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Awhile back I lamented the time I spent trying to scrape sand off of my baby\u2019s bottoms with wipes during trips to the beach. It was also a major problem when my kids played in a sandbox. The only solution that truly got all the sand off seemed to be complete submersion in water, until a commenter on my blog told me to try baby powder. It is amazing, damp little bodies can be covered in sand, diapers can be full of it, and all I have to do sprinkle on the powder (which my kids love!) and the sand that was stubbornly sticking to them before easily brushes away. Now we no longer have children complaining of sand irritation in the backseat on the way home from the beach.<\/p>\n
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After much trial and error, I have figured out how to chop onions without crying. I have always had a horrible reaction to chopping onions. My eyes would water, itch, and burn no matter how long I tried to hold my breath, what glasses I wore, or how many times I rinsed everything in cold water, or how many candles I burned. For awhile I settled for cutting them up as quickly as possible, and then taking like 15 minutes to recover afterwards. But we love eating onions, and the whole crying thing was getting old. Then one day I had a sinus cold. A really bad one. The kind of cold where your entire nose is so completely plugged that you cannot take in a breath through it not matter how hard you try. And when I chopped onions, I didn\u2019t cry! No itching, no burning, no more tears. You\u2019d be surprised how hard it is to keep from breathing in or out of your nose when you don\u2019t have a sinus cold. You kind of have to seal it off in the back of your throat, and it takes some practice. But it works!<\/p>\n
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My children have inherited sensitive skin from both myself and my husband, and it was very difficult to find a diaper cream that didn\u2019t irritate their skin further. Whenever my children got a rash, the creams I tried either did nothing at all to help relieve pain or irritation, or (in the case of the zinc oxide creams) they caused considerably more pain. Even if I found one that didn\u2019t bother them too much, it tended to wear off very quickly and needed to be re-applied. And that was a real pain in the middle of the night or on a road trip. Then I remembered how impossible it is to get Lanolin Nipple cream off, even soap and water doesn\u2019t do a good job. You have to use really hot water, or just wait for your body to absorb it. But it does a great job of protecting your skin! Now if my kids ever get a little bit raw, I use lanolin on their bottoms like I would use a diaper cream, and they are healed in like a day.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019m the kind of person that forgets about the stains in my laundry. I have the bottle of shout, I just don\u2019t remember which articles of clothing needs it. Or by the time I remember, it\u2019s been sitting there for 2 weeks and no amount scrubbing is going to get it out. So this is what works for me. In the evening I load the washer with the usual detergent, cold water and clothing, let it swish for a minute, and then I open the top and let it sit there all night, soaking. In the morning I knock the lid down and let the wash cycle run as usual. That\u2019s it. I have been shocked but the stains that have disappeared just from soaking overnight! This method has removed all manner of food and grease stains from children\u2019s clothing. It even got out a stain on my tan pants that I had been unable to remove after months of trying. And it\u2019s something I actually remember to do. Success!<\/p>\n
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This next one is gross, but I figure if we\u2019ve had this problem, other people have too. So I\u2019m going to share it, TMI and all. For some strange reason we have had a few planters warts at our house. First I had one on my hand, then Hubby got one on his thumb, and Ms Drama now has a large one on her finger. The reviews I read for the \u201cfreeze it away\u201d stuff weren\u2019t too encouraging, and the warts were driving me crazy. So, I did some research, and on a strange hippie-ish website, I found a solution to try. And to my shock it worked! You soak a small piece of cotton ball in Apple Cider Vinegar and put it directly on the wart, then you secure it in place with medical tape or a band aid, and replace the cotton with a freshly soaked one every day. That\u2019s it. It takes a few days, first the wart swells up and gets all white and puffy, after a few days it turns black, and then it falls off! You may have a little dent in the skin where it was, but that goes away in a few more days. Best of all, the wart hasn\u2019t come back! <\/p>\n
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This is a silly tip, but it has been helpful in handling my obsession. Dirty bathrooms are a pet peeve of mine. I think something about hugging the toilet throughout the first half of all my pregnancies has made me overly attentive to how clean it is. Cleaning it when my kids are around is usually not the greatest option, since they always want to \u201chelp\u201d and that is just gross. And yet, locking them outside in the hall while I clean has backfired before., and by the time they are in bed I\u2019m too lazy<\/strike> tired to clean much. But in the cumulative hours spent sitting next to the tub keeping them safe during bath time, I struck on the idea to clean while they are trapped. So now, while my kids soak in the bath, I give the toilet a quick scrub down. It works for me!<\/p>\n
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This last one is a collection of the toddler bedtime routines that have helped our babies settle down at night. I\u2019ve always liked the idea of reading at bedtime, but unfortunately, I sometimes forget to get that started until way to close to bedtime, plus my kids usually barter for an insane amount of books and then fight over which one I must read first, and while I can handle that in the afternoon, I can\u2019t handle it right before bed, so reading hasn\u2019t worked for us. Instead, I\u2019ve looked for easy quick routines I can manage to get done even when the baby is trying to nurse through my shirt and I need to hurry.<\/p>\n