About this time last year, I was basking in your newness and feeling quite proud of my little boy. According to the hospital’s standards, you were just three hours old. But I knew better.

Your father and I had known about you since the previous June, when Dadda got a message of sorts out in the field. A name. A specific name had come to him over the course of the day. “Ethan.” At first, he was confused. We didn’t really know any Ethans in our life. Why should this name come to his consciousness?

When he told me about the name, I wondered if our attempts at creating a sibling for Elly had been successful. A few days later, I nearly threw up at the smell of breakfast cooking and decided to take a pregnancy test. We were very successful indeed!

Ethan. So that’s what we were told to call you. I had always liked that name and your father agreed that it was a good name for a man. Having a name for you, given straight from God, right from the beginning; you were a living being for a full ten months before we ever laid eyes on you.

 

And having watched you grow for an entire year after your birth, I think you knew you were loved from the start. Oh Ethan, you were so wanted! A tiny blessing growing inside of me, pressing against my ribs and butterfly kicking my hips. To know without doubt that you were a tiny man, before any human invention might show it...your father and I felt as though we were a part of a tremendous plan. What does God have in store for you, Little Man? What does he have laid out for you, with a name that he himself decided for you? We can only wonder and pray.

I was just into the third trimester of my pregnancy with you when a woman prayed over you. She sort of gasped and asked if we knew what we were having. We laughed and said, “A baby!” She laughed as well, but pressed us. We said we knew you were a little boy and she said, “Yes, I was just told that in my prayer.” It made us smile.

When you finally arrived in the world, a full 5 days “late,” you were greeted with smiles and tears and warm embraces. Several hours later, you got to meet your grandparents and your big sister.

Elly had never been a sister before you came! She was just a little girl, eagerly awaiting the baby inside Momma’s tummy. She used to put her hand on you through my belly and listen for you with her head pressed up against me. She’d pull up her shirt and ask to touch tummies. Then we’d both giggle as we made an Ethan sandwich.

When we took you home a day later, we eagerly built a routine of nursing, sleeping and holding. Elly was a bit thrown off the first week, but when she learned she could HELP, then she thought you were the greatest thing in the world.

After a few months, you began to interact with us. A smile at 5 weeks! A coo at 6. Once you learned smiles, you never looked back. What a happy Little Man you turned out to be!

And now you are 1 year old. You are walking, talking and destructing wherever you go! We were told that you would be a great leader one day; that people will follow you not because you forced them to, but because they want to. They will respect you greatly, but feel free to call you by your first name, Ethan.

Your father pontificated the other day as to how fitting your first word actually is. Elly’s first word was Dadda, followed by Momma. You however, chose to say, “Hi!”

“Hi,” to Daddy.

“Hi,” to Grandma Julie.

“Hi,” to the egg customer at the door.

“Hi,” to the checkout lady.

“Hi,” to the nearby shopper.

“Hi!” to any folks around you.

And what better way to draw the world in than to first invite them in? You have such a large spirit, Little Man. I feel so blessed to be the one to know you from the very very beginning.

Now, on your birthday, I say to you: Ethan, GO GET ’UM!

Love,

Momma

Above: eating batter. Below: Dinosaur at Christmas time.

Waving “Hi,” from the bathtub.

Above: Squeezing play food. Below: Squeezing two-week-old chicks.

A rare moment caught on camera: the Little Man fast asleep.

We ventured outside for the first successful time this year. Ethan got to use Elly’s 12 month snow suit and Elly got to use Ethan’s 24 month snow suit! So, everyone was happy.

Notice the amazing “beaver paddles” he’s grown! We LOVE his little bucky teeth.

One big happy family! (Right, Elly?)

The practicality of homemade household cleaners on any farm makes perfect sense. As an aspiring homesteader, I have to get decisive about what we buy and what we make. For a while now, I have been purchasing 7th Generation dish detergent and dish soap for its nontoxic qualities and environmentally friendly ingredients.

But it comes at a higher cost than the sulfate laden store brand. (Initially, of course. We all know that the cost is paid long-term for putting those chemicals all over our eating utensils).

And this week, we ran out of dishwasher soap. Not a good week for the Sell household to run out of anything. We are between end of the month bills and investing a lot of up-front purchases for the farm this year; in other words, broke!

So I'm thinking to myself as the dishes began to pile up ... there must be a way to make this stuff at home. Homesteaders of the past had founts of knowledge passed on to them by mothers and grandmothers, uncles and fathers. But in our generation, our predecessors (God bless them) had been taught that buying things was much better and easier than making anything in home. So this fount of generational wisdom is now merely a trickle.

This is why having internet at my fingertips helps me on a daily basis. The collective knowledge has pooled online and I only have to do a quick search to see if what I want to do is possible.

Homemade dishwasher detergent is possible!

All it takes is two very key ingredients that we happened to have on hand: Washing soda and Borax.

These boxes were found in our local grocery store. I have to imagine they are in yours as well, since our small town grocery is no Walmart Superstore.

It's a simple one:one ratio.

Dishwasher Detergent

1 cup Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax

Mix together 2 tablespoons per load. Close door and wait. Upon completion, inspect dishes and be in awe. You did it!

And we have enough for probably two weeks of dishwashing. (We do a load at least once a day).

But wait, there's more! A couple years ago, I got interested in making a lot of my own cleaners. I gleaned advice from a couple magazines and put together a PDF of homemade cleaners. To put into perspective, I haven't purchased cleaner (except the dish stuff) since I found these recipes. Everything in our house gets cleaned exceptionally well with these recipes! And adding the essential oils is ESSENTIAL! For one, it's fun to play with making your own scents, but it helps cover the strong vinegar smell that goes along with some of the cleaners.

My favorite essential oil to use? Grapefruit. Andy's? Lemongrass.

Click on the links below to open each page of my little booklet.

Recipe for homemade cleaner for wood and leather. 

Recipe for homemade cleaner for your bathtub and toilet.   

Homemade cleaners for all-purpose cleaner and windows. 

Homemade cleaner recipes for the oven and dishes. 

Recipe for homemade laundry detergent booster. 

Thanks for reading and I hope this really helps you in your home cleaning endeavors.

Oh, one more thing. Shortly after I began using the all-purpose spray, a 10-month-old Elly grabbed the bottle of cleaner that was sitting far too low on the table. Before Andy could react, she had turned it to her face and squeezed the trigger! She got a face full of cleaner, even in her opened eyes. She was surprised and a little annoyed to be so wet, but otherwise fine.

Can you imagine if that had been a bottle of Fantastic?! In her opened eyes? We would have rushed her to the ER. As it was, we learned a lesson about how far she can reach, and a blessing in the fact that we had just switched over from chemical cleaners.

Just a little food for thought.

Becky