Best Solution for Diaper Rash

My 2 year old will sometimes...and I don't know what he eats that causes it...but he gets a red, pulsating diaper rash. Almost-purple with raised bumps, he walks like a cowboy who's ridden a horse all day and cries about his "bum bum". Poor baby. I tried Desitin and the like but nothing helped. He was still in pain and still couldn't walk right. :(

How do you help your babe in this situation?

1) Give the poor kid a bath. Even refrain from using a wipe to clean the poopies off, rinse his/her bum under warm running water. Then give them a bath, gently washing the bottom area with baby soap.

2) Dry bottom well, patting dry with towel. Blow on it a little. My little guy likes that (I'm weird, I know).

3) Place clean diaper under their bottom. Now this is a trick my sister-in-law taught me...Place on your fingertip: either a dab of A+D Ointment or 3 pea-sized amounts of petroleum jelly plus 1 pea-sized amount of Neosporin (or generic brand). PLEASE adjust according to how large the affected area is. Gently dab on baby's red bum bum.

4) Sprinkle 1 Tbsp corn starch over the gel (all over bottom, doesn't have to be neat). Close diaper and dress them. It takes a few seconds, but baby will start walking normal until they poop again. It's magic!

Barf on carpet!

Somehow, in almost 8 years of parenting, I'd managed to avoid the pleasant experience of vomit on the carpet. When one of my boys graced me with the experience the other day I pulled out the Windex, wiped it up and called it good.
Silly me.
Of course it still smelled putrid the next day. The while room did. So I googled it, I threw my concern out into Facebook world, and what I decided to use was magical.

Watered down vinegar.
1 part white distilled vinegar: 2-3 parts water in a clean, empty squirt bottle.
I sprayed it on the stink, patted up some if the excess, and when the vinegar solution dried all smells went with it! My extra-sensitive pregnant nose can't be fooled, it worked.
Like magic!
My mother in law always pulls out a bottle of this stuff and I thought, "Okay, that's weird." But it's not. She's a genius. Vinegar water is also good for pet accidents and just about any cleaning around your home.
Let me know if it works for you!

Nissan truck rumbling

So our 2005 Nissan Pathfinder started rumbling at certain points...like when I'd ease my foot off of the accelerator. Felt almost like I was driving over rumble strips.

I googled it one day and the best thing I found was a huge online forum discussing problems people have had with their Nissans. After extensive research I realized Nissan had installed a faulty line between the radiator and transmission, causing the fluids to mix and a whole big mess.
In short, if you have this problem both parts have to be replaced. Call your nearest Nissan dealership and, if that is the problem in the end, they will check it for free. Then you have to pay something, how much depending on how many miles your car has (the more miles, the more you pay). We paid $3,000 to have Nissan repair something that was their fault in the first place, and that was thousands less than it would have been anywhere else (we shopped around). To top off the goodness I'm pretty sure they put in the same exact parts that went bad in the first place.
So how do you know if your Nissan has the problem? If you own a Nissan truck if any sort, especially if it was made in the 2000's, check to see if your transmission fluid and coolant have mixed. The sooner you spot the problem and get it into a Nissan dealership, the better. Here's a good video that shows how.

Dry erase marker on wood!

Elijah, as many 2 year old's would, decided to use a RED dry erase marker on the wood of our poäng chair foot rests and our almost-while carpet.

HEART ATTACK!
That's what I get for trying to teach my 5 yr old to read. :-P
I googled how to remove marker from wood and got all kinds of crazy responses. I didn't want to go buy strange cleaners I'd never heard of so I pondered what to do instead.
Want to know what so easily worked on both problems?

Yep, Dawn dishwashing soap.

 I squirted a little on a rung-out-wet rag and scrubbed. Came out of the carpet, wiped off of the wood.

Wa-la! Like magic I say. Best magical dish soap I've ever had AND safe on wood and carpet. :-)
Now I did this right after he'd drawn on the wood. A different time I didn't notice until a few days later and Dawn didn't work. Instead I squirted a small amount of dry erase marker spray (you know those little squirt bottles to clean dry ease market off of white boards). Wiped right off the wood!
If have this issue, let me know if these solutions work for you, too!

Review of University Manor East in Hershey, PA

When my husband was accepted to Penn State Hershey Medical School starting in 2010 I scrambled to find a place to live. We're from the west coast so knew nothing about the area. I searched for information about the on-campus housing but all I found were some outdated pictures on the school's website. What I REALLY wanted was a review from someone who had lived there.
So I'm going to write one, hoping to aid those who are heading to Penn State Hershey in the future.
We ended up renting a 3 bedroom apartment from University Manor East. As we pulled up my first impression was that it looked outdated.

Then we went inside. Now we'd been students living in smallish apartments the past 5 years (my husband only had one semester of college under his belt when we'd met, I don't totally recommend it) so I was amazed at how big it was! And it had been recently renovated.
You enter through a hallway of closets (LOTS of storage) that leads to a smallish yet decent sized kitchen and a huge living room. There's a decent sized fenced-in patio off of the living room with a strip of dirt just outside of it (if you're on the bottom floor) where you can plant flowers (no vegetables allowed, which was disappointing but I made some amazing flower beds) and a decent sized dining room off the kitchen. Awesome. Just off the kitchen is a dining room. Not big enough to open our pub sized table up to a 54"x54" square, but big enough with it closed.
Then you go down another hall to 3 good-sized bedrooms. The master is long and narrow--kind of awkward--but so big it could've been 2 rooms. When we had baby #3 we used the other half as a nursery.
Outside your door is a good sized storage shed and a big playground where the neighborhood kids are often found frolicking around. When I was there Moms (and sometimes Dads) also congregated so everyone had a friend, usually one in the same position as you. For me, having that support as the wife of a medical student was AWESOME.
The office staff where you go to pay rent were nice, though I felt they went out of their way to charge me for things. It's not that way for everyone, I'm sure.
Maintenance was great at getting to repairs and there are a lot of rules (no pets except fish, no portable dishwashers, etc) but you have to weigh the good in with the bad. When you're renting there's no perfect place unless price isn't an issue. Did I mention that utilities are included in rent? It sure was nice not to stress about the thermostat.
The biggest con is the life flight helicopters that fly overhead. They're very loud at all times of day and night but you soon get used to them and learn to tune them out.
Also, many of the walls are made of brick, which darkens the rooms that already don't have their own lighting. You need to get a hold of lots and lots of lamps!
So if communal living seems like it's for you (with the close quarters of some interesting people, good and bad, and hearing your neighbors when they yell or the kids run around above your head), I highly recommend University Manor East.
As far as the 2 bedrooms go, everyone I've talked to seemed happy with them, though they don't have the extra outside storage that the 3 bedrooms do.
Feel free to ask any questions!
Thanks for reading and good luck at Penn State!

Animals, animals everywhere!

This long, frigid winter I've been trying hard to keep the kids busy.

Elijah loved this stuff-the-fuzzies-in-the-hole game...until Miles broke it. :P

For Valentine's Day Alan made me cinnamon rolls and eggs and bought me a card and Reese's PB heart.

He knows the way to my heart. :)

I didn't do anything for him. What a bad, bad wife!

Elijah was in heaven splashing in puddles one day.

LOOOOOOVE this sweet smile. :)

This is how we clean up spills around here. They were bending down and picking them up with their mouths. Who needs a vacuum?

We took our second trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo. It wasn't nearly as fun as the first time we went.

No pictures with the elephant...

And the giant sting rays that came up to us from the touch tank were gone, replaced by small shy ones. :/

The polar bears were exciting, though, playing right in front of our faces and eating fish the caretaker threw down to them from above. :)

Christian was invited to a Birthday party at a roller skating rink. He used the granny-walker thing most of the time but had a blast.

Miles was able to skate, too. He LOVED it! ha! They were wobbly and fell a lot, but all they could talk about when we left was how they wanted to go again.

My friend and neighbor, Shannon, came over for a visit. Elijah tried on her daughter's shoes and LOVED them. :D

Wore them around the house until the baby girl was about to burst because she wanted them back. haha! Preeeeeetty.

Elijah drank some of that water. Yep.

 Ate at 100 Degree Hot Pot with our good friends, the Chen's. Love them!
And the food is sooooo yummers!

Winter has finally left us! The boys were in heaven the other day, helping our neighbor fly his new kite.

This STINKER woke up several times during the night, thinking it was time to get up, for DAYS after Alan took him to WA for 6 days. Totally screwed up his schedule. Just the past few days he's been sleeping through the night again.

 We drove to IL, a whole 12 hours, to look at homes. It'll be nice to get a home and KNOW where we're going to be living the next 3 years! This was Elijah, pretty much the whole trip. I hate that pacifier but MAN it sure makes him a happy boy!

And this wast the two older boys the whole time. Constant touching-laughing-fighting-laughing-squealing. :)

Overall they did very well because they're pretty darn good kids.

I'll keep you updated if we close on a house.... :D

CATCHUP! Hold the mustard...

Thanksgiving we went to our friends, the Moore's, in Virginia. We love them! We stayed a few days and had many delicious food adventures.

 And some park ones, too. And we played board games every night. FU-UN!

Poor Elijah got a staph infection but we got him on antibiotics and he got better fast. :(

Here's the babe with his staph. Pobrecito. We put up our Christmas tree right when we got back.

What? You can't see it? Yah, it was 3' tall and the bottom lights burned out this year. It's been retired but it served us well. Oh and there's the boys doing what they love best: video games.

 Miles completed his Pre-K workbook (it's a fat book!) so I took him on a date (his promised reward). We went to Fun Unleashed (a Chuck E Cheese's type place) to play arcade games, then got ice cream at McDonald's...

then went to the library and saw Where the Wild Things Are play. It was a very fun night! My how things are better when you are with your kids one-on-one.

 At the library I took the boys to do The Polar Express. They read them the book, then we took a trolley to "Santa's Workshop," a store they transformed with toys (they got to buy one with a coin they'd received after the story). 

Santa was there, of course. They really liked it. This library is pretty awesome.

 We drove to the Washington D.C. LDS temple to see the lights...

 ...and one of our favorite pianists, Paul Cardall, played there for free. Elijah was loud, of course, but otherwise it was a very fun time!

We wanted to surprise my family for Christmas but the tickets were ridiculously expensive. So we hung out here and chillaxed. The boys opened slippers and jammies on Christmas Eve and drank hot chocolate and watched a move. It was great to be together.

New Year's Eve our friends had a barn party. It.was.freezing. Otherwise it was good fun with lots of yummy treats. :D

HAPPY 2014!!

This winter has been pretty darn brutal here in PA so this is the main thing we've been doing.

Snuggle time!

Even with the heat at 74 or 75 (hey, utilities are included in rent) there is such an awful draft that is so.dang.cold!!!

They've cancelled school a couple of days because it was so cold (below zero cold).

brrr...I hope this winter won't last much longer because I am READY for my 3 active boys to get out of our 650 sq. ft. apartment and play outside already!!!

I love them.

I promise. :)

BUT GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! :)

Memories with Dad

My daddy dearest visited us in State College, PA on Tuesday, Oct 29th.

He dressed up and trick-or-treated. What a trooper! A storm trooper that is. :D The kids had a blast and he actually enjoyed wearing the costume. So cute. :)

We drove to the Johnson home, Hiram, OH, Nov 4, 2013. Actually I drove. I drove the whole time. I don't drive. It was a different experience and I thank the heavens I didn't fall asleep and kill us both!

 This is the School of the Prophets, second story of the Johnson home. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ visited Joseph Smith and Sydney Rigdon in that room. There was an awesome spirit there on that hallowed ground.

Touching where Joseph Smith had preached each Sunday during the year he'd lived there. Front porch of the John Johnson home, Hiram, OH.

 Joseph Smith went to Hiram and walked straight into this store and said something like, "You prayed me here, Brother Whitney. What do you need of me?"

 Above the store, Emma and Joseph's dining table.

 Sidney Rigdon's marking in the Bible while making corrections. Pretty cool.

Kirtland, OH temple. Nov 4, 2013. It was closed, but was still cool to see, even in the dark...

 I was sad to see it cracking in parts. I laid my hands on the surface, wanting to touch where so many early saints had worked and sacrificed so much to build a temple to their God. It was bigger than I'd thought. What a sacrifice!

 That evening we drove to Columbus, OH and ate at Texas Roadhouse. We shared a rack of ribs--my favorite! My dad is about to blow his straw in my face...'cause that's how we roll.

My dad writing in his journal. Such a good example. :)

 A huge rose garden in Columbus, OH. Nov 5, 2013. Yes I positioned my dad and made him pose for pictures. :)

 The rose garden wasn't in season, but the area was still pretty.

 Afterward we did a session in the Columbus, OH temple. It was so small, yet still the house of the Lord. :)

 Taking a walk with Grandpa on such a beautiful Fall day, Nov 6.

 I <3 elijah.="" p="">

 My dad had as much fun playing in the leaves as Elijah did.

I rest my case. :) 

Elijah insisted on helping Grandpa take the garbage out.

 Walking down to the boats to explore Penns Cave, Nov 8, 2013.

Entering the cave.  do-do-do-do! do-do-do-do!

The caves were beautiful. I could've stayed down there for hours.

 Pennsylvania Military Museum. Nov 8. They had cool cannons and tanks scattered around outside...

 And inside. Cannons from WW I, WW II, and Civil War eras.

 They had cool footage of the Navy guys doing their thing in the early 1900's.

 The stickers say, "Please don't touch torpedo". Elijah bonked his head on it. I think he broke the rules.

National Cemetery, Gettysburg, PA. Nov 10. It was sobering to see so many names on so many graves.

 On top of a lookout tower. Gettysburg, PA. It was freezing cold!

The Pennsylvania Monument. There are monuments for each state that had soldiers fighting in Gettysburg. This one is the biggest.

Nov 11. Intercourse, PA, "Amish country"

 We took a buggy ride on these bad boys.

 Beautiful countryside. There were farmers harvesting cornstalks using horses, it was hard to get pictures!

Our driver was none other than "Big Steve" from Amish Mafia. I've never seen the show, but he was pretty darn cool. He bought me chocolate chip cookies and offered to dress me as an Amish woman so I could be on the show. (He was filming the next day.) He said he'd never had to use his fists to protect anyone, but would if he had to, even for a "public woman" like me. He cracked jokes, was bad-A and all around cool and down to earth. A lot more liberal than I thought Amish were supposed to be (his arm is tight around me here). ha! :) A highlight of the trip, for sure.

I am so grateful my dad came to visit us! He originally came to help me with the kids because Alan was going to be gone. Alan didn't end up leaving, however, and had a work schedule with random days off so we could enjoy these awesome trips together. To building memories! :)