Permanent Scribbles

I woke up at 6 AM to put the dog out on her chain, then I came back in and went back to bed.

DG let her back in before he left for work and she went to sleep on the bed. (Bad Chiweenie.)

She woke me up at 8:30.

I immediately instagrammed it.

I heard the kids chattering. Rhett was making tractor motor noises and Vivi was jabbering on her made up language that only she and God speak. I changed her with some help from Dobby.

Rhett was busy trying to get his RC Gator to work.

Meanwhile, Dobby eyed me knowing she wasn't allowed on the bed.

I fed Rhett breakfast and drank some skim milk while I fed Vivian.

I changed Vivi and turned on some Fireman Sam for Rhett.

I put Vivi in her walker while I did some chores.

I called our insurance and our wellness screening forms STILL hadn't been faxed in. It was a long wait on the phone.

I figured out that I might need to take care of this myself... so we packed up and headed for Jackson!

(After a few selfies and clothes for everyone.)

We headed to Fred's first to pick up my gallbladder-clearing prescription. Rhett wanted to go to the "party over there with all the smoke".

Then we drove to Jackson. The office was closed so we headed to Target. A super long time ago... like April... Nikki Boatwright bought bought some diapers for her daughter and left them at our house on accident. I kept forgetting to return them and finally her little girl outgrew them. So, we bought some replacement diapers at Target. (I LOVE LOVE LOVE Target brand diapers!)

Then we headed out for BK nuggets. We swung by the clinic, figured everything out, and popped back into the car. I wanted to hit up a McDonald's Playplace and get a Coke but was too lazy to cross traffic. (Hehehe...) So we stopped at the Southside park instead.

We headed back to Bolivar and dropped off the diapers. We visited DG at work...

Then we headed to Nanny and Papa's for cokes and conversation!

Then we headed to Lisa and Jimmy's and I dropped the kids off and went to weed a client's flower bed and pool area.

Those weeds were so high!

I worked until dark and then brought the kids home and put them to bed, took a shower, and worked on this blog post until DG got home around 11.

I'm so into Matt Kearney right now! Check him out!

Mat Kearney - Billion

I've been finding some products and solutions that I like and making changes around the house.

Change #1:

I've always used cloth diapers (except at church) but I never could find an acceptable cloth wipe situation. The problem with cloth wipes is that a dry piece of cloth does very little, so they need to be moist. But it's really not plausible to go and wet some rags under the tap before you change because it's tough to determine how many wipes you will need.

Another option is to keep a jar full of water and dip your wipes. This one is okay. I just didn't like it. I guess I never had the right size jar. It was just messy when I tried to squeeze excess moisture off of my rag.

So I gave up, but then I ran across an INCREDIBLE tip just hidden among the usual not-so-helpful suspects (like using a spritz bottle to spray your child's poopy bottom and then, once it is leaking everywhere, wipe it with a dry cloth). This person posted that she uses a coffee thermos to hold her water and then wets her cloth wipe slightly. She cleans the baby's bum as usual and then puts everything in her wetbag.

Friends - I about fell out my seat. That was a really great idea.

Therefore, I immediately implemented it.

I didn't have a coffee thermos, but I did have a nice water thermos-esque thing.

It works like a dream, people.

I cut up several receiving blankets (I love those for diaper changing pads on-the-go but I had SO many) and an old flannel queen sheet that was headed for the dump. I cut 10x10 inch squares, approximately.

I mixed 5 quarts of water with 1/3 cup white vinegar and put it in my thermos-thing.

The vinegar should make sure no strains of bacteria from our well-water are able to grow, plus provide anti-fungal protection for Vivi's bum.

Change #2:

I found some XL Thirsties covers and prefolds while decluttering my diapers and am now using them as cloth pull-ups for Rhett during naps and bedtime.

Do you realize how expensive pull-ups are?!? Almost $40 a month...

Also - Viv was peeing through her cloth diapers. I'd been using Pampers at night so she wouldn't wake up lying in a wet puddle. I remembered finding cloth diapers to be more absorbent with Rhett so I wondered why I was having the opposite experience with Vivian.

I got online and, after fielding 500 articles about stripping my diapers (already did it), I found my answer: hard water. Apparently well water is often filled with minerals and these form deposits on your diapers causing them to no longer absorb well. The solution is water softener and bleaching or OXYClean.

I bleached some of my diapers as a test and was super happy to find that they were EXTREMELY absorbent. So I de-mineralized the rest of my dipey stash. Bottom line? She is staying dry in cloth through the night.

Change #3:

I was using Palmolive Baby dish soap for Vivi's bottles.

That seemed like a good choice since it was clear, marketed for babies, and the back of the bottle advertised NO UNNECESSARY INGREDIENTS.

Apparently, by NO UNNECESSARY INGREDIENTS, it means that it doesn't contain tomato sauce because it sure doesn't mean that it has cut out any harsh chemicals. I mean, really.

Most soaps now contain sodium LauRYL Sulfate... at least ones marketed for kids. Sodium Laureth Sulfate has been linked with cancer and you won't find it in many hand soaps or body washes anymore (unless it's extremely low-priced).

Most dish soaps have it but I feel like it shouldn't be in a dish soap marketed for an infant.

I mean essentially, they didn't change their formula at all except to add different dyes and alcohol to make it look clear and low on chemicals, slapped the word BABY on the front, and tripled the price.

Badly done, Palmolive. Badly done.

Unlike George Knightley and Emma, I will not reunite with Palmolive.

So now we buy Seventh Generation - primarily because it was available. I think I'm going to purchase Honest Company if I can Amazon it. It's the same price as other dish soaps so not crazy, just way better for myself, my husband, my son, and my bottle-fed child.

Change #4:

On a similar note, I finally found a baby soap that is only water, coconut oil, nut oil,essential oils, crushed flowers, and spices. Don't get me wrong:

A. I haven't been looking that hard or anything.
B. I don't think regular baby soap is going to make Vivi sick.

It's just that, even though Johnson&Johnson doesn't put sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate in their washes, they still have many petroleum based chemicals that permeate the skin and that kinda makes me sick.

So I'm not judging how other people wash their kids or something - I don't think anyone is being permanently harmed by baby shampoo.

I just found something that I know won't hurt Rhett and Vivi so I'm so in love with it and using it!

Plus, it smells possibly like heaven because one of the crushed flowers is honeysuckle.