We are still alive!

Wow, I haven't posted since the beginning of December. I would like to say we have been super busy, and we definitely were for the end of last year.

Somehow it seems like we are always busy when we really don't do a whole lot. I feel like I am always trying to get into the groove of things, and should probably accept the fact that things are always changing and so our family dynamics are always going to be changing. Every time we get into a nice routine something always happens and changes things. Our latest changes, Desi is rolling both ways now, and is all over the place. I don't know if he is having a growth spurt or what but I feel like he is always nursing and sleeping.
Other things our family (or mostly just me) is up to:
-Making "green" home cleaners. I now use vinegar and baking soda for everything. I have one cleaner that is vinegar, baking soda, borax, and water, and another one that is vinegar with orange peels in it so that it smells yummy and fresh.
(insert picture of our cleaners in spray bottles with borax, baking soda from Costco, and vinegar in background)
-Using cloth diapers. I have several different brands that we are using and I love it- more about that in my posts on my Karimom blog. My next step with that is to start using cloth wipes too. I have a bunch that I have cut out already (and 4 more burp rags I have ready to cut up) I just need to hem or serge around the edges so they will be ready and make a solution for them and buy the ingredients for the solution.

(insert picture of cute diapers)
(insert picture of some of my cut out wipes and the blankets I need to cut up)
-Being inspired by pinterest and having intentions of making some freezer meals (cook and prep ingredients beforehand so we all have to do on busy or hectic nights is heat and eat) and using my crockpot more, and making freezer crockpot meals. I just bought some great stuff grocery shopping this week to start on this but I sadly missed a great day of Wednesday only produce deals because I was just too tired to make it to the store with the boys.
-Staying up way way too late on Steve's days off playing video games. We are currently playing Lord of the Rings: War in the North and it is really, really fun. If you like LOTR it is really cool because you get to see another side of the story and see what other things were happening in Middle Earth besides the goings-on of the Fellowship, and we run into various members and get to meet all of them during the game. We have been renting it for two weeks and will probably just need to buy this one when the price for it used drops a little.
-Donating breastmilk. (If you haven't noticed I may be becoming just a little bit hippie/earthy/weird or whatever you want to call it) Desi doesn't really take a bottle on the days he goes to daycare (Vovo's house) when I work, so we were getting a lot of extra milk in the freezer that I knew we weren't ever going to use up so I looked into donating to a milk bank. There aren't any around but I found a group on facebook for Nevada called Human Milk for Human Babies, and they have pages for every state. I met up with a lady that lives somewhere in Northern Nevada and have been donating milk to her for her adopted baby that can't have formula because it makes her sick. I have been trying to pump every morning and sometimes in the evening as well as my breaks at work on days Desi goes to his Vovo's house to get a little extra milk to help out this family. When she came by last to pick up milk she left us this cute little Lovey for Desi. It's a little crocheted bunny, and is so adorable!
(insert picture of bunny lovey from Kat)
-Working at Graples. I am currently just working one day a week. Like I mentioned before Desi still isn't taking a bottle, so I am bringing him to work with me. On days that we get inventory I still send him to Vovo's house because it is kind of hard to open up boxes and do a lot of bending and moving things when you have an almost 20 lb baby in a front carrier. I am very lucky to have bosses who will let me bring my baby with me to work. Sadly I only get to set up the store, and don't actually get to work right now on the days we are open. I wish I could work Thursdays still but I just can't go to work and leave Desi with someone when he won't really eat. It is so frustrating too because he will eat rice cereal for me, but not for other people. He is very much a mama's boy and if he can see me, he wants me to be the one holding him.
-Working on not holding Desi so much. I am very much a believer in attachment parenting so this one is difficult for me. I love holding Desi and playing with him, but I also have another child who needs some undivided attention, a husband who needs my attention for the 20 minutes a day we have to spend together on the days he works, as well as a house to run. So logistically speaking, I can't hold him all the time. I would also like to be able to make it through one shower without him crying and maybe even him being happy with whatever he is doing while I am in the shower. We are slowly getting better at this. He is normally pretty happy in the Bumbo while I am cooking especially if I give him some form of food or a spoon to chew on, and he will sometimes last about 30 minutes playing on the floor which I normally spend playing with Simon.

-Getting organized. I have been watching a lot of hoarders and sometimes it frightens me, and I get scared that will be us one day. Really our main problem is laundry, I can just never keep up with it. Well, laundry and that fact that we are a family of four living in a tiny two-bedroom place. I can't wait til we can get a house (hopefully at the end of this year) and actually have space for us and all of our belongings. I currently don't really enjoy having people over just because it is so cramped in our tiny place and this is really sad because I love entertaining and having friends over for dinner, and whatnot, but we just don't have the space for it right now and I feel it is kind of uncomfortable for other people when they do come over. I don't want my house to be uncomfortable, I want to be nice and relaxing and enjoyable for people and them to want to just hang out and linger. Another getting organized project I have been gradually working on is going through my magazines, cutting out recipes and putting them into my recipe binder, not just sticking them on the shelf, and cutting out pictures and ideas from magazines that I like and making a binder of ideas for different things. 5 pages from a magazine is alot better than having stacks and stacks of magazines hanging around.
(insert picture of recipe binder, pages from magazines, magazines)
-Dreaming for the future and vacations (we want to get a truck and travel trailer maybe in a year or so, I also want a really nice DSLR camera). We also have a National Parks pass for the next year that we intend on using lots and lots this year. Places we have gone this year- Death Valley. Places we want to go- National Parks in Hawaii, Yellowstone, Yosemite, Redwoods. We are going to wait until after Desi turns one and then hopefully go on another trip with no boys to somewhere out of the country!
-Paying off student loans.
-Saving for a house downpayment.
Well I feel like that is a pretty good look at what we have going on right now. I currently can't figure out how to get my pictures off of my memory card and on to the computer. Normally the prompt comes up automatically when I put the card but it isn't doing it and I can't figure out how to do it without the automatic prompt. So hopefully I can figure that out soon and put up the pictures I want with this post. So check back again for the pictures that you already know the descriptions for!