The BOYZ

Today I got my stepsons and we went yard sale-ing.  We had a great time and were very busy.  We found a few items for the little guy and Stephen found a transformer that he liked.

We had our favorite family meal: turkey burger, peas and rice; had a treat, and played a little after dinner. The oldest got to play a game he wanted to on his iphone un-desturbed for a while by his energetic brothers.

Then we went for a long walk which put my little one to sleep and early too.  It was so nice outside, cool and refreshing  When we got back we got all cleaned up and ready for bed, we made popped corn and watched a couple of  Dr. Who episodes.   We love Dr. Who. :)

We are very excited to spend time with Daddy tomorrow to celebrate Father's Day.  We got him some great stuff we know he will like and little W made him something special from school.

I am very blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

Apple Cider Vinegar

I have decided to start with the most recent miracle of remedies we have in our cabinet and work backward.  Of course,  I am not a doctor, I am just a Mommy sharing her journey.  I do check with my doctor on a regular basis and share with her what remedies I use.  If you try any of these things, I recommend you talk with your doctor about them as well.

My 2 year old son, Willoughby has a diagnosis of Asthma.  He gets really congested from head to toe, it seems, and he coughs and wheezes.  So we are working on NO DAIRY(that will be a whole other blog,) and that seemed to be working for a while.  Just recently, we had received a clean bill of health with him and if he needed his medications (albuteral for emergency clearing of the airways, budesonide for asthma maintenance, and an anti-histemine for the congestion that may be caused by allergies,)we have them if we need them.  A Few days after the happy doctor visit,  W started with the coughing, and the runny nose, you know, the one at every daycare all over the world. ( I swear, if I was a daycare teacher, I would just sit and wipe noses allll day long.)

So he started to get this horrid cough.  We tried all our natural stuff first: honey, elderberry, etc. It didn't seem to be working at all.  We then in the middle of the night at like 3 am decided it was time to do albuteral. Out comes the nebulizer.  I give him the treatment and it does NOTHING.  W and I got up and he was playing at 3 am.  He was fine, and breathing fine, but coughing and coughing. It was breaking me down hearing him suffer so with the cough.  He still ate and played and all good things but coughed and coughed.  I gave him green smoothies and chamomile tea and kept flushing out his sinuses and gave him more honey and he coughed and coughed.  We tried albuteral again and he refused to sit through the treatment.  He never refuses it... because he knows it helps him...but this time he was just not having it.

He went down for a nap and I was cleaning for my brother- in-law's visit.  I had my stepson, Alex, get on the computer and I told him to look up natural cough remedies for toddlers... He said mix 1/3 a cup of apple cider vinegar with 2 heaping teaspoons of honey and 3/4 cup of boiling water.  I did this. Willoughby was still coughing in his sleep.  When the mixture was cool enough, I put 5ml in a dropper and gave it to him in his sleep.   He stopped coughing immediately.  He woke up shortly after and started playing.  His cough was reduced from a cough every 1 to 2 seconds to one per minute or so.  I kept giving him some of the mixture through the day and his cough got less and less.  When he did cough it was super productive and lots of junk came out.  

A day later, he is great!  He slept all night, he had a great morning and a three hour nap and all the congestion and junk is pouring out.  He is processing his common cold normally without unnecessary medications.  I was really worried that he was still having asthma even without the dairy in his system. I was feeling really defeated. The natural cough remedy we were brave enough to try was just the right thing.  

I am standing by my pledge to see if we can help Willoughby heal and grow a strong immune system by NOT overtoxifying his system with medications he really doesn't need.  We are working on removing problems by finding the irritation rather than masking symptoms with more toxins.

Natural Thoughts from a Struggling Voiceover Mommy

This is my first blog, ever.  I kept thinking about blogging, and I am one of those people who listen to "the voice that cries out the most," in my mind.  You may be thinking that it is strange that I admit there is a voice crying out in my head...it isn't really in my head, it is in my gut.  My gut is saying... "get your thoughts out there, Lady."  Then the other voice argues, "Why? No one will read it anyway." Then the gut voices stops and the head voice stops and there is quiet and in that moment when they stop arguing I get out of bed and come to the computer and begin.

Hello world, here I AM.  Heidi is my name, and I am a newish parent of 2 years with my own son and of 4 with my stepsons.  I live in the Hudson Valley of New York where I have a tiny house and still manage to save a closet for a voiceover booth where my parter and I record voiceover as a supplement to our meager living.

I moved up here to skydive from Manhattan nearly 10 years ago. I skydived my way around the country living in a converted school bus, and then found the love of my life...again.  We had done a tour of Romeo and Juliet sometime in the late nineties he was Romeo and I was Juliet. We were great friends for  years, he was married and I had my relationships so that was all we could give each other.  We lost touch after Sept. 11.  He went on tour with The LION KING and I ran away with the skydivers.
When we found each other again in 2007, he was divorced and I had just been dumped, again.  We were meant for each other and the rest is history.   In this blog I will tell you our adventures and most importantly share stories of how we are caring for our youngest son with natural remedies instead of the five medications that were prescribed by our child's doctor.