I am by no means a neat freak. You should see my bedroom, it's a disaster area. But I do like to keep the "common" areas of the house clean and presentable. It makes me twitchy when the rest of the house gets too far out of sorts. Especially, the floors. ESPECIALLY since Gavin is mobile and shoves EVERYTHING into his mouth. And by mobile I mean he rolls, literally rolls like a barrel all over the floors. So if our floors are overdue for a cleaning, it shows, all over my baby boy. GROSS, *cue eye twitching*.
The bottom floor of our house is what I would consider "common area". It's big, and 95% ceramic tile. So, out of necessity with a side of laziness, I vacuum the tile, and the area rugs that we have in the living room and playroom. Recently we decided to get a new vacuum because I was getting increasingly annoyed with our old one, it wasn't picking up dog hair on the area rugs, who knows what it was missing on the tile. The last straw was when B broke a wine glass on the tile and tried to use the vacuum to pick up the small pieces of glass, FAIL, it missed a ton. So we took the plunge and got a refurb Dyson.
They are super pricey, I will fully admit that. But that damn vacuum was one of the best investments we've made in a long time. The HORROR I felt looking at the full canister after vacuuming my "clean" floors. That thing sold me right away. Not a sponsored post, more a PSA for people who need clean floors. It picks up dog hair, and incredible amounts of dust/dirt. Technically it's also an investment in our health, hmmm I wonder if we could HSA it? ;). Zach has asthma, and the rest of us including him, have terrible allergies, so a vacuum that gets the yuck out is worth it on every level.
Ok so now that the suck-up-able dirt is gone from the floors I needed something better than the mop and bucket to do the welded on dirt. I had been using the standard method with vinegar and some lavender oil, and I *thought* that was doing an ok job. Until one day after some serious walker use from Mr. G thang, I noticed his little feet were BLACK. Like he had been running around outside black. I was so completely disgusted I turned to Amazon immediately for something better. We have, in the past, had a Shark steam mop. It seemed good at the time, however it was kind of clunky and it broke within an a year, so I knew I didn't want that. There are some fancy pants expensive options out there, but all the reviews indicated they would go the way of the Shark too. So, I decided on a cheap option, for under $50 I have a steam mop that is working quite nicely. Similar to the Dyson experience, I was horrified, although this time not as surprised to see how black the mop pad was after I did 1/3 of my floor. Now after a month usage or so, it only gets that black after doing the entire floor :/. What can I say, 2 little boys, a dog and a hubs, our floors get D-I-R-T-Y. So benefits to the steam mop: you just use water, so no chemicals; nothing to buy again, just water; can use to sanitize sections of the floor; picks up dirt waaaaay better because it's so hot. Completely worth $50, even if I have to spend it every year.
*All links are affiliate links, mostly so I could get a picture to use without any issues.
This post is about feeding babies. I am not anti-formula by any means, Zach was formula fed. I am pro feeding babies however works best for you. That said, this is going to be a rant about breastfeeding, and the perception of it in our society.
I read this article today and it made my blood boil. Is this where we are as a society? Breastfeeding is "disgusting"?? Our bodies are made to breastfeed, we are mammals after all. Breasts are for feeding babies the perfect nectar their mothers make for them that nourishes them in the most complete way possible. In my opinion, if you look at breastfeeding as "disgusting" then it's YOU that has the problem, not me.
I breastfeed Gavin, sometimes I breastfeed him in public. It's not a stance by me, or a protest, I simply feed him when he is hungry, wherever we happen to be. I attempt to use a "hooter hider" and cover up, but Gavin hates having things over his head while he eats. Who can blame him, do you want to eat in a hot tent? So you might get a glimpse of a little boob while I feed him, it doesn't bother me, motherhood has removed all modesty.
I see story after story about women being made ashamed to breastfeed, kicked out of stores, being told to cover up, sent to the bathroom. The BATHROOM, because where else would you like to enjoy a meal other than where someone is expelling DIARRHEA right next to you?? Most recently, the co-founder of Staples opened his ignorant mouth at the Republican National Convention to say that working, breastfeeding mothers are a great threat to the economic recovery in this country. Seriously.
Idiot women like the one in the story boggle my mind the most. What will she tell her child? It's "sexual"??? If you think breastfeeding is sexual then YOU are the pervert, not me. Do you think it's a zoophilic sexual act to drink cow's milk? Because that comes from the cow's BREASTS you know.
Has anyone stopped to think, "why are we attacking breastfeeding?", "why is it so foreign and strange?". It's not as is if we evolved to consume formula. That is, as the name suggests, a formulation of chemicals and ingredients that is trying to closely resemble human breast milk to nourish our babies when breast milk is not available or possible. In the history of humans, formula is a fairly recent development. Yet we, as a society are apparently HORRIFIED to see a mother feeding her child the most natural way possible.
If you are pregnant or plan on having a baby soon, I hope that you will educate yourself as much as possible about breastfeeding. I really hope that you will attempt it. It will be hard, you will want to give up, but I urge you not to. Remember what you are doing for your baby, and for yourself. You are feeding your baby as nature intended, you are giving him one of the most beautiful gifts or nourishment. And it will all be over in such a short amount of time relative to life and childhood. Don't let society discourage you with ignorance. And if someone comes up to you and says something horrible like this woman did, smile, let them know you are feeding your baby, and suggest they see a therapist for their sex issues.
Once in a great while I will come across an awesome company and as a compulsive over-sharer I will share it with you, obviously.
A few weeks ago I did a post about reusable water bottles, I mentioned sippy cups in that post. At the time I gave a few different examples of sippy cups that you could use that aren't plastic (yuck) that you could use to give your kiddos water on the go. At the time I didn't have any strong recommendations, but I did say we have a few Kid Basix cups (Safe Sippy 2 and Safe Sporter) and love them.
Recently I had an interaction with the Kid Basix folks that make me think their company is pretty great too. We bought the Safe Sippy 2 a couple of years ago when Zach was using sippy cups, I loved that it had a straw attachment because he was just learning to use a straw, at the time. Safe Sippy 2 is pretty smart, and it is, it's a sippy, that easily converts to a straw cup, *with* a lid, AND a silicone sleeve to keep little hands away from extreme temperatures. The cup is even more fancy in that the handles come off for when your kiddo gets bigger so it's pretty much an investment for the long haul. Any-who, fast-forward to now, and Gavin is just starting to use a cup to drink some water. So I immediately thought of our Safe Sippy 2, because it's not plastic, and I knew we had the sippy valve to convert it easily for him since he's just learning.
One small snag, I searched our cabinet in and out, and all of our baby boxes and could NOT find the handles. So frustrating, obviously Gavin could use the cup without handles, but that's a lot of coordination for a almost-7-month-old. So I was bummed. I looked online at the Kid Basix site and on Amazon for replacement handles. All I could find was a replacement part kit, which is also pretty awesome, for less than $5 you can get all new parts for the sippy cup! This thing is built to last! So then I went to the Kid Basix site and contacted them trying to find out how to get some new handles for our cup to make it easier for Gavin. And this is the response I got from Susan at Kid Basix:
"We do not sell them, but are happy to send you a pair if you are in the US. Can you send me your address?"
Shut the FRONT door! Maybe I'm a little hardened and cynical but this to me is the BEST customer service I have seen in a long time. I had fully expected them to either tell me to buy another cup, or best case to send me a link to buy new handles.
This post isn't sponsored in any way, this is truly my experience they are a great company with refreshing customer service. Their tag line is "making kid's lives better" but they are really making parents lives easier too :). Thanks Susan and Kid Basix!!
*note i am about to unleash an opinion piece on y'all this is neither cheap nor green but definitely mommy related
I did a lot of my growing up in the state of Florida. I went to college at the University of Florida. I am a Gator through and through, I bleed orange and blue. I am a huge football fan. Every year with great anticipation I await the start of football season. So I feel like I have some ground to stand on when I say this. Penn State should not be allowed to have a football team at.all. I would most certainly feel the exact same way had this horrible course of events transpired at my beloved UF.
After the NCAA handed out its punishment to PSU this week the reaction from some of the Nittany nation shocked and disgusted me. "It's not fair! It's not fair to the fans! It's tarnishing JoePa's legacy"
Those fans have completely lost touch. They have succumbed to the grasp of a materialistic, apathetic society that would not only allow, but enable these atrocities.
People this is not about football. JoePa and PSU kept this all a secret for the sake of football, and for the almighty dollar. They did it to preserve the Penn State name and guarantee themselves and the school millions.
They sacrificed the innocence of little boys for their own gain. Those boys trusted their mentor and coach. They looked at him with adoration, respect, and love. He took advantage of that trust for his own sick and twisted perversions. And JoePa and PSU knew that, and they did nothing. They turned a blind eye, allowed the mentoring to continue, fed the beast they kept locked in the basement.
I have two little boys. I look at their wide eyes full of life, happiness, curiosity, trust, wonder, love, and innocence and it crushes me to think that another little boy looked at Jerry Sandusky with very similar eyes. He took everything that made those kids wonderful and consumed it, leaving hollow shells. Those boys will never be the same again. They know the horrors that lurk outside. They know far too much about life already. It is not about football, it's not about money, it's about making sure no more little boys have nightmares after they see the blue and white on the field. It's about sending a message that shouldn't be needed. We must protect our children, they are everything that is good about humanity. I know I'll be watching this fall with a little more perspective. Football is just a game, money is just paper we assign value to. Hug your kids close.
