Pregnancy and Essential Oils

I love pregnancy and birth and everything about bringing new life into this world.
It is an amazing experience and privilege to feel a child growing inside, but it sure isn't easy!
With all the wonderful feelings comes a whole lot of discomfort, pain and emotional breakdowns.

And here I am, 25 weeks pregnant with our second baby.
I love it, but it's hard.
If there was a time I was most thankful for my Young Living essential oils, it would be now.
Between the mood swings, heartburn, nausea and so many other things that go along with carrying a child inside you, these oils have been a lifesaver.
Honestly, I was nervous to use them at first. There are many warnings about certain things that shouldn't be used during pregnancy and some essential oils fall into that category. That made me a little apprehensive to use my favourite oils that I knew would be amazing for whatever I was going through.
So I researched and I read.
I desperately wanted to start using my oils again.
What I came up with is that there are lots of oils I can still be using. I trust my judgement, the advice of those who have much more knowledge and God, because he cares about little things like this.
So I jumped back into my oils and haven't looked back.
My favourites for this pregnancy have been Copaiba, Deep Relief, Lavender, Stress Away and Peppermint, just to name a few.
And I'm excited to bring these oils into the delivery room with me for an awesome, oily birth.

A Day of Oils

Essential Oils are fantastic alternatives to medicine, skin care, pain relievers and dietary aides, but they can be hard to incorporate into daily life. The hardest part for me when we started with Young Living is wondering how we would use them and if they would just sit in a cupboard taking up space. That's not the case in our house though, and I'm betting it wouldn't be the case in your house either. As long as you have enough information, resources and somebody to ask your questions, these oils can replace so many products you are using everyday with a more natural solution. 

So here is how a day of oils looks in our house.

Wash and moisturize my face with frankincense and lavender in my DIY face wash and moisturizer 

Lavender in my mascara for healthier and longer lashes

Purification as a natural deodorant (no aluminum in there!)

Lemon in our water to boost 

immunity and keep us healthy

We like to add lime sometimes too!

Thieves vapor rub on our

feet to help fight illness

Lavender in the bum cream 

to help with those teething rashes

Copaiba on the gums

Peace and Calming on Brynlee's chest before nap (to help with her cough so she can sleep)

Joy in the diffuser (for those stressful and frustrating times)

Panaway and deep relief on my shoulder (from sleeping wrong the night before)

Peppermint on my tummy to soothe an upset stomache

Peace and Calming in the diffuser before bed

Lavender on the neck/feet to help us sleep

Cypress/Marjoram/AromaSiez on Clark's neck before bed to lessen those MS symptoms

That's what our day looked like. Not every day is the same, they all have their new challenges. But if you are ever wondering if you would actually use essential oils, the answer is Yes! And in so many ways you didn't realize you would need them. 

Kelsey Holmes

Young Living Independent Distributor

Member #2165579

This One Still Moment

Our life lately... wow has it been crazy!

From our little home daycare getting settled into routine, starting up with Young Living and experiencing and learning how to make this huge, awesome change in our home, Clark looking into new procedures for his MS and more diet changes to go along with that, a new nephew and a niece soon to be born and the busyness of Christmas, we haven't had much time to sit down and take a breath.

This week Clark is preparing for a sermon. I didn't realize how much I missed it when he preached. Funny hey? I'm the one who is taking in what he is learning. But really, sitting down and listening to his sermon in the making, being able to add my 2 cents and asking questions when I don't quite get what he is saying, I just love it! It's so different than listening to a sermon being preached or even a bible study.

So that is my sitting down and taking a breath this week. That is my looking at him in awe of all God is teaching him and letting God teach me through him. That is my moment to fully appreciate the stillness.

And that moment is good.

Oh Fall, my favourite...

The season of fall is in full swing and we are loving it around here. 

The crisp air, the pumpkin in everything 

and the beautiful changing leaves make this season a favourite. 

Here's what fall looks like in the Holmes home.

Crocheting cozy infinity scarves to keep us all warm this winter. 

Next up: a baby scarf for Brynlee!

Always a good reminder to be thankful, but especially around Thanksgiving. 

And what better than a cute little banner...

Love our chalkboard for all sorts of things, but especially to display with artwork.

This great little space to decorate with pumpkins and wreaths.

And everything pumpkin! 

Pumpkin in pies and coffee syrup and muffins and granola and the list goes on and on...

What does your fall look like?

She turned 1!

We had some birthdays around here in September, one of which was our baby! We had parties and lots of fun celebrating our little one. Here is some of what happened around here...

We had a birthday party with all of Brynlee's little friends

And a family party

Skyping with Granny,

opening presents,

and eating cake!

We also had a fun cake smash!

Our Life Lately...

It's been a while since I've shared about what's been going on in our lives, and wow has there been a lot that's happened in the past couple months. So here's a little photo update...

We moved into our new house...

And finally got settled

We tried our first cookie

and loved it!

We moved up to a big girl carseat

We visited our new little park

We had a visit from Granny

We learned to plank, crawl, stand, walk on furniture and crawl up the stairs...

We sent Daddy to Toronto for the National Skills Competition

Where he won a gold medal!



We went to the Niverville Fair where we watched a parade...

 
and got our faces painted...

and saw some animals at the petting zoo

Now bring on summer so we can go to the beach and go camping and do all sorts of fun things that are brand new to our little girly!