Descaling our Tankless Water Heater

This blog post is completely for me, unless any of you have an interest in descaling tankless water heaters. We have been meaning to do this for a while, but were hesitant to call an expensive plumber since all of the Youtube tutorials rave about how easy it is to do yourself!

I am writing this post so I remember how to do this next year when it's time again.

This is the youtube video we used. He explains it so well:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4FaqGod3VU

Supplies:

4 Gallons Vinegar

5 Gallon Bucket

Submersible Pump 

2 Rubber Washer Hoses

Today I went for it, even though Alan and I are not at ALL "handymen". Alan was working from home, which turned out to be great, because even though I did all the research on how to do it, he seemed to know how to troubleshoot all the issues I encountered.

First make sure all water is shut off to the house, by turning all these red switches perpendicular. (They are on in this picture.) I didn't turn these off at first (I didn't hear it mentioned in the video :P), and got shot with cold water right in the stomach while trying to attach the washer hose to the cold water side. Alan mentioned it might be a good idea to turn the water off.

Turn off cold water coming into water heater, hot water going into house and gas. Leave electricity on.

Unscrew hose attachments and open up the valves directly underneath them. Let water from water heater run out. (Should not be very much. Unlike the first time I unscrewed them with the water still on...) Then take out pre filter and clean if dirty. (Our filter was stuck, I had to use a pair of scissors to grab it and get it out. Alan's idea.)

Pour vinegar into bucket and insert submersible pump. Attach rubber washer hose from pump to cold water side. Attach second hose to hot water side, and other side directly into vinegar. At first I couldn't get a seal, and vinegar was spraying across the garage from the cold water hose attachment. Of course I consulted Alan, and he added a second rubber sealer inside to fix it.) Do you see the pattern that Alan figured out all of the issues. Glad he worked from home today. :)

Turn on pump for 90 minutes, then close up everything in reverse (including washing the pre filter out again). And, done! Yay!

Did I mention 3 kids under 4 were all in the garage with me as I was trying to figure this out? I feel like I graduated to a real adult today :P

Gardening

This is the first year I've really been excited about our garden. Alan starts our garden every year, and every year I tell him I don't want one. (Because of the work involved!) This year though, the boys are really old enough to learn and understand the purpose of the garden, and (more importantly) to weed and water it. We make it an activity several times a week, sometimes during Olivia's nap time, and sometimes she crawls around and we have to stop her from picking the green tomatoes.

We have: (in bold are the plants producing the most)

1st Square Foot Garden

• 2 HUGE tomato plants 
• 5 Zucchini plants
• Green Ontions
• 2 small watermelon plants

2nd Square Foot Garden

• Red leaf lettuce
• Green lettuce
• Carrots
• Cucumbers (I think - they grew from the compost and we kept a few)

Containers

• Cilantro
• Strawberries

Other

• Corn
• 2 Peach Trees
• 1 Apple Tree
• 2 Blackberry bushes

The tomato plants are our stars right now. For the past week we have had 1 to 2 tomatoes getting ripe daily, and the boys are loving them:

The Zucchini plants are finally producing some good sized veggies for us! We have picked one big one so far, and cooked it for dinner.

The lettuce we planted later in the season, but it's coming along!

We've gotten around 15 strawberries, and our plants keep growing!

There's 1 to 2 corn on every stalk. I am not very good about knowing when to pick these. I've picked 3 and they have seemed just not quite ripe enough, so I'm letting these hang out longer. They are starting to blow around from the storms we've been having.

These 2 peach trees are pretty new and came with peaches on them. One tree is growing nicely, the other seems to be dying :(

We have been having fun with our gardening hobby. It gives me something to work on while the kiddos play outside. (They play really well when I am out there too, even if I am working on something else.)  Lately I have pruned the apple tree and the tomato plants, and trimmed the zucchini plants so they grow up instead of sideways (taking up less space!) We have had TONS of rain lately, helping out our garden a lot!

What a Difference a Year Makes (Olivia is 1!)

Our sweet, precious, wild Olivia Ruth turned 1 this month. We have been BUSY in the BEST way, and her first year is not as well documented as the boys' first year. Also her first year was so much less stressful for me as a second time parent of a good natured singleton, and so the anxiety that can inspire blog writing was not as much of a factor!

But there is SO much beauty in Olivia's life that needs to be remembered. She is the happiest baby I have ever known. She will smile at you just for looking at her, and if you play any little "peek a boo" or "hide and seek" game, it's over. She will laugh like you are the funniest, most entertaining person ever. She is very social, friendly and smiley. She has been very alert and perceptive from a young age, and she will pay close attention to anyone that is interacting with her. She absolutely LOVES to eat. She is still nursing 3-5 times a day, but I truly think she likes solid food better. She snatches it and shoves it in her tiny mouth with a "grunt."

Enjoying her birthday cupcake.

She is an awesome sleeper. She is sleeping through the night now (it's been off and on since 10 months.) But she has always fallen asleep fast, on her own in her own bassinet/pack and play/crib. So thankful for that! Sleep was the ONE thing I was hoping would be easy, since with the boys it was very stressful. She also sleeps in until around 9am (I didn't know babies did that??!), takes 1 or 2 naps, and is asleep for the night between 7-8:30, depending on nap time/wake time.

Olivia is a very outdoors-y girl and does not mind getting dirty AT ALL. It is common for her to be caked from hair to toe in mud and food when we get her to a bath tub. I'm pretty sure she doesn't realize she's a girl, but thinks she's a 3 year old boy like her brothers. She wants to do everything they do!

Notice the mud!!

 She started standing on her own just before her first birthday, and by her birthday could take about 8 steps in a row. She can turn mid way through and get back up again easily after she falls, but she still prefers crawling. She also walks with her hands straight above her head, like we are still holding on to them, it is adorable!

Photos from her 12 Day and 1 Year Photo Shoots. What a difference a year makes!!

She is "talking"up a storm now. She says a lot of "Da da, ga ga, ma ma," but it's really the vocal inflections and the non vocal communication make her seem so smart to me. She understands (and mostly follows) commands such as, "Stand up and walk to Daddy" and "Hand me that toy."

Adam and Matthew are very affectionate two towards Olivia. They call her "sweet girl,"beautiful, "princess" and tell her she's amazing when they see her walking. They kiss and hug her constantly. They can be slightly overbearing at times (2 almost 4 year olds vs one 1 year old..) It is hard/sad to discipline them for being "violently affectionate." For example, kissing her so roughly that she falls over. To them, they are just showing her love, but Olivia is still on the floor, crying. However, she is warming up to her brothers, and I often hear her laughing at their shenanigans and attention.

34 Weeks Pregnant

Instead of her thumb, she sucks on her ring & middle finger together. It is comforting to her when her teeth hurt, when she's sleepy and as she's falling asleep in her crib. I love when she lays her head down on my chest and sucks on those two fingers. Just melts my heart.

We just love our little Olivia Ruth. I tell Alan all the time I am SO glad we decided to have one more child. She is the perfect addition to our family, and we really feel like our family is complete now. And I enjoyed having the "singleton experience." We love you, Olivia. Happy Birthday!!

Simple things that made me happy today

Things that made me happy today:

1) Family yard work day. Love working with our hands together as a family. We trimmed the bushes,  added red mulch to the front flower beds, mowed the front yard, fertilized the new grass in front, built another square foot garden and planted carrots and two kinds of lettuce in it, added leaves to the big garden area to create a covered "walkway" between the 2 square foot gardens and the other plants and planted two blueberry shrubs. Felt great to be productive. When I am on a real computer I will post pics. I am so happy with our garden this year.
2) Strawberries, tomatoes and zucchini are growing in our garden. Yay!
3) All kids asleep by 6pm. (Apparently yard work wears them out.)
4) Alan had LAN game night with some of his guy friends, so I had alll evening to myself. I watched Avatar while I did laundry and sorted the lost socks that have been accumulating. (Yeah, sad, but I was just excited to have time to myself to do something without talking to anyone ;p) I also finished up my Pilates X workout from this morning, showered, and did other cleaning. Ahhh, quiet time. It has been desperately missing from my life since the boys have mostly stopped taking naps!

Good day :)

Quotes

Conversation between me and Alan I want to keep :)

Alan:      We’re coming up on the 7^th anniversary of eating at IHop in the middle of the night.

Me:        Oh yeah, after the Spring Dance. 

              I was so in love.

Alan:      And your love for me has only grown.

Krystal:  It has only grown. Some parts of it. Some parts are Dead.

Alan:      I like to keep mine pruned.

The fam minus Olivia at a recent costume party.

Bedtime laughs

Sometimes my Mom abilities need some fine tuning!

Tonight at bedtime I was trying to sing the boys a song.

Me: "Row, row, row your butt........ Wait...."

Adam: "You said butt! Row, row, your butt! Hahahaha."
Matthew: "Row, row, your butt!" "Hahahahaha""
(Repeat x35)

Me: "No, no, let's sing it right!"

"Ok!"

Adam: "Row, row, row your BOAT, gently down the Butt!"

I give up :P

Reflections

So last night, Alan and I did our whole bedtime routine with the boys, and I put Olivia to sleep. We pretty much thought we were done, and that it was time for some couple time. Then....

Adam poked his head out of his bedroom door.
Alan: "You need to lay down, Adam"
Adam: " I need to talk to Mommy."
Me: "What is it Adam?"
Adam: "I still need to love you."

(This is what he says when he wants to hug me/ cuddle with me.)

I gave him a nice long hug, and turned to get up...
Adam: "I still need to love you. Okay, Mommy?" (Arms out.)

(That is really hard to resist.)

Me: "Okay"

I gave him another hug, then started to leave. 

Matthew: "Mommy! I still need to love you."
Me: "Okay."
I gave him a cuddle, then started to get up.
Matthew: "No! I still need to love you."


I went ahead and laid down next to him, and held him. Adam moved his pillow closer and scooted closer to us, so I reached one hand out so I could hold his hand. At first I thought, "I need to get out of here, I have things to do!" Then I thought, "Why am I in such a hurry to leave? What else do I really need to do?" I decided to just relax and enjoy these cuddles. Nothing seems to make my two 3 year olds happier than when their Mommy loves on them. So I just enjoyed the perfect moment. 

Until...

Alan poked his head into the room.

Alan: "Krystal! Krystal! I need my apples!"

(Yes, I slice his apples for him. But he does do his own laundry, so that's a bonus right? ;)

Me: "I'm busy, Alan'."

(A few minutes later..)

Alan: "Krystal! I need my apples!)

(This actually happened a few times. But the kiddos really didn't want me to get up. Eventually Matthew fell asleep. )

Me: "Okay, okay!"

(I told Adam that Daddy was hungry so Mommy had to make him a snack...)

Then, before I could cut the apples, Olivia started crying..

So I picked her up, and immediately she calmed down and smiled at me. I nursed her back to sleep while rocking her. It was the sweetest moment. <3 p="">
Then, I got Alan's apples, and brought them to our room.

Alan: "Finally!"

(You kind of have to know Alan's sense of humor. He was half joking. But he really does like his sliced apples and his wife, free of kids, in the evenings :P) 

But seriously... we wives and mothers can't win!! No wonder we feel guilty that we aren't doing enough, there are so many things pulling at us. In addition to the 3 kids and the husband, there was also a dirty kitchen and laundry. (But I can ignore the latter two when needed.)

My other thought is, I can't believe that these three kids (And my husband too, but in a slightly different way!) rely on me so much, and love me so much. I mean, NOTHING makes my kids happier than a hug from Mommy. I sometimes wonder, "Do I deserve that kind of unconditional love?" (At this age at least, they are very forgiving.) It is truly a huge blessing and a huge responsibility to be that important to a tiny, developing, impressionable, fragile person. Sometimes it takes my breath away.

I pray for the patience and wisdom to do a good job.