My journey to go non-toxic, part 3: recipes

Oh my goodness sorry about the late post I am finally getting to part three. We are moving and things have been crazy around here. 

Ok so here is the best post; the recipes. I find that usually the more simple the better. It's better for time and budget. I am not going to go over all my recipes but I will give you the ones I started with that worked well for me. And please feel free to add your own in the comments. 

Cleaning products: these are easy because you can pretty much use dawn, baking soda and white vinegar on anything. If their is mold you can put some hydrogen peroxide on it. 

Toothpaste: equal parts baking soda and coconut oil, if you live in a cold climate it will get hard but just scrape it out and works just as good. Add a few drops of peppermint oil for some flavor. 

Foaming Hand soap: 1/3 cup liquid Castile soap, 1 tbs coconut oil and fill container will distilled water. (I always use distilled in my recipes to avoid contamination)

Lotion: coconut oil (yup that's it). If you want to be adventurous try 1/2 c coconut oil, a few tablespoons a beeswax and come Shea butter, melt together and mix. 

Hand sanitizer: In a 2-4 oz bottle-10 drops tea tree oil, 10 drops lemon, 1/4 witch hazel and fill with distilled water.  

Diaper cream: 1/4 c coconut oil and 5 drops lavender oil. (Safe for cloth diapers)

Face wash: 4 tbs Castile soap, 1tbs coconut oil, 1 c water (every face is different, if it is too drying try to reduce soap amount. If you are acne prone add a little witch hazel) 

The key to these recipes is finding what works for you. Play around with them and see what feels the best. My husband does not like the smell of straight coconut oil so I use grape seed oil as a moisturizer after I wash my face (which I now use a Norwex body cloth). You might find a completely different recipe that you like. Check out my etsy shop where you can find great products already made  https://www.etsy.com/shop/liliesNrose

*remember to only use pure essential oils and to try a small amount on your child and yourself before applying liberally as some people are sensitive to certain oils. 

Thank you for being patient with me and I hope to be writing more about my journey soon. Maybe my cloth diapering adventure will be next. 

My journey to go non-toxic part 2, getting your family on board

Ok great so you decided to go non toxic, but what will the family think? I have been fortunate that my husband has been pretty supportive but there are a few things he has not been too excited about. I am going to list a few ways that might help him and your kiddos get on board with it. 

1. Start off slow: I know the temptation to want to do everything at once but don't. It will be overwhelming to you and your family to do this. Pick one or two things to focus on first. I chose cleaning products, start with switching your harsh chemicals to dawn, baking soda and vinegar. (I will give recipes in a future post). Then maybe try your hand at soap and some simple lotions. Save the body products like deodorant and hair products till last. These are the ones my husband is having a hard time with. 

2. Play around with different recipes: you may not like the first one you try, and that's ok because there are a million you can try. I like a deodorant recipe that is different then the one my husband likes. Search Pinterest and different blogs for recipes, and you don't always have to use coconut oil. 

3. Talk about the cost saving: It might be hard for your other half to be ok with spending money on all these ingredients but if you break down the costs for him he will realize there will be money savings in the future. The cost breakdown will be different for everyone depending on the ingredients you decide to use and the quantity in which you buy them. You can choose to use organic ingredients too if desired. But I estimate saving about $500/ year if you choose to go complete diy. 

4. Make things taste and smell good: This one is for the kiddos mostly. I have noticed my kids really like their new toothpaste, and it tastes sweet and like vanilla. My husband also really likes the smell of lavender, so I usually load everything with lavender oil. 

5. Be willing to be humble and give a little: There will be things that your spouse may just be unwilling to change. Don't pester. Be grateful for what he has decided to change and maybe over time he will be willing to try another recipe. My husband will not use soap on his body besides Dove, no matter what recipe I try or how many things I change he just will not stay consistent with it. It's okay with me though because he has already changed so much. 

I am sure there are other ways to help your family get on board and if you have any ideas please share. These are just the few that I have found to be most helpful to me. Stay tuned for my next post with lots of the proven recipes I have  used. 

My journey to go non-toxic, part 1 The Beginning

Thank you for joining me for this series. I hope you get a lot of good information out of it and can make your own decisions regarding the toxins in your home. I cannot say I am 100% toxin free but I am working toward that goal. 

My journey started about 2 years ago when I was pregnant with my third and my second was still in diapers. I decided to dive into the world of cloth diapers, and I mean WORLD. There are a billion kinds and fabrics and designs and brands. How do you begin? I decided to have a class where I would invite all my friends who were interested in cloth diapers and then bring in a few veteran moms who had been doing cloth for awhile and share with us their experience and tips. My dear friend Justine who you can check out her blog at http://mommaarbaugh.blogspot.com brought two of her friends who were amazing and taught us all sorts of awesome things. I decided on a certain kind, then of course went through about 15 kinds before settling on what I like. 

To be honest though my goal was not to keep those chemical filled disposables away from my children it was more of a way to save money. But after doing a little research found that those huggies that I loved were not so good for my little ones. Here is a list I found of all the chemicals in one diaper: http://www.livestrong.com/article/111348-chemicals-disposable-diapers/#page=2

Soon after beginning cloth diapering Pinterest became a habit and I found coconut oil. Oh this miracle substance. I know it may be way overused but it got me thinking that maybe there were other things I could substitute. I started looking into cleaning products, because I think we can all agree that those are toxic. And started using vinegar and dawn to clean most of my house. It was so nice to know that I was not using harmful things like bleach, that can cause respitory issues, in a house with my small children. 

Oh what a journey this has been. I don't even use vinegar for too much anymore. My friend Justine also introduced me to these amazing clothes called Norwex and I don't feel like I have to say too much because they will speak for themselves. She sells Norwex too!! Here is her website if you are interested:  http://www.norwex.biz/PublicStore/stores/JustineArbaugh/AM/catalog/Customer-Specials,205.aspx

I started making my own skin care and toiletries a little less than a year ago and am still in the process of finding the perfect recipes (I will discuss these in a future post) but the recipes that I have finalized I sell on my etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/liliesNrose 

I hope you will join me for the next few parts of this series. Next I will be talking about how to get your husband and kids on board with going non-toxic. 

Enjoying my kids

How do you learn to enjoy your kids when they seem to drive you crazy? How do you balance housework, homeschooling and playtime when you are so tired? I have a revolutionary idea I have discovered...you can't!!!

I have been learning that life does not have to be perfect, in fact I think it is better to have an imperfect/messy home and have happy kids and a happy husband. I would find myself being so tired at the end of the day just from cleaning, cooking and disciplining children that my husband would get what was left, which wasn't much. I found that the best way to bring everything together was to first focus on my husband. If I was too tired to spend time with him at the end of the day then some things would have to go for that day, like the laundry or the dishes in the sink. Once my husband was happy and actually was able to spend time with the not tired me I noticed the house was a much happier place which in turn meant happier kids and ultimately happier me. 

Because I was not doing as many chores and stuff during the day I found I had more time to just sit and play with my kids. Admittedly this was difficult for me at first. I am not the type to be content playing a game of candy land that lasts forever because my kids get distracted by EVERYTHING, especially if there are dishes in the sink.  But with prayer and patience I began to enjoy these things and enjoy how my children responded when I was joyful to play with them instead of reluctantly agreeing with a sigh. 

I am far from perfect but once I began to put away my selfish desire for perfection and started to focus on my family I began to enjoy my children again. 

Why I decided to homeschool

When I tell people I am going to homeschool you would think I just told them I was going to the moon. I usually get the response "I could never do that, I don't have the patience" or "you are brave, with 4 kids wow." I must be honest I am neither patient or brave. I am actually slightly terrified I will mess my children up or they will graduate knowing less than when they started...now I know this is an exaggeration but seriously this is a big responsibility. 

So why would I start this seemingly impossible task if I am scared, impatient and have absolutely no experience with homeschooling. Well the answer is simple, their souls. It's not that I think I am better or am way smarter than teachers I just see too many kids come out of high school, from Christian homes and they are so far from Christ and so invested in this world. I do not want that for my children. 

I don't want the foundation for how my children think to be dictated by what a bunch of non-teachers, and probably non-Christians, in Washington think my children should be learning. I want their education to be lead by Christ and always pointing to Christ, even science. Because let's face it I don't know one school that teaches true creationism. There is always some worldiness thrown in there. I went to a Christian school and they still taught us that the world is millions of years old (which could be a whole other discussion). 

So to be frank I have no idea what I am doing but if I trust in the Lord and seek council from moms who have done this before me I know I will be successful and I just pray that my children will grow in a knowledge of the Lord and maybe gain an understanding of some other subjects too ;). 

Visit to California

So we have reached our halfway mark. Thomas is 6 months away from being able to graduate. We are learning what it means to live in the freezing cold, literally. The kids don't really seem to mind and it just takes a little more preparation when you want to go outside. But honestly I think I really like the snow, it is so beautiful. It feels like God is cleansing everything and it just seems so peaceful. 

     Thomas got a two week break from school for Christmas and New Years and he told me I could come visit sacramento the second week. I decided to surprise almost everyone, including my parents. It was pretty funny to see their reaction when I walked in the door. The flight their Beth did really well she slept the whole time but the flight back was a little rough because we both came down with a bad cold. But we got to see a lot of friends and family. I am so sorry if we didn't have time for some people but towards the end we were pretty sick and I didn't want to get anyone with small kids sick. 

     And of course I went to cfa about 5 times while I was there . 

Maternity Pictures

Here are a few of our maternity pictures before Elizabeth was born. They were taken at Happy Jack just outside of Laramie. Honey Bee Photography (http://honeybeeshutter.com/) took our pictures. Faith was so nice and she made the shoot so much fun. The boys had a blast and they actually behaved very well.