Essential oils - super allergy bomb

I have had several friends ask me about what essential oils I use, and since I've had pretty good success with several concoctions, I thought I'd share my experience here.

Today I am going to share with you my SUPER ALLERGY BOMB concoction using Thieves, Breathe Easier and Melaleuca. All through Eden's Garden.

Please note: I am not a doctor. These statements are simply my experience. Please do your research and use with caution.

I have used this on every member of my family and this stuff works! If you have a cold, snotty nose, cough, allergies, etc. this stuff is for you!

It's simple. Put 30 drops of each oil into a roller bottle and roll it directly onto the bottom of your feet, back of your neck and behind your ears. I do this simple topical application for myself, my husband and my 2 year old. I notice a difference almost immediately, although I cannot use this right now because Breathe Easier has peppermint in it which will dry out my milk supply.

FOR MY BABY, I put a carrier oil on his feet first. I use coconut oil. Then I roll it directly onto his feet. I do not put it on his neck because I don't want it too close to his eyes.

THAT'S IT! I know how debilitating allergies and colds can be for a family, so I sure hope this helps y'all!

Judson - 2 months

Age: 2 months

Height: 23.75"

Weight: 12lbs. 5oz.

Nicknames: Judd, JudderBug

 

Milestones: We have smiles!! He's still pretty hard to impress, but when he sees me for the first time after nap or in the morning, he gives me huge gummy smiles that absolutely melt my heart! Judd found his hands this month and loves sucking on them, which are now usually open (he never really had "clubs" as hands like Jacob did though). He loves laying under his playmat, kicking his little legs and batting at the toys. He tracks with his eyes more smoothly now, and can definitely hear my voice in the room and will move his head to find me. Judd is also very vocal, he's always "talking" to us, which is seriously the cutest! Judd loves sitting in his bouncy seat, hitting the little toys and kicking his legs. Sometimes he kicks so much that he actually bounces himself, which I think is the point of the chair...big brother never did that though!

Sleep: We moved Judd into his own room on his 1mo birthday, and my goodness- what a good decision! He's such a noisy sleeper, so now we can't hear most of his moaning and whining. He's still in his rock & play, until we can figure out his reflux. Overall he's a much better sleeper than his brother (knock on wood), but I think that's in part to starting good sleep habits early with him (i.e. putting him down drowsy but awake). He can soothe himself to sleep for naps and bedtime with little to no crying. Yay! Here's our current schedule. 

Eating: We're still exclusively breastfeeding every 3 hours during the day and anywhere from 4-8 hours at night. Judd is such a different nurser than Jacob- Judd will not latch if he's not hungry and eats only what he wants, as soon as he's done he pops off and if you attempt to re-latch him he will cry!

Clothes size: 3mo

Diaper size: just upgraded to size 2!

 

Teeth: none

Favorite toy: he's been loving this zebra

Likes: His favorite thing to do is sit on my lap, looking at me, and talk and suck on his hands. I could do it for hours! He also loves diaper changes and going for walks.

Dislikes: being overtired, overstimulated, hungry or wet 

Personality: I'm still trying to figure out if he's easy going or high maintenance. Maybe a little in between, but definitely easier than Jacob.

Best moment: we've had some warmer temps recently, so just getting outside!!

Worst moment: Poor buddy got another cold this month, he's actually still recovering. Breaks my heart!

Looking forward to: warmer weather and lots of time outdoors!

How is Jacob adjusting?: Jacob has really started to warm up to his brother. He has always loved his baby brother, but he's just sooo sweet now! Always giving kisses and telling us how much he loves Judd. It's really cute! He always insists on going to get Judd after his naps or sitting next to me while I nurse him. He's still acting out a little bit, but not quite as much I think.

A few more pictures from the month...
 

 

Our Schedule - toddler + 2 month old

Something I always enjoy reading are sample schedules or other people's daily schedules, so I want to share that with you today.

I started a pretty strict schedule with Judd around 1 month, because I could not function without it. Jacob and I have grown so used to knowing what to expect that it was strange and, quite frankly, not working for us to not have a schedule anymore.

I also felt like I was spending all my days rocking Judd to sleep for naps and only getting 30-45 minute naps out of him. That wasn't working either, mostly because I cannot spend 30 minutes rocking him to sleep while Jacob plays in the living room by himself. God only knows what he could (and did) get into! Plus I'm a firm believer in the effects of overstimulation and overtiredness.

I had already done loads of sleep research with Jacob, so I kinda refreshed myself and decided what path we were going to take.

I love the adjustable schedules from Moms on Call and have heard tons of success stories of babies sleeping through the night by like 9 weeks, so I knew I wanted to go with that schedule. And I respect and understand the sleep training methods of Babywise, especially since I saw firsthand what bad sleep habits can do to a baby (ahem, Jacob). 

So with that little background, here's our current schedule. This is best case scenario. Some days we follow this to a T and other days I'm tapping out when dad gets home at 4:30. I've also noticed that Judd is ready to extend his feeding times to 3.5 hours, so we'll be changing things up very soon.

2am: Judd wakes up for the first time to eat. I feed him, change his diaper, re-swaddle him and put him back down.

6am: Judd wakes up again to eat. Like before, I feed him, change his diaper, re-swaddle him and put him back down.
7:30-8am: Jacob wakes up. After waking up myself, cleaning up and changing clothes, I go in and get Jacob up, change his diaper and clothes and bring him out to the living room for breakfast and milk.
8-8:30am: Judd wakes up. I change his diaper and bring him out to the living room.
(If Jacob has school, I try to feed Judd a little bit during this time before we leave. Otherwise, we play with Judd for a bit.)

9am: feed Judd while we watch cartoons (I try very hard to keep Judd on a 3-hour feed schedule)

9:30-10am: playtime with big brother, either on the playmat or in my arms

10am: Judd goes down for his first nap. I always change his diaper and put on lots of butt paste before naps. Swaddle + white noise + dark room = recipe for success!

10:10am: I pump, get Jacob to finish his breakfast, and clean up breakfast

11-12am: one-on-one playtime with Jacob. I also try to make Jacob's lunch at the end of this time, so he can graze on it for the hour.

12pm: Judd wakes up (or I wake him up, I only allow naps to go 2 hours). Diaper change and bring him out to the living room. 

12:05pm: feed Judd while we watch cartoons and Jacob eats lunch

12:30-1pm: playtime with big brother

1pm: Judd goes down for another nap. Diaper, swaddle, white noise, dark room. 

1:10-1:30pm: Jacob and I watch Thomas while he finishes his lunch. This is something we've done for almost a year now, good cuddle time!

1:30pm: Jacob goes down for his nap.

1:35pm: I make lunch for myself and do anything I need to do that can't be done while Jacob is awake (crafts, blog, etc.)

2:15pm: Jacob is usually up after 45-60 minutes, so I get him up, change his diaper and we come back out to the living room. I continue doing things I need to do (laundry, cleaning, etc.) and then make him a snack. 

3pm: Judd wakes up. I change his diaper and bring him out to the living room. 

3:05pm: feed Judd while we watch cartoons

3:30-4pm: playtime with big brother

4pm: Judd goes down for his afternoon nap

4:10-4:30pm: I am usually drained by this point, so I'll throw the iPad at Jacob or attempt to clean up all his toys.

4:30pm: dad gets home! Party! Jacob usually tags along with Josh for awhile and I sit on the couch and recover from the day. Haha!

5:30pm: I wake up Judd for his "supper" feed. Josh usually starts dinner. 

6-6:30pm: playtime with big brother and daddy while mom finishes dinner and plates it. Jacob starts eating dinner. 

6:30pm: Judd goes down for his last nap of the day, this is usually a catnap (unless he's slept bad all day).

6:30pm: we eat dinner 

7pm: start a Bubble Guppies episode with Jacob while he drinks a little smoothie (we've been doing this for over a year)
7:30pm: Judd wakes up
8pm: both boys start bathtime (I bathe Judd in the kitchen sink, while Josh bathes Jacob in the tub)
8:15pm: bedtime feeding in Judd's room
8:45pm: both boys are down, and Josh and I clean up the house
9pm: I take a shower and get in bed...e x h a u s t e d

I'm exhausted just reading this! Gah! This really puts things in perspective.

From the trenches

Do you ever have days where you think (or cry) to yourself, "I am not cut out for this job!"...? If you're a mom, likely yes. It seems I cry that outloud nearly everyday. 

"This is a hard job, the hardest you'll ever have." ... "But the most rewarding." so they say. 

From the trenches, dinosaur chicken nuggets and pigs in a blanket make a perfectly acceptable dinner. (don't worry, we sliced up a banana for the big guy)

From the trenches, you let them pick out any toy because your mommy guilt is so bad.

From the trenches, photo collages like this are what you LIVE for right now!

From the trenches, you get this in your kid's backpack at the end of a stressful day and somehow all the stress vanishes. Kinda. ;)
 

From the trenches, you give chocolate milk and cake pops on your mommy/Jakey dates because. Just because.

Postpartum Favorites

I feel like a seasoned vet this time around. Healing and dealing came pretty easy for me this time around, which I cannot say happened with Jacob! Here's a quick round-up of my favorite postpartum items.

Squirt Bottle  I know this is totally TMI, but you will absolutely L O V E  this thing at the hospital, and when you come home. I honestly used it for the first 3 months with Jacob. I didn't use it quite as long this time around, mostly because I didn't have time to keep refilling it.

Tucks Pads  Another TMI, but these really help cool and comfort your lady bits. I also had pretty bad hemorrhoids with Jacob and these were great!

Always Infinity Pads  I tried a TON of different pads and I think these are the best! They are thin so you don't feel like you're wearing a diaper, but really absorbent so you don't have to change them every few hours. You will have pretty heavy bleeding for at least 2 weeks, and it slowly tappers off. I'm still wearing panty liners daily.

NUK Overnight Nursing Pads  Another item I've shopped and tried. These are the best I found. They are really absorbent, soft, and they are NOT individually packaged (which is such a silly thing to think about, but it's a total pain in the butt to unwrap these, especially when you use 4/day)!

Mason Jar  I like to have a large plastic mason jar around with water at all times. I used to use my camelbak, but I think this is more convenient and you don't have to fill it up every 10 minutes.

Heating Pad  My back is constantly aching at the beginning, so a heating pad is really nice to have. I think it's from holding 10lbs. for long periods of time, my body just isn't used to it! I lay on this every night before bed.

Nursing Camis  I have said this over and over on all my "favorites" lists, but these really are the best! Super soft, easy to use and cheap! I purchased a few more because I really do wear these every single day.

Baby Feed App  I love this app. I used it the entire time I breastfed Jacob (over a year!) and am now using it with Judd. You can set it to alert you every 2 or 3 hours (or however long you want) and it reminds you what breast you ended on last feed, etc. It also has the capability to track diaper changes, naps, etc. I haven't really used those functions though, I tend to have more trouble remembering what time I last fed the baby vs. when he last napped.

Chapstick  This Advocare chapstick is hands down my favorite. It's yummy flavored, sticks around for awhile and doesn't tingle or sting (which I can't stand in winter).

Something I didn't include on this is a nursing bra. I still haven't found a nursing bra that I love. I bought this one this time around and it's just ok. I guess for the price, it's good, but I still wouldn't recommend it. It's hard to re-clasp, the center piece of fabric (between the breasts) sticks out awkwardly so you can see it through your shirts, it makes my boobs look pointy and it's kinda hard to pull it back up from under you boobs. The bra I bought with Jacob isn't available anymore, but it was another Gilligan O'Malley from Target. Something tells me I need to bite the bullet and go to Motherhood for a nice quality bra.

Anyways, there's my top postpartum favorites! Y'all have anything else you love??

From the trenches

I want to start a weekly-ish series called "From the trenches" to document this  c r a z y  time in our lives. I hear it time and time again that we'll eventually miss these days, and while I'd like to believe all those people, something tells me I won't. Ha!

I'm going to highlight some of the craziest/funniest/ridiculous things that happen around here because I think in 20 years, that's what I'll want to laugh about. 

So here we go.

From the trenches, this is a perfectly acceptable morning/breakfast. 

 

From the trenches, this is what we do when it's too cold to play outside. 

From the trenches, your husband sends you text pictures like this and you leap for joy! First bottle!

From the trenches, you wear your baby while sitting down because your arms and back hurt so bad from holding him allllll day. 

 

From the trenches, this is how we do dinner. Donald Duck is totally invited. (and mom and dad finished 20 minutes ago because we don't know how to eat at a normal pace)

 



From the trenches, it's perfectly normal to find us in our PJs swinging in the backyard in the middle of the afternoon. 

But look at that smile. 

Heart racing-ly cute valentines

See what I did there?? Is racing-ly even a word??

Since Jacob is in school this year and I have  z e r o  free time, I needed a cute and easy valentine idea for all his classmates. I also wanted to go with something that Jacob enjoys, because they are from him after all- right?? ;)

Look how cute these turned out! And let me tell you-  e a s y, e a s y, e a s y!!

I threw together the printable in Photoshop real quick, printed them, cut them, glued them to construction paper, bought 84¢ Hot Wheels from Target, glued the cars to the paper and TA DA! So simple.

 

The hardest part was keeping Jacob from ripping all the cars off the paper before the month of February!

Soo...whatcha think? Do they get your heart racing? ;)