Alex, Spring Cleaning and A Bit of Organising

Thank you everyone for your lovely comments last post :-D Alex had his scan and unfortunately it turns out he does in fact have ureta reflux. There are little kinks in the ureta tubes to the kidneys which makes the wee flow the wrong way, which is why he had the urinary infection. He will need to be on a low dose of antibiotics for 2 years :-( Of course it could be alot worse, but this result is still extremely upsetting for me as I had wished the Dr would say "Your boy is perfectly healthy and will never need another test or drug again"...

Anyway, spending more time in the childrens ward (this time just a few hours) once again put things into perspective for Shane and I as we watched a beautiful tiny girl with muscular dystrophy play with the toys in the waiting room. Many, many babies have terrible conditions much worse than what Alex has and I am thankful that his condition isn't worse. He wont need surgery which is a HUGE relief. The antibiotics will keep his urine sterile and in 2 years the tubes will have straightened themselves out. At least he likes his medicine- it is banana flavoured :-) I am taking pro-biotics so he gets some in the breast milk, and hopefully that will be enough to prevent him getting thrush from taking antibiotics long term. I am also going to see a naturapath to find out if there's anything else I can do (the Dr's answer was "No". (Followed by a Loud Silence).

Anyway- apart from all this we are going very well! Little darling sleeps for 3 hour periods now which is a huge relief! And the night feeds are very "Get the Job (quietly) Done and Back to Sleep". I am still having trouble sometimes with the breast feeding, and it usually happens in the middle of the night (I guess because I am tired and Alex is tired and the whole thing goes pear shaped) and the vasospasms are worse at night. So now I pump a couple of bottles and we give him those at night, usually one at 3am and Shane gives him one early morning so I can sleep for a longer stretch. I usually get 5 or 6 hours sleep a night now which is bliss! It's enough to feel almost normal again and sometimes I get a little half hr nap in the afternoon. Alex still sleeps alot during the day of course.

I have begun to think about Spring Cleaning, as it's that time of year and our place hasn't been properly cleaned since Alex was born. Some things need to be done for health reasons, poor Shane gets terrible hayfever and Alex sneezes alot too. I now feel like I am ready to tackle some short bursts of cleaning (I can get ALOT done in 20 minutes- I am like Speedy Gonzales :-D) while he sleeps. He is playing with (well, looking at-) his toys more now (he's 2 months old now) so I can get some things done while he's awake too. I have decided to write up a timetable for the next few weeks, with the cleaning projects that really need to done, like the dusting. I will write up on my whiteboard in the laundry what jobs need doing, and allocate 20 mins twice a week. I find it much easier if I allocate a certain job to a particular day, for e.g. Vaccuum floors on Monday, Grocery shopping on Tuesday, Spring Cleaning (only 20 mins) on Wednesday, Cooking on Thursday etc. I was reading a post on the topic of creating a cleaning schedule on the Creative Organizing blog, here is the link. I also do a load of washing or 2, everyday. I know that sounds excessive, but we really do have that much washing!! Especially as Alex brings up a lot of milk, we are constantly changing his clothes and bibs, and then there's the cloth nappies, which we mostly use as large bibs. He also has diarrhea alot from the antibiotics :-(. We go through alot of nappies a day, so we have to use disposables as well as cloth. I'm constantly surprised how much washing there is even when I try to always have a bib on him! Do you find you have ALOT of washing with your babies or is it just me??

A friend of mine asked recently if I have any new tips on organising. I realise I haven't really written anything useful on organising/tidying for a while- it's all been about Alex hasn't it :-D  Well I'm not sure about anything new on organising but I can sum up a couple of helpful tips I've been thinking about. Firstly, when de-cluttering an area like the kitchen bench, I go with the rule Like With Like, meaning keep like things together. This rule can be applied to both tidying up and organising. When tidying, I first run around grabbing all the clothes, off the floor, bed, furniture etc. I then sort out dirty clothes from the "can be worn again" clothes- I know this might sound a bit gross but I put the "can be worn again" back into the cupboard. Otherwise the house is cluttered by these items- I will wear things like jeans many, many times in an attempt to cut down on washing (mind you- I don't fit my jeans yet so it's mostly just pj's around the house ;-)) Obviously, dirty clothes go to the laundry basket.

Next I tackle paper, and sort into piles- rubbish, things to be read, bills, etc- usually bills go straight into my 3 tier paper organiser but lately the little buggars end up on the coffee table or kitchen bench etc. After clothing and paper has all been put away or dealt with, I will grab all the bathroom items, for eg. moisturiser, hair ties, lip blam etc that finds its way to the rest of the house. On I go in this way- just tackling one "type" of thing at a time. Have you tried this system when you tidy up? I find it helps me stay focused, as otherwise I may walk randomly around the place unsure of what I am picking up next.

"Like With Like"- I always use this rule with organising. Basically, keep like items together, and when relevant, keep them in some sort of container and label it. It can be that simple! For eg, if you want to tidy up the bathroom cupboard, sort everthing into piles- hair things, skin creams, first aid supplies, soaps, teeth cleaning items etc. Next source suitable containers, I recently got some small white plastic baskets at Woolworths, and they were only about $9 for 4! (Photos to come, another day- camera battery is flat :-)) I never spend alot on these sorts of containers. Remember to use plastic ones in the bathroom as cane or material will get mouldy. Next you can either label the containers once you've filled them with the individual piles "Hair Things" or you may not have to if it is obvious to you and your family what is in them. Aahh containers- I do feel better when things are snuggled neatly in them.

Speaking of snuggle- Bubba is waking so I better get going- please share with me if you are doing some organising lately, and if you use the "Like with Like" rule- and what containers are you using??

Xxo  Sarndra

Spring already??

Well I'm stil not organised enough to do any kind of serious blogging but I wanted to let you all know we are doing well :-) We are feeding on demand, and Alex demands feeding 2 hourly over the night, sometimes hourly and when we are lucky, every 3 hours :-) JUST when I think we are in a pattern, it changes- that's kids, right??
BUT look how cute he is! Could YOU say no?

You may remember I told you that Alex had an urinary tract infection at 10 days old. Well he has to have a follow-up scan on Monday, where they will put a dye through his urethra, then do an X-ray while he wee's, to check the wee flows the right way through the urethra and kidneys. Sounds terrible I know but I have been assured it's fine, and necessary of course. I'm sure nothing will be wrong with his tubes but in the slim chance there is a kink somewhere, it's best to fix it now than later on.
Also we go for his 2 month vaccinatins tomorrow (Sunday)- so it will be a very Sad couple of days :-( I am regretting making the vacc appointment the day before the scan, but I guess in a way it's best to get all the yucky stuff done and over with in 2 days rather than dragging it out over a couple of days.

Organising- what is it, again??? The house looks like a cyclone hit it, and that's on a good day! Haha! But I am getting time to wash Alex's clothes and nappies, doing the dishes when we run out of plates, and even get a shower every so often (although washing my hair has been out of the question this week!). We are doing well with the washing, in quite a little routine of putting a load on in the morning, bringing in the damp load off the line (it's been overcast a lot lately), putting the damp things in the dryer for the final drying, and folding the dry things. Alex brings up his milk a lot- so we have more than  the usual washing as whenever I am not organised to have a bib on him, his clothing gets vomit on it and he has to be changed again.

We are getting much better with being prepared- sometimes it feels like a military operation! Especially as it's been very very cold here (well, what we QLDer's call cold anyway- less than 20 C :-D) and our unit is cold- we don't have heating here. We have 2 electric heaters that would never heat the whole unit, so getting dry and warm after a bath or shower was a bit tricky. But I am doing better now, I have a bassinet on a stand with wheels that has made life alot easier. I take it into the bathroom, turn on the heater so the room is warm, get 2 clean towels warm in the dryer and roll them up so the warmth stays inside them while I shower Alex. When we come out I get him dry and warm quickly and wrap him up and put him in the bassinet while I get myself dry and warm. It's very bad if I get cold at this stage because of the nipple vasospasms I've been having (you can read about this horrible vasospasm through Lusi's blog- she has bravely suffered through it with 4 of her beautiful kiddies and hopefully not with your little no. 5 due now, Lusi!!!)

Alex is waking up- off I go, will try to write again soon!
Hope you are well!
Xoxx