Heartwarmer: Great- Grandmas!

My husband and I are blessed to still have at least 1 grandparent alive.  When we got pregnant with RC they were excited to meet their first great-grandchild, something that they didn’t even think that they would be able to see.  Now that RC is a little older it is great to see him interact with them.

When we were out to dinner with my husband’s family, RC was being his cute self, but what really melt my heart was when he reached for his great grandma and gave her a hug!  It was such a wonderful thing for me to see.  He rest his head on her shoulder as if to say “I love you”.  It is something that I don’t think that I will ever forget.

We spent the night with my grandmother, and had just tought RC how to blow kisses.  He was having a blast blowing kisses to my grandmother.  When my Uncle stopped in for a few hours, my grandmother was so excited that she was able to get RC to say hi and blow kisses to him!  It is amazing to see the excitement through someone’s elses eyes.  Seeing her so excited about what RC could do, just melted my heart.

I am glad that they get to experience the wonders of not only a grandchild, but now also a great grandchild.

Dealing with Post Partum Depression

Post Partum Depression(PPD) affects between 11 and 20 percent of women.  It can be a mild case or a severe case, but usually goes away on its own over time.  PPD is a disorder that occurs after the birth of a child, usually due to hormone imbalances.

Some symptoms of PPD are loss of appetite, sadness, feeling worthless, feeling rejected, loss of interest in the baby, loss of interest in yourself and others, etc.

Here is a test to see if you may have PPD.

Personally I knew that something was not right when I wanted to “return” my baby.  I was having feelings like I was not a good mother, that I could not do anything right, and that my son would be better off without me.  I did not have these feelings all the time, just when my son would be screaming at the top of his lungs and nothing I did calmed him down.  I knew that I really needed help.  I knew that there was a chemical imbalance with me and I knew I could not kick it on my own.

After talking with my mother and doing my own research I started on the herbal supplement St John’s Wart. I also consulted my Dr. about the supplement and she agreed that I should try it and if it worked great, but if it didn’t work I needed to try another medication. The supplement was just what I needed to create that balance.  Once I started the supplement I was a different person.  I felt like I was back to my old self.

If you are having the thought that you might have PPD please contact your doctor to figure out the right treatment for you and know that you are not alone.

 

References:

NIH

EMedicinHealth

Tot School

My son is getting to be of the age where he is starting to learn different things.  I noticed this and wanted to capitalize on it, but I didn’t know where to start.  1+1+1=1 blog  has a weekly link up to her tot school.  She has tons of ideas on how to teach your children at home with the things that you already have at home! We are now working on our colors.  We work with different flash cards and use books to pick out colors.  Now that the weather is nice we are incorporating time outside to burn some energy.

 

 

 

 

Do you have any suggestions on learning tools to teach my son? Please let me know!

Ashley Myers

Educational Tool: ABC Coloring Pages

Homeschool Creations has ABC color pages!

Do you have any fun educational tools you use?  Please share!

Crunchy Living: Uses for Vinegar

Last week I posted about using vinegar to get rid of ants and dog scent, this week I am going to list a few more uses for vinegar!

• Kill unwanted grass or plants by spraying vinegar
• Prolong flowers by adding 2 tbsp vinegar, 2 tbsp sugar and warm water.  Make sure stems are in 3-4 inches of the water mixture
• Eliminate urine stain from carpet by spraying vinegar/water mixture and pat dry
• Keep away flies by adding a little vinegar to their drinking water
• Clean rust from tools by placing in pure vinegar and let soak overnight
• Relieve the itch from a bug bite by dabbing vinegar on the bite
• Relieve sunburn by rubbing with vinegar, may have to repeat
• Remove fruit stains from hands by washing with vinegar
• Keep bright colors from running in the wash, soak cloths in vinegar for 10 minutes before washing
• Remove tough stains out of clothes, scrub with vinegar
• To lengthen the life of clothes add vinegar to rinse cycle of washing machine
• To remove hard water stains, soak vinegar on a cloth and let sit
• To clean dishwasher run the dishwasher with 1 cup of vinegar
• Cut grease on dishes by adding 2 tbsp vinegar to warm soapy water
• Get rid of cooking smells by letting water and vinegar simmer on the stove
• Clean the fridge with equal parts water and vinegar
• Clean food stained pots and containers by soaking in vinegar for 30 minutes.
• Clean Microwave by microwaving .25 cup vinegar and 1 cup water.  It will loosen the food
• Prevent soapy film on glassware by placing a cup of vinegar on the bottom rack of your dishwasher, run for five minutes, then run though the full cycle.
• Deodorized the air by spraying vinegar water

Do you have any uses for vinegar? Please share!

Ashley Myers

Little Ways to say “I Love You” to your Spouse

- Leave a card on the dashboard of his car

- Make coffee in the morning

- Leave a post- it note on the bathroom mirror

- Make your spouses favorite meal for dinner

- Get up in the morning with the children to allow your spouse to sleep in

- Make dinner and wash the dishes

 

Ashley Myers

 

Going Back to Work

Some families are blessed to be able to have one parent stay home, but most families have both parents working. Whether it is one parent going to work or both going back to work after having a baby it is hard.

 

Some things that you can do to prepare yourself and your baby for you going back to work are:

 

-Leave your baby with the child care provider you will use when you go back to work for a few hours a day, just to get used to being away

-A couple of weeks before you go back to work try to set a routine that you will have when you go back to work

-If you are breastfeeding: Introduce a bottle between 4weeks and 6 weeks of age to help your baby get used to it

-Have other people feed your baby

-If you have the opportunity gradually go back to work

-Get Organized: Prepare for the first week back by planning your meals, have bottles ready the night before

 

As time passes, after you go back to work, it gets easier to leave your baby.

If you have something that helped you go back to work let us know

 

Ashley Myers

Crunchy Living: Ants and Dogs

In my quest to go non-toxic in my house for cleaning has me searching on the internet for different all natural ways to clean and get rid of unwanted odors or bugs.  Recently, I have had two different situations come up where I was surprised to find that I already owned the solution to the problem…..Vinegar!

Every spring we are flooded with ants in our kitchen.  We aren’t really sure where they come in from, but they last only a couple of weeks and then they are gone.  I hate it and this year I wanted to find a way to get rid of them without buying a toxic ant killer.  Thanks to research and my Facebook friends, I found a few different ideas.  Borax around the base of house to prevent them from coming in.  Cinnamon if you know where they are coming in.  Vinegar around the base of the house.  A mixture of sugar, water and a tbsp of borax in a plastic cup.  The ants will eat it and take it back to their colony and it will kill them all!  I did the borax and vinegar around the house and so far there are a lot less ants coming in.

We are in the processes of taking up our carpet and putting down pergo on our main floors.  Our two dogs have had a few accidents on the carpet downstairs and we wanted to ensure that they don’t still smell their scent on the concrete and go to the bathroom on the new floor.  So I started to research and found that dogs do not like the smell of vinegar.  Vinegar will not only take away the scent, but it will also make it so that the dogs don’t want to go to the bathroom on the floor.  Right before the floor goes down we will wipe the floor down with Vinegar and enjoy our new floor!

Check back next week for other uses of Vinegar!  Do you have a favorite all natural cleaner?  Please Share!

Ashley Myers

Bookshelf: Your Pregnancy Week by Week by Glade B Curtis

Your Pregnancy Week by Week is a great book to read through your pregnancy.  This book starts off before you even get pregnant.  Each chapter goes by the week you are pregnant and has the same sections , so you are able to follow throughout your pregnancy.  It starts each week with how big your baby is and how big the mom is.  There is a section on how your baby is growing and developing  each week.  There are also sections at the end of each week explaining what tests maybe preformed during that week.

For me personally this book was a lot easier to read than any other pregnancy book.  It is a quick read and the writing style is more talking to you than scientific talk.  I have enjoyed reading it through both my pregnancies.  They also have books to cater to fathers-to-be, weight and nutrition, and fitness.

This is a nice easy book to follow throughout your entire pregnancy

Ashley Myers

Heartwarmer: A Mother’s Reflection

The house is a mess, dinner is not even thought about, I am home alone with my 1 year old son and right now I am content with life.  I am 22 weeks pregnant with my second and on modified bedrest, due to complications in my pregnancy.  I am trying to take it easy while also enjoying some quality time with my family before we have the addition in only a few months.  It also makes me reflect on how my life is.  In a few short words my life has changed and will never be the same.  As much as I love my house to be neat and clean, it doesn’t matter so much as it does to see my son sitting “reading” a book on the living room floor.  I think to myself this is what life is all about.  Seeing children grow up and watching all the new experiences through their eyes.

I have always wanted to be a mother.  My mother used to say I was a mother from the time I was three.  Now that I am one, it is nothing and everything I expected.  I didn’t expect to want to experience life all over again, just to see it through my child’s eyes. I didn’t expect that no matter how much I am in pain or sick, I will still run and take care of my child, no matter what.

This pregnancy is a blessing as all babies are, but it has also made me reflect on how hard pregnancy is on a woman’s body.  Women learn to take care of a child from conception and care for them for 9 months before even hearing the first cry.  We love them and will give up all sorts of stuff just to make sure that they are safe inside of us.  If you asked me would I do it again, I only have to take one look at my son and say yes.  I wouldn’t give up being a mother for anything.  I love both my children and would do anything to protect them.

I do not claim to be superwoman, and certainly I am not, but it does make me appreciate what my mother went through growing up and all the difficult choices she had to make to give us the best life we could have.

Ashley Myers written on Jan 20, 2012