Calming the Storms and Matters of Skin

Let’s face it… when the evening comes around and the bath time alarm rings, you breathe a sigh of relief. THERE IS A LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL! A T-Minus countdown to bed time begins and you can already taste the pinot noir on your lips. And if you are a stay-at-home/work-from-home mom with a high energy child like me, you started the T-Minus count at naptime! Come on! You know what I’m talking about! I mean of course, yes we love our children. They are amazing little people and the joy they bring is unmeasurable….however, after a day of Yo Gabba Gabba sing alongs, repeating No, Reciting the ABC’s, Colors & Days of week over and over again I am okay with being in complete silence from 7:30 until my eyes close!

I’m pretty blessed to say that for the most part bath time and bedtime is pretty easy for Jax when at home. I say bath time and he would remove his clothes as quickly as possible and follow me into his bathroom. We’d read, kiss and snuggle and then he would walk me or Steven to his room to fall asleep. AND STAY THERE until the sun rose the next morning! Oh yes, I said, stay there! I’m sure there’s some sleep deprived mother hiding around the corner from my building waiting to slap me for just spending the last two years in night-time peace! Well I will say that there are days when Jax doesn’t want to bathe, doesn’t want to calm down and doesn’t want the bedroom door to close! Regardless of whether or not he is in the mood, Jax gets himself a relaxing bath. It’s been this way since he was very young. I am a true believer in lavender and chamomile as natural relaxers.

A nice little chamomile tea with the afternoon snack is great to begin the process. I use Traditional Medicinals Nighty Night Tea. It’s a mild flavor and with a little agave, it could be a nice little warm drink. When Jax was very little, he wasn’t very excited about the warm drink that wasn’t warm milk! No fooling that kid! So basically I would make a concentrated batch and sweeten it with agave early in the morning and then ice a couple of bottles of it. Thirty minutes before his afternoon snack, I would remove the bottle and sit it out to warm up. So the drink was more chilled than cold. He loved it. This way he still got his warm milk at night, but he had a nice calming drink before hand to start the process.

Now bath time can be tricky. You see you should still make bath time fun, light and special…however, you don’t want you’re kid to get all hyphy off of the motorized paddle boat and colored bubbles. Bath time is supposed to be a segway into bedtime. I have and do use a variety of brands, it really all depends on which one I can get my hands on at the store. California Baby, Butt Paste, Burt’s Bees, & Aveeno are my brands of choice! For bath time I usually use the same bubble mixture. California Baby Calming or Over Tired & Cranky bubbles with the Calming Soap and a few drops of Lavender Concentrated Oil drops (easy to get from Whole Foods or Sprouts Market). I add the oil for a comforting scent and to add moisture to his skin. I usually soap him up with the Butt Paste Soap, California Baby Calming Soap or the Burt’s Bees Baby Soap. Okay so you get them all clean and everything, but a great trick I learned from my mom and another mom I babysat for is keeping the child warm after their bath and rubbing them down with a lotion & oil mixture before putting them in pajamas. When Jaxon was smaller I would transfer him into a new towel from the one I initially dried him off with so he wouldn’t get cold. I love Aveeno Calming with a the Burt’s Bees Oil or the California Baby Calming Oil. It not only smells good, but it’s gentle for all baby’s skin. And even works on some sensitive adults! Rubbing and warming their backs and feet really help to calm any baby, even the high energy or colicky ones.

California Baby also has a GREAT Calendula lotion that is really good for cradle cap on babies and eczema on adults. Jaxon had a pretty intense case of cradle cap and someone suggested a little of that lotion twice a day and it was gone in a couple of weeks! It also helped with his little baby acne… that I thought was a peanut allergy, but that’s a story for another time! I’m not gonna lie I have also used these products on my skin. Especially when I’ve been in a colitis flare up and my skin has been extremely dry and/or sensitive. Post Partum left my skin very dry and on the stretch mark removal hunt. Now after two years, I’ve come to terms that they aren’t going to magically disappear, but after spending time taking care of my skin with a routine I’ve made some amazing improvements. Now if they could just make a cream to make post breast-feeding boobs, I’d be on!!

Dr. Bonner’s Magic Soapbox Peppermint or Lavender castile soap is my absolute favorite! I usually grab the big bottle for about $10 at Trader Joes as opposed to the $16/18 at a health food store or drug store. I wash down with the scrub gloves, concentrating on my stomach, sides and any other marked up areas. Followed up by a Sea Salt Scrub (I’ve tried a variety of plain ones) and then polished off with a Shea Butter Scrub from The Body Shop to get that moisture in. Now for the concoction of lotions & oils and thangs! Listen I come from an old school mom that would lotion us up every morning before school with Lubriderm & Olive Oil and her skin is flawless, and to be honest, mine ain’t so bad because of it! When I was pregnant I kept myself oiled up. Everytime my belly was itching, I applied lotion! Unfortunately for me, my stomach just stretched out beyond reason and my skin did break and so the stretch marks came! But now because I’ve become obsessed with at least getting them to fade, it’s not so bad. I’ve seen major results from my recipe.

First thing is get a large empty pump bottle. I use my empty Eucerin bottles or empty Olive Oil bottle to mix my stuff in. Okay, so got a pen? Ready? Here we go!

1. Eucerin Original Lotion

2. Olive Oil

3. Bio Oil

4. Vitamin E

5. Pure Glycerin

6. Burts Bee’s Mama Oil

7. Almond Oil

8. The Body Shop’s Olive Oil or Shea Butter Body Butter

9. Mederma Scar Gel

Okay so I apply the scar gel to all the needed spots first. Then I put a little bit of the vitamin e & Bio Oil on the “troubled” areas. I mix all the other oils & lotion together. There is only half of the lotion left in the bottle and the rest filled with an equal amount of the oils & glycerin. Shake and use all over. For a little extra hold if your skin is extra dry apply the body butter all over. I have recently begun to use Coconut oil on my feet, lips and back. It’s a little strong in smell for me, but I do like the way it makes my skin feel. This could be maybe a once a week treatment.

Picky Toddler

Okay so everyone wants to know, why the nickname Hippo? Well, when my son was only a few hours old, the nurse, myself and Steven were all surrounding him prepping him to latch on for the first time. After having a C-Section and hearing all the scary stories about how the baby can be too drugged up to stay awake or he won’t latch on because we didn’t bond immediately, Steven (Jax’s father and my now ex-love) and I were staring at this little guy with beads of sweat on our brow hoping we could at least get this first feeding right! So they unwrap his little body and place him in the football position. Steven is standing there as supportive as someone without breasts can be in this situation and I’m praying this kid wants to eat. Before I could get my breast close to the kid’s lips he opens his mouth the widest I’ve ever seen a baby open their mouth before, raises his arms above his head and shakes his head. When the nurse exclaims, “Oh wow! I’ve never seen a newborn do that before, he must be hungry!”, Steven jumps in with, “Is he broken?” to which the nurse answers, “No, just hungry.” Ten minutes later with both breasts slightly smaller than they were before the feeding, Steven leans over to me, kissing me on my forehead and in the most loving way he says, “I see we have a hungry hippo on our hands. A hungry hippo just like his mama!” And the name has stuck! Not to mention that Hippos are one of Jax’s favorite animals! I know… I know…!

Since that day we have never ever had to worry about our Hippo NOT eating or taking a long time to eat. To say my son loves food would be an understatement! My son eats the same amount of oatmeal as the average 10 year old and he’ll eat just about anything. Well that was true until he turned 20 months. All of a sudden he grew an aversion to anything green! He suddenly dimmed my bright boasting light of “MY KID EATS VEGETABLES!” And being someone who believes in a very balanced diet, no canned veggies, very very little processed foods, and organic when possible, I panicked! I pictured me and Hippo sitting on Maury with his shirt off in a diaper with a pacifier in his mouth, cheeto stained hands and his weight tipping the scale at only 46″ tall.

I put a plan into action. Operation TRICK THE HIPPO was in full force. I began to add certain things to Jax’s “applesauce”, adding Naked Green Machine to his water and lots of seaweed and kale to his miso soup (which he loves). I also let him have cucumber rolls, california rolls, grilled eggplant w/ miso sauce, tempura fried green beans, Sweet Potato mash w/ additions, “Mashed Potatoes” with a twist. So here are my tricks:

“Applesauce”: It’s not really applesauce, but what does he know?! LOL! I start my sauce as I would anyother applesauce with some apples, but instead of adding just fruit, I add veggies! Here are some of my mixes:

1. Apples, Carrots, Cranberries, Cauliflower, Purple Broccoli

2. Apples, Pears, Peeled Zucchini, Cauliflower, Carrots, Blueberries

*I always sweeten with a little agave or raw sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and little allspice.

My sweet potato mash: Sweet Potatoes, Carrots, Butternut Squash, Pumpkin, Zucchini, Broccoli, Peas, Roasted garlic, Cauliflower. I sweetened with a little nutmeg

“Mash Potatoes:

1. Mash Potatoes, Parsnips, Cauliflower, Peeled Zucchini.

I whip with cream and butter, season with sea salt and sprinkle with dried parsley.

I basically have taken the whole hiding your vegetables thing to the next level! It isn’t all that hard to make AND it’s something that I and other adult friends have enjoyed as well.