You can find me in my bomb shelter

You guys! I have been reading a lot about product toxicity, hormone disruptors and what not. It's enough to make me want to get a bubble for each of us. Except that I can't. Because that bubble might be made of materials that make us grow hair in places it's not supposed to be and release particles out into the air and live in our lungs FOREVER!!  But I digress...that is what you come here for, right? For the digressions. Can you imagine what it is really like to be inside of my mind. Oh the poor sweet Hubs, how does he live with me?
Any hoo. I have several site and blogs that I have stumbled upon and wanted to share them with you. And encourage you to consider your cleaning supplies and toiletry products. Of course I cannot afford to completely start over, but I have decided to replace each product as I run out. So, Wednesday I bought my first what I will call 'safe' product. Some eyeliner. And it is awesome! Stays on all day, doesn't itch. Great so far. And then today I was forced to make a second purchase...don't you hate it when you forget deoderant? Man, I do. A quick trip to Walgreens and I was fixed right up. And that is the great thing, I don't have to always go to crazy places to get good stuff. I can find a lot of good things here in little ole Oxford!

I spend a decent amount of time researching a product before I make a purchase. Here are the sites that have really helped me this week:
The Good Guide        and        Skin Deep
It is totally worth it to check these out. It takes some time, but it's not hard to decipher once you get the hang of it. Oh and I also stumbled upon this great blog: No More Dirty Looks which is quite informative and funny. Because yes you can get carried away, so a little humor helps a lot.

Just something to think about it. With a little research and planning this CAN be done! And it can be accessible and affordable. That is what I hope you will take away from this. You don't have to be all or nothing. You can make little changes, as you go - which is much more effective for a lifestyle shift. Let me know what you think! Or if you have any suggestions for product or site favorites.

Lovin' a long weekend!

And looking forward to a four day work week. It's so nice to be able to skip over Monday and go straight to Tuesday. Our weekend was VERY full. We made it to the in-laws family reunion, after what we thought was the shorter route turned out to be the longer route. Oops. Thanks to my favorite sis-in-law all three of us made it there happy and in one piece. Never hurts to bring some live backseat entertainment for a restless baby.
A baby who decided that she is no longer going to be a baby. This weekend was full of new things! H refuses to let me feed her with a spoon anymore, she can do it all by herself - thank you very much. But she does let me help her so she ends up eating at least 75% of whatever is in the bowl of choice. You can just imagine where the rest of it goes.  She has learned lots of new words and phrases including: Hi, hello Lola, and Hi baby! SO precious. And after over a month of cruising H decided that she no longer needed help getting around. Look mom no hands!!



And one sad 'last' to the weekend. It was the last time that the pool was open until next summer. We have absolutely LOVED going to the pool! By the end of the summer we had a little fish in the water. She went from clinging on for dear life to voluntarily putting her face in the water and jumping off the steps. H also did some swimming, and we are hoping to brush up on those skills at some point over the winter at the indoor pool. Just so she doesn't forget what she has learned from summer. Sadly, like so many things I am not sure we have any pictures of our pool adventures and all those cute swimsuits!
Hope everyone had a great weekend and said good bye to summer and good riddance to all that heat!

Belated Birthday Recap

Well since it has been two weeks since the big celebration I better fill you guys in on all of the happenings before I totally forget them! Thanks to my brilliant sister-in-law for capturing the days events. We had both the camera and the Handycam out for packing, but they somehow never made it into the bag. It's a good thing we know people who like to take pictures, the only evidence of my pregnancy are on the iPhone. Well that and the stretch marks. I digress...
The party was wonderful! It was so sweet to have so many family, from both sides, around to celebrate. And the baby girl was in rare form. She had a big time and showed out for everyone! I think she had a little help in her performance from her first taste of sugar. She was not too sure about her birthday cupcake at first, but after accidentally tasting the icing she was hooked. I had to take it away, I just didn't think she needed the whole large cupcake with that insane amount of icing all at once.

 Baby H loved unwrapping her presents and playing with them. Funnily enough she actually did love the presents more than the paper - quite the change from Christmas!

And most of you may remember this particular toy - I think you are all old enough, maybe. My sweet cousin and her husband found this old school telephone! I remember playing with the very same one when I was little. Of course Baby H has only ever seen an iPhone, so she wondered why this one didn't light up. But she LOVES the wiggly eyes and the dinging.

By the way this first birthday brought all kinds of noises to our house!! Prior to this we only had one or two rattles, not that it kept her from making her own noise. I think out of all the toys she received, only three or four DID NOT MAKE NOISE! So thank you all for that, and my pharmacist thanks you as well... every time he fills my Valium order.