I bought a planner a couple months ago. I was feeling motivated to get organized. Get my menus planned and grocery lists all in one place. Make it to library story time with the girls. Get thank you notes written on time. And it worked for a month or so. My planner pages were full. Then I drifted slowly back to my old routine ... it would be Wednesday at noon and I'd realize we missed story time that morning. Grocery trips with forgotten items. And the list goes on ...
So living with purpose - intentionally - has been on my mind this past week. I realize that there won't be dinner to eat at 5:15 unless I am intentional about making it. I have to be purposeful about sitting on the floor in the playroom and making myself available to play or a day can go by and the girls and I simply co-exist around the house, each doing our own things. I have to be intentional about listening to what my almost 2 year old has to say (which happens to be a lot these days). I don't want the weeks to just float by. I want to be present enough to engage and enjoy them, making memories along the way.
I guess it's always the case with things really - from marriage to friendships and workout routines. We have to commit and purposeful about them ... I just think everything is requiring extra brain power these days :)
Nuggets.
We went back to the country pumpkin patch with my family. By this point in October, the girls think their last name is Carmichael and that the pumpkin patch is their very own farm. They tromp around like they own the place and are simply feeding the animals as part of their morning farm chores :)
I've had a bit of cloth diaper drama this past week. Leaking issues for no apparent reason. I've "stripped" them twice now and bought some detergent I am hoping won't result in detergent build up, not that I am really certain that is what the problem was in the first place. Beet has a bit of diaper rash right now so I haven't put her back in them so I am not sure the problem is even solved yet. As I stood over the washing machine scrubbing the diapers inside and out yesterday (for the second time), thinking about all the internet reading and YouTube videos I've read/watched over the past week, I acknowledged that I am perhaps crazy :) I was super frustrated on Wednesday and wanted to get rid of everything, but I just can't. I really don't want to give up.
My two cents on laundering your cloth diapers after my hours of research - there's a lot more to it than one might think and a lot of different things can cause problems. Detergent (this is the big one), soft/hard water, top/front loading washing machine, etc, etc. I completely agree with this quote, taken from Krista at Pinstripes and Polkadots.
"If you are just starting your cloth diapering journey, I can not emphasize enough how advantageous it is to choose a really good detergent. Remove as many obstacles as you can at the beginning to ensure your success. If you want to experiment with your favorite detergent down the road, do so, but only after you are successfully cloth diapering so you know what normal is."
She has the most comprehensive and helpful site I have found out there on laundering. She has a great listing of detergents (both regular and cloth diaper ones) and lists whether or not they are safe for use on cloth diapers.
For now, we are switching to Planet Ultra Powdered Laundry Detergent for our diapers and I will continue to use my homemade concoction for our regular laundry. It seems to be working really well on our clothes!!
I had my 33 week appointment on Tuesday of this week. Everything looks good. Baby Luke measuring 45th percentile, which was in the doctor's words "perfect." I am now more pregnant than I ever was with Corinne (delivered her at 33wks 5 days) so that is kind of crazy to think about! So thankful to still be pregnant. Crazy how quickly my due date is approaching. I will be 37 weeks (when I delivered Juliet) in only 3 weeks. Yikes! We have made great progress as far as getting things ready around here and I would say we are probably the most prepared we have ever been. For decorating the nursery, I had to laugh at my list - 12 office clipboards, 1 yard oilcloth, 3 different RIT dye colors, and a wall mount trouser rack. Kind of random and I don't have everything together yet, but I will share pictures as soon as I do!
We had a baby shower at Dominic's work on Wednesday night. Fun to get more blue things! I am trying my hardest to "think manly" as I decorate and buy stuff for this boy ... I have been living in a total girl world the last 3 years ... really my whole life!!
Halloween costumes are finished. It was quite a project (I made them), but I think they turned out well. They were definitely a joint effort with Juliet. She is in charge of Halloween costuming around here. Aunt Dan was over and asked Juliet what she should be for Halloween. Juliet started asking her questions like "what animals do you like?" and "what color do you like?" to help her figure it out :)
On Wednesday, Corinne decided she is into puzzles. We have worked at least 15 puzzles every day since. As much as I try to get Juliet to work her own puzzle so that Corinne can figure things out by herself, she insists on coaching. She says things like "flip it over Beetles" and "try a different one." She's helping and she knows it :)
Some little tidbits of fun from our day to day routine. The girls play princess a lot. When our prince gets home from work in the evening, the girls meet him in the garage and Juliet re-introduces him to everyone - Cinderella (Juliet), Sleeping Beauty (Beet), Snow White (Charlie), and Belle (me). The girls always want to dance with prince charming - the location of the "ball" varies. The other silly game the girls and Daddy made up is the shark (Daddy) eats the crab (Juliet), clam (Beet), and stinky fish (Charlie) game. Basically Dominic just chases them around the house and pretends to eat them when he catches them. Sometimes Corinne will spontaneously run to the other room and start yelling "Eat some clam! Eat some clam!" This is her game invitation ... that doesn't stop until the shark comes. She's a sassy little clam that one!
Not many videos and pictures the past couple weeks. Been in a bit of a camera slump as it's hard to bend down at their level to take their picture these days! Here's a viedo of the girls playing dentist.
Note: Nugget format inspired by the very inspiring Nici over at Dig this Chick.
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