It's a DomerBaby

Thursday, January 6, 2011

This [Adorable] Moment, Brought to You By:

Kennywood (& Auntie Mar)

the coolest theme park in the world (or at least in Pittsburgh)

Thirsties Diapers
when you don't want to potty train your toddler
because you have a whole house of carpet,
we're there for you

Giant Plastic Toys
because otherwise adults would be allowed
to have furniture in their dining rooms!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Nursing a Toddler

A couple of months ago I was all set to wean Joseph. We were down to nursing only in the morning, and he didn't seem overly interested. I figured if I just woke up with him it'd be all over. Then he started waking at 5:30am, so I aborted that in favor of side-lying nursing (and an extra 45-60min of rest).

It had been on my mind a lot recently, whether to wean or push on. I liked the idea of nursing through flu season (he's getting immunological benefits among others) but was also interested in having my body back. Recently, though, I've felt like we're really needing more connection time. He's definitely entering the "terrible two's", complete with whining, crying, whining, tantrums, whining... did I mention whining? He's also started having night terrors at night (poor baby) and wakes up from naps quite grouchy and out of sorts most days.

After talking to my LLL group today, I decided to initiate more nursing sessions again, instead of weaning. I offered after his nap today, and he was SO happy! He latched on and nursed away. Since it was light out (unlike our morning session), and I was awake and happy (unlike our morning session), we could actually see each others' faces and spend time bonding. He was smiling and giggling, and so was I. It was the most connected I've felt to him in a long time. It's such a special way of bonding that we just don't get other ways right now, as his speech is limited and he spends more and more time away from me doing his own thing.

It made me really happy with the choice to stick it out.

I love how life ebbs and flows, and nursing your baby or toddler can ebb and flow, too. It's such a great tool to have in the parenting tool kit.

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

On Being a Homemaker

Unfortunately, he is not tall enough to wash windows

Let's be honest - being the home maker is hard sometimes! Wrangling a child, meal planning, grocery shopping, cleaning, cooking, baking...

Sorry, lost my train of thought as I ran to the kitchen to put the bread in the oven.

Anyway, my point is, there are about a million things a day that go through my head. It's not that any one is so difficult to accomplish, but add everything together and you can get quite a jumble. That's why I love lists so much. And my Google Calendar.

For your cleaning/scheduling enjoyment, I've linked up my home making calendar to the blog. It's on the right side bar. The beauty of my cleaning schedule, if I do say so myself, is that it's ok if you miss a day. The "daily schedule" makes your whole house company (or at least play date) ready, besides perhaps the bathrooms. (You could add a "wipe down the sink and swiffer" to that list to make the entire house 100% every day if that's important for you.) If you miss a day on this schedule, it's no big deal. You can pick it up the next day, week, month, quarter, or year.

Here is the excel version that I worked off to start it out... I didn't add in errands like grocery shopping or activities like cooking, as I don't really need that much scheduling in my life. You could customize something like this to fit your own needs very easily.

Happy home making!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Testing the Nikon 35mm f1.8 AF-S prime lens

I'd rented this lens over the holidays to try it out - I've been fawning over the 50mm f 1.4 AF-S, but it's $400. This one is "only" $200, a pretty good deal in the crazy camera world.

I've been using the lens, but hadn't really tried it out in a meaningful way. So we took it to the zoo yesterday to try and get a few decent shots (decent for me, anyway).

Nice bokeh, and look how it makes the stitches on the hat stand out!
I never even thought about how it could tranform my knitting posts! Ha!

Looking at the birds

Mama = happy. Joseph = cold

Attempting a "real" shot. It's a cool bird, anyway.

For some reason my favorite pics are always of him eating. Sorry about that.

Now, here is something I learned from yesterday. Look at the next two photos. Taken in the same lighting. But I moved. The second one is so much better (the lighting, not the actual photo... sorry Joseph!). Lesson: be aware of your lighting, Jen.

Still, he's so cute when he eats, no?

This one reminds me of a college buddy who always got heavy lidded when drinking. tee hee!

Colder and colder, the hood comes up

Rounding out the day with "elephant activities"
where they bribed her with treats to do circus tricks. :(

Can't...keep...eyes...open

T.J. had to do a rousing kangaroo impression (hopping) to keep him awake until we got to the car. Then he took a 3 hour nap. Yey zoo!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Ditching shampoo - continued

To answer the few questions I've received regarding this (so happy everyone didn't read and immediately unsubscribe!) here is a quick answer. This is the website [click] where I got most of my info:

Q: What amount do I use?
A: I use 1 tbsp and mix it with 1 cup of warm water before getting in the shower every other day. I stir it up with my hands once I'm in the shower - it dissolves quickly.

Q: How long should I leave it in?
A: I wet my hair thoroughly, then slowly pour the whole cup on my head, rubbing at the scalp really well. Then I let it sit for a couple of minutes. While I'm doing other washing.

Q: What about the vinegar?
A: I have a squirt bottle (the ones you see with ketchup in them at picnics) filled with regular white vinegar. The website I looked at (link above) recommended apple cider vinegar. I'm not sure if it matters, but this is what I have lots of on hand (I use it for cleaning and laundry, too). They said to mix 1 tbsp to 1c water, but I just try to squirt a little out all over my hair and let it sit a minute before rinsing.

Q: Does your hair smell like vinegar?
A: It never has smelled like vinegar once I've rinsed, but even if it did it would dissipate as it dried, just like when you use it in the laundry or for cleaning.

Q: Will the baking soda or vinegar harm my plumbing?
A: On the contrary! A very effective method of cleaning out clogged drains is baking soda and vinegar. If anything, this might help keep your pipes in better working order! Once it's in the water, it's well dissolved. It would not gunk anything up.

I think that's everything... post any other questions in this post or the original and I'll try to answer in the comment section!

Ditching shampoo and conditioner

I've kind of dropped the ball on the environmentally friendly part of this blog. It's something I'd like to pick up more this year. To start us off, I thought I'd tell you about my latest eco experiment...

I've stopped washing my hair with shampoo.

Yes, that's right. You mean you haven't noticed over the last 2 weeks? That's because my hair is still perfectly clean! I've switched to using baking soda and vinegar (is there anything that combo can't do???)

So here's the idea - shampoo and conditioner simultaneously strip all the oils from your scalp (making your body want to produce more) and then coat your hair with gunk and chemicals to replace the oils it stripped away. By using baking soda, you are mildly removing the extra oil from your hair without stripping everything away and forcing your body to produce more oil. The vinegar softens and relaxes your hair, acting as a conditioner.

I started out with using the baking soda/vinegar every other day. I did that for about 2 weeks, and now I'm trying to go every 3rd day between "washes". We'll see how it goes. From what I've read, I might be able to get away with washing once or twice a week. That'll make my showers much faster!

So far I have gotten two compliments on my hair. If you know me, you know that my hair is not often complimented! My hair has always tended to a wavy/frizzy/greasy ball of nastiness, so I've been especially amazed at the improvement.

Before: You can see the fly-aways!

After: sleek and smooth (but not greasy!) without any special effort. It's taking effort to post this awful picture, though. Please note hair only.

Don't get me wrong, I'll never be a pantene model. But if my routine of wash/dry/brush-and-go can improve my look, while lessening my exposure to potentially harmful chemicals, and cost pennies to boot, why not?

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Catching Up on Christmas, Part 4

Joy is: A two year old in a Cozy Coupe

Joy is: M&M candy canes (and presents)

Joy is: Eating snacks off the floor

Joy is: Dinner with friends

Joy is: Christmas with your family

Merry Christmas to all!

Catching Up on Christmas, Part 3

I have nothing to say about this cutie... stripey pj's? stripey cap? Do I need cute captions? I think not.

Christmas for one lucky little boy!

Catching Up on Christmas, Part 2

As you know, even if you are a very good child, it never hurts to make Santa cookies to pad things in your favor. After some consultation with Mama and Daddy, he determined that Santa's favorite is chocolate chip (What a coincidence! Same as Daddy!) and got to work.

Measuring with Daddy