bloggies and bathtime

Well, I visited one of my favorite blogs today called down to earth...perhaps you've read it.  It's this awesome blog about simple living, something I really can't do right now, but seems like it'd be up my alley.  I love how the writer, Rhonda, and her husband do pretty much everything for themselves...we're talking baking, cooking practically all meals from scratch, raising their own vegetables, raising chickens (or chooks, as they're called in Australia), canning and preserving, even making their own laundry soap and cleaning products!  Actually, I use several of her natural cleaning recipes and ideas here at home...I just can't bring myself to use most commercial cleaners in my home anymore, with small children running around and putting almost everything in their mouths, who knows what kind of harmful chemicals are in those things!  I've found that warm water and plain old baking soda can get almost everything i need to clean around here sparkling and clean, plus baking soda acts as a very mild abrassive for things that are really stuck on and gunkified (highly technical term there lol).  And if something needs to be more sanitized than that, white vinegar works wonders!  I've never really been a huge fan of bleach...it's absolutely horrible for the environment, not very safe around children plus, it just plain stinks!  Anyway, back to the point.  Down to earth has been nominated for a bloggy this year (yay!) in the category for "Best Australian or New Zeland Blog".  If anyone reads this before voting closes (Feb 20, I beleive. Don't quote me on that though), definately check out Rhonda's blog and vote for it!  Just the way they live so simply and with such a minimal carbon footprint is down right inspiring, the blog itself is written beautifly (I think anyway) and they're both such good and genuinly caring people (not that I've personally talked to or met them, but you can just tell by her writing and responses to her followers questions and comments). 

Here around my neck of the woods, fairly uninteresting day...made a quick trip to the grocery store to get gluten-free ravioli for supper tonight (would have LOVED to have made them myself, but alas, it takes me a long time to make pasta since i don't have a pasta machine...well, not one for food anyway, mine's dedicated to polymer clay lol).  Amazingly enough, both kids were very well-behaved in the store (to be fair, my 3 month old daughter pretty much slept the whole time like she usually does, but hey, I'll take it where I can get it), especially considering it was super crowded so it took a little while to get around to everything we needed.  I really wish there were more stores in our area that carried gluten/wheat free products...as it stands, the only two that do are larger chain stores (one of those being the ever-present Wal-mart), the smaller local chain (and I mean like, three counties local) where I'd rather spend my money only has a few items on the shelves.  They usually run a little bit higher price-wise, but it's WAY closer than the two big chains, which saves me gas, plus I know that my money is helping boost the local economy instead of lining some no-name corporate CEO's pockets. 

Gave the kiddos baths today...it really baffles me how my son has done a total 180 on his opinion of baths recently.  Seriously, six months ago when I'd bathe him he'd scream and cry so much you would have thought I was torturing the poor little guy...and all I was doing was trying to keep him clean!  He'd pretty much been like that from the first time he ever had a bath, so, in order to keep a little bit of peace in the household, I'd literally developed a system to get him all washed up in as little time as possible.  I did this for a little over two years, so I had it down to a science lol (hint: if you have this problem with any of your children, bubble bath is your best friend! It's fun, smells nice and since it's soapy water anyway, you can just scrub 'em down with a washcloth.)  Every once in a while, I'll let him take a shower like a big boy with his daddy.  I actually think that this is what helped turn around his opinion about baths...see, my son (like me) really doesn't like to be in water at all, he especially doesn't like water in his face (just like mommy).  But in a shower, water is everywhere...you can't help but be in it.  He cried A LOT at first when he realized that he couldn't get away from the water, but since he had daddy there to hold him, he gradually got more used to it cause he knew nothing was going to hurt him with dad right there, so water didn't seem so bad anymore.  Fast-forward to today: I'm in the kitchen, cleaning out the sink so I can give little man his bath.  He's in the other room playing and I haven't told him it's bath time yet cause I don't want it to be a fight trying to get him to take one.  He hears the water going and comes running into the kitchen, stripping down as he's coming my way.  By the time he gets to me he's ripping off his pull-up with one hand and trying to take his shirt off with the other...I look down at him and he's got this big grin on his face and he says to me "Mommy, I want a bath!".  You can imagine my shock...my son who, for the past two years has cried bloody murder the second his little bottom hits water actully WANTS to take a bath!  So I plunked him in the sink before the water had finished filling up, just in case he changed his mind and decided to run from me.  And it went really well!  He still doesn't like water in his face (then again, neither do I), but today the only bath time tears were when I tried to take him out of the bath, and I'm just fine with that.