Health

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Sterling. All opinions are 100% mine.

My allergies are so terrible right now. I never used to struggle with this but I do now! I am always so congested and it’s become a year-round problem for me, unfortunately.

I started incorporating essential oils into my life to try to treat ailments and symptoms naturally. I have found a great way to relieve the symptoms of allergies.

I will be starting a monthly feature called Money Talks where I will write about a topic surrounding finances. I still receive a lot of questions about how we paid off $20,500 in debt. I’d like to continue to write about debt and ways to save money. There are so many things I want to cover. But time is of the essense for my first Money Talks post!

I cannot stress enough how important I think having health insurance is to your family’s health. And I’m not just talking about your physical health. I’m talking about your financial health too!

I’ll admit, I haven’t always had the best quality of life at work. While I enjoy being a working mom in my current role it most certainly hasn’t always been that way in the past. The challenges I have faced were not fun and I know there are plenty of working moms who are in that situation now.

I have finally realized that a company’s understanding of Quality of Life is what is MOST important to me when I consider working for them. For me, it’s no longer the salary or the title that matters. It’s whether they are valuing my time as an employee AND a mom.

Know what one of my worst fears is?

You might think of spiders. Well, yes. I’m terrified of spiders.

Or you might think of flying. Yes, that too. I have a really bad fear of flying.

But more than that? I’m scared of losing all my photos. I take a lot of them. Sometimes fifty a day! I’ve thought a lot about it and our family photos are probably my most prized possession (besides the actual people in my family). So it makes sense that I would do anything to protect them. We did buy an external hard drive to back up our computers. But that was still not quite enough to calm my fears. I would lay in bed at night thinking of if I would have time to grab both the hard drive and my children in case of an emergency. Anxiety. I have it. So, when it comes to our beautiful and precious photos I need to be sure they are safe.

In an earlier post I discussed that my anxiety had been growing because Sawyer seemed somewhat “floppy.” This was something that I noticed early on. When I held her at two months I noticed that she had very little head control still. She also wasn’t putting any weight on her legs at all. They were completely limp. This caused me great worry.

Part of me was thinking back to when Landon and Brigham were infants. Both of them were very strong right from the beginning. They were holding their little heads up like champs and their legs were holding weight from the first week. They were sitting up unassisted by four months, pulling up to stand by six months and Brigham even took his first steps at eight months! I know that that’s not the norm. But it was hard not to compare Sawyer to the boys’ development since that is what I had already experienced.

I participated in this program on behalf of Seventh Generation and The Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

I’ll admit, I am not the “greenest” mama out there. I try my best to stay up-to-date on things that might harm my children and make decisions that are in line with their best health. Sometimes I choose convenience over going green – like using paper plates and paper towels (sorry, mother earth). But I am always interested in hearing more about how I can make our home healthier.

When I first became pregnant with Brigham, one of the foremost thoughts I had was, “How will I survive off of my medications?”

At the time I was taking medication for bipolar disorder, which had been declared unsafe for pregnancy. So I immediately stopped my medications when I saw the positive pregnancy test. I didn’t want to risk it.

I was a part of an online forum and so I went there to “talk” things out and express my worries. Would I be okay without taking medications? How would I manage if I had a depressive episode?

On Tuesday, we had to do the thing that no pet owner ever wants to do. We had to say goodbye to our sweet pug Reubin.

For years, he had been unable to use his hind legs very well at all. But over the weekend they gave out completely and his kidneys were also failing him. We wish we hadn’t had to make this decision. No matter what anyone says, your pets become little family members. Then suddenly they’re gone and there is a big hole in your heart.

If you don’t already know this, I’ve been busting my butt to beat a severe depressive episode that began in June of 2011. I think it’s safe to say that I’m finally in the “safe” zone as I like to call it. It took me six long months and a lot (A LOT!) of medication and dosage changes to get me to a good, stable place.

For the past 18 years, I have used a combination of medication and therapy to pull me through these hard times. But I realized something last fall. After struggling with manic/depressive episodes for most of my life, maybe it’s going to take more than just those two things to stay well.

Most everyone knows that I was in a car accident in March 2005 where I was rear-ended and sustained severe whiplash. I have suffered a lot ever since. I went through painful physical therapy and a lengthy and emotional lawsuit, which I won out of court shortly after returning home from our honeymoon. I have had relapse after relapse with pain in my neck and right shoulder and arm. In May 2006, I went for an MRI, which showed a bulging disc between my C4 and C5 vertebrae. Every time it has come back to haunt me, it has been painful but I never as bad as my recent experiences.