Food Allergies & Healthy Eating

Food Allergies and Healthy Eating

Guest Post by Jessica Smartt My son Sam has food allergies. Every so often, I meet another mom who manages food allergies. It’s like I’ve found a soul mate. We lock eyes and share a sympathetic smile: “You, too? Wow!” And we sort of fight the urge to hug each other. We know what it’s like. We know how overwhelming it is at first, when you wonder, what in the world will he/she eat? We know the fear and stress that follow you to restaurants, [...]

Keeping a Morning Routine During Busy Seasons

Morning routine

By Kate Tietje, Contributing Writer I just recently had my fourth baby.  My oldest turned 5 a couple of months ago. As you can imagine, it's pretty busy around here!  I have been lucky enough to have my husband stay home for two weeks (as he has after each baby), and my mother came to stay for two more weeks. So I had help from at least one other adult during the first month. I know a lot of moms don't have that kind of [...]

5 Steps to Start Your Day With a Better Attitude

5 Steps to Start Your Day With a Better Attitude

By Crystal, Contributing Writer Ever have mornings where you wake up with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach? Maybe you overslept, perhaps you made a big mistake the day before, maybe you have something you are dreading in your life right now, or maybe you just woke up feeling “blah” for no known reason at all. Whatever it is, if you let that sick feeling cast its gloomy shadows over your whole morning, it will spread its dark wings around your entire [...]

10 Tips for Transitioning to 2 Kids

Transitioning to 2 Kids

By Mindy, Contributing Writer Although I was beyond happy and excited, I will admit that I was a bit anxious about adding a second child to our household. I had heard from countless people that the hardest transition was going from one child to two. Despite my anxiety, I was still so thrilled when we welcomed our baby girl into the world a few short weeks ago. We were blessed to have an awesome home birth, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. However, [...]

Winter Giveaway Week: Win 1 of 3 Gift Certificates to Apple Valley Natural Soap

basil mint shampoo bar

There are very few things that I would consider important enough to put in the crazy expensive FedEx package that we're having shipped to Argentina. My Apple Valley Shampoo Bars? They made the cut. Seriously, I am in love with my shampoo bars. Back in the summer, I made a massive order from Apple Valley Natural Soap, buying enough shampoo bars, a few regular body soap bars, and our favorite healing herbal salve to last for the entire year that we'll be traveling. Every few [...]

Safe Bath Products for Kids

Safe bath products for kids

Written by Kate Tietje, Contributing Writer When I was expecting my first baby, I bought so much stuff.  Some of what I bought was all the "usual" baby care products -- shampoo, baby wash, baby lotion, and so on.  All of that stuff makes babies smell so good! Then, when my daughter was a few months old, I was putting on her baby lotion after her bath one night and I watched an angry, red rash appear immediately. Wow! We never used that lotion again. [...]

5 Ways to Get More Fruits & Veggies into your Diet

5 Ways to add more Friuts & Veggies into your diet COVER

              Written by Rachel, contributing writer Are you working to ditch processed foods and put more real food on the table? This month we're running a series called Real Food Made Simple: A Beginner's Guide to Eating Better. Our goal is to answer the questions you might have and make the transition a whole lot easier! We all want a healthy family, right? Some of us deal with picky eaters, and when it comes to getting little ones (and [...]

Raising Kids on Real Food

real food kids

Written by Courtney Dunkin, Contributing Writer Are you working to ditch processed foods and put more real food on the table? This month we're running a series called Real Food Made Simple: A Beginner's Guide to Eating Better. Our goal is to answer the questions you might have and make the transition a whole lot easier! After several generations of playing around with the latest and greatest advancements in food technology, today's homemaker is longing to return to real food. Unfortunately, the modern advancements that [...]