Battling and Winning the Baby’s Skin Issues

August 9, 2012 7 Comments

Alistaire turned 6 months old yesterday:

I can’t believe that much time has gone by already. 6 months? He is a big boy, he was 28″ long and 19 pounds at his checkup and is starting an “army crawl”. He so badly wants to keep up with Walker.

And finally I am seeing a change in his skin. I have mentioned before just how bad his eczema was. It was REALLY bad. I used the prescription ointment his Doctor prescribed just enough to calm his skin down. His face looked sunburnt from the red skin, he always had chapped skin. On his face, neck, head, arms, chest…everywhere.Once I got his skin healed I changed his body wash/shampoo. We were already using Aveno unscented for eczema but even that was too harsh. I was approached My True Nature about their products. At this point I figured I had little to lose – everything else was drying him out.

He has used their Daisy Natural 2 in 1 Shampoo & Body Wash for the past month or so, and what an improvement.

The ingredient list:

“Purified water, aloe leaf juice*, decyl glucoside**, sodium coco sulfate**, lauryl lactyl lactate, plantago extract*, white peony tea extract*, natural scent, citric acid, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate *Certified organic and originating from organic farms in California or the Pacific Northwest or **Ecocert product originating from Germany.”

 

 
Features

  • All-in-one gentle cleanser & moisturizer for face, hair and body
  • Plant-based, non-irritating cleansers, get your baby squeaky clean without irritating eyes or skin
  • Full of nourishing and calming organic botanicals including olive oil, aloe, and pure essential oils
  • Not tested on animals
  • Completely free of genetically modified organisms, parabens, petrochemicals, phthalates, sulfates, synthetic dyes, synthetic fragrances, triclosan or preservatives
  • 100% recycled and reusable plastic bottle

Previously when he’d get out of his bath his skin was tight and prickly red all over, I would have to apply ointment or lotion over his entire body – and he still looked bad. This was a candid photo on May 28th:

You can see how bad it was – and he was covered in Aquaphor. He would scratch at his head, arms, legs – anywhere he could reach.

A month ago he looked better:

Still had the red patches around his mouth though.

Now after I bathe him on most days his skin looks great. I only to use the prescription ointment 2 or so times a week, instead of 2X a day!

And I love their Clio’s Beary Soft Lotion:

No scent outside of the natural scents of the ingredients. I’ve mentioned before how most lotions/sunblock and makeup cause me to itch all over/minor hives. This lotion spreads easily, isn’t greasy and my skin feels great. The trial size “travel bottle” fits in my purse and backpack nicely, letting me carry it. I have used it on both Alistaire and Walker as well. Smooth skin like a baby should have!

The ingredient list?

“Purified water, aloe leaf juice*, shae butter*, sunflower oil* infused with calendula*, comfrey*, plantain*, chickweed*, St. John’s wort*, chamomile* & yarrow root*, behentrimonium methosulfate (and) cetearyl alcohol, bees wax*, hydrolyzed oat flour*, guar gum, sodium benzoate, potassium sorbate

*Certified organic ingredient from organic farm in California or the Pacific Northwest.

Most of our ingredients are locally sourced from organic farms in California and the Pacific Northwest.  Those ingredients that are not produced locally come from Germany.

Our bottles are made from 100% FDA-APPROVED RECYCLED PET plastic.  Our pumps, caps and bottles are all BPA free and manufactured in the USA”

And considering the products work….I can say I like them! Truth be told I am considering trying the shampoo/body wash on myself, I have a feeling I will love it. Small business and cruelty free? An even sweeter deal.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received product samples for potential review.

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Of Hiking and Raw German Chocolate Bars

July 27, 2012 7 Comments

I was so happy last weekend, Kirk and I got the boys out for two hikes, both at Mt. Rainier National Park, which is up the road from us (literally!)

On Saturday we took the two youngest on a lake hike to Bench & Snow Lakes:

On Monday we went to Sunrise, which is the highest road in the park – the parking lot is at 6400 feet – in Washington State that is alpine.

I posted this recipe earlier this week on my other blog, TrailCooking, it was so tasty I had to share it here as well!

Last weekend I made a batch of raw German Chocolate Bars that I was inspired by a recipe I saw recently on a favorite blog, NomEatNom, I made these bars using my favorite form of raw cacao, Navitas’s Sweet Cacao Nibs. The sweet ones add just enough to take any bitter cacao taste away. They have a pleasant boozy taste that works well in raw bars.

Find the Medjool dates and raw pecans at Costco or Trader Joe’s for savings, Costco now carries young coconut that is shredded but I find that Let’s Do Organic is my favorite. You can get it online or at natural food stores like Whole Foods.

German Chocolate Bars

Ingredients:

Directions:

Add everything to a food processor, process on high until finely chopped and it starts coming together in a ball. Line a bread pan with plastic wrap, pack the mixture in, flattening. Chill for a couple of hours, slice and wrap each bar. Keep refrigerated until trail time.

~Sarah

FTC Disclaimer: We received product samples for potential review/recipe development.

Filed Under: children, Family, Raw, Trail Cooking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Our Weekend Breads & Well, The Weekend!

June 11, 2012 Leave a Comment

Someday soon I really hope summer will visit us, for an extended period! Today it is sunny and gorgeous, a teaser of what we might get. And yesterday, Sunday, wasn’t that bad either! The kids kept me busy when I wasn’t in the kitchen making meals.

Walker smiling big:

In a happy mood:

Playing with the kayaks – it was an odd weekend, almost no one out on our lake! A wonderful weekend for paddling, Kirk got out twice -

The littlest one had his 4 month appointment this morning. My boys are not small. Alistaire was 26.5 inches tall and nearly 17 lbs…which explains why he wears size 9 month clothing at 4 months. Sigh!

Alistaire loves to stand, any chance he can get!

What did I make over the weekend for our daily bread? For Saturday we used up Friday’s loaf. Sunday’s bread was a white & whole wheat bread dotted with curry flavored sprouted sunflower seeds. Monday’s bread was more stade, a simple honey bread.

White & Whole Wheat Sunflower Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup + 2 Tbsp warm water
  • 1½ Tbsp sunflower oil
  • 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 1½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1½ Tbsp dry milk
  • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, preferably organic
  • 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
  • 2 tsp dry active yeast
  • 3 Tbsp raw sunflower seeds (shelled) (used Kaia/Kaya sprouted curry)

Directions:

Add the ingredients as listed to a bread machine pan, with yeast on top, reserve the sunflower seeds. Set for a 1½ lb loaf white bread, medium crust. During the mixing and first kneading watch the dough for needing a spoonful more flour. Once the dough has mixed, add in the sunflower seeds.

Once baked, remove promptly and knock out, let cool on a wire rack before slicing. Store wrapped, use within a day or two for best results.

This loaf rose quite tall for a 1½ lb loaf, if your machine only goes that big and not to a 2 lb loaf, I wouldn’t recommend it. It worked fine in mine though, just barely below the lid once baked though.

Honey White & Whole Wheat Bread

Ingredients:

  • 1¼ cups warm water
  • 2 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp neutral oil, such as sunflower
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt
  • 1½ cups white whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup organic all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup Vital Wheat Gluten Flour
  • 1½ tsp dry active yeast

Directions:

Add in order listed to your bread machine pan. Set for a 1½ lb whole wheat loaf, medium crust. Once baked, remove promptly, cool on a wire rack.

~Sarah

Filed Under: Baby, baking, cooking, Family Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Sunny Days, Kayaking and Couscous Salad

May 27, 2012 Leave a Comment

The wet side of Washington State isn’t known for having spectacular weather on Memorial Weekend so a sunny Saturday was amazing, especially as it got into the low 70′s. Although it wasn’t looking that way on Friday afternoon when we caught the edge of a huge thunderstorm system that slammed into the Cascade Mountains around Mt. Rainier. Thunder isn’t common so I took the kids back inside to wait it out. It was good and noisy but no lighting – ah well!

Alistaire is so strong I decided to see if he was ready to face out in his BABYBJÖRN Classic Original Baby Carrier. He was, but I still need to lower it more, he was riding too high. Frankly I think I need to use the second larger  BABYBJÖRN Baby Carrier Active, Black/Red instead, it goes bigger. Mostly it is length issues, he is over 26″ tall and the Classic is designed for smaller babies. That and his weight is a neck killer, the Active should work better (it did with Walker). I need to find my solution soon, hiking season is upon us! (And yes, I know the front is supposed to go over his shoulders….I needed to drop the sling down so I cheated).

Saturday Kirk took the kayak down to the lake we live above. We always joke about our “lake views”, the kids can see it from their rooms, but not us. Still, no complaints as we are less than a block away.

Birds all over and lots of blooms:

Walker sat on one of the docks and watched Daddy come in closer:

Kirk has a new kayak coming, one that we can go out together in, with the two youngest. It should be here soon! I am very excited.

Although Walker finds the sea kayak interesting enough…..

Kirk paddling off, he went through the narrow crossing to the second lake after that.

Then off to play! (Alistaire was having fun in the jogger stroller….)

Then home to a simple but filling couscous salad for an easy dinner:

Green Pea & Chickpea Couscous Salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups lower sodium vegetable broth
  • 1½ cups couscous
  • ¼ cup white balsamic or apple cider vinegar
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp honey or agave nectar
  • 1 Tbsp dry or fresh parsley
  • ¼ tsp fine sea salt
  • ¼ tsp ground black pepper
  • 1½ cups cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or 15 ounce can, rinsed and drained
  • 1 cup frozen green peas, thawed

Directions:

Bring the broth to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the couscous. Stir, cover and take off heat, let rest for 10 minutes.

Whisk the vinegar through pepper in a large bowl. Fluff the couscous with a fork, add to the bowl and toss to coat. Gently stir in the peas.

Chill for a couple of hours before serving, also good warm.

Serves 4 to 6.

~Sarah

Filed Under: children, cooking, Dinner, Family Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Babies, Gardens and Raw Brownies

May 8, 2012 3 Comments

Raw brownies? Oh yes. So good even the Toddler wouldn’t leave me alone. Make sure they sit overnight in the refrigerator for the flavors to meld together, let come to room temperature before eating (although they taste great cold also, I found they get even more chocolate tasting when warmed up and soft….) Recipe is at the bottom, I get to bore you first with my kids & garden!

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Alistaire turns 3 months today. It is going by so fast! The outfit he has on today, Walker wore when he was 4½ months old and it is already snug on Alistaire. He could be my biggest boy!

Walker has helped me in the yards, working on spring cleaning and shopping for new plants to add as well! We went plant shopping on Sunday and came home with 7 new blueberry plants, strawberry plants and some herbs. I found that I lost 4 herb plants over the winter this year. A bummer but it was a cold one so not a big surprise.

Last year Walker and I added many more blueberry plants to an old raised bed on one side of the back yard, they are all doing well. We went through and spruced up things (there is much more added now, after this photo was taken):

He sees the blueberries as “his”!

I decided to finally add plants to flank the back porch:

We transplanted two rosemary bushes that were about 3 years old:

Then added 3 blueberry plants:

Ford and Walker cleaning up the far back, I got them to clean out the yard gear shack and get it organized:

Alistaire enjoying being out in the sun – the weather has been great the past few days:

Another view of the back porch – on the left I planted 4 Pink Lemonade blueberry plants:

What started it all? When we bought the house it came with this patch in the far back – a smattering of blueberries and rhubarb. Seeing how happy Walker was in the bushes led me to plant more. Many more. We were at 27 plants on Sunday. Heh! Yes, we love blueberries. Especially with alpine strawberries growing under said bushes…and rhubarb! (Which I hope to harvest this week)

Back at the shack Ford was locked inside and Walker was trying to break in ;-)

Then on Monday the Toddler and Baby went plant shopping again with Mommy. Walker picked out 6 more strawberry plants to bring home and I found red huckleberry plants (I had to suppress squealing lest strangers think “what an idiot”). I need to dig holes for the huckleberries today, hopefully after nap time! I came to the conclusion last year that unless it produces edible things, it doesn’t get planted. I want the backyard to be an oasis for the kids as they grow up. And also so they can garden with me. And more blueberries planted may mean I actually get to eat some…since Walker beats me to them!

More photos to come, as everything fills out.

Now onto those delicious raw brownies!

Raw Brownies

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup raw walnut pieces
  • ¼ cup raw almonds
  • 2 cups pitted Medjool dates (about 20)
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp fine sea salt
  • 1/3 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions:

Add the nuts to a food processor bowl, process until finely chopped. Knock out into a small bowl, set aside.

Add the dates and process until a paste forms, add the nuts and remaining ingredients, process on high until a ball forms and the texture is as fine as you like.

Line an 8×8″ baking dish with plastic wrap, with enough extra to hang over the sides. Scrape the mixture out of the bowl into the lined dish. Pat out with a spatula, then cover with the over hanging plastic wrap and pat/press smooth till they fill the pan evenly. Chill overnight in the refrigerator, cut into bars and wrap each bar. Store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. For best taste, let warm up to room temperature before eating.

I cut ours into 8 bars.

~Sarah

Filed Under: Baby, children, Dessert, Raw Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Eggroll Crackers

May 2, 2012 1 Comment

This little boy loves crunchy, crispy nibbles (especially after going to the library!):

This little man maybe not so (he turned 12 weeks today!)

So what did I make?Well….

Leftover eggroll wrappers? Wonton wrappers? Do you end up tossing them into the yard waste bin way too often? Make them into quick crackers – that are crispy and crunchy.

Baking time will depend on your oven – I wanted mine dark and crunchy, for paler crackers cut it back by 1 to 2 minutes.

Eggroll Crackers

Ingredients:

  • eggroll or wonton wrappers
  • cooking spray
  • spices/salt/pepper

Directions:

If using eggroll wrappers cut in half and then into thirds, wonton wrappers cut in half.

Preheat the oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with foil, spray liberally with cooking spray.

Spread the wrappers in a single layer (you may need more than one sheet depending on how many you make). Spray liberally with cooking spray on top, then sprinkle spices as you desire. I did chili powder on half, salt & pepper on the remaining ones.

Bake for 5 to 8 minutes (8 for dark). Transfer to cooling racks, store in an airtight container to keep fresh/crispy.

~Sarah

Filed Under: Baby, baking, children, cooking Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An Intense Week

April 13, 2012 2 Comments

A busy and intense week to say the least. Alistaire had his 2 month checkup on Monday, which Walker and I took him to.

Walker having fun in the office (and probably glad it wasn’t him getting poked):

Little man? He is a big boy! 14 lbs and 24.41″ long:

His pediatrician heard a heart murmur he hadn’t heard before so we were sent to Seattle Children’s Cardiology unit in Tacoma on Thursday to have him checked out. The good news is he is OK. He does have a Still’s Murmur but it isn’t anything to worry about.The pediatric cardiology office is an amazing place – not a place one wants to visit but I am grateful it is there. They did an EKG and an ultrasound on his heart (the wand was so tiny) and he slept through the US, nestled on a cozy pile of pillows and blankets! But I won’t lie, it was very stressful waiting for him to be seen. Again, I am grateful that the doctors cared enough to check him out just to be sure. And thankful for state of the art technology. For what could be a rather depressing office it was cheerily decorated and easy to use.

With Daddy in the office:

On a happier note, on Tuesday I got out with my friend Tori and her daughter for a walk on the Soos Creek Trail not far from my house. For as long as I have lived here somehow I had never done Soos Creek. Not sure why either. It is paved but isn’t flat like the rail to trails out here – lots of little hills, weaves in and out of forest, open stretches and even little ponds which had ducks. There was even a picnic table at the pond and we had lunch there while Walker had fun running around.

Here he was trapped in the BOB Duallie with Alistaire, while Tori nursed her baby out of sight on a park bench along the trail (handy when you have infants!).

Tori was due before me, but somehow I had Alistaire before her. She is a week or so younger than him. It was so neat when I found out Tori was expecting the same time as me, we have hiked together for a long time – we met on a ladies hiking trip even! She has a BOB as well. It’ll be fun when they are a little older and we can take them on real trails with the BOB’s. Walker loves that…..

We got about 6.5 miles in, a nice walk.

Walker having an applesauce pouch while on the run….I have been giving Walker DHA lately (he had been getting it in his multi-vitamins but I changed types). Brainstrong had sent me samples of the toddler and kid products, he loves the kid’s gummies. I started him on natural gummie vitamins quite a while back and he chews them well. The toddler version of the DHA is a tiny tube of powder you add to food or drink but nope, he wants the “big boy” ones! We are also trying out prototypes of the new DipaerPod as well this week. They are a very interesting concept. A diaper and a trash bag all in one? Perfect for hiking and long stroller walks….

Alistaire is taking to Buggy and Birdy – Walker showed him how to play with them – and he is fascinated/bats at them.

Last but not least? Smiling like crazy this morning!

May the weekend be mellow!

~Sarah

Filed Under: Baby, children, Family Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Not So Little Boys

March 31, 2012 Leave a Comment

Walker had his 2 year checkup yesterday morning and I wasn’t shocked. He was 97% percentile for both height and head size (37″ tall and 20 ¼” head circumference) and 63% for weight. Meaning he is my strong not-so-little man! Alisatire goes in a week or so for his 2 month appointment, it should be interesting to see how big he is as well. The boys have the same pediatrician and he mentioned looking at the baby that “wow, he is a big boy!”. Yes, I know. I produce big strong Scottish lads! Or maybe Kirk had more to do with that :D Those boys look just like him!

A typical day for Walker – running around.

Alistaire taking a wee nap:

Walker checking out the playground at our health clinic. They are in the process of building a hospital (finally) for us here, the emergency room opens next week. I hope the playground doesn’t disappear though, it is a great treat for Walker after shots!

This was the first time he was old enough to truly enjoy playing on it!

He had a lot of fun running around. We got fortunate and had a break in rain for a few minutes….

Ooh! Bottom of the slide!

~Sarah

Filed Under: Baby, children, Family Tagged With: , , ,
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