Essential Oils 101
1. HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING WITH ESSENTIAL OILS?
I have used essential oils for over 15 years in my career of massage and skincare. For the past 4 years its been strictly doterra for their high quality and medicinal qualities.
2. WHAT MAKES YOU SO PASSIONATE ABOUT IMPLEMENTING ESSENTIAL OILS INTO YOUR DAILY LIFE?
I have been apart of BIG IMPACT in many peoples lives, both big and small since I started educating on essential oils. I have seen miracles in peoples lives, in their emotional and physical health. Having experienced this on the level that I have, I cant help but have passion and desire to help my family and others. To know as a young mother that I have options and that you can manage at home and not have to run to the physician office for every little cough or cold is pretty empowering feeling. As a mother I know we all want to feel that. And after being misdiagnosed and feeling lost in the medical setting, and then having this support, it lights a fire within you that you just can't help but to want to do more in your home to improve naturally in the best ways possible.
One of the coolest experiences I had was outside my home with a young mother who I had connected with through a corporate wellness day I taught at. She had been on anti-depressants for over 15 years and had lost her dad to a suicide/drug overdose a few before we meet. We simply started with a hand massage and a little bottle called "Wild Orange" and the experience for her was immediate. At that point she was so curious and wanted options. What we did was simple; we went over what was going on in the home and started with her first because it starts with the Mama! We simply started her on 3 things. Frankincense under the tongue, Wild Orange daily in a diffuser and our vitamin line that just happens to have 9 other essential oils in it. A few weeks later she called me in tears because she had forgotten to take her medication and gone 3 days with out needing it. She couldn't remember a time when she didn't need it or hadn't taken it. It has been life altering for her an now she is integrating it into her entire family. With the support of her Dr's she is now helping to implement the essential oils into her Dr's men's drug rehabilitation center to have the added integration natural option.
This is the biggest reason I am traveling today, so I can get into the homes of people all over the country who need this type of support!
3. IF YOU COULD CHOOSE 3 OILS TO USE FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE, WHICH WOULD THEY BE AND WHY?
SHOOT- just 3 is tough!
- Frankincense: This is one of the most powerful oils due to its anti-inflammatory properties. It is also the subject of a lot of studies on cancer treatment. I use Frankincense for first aid- it's anti-fungal, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, stress and calming. It's also incredible for headaches! It's been known to enhance healthy skin cell growth and decrease wrinkles- BONUS! There's a reason they call it the king of essential oils.
- Lemon: Citrus oils are uplifting and energizing as well as aid the body in detoxification and weight loss. Lemon is incredible in the kitchen as a disinfectant and helps coughs, colds and congestion. As a mama, we need emotional support daily and citrus oils are wonderful to diffuse!
- Cedar Wood: This wood oil is known best for its sedative qualities and is one of my favorites to calm the mind and chatter, aiding in a good night's rest. Also fabulous for skin care, acne, anxiety and more!
4. WHEN GETTING STARTED WITH ESSENTIAL OILS, WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 5 TIPS YOU'D SHARE WITH A NEWBIE?
- Essential oils are incredible, there are so many ways to use oils to create a healthy lifestyle. With that being said, first things first, set up a personal routine. There is no “one pill for one ill” with essential oils. Like any other great health habit you want to make sure you are setting the habit and routine to have the best success. I do a personal wellness consult to determine exactly what your health goals are and then we create a protocol specifically for you.
- Routine Routine Routine. Once you determine your top wellness goals for yourself and your family, its time to stick with it! The coolest part about essential oils, or 1 of the coolest things is consistency= results! In fact the more you use them the better, and you don't have to worry about time frame or mixing or side effects. Essential oils go to work on your behalf and help the body aid in healing quickly and naturally.
- Do your research! Each essential oil is unique so check out the potential benefits and safety precautions before use. Don't leave it to just my word- education is really important so do your research if you can.
- REDUCE TOXINS! There are so many chemicals in our homes we need to really take caution to what we are exposing ourselves too. To help with creating a toxic free home and safer beauty and body care you can learn to make your own products and empower your home with natural health.For more tips and tricks, join me on my facebook page we can talk all things essential to your health!
- Just get started! You don't need to know everything or have it perfect just get started. It's simple and I'll show you how!
5. OILS CAN BE AN INVESTMENT, BUT IT SEEMS IN THE LONG RUN IT'S WORTH IT! WHAT OILS DO YOU FEEL ARE CRUCIAL TO HAVE ON HAND AT ALL TIMES?
When you see the price, I can understand how they can look expensive, however, let me break down the cost per drop for and ear infection and you decide for yourself.
Before the oils: Take off work, get a sitter for your other kids, drive to Dr office, co-pay, prescription- you're looking at minimum $250-350 maybe more...!
After the oils: Lavender, Melalaluca Basil every 2 hours, 2 drops each comes out to 64 cents per treatment.
WINNER......I'll take the essential oils! At that point you can buy a whole kit and have thousand of remedies at your finger tips!
The home essential kit or family physician kit includes 11 of the best of the best essential oils and all the possibilities to have success in your home with thousands of remedies at your finger tips! To purchase a kit and or have questions contact me!
To take advantage of our monthly promo just for Aubrey's readers shoot me an email and we will HOOK you up with your starter kit!
A special thank you to Tracy for taking the time to educate me and all of you ladies! Don't miss out on getting started with your lifestyle change by implementing oils in a natural, healthy way and contact her, here. Be sure to mention the promo code "AKINCH" and I'm confident see will help you out!
Taking Time
journal & gratitude book /// val marie paper
It's been tough for me finding time to mold my day with a newborn and that's something I'm okay with currently since work is still on the back burned until December but I've found it's really throwing off my usual time with God. I'm not perfect in this aspect but I would normally start my day in scripture, doing a devotional so adding Emery with no routine leaves me scrambling to get that time whenever I have 10 minutes to spare. I'm not sure if there's something else I can be doing to really build out that time, maybe even when Andrew gets home so its guaranteed he has the babe but I'm curious... do you ladies have suggestions?
Happy Monday!
emery
Motherhood
Adjusting to Mamahood
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Our sweet girl is one month old today and I'm sitting here after a night that was long and trying just thanking God for our little angel baby. Although, it's tough and definitely testing my patience, I wouldn't trade this life for the world.
Currently, she's weighing just about 8 pounds gaining from a mighty 5lbs 13oz she was when leaving the hospital so we're so pleased by this progress! She's napping more consistently throughout the day and usually going down for bed around 8pm. Doing this, she's waking up twice throughout the night, once at midnight and around 3am again to eat and then we're up for the day about 6:30am when daddy leaves for work. We're working hard on getting her used to a little routine for bedtime and then also implementing some Baby Wise techniques. I say this lightly because we're definitely doing baby led feeding because she's been growing so much and seems hungry much faster than 3-4 hours so we're on average eating 3-4oz about every 2.5-3 hours throughout the day.
Last time I mentioned updates, my milk supply was excessively low and had me down and I've been trying so many alternatives to boost that but it's been with no such luck. I was using Fenugreek, Fennel Oil, drinking tons of water, eating oatmeal, drinking Gatorade, pumping every 1.5-2 hours and then also doing skin to skin time but alas.... nothing. I was then prescribed Reglan but after being on it a couple days it had me feeling really down and uncomfortable so I've since then stopped. All that being said, I am pumping every 3 hours during the day and mixing my milk with formula and at night I'm nursing until Emery can't get anymore and following it with a small bottle. At this point, my main concern is getting her what she needs and if that means it's not from me, that's okay. Every body and person is different and I'm just not producing what she demands so I'd be content with drying up.
We've been letting her sleep pretty loosely around the house where she is happy but since trying to get her sleeping a touch longer during the nights, I've attempted to have her nap in her crib during the day and then sleep in her bassinet at night next to me in our room. I confess, half the time she ends up tummy sleeping on my chest for naps - which helps me rest during the day! - and at night, she some times co-sleeps because she sure loves being by mama and I'm okay with this. I know these days will be long missed when she is all independent so I'm soaking in those moments as much as possible where she wants to be close and warm and secure.... cue the tears!
I find myself throughout the day in the trials and triumphs, constantly praying to God for patience, strength, wisdom and understanding. I want to be the best for Emery and I want to only show her I'm present in the time we spend together but doing so is something that's exhausting in the most precious and rewarding way possible. We are blessed, so blessed and beyond grateful for our sweetpea. I'd say we're doing good with this new parenting journey- just taking it one day at a time!
Tis the Season
Year after year I've had it on my list to make an Advent Calendar I can enjoy with my little family and as each year passes, I never do. Maybe it was because I was holding out for a perfect one I could buy or maybe because I really didn't feel like getting things together to make it on my own but when I started following Ashlee on instagram, I knew my mind was changed! She is the founder and creator of the Ashlee Proffitt Advent Calendar and it's a dream! From the lovely silver details and the perfectly curated activity cards, I was elated getting mine in the mail to share with my family. Drake and I put it up last night along with our Christmas decor and he is dying to get into the Christmas story through scripture all lined out on this calendar. We look so forward to making it a new tradition of ours to open each envelope, find the activity that awaits us and read all about the birth of Jesus Christ. What better way than to celebrate this Holiday Season?!
Ashlee is so generously offering 15% off your purchase now through Friday, November 21 with code AUBREY. You can shop it, here!
Organization Queen
Hello friends! I am in full swing preparing for the holidays and getting things nailed down in my planner for 2015 and I had a thought.... it's going to be 2015! I mean, how did that sneak up on us all so quickly?! I have been a faithful user of my Day Designer for the last year and while it's been wonderful, I felt it wasn't used to it's full potential with all my organizing and chronic planning. That being said, I came across the Design Love Planner a couple months back and after reading a few reviews, I thought it would be something lovely for my daily use and something I would fully utilize and cram full of appointments, client meetings and kiddo goodness!
Once it arrived, I was totally sold! I was giddy flipping through the pages and soaking in all the lovely prints and motivational quotes throughout and seriously adore the front pocket it offers for my piles of receipts. Not only does it have the necessary monthly calendar and weekly schedule but it also provides an area for budgeting (hello, new baby spending; I so need this!) and a weekly checklist! And to top it off, I really look forward to reflecting each month on my goals and filling in that little section when I tackle the start of a new season.
All in all, I can't recommend it enough. It's the perfect size to toss in my purse or diaper bag and the hardcover is on point for durability. You can snag yours, here!
emery
A Birth Story
Monday, October 20th rolled around and after a long weekend of intense pain and frustration, I was ready to meet Emery. Andrew and I had talked through opting to be induced and since my doctor was 100% on board, we chose to go ahead and do so. I called the doctor to approve our files being sent over to our hospital and they informed me the hospital would be calling us back Tuesday between midnight and 4am with a time to come in to begin our induction. We made sure everything was set to go, Drake was back at his mommy's and we headed to bed with our phones on obnoxiously loud so we made sure we didn't miss the call. Six am rolls around and I'm on pins and needles having no call throughout the night from the hospital. I got up and worked a bit and finally called the hospital at 11am asking for an update. They said it would be a few more hours but I would be coming in later that evening. I was so anxious anticipating when my phone would ring so I got ready, did my hair and makeup and even painted my nails and ironically, as soon as that last coat was painted, we got the call at 2:13pm saying it's time to come in!
Getting everything packed up and in the car was the most surreal feeling ever. I hugged on Brutus, shed a couple tears knowing my furbaby would have to adjust and we head out the door. Our whole drive over I was clinging to Andrew's hand and chatting his ear off about how it's finally time! It was finally happening after all these long months of carrying our sweet baby, we would be meeting her and would be able to kiss her endlessly!
We arrived at the hospital at 3:20pm and began our registration and check in right away. We were escorted to our room and got settled in at 4:35pm and met all our nurses for the evening. At 5pm I was checked and given one dose of gel to help ripen my cervix and was instructed to walk a bit after it sat for an hour. At that time, I was 3cm dilated, 90% effaced and when we came back to our room at 6:30pm I was measuring at 4cm and 100% effaced. 7:06pm is when pitocin was started and the on call doctor chose to break my water so the waiting game began! It was right around this time Andrew and I started talking about how we will soon be meeting our sweet girl - we were just so giddy! - and I kept praying she would have a safe and healthy delivery. Contractions started coming on super strong about 30 minutes after pitocin kicked in and I was a shaking mess. Apparently that happens with all the hormones coursing through your body but it was super intense while also trying to breathe through the pain.
Andrew put on The Hunger Games to keep me distracted but I couldn't take the pain after a few hours. I requested the epidural at 9:20pm and it was literally a God send. Immediately I felt relief and was back to talking to Andrew and simply enjoying those last moments together and each other. We were told to try to get some sleep which we really did try to do but with the doctors coming in every 1-2 hours to check me and have me rotate sides to help baby move down, that wasn't happening very well!
Nothing really eventful happened throughout the night, just typical progress every time I was checked, slowly moving from 5cm to 7cm and then to 9cm by 7am, October 22. At that point, we had gone through 2 shift changes and just welcomed a third and I immediately felt at peace with our new nurse. She was our age and so so personable with us so I kept thanking God for giving us someone who I really related with. We also had a student shadowing her and he was our same age as well and again, so so sweet and an amazing asset to our team. Every time they left the room, Andrew and I kept commenting how awesome they both were and how comfortable we were with them assisting us.
At 9am, our nurse came back in and started talking us through the process of what takes place when we begin to push. She was one that didn't want to begin pushing until baby was at a -2 station so it wouldn't take so much time and effort pushing (which is totally smart!) but Emery didn't want to move down much. After a few more hours of moving me around to try to encourage Emery to drop a bit, nothing changed and our nurse decided let's go ahead and push. At 2:22pm the stirrups were put in place, I had my labor playlist on loud, the lights were dimmed and we began pushing. I also requested the mirror to watch the progress which was a huge help for me! Being able to see Emery's head and her movement while I pushed was that much more incentive to give it my all because I was so ready to meet her!
At this point, the pitocin started to wear off so my contractions were few and far between (12-15 minutes apart) so we pushed for just over an hour and half when the doctor came in for delivery. There was so much movement and details happening around me and I kept holding Andrew's hand, looking at him between each push set and trying to soak in those last moments with him. He was such an amazing coach and encouraged me so well during the whole process- I couldn't have asked for anything better!
Kari Jobe- We Are began playing when the doctor took over for our nurse and I was suddenly so peaceful and calm and enjoying everything. God was so present in our room and wrapping His arms around myself and Emery- it was a feeling I'll never forget and continue to recall so vividly these short weeks later.
Not long after, the love of our lives made her appearance at 4:13pm while I'll Be by Boyce Avenue was playing. She wore a necklace but was quickly untangled, her airways were cleared and I heard that piercing cry I was so longing for. I met my sweet girl. I held her on my chest, stroking her hands with tears streaming down my face, saying "hi baby" over and over. The look on Andrew's face was pure joy. He was completely enamored with her as was I.
Andrew went with the nurses to the other end of the room to help get her cleaned up and learn all her stats. She was 6lbs 10oz of pure sugar- 21 inches long! She came out holding her head up and continues to do so now and even rolls on her sides and back with ease- she's one strong girl! I delivered my placenta and was cleaned up as well and thankfully didn't tear, get stitches or have any side effects! I felt amazing and was so happy with being able to vaginally deliver as I had so many fears of a C-section.
By 6:40pm we were settling into our postpartum room, snuggling our sweetie and welcoming Drake to meet his new sister. If my heart already hadn't exploded that day, it totally did in that moment watching him so gently with her. He was in love at first sight and kept saying she was "his baby". My heart was so full. My heart continues to be so full.
The days may be short and the nights are long but we are forever grateful for our miracle. We are so blessed to have our Emery here and healthy and can't thank God enough for expanding our family in the most perfect way. I strive to cherish these new mommy moments and new memories we're making as a family because I know it'll all fly by as it already is starting to.
Happy 2 weeks, Emery Odessa.
Don't grow up too fast, sweetpea.
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