7 Quick Takes

1. 

 I started my morning out right with this workout from Weight Watchers.  I found the videos (VHS) a few years ago on ebay.  I love them because I basically have two left feet.  Other, more complicated videos I've tried to follow usually make me trip over myself.  I can keep up with this one and it's fun.  But doing it at home with three children running around is not an easy task.  This was me this morning:

Instructor: step kick, step kick, step kick, ha! step touch, step touch, step touch....

Me: Ha! (step touch, step touch...)

Ladybug who has been outside playing starts crying.  I run out to see if she's ok.  She is.  I run back inside, in time for this:

Instructor: sit back knee lift, sit back knee life, sit back knee lift, ha! step slide, step slide, step slide...

Me: Ha! (step slide, step slide..)

Sunflower steals a toy from Fritter who proceeds to chase her around the yard.  I run out to break up the fight.  Back inside and the video is now on the cool down, "the perfect end to the perfect workout".  Indeed.

2.

 

We got smart phones.  I swore I would never own a smart phone.  My old cell phone has barely worked for the past year because I lost it in the church parking lot where it sat and baked for three days before I got it back, and we didn't buy the insurance to replace broken phones, so I just dealt with it.  What do I need a cell phone for anyway?  I'm home most of the time and we have a landline.

 

But our contract was up, and we wanted to switch companies, so my husband went last weekend to the phone store.  He came home and surprised me with an Android.  I was reluctant at first.  I sort of took pride in being low tech.  How would I deal with this new gadget?  I vowed I wouldn't like it. 

 

Ummm...yeah.  I'm totally sold.  Hello Instagram!  :)

 

Any recommendations for apps for an Android?

 

3.

 

My little Frog went to his two-month check up this week.  I knew he was big.  The rolls on this little guy are out of control.  But my jaw dropped when the nurse reported him in the 90% range for height and weight.  For comparisons sake (because when you have four kids, who can help but compare them to each other, fair or not) Fritter (who is a very tall child) stayed in the 75% range until he was three, at which point he then shot up to 97%.  I think we're going to have a very big kid on our hands.

 

4.

 

 The baby got a much needed bath a couple of days ago.  There are not many things better than a freshly bathed baby.  I cannot resist kissing his squishy cheeks.  Doesn't he look snuggly  in his little ducky robe?

Again, for comparison sake, here is Fritter in the same robe at about three weeks old:

He was a snuggly little guy to.

5.

 

I finally got around to taking our traditional new-baby-with-the-other-children picture.  They make me smile.  Most of the time.  :)

 

6.

 

Want to know something about me?  I cannot sleep unless I am covered by a blanket.  I don't know why, but there it is.  This doesn't work out so well, though, because we live in Arizona and it's summer time.  We keep our home at 80 degrees, and while it's livable, it is certainly not comfortable when you have a blanket on you during nap time.  (Yes, I do take naps, almost every day when the kids lay down).  But I have found a solution.  When the AC turns on, the vent in our front room is aimed so that it blows directly onto a certain spot on the couch.  And when it's on, it can be downright cold (in comparison to the rest of the house).  And so I have been timing my nap to when the AC comes on.  And then I curl up under my blanket and pretend it's blizzarding outside.

 

7.

 

It's been awhile since I've talked about my laundry.  Sorry for depriving you. 

 

I finally have a good system for keeping clean clothes in the house.  (Note that they are clean.  Not necessarily folded.)  We have terribly hard water here and until about six months ago, I just couldn't get my clothes clean.  I tried everything I could think of: Oxiclean, Borax, Fels Naptha, making my own detergent, Tide, soaking, everything.  There would still be little grease spots left on any dark colored shirt and after awhile, the clothes would just get all dingy looking no matter how many times I washed them.

 

And then a few months ago, while I was preparing for our little Froggy to arrive, I ordered some Calgon water softener to strip the cloth diapers.  Nothing else had worked to get the smell out, and that includes bleach.  The Calgon worked so well to make my diapers wearable again, that I thought I'd try it out on the regular laundry.  Wonder of wonders!  It worked!  No more greasy spots!  No more dingy clothes!  We had clean clothes again!

 

So want to know my routine?  Whites and sheets get liquid Tide up to the 2 mark along with a cup of ammonia to get the body oils and other stuff out and washed on hot.  Colors get Tide up to the 2 mark along with capful of Calgon and washed on warm.  If I notice any stain (including baby poop) I use a little Murphy's Wood Oil Soap on it that has been put in a (clean) peri bottle.  (Use what you have, right?  :)  Diapers get a warm water rinse, a hot wash with liquid Tide halfway up to the 1 mark and a capful of Calgon, and then a hot water rinse.

 

Laundry woes, be gone!  (Except for the whole folding and putting away thing.  I've yet to come up with a good system for that.)

 

Go visit Jen's 7 Quick Takes.