Natural Cold Remedy - Gingerbread Cookie Tea!

After a weekend with a coughing toddler, I thought I'd share with you a recipe for 

Gingerbread Cookie Tea. 

I recommend this tea for my patients who have children with 

runny noses, ear infections, sore throats or coughs. 

It has many wonderful healing properties, and it tastes great! 

To make this delicious and effective remedy, simply brew a 1 inch piece of 

ginger and a couple sticks of cinnamon in 2 cups boiling water for 10 min. 

Strain and add a spoonful of honey (to taste). 

Drink as needed for congestion and infection! 

Enjoy!

The Rules - French Style

Oh, how I wish I was aware of these 'rules' when Hannah was younger.

Meal time was ALWAYS a struggle in our house.  

Downright stressful, actually!

She was the QUEEN, okay, PRINCESS of picky eaters.

Largely as a way of asserting her control over the situation, 

her diet consisted of noodles for far too long.

Noodles! 

Plain, white, cooked noodles! 

Luckily, as a teenager, she now enjoys most foods, and is actually 

very conscious of what she puts in her body.

In saying that, I can't help but wonder if I had followed some of the tips above, 

that life would have been easier for us all?

Thoughts?

 

 

Big Announcement Tomorrow!

Only one more sleep 'til we announce the 5 lucky winners of our 

Olive Baby Pay it Forward Giveaway!

This giveaway has been a huge learning curve for us both!

A few things we've learned:

• some social media sites work far better than others when it comes to hosting giveaways
• security setting don't have the ability to recognize you're hosting a 'giveaway', therefore, can block nominations - very frustrating!
• local community papers like SNAPd really do support efforts made in the community to make the world a better place
• people love free stuff! 

Both Anna and I have been so touched by the nominations made by people to honour those they love.

When you get wrapped up in the day-to-day happenings of being a wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, business owner, etc., we can quickly forget how fortunate our lives really are!

This giveaway was a gentle reminder to us both to never take for granted the goodness in our lives.

For that, we feel like we truly are the lucky winners!

A little lip saver, anyone!

Spring fever has hit our house tonight! With it, came some silly people!

Gotta love it!

Busy Schedule, Going with it!

I know people are following my food intro schedule for Clara, so I'm finding time for updating, but it's tough! Our life is certainly hectic to say the least - 2 self-employed people, 3 kids, and my husbands 'part-time' life as a triathlete!

Anyway, because life is so busy I am not stressing about how much or how fast we intro, but focusing more on the quality of food. There have been days that I don't give any solids - I have allowed her bowels to catch up with the newness of solid food, which has been a good approach. Clara isn't 100% into food yet, which is normal. Most of her nutrition still comes from breast milk, which is how it should be still!

So since i've last written I've tried grating some frozen liver into her sweet potato (at the last stage of cooking before using the hand held mixer). The first day she didn't take to it much, but after a couple days of not having it she took it no problem. Liver is great for the iron that babies start to need more of at 6 months, but on days that she's not having that I throw a few leaves of organic baby spinach into her purees, an egg yolk or some green peas. I personally can't stand liver - not the taste OR the smell, but I realize it's nutritional value! I'm so surprised that a baby tolerates it! She loves avocado with banana, mango or blueberries, but i'm trying to hold back on the sweets in preference for developing her other tastes (in particular leafy greens!). When peaches were in season I let her share my peach (no skin, but she's use her gums to work on it - she LOVED the flavor). I also let her suck on a watermelon slice. Giving food in this manner is more 'baby led weaning' as it's not in puree form but more in it's natural state. I'm still cautious about choking so i don't allow many foods in this form. Clara seems to grab at the things that she 'shouldn't' be having yet - breads in particular, so i pull those away from her, which goes against baby led weaning! So I would say all is well, and we're going with it! Another update soon!

On a side note, I'm so happy to see all the recent weight-loss success stories in my patients. I love it when eating clean becomes a way of life for people and pounds start to melt away! These life changes is what I live for as a Naturopath! 

My New Inspiration!

It's funny how things happen. I recently had my third child - a baby girl named Clara, just 4 weeks ago today. My boys are now ages 5 and 3, so with Clara I'm back in the newborn stage - constant feeding, sleeping and pooping. It's amazing how we can forget how needy babies are at this stage, even if we've done it before! So what I've discovered during this stage is my renewed passion for SAFE baby skin care. When I look at Clara's fragile infant skin I realize how easily it can be irritated. Heat, cold, water, thrush and moisture can all cause rashes and irritations. Since Clara was born in the winter, we're dealing with a cold and dry climate, and I have been protecting her skin religiously with Olive Baby products. We bath with the Head to Toe Body Wash and I'm loving how gentle and non-drying it is on her skin, and that she smells like 'herself', not like a perfumed baby soap after her bath. While she's warm and moist after her bath I rub Olive Baby Body Butter all over her body, with a special focus on the diaper area which is exposed to constant moisture. Her skin looks great and she has not had any diaper rashes (knock on wood!). I like that I can put it on her face, even on her eyelids because there's nothing in the product that could irritate her. She really seems to enjoy the process of the massage as well - it relaxes her and helps with any digestive troubles like gassiness. I've had people comment about how lovely she smells and how soft her skin is. I'm pleased to say that she doesn't smell like anything other than the sweet smell of honey from the beeswax in the Olive Baby products. Anyway, being back at this stage has motivated me to continue making and expanding the Olive Baby line into the future! I'm excited to reach as many moms as I can to share this natural approach to baby skin care!

In the final 'stretch'!

It's been a little while since my last post - i have been busy at home, work, and the final stages of my pregnancy (2 weeks till my due date). It's funny, part of my inspiration for making my Olive Baby products is my own children and family, and now that we will have a new addition shortly, my inspiration has grown to a new level. I'm so happy to see children having this wonderful option for skin care without the concerns of reactions!

I must confess - as my belly has been growing, I have been religiously slathering on the Olive Baby Body Butter after EVERY shower. I don't feel right without it. It's become a joke in my family because my belly is always moisturized. My kids actually ask to do it for me - they know the ritual! It has certainly brought me comfort and improved the appearance of the stretching skin.

I have also noticed that this winter has been a particularly dry one. We seem to have an active tube of lip-saver in most rooms of the house - my kids have had very dry/cracking lips and rough patches around their mouths from the cold, so I slather the balm on their faces before we venture outdoors. We usually apply it before bed as well - they know the drill!

Ok, that's all for now. I will try to update again shortly!