Sunscreen is evil after all!

aha! I have only used sunscreen on my kids 3 times- we stay out of the sun (or just in 15-25 min at a time) and stick to the shade... My intuition has been screaming "GROSS, ICK BAAAAD!!!" whenever I have put sunscreen on them, I just hate it. It has felt so very wrong and so even though medical professionals would say I was dooming them to cancer later in life I would avoid using sunscreen whenever possible. And once again my instincts have served me well. I was right.
Many Sunscreens May Accelerate Cancer

There are a few SAFE(er) sunscreens, some one on the peaceful parenting page recommended the Badger Brand This article clinches it, we'll be skipping sunscreen from here on out unless we're spending a day at the beach we'll just stick to keeping in the shade. Also investing in some good coconut oil, as that's been shown to be a good natural sunscreen (though still limit sun exposure!!)

The older I get, the more I realize

INSTINCTS EXIST FOR A REASON, STOP IGNORING THEM HANNAH!

Ah well.

Hitting Breakthroughs

What I would give for a moment to write with out some one pressed against me, running fingers through my hair (or just grabbing). Or pinching tiny pieces of skin wherever it's available (a favorite place of Amity's is the back of my arm OUCH!). Or if they aren't doing that, clawing at each other. Amity wants to do every thing Riley is doing. This morning Riley was riding the giraffe and Amity wanted to as well. It got ugly for a moment, Amity would NOT be distracted away from it- she wanted a turn! Eventually Ri got down and I set Amity up there she sat there for a few minutes giggling and having a blast. She's growing up and BOY is she determined, she is going to get far in life with that streak of stubbornness!!!

We did have a bit of a break through this morning. Riley was about to hit Amity and she looked at me first to see what I'd do. I said "Wait Riley! I see you're frustrated!! How bout hitting the couch. There ya go! Hit it really really really really hard!" She started giggling while she hit it. And then I said "You could also hit the giraffe, but you must touch people gently." She said "No, I don't hit the giraffe, I want to pet him gentle."

This was a breakthrough for us, I have been working on the "hit this instead" tactic for MONTHS and she finally tried it and found it helpful. She is really GETTING that hitting her sister isn't okay. Does it mean she will never do it? no. But she understand and is starting to realize there are things she can do if I can catch her and help her use those tools before she does what comes naturally to her (for now). Hopefully the alternatives will come naturally...eventually.

I'm trying to find the motivation to 1)exercise 2) write a to do list for the week. Not even clean just write a stinken list. It doesn't help that every time I start the girls try to steal my pen- very much slows me down need to do it at a table/kitchen counter.

I'm feeling tired and a bit disgusted with some things. Just "whatever". This morning I went into the laundry room to put the diapers in the dryer. My brother must have needed to do laundry in the middle of the night because the diapers were sitting on a (thankfully) clean towel on top of the hamper in front of the washer. Then, but where is the clean laundry I had in the dryer? ... Nope not on top of the counters where the other clean laundry goes. But UNDER the diapers on TOP of the dirty laundry that was in the HAMPER in front of the washer. I could see how filthy bibs and stained clothing could be confusing!!!!!!

I'm not sure whats clean and what's dirty because it all smells funny. :0(

ergh.

Okay baby melting down at my knee some one needs a nap. I hope this other top tooth cuts through soon she is miserable.

So much...

I have so many things I've been wanting to write about. So much to process, so many things! And so little time.

The family "vacation" to Florida (to visit the hubbers fam) went well. I ...

And now I have 26lbs of long gangly 2 year old sitting in my lap. I love her.

I'll have to finish this later.

Lessons ...Sunburn

Things I've learned about sunburn.

1) try to avoid it. Use sunscreen if you're going to be out.

2) "after sun lotion" is NOT for sunburns, it's for tanning...It will bake the sun burn and make it 10 times worse.

3) stick with aloe. AVOID butter based lotions they literally bake your burn and make it much much worse!

4) keep the burn victim in a cool room, almost too chilly. Lowered tempeture makes the pain and hot sensation easier to handle. And the body doesn't have to work as hard to cool off.

5) DARK dimly lit rooms are best when the burn is really bad. Stay out of naturally lit rooms as much as possible.

6) listen to your instincts.

So my husband got a sunburn this week. We went to the beach on Tuesday and he sprayed himself down everywhere but his back. There were 7 other adults who could have helped him, but he forgot to ask and got first and second degree burns all over his back.

If that wasn't bad enough we got back from the beach and his parents said "Oh here, we have some really awesome lotion for sunburns, try this." It said "After Sun Lotion with Aloe." I looked at the bottle and my instincts said "wait that's for TANS!" but it did say it had aloe and aloe's good for burns right? Anyway, they insisted that it always cleared up their burns super quick and it was awesome stuff.

So they lathered my hubby up several times that day with this after-sun lotion. His burn got worse and worse and by the 2nd night he was in so much pain he was in a fetal postion on the floor barely able to breath from the pain. That is NOT like my husband, he does not complain about pain generally. He may comment on a cool new cut he got at work, just to gross me out. But he doesn't complain. He was acting like I was when I was in transition with Amity.

I called our health insurance nurse- line and they recommended that he go in to urgent care. So my brother-in-law and I drove him to urgent care and the doctor was quite impressed with how badly he was burned and baked. I feel so bad that I didn't speak up more and insist we stick with aloe. I feel so bad that he got baked. But hey, lessons learned. I'm sure having the thermostat for the house set at 82 for the majority of those 2 days really didn't help his sunburn either. I feel like we did every single thing we possibly could WRONG. We found keeping him as cool as possible stopped the very worst of the pain. Keeping him out of direct light (even inside) helped as well.

So there is my list of things I have learned about sunburn. And to watch out for my hubby more. I get so focused on the kids I forget that he needs me to look at for him too.

Lessons learned.

Sin and Grace

I had an epiphany today.

sin.

grace.