Healthy Baby + Surprised Teachers

So yesterday I took my 8 month old to our 5th doctor's appointment where the doctor said, "he's perfectly healthy!"  Our sweet daycare teachers are a little baffled as to how he hasn't gotten sick when several rounds of HFM (hand foot mouth disease) and a tummy bug has gone thru his classroom of 5 kids all since August.

He cut 2 teeth in less than a week and has been a little fussier than normal with that and the teachers were almost positive that he had an ear infection.  Nope!

4 times they were fairly certain that he had HFM.  Nope!  (he has ezcema)

My pediatrician and a pediatrician friend of mine have both told me that they attribute a lot of this to our oily efforts to boost his immune system and stay ahead of anything coming our way.

Very proud to have a healthy baby, to have daycare teachers who are so cautious and protective of him and to have an arsenal of oils as my "go to."

Energy

So, I have a bit of an addiction to coffee.  When I was pregnant the first time I craved coffee ice cream (I went caffeine free for both pregnancies) and this last time I choked down decaf.  If I had an endless supply of cash I'd drink Starbucks daily but I don't so it's Folgers for me and Starbucks when I need/want a treat.

I'm a gold member at Starbucks and my kiddo doesn't know what the "golden arches" mean but she will point out the Starbucks logo and ask for banana or pumpkin bread.

Anyhow, after my caffeine-free breaks I thought I might be able to stay that way.  Yeah, that didn't happen.  I found that as a mom of 2, one cup of coffee just wasn't doing the trick...or two and three just upset my tummy.  I refuse to drink the monsters or redbull (they're neon colored...something is just wrong about that) and tea just makes me wish I was drinking coffee. 

I ended up buying 2 bottles of NingXia Red at a local YL meeting and thought I'd give it a try (I forced my husband in hopes it would help his cholesterol and BP).  I didn't notice anything shocking and didn't even really like the taste at first but it's not cheap so I was going to drink the whole thing.  After about a week we went on vacation so I didn't really notice a difference (and i didnt NEED anything, I was at the beach!) but I picked up this habit I was trying to get into when I returned.

I've been drinking it faithfully since, 1 shot each a.m. and have really decided I like the taste now.  I didn't think that it was making a noticeable difference because I felt great and was happy.  Well, we went out of town this weekend and it stayed in my fridge....BAM!!  After 2 days not only was I craving some NingXia Red I was dragging!!!  We got home Sunday night and I was tempted to drink some but didn't want to keep myself awake.  First thing Monday morning I had some and after 2 hours of grading papers I decided to clean out and re-organize the entire garage!  4 hours later instead of emptying and re-loading the dishes I decide to wash them all by hand...(what!?!)

And the best part was I had unending energy and was SO productive.  The bad part is I'm not sure I have enough left to last me until my next shipment arrives....ack!

Kidscents Round 1

So, I ordered Kidscents when they came back in stock in July.  My packaged arrived the beginning of August and no kidscents :(  backordered.  Randomly on Friday my kidscents showed up!  I was so excited to try them and so was my 3yr old who kept saying, "theyre MINE???  Just for ME!!"

We leave to go out of town and I pack my oils and the kidscents.  MY oil bag somehow never left my bathroom counter but thankfully the kidscents were in one of the kid suitcases.  So here we were, outdoors all weekend, staying in a hotel and no oils. 

M had been sick the latter part of the week so the first thing we did was rub tummygize on her tummy.  She was already feeling better when we applied it but she still asked for it.  no tummy issues all weekend :)

Then since I'd forgotten my purification, I rubbed the bite buster on M as a bug repellant.  Had no idea if it would work for that but I knew it had purification in it so it was better than nothing.  No bites all weekend!!  (don't tell M but I rubbed it on myself too after I heard family members complaining about the mosquito bites!)

M immediately developed a runny nose/cold as soon as we arrived at our destination.  We go there every year and the window unit is damp and always gives us sinus issues.  We applied snifflease to her nose and a little inside her nostrils and thankfully the runny nose stopped!  She was still a little stuffy all weekend but no longer grabbing for tissue.

All in all it was a GREAT first weekend with kidscents!  Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends, back to the grind in the morning and this mom is going to need a double shot of NingXia red, I'm beat!

Toddler tummy troubles-win!

So I wake up in the 4s this morning and my 3 year old had snuck in bed with me.  I'm normally a light sleeper but this is the first week of school and I'm worn out.  I realize that she is sans-sleep diaper (she's potty trained during the day but I haven't been brave enough to try nighttime) and I asked her where it was.

Well, she'd used the sleep diaper in a major way and brought me a new one in the middle of the night but decided to just crawl in bed.

I walk her back to her room, take her to the potty and discover that she's had an upset tummy.  This is the first time she's had the big D since she could walk and it's confusing to her.  She keeps saying, "my poop is weird and my tummy hurts."  She asked me for some oils (love that) and I grabbed my DiGize (for anything digestion-related) and rubbed it on her tummy.  She said she was hungry but I was fearful it was confusion about the tummy pain and I didn't want to give her anything.

As I walked back to my room I heard a noise and was devastated to discover that my alarm was already going off.  ugh.

I got ready and woke her up about an hour later.  Her tummy was still bothering her but she was acting fine, not warm, etc.  I put more DiGize on her tummy and she said it felt better.  Packed a bland "brat style" lunch for her and sent the bottle of oil in her backpack.

They called to tell me she'd had an accident (unlike her) and her bottom was red from it.  Said I didn't need to get her as she was feeling fine but wanted the protocol for her bottom.  I told her about the oil and asked her to get some diaper cream I'd made from baby brother's room.

Fast forward to the end of the day, I pick up the kids and she has had "regular poop" (her words) and feels great.  I checked her bottom when we got home and it wasn't pink at all.

Double-oils win!  (the diaper paste is 1 tbsp coconut oil and 4-5 drops lavender)

And the bonus is I got home and my kidscents oils arrived!  I'm super excited as these are already diluted by Young Living and I don't have to mix up my own little batches for the kids....stay tuned for a report on them!

Happy Labor Day weekend!

Baby teething gel win!!

So my 5 month old started "school" last week as I returned to the classroom.  When I pick him up after the first day I'm told that they struggled getting him to take the bottle.  We discussed how I feed him and we went on our way.

Day 2 I get a call around 11am that they haven't been able to get him to eat yet (his last bottle was at 6am).  As he weighs 17lbs, I'm not worried about him missing a meal but I want to make sure he is hydrated.  He went down for a nap and at 12:30 they tried again and he took about an ounce.  I offered to leave school to feed him but we both agreed that they have to figure this out because I can't always go over there.

By 1:30 I called and suggested they apply some of the teething gel I made for him whenever he's fighting a bottle and then feed him.

I pick him up at 4 and they almost hugged me as they said "THAT WORKED WONDERS!!!  WHAT IS IT?"

Score 1 for mom and Young Living!

Teething gel is just 1TBSP coconut oil and 4-5 drops of thieves.

He's still not up to 8oz bottles per sitting with them but gets at least half of that each time and is improving daily.

Wanna learn more about oils?

So I get a lot of inquiries on facebook/email about this crazy oily journey I'm on.  I decided to do an online video chat type of thing where I could talk about the most popular oils, how I use them, what others say about them, etc. 

If you promise only to laugh with me and not at me, I'll share it with you.  (excuse my messy house in the background).

Vlog on top 10 oils I love!

I'd love your feedback.  I know that when I talk about Panaway I said one ingredient was Walgreens instead of Wintergreen, hahaha.  oops. 

Get oily people...all the cool kids are :)

Holy Bug Bites!!!

So I had no plans to post anything about this topic.  However, my husband and I just returned from a trip to the Bahamas.  I had every intention of traveling with a whole supply of oils.  However, I had to get the kids oils ready and instructions written for the grandmas who are not oil familiar with which oils to use for what.  This meant I wrote a small book for them and after getting everything ready to go, I didn't go to bed until 1:30am and had to be up by 3:15am.

Needless to say, in my sleep-deprived state, I left with only the oils I had in my purse.

Fast forward to day 4 of our vacation and we had dinner at an outdoor pizzeria on the resort property.  I noticed the hostess stand had multiple bottles of Off on the counter.  (Some regular and some deed free).  Well I haven't used bug spray since we started on our oils so I didn't think anything of it.

About 20min into dinner I was slapped on the arm by someone who saw a mosquito on it.  She got it and I got up to get bug spray.  I opted for the "deet free" as I'm trying to be more natural.  I sprayed it from the knees down and on my arms.

The next morning I woke up with a vicious itching sensation EVERYWHERE!!!  My ankles were swollen from itching in my sleep and you can see some of the bites in this photo.

By the end of the afternoon I'd counted 52 bites from the knees down (we were in the pool/ocean most of the day so I had plenty of time to count).  Thankfully the saltwater helped a bit but at one point I just stuck my legs out in the sun (from the knee down) and actually hoped my legs would burn because I'd rather have pain from a sunburn than this itch!

All I had with me was Panaway and Lava derm sunburn spray.  I applied these and the lavaderm helped but I still itched.  My husband bought benadryl creme and it did nothing.  I walked around barefoot as much as possible because my flip flops made the bites itch.

Anyhow, I'm now on day 5 of bites and day 2 at home with purification and my bites are slowly going away but I can go without itching finally!!!!  Never again will I leave without purification.  It now has a permanent place in my purse!

Quick baby congestion testimony!

There are very few things you can/should use on a baby regardless of if we're talking oils, OTC or perscriptions.  Since I started my oily journey, my pediatrician and I talk alot more.  He supports my efforts to keep my family happy and healthy but wants to be very involved when it comes to oiling up my youngest.  He was very specific about where and what oils I could apply topically for the baby as anything you apply externally will be absorbed. 

My son sneezed a LOT in the hospital and all of the staff said it was normal.  Well, he basically never stopped.  My kiddo has allergies and I constantly use saline and the bulb syringe. 

My 3.5yr old started to show symptoms of a cold and I was so worried my 4 month old would get it.  I knew I couldn't treat him the same way I did his sister. 

When he started to show congestion I decided to diffuse RC.  I was especially worried since he hadn't started breathing out of his mouth yet.  I started the diffuser and closed the door, put him down about 30 minutes later and after he was in his crib for about 20 minutes I heard him in the monitor take a deep breath thru his nose.  He slept thru the night and woke up fine, didn't even have to do saline and bulb syringe the next morning.

RC is now my go-to for anything congestion with my kids!! 

Fighting the cold without medicine Testimony!

I've been using oils for a few months now and thankfully we haven't had any trips to the doctor other than "well checks" for my almost 5 month old.

We went out of town for a 4 day get away with family and the first morning we woke up (Monday) at home, my 3.5yr old had a nose like a faucet and was coughing/hoarse.  great.

The sick part of me was excited to have a good reason to try oils because as any mom knows, if you take your kid to the doctor with these symptoms on Day 1 with no fever they are just going to tell you it's a virus and send you home $30 poorer.

So, I put Young Living Thieves in the diffuser, rubbed Thieves neat (undiluted) on her spine and the bottom of her feet.  I added Peace & Calming to her big toes and got her settled on the sofa with a pillow, doll, blanket, Doc McStuffins and lots of tissues.  I didn't put anything on the baby but moved his exersaucer near the diffuser.

At lunch I put lavender on a q-tip and rubbed it along the inside of her nostrils like you do with a Zicam swab (she did NOT like this...she once got a peanut stuck in her nose and now hates anything in her nose)

Her nose stopped running in less than 30min and I knew she could smell again because she said the house smelled like Christmas!!  She felt so much better that afternoon that I was a little bummed I didn't get more "quiet time" haha.

I didn't do the lavender in the nose again but continued the rest for 3 days and alternated between Thieves, Purification and RC in the diffuser.  On Thursday evening my son was congested, ugh!  He hadn't started breathing out of his mouth yet so I feared that it was going to be a LONG night.  I moved my diffuser to the nursery and put RC in it.  I let it go in his room for about a half hour before putting him down.  After a half hour in his crib, I finally heard him take a deep breath!!  I couldn't believe it!

No one ended up sick!!  Yay oils!

At this same time my neighbor was complaining of a terrible cold.  I made her the Cold/Flu bomb recipe, the morphine bomb for headache and gave her Thieves tea.  I think she's now obsessed with the tea, haha!

Superwoman!

If you're my friend on facebook you've already heard this story, but it's a big enough deal for me to post it twice.  This is my testimony on how Stress Away helped me in a REALLY stressful situation.  I use this EO on myself when my baby is teething or when my daughter is being 3, haha.  I apologize in advance for the long post but I tell long stories as I really want you to "feel my pain."

Picture this.  You're a mom of a 3.5yr old, a 3 month old (who doesn't like their carseat) and a dog who suffers from seperation anxiety/throws tantrums (like ripping the curtains off the wall) when he's left alone.  You plan out the day:

1. get all 2 legged and 4 legged children changed, pottied/diapered, fed and have a toy for the car.
2. get diaper bag ready for 3 mo old and for newly potty trained/nervous in public restroom 3.5yr old
3. load the car with 3 tubs of clothes to take to consignment store
4. get coffee (should've been #1)
5. get items 1-4 done by 9am so you're not all in the car when it's hot outside.

I accomplish items 1-5 beautifully and we all are in the car.  I attempt to start the car and it won't start.  I hear a few clicks and I roll the windows down to hear again. "Oh no....no no no...come on...puhleeeeeeze"  Nope.  Lights don't even turn on.  Ok...plan.  Step 1...APPLY STRESS AWAY.  One drop on my wrists and rub together like perfume, rub the excess under/behind my ears.  Step 2...call husband.

I should mention that we have a 4 car garage.  I know...it's excessive but whenever I get pregnant my husband buys an old car.  I should also mention that I have an irrational fear of jumper cables as I was burned when trying to start a sea doo in high school.  Leak in fuel injection system+spark from battery when cables were attached=fire and me rushed to the ER with 1st, 2nd, 3rd degree burns on hands, face, neck.  (I didn't have eyebrows, lashes or nose hair for awhile)

Ok, so I call husband (who was 45 min away) and he explains where a spare battery is in the garage.  WHAT!?  I don't even know how to check the oil.  I follow instructions and manage to hook up the car battery to spare battery without freaking out....shaking, yes...but i did it.  Keep in mind it had just rained, it was comfortable temp in the garage and the windows were down so my kiddos were fine and asking me a gazillion questions.  

It didn't work.  It charged enough for the headlights to come on but thats it.

I turned on the battery operated fan attached to the 3mo old carseat as he was starting to remind me that he hates his carseat.

Husband suggests putting the Tahoe in neutral and pushing it into the driveway.  I'll give you a moment to stop laughing.  Husband offers to come home and I said, no...I'm going to figure this out.

Yeah, that didn't happen.  I called 2 neighbors to see if their husbands were home and one was on his way, SCORE!

In the meantime, I try again with the jumper cables and realize they can reach to husband's camaro parked next to me.  I try to start the car again...nope.  I ask husband, "isnt' the other car supposed to be on?"  he said it doesn't have to be.  Neighbor arrives and we take the kids out of the car and she takes them inside (his camaro has a different engine in it and its SOOO loud).   And he suggests turning the camaro on (like I said in the first place...duh).

It starts!!!!  Holy moly I AM AMAZING!!!!  I thank neighbor profusely, load everyone back up in the car and start the day.  Shockingly this whole process only took a little over a half hour and I was able to go about my day.

I kept giving my husband the opportunity to say what an amazing wife/mom I am as I think most women would say, "honey, you better come fix my car!"  I think I got a high-five later, haha.  It's ok, I constantly remind him that he married a superhero.

Stress Away is one of my favorites and to me it smells like vanilla.

If you're my friend on facebook you've already heard this story, but it's a big enough deal for me to post it twice.

Picture this.  You're a mom of a 3.5yr old, a 3 month old (who doesn't like their carseat) and a dog who suffers from seperation anxiety/throws tantrums (like ripping the curtains off the wall) when he's left alone.  You plan out the day:

1. get all 2 legged and 4 legged children changed, pottied/diapered, fed and have a toy for the car.
2. get diaper bag ready for 3 mo old and for newly

Post Partum/Mommy Pain Testimony

I think I'm like a lot of moms in that I tend to put myself last.  Not that I want it to be that way, but I think when you become a mom you experience guilt and worry like never before.  Like if I take time to go do something for myself I'm somehow a bad mom.

Well, this second testimony is out of order for me but I wanted to share it early!  I'll be honest, I didn't apply oils to myself very often in the beginning because 1) I never had time  2) I didn't want to waste the oils on myself  3) I was too busy with "life" to think about what I needed help with.

When my son was about 6 weeks old I developed this awful pain in my right shoulder.  I've never been someone who got "knots" anywhere and whenever I've gotten a massage it's been purely for relaxation and pampering, never for an ailment, etc.

Husband gave me a gift certificate for a spa 2 Christmases ago and I still hadn't used it.  This pain in my shoulder was hurting BAD...at dinner I just put my head down on the table one night in pain.  He started rubbing my shoulder and found a ton of knots!!!  I tried ice, heating pads, hot showers, tennis ball between me and the doorframe, husband working them out nightly but nothing seemed to be working.  I finally called the spa and said I need help.  They recommended a deep tissue massage focused on that area.  I'd never had one and heard that they hurt but at this point I was willing to try anything.

I figured the knots were coming from feeding my little one and always holding him more with my right arm + looking down, etc.

I went for my 90 minute deep tissue massage with 60 of those minutes dedicated to my shoulders and specifically my right one.  I was prepared for it to hurt and focused on it as "good pain."  The gal was pushing on my shoulder with her elbow and hands and stretching my arms all over.  She said I had way more knots than she expected but none of them were huge, just a ton.  I learned that you have to apply direct pressure rather than rub and the knot should release.

The massage ended and I felt good (any mom will tell you 90 min in a quiet dark room will make them feel good in itself!) but I wasn't in pain....when she elbowed my rear end a few times that hurt but nothing really hurt my shoulder as bad as the pain normally does.  I went home expecting this to be one of those "feel worse before it gets better" things.  The next day I was in pain EVERYWHERE but my shoulder felt the same and I kept thinking, "why doesn't it hurt worse?"  I felt like I had bone bruises on other parts of my back, my butt hurt and my legs were sore but my shoulders had no change.  I called the spa and they said to give it a few more days.  Nope.  Everything else got better and no change in the shoulder.  Called back and they said I must have a severe case and they recommended weekly deep tissue massagess....WEEKLY???  Seriously?  It took me over 2 years to use this gift certificate and you think my schedule has now opened up MORE since I had a second child?  Fat chance.

I'd had my oils for a several weeks at this point and never used them on myself really (other than diffusing).  I had a rollerball on my Panaway oil because I'd been using it on my husband's back and one night after a few tears he suggested he try it on me....duh!!  He rolled it on my shoulder before I went to bed and I smelled like toothpaste/mint gum.  I woke up the next morning and I was AMAZED!!!  I could move my neck and arm (both of which had been so bad I had limited range of motion) and it felt GREAT!!  I felt so stupid for not trying it earlier.  I was so productive that day that my shoulder was especially angry that night and Panaway again was my relief!!  There was no "maybe it was the oils" with this one!!!

Now, I should say that I still have these knots.  I haven't tried anything else on them or gotten another massage because I'm a mom and haven't dedicated the time....BUT...when the pain flares up I FINALLY have something that gives me relief.  And I smell great!

Baby Testimony w/oils Cradle Cap, Sleep and Teething

 
So the reason I found my blog again was because I wanted to document my journey to a healthier lifestyle and being a better parent.  Shockingly, in our previous house I had very few framed photos of anyone and until about a week ago I actually didn't own a single wedding photo from our wedding!!  (Side note: our daughter was 9 months old when we got married and it was in December so her first Christmas and life took priority.  Our photographers were amazing and we've already paid for a few photo books/prints we just have yet to pick out what we want!  Thankfully an online photo printing shop had a promo for some free prints so I took advantage and we now have 2 wedding photos framed, lol).   I've been trying to frame pictures of our kids, pets, family, us and am making progress with all of these goals...yay me!

N-E-way....the main reason I looked up oils was for my kiddos and brand new baby.  I ordered a "kit" and I felt like I just fell into the sucker sales pitch trap but it really was the best deal and I got all of the most frequently used oils by the "cool kids" plus a diffuser and samples (I didn't know what a diffuser was, lol).

I'd done more research about what oils to start with (**my sponsor sent me a reference guide for signing up and I now continue this practice so if you're considering oils, let me know!) both in our FB group and with my reference guide and I knew to start small.  I'd ordered a few oils on top of my kit to get the free oil promotion that month (and because I'm all about free stuff) and one was an oil that was recommended to help the cradle cap I mentioned in a previous post. (melrose)

With the first bath I added 1 drop of Melrose to my coconut oil and for the first time in his 4 weeks of age, after his bath there were no gross flaky things on his head!!!  My thought was... "maybe it was the oil, maybe I've used coconut enough times to get rid of it, maybe it was luck"  regardless of the reason, I didn't care because I had a baby with a normal looking scalp!

He was 4 weeks and would eat at 11p-3a-7a.  I only used the melrose or melealeuca on his head during shampoos and didn't apply anything else to him for a week because I was nervous.  I diffused Peace & Calming after a few days and was shocked as my kids took a nap AT THE SAME TIME and FOR MORE THAN 20 MIN I HAD ME TIME!!!!

The beginning of week 6 for my little one I put lavender on his big toes for the first time.  HE SLEPT THRU THE NIGHT...I woke up i a panic and immediately checked to see if he was breathing...yup, we're good and again thought "maybe it was the lavender, maybe it is a miracle, maybe he's the best baby ever, maybe it's a fluke"  and I don't care I'm doing again!  The only times he hasn't slept thru the night since were when we were transitioning him from cradle in our room to crib in his room and I was also transitioning him out of a swaddle blanket.  (remember, he's almost 5 months now).

Fast forward to week 9.  My good baby is suddenly a HANDFUL!  Whiny, needy, fussy, drooling so much that we are changing outfits several times a day and trying to eat his hand.  What the??  Yep, you guessed it...teething....at 9 WEEKS!  (Side note: my first didn't teeth until month 7 and only had 1 tooth at her first b-day so I was not expecting this at all).   It was around 7pm, hubby was somewhere (don't remember) and it was just me and the kids and the baby was FREAKING OUT.  My 3.5yr old was now crying because her ears hurt from the baby crying.  I had the baby tylenol in my had ready to give him some and something inside me stopped and said, "if you're going to give these oils a try, you have to give them a chance."  So I said...ok, I'll try this and I'll give it 5 min (lol) if he's still crying I'm going to meds.  I put lavender on his toes, mixed it with coconut and put it on his earlobes and then held the open bottle between us to smell as I rocked him and we both cried.   Within 1 minute he stopped crying all together and in less than 5 he was ASLEEP!!!!  I freaked out in both happy and paranoid ways and thought "maybe it was the lavender, maybe he finally tired himself out to fall asleep" either way I didn't care.

As his teething has progressed and he's getting close to actually cutting his first tooth (and I've done more research on oils) I've made my own teething cream and I use 1tbsp coconut oil for several (4-5) drops of thieves and put that directly on his gums with my finger or I put it on a cold wet washcloth for him to gnaw on.  I also will apply copaiba neat (straight) on his gums as an alternative.

I was lucky that my first didn't have teething issues but it's definitely different this time around and I'm not a fan of anything that has the risk to numb their throat/tongue or actually medicate/sedate them.  I'm so thankful that I found Young Living.

I should also mention that my skeptical husband, who refers to my oils as "voodoo oils" has said to me multiple times, "ok, I'm ready for you to put the voodoo oils on him"  haha!

These are the actual YL lavender fields, so pretty!