"Things have changed." - Ava

Maybe it's the pregnancy hormones leaving my body. Or maybe it's just what happens when you add another child to your family. But when you forget to find your oldest child during a game of hide-and-seek, you feel BAD. I mean really bad - like tears spring up in your eyes as you look at your first born who asks you "mommy why didn't you come find me? Aren't we still playing?" The child I always had time for and I forgot we were playing a game. How does that happen? I was counting to 30 and in a few minutes, I just totally forgot. Where is my brain? 

Things have changed for sure. And while most of it is wonderful it is also much more tricky. Dinner time on is tricky as I have a child stuck on my boob, another one who needs to eat, I would like to eat, our dog wants to eat, then there's bath time, reading, etc. And Ava wants me to scratch her head in bed AND read the book but Jackson is crying. Hmmm, tricky. 

I know Ava was okay that I didn't come find her right away during our game. But I was not okay. So what do I do to make it up to her to show her I haven't forgotten her? I enroll her in swim lessons. How fun. Something else to get out the door for with a baby on my boob. And be on time. And I hope I don't forget. I already put it in my calender with an hour reminder time but who knows? Maybe once I hit snooze on the reminder, I'll forget. Because this also just happened. Ava had a daisy troop outing and my phone's alarm went off. So I hit dismiss and I proceeded to get her permission slip and made the loud announcement in the house "Don't forget - you have daisies in an hour!" And then I forgot. No one took her. And at at six o'clock I yelled out, "we forgot your daisy meeting!" How did I forget in an hour? There's got to be an oil for that :) 

So in a nutshell, I'm still trying, and trying to do better. And I know our children are loved and feel loved. I really do know this. But man, those little moments when you let your kids down - that hurts. And all I could think of to say was sorry - mommy's so sorry. Which I guess is good in a way - Ava will see it is good to apologize to others and to make things right. But I think that's still just me trying to make myself feel better. I won't beat myself up too much - I think this is all part of it, part of the transition to having another baby. And it really just was an accident. But that incident just keeps popping up in my mind at random moments. Dang being a parent is hard. But it's so great too. 

Happy Tuesday everyone.

-Emily

I am now the crazy oil lady

So yeah, it's been since October since I started using young living oils and I can now officially say I am the crazy oil lady. I totally see it in people's eyes when they come over with horrible allergies and they look at me nervously when I ask them if they want me to make them a capsule - they look a little frightened. Of course I also tell them they don't need to take it if they don't want to or if they're not comfortable with it or check with you doctor first, etc. But they are usually pretty curious so they down it. Then they're amazed when it works. And then we laugh together because the whole thing still seems so weird and wacky to me. Because how can a few drops of lemon, lavender, and peppermint help their allergies? I know - weird.

Premium Starter Kit I got back in October (it came with freaking 11 oils and a diffuser):

But what also is so weird is how I used to readily give Ava some claritin whenever her allergies were crazy (because allergies trigger her asthma and oh Lord, my anxiety would go up) and she would suffer horrible bloody noses from the allergy meds. So now I had a child who wasn't suffering from allergies anymore but instead would have bloody noses for a few days. Well that's great. By the way - the side effect for Ava from me putting the allergy trio on the bottoms of her feet? No allergies.

Allergy trio that works for us:

Now, even I must say an oil one person uses for a headache may not help me with my headache. I found that out when everyone swore by YL peppermint rubbed on my temples for a headache - did not help me one bit. But luckily there are other oils to try (just like there's other meds to try for migraines) and I found my choice oil! A drop of thieves on my thumb pressed to the roof of my mouth for 30 seconds. Now, let's all laugh together right now (hahahaha) because that is just plain wacky. But I would usually take 3 extra strength rapid release tylenol for a migraine so since I don't do that anymore, my liver thanks me greatly.

So I really really really want to have an oil party so I can explain what carrier oils are, show everyone my bag of tricks, show peeps how I make foot cream, etc. because I soooo wish I could have learned some of this stuff early on from someone in person. But my friend Ashley so willingly answered all of my questions through email, text, facebook, etc (she lives far away from me) and was so patient with me as I learned and asked questions. And I invite you all to do the same too! Seriously - ask me your questions and I will try to help you because I am literally up all hours of the night and day feeding a human. And also, let me know if you want me to add you to our oil group on facebook. That's how I started learning about all of this young living oil stuff. 

I do want to mention I only use young living oils - nothing else. Someone who I love dearly (name will be withheld) tried to help her child's eczema by using some store bought oils - they didn't work. So her conclusion? Essential oils don't work. Wrong! They do work if you are using 100% pure therapeutic grade oils. Luckily, this person tried young living and her daughter's skin looks amazing. So yeah . . . she is now a crazy oil lady too.  

So talk to your doctor if you are on meds, come over to my house and check out my collection, ask me questions, laugh at me - whatever floats your boat. Because I was the person laughing when I heard about oils but now I laugh even more because I have found them to work wonders for my family and I haven't had to pay for Ava's asthma meds for months. Take that singulair and albuterol! (I know, I know, that sounds so stupid and cheesy but I am running on fumes for sleep so please forgive me).

Ava's asthma oils:

Happy Wednesday!

-Emily