Homemade Air Freshener

Homemade Air Freshener

I have been thinking for quite awhile about making some air freshener, but I did not get around to make any. It is very handy for a family with small children, specially if you are still potty training a couple of the babies.

So today needing a gift for a birthday, I got the courage to make a batch. So far, I have to admit it smells and looks good.

Materials needed:

Small jars (I have plenty of babyfood bottles, so I used those. A good way to recycle ;) )

Wooden spatula (I used waxing sticks)

Measuring spoon 

Ingredients:

Unflavored Gelatin (I use Knox gelatin)

Food coloring

Water

Essential oil (I used lavender )

Preparation:

I put my bottles out and open the tops (don't through the caps away, you will need those). I opened my gelatin packages and emptied one in each bottle. 

Then poured 60ml of boiled water (had just boiled in teakettle) in each bottle and quickly stirred the gelatin in the boiled water (if you can get all the gelatin mixed, it would be good. I got some lumps in the water, I could not melt all the gelatin in the water. I think next time I might use a small whisk or fork for mixing). 

I put three drops of food coloring in each bottle and stirred. And added 60ml of cold water in each bottle and stirred some more with spatula. 

As you can see from the picture, there are some lumps in the liquid. 

Since the mix is not too hot and not hard, it is the best time to add the essential oil. I added 10 drops of lavender in each bottle. Then I placed my bottles on a tray and put them in the fridge as I needed them to cool off and get jellied sooner (the upcoming party in about 2 hours).  You can just let them sit over night and it would be jellied in the morning and ready to use.

Now you can see, the mix is jellied and staying in its place, put the cap back and package it however your want it. I just wrapped a strip of gift wrap around the bottle to make it more presentable. 

When you want to use it, you can just make holes on the cap for the scent to spread around your bathroom etc or you can just take the cap off.

Homemade Flushable Wipes

As every other person on the face of this planet, I would like to stay clean as well as not spend too much money and not harm the environment with too much waste.

As a mother, you deal with a lot of 'poo' etc here and there. While, you can't just leave the 'dirty' be dirty, you can just make it a bit easier on yourself. So that is what I been trying to do: Clean the lil bottoms with wipes and then wash it.

Though, it gets expensive when you are using flushable wipes (as I mentioned trying to minimize the damage to the environment). I did a bit of search on the web to see the easiest way to make economical and environmentally friendly wipes and the one at Wellness Mama's webpage I found interesting.

So I did take her suggestions into consideration. While I did not have everything she suggested, I just used what I had at home and my wipes works perfectly fine.

What I used:
1 TBSP almond oil
2 TBSP Dr Bronner's soap
1 TBSP Witch hazel
1 roll of paper towel, Target brand
1 empty bucket of gallon ice-cream
2 cups pre-boiled water ( which should be lukewarm when you are pouring it over your towels)

Cut the paper roll in half using a sharp knife. Mix all the ingredients in the water and pour it over your papers and let it sit for 5-10 minutes so the water is absorbed in the papers. Pull out the cardboard roll from inside your wipes to bring the inside part out. Voila, your own flushable wipes for a fraction of the cost!

Nipple Shield

From my own personal experience, it is very natural to want to breast feed the baby. It is healthy for both mother and the baby, it is easy and economical and it is a wonderful experience.

All that said; it can be hard for a first time mother, who may have inverted/sore nipple, to breast feed the baby in the first days. I had to cry for two days in the hospital in pain cause baby was hungry and I could not bare the thought of her being hungry and at the same time I did not want to feed her because my nipples were bleeding.

After I complained to one of my friends, she told me to ask the nurse for something called 'nipple shield' or 'rintakumi' as they call it here. It covers the nipple and it is meant for short period of time, till the breast is used to a baby's latch, which surprisingly does not take that long.

For my second child, who was born in the States, I had my shields ready with me from the beginning!