For all my readers who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, this is for you! Oils are natural remedies for everyday pregnancy/hormonal "ailments". Instead of reaching for that second cup of caffeinated coffee or taking an over the counter pain medication for that pesky headache of yours, consider reaching for an oil instead.

Rose Hip Seed Oil- gentle skincare treatment and helps with stretch marks 
Rosemary- great for memory
Tangerine- promotes relaxation
Eucalyptus- helps with energy
Geranium- hormone stabilizing
Nutmeg- helps with nausea

Wisdom of the Earth sells a kit especially for pregnancy called the Blessed Event Kit. It has 12, 2-ML bottles of essences that include:
 
Eucalyptus, Blue Gum
Fir, Balsam
Geranium
Jasmine (Egypt)
Lavender, Spike
Mandarin
Neroli (Egypt)
Nutmeg
Basil (Sweet)
Rose Hip Seed
Spruce – White
Ylang Ylang

As with anything (especially during pregnancy), you want to make sure you are using the highest quality of oil. {hint: this is it} Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions or purchase inquiries.

Meg


What is your "go-to" oil?

I remember making Valentine’s Day “mailboxes” in elementary school to collect all the Valentine’s that my classmates were mandated to give me. The mailboxes were glorified manila envelopes that we got to decorate with various arts and crafts supplies. The girls would get excited about getting a valentine from the boys and vise versa, even though, like I mentioned before, everyone was supposed to give a valentine to each of the kids in class (regardless of who pushed you down at recess or who was the boyfriend of the day). I loved going to the store to pick out the themed cards I was going to give out that year (likely the popular Disney movie at the time). Valentine’s Day for me was about decorating, giving, and sugar highs.

Fast forward to high school. Valentine’s Day was in the same classification as Christmas. All the girls would plan for weeks the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for their significant other and the boys were expected to “go big or go home”. The amount of money spent and the gifts given were a direct reflection of their love for you. Emotions and tensions ran high this time of year in high school; relationships were both made and broken in the same day. Valentine’s Day for me was about proving your love for one another.

In college, Valentine’s Day could go 1 of 2 ways. If you had a boyfriend/girlfriend you might get each other a little something, but if you were truly in an “adult-like” relationship, you would go out to eat. A successful Valentine’s Day would be if one of the partners drove up to see the other or drove off campus to go to dinner (BIG outing). If you were single, you would likely be celebrating GAL-entine’s Day with your girls. Valentine’s Day for me was about being with my girlfriends and bashing the local Fraternity.

After the college years, Valentine’s Day would be depressing. Expectations were never met, or you were lonely and reflecting on past relationships. I would dread this day.

Once you find “the one” Valentine’s Day starts to be fun again. Maybe you don’t look forward to decorating your manila folder mailbox or go to the store to pick out the perfect Disney cards (or maybe you do), but it’s more about celebrating your love for one another, true love! Gifts and dinners might matter the first few years, but just like anything, the thrill will start to dull.

In the last several years, especially after having my baby, Valentine’s Day (for me) was about celebrating the love I have in all of my relationships, not just the love between my Husband and I. This year in particular, Valentine’s Day was about self-love and self-care. I took a step back to reflect with no expectations or judgment. How can I love myself better, the way I deserve to be loved? How can I love myself so that others love me the way I need to be loved? How can I love myself so my daughter will know to love herself the way I love her?

Meg
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What does Valentine's Day mean to you?

I connect with this excerpt on so many levels. Change, transition, and fear are debilitating, especially when combined. I hope this message gives you the strength and motivation to feel the fear and do it anyway.

​"Sometimes, I feel that my life is a series of trapeze swings. I’m
either hanging on to a trapeze bar swinging along or, for a few
moments, I’m hurdling across space between the trapeze bars.
Mostly, I spend my time hanging on for dear life to the trapeze
bar of the moment. It carries me along a certain steady rate of
swing and I have the feeling that I’m in control. I know most of
the right questions, and even some of the right answers. But
once in a while, as I’m merrily, or not so merrily, swinging along,
I look ahead of me into the distance, and what do I see?
I see another trapeze bar looking at me. It’s empty. And I know,
in that place in me that knows, that this new bar has my name
on it. It is my next step, my growth, my aliveness coming to get
me. In my heart of hearts I know that for me to grow, I must
release my grip on the present well-known bar to move to the
new one.
Each time it happens, I hope – no, I pray – that I won’t have to
grab the new one. But in my knowing place, I know that I must
totally release my grasp on my old bar, and for some moments
in time I must hurtle across space before I can grab the new bar.
Each time I do this I am filled with terror. It doesn’t matter that in
all my previous hurdles I have always made it.
Each time I am afraid I will miss, that I will be crushed on unseen
rocks in the bottomless basin between the bars. But I do it
anyway. I must. Perhaps this is the essence of what the mystics
call faith. No guarantees, no net, no insurance, but we do it
anyway because hanging on to that old bar is no longer an
option. And so, for what seems to be an eternity but actually
lasts a microsecond. I soar across the dark void called “the past
is over, the future is not yet here.” It’s called a transition. I have
come to believe that it is the only place that real change occurs.
I have a sneaking suspicion that the transition zone is the only
real thing, and the bars are the illusions we dream up to not
notice the void. Yes, with all the fear that can accompany
transitions, they are still the most vibrant, growth-filled, passionate
moments in our lives. And so transformation of fear may have
nothing to do with making fear go away, but rather with giving
ourselves permission to “hang out” in the transition zone
– between the trapeze bars – allowing ourselves to dwell in
the only place where change really happens.
It can be terrifying. It can also be enlightening. Hurtling through
the void, we just may learn to fly."

{Excerpted from Danaan Parry’s Warriors of the Heart}

Meg


What is the trapeze bar in your life?
​