Clean All the Clothes!

Saturdays are usually laundry day. I know it works for some to keep up on it throughout the week and do a load a day... not for me. I do about 5-6 (sometimes 7) loads on Saturday. They get clean. Folding is a different story ;)

For almost a year now I've been making my laundry detergent. You may remember my post when I first started making powdered detergent. I thought it would be less work than doing liquid/gel detergent with the process of cooking and cooling and 5 gallon buckets and whatnot. Not true. I have found that the liquid kind is soooo much easier to make than the powdered, at least if you are like me and don't have a food processor. I would spend about an hour grating or chopping the soap super finely. My washer apparently doesn't like powder, either, because I would occasionally find clumps of it throughout the clothes. A new washer and dryer is on my list of things to get in the next five years, but probably not for a while. So I decided to give in and try a liquid version. I tried a Dawn dish soap version I found on One Good Thing by Jillee. It was super easy to make (and cheap) but after just one batch of it I could tell it was cheap. Dish soap was not made for clothes. I could tell it was taking a toll on my laundry. It wore on the fabric and made them seem very dull. So I ditched that kind as well. I had only one option left: liquid.

How did I not know it was so easy?? All of the pins I had found would seem like long, complicated processes. It's not. I read through a bunch and kind of developed my own recipe. I only make about 3-64oz containers at a time instead of 3 gallons or so. Each container lasts us at least over a week, sometimes two, using about 1/2 cup in each load. It gets our clothes clean without damaging them. It's easy, natural, and very cost effective!

Economical breakdown:

Fels Naptha bar soap ($1): 2 batches - $0.50 each batch
Washing soda (55 oz box for $4): 13 batches - $0.30 each batch
Borax (76 oz box for $3): 19 batches - $0.16 each batch
*exact prices may vary ;)

About $1 for a month's worth of laundry soap!

Today was my third batch of liquid, and it definitely is the best that I've tried by far! Here is the recipe that I concocted from reading other various recipes. What I've learned is it's really not so much about the amounts or the process you use; if it works for you, then it works!

Liquid Laundry Detergent:

1/2 bar laundry soap
6ish cups of water
*Dissolve/melt soap in water in largeish pot over mediumish heat while stirring.
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup washing soda
*Add after soap has dissolved. If you add before then, I've found that it takes a little longer for the soap to dissolve. Not a big deal if you have more than 15 minutes to throw this together.
*Let cool in pot. It will become gelatinous.
*Once cool, transfer to containers, divided evenly, using a funnel and a measuring cup or whatever.
*Add water to fill containers. Shake it up! Over time, ingredients may separate naturally, just shake before adding to the load.

Babies!!!!

Well, if you've been following me for a while, you may remember my post about only having two kids. True, having two littles running around can be exhausting and frustrating, but lately Levi and I have both been wanting more kids. Amidst the chaos and screaming there is so much joy we get from them! We're actually both a little baby hungry again ;) You may be thinking, "Wait! What?? I thought it was dangerous for you to get pregnant again!!" That's what I thought. That's what I was lead to believe.

First and foremost, I absolutely loved having Dr. Jacobs as my provider when I was pregnant with Via. He was great. I felt like he took care of me very well and I was very excited he was on call when I went into labor with her. He took great care of me after I had her, too. He was great. But he is young. And I think I scare him. One thing I definitely learned from working at the clinic is no two providers are the same. They still all have different opinions and techniques (is that the right word? Does that make sense??)

Anyway, I approached Dr. Jacobs one day during my internship about a procedure he had brought up briefly. I have a septum, or wall, in my uterus that most likely caused the preterm labor. He had talked about it being removed. I wanted to know what kind of surgery it was, maybe how much it would cost, was it an office or hospital procedure? When I started asking about he replied with, "Don't tell me you're thinking of having more kids. You're high-risk. I don't like high-risk." It hurt my feelings.

After that I had been thinking of getting a second opinion on the matter. My insurance kicked in this month, so I met with another one of the doctors. If the door really was closed, I just needed to hear it from someone else as well. "By the witness of two" kind of thing. So that's what I did.

I met with Dr. Cox, went over my history with him (all of it), my husband drew a great picture of my uterus (since he saw it during V's c-section), and he also suggested that we take out the septum, but was extremely optimistic about me having more kids! He explained the procedure to me, one of his nurses actually looked up how much it would cost, it would be a same-day surgery in the hospital, and I could have more babies shortly after! While we were talking, he said he'd get me set up for the surgery now and I could be pregnant in 6-8 weeks! Whoa! Unfortunately, we don't have the money for all of that right now, but we do have a plan. I will get to that.

Right after our consultation, Dr. Cox had a meeting with the clinic partners. He presented my case (anonymously, of course) to two others in our clinic, heart issues and all. They both agreed with Dr. Cox :) When I talked to him later, he didn't even sound too concerned about me having more before the septum excision, but of course a septum excision first would be safest. And the least expensive in the long run if we ended up with another NICU baby. $70,000 for a preemie (assuming we would make it to at least 35 wks again) or $4,000ish for the surgery. Yeah, going with surgery.

So, the plan: Next year's tax returns will go toward surgery and our insurance deductible, and we plan to start trying again soon after that. Hopefully by March of next year. Sadly, we are paying off credit cards with this year's return, or else we would jump on it now. No more credit card debt for us, though!  And hopefully two more babies in our future!

January

What a crazy month it was! Where did it go??

I thought I would follow up on my little goals for each month that I had set. Just to warn you, it didn't go extremely well haha!

Save $10 each month - This I did do. There is money in our savings account,  but we did use the credit cards during January, so I'm not sure it really counts...

Read one book each month - I did do this! I finished a book at the beginning of the month and then read two more. I have also started my February book and am really enjoying it! I will post on it when I am done... sometime by the end of the month ;)

Read 10 verses each day - I was doing pretty well at a chapter a day, but then I started to wane. I need to get back on it. It's been a good two weeks since I've read, I think :/

Work out 3 times each week - I've done at least two times each week with my mother-in-law and usually one on my own on the weekends. 5 am is early! I do take the stairs at work when I go down to the cafeteria for lunch. Does that count??

Drink {more} water - I have been much better about drinking water! I feel like I drink it constantly at work and have been drinking more at home. This week I had some sprite and cranberry juice (with raspberries...healthier??) at a couple of parties we had at our house, but I believe that's the first time I've had soda this year. If you know me and my soda habit, that's a feat! 

Eat healthier - Ah, the clean eating.... We were doing so well the first two-ish weeks. I've kind of fallen off the wagon with it. The main goal was 1 serving of veggies a day. For the most part, I've gotten those in. There were maybe a few days in the last few weeks that I didn't get any vegetables. Clean eating is hard. For me, at least. The moment came at "that time of the month" (sorry, tmi) when I inhaled almost two big macs. Yeah. Defeated by a secret sauce. I've been somewhere in the middle since then. Still shooting for healthier things, but the intensity died :( Beside the big mac fiasco, we haven't done fast food much at all. A mcmuffin yesterday morning. And it was delicious. That's all. So.... it's getting better. 

Meditate - I always forget about this one. No, I'm not great at personal prayer. I should be by now. We do really well with nighttime family prayers, and I'm trying to get us into the habit of morning family prayer since we've all been up together the last few days, but it's the habit-making that's the hard part. It's hit and miss with this one still. 

Well, there you have it. Not as great as I had hoped. I will just try a little harder. That's about all I can do, I suppose. 

Quality vs Quantity

I finally figured it out... The secret to this whole working mom thing. At least for me. Quality vs quantity. Duh, right?

I got off work early yesterday, but the kids were already planning on being in daycare since Levi worked at 2. Well, if you have ever tried to clean the house with kids, you know why I still took them to daycare and came home to clean. It's amazing how much I can get done without two little midgets running around undoing everything! It was amazing! My house looks amazing!! (And it's still clean this morning!!) And, if you know me, a clean home puts me in a good mood :) It was a disaster the whole week. Levi has been keeping up on the dishes - love him <3 - but not much else got done. I was absolutely unmotivated this weekend. Exhausted. So the house stayed a mess. A big mess. Until yesterday :)

The kids had been home all morning with Levi, so it's not like they were there all day - if they had already been there all morning, I don't think I would have left them in. I know Levi hates the shifts he works, but it's nice that the kids do get to stay home more with at least one of us. We also pay for up to 25 hours a week no matter what - the part time rate - and they are only in 12 hours this week (including yesterday). It has been like this for a few weeks now. I figure, if we're paying almost $600 a month for daycare, I might as well use it! My ultimate reasoning for still taking them while I was not working was this: They could either spend 6 hours with me as I try to clean - and we'd probably all end up grumpy, or I can spend 3 hours cleaning while they play with friend and then bring them home to play with me, which is what we did! We played with blocks, had a tickling war, ate dinner while watching "Letters" (Wheel of Fortune), and cuddled, per Lucas's request. (He wants to cuddle more lately, and I love it!!)

If I could stay home, cleaning would still be hard with kids, but I figure I would have most of the day to do it - or at least more than I do now. I know there's still juggling that goes on when Mom gets to be home, but it feels a little harder to juggle everything else when I'm at work 9 hours a day. Kids-free cleaning is the way I am able to juggle it all. Whether I have Grandma watch them for a few hours or send them to the daycare that we've already paid for - Grandma is very  busy - this is what works for me. You have to find out what works for you, and don't let anyone bring you down because of it. (I mention it at work and sometimes get a little flack for it. Whatev.) I would much rather spend 3 great hours with my babies than 6 stressful, juggled hours. So that's exactly what I did :)

First Week Down!

One week down for the clean eating challenge :) Anyone join us? How did you do?? We did pretty well! I thought it was going to be incredibly hard... it's only just a little hard ;) I had to catch myself just a few times from eating the kids' mac and cheese. Maybe three times this week I had something from the not-super-healthy category, but still not incredibly horrible: battered shrimp when we went out on a date on Wednesday, mayo in the tuna things we had last night since I didn't have any greek yogurt, and I think there was something else earlier... All in all, it went really well!

I put some oatmeal in the crock pot last night for breakfast, which turned out pretty good. Levi and I also made these energy balls - found on my Pinterest food board - that turned out amazing! I didn't think they would taste as good as they do! I'm taking about half to work, and I'm sure I'll have to make more tonight since Levi was already nibbling at them last night ;) They are made with oats, flaxseed, honey, coconut, natural peanut butter (I actually had natural, you can use any kind), and whatever else you want to throw in! (It called for sunflower seeds, but Levi finished those off the other day, so the only ones I have left are at my office; I will be bringing them home for the second batch!) I highly recommend these if you are looking for a healthy, hopefully-energy-boosting snack!

My friend and I started walking/running this morning. Yes, in the cold. And it was COLD! I may need to get a gym membership so we can be indoors! It was great, though. I loved having someone to talk to while working out! My body is still trying to figure out what I'm doing, though, I think. I haven't worked out much at all, and not continuously - 3 weeks ha! - in 7 years! Yes. It's sad. So, I'm still tired and adjusting, but I'm loving it! I do feel much better, even when I'm exhausted! Why it took me this long to decide to really get back in shape?... oh, yeah. We have two kids 2 and under. That'll do it!

Well, here's to another week of getting healthy and fit!!

January's Book: Baby Catcher

I recently finished a book called Baby Catcher - it was my book for January. It's one that the Midwives lend out to patients. It tells the story of one woman on her journey through her midwifery start and career. It is inspiring, even if you have no interest in midwifery. However, it made me take a second look at it as a career choice for myself, but mostly it just made me want to give birth!

At times I feel a little cheated that I didn't get to experience labor and delivery the way most women do - some of you may think I'm crazy, that's okay. With an easy labor up until I had my pleasant c-sections, I never got to experience what women were made to do, what our bodies were made to do. (This is purely from a reproductive standpoint; I agree women were made to do more than just have babies.) So, the book made me a little sad. It also made me wonder if we will ever have a chance to experience things later that we didn't get to here. Not sinful stuff, of course, but things like this. I hope so. Even if we do have more babies, I doubt I would ever be allowed or able to give birth naturally.

Also, as I mentioned earlier, it made me think about my future. Where in the world do I want to up - career wise? When I was younger, I always wanted to be a pediatric cardiologist, just like the amazing Dr. Judd whom I saw for my first decade. But now, many things are appealing to me - and, in contrast, 10 more years of school is not super appealing to me.

When Lucas was in the NICU, I started thinking about neonatology. And, now that I'm working with midwives, that also doesn't seem like a bad idea at all. I just don't know. But, that's the thing... I don't have to know. I don't have to have it all figured out right now. When I was in high school, I thought I had to, and I thought I did, but I had no idea. I still have no idea. Right now, I'm very happy with my career choice. I really love my job. And that's good enough for now.

I do know I want to go onto something someday. Nursing first, probably. But from nursing I would have many options: midwifery, nurse practitioner, even med school. The plan is for our babies to start school before I start school again, though. So, I have a little while :)

Speaking of babies. Motherhood is interesting. I finally feel like I'm falling into it well. I always thought I would be a good mom, and I knew it would be hard, but I had no idea how hard. And it's really not the kids. It's me. I'm always saying my kids are crazy, and they are, but they're supposed to me. It's our job to remain as un-crazy as possible while raising them. Being a working mom started out super rough. I'm finally falling into that as well. The time I do get to spend with them is now rare and precious, so we make it worth it (most days). In some ways, being a working mother is actually making me a better mother.

Motherhood, for me at least, also brings with it guilt. So much guilt. (Is this normal??) A little guilt from everyday things like feeding them mac and cheese instead of veggies, but mostly it comes from the strong mothers who no longer have their babies. It tears me up thinking that I was lucky enough to have two healthy babies where others, whom you can tell would make amazing mothers, have lost one or two or more... I see miscarriage in the clinic all the time. It rips at my heart. But... it also inspires me in a way: It inspires me to be a better mother to the ones I have. So, thank you (probably not the right sentiment), to all of you amazing, strong women who have suffered in a way that many of us could not understand.

This wave crashed over me last night as I was putting Lucas to bed. He's a little under the weather, so he let me cuddle him and sing to him without thrashing and kicking ;) We just stood in his room in the dark while I sang and then suddenly burst into tears over the privilege of having him in our home. And as I cried, he asked, "Mama, okay?? Mama, sad?" Which, of course, led me into another round of tears over the thought of how quickly he is growing up... It was an emotional bed time ;)

Well, this mama has to get ready for work now. I just wanted to share my spin off of thoughts from my 'one book a month' goal :) Happy Thursday, everyone!

Clean Eating

Starting tomorrow. For 1 month! Until Valentine's Day... then we will treat ourselves to a nice Valentine's dinner - probably take out from somewhere after the kids go to sleep ha! Levi and I will be doing mainly fruits, veggies, healthy snacks like nuts, cheese, yogurt, dark chocolate is allowed ;)... Really just healthy foods instead of the junk I have become acquired to aka McDonald's, EasyMac, cookies!!!, etc. Yeah. And I just made 2 dozen Andes cookies last night. So sad. Levi will be taking the rest to work tomorrow :) I was going to call it a detox diet, but it's really nothing like some of those detoxes on the market/Pinterest. This is my way of detoxing from all the crap, though.

I need a big change. An all-around change. And I'm starting to make it happen. I'm getting the house organized, I'm working out... and I feel great! I don't know what it was - probably a combination of stress, life changes, and crazy kids (love them) - but the last part of 2012 was not super great. I'm determined to make this whole year much better! I'm going to be better. I need it.

It's funny because I've never really been into the whole "New Year Resolution" thing in the past. I figured out a long time ago that I usually just do what I do and keep it that way. Well, it caught up with me ;) Who I was being was not cutting it. It's time for a change, and what better time to start than now? A new, fresh year with an encouraging future!

So, who's with me?? No real rules to this diet. I do call it a diet since it is a particular selection of  food - that  you can determine or bend from mine - and really a diet is just the food you consume. Like, my diet these last few months has been horrible! I would love some more healthy suggestions and ideas for meals and snacks!

My kids aren't going completely "clean" with us. We will have much healthier food in the house and will get a bunch of it, but Lucas still loves his mac and cheese and 'quitos'. And, let's face it, after a long day at work with all of us tired, it's much easier to throw a taquito in the microwave instead of cooking up a whole meal. There's chicken, and cheese, and tortilla....? The kids eat pretty healthy at daycare, so I'm not worried about them yet ;) One step at a time.

Random insert - I will be adding cinnamon supplements as well. I can't believe the benefits cinnamon has! Lower cholesterol, regulate blood sugar, anti-bacterial, brain function, a source of fiber, iron, and calcium. I would also love to know if there are any supplements you swear by! I've been looking into CoenzymeQ-10... opinions??

Well, good luck to us! Let's make this a great year!!