First let me provide some context for this story. As you can see below, we have a collection of messy eaters. We leave food on the table after meals because the kids may return to finish it later. In this picture I found Hani cleaning up after everyone’s breakfast (he was hungry that day). There’s a tablecloth on in this picture but Nickalus used to use tablecloths to pull everyone’s bowl to him (the ones that didn’t fall off the table on the way) before he learned to get out of his seat, so we stopped using tablecloths except for special occasions.

As you can imagine the table gets layers of encrusted food (sort of like stalagmites) that get thicker over time and become very difficult to clean. One day when Candice was talking with a preschool teacher, she learned about a good way to clean up tables with shaving cream.

I even saw Demitri’s kindergarten teacher using shaving cream on a table with the students so they could write letters in it at the parents night last fall. So we decided we would make a game of it and have all the kids clean the table one Sunday morning before breakfast. We put all the kids at the table and squirted a bunch of shaving cream on it and told them to play in it. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and I got a few good pictures.

Nickalus got some on his face and decided to try and lick it off - luckily his tongue is not long enough to reach. He must have gotten into some leftover pizza before breakfast that day, which explains the red sauce all over his face.

Then Demitri had the great idea to wash his hair with the shaving cream - which is fine since then we didn’t need to use shampoo later

Then Nickalus wanted to be like Demitri - or was it Nickalus who started it? I can’t remember. But Nickalus’ hair is so fine that he didn’t need any water to make suds.

Finally, after about half an hour of “cleaning” the table and subsequent baths in the sink for at least a couple of the kids (the ones with shaving cream in their hair also got their hair washed), we wiped up the table and it was so clean you could see your reflection in it!

We got the movie “Wall-E” for Christmas this past year, and the kids really love it.  We’ve seen it over a dozen times in the past few months.  One day when the kids were bored Candice got creative and told them they could make a Wall-E costume so they could play Wall-E (which means try to act, speak, dress, walk, and anything else like that character - in this case Wall-E).  So with their help and suggestions, she took an old laundry hamper and cut holes in it for the arms, head, and the door in the front (where he carried items in the movie, like the plant).  I took some pictures of our oldest son (who is 7) Kayin modeling the costume, which they have enjoyed for a few weeks now (even the babies try it on).

Here is a picture of Kayin standing up in the costume. This is like when Wall-E is riding around on his treads exploring the world. Candice used some electrical tape to keep the edges of the holes from tearing more and it’s a nice border. With these colors it is a little like a pumpkin costume, but we didn’t have a dirty yellow colored one (which would match Wall-E’s paint better).

In the next picture (to the left) Kayin is showing how the costume looks when Wall-E closes up into a box, to protect him when he is scared or when a dust storm is passing through. This is a rather round box, but that’s ok - some things are easy for children to imagine.

Finally, below Kayin is demonstrating the front door into which all sorts of treasures can be collected and deposited.

This version of the costume has no “floor”, so anything placed into the compartment will just fall to the ground, but that could be an improvement in version 2. The front flap is made from a piece of cardboard that is attached to the opening with electrical tape (or maybe black duct tape, I don’t remember). Like many of the best toys, this costume was home-made.

I had a sinus infection a couple weeks ago that actually helped me feel more confident about my health.  I have a lot of personal experiences with sinus infections but this time I was able to overcome it without the need for antibiotics and that feels good even just to think about.  So here’s my story:

The kids had been coughing on me for a while due to illnesses being passed around at school (and our ear infection episode), and finally I felt my throat getting sore and my sinuses began to hurt.  One morning I woke up early with extreme sinus pain and couldn’t get back to sleep.  I decided to mix up some of my natural nasal decongestant, and that felt like it burned up the infection in my sinuses - it was great, there was much less pain!  But I was busy at work that week, and the next day I stayed up until midnight finishing a project.

That intensity brought the infection back, much stronger, and the ginger mix didn’t help as much (though it did some, I took it twice the next day).  The pain was so bad the next night that I couldn’t even go to sleep, so I stayed up watching Jackie Chan movies to try and distract myself.  In between movies I would sit still and try to meditate for a little while until the pain became my focus again.  I also drank some water and ate some corn tortilla chips (I hadn’t eaten much that day except for some soup, and corn is drying so I hoped it would help reduce the mucus drainage).  I also ate a few ginger chews that night (a candy made of basically sugar and ginger, with the consistency of taffy).  Candice bought those ginger chews for me a few months before but they were too strong for me then, that night they went down easy.

So after a few movies the sun came up and so did everyone else.  Candice suggested I try using a hot/cold compress to help with the pain, so I did and I felt so much better that I was able to sleep (sitting up) for 4 hours!  Here is how that works (we learned this from a Naturopath in Oregon a few years ago):

Take 2 washcloths and get them both wet.  Put one in the freezer and one in the microwave for 30 seconds to one minute (or if you don’t have one - like us - you can put it in a pan with some water on the stove and heat it up).  You want to get it hot enough so you can barely touch it but not so hot that it burns your skin.  Then put the hot wet washcloth on your face where it hurts (sinus area or forehead if you have a headache).  Hold it there for about 2 minutes (if it doesn’t stay warm you may need to heat it up again during that time), then put it back in the hot water or in the microwave while you grab the cold one from the freezer and put that on your face (I usually stand up straight and press on the painful areas through the washcloth to focus the heat/cold on them).  After about 30 seconds, put the cold washcloth back in the freezer, make sure the other one is heated up, and repeat the process one or two more times.

So after I had a good nap, I felt much better and was able to eat some more that day and get to sleep that night (after using another hot/cold compress before bed).  I was feeling even better the next day and life got back to normal a bit, but I still had some drainage in my throat and I was still coughing up some mucus in the mornings.  The mucus had become clear and my sinuses felt much better (though they were still a bit tender) so I thought the infection was over.

However, when Candice took a look at my tongue a couple days later she said there was still an external pathogen in my system (which made sense because the mucus became colorful again the next day).  She told me to take some triphala, so I took about half a teaspoon mixed with some water twice a day for 2 days.  On the third day I had a loose stool, so that’s when I knew I needed to back off with the triphala (it has a laxative effect).  Candice suggested I cut back on the triphala and add a pinch of trikatu, only once a day.  So I did that for a couple days and then stopped.  By then I had no sinus pain (not even tenderness), my bowels returned to normal (after being loose for a couple days), and the mucus drainage had stopped altogether.  Life is good

Here is a before and after picture of Nickalus eating some of my home-made nasal decongestant - he actually seemed to like it, he had four bites before spitting any out!

Two days ago I was playing star wars with my two older boys, Kayin and Demitri. We each had a plastic retractable light saber and were sword fighting outside. I tried to get Eden to join us, but she declined to engage in our driveway battle. I was having a good time with Kayin while Demitri was getting his jacket and shoes on (and finding his light saber), but when Demitri came out I found myself on the retreat. Kayin kept a safe distance away while we hit the light sabers together, but Demitri came at me like a wild banshee, swinging his light saber like an axe while he lunged towards me smiling and laughing. At one point he smacked my fingers with a crazy swing and I took a time out to look for gloves, wincing from the pain. Unfortunately I didn’t find any, but soon afterwards I was able to convince them that we should go inside and have lunch.

Candice was at her office preparing her herbs 4 kids class that she will teach next week, so I kept busy making food for all of us to eat and didn’t do anything about my bruised finger. But the next morning it was very painful, so I put on a healing paste as I learned from my ayurvedic home remedies book (this is found in the section on sprains and strains, but it applies to bruises too):

Apply a Healing Paste. Make a paste out of 1/2 teaspoon turmeric and 1/2 teaspoon salt, with enough water to form the paste. Use cool water. Applying it to the injury will help reduce swelling.

Almost immediately the throbbing pain subsided, and now (a day later) the swelling is completely gone and my finger is not even tender!

We all had a wonderful holiday break from school and gained more first hand experience in healing ear infections then ever before. When the fevers and coughing turned into earaches and fluid draining from the ears of both our babies, we knew we had to do something. It came to a head when Hani refused to eat and was too weak and in pain to do anything but cry and be held (I think that was the day after the fluid started draining from one of Hani’s ears and both of Nickalus’ ears, as well as their noses). We had started putting garlic and mullein ear drops in their ears the day before but it wasn’t getting better, so we pulled out all our books, did some more research and came up with the following remedies that we used to help both our babies heal from their ear infections:

External Applications (in the ears, using cotton balls and Q-tips):

• Turmeric, Hing (Asafoetida), Neem oil, Colloidal Silver with Tea Tree oil spray, and ear drops (Garlic and Mullein in an olive oil base). First, the colloidal silver with tea tree oil spray was used to sanitize the Q-tip that we used to clean the fluid out of the ear. Colloidal silver and tea tree oil are natural antibiotics and antiviral. Once the ear was clear of any noticeable fluid, we moistened a small cotton ball with the Garlic/mullein oil and with neem oil. Garlic and neem are well known for their antibacterial properties. Mullein is very soothing and takes away inflammation. After the cotton balls were slightly moistened with the oil, we rolled them in a mixture of turmeric and hing. Turmeric is antimicrobial plus has properties that heal skin tissue and decrease inflammation. Hing works like the garlic with its pungent smell to kill infection, but it also is very drying and helps to dry out the inner ear. We put these on cotton balls and put them in both babies’ ears, securing them with body tape.

Internal Applications (mixed with almond milk or water in a bottle):

• Tea made by boiling water with goldenseal powder, hing, turmeric, trikatu, and honey in it. Goldenseal, although expensive is a very powerful natural antibiotic. It can be used both externally and internally in small amounts. Hing and trikatu (an Ayurvedic herb) works by increasing the body’s digestive activity to help boost the immune system. And turmeric again works like an antibiotic in the body. For every 2 cups of water or liquid, we used 1/8 to 1/4tsp of each herb. It is important to add the honey to this mixture when putting it in the bottle (don’t heat the honey). All of these herbs are very bitter and pungent (they don’t taste very good). We used Vanilla flavored Almond Milk bought at the store, so there was some sugar in this. If your child is under a year old and you do not feel comfortable using honey, you can substitute stevia or molasses. This tea or mixture helps heal the infections from the inside out and can be given when ever they want a drink.
• Honey and Trikatu on a spoon is an ayurvedic home remedy for runny noses or productive (with mucus) coughs. Mucus builds in the digestive system first, before it shows up running out of a nose or rattling around in their lungs. Trikatu is a powerful herbal formulation that helps stimulate the digestive fire and dries up mucus in the digestive tract, boosting the immune system and enabling the body to get rid of the mucus. Adding a small pinch of trikatu to a spoon full of honey is an effective and quick way of getting rid of mucus in the lungs. The honey is essential, not only for taste (trikatu tastes like chilli pepper mixed with black pepper), but energetically honey brings the healing power of the herb to the lungs and upper body region. They work together to clear the digestive system and the lungs of mucus. Trikatu should not be used long term in children. Only for acute conditions and never longer than 5 days in children, the elderly, and pregnant women. The trikatu and honey combination can be given up to 3 times a day as needed.

Below is a picture of all the items (except the honey, I forgot to put that in the picture) we used to address the ear infections. We have access to the ayurvedic herbs - neem oil, goldenseal, and trikatu - because Candice is a medical herbalist. And if you want help locating these herbs, feel free to contact Candice through her website at phxherbs4kids.com. All these items are not necessary, but we had them on hand so we used them all:

Food:

• Cut up Figs and Dates - figs are excellent for children, and dates promote health and vitality. They are also good during teething, as their texture helps massage the gums. During ear infections, the movement of the jaw chewing also breaks down mucus in the inner ear and allows it to drain, breast feeding also does this.
• Almond Milk - we switched from raw goats milk to almond milk in their bottles to help reduce the amount of mucus involved during this time. If your child has lots of mucus, in the ear or lungs, it is important to avoid mucus producing foods; such as dairy products, cold foods and drinks, processed sugar, fried foods, and berries.
• Rice Porridge made in a similar fashion as my oatmeal

The morning after putting all those herbs in the babies ears on cotton balls taped to their heads with body tape, we were excited to see them acting more like themselves again (see picture to the right). This was very encouraging, they began eating again and wanting to play. A couple days later we got rid of the tape (and some of their hair, we cut some to make the tape removal less painful) but kept using turmeric and hing to keep reducing the fluid that was still draining a bit from their ears (as well as the ear drops to ensure the infections get totally resolved).

As you can see below, they are recovering very nicely - their ears are a bit orange because of the turmeric, but that’s okay. We used these remedies religiously for 5 days. It is important to be consistent with this treatment. As we found, stopping the remedy for a day or two resulted in increased drainage from the ears, specifically from Nickalus. We are back to using the turmeric and hing on a Q-tip that had been sprayed with the colloidal silver/tea tree oil rubbed in the ear two times a day. We will continue to treat them until there is no sign of fluid.

For plenty more home remedies which will empower you to take control of your own health, click on the book pictured to the right.

The picture of Hani shows the molar he pushed through in the back during this episode - he’s also working on the molar on the other side and an eye tooth - sickness often comes during teething due to the stress on the immune system during that time.

This is a poem that I wrote to my Grandma Pat Walker who is dearly called Grammy. I wrote if for her 50th Wedding Annivesary this month. Hope you enjoy it as much as she did.
—Candice

Grammy Knows
by Candice Davis

“Grammy Knows…”
She says to me.
Brown eyes determined.
Brow crinkling up with aging wisdom.
Warm full lips smile
A heart filled with Love, Laughter, Life.

“Grammy Knows”
I ponder it.
Knows the love of one man for 50 years.
Knows that burnt first suppers turn into
Finger smacking-fried chicken
And pots of shrimp fried rice.

“Grammy Knows”
I ponder it.
Knows the joy that labor brings.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6…no 7 beautiful beings
On wings of love sent from above.
Knows the tears.
The fears
The prayers
The cheers
When all is said and grown.

“Grammy Knows”
I ponder it.
Knows holding loved one’s hand till the end.
Knows Popsicles make stitches remove easier.
Knows band-aids and bicycles are mother’s Best friends.
Knows when to let go
And when to let God.

“Grammy Knows”
I ponder it.
Knows that love comes in all
Shapes.
Sizes.
Colors.
Races.
Religions.
Whether you be
A plant.
A dog.
A husband.
A child
A adopted great-grandson
A daughter-in-law
A creature of this Earth.

GRAMMY KNOWS…LOVE.

“Grammy Knows…”
She says to me.
Brown eyes determined.
Brow crinkling up with aging wisdom.
Warm full lips smile
A heart filled with love, laughter, life.

“Grammy Knows.”
I ponder it…
That I may know it too
One day.

I have dealt with sinus congestion for all of my life, and I’ve tried many different ways to help, with varying success.  One thing I’ve found useful lately is based on something I learned about during the Ayurvedic cooking seminar I attended with Dr. Vasant Lad in New Mexico last year. 

Dr. Lad prepared Chai Tea for everyone on Saturday morning and I reacted badly to the milk in it.  I was willing to try it because he spoke about the spices in it (cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg if I remember correctly) and said they reduce the mucilaginous properties of the milk.  But unfortunately it didn’t do the trick for me.  So I mentioned this during the class, and Dr. Lad took my pulses and gave me a few ginger slices with lime juice and salt on them to eat, in order to stimulate my agni (this is the name for the digestive fire in Ayurveda) and burn up some of the ama, or toxins, that were the cause of my sinus issues.

I had a hard time with the ginger slices, but the cooking class was continuing so it wasn’t really the time to address it.  Recently I discussed it with Candice and she suggested I try adding some coconut flakes to help relieve some of the shock of the strong mixture.  I tried that and now I have some every morning before breakfast, and it’s an instant relief every day for my sinuses and helps get rid of nasal drip also.  I have been using ginger paste from a jar because we have it, but I may start buying the actual ginger roots once I empty the jar.

A few years ago I purchased a book which detailed another process to help relieve nasal congestion. The focus of the book was asthma, but I was able to use the techniques (developed by a Russian doctor) to help provide much needed sinus relief for myself. I wasn’t able to find that same book recently when I looked for it, but I did find a similar one, called Dramatic Asthma Relief.

I remember in college one day a nutritionist came and spoke to the gymnastics team and told us that it is important to eat within an hour after working out.  He said this would help the muscles rebuild faster.  I noticed afterwards that I didn’t feel so wiped out if I ate soon after working out.  So 10 years or so later, as I’m trying to get back “in shape”, I have a drink that helps me feel nourished after working out.  I don’t spend hours working out now like I did back in college, but I still feel the effects of a half hour of fun, strenuous activity (whether it’s raking leaves or warming up to do circles on my mushroom). 

My nourishing after workout tonic is actually a type of medicated milk.  I have been allergic to milk for as long as I can remember (I grew up eating cheese-less pizzas, soymilk in my cereal, and “Dreamy Tofu” was my ice cream), but I learned about medicated milk from Dr. Vasant Lad at an Ayurvedic cooking seminar I attended (where I learned how to make poha and chapatis) in New Mexico back in March.  The seminar was based on the book Dr. Lad wrote called Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing, which I had been trying to learn from for several months.  In the book there are actually a few different kinds of medicated milk, but the one that I like the best is the one with turmeric.  The picture above is what I made the other night after doing 45 circles on the mushroom.  Here is the recipe (from Dr. Lad’s book, pictured to the left):

“1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup milk
1/4 cup water
Mix all ingredients and heat to boiling point. Continue to cook on medium heat, stirring constantly, until there is 1 cup of liquid left.
*This is good for pharyngitis, laryngitis and hoarseness of the voice. It is also effective for acute tonsillar congestion and acute kapha-pitta conditions of the lungs. It is a natural antiseptic.”

When I prepare it I don’t use that much water and I cook it on high since I have an electric stove (unlike Dr. Lad who insists on gas stoves, even in the cooking class). I also put the pot into a larger pot or bowl of cold water after cooking to cool it down faster while I keep stirring to prevent a skin forming on the surface.

I was amazed when I tried it for the first time, it actually helped reduce my allergies.  I used raw goats milk from a local farm, which we happened to have because we wanted to give Nickalus something better than commercial formula (he joined our family last year when he was 4 months old).  I’ve tried pastuerized milk from the store and I reacted badly to it, so I stuck to the raw milk (see www.realmilk.org for a source near you).

A couple nights ago Kayin (our 6 year old son) came down after we put the kids to bed and he had a bad case of hiccups. I remembered finding something for Demitri about 8 months ago that worked great, so I looked up hiccups in my Ayurvedic Cooking for Self-Healing book (the one pictured to the right). Here is what I wrote back in April about our experience with Demitri:

One day last week our four-year-old son Demitri had the hiccups when we were getting everyone ready for bed. I remember reading about a recommendation for hiccups in my ayurvedic-cooking book, so I decided to give it a try. Here is the recommendation:

“To stop hiccoughs, eat 2 chopped bananas mixed with 1 teaspoon of ghee, ½ teaspoon of honey and 2 pinches of ginger powder.”
-Ayurvedic Cooking for Self Healing by Usha Lad and Dr. Vasant Lad, page 189

I already had half a banana left from one of my children on the counter so I put it in a little bowl, cut it up with a butter knife and fork, used a spoon to put in a little bit of ghee, used the knife to add a little bit of honey (the honey we use has never been heated so it is semi-solid), and added one shake of ginger powder. Then I mixed everything up and gave a spoonful to my son. Although it tasted sweet to me he was in a sad mood and said he didn’t like it, but after one bite he didn’t have any more hiccups! He hasn’t had any hiccups since then, but I won’t forget this remedy – it brought us great relief, since hiccups at bedtime can keep everyone up late.

This time I didn’t have any leftover bananas and Kayin said he was hungry so I used one whole banana, broke it into pieces, then added half a spoonful of ghee, half a spoonful of honey, and a few shakes of ginger powder. After mixing it up I gave it to Kayin. He liked it and dug in, but halfway through he stopped and said he was done eating and done with hiccups, and proceeded to go lay down and go to sleep. I got to eat the rest, it was Yummy!

Since I’ve decided to compete again, I’ve attracted all sorts of ideas in line with that decision. I have thought about how I’m going to go about getting back “in shape”, what I should eat, how much and how often to exercise, etc. I also thought about the last competition I participated in, the 2001 Collegiate National Championships. After the 2000 Nationals I thought I was done, since I got married a few weeks later and we moved to Oregon for a summer internship I procured with Intel. I lost about 10% of my weight that summer since I stopped working out (muscle weighs more than fat), and after we got back to school at Arizona State in the fall I had no plans to get back in the gym.

But for some reason, Candice happened to hear about the Body for Life program and she was inspired by it (see the book on the left, that’s the one we got). She wanted me to do it with her so I agreed and read the book. In the beginning after taking stock of where you are, you decide where you want to be in 12 weeks, in terms of health, fitness, etc. We started this in October of 2000, after I had not worked out for more than a few minutes at a time for six months. I remember thinking about the program for a few days before I came up with a goal that was exciting to me. I decided I wanted to be “in shape” enough to compete again during the spring season. I wanted to be able to make the team in January, 12 weeks after starting Body for Life. What this means is I had to be able to perform well enough on at least one event to be able to score within the top six members of the team, since only six people compete on each event per team.

I did not discuss this goal with the coach, I hadn’t been in the gym for six months and didn’t even know how many people were on the team that year since I hadn’t met the freshmen. But I was excited about my goal and had fun imagining the surprised looks I would get when I first got back into the gym.

Looking back on it now with an understanding of the Law of Attraction, it makes sense how everything sort of fell into place to manifest the exciting goal I set for myself. I tried out for the team on parallel bars, pommel horse, and the still rings (my favorite events). I just wanted to compete in the home meet that year, but the coach told me I couldn’t do that unless I would commit to go with them to Nationals (I can’t remember where that was, maybe California). So I did, and I remember working on my masters thesis in the hotel the day before the final individual competition of the 2001 collegiate championships.

I learned that you don’t need to workout 20 hours a week (like I had done in high school and college before getting married) to be in great shape. The exercise methods taught in the Body for Life book are very efficient at building strength and endurance, and the eating plan is very supportive of that as well.

So considering all of this, here is my training plan:

• First and foremost, I will do exercises that are fun and feel good when I do them
• I will continue to practice on the mushroom at least once a week, doing more circles in a row each time. In order to feel good doing this I will spend 10-15 minutes warming up with dips, pull ups, sit-ups, pushups, and jumping rope (our three oldest kids each got a jump rope free from a booth at a children’s health expo last week, so I will borrow one).
• Once I get up to 50 circles in a row, I’ll take the top off the mushroom, put it on the floor, and do circles on it there
• Once I get up to 75 circles I’ll post a video of it on YouTube
• A few times a month I will swing on the steel parallel bars at the park nearby - I like to swing, it’s a little bit like flying:)
• At some point I’ll either make or buy a set of parallettes I can use for presses, handstand push-ups, and playing with my kids
• I’m also going to finish raking the leaves before next year, once I get a new rake - the rake I had broke in half while I was trying to rake wet leaves

I’ve also done some research recently about good foods to eat for developing muscle tone and stamina according to Ayurveda and Chinese medicine (we have dozens of books on these subjects that Candice studied from during her apprenticeship to become a medical herbalist), but I’ll save that for another post.

Update Aug 15, 2009:

• I didn’t quite get on the mushroom once a week, but I did get up to 50 and put the top on the floor (see my related post about that).
• We’ve moved twice so far this year, including once across the country, so our life routines have changed several times.  I don’t live near a park with metal “parallel bars” anymore, but we do live in a house with a pool now.
• I did finally finish raking the wet leaves (it may have been February by then), after breaking two rakes.
• My latest good feeling exercise is swimming back and forth across the pool with my 4 year old daughter hanging on my neck while being chased by my 7 year old son.