Stop the madness

Enough already with kids bringing home 10 pounds of Halloween candy. This year go green on October 31. How about serving up non-candy items like feathers, polished rocks, and bubble bottles instead of 10 mini processed artificially flavored snicker bars? Better for the environment, our little ones tummies and easier on your wallet. Or if you are stuck on tradition, how about ONE mini candy bar or ONE organic lollipop instead of a handful of madness? Visit Green Halloween for more tips and treats. Boo.

Scratchy Scratch

Little Belle had a itchy rash all over her tummy and a little on her shoulders and knees. She would wake up in the middle of the night scratching so I started putting onesies on her so she couldn't lift her shirt to scratch. We visited the doctor a few days ago and she was diagnosed with eczema and prescribed a twice a day treatment of hydrocortisone cream. The itching and rash have almost disappeared although her skin is a little bumpy. Natural remedies include lemon, oatmeal soak, tomato juice, and sun bathing.

I heart Hormel

Finally you can go to a major grocery store and purchase natural affordable deli meat with no nitrites or MSG! I am loving the uncured bacon, and turkey and ham deli meats. I would love for them to create a natural breakfast ground sausage. The deli ham has no preservatives and just six ingredients. My 1.5 year old loves meat so I throw in some with her morning scrambled cheese eggs and with her whole wheat sandwiches.

The 4 minute cookie

After polishing the last three Nestle Tollhouse pre-made cookies, the girls and I were still hungry for more. I got online and grabbed a simple peanut butter cookie recipe that called for no flour. I ended up adding a little bit but I made the dough in ohhh 4 minutes and we were eating them in another 12. The best part is there's no hydrogenated soybean oil or other junk that's in the store bought version. Here is my recipe for the 4 minute peanut butter cookie: 1/2 c crunchy organic peanut butter, 1/2 c organic sugar, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp vanilla, 1/2 egg, 1 tablespoon flour. Pre-heat oven to bake at 350, mix all the ingredients together and then scoop out spoonfuls onto a baking sheet and criss cross fork with sugar. Bake for 12 minutes. Makes one dozen.

Throwing Cookies

I got a call from daycare the other day letting me know both girls had thrown up and I needed to come pick them up. I was doing a few more emails, when my oldest Janae threw up again. When I got to the daycare, my little Belle had joined Janae in the second heat of the Throw Up Olympics. When we arrived home, the "sick" girls ran down the hall and shouted with joy and began to play very hard to my surprise. In the meantime, I had beefed up my knowledge on their condition online and knew they could only have a few tablespoons of water every 5-10 minutes for the first 6-8 hours after vomiting. This didn't go over well, lots of whining and hunger pains going on even with the nod from mommy to drink Sprite. Pretty soon, I had them following me around the house begging for another cracker. I would hand them out like precious gems looking for any signs of nausea and diarrhea. But nothing happened, they only got hungrier. I promised a big bowl of noodles when they awoke from their nap and begged them, literally to go to sleep. When they awoke, everyone felt better, including me. and I served up the BRAT diet of bananas, rice/pasta, apples and toast and the next day they were eating normal food again. Looking back, I think the milk in their oatmeal that morning must have been the culprit.

Tell me a story about teething

I spoke to a mom at daycare about Belle’s’s teething and she recommended I stop by a drugstore and buy some teething tablets by Hylands. These little white homeopathic tablets worked wonders combined with a little Ibuprofen and Hylands teething gel. I give her a dose of all of this right before she goes to sleep and then another dose around 2am or so. The teething gel is 100% natural with no dyes or coloring agents. The tablets are a homeopathic combination of natural ingredients that help with sleeping and decrease pain and irritability. She didn’t like the taste of them first so I dissolved two tablets in a small dish with a ½ teaspoon of water and then used a small dropper to insert the liquid into her mouth. She now likes the taste and will chew them like a vitamin. Hylands also carries ear ache tablets and drops which are quite spendy at around $17.00 a box but I heard they are worth it and much preferred then the dreaded antibiotics.

the simple life

We are in the process of moving and selling our home. And while packing and renting a storage is a pain the ending result of a clutter free home is so worth it. The girls only have one bin of toys, we have eight plates and four glasses. There are five books on the bookshelf and no pictures to dust. I am loving life and thinking as I walk through our bare necessities condo, why do we have so much stuff? And I actually have time to play with the girls and not feel the need to clean. Now when we move in to the new space which, if I get my way, we will have a nice size garage. My declutter plan is to take two boxes in the house each day, go through it and make 3 piles: love it, maybe or hate it. If I love it, it stays in the house, maybe goes in the garage with a date on the box and if I hate it goes to charity. Now the maybe box needs to revisited 6 months to one year later and if I don't need to open it, its new home is the Goodwill.