Spring Cleaning: The Non-Toxic, Cheap, Easy Way

Tags

adhd, allergies, asthma, autism, get clean, spring clean

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A friend recently asked me how I have time to clean my house when I homeschool a second-grader and a toddler entering the terrible twos.

 

The answer?

I don’t have time to clean.  I DO NOT LIKE cleaning.  But I have learned to make time.

This past school year has been a roller coaster of schedule changes.

1. The first quarter I literally did not know how to clean because I was so overwhelmed by so much.

2. The second and third quarters, I decided that we would clean during the mornings and then I would teach my daughter during my son’s nap time.  This worked okay for me.  Except we couldn’t be consistent with keeping the house cleaned AFTER school.  Which means, this method was not really working for anybody.

3. The fourth quarter (now), we have decided we are going to have a better bedtime and wake up schedule in this house.

We have been waking up and getting ready for the day, and reading our devotions during breakfast.  Then school begins and is over before 11:30 a.m.  Lunch is at 11:30 a.m.  Any remaining school is finished.  By 12:30 p.m. we are done and ready for cleaning.   Nap time for the Mister is around 1:30-2.  During his nap, Mommy and daughter time commences along with any other things we need to pick up.  Snacks.  Dinner.  Baths. Bed.

If you know me, you know that cleaning is a constant struggle for me.  That’s why I was delighted to find Shaklee’s GET CLEAN line in 2010.  I was overcoming extreme fatigue at the time.  How would I clean when I was so tired?  When I finally got to cleaning, my lungs would react horribly to the fumes while cleaning my shower.  I had to literally wear a face mask just to do the job.  Since using the entire GET CLEAN line, I can even feel comfortable having my toddler help me with the laundry and dust my counters.  I love the fact that stains from blood, to grape juice, to grass – all come out of our clothes with minimal effort.  I love that I can get mildew off my shower without holding my breath with Basic-G and that Basic-H does everything else from cleaning my vegetables, to getting silly putty out of kids clothes, to cleaning my counters…. and I’ve had the SAME 16oz. bottle for 4 YEARS!!!!  FOUR YEARS!  That part seals the deal for me, not to mention it would take $3,400 to get the same clean from other products that make my lungs feel like they’re crumbling.  Or the thought of how many bottles I would be wasting.  Or, more importantly, my time being wasted just going down the cleaning aisle of the store to replace a bottle.  When, at home, I just make a new bottle whenever I need it.

I was also amazed by how many kids are affected in our schools by these cleaners constantly around them.  So many cleaners today are directly related to allergies, asthma, autism, ADHD, and more.  

Shocking too, was the fact that stay-at-home-moms were the most likely to develop cancers due to the fact of toxic cleaner usage alone.

Please leave a comment and tell me how cleaners have affected you.  I am so accustomed to green cleaning now, my nose will detect Windex from the other side of the room and make me cough.  I am constantly changing how I clean my house, but am thankful I can always rely on Shaklee.

 

6 Tips for Weaning Your Toddler Gently & Meal Supplements for All Ages

Tags

babies, breastfeeding, nursing, toddler, weaning

Last week, I shared our family nightmare story how our Disney vacation was pretty much not what we intended and how I relied on my natural medicine cabinet to get us through.  Unfortunately, the severity of my symptoms combined with the fact that I was determined not to have what was in my chest, move to my head, convinced me that I had to also resort to a Mucinex tablet.  Ugh.  I was bummed.

Ironically, I was praying and wondering about when would be the right time to remove my 21-month old toddler from his last weaning.  I just didn’t think it would be during vacation.  At least not the way it did.  There were a few nights in the month where he had gone to sleep without nursing.  So I knew the time was coming near.  I realized that there was really not much of a nutritional benefit for him to keep nursing, he just depended on the time to get drowsy.

Being sick in a hotel was not the time I was thinking about completely ending our nighttime routine.  I was sad because he was sick too… and wanted his only nursing to help him get better.  The more I thought about it though, the more I realized that I would be suffering and would delay my recovery.  Sigh, if mom is not well – it delays the recovery of everyone else too.  What a vicious cycle.

So I felt I had no choice.  This it how it went.

On the first night, I nursed him for 3-5 minutes when I was due for my next Mucinex dose.  By the second night, I found that the same instrumental music that helps my 7-year-old to sleep, might soothe him, if I bounced him on the bed.  (This is dreamy music folks, and a lot of it is in Latin.  Ties in well with the Latin with our Classical Conversations community, but anyone would love it.)  Surprising though, was that not only did he like the music – he was SINGING along with me in his Latin toddler mumble until he drifted off to sleep!  It was BETTER than nursing!  He even slept all night long in the hotel without waking up… something he doesn’t do at home.

If you are having difficulty weaning your baby, don’t panic.  I had never planned to nurse this child past 13 months.  With my daughter, I planned to nurse through one year old and succeeded in going to 13 months.  However, my son LOVED nursing.  I didn’t mind because he is my last baby.  But by the time he turned 18 months, with no signs of him weaning… I started to freak out.  Family started questioning why I was still nursing, which didn’t bother me.  But when I could feel the health of my thyroid begin to suffer, I knew.  It was time.

If you are wondering how to begin weaning your baby/toddler, here are…

My Top 6 Tips:

1. Understand there is no rush.  Your toddler won’t be nursing until college.  Just like you knew that nursing was the best source of nutrition for your child, you’ll know when to stop. Don’t feel pressured by family who do not understand your extended nursing.  It is perfectly normal to nurse into toddlerhood.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO):

Breastfeeding is one of the most effective ways to ensure child health and survival.  If every child was breastfed within an hour of birth, given only breast milk for their first six months of life, and continued breastfeeding up to the age of two years, about 800,000 child lives would be saved every year.

2.  To Wait or Not to Wait.  Deciding when to start weaning can be tough.  Until your family schedule is free from major trips, holidays – anything that is stressful in your life – wait – so that you can be consistent with your decision to wean.  For me, I would find that if something stressful was happening in the week and my son’s very loud cry increased my stress, that I would cave in and nurse him just to make life calm for me.  Due to my son’s overpowering personality, I knew I had to be ready to get my game on and be ready to stick to my guns no matter how he acted.

On the other hand, perhaps you have a child who is so easily distracted that a weekend away may make the whole process easier and quicker for you.

You will know what is best for the personalities of you and your child.  One sign my son gave me was that he was able to point to himself and say his name.  And then point to me and say, “Mommy.”  This showed me he understood we are two separate beings.  He is not another part of my body.  He is his own person.  He is a big boy.

3.  Take One Feeding out at a time... even if it is over a period of months.  I recall that around April 2013, when my son turned one, I was still at five feedings a day: Waking, Morning Nap, Afternoon nap, Bedtime, and Middle of the Night feedings.  I actually thought he wouldn’t notice if I just cut out the first three and just kept bedtime.  Oh boy.  He was not happy.  Neither was… *ahem*, my body.  We naturally moved to three feedings after his morning nap phased out.  How to cut the others was harder for me.

4.  Replace missing feeding with a Shaklee Meal Shake or a Shaklee Life Shake.

I realized the main reason why I was having a difficult time was that I didn’t know WHAT I would use to replace my son’s nursings.  I found out that my daughter was lactose intolerant when she was 2.5 years old.  I did not want to even try to wean him with cow’s milk.  I was able to get him to like Almond Milk if I flavored it with vanilla extract.  But I was bummed that the Almond Milk was nowhere near the calories for the amount of breastmilk he had at a feeding.  There was no way I wanted to use formula from the stores.  The amount of protein they offered was laughable. It was also unlikely he would take to it because breastmilk is so sweet.

It then dawned on me.  The Shaklee Meal Shake would be a great replacement (please also see below about other options as well)!  Coming in Vanilla and Cocoa flavors, they are whey protein and no artificial anything and Gluten Free.  They are as yummy as a McDonald’s milkshake.  And it offers 19 essential vitamins and minerals and 7 grams of protein.

I tried it the next day with his almond milk.  My son LOVED IT!  I then immediately tried having him drink one before his afternoon nap and just sing him to sleep.  Bingo!  It worked!

Now is a great time to try.  Any 50 PV purchase made with The Whole Deel gets FREE lifetime membership pricing AND will receive a FREE canister of the Cafe Latte Life Shake listed below.  Offer has been extended to March 31st, 2014.

5.  Set a schedule.

I was down to three feedings by December.   Waking, Bedtime, and Middle of the Night.  His sleeping patterns were horrible and he wasn’t eating well during the day.  I suddenly realized that this was because he was eating all night long,  so of course he wasn’t hungry during the day!  Middle of the Night feedings were the next to go.  (Stay tuned for this description when I post about overcoming poor sleep habits).

Setting a schedule seemed the best way to cut his middle of the night cravings and prepared for my next elimination:  waking.  If he went to bed no later than 8pm, then he would do better lasting through the night until breakfast.  If he woke up at the same time every morning, he would eat a better breakfast and forget about wanting to nurse.  You may choose to cut bedtime first.  It all depends on your child.

6. Distraction

It took about a week for him to accept no more nursings upon waking.  How I did it was I immediately told him it was time to eat as I changed his morning diaper.  I made him breakfast immediately and he ate an entire egg he was so hungry!  Wow.  Another sign to me that he was ready for this.  So encouraging for a mom.  If he did show signs of wanting to nurse, I would just distract him to look at toys.  Or tell him, “Milk all gone!”

This tactic I also had to use when we cut out our final bedtime weaning.  I explained to him that Mommy had a “boo boo” while pointing to my chest.  He seemed to understand.  As mentioned earlier, music is also a great distraction – especially at bedtime.

My kids love all four flavors of the Shaklee 180 protein.  And it’s great even for kids because it signals their body to build and retain lean muscle.

YOU DID IT!

Now that your baby is weaned, it wasn’t that bad, was it?  Please tell me your stories. If you are confused at the order of my eliminations, I listed clearly at the end of this post.  I am happy to have more energy and feel I can be consistent again in the rest of my life.

ALTERNATIVE MEAL REPLACEMENTS:

We have loved the Meal Shakes by Shaklee to transition from breastmilk.  However, currently, we are transitioning to the Shaklee 180 Smoothees because of their higher protein content and the complete 9 amino acids that our bodies need.  My kids like both the Soy and the Whey.

Soy is a controversial topic.  I am one to agree not to buy soy unless it is completely pure.  It comes in Chocolate, Vanilla, Strawberry, and Caffe Latte.  Also available this season are Vanilla Chai and Mango.  With Shaklee, you can be 100% sure the soy is safe.  It offers:

• 24 grams of hunger fighting protein
• 6 grams of fiber
• Powered by Leucine^TM
• 23 vitamins and minerals
• Non-GMO soy protein
• Low glycemic. GI Value: 37
• No artificial flavors, sweeteners, or preservatives added
• Gluten free, lactose free

Note: Although this is in Shaklee Weight Management line, there is no need to fear for kids! It is all natural and the main reason it helps you to lose weight is because when you have more lean muscle, your metabolism works better! So if there is no fat to burn, you will just maintain lean muscle. My kids are strong and healthy and this is in no way a “weight loss” or management shake for them, but more of a way to get a high protein and fiber in them that is helping them build muscle – even at a young age!

The Whey Smoothee offers:

• 24 grams of hunger fighting protein
• 5 grams of fiber
• Powered by Leucine^TM
• 23 vitamins and minerals
• Soy-free, for those who are sensitive to soy
• Low glycemic. GI Value: 32
• No artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, or preservatives added
• Gluten free, 99% lactose free.

RECAP of the order of my Feeding Eliminations (Yours may differ):

1. Naps.

2. Middle of the Night.

3. Morning.

4. Bedtime.

 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today was a Snow Day here in Ohio for the local schools.  Which meant a snow day for our Classical Conversations community as well.  It was bittersweet to miss our extended family of friends – but we had an unexpectedly fun day in our home school instead!

Our Math lesson today covered how to visualize what 1/4 looks like.  We had four, equally sized, clear, empty containers.  I filled one whole jar to the brim with liquid and asked my daughter to fill the other jar halfway (which would cause her original jar to be half).  The lesson brought home how 1/4 is simply half of a half and that all four quarters come together to create a whole.  We are just about finished with this RightStart Mathematics Level B course.  It will take a whole other post to sing my praise about it.  Let me just emphasize, for now, that it is a recurring theme throughout the book that numbers are related.  We do not just add numbers for the sake of adding.  All numbers have a relationship of which are either part or whole.  The way they repeatedly drive this home, visually and kinesthetically, empowers me with the tools I need to teach my daughter, who cried during math last year with a different curriculum.  She can now mentally add double digit numbers plus double digit numbers in her head.

After Math and lunch, a quick browsing of my e-mails reminded me that March 2nd was Theodore Geisel’s birthday.  Who’s that you ask?  The one, the only – Dr. Seuss!  So I continued the day in his honor.  We looked at Pinterest for ways to celebrate.  We found out my almost two-year-old son recognized the Cat in the Hat, and referred to him as the “Go-Guy” (made sense to us after the PBS song the Cat in the Hat sings about “go go go – on an adventure!)  So, we printed coloring pages for him of the “Go-Guy.”

My 7-year-old daughter found images of the famous oobleck and begged to make it.  So we got to it.  Here is a recipe for oobleck if you’ve never heard of it, from Dr. Seuss’ famous story:  Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  This was my son’s first experience with gooey stuff.  At first he was horrified, but you can see his delight below.  My daughter was also curious as to the science behind the mixture.  How did it feel so solid and then turn so liquid the next instant?  Preschool Powol Packets defined the reason is “Oobelck is a suspension (a liquid mixture that has particles large enough to eventually settle out of the mixture).”  This means it operates like quicksand.  The long starch polymers press together when thrown or rolled on the table.  My daughter had fun slapping it on the counter as a ball and then watching it ooze back to its liquid state.  This happens because the polymers in the oobleck easily trap the water when pressed together and then behave like a solid.  But when you let it go, no force, causes it to relax.  The water then flows within the mixture and it behaves like a liquid.  I was impressed she actually repeated this back to me after I explained it to her.  Thank you Preschool Powol Packets!

A Dr. Seuss birthday didn’t seem quite complete without including the Lorax.  So, while  I was boiling an egg for the Lorax creation she wanted to replicate, she drew her own version of Mr. Lorax.

Here is the finished hard-boiled egg version of The Lorax.  Isn’t he loveable? So easy to make.  We used a blank sticker page for the eyes and stuck them on.  Pipe cleaners for the arms.  And we used cotton balls for his eyebrows and bushy mustache.  We tried using yellow food coloring to color the cotton.  That did not work at all.  So she ended up coloring with a marker.  And no, this was not my idea.  It turned out just like what I found on Pinterest.

This was so fun, we are gonna be celebrating all week long.  I found a great site on pinterest that brought creative writing and copywork into the mixture.  Inallyou.com posted GREAT FREE printables for both younger and higher elemetary grades.  We finished the day with great prompts to get our own story juices flowing!
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Did you celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday?  Join us this week and tell us what you did.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to

get better. It’s not.” ~Dr. Seuss, The Lorax