cold remedies

Unfortunately we have "caughten" the latest cold that is going around and since we are still somewhat new to the area and don't already have a family doctor I have been a little more motivated to expand my knowledge of home remedies in taking care of our family...and I have been delighted to find that they are not as complicated as I'd imagined. So, considering the name of my blog is "Mothering Naturally", I thought I'd pass them along for anyone interested.

Common Cold/Sore Throat:
Garlic, honey, lemon juice, cinnamon essential oil and lots of vitamin C.
Make a "tea" by crushing a clove of garlic and pour boiling water over it into a cup. Squeaze the juice of half a lemon into it, add about a teaspoon of honey(raw if you have it), fill the rest of the cup with water and drink as often as possible. The steam helps open your sinuses, while the rest is very soothing. Garlic is also the number one fighter of any type of virus or infection!

Cinnamon essential oil has a great smell and can be rubbed on the soles of the feet. Cinnamon increases your circulation (among other things) which is the key to your body getting rid of ailments. Consequently, everything circulates through your feet and my children certainly didn't mind the foot rub either.

Croup/Respiratory Colds
Mullein, Eucalyptus Oil, Echinacea and more vitamin C.
Buy Mullein from a healthfood store and add 10-20 drops into liquid or juice and drink often. (It's pleasant tasting so your kiddo's shouldn't put up a fuss)
A few of it's benefits:

• calms spasms and is a natural pain killer.
• Helps to reduce swelling in glandular system.
• Used in all respiratory problems and pulmonary diseases.

Eucalyptus Oil can be rubbed on the chest or back near the lungs. It's also great to add to a humidifier or "steam bath" in the bathroom. Eucalyptus is a natural expectorant and helps to open everything up...which is super important when your child wakes up in the middle of the night and isn't breathing well.

Echinacea can be given often as well. I bought a children's formula that my boys love and give them one dropper full 3-4x's a day when they're sick or we're trying to keep well while others are sick.

I found each of these easily at our health food store and we've used all of them over the last few days and it's been a great help! If you have any other great home remedies, please share...we're always learning.

Blessings

Alot of Everything...

We have been in Astoria for almost a month now. Besides family I haven't found any other mom's to get together with and I am anxiously awaiting playgroup on Thursday that I discovered last weekend. Yipee! As for the new and improved. : )...

Gabriel is walking! He started giving it a try the week of his birthday and is getting much, much better. I am still not used to hearing him coming...and then see him walk around the corner. He gets such a kick out of it and Justus often exclaims. "Ook! Ga-riel walking!" It's quite adorable and never fails to make me smile.

I am coming along in my pregnancy. I finally have a little belly to show and I've been able to feel the baby move for the last few weeks. I also, just got motivated enough to consistantly exercise in hopes of getting a better nights sleep...and tone up a bit. The first exercise I did was a video of my moms from the late 80's. Oh DEAR! It was quite a riot, but rendered a pretty decent workout(I was plenty sore anyway). Now, I'm awaiting a few more "updated" prenatal videos from Amazon, and in the meantime modifying the other videos I have. Denise Austin is a bit much for me, but she does have decent work-outs.

As for our house, it is sitting all alone in North Portland. Kiely and his dad almost finished the steps going from the patio to the lawn. They look awesome. Once they're done we need to lay the pavers (bricks) and put the plants and trees in. We did just find out that we may be moving to North Plains in the next 6-7mths. We knew that was a possibility, but didn't expect it quite so soon. It's still not 100% set, but a possibility... Ohh, the unkown.

Well, I am going to take advantage of my late afternoon and take a much needed (or at least wanted) nap. Blessings

Astoria. We're Here!

I have been meaning to post over the last few weeks, but wanted to put pictures along with it, so now I'm a bit overdue and have A LOT of pics to share! Our first outing here was going to the beach...which we realized, once we were there, that it was the first time we had brought either of the boys to the ocean. I guess growing up here, the beach lost a little bit of it's novelty and we never really thought of going. However, it was a perfect day, and we had a great time. Justus spent most of his time running from the water and we could hardly keep Gabriel out of it. Even when a wave came in and splashed him from head to toe.

Our next event was celebrating Gabriel's 1st Birthday. Justus helped me make the cake...and clean the mixer. He was thoughtful enough to share the treat with Gabriel too. : ) As for the party, Gabriel ate so much a dinner that he didn't even want to touch his cake. Justus helped him blow out the candles and that was about it! So, I got a picture of him crying with his untouched cake in front of him. Ahhh, memories! My nephews that live here came over and we quickly found out that our gift to Gabriel was going to be hard for him to keep to himself. It was great though!

Backyard Progress

We're movin' along (or my husband is that is) Here are the latest pics of our yard!

And a few play ones as well : )

Ok...I'll tell!

Everything seems to be "set", so I can finally share the big changes for our family...To start with, Kiely was just offered a new job last week. Something he has been searching for since almost January! He's had interviews and some minor leads along the way, but was really beginning to get discouraged after almost 8mths. However, God's timing and plan is always perfect...it's just rarely seems to be what we would have come up with on our own (and trust me, I had some pretty good plans I sent His way ; ) So, even though he's getting a new job that really isn't the half of it! The job is actually in Astoria, OR. The town where both my husband and I were born, raised and said we would NEVER live. Go figure! However, every other detail is fitting just right. For instance:
~Babysitting!!! We will finally have babysitters (and yes, this is at the top of the list!)
~we are staying with family until we decide whether to rent, sell our house or while we're waiting for either to happen so we aren't paying a mortgage and rent or two mortgages at the same time
~hardly anything is more than 20 minutes away (even with traffic)
~housing is lower than the Portland market (praise the Lord)
~we will be in Astoria for my mom to deliver our next little Bondurant in February!!!

So, yes! The rest of the news is that baby Bondurant number 3 is well on his/her way. I had my first appointment last Monday and found out we are approxamately 11weeks along and expecting in mid to late February. I heard the precious little hearbeat and everything is going well. With this part of the news we have a little time, as far as Kiely's job, we are moving in two weeks! We are certainly going to miss Portland in countless ways but know God has the wheel on this one and He's a good driver!

Back and Rollin'

We had a good vacation, but are certainly back into the full swing of things once again. Kiely got a chance, as I mentioned before leaving, to play a decent amount of golf. I didn't end up reading either of my books I brought, but I did get plenty of relaxing just being away from the usually daily chores and responsibilities. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera, so we don't have a single picture : ( but hopefully next time I'll remember.

As far as our yard, it is looking great! Kiely finished one large section of our retaining wall that is holding the patio. It's a lot of manual labor, but now that he's done one section, I think the rest will come a little easier and hopefully faster (fingers crossed). Our summer is quickly running out and we really want a chance to use it before the weather changes. By-the-way, you are all invited to come for a barbeque once we're done. : )

And just for tid-bits sake, there are a few rather major "adjustments" coming to our lives that we will be sharing soon once it's all set.

Until then, Blessings!

Here we goo....Relax!

Oy, Oy, Oy! Why is getting ready for vacation such an ordeal? We are leaving tomorrow morning and I am only half way on my way to having everything packed up...and yet, I'm on the computer updating my blog... I think it's more relaxing than thinking about all the things I still have to do. Never-the-less, they always get done!

So, we are heading out to Redmond, Oregon for a relaxing week of golfing, golf, and more golf (at least for my husband) Hopefully, the boys will be entertained enough to spend a lot of time at the pool and I'll get a chance to read some books and not worry about cleaning house or doing laundry. I'm sure in the years to come, our vacation activities will expand as the kids get older and are interested/can do more things. But for now, I'm satisfied with reading a few good books. Then, when we get back, it's back to the yard. I'll post some pics when there is a little more progress to report. : ) Blessings to all!