Do it yourself Night Cream

Yeah, that's right, I'm still 'makin' stuff".

My latest is a night cream for my face.  I also made an aftershave balm for hubbers, but didn't take any pics, so maybe I'll post about that later.  They all go into baby food jars in the end so they'll all look the same regardless ;)

I got this recipe from the Elliot Homestead blog, which I found off of pinterest.  Three ingredients, easy peasy, all safe, and all easily pronounceable.

Night Face Cream:
1 Tablespoon coconut oil
3 Tablespoons shea butter
2-3 drops of tea tree oil (has antisecptic, antifungal properites)

This makes a small amount, so preservatives aren't really necessary, although you could always add a single cap of vitamin E.

My shea butter is more on the thick, sticky, gluey consistency rather than the crystallized/grainy I see in her photo so our end product seems to have different consistencies.  Also, I hate the smell of 'my' shea butter, I used 3 drops of tea tree oil and wanted to use 4, but also wanted to make sure if 'felt okay' on my face before I added more.

This took about 5 minutes to make, maybe.  Used it tonight for the first time, I was a little worried that it would leave my skin shiny or greasy but that is not the case at all!

It feels wonderful, WONDERFUL, going on, like rubbing a silk scarf on your face. 

It absorbs into the skin nicely and the scent is very faint, thank goodness.  I can still smell the shea, but it is so very mild it doesn't bother me at all.  I don't really smell any tea tree, but that's okay with me.  I will try to remember to post in a week or two to let you know how my face is dealing with this cream. 

Currently, I am stoked I found a night cream I can make and with a little research, I can find essential oils that okay for your face and that smell good too!

Feel like ditching your expensive cream with all those chemicals for something cheaper and feels *awesome*?

Lest they think I am unappreciative.

I never had a chance to post about our Christmas dinner.  My mother made a whole turkey, brussel sprouts, stuffing, sweet potato rolls, rice, had wonderful wine and to die for ice cream.  She did this knowing it was just hubbers and I thought would be eating, (Jeanne had rice and a little turkey, although surprisingly Loki ate a ton of turkey and rolls).  It was so nice to have a wonderful, healthy homemade meal with the family.  Thank you so very much for going to all that trouble for us mom!  We love you!  The turkey was fantastic, so much better than my Thanksgiving one.

Dear husband.

I never really post about what you do for us and how great a father you are.  Please don't think I don't appreciate all that you give us.  As a simple example of your supreme awesomeness, just last night, Loki was having a like of trouble settling back to sleep.  I woke with him at 1:57am, and no amount of rocking, rubbing his back or nursing was soothing him. He kept jamming his finger into his mouth, his new second tooth is really bothering him.  Each time I could get him to calm down, he wold cry out again.  After an hour, my dear husband offered to hold Loki.  He sat in the rocker, spoke quietly and soothingly to his son, I wrapped them in a blanket and dove for the bed.  Loki quieted in his daddy's warm arms.  Over 90 minutes later I told Daddy he could put Loki down now.  I didn't expect him to hold him for that long.  But true to form, as soon as Daddy moved, Loki woke.

He said sleepily "Now lets see how long it takes for the other little monster to come in here."

I said nothing and started nursing a seemingly wide awake Loki at 4:41am.

At 4:48 Jeanne walked in the room "Daddy I want some milk."

I kid you not.  We were all quite, no one made a noise to wake her.  It's like she just knew.  Thankfully, the whole family went back to sleep, eventually, and did no until 7:20am.

Mom, Hubbers, I love you both, thank you for everything you do for this family.

Trains, trains, trains

Jeanne and Loki received a few Thomas the Train toys this Christmas from Grandma and Aunt Laurie.  This got hubbers and I thinking about a table they could use their trains or Lego's on.  A few clicks later and a train WITH train tracks and trains included was found on Craigslist.  I managed to get it in my car, but it didn't make 5 feet into my home without being descended on by the whole Baker clan. 

  Fun, fun, fun!

Christmas 2011 and just before.

Ah, The holidays.  We are miles and miles away from our family.  Some to the South, and some to the North.  This year we are staying home.  Jeanne is now 2.5 years old this month, so this holiday season is a bit different for her.  She understand more now, and we were able to build some excitement about all the present she was going to get on the big day.  We aren't 'doing' Santa, so she knows that the presents she gets are from her parents and family.

To start, we kept all the presents we and my in-laws bought the kids in my laundry room.  We wrapped them in glitter wrapping paper.  I bought it because it was pretty, and I knew my wrapping skills were minimal.  I just wanted the boxes to look oh so sweet when they woke up.. except it was a nightmare wrapping them, and in doing so my entire living room rug was covered in tiny silver glitter, never mind my body.  I knew I would a) have to vacuum at 5 am before I allowed my 9 month old to crawl and eat the glitter or get some in his eyes,  b) I would have to unwrap all the presents and get new paper and c) wrap them all again.  d) lesson learned.

Then presents from my family started to arrive, so I put them in the laundry room.  Then more arrived.  Then it was starting to get hard to find room for laundry in the laundry room.  Wowszer on the generous scale!  We wrapped all the presents and set them out the night before Christmas eve.  We are a secular home, so it was solely to build excitement within Jeanne.

 

She'll never guess what this is!  Thanks hubbers for the great wrapping job.  A Magic wand should be had by every little girl and it was so sweet of Loki to pick it out for her.

Christmas morning and we (finally) get to open presents!

 

  

BEFORE! 

You may notice the sliding window is open.  Yes, we had to open the windows on Dec 24th.

 

BEFORE.

 

AFTER.  

Carnage.  But that's what you want right? Legos, Olivia dress up clothes, jackets. pj's, soft trucks, puzzles, bugs to chew, musical cubes, clothes, you know, the bomb!

 Daddy and Loki listening to a recorded story from Awesome Aunt Laurie,
a bunch of Mega blocks, puzzles and Yo Gabba Gabba!

  

She was flipped out to hear Laurie's voice and having way too much fun.

I'll be honest and tell you that the beautiful, angelic, innocent, babes of mine are being..... 'fussy'.  They are not sleeping well (at all really) and Jeanne (I think) is transitioning away from needing her afternoon nap. This will leave the parents drained, tired, feeling robotic, in-human, CRANKY and fussy themselves.  The morning was awesome, it was so great to see the kids excited for their gifts, but the afternoon left me with two tired, kinda sick kids who refused to nap for various reasons.

Two weeks prior to Christmas

Pizza night!  Jeanne was happy to eat in the living room with her new tray, and we were surprised to see that Loki wanted some pizza too.  He's definitely my kid, he will do anything to get your food.  This night, he was daddy's best friend since he was the man with the pie.

Yum, mommy's homemade crust and daddy's cooking make the best pizza's!

A couple of weeks ago, we had a play date with the "Ladies who lunch", and this day we were making gingerbread houses!  Now, I'm pretty stingy with the candy in this house.  Chocolate, real chocolate no problem, but anything with artificial colors or HFCS isn't purchased, but I am trying to relax the noose on occasions such as these. I was in no was surprised that she was WAY more into eating all the brightly colored candies than she was in making the house, but that was OK.  I at least 'tried' to get her to put some candy on her house.

FYI, there were more than 15 kids in this home, ranging from 5 weeks to 5 years old, and they were all AWESOME.  Think of that, lots of kids, lots of candy, lots of toys, FUN.

The boy in the background is a little older than Jeanne, and he was spending serious time on his house.  By the end it was AWESOME.  I'm not just saying that, it was cool!  I wanted to take a picture of it but didn't get a chance.

 

In our playgroup, there is another boy Loki's age.  "R" is a sweetheart and I'm so glad Loki has someone his age to play with.  During the gingerbread play date, they were hanging out together.  

Here Loki is telling R all about this archaic toy he is playing with. "They are calling it a 'phone'.  Haven't they ever seen a phone, silly Mom's."

R: 'Hey, your Mom is taking a picture of us."

R:" Oh hey, watcha got there, does that feel good?"

 

R:"I'm just going to check it out, oh nom, it does feel good..."

Loki: arms flapping "MAAAA, he took my nom nom!"

Loki: "That's it, I don't have to take this, I'm outta here!"

R:" Woah Baker, take it easy!"

R:" Hey Loki, take a chill pill, don't go! Hey, Momma, tell him he doesn't have to go."

Random afternoon

Check these kids out.  Both of them chillin' with their sippy cups.

Loki: 'Hey, you taking pictures lady?

 



To my Family in Florida, Missouri and New England, I love you all. Thank you so very much for your generosity.  I will call you all very soon.  I bid you adieu.

Lip balm, an experiment

So, we recently I purchased coconut oil for Loki's rough skin.  It turns out he needed a bit more help than that, but since we had it in the house I've been experimenting with other 'do it yourself' stuff.  I recently made all natural chest rub for the kids, in place of Vicks vapor rub.  The smell is great, and it seemed to sooth him, but I think it could have used more coconut oil.  I'll perfect that later.

Now however, we've realized that we go through a ton of chapstick/lip balm and that money adds up.  Especially with as often as 'some people' leave them in their paints pocket to be washed.  But I'm not naming names.

Anyway, I figure I'd give it a try, here is my first experiment.  I'm following this recipe: http://yourstrulyg.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/diy-lip-balm/

 

 

First, though I'll do a half batch
:
1/8 cup of beeswax (4g or 0.2 ounces)
1.5 Tbs Shea butter (70 grams or 0.7 ounces)
1 Tbs coconut oil (18g or .65 ounces) (substituting this, as this is what I already had)
1 tsp essential oil total (I will probably do 1/4 rosemary and 3/4 peppermint)

I added all the oils, then microwaved them until melted, checking every 20-30 seconds.  Added the essential oil, stired quickly then poured into the containers.

I've read enough sites now about making your own lotions or lip balms etc, that I've picked up a few tips.
If you think you will do this, even as an experiment, do to the dollar store and pick up 'dedicated' tools for the beeswax.  A grater, a Pyrex bowl for melting or a microwave safe bowl.  The wax is a total pain to clean.  Also, stirring and pouring into small containers is done much easier with a baby spoon or a disposable pipette.  I had a baby spoon on hand already.

OK, they are done and I am waiting for them to harden, I already know I would measure out the essential oil in a separate container before adding.  They evaporate quickly in the hot oil.  My house smells great, but I don't know how much is still in the balm. 

... time passing...

Brr, cool, and tingly.  It smells great, my lips are soft, but whoa quite the MINT sensation.  I'll definitely reduce the peppermint next time by half maybe... But there will be a next time!

I used a (cleaned) sample container from clinque and a tin from some mints.  Hubbers agreed that the MINT was a bit strong.  Perhaps 1/4 tsp of each and a *touch* more beeswax, just a touch.  And that is why I listed the grams baby.

Happy lip smacking!

P.S.  Want some?  Send me a tin or a container baby!

Wrap, wrap, wrap

We got a bunch, BUNCH of gifts in the mail for the kids, and since this is the first Christmas where Jeanne understands giving and getting gifts, we are wrapping them all instead of giving them to her as we receive them.

So off I go to wrap, wrap, wrap. 
With new wrapping paper by the way.

Never, never buy wrapping paper with glitter on it, your house, hands, clothes and food will never be the same.  Ask me how I know.

Sick boy

Loki did not sleep well last night.  This first time he fell asleep was 1:00am this morning.  I thought I would just be dealing with a tired babe today. We were up at 5:30 am.  He also did not take his morning nap.
A friend came over for a short while for a play date Jeanne, and again, I thought he was just 'wired for sound'.  Shortly after the play date ended, Loki vomited on me.  Then he did so 5 more times over the next 7 hours.

We took 3 baths and a shower today.  I can't get the smell out of my nose.  Yuck.

No, he does not have a fever.  Yes, I took him to the Doctors.  Virus.  I just put him to bed (8:20pm). My plan is to shove as much ice cream down my gullet (and a glass of water) as fast as I can, brush my teeth and go to bed.  I'm sure the night will be tough.

Get better baby boy!

P.S. Thank you so very, very much dear husband for staying home today and helping.  Loki was certainly a Mama's boy today. 

P.P.S. Jeanne, thank you for being so good today.  You'll get extra kisses in the morning