Did you have a homebirth?

I'm in training to become a leader for Dar a Luz. Part of this training is that I need to interview two moms - one who's had a c-section, which was easy, because one of my favorite bloggers had two of them, and she agreed to do an interview. Yay!

But the other one is proving a bit harder. I need to interview a mom who has had a planned homebirth. It has to have been a birth at home, no hospital transfer, and it doesn't matter if it was assisted or not.

The questions are easy to answer and shouldn't take a long time. Your name and location will be kept confidential, and I won't be posting your answers anywhere online.

So, are you up for it? Do you know someone who might be? Send me an email [ superninjamommy AT gmail DOT com ] or comment with your contact information - I'll love you forever!

Random things I know

There are things you learn as you go through life - little mundane things, but important in their own right. They're the things that no one ever taught you; and I have a ton of them. I bet by the time I'm old, I will be a certifiable genius.

Things I Know

The cake is very close to done when you can smell it baking throughout the house.

Underwear gets cleaner if you wash it inside out.

Toilet paper should always roll UNDER. If you set it up to roll over, you need to use both hands to tear it, and can spread personal germs to the toilet paper that someone else will be using. Might not sound like a big deal, unless the person who used it before you has trich or crabs or norovirus. Then it's a very big deal.

You should always wash the tops of cans before opening them, to prevent dust and germs from getting into your food. Especially if the food isn't going to be cooked, like tuna.

Adding a tiny bit of vinegar to mayonnaise will make the mayonnaise liquefy, but you won't taste the vinegar. That's good to know for salad dressings and such.

You should always add salt to sweet things. Just a tiny pinch will cut the sweetness to a manageable level, but more importantly, will bring out the true flavor. For instance, vanilla frosting taste much more vanilla-y with a pinch of salt added.

Have two pairs of scissors in your house - one for cutting paper, and one for cutting fabric. Paper dulls scissors, and you need very sharp scissors to cut cloth.

Save your coffee grounds, then add them to your garden for big beautiful plants.

If you wash clothes and the stains don't come out the first time, don't put them in the dryer. The heat will set the stain. (If you've tried to remove the stain three times, forget it. Call that outfit "play clothes" and just quit worrying about it.)

If you're bugged by bugs in the house, sprinkle a line of Borax around the interior perimeter. It's safe, and bugs hate it (especially ants.)

Falling Off (or, those damn growth charts)

Today is a special day for two reasons. First, it's EJ's eighth birthday! Eight years ago at this very minute, I was bound by my wrists and ankles to a hospital bed, being forced to have an epidural. But I don't like to think about that. EJ was born at 4:52 pm, and she was twelve days late. Up until yesterday I thought she was eleven days late... then I counted from May 23 to June 4 on the calendar, and it's actually twelve days. Duh.

The second reason today is special is because The Babe is nine months old today. He doesn't seem out of the ordinary to me, but he's doing things, physically, that the doctor says only about 10% of nine month old babies do.

And that brings me to this morning.

The Babe had his nine month well-child visit, and it didn't go so well. Firstly, he woke up with a fever. We co-sleep, so I thought he was warm from being snuggled up with mommy under the covers, but he didn't cool down after over an hour out of bed, so I gave him tylenol. He's been majorly cranky, but I didn't feel like cancelling the appointment, so we went.

He hasn't gained any weight in the past three months, which any experienced breastfeeding mother will tell you is absolutely normal. Breastfed babies tend to be really chubby at first, and then they start to slim down. The doctor didn't directly say that she was concerned, but I could tell by the questions she was asking and the recommendations - "put formula in a cup for him to drink." Yeah effing right. Would you drink that stuff? Of course not - you know it tastes like pond scum, because you have alternatives. The Babe will not touch formula, and why would he, when he can have breastmilk and juice and goat's milk and all sorts of other good stuff? (Weird side note: Beastie's been formula fed since she was 5 months old, and still drinks it. She won't drink regular milk, just juice and formula. Weirdo.)

Anyway, I told the doctor that The Babe wasn't feeling well, and she said it's going around, if it gets over 105 bring him back, blah blah blah. All that no-brainer crap. ("Why, doctor, I though it was normal for a baby to have a fever of 112... you should have told me to bring him in!" Yeah right.)

But then she said he needed his Hepatitis B shot. She was startled that he hadn't had it at birth, and hasn't had a dose yet. I said I wasn't comfortable with him receiving any shots at all, since he was sick, and she said okay, but warned me that Hepatitis B is a very serious disease and he should have been vaccinated at birth.

I said "I believe that, but I really don't see him sharing needles or engaging in risky sexual behaviors any time soon."

She laughed and said I had a point but that I would need to fill out a religious exemption form when he goes to school. Yeah, cause you know, I don't have anything better to worry about than the forms I'll have to fill out for kindergarten five years from now. It's not like I have a sick kid or anything.

Oh yeah, she also said his head is lumpy because he doesn't sleep on his back enough. It's not lumpy; it's bulbous, and as a matter of fact, he sleeps on his back every night. He's just got a big ole brain in there.

(As far as EJ's birthday - the party isn't till Saturday. Then I'll show you the beautiful cake I made [which I haven't made, but will have made by then, and which might not be beautiful at all] and fill you in on all the joys of having an eight year old.)

Sewing Machine Meme

This month is sewing machine month at Sew Mama Sew, so I figured I'd jump in there and join the meme.

What brand and model do you have?
Brother CE-5000PRW

How long have you had it?
Around 3 months

How much does that machine cost (approximately)?
About $125

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)?
Craft projects, such as stuffies, felties, etc.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get?
I sew regularly, probably three hours a week.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name?
So far, I adore my machine. My old machine was an ancient Pfaff with a major attitude problem.

What features does your machine have that work well for you?
I like the features but don't use all of them. For instance, I've never used the automatic needle-threader. Seems like a lot more trouble than it's worth. I don't foresee me ever using the buttonhole functions, or a lot of the decorative stitches. But I love the drop in, no-fuss bobbin. That's a huge plus.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine?
If I don't have like thirty thousand feet of thread hanging out of the needle, it comes unthreaded. (Okay not that much. Maybe three inches. But enough to be really annoying.)

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree?
Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it!

Nothing all that interesting, but I got my machine for my 27th birthday. Everyone in my family gave a little bit of money to "the cause," and then me and my mom went and bought it. We went to the sewing machine specialty stores, whose machines were expensive and had similar issues to my old Pfaff. Plus the salespeople were snobbish and rude - one even said if I didn't have $500 for a sewing machine, I shouldn't bother sewing! Well, we ended up at Wal-Mart, looking for fabric, and happened to see this machine. I bought it and love it!

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?

I think it's a great beginner machine. It stitches really smooth and quiet, and has cool little functions, like automatic needle-down. I love my sewing machine.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine?
For me price is always a factor. I also looked at the warranty and ease of use. I think it's totally fine to buy an inexpensive machine, so long as it has a good warranty.

Do you have a dream machine?
Not really. Mine is perfect for my needs.

Homemade Laundry Detergent vs. Tide - recipe and price breakdown

Did you know you can make your own laundry detergent at home? It works great and it's super cheap. Here's the recipe I use.

6 cups borax
4 cups baking soda
4 cups washing soda
4 cups grated soap
Mix thoroughly and store in an air-tight container. I put mine in a 6 quart sterilite plastic shoe box with lock n lock lid.


I use Kirk's coco-castile soap. For this recipe you'll use your cheese grater to shred the soap up in really small bits. Three 4 ounce bars will equal 4 unpacked cups, plus a few tablespoons. I just put it all in.
Cost so far: $3.00

2 small boxes of baking soda (16 oz size) equal four cups. Right now, these are on sale, two for a dollar.
Cost so far: $4.00

You can get approximately 14 cups of Borax from one box. It's $4.00 a box, so that means its about $2.34 to make one batch (since you only need 6 cups.)
Cost so far: $6.34

A box of washing soda costs $3. You need about half a box for one batch, which puts your washing soda cost at $1.50.

Grand total, for one batch of homemade laundry detergent, is $7.84, not counting tax. (With 6% sales tax, the total is $8.31.)

This makes 20 cups of detergent.

For softened water, you'll use 1/8 cup of detergent per load. That means that for less than eight dollars, you can wash 160 loads of laundry, at just 5 cents a load!

If you have hard water, like me, you'll use 1/4 cup of detergent per load, so you'll get 80 loads from one batch, with a cost of ten cents a load.

Compare this with Tide. I found the cheapest Tide online, 211 ounces for $24.00. That's just over 26 cups of detergent. Tide says that you can get 120 loads from 26 cups of detergent. That's twenty cents a load - two to four times the cost of homemade detergent!

The homemade detergent works just as well as the Tide and is safe for sensitive skin, since it has no added "sudsing agents" or fragrances or colors. (If you like scented clothes, add a few drops of essential oil to the main batch.) When this is washing, you won't see nearly as many suds as you do with commercial detergent, since this doesn't have phosphates (which make it suds up.) Don't worry though, it cleans like a charm!