6 Months Old: We are sleeping again! Wahoo!

(These are the kind of photos I have to go through to get a good one...LOL) 

My little baby is half a year old! Oh my… I don’t even….

He is my super active, lovable, ornery, silly boy. He loves using me a jungle gym, rolling across the room, scooting to toys, laughing at jokes, eating big boy food, playing with the dogs, and being outside.

We started solids a little before 6 months, which was a really hard decision to make! We really wanted him to be EBF for as long as possible. But, talking with lots of friends, family, and health professionals, they all agreed he seemed more then ready. We started about a week and half ago and he LOVES it. The first day he couldn’t get enough. He would cry when the food was gone and lick the tray. I think we made a good choice. We decided to listen to our baby, instead of being so strict with the 6-month rule. Our chiro explained how every child develops differently and her boy did the same thing. Food is just for fun for the first year, and he is having fun. It’s a win-win and we feel good about it. We did skip the baby “cereal”… and will be skipping all sugar and grains for at least a year. Nutrition is super important to us, and we are only giving him a few select foods at this time but it’s great that he is loving it.  

A great thing about these last few weeks is that we are SLEEPING!!! WAHOO! Like seriously this changes everything. I feel like I have so much energy. I am able to work out more now and not feel like I am going to fall asleep when we do floor exercises. I feel so much better and Ollie seems happier with more sleep! It’s a great improvement. The four-month sleep regression is a doozy. Just when you feel like you have a routine, BAM, its gone. Its like starting from scratch…. But worse. So much worse. When it passes though, its like the sun coming out after a long blizzard.

Can you tell I am a little excited about sleep?!

And I will add we changed nothing about our bedtime routine the whole time, I am glad we stayed consistent. Sometimes they regress, I’m glad we kept with our same routine and now its better! The whole regression we kept feeling like we were doing something wrong, but then it passed. Now we know for the next regression!

With him sleeping better though, he has moved his bedtime up AGAIN! We are now at a 6pm bedtime…

Around 6 months was always one of my favorites with my siblings. Still baby like, but can understand more things, are stable and fun to play with. I am loving this age with Ollie as well!

Along with the development of “understanding” more and being more “mobile” has caused him to start throwing baby fits. Oh dear… He has been teething, so been on edge as it is… one day we threw fit after fit about things like:

I wont allow him to chew on the curtains.

He got stuck under the rocking chair after moving all around the room, so I got him unstuck….* cue melt down*

He can’t eat my phone.

We are eating a snack without him….

His toy fell.

He can’t fit all the big boy food in his mouth at once.

The food is now gone.

His daddy left for work.

I could go on… lol…. This kid!

Job Update:

Long story short: The job didn’t work out. It was a God thing. I am completely at peace with it. I am now looking at going to Grad school. I am praying everyday for direction!

Happy Monday ya’ll! Spring is on its way! 

Little Update on O

Ollie is 5 ½ months old! He is seriously getting big WAY too fast. His new tricks are:

1. He can drink from a straw now, but prefers just to blow bubbles in his cup. He kept grabbing my cup with a straw and trying to figure it out. We finally got him his own cup to play with. He loves it! He doesn't really drink anything, it is more of game to him.

2. He can sit up for a few seconds on his own.

3. He still loves to roll all around the room, trying to find the tags to play with on his mat. We really do have toys, he just prefers tags…

4. He is wearing some 12-month clothes now.

5. He hates sleeping.

He is definitely not a little baby anymore. He loves exploring new things, and it's fun to watch him just “get” things. I always give him kisses on the cheek, and he laughs and laughs. A little game we have played for awhile. A couple weeks ago he stopped, looked at me, grabbed my face and did it back. It was so sweet. He loves giving “kisses” and hugs. His “kisses” are more like slobber smooshing around your face, but it’s the thought that counts and super endearing. 

Sleep sucks right now. Around 4 months he regressed. Huge. Big time. We are talking, way worse then his newborn sleeping. I swear. We have nights he is up 6-7 times, when he used to get up once.  He can be up every hour to two hours. It’s tough man. For a kid that refuses to nap very much, we at least had nighttime. All sleep is a battle at this point. We are just sticking to our routine, trying every little thing to help him sleep better…. He will nap in 20-30 increments but only in my arms. We are trying to work towards napping in his crib but its been another battle we have not yet won. Want an example? Yesterday we had an hour of screaming because we were so tired and refused a nap, we finally fell asleep and slept for 6 min..... :|   Our home is definitely in zombie mode. 

We visited his chiropractor a few days ago and she adjusted him.... we are trying some of her suggestions. I tell you we are so desperate for a good nights sleep and less crying! Sleep time=screaming. We have tried every single suggestion, sleep theory, book, routine, and prayer out there. This is just where we are at right now. I’ll tell you, its completely defeating to not be able to put your 5 month old to sleep. We have been at this long enough you think we would “get” it. We feel like complete idiots to be honest. It's super annoying when people just say, well if he is fed, and has a clean diaper, and you watch for sleepy signs, he will sleep. False. You obviously have never had a kid who hates sleep. It doesn't matter how early we start trying to get him to sleep, he fights it until he is over tired..... grrrrr. 

He really is the sweetest when he finally sleeps! He is SOOOO happy once we get passed the fight!

Then snow just dumped over Wichita, which does not help a sleep deprived momma! We need spring, desperately for the sanity of our home :) 

Anyways, enough about our lack of sleep….This too shall pass. A little job update for those that care:

I have applied, passed the first test, turned in round 2 of paper work, and they are in the process of doing my background check! Prayers that after I pass the background they want to give me my first interview! God willing.

So, today we are taking my mommas advice; Turning on praise music and we dance. O seems to find it funny, and it’s a good workout. Have a good day readers, enjoy being bunkered in a little bit longer in all this snow. Enjoy an extra cup of coffee or tea…. It’s called for on snow days. <3 

No Absolutes: Journey to Humility

I remember being a little teeny bopper, leading my own gender equality revolt in my bedroom, playing outside only if it was raining and there was mud, despising everything that was expected of me. Normal statements would be:

“I will NEVER get married. Who needs a man anyways?! I take care of myself, plus there are animals to keep me company.”

“I will NEVER have kids.”

“If I have kids, I will NEVER stay at home. EVER”

“A career will be my priority, not a family”

I remember a time my dad was having a “guys” night with some of my cousins at a baseball game, (I am like the only girl cousin) I cried and screamed how unfair it was that events like this were divided by gender and if I wanted to go I should be able to go! I shouldn’t be excluded because of my gender! Then I stormed to the bathroom and cried. Great way to prove a feminist point, get real emotional. (sarcasm) FYI. My dad let me go….

I don’t know what it is about my parents that they raised two very strong, independent, gender equality-seeking women. They are normal people. My mom stayed home, my dad worked. They never taught us this stuff. It was authentically engrained in me. I feel bad for them.

Life taught me many lessons along the way. One of the most humbling experiences came when I was 11. I experienced the feeling of true loss for the first time. Over and over again. I remember this shaking me to the core, changing my perspective, realizing the lack of control I had for my life, and teaching me nothing is permanent.

Then life began happening, I met a boy when I was 14 that I would marry right after high school. (Against the advice of many)

That “absolutely never EVER happening” was gone. I got married.

Then I found myself in the final semester of college, I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, at my dream internship, on the fast track to the career I desired. Yet, I found myself on the bathroom floor, throwing up continuously from morning sickness.

That “absolutely never EVER happening” was gone. I was pregnant.

Then I found myself graduating college, pregnant, no job prospects (who wants to hire a prego?!) I was home. I was still. The lord forced me to just be still in his presence. I was learning I am a pawn in his plan. My sweet baby boy was born and I was a stay at home mom.

That “absolutely never EVER happening” was gone. I was a stay at home mom.

I now find myself looking and applying for jobs, and praying no mater what job I get, I will keep my family first.

That “absolutely never EVER happening” is leaving. My family will be my priority, not my job.

I sit here snuggling my 4 month old, and tears roll down my face thinking about the day I won’t wake up to his face every morning. The day I will spend more time at work then home. Parenting blogs say the most important gift you can give a child is time, and I know that will be rare in the career I am going into.

I look back at my “never, evers” and wonder what I was fighting so hard against. My “never evers” have turned into the biggest blessings of my life. Before Oliver was born I was mourning over not being able to jump into the work force and now I am mourning the opposite.

I used to wonder why mom's didn’t work, why they stayed at home. I see that now. The Lord obviously has different plans for me, but I get it. I get why mom’s stay at home.

This experience has opened my eyes to both worlds. I see the pain and hardships of staying at home and the pains and hardships of working outside the home. I get it. I want to be there for Oliver’s first steps, first words, watch him change everyday. I want to just be able to be there. That is my prayer for this new stage of life. That I will be present when I am home. That means finding balance in the unknown. That means balancing what I foresee as working nights, holidays, and weekends. Balancing a stressful career and raising babies. It’s possible, I know. It’s scary though.

The Lord is using this experience to refine me though, change my heart and strengthen my family.  Every “never ever” that was broken was a humbling, beautiful experience that taught me life happens. The Lord is in charge of my life. My future is already mapped out. He knows my every step along the way. I can’t live in fear of this change. The Lords plans never fail.  My tattoo on my wrist reminds me his plans are to prosper not to harm.

I still wear my heart on my sleeve, I am still probably too opinionated, I still have absolutes. This is my journey to humility. The Lord is teaching me though; there are no absolutes, except the Lord. He will absolutely always be in control and be present.

I ask for prayer as I’m going through the application processes, that the Lord will open doors or SLAM others. That interviewers will find favor to my application even though hundreds others are applying. Pray I listen to the Lords will.

Any mommas that balance work, school, and parenting etc. that want to give advice on how they balance everything, that would be amazing!

Love you all. Have a great week.

What O is doing and Crying it Out

(Mrs. Monkey and her baby in hand ;) )

Oliver is growing like a weed right now. It’s so great to watch. All of his clothes are getting tight and I feel like we just moved up a size! This is such a great “problem” to have. He is fun, laughs, screams, giggles, mimics and makes faces. He is rolling everywhere now. Some days he refuses to stay still and just rolls until something stops him. He is getting so strong and starting to love his Johnny Jump Up.

Our favorite toys this week are: Mr. Monkey, Mrs. Monkey and her baby, and a mirror toy. He loves mirrors. He always looks at himself and smiles. Its sweet. At this age they become very aware of their environment and can have issues processing everything. This is a reason for the “four month sleep regression”. He gets very over stimulated quickly right now. We found this out on Christmas…. * sigh *  I have some what figured out a “nap time” that works for us. I had many mommas suggest about every 2 hours try and sleep him. I had been trying this and failing every time. My husband was home the other day and wore Oliver a lot. While Oliver was being worn he would fall asleep about every 2 hours….. ah yes…. So, that’s how we are doing this. About every two hours I strap him on, and he is falling asleep. It really helps his moods and is helping him sleep through the night. I really hope this keeps working because he needs sleep!

Can I use this as a transition into why we won’t let him just cry it out to make naps work?  Thanks :)

I’ll start out by saying that I have always been fascinated with Psychology. When I started college I was a Psych major, loved it, would read my textbooks for fun. That transitioned into my love for sociology and the study of people and cultures as a whole.  I eventually changed my major to criminal justice, obviously, but accidently got a degree in sociology because I loved the curriculum so much I suddenly took all the classes for fun and was finished without realizing it! A great way to earn a degree! Anyways, this takes me to why we are choosing to parent the way we are. We lean towards Attachment Parenting. It’s a great theory that I am fully supportive of. When we make decisions with Oliver we don’t look at what our parents did, what our friends are doing, what is popular, or what is convenient. We looked at different parenting techniques as a whole, not  JUST the stuff popular in the United States.

What is working and why?

So, what we do might seem strange, unusual, or not practical to mainstream US parents. That’s fine. What we do is based on psychological studies, and research. We are confident in our decisions.

A great quote I read after becoming a parent was “Research everything and go with your instinct” Exactly. We won’t do anything just because we are told. I don’t care if it’s a doctor, an expert or who, we do what we think is best for our child.

(He really wants to crawl, he grabs onto anything and tries to move!) 

No matter how many people tell us to “just let him cry it out” we wont. Babies are not neurologically developed to “self sooth”. They are primal beings. Babies are way smarter then us, by the way. They act strictly on instincts; adults have so much that crowd their instincts. Babies do not have books to read to tell them how to be babies. That would be dumb. So, why do we read books on how to be parents? Social norms can then dictate what we do in parenting instead of our primal decision-making that is built into us when we have children. Babies do not know social norms, thus do not react in such ways. When they cry, there is a reason. I will respond to my child’s cry every time. I will soothe every cry. If you do not think this is correct then look at other cultures and the rates of sleep disorders, and anxiety disorders. Obviously, America is doing something VERY wrong. Other Cultures, moms wear their babies all the time. From the time they wake up (from their family bed), they are fed while worn and taken everywhere strapped to their moms. This is beautiful and I am glad America is catching on. This is not a “fad” it is the way of life for most cultures.

Touch is important. Some where along the line an American “expert” suggested that we can “spoil” our babies by holding them too much. No. We will “spoil” (which means wasting away) them by leaving them alone to fend for themselves. When this fad took over the states, babies that were institutionalized were left with no physical touch. None. Their “needs” were met but were never touched, or held. I’m sure they didn’t cry because they had given up, not because they were “self soothing”. Do you know what happened to the babies that were never held or shown love? They died. 100% of them died. This is a tragic mistake that was made. Those people did what they thought was best. We can learn so much from this history though. Touch and comfort is just as important as food and shelter. When you know better, you can do better.

(Mr. Money pictured) 

As a parent, it is our job to help our children adjust to this new world as easily as possible. That means when they get over whelmed you hold them, and you comfort them. That means when they cry, you listen, because they are communicating something. That means you help them discover the world, but you are close by to comfort when it becomes too much. That means: when they are hungry you feed them, when they are tired, you sleep them, when they want held, you hold them. If they sleep comfortably with you, you co sleep, and if they sleep comfortably in a crib, you allow them. Our parenting philosophy means you give your child respect, you listen to them and allow them to communicate their wants, desires and needs. They know what they need. 

I will not parent in a way that is just convenient for me, but damaging to my son.

( "Really?! Stop with the photos! Fine, one small grin, thats it!")

I will now make a confession. Last week I let him cry. I was frustrated. I couldn’t get him to sleep. For two hours, I would sleep him, lay him down, he would cry, I would comfort, sleep him, lay him down, he would cry. As this went on, I asked myself “why?”. Why do I think he has to sleep only in his crib? He is clearly getting more stressed by the min, my comfort was slowly becoming insufficient,  he wanted to sleep on me. Some day he wont want me at all.... and I thought about it, and there was no good reason why he couldn’t sleep on me. Not one. So I picked him up, held that baby and he went to sleep. I will not break that trust again. It was learning experience, and it didn’t feel right the whole time. At least not for my child’s personality or me. I understand EVERY baby is different and some need a few mins of alone time to stop from being stimulated, but that’s not my baby. There are also different types of cries, mommas know their babies, and know if it’s a fussy “I’m going to sleep cry” or “something isn’t ok cry”. My baby wants human touch, and that is what I will give him. Touch, and attachment is so important in this time in his life where he is developing so quickly. He needs that reassurance. This is why I am so beyond thankful that we are able to successfully breastfeed. I do nurse for the health aspect, but also for the development and attachment aspect. It is a bond that is unlike any other. I believe that breastfed babies should be with their mom’s as much as possible. We use minimal bottles so that we won’t break that bond. Nursing is as much about comfort as it is nutrition. I will be with my baby all the time, unless I can’t. I am looking for a job, and applied for a few so that will separate us. Our days together are numbered. Until then, I will be by his side as much as possible and if I am not available then my husband will be with him. The parental role right now is huge. We have the ability to be present so we will be.

This all may sound strange to some people, because we are taught that parents need constant “breaks”….I don’t completely agree. I do enjoy a meal with my husband without interruption every now and then, but that is sparingly. That doesn’t mean that I do not put my marriage first, it means it just might look different then what our culture says it should look like. Going out on “dates” are not the only way to put your marriage first. For us, it’s not very logical right now. It is expensive. I read a statement last week that said "if you are not going out with your spouse once a week then something is is a priority and this must change immediately" Yes, paying bills does take priority. I hate statements like this. That is NOT the only way to have a relationship. We can have a “date” after baby goes to bed. But, yes, for the record, my marriage absolutely comes first. That is biblical.

I am thankful for my husband, his desire to bond with our baby and as a family. We are bonding as a family now, and that will lay a strong foundation for Oliver’s future. We are doing our best to raise him. We do everything together. This is our life, we makes decisions together for our family and discuss everything. We have a very close marriage and want that to result in being close with our children. We want a home full of love, encouragement, and individuality. 

Moral of the story, we don’t belong in the United States, We are really weird, and never follow the “rules”.  I don't know if what I am doing is "right" but it is what works for this family. Do what works for your individual family. I just want to encourage Mom’s and Dad's to listen to their babies, respond with instincts, and don’t be afraid to love with all your heart. Every parent does his or her best. Every baby has different needs, and needs to be responded to differently. Just be the parent that your instincts tell you to be and don’t listen to anyone that tells you differently. 

(Glaring at me.... yikes... lol!)

Have a great week everyone!! 

Why My Hair Hurts: Reality of Staying at Home

My head. It hurts. My hair. It hurts. Why you ask? Let me explain....

My husband keeps complaining about my hair. It’s falling out like crazy. (Losing all those glorious pregnancy hormones) So, I decided to DIY a deep hair conditioner to see if it would help. Dumb.

My baby, as much as I love him, is very demanding and needy. I still thought I could accomplish this one task. I look up recipes on the computer while simultaneously bouncing baby with my foot in his bouncy.

Boom, found an easy one with stuff I have in my kitchen. Baby continues to fuss while I mix equal parts of honey and oil. Dang coconut oil is a solid though. Idea: Heat in microwave for a min.

Baby cries.

I comfort baby while my glorious mixture heats. Baby comforted. I grab my mixture and run to the bathroom to spread this in my hair. I have maybe 30 seconds before the crying commences.

Dang this mixture feels hot.

Baby cries.

Ok, hurry, hurry, pour and go. I stand over the bathtub and poor this liquid goodness over my hair. Ouch. Ouch. I think it’s burning my scalp. Who would know, who has time to feel, all I hear is screaming baby. But dang, the honey is like welding onto my scalp. Oh well, get to baby. I wrap my hair up and run back to baby in 30 seconds flat. Bam. Task succeeded. Now, just wait 30 mins and rinse.

 Baby fusses, baby eats, baby wants to play but I have to stay close so he can see me.

Oh wait, I still haven’t eaten today.

Crap. Nursing and starving yourself do not go well together. Baby is happy, time to eat some calories. Doesn’t matter much what it is, just need calories. Bam, done.

Baby cries.

Nap time. (AKA: me sitting on the couch, holding baby, looking at the war zone of the house I have, without the ability to move)

Baby sleeps.

Phone rings, husbands off work. Baby wakes and eats. My head. It’s stuck. Stuck to the pillow. Why?

Crap. It’s the honey. It’s the “deep conditioner”. Crap. It’s been almost four hours. It was only supposed to be in 30 mins. Crap. I forgot.

Husband walks in the door and goes to the bathroom to wash his hands…. He then returns asking what the heck went on in the bathroom because it is very sticky….

Ughhhhhhhh……….about that.

I hand baby to the hubs and jump in the shower to remove this brilliant idea from my hair. I scrub and scrub. Jump out of the shower.

Baby cries. Hurry, hurry, hurry.

I come out of the shower, and get a side ways look from my husband as he asks me why my hair is standing out so stiff…..

UGHHHHH. I hate my life. (Just kidding)

After baby fights sleep that night, I get back into the shower to remove the honey that is stuck onto my head. Why did I ever try and do this while taking care of Ollie…

Why.

Second shower and wash and my hair is feeling less stiff and more soft. It worked. Yay. I now go to bed.

I wake up…. Ouch. Oh, ouch. My scalp. It hurts. It feels burnt. That’s because it is. That hot honey and oil mixture that I poured ever so quickly on my scalp was so hot. I ignored it but now I feel it. I feel every hair on my head. It doesn’t feel nice at all. My hair does feel softer, but my scalp feels like it is on fire……

All you can do is laugh. Please laugh with me. Please? :) 

So, moral of the story, Don’t try and do anything while taking care of a needy baby. You will end up with a burnt head, and sticky hair.

Have a Happy New Year All!! 

Meal Planning on a Tight Budget

I hope you all had a great Christmas! We sure did! Ollie had a great time with all our extended family and meeting some of them for the first time! We also got to play in the snow for the first time! So fun!

Meal planning got a lot of attention in my last post! Who knew people would be so intrigued?! A lot of people asked for me to elaborate... so here we go!  Meal planning comes second nature to me. It's hard for me to explain how I do it, I just do. I don't understand how one would grocery shop without meal planning? Like, what do you buy? Serious question.

So, I decided to post about our budget and our meal plan this month! Here are a few tips on how we keep our grocery budget down.

*** We eat as healthy as our budget allows. We believe in a whole foods, organic diet... but we have caviare taste on a hot dog budget. You make it work. You do the best you can. ***

1. Shop At Aldi.
Alid's allows us to get WAY more for our money and still eat whole foods. Especially with their new Organic and Simply Nature line. It makes eating very affordable for us.

2. Minimal Fresh Fruit, Veggies, Dairy and Meat
Fresh produce is expensive. Don't get me wrong I LOVE fresh produce. Drop me in the middle of Fresh Markets organic produce section and instant relaxation. Its my happy place. I could just camp out in the sea of organic veggies.....BUT our budget does not allow for a ton of fresh produce. We replace as much fresh produce as we can with frozen. Its cheaper and does not go bad. I am allergic to dairy so the only dairy we buy is cheese and we make sure at least 50% of our meals are vegetarian. To replace buying cows milk, we buy almond milk. Almond milk has a longer shelf life than cows milk anyways. Every meal will include protein, it just might be in the form of beans which are cheap.

3. Minimal trips to the store
I used to shop for the whole month in one trip. When you are working its the easiest. Now that I am at home we go twice a month. This WILL reduce your budget. Use what you have in your home. The more trips you make to the store the more you will spend. Simple as that.


4. Get Organized
Write your meal plan, write your grocery list, and stick to it. Do not allow anything in your cart that was not written down. Use self control. Do not let promos and advertising allow you to go out of budget. I write my lists, organize them by isle/type of food, what ever works. The more organized you are the better chance you have to succeed.

5. Use Cash and Bring a Calculator
Here's where you get serious. We run a cash budget. We don't like debt. We are in debt and it sucks. Hopefully, one day we can live debt free. We are huge believers in living within your means. We pay cash for everything possible. Our goal is to have no mortgage, car payments or student loans one day. So, bring your grocery budget money in cash to the grocery store. Get our your phone or calculator and add up everything while going down the isle. When you hit your max, stop. If you don't have everything you "need" then prioritize. "Need" is such an over used term in our culture.

6. Don't Buy Pre-Packaged Food
Super expensive. Super bad for you. Don't do it.

7. Stock the Freezer Not the Fridge.
Some days you will look in our fridge and it will appear we have no food. Usually, we do, it is just all in the freezer. This takes planning but helps prevent throwing away food and wasting food. We freeze things that people don't always think of... like bread, chopped up fresh veggies (onion and peppers), tortillas, all the cheese we buy... ext. We just thaw when those items are needed.

So, thats the basics of how we make this work. Does it always work? Of course not, but we try our hardest.

This is what it looks like in real life for us:

We have a monthly budget of $200 (or $50 a week) for groceries in our home. I meal plan about 15 recipes per trip. These 15 recipes will provide at least 30 meals for us. (Not including breakfast and snacks) That makes each meal about $3.33 which is $1.66 per person. Here are the meals for this grocery trip and we can break it down a little more:

1. Cuban Rice and Beans with Rice and Avocado (v)
2. Ham and Beans with Corn Bread
3. Sloppy Joes and Homemade Chips (Pioneer Women)
4. Spaghetti  (v)
5. Broccoli Ham and Cheese Potatoes
6. Cheese Enchiladas (v)
7. Turkey Pot Pie
8. Stir Fry (v)
9. Veggie and Ham Scramble with Biscuits
10. Beef Stew (Iowa Girl Eats)
11. Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese (v)
12. Veggies Pizza (v)
13. Penne a la Vodka (v)
14. Cheesy Taco Soup
15. Bean Burritos (v) (Homemade "refried" beans)

***(v) = vegetarian***

***Breakfast will include Oatmeal or Cereal.***

54% of our meals are vegetarian this time. Let me explain, we have leftovers that were given to us from the holidays and froze them. The left over ham and turkey will serve as additions to these meals. If it weren't for these, there would be less meat featured. So, we actually only bought hamburger meat and stew meat on this trip. We also had a TON of pinto beans and rice given to us so that helps our meals stretch a little further.

We went to Aldi's today and Spent $103.00 of our $200 budget. We will stretch it and make it last as long as possible. At least two weeks. I can get pretty creative though and sometimes make it stretch longer. Any money that we don't use in our cash grocery budget for the month gets put into savings. This is a HUGE incentive to make it last! Save where you can!

Some day when we are not on such a tight budget I want to include local meat and raw dairy to our diet. Until then, we will continue to meal plan this way.

There you go! Hope it helps! Enjoy your future meal planning :)

How we survived our first cold (Naturally)…. And O Update

First, I want to say how very, very blessed we are to have a very healthy child. We have not had to face any REAL health issues with Oliver and I know that. I am SO grateful. It is a true blessing to have a healthy child. Not a day goes by that I am not thankful for that.

That being said, it is super sad still when your little gets sick. Ollie wasn’t even THAT sick. He was congested, sneezy, watery eyes, you know, typical cold symptoms. No fever, not that I think fevers are BAD per say, but it’s just something we didn’t have to deal with. It’s just sad to watch a little baby get even a little sick! 

So, by now, you know I’m definitely from a different breed of humans. I love nutrition, REAL foods, Essential oils, natural remedies, Weston A Price diet, things that have stood the test of time. By NO means am I against modern medicine. I love that it is available but it is NOT my number one go to. It’s just not. When O got sick the first thing I did was eat raw garlic cloves, not call the doctor. Now, if he would of gotten REALLY sick, I would have called a doctor. It’s all about balance, ya know?

So, What we did to fight his first little, baby cold. I may have gone over board, but I’m a first time mommy, judge me.

1.     Breastfeed like crazy!
This comes in really handy when your kids sick! Anything I put in my body, Ollie gets. Gods perfect design.

2.     Echinacea supplements and tea

3.     Green tea

4.     Garlic tonic on Ollie’s feet while he slept

5.     Cold mist humidifier

6.      Put his crib up a little to help his breathing

7.     Lots of Vit C

8.     I ate 3 raw garlic cloves. (hello, good breath)

9.     Elderberry blend tea

10. Made sure we both got plenty of sleep, fluids and that my diet was spot on.

11. Made sure he got his probiotic everyday***

***Since we had a C-Section our Chiro recommended this probiotic for Ollie to take. He didn’t get the good bacteria from a natural birth, so we supplement with a probiotic.

Whew, we survied and it passed super quick. One day of grumps, then it was over. A little congestion left but you can tell he feels fine. Breastfeeding rocks, just saying. Little O was a champ and this cold will really help build his immune system for further illness we come across, so it was a huge blessing that he got to fight it!

Oliver Update:

Oliver is doing amazing. We had his lip tie reversed on Tuesday. It went great. We waited two months for this appointment that took 20 mins. Not. Kidding. We went in, the doctor explained his technique. (which was exactly the way I had research and decided I wanted it done) I wanted NO anesthesia, and I wanted it done with heat/laser NOT the standard scalpel. They gave him a little shot in the gum, cut that part of his lip and it was done! I held him, we went home and he never acted like it bothered him. Which is exactly why I wanted it done with the heat. It seals it immediately and should be no pain.

Eating: The lip takes about a week to heal. This was our final “solution”. I’m not sure yet if it has helped. We do have some 1 ½ hour stretches now, which are AMAZING! It feels like an eternity. Today, for the first time we went THREE hours between a feeding. It was insane. We get to play more and have fun. He is not eating as long either. That is the huge thing I notice. He is only eating for a couple mins then done. So, I think he does not have to work as hard to eat. Which is great. I am wondering if things will start to even out soon. I really do feel like it has made things easier for him though, which is all I wanted. I don’t care if he eats all the time, as long as it’s easier for him. I am just glad it is all done! Such a simple, simple, thing we had to wait so long for!

Favs of this week: He has been laughing so much. It has been so much fun. He is also working really hard on rolling from back to tummy. He talks all the time. He is just a TON of fun right now! 

Ollie is super excited for Christmas! He gets to meet two great aunts for the first time! We get to spend lots of time together with family!

We hope you all have a wonderful Christmas as well!