Huh, what do ya know the blog is still here

Except for the fact that it looks oddly like that abandoned cobweb covered corner of the internet. Ya know, no big deal. So here I am 3 months later from the last time I wrote anything. Apparently, my sanity took a hiatus for a while, and left a tornado path of my life all over the place. DJ is now 5 going on 16 and OMG I may just kill this kid if the attitude and subsequent tantrums don’t stop soon.

Matt is cute and adorable and such a hold me baby, that well, minor house chores are now major accomplishments if I get them done.

Today and yesterday have been whirl winds as I get back on task wih the houee so my newest parenting adventure doesn’t “add to the back log of work that isnt getting done already” as hubby put it. What’s this new adventure you may ask? New craftiness or buckets of fun? I wish I was cool enough to have something that awesome to share.

Folks, we’ve hit that point where saving money on diapers sounds like a grand plan. Currently between baby food and diapers we are spending between 50 and 60 bucks every 2 weeks on diapers and food. And by we, I mean we just myself for now until Matt is potty trained or I convince hubby cloth isn’t so bad… So I turned to the good ole Internet. Starting my search at ThebabyguyNYC, I found he does not do any sort of reviews or gear guides to cloth diapers. But he recommended this wonderful blog here. Let me tell you, this woman has the most thorough cloth diaper barney style you could ever really appreciate. She tells you the difference in the diapers now a days, the costs, and then if your head isn’t swimming enough, she reviews cloth diapers in video form, currently hosting over 100 video cloth diaper reviews. After extensive review of the forementioned videos, I decided on a few things. A) I wanted All in ones or all in twos (most like disposables in their fits and ease of use) and B) that I wanted to test drive one of these babies. The research lead me to a kinda local cloth diaper boutique calledLittle Padded Seats in West Des Moines.

The kids and I made the journey, meeting my aunt in law up there. Let me tell you, granolaville, this was like the capital of crunchy good earthy momma store if I’ve ever seen. We apparently missed the memo of a huge baby shower esk thing at the fairgrounds, but the 2 remaining employees were extra pushy helpful for their products. Although on a side note, going to crunchy granola store has its perks, hey had a nice enclosed kids play area, and one employee literally was babywearing her 2 month old while helping us. Hey, I’m all for trying to get your commission, but let a woman take it all in before you try to push her either into a huge dollar amount purchase or towards something she doesn’t want. As if summoned by my thoughts of “whoa whoa whoa let me just look before I commit to anything” DJ had to go potty, who knew I’d ever see value in my kids bowel movements! I finally picked this one,

and liked it so much I bought a whole slew of them on Ebay. Despite the sales lady’s pitch of buying all new diapers, $20 a pop is just ridiculous for stuff my kids intentionally gonna poop on.

Did you know there’s literally a plethora of accessories you can buy to make your cloth diapering more successful? Like sprayers to help clean diapers at the toilet? Or better yet, an actual container thing to keep your poop spraying contained and aimed correctly into the toilet? Should you decide to do the original origami fashion of diapers, you don’t hafta worry about stabbing your child with a safety pin. It’s crazy, how much stuff they have now for this. It is definitely not our parents cloth diaper scene. Wish us luck, we will post more on this later!

Preschool home visit

We have hit the 2 weeks out from prescool starting. Yay! I’m not sure who is more excited, DJ or I! Iowa state funds the public free preschool and part of the requirements is a home visit where the teacher comes into your home and meets your child, discusses school and then takes off. Lucky us, ours is scheduled for t minus a few hours. I wonder how well this would go over?!

Good moms

Good moms let little kids lick the beaters, great moms take the beaters off the mixer first!

Things I never thought I would say….

So this will be an ongoing funny haha of different things I have either found myself saying to my son or husband, in the realms of parethood and pregnancy. 

“I think I just puked so hard that I peed myself.” (The back story on this should be titled, who said morning sickness only happened in the morning or usually lasted just through the first trimester was LYING!)

“Socks only cry when your feet stink”

“OW! We don’t shoot screwdrivers across the living room with our bows!”

“We don’t try to feed our toys to the dog, ok?”

“Gardening tools do not belong on the couch. Regardless of whether they are plastic or not.”

“Legos are not extra nose picking devices”

“I think I can document a case of pregnancy induced narcolepsy…. if I could just stay awake long enough to do the documenting!”

“A thunderstorm is not the best time to go ride your mower, DJ.”

“I am not responsible for what happens to you if do not stop throwing hotwheels down the stairs”

(While on the phone long distance with a friend) “Hold on, I hear something motorized….. it’s either his toothbrush or one of the trains. Nope not the toothbrush this time.”

“Grab your (toys) balls from behind the couch, and then go potty, now!”

“My boobs are leaking, this kid won’t get off my hips, and now the doc won’t let me ride horses til this kid is done baking. ”

“Baby brother doesn’t need your hot wheels cars in his swing.”

From DJ to me: “You dont sleep in my bed. You sleep downstairs. You belong to Daddy!”

“You’ve eaten 5 cheese sticks already today, how ’bout some fruit to even out your poops.”

“We do not shove the chew toys into baby brother’s mouth.”

“This poor kid can’t decide if he feels yucky, if his teeth hurt or if he wants to eat. Hence the screaming almost attached to my boob baby.”

“Pampered Chef, So easy my four year old could do it.”

When it rains, it pours, and comes and threes and fours!

So there I was, standing in the kitchen next to the Keurig waiting on my cup of coffee, having skipped a shower because the flickering power had told my water heater to keep turning off and back on, thanks to the great snow of MAY 2nd. The flickering power was no match for this woman getting her coffee, especially if I was going to have to forgo a shower. My cup finished, the Keurig started flashing the “prime” error code on the menu and “CRACK!” Turning into all my efficientness of not killing my prized coffee maker or anything else slightly vital to the house I started whirring around the house shutting things off, while ensuring tht my 4 year old “DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING!!!!” Once the coffee maker, the TV and all other high dollar items were turned off, the paranoid mom in me started looking out windows to see what sort of expensive now broken thing had just horribly crashed into the house or our garage causing such flickering electricity. I finally look out the front porch to see this

So I call the husband, who literally has just left the house for the farm maybe 5 minutes prior. The Conversation is as follows
Me: So, um, the Weeping Willow tree out front just broke in half and fell on our power line to the house. 
Hubby: Oh, crap.
Me: Yeah, so should I come get a chainsaw or something to cut away the branches from the line or???
Hubby (clearly the more functioning brains this morning) Call the power company. DO NOT GO TRY TO CUT IT YOURSELF. Some of those branches may be hot and you could get shocked.
Me: Oh, yeah, good point.
Hubby: They’ll come out and get the tree cut the line restrung or whatever. I am sorta stuck on the side of the road.
Me: HUH?!
Hubby: Yeah, I think the fuel pump on the dearly reliable purple farm truck is going out on the front tank.
Me: So, do yoou want me to call the power company, and then come get you or???
Hubby: Call the power company. I may have you bring out the extra gas can from the garage after that, so I can put gas in the back tank to limp it either home or to the Farm.

So we get the power company called, and I take DJ to the local Daycare lady so we’re not trying to fix electrical problems with a 4 year old trying to help. By this point, hubby has limped the truck back on its own accord. Upon inspection of the side of the house where the power line was connected, it is realized that our neutral ground cable has completely snapped, leaving 2 hot wires leading into the house and no way for the returning power to feed off the house. Not exactly ideal. But wait, there’s more canundrum to it, the damage goes beyond the joint where the electric company is essentially not responsible for.

See picture below

So we call out the electrician as well, and he gets things repaired so we don’t have bad juju on the side of the house or flowing in or out of the house in a manner that might be very shocking for anybody walking by.  So to end the hellacious day all crammed into this morning, here’s a picture of the freshly cut tulips next to the window looking at the snow outside.

Also definitely makes you think this bit for this morning

Lunch out on the playset, then a trip to the park…. followed by ANT INVASION.?!?!

Week 2 of being a stay at home mom, the weather has finally cooperated enough for me to take DJ out and about without too much weather hassle. We got dishes done and laundry folded, just in time to do a shmorgeshborg lunch of PB and Js, yogurt,  grapes, and carrots on the playset out in the back yard. DJ insisted on being tired and wanted a nap (hey I am not about to argue wih his logic!).

Although,  Latigo, our 4 legged child was less then thrilled being told not to climb the rock wall into the playset as he usually does when we go out to play.

Once he was up we had a fun filled adventure dropping off mail, going to the local oil, tires, etc place to pay the bill and fill up the car, and rounded it off with a park stop.  Fun times had by all, for sure!

And then we got home to discover ants had taken over my bathroom, yuck!!!!!!

So out of the bathroom we went, and onto pinterest for a cheap can make at home way to kill the little suckers. Found a recipe located here:

http://church-ladies.blogspot.com/2011/07/get-rid-of-ants-overnight.html
Placed out my ant bait stations, and was seriously disturbed as they swarmed into the one closest to the sink.

Will hopefully be reporting success in the morning, either that or tomorrow’s post wil be something to the effect of how to effectively move out for a day or two til the bug bomb dust settles. DJ thinks its funny that mommy wants to kill all the ants. I’m not sure whether to be bothered, or if this some of dad’s nonchalantness is poking through there.

Tantrum thrower…

“I don’t want supper, I just want cheese. I don’t like you right now mommy!” Don’t worry son, I will be sure to keep mental notes and pictures of this for your first girlfriend. I am sure this will be a fun way to keep my sanity now, knowing that, someday, this will embarrass you to no end!!

A lesson in aging

While on our stroll at the park, DJ and I went on the swings. DJ illustrated the superman technique while I was swinging the traditional way. I was talking to DJ and decided on leaning way back like I did when I was much younger… Maybe that was not the best idea at 22 weeks pregnant. Scientific method would have me try again to clarify that vertigo is a tried and true result of this, but I think once was more then enough for me to know A) this kid really doesn’t care for it, and B) nearly puking all over the park is generally frowned upon unless you are some drunken teenager.