Alternative Medicine????

I wanted to write a quick post about Leo’s visits to the Chiropractor/Cranial Sacral therapist (she does both). 

Ear Infections: In the middle of July after many days of swimming, several plane rides and contracting the flu. Little Leo had a fever for about 4 days so I took him to the doctor and she said he had a double ear infection and needed antibiotics.  I protested but the doctor won after explaining possible consequences of not medicating.  Also I had to consider myself lucky that this was our first round of the dreaded pink stuff (amoxicillin) for Leo who is 18 months and Rorie has never had it. 

So we did a 10 day round of amoxicillin which I can not say that Leo consumed the right amount of everyday but I can say that we tried our best (he truly hated the stuff).  He got better and we were all sleeping good again.  Until a week later when we went swimming again.  He presumably (as we never went back to the doctor) got a second ear infection and was up all night literally screaming or nursing. 

I wanted nothing to do with another round of antibiotics so I decided to try the alternative rout and found Dr. Lynn a Chiropractor/Cranial Sacral therapist where we live that specializes in babies and children.  We began seeing her in early August and where as it was not an immediate fix I can say that Leo has beat the reoccurring ear infections and that he is healthier than he has been most of his childhood now 1.5 months later!  

He loves seeing Dr. Lynn she is great with him and he completely calms when she is working on him and signs “more” after she is finished.  Leo has been congested most of his life and after seeing Dr. Lynn he no longer has a constant snotty nose!  We are going to continue to see her for healthy maintance every few months or as needed. 

You can find Dr. Lynn and read more about her work  with babies and children at www.gernerchiropractic.com.

I am writing this just to share our experience with chiropractic care we have not been compensated in anyway. 

Trail Mix

I am always looking for healthy easy kids snacks and I forgot about making my own trail mix. 

This weeks Trail Mix:

Cereal, raisins, sun flower seeds and dried apples. 

Apparently I have been on a cereal, nuts and raisins kick, because I also made these yummy One Cup cookies, that are border line healthy but seriously taste so good!  Cookies waiting to go in the oven.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/amazing-one-cup-oatmeal-cookies/

I substituted muesli for raisin bran because that is what I had on hand.  I think these are my new favorite cookies!  Oh and easily mixed by hand since I don’t have a fancy mixer! 

Pizza Pizza

 

Ummm yummy yummy pizza.  So I am getting this bread maker stuff down.  I have made a few good loves and a few that didn’t rise but I am figuring it out.  But tonight we had the best pizza.

Made the dough using the basic bread maker recipe.  Then added tomato sauce,  mozzarella and other cheeses, bell pepper, Garlic (for Sean’s half) and sausage (made at Nugget market, its the best),.  It was super good.  Sean says one of the best pizzas ever. 

I also like that I can pinch off a bit of dough and let Rorie make her own.  She made a heart, added sauce, cheese, bell peppers (I don’t think she knew what the red stuff was but she put it on and ate it) and sausage!  She loves making it and I think she eats more because its her own creation. 

Tomorrow Sean says he will make French Toast with homemade bread so I gotta go program the machine.

recycle, reduce and REUSE

I try to buy in bulk, we get a CSA box, shop at farmers market and I am learning to make bread, etc.  All of these things help reduce the amount of wasted packaging that we bring home.  However we still get a considerable amount of empty bottles, plastic containers and cardboard boxes.  So I started a new bag of stuff that can be washed and reused, here are some of the things we have reused so far.

Medicine bottle: Small soap container for camping or milk container for kids kitchen

Plastic fruit container: storage container, snack container, kids craft: www.notimeforflashcards.com/2010/08/aquarium-kids-craft.html

Cardboard box: Kids toy, packing box, storage

Water bottles: Lady bug carrier (to bring lady bugs home from camping to our garden). 

Egg Carton: Kids craft or seed starter

Many containers also make great sand, dirt or water play toys.

Some containers waiting to be REUSED.

This blog post was inspired on this weekends camping trip.  We went car camping with friends in the Sierra Nevada's.  It was tons of fun and the kids had a blast.  We camped by a creek but it was not at a campsite with amenities, so we had to bring all our water and pack out our garbage.  So we brought reusable plates, water bottles, etc.  Our friends (who are great people just not so good at the 3 R’s) brought a huge thing of plastic water bottles, paper plates, etc. and completely did not understand why we would spend a few minutes washing the plates in the creek rather than throwing paper ones away.  So at the end of a two day trip we had 2 bags of garbage, which we had to pack out in our cars.  I don’t like to be wasteful at home, but when I am camping and enjoying nature with my family I feel even more guilty.  

The Chariot.

The kids in our new bike trailer after a morning at the park.

Published with Blogger-droid v1.5.3.1

Freezer French Toast Sticks

So I am always looking for New Easy Healthy breakfast, lunch and snack ideas for the kids.  Also we are trying to use all the food in our fridge and not throw anything away.  Well I found a few bags of bread that was no longer great for sandwiches but was still totally edible.  So I searched around and found ideas for day old bread online.  I decided to make French Toast Sticks which the kids devoured, however I still made way to many so I found you could freeze them.

Recipe:

3 eggs

1/2 milk

1/4 Orange Juice

1 tbsp vanilla

Several Pieces of Day old bread cut into 1” strips

Mix eggs, milk, OJ and vanilla.  Pore over day old bread.  Heat skillet to Med High with a bit of oil or butter.  Brown on both sides.

Serve with dippers: We used apple sauce and maple syrup today.  I think yogurt would have been a good dipper as well. 

Freezer: So my kids loved them but I made way to many.  I froze them (just throw them in a freezable container) and reheat in the microwave or toaster oven (great for a quick before school breakfast).  That reminds me I have to go retrieve the one I attempted to reheat in the regular toaster and it got stuck! 

Reusable Snack Bags

In an effort to reduce waste and plastic of course our family has started to use reusable bags.  They are great for lunches, sandwiches, crackers, fruit and other snacks.  Anytime you would use a Ziploc you can use a reusable bag instead.   Be sure to add these to your back to school shopping list!

Check them out here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/reusezone

Would you like to try them for free? 

Yes its finally giveaway time! 

The winner will get to pick a reusable bag set from reusezone!  That is one sandwich and one snack bag in the pattern of your choice! 

A big thanks to Jess at reusezone for sponsoring this contest!

See my FB page for giveaway directions!