The last few weeks I've noticed myself becoming more "pregnant"... which means I really, really need to kick myself in the butt to do things that I've been putting off.
Those of you that have been pregnant know exactly what I mean, but for those of you who have yet to experience it, I will give you a list of a few of the ways that you start becoming "pregnant" after you hit about the 5 month mark...
1) You realize that if you're laying flat on your back, you can't breathe...eventually you find that you need a pillow under your belly to support it so that breathing is easier as you lay on your side and to avoid nasty round ligament pains (oh yeah...we're already there...hooray!)
2) You can't bend over anymore- well, you can...but when you get up you're out of breath, you ache in places that you didn't know you could ache and you feel dizzy...(eventually you literally won't be able to bend over anymore, but that happens later around 7 1/2- 8 months) This inability to bend and breathe at the same time has made bath time a lot of fun in our house. I politely told my husband on Friday or Saturday that he needs to brace himself because shortly, bath time will be ALL him until the baby comes.
3) Sense of urgency...you know you still have time, but you want it all done now and by "it" I mean deep cleaning the house, organizing, purchasing baby items and finding a home for them- Why? Well, because you realize that in 4-8 weeks, you will only be fit for sitting on the couch...because you won't be able to get up without help... (I'm approaching the 24 week mark this weekend, if I'm lucky, I will make it to 30 weeks before the inevitable happens...)
4) Sitting on the floor turns into an interesting dance as you try to get up unaided- you have to find new ways to maneuver yourself up while still being able to breathe and avoiding round ligament pains that tear through your entire abdomen...
There are more, and I'm sure I will think of them and clever ways to state them...but alas, I want to get to how I've been productive today.
I found a pin on Pinterest about a month ago for how to clean your washing machine. Our townhouse is great...but the longer we've lived here, the more I find the really gross things that weren't kept up very well before we moved in. The washing machine is one of those things...
I decided that since I had the stuff I needed to clean it per the instructions (or atleast decent substitutes) that today would be the day I clean out my washing machine. (Find out how to do it yourself HERE!) I was awfully glad that I did it today...as the water was filling up in the tank for step 1, I realized that the water wasn't clear that was coming out of the spout...it was an awesome dingy gray color...yeah, my clothes have been getting SUPER clean I guess (not). Just so you're aware...the tutorial doesn't specify if you should use warm, cold or hot water...I used warm (because our hot water gets REALLY, really hot) and it seemed to work perfectly. I also didn't have bleach and used hydrogen peroxide instead (another tidbit I found on Pinterest- hydrogen peroxide actually works like Oxy Clean when you use it in your washer.)
The only thing this tutorial didn't have was a way to clean the fabric softener and bleach dispensers...in my unit they were both gross. In fact, the fabric softener dispenser was the main reason I wanted to clean it...it was completely gunked and every time I wash clothes and try to use it, the fabric softener just splashes all over the lid and sides of my unit. Barely any of it makes it to the clothes. Well, I did some surfing on the net and found a solution. Most of the answers I found for this tricky question just said to use plain old white vinegar. Pour it in the dispenser to fill it, let it sit and then flush it with hot HOT water. I did the vinegar, but I found that the little output holes on the sides of the twisty thing (I think its called the agitator...but its the thing that moves the clothes back and forth) were completely gunked up too. I simply dipped a Q tip into vinegar and worked at the little holes until the gunk came and and low and behold fabric softener filled vinegar started pouring down the sides of the twisty thing. (apparently there is a way to remove it to clean it in the bathtub, but, being as pregnant as I am, and considering that this is a rental and I can't afford a new washing machine, I opted to just leave it at pouring the vinegar down the hole and flushing with tons of hot water.) Another tip- if you've got one take a bottle washing brush to the top of the dispenser to clean off the gunk that has built up on the sides...
There were other suggestions to use bleach and hot water, but as I don't have any in the house I can't really test it to see which works better. Perhaps I will send my dear Mr. Nielson Man (didn't you know I married a super hero???) to the store for some tonight so I can see if it degunks the fabric softener dispenser the rest of the way...
It was suggested that instead of using the fabric softener dispenser to put your fabric softener into the washer, just wait until the water is full and then pour it in. I think until things are degunked all the way that is what I will be doing to avoid a messy catastrophe again...I want my clothes to smell "April Fresh"!... A side note: Did you know that fabric softener sheets are actually BAD for your dryer? My dad is a maintenance man and 90% of his dryer calls end up being to degunk coils and other pieces of the dryer that the fabric softener sheets have left. In fact, he says that in talking to Maytag repairmen that he's had to call on a few occasions that they would always suggest to people to use liquid fabric softener instead because you can degunk the washer much easier (and cheaper) than it is to have a repairman come and degunk the dryer...who knew, right? That's not to say that Bounce sheets don't have a place in the home. You can wipe them along your molding by your carpet and they will not only clean the dust off them easily, they will leave a film that will prevent dust from settling on them again...but I digress (I'm kind of on a tangent of tangents aren't I?)
While I've been in between steps of washing my washer I've been organizing baby clothes. I still have a pile of winter stuff that needs to be sorted sitting in my living room, but I decided I wanted to blog first... Its been nice to go through everything that we've been given over the past few months (because we have awesome friends and family) and see what we're lacking size wise. Obviously, I'm going to have to purchase some more newborn sized stuff. If I'm lucky, I won't need it...but this baby is LONG (80th percentile) like her big sister (who was in the 65th percentile at the 20 week scan and was born 4 weeks early at 21 inches long!), and already weighed a pound at the 20 week scan (which is 24-25 week weight normally) so I'm not holding much hope that we won't have another preemie on our hands. All I can do is pray that this baby makes it even a week longer than her sister did so there is a little more time for lung development and to hopefully avoid another baby in the NICU. The Little Diva was wearing newborn sized pants until she was 3 months old because I couldn't keep anything else on her little hiney...they were short for her, and I only had 2 pairs (which was annoying!), but...what do you do?
I also found that I need more shirts and onesies for the 9-12 month age (which is the next size up for the Little Diva) and the 12-18 month range. Surprisingly, I have tons of dresses for the next size up and that is what I'm lacking for her current size...go figure...
Well, I should go be more productive...the dishes won't do themselves, and this pile of clothes is starting to make me nervous and feel kind of OCD- its just sitting there, looking disheveled and like it needs to be sorted and out of my hair...I should do something about it before the Little Diva wakes up from her nap...I also still need to shower and actually get dressed for the day...I guess I need to decide which is more important at this particular point in time...
Decisions are the worst.
Well, good luck cleaning your washers! May the cleaning gods smile upon you in your attempt to be overly productive!
Hugs and Loves until next time darlings!
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