Post-Birth Bath's for Mama

With mothers in mind this month, I am posting this for all of our new mothers out there! I know a handful of women that have either just given birth, or are waiting very impatiently to meet their little one. After birth care for the mother is not something that I was told much about when I had my baby. After the marathon of pregnancy and the forty yard dash of childbirth, your body needs some healing. One of the most helpful ways of promoting healing after the many atrocities of a vaginal birth is a 10-20 minute bath with some bath teas. Below are some simple recipes to reduce the aggravation, help circulation and keep you clean. These teas are not for drinking! But a nice cup of chamomile would be soothing to drink while soaking in these wonderfully fragrant concoctions. Keeping the water level low in these baths helps to keep the mixture more potent. For the first week do these baths 1-3 times a day if you can manage between the hourly feedings and changings!

Lavender Infusion

-4 cups of lavender tea: 3 tablespoons of lavender flowers to each cup of boiling water. Steep for 5-10 minutes and strain. Add 2 tablespoons of sea salt to the tea, dissolving well. Allow it to cool slightly, and then poor into the bath. The water should be on the hotter side, but not uncomfortable. I made a large batch of this and kept it in the fridge.

-Add a drop of tea tree oil or patchouli oil to the surface of the water and mix before getting in the bath.

Rosemary Infusion 

-4oz of these mixed herbs: rosemary, sage and garlic and 4 cups water  made in to a tea and strained just like the lavender tea.

-2 TBSP sea salt (sea salt is recommended over table salt)

Calendula and Comfrey Root Infusion (my favorite)

-4oz of these mixed herbs: chamomile flower , calendula, lavender and rose petals in 4 cups water made into a tea and strained just like the lavender tea. Pick and choose which of these herbs you want and have available to you. I used dried comfrey root from the local health store, lavendar flowers, and a drop or two of calendula oil straight in to the bath.

-2 TBSP sea salt (sea salt is recommended over table salt)

Again, please don't drink these teas. Some of these ingredients aren't good for consumption. Make yourself a cup of normal tea or a hot toddy and enjoy the wonder of what you have survived! I hope you had the happiest of Mother's Days and know how wonderful you are for turning yourself inside-out to birth and nurture this new human. 

Schmidt's Natural Deodorant

Another great product for today's active mother from Schmidts Beauty

"Schmidt's Deodorant is made from a signature blend of all natural ingredients that really works. Our product effectively neutralizes underarm odor and absorbs wetness without the use of harmful chemicals."

With the wonderful and warm spring that we have had in Oregon, I've been able to really give this product a try. Our garden is booming and Coral is loving our trips to the park so I have been lucky to have Schmidt's natural deodorant on hand. At the end of each day I have been so pleased that I don't have much of an odor at all!

I have been looking into natural deodorants for a while since I don't want to expose myself to the chemicals that are in conventional products. I have been happy and not-so-happy with a few different natural stick deodorants that come in plastic tubes. When I found Schmidt's, I was interested in trying to "think outside the plastic" as the say and use their baking soda based product that comes in glass.

The glass jar of deodorant comes with this handy little spatula that helps scoop the paste out with. Take a pea size lump and smooth over your underarms. It feels grainy at first but the shea butter in it smooths it out. You can see the amount I put on my hand below and once it's rubbed in, it just has a light powdery surface.

I got to try three varieties: Ylang-Ylang + Calendula, Cedarwood + Juniper and Unscented. I really liked both scents and Schmidt's has just added two new varieties so check them out!

They have generously offered two deordorants to our readers so enter the raffle below and check out their Facebook page. Let them know we sent you!

raffle will run from 5/10-5/17

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pony Up Design

We have seen some great examples of WAHM's this week. I have enjoyed meeting new crafters/sellers and am excited to share my own creations with you.

 

My business, Pony Up Design, has been keeping me busy since 2006. I began sewing utensils set cases to provide a convenient and Eco friendly alternative to plastic cutlery. I have been pleasantly surprised at the interest in my products from a wide range of people. As my business grew, I had special requests from event planners, campers, and mothers for variations of my flatware-to-go concept. I also started to sew a mixture of personal items as well as I come across materials and ideas that strike me.

This is the basic concept that I began with. Lightweight, bamboo utensils in a cotton roll & tie case.

 

Each utensil has it's own pocket and you just roll it up and tie the knot! (this set available on Pony Up's Facebook page)

 

 

 

 



After a few years, I wanted to get more creative and my husband suggested using antique and vintage silverware. I loved this idea because it was one more step towards a sustainable product. Below is a set of vintage silver spoons for a baby. These are great for a diaper bag or to send to daycare with your toddler. My daughter has just started using spoons and she loves this size.

All rolled up, they stay clean and the case is machine washable. This baby spoon set is up for raffle this week and will go to our lucky reader.

Please visit and "like" Pony Up Design's Facebook page and visit the Etsy shop. The Facebook page has exclusive offers of items not available through Etsy, so check 'em out and message me if interested!

For our readers, I am offering a coupon code "SHIPSHIPHOORAY" for free domestic shipping for the Etsy shop and just mention this post to get free domestic shipping for items from the Facebook page. Shipping is included in the price so discount will vary.


Raffle ends Friday the 15th.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A couple Pin Wins, Fails, and To-Do's

I have a love hate relationship with Pinterest...as I'm sure most people do! I love having a bajillion ideas at my fingertips, but 2 hours later...nothing has gotten done ;) I thought I'd share a few things that have been major wins for us (and a couple fails, just to keep it real) ;-)

PIN WINS!

I usually shred my chicken in recipes...and while using two forks isn't difficult, it was definitely a win when I found this tip to make use of your stand mixer to shred chicken... (in the comments, someone said that a hand mixer worked just as well). If you're in the lazy crew, like me, give it a try! Just takes a few seconds!

One of the main reasons I love Pinterest, is for the recipes my friends pin. One of those was White Chicken Enchiladas. I don't really love enchilada sauce, but this was...oh. my. word. Our new favorite meal. We are still working on how to jazz up the flavor of the chicken, but it's so creamy and yummy and...wowzers.

PIN FAILS

My biggest fail as of late, this cutie:

I wrapped up my door, it rained, he drooped. Sad Mummy :( Sad Mommy :( It was SO cute, but just not meant to be. I think next year, I might do inside doors or something, because the boys thought it was so funny. Just not made for the humid South ;) 






Brine your T-shirt: I REALLY wanted this to work. I adore soft t-shirts. And this project had SO much hope. I waited the three days I was supposed to... nothing. I retried it, same shirt and waited 5 days. Still the same, rough t-shirt. Tried again, for a week. Nada. If anyone tries it and WINS, PLEASE let me know!!!

TO DO

I'm trying to re-vamp my clothes so I don't always dress, well...frumpy ;) I found a tutorial for this shirt. I have a dark gray shirt eerily similar to the one in the pic, so I'm going to try soon! It's so ...quirky!








We always get together with friends for Thanksgiving potluck (due to work, church, and school schedules we can rarely make traveling work). I usually make a Sweet Potato Casserole and something went amiss last year ...it was horrible, and I'm scared to try again. I saw this recipe for Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes and I can't WAIT to try them out!

Do you have some Pin Wins (or fails?!) to share?

A Random Post By Terra

I know, I know, I still owe a post on Flats, and how things went/what I thought/etc. I'm also waiting on some awesome products to review for you lovely fans. However, I've been dealing with some equilibrium issues, and whenever I look into a camera, it makes me dizzier than I was before ;) So, I'm relying on stock photos to share a post today of what all is going on in our home!

It's football time, and so...

My children are re-learning the art of screaming, "Roll Tide!" at the appropriate times ;) And because many people ask, no, I'm not from Alabama, nor is anyone in our family. While I was in college in Tennessee, I had many friends who were Bama fans, and they rubbed off on me.

During nap time, I've been starting a habit of eating some chips/salsa for lunch, while watching Dirty Jobs on Netflix.

 

We've watched most seasons on TV, but it is so fun to re-watch them (and catch up on what all I missed when we didn't have cable for a few years). I feel like it's a good work out since I spend about 45 minutes laughing super hard ;)

That is if I get to watch it.

The littlest of the little ones (my 2 year old) spends most days fighting naps. We're not sure if he is fighting due to teething, or what. However, I'm looking forward to his chiropractor's appointment tomorrow (and the post-adjustment nap!)

This is not our chiro, nor is it my child ;-)

My older two are using these up by the hour:

My oldest son tracked back in (he's in a year round school) last week and came home Friday saying that one friend in his class had "the sneezes". The next thing I know, he has 'the sneezes', and then, my middle has 'the sneezes'....lovely ;)

Next...

No. We aren't joining Greek life. Hubby has entered his next to last semester in Seminary, working towards his M.Div. He's put off taking Greek for as long as he can, and the time has come to get these language classes in. I'm seeing these little note cards all over the house, and hearing my hubby speak obscure words. Come quickly, May!

I think that about sums it up on this end...

What's going on in your home?

Meal Planning

I ask the same question of my husband about 3 times a year: "What did we do before I started meal planning?" I know that I didn't always do it. All we can think is that we went to the store many times a week, got take-out just as often and spent way too much money.

Our meal planning has varied over the past few years, in both the way we meal plan, as well as the length of time our plans go for.

We've done plans ranging from 1 week, 2 weeks, a month to two months at a time (only once, when we were expecting Caedmon, I planned for two months, so in case I went past my due date, I didn't have to think about planning meals!) Our current planning consists of me working up a list of meals for one month at a time, as we have a membership to BJ's (much like Sam's Club or Costco) and we do one big shopping trip there and at our local grocery store once a month. We do stop weekly at our local produce stand, farmer's market or store for fresh fruits and veggies, bread and other perishables.

Our plans have also changed over the years as I've attempted to find which plan suits my personality the best.

I've tried a couple different methods:

Themes: I assigned each day of the week a theme. For example: Monday is crockpot day, Tuesday is casserole day, Wednesday is Italian day, Thursday is Mexican day, etc....

Repeating: I attempted to make a 2 week plan for the first half of the month (14 meals, a different one each day) and then repeating for the second half of the month.

The one I found that works for my personality? Just pick meals we like. I have a recipe blog and I just go through, pulling our tried and true favorites. To continually add new meals to my repertoire, I attempt to make one new meal each week. If it doesn't work, I don't stress over it. However, I do typically do 2-3 new meals a month, if not more.

I'm also not strict with my meal plan. For example, yesterday was supposed to be Chicken Divan day. I did not feel like having that, and wanted something simpler, so I decided on Tacos. And then the mail came, along with some cash from my inlaws for our anniversary with instructions to have dinner on them. A few text messages later, and my husband was stopping at our favorite local "fast food Japanese" place for hibachi chicken (extra yum-yum sauce, please!) and shrimp. Tonight? Tacos!

Do you meal plan? Do you have a specific method? What about some favorite meals?

Chunky Junk

Catchy name, huh? When I first heard the name, I had no clue what to expect. I quickly learned that Chunky Junk was the name of some of the most gorgeous, handmade jewelry I'd ever seen.

Don't believe me? Look and see...
These are a couple of my personal favorites from my own necklace stash.




They offer more than just necklaces! Bracelets, rings, earrings and hair sticks are available as well, but I don't have any of those (I'm not really a ring or bracelet person, my ears aren't pierced and I don't have enough hair to make use of a hair stick, hehe). Inventory is always changing so you never know what you will find!

Not only is the jewelry appealing to the eyes, the lives behind Chunky Junk are beautiful as well. Chunky Junk is hand made fair trade jewelry from Delhi, India. The money made from selling the jewelry is used to support orphanages, as well as other ministries, around the world. You can read more about Chunky Junk here, including more information about the orphanages they support. We have the pleasure of personally knowing the couple behind Chunky Junk, Andy & Susan Lepper, as they attend our church. They have the greatest passion for this ministry and it is so neat to hear their plans and ideas for the sweet lives that will be touched by the money raised from these sales.

The price of the jewelry can't be beat (and makes for a great addiction! My friends and I are always ready to see what new Junk is being sold!)

Be sure to check here and see if Chunky Junk is being sold in a store or at an event near you!

You can also keep up with Chunky Junk by joining their Facebook page (be sure to mention how you heard of us!)

Disclaimer: I was not compensated for this review & all opinions are my own!

A Lego Birthday Party!

Last weekend, we celebrated my oldest son's 4th birthday. We decided to do a Lego theme, which was risky because he'd never even seen a Lego before, but we were planning on him acquiring some for his birthday. I didn't want to do the typical 'store-pack' themed items, not really our style. What I did want was fun and color!

I typed up "Happy 4th Birthday Keaton" on white card stock in a Lego font that I found for free. I cut out the words and then traced around them onto construction paper (had I thought of this project sooner, I would have done it all on card stock, but my original banner failed me about 36 hours before party time, haha). I cut out the traced objects a bit bigger so that the original white words had a bubble of color around them and then taped them onto sheets of black construction paper. I then used a 3-hole punch to make holes on the top of the black pieces of construction paper and used black yard to string it. We then hung it across the kitchen, much to the excitement of the birthday boy!

Next was the cake. This was the first time I had ever done anything to a cake other than frost it while it was still sitting in its 9x13 dish. It's not perfect, but it was fun, a great conversation piece and definitely yummy! I originally saw this tutorial on Betty Crocker's website and referenced it again for the party. I ended up making 2 cakes because we were planning on having a slew of people for the party, but, because we all had the seasonal crud, we closed it to family only. I confess to having a HUGE sweet tooth, and really, while I had planned for each person to have one small rectangle (as in a small piece with two marshmallow tops), having just one marshmallow top was probably more than enough. With a frosting covered half of marshmallow on top, this cake gets super sweet, super fast!

I had no idea what to do for a base for the cakes to sit on, so I took a priority mail box, taped orange construction paper on it and covered that with wax paper! Couldn't have worked out better!
Before the party, my lego-lovin' hubby made the 'centerpiece' - the little cabin with canoe guy. I had anticipated it being a lot larger than it was, more like a true centerpiece, but, it ended up working out perfectly once all the food, utensils, etc... were on the table. When Keaton woke up from his nap, we let him open a gift (a small lego set) and he and his daddy got to work on building his first creation, a dump truck! He was so excited to place that on the table next to Zach's creation for the party!
I remembered the 'yearly' shirt I like for the boys to have...on Friday morning (his party was Saturday afternoon!) Thanks to an amazing friend around the corner from us, she lent me the supplies and I got to work right after Keaton went to bed and got his shirt made:
The other things that didn't get photographed:

• We had pizza, chips, pretzals and drinks, complete with a bag of ice from Sonic (really, they do have the best ice!)
• I was torn on what to do for a color scheme. I knew I wanted a green table cloth, since most Lego 'boards' are green (I have since been informed that I was wrong in this thinking. I'm a girl, what do I know) ;) I ended up getting various colors for the remaining paper/plastic ware: Orange napkins, blue plates, yellow cups and red forks. I was worried that this would look totally tacky, but after seeing it on various other websites and taking a picture of it all laying out pre-party, I wasn't too worried. And it looked great! Definitely the color punch I was going for!
• We also hired a friend/photographer to capture the day. Probably the best money spent. Ever. She's just starting out, so doesn't charge a lot, but how wonderful to sit back and enjoy the afternoon with family celebrating our little man! She also snagged some family pictures and sweet moments of the day:

The big boys waiting for family to arrive

The cake was a hit!

And it made for a birthday that I hope he remembers for awhile!

Today is big man's real birthday! Happy 4th birthday to you, Keaton.
My sweet pea who made me a mama!

Picky Eater Vs. Foodie

image by Kaitlin Roten of KaitlinRotenPhotography.

My two older boys, Keaton (a month shy of turning 4 years, sigh) and Benjamin (2.5 years) are total opposites in every way.

Keaton is LONG and lanky. Benjamin is longish, but has a bit of chunk (compared to big bro).

Keaton has bright red hair, light blue eyes and fair skin. Benjamin has dark eyes, dirty blonde hair and a beautiful, year-round tan.

Keaton is always go-go-go, picking up different toys and must have someone playing with him at all times. Benjamin could sit alone and play with the same toy for hours.

Keaton hates for his hands to be dirty, but I'm always finding sticks, rocks and dirt in and on Benjamin's clothes.

Keaton is a morning person - up before the sun, bright and chipper. Benjamin prefers to stay up late into the night and stumbles into the kitchen with eyes still closed, growling at anyone who dares speak to him.

When it comes meal times, the opposites continue. Every morning, Keaton wants oatmeal. Lunch time rolls around, "Mommy, I want peanut butter and jelly." Thankfully, he's pretty open to dinner time options (as long as cubed chicken isn't involved).

Benjamin - you never know what he'll ask for at breakfast, at lunch, the same thing. Yesterday, he asked, very specifically for a bologna sandwich, with ketchup, mustard, mayo, American and mozzarella cheese and the sandwich cut into four triangles.

It's a totally different "order" every day ;)

And, as long as I can get dinner to Benjamin first, he'll eat it, no problems. If he hears big brother say, "It's gross", forget it!

I write all this to get some toddler/pre-schooler lunch ideas. I have about 6 months to convince Keaton that PB&J doesn't rule the world, as his pre-school is a peanut free school!!

Are your kids pickies or foodies? What do your picky eaters love?

Why Every Mom Needs...

a Hand Vacuum!

CAUGHT!
Eli loves to scoop, load, dump, pour etc. everything! When he couldn't find anything to put into his train wagon he went to the cupboard and pulled out the salt (the only thing in there that he could open).

Storage Solutions

When I first started cloth diapering I obviously had a limited amount of diapers. So finding a place to put them wasn't really an issue. Even though we had 2 in diapers only one was in cloth. We wanted to make sure it was the right choice for us before we invested a lot of money into it. Since our baby was only 1 month old we still had him in our room. We set up his diapers on our dresser and made it into a little changing station. We had mainly prefolds and covers for him and a couple of Thirsties Duos. These all fit perfectly into a small weaved basket. We also had wipes tubs with the following: 1-butt cream, and other baby care items, 2- wipes, 3- changing pads, 4-wash clothes. This worked great for us.


Then we decided to start cloth diapering our at the time, 1 1/2 year old son as well. We had this wooden shelf my parents had given us that they no longer used and we were using it for diapering items so this worked great for the cloth. We have it next to the changing table and it was easily accessible. We started out our older son in prefolds and covers mainly and some AIO's and pockets. There is also a lot of left over sposies!Traveling with cloth was quite different than disposables. They do take up more room so you can't just throw a huge pile in. You have to pack what you need with a little extra for the just in case moments. I have a JJ Cole Mode bag and I love it! It is skinny and deep. Now, I will say this...my diaper bag does not look this organized every time! This was probably for a half a day outing so I didn't need to many diapers. I lined them all up on the bottom of the bag which allowed me to keep extra clothes and burp rags on top of them. In the side pockets I kept wipes, creams and baggies. I was also nursing so I didn't need any bottles, formula containers, etc. so that save space as well. I know find myself going out of the house with at least 2 bags each time. One with diapering supplies, bottles and formula and baby food and a second with extra clothes.

Then my stash got attacked by other diapers and it grew and grew and grew and well you get the picture...I now have so many diapers its crazy, but awesome! Please keep in mind I am still cloth diapering two children. Also, did not contain all my diapers at the time and I now have probably at least 10-15 more than when this was taken. Above my washing machine I have a ribbon hanging up with clothes pins...wonderful for rainy days and winter months.
So now you are probably wondering what in the world I do with all my diapers! Well, my 1 month old (from the beginning of the post) I mentioned is now 8 months old and shares a room with his big brother. So that means I have to share the changing table space. Here is the changing table as we have it set up. We no longer use the tall skinny shelf for diapers, it is full of books. I have 3 baskets on the top shelf and two bigger baskets on the bottom. The basket on the top shelf on the right contains our night time diapers for both boys.

The middle basket on the top shelf contains diapers I use every day. We have quite the variety of diapers and I love them!
The basket on the top shelf left side contains all my BG 3.0's and 4.0's. These are the diapers that fit both of the boys with out any adjusting...so daddy friendly! Most of the diapers in the other basket on this shelf will fit both boys as well but this one is guaranteed to fit. This makes the hubs happy.

On the bottoms shelf I have a basket with a variety of items. This is mostly filled with my baby prefolds and medium, large and size 2 duo covers, fitteds and a couple of out grown diapers. Every now and again ( like today) I get in a mode where I just want to do the prefolds/fitted. They were my original diapering system and I can't give up on them!
The large basket on the bottom shelf holds all of my infant prefolds, small covers, size 1 duo covers, and all the small diapers that baby out grew. :( They are so little and when I look at them it makes me want another right now! lol I also keep all my extra inserts in this basket. This comes in handy for when I need to improvise and stuff extra inserts into a diaper for nap time or bed time.

This is how I store all my diapers. Its what works best for me and every now and again I change it up because of more diapers or I find a diaper I like better than another or some simply get out grown. I have seen some other great diaper storage solutions where people use the three tiered shelf with the plastic bins of bight colors for their diapers and they are all organized by size, style, inserts, prefolds etc. Pretty neat! People have also used wooden shelves with a bunch of cubes in them for storing diapers.

What do you use to store your diapers? Share below and feel free to post a picture on our FB page wall! I love to see all the different options out there.

Brushing Teeth

I seen in one of the comments for the Radius tooth brush giveaway a question about how to help encourage teeth brushing in young children who hate to brush. I guess I an pretty lucky in that my son loves to brush his teeth. We usually have to take the brush from him and take him out of the bathroom crying! But on to the question asked:
First I would like to say, I am by no means an expert. With that said, if you have a child who doesn't like to brush their teeth there are some different things you can try.
-Take your little one to the store and let them pick out a tooth brush of their own. I think that when they are able to pick something out by themselves they feel pretty proud and will be more likely to use it. Just make sure you have the right stage brush for your child.
-Make brushing fun. Allow your child to take lead. Let them play with, chew on, and explore the brush. Its a new thing, you move it all over in your mouth, it feels funny, what the craziness is that thing? I think it helps to let the child to explore what the item is. The more familiar they are the more comfortable they will be sticking it in their mouth.
-Teach them. Use your tooth brush and show them how you brush your teeth. Front circles, side circles, tops, bottoms, how ever you brush show them. Let them try it out too!

Here is my experience with my son:
We started brushing my sons teeth shortly after he got his first couple in. He was probably around 9 months. I think most people don't think to brush at that age because they are so little and because they only eat so much. I think this helped with my son liking to brush teeth.

Once E was old enough we let him have to own brush to explore. He was able to chew on it, brush with it, play with it so that it became more of a good item rather than an item that was considered bad. We still would help him with brushing by holding his hand, not the brush, and showing him how to move the brush around and on his teeth getting the spots needed.

Shortly before E turned 2 he started asking a lot of different times to brush. He would hear my husband turn the water on in the bathroom and would run in there asking to brush his teeth.

We would play a fun 'game' with him and ask him to brush in different spots, like the top, front, bottoms, sides etc and he would do it. We also do a copy game where we will brush our own teeth and he will watch and do the same motions.

E loves to brush and will sit on the counter for forever if we let him brushing his teeth. He is still only 2 though and still needs helping making sure he gets all his teeth clean. That is why we have 2-3 tooth brushes just for him. He picks out the brush he wants and uses it. After a minute or two we pick up a different brush of his and help him. He usually does a pretty good time opening his mouth but every now and again he will keep it closed a little bit, I think because it tickles.

We have his first dentist appointment coming up on the 6th. This should be a really interesting experience. He is such a strong willed child and when something is going on that he is unsure of he fights and screams and kicks and you usually have to sit on his legs or hold him in a super tight hug to get him to calm down. I hope that he does well but I doubt it. I might make my hubby take the afternoon off to go with.

We probably would have waited until E was 3 to take him into the dentist but on Dec. 23 he fell in the tub and hit his face on the side. This resulted in a chipped tooth, really badly bruised gums and I think the teeth got pushed up a little bit. Of couse nothing was open from when it happened until the 27th because of the holiday and we had a recheck for his ears on Tuesday so I asked the Pediatrician about it and she recommending taking him in to get it checked out. She also said that she recommends they start seeing a dentist around 2 - 2 1/2 years old. So off we go to the dentist! I will have to let you know what happens, they might need to sand down the chipped tooth to smooth it out.

I would love to hear about your children's experience with brushing their teeth at a young age. Did they love it, hate it? What did you do to help them have a good experience with brushing their teeth?