Baby food pouch tops

Are you like me and have looked at these bright colorful baby food pouch tops and said that there has got to be a better end to their life than being recycled? 

Here is a quick and easy toy that can be modified as your little one grows. 

Collect as many tops as you want and find a container with a top that can be easily removed and that you can cut a hole in without too much trouble. And then let your little one have at it. 

AB was a bit too young for this a month or so ago but at 13 months is loving it! Later on we will modify and sort by color into various containers but for now are developing fine motor skills by manipulating the tops to fit in the container. 

Be advised these tops are small and can fit in your little one's mouth so until they know not to put them in their mouth it is best to use this toy with supervision. 

A new take on an old tradition

With Halloween officially behind us, the holiday season has officially begun (whether you like it or not it's true). But before I tell you about a new take on an old-ish tradition of ours, here is a sneaky peak of our treasure troll family costumes. We were inspired by our daughters hair that has a mind of its own and we even won a costume contest later that night while out with some friends. I love 80's inspired costumes and this may be our best yet thanks to our adorable daughter!

One of my major love languages is gifts and I love taking the time and energy to pick out the perfect gifts for friends and family. So much so that it can be a detriment because I get very discouraged if I can't think of the perfect gift. Of course once you have a child, you can't go wrong with pictures of them, but what about the members of your immediate, in-home family? If you love giving gifts like me, you could go way over-the-top, way quickly.

That's why I love the tradition of "want, need, wear, read". We had friends that started this tradition several years ago with their sweet family and once Annabelle arrived on our scene, we decided to start it in our home. Children make the giving season even more Merry but things can get very out of control because they are so much fun to buy for. I think we have all been disenchanted to check Facebook around the holidays only to find picture after picture of trees showing hundreds of brightly wrapped packages for a family of three.

Desperately trying not to be a cautionary tale we embraced the idea of "want, need, wear, read". The idea for those that have not heard of it is simple. You buy each family member only four gifts. One gift that they really "want", for example a new game for their X-box. One gift that they "need" such as a new pair of headphones. A gift that they can "wear" such as a pair of boots or piece of jewelry. and finally something they can "read".

My idea this year is to use this formula again for Christmas but with a slight spin on it by adding the category "do". For this we'll give one another an experiential gift such as tickets to a show or a class. This way not only can we enjoy the act of gift giving, but also experiencing the joy that those gifts bring.

How about you? What types of gift-giving traditions are in your house? One other I've heard of is the gift of three. My MIL uses that one. She always tells us that if Jesus only got three gifts (gold, frankincense and myrrh) that is how many we are getting.

Family magnets

We have a ton of family and with all of them being out of state Annabelle doesn't get to see them so often. I also have been wanting fridge magnets for Annabelle but couldn't find any safe ones. So annoying. 

Then one day while on shutterfly.com I ran across their photo magnets and had the idea to put family pics and names on the magnets so that Annabelle could see pics of all her family every Damon the fridge. I waited for a sale and ordered them at 40% off which was a huge help. These magnets don't have the small piece but are one large 2x2 piece that the pic and whatever wording you choose is printed directly on so there is no concern that they will break off or be swallowed. 

Annabelle LOVES them and it is a great way to keep her familiar with her entire family. 

Have you heard of ThredUp?

ThredUp is this great website for you to buy and sell gently used clothing. There are some wonderful "used" items available that can be sorted by size, shape, etc. It is like everything you ever wanted from Goodwill. You can also request a bag so that you can send in items that you no longer want and they will pay you for them! You can use the money in the ThredUp shop or you can cash out via PayPal.

Do yourself a favor and check it out! Plus if you use the links here in my blog you will get $10 to spend in the shop :-)

DIY toys for kiddos under one

This is a great link that shows 12 DIY toys for kids. I would classify most of these as appropriate for those under a year but kids could definitely enjoy them past a year as well.

Perhaps my favorite is the Sensory Treasure Basket. This is one of AB's favorites too. I love to rotate her toys every week or so and this sensory basket is a great way to do it. Plus you don't have to go out and spend a lot of money on small toys for this. You can use items from around the house, things like lids, measuring cups, etc. 

Here is the most recent sensory treasure basket (well bowl in this case). I put in a couple blocks, connected rings, and two teething toys. Next I added a small water bottle (with cap removed because it was too small), a lid from an old Tupperware container and a plastic baby spoon holder. This has been good for hours of entertainment for AB and keeps her mind fresh and curious as she pulls out and examines each object. 

One thing to keep on mind is that you MUST be careful about choking hazards. Anything that can fit down a paper towel roll could potentially be swallowed by your little one so use caution when finding household items to use.

Oh and Happy Fourth everyone!!!

Essential oil diaper rash cream

It is the most wonderful time of the year...for diaper rash. But seriously, I do love the summer but whereas I have skin that is tough as tire rubber, my sweet daughter is highly susceptible to heat and diaper rash during these warmer months. 

When we were at the beach last month I tried several types of diaper rash cream but nothing made a dent. Then a lightbulb finally went off and I remembered my essential oils...of course!

A quick mix in the hand of Melaleuca, Lavendar and some vitamin E oil and I finally saw improvement within about 24 hours. I decided to mix up a batch of my own diaper rash cream when I got home. Here is what you need:

-4 tablespoons coconut oil

-5 drops (or about 1 capsule) vitamin E oil

-10 drops Melaleuca EO

-10 drops Lavendar EO

You want to use a double boiler to melt the coconut oil and then let it cool down for a bit (but not harden up again yet) in the container you will keep it in. I used a cleaned out baby food jar. Once the coconut oil is cool (this is important so the heat doesn't change the properties of the essential oil) you can add the Vitamin E, melaleuca and Lavendar.

Then you just let it cool down to normal coconut oil consistency and use as you would a normal diaper cream. 

Some things to keep in mind before trying this at home are the individual allergies of your child. I knew before making this that AB was not allergic to any of the items used. You also want to be careful to use something clean to scoop it out each time so you don't get any "bum bacteria" in your diaper cream.

Hopefully this will give you a less chemically (is that a word?) version of diaper cream for your sweetie during this tough time of year. Oh and bonus! Since this uses just normal ingredients not specific to bums you can also mix up another separate batch to use on heat rash.

Bug spray

I mixed up this nifty bottle of safe bug spray for the family using:

20 drops Terrashield

1 drop Lavendar

Distilled water

I like knowing I have a safe alternative for my daughter when we go hiking, camping, or just want to enjoy these summer nights outside without Mosquitos.

The Terrashield will keep the bugs away for up to 6 hours and smells much better than store-bought spray. You can even use it neat on your dog (but you should research this on your own to do it properly).

30 day abdominal challenge

Anyone out there doing this challange? I am! So far so good. Definitely have not spent this much time on my abs in a long, long time.

They have a great Facebook page with tutorials and great support from other folks participating. You can also check out the website at GetYourFitTogether.com.

Books to read: The Quiltmaker's gift

The Quiltmaker's Gift is quite honestly one of the beautiful and well-written children's books that I have read in a long time. Check it out at www.quiltmakersgift.com.

Fabric fun-6 months

Today was a bit of a rough day. It started out with AB skipping her morning nap and continued through the afternoon with teething. She was either fussy or a bucket of tears just about every half hour until she went to bed. 

The one bright spot in the day, well actually there were 2. First I fed her eggs and was thrilled to see that she was not allergic (2 friends have kiddos with this allergy and it is downright scary). But second is that I created a fabric scrap pile for her that she absolutely LOVED! This was the only thing that provided any comfort to her today (well that and essential oils :)).

I cut a variety of swatches from my fabric scrap pile. Actually it was the fabric scrap collection of one of my grandmothers. She was the one that taught me to sew and encouraged my creativity. When she passed I was given all her old craft items including her fabric scraps. She used to sew custom pillows for an interior decorator my aunt worked for so when looking for different textures, I had plenty of variety to choose from which was great for AB. I also love that now my Mema's fabric has been shared with yet another generation.

Above are the scraps I cut. I more or less tried to keep them the same size. When figuring out the size keep in mind what is safest for your babe's level of development. The most important part of this exercise is not size or color, bit texture. By touching the different textures your kiddo is getting a better grasp of the world around them (no pun intended). Chances are what they are touching they will next try to put in their mouths. This is all part of the learning process and teaches your baby how the can combine reactions from two senses to gain a better understanding of the world. 

AB loved playing with the various textures and it was literally the only thing that kept her sane today. Picking up the pieces taught her not only about texture but also allowed her to exercise her fine motor skills. Plus since she was sitting in her chair while playing, she helped to build those muscles too.

Feeding solids and building fine motor skills-6 months

I am so in love with our daughter Annabelle. She is so smart and strong. She loves to be read to. She is a great eater and most importantly (at least to her dad) a great sleeper. This kiddo has been sleeping through the night since week 4 (amazing, right?).We want to do whatever we can for our daughter. She is adopted so building strong attachment is important. But so are other things like keeping her away from screens and providing lots of opportunities for growth and development.

The big things going on in AB's life these days are:
1) working towards crawling,
2) working towards sitting up on her own and
3) developing her fine motor skills so she can begin to self-feed.

We started AB on solids at 4 months. I know lots of folks wait until 6 months but there is the suggestion among the medical community to start at 4 months. My husband and I followed AB's cues when making that decision. We noticed around the 3.5 month mark that AB watched us more closely when we were eating. She perked up and took notice if she smelled food cooking and practically drooled when we were eating out and a waitress brought our food out.

If AB had been breast-fed and had more variety in her diet, I may have waited. Breast milk taste is affected by the foods the mom eats. Formula, however, doesn't come with that perk. I know AB didn't know that there was more to life than just the taste of Enfamil, but Beau (my husband) and I did.

We started her out with things like avocado, squash, etc. We took care to introduce only one food at a time and to space them out. The only thing (which is weird to me) that we have had any issue with is brown rice flour...weird right? She gets a slight redness on her cheeks when we feed her this. So we have stopped. I also have not introduced any wheat products. I just have read and heard (no scientific studies, just speculation) that this could lead to a gluten intolerance or allergy later in life. There are plenty of other ways for AB to get whole grains so I figured I would skip that for now.

I used to work as a Parent Educator helping families to stay involved in the lives of their children and teach them about development so that they can be kindergarten ready. One of the ages I always had a tough time with was the 6 month mark. Kids are right on the cusp of doing so many things at this age, but they just aren't quite there yet. Tummy time is still great and very helpful but what about trying to exercise those muscles that help your child to sit-up and use their fingers? What kind of toys/games are there for those things?

One of the things I learned in my former role was to use what you have around the house to engage your child. So I encouraged parents to do things like sit their child up and use pillows as cushion in case of falling when trying to engage their child and teach them to sit up. The other thing we suggested was using different materials to engage their children. Kids learn so much through what they can feel at this age. Different textures are amazing to children. That is why you see so many blankets and toys with a variety of textured surfaces. 

To practice what I used to preach with Annabelle as it relates to fine motor skills I took a look around the house and picked up some ribbon scraps (leftover from some costumes I am making for our church Sunday School). After eating breakfast, I kept AB in her Bumbo chair and (sorta) wiped the tray down and covered it with ribbon scraps. AB wasn't sure what to think at first but after a few minutes and some encouragement she started to move them around and even pick them up! This type of activity requires parental supervision of course. You have to make sure your kiddo doesn't swallow a ribbon. I also made sure that they were not too small but not too long (too small-she could swallow to easily, too long she could wrap them around a body part and cut off circulation). Also, any time your kid is in a Bumbo chair you need to keep them on a low surface so they don't fall out. 

(Told you I didn't wipe the tray too well)

All these parental warnings aside though, this was a really fun activity for AB. Next up, I'm going to sort through my fabric scraps and get a variety for AB to play with in her Bumbo. The thing I like about this activity is that it gets AB practicing both sitting up and using her fine motor skills. Right now I am spoon-feeding her mushy solids but soon she will need to learn how to pick up foods and feed herself and with this and other fine motor activities she'll be ready to go when it is time.

Some things I'm reading

I am way behind on this first one but today I finished reading "The Fault in our Stars". Overall I found it to be a great read. I think if I were an angsty teen, I would have absolutely loved it. However, I do think it gives all readers a healthy dose of reality.

For me though, I wish I had read it before becoming a mother. I remember before I was a mom that all my friends that were mothers would say things like that to me. Frankly it would piss me off. But now I get it. The emotional side of your brain (even if you think you already have a pretty emotional side) gets kicked into super-overdrive. I found ways to make mom connections in this book in places that were not meant to be mom-emo.

Definitely worth a read though and now that I have read it, I can of course see the movie...hooray!


The other book that I just picked up and have gotten about a chapter into is "Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say No to Take Control of Your Life". I am reading this in prep for a church discipleship group that I am getting ready to join.

As you can probably tell by the title, this book is about establishing boundaries. I have an issue saying "no" to folks. I enter into commitments, get overwhelmed, and wish I had been honest about my disinterest in whatever the commitment was in the first place instead of worrying about disappointing someone in the first place.

My hubs says I need to worry less about disappointing others and more about disappointing myself. I'm hoping this book will help get me there.


What are you reading these days?

Six months

Here are some pics of my sweet six month old! Her new trick as of Sunday is waving. It is super cute!

Beeswax, essential oils, candle-making, and what you need to know

Wow! I just read the most interesting think about essential oils today. Did you know that when you heat essential oils that you can actually change their chemical make-up? I sure didn't. Let me explain.

I've been reading lately a lot about the benefits of beeswax candles. Basically if you use pure beeswax candles you can actually purify the air in your home by burning them. I'm not a huge science fan so I will try and dumb this down to a level that I can understand :-) When you burn beeswax it acts as a fuel that produces negative ions (but this is actually a positive thing...haha, science pun). Many of the particles in the air (that are bad for you) are positively charged. Things like allergens: pollen (my big issue), dust, bacteria and even viruses are all positively charged. When you burn a beeswax candle, the negative ions that are released attach to the not so great air particles in your home causing them to become heavier and fall to the ground. This allows you to clean them up when you vacuum, dust, and sweep instead of leaving them floating around in the air for you to breathe. Source

So what does this have to do with essential oils? Well I am a big DIY fan, so when I read about this I thought it would be fun to make my own beeswax candles. Why not, I thought, combine my love of essential oils with this wonderful beeswax to make them even more beneficial, right? Wrong. As I read on about candle-making, it turns out that heating essential oils (like when you mix This keeps them pure and non-toxic. To maintain the integrity of the oils you should not heat the oils and jeopardize their health benefits.  Source

 

Well that's all well and good but what about adding oils to your bath? Think about it...the process to make candles involves heating wax over a double-boiler to the point of melting. Hopefully you are not taking baths this hot, and if you are...may I suggest that you stop?

So that is my big news. It will take further research on my part but I think this is why a cold-process method is encouraged for soap-making as so many soaps are made with essential oils. I would also suggest doing your own research into not only this but as to how traditional candles are made. It isn't a pretty process. Do yourself a favor and read up on where paraffin, which is in traditional was candles, comes from. It's not from sweet little honey-bees. It is a bit gross when you read up on it.

6 months!!!

I will post pics tomorrow but I just have to say that I can't believe our girl is 6 months!!!

What a blessed six months it has been :)

A little vacation, a little knowledge

The hubs, AB and I are enjoying a much needed family beach vacation. Our first as a family of three. BTW the after sun spray from my last post is coming in quite handy for my husband who always tends to miss spots with spray sunscreen. Our first day in the sun he was super red on parts of his arms but I sprayed him down with the after sun and the next day the red had faded to a lovely tan. 

Our daughter has done okay in the sun as you can see....

Thank goodness for sun hats on fair-skinned babes. However the heat has caused her to develop a vicious diaper rash. Luckily I have my travel oils and lavender and melaleuca (tea tree) diluted are working wonders where her normal drug store diaper rash cream did not. 

I will post more on this when we are back from vacation but in the meantime I wanted to share some great info that sums up why you need to be careful about where you buy your oils from. Not all brands are created equal. Do your research as knowledge is power but keep this in mind: When you go to buy essential oils from certain places (sometimes even health stores) they can sometimes have stuff in them that can be potentially toxic called extenders. What is sad is that the laws around labeling allow manufacturers to use up to 50% of these potentially toxic chemical extenders and they are still allowed to say that they are 100% pure. 

So that is a little food for thought on why you should consider doTERRA or another quality brand over your drug store brands.

The right way to run for weight loss...finally!

I don't know about you but I have a love/hate relationship with running. On the one hand I love it! It gives me such a sense of accomplishment to say "oh yeah, I just ran a 'couple' miles this morning" to folks, or to race across the finish line of a 5k or half marathon and collect my medal or t-shirt. On the other hand, it's tough! I hate it! Some days go by and my treadmill is my biggest enemy. I look down after what seems like hours to find I've only run for 10 minutes and have barely been a mile.

 

The other thing that makes me hate running is that no matter how much I run, I don't tend to see the weight loss that I notice from other exercise. Sure I feel more toned but as far as pounds/fat loss, I don't always notice it.

For years I have run anyway, again 5k=free t-shirt, but I really struggled with what I perceived to be the lack of benefits. That is until I ran (get it?) across this article from Women's Running. It talks about the good, the bad, and the ugly of running. Lots of great info about the right way to run for weight and fat loss.

One of the things that I am so glad the article mentioned is the fact that running makes you hungry for good reasons: to avoid injury and fatigue. I believe in listening to my body so the fact that I was hungry more while running meant that I was eating more but had misgivings about since I was trying to run to get more fit.

The article gives a great 8-week guide for running in order to lose weight. The 3 keys for running for weight loss are these:

1. Runs that burn fat
2. Sprints
3. Strength-training

This article does a great job of laying out facts and an easy to use plan that is not too difficult to stick to whether on the road or a treadmill. One final thought from the article is that Women's Running is honest in saying that running is not the most effective method for weight loss. So if running isn't your thing and (like my husband) crossing the finish line doesn't give you a buzz that lasts all week through those tough miles, than you may want to research and find some different ways to lose those pounds and tone up. But as for me, I think I'll stick to that fantastic sense of accomplishment I feel when I cross the finish. Even if I have to work a little harder on the weight-loss end of things.

After Sun Spray

We have our first vacation as a family of 3 coming up soon and I am so excited to spend a lot of fun in the sun. My hubs and I do okay when it comes to tanning v. burning but with this being AB's first true foray into the sun I want to be sure that I have what she needs in case of overexposure to the sun. I have an all natural sunscreen for her but I wanted something in case of too much sun as well. I don't exactly want to travel with an aloe plant with me on every family vacation so I decided to mix something up with essential oils.

This is a quick and adjustable recipe (you may find you like different ratios better)for an after sun spray. It's got everything you need to get over a burn or just to rehydrate your skin a bit after a day in the sun.

After sun spray:

• 1 glass spray bottle
• 1/4 cup aloe vera
• (aloe vera juice can be found in most drug stores or online, feel free to use aloe vera if you prefer but just make sure your spray bottle can handle it)
• 1 tablespoon of fractionated coconut oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of vitamin E oil (available at drug store or online)
• 2 drops of Lavender essential oil
• 2 drops of Melaleuca essential oil
• 2 drops of Roman Chamomile essential oil

Combine ingredients, shake well and use as needed.

Clearly the best thing to do is not to get burned or overexposed in the first place, however, if you do get burned you should use something like this after sun spray to take care of your skin after the fact.

 

Allergy Fixer-Upper

 

I don't know about you but my allergies this spring have hit me hard. This happens every year...I look forward to spring all winter and once it is here I get allergies and second guess my joy at spring finally being here. I recently started using essential oils and this is one of my favorite mixes. It's like a little allergy shot or as I like to call it my allergy fixer upper.

 

2 drops each of lavender, peppermint and lemon. You can take it a couple ways 1) Gargle and spit it out (swallowing oils is not recommended) 2)Apply it to the bottom of your feet. I only ever take it the first way. Warning: This is strong stuff! However, it clears me up so much that I get over the strength (I think from the peppermint) pretty quickly because I am so thankful to be able to breathe again. Warning: Read up on each oil before you use them to make sure you don't have a condition that will react poorly with the oils. 

 

You can use any brand of oils that you want, but I am partial to doTERRA because of the purity of their oils. To me if you are making a switch to all-natural, home remedies like essential oils, you want to make sure that what you are using is good stuff and doTERRA is good stuff. Not to say that there are not cheaper oils out there, but I feel comfortable with the purity of doTERRA oils for use with my family.

 

There are multiple ways to get these oils, one is by placing a one time order through my website. Another is by signing up through my website as a wellness advocate or preferred member which allows you some perks that just ordering off the website doesn't allow. You can also research and find other oils that you might like to use, but I can only tell you about my experience using doTERRA oils which has been great! As with anything, do you own research, consult a physician, etc. when trying something new like this. This is what works for me and my family and may not necessarily work for you.

Hi there!

Hi there!

I'm Jolie. I've been a blogger for awhile but wanted a fresh start as I have started a new chapter of my life recently as a stay-at-home mom. My husband and I adopted our beautiful daughter Annabelle back in November and decided that after years of trying to be parents it would be nice for me to stay at home and spend my time with AB (as we call her).

After working full-time for over ten years, it has been a nice but strange adjustment for me. I decided to hold myself a little more accountable I would start a (new) blog to keep myself more accountable. So here are some of the things I want to blog about:

• Stay-at-home-momming
• adoption (highs and lows)
• keeping on top of housework
• entertaining my sweet daughter
• healthy living (working out, essential oils, trying to stay in shape)
• Running
• Crafting/DIY (on occasion, not as much time for this stuff lately)

I'll do my best to post several times a month and this will keep me on top of my game. I can't promise I'll always be able to do this, but if it works out maybe I can get a regular blog schedule going.

I hope you enjoy it!