#mompodge

[mompodge]

Spring Cleaning!

So for the past few days, I've been up to my eyeballs in deep spring cleaning!  With each small taste of beautiful weather, the walls in my house suddenly start to get closer together.  I've decided that tackling one room each day would be the least stressful.  With two littles, cleaning is often a "one step forward, two steps back" process.  Case in point, the smooshed Goldfish on my freshly swept floors...

I've been gradually weaning myself off of store-bought cleaners and household necessities in favor of those I can make myself.  I started with baby wipes and all-purpose cleaner.  Throughout this "Deep Clean 2014 Adventure," I've added some new ones to my list and I'd love to share them with you!

The first rooms I decided to tackle were the bathrooms, because seriously, who really enjoys cleaning the bathroom?  When it came time to scrub the tub down, I knew I didn't want to use Soft Scrub.  I mean, Little Miss has sensitive skin and I didn't want her tush anywhere near that stuff!  I went to Pinterest for a solution and found a recipe for homemade Soft Scrub here.  Oh my golly goodness!  I'm in love!  My bathtub look brand-spankin' new!  I was so excited!  I highly recommend this recipe!

I had pinned some lemon dusting cloths as well and decided to try them next.  I didn't have lemons on hand and I only had one microfiber towel, so I used clementine rinds and regular cleaning rags and cut-up flour sack towels (flour sack towels have sooooo many uses!  I love them!).  I was extremely happy with these cloths!  They worked wonderfully and I even used them on my dark laminate floor!  Beautiful!  

The final cleaning product I made (but admittedly did not use, yet…I couldn't escape the wiles of my lysol disinfect cleaner), was homemade "clorox" wipes.  They are currently soaking and I can't wait to use them!

I'm still looking for a good window/mirror cleaner.  I keep going back to Windex because my homemade window cleaners always leave a cloudy looking residue on my windows instead of a nice sparkly shine.  I'm open to suggestions!

What are your favorite homemade cleaning products?

[mompodge]

Dirty Diaper Laundry Days

As promised (albeit quite belated), I have am now posting a blog about my first experience washing my new (and dirty) cloth diapers!  I was convinced that I would somehow ruin these precious pieces of cloth if I even looked at them the wrong way, but I was sorely mistaken. (I mean, we are talking about stuff that gets poop all over it…that's right…POOP!)  Washing cloth diapers is so much easier than I thought it would be!  

Since our little Jellybean is still being exclusively breastfed, I have yet to invest in a diaper sprayer.  Her poo is all water-based right now anyway, so there's been no need for me to fling anything into the toilet.  All I had to do was take my wet bag from our diaper changing station to the washer, unzip, dump, and flip it inside out before dropping it in there as well.  I filled up my detergent dispenser with Tide and my washer did the rest of the work.  (Since then, I have also used All Free and Clear detergent, but I switched back to Tide because I like that the diapers actually have a clean smell as opposed to no smell at all…if that makes sense…)I set it to a cold rinse and spin cycle and then did a "Heavy Duty" load hot wash with an extra rinse.  The diapers came out looking brand new and I actually stuffed my face in them to test out how they smelled…and it was beautiful!

I decided to tumble dry on low.  Since then, I often mix up the drying process based on how I'm feeling and how much time I have on my hands.  If I'm feeling extra "green," I hang them on the cool drying rack my hubby bought for me.  If I'm feeling lazy, I just throw the whole load in the dryer and set it to medium heat.  Like I said…these things get pooped on…a little tumble in the dryer hasn't had any negative consequences for the diapers as of yet.

And that's it.  Nothing earth shattering.  Nothing technical.  No loopholes.  No exceptions.  Just clean, fresh diapers that I get to use all over again.  That's the kind of bang for my buck that I enjoy! :)

[mompodge]

"Scrunchiness"

I’m not crunchy. I’m not really silky or mainstream either. I guess I’m kind of scrunchy. I wear my babies, but I only co-sleep some of the time. I make my own baby food, but I LOVE processed and fast food. I don’t cloth diaper (not yet, anyway) and I vaccinate my kids (albeit on a delayed schedule). I don’t do flu shots and my kids only get antibiotics if they have a bacterial infection. Screen time is sometimes necessary in my house (more often than I like most times). Breast milk and coconut oil work wonders on just about anything. I use a Diva Cup and won’t go near hormonal birth control. I like my milk from the grocery store and I don’t make my own laundry detergent.

I honestly never thought I would have any crunchy tendencies in the first place. But when you have your first child, things change. Natural childbirth and breastfeeding were probably my gateway addiction into exploring other natural ways of living. I had a hospital birth with both kids, but I was absolutely determined to refuse any pain medicine while laboring. Breastfeeding was just a part of life in my eyes because that’s how my mom fed my sister and me. While I was pregnant with my son, I read Le Leche League’s “The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding” (http://www.llli.org/thewomanlyartofbreastfeeding/). That’s the first time I had ever heard of extended breastfeeding. I remember thinking, “That will NEVER be me. As long as I can make it a year, I’ll be happy.” Here I am almost two years and a half years later and my son still nurses on occasion. Who would’ve thought I would be tandem nursing a 2.5 year old and 5 month old?! (I do want to mention that I feel so blessed to have such a supportive husband and family, despite what many would consider an unusual life choice.)

After our son was born, I exclusively breastfed him for six months before introducing solids. At that point, I didn’t want all of that hard work - the sleepless nights, the nipple aversions, the “liquid gold” - to go to waste, so I decided to make his baby food.

That grew into occasionally making my own cleaning products…

By the time we found out we were pregnant again, I knew I wanted to be a serious babywearer. I tried with our son, but I wasn’t confident enough to do it often. I was too worried he would stop breathing, so I often cuddled him in the rocking chair all day. The house didn’t get too messy because (1) there was no one to mess it up and (2) it was a small house meaning I could power clean the whole place in two hours. It was a great arrangement. Come baby #2 we have a larger home and an extremely active two-year old. Now, I do just about everything with our daughter on my back. It’s basically a necessity when you have two young kids.

I should mention that many of these “crunchy” choices were birthed from laziness and a desire to save money. I much preferred just putting baby to breast (in bed) in the middle of the night. The last thing I would’ve wanted to do at that hour of the morning was make a bottle. Plus, we saved oodles of cash not having to ever buy formula!

This year, my New Years’ Resolution was to take baby steps to living more naturally. We haven’t bought a loaf of bread this year, as I started making my own. I just made my first batch of homemade baby wipes yesterday and I’m waiting for my cloth diaper order to arrive. My mom and I are planning on getting heirloom vegetable seeds to plant a garden this spring and I have dreams of owning a few egg-laying chickens.

Recently I realized how important it is for me to know how to live sustainably. These can be really scary times in which we are living and I want to know that if things get really bad, my husband and I can feed, comfort, care for, and clothe our children with resources that we have on hand.

So…crunchy, scrunchy, mainstream…it’s my family. And I love us for who we are - as individuals and as a team - whatever we are!

[mompodge]

What is Mom.Podge?

Mom.Podge - (n.) a term that includes all aspects of motherhood.

I am a wife.

I am a mother.

I am a worshipper.

I love.

I play music and listen to it.

I cook.

I clean…sometimes…

I try my best.

I fail. A lot.

This is a journey. It’s about growing deeper in faith. It’s about making memories and experiencing each moment. It’s about living abundantly and loving passionately. It’s about the little things that happen along the way. It is what it is — life.