Resolution breakers...

...that's what we are. It's not even the second month of the year and we've already broken our resolution to blog at least once a week. Well, I'm better than Jason anyway - he still hasn't posted about the marathon last year (Yes, that was at the beginning of October!). Try, try again, I guess.

Both me and Jason have been really busy at work this month which makes us pretty tired by the time we get home and make supper, feed Eliot, feed ourselves, bath Eliot, read a book (or 4) to Eliot, brush Eliot's teeth and put Eliot to bed. We also were in the position of finding new daycare for Eliot a couple of weeks ago which took some time and was stressful as those kinds of things always are. But it's working out great and he's actually napping during the day which makes for a much happier family in the evenings.

In case you didn't remember, Eliot will be one year old on Thursday. Can you believe it? I can't. It's absolutely crazy to me that an entire year has passed already. If I think about it too much, I get really sad because it's been such a great year and we've enjoyed every minute with him and it's just all flying by too quickly. Do you know that if we want Eliot and his sister (our next baby WILL be a girl!) to be 2 years apart, I need to be preggers by March!? No plans for that quite yet, but we'll keep you updated! Maybe September instead of March...

We'll be celebrating Eliot's birthday with my family this weekend. Since Eliot and his cousins all *LOVE* swimming, we decided to take them to a waterpark and stay overnight at the adjoining hotel. It should be fun for all involved, including the adults. For his birthday, we got Eliot a bunch of miscellaneous things (books, bubble bath, etc.) and a rocking horse! I'm so excited to give it to him - he's really close to walking all on his own (so, so amazing!) and I think he'll love playing with it. He should be able to get on and off pretty easily. Take a look:


Now doesn't that look like fun?! We will likely have a couple of other birthday parties with Jason's family and friends also in the near future. Adorable pictures to come...

I'm planning on making an organic, sugar-free carrot cake for Eliot's birthday and it sounds so yummy that I thought I'd share the recipe with you. I'm hoping to make a "test" cake this week so I'll post a picture if Jason doesn't eat it all first.

Organic, Good for baby, Sugar-free Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

• 8 oz (2 cups) whole wheat organic flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 10 fl oz (1 1/4 cup) water
• 6oz (3/4 cup) organic raisins
• 6oz (3/4 cup) organic sultanas
• 1 tsp organic cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp organic nutmeg
• 8oz (1 cup) organic carrots, grated
• 4 fl oz (1/2 cup) organic, unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 375 deg F (190 deg C).
• Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
• Pour the water into a small saucepan and add the raisins, nutmeg, cinnamon and sultanas.
• Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 5 mins.
• Put the grated carrots into a bowl, then pour in the liquid mixture. Then, add the applesauce and stir the mixture thoroughly.
• Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly.
• Pour the mixture into a greased pan and bake for 45 mins to 1 hour, until a sharp knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
• Eat and enjoy! If you're the birthday boy, feel free to throw cake or smear it all over your face and head.
  

Since we're posting recipes, here's a couple more. Eliot's had a bit of a cough all month and after we read a recent article about Vicks being not good for babies, I decided to make our own natural (and safe!) chest rub for colds. Here's the recipe...warning, it smells absolutely fantastic and is known to induce sleepytime in our house!

Homemade Natural Chest Rub

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup organic, unrefined coconut oil
• 3 tablespoons grated beeswax
• 2 tablespoons sweet almond or olive oil
• 1 teaspoon Vitamin E oil (to help preserve it)
• Lavender essential oil
• Eucalyptus essential oil
• Rosemary essential oil

Directions:

• Melt the coconut oil, beeswax and sweet almond or olive oil in a double boiler on medium heat.
  
• Once it's melted and blended together, pour the mixture into a small glass jar - any small container will do, but glass is preferable to plastic or metal because of the essential oils.
• Add 10 drops of Lavender EO, 4 drops of Eucalyptus EO, 6 drops of Rosemary EO and the Vitamin E oil to the oil/beeswax mixture. IMPORTANT: If you're making this for adult use, you can use more Eucalyptus but 4 drops is the absolute most you'd want to use for babies!
• Gently stir it to mix the oils.
• Let it harden before use (you can speed it up in the fridge).
• Appy to baby's chest liberally and smell, smell, smell the yumminess and go to sleep!

Ok, since this is a recipe heavy post - here's one more. This one's for you, Tom - now go clean the tub!

All Natural Soft Scrub

Ingredients:

• 1/2 -3/4 cup baking soda
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1 cup distilled water
• 2 tablespoons natural, non-toxic cleanser (we like to use Restore All-Purpose Cleaner)
• 10-15 drops of Tea tree essential oil, Lavender essential oil and Rosemary essential oil (use less if you want it less smelly, more if you like it smelly)

Directions:

• Mix the baking soda, water, cleanser and essential oils in a large bowl.
• Add the vinegar last - it will foam like crazy.
• Mix well - the consistency should be like a runny frosting. If it's to runny, add more baking soda. If it's too thick, add more vinegar and/or distilled water.
• I make this without measuring as you can't really screw it up as long as there's some of every ingredient in there. It's really easy and it works great!

Until next week...stay warm!