Detergent

My friend gave me some awesome recipes for CHEAP natural soaps had to post so we can all save some moula!

Dishwasher Detergent:
1tsp Liquid Dish Soap
1/4 cup Borax
1/4 cup Baking Soda
1tbsp Vinegar
2 gal water

Mix well until dissolved.

add vinegar to jet dry for streak free shine

Laundry Detergent:
1 bar Dove (or bar soap of your choice)
5 gallons of water
6 cups water
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax powder

~You will also need a bucket, about 5 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 1 gallon hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add the rest of the water. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load. 1/4 cup for front loading machine.
I saved some of my old detergent bottles and filled them with the soap, you could probably use milk containers too.

I did a accidental flop of this recipe. I used baking soda and left out 4 gallons of water and i use that on my diapers and it works great!

Cloth Diapers :)

First Cloth Diaper! JW at 14 Months

So I cloth diaper my 1 month old and 2 year old. I started when my first was 14 months old. The old fashioned way: prefold, pins, plastic pants = hated it! So I ordered the try it package from cottonbabies.com. Velcro covers (Bummis), prefolds, snappi = much better!! Some times I just fold the diaper and place it in the cover and it's almost like a disposable diaper. Now I am a cloth diaper guru! I love it! They are so fun! And who knew poo could be fun! You can get Pocket diapers, All-in-Ones, One Size, any fabric, color the possibilities are endless! So far i have some BumGenius, Flurries of Cloth (WAHM Co), Bummis, Bumkins and I am going to try to make some of my own.

Jace in his Bummis Cover with a prefold and Snappi inside.

I love talking about them too! I know kinda freaky! Seriously it's amazing what you never thought you would talk about before you had kids. My husband Loves them... he loves that they are saving us tons of money and that they are safer for our kids than putting them in disposable diapers 24-7. We do occasionally use disposables (right after baby #2 when we all ready had plenty on our hands) but generally try to steer clear of them. There is a lot to know about disposables what they do to the environment and our children's health. I just think it's amazing how the rise of infertility and health problems kinda matches up to the start of disposable diapers. Here are some facts to wrap your head around so you can make your own decision and why not even if you work you can cloth diaper just use them at home and on weekends there's no wrong way to do it.



Disposable diapers contain a super absorbent chemical inside their plastic casing called sodium polyacrylate, which pulls fluid away from the baby's skin and holds it inside the diaper. This chemical causes allergic reactions, was removed from tampons after being linked to toxic shock syndrome, is lethal to to some animals on inhalation, and lab testing [when injected] has shown it to cause hemorrhage, cardiovascular failure and death.
Dioxin, a byproduct of the bleaching process, is the most toxic of cancer-linked chemicals according to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Even in barely detectable amounts it has been known to cause liver disease, immune system suppression and genetic damage in lab animals. It can also cause birth defects. No level of dioxin has been established as safe for human exposure. Every American has a measurable amount in their body, and its half-life is seven years. Over thirty pounds of it are released every year.
The FDA regularly receives complaints from illness or injury associated with the usage of disposable diapers, this includes babies pulling the diapers apart and ingesting pieces, skin being torn from the tabs, plastic melting into the skin, dizziness, rashes, headaches and many other problems.

"In 1987, the Sunday Democrat and Chronicle published news about the new Pampers Ultra. The new gel they used caused severe skin irritations, oozing blood from perineum and scrotal tissues, fever, vomiting, and staph infections in babies. Employees in Pampers factories suffered from tiredness, female organ problems, slow-healing wounds and weight loss. According to the Journal of Pediatrics, 54% of one-month old babies using disposable diapers had rashes, 16% had severe rashes. A survey of Procter & Gamble’s own studies show that the incidence of diaper rash increases from 7.1 percent to 61 percent with the increased use of throwaway diapers, great for manufacturers of diaper rash medicines. Widespread diaper rash is a fairly new phenomenon that surfaced along with disposable diapers. Reasons for more rashes include allergies to chemicals, lack of air, higher temperatures because plastic retains body heat, and babies are probably changed less often because they feel dry when wet."

This chemical remains in the diapers today.

In 2000 a German study linked male infertility to the use of disposable diapers. The scrotum hangs away from the body to keep it cool - high temperatures reduce sperm count and motility. This study found that during diapering years the scrotal temperature was significantly higher, and in some the natural cooling system was completely abolished.

Even the dyes in disposable diapers have been linked to health problems similar and just as serious as the ones mentioned above.

As far as the sanitation issue, studies have shown that disposable and cloth diapers are equally sanitary. As far as spreading germs what matters is not what the diaper is made of but how it and the baby are handled. Hand-washing being the most influential factor.

1st Road Trip w/ 2

So today was our first road trip to KS 4 hours no biggie... My awesome neighbor Ashley came over to play with Baby Jace while I packed which was pretty awesome because I swear to God I packed everything in the house for two freaking days!!! I have it all, 1 suitcase of diapers, 2-3 outfits for each day for Jace, JW and me for all those spit up events, toys, coats, blankets, sippy cups, snacks, everything but my SHOES!!! I wore slippers, RED slippers so I'll be getting a new pair of shoes tomorrow... Funny stuff! We left at 5 and got here at 10 not to shabby if your asking me! And made one, ONE stop! Jace nursed for a half hour when we stopped and JW ate some chicken nuggets one the way... So we are here at the in laws. Sleeping on the air mattress in the living room which would have been no biggie if the air pump had charged batteries in it, LOL! So it's a little mushy I'm sleeping on the couch. But it's good to see family and I'm glad the trip when well.

....

Here I am nursing this little miracle and all I can think about is the freaking house work! Geish! So before baby #2 I was pretty good almost obsessive about keeping things at least picked up. I'm not super clean but just like things to be where I can find them. And for me our house not being picked up makes me feel out of control. I don't know if it's hormones or just me but lately I just feel like all my emotions are totally out of control. The one person who gets the brunt of this is the hubby. And hes a trooper but is getting annoyed. Part of me feels really bad but the other part, maybe the hormonal part, says suck it up hubby im a sleep deprived, hormonal, cranky new mom of 2 deal with it. But he's really been a lot of help cleaning, doing laundry, playing with JW all evening when he's off work and his whole weekend. Spending all of his time at home with us, just loving us. I try to show my appreciation but lately we've been having communication problems he doesn't understand me and I think hes pissed at me. Who knows what's going on hopefully we will get it figured soon. It's just a hard frustrating time for both of us. I think I'm going to start blogging more it's a great stress releif and reminds me of what he does and releives some tension for me.

Jace's Birthstory

Now that I have mastered nursing and typing and JW is napping I thought I would tell you all our home birth story! It's a little long but I know some of you really want to know what it was like.
Jace Vincent Hartoebben was born Sunday night (12/14) at 10:21 a whopping 8lbs 11oz and 20inches long.
Saturday I felt the sudden urge to clean the entire house air up the birthing pool and check the checklist the midwife gave us just to make sure everything was ready because I was so ready Sure enough Sunday at 4am I started having contractions and I quietly counted to myself to see how far apart they were by 5:30 I practically had to kick dad out of bed he was kinda in disbelief that they really were contractions after weeks of braxton hicks, LOL! Sure enough by 6:30 they were 5 minutes apart and since the baby has been so low the midwife wanted us to call right away. The midwife and her assistant came at 7:30. Started setting up all the equipment and all the contractions slowed way down which they said was normal so a couple hours later they went and checked on another couple and they started back up again. This time going no where! And our aunt picked up JW (we didn't think he would understand and I was to distracted with him there) I got to spend about an hour relaxing with my hubby just the two of us and then the midwives came back and checked me and i was a 6. Then my mom came from KS, a day earlier than she had planned, lol! And to my surprise decided to stay for the labor (she was a little freaked out about the whole thing) By 5 ever thing started getting more intense so we filled up the pool and I hopped in loved it made me feel much lighter. Started pushing and 2 1/2 hours later we started getting concerned because i wasn't making any progress so they had to check everything out which was a scary because he should have been making his way out by then it was disscouraging to me because I was working so hard and nothing was happening. The whole time his heart rate stayed in a healthy range of 140 but he should have been moving down. After another hour he started crowning and they saw a hand next to his face, what a relief to know why he was taking he sweet time to come. So after moving his arm there he was swimming through the water to meet me! A perfect little man! Immediately he started nursing! I think that was the highlight for me! With JW I had to wait 3 hours for no good reason to nurse. I will have to say my husband did and awesome job being a support person and enjoyed feeling useful. He said seeing me do that has given him a whole new respect for me. My mom also impressed me! She stuck it out the whole time even though she didn't agree with ever thing she was an awesome coach telling me when to push and just looking out for me. I couldn't have had a better team.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It shows all the love and support we had at our birth. Each hand is a different person. My husbands who supported me the whole time and now has a whole new respect for me. My two midwives who were talented enough to guide me through the process. And a new friend who had 'magical' hands and helped me through my contractions. And me holding my beautiful little angel Jace.

Highlights:
Midwives stayed with us all day.
Hubby felt like he was needed and useful in labor.
I got to decided where I wanted to labor and have the baby.
We never had to leave home.
Baby stayed in sight the whole time.
Enjoyed the alone time with Kevin during early labor would have never happened anywhere else but home.

Over all it was just a very long hard labor, but could have been a C-section if I was in a hospital, so glad they were skilled to know how to move his hand and come out perfectly healthy.

He has been to his first check up after a gagging episode and looking a little jaundice but nothing was found and the jaundice isn't bad enough to worry about. He is happy nursing every hour and snuggled close to mom or dad. JW is starting to warm up to him he gets concerned when he cries: "baby crying, want drink" we are waiting for his sippy cup to make it to Jace's mouth, LOL!

A Question of Color

So thanks to Mojavi for making me a blogger! I guess I just need an outlet to talk about my beliefs and opinions.

My first blog!! Oh boy I guess this should be a good one! Racial prejudices I really am annoyed that we are still talking about this I'm mean seriously aren't we all freaking tired of it. Everyone in this country is from a different country unless you are Native American! And lets be honest they are pretty freaking smart to set up casinos on their land!!! So every one will come and have a good ol time gambling away your money for them to have schools and pay their tribe. So why the hell does color still matter! My family is Mexican, German, Swedish, and Polish! Most of us "white" people are multiple races but we still have a problem with Asians or African Americans? I just don't get it! There are bad people in all races so why discriminate toward the whole race?

Here is a picture of my awesome Grandma Sally and my little guy JW. On my Grandmas side they are all Mexican but as you can tell or 'can't' tell we are very light skinned so just by talking to us you would never know but it just proves my point we are all from one culture or another just living in the same world.