Green All Purpose Cleaner

From the frist day Pax began crawling, I began thinking about the harsh cleaners I was using on the floors, particularly the kitchen floor. I read the ingredients and began researching their potential harm on children. I opted for a homemade green cleaner with natural ingredients. I found the recipe on Oprah's website. I have been successfully using this cleaner for several months now and wanted to share with anyone who is interested in making their homemade cleaner. In addition to it being a safer choice for my crawling baby, it is better for the environment, it is less inexpensive than purchasing the leading brand cleaner and it works great. Enjoy!

Green All Purpose Cleaner
-2 cups water
-1/2 cup distilled white vinegar
-1 teaspoon pure castile soap
-3/4 cup hydrogen peroxide
-20 drops tea tree oil
-20 drops lavender oil

Just mix and pour into a spray bottle. I use on almost all surfaces (except wood).
You can also substitute lemongrass oil for lavender oil for kitchen use.

I hope you someone finds this as useful as we do!

Paxton's First Boat Ride

Pax experienced his first boat ride on Suba's new boat. Jess and I had a little trouble putting on his life jacket and his face got a little smooshed.

The sun was in his eyes so Jess gave him her sunglasses to wear. He actually kept them on for a good ten minutes.

and then he had enough and fell asleep.

Our Baby Turns ONE!

I can't believe our baby is ONE! Over the weekend we invited our friends and family to a local park and celebrated with food, good company, presents and yummy cake our friend Jacquelyn made. We even had a surprise guest from the baby Chick-Fil-A cow. Our niece Rylie danced with him/her? the entire time. I made Pax his own healthy cake which was bread with applesauce on top. He was a trooper and ate some of it, but then I caved in and gave his a little taste of the real stuff. I know the ingredients were the real thing since my friend made it. Everyone was so generous and helpful with cleanup.

Tuesday was Paxton's actual birthday and I was kind of emotional. Sanjay and I reminisced about the details of our pregnancy and the 22 hours of labor. I remember how supportive Sanjay was during labor and how I felt the first time I laid eyes on Pax. I have never experienced anything like it in my 29 years of life. It was by far the most incredible feeling I have ever felt in my entire life. So short, yet so powerful.

Sanjay and I took Pax on a picnic on the beach (the same beach we had our wedding pictures taken). We also got ice cream and let Pax have a little taste. It was a beautiful day, much like September 1, 2008, just a little cooler.

Will post pictures soon!

Owen and a Birthday Cake

Here is a picture of our friends baby Owen! Doesn't he look like he could be my baby? Below is a sneek peek of Paxton's birthday cakes (minature version) that our wonderful friend Jacquelyn is baking for us. She is so wonderful and so talented! By the way, Owen is Jacquelyn's baby. Awwww, now you can see how these pictures relate.

Jacob Leaves For College

My step brother, Jacob is off to college at BW. It was emotional/hectic day for Linda and my dad. Jacob is loving his college experience thus far and I'm so excited to see what the future hold for him!

Great Wolf Lodge

Our family vacation this year was spent at Great Wolf Lodge indoor waterpark with Kelly, Eric, Rylie, Mom and Suba. Pax loves the water and even went down a little waterslide. Out two year old neice, Rylie was fearless of the waterslides as well and went down some pretty big ones. Sanjay and I and Kelly and Eric rode double down the waterslides and they were awesome. Really, they were very fast and soooo fun! We spent one night there and one night at Put-n-Bay.

Facts on Pax & Silly Parenting in the First Year

1. He only sucks his right thumb and only when he is soothing himself to sleep.

2. He loves to play his toy piano and it is so cute how he looks to you (and squeaks) for praise as he's playing a song.

3. He kisses everything from his stuffed animals, to himself in the mirror, to our tiled floor. He has even attempted to kiss random strangers in the grocery store. (YUCK).

4. He loves, loves, loves to read books; especially the ones where he can lift flaps or feel textures.
5. I think his favorite color is green because he has been saying the word green frequently and always dives for the green letter bath toys. He has just recently been able to identify colors. He know green, yellow and blue. He can't articulate the words, but when asked to find the color_____, he does.

5. He loves all kinds of foods and we have yet to find one he doesn't like. Thank God he has his daddy's taste buds.

6. He loves the water and was nicknamed "Splasher" in his swimming class.

7. We have yet to cut his toenails.

8. He loves our cat Colby

9. If you ask him what Michael Jackson says he answers "Hee-Hee" in a high pitched voice.

10. He laughs at everything; sneezing, coughing, running water, car horn, dogs bark, but his favorite thing to do is chase mommy and daddy around the house.

11. He does not have stranger anxiety and will go to just about anyone.

12. Pax can understand and responds to commands such as "go find your ball" "give your doggie a kiss" and "play mommy a song on the piano".

13. He is on the verge of walking. He can push himself into the standing position for a couple seconds and then falls forward on his hands.

14. His crib is where he feels the most safe and all of his "first's" happened there. He first rolled over in his crib, he first sat up in his crib, and he first stood up in his crib. Now he holds on to the railing and walks circles in his crib. It's pretty funny to watch on the monitor.

15. Pax loves to sleep on his stomach and scoots all the way to the top of his crib so his head is in the corner. Sanjay and I used to worry he would sufficate in the bumper and gently bring him back into the center of his crib. Two seconds later, he would check on him on the monitor and he was back in the corner.

16. After eating, we wipe his mouth with a paper towel or washcloth and Pax loves to such the water out of it. (weird I know).

17. Pax loves to brush his teeth.

Now for some humility.

Top 9 Silly Things we Did as Parents in the First Year:

1. Snuck into Paxton's room in the middle of the night to check on him and got a whiff of, you know what, so woke him up to change his diaper. He thought it was play time and stayed awake for an hour. We never did that again.

2. After seeing Pax suck his thumb on the monitor, we feared he was blocking air to his nose so we would tip toe in his room and remove his thumb from his mouth. We did this a million times (how dumb).

3. We rolled him around the house in the stroller when we was only weeks old, WITHOUT the carrier car seat.

4. Nicole telling Sanjay "I can't wait until he crawls"

5. Having our baby sleep in the pack n play in a hotel bathroom while on vacation and walking out of our room, into the lobby, in the middle of the night, just to use the lobby bathroom so we didn't wake up Pax. ( I can't believe I am sharing this with the world).

6. Sterilizing every single toy that fell on the ground for the first six months of his life.

7. Having the fan run and the heater run for several months in his room because Sanjay read air circulation can reduce the risk of SIDS up to 70%. (who needs a fan in the winter and a heater in the summer?)

8. The first night we brought Pax home Sanjay says "Do you think we got a colicky baby?". I laugh at this because Pax barely ever cries or fusses.

9. We actually brought the bottle drying rack on vacation with us. (Seriously, was that necessary?)

10. Anybody have any other stories that you can think of? I know we are forgetting so many.