SimplyMal - God, Family, Crafting!

Miracle Diaper Rash Recipe

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I knew having a girl would bring a lot of motherhood firsts my way, but I didn’t expect the WORST DIAPER RASH I HAVE EVER SEEN!!! Did she sit naked in a boiling fountain of LAVA?! Neither one of my boys ever had bad cases of diaper rash, just a little redness here and there that Desitin always took care of pretty quickly.

And then came Emerson and her lava parts. Poor baby girl couldn’t sit down, screamed when I changed her, and to my horror, the Desitin seemed to be making NO DIFFERENCE.

I jumped online (on Pinterest of course) and started reading what other moms did for stubborn horrible lava butt diaper rashes, when I stumbled across this little gem from Heather at Cookie Mondays!   (Thank you Heather for sharing!!)

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Mix:
1 cup distilled water
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
1/8 teaspoon tea tree oil (a natural antibacterial)

Lucky for me, we had tons of Tea Tree oil since we also used it on Liam when he had MRSA….I’m definitely starting to love oils more and more.

I cut up an old soft burp clothe to use as wipes and at every diaper change, I simply used the medicine dropper to squirt the mixture over Emerson’s rash.

*Word of warning: the tea tree oil and vinegar did sting a little bit the first couple times, but a whole lot less than using regular wipes and Desitin!

After only 3 doses, her lava butt rash looked amazingly better! (I cannot stress how bad the rash was…we are talking blister status!)  The redness had gone down and she was even able to sit up, poor girl. (It has now been 2 days since using the mixture and her rash is almost completely gone!) This will forever be my go to rash medicine now!
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On a completely unrelated note, I finally found a tea pot! I know, I know…call the press. But seriously, it’s a big deal! I’ve been looking for like ever and had yet to find one that wasn’t big money or fit my taste. Then I stumbled across this treasure of a pot at Marshall’s for $9.00!! Yes, only $9! Winner winner chicken dinner!
Now, who wants to come over for some tea?!
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What it is like not to sleep…

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My husband just sent me this link for CrappyPictures.com where this mother illustrates her life, her blog with crappy pictures…and they are pretty funny, and truthful.

The one Jerad sent me tonight perfectly describes a lot of our nights…except for the cats.  If you are also a mommy of more than one sweet child who steals your sleep, you will relate and laugh out of pure exhaustion.  Click on the “crappy” picture to see the story in it’s full glory….

crappypictures

Welcome to the World Emerson Brooke!

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This past friday morning at 9:24am our precious baby GIRL Emerson Brooke came into the world!

emerson

It was quite a shock to both her daddy and myself, as the idea of having a girl seemed far fetched.  I was bawling on the operating table, unable to contain my emotion.  I don’t think it even really hit home until I put on her first bow…which I had to ask for help with!  I’ve been a mother to boys…monster truck loving, dirt wearing, gun slinging boys, and I have loved every minute of it! Now I have a girl and the world is starting to look a whole lot different…my Pinterest boards are definitely taking on a “sparklier” look!

hillfamily

Since we came home on Sunday, it’s been up and down with how the boys are reacting to this new little being actually staying in the family.  Their first reaction was one of “no” in Cohen’s words and shy and uninterested for Liam.  But as the week has gone by, they are warming up quite nicely to her….Emmy “buying” them a super cool Marble Run toy set I’m sure has helped sweeten the deal.  Now they are always giving “Sissy” kisses on the head and mimicking all the squeaky sounds she makes.  Oh, they for sure still have their trying and testing moments, I’m sure causing Jerad to wish he was back at work, but we both understand they are still trying to figure out what life looks like now with baby sister.
liamemmy

cohenemmy

Liam took a picture of himself holding his new baby sister to preschool on tuesday for Show and Tell.  He got up in front of the class and this is what came out of his ever surprising mouth, “Guys, I have a serious problem.  I have a new baby sister.  Her name is Emerson Brooke Hill and she is a princess I will protect with my knife sword.”  Pure and precious love from a 3 year old boy.

meemmy

Now life consists of Jerad wrestling all household responsibilities, working from home, loving the boys and new baby, and making sure I stay on the couch.  Which is becoming harder and harder to do as my recovery has been going so well.  Seriously, this C-section was a piece of cake! So as my Pinterest boards grow (couch time will do that) and my crafty mind starts to explode I some what impatiently await the complete healing of the hole in my abdomen.  But I am enjoying the excuse to just cuddle my new baby GIRL all day long!

I know there is so much I want to say, explain, share and brainstorm in this blog post, but honestly I’m tired.  Imagine that.

Those Moments That Prove Your Love

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I truly enjoy hearing other women’s horror embarrassing stories about those moments where their whole-hearted love for their children was able to show through.  So I thought I’d share mine.  To this day, it has remained one of the most humbling and embarrassing mommy moments I have had.

A couple years ago, a few months after our first son Liam was born,  the hubby surprised me with a 4 day anniversary trip to Hawaii!  The only problem was that I was nursing still and didn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. Knowing that Liam would be in good hands, I left enough milk supply for him to make it through the next few days (my freezer looked a Costco Milk aisle).  But, this also meant that I would be bringing along my trusty breast pump so that I wouldn’t run dry…nothing says “sexy” better than a breast pump next to your bikini.

Since we had missed our first flight, we had a small layover….that did not bode well for my pumping schedule!

Knowing I wouldn’t make it through the flight and to our hotel, I grabbed my bag and headed for the nearest airport bathroom.   Walking into a nearly deserted ladies room, I frantically searched for a plug (as I forgot batteries and had to use the electric cord) that was near a stall, allowing me to hide.  No such luck.

You’ve got to be kidding me.

Okay, fine.  My love for my son was greater than my pride.  Right?

By now the bathroom was completely empty, so I threw my bag onto the sink counter, plugged in and bared all, determined to keep my head high and the pump session quick.  I thought this couldn’t go any worse.  Wrong.  Right in the middle of pumping, a flight must have come in because about 30 women stormed the bathroom!  I tried to look nonchalant, and even attempted to read a book that was in my bag, but even above the roar of bathroom commotion, you could clearly hear the pulsating vacuum sound of my pump.

Oh, the horror.

I tried to become one with the paper towel dispenser and melt into the wall, but that didn’t keep the strange looks and a few sympathetic smiles from coming my way.  I made matters even more awkward by giving a woman who was blatantly staring at me a good ol’ fashion head nod. What?! Who does that?!

As quickly as I was able, I unplugged, dumped, dashed, and returned completely humbled and red in the face.

Oh, the things we mom’s go through for our children.  There have been other moments like this and I know that they are far from over, and I’m sure tomorrow will bring on a whole new adventure.  Good times.

Now that I have shared mine, you should share yours!

Proverbs 31 Journey: Motherhood

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“A virtuous woman teaches her children the ways of her father in heaven.  She nurtures her children with the love of Christ, disciplines them with care and wisdom, and trains them in the way they should go.”

“She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” -Proverbs 31:26

“Start children off on the way they should go,
    and even when they are old they will not turn from it.”  -Proverbs 22:6

“But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” -Luke 18:16

Ah, motherhood.  A journey deserving of a blog all it’s own, and one of my “job” descriptions that I will never perfect and will always be a student of.  Once again God scheduled His timing perfectly…this past week I focused on nurturing my boys and loving them.  It was to be all about them.  The perfect timing came as it was also the week Cohen had his one year check up which consisted of 5 shots and blood work and Liam had another abscess show up from a recent staff infection along with a bad reaction to his antibiotics.  My boys needed me, needed to be comforted and nothing else mattered.

I had planned for this week to be packed full of wonderful educational projects, Bible stories, character building activities and all around greatness (isn’t that how all my weeks have started out?!) But once again God had another plan.  Although we did do some fun things, most of our time was spent cuddling together watching movies and just comforting my hurting babies, and that was exactly what a nurturing motherhood looked like for this week.

I’ve started to realize that there is no real way to prepare for your time as a mother.  Sure you can Pin all the wonderful and educational activities and bake a fridge full of nutritional food all the while singing Bible songs, but sometimes you’re thrown a curve ball and your new plan as a mommy consists of popsicles and saltine crackers for every meal as you watch the movie Cars for the billionth time.  And that is ok.

So, once again my week didn’t go as I had planned, but God taught/reminded me some valuable things…

1) Teaching your children about the love and grace God has for them may be simply by saying “Look at the beautiful day God gave us so we can go to the park,”  and singing “Jesus Loves Me” and you scrub the layers of park sand out of every baby chub!

2) No matter how much “valuable” stuff is on your TODO list, when your child asks you to come play blocks, you go play blocks! There will come a day when they will no longer ask you to play and those moments of rocking chair cuddles will be a thing of the sweet past….so forget that mountain of laundry and cherish those moments!

3)Raising my boys to be strong men of character who love God, treat others with compassion and love and stand up for what they believe in is my first priority!  Everything else pales in comparison.  This also means I need to pray for patience and wisdom in my own life.  I also need to lead by example.

I’ve been reading the great and insightful book Shepherding a Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp. It is a great book! I’ve basically highlighted the whole thing! Here are a couple of highlighted parts from this weeks reading….



 

What a week it has been.  God has shown me his sufficiency throughout the hardest parts of this week and I was reminded what was important in my role of motherhood.

Both my sweet boys are napping in their beds, and I think I will join them!

Out of the mouth of babes….

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Fun story this morning.  Hilarious actually.

I’ve been trying to teach Liam to tell the truth when he has poop in his britches, because he will usually tell me “nope.”  Then I respond back with, “Liam you need to tell mommy the truth.”

Well, this morning as we were getting ready to leave, he tell’s me he has poop.  “Great! Come let me change you before we go!”

He then says, much to my great amusement, “Hold on mom, me tellin’ my truth.”

Apparently, Liam thinks that’s what you say when you are finishing your “buisness.”

Oh my sweet boy.  Never a dull moment or conversation!