The Sick Season

It hit fast, my son just started coughing one evening, that night he woke up with a fever. By the next afternoon we were both snuggled up in the living room watching movies, coughing, sneezing, and feeling generally unwell.

The sickness plagued us for a week and, even after we were up and moving again, the coughing refused to go away. At four months, there was really nothing I could give my boy to suppress his cough. A humidifier was out of the question for the time being, we didn't need more cold wetness in the air. But what about warm steam? Running the shower hot and sitting in the bathroom with him proved helpful, though hot water eventually runs out. Our answer was rosemary.

Rosemary is medicinal and works as an air 'cleaner' when boiled and allowed to steam. It was also the only thing that stopped my little one's cough.

This is just a good practice for a sick household as it helps clear the air, but it also helped tremendously with our coughing

How To:
Boil one to two cups of water in a sauce pan.
Fresh rosemary works best but dried does the drink two.
If it is fresh, add one to two sprigs.
If dried add two table spoons.
Return to a rolling boil.
Reduce to simmer and let steam, refreshing water and rosemary as needed.


Stay Healthy,
MissyK

Home Made Happiness

Bottles, the top rack of my dishwasher is usually full of them. Even before the decision to put my son on formula (albeit with great reluctance), the dishwasher seemed to fill up faster the minute we brought him home from the hospital. Of course, when it gets fuller faster, you have to run it more. Not such a big deal. But soon enough double the dish soap is being used. Dish soap, like laundry soap, can be rather expensive. Even more frustrating is when I spend money on higher ends soaps that don't do what they claim.

My mother and I decided, it was time for yet another home made solutions: home made dish washer detergent. Its easy to make and takes about two table spoons per wash. The really nice thing is that you can make as much as you want so long as you have a container to hold it.

What you need:

2 cups of Borax Soap
2 cups of Baking Soda
1 cup non-chlorine bleach
4 small packets of sugar free lemonade Kool-Aid (you can also use 4 tablespoons of citric acid--if you can find it)
White Vinegar

Mix all the dry ingredients together, doubling the recipe if needed. Be sure the ingredients are combined very well. Store in a closed container. When you wash your dishes put one tablespoon in the open soap well and another in the closing soap well. Add some of the white vinegar to you jetdry well and and you're good to go.

May your dishes sparkle,

MissyK