I have a bit of a bug bear when it comes to "special needs" equipment... anything which seems to have those two words attached to them seem to somehow also have extra pound/dollar signs attached too! Don't get me going on the pros and cons or reasons as to why or why not this should be the case... I would be here for ever.... and it wouldn't be very pretty!
Lets just say I like to try to side step around the price tags and be a bit more savvy when it comes to choosing equipment for Heni.
I know some people have a thing about feet and can't stand to look at them (same goes with hairy nostrils or snotty noses.... well if you have a "thing" about ears, I suggest you look away now!
Today's post is on Auriculotherapy.....
A number of years ago when I was studying Naturopathic diagnostics in
London, each study day I would pass a fab little book store which had hundreds of
medical and health books to browse through. On one of the days I was
mooching around and one particular obscure book jumped out at me and caught my interest.... it was called "Yog Sadhna and yoga healing secrets"... it contained Yoga asanas, breath work techniques and a section in the back on different methods of acupressure. I bought the book, read it and from that time on I was sold on the benefits of ear twiddling.
Wednesday was one of those days when, (after I had woken up and taken my HRV measurements), I knew that I had to skip the workout that I had originally planned....It was a day in which rather than expending energy I needed to lighten the load and replenish it....
So, instead of the "military style fitness" that mid week usually brings, I went on a lovely walk with a friend (my Flat Stanley friend), and as the sun shone (at least for a little bit...) we walked and talked, had a paddle in our wellies and caught up on some girly chat, putting the world to right. By the time I returned home again, I felt like the lack of sleep from the previous night and the lack of oomph in the morning, had been somewhat replenished and I had some ENERGY back!
I've been resisting coming on to blogger to write because I have been meaning to talk about the usual standard New years resolution stuff that everyone is talking about at this time of year. However the more time I have spent thinking about resolutions/setting new year goals the more I am convinced that we should scrap the "new year trend" of new starts and work on daily baby steps...
The stodge of the Christmas menu is now well and truly past us and I thought a little motivation on a change in eating habits might be useful on the run up to the new year.
It's been a while since I had an "Eating out with Food Intolerance's" post on the blog, so today I would like to share with you one of the places we frequented quite a bit when we visited Reykjavik recently (you can see posts on our visit here and here) and encourage a few small additions or changes to our diets.
We
tried a few restaurants during our week away, but the wait and the
lack of catering for food intolerances meant we revisited Gló a number
of times.
The long days outside in the elements, exploring the sights of Iceland can make you rather hungry and when you want to eat... you want to eat.... NOW!
For
a lot of years Heni had a bad habit of moaning when she was put to bed
each night.... and she would moan for hours and hours on end. The sound
she made was as if she was uncomfortable all the
time and perhaps in pain ...it was definitely an unhappy noise and a noise that cut me right
to the core. As a mother, all you want is to relieve or take away the
discomfort and hurt, and when nothing you do makes the slightest bit of
difference and you can't help, you feel rather useless. Not only would
her habit make me feel like a failure but it would totally stress me out
and drive me nuts... it was sheer torture! From time to time her
moaning habit returns and it often comes back at
times when she is not feeling great....
From my last post you will know that Heni has been ill over the last few
weeks... she IS improving but she is still not yet back to her cheerful
self and previous energy levels. In these "roller coaster dips"
it
brings back all the other previous dips we have been through over the
years and it's not much fun to say the least! Every dip is a trying time
but with the return of her moans, these last few weeks have
been extra trying.
Ok.... so I've been AWOL here on the blog and haven't written anything for a number of weeks.... It's that time of year when everything gets crazy and there are far more things to do than time to do them in. Things like birthday prep for the Hungry boy and Daughter number 2, internet shopping for hours and hours to find the right gifts for everyone for Christmas....decorating the house, meeting up with friends to give out presents..... and then Heni goes and does her usual...
....she goes on the downward slippery slope and becomes ill!
She does so love to have those extra long holidays and get a few more sneaky days off college!
She has been ill now for almost a week.... with the subtle signs of the downhill slide developing for at least a few weeks or so before that. It's the redness around her eyes and nose, the spots that develop on her face, the slightly increased tinge of blue in her lips, nose and fingers and the mischievous glint in her eye that becomes a little less sparkly that gives it away. Then the mucous develops and there are not so many smiles as usual and her energy and tolerance levels for anything and everything plummet and she has a general lack of oomph! Sometime you can catch it and nip it in the bud right there with a few extra supplements, a little longer sleep and rest, some herbal remedies and extra long cuddles.
