Busy, busy, busy.

That's what I've been.

Super busy doing what seems like three million things.

I mean, here's my average day:

8:30-9:00AM: "Mommmmm. Mommy. Mommy. Mom. Mom it's morning. Time to get up. Mom I wanna go upstairs. Mom. Mooooooom!" I ask for five minutes of sleep. "Mommy I wanna go upstairs!" I ask him if he'd like to watch cartoons so I can get five more minutes of sleep. He agrees and I turn on Paw Patrol.

9:15AM: Noah reminds me that he REALLY wants to go upstairs now. I get up out of bed, change Gage's diaper, dress him in today's outfit, put on his teething necklace, and we all go upstairs.

9:20AM: We discuss 40 different options for breakfast. Despite the choices, Noah always chooses scrambled eggs with diced peppers and "jelly bread" (toast with jelly) or scrambled eggs with pineapple on the side and "jelly bread". 

9:30AM: After the ten minute debate I cook one of the two options above and start making coffee.

9:45AM: Serve breakfast. I eat while I nurse Gage and start getting Noah's school stuff ready, being periodically interrupted by your average three year old questions. Like, "Mommy do my boobies have milk too?" or "Can I feed Gage with my boobies now?" or "Can I eat with my nose?" Eventually I convince him to finish at least 3/4 of his breakfast before he runs off to brush his teeth.

10:00AM: It's time for school. Right now we're learning our letters and today is our last day of C week. School lasts about an hour, and consists of the letter of the week, theme words beginning with that letter, a poem and song and book about that letter, and learning about various things starting with that letter. For science this week we learned about cougars and crocodiles, for social studies we learned about castles, and for art we made a C-shaped caterpillar with glue and crayons and a marker.

11:30AM: We're usually done with school. I get Noah dressed and he has free time for about an hour while I start cleaning up from breakfast and straightening up the house.

12:30PM: Time to figure out something for lunch. Sandwich, soup, chicken nuggets, whatever. It's always different. He considers his choices for ten minutes as if it is the only meal he will ever eat again. When he ultimately decides what he wants to eat, we cook it and sit down to eat. You know, after changing the third diaper of the day and cleaning whatever spit up has accumulated because no one wants to eat with that.

1:30PM: Finish cleaning the house and set Gage down for tummy time and set Noah up with his coloring stuff or some trains or some other toy.

3:30PM: Done cleaning the house. My brother feeds the animals and Noah and I go out to check the chicken coop for eggs.

4:00PM: If the weather is nice, go for a walk and teach Noah about whatever he finds that he wants to know more about, usually with Gage in the ring sling and his baby (named New One Baby) wrapped on him in a scarf.

5:00PM: I have about an hour where all I have to do is a diaper change if necessary, nurse Gage, help Noah get a snack. I check Facebook, try to check my blog, my e-mail, see if there's anything new I can do with my own schooling.

6:00PM: We usually try to start dinner around now. By that I mean it's like a 30-60 minute discussion about what everyone wants, what we have, and what we feel like cooking. Dinner is usually done being made and consumed around 7:00.

7:15-7:30PM: Start laundry or diapers to be washed depending on the day.

8:00PM: Give Noah and Gage baths. Try not to think about how I haven't been able to take a shower in two days, due to uncooperative children, haha

8:45PM: Brush teeth and change into jammies. Settle down to watch some tv or a movie. Bedtime stories if he decides he wants one that night.

10:00PM Usually both kiddos are out by now. I clean up from after dinner and try to straighten up a bit. If I haven't squeezed it in during the day, this is when I shower, work out, do yoga, prepare school stuff, fold clothes stuff diapers, blog, play World of Warcraft, and just generally have "me" time.

So yeah. I just feel busy and overwhelmed on days that even more needs to be added.

Sorry for not keeping up on the blog! I think about it a lot, there's just a lot to be balanced out.

Will update soon!

How we beat the really awful cold going around

We're just getting over a pretty nasty cold, Noah and I. Lots of coughing, head and chest pain, shakiness, dizziness, sneezing and sniffles and nausea. I mean, I was so dizzy I couldn't stand up.

But we're both almost 100% better in less than 48 hours!

What we've been doing:

One tablespoon of apple cider vinegar a few times a day. 

It's awful tasting, but there are lots of ways to do it. 

• Dilute in 8oz water
• Dilute in 8oz fruit juice (I hear orange, cranberry, apple and grape are best)
• Make in a tea with some honey
• Do ACV "shots" followed by an 8oz glass of water
• Make a salad dressing
• Make a smoothie

It does help a lot. I didn't use any of these but rather, made a "super tea" which I'll put toward the end.

One tablespoon of organic coconut oil a few times a day.

Coconut oil is actually pretty plain. 

We just melted a spoonful in tea a couple times a day.

One tablespoon of cinnamon a few times a day.

Cinnamon has natural healing properties, and it even tastes great! We put ours in tea or for me, in coffee.

Vitamin C to bowel tolerance.

Self explanatory.

Daily dose of Echinacea.

Also great for immune support!

Lots of rest.

Not easy as a mom, but luckily my kids were up for lots of snuggling and movie time.

Cool mist humidifier with EO.

We ran our cool mist humidifier with eucalyptus essential oil to help us breathe better (10 drops) and chamomile essential oil to help us relax and promote restful sleep (15 drops).

Lots of fluids.

Especially if you have vomiting or diarrhea. Water, fruit juices watered down, electrolyte drinks (Wellness Mama has a great recipe for a homemade one!).

"Super tea" a few times a day.

Decaffeinated is best during a cold. 

I brewed a cup of black Lipton tea 3-4 times a day and added 1 tbsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp coconut oil and 1 tbsp ACV (apple cider vinegar) and 1 tsp of sugar. It covered the taste pretty well! I do think a fruity tea would mask the ACV better, though. Find what works for you!

All we have left are a couple sniffles and I have a bit of a cough left.

Other things you can add are bee propolis, elderberry syrup, and pure organic honey.

Remember - hot liquids stimulate the immune response, so lots of soup broth and decaffeinated teas will help!

I haven't forgotten about you guys! Life is busy with two kiddos, a lot busier than it was with just one.

And Bugman is going to be three in two days. Today, three years ago, was my due date with Noah. Today, three years ago, I was putting away the last of his clean clothes, readying my homebirth basket, and playing games on the Wii.

At 2am, tomorrow, the 26th, (three years ago) I was woken by contractions.

It's so bittersweet.

Anyway, both kids are getting big and growing too fast. Gage is three months old now.

We've moved to New York and I'm trying to get my doula business going again down here.

Amidst the move, the stress of starting my business again and of planning for Noah's party, and moving our entire life, I haven't had much time to blog. I'll post on the 27th or 28th about Noah's birthday, but for now, laundry is calling my name (and I have to stuff diapers).

I'll update y'all soon. :)

What are your New Year resolutions?

This year my resolutions are just what I've been working on all year, really.

Be more patient.

Be more kind.

Judge less.

Understand more.

Eat healthier.

Work out daily.

Do more yoga.

Spend more time outside.

Make more memories.

Drink more water.

No more soda!

(I'm struggling with that one)

I have a work out group that I made on Facebook, that mainly consists of 30 day challenges that change every month. If anyone is interested, click here to join. :)

I've actually made quite a bit of progress. It was unexpected to say the least! But hard work and perseverance go a long way.

I also found a healthier alternative to soda, which is basically just making your own flavored syrup (from berries and sugar, or some people like maple syrup on its own, or you can even buy your own all natural syrup) and adding it to seltzer water to taste. I suppose you could do the same with Mio or something similar, but all that fake sugar just isn't for us. It's horrible for you, and it makes me and my two year old sick.

Yuck.

So anyway, there's that. I also want to drink more water to be healthier.

I've cut out dyes as much as possible for my son, as well as high fructose corn syrup, but I've decided it's time to do the same for myself. The best way to get healthy is to start from the inside out!

I know this is a short post, but my resolutions are mainly to keep up what I'm already working on.

Happy (late) New Year!

:)

You Might be a Crunchy Mama if...

• You use cloth diapers
• You have a slight obsession with essential oils
• You know that raw garlic is a potent antibiotic
• You're totally cool with breastfeeding for longer than a year
• You're very proud of your 4 year old who is still rear facing
• You're all for home births
• You prefer midwives to OBs
• You make your own baby food
• (or practice Baby Led Weaning)
• Your baby wears an amber necklace for teething
• You wear an amber necklace/bracelet for various aches and pains
• Instead of tums you successfully use hazelwood necklaces for you &/or your baby
• You know what mama cloth is
• You call yourself a lactivist
• You're against RIC
  
• You know what unassisted childbirth is
• You encapsulated your placenta
• (or made a smoothie or just flat out ate it)
• You've watched The Business Of Being Born repeatedly
• You know who Ina May Gaskin is
• You love your doula
• You love everything organic
• You still buy wooden toys for your kiddos
• You have a nice stash of vitamins
• You love babywearing
• You made your own cloth baby wipes and wipe solution
• You know what Sophie the Giraffe is for
• You made or bought reusable nursing pads
• You put your essential oils in everything
• You know coconut oil is great for literally everything
• You have Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap in your bathroom right now
• You make your own toothpaste
• You regard artificial dyes as the plague
• You have your placenta in the freezer so you can plant it in the spring
• You grow your own veggies and fruits
• You homeschool
• You gave birth in your living room (on purpose)

My boss at CVS actually used to refer to me as his "hippy employee" because I told people about natural alternatives, and because I'm a birth doula, and because I frequently wore my son in a ring sling when I shopped there. Everyone I know sort of views me as the "hippy mom" but, I'm pretty okay with this.

And, a final note, this is not to bash anyone's parenting, and this is not intended to say that crunchy moms do ALL of this. It's a post made in fun and good humor. :)