I Smell like Gum!!!

When Harrison was born and just a few days old, I remember him peeling like crazy. He had the driest skin of any baby on the planet and no amount of lotion seemed to help him. In the winter, his skin would get so dry it would crack and bleed, especially on his flanks. Our former pediatrician prescribed a triamcinolone ointment which seemed to help. I also tried keeping Aquaphor on him as much as I could. Still, his skin felt like low-grit sandpaper.  I also noticed that sometimes his skin would get so dry, it looked scaly.

The dryness would wax and wane. Recently, our pediatrician (who did a year in pediatric dermatology), examined him and said, "This is the first time I've seen the 'scales' on his skin. I'd like you to go home and do some research on 'ichthyosis' and I will, too. I think this is what he has."  That evening, I found FIRST and after an email exchange with one of their staff members, I was convinced that Harrison had X-Linked Ichthyosis (XLI). As it turns out, this was Dr. Weed's diagnosis as well.  Due to a deletion on the X-chromosome, Harrison has very dry skin that does not flake. It builds up as scales on him. Yes, X-chromosome - that means he inherited this issue from me. I've warped my kid. Of course! I'm the mom!! It's my JOB to warp my kid. Anyway...

Many moms have their ichthy kids soak in the tub with baking soda and/or bleach added (the bleach is needed to help keep infection at bay on skin that is easily broken - some forms of ichthyosis are much more significant than Harrison's). The baking soda helps soften the scales. Since we don't have as much of an issue with broken skin, we have started off with soaks in warm water - but we are about to add baking soda. Another thing these moms do is salt scrubs. Hmm. I don't have any salt scrubs, but I did get some sugar scrub for Christmas. Would that work? It works great on my rough elbows! Let me tell you, it works wonders on Harrison's "confetti skin." The first time we scrubbed his legs with it, his little face lit up and he said, "Mommy! My skin feels so good!!" I almost cried.

The scrub my friend made has sugar, coconut oil and a few other things in it. But the sugar and coconut oil have made a huge difference! The sugar exfoliates him, and the coconut oil moisturizes in conjunction with the compound. Now, the only "rough spots" on his skin are around his ankles.

He is loving his new skin-care routine and is taking it seriously. I always get a kick over how much he loves the sugar scrubs. My friend made him some this week that is Vanilla-Mint and he's super excited to "smell like gum." (really?! I swear everything in this house comes back to gum, you'd think my kids never get any!! It cracks me up.)  As I slathered him down tonight, I noticed the scaling on his legs is significantly reduced. Really excited to have found something that seems to be working for him and that he's "all in" for doing.

One Little Word: 2014

It's that time of year, again! It dawned on me Sunday, while sitting in worship, I have not chosen a word for 2014 yet! It snuck up on me!!  I've pondered what I should choose and the same word kept coming to mind, along with the same verses to go with it.

My 2013 word: PURPOSEFUL
My 2012 word: LIGHT
My 2011 word: JOYFUL
My 2010 word: KINDNESS
My 2009 word:  GENTLE
My 2008 word: FOCUS

My word for 2014 is MORE.  Are you ready to just die?! "You chose more?!  What in the world are you thinking?!"  I know, right?  When it first popped in my head, I thought, "No way! I can't choose such a selfish word!" But I realized the things I want "more" of are not all selfish (notice "not all" - I'm pretty sure one of them is). Some of these things are listed below, in no particular order - well, except the first one is the thing I want more of because from it, I think, will flow everything else.

I want more time in the Word. I have been lax about reading and have been doing more of a "devotionalism" kind of reading. Not really studying or meditating - but just reading on a theme, checking it off my list and moving on with my day. Not what I want or need in order to become more sanctified.

I want to be more purposed in outreach - to friends, to neighbors, to family. I want more fellowship and hospitality. I want more homemade stuff - food, cards, everything. I would like more time to engage in my hobbies - both because they relax me and because they get the homemade things done.

I want to be more loving - to my husband, my children, my extended family, my church family, my friends. I want to be more gentle in my speech. I want to be more purposeful. I want to have more light. I want to be more kind. I want to have more focus. And all of those go back to that first thing I want more of - time in Bible study.

My verses for 2014 -

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.             Philippians 1:9-11 (NASB)

Do you have a word for 2014? Specific goals? Resolutions?

Right Now

Try to not be shocked. Yes, I am posting something. :) I just wanted to share with y'all something I have loved doing over the past few months.  Since we are coming up on a new year, some people might want to start it in January.

I do these "Right Now" prompts once a month. I shoot for the middle of the month but as you can see from October and November, it was closer to the end of the month.  (by the way, this photo is actually supposed to be in landscape orientation but I don't know how to make that happen from my phone).  The printable is available here, on Monika Wright's blog.

I used scraps of decorative paper from some of my 6x6 pads to prettify these.  At this point, mine are not bound, they're just tossed in the basket beside the recliner and I grab one when I'm ready to record "right now." I love that this is a quick way for me to record the "dailyness" of my life. I never look at last month's before recording this month's. I had to laugh at the similarity of my answers some months! (two months in a row I was feeling "overwhelmed" - but really, that's the story of my life).

I thought I'd share this month -
feeling: excited about the holidays
on the to do list: finish shopping - tonight!
my guilty pleasure: Mint Milanos ~ hidden above the stove
favorites: homemade sea-salt caramel sauce
dreaming about: sanding and repainting the chalkboard
grateful for: coffee and work
documented: 12/18/13

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Back Burner kind of stuff

When I started blogging in 2004, I was trying to keep up with very young, growing very fast children. I was trying to keep up with vocabulary and milestones and...just life in general.  Kids are continuing to grow and continuing to do it much, much too quickly - but we're past the days where I'm counting words in their vocabulary and the milestones are long ago accomplished.

I was on a digital scrapping design team and I needed a place to share what I was doing. I don't digitally scrapbook any longer. I've taken up Project Life.  Digital scrapbooking became a lot like paper scrapbooking has become -- pile a whole bunch of embellishments on a page and put one tiny little picture on it -- usually in the middle of the embellishments where it's hard to see. There's no title on the page, no date, no journaling.  Yeah, that's going to mean a whole lot to your posterity when they see it. But hey, it got published in some big scrapbooking magazine or featured on some website! Whoohoo. Big. Deal. :p I've always scrapbooked for the STORY. Not to be in the pages of some magazine. Which is why I love Project Life (or Simple Stories, or whatever brand you choose to use)  Whoops. Soapbox. Snuck up on me there. Sorry.

I thought I'd share about baking. But, I had a little boy who needed his momma way more than I had time to bake or share about it.

I thought I'd try sharing paper crafting. But, I barely have time to eek out a card before I'm running out the door to the event where it is needed -- much less have time to take a picture of it and blog. (not to mention, when I do that, I'm told I have too much time on my hands...oh, my. no.)

Life these days is consumed with homeschooling my children, trying to keep the laundry caught up, the house sanitary (it is pretty cluttery most days - but the kitchen and bathrooms are at least sanitary!), and working full-time-plus-some.  Blogging is going to have to go on the back burner for a while. The waaaay back burner.

I may return to blogging. I may not.  But I know this - right now, not thinking about it is what I need. Not taking another minute to do it is what I need. Not having to worry about "is this photo blog worthy" is what I need.  Not thinking about my "brand" and what I want my "brand" to portray is what I need. I don't even WANT TO BE A BRAND!  I don't want to create a Facebook page for my blog. (really?! really?!). I don't want to tweet about my blog. (I don't want to tweet, period) I don't want to create a Pinterest for my blog.  And so, with that, I'll see you again some day, maybe.

edited to add: I told a friend that I'd blog if there was some event I wanted to capture or remember; or if I have a chance to participate in a paper-crafting challenge and need to post it to my blog (those are very rare occurances these days...maybe a little more this summer? I dunno). But, for the most part, you won't see me around here very much and I'm good with that. I'm sure you will be, too. :)

Spring Cleaning: Bathrooms

The bathrooms. Ugh. I never realized how gross cleaning a bathroom can be until I had kids. Seriously, I have not raised them to believe they live in a barn - but that bathroom? Yikes! Their bathroom gets cleaned daily. And I review the cleaning job daily because, let's face it, my Bathroom Cleaner Child's definition of clean and mine are vastly different.   (I clean my own bathroom)

Things we use to clean the bathroom:

Let's start with what is easily the grossest, but most necessary, cleaning job in the bathroom - germ central, the toilet.  I want something to clean the toilet that can be disposed of. I have used toilet brushes in the caddies with the Lysol Toilet Bowl Cleaner. I actually have toilet brushes in the bathrooms now - but I don't use them. We use the Scrubbing Bubbles Toilet Brush.  I have tried both the flushable pads and the "Fresh Pads" (what they call them - these aren't flushable).  The flushable pads are okay for an every day little "swish and swipe" in the toilet - but for the most part, they are like trying to scrub the toilet with a wad of toilet paper (which makes sense - they need to be flushable).  For cleaning the toilet and getting it really clean, I like the Fresh Pads, which are not flushable.  I've also tried the Clorox version of the toilet brush and like it, too. They don't have a flushable version.

Tub, counter and sinks get cleaned with Comet Bathroom Cleaner.  I've been using this for years - since long before we moved into our house.  Love this stuff. It cuts through soap scum, smells citrusy, really like it.  I've tried the Dawn dishwashing detergent and vinegar - but I could smell vinegar for a long time after cleaning the bathroom and I hate that smell. I went back to Comet.

Mirrors get cleaned once a week with Pledge Multi-Surface Wipes.  I've tried the Windex Wipes - they're linty!! (that was the most common complaint in our focus group, too).  I've tried regular glass cleaner with a paper towel and I always end up using too much glass cleaner.

The floors get swept and then we break out the Shark.

We don't scrub the toilet or "Shark" the floor every day (I'm not that OCD and we aren't home enough). But we do try to make sure it is sanitary in there!

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