Monday, September 29, 2014

Healthy Living

I'd thought I'd write a short post about how effective essential oils have been for us recently.

We are not generally unhealthy, but the run-of-mill colds, allergies, and flu's will sometimes get us down, with the best of them. Unavoidable. Years ago, when Kenna was up-all-night (she was around 2 years old I think), I knew she had an ear infection, and I was just hoping to make it through the night with a liiiiittle bit of sleep. I remembered reading about the effectiveness of garlic in such situations, so I searched for the magazine in my livingroom stash of magazines, found it, and made a batch. She slept through the night. I posted about it here. 

I have used this tincture VERY effectively since then, and although not a "cure" in extreme cases, if you catch it in advance, you certainly will cure it and avoid the dr's and a prescription. I've used honey, cayenne pepper and garlic to swallow for sore, sore throats - red and swollen - but never turned into anything requiring medicine.

In fact, Brooks is 7.5 years old, and has never had a prescription in his life. I find this amazing, and contribute much of this to the "mixtures" of natural health things I've made him eat or apply when he's feeling bad. Kenna has had her share of ear infections, but most of them were prior to discovering some alternate ways to help her.

Grey has a weakness for the croupy cough - a normal cold for us seems to go straight to his chest. We've been here before - coughing so mightily and frequently, he can't sleep and neither can I, trying to help him. He's had bronchitis before and in August, we were rapidly heading down that path - it was happening again, just like it had in the past.

He had a fever since that Saturday night. I was managing it with Tylenol, but also trying to let the fever do it's job, so I wasn't over medicating...but it wasn't working really well. I was using some over the counter cough and cold meds fairly aggressively, especially at night to try and help the continual coughing. That wasn't working. It hit the point, in the middle of the sleepless Tuesday night, and I knew he would have to go to the doctor's in the morning. It was just too bad, and it was only getting worse. Somewhere in my no-sleep delirium, I remembered essential oils - friends of mine have been using them for a long time, and I wondered if they could help. First thing in the morning, before calling the Dr, I contacted a local person who I thought might have some oils I could try. She did. We drove over and got Thieves. (I already owned Young Living's Peppermint oil)

Thieves: It's a Young Living essential oil blend (therapeutic grade), and is 99% effective at killing all bacteria. I was warned that this is generally better at maintaining good health and prevention than it is at curing a full blown sickness, but it can improve health overall, and cure sickness also - and I had nothing to loose, except a Dr's appointment and a round of meds, so I thought we could try it just for 1 day and see how it worked.

RECIPE:
I mixed about 15 drops of Thieves into extra virgin olive oil. I applied this to the bottoms of his feet and massaged it in every hour-ish, and then put socks on. Every few hours, instead of Thieves I would do Peppermint oil, neat (undiluted) on the bottom of feet. I also mixed about 10 drops of Thieves into organic honey, along with a  few drops of lemon oil and peppermint oil, for taste (The lady who sold me her Thieves gave me a few drops of lemon, thankfully, as I didn't have that one). I had him eat the honey also every hour-ish, just about a teaspoon at a time.

He'd had a fever since Sat evening, and by Wednesday at noon, after about 4 hrs of oil treatments his fever broke, (and it never came back). By Wed afternoon his cough had so noticeably diminished it was shocking. That night, he slept through the night without a single coughing fit. I was AMAZED. Within 48 hours, he never coughed again, his cold AND cough completely gone. I couldn't believe how sick and miserable he has been - compared to how quickly he got over it! I have never seen anything like it.

A few weeks later my friends son got a really high fever (103) with no other symptoms for a day. I gave her my Thieves and Peppermint to try. It worked for him too! Fever gone in record time, and whatever he was getting didn't turn into anything - he was all better.

So I was pretty convinced:-) Haha!! Brian, who calls this witchcraft (in jest), also is kind of amazed at how Thieves and Peppermint have lessened his brutal head cold - it's not completely gone yet, but almost is, and all the symptoms are alleviated when he places a drop of undiluted Thieves under the tongue! He just finally "gave in" to the "hype" and tried it Friday for his cold, and today (Monday) he actually is keeping the bottles in his pocket so he can re-apply all day long, as he can feel it working.
Honey: with Thieves, peppermint and lemon. It doesn't taste terrible! In fact, it tastes WAY better than the honey, garlic and cayenne pepper I used to make the kids eat, so they are happy:-) And in the dropper bottle, Thieves in olive oil, to apply to children's feet.


Young Living Essential Oils are safe for babies, children...and everyone! (The application may be different based on age). Please don't ingest or apply another brand of oils, unless you have done THOROUGH research. Young Living oils are safe for consumption, and at this point, the only ones I trust. They are carefully distilled and not cut with any synthetic properties (an oil saying "pure" on the bottle does not mean it's the only thing in there).

If you have any questions about using these oils for your kids, or health, please feel free to ask! I do not know everything (or much!) outside of my personal experiences with this, however, I do have quite a few good sites, and resources at my disposal to help.

(Thieves is a Young Living proprietary blend of Clove flower bud oil, lemon peel oil, cinnamon bark oil, Eucalyptus radiata leaf oil and rosemary leaf oil)

Friday, September 19, 2014

A Tale of Two Cats

Our kitties! I guess I've never yet really told the story of the cats, so here goes! Huck Finn was found and captured in late June. He was probably around 6 weeks old (best vet guess), and was caught living in "the wild", also known as the industrial area where Brian's office is. One of his co-workers had a passion for these cats, and didn't want to see them all die, so she tried to catch them - but can't keep them due to the fact that she already has older cats that would not love their new friends. Brian surprised us all (yes, even me), by bringing Huck home with no warning. He texted me on his way home, and told me to come to the garage for a surprise:-) The videos of showing the kids their new pet is here.
Sawyer, he loves to catch flies in the window
When we left for Canada, another kitten was caught (supposedly a brother, though they are exact opposites in every way). Brian brought him home, and didn't tell us. When we got home, he was still pretty wild, and stayed hidden - for an entire day, we were home, and I had no idea he was even in the house.
Sawyer, loves to play
Brian called me from work "uh, just to let you know there is another cat in the house" WHAT?! He thought maybe the cat would come out while he was there with us, and surprise us, but the cat stayed away. There is a cat in here??! So the search began. We found the cat, who was lightning fast and terrified of us. We named him Tom Sawyer, as Huckleberry Finn's best friend. It took about a week to get him used to us. Since he was much older when we got him, he was much more wild than little Huck had been.
Huck loves to sleep, everywhere
Huck has soft, silky, long hair, and crazy long bushy tail. Sawyer is of a smaller build and has short smooth hair, that bristles if you rub it the wrong way.
Sawyer is a real climber!
I have never owned a cat before outside of a brief time when I was about 6...so...of course I don't remember anything about it. Since we got these cats unexpectedly, you could say that I am totally not an educated pet owner. I literally wandered the pet aisle looking at the things they sell, and wondering which ones I needed:-)

And this totally happened at the vets:

Vet Tech: Would you like us to test for feline HIV?
Me: Uh...oh, I...what?...iiiisssss that a thing? Do people do that?
Vet Tech: Well, usually we test for it when they are rescued from the streets
Me: Oh! Ok! Well, I guess we should then? Um, go ahead.
Vet Tech: It's ok, we just take a bit of blood, it only takes a minute

**I totally don't care about that, I do totally care that I am now suddenly aware that there is a thing called feline HIV. I have *never* heard of feline HIV in my life. How do they get that? Sharing dirty needles? My mind is blown.**

Thankfully, both cats are HIV-free. I don't even know what would happen if they weren't. So weird. I still need to google it and find out the details on this.
Sawyer has had a cold, and a runny eye. We have drops for that, but he's now wise to the deal, so it is extremely difficult to get them in his eye

Huck loves to sleep in or on laundry baskets, and loves to snuggle with the kids stufties

Super well loved!

The climber
It's amazing to see how much they've grown. When we got Huck he was only 1 lb, now he's over 5lbs! Huck is silent and stealthy. I've heard that apparently kittens learn to meow from their mothers, and since he wasn't with her long, maybe he never learned? He purrs but makes no other sounds.

Sawyer on the other hand, never stops "talking" - he is so vocal about everything, it's really funny. He has talking sounds, growling sounds, and everything in between.
Huckle-bug and Soya-bean. We love 'em! They are so entertaining!

The kids adore the cats, to the point of being a little crazy. Talk about doting "parents" - they worry about every little thing. Do they like their food? (yes). Maybe they need more toys (they don't). Maybe they want to go outside (no). If we leave the bathroom door open they will drown in the toilet (no they won't).
When we first got him - he was so little in late July!
It took Huck a little while to get used to Sawyer. He didn't seem to enjoy the company at first. For awhile - to get Sawyer used to us, we kept him trapped in our room, so we could easily go in and play with him. Well, after we started letting Sawyer have the run of the house - Huck seemed to want to reclaim his territory - our bed. Or maybe even reclaim his people - me.

Early one morning - probably around 6:30 - some kid came and opened my bedroom door. Huck ran in like a shot, jumped up on the bed - and PEED ON ME. Talk about bolting out of bed!

I googled a few solutions to the issue, and we seem to have that solved. Thankfully! They get along great now, and will be neutered in Nov when they are old enough.
Right before we left in July - Huck was still so little

Best 4.99 ever spent. The cats love to play with this "bouncy wire" on the wall.  They jump and flip all over the place
Cute little kitty!
One of the kids biggest complaints - getting woken up in the mornings by the kitties, wanting to play. They have their feet attacked relentlessly, until they get up:-)
We love to watch them chase other and wrestle. I am personally loving the low-level of obligation, responsibility wise. I don't have time to be walking a dog and stuff. The cats give us just the right amount of fun and affection, without being too needy!

Velociraptor - Video

Grey, at a friends birthday party in late August - he got a few little dinosaurs from the "crack the dino eggs" game (dinosaur themed party). His take included the ever-rare "whopter whap-toy"

Monday, September 15, 2014

Instagram Oct 2013

Just getting my instagram feed "recorded" more permanently. All captions are as originally captioned on IG
Beach day in October!

my love, of course is only CZ diamonds, but is simply stunning

Primo's pizza for May's 2nd birthday!!

Wow! its been awhile since we've seen this price!

"Darla" the ugliest shoes in the store...

Getting ready for the Zac Brown Band!

Why do opening acts always suck? Waiting (impatiently) for Zac Brown!!

Jump right in! #zbb

Kind of an odd ending, haha. A skeletal Zac Brown closes the show

My sleeping baby

Leftovers from Canadian Thanksgiving for lunch:-)

Beach!

King Triton

Racing:-)

Guess who's coming to soccer practice? First time in...years, I think

Ardyn, distracting everyone at soccer with her cuteness:-)

Co-op fun today...but man am I tired!

Christmas is coming! Let the preparations begin!

More crafting!

Picture day at soccer!

We found an old graveyard at soccer, graves dating in the 1700's! This one is a baby aged 5 days. It says "image is engraved in hearts of his parents and will never be obliterated"

Soccer team # 2 :-)

My Dad, and his namesake, Lleyton Gregory David

Pulling hair...on purpose:-)

So cute

Swimming in DC

Brotherly love

My boy

hanging out in the hotel

Good morning DC

Grey & Lauren, in DC


Jefferson Memorial

work, work, work! Getting this place rental ready is priority #1 now!

Mezzaluna ravioli, part of olive gardens deal, two meals for 12.99...highly recommended...along with the smoked mozz chicken I had last night:-)

I hear a voice calling me..."mom, this is a good spot, is it" no buddy, hiding in the fridge is really not the best spot, at all.