Well, it is 4:30pm and Tyler is still napping – it is going to be a long night. Anyway, when I recently had some time (when was that?), I decided to slowly get rid of all of my cleaners and make my own non-toxic ones. Partly because of the environment, partly because of my children and our health, and partly because I hope to save some money.

I bought all my ingredients and made a glass cleaner and soft scrubber. The soft scrubber is awesome and I can’t believe how far just a little bit goes. The glass cleaner is great; although paper towels aren’t the right tool for the job.

Here are some of the recipes I love. Oh, and suprisingly – all ingredients were found at Central Market. I couldn’t find anything at Whole Foods.

Disinfectant/Mold Eliminating Soft Scrubber

1/4 cup borax, enough vegetable-oil-based liquid soap to make a paste (I used Dr. Bronner’s scented with lavendar)

Place borax in a bowl and stir in liquid soap, stirring as you add, until you have a rich, creamy texture. Again, I doubled this recipe and have been surprised how far it goes. A litte more than two tablespoons cleaned my upstairs double sink! Stores great in a glass jar.

The Best Window Wash

1/4 tsp vegetable-oi-based soap, 3 tbsp vinegar, 2 cups water, spray bottle

Put all the ingredients in the spray bottle, shake it up a bit, and use as you would a commercial brand. (When you first shake up, it make look like the soap isn’t mixing in and look kind of wierd, but after a while it does all dissolve together)

Oh, and the glass cleaner doesn’t leave a “vinegary” smell either….. Geez – when will this child wake up? He went down at 1:45pm. Woke up at 3:30pm and nursed back to sleep. Back in the crib to see what happens at 3:50pm and he stayed there. We may have to hit the pool tonight to wear him out…..otherwise, it will be a late night and those drive Chris and I crazy.

I have to admit, when Mom first told me that she wanted us all to come to Burnet, TX and stay at a B&B – I wasn’t looking forward to it. I was thinking that Tyler would run around like a banshee trying to destroy everything and swim on their fish pond. Everything turned out way better than I expected. First of all, we had the whole place to ourselves as my Mom rented out all three rooms. That really helps with a toddler. Tyler didn’t spend all weekend trying to get in the fish pond and really seemed to enjoy the grounds. We actually spent most of Saturday on the porch with my parents and brother and his wife talking. It was really nice. I don’t think I have sat and relaxed that long since Tyler was born. The next day, we headed to Inks Lake State Park and relaxed our there for about an hour and a half. Tyler enjoyed walking in the lake with Daddy and seeing all the kayaks and boats on the water. It was really nice to get away from all the craziness at home for a little while.

35 Weeks and Counting
So I have one big task a day that I try to complete. That is my goal anyway. I feel like if we are going to make any progress on the things that need to get done, I need to move at that pace. I am trying not to get too crazy as I want to still spend time playing with my son and not dragging him all over town on errands. Luckily, the way our playgroups work, the mornings are usually all play oriented and the afternoons are for errands, about an hour of park play, dinner making and then hopefully Daddy will be home. Yes, the nesting instincts are consuming me these days.

I am also feeling more pregnany than ever and am looking forward to her getting here. I feel like I can’t breathe sometimes and it gets me all panicky. It is mostly at night where I seem to have problems and it really screws up my sleep. Ug! I just want to crawl out of my skin some days. I can’t wait to have my body back.

Thanks to All my Generous Friends and Neighbors
I had a neighbor come by and bring 3 HUGE bags of adorable girl clothes all the way through 18 months. Thanks to Mary (my neighbor), Susan (my awesome friend), and Amy (my dear cousin) Quinn is going to be very well dressed. We seriously have no need to buy any clothes for the first year and a half of her life! That is the biggest thing we were lacking and just like that – it has been taken care of. I was so happy because my neighbor, Mary, is expecting a boy 3 weeks after me and I was able to return the favor by sending her home with 3 huge bags of clothes for him. It is just nice how the mama community works and how we all support each other. So thank you, thank you, thank you – we really appreciate it!!

We got home from a fabulous weekend in Burnet, Tx. Chris and I were unloading so I let Tyler out in the backyard to play. I went out to check on him and found him playing in his pool sans water. He had these great looks on his face just wishing someone would turn on the garden hose for him.

Even today I found him sitting by the garden hose yanking it as hard as he could trying to pull it out to the yard so he could play. One day he will figure out how to pull it off the wall holder and turn the water on…it will be all over when that happens!!

Roughhousing
So Chris has this new game he started with Tyler. I told him it was the beginning of their roughhousing together. Basically Tyler sits on Chris’ stomach and bounces up and down. Chris says “uh, uh, uh” in response to Tyler’s bounces. Then after some bouncing, Tyler collapses on Chris’ chest and they snuggle for a few seconds. Then the play resumes. It is hilarious to watch and Tyler loves it!

Tyler’s Puppet
This is the cutest thing ever!!! Tyler will put on this frog puppet and then make little animal noises! I crack up when he does it everytime. Here are pictures of him with the puppet playing with his Daddy.

Tantrums
Ha – well cocky little ‘ole me was telling my friend Susan a few weeks ago how Tyler really didn’t throw tantrums. He did tend to get hyper and would scream or when playing with other kids may try to bite if frustrated and/or teething, but that was about it. Ha! The tantrums are here are they are doozies.

If I am holding him I better watch out because he will dig his fingers into me (gotta keep those nails trimmed), hit, and sometimes even try to bite me. If he is on his own, he will sit down and start crying. It is definitely something new to get used to. At this point, I am trying to learn why he is upset and go from there. I should have known we would get here eventually – everyone does.

Nighttime Yuck
We should be celebrating as the trip to the Guadalupe Mountains pretty much weaned Tyler off the bottle since we didn’t have one to give him there. The downside is the tool we used to mellow and relax him is gone and the other nighttime routine activities seem to be revving him up these days. When Chris tries to put him to sleep there is no longer a mellowing component and so the getting to bed is filled with lots of fussing. It really bothers me because I don’t think it is fair to try to take him from one state to another like that – no wonder he fights. Chris isn’t so sure. Of course, now that he knows “Mama”, I hear him calling for me and I can’t stand that. I don’t want him to have a negative association with going to bed becaused he is forced. I don’t know. I want to find some kind of mellowing substitute to the bottle and then see how it goes from there.

OK, quick post beause I am exhausted and need to nap while Tyler is napping. But it just occured to me that Quinn will be here if 5.5 weeks (if she is on-time and not early). There are so many things that I need to get done and I have no idea when I wil find time. Most of it isn’t for Quinn per se, but I know if these things don’t happen now – it could be a VERY long time if ever.

Right now we are having a hell of a time getting Tyler to bed before 9pm and Chris has been working crazy hours during the week and on the weekends. My energy is going to start to wane, so I am really starting to get concerned. At the very least the time to get some food made and in my freezer..

By the way, if anyone is reading this and wants to send something – I am stockpiling Luna bars and would appreciate any help. (Chocolate Peppermint Stick my fave). I remember how hungry I was with Tyler and with two around that leaves very little time to prepare food. I want to start cooking muffins, quick breads and power bars to freeze. I need things that pack a quick protein punch. Trail mix also a very good thing.

We may have to bite the bullet and replace our microwave (cost $400…ghack!). We have done just fine without it as I can boil water on the stove and warm food on the stove or in the oven, but again with a toddler and newborn – I may not have that kind of time.

Ug – with that I am going to take a nap and resume the freak out later this evening when I can write down everything in my head. I think I am going to need a DQ Blizzard this evening……

This afternoon I was going to take Tyler swimming, but since we were getting a late start, opted to just fill up our little pool here. Actually I just got the hose going and gave it to Tyler and then grabbed a few toys out of his sandbox and a measuring cup. Voila – good times in the water!! He had a blast and played in the water for 40 minutes or so.

It was nice and gave me a chance to call a friend who had a baby a few days ago and finish dinner. The cool thing about our backyard is that I can cook in the kitchen and totally watch him play in the backyard. Works out very well. Anyway, here are some pics of Tyler having fun in the water.