Cleaning with Vinegar

I'll preface this by saying that I am not a 'green' person. It might just be the fact that I'd much rather 'go orange' than 'go green' and my soul has an aversion to being associated with anything green, but I usually go with the easy route. I recycle cardboard, but only the packages and only if it's easy, and I throw the rest away. I don't have a compost or a garden, and I use bleach to clean my whites, my bathrooms, and anything else that needs it. The only real thing that has changed with the addition of children is that I am very careful to keep everything locked up and out of reach, and I make sure to rinse after using any strong chemical.

This being said, I have been curious about all the 'green' and 'home remedy' type cleaning suggestions I have seen recently (thank you Pinterest!). When I ran out of kitchen cleaner about a week ago, I decided not to replace it just yet, and to try cleaning with diluted vinegar. I was amazed! The vinegar ate through all the dried on stuff on the stove, and was super easy to clean the counters. I just put a diluted solution in a spray bottle and went to work! When Olivia woke up early from her nap I wasn't at all put out and didn't have to rush to finish, I just gave her a stool and a washcloth and let her help! The only downside I could see for anyone would be the smell, but I happen to love the smell of vinegar, and didn't think it lasted that long.

I'm not sure if I will clean with vinegar forever, and am not sure how far this will spread (commercial cleaner in the bathroom still appeals to me) but I can say honestly that this was just as easy as cleaning my normal way. I'm also not at all sure at the cost comparison, but vinegar is super cheap, and it's diluted with water, so I would venture to guess that it is cheaper than any other cleaner I have been using.

*As an added note, I have also looked into cloth diapers, and will probably try them with Olivia this summer, before #2 joins us. I'm not sure if I will be as gung-ho about them, but I know they are much cheaper than disposables, so I'm giving it a try.

Taking Pride

These last few months, a lot has changed in my life. As I get used to each new stage of mommyhood, and my pregnancy becomes more and more noticeable (both to me and everyone else, currently 4.5 months), my standards of what is 'ok' have shifted quite dramatically. Before I forget (blame it on the baby), I wanted to jot down and share a few examples:

1. The daily ritual of hair and makeup (and sometimes showering and getting dressed) have shifted from a daily to a twice-weekly ritual. I rarely look in the mirror before leaving, and if I do I usually regret it :)
2. My list of places that it is 'ok' to wear yoga pants and a post-workout Tshirt has grown quite considerably - from the gym and grocery store to the gym, grocery store, library, park, mall, and just about everywhere that I need to go. Errands only happen once a day, and I'm not going out again
3. Olivia goes out sometimes with her hair messy and undone, with no bow (seems trivial I know, but this was a big one for me)
4. Trips to the grocery store include a during-trip doughnut to share (helps dramatically to reducce check-out line toddler hands grabbing and throwing everything in reach)

Alright, this is all I can think of. However, the reason I was thinking of all these changes today was because as I was getting dressed (yes jeans today, not yoga pants :)), the act of being able to button my pants was enough to make me do a little dance...sometimes you just have to take pride in the little things.

January :)

Warning: This post contains WAY too many pictures, but I'm trying hard to condense my posts in an effort to stay and get caught up. So here's some pictures from Olivia at 14 months old, and her adventures as she enters toddler-hood. It was also January, so most of our adventures had to happen indoors. We got a little creative, made a few messes, and had a bunch of fun :)

Exploring the pan cupboard...



We have better videos than pictures of this, but Olivia LOVES the vacuum. She helps clear all the toys off the rug or floor, then runs around the floor waiting for me to turn it on. As soon as it roars up, she runs to the couch, then takes turns running up to it, sometimes daring to touch it, then running back to the couch like she's terrified. She gets increasingly excited, because she knows that once the floor is clean she gets to have some one-on-one time with the vacuum hose. She sticks her fingers in it and just about doubles over laughing, then does it again...That is our vacuuming experience every time, and I love it :).

 Have I mentioned that I love this face? :) This is the face I get every time I pull out a camera

A huge thank you to Aunt Shirley and Uncle Rick for this flower towel. I absolutely love to wrap O up after her bath and see the little daisy smiling back at me as she shakes her head violently, trying to get the petals from dropping onto her face.

Pigtails! We don't do them very often, but they get increasingly cute as her hair gets longer and thicker.

We already made announcements, but here is our first ultrasound, at about 8 weeks. Baby #2 (gender still unknown to us :)) coming sometime around August 16th!

I had a couple sick days in January, and I can't say enough how much I appreciate Alex. He never questions or complains when I tell him I need him to clean the kitchen and do bathtime/bedtime, that I'm going to bed. He randomly surprises me with a mopped floor or cooked dinner, while I just sit and rest.

This next picture is from one of those days. We didn't have anything for dinner, but I wasn't feeling well enough to go to the grocery store. So Alex took Olivia, and apparently let her do all of the heavy lifting :).

A couple days later, and it was fort time :). Pretty sure this is Olivia's first official fort, and as you can tell by the collage, she wanted nothing to do with it. Those three pictures are three different times crawling into the fort. Her face was the same each time, just as excited the fortieth time as the first.

Helping mommy make soup...unfortunately it was fridge magnets in a base of drool, but she enjoyed it all the more :)

One sunny Saturday we decided to head to the Fresno Discovery Center. It was a fun trip, but unfortunately the Discovery Center was pretty run down and there were no volunteers or maps. So pretty much we wandered around these two fields with different random stations including a maze, a pool thing you could fish (catch and release) out of, and a cactus garden (yup all different shades of brown...gardens in CA). Olivia really enjoyed searching for the tortoises in the dinosaur pit (T Rex shown below), and pushing her stroller all around. We were pretty bundled, and didn't stay more than an hour or so, but we will try it again later in the spring.

We have also been making regular trips to the mall. Not so much for the shopping, but the kids play area is great fun! Olivia loves to watch the other kids, scouting out which one she should chase around. Half an hour or so of free entertainment that makes no messes to clean up is always good by me. Also, the Hot Dog on a Stick lemonade about ten feet from the play area is a good addition to my day.

Ten week belly picture...okay not much of a belly. This whole time I have looked down and seen my belly growing out and out, but it's taken longer to actually look big to everyone else...I guess I was a little more attached to my almost-flat post-Olivia belly than I thought :). Oh well, at least I don't have to try to fit into a swimsuit this summer!

P.S. I'm not real into belly pictures, so they will be sporadic if existent at all.

Cup stacking...dexterity practice and mess free play...loving it! (Yes she's wearing a butterfly shirt with leopard print pants...no reason that's just how it was that day)

I like organization. That may be the biggest understatement I make this much, but these are a couple pictures of how Olivia's stuffed animals and book are supposed to look. After about ten minutes I can get her room looking amazing, but in about thirty seconds Olivia can get it looking right back to the third picture.

Beautiful sweet baby reading Pat the Bunny...this is why I let her tear the books off the shelves day after day.

Last but not least, our little driver. I pass these cars up on Craigslist every day, just waiting for when we have a yard to put one in, but every time we go to the toy store she heads straight for this car for some driving practice. This happened to be on her 15 month birthday, so happy 1.25 year birthday :)

January 2012 progress

No I'm not posting anything tonight, but I wanted to post that we are back from Vegas (had a great time), and I have sorted through all pictures from January. These pictures just need edited a little then they are ready to post about. I realize that this is a post saying nothing, but I felt the need to declare that I'm making progress. My list of long-term projects to complete before June keeps growing, and I really want 'blog catchup' to be off that list very soon. It's a harder job than it sounds like, because I post pictures from my camera, both Alex and my phones, and the video camera. Not to mention videos, which is a separate project in and of itself.

In short, we are alive and well, and more to come soon!