Plastic...uh, surgery?

Yeah. So uh, just so you know...those convenient Red Cups that we all buy from Costco for holiday parties?


Um. They apparently don't do "microwave" so well.

Though I have to admit, I kind of like the short, stubby new shape. Very chic.

Thus far, I've been able to keep myself in check and not microwave/reshapen the entire 180 package of them. Oh, so impressive with the restraint I've displayed.

Then again, I do possess a healthy fear of exploded, burning rubber. Oh, and microwave fires.

An apple a day. Or peroxide. Whichever.

So it appears this sign needs to be posted at every entry point of the county.

Because it looks like H1N1 has come to the Valley.

Now, grant it...from what I'm hearing, the symptoms are actually a lot less severe than the normal flu. But this version has the potential to spread like wildfire. causing secondary issues that could prove worse than the original virus.

etc etc etc

But even aside from all of that... This year, Jet and I had decided to come up with a Keep- Germs-at-Bay-Plan to help curb the vicious viruses that enter, reside, and corrupt our otherwise healthy home.

Especially being that my family has had years where we've passed around sickness from October to January. Non-stop. Not even letting up for a Thanksgiving or Christmas break.

Messing with my holidays? Them fightin' words. So here are a few of our plans to kill any germ ballsy enough to come our way. Maybe some of them will inspire you...


The MEDICINE DISPENSING Plan:

Each girl will have her own medicine bottle AND dispenser. so we don't pass around germs from girl to girl.


This especially goes for the Salt Sea Spray bottles that we use. You know those things that squirt seawater up their noses? Highly recommend those! as we used them last year, on a daily basis, and saw a marked difference in the amount of sickness we had.

The DENTAL HYGIENE Plan:

Next on our list are the toothbrushes. and the communal cup they now rest in.

Bu-bye, Cup. And hello to travel containers!!

We will be getting our own handy-dandy little travel case to house each individual toothbrush. And most likely each child will have their own toothpaste as well.

The girls will think it's Christmas with getting all their OWN stuff. ;) We won't tell them it's all for the sake of health. Presents sound soooo much better.

But even with using separate containers, we have to keep in mind that germs breed in damp places. IE. The ol' toothbrush is considered a huge breeding ground and has to treat it as such...

Note to self: *clean* your toothbrush in between the times you buy new ones! But how?

Option 1: Dishwasher Safe?

Run it through a dishwasher cycle, on the top rack (due to heat). ...I've heard of this but have never done it. Something about it just doesn't jive with me. Who knows why since I stick the forks in my mouth?

But then again, I've never professed to make sense outside of my own head.

Option 2: Liquid Swish
(Swish your toothbrush in varying liquid solutions)

• Listerine or another mouthwash for 30 seconds prior to use.

• Hydrogen peroxide. 1 tsp of h.p in 1 cup of water. swish toothbrush prior to use. (rinse with clean water to avoid the taste of the cleaner...or not, if you want whiter teeth? *grin*)

• Bleach. Place toothbrush in one part water/one part bleach. Just enough to cover the bristles. Swish around for 30 seconds. Rinse.
  
  *Warning* Be careful not to splash liquid on clothing! and dump out the bleach immediately to avoid a child inadvertantly thinking it's a drink.
  

Option 3: Liquid Soak

Soak your toothbrush overnight in a vinegar solution, once a week. The vinegar kills the majority of mold, germs and bacteria. (Vinegar is amazing stuff! You can also use it as a face astringent! just make sure you'll only be at home, as it smells.)

I've also used the same soak method that people use to clean their dentures (can't remember the product name off hand). Just get a cup, pop in a tablet, and let the toothbrush soak.

For a quick soak method, put your toothbrush in a clean mug and cover the bristles of the toothbrush with boiling water. Keep the toothbrush in the boiling water for three minutes and then use as usual.


Option 4: Cover It.

But try to get it as dry as possible before storing it...and maybe get a cover with holes at the top to help aerate it. (keeping from "trapping the damp").

And if you DON'T cover it, be sure to put it as far away from the toilet as possible, preferably in a cabinet. And only flush when the top is down.

Trust me, toilet ...*ahem*...debris flies across the room up to 6 ft. Nasty news documentary I saw. Left a gruesome, unshakable impression. Ick.

So yeah. We plan on cleaning our toothbrushes...and storing them in a smart place/way. But when getting over an illness, it's recommended to (definitely!) get a new one!


The KILL the GERMS on the SPOT Plan


You know those sippy cups that we all use? Well, the little plastic things inside that allow them to be spillproof can get pretty foul, can't they?

So we'll be soaking them every once in a while in boiling water, or if they're especially nasty, a Clorox solution. Yes, it's safe. Yes, it's really mostly water. And yes, it works like a charm.

We also will be utilizing God's gift to the germophobe: Lysol.


I so plan on spraying down toys that Lani has been gnawing on. As well as doorknobs and lightswitches. Oh, and that beast of an exersaucer. When not in use, obviously. :)

And I totally plan on being one of "those" people. You know those people who pull out disinfectant wipes and give the shopping cart a good rub-down before sitting my child in its seat.

So if you see "that person" at the store...think of me. In fact, it may BE me. :D


The APPLE a DAY Plan



We'll also be cutting WAY back on sugar. *insert sob* Being that it depletes the ol' immune system. Seriously, Google it. The effects of sugar are scary. Almost enough to make me want to give it up completely. Almost.

though I'm still trying to convince myself. Apparently sugar also depletes my persuasiveness.

And one last thing:

The CRAZY MONKEY DANCE Plan (aka: what mommy does to make them laugh)

As I've been mulling over the different ways to try to do all I can to keep my family healthy this season, the Lord brought something to mind:

A cheerful heart does good like medicine, but a broken spirit makes one sick. Prov 17:22 (TLB)

Duh. When all else fails From the get-go, take note of what the Lord said thousands of years ago. After all, it still applies!

So I'll be very intentional about planning FUN things. Trips to get them excited. Ideas to make them laugh. Playtimes to get them silly (it doesn't take much in this house).


When all is said and done, I'm thinking this may have the biggest impact. not only on their physical health, but also our quality of life. ;)

So there you have it. A "few" ways that we're planning on keeping Germs at bay. In hopes of maintain our health and joy this Flu Season.

One more round

You know that Barlow Girl song? Even though I know they didn't intend it to be a song about sickness, I'm feeling like it's become my theme song of late.

as we continue to battle all sorts of variations illness.

"Round one wasn't what I thought it'd be
Round two I'm struggling to breathe..."


And that's exactly what my little Lani is experiencing this week: The struggle to breathe.

I know a lot of people go the snot sucker bulb thingy route. But I've found something that works a lot better.

Use salt nasal spray. or breastmilk, if you are someone who has excess enough to *squirt* it in their nose.

Yes. totally serious. Just think WaterGun. with a slightly more personal, um... tool.

I've found that after I spray the stuff up the snot-clogged nostrils, my little ones will sneeze within minutes. effectively shooting all the "stuff" out.

Which, for me, is SO much better than trying to tackle my children to the ground so I can extract gunk from their nose.

Only thing to be careful of... when using the salt spray, make sure to NOT stop squeezing the bottle until AFTER you're away from their face. that way you're not actually sucking up the mucus into the bottle.

Diaper Woes fixed

Picture taken when Charis was about 21 months old. and I was 13 months pregnant with Selah. In Texas. in the summer. in 100 degree temperatures. Good times.

Tis the season to be jolly sickly. Fa la la la la la la lala laaaaaa


I was going to try and change all of the songs lyrics to fit the current state of my household. but have since changed my mind. due to lack of sleep. and therefore, the inability to do more than speak Preschool.

You know, the language that revolves around the words No-No and Poopy. And so it's from that platform, that I write today:

"Just say No to Poopy Pain."

Try not to be overly impressed by the obvious level of my higher intelligence. Envy is a bad bad thing. *wink*


My house has been battling sickness for weekS. and we haven't been to church in a MONTH.

I know, I know. Alert the Board of Elders.

Instead we've been making our rounds of the "punies". Compliments of virus that keeps mutating just enough to bypass our newly formed immunity. Graciously giving us, yet again, another bout of the Nasties.

Well, this week Raegan has diarrhea.

I know. More information that you wanted to know. Trust me, I feel the same way. But I figured if my little one is experiencing this, chances are someone else's kiddos are battling with it as well.

And so I share my bit of wisdom. (since there's so little of it these days, I get all excited when I feel I got me a chunk of usable knowledge)

When my girls (the ones in diapers) have diarrhea, their little bottoms gets raw. Red raw. to the point of bloody blisters... Until, that is, I learned two little tricks:

1. Give them a bath loaded with baking soda. It helps to balance out the Ph factor. (since diarrhea is really acidic).

but take it from me....DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT put baking soda directly on their dry skin. like I cluelessly did around the time the above picture was taken.

I, in all my newly acquired maternal intelligence, figured that if a little Baking Soda in a bathtub was good, then a LOT of baking soda dumped into a diaper was even better.

Not so much.

She screamed and screamed. and screamed some more. Apparently the water helps "dilute" the healing process.

And so into the bathtub Charis went. She was sobbing. I was sobbing. It was a mess of snot and tears from emotional women. Thank God Jet comes with the ability to bring peace to most any situation.

Soooo Only use baking soda in. a. bath. (though I have to admit, I try and put a few handfuls directly on the skin while they're IN the water playing.)


2. USE Liquid Maalox.

It takes the sting out of the acidic poop. since that's what eating away at their skin as it sits in the diaper.

On top of that, apply some sort of moisture barrier. Like Aquafor. Or some diaper rash meds. or even Vaseline. It helps keep the skin safe, sealing in the Maalox. giving the raw skin a fighting chance.

And there you have it. The only piece of wisdom I currently own.

I totally realize that 90% of you may have known this since kindergarten. but I'm totally okay with it.

I will not be jealous of your superior mothering skills. I will not. I will not.

You know, going back to the whole envy thing being bad and all. ;)

Adoption is beautiful....

professionally photograph it. for free.


The concept is that families who have adopted within the last year can get a free photography session from a photographer in their area.

The website is http://www.celebratingadoption.org/.

There you can find out more about the program and locate a local photographer.

Gift Tip

As I perused my attic this week, I came across a couple of things that made me sigh. Remember these?

Think hard. I may take a moment or two to jog your memory.

That's right. It's called a walkman. I'm sure you had one. We all did.

Well, we have two stored away in our attic. Unused for years. Rendered completely useless by CDs, Ipods, and Mp3s.

I couldn't even sell these if I tried. Thus the sigh... I hate harboring useless stuff in my attic. I admit, I was tempted to just trash the beasties and be done with it.

But then, it hit me! (Thank you for inspiration, Lord!)

My girls would love these! They've never seen them before. and have no clue that they're considered "outdated." I have old cassettes they can listen to...and the library has stories on cassettes that they'd love during Rest Time!

Sweet.

And just like that...I have another inexpensive (Can we say FREE?!) gift to add to their Christmas morning fiesta. one that I know will be used over and over and over again.

Just like it was looonng ago. in my own life. Got any that you could pass on to your young child this Christmas?

And so I challenge you, as you try to save money this Christmas...Go shopping. In your very own attic (or basement). Go with an open mind as you try to see your old "junk" through the eyes of a child. You may be surprised.

I know I was.

A little discovery

One of our neighbors has three trucks, a car, and a camper. Not to mention some motorcycles. As you can imagine, it costs a lot of gas to fill those puppies up. Especially since the average person needs to take out a second mortgage to afford gas for a compact car these days.

The other day, my hub noticed that someone pulled into this neighbor's side yard. parking among his "fleet" of automobiles. This Intruder got out of his own truck and just stood there for a while, surveying the scene. And then, he left. Odd.

So that evening when Jet took the girls on a walk, he stopped to tell our neighbor what he saw: the description of the truck, man, and license plate. Our neighbor was so greatful that Jet took the time to take note of that. And then he proceeded to tell Jet that someone from our neighborhood had recently had their gas tanks emptied in the middle of the night.

Excuse me?!

He went on to show Jet what he had bought to insure that this would not happen to him.

Locking gas caps.

Now, maybe you're more clued in than I am. Maybe you not only have heard of these things, but own some as well. But just in case, I wanted to share my little discovery this weekend: People steal gas straight from your tanks. AND there are things on the market to protect against these midnight thieves.

We decided that it was worth the (average of) $15 to protect the $60 that it takes to fill up our tanks. So I wanted to share...

Share the brilliance...

I was surprised when other people said that they knew about the garlic oil and breastmilk squirt-fest remedies. Here I thought I ran in Circles of Brilliance. But apparently other people are enlightened as well. Shocking.

In fact, when I read that JavaMamma and CampGirdwood knew about said remedies and didn't have them highlighted in purple on their websites for all to benefit from, I was a little taken-a-back. WHAT? They knew how to help my daughter's ears without paying an arm-and-a-leg for antibiotics? And they DIDN'T tell me?!! The nerve of it all. *grin/wink*

But then I remember that my own informative little blog site didn't have the eye infection remedy posted for all to see either. Opps.

Obviously I'm kidding. We ALL have stored away different nuggets of information, but just don't think to share them. So here's the deal. I'm going to write down all the random tips that I can currently think of (the ones that I've tried and know work). And I'm asking you to do the same. In "Comments" share all the random bits of information that would benefit other ladies. We'll share our brilliance.

I know most of you just read and don't comment. And that's completely fine. But if you do have any jewels of brilliance to share...please do!

And Crystal. I expect you to add the thing you told me about the yeast infection. (she's a midwife in training, who gets to hang out with all sorts of people with a wealth of natural healing remedies). She's who I call when anything happens in my life. And the one that told me about the breastmilk in the eye trick.

Pregnancy Nausea? Take 1/2 Unisom and B12 (my nurse told me this one. and I had HORRIBLE sickness with the first pregnancies)

Infant diaper rash and raw skin due to diarrhea? Use Aquafor and Maalox directly on skin. the Maalox balances out the acidic PH of diarrhea and the Aquafor seals the medicine to the skin. The rash clears up within a day.

Stains that won't come out of clothes and no StainStick? Dawn Dish Detergent takes EVERYTHING out. Even blood. My dad swears by this. And trust me, it works. Just scrub into stain before washing.

Sudden face breakout (acne) and need to get rid of it fast? Put white toothpaste on it. It'll dry it out FAST.

Cracked, dry feet? Put Eucerin (is at Walmart) on at night and cover with socks. It works great! My heels get really dry in the winter and can crack. But this stuff heals it up in a night.

Made cookies? put a piece of bread in the container with them. The bread will keep the cookies from getting hard.

I have not tried these, but they were too interesting not to share:

*Keep apples and bananas from turning brown by placing them on a plate containing a small amount of a lemon-lime soft drink.

*Breast Milk KILLS existing, live Cancer cells!!
Swedish study done and now funded by the American Cancer Society. From what I've read (there's a ton about it), the scientific community is leery to publicize it yet. One of the reasons I read, being that they don't want the milk banks for Preemies to be depleted. But anyway...I thought the study was amazing and wanted to share.

Sleepless nights and Garlic drops...

The last couple nights have been rough. Raegan hasn't been sleeping well. Meaning, WE haven't been sleeping well. I feel like a walking zombie.

In the past few months, she's had at least two ear infections...I was thinking she was getting another one. Thus, the no sleeping theme: You lay her down, she screams out in panicked pain. :(

It's times like these that I don't mind that she reneged on saying my name. All night long, she could be heard crying "DaDa! DaDa!"

Yep, that's right, honey. She's calling for YOU. Go to her, will ya? heh heh




Coincidentally, a few people suggested that we put Garlic Drops in her ears. (can be found at health food stores) And though she smells of Italian bread gone awry, it's helping!!! IE. she's sleeping! So...got a child with ear infections?...you may want to try it!

And since we're on the whole "natural" medicine thing...Got a baby with an eye infection? When you're nursing her, squirt some breast-milk in her eye. I'm not kidding! It clears up the infection in NO time!

And NO, I'm not a hippy-chick. I just happen to have some highly intelligent friends. :)