My Phobia

So I'm going to preface this blog post again saying that I am a bit of an oddball...but here is my thing...I have become a germaphobe, and it has escalated since we have had kids. I wasn't much of one as a kid, in fact I used to run around all summer barefoot, and had black soles until school started up in the fall. I know I never liked using public restrooms as a kid, and would try to hold it all day at school. But, I never really worried that much about germs until I started doing animal rescue. I saw how easily the animals would catch things, even after being so careful. I spent a lot of time reading up on diseases and such, and proper disinfecting techniques. Then it got even more crazy when we had a baby, which also coincided with people using Purell and disinfecting wipes more. And then when I was pregnant with Rowan, the swine flu broke out, and now I am even more conscientious about germs. I'm not as bad as Monk, and you won't see me on that new show on A&E 'Obsessed', but I am enough of one that I drive my husband crazy!

Anyway, Rowan is now at the age that she is going to be crawling around, and putting more things in her mouth and I have this urge to get the carpet cleaner out now, but I am going to wait till after our party this weekend : ) Anyway, if it were up to me I would ask everyone at the door to please take their shoes off, but I find it a bit awkward to do so, but I do try to have people take them off when they go up to our second floor which is where the kids mostly hang out and play. I know I am a little weird about this, but I did a little google search on 'shoes and babies' and came across a blog 'Etiquette with Miss Janice' and she had a post titled: "How Dirty Are Your Shoes?"

She had a few interesting points:
There are several benefits to removing shoes at the front door:
~Children play on floors...think about all the dirt, pet excrement, insects, pesticides and others chemicals that are tracked in with shoes; it's disgusting!
~You will not have to clean your floors as often.
~Shoes can scratch wood floors.

The first point is my main concern now that Rowan will be crawling...anyway, she (the blogger) was interviewed on the subject by Good Morning America, and after reading that article and finding out that shoes do in fact carry all sorts of bacteria, it made be feel that maybe I'm not as much of an oddball after all ;)