Hand, Foot and Mouth

The thought of fall conjures up thoughts of crisp apples, round pumpkins and the smell of cinnamon.  And if you are a parent of school aged children, illness.

My three year old, who just started preschool a few weeks ago fell asleep at church on Sunday.  He’s never done that before, so I knew something was up.  When he got home, he immediately fell asleep on the couch.

When he woke up he had a 103 degree fever which lasted for about 36 hours.  He slept most of the time.

He stayed home from school on Monday and Tuesday.  On Tuesday he asked for orange juice and I gave him some.  He took a sip and started crying, saying that it hurt.  Strep throat popped into my head.  Then I looked down at his feet and noticed a rash.

A grabbed a flashlight and looked in his mouth.  Uh oh…he had sores on the roof of his mouth.  I checked his hands and you guessed it, a few blisters.

The nurse at the doctor’s office confirmed that he had hand, foot and mouth disease.

Hand, foot and mouth disease is a virus and therefore there is no cure.  The doctor’s orders were to treat the symptoms.

Surprisingly, my older two children have never had it, so this is a bit of trial and error for me as I watch the virus work its way through his system.

Tuesday night he had trouble falling asleep and I rubbed lavender on his feet to help him, but it didn’t do much good.  He was still quite restless.  Next, I tried melaleuca aka. tea tree oil and within 15 minutes he stopped rubbing his feet and fell asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he had more blisters on his feet and hands, but his mouth was clear.

Before he went to bed Wednesday night, I applied doTERRA’s Purify, a blend of essential oils, which just I arrived in the mail as part my September oil order (more on that in another post).  Purify helps to strengthen the immune system.  I applied it again when he woke up in the middle of the night.

This is what his blisters look like today.  He had more than he did yesterday, but they weren’t itchy.  I’ll apply Purify again at bed time.

I’m so grateful for essential oils and to help my son get a restful night’s sleep event though he is battle hand, foot and mouth disease.

Want to know more about essential oils and how they can help your family?  Check out my essential oils page.

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Disclaimer:  I am not a doctor and the statements on this blog have not been evaluated by the FDA.  Any products mentioned are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

 

I made these Lemon Blueberry Muffins over the weekend and they are my new favorite muffins!  They are moist and have great lemon flavor.  I love the thick glaze that stays on top of the muffins and doesn’t run down the side and onto the counter top (not only is that a waste of excellent glaze, it’s also one more thing for me to clean and who needs that?)

You can also make this recipe into Lemon Blueberry Bread which is equally delicious, but I like the grab and go quality of the muffins.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
9 drops doTERRA lemon oil
2 eggs
1 cup whole wheat flour (I use a combination of freshly ground hard white and hard wheat flour)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons plain yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Glaze:
6 drops doTERRA lemon oil
1 tablespoon butter melted
1 tablespoon milk (more if you like a thinner glaze)
1 cup confectioners sugar

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, beat together butter, 1 cup sugar, lemon oil and eggs. Combine flours, baking powder and salt; stir into egg mixture alternately with milk and yogurt. Fold in blueberries.

For muffins:  Fill well greased muffin tins 2/3 of the way with batter.  Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

For bread:  Pour batter into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60 to 70 minutes.

Glaze:
Combine all ingredients mix well. Spread over cooled muffins or bread.

I hope you love these Lemon Blueberry Muffins as much as I do!

Please note:  When using essential oils in recipes please read the label and use only oils that are safe to ingest.  doTERRA Essential Oils that are safe to ingest are Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade (CPTG) and the label will state that they are safe to use as dietary supplements.

Original recipe by: https://www.facebook.com/nellsoldfashionrecipes

A Day of Firsts

My oldest had his first day of baseball camp today.  He was very excited to go because he’s never played baseball before.  We told him that if he liked playing at camp, we would let him play next spring.  So far he loves it!

We arrived at camp a few minutes early so that we could watch him play.  While we were on the bleachers, my middle son, who is three, was stung by a bee.  This was the first time he’s been stung and as expected he screamed!  I found an ice pack in the first aid kit I keep in the car, but it didn’t really help with the pain.

When we got home, I applied a drop of diluted lavender essential oil and he immediately stopped crying.  I couldn’t believe it.  I really need to keep some of my oils with me at all times!

Every evening we let our chickens out of their coop/run to forage in our yard.  They love to be out and about and I love that they are eating bugs and weeds in my yard.  Today I asked my daughter to do the honor of letting them out and she came running back to the house to announce that one of them had laid the first egg!  Isn’t it cute?  We are so excited that they are going to start earning their keep!  🙂

(Yes, those are cracks that you see.  My daughter was so excited, she dropped it.)

How I Got This Guy To Sleep Through The Night

This guy…

This guy is adorable, charming, funny, daring, and…he would not sleep through the night! 

Over the course of his 16 month life, we tried every trick in the book that worked for our other three children .  We tried methods that didn’t work for our others.  Nothing worked.

He was waking up three, four and sometimes five or six times a night!  I was exhausted!

He is the reason that I started researching essential oils.  He is the reason that I purchased essential oils.

The day I received them, I applied diluted lavender oil on the bottoms of his feet at bed time and guess what?  He slept through the night!!!

And he slept through the next night and the next night!  The following night he woke up once, but quickly went back to sleep.

Being the skeptic that I am, I thought perhaps this is just a coincidence, so on the 6th night I didn’t apply lavender at bed time.  He woke up at 11:00, 2:00, 2:15 and 2:30.  At 2:30 I applied it and he slept until 5:30.

Okay, now I’m convinced!

I’ve also used it on my middle son who has night terrors when he is overtired or goes to bed too late.  On the few nights that I thought he might have night terrors I applied lavender and he, too, slept through the night.

Want to learn more about essential oils and how they can help your family?  Click here or leave a comment below and I will send you more information.