My little one is 10 months old!

How the time flies!

Liam's favorites: Mommy, milk, Daddy.  He loves to play with his friends (our nanny and her son).  He likes to play peek a boo and will invite you to play with him by racing towards an open door so he can close it and open it so you'll say 'peek a boo'.  It's seriously cute! 

Liam likes to push the chairs around in the kitchen or pretty much anything that he can push.  Liam is beginning to tell 'stories' as he's turning the pages of his books laughing as he does!  He likes to tell his puppy stories or hang out with his puppy.  Charlie is very tolerant of Liam and allows Liam to stand up on him, pull his ears, his jowls, whiskers, and well anything else Liam can grab.  Allie on the other hand isn't so tolerant.  She will hang out with him for a moment and then run off.

Recently Liam started to hold his arms out when he wants to go to someone.  It warms my heart when he holds his arms out to me.  I'm so enjoying him!  Liam still loves music and enjoys playing in Daddy's studio.  Daddy plays the drums and the guitar with Liam and it's always very calming for him.

Mama I don't like hats

Our first Halloween as a family; Liam's looking at me like 'who are you?' 'Where's my Mama?'

Cause standing on all the things is what we do!

My little guy wasn't feeling so hot and this is how we rest, in Mama's sling

Double fisting with his milk and pedialyte or perhaps a future drummer?

We had no power for nearly 48 hours, he was confused at why he was eating dinner in the dark

After our power came back on Liam was so excited so he was walking with Charlie

He's a very patient bulldog

Liam is learning to wave here, by putting his hand right there and waving

At church in the parent room because he's an active little guy and it's cold and flu season so I don't want him in the church nursery

Loves to be by his bulldog

New ride

Hey guys, watching his puppies outside

Reading to his Charlie

I needed to fold some laundry and Liam didn't want to be alone...hence why Charlie is with Liam in his pack and play

I got the remote Mama!

Bug's first thanksgiving, he tired his uncle right out!

This is where my Allie sleeps, he's trying to call the puppies so he can play with them

Here Allie, I got your toy for you

You know, pushing the highchair around, losing his jeans

He discovered that his car had a compartment for things

Because we're all adorable

You have to be super quick on the shutter to catch him before he starts moving

Such a sweet guy!

Yay!  10 months!

Calendula salve using essential oils

I recently began following The Paleo Mama and went through her site to join doTerra.  She had this salve on there for eczema that looked interesting.  Here are the things that appealed to me about her recipe (yes I will include it):

1. It looked overall cheaper than a 4oz container of California Baby Calendula cream
2. I wasn't quite sure of all the ingredients in the above cream so I wasn't sure exactly what I was putting on my son
3. It gave me an excuse to play in the kitchen!
4. It made more salve than the above cream and was overall cheaper (price breakdown to follow)

Here is the original recipe: http://thepaleomama.com/2014/01/purpose-healing-salve/

Here's what I did.

1/2c mango butter (where to buy)
1/2c kokum butter (where to buy)
2oz Avocado Oil (where to buy)
1/3c calendula flowers (where to buy)
2 oz beeswax (where to buy)
30 drops Lavender essential oil (where to buy)
15 drops melaleuca essential oil ( where to buy
15 drops of frankincense essential oil (where to buy)
10 drops of Helichrysum (where to buy)

Melt the mango butter, kokum butter, and avocado oil in a double boiler (or a glass bowl over a sauce pan).  After the oils are melted add the calendula flowers and simmer for 2 hours.  After 2 hours put a cheesecloth over a second glass bowl (or use a metal bowl at first and then a glass bowl, but make sure you're using glass when adding the essential oils) and drain the oil into the glass bowl.  Put the bowl back over the sauce pan and add the beeswax, once melted remove from heat to let cool.  Add the essential oils and cool further.  (I put mine in the fridge for about 45min) Once the mixture has cooled but is not hard (I stick my finger in the middle to make sure it's still soft but no longer liquid) pull out your hand mixer, stand mixer, or stick mixer and whip it, whip it good.  Now you're finished!  Put in a pretty jar (I used a mason jar) and label with your recipe so that you know how to remake it when it's empty or how to tweak it for next time.

Makes 1 cup (16oz)

Price breakdown:
Mango butter: 3.73
Kokum butter: 3.75 
Avocado oil: 1.62
Calendua flowers: 0.68
Beeswax: 1.46
Lavender oil: 2.70 (wholesale price per drop)
Melaleuca oil: 1.20 (wholesale price per drop)
Frankincense oil: 4.20 (wholesale price per drop)
Helichrysum oil: 9.10  (wholesale price per drop)

Total: 28.44 (keep in mind this is for 16oz of this amazing lotion!)

You can tweak this recipe however you want.  I chose to add helichrysum oil to my lotion because it has amazing healing properties for the skin.  This recipe can be made cheaper by using olive oil, coconut oil, and shea butter.  I'm not a huge fan of coconut oil (gritty) for my skin care products and I adore avocado oil!  I personally have keratosis piloris so I was looking for something super healing and really moisturizing.  The butters and oils I chose fit the bill!

I've crossed over into...essential oils!

Well here we go, a journey into knowing exactly what I'm putting into my body.  Does this mean that I no longer believe in western medicine?  Nope!  This means that I see the value of complimentary medicines along with western medicine and see the value of learning how to keep myself and my family healthy.

I had started looking at what kinds of things I cleaned with trying to reduce the amount of chemicals in my house.  I started using mostly vinegar and baking soda to clean my house.  This lasted about 6 months, because lets face it how easy is it to go to the store and buy a cleaning product.  I did try to use 7th generation products but truly nothing cleans a toilet like bleach.  I had made some cleaners for everyday use out of vinegar, water, and something that smelled good like orange oil.  I knew that Tea tree oil is often used as a natural antibiotic but didn't know how to use it.  I knew lemon smelled yummy but had no idea how else I could use it.  I had lavender but only knew to use it to help relax and I personally hated the smell.  Who knew it was because real lavender smells way better than fake!

So here I am on a journey that will hopefully keep our family healthy and not exposed to harsh chemicals that cause who knows what to happen in our bodies.

So far I've used my essential oils for our recent sickness.  Breathe and Frankincense have been amazing in our recent sickness.  I used breathe on Liam's chest and one drop of frank to help with his cough.  I also diffused breathe and lavender all night for both of us to help us well...breathe.  For me I used breath on my chest, frankincense, and then lemon. 

I'm so excited to begin this journey and have pins over a hundred pins on how to use essential oils and have recently purchased a book called Modern Essentials.  Oh and the two separate facebook groups on learning how to safely use essential oils.  Ah!!!!  I can hardly contain my excitement!

9 months!

9 months!  Liam has officially been out of my tummy longer than he was in!

9 months brings us another tooth for a total of 6!  We still love Mommy best and then milk and Daddy.  Biggest thing this month is that we decided to do sleep training.  Sleep has been hard to get as of late and surviving on 6 hours of interrupted sleep has not been going well for me.  It took Liam about 3 days to figure it out and we are now getting a pretty consistent 8 hours in a row from him!  Sometimes he wake up only to put himself back to sleep within a couple minutes or so.  This means that this sleep deprived Mama is now looking at her little boy like the sweet little miracle that he is instead of a little monster that steals all my energy and keeps me awake all night (literally every hour during the night).

Liam is just about ready to stand on his own!  He's now barely holding on to whatever he stands up on and his feet are more flat on the floor.  He's getting so big and I so enjoy watching him grow up.

Getting into all the things

You should always exercise the baby

Mama I found napkins!

Daddy babywearing

Happy boy with his lovey

Standing on all the things

Did you see this Mama?

Playing with his stand up toy

Learning to be gentle with the puppies

All the puppies outside and one of the last pictures of Jake

Mama gave me chicken strips!

Never underestimate the power of playing with a box

At the pumpkin patch

On Jake's last day, my babies

What is this

No seriously what is this

Hey this is neat!

Hey this is neat!

Pumpkins Mama

My sweet little smiley boy!

It's hard not to smile when he does!

Did you see this Mama?  It's mine, how come I only get to see it once a month?

Hate the shadow here but love that you can see his teeth!