Mommin' It Up!

October 31, 2013

Keep Your Laundry Room Safe!

Flashback to 2006…

Me: Ok, I just got off the phone with poison control. They said that the sanitizer Kate licked off of her hand probably won’t hurt her, but that we should watch her carefully and take her to the doctor if she starts stumbling around and acting like she’s drunk.

Andy: She’s two! She always acts like she’s drunk!! How are we supposed to tell the difference?!?

*******

That little story is humorous now, but I assure you, it wasn’t at the time!

The safety of household products is no joke – this includes laundry cleaning supplies! Jenny and I have been working with the American Cleaning Institute for the last few months to spread the word about their KEY Pledge laundry safety campaign, which aims to increase awareness surrounding the proper usage, storage and handling of single-load liquid laundry packets.

The little (extremely convenient, well-working) single-load liquid laundry packets that we all know and love and are fabulous. They really are. I am slightly obsessed with them. However, in 2012, poison centers received reports of 6,229 unintended exposures by children 5 and younger. Many consumers do not realize that each packet contains highly-concentrated detergent and should be treated like any other household cleaning product. If not safely stored, the laundry packets can attract dangerous interest from young children leading to injury from ingestion or exposure to the eyes – always store them up high, out of reach and sight.

It’s important that we as parents and caregivers keep single-load liquid laundry packets away from children and help prevent the risk of serious injury from ingestion or exposure to eyes. To help keep this top of mind, ACI wants us all to take the Key Pledge.

As an extra incentive, the American Cleaning Institute will randomly choose one person to win a $2,500 gift card* that can be put towards a laundry room makeover!

***NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Ends on December 31, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. ET. Open to legal residents of 50 U.S. and DC, 21 and older. Void where prohibited. For Official Rules, click here. Sponsor: American Cleaning Institute.

People all over the country are joining in – take a look and see how your home state is doing! Florida, California, Texas, and really most of the Midwest are looking pretty good, but people in Montana and Wyoming? You have some work to do!

Always remember these tips for a safe laundry room & routine:
• Do not let children handle laundry packets
• Do not puncture or pull packets apart
• Store out of child’s sight and reach
• Keep the packet’s package closed and in a dry place
• Packets quickly dissolve upon contact with water, wet hands, or saliva so it is necessary to keep them dry

Here’s a quick video about important laundry safety tips from child safety expert and KEY Pledge spokesperson Kimberlee Mitchell. Kimberlee has been collaborating with the ACI on a series of safety videos, and this is the first! Keep an eye out for additional videos in the series including important reminders about the proper precautions when using, storing and handling single-load liquid laundry packets.

October 30, 2013October 29, 2013

It’s better to be P’ed off than P’ed on

One of the first things I thought to myself when it sunk in that I was having a third child back in the spring of 2010 was, “I do NOT want to potty train a third child!”

I am pretty much the worst potty trainer ever.

Be that as it may, this week I decided to start potty training Jonah. I don’t know why exactly, I have just been itching to get him trained before he starts preschool in January. And, since it took me a r-e-a-l-l-y long time to train the other two, I figured I might as well start now.

From the get-go, it was pretty apparent that Jonah has no idea physiologically what is going on. So basically he’s just been peeing everywhere for the better part of three days. The last two times he peed on the floor yesterday (out of like, 12 times) he said, “pee pee floor”. Um, is that progress?

I’m trying not to let anything get me down, since potty training Sophie was honestly one of the lowest points of my life. I’m trying just not to let myself go there.

So far, I’m just glad that me, myself, and I have been mostly dry, and that so far all the pee has been on the floor and and not on the furniture.

And that Jonah didn’t pee all over my neck when he decided to climb on my shoulders last night.

Wish me luck…I for sure am gonna need it.

October 29, 2013

This has been a fun little experiment. Now HAND OVER THE DRUGS.

There’s a circular pattern in my life that I’ve been replicating now for approximately 12 years. Here’s how it goes.

I get super depressed. –> A doc prescribes me an antidepressant. –> I become a nicer person. –> I decide there’s some reason I should no longer take said antidepressant and quit. –> I get super depressed.

It’s so much fun, you should try it sometime.

The thing is, I think I’m just one of those people who does better with a little help in the chemical balancing act. There’s nothing particularly difficult about my life – in fact, everything is really, really good. Or it should be. But since I got the bright idea to wean off my antidepressant a couple months ago, I have been struggling. I am struggling with energy and motivation, I’ve got a short temper, I cry at the drop of a hat.

I had a major emotional breakdown over dog hair a couple weeks ago. It was not a good sign.

I just do better on antidepressants. I’m less anxious and I am way less OCD. I’m able to turn off the negative, self-destructive voices in my head and I don’t curse as much.

(Okay, I am totally making up that last part.)

I’m a better wife/mother/employee/PERSON when I’m on them. And let’s HOPE I’m a better blogger – I was just searching for an example of a funny post I’ve written recently, and let me tell you – I couldn’t find ANYTHING worthwhile. So, uh, sorry about that.

Anyway, this afternoon, I am waving the white flag and asking my doc to write me yet another prescription. Here’s hoping I’m back to normal soon.