homemade eczema butter.

my oldest daughter has struggled with eczema since just before her first birthday.  it first showed up around her ankles; dry, red patches of skin.  and then, around the time she was a year and a half it got really, really bad.  i remember sitting at the computer, frantically researching cures as tears streamed down my face.  nothing seemed to help and the thought of steroid prescription creams on my little baby made me incredibly fearful.

one day, we took her to the doctor because she had scratched herself until she was bleeding.  it was absolutely heartbreaking.  her little eyes had red circles around them, and i hated how everyone stared at her, wondering what was wrong. i pleaded with the doctor in tears, telling her i couldn't keep watching my little girl suffer like this.  we were referred to a wonderful pediatric dermatologist and began to learn about how to manage her eczema flares and help keep her skin under control.

thankfully, we have learned several different ways to help our itchy girl.  robathol oil in her bath water... sometimes, when her skin is really bad, even some bleach (i know, totally freaked me out too... turns out, a quarter of a cup in a bathtub contains less bleach than they would get in a swimming pool and it really really works and helps protect against infection).  wet wraps at night, which means warmed, wet pj's with dry ones ontop to lock in moisture for her skin.  and a stringent post-bath routine of applying steroid cream and vaseline to her problem spots.  i still hate using steroid cream and petroleum jelly, but when her skin is flaring, it's the only thing that will work consistently and quickly to give her relief.  so we still do it at times.  when the eczema is worst.  and i remind myself that life is all about balance.

we've cut out a ton of processed foods, put her on all natural, organic vitamins, gotten her tested for food allergies and celiac disease and only use free and clear laundry detergent and body wash.  we've also learned her patterns; for some reason, every fall is her worst season. her skin tends to flare when she's eating junk; vacations and holidays are the hardest.  too much sugar, processed crackers and bread, things that trigger her seasonal allergies cause her eczema to flare.

every end of summer, beginning of fall i struggle.  i fight back tears as she itches endlessly and cries that her skin hurts.  i worry about her friends at school wondering what is wrong with her scratchy and sometimes scabbed skin.  i feel like i'm failing as a mom because she's in pain.  i pray endlessly that she will be one of the ones that outgrow it.

my sister has gotten me into essential oils.  she is obsessed, i mean we're talking homemade dishwasher detergent, shampoo and deoderant.  i'm not as motivated, so i lean on her to give me recipes and inspire me.  but i have been amazed at the difference my dabbling in essential oils has made.  i used to have allergy induced migraines close to once a month.  they would completely knock me out and force me to my bed to lie in the dark, with a pillow over my face.  horrible.  in june, i started using essential oils and i haven't had a migraine since.  life changing, people.  seriously!  i'm so grateful.  so... i began researching essential oils for my daughter's eczema.  and today... i made homemade eczema butter!  i followed this recipe but tweaked it a bit.  and doubled the recipe so i have a nice, big batch in a couple of jars for my girl.  excited to give it a try, and hopeful that it will work!

homemade eczema butter

* 1/4 c. coconut oil

* 1/4 c. shea butter

* 10 drops of lavender essential oils

* 5-10 drops of cedarwood essential oils

* 5 drops of melaluca essential oils

- using a stand mixer with paddle attachment, whip together coconut oil and shea butter until smooth.  

- add oils and blend.  store in a jar with a tight lid.

- use immediately after a bath or shower, and as needed.

note: i buy my coconut oil at sam's.  it comes in a HUGE container and is organic and unrefined.  i bought my shea butter at a local healthfood store, but i think in the future i'll purchase from amazon.  my essential oils i get from my doterra obsessed sister :)

hoping this homemade blend will be helpful for my sweet girl's itchiness.  if you have any eczema tips for your little ones, i'd love to hear them!  

mamas of itchy children unite.

when i'm an older mom...

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my kids are always a little crazy.  by nature, they are active and silly and strong willed and love to dance.  on my impatient days, it makes me want to poke my eyes out.  but on my good days, i love it.  no, it's not easy.  but i'm thankful that they are just what they're meant to be... kids.

these days, they are particularly nuts.  i mean, every mama of littles in the month of december deserves a trophy or something.  or a trip to the spa.  or just a really, really long nap.  because wow... their normal bouncing-of-the-wallness quadruples during this month.  i've found myself praying for an extra measure of patience and grace because... their extra energy and excitement is hard to take at times, but watching my girls at christmastime; well, there's just nothing like it.

today, we met up with some of our good friends for lunch at our favorite place, the bagel shop downtown.  the kids were all extra excited to see each other, and us mamas were getting together for one last time, as one of our dear friends is moving away.  we sat, making our best attempt to carry on a conversation while our kids ate their bagels and we tried to wipe smeared cream cheese from their faces and fingers.  it didn't take long for them to be finished, and they were getting... well... even more excited...

they began to dance and sing (a little loudly) and chase each other in a circle.  they giggled and they got a little louder, and they listened as we scooched down to tell them they needed to be a bit more quiet.  and then, it was time to go and there were tantrums and spilled water and tears and flailing... and embarrassed moms, and bottom lips bitten and flushed cheeks.  and after we got them bundled up and wrestled them to the door, an older lady stopped us and offered an unwelcomed suggestion: "maybe next time you should bring crayons."

and the exhausted and flustered mamas were now just annoyed, defeated and discouraged.  alright, lady: do you remember what it was like wrangling your kids to the door to get ready for an outing?  and on a -11 degree day?  there are jackets, there are mittens and hats and boots... and then your own jacket, mittens and boots... and the check to bring to the bank, and the letter to mail at the post office, and the shopping list to bring to the store... no time to even think about bringing crayons.  goodness, it's a success story that i'm even leaving the house at all.

moments like this make me think how hard it is to be a young mom.  we've all been offered unwelcomed suggestions from complete strangers and it can get downright discouraging.  it's also made me consider how i can encourage young moms when i'm in a later season of life.  because isn't that what we should be doing for each other?

i've also been on the other side of this.  when older moms have encouraged me, it has meant the world. after all, they know more than anyone what this thing called motherhood is like.  when they show interest in my children and geniunely enjoy them.  when they help me when i'm sick, or when they leave an unexpected treat at my doorstep.  when they take my girls to do something not only so that i can have a second to breathe, but also because they love my babies.  now that is a blessing.

and so i vow to myself that when i'm an older mom, and my kids have grown... i will remember what it's like to be in charge of tiny, independent, excitable, full of energy little ones.  i will think how i can help; maybe i can be the one to wipe up the spilled water.  maybe open a door, or let a mom of little ones have my place in line.  i will try to pay attention to see who might need some extra help, some encouragement, a bright spot in their day.  i will be patient with their children and treat them as blessings, not as annoyances.  and i will approach mamas in public--not to give them advice or to state my opinion--but to merely say "hang in there, mama; you're doing a good job."

because us mamas need to hear that more often.  it's the hardest job we'll ever have.

fall crafts for little ones.

i began this school year increasingly aware of how fast time is flying, and that this is the last year i have at home with my bella.  

just typing that makes me want to cry.

so i've been trying to take full advantage of our days and be more proactive than ever before at rolling up my sleeves and doing things with my girls.  being intentional.  letting the dishes sit in the sink and the laundry build up if it means that i get to treasure these moments with them.  

our weeks are filled with library trips, bella's gymnastics classes, walks, playing outside, baking and crafts.  with a few trips to target thrown in the mix.  and toddler tantrums and mama meltdowns.  but for the most part i really, really love these days i have at home with my girls.  i want to always remember them as i am even now more aware of how fast they are fleeting.  

at the beginning of fall, i turned to pinterest to help me in my quest to find some fall-themed crafts to do with the girls.  i checked books out of the library to match our crafts and we had some very simplistic, very quick little lessons: learning about apples, leaves changing colors, seasons, nature and all things fall.  

apple stamping

this fall, we had two large brown paper bags in our basement filled with apples.  after a trip to the orchard, i showed the girls how to use them as stamps... you can see how the craft turned out; not as pretty as i had in my head.  actually, not at all apple stamping.  and bella insisted on adding pink to our fall-themed color palette, but i sure do love her free spirited creativity.  but, just to be true to the purpose of the craft, i had to complete my own in order to prove that we really were supposed to be apple stamping...

apple diagram
to teach bella the parts of an apple (and an apple-themed bible verse), i cut an apple in half and we talked about the skin, the fleshy part and the seed that can be replanted to grow more apples.  i had cut all of these parts out of construction paper and then she got to glue it together.  bella's friend wyatt came over for this one!  crafts with toddlers are always better with two mamas in it together.  we had some wine after (just kidding, but that would've been a good idea).

wax paper leaves

this is the classic fall craft!  we collected a bunch of leaves on a walk one day and bella had fun ironing them between pieces of wax paper.  our windows look pretty and fall-ish.  

handprint tree

i took some dropcloth i bought at lowes and cut some squares out of it, as well as tree shapes out of some burlap.  i glued the "tree" onto the dropcloth squares and then painted the girls hands red, yellow and orange to use their handprints as the leaves.  oh yeah: and emmy totally stressed me out, by the way.  sorry for the picture overload, but i had to capture this awesomeness.

get your craft on with your kiddos... it's totally stressful and at times you'll want to scream; maybe even poke your eye out.  but the pictures, the finished products and the looks on their faces as they exert their independence and creativity are totally worth it.  also, i'm pretty sure it will end up better in my memory than it was in actuality.  you know how that happens.  a friend of mine recently equated it to childbirth.  

goodbye, fall!  now it's time for snowmen and hot chocolate.  and this family's pretty pumped about that.

vacation bible school.

one of our highlights this summer was vacation bible school.

i didn't even realize that bella would be old enough to join in this fun already!  the first week of summer, a church in our neighborhood kicked off their vbs and a friend of mine told me they had a pre-k class and invited us to come.  bella LOVED it.  she had sno-cones, jumped in a bouncy house, flew down a slip n slide and of course did lots of cool crafts and learned lots of bible stories.  the first night she came home, she was super excited to tell nick all about what she learned (the story of adam and eve).  i'll never forget: he was mowing the lawn when we got home and paused to hear bella's excited narration: "daddy!  jesus ate the apple and the people were very sad."

hmmm.  guess it's a good thing we're going back the rest of the week.

she had such a great time and all of her teachers loved her.  every night when i dropped her off, everyone was so excited to see her, and when i picked her up all of her teachers raved about what a good girl she was.  it was such a fun experience; for me, and for her.  made my mama-heart so happy.

this last week of summer, my sister's church had their vbs, so naturally, we made the rounds again (our church's vbs doesn't start until kindergarten).  this time, there was even a class for ems!  they had a blast.  every night when i'd come to pick them up, they were both in the sanctuary going to town jammin to the music.  seriously; adorable.

and they got to hang with a few of their bff's: jude, lucy, sophia and wyatt.  super fun.

the last night of vacation bible school they did a little concert for all of the parents.  here is a little preview of my girl, the performer:

it was seriously the best week.  nick had two-a-days that week, so i dropped them off and picked them up by myself and my heart was just so full every night when i drove them home.  they'd sit in the back, eating their snacks and singing their songs, emmy's cute little head bopping to the beat.  it made me so happy to see how much fun they had, and most of all that they were also learning about jesus.

there's nothing like the faith of a child.

and now, a week later, i find myself driving in the car singing the songs to myself.  catchy, i tell ya.  this one song, emmy LOVED.  she would seriously go nuts every time they played it.  the other night i decided to try to find it on youtube.  she was back in her bedroom, and i was on the computer in the kitchen.  when i found it, the minute the music started playing, i could hear her little feet just a-running down the hall until she got to the kitchen to display her signature moves.  it was awesome.

i captured this video tonight of the girls: just check out emmy's little face when she recognizes the music.  i know.  so precious.

these memories are ones i just want to bottle up and remember forever!  if you want some catchy little bible tunes to play for your kids, here are a few links to the videos on youtube for kingdom rocks, which is the vbs the girls went to last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzWi7LvxVxQ 

(emmy's fav)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNChTPzF3i8 

(jude totally moshed to this)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV7HmRfoNaI 

(bella's fav)

warning: they will totally get stuck in your head.  and they are a wee bit cheesy.  but we definitely love to jam to them in our house.

good times, vacation bible school.  some of the best memories of the summer.

what i'm loving.

a few things i'm loving these days...

-  cut and seal sandwich cutter from pampered chef.  makes those almost-daily pb sandwiches a little bit more fun.

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-  college basketball.  final four this weekend... every year i get sad when it is over.
-  catalina mist spray paint by krylon.  i'm obsessed with this color and can't seem to find it anywhere, which makes me want it even more.

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-  vintage tablecloths.
-  grilling burgers with the mr.  doing it for our dinner tonight and i am so excited.  it's the little things.
-  these ikea planters.

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-  country living magazine.  especially whilst drinking a cup of coffee.  when the house is quiet.
-  emmy's oh-so-cute birthday dress.

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-  my newest shows: revenge and nashville.  love live tammy taylor.

-  barn lights.  and edison light bulbs.

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-  almonds roasted with sea salt.
-  super why.  bella's latest show obsession.  do i mind?  no way.  beats barney (what doesn't, really?  oh, beside the wiggles) and she now knows all of her letters.
-  katie daisy prints.  she is my fav artist and i am slowly collecting her prints around our home.  my sis just got me this one i've been wanting for our entryway.  she's the best.

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-  winter melting into spring.  love the reminder of *hope*.
-  planning my garden and flowerbeds... someday.
-  daffodils.

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-  groopdealz.com.  if you don't subscribe, you should.

-  this swimsuit for my 3 yr old bathing beauty.

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-  hangin at the park.  the best.
-  trader joe's tomato&basil hummus.  especially with their whole wheat pretzels.  delish.
-  my colorblock dress.  nick calls it my "hippie" dress.  i love it, though.

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-  side braids.  my hair is waaaaay too long these days, so i've been having to find creative ways to wear it back.  haircut coming soon.  can't.hardly.wait.

-  trader joes masala simmer sauce.  quick, tasty dinner and a pleasant surprise?  my kids love chicken tikki masala.  even better.