Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I usually HATE to cook. I think one of the reasons for this is that I like to make everything from scratch. I don't like box cakes, premixed sauces, frozen lasagna, instant mashed potatoes, Bisquick etc. It's all about control. I like to control what ingredients are going into my body. I like simple, organic, chemical free foods. Anyway, my ideas don't taste that great, so my family usually doesn't go back for seconds (have you noticed how skinny we are?). So, I've been trying some new recipes and have been pleasantly surprised at how good the food is! I made, the best steak I've ever tasted, the best salmon Sweetface has ever had, and here is a salad we ate tonight that I got from a raw food website. It sounded like a weird combo, but try it, because you will like it!

Mango Avocado Salad

Ingredients

• 2 Ripe Mangoes, peeled, pitted and chopped
• 1 Large Avocado, peeled, pitted and chopped
• 1 Tablespoon Lime Juiced
• 2 Teaspoons Olive Oil
• 1 Tablespoon Black Sesame Seeds

Instructions:
Hand mix all of the ingredients together and serve.

Natural Cure for Thrush

Its seems as though for every sickness or issue that has come up with our kids, there is a natural cure. Guess the number of times that Sweetpea and Sweetheart have taken antibiotics...combined...ZERO! Guess how many times they have taken any prescribed medication...again ZERO! So sweetheart came down with a case of thrush. Hmmm, what to do?

First of all, if you don't know, thrush is a yeast infection of the mouth and throat, characterized by patches of white, caused by the fungus Candida albicans.

Yeast is a part of the normal flora in the mouth. Certain conditions, such as antibiotic use, can disturb the natural balance of microorganisms in the mouth and allow the overgrowth of Candida to cause thrush.

Since he has never taken antibiotics, I don't know how he got this. I took them when I was around 35 weeks pregnant with him because of a UTI. They say UTI's can make you go into labor early, so I went ahead and took the meds. Anyway, maybe that's how his flora got unbalanced.

So I did some research and talked to my midwife and this is what balanced my baby:

1. Everyday for a week I cleaned his mouth with diluted white vinegar and a washcloth (he didn't like that too much...poor thing).

2. Cleaned areas on me that came in contact with his mouth ( my NIPS OK?! he's still breast feeding), with a colloidal silver/tea tree oil mix spray that I made and then applied coconut oil (it's a natural anti-fungal).

3. In the morning and evening, sprinkled probiotics on the nipple before he nursed

The thrush is gone without the use of anything harmful on my son!

So, I will continue to share with you other natural cures that work for us. And if there is something that must be fixed by the help of chemicals-um, I mean medicine, then I will share that too, because seriously, modern medicine is SOMETIMES necessary.

Look at that baby. Still cute with a white mouth.

Sooo, you don't like seaweed? EAT IT AGAIN!

I recently found out that some foods require you to taste them 9 times before you develop a taste for them. This is important to remember when introducing new foods to your children. If at first they spit it out, try try again. But you can also use this on yourself! I like to call it "taste bud training." When you think of healthy food, you probably think that it will taste bad. BUT, if you train your buds to think celery and spinach taste good, your bod will thank you later!

EGG-celent first food

Sweet pea's first food was avocado. Sweetheart's first food was rice cereal. Thank goodness, he didn't like it! I've been doing some research on what babies can eat when, and what the perfect first food should be.

Most pediatricians and childcare books offer the same advice about a baby's first solid meal -- start them first on rice cereal mixed with breast milk or formula. This has been received wisdom for 60 years.

WHY? Because, in the 1950's, baby food companies launched an advertising campaign (falsely) boasting the benefits of white rice cereal. There is no scientific research that backs these claims. None at all. And now, concerned about increasing childhood obesity, some pediatricians want to change how babies eat.

If babies are getting used to the taste of highly processed white rice and flour, it may set them up for a lifetime of bad habits.

USA Today reports:

"White rice -- after processing strips away fiber, vitamins and other nutrients -- is a 'nutritional disaster' ... White rice and flour turn to sugar in the body 'almost instantly,' ... raising blood sugar and insulin levels."

White rice is a refined carbohydrate, a group of highly processed, nutritionally devoid foods that have been linked to increased rates of heart disease, insulin resistance, eye damage and cancer in adults, and are worthless nutritionally for infants as well.

So enough about that. What SHOULD we be feeding our babies? EXTREMELY SOFT BOILED EGG YOLKS. Yes, I know lot's of kids are developing allergies to eggs. But did you know that it is the egg WHITE that they are allergic to?

According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, egg yolk should be your baby's first solid food, starting as early as 4 months, whether your baby is breastfed or formula-fed. Egg yolks from free-range hens will contain the long-chain fatty acids so critical for the optimal development of your child's brain and nervous system.

So this is what I did:

Boiled an egg for 4 minutes. Removed the shell and egg white. The yolk should be soft and warm, not hot, with its enzyme content intact. Sprinkled with a small amount of natural Himalayan salt and fed to Sweetheart with a spoon....and he actually liked it! I did it for him again this morning and tasted it myself and started gagging. I guess if you're used to scrambled, you have to get used to the almost raw kind.

Face Fixer Upper

I just wanted to share what I did with my skin tonight. Over the holidays, I've been stuffing my face with pure junk, exercising only once or twice a week, and not getting any sun. So this morning, when I woke up, my face had finally had enough and started giving me warning signs to take better care of myself. It just looked pale, dull, and had some blemishes. So, I decided that when I got home from church, I was going to fix it!

Here's what I did:

1. Threw away Christmas cookies, and other random junk foods
2. Ate some raw food for dinner (celery, carrots, hummus)
3. Found some ingredients in the kitchen to make an exfoliate
-baking soda
- sea salt
- raw gritty honey
- plain yogurt
(these ingredients fizzed up when I mixed them)
4. Exfoliated
5. Applied my dad's collagen face jelly

My face feels super soft looks rejuvenated. Wooo hoo!
Going to try to get some exercise and sun tomorrow. See ya!

The Birth Story of my Sweetheart

Our baby boy is finally here! As most of you know, I decided to have a home birth this time around. I'll quickly tell you the story so I can get back to my beautiful boy and Sweetpea.

Since I was uncomfortable in the hospital with Sweetpea, and since I'm part hippie, I had to try a home birth with my second child. I went to bed that night having some contractions and had a feeling that I would go into labor soon, but knew I needed to rest. I woke up a few times that night with contractions, but went back to sleep. At 3:00 am I woke up and the contractions were strong and close together, so I got up without waking anyone, and decided to do my hair and makeup since Sweetface said he was going to video tape. I was in the bathroom for about 20 min washing my face and breathing through the contractions and finally said, "forget the hair and make up you vain girl you, it doesn't matter, this baby is coming soon!" I ran into our bedroom and shook Sweetface and said, "lets do this! fill the birthing tub!" He jumped up and got the hose and had to run it from Sweetpea's bathroom because it wouldn't work in ours. I called the midwife and told her the contractions were 2.5 min apart. She said, "are you sure? drink and eat something and I will be there soon." Sweetpea woke up and was totally confused and started crying. I got her out of bed and laid with her in our bed for a few min but had to focus on the contractions. My mom was visiting, so I got her up and told her to lay with Sweetpea and take her somewhere. I locked myself in the bathroom and got in the bathtub which really soothed my pain. The midwife arrived and I was already 7 cm dilated! Whew, that was a relief. Then Sweetpea calmed down and my mom took her to my in-laws and that helped me relax more. In between contractions I quickly walked to the living room where the midwives were setting up and where the birthing pool was. Everyone spoke softly to each other and let me do my thing (on my knees, rocking back and forth, and taking deep breaths). I visualized the baby moving down and kept telling myself, "you can do this, just a little bit longer, and you get to see your little boy." It was more of an overwhelming feeling than a painful one. Like something so big was happening to my body, that I couldn't control it. It was doing what it was made to do. The sun started to rise and I could hear birds chirping outside and I thought, "this is special, and would be a nice time to meet this precious little baby." I could feel burning and pushed his head out in the water. The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck! The midwives had to clamp and cut it because it was wrapped so tight. They told me to stand up so they could do that. Then they said, "PUSH!" and I said, "but I'm not having a contraction!" They said, "PUSH!" So I did, and he was born at 6:19 am. They had to give him some puffs of air and stimulate him to get him to cry.

So now it is 2 weeks later and his temperament seems very sweet and easy going. He doesn't fuss or cry much and is a good eater and sleeper. Sweetpea loves him to pieces. If she is upset about something and sees him, she will stop crying and kiss and hug him. I feel so blessed to have such an easy labor this time, and extremely happy when I see my two babies together. Right now, he is going through his 2 week growth spurt, so I have to go feed him again!

Spring Cleaning!

Fumes from conventional cleaning products smell great to me, but then I think about how BAD they are for my body and brain cells! Then I get really sick to my stomach when I think about that precious little girl running around my house in them. Young children are vulnerable to the toxins in such cleaning products. Everything goes in their mouths and they virtually live on the floor. And kids are more sensitive because they are still developing the basic body systems: the brain, internal organs, respiratory and immune systems are not fully developed until adolescence. So what's a girl to do when she wants clean, but toxin-free living?

The simple, cheap, and extremely effective nontoxic cleaning agent that I probably use everyday is white vinegar. Vinegar kills bacteria, mold and germs and won't hurt Sweetpea. If you like to see things bubble or fizz put some baking soda down on the surface you are cleaning first. This also helps exfoliate the soap scum or dirt in the shower. If you don't like the smell, don't worry, it goes away when you rinse it and it dries. You could also mix a little lemon juice (from a lemon, not from a bottle), vinegar, and water in a spray bottle to help with the vinegar odor.

If you want to get fancy, I make a spray that you can not only clean your toilet with, but also your face (but don't put it in your mucous membranes). I mix tea tree oil, colloidal silver, and reverse osmosis water in a spray bottle. Tea tree oil is a natural antibacterial disinfectant that was commonly used as a general antiseptic by the aborigine tribes for thousands of years. More recently, the scientific community has confirmed that Tea Tree Oil has tremendous medicinal benefits. I used it to get rid of some fungus I had on my toenail. Yeah, it took care of it totally and I didn't have to take that prescription crap that damages your liver and kidneys! Colloidal silver is good for everything (google it). I even drink it when I feel like I'm coming down with something and it goes away. Anyway, this product smells fresh and clean so you may like it better than the vinegar. Oh, and you can buy the tea tree oil and colloidal silver (my dad makes his own) at health food stores or online. I got my tea tree oil from vitacost.com.