though I didn't grate that much soap, I still had so much detergent!

I ended up washing not just the cloth diapers (an entire diaper pail full of them), but also five loads of laundry.  I still have detergent left over.  Some of the laundry was pretty stained and was pre-treated and ALL came out looking and smelling clean.  There is a lemony scent to the soap but your clothes DO NOT smell lemony.  They just smell clean.  I like that smell.  Much better than the smell they started out as.  Especially the cloth diapers.

DIY Laundry Soap Recipe:

For about 15 loads or so.

1/3 shaved/grated bar of Fels-Naptha Soap (grater is from IKEA and is highly recommended!)
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

Mix all together and place into a jar.  Use 1 tablespoon per load.  Adjust as needed.

Snow Much Fun!

Our Family

Not really liking the snow hitting her face.

Loves the Snow!

Miss M, on the other hand....Can you find her?

The Birthday Queen (a day early)

To my beloved sister.

She is awesome.

She is strong.

She is joy.

Happy Birthday!

The Fog is Lifting

We have been in a funk lately.  It has been filled with cries, moans, sleepless nights and just general unhappiness from all of us.  Miss M has been sick and it has sent ripples of despair throughout the house.  OK, not despair exactly, but crabbiness for sure.

It all started last Monday night when she didn't sleep.  She kept moaning and crying out to us and then at one point I was in her bed and she was in mine.  It is all a big blur.  The next day was supposed to be her first day back at school after winter break, but she was a mess.  By the time the afternoon rolled around, she told me she needed a doctor.  When your kid tells you they need a doctor, you take them.  Of course, this happened to be the day that I needed to sign C up for preschool for the fall.  And yes, I did fit it in because I am crazy like that.  Get M to the doctor and it turns out she has an ear infection.  She is allergic to amoxicillin (horrible reaction "worse case they have ever seen" when she was 2) so the doctor prescribed her a similar but sometimes not as effective/fast as amoxicillin.

Day 3/Wednesday: Still sick.  Another bad night.  Stays home again.  On Thursday she starts to act more like herself but her voice is kinda funny.  I am not sure what is going on.  Her appetite is a little bit better and so we are hopeful.

Day 5/Friday: Goes to school.  She is not a 100% but she is wanting to go and she had a good night's rest so she goes.  When she comes home, the poor thing starts to cry.  School just utterly and completely wiped her out.  I feel bad that I had her go but she did.

Day 6/Saturday: Is back to where we started.  Not sleeping well.  Not eating well.  Voice is still "funny."  She doesn't want to go back to the doctor but the antibiotic has now ran out and our intuition is telling us you better get her in there (to the doctor) because tomorrow is Sunday.  We promise her a side trip to the library if she agrees to the doctor.  So J takes her to the doctor while I take C to the library.  Doctor says that ears are now clear but her tonsils are enlarged - hence the funny voice.  Could be a virus.  The antibiotic is still in her system but gives a new prescription in case she gets worse tomorrow.

Day 7/Sunday:  Still tired but getting a tiny bit more appetite.  Decide to hold off on filling the new prescription.  For dinner, I had the idea to give her tomato soup which she did eat.  This was such a great sign.  Also thought of putting vapor rub on her back/neck since she complained that that was hurting her.

Day 8/Monday:  Stays home from school again but there are signs of hope.  She takes it easy but does her homework and even practices her keyboard (something she doesn't like to do).  Appetite is much better.  Voice sounds better.

Day 9/Tuesday..today!  She is back in school!  Hooray!

This has been the longest stretch that M has ever been ill.  I feel like I have been put through the ringer. When M would cry out for us at night, she would then yell at us for coming to her.  She didn't know what she wanted and was just as frustrated as we were.  We all just wanted her to feel better and felt hopeless that we couldn't just give her a pill and make it go away.  It is one of the worst feelings of being a parent.

So now we just hope and pray that with M feeling better, the rest of us will stay well, as well!