Hello to all of my dear readers! I can hardly believe that Bella is almost two months old now. She has grown so much. She can basically sit up on her own now for several seconds before losing her balance again. She holds her head remarkably still when she does this and we are always right there to catch her. Our hands never leave her completely of course. She also holds up her own weight when we hold her in the standing position and she stomps her little feet like she’s try to walk which is the cutest thing ever, in my opinion lol.
She also has used her first word “milk”. We have been using some sign language with her and the biggest word we have been focusing on is milk. She does use this sign now, from time to time, however, not always accurately. She definitely has made the sign though and in reference to actually wanting milk. I think she is just experiementing to figure out what it really means still.
She is also sleeping less during the day and interacting more with us now. She has her adorable social smile down pat and she babbles back at us when we talk to her.
Also, this past week I accomplished filling my first storage bag of milk to begin my milk stash. It takes several pumping sessions to fill a bag, but at least I am able to fill them now.
I also finished my Reglan medication this week which was prescribed to increase my milk supply. I believe it did help. It wasn’t necessarily the miracle I was hoping for but it does appear to have made a difference. We are now only giving her about 6 oz of formula three times a day instead of after every nursing session like we had been until now. This is an improvement!
One thing I had noticed though this past week, is that when I use the Basil essential oil (2 drops neat on each breast) about 20-30 minutes before pumping, I will pump about a half ounce of milk. When I don’t use the oil I literally only get drops, if that much, when pumping. So glad I have these oils! :-). If you’re interested you can learn more about essential oils here.
Also, this past week, the business my husband has been working on for the last six months has finally launched and is open for customers and also looking for affiliates to spread the word. It is a program designed specifically to help children who are struggling with math. We are very excited to be a part of this program that is helping these children increase and develop their math skills. You can find out more here, in my blog post about it. They are called BetterMathGrades.com
Life is good here! I hope you all are doing well also!
So, the business my husband has been working so hard on these past six months has finally launched and I am so excited to finally be able to introduce to you, my dear readers, BetterMathGrades.com
“We have a simple philosophy. Our desire is to partner with parents/guardians to help their children become confident and successful in math, regardless of past experiences.”
BetterMathGrades.com is a service of Math Lab and More, founded as a brick and mortar location in St. Joseph, Missouri in the fall of 2015. Since that time, the owner and creator has seen many children who were struggling in math come through his program and become confident in their mathematical abilities afterwards. Now, the owner decided, after seeing the success of so many children, that they wanted to expand to be able to help children all over the country and ultimately the world, grow and become confident in mathematics. This is when he reached out to my husband, a software engineer, to create a program that could potentially reach thousands of children with this need through the internet. Thus, BetterMathGrades.com was born.
BetterMathGrades.com is a completely online and automated program that uses Common Core State Standards to evaluate and pin point areas of need in the subject of mathematics. It uses the Common Core State Standards from 1st through 12th grades to evaluate, through an assessment that is given upon signing up, both the strengths and needs of the individual child. This allows the focus to be completely on building up those specific areas the child needs help in, through the drills provided, without getting bogged down in what they already know. There are also videos and games provided to give additional assistance as needed.
Here is a video made by the owner and creator of this system where he explains everything in his own words:
If you have a child who is struggling in math you can click here to start seeing your child grow and become confident in this subject area now.
If you don’t have a child who needs help in math but would like to be a part of this amazing program, you can become an affiliate with us. To find out more you can click here now.
Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional. I am a mama and independent distributor of essential oils who has a passion for achieving wellness in life and sharing it with others. None of the information provided below is meant to treat, diagnose, cure or prevent any medical conditions. Please use caution and common sense when using any mentioned products. Read all labels on the products before use. This post is educational in nature.
“Shalom Mama is devoted to creating a life of shalom (nothing missing, nothing broken, peace) for the people she can reach and touch.”
“Young Living Essential Oils honors its stewardship to champion nature’s living energy–essential oils–by fostering a community of healing and discovery while inspiring individuals to wellness, purpose, and abundance.”
Essential oils are volatile oils that retain the scent of the plant they came from. They are harvested from the roots, stems, leaves, petals, bark etc. and are the life’s blood of the plant. It defends, protects and heals the plant that it comes from. When properly cultivated and used, it can have a similar affect of wellness on the human body, supporting many different areas to create an overall wellness for the person using them.
There are three ways in which one can use essential oils: topically, internally and aromatically.
Most oils are safe for topical use and in fact, this is a very effective way to use them for many people because the molecules within the oils are small enough to be easily absorbed through the skin. I would recommend doing a spot check to see how your skin reacts to the oil first. If your skin has a reaction to any oil that is generally safe for topical use, you can try to dilute it, or dilute it further depending on the case, in a carrier oil to make it easier for your skin to tolerate. This does not affect the oils potency, only slows down it’s absorption of it more manageable amount for your skin and body.
When taking essential oils internally, a nice aspect about Young Living’s essential oils, is that you will clearly know an oil that is safe for consumption because it will have a white label on the bottle, which is unique to their Vitality line. This takes the guess work out of figuring out which oils that are safe when used in this way.
The third, and my personal favorite, way to use these oils is aromatically, either by opening the bottle and taking a whiff or defusing it into the air. In this way the oils break the blood/brain barrier and can very affectively target specific areas of need.
Always read the instructions on the labels for the best use of these oils.
A safe carrier oil for the skin would be something like jojoba oil, coconut oil, olive oil etc.
The purity of essential oils is extremely important in the effectiveness they will have in helping you. There are four grades of oils that are found in essential oils on the market today.
The first is Therapeutic which is what Young Living Essential Oils are categorized as. All the goodness from the plants is maintained through the careful extraction of the oils from the plants in the appropriate fashion at the appropriate time through steam distillation, resin tapping and cold pressing their plants. There are no added chemicals, such as pesticides, used on the crops at any time. It is important that no extra chemicals have been used throughout the entire process from Seed to Seal (the Young Living’s company commitment) because of the potency and concentration of the essential oils.
For example, it takes 160 pounds of rose petals to create a 5 mL bottle of essential oils. Can you imagine how toxic that would be, if there had been pesticides or other chemicals used on the plant at any time throughout the process of the plants growth?! This is why purity is so important.
There are also three other grades of essential oils that you will see out there. The second grade is the Natural grade, however, these essential oils only need to be 5% essential oil in order to be considered pure in the United States. So the oil can be watered down and still be considered natural, and the method of distillation may be destroying the oil and any benefits it would have had for you in the process. Pesticides and other chemicals are also more likely to be found within these products because of the lack of standards enforced upon them.
The third grade is Aromatic essential oils, in which basically all benefits of the plant are destroyed except for the scent of the plant.
The fourth grade is synthetically created oils which are likely less effective than the actual plant compounds that are found in nature.
So, as you can see, the first grade of Therapeutic oils is the best option and has the best benefits for you in the long run.
Young Living Essential Oils is one of the only companies in the United States that actually strives to produce 100% pure, therapeutic grade, essential oils and essential oil infused products. As briefly mentioned above, they have a Seed to Seal commitment on all their products. This means that from the selection of the heirloom seeds to when they bottle the oil and ship it out, they have strict standards that the company and their partners adhere to. They test each batch of oils in their own labs as well as send them out to third parties for testing, and if the oils do not meet their standards they reject that batch.
It is this high integrity of imposing strict standards upon themselves and their products, when nobody else will, that I love about this company. They also strive to be completely transparent and will allow people to visit their farms at any time to see the process in action. They own many of their own farms both in the United States and in countries around the world. They will only buy land that was ranch land and not land that was previously farmed. They also constantly check the pH levels of the soil to insure the best environment for their plants.
Young Living suppliers are also held to the same high standards and even have to sign a legally binding agreement before they can work with Young Living. This ensures the best possible essential oils with the most benefits for their customers.
My decision to become an essential oils distributor, pure and simple, is to improve the lives of others through education about essential oils and their benefits for a life of health and wellness, and to share the opportunities they can create of an exciting journey in purpose and abundance as well.
Whether or not you decide to take up the business aspect of essential oils, when you become a member you are starting an amazing journey and will receive products that I feel confident are changing lives.
Not only does this company provide high quality products that you can trust, but they also provide opportunities for any members that opt to buy the Premium Starter Kit to have the ability to start their own business (if they would like) selling these essential oils as an independent distributor with a 24% commission rate on any members they sign up directly. So, the financial opportunities spread on and on to many more people through you and the people who sign up under you and then the people who sign up under them etc. You also are compensated for the success of everyone in your downline so it behooves everyone to help each other and work as a team so everyone can enjoy success. Talk about sharing the wealth!
The Premium Starter Kit (whether you use it for business or just yourself and your family) is where I would begin and here is why. There are so many oils and products to choose from it can be overwhelming and hard to know where to start.
Here is the box in the sleeve that it comes in, the 11 oils and a diffuser that you get in this Premium Starter Kit. There are more goodies still inside the box which are not shown here.
The Premium Starter Kit (which is the one that provides the most opportunities) gives you that place to start with eleven 5 mL bottles of essential oils that cover a multitude of areas of need that a person may have.
The oils included in this Starter Kit are: Lavender, Lemon Vitality, Copaiba Vitality, Peppermint Vitality, Thieves Vitality, DiGize Vitality, PanAway, Stress Away, R.C., Frankincense and Purification. Some of these, such as Stress Away, are oil blends, while others, such as Lavender are singles. The company does reserve the right to swap out an oil if their crop was not good for another oil of equal value, but in general these oils stated above are the ones you can expect when you order your kit.
This is the top panel of oils you will see when you first open the box. The panel comes out to reveal more goodies in the compartment underneath.
Also, included the kit is a 2017 Young Living catalogue, literature about the oils and delicious samples of NingXia Red which is an amazing drink blend, filled with antioxidants and many benefits to help boost your energy throughout the day in a purely healthy way.
Not only do you receive all this, you also receive a diffuser, and once you are a member through this method of buying this Premium Starter Kit you will be able to buy everything else you order from now on at wholesale price instead of retail price. This is why I encourage people get the Starter Kit, because it is a great place to start, gives you the opportunity to have your own business (should you choose to accept it) and you get any other purchases you make at wholesale prices.
Here is the box without the sleeve. It looks just as amazing without the sleeve. The packaging is high quality and I just love it! 🙂
What this is, is basically a monthly subscription. However, you choose the products you want to receive and you can change this order from month to month or leave it as a recurring order depending on your needs at the time. You must have a minimum order of $50 (or 50 “PV”) to meet the monthly requirement of this plan. It is free to sign up and free to cancel. However, before you cancel you will want to use up any rewards you received or you will lose them. This program allows you to test out various products and expand your business or to just to use to enrich your own life.
Now, if you are part of this reward program, for the first three months you will earn 10% back of your total order in redeemable points towards free Young Living products. In months 4-24 you get 20% back and for months 25+ you will get 25% back.
On top of all that, Young Living will also be giving Essential Rewards members gifts at months 3, 6, 9 and 12. The gifts are unknown so they will be a surprise when you receive them.
You must make sure that you are NOT ordering through “quick order” or you will not receive your points towards free products or your shipping discount that is also a perk of this program. If you are using this as a business then you should go for the 100 PV plan in order to receive your compensations and all your bonuses.
This is an amazingly generous rewards program which is why I encourage people to sign up early so they can start reaping the rewards early. Once you are in your fourth month, you can start redeeming your points so the sooner you start the sooner you start getting your points.
If you feel ready to take the leap after reading this post you can sign up under me here: Sign Up
In case there are any issues with the link my sponsor and enroller number is: 12166903
If you would like to learn more about this or you have just joined the team please send me an email at Shalom.Mama3@gmail.com. I would love to talk to you, answer your questions and/or welcome you to the team. Remember I am always here to help you in this journey.
It is amazing that it’s been 7 weeks since Bella first entered the world. Since then it has been an interesting and exciting journey. Bella is growing but still as cute as ever! She went to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s for a couple hours on Thursday while my husband and I went to my 6 week’s postpartum doctors appointment.
The appointment itself went well. I felt a little discouraged when I stepped on the scale and weighed 159 lbs. That means I have lost a grand total of one pound since the last time I stepped on the scale a month ago. Oh well! After the examination we started discussing the breastfeeding issues. She listened to my concerns, asked questions and then immediately prescribed Reglan. She said if the Reglan didn’t work to increase my supply in 10 days that nothing would. However, she did not say whether this was a one and done event or if I should could continue after the 10 days if my milk did increase. Do any of you know the answer to this?
Meanwhile, back at my parents house, Bella was hard at work charming them. My dad was playing her and had to leave the room for a few minutes. My mom took over holding her over her shoulder. When my dad reentered the room and started talking she twisted herself around and searched for him. She has been able to hold her head up for several weeks now but this is the exact same thing I did as an infant with my dad. She is her mother’s daughter! 🙂
After we picked her up from there and took her home, I immediately took my first dose of the medicine. (Btw, yes we looked it up and it is safe for Bella). An hour and a half later I also put my usual blend of 3 drops Fennel oil and 2 drops Basil oil neat per breast. Within 5 minutes I let down in dramatic fashion, causing us to scramble to get me into the pump. The remarkable thing wasn’t so much the let down, that happened consistently on application of the oils, the thing that made it so different was how much let down and how much I pumped. I was able to pump 14 mL on one side. Now, considering that, that very morning I had pumped 15 mL from both sides together, this was a vast improvement. And might I add that the 15 mL in the morning was also double what I had been producing thanks to tbe essential oils. All this was the first dose of medication to even out my hormones which tells me that there was a hormone issue there that needed to be corrected before production could really begin.
Before and after (at the moment) of milk production
Currently, what I am doing to boost my supply even with the medication is continuing to drink 3-4 liters of water a day, eating oats and lots of protein, 2-3 drops neat of Basil oil per breast (the Fennel oil should only be used for 10 days at a time and yesterday was my 10th day), and power pumping again. I am currently doing the power pumping boot camp which is 8 sessions of power pumping in 48 hours. I have seen improvements using all of these now. Overall, I am feeling encouraged about breastfeeding again and hopeful that I can make it work now.
First fully breast milk bottle for Bella! These 3 ounces took me 5-7 pumping sessions (I lost track) but I am fairly proud of this! 🙂
So, much to my amazement, I won a give away that was being done by another beautiful head covering woman named Emily Fay Bingham on her beauty YouTube channel. Her channel is amazing and I encourage you to go check it out for yourself.
So, let’s dive in to the beautiful things that I received in my package.
The note she sent on was sooooo lovely! She is a sweet gal.
These earrings are beautiful!!
This scarf is stunning also! It has subtle gold glitter throughout the entire scarf.This gorgeous pin goes perfectly with the scarf as well as most of my other scarves in my collection.
This was the first time wearing the scarf and the pin. They go perfectly together and I loved how the different widths of stripes throughout the scarf made such a lovely pattern when wrapped upon my head.
But wait…there’s more! This was also in the box and is amazing for prepping your face before makeup. I especially liked it for moisturizing under my eyes and on my lips.This lipstick is a deep rich red and is lovely on the lipsThis is a wonderful under eye concealer as well as a great highlighter.My cat was curious about all my goodies too! This eye powder does a perfect job of setting your under eye consealer. But I would recommend using a different brush than the one they send in the package. This gave me a sultry, smokey eye with no fuss or effort at all. 🙂This is a lovely little pallette. I use the golden brown shade in the upper right hand corner for contour and the other three colors mixed together for my blush and it works out great!
And now here are several pictures of me wearing everything together. It all went together so beautifully!
I really felt so much better than I had in a long time once I was all dolled up with everything that first time. I very much needed that boost with how sick I had been during that pregnancy and I continue to enjoy now!
Can you believe six weeks have past already since our little Bella was born?! Time is flying and she has grown. She is now 8 lbs 3 oz and we were told by a lactation consultant that we are over feeding her now with the formula We took her to see this lactation consultant about the breastfeeding and I feel like every time I go and see anyone about this I lay out my concerns and they never get addressed or they get brushes aside. I will tell them that when I pump I only extract about 5-10 mL from both sides; not even from each side. The response I ALWAYS get is that some women do not respond well to the pump. Even if I am not responding well to the pump, my understanding is I should be pumping at least half of what I am actually producing in the worst case scenario. So, this automated, brush it under the rug, response has really started to bother me. When I mention that there was trouble with birthing the placenta and that it basically shattered inside me and the doctor had to manually extract it, the basic response I get is that that was an unfortunate way to start the breastfeeding journey. There is no mention of the fact that if even a small piece was left behind it could be hindering my milk production and that I should talk to my doctor about it. I think I have seen 4 or 5 different lactation consultants since Bella was born and the best information I have gotten was from my husband’s family, my family and friends. So, thank you to all you ladies who have pitched in to give advice and counsel through this whole journey so far and those of you who will in the future.
I went to visit my sister today and we talked for a few hours about this breastfeeding topic. It turns out the reason she did not breastfeed her children exclusively and sometimes at all was because she had medically diagnosed low milk supply. This is different from just low milk supply in that when she got a blood test to check if she was producing milk her numbers were extremely below the average range they expect for this test. Regular low milk supply would be if your numbers fell at the bottom of this average range. By the way, this is the first I am hearing about a test to see if you are able to produce enough milk. Why was this never mentioned by any of the consultants I went to see?!
Bella loves these flour sack towels and holds them like a security blanket. So cute! 🙂
Anyway, now I know there is a family history, more than what I already knew, of women having low milk supply in my family. I already knew my mom never got her milk in with her first child and now my sister had low supply with ALL of hers. Knowing these facts gives me a stronger case to have my actual milk supply tested tomorrow at my 6 weeks doctors appointment. I feel that this test can only have a positive effect on me. If it comes back normal, I can have confidence that I can provide milk for my child. But if it comes back abnormal, I’ll finally have an answer and we can look at options from there.
Bella can now hold her head up on her own while being held in sitting position
So now to the fun part of this blog. Now, that Bella’s hair is starting to grow in more we are trying to determine her hair color. There are times I am sure she is brunette and then there are times I absolutely convinced she has red hair growing in. What is your vote?
So, Bella is now a month old and doing really well. We had a weight check for her and she had gained 11 oz since the last appointment which had been 14 days before that. They said they like to see babies gain a 1/2 ounce to a full ounce a day so she is right on track. We are still having to feed her from both the breast and formula from the bottle. This still gets me seriously down but we are trying some natural remedies to help with my supply. I have been drinking at least 3 cups of Mother’s Milk tea a day which seems to have helped a little bit, power pumping for an hour a day a long with pumping after each feeding but the one I am most excited to try is Fennel essential oil from Young Living which I am currently starting my own business under because their products have really worked for me and for people around me.
So this leads me into our exciting news. Both my husband and I are starting businesses this month. My husband has been working with his father to start a business that will help children who are struggling with math in school. My husband has been working on the back end for several months now, creating the complex programming to make this online business work while my father-in-law has been working the front end that everyone will see and the details of how the business will run. They both have been working so hard to make this something that will really be beneficial for children, parents and teachers a like. Honestly, as a teacher myself and someone who has struggled with math my entire life, after I saw how this will assess students and help them to focus on their areas of need in this subject area I became very excited about it and wish there had been something like that for me when I was growing up. When they launch I will put up a specific post about it for any of you that might have a child who is struggling in math and might be interested.
I am also starting up my own business under my mother-in-law using Young Living Essential Oils. These are some of the purest and best oils you can find in the United States which makes them more effective than the ones you might find in the store which claim to be 100% pure but really aren’t. The standards for being able to put 100% pure on your label in the US is 5% oil and the way they destill their products damages the product and makes it less effective, if not actually toxic for us. Young Living is dedicated to being the purest essential oil possible from seed to seal. They have their own farms and hold themselves to strict standards. So this is a product I feel I can get behind and support. My mother-in-law and father-in-law came down to visit us this week and she brought her oils with her from her starter kit. We defused an oil blend called Stress Away and at Bella’s next feeding I had my first really good let down EVER! She didn’t need the bottle afterwards and slept for several hours afterwards. Then the next day she was fussy all day and wouldn’t go down to sleep even that night. Finally we pulled out the Lavender essential oil and defused that and within 10 minutes she was sleeping soundly. After these successes I am looking forward to my starter kit and the extra Fennel and Basil oils I ordered to come in either tomorrow or Tuesday. The Fennel especially but also the Basil are supposed to be really good for increasing milk production. I will let you know how it goes. I am also excited to share these products and opportunity with anyone who is interested. If you are interested in learning more I am more than happy to tell you all about it so feel free to ask me. This is more of an education business than a selling business. Sales are just a perk for me, as I really believe that true and pure essential oils are natural remedies for just about anything; which G-d put on this Earth for our use and health.
This also has given me a new focus which has helped me with any remaining Baby Blues. My mother-in-law got me out of the house for a while too this past week which helped to give me something of a break and a change of scenery which has helped. It was a very nice visit with them both!
So I know this post is late for week 4 and a little early for week 5 but I wanted to get them done while I had the opportunity. I hope everyone is doing well! Shalom! 🙂
It is this high integrity of imposing strict standards upon themselves and their products, when nobody else will, that I love about this company. They also strive to be completely transparent and will allow people to visit their farms at any time to see the process in action. They own many of their own farms both in the United States and in countries around the world. They will only buy land that was ranch land and not land that was previously farmed. They also constantly check the pH levels of the soil to insure the best environment for their plants.
Shalom Mama 