Mother like daughter...

Holistic Mama and Holistic Baby. We got these shirts from the Holistic Mom's Network/group that I am apart of. I know... it is so corny (is that a word people use anymore?) that it is cute right!? ;)


Elias and Adeline hanging out. I love babies in diapers.

Here is a picture of Elias watching the Trash truck. This is a highlight of his week. You would not believe the excitement in our household when we hear the trash truck coming. Elias screams and we go outside every Tuesday to watch. The driver is so nice and is always talking to us and honking. Elias tells me everyday that the trash truck comes on Tuesday. It is so cute!




Adeline hanging out with her little friend Josie.

Boost your Immune System for the Cold and Flu Season

Cold and flu season is right around the corner. I wanted to share some easy ways you can naturally boost your immune system. I also wanted to give my two cents on the H1N1 "Hype" and vaccine as several people have been asking me lately.


The first question I always am asked is if we are going to get the H1N1 vaccine. No. Why is always quickly followed. To be honest I have not done much research on the vaccine nor do I care to. It is obvious that the vaccine has not been out long and the affects from it are not known. It also seems to be pretty mild and I do not consider it to be a major risk with complications for our family. Instead we have decided to go down the prevention route by boosting our immune systems. A good immune system can combat illnesses easily and quickly. Even though this is what we are doing I still encourage each person to way the risks vs. benefits for your own family before making a decision.

Wholistic Mama's Daily Recommendations for Boosting your Immune System During the Cold and Flu Season

Carlson's or Nordic Naturals Cod Liver Oil --1 tsp per 50 pounds. My 2.5 year old son takes 3/4 tsp and I take a tablespoon as recommended while breastfeeding. Cod liver oil provides Vitamin A,D,E, and omegas which are very immune boosting.

Vitamin C can be given daily during cold/flu season. My husband and I take 500-1,000mg daily in a capsule form while our son takes 500mg of the powdered form in his milk. Have your kids take the powdered form instead of chewable as it can be very hard on teeth. When we are sick we up the dosage. For example we give our 2 year old 1,000 mg or more in divided doses. There are also infant/baby liquid vitamin C which can be used for little ones.

Probiotics-Take daily as directed on bottle. This will help build the good bacteria in your gut to fight off the bad bacteria when it hits. Everyone including infants can take this. On a side note...did you know that 80% of your immune system is in your gut?

Colostrum-You can get this in chewable, powdered, or in capsules. Take 400-500mg daily during cold and flu season and double when sick. We give our son the Symbiotics chewable that is Pineapple flavored and he loves it. Bovine Colostrum adds antibodies and immune factors that support a healthy intestinal flora. You can also give the powdered form to infants/babies mixed in milk or food.

Young Living Thieves Essential oil We put this diluted on our feet when we are out and about to help prevent illnesses. You can also put a drop of this in a drink when sick. Thieves is immune boosting and kills viruses and bacteria. For more info on why I love Thieves click here as I wrote about it in another post. We also use lots of Theives Natural hand Sanitizer that we LOVE! If you ever want Young Living Essential oils let me know as you have to purchase it through a distributor.

-Add fresh Garlic to your foods as it is immune boosting and an infection fighter.

-Zinc can be taken as an immune booster as well.

Onset or Exposure Recommendations

Echinacea (non alcohol for kids)--follow directions on bottle, but for ours it is 1 drop per 4 pounds. Infants can take this. For our 2 year old we give 20 drops 3 times a day. Give this only at the onset of symptoms and until resolved. You only want to stay on this for short times or it will not be as effective.

Sambucus-Eldeberry Extract Amazing! give daily as preventative or when you have been exposed to something. This is a must for the onset of illness.

Flu Prevention
Oscilloccinum-Another must have! Dissolve a couple of the pellets in water and drink once a week as a natural flu vaccine! :) Then take as directed at the onset of flu and during the duration. This will greatly lessen the severity of both the regular and H1N1 flu. This can also shorten the duration of colds when taken at onset.

I have found the cheapest place to buy supplements is through vitacost.com

Other Helpful Suggestions
-Try to eat wholesome organic food and stay away from processed foods when possible.
Limit sugar intake. Sugar is very damaging to the immune system. After you have eaten sugar your immune system shuts down and does not work properly for several hours. Pediatricians offices are flooded with sick kids after Halloween. I wonder why?!?

I also highly recommend two books if you would like more info....
Child Health Guide by Randall Neustaedter
Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child

~Wholistic Mama

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Any medical advice should be answered by your highly trained and qualified pediatrician. This information is only my advice and opinion from experience at what I have found helpful for my family.

SIDS prevention

Have I ever mentioned that I would love to go back to school? I know a crazy thought since my current full time job of being a SAHM takes nearly all of my time and energy. Only one person in our household furthering there education might also be best. On a side note--Todd has been in school since we were married over 6 years ago. I don't say it enough, but I am very proud of him for managing a full time job + part time job + a very intensive EDS program + being a husband and father! He does a great job at each. It looks like I better wait for another time in my life to go to go back to school.

A better thought. I will educate myself by spending lots of time reading, being apart of various groups, and surrounding myself with people who enlighten me with there expertise. One of the things I read about last week was SIDS. This is something of interest to me since I have a baby who mind you sleeps on her stomach and a 2 year old still in a crib. I had heard of this before, but never followed through to find out all of the details. I wanted to share some recent findings....

Did you know that crib mattresses are HIGHLY toxic? Our babies spend LOTS of time sleeping on them inhaling the chemicals. Many believe inhaling these toxic fumes are a major reason SIDS is on the rise. For further info click on these sites--preventing SIDS and healthy child



Wholistic Mama's Advice

If you do not have an organic crib mattress (naturepedic) then please consider investing in a mattress cover. We just ordered two for each of our kids and they cannot come soon enough. I sure love my babies and it is only a $35.00 investment that seems WELL worth it to me. Don't you love how in this picture both kids are face down breathing the fumes? I will be glad to have peace of mind when my babies are sleeping with these covers.
Order one here Eves Best


-Wholistic Mama

Food Inc. Movie

Just thought I would share a new movie out that some of you may be interested in watching. It shows how food in this country is made. It makes you look at food in a whole new light! I am very thankful that most of our food does not come with a label! :)

click on the link to watch the trailer.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

-Wholistic Mama

Finally...

It took nearly 5 months, but I FINALLY got a picture with me and both of the kids together. I think the last picture of us was when Adeline was a week old.

Here are our sweet Adeline's 5 month picures in the chair! The months are flying by because it seems like I just took her 4 month pictures. Oh--and a few weeks ago she weighed 13lbs. She is in the 90% for height and 50% for weight. Just the opposite of Elias. I love this age. She is really interacting with us, smiling constantly, laughing and cooing lots, loving Elias, and playing with her toys now. I can't believe we are already out of the itty bitty newborn/infant stage. :(




Now that Adeline is 5 months old we FINALLY were able to take her on her first ride with Big Brother in the Bike trailer. We only went on a short ride this time and she did pretty well. We look forward to lengthening our rides as we love to do this as a family! Elias seemed to enjoy her company as well.





On Friday we went to the Apple Family Farm with our mom's group. I got to try milking a cow for the first time and lets just say it harder then it looks! Elias was too afraid to try it, but maybe another time. This is where we purchase our grassfed real milk for our family, so it was neat to see the process of how we get our own milk each week! It is so nice to know where our milk is coming from and to see the cows out in the pastures and only milked once a day! Elias loves our weekly trips to the apple farm!

One "wholistic" Mama

I have decided to merge both of my blogs together. If you followed my raising healthy children blog I will be deleting it soon as all of the posts from it are now uploaded to this blog. If you haven't read any of it you can see previous posts on the labels to the right.

Why "Wholistic" Mama?
As most of you know I consider myself to be a holistic mama. If you know me at all you know I am very passionate about this lifestyle. Why? Many reasons. First and foremost I live to follow my personal Lord and Savior. I desire to have a mind like Christ and follow Him with my "Whole" being so that He can mold me into the wife and mother He desires for me to be. As a parent I have the duty to train my children in the way they should go. In addition I also have an obligation to take care of them, feed them, give them shelter, etc. This seems like a simple and obvious thought, but I have found that following my God given motherly insticts in today's society has given me many speed bumps. This has led me to learn and research as much as I can about foods, nutrition, toxic free living, homeopathy, herbal remedies, essential oils, and attached parenting to name a few. I want to continue to blog about what I am learning and give a glimpse of why we do what we do. My prayer is that this info will be a blessing to your family as it has to ours.

Cousin Chase

A few weeks ago Todd's sister Gail and her husbnad Chris welcomed little Chase into the family. We are happy to have a new nephew and Elias and Adeline are excited to have a new cousin. Here are a few pictures from when we visited them.

Here are some pictures of Adeline. We finally took some of us with her. She is so sweet and happy as ever.













If you come to our house anytime soon this is probalby what you will find Elias doing outside. Elias' little neighbor buddy Jack gave him this four wheeler since he got a new John Deere tractor for his 3rd Birthday. Elias loves it and over the matter of a few days has mastered steering it all around the cul-da-sac with all of his little friends. Todd kept saying he wanted Elias to have one of these and we feel so blessed to have recieved a free one! It is perfect for his first power wheels.
Our nei
Elias sat in this chair and told me to get Adeline and take a picture. I just followed along and laughed. Is this a sign I take too many pictures!?