About Me

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I am a cloth diapering, breastfeeding, cosleeping, baby led weaning, extended rear facing, eco conscious, married mommy to two beautiful children. They have changed my view on the world we live in. It is now my number 1 goal to make it the best I can for them to grow up in. I find myself always rethinking how I want to live my life and often feel like sharing my findings and thoughts with others. So I guess here's my chance :o) I will talk about topics that interest me. If you dont like them or dont agree, well... there's nothing much I can do!

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Homemade deodorant, face wash and no-poo.

I am almost there. I have almost completely converted all my beauty products to homemade/chemical free ones. Last year, I stopped using shampoo and soap to wash my face. Finally, last week, I took the plunge and made my own deodorant. Here are my recipes!

No-poo
For the past year, I was using a natural shampoo but lately, I found that my scalp has been producing extra oils. I decided to go back to using water and baking soda last week. Already, there is less oil. 
I use about 1/2 table spoon of baking soda
500 ml of water.

I have it premixed in a peri bottle. I simply spray it on my roots, massage, the rinse. One full bottle should last me about 5 "washes". I'm still working on a leave-in conditioner. 

Face wash
I use the "oil cleansing method". This site explains it well. http://www.crunchybetty.com/nitty-gritty-on-the-oil-cleansing-method

I use equal parts Castor oil and olive oil. I have my solution premixed in an old 
shampoo bottle. I only have to clean every couple days and I no longer need 
to use a moisturizer. 

Deodorant
There are so many different recipes online that I took bits of several towns made my own. 

1tblsp beeswax (to help give it a more solid consistency) 
1tblsp coconut oil
1tblsp arrowroot starch
1tblsp baking soda (reduce if you have sensitive skin)
Several drops of tea tree oil 

Melt beeswax and coconut oil together. Then cream it together with the arrowroot 
starch, baking soda and TTO. Let it cool. Then I packed it into an empty deodorant stick. 
It took about a week to get used to the damp feeling since it goes on like a cream. Since there is no aluminum, I still perspire (which I don't mind since it is our body's way of releasing toxins). Next time, I may try lavender oil instead of the TTO. 


So there it is. I enjoy being able to make my own products. Now that most of our household products are homemade/chemical free, I need to find another project to work on. Perhaps a major purge?!

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Meal planning - take 2

Life has been completely chaotic for the past 7 months. Zachary is now old enough to start eating solid foods with us at the table. Since we are doing baby-led weaning with him, the meals that we eat as a family have to be healthy enough for him as well. Abigail is also starting preschool, swimming lessons and possibly gymnastics next month so a little bit more planning is needed now. So here is what I do.


I gather my monthly calendar (which keeps track of all our appointments and activities), notebook (where each page is good for 2 weeks), grocery list pad, erasable pens, and cookbooks/iPad for recipe ideas. I only plan for 5/6 meals a week since we visit our parents often. I also have jotted down on our plan foods that Zachary will have. By doing a couple weeks at a time, I ensure that we get a good variety of proteins. We tend to stick with favorite meals but if we have the time some day, we try a new recipe. Or we let Abigail pick a picture from amongst the books. 

Since we purchased a large upright freezer recently, we are able to stock up on free range/local meats and wild seafood at a great price. There is still 2.5 months left of our farm share. Our weekly grocery list is very very simple and consists mostly of fruit and dairy. And since we also just got a brand new fridge, produce is lasting more than a day or so so we have less waste. 

For lunches, we either do leftovers or I visit other websites for ideas

How do you meal plan? Let me know!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

It is so tough being 3 years old

You hear a lot about the "Terrible twos" but those were no problem for us. Abigail was great. Although I was pregnant for the majority of it, it was a great time for her since she was older and able to do more things and have more fun. I loved watching her learn new things. Little did we know that there would soon be some very challenging times ahead.

Over the holidays, almost as if she sensed something was coming, her behavior changed. She would no longer go to bed on her own, she would not listen to us and she started to develop quite the little saucy attitude. It was cute at first but when you are also taking care of a newborn son while your husband is away on deployment, it was no longer funny. Oh! What to do?!

I do not believe in the "time outs". I do not believe in letting her "cry it out" to fall asleep by herself. I want things to be positive and that is very very hard since she always seems to be purposely pushing boundaries lately. It is incredible frustrating when it takes us over an hour to get her to bed and when she hits and screams for no reason. We often ask ourselves why. Is it our fault?

I am part of a parenting group with ladies who share many of the same parenting philosophies has I do. It's great to talk about these things during our meetings when others think that we are just crazy for not using the "easy way". We discuss tips and techniques we could possibly try. We encourage each other on during tough times. This week, I came across a quote that has completely changed my perception on Abigail's behaviors as of late. 

Abigail is not misbehaving on purpose. She does not think about the outcome before she does something. She doesn't hit me because she doesn't love me. She is 3! Three is a tough age! She is learning so much right now, it is perfectly natural for there to be some hiccups along they way. We are just lucky enough to be along for the ride. We will keep trying to guide her in the right directions and teach her techniques to help overcome certain obstacles. But essentially, she needs to do the work herself. I will no longer question my parenting decisions. I will no longer blame myself when she does something mean.

I love Abigail and there isn't a single thing I would change about her.