If you are prone to sore throats, then I am sure would try just about anything to make it stop!  Besides, one can only eat so much ice cream right?...

There is a natural waxy and resinous protectant, that also has antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties, that bee's produce to build, repair, and protect their hives.  This waxy substance just happens to also be super beneficial for humans to ward off germs and help give the immune system a boost.  It is called bee "propolis". 

Honeybees make propolis from local tree buds and other botanical sources.  Propolis is usually brown (can be other colors though) and is soft when it is above 68℉, otherwise it is hard and brittle. 

There are different types of propolis, depending on the location and the tree or plant sourced from the bee.  

Using bee propolis throat spray can be a very helpful friend in your home apothecary to prevent illness.

Before you run off to spray your child's throat with bee propolis spray, please note the precautions and ask your health care provider if there is any reason NOT to use this spray with your child's specific health profile, allergies, or sensitivities.  Also, never give a child honey under the age of 1 to prevent any chance of infant botulism.

Do not use if there is a possible or known allergy to bees.

If you are all clear to use this spray, you may find it very helpful to use at the start of a sore throat.  Not only can all the beneficial bacteria in bee propolis spray (over 300 beneficial compounds) help to prevent different microbes from housing in the mouth and throat, it can soothe the sore throat too and alleviate some discomfort.

In addition to using bee propolis spray, you can tackle a sore throat with many other helpful natural and simple ways -

• Use a humidifier
• Apply a diluted blend of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) and roman chamomile (Anthemis nobilis) to the sides of the neck and over the tonsil area (blend dilution appropriate).  *Check precautions prior to use and do a spot check (if using a new essential oil, always apply the blend to a child's inner arm below the elbow to check for a reaction... wait at least 30 min, my preference is up to two hours, before even thinking about applying near your throat or your child's... just to be super safe to prevent any possible swelling type reaction near the neck and throat that could cause breathing issues
• Make homemade sorbet to nourish your child and soothe their sore throat
• Rest is key
• Tea with elderberry honey is also very soothing.  If you do not harvest your own herbs, you can browse the options of organic tea at your local nutrition center too.  Some blends include elderberry, lemon balm, slippery elm bark, and marshmallow root which can all be beneficial to the body, immune system, and help soothe a sore throat.  We will save diving into those herbs for another blog!
• Stay hydrated and enjoy organic fruit juice popsicles
• Snack on frozen fruits

I hope this helps a busy Momma out!  Don't forget to boil the tooth brushes, rinse with vinegar, or discard and buy a new one!

Having frequent headaches can be very frustrating for mom and child. I'm honestly not sure which is worse. There is so much emotion involved, and worry, stress, frustration, and even sadness when we are bummed that we can't be doing the things in life that we would rather be doing. Mom may have to miss work, and the child may be missing out on playtime or fun activities, sports, etc.

If you think about the last time you had a headache, you probably can't remember exactly what you ate and drank that day or what other things you may have been exposed to such as fragrance plug in's, aerosol sprays, and such.  But, if you can write these things down the next time you or your child do get a headache, it can be very helpful information.

Many headaches in children are caused from dehydration.  I think we can easily say the same for adults.  Life gets busy and it easy to forget to drink water on the regular.  Keeping track of what you eat and what you drink is helpful as you can then monitor if you or your child might be dehydrated.  How would you know?  Well... check you pee!  If it is dark yellow, you will want to grab a glass of water as it should be yellow or light yellow, but not dark yellow and certainly not orange!

Teach your kids this trick from little on!  Little kids love to check the color of their pee!  Plus it helps them want to head to pot so they don't have an accident or helps with potty training.  And believe it or not, most of the time, they will tell you if they need a cup of water or not.  It's pretty fun.  Try it!

Foods can also cause headaches such as foods cooked in old grease or rancid oils, highly processed foods (like the kind that never grow mold!), MSG, food coloring, and sugars.  Chocolate, dairy, and peanuts can be triggers as well as many other foods and ingredients.  It is a process to find out the cause, but if you can write down the clues, then you will get closer to knowing what to avoid.

If you notice you are walking in your office or in your home and you have a spray or fragrance that triggered your headache to become worse, that is another clue.  Replace the product with something more natural or with no fragrance.

So writing these things down and keeping track when you have headaches, is really to note your clues on what to do differently or better in the future.  And that is key for prevention of getting more headaches.

Then I suggest coming up with short term and long term therapies that can help.  So short term will be "What can I do right now to help alleviate my headache."  Long term would be "What can I do regulary (daily, weekly, or monthly) in order to prevent getting headaches."

Let's look at some short term tips:

• use an essential oil roller blend across the head or even down the neck and shoulders if tension is the cause
• use a flax seed eye pillow to cover our eyes to nap - these can even be put in the freezer to cool them prior to use
• use a cold cap
• remove anything giving an unwanted fragrance
• avoid using chemical sprays and aerosol products
• avoid using chemical wipes and use a more natural alternative
• switch fragrant detergents to a more natural and fragrance free option
• avoid eating foods that could be triggers
• drink calming herbal teas to manage stress
• get plenty of fluids and add electrolytes if needed
• get off the screens and let your eyes rest
• make extra time for stress reducing activities or quiet time activities to reduce chaos
• reach out to your provider to see what natural supplements may help for you or child that are safe to use

Now let's look at some long term tips:

• get a massage every other week or monthly
• see a reflexologist every few months to help balance any imbalances
• try acupuncture
• walk or workout
• do yoga or stretch and meditate often
• eat a healthy and balanced diet
• monitor fluid intake to always stay hydrated
• journal your thoughts, goals, and set backs and next steps to succeed
• keep learning how to incorporate more natural products and therapies
• keep learning to create balance in your life, including emotional balance for you and your child

Remember to run any new therapies or natural products past your provider first to make sure there isn't any reason you shouldn't do a certain therapy or use a certain product.  This goes for your littles or big kids too.  Always check precautions and do the research.

Questions are welcomed!

Before you dig deep into creating balance, don't miss a beat this year with your wellness goals.  Jamie loves to send weekly inspiration, tips, natural wellness and health tips to you!  Sign up below!

Are you finding yourself with many of the same thoughts circling through your mind on an every day basis?

It can be really hard for a busy mom to create balance between work life and family life. Not to mention it can be extremely hard to fit in time for self-care.

The reason we sometimes have thoughts that keep circling through our mind, is because we are not solving the riddle. Why is the thought there in the first place? Is it a goal that needs to be accomplished? Is it something we wish we could get done, but can't seem to find the time? Is it a frustration or a feeling that we have not dealt with or learned to cope with yet?

All of these repeat mental to do lists can be absolutely exhausting. So the question is, how do we create balance in a busy world? How do we create time to not only create a self-care routine, but actually do it. How do we create time to enjoy the moments with our children without feeling stressed and like we should be doing some thing else?

The answer may lie here.  But I need to sneak in a quick P.S. note here!  

If you are not on my weekly wellness list that sends you a wellness tip or inspiration every single week, you need to be there!

Click below to sign up!  

Sign Up Here!

If you are really truly wanting to do the work to create balance, it starts with you spending time with yourself.  I know that sounds crazy, but think about it, if you would spend 15 minutes doing something you love, that is relaxing, that allows you to think, that allows you to open your creative space, that will give you time to push the repeated chaos in your mind to the side, how could it be anything but beneficial?  Right?

In order to spend time with yourself, you need to schedule it. You need to decide what you want to do and for how long.  Do you want to commit to taking three relaxing 15 minute lavender and epsom salt baths per week so you can unwind and think?  Do you want to go on a daily hike and allow yourself time to process your thoughts and plan your day or your week? Do you want to journal every day for 10 minutes a day and allow yourself to see your dreams and goals written on paper and have this as a reminder?  Do you want to inhale your favorite essential oils and meditate?

After you've spent time with yourself, the next step would be spending time with nature. You have now allowed yourself time in your busy schedule to spend time with yourself. You are an amazing person and you should want to spend time with yourself. Nature is also amazing. It can provide you a clear space to organize your thoughts and allow yourself a change of perspective.

Just as trees grow, we need to have our feet on the ground to feel rooted and grounded.  Being with nature can be extremely relaxing, calming, grounding, and can offer a breath of fresh air. Taking time to review your thoughts, your dreams, and your goals that you wrote down or took a mental note of can help you plan the next steps of what you need to do to continue to create balance in your life, accomplish goals, and achieve the loving moments and memories that you want to create.

Being in nature also gives us the ability to see things in a different light, and notice things that we don't get to notice during a typical busy day.

What you are doing to create balance, you should also be doing with your children. Make sure you are letting them know that you are taking time for yourself and why that is important. You can then have them take time their own time and teach them why that is so valuable. Then when you are out in nature you can let them know that it is a coping tool that is offering balance to you and how it is doing so or how it makes you feel.  

More easily said, let them know what you love about being in nature so they can learn to love it too or love something in nature just as much. Take a deep breath's with them and let them know that it feels amazing to breathe in fresh air. Look up at the sky and explore and let them know that the sky is the limit, but in order to reach our goals in life, we need to be healthy and well, and we need to be out in nature looking up to the sky and exploring everything around us.

Once you learn to spend time with yourself, be consistent. This should last you all year, not just one or two weeks to see how it goes. It takes us a long time to become unbalanced and it can take us a very short time to become unbalanced. So we need to do things short-term and long-term to continue to create balance all year long. We need short term tools and long-term tools.

After you have gotten to experience the importance of connecting with nature, the third way to continue to create balance, it's just simply slow down. In order to slow down, having a calendar that includes hours of the day and a monthly page to take quick peaks, and goals or side notes, can be extremely helpful.  This will allow you the ability to take time with yourself daily, you could even sit outside while you do this, and go through your agenda and plan things per hour. I would suggest having younger babies or children to allow yourself an extra hour or two for every small task. This way you can actually accomplish some thing and not feel so extremely overwhelmed while trying to work on 10 different projects at once.

If your children are older and in school, it is always a good idea to give yourself a few days per month that are open in case your child has sports events to attend that take up extra time, is home from school with an illness, etc. These extra days are so beneficial. They are so hard to put into the calendar, but I truly believe in you and if you put extra time in the calendar, you will accomplish more and be thankful for the extra time. It is always a nice surprise to have the extra days or hours to catch up, or even work ahead on the next goal or project.

Did I mention new Mom's could actually even sneak in a NAP!  That helps create balance too!

There are many ways to create balance, but it all has to start within ourselves. We simply cannot use one or two products to create this balance, but if we start here, we can then start to learn the other natural ways, products, and therapies that we can incorporate into our self-care routine to help allow us to destress, relax, calm, focus, and all of those wonderful things that help us feel balanced.

Was this helpful? Show you appreciation and send a coffee tip!  You will make Jamie's day!