Zip-Up Sleepers

There’s a war going on in my home. It’s Jacob vs. Mom (aka me). The problem: Jacob won’t keep his diaper on. The solution: still working out the kinks on that one.

So, he’s taken off a wet diaper a few times before this most recent streak. But lately, it’s poop. The first time he took off a poopy diaper he was in the living room. After he was naked he decided to sit down on our 8’ x 5’ rug and ponder on his cleverness. I put Jacob in the bath and Ricky worked on the rug. It took him a lot longer than it took me. We ended up throwing the rug away. We decided that we needed to keep onesies on him from then on. I went shopping for more onesies the next day.

The next time, Jacob was in his crib. When Ricky walked in, Jacob had it in his hand. Ricky ran and got a plastic bag and had to firmly and repeatedly say, “Jacob! Drop it!” This time Ricky bathed Jacob and I cleaned out the crib. So Jacob can unsnap his onesies now. Great. Plan B: Onesies on backwards.

Plan B failed. The next time, Jacob was sitting on the small table we have in the kitchen that the kids eat at. Ricky wasn’t home for this one so I took care of it all. Plan C: overalls. The next day I went shopping for overalls. (Thank goodness for DI and Sweet Pea or we’d go broke.) Most overalls have snaps on the bottom, though. So I just sewed them shut. My sewing machine can’t handle some of the thick material, though, so I’m going to use crazy glue on those. Just try to get out of those, Jacob!

I almost couldn’t believe it when Plan C failed. Somehow, Jacob managed to take off a poopy diaper with his overalls still on! Curse you, offspring! He was sitting on the sofa. I came in the room, his diaper was to the right of him and a nice lump was to the left. We took the cover off the cushion and tossed it in the washing machine. I was tempted to toss Jacob in with it, but chances are he’d just think it was really fun and I’d have to find a way to lock the laundry room doors to keep him from trying to climb in every time I wasn’t looking.

I talked with my sister-in-law, Tasha about my adventures, and she suggested zip-up sleepers worn backwards. So, I went shopping for sleepers. It's hard to find a sleeper that is NOT fleece, has a zipper instead of snaps, and is a size 2T. But I did find a couple. Plus, most sleepers have feet, so I had to cut them out. Thus began Plan D.

So far, so good. 

Netflix (and other online sources for my favorite shows)

We don’t have cable television at my house. It’s too expensive. And I don’t need 300 channels, especially when the majority of television these days should be R-Rated. Even the commercials. I know sex sells, but do you have to use it to sell EVERYTHING? Even chewing gum? Ridiculous. So, the only appealing thing to me about cable is the DVR. But I don’t really need that anyway. Any show I really want to watch, I can find online. Most networks let you watch full episodes on their website. If not, then there’s HULU or Netflix. It’s something I like to do at night after the kids have gone to bed. I admit, I get a little bit obsessed sometimes. I’ve seen every episode of: Gilmore Girls, Alias, Ghost Whisperer, Journeyman, Fringe, Legend of the Seeker, Lost, Modern Family, and The X-Files.

PBS Kids (and other quality children's television programs)

I never used to let my kids watch much television. They’d watch movies or Signing Time, sometimes, but that’s about it. Then I got sick. About a year ago. For weeks and weeks I could barely function. Finally, I resorted to television. And let me just say, it’s quite a comfort to know that I can sit my children in front of the television and not have to worry about them seeing anything remotely inappropriate. No Victoria’s Secret Semi Annual Sale. No Bob, the Enzyte guy. Nothing.

And for that, I thank you, PBS, for quality shows like Sesame Street, Curious George, Super Why (Grace actually started learning her letters from this show.), Dinosaur Train, Cyberchase, Martha Speaks, Arthur, and The Electric Company (yeah, I even like that one. One of my favorite clips is Jimmy Fallon's Pocket Full of H's.)

Then there’s QUBO. The good thing about QUBO: they have kids’ shows 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Shows my kids really enjoy, like Babar, Miss B.G., Jacob Two-Two, and especially Rescue Heroes. (That's the one Jacob really likes. He panics when a commercial comes on in the middle of the show because he's so worried it's over.) The BAD thing about QUBO: the infomercials.

Grace is thoroughly convinced that every product they advertise is a miracle. I can’t count the number of times Grace has yelled, “Mom! You Have To Come See This!” Some of her favorites: Moon Sand, Pixos, Fun Slides (the carpet skates), Bumpits, InStyler (the rotating curling iron), Perfect Brownie Pan, Touch N Brush, Bendaroos (we actually got her these for Christmas last year), and the latest, Pillow Pets (It’s a pillow. It’s a pet. It’s a Pillow Pet!).

There’s a part of the ad that addresses moms. Grace franticly tries to get my attention, “Mom! They’re talking to you!” Sometimes she just quotes parts of the ad. “Kids of all ages love their Pillow Pets!” “P.J.’s fit right inside!” “They’re even machine washable!” (That’s my favorite because Grace knows it’s something I’d like.) “All it takes is one hug and your child will FALL IN LOVE with their Pillow Pet!” “Pillow Pets make the perfect $20 gift!”

The saddest thing about it is that showing the ad to my kid is the best way to get me to buy the product. There’s no way I’d think of buying anything they advertise if Grace didn’t get so excited about it and ask for it every single time the ad airs.

Thank goodness for the statement at the end of most of the infomercials that says, “Must be 18 years old to order.” When she hears that, Grace gets so disappointed. “Ah! No fair! You have to be 18?!?!”

The joys of television.

Good Games

Here are my top ten favorite games:

Good Food

Here are some of my favorite foods (and drinks.)

Lightning (and consequently, Thunder)

We’ve had several storms recently. I love stormy weather. It’s my very favorite kind of weather. I’ve often thought that I would enjoy living in Washington or Oregon. And I love lightning. The other night, after the kids went to bed, Ricky and I set up our camping chairs in the backyard and sat in the rain watching the lightning. After a while we started rating them. One was the wimpiest and ten was the awesomest.

So I looked up some information about lightning to see exactly what it is and how it works. In a nutshell, lightning is formed when negatively charged particles from clouds connect with positively charged particles on the ground. And thunder, I think, is even cooler. Lightning heats the air around it to temperatures between 15,000 to 60,000 degrees Fahrenheit in only a fraction of a second. This causes that air to expand violently and then contract, creating a sonic shock wave that we hear as thunder. Cool!

Lightning Fun Facts:

·          About 100 cloud-to-ground bolts of lightning strike Earth’s surface every single second

·          A bolt of lightning can contain up to one billion volts of electricity

·          A single bolt of lightning can heat the air around it to temperatures five times the surface of the sun

·          About 2,000 people are killed by lightning each year

Seeing lightning fills me with an almost spiritual sense of wonder and amazement. This earth that we live on is such a marvel. It is filled with so much beauty. Every time I witness a mere whisper of that beauty, I feel like I’m opening a precious gift from God.

The Washing Machine

Today I did laundry. Lots of it. Loads of it. Literally.

As a general rule, I hate to do laundry. It’s tedious, time consuming, and it never stops. I’m the type of person who likes to get the job done. Completely done. With laundry, you’re never done. Even when you think you’re done, you’re not. Other reasons I dislike laundry: I can never get stains out. I frequently bleach things by accident. It’s hard to find a detergent that has a smell I can stand. And when I do find one I like, Wal-Mart stops carrying it so I have to pick another one. Then of course there are things like what happened yesterday when Jacob drank half a cup of detergent.

Here’s another thing that I particularly dislike. Tags that say: 

Hand Wash Only.

That got me thinking about how much I actually appreciate my washing machine. I’m so glad that there are only a few Hand-Wash-Only clothes in my house. If I had to wash everything by hand, laundry would be a full-time job. 8 hours a day. 5 days a week. Exhausting!

This is from an article I read online:

History of the Washing Machine:

"In the early days, without running water, gas, or electricity even the most simplified hand-laundry used staggering amounts of time and labor. One wash, one boiling and one rinse used about fifty gallons of water—or four hundred pounds—which had to be moved from pump or well or faucet to stove and tub, in buckets and wash boilers that might weigh as much as forty or fifty pounds." YIKES!

"Rubbing, wringing, and lifting water-laden clothes and linens, including large articles like sheets, tablecloths, and men’s heavy work clothes, wearied women’s arms and wrists and exposed them to caustic substances." 

"They lugged weighty tubs and baskets full of wet laundry outside, picked up an article, hung it on the line, and returned to take it all down; they ironed by heating several irons on the stove and alternating them as they cooled, never straying far from the hot stove."

Milestone in the History of Washing Machines:

1797		Scrub boards.
1851 1861 1874 1858		First, hand-powered, washing machine with a drum, invented by James King. First clothes wringer added to the washing machine. William Blackstone built his first hand-driven wooden washing machine. The company he founded still produces and sells washing machines to this day, out of their New York headquarters. First rotary washing machine, invented by Hamilton Smith.
Early 1900s 1907 1922 1908 1911 1930s 1947		Metal wash tubs replace wood tubs. Maytag Corporation began manufacturing a wooden-tub washing machine with a flywheel, still manually operated with a rotary handle. Maytag Corporation introduces the agitator system for moving the water around in the drum, rather than dragging the fabrics around in the water. First electric-powered washing machine is invented by Alva J. Fisher. Whirlpool Corporation, then called the Upton Machine Co. is founded in St. Joseph, Michigan and starts producing electric motor-driven wringer washers. John W. Chamberlain of Bendix Aviation Corporation invents a machine that can wash, rinse, and extract water from clothes in a single operation. The first top-loading automatic washing machines are introduced by the forerunner of the Whirlpool Corporation.
1951 1950		The first automatic washing machines are made in Europe. The first computer-controlled automatic washing machines appear. Many technological advances follow. Among hundreds of systems tested, only two washing systems survive until this day: the agitator system and the tumbling system. Wash cycles and products are developed for new fabrics and a greater range of wash conditions.

So I have a new appreciation for my washing machine. It really is incredible. And it's been in the making for 150+ years. I wholeheartedly say "Thank You" to all those wonderful people who made it possible for me to push a button and forget about the wash, rinse, and spin of it all.

Stephanie Nielson

I recently watched a video about a remarkable woman: Stephanie Nielson. After watching the video, I read her blog. I have been inspired.

Here's a snippet from the video. Stephanie: “On August 16, 2008, my husband and I were in an airplane crash. I was in a coma for three months. We both survived…”

Stephanie started a blog in 2005. She says that it’s therapy for her to write what she feels and is going through. And it’s therapy for me to read it.

She says, “To me, beauty and motherhood are one; they’re the same thing.”

Thank you, Stephanie Nielson, for sharing your life with me; a complete stranger.

Good Music

Music is truly amazing. It is so Powerful. Say something and people Hear it. Sing something and people Feel it. I love music. I made a playlist of some of my new favorite songs. Also, I found a beautiful video on Youtube. And below are some great quotes about music.

“Music speaks what cannot be expressed,

Soothes the mind and gives it rest,

Heals the heart and makes it whole,

Flows from heaven to the soul.”

~Unknown

"Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent" ~Victor Hugo

"Music is what feelings sound like." ~Unknown