It Has Arrived – The Common Cold

Our winter weather this year has been anything but normal.  We received our only snow fall, thus far, in October with about 10″ and have only had an occasional flurry here and there.  We have had days in the 50’s & 60’s and then the very next day the temperature has plummeted to the teens.  We have had A LOT of rain and A LOT of wind, yesterday we had wind gusts up to 50 mph.  With all the fluctuation in temperature, you never know what jacket to wear or even if you will need hat, gloves, and scarves.  I have seen the wind blowing, thinking that it is cold out, bundling up to walk the dog to come back sweating!

Stella walks to school, has recess and then has to wait for the bus after-school (outside, no matter what the weather) – I have to say I am grateful that they started letting the kids wait inside in the auditorium before school in December, instead of outside.  Stella is hot blooded and when I am cold, she is usually hot.  With all her activities and play dates, she is in and out, jacket on and jacket off, playing in the wet grass and climbing wet trees!

It started Monday night – I could hear it in her voice – the nasal sound, by the next morning, the runny nose.  I am not one to use the tylenol or over the counter cold medicines, that really just hide the symptoms until the cold has run its course.  My belief is when you get sick you have let your body run down and you need to re-charge.  Which means more rest, taking care of yourself and pumping yourself with vitamins from food.  I am not saying that I have never tried some of the common medicines that others use or that is advertised, but I don’t like them, on principle, and Stella DOES NOT LIKE THEM and will NOT take them!

So what to do to help with the discomfort of the common cold?  We have been doing steam to loosen up the congestion in her sinuses – I wish I could get her to use the neti pot – I love them and they work really well! I even got the sinus aid, which sort of allows you to squirt the saline up your nostril.Washing of hands, more often than already done and Stella is using her homemade hand sanitizer (http://simplyrurban.com/?p=1943).  We have cut sugar and dairy out of her diet, well almost all of it – she has to have her smoothy in the morning!  She is eating more vegetables, and she eats a lot of vegetables already and plenty of fluids.  I wish I could get her to have some soup and hot tea, but that is a no go, so far.  Going to bed earlier than usual and propping her head up higher with an extra pillow.  We have upped her dose of Sambucol, which she is not too happy about.  But, I think the thing that makes the most difference is the vapor rub.  We have a vapor rub that is made from Little Moon Essentials, an acquaintance of mine when I lived in Colorado started this company and all her products are fabulous.  As Stella is getting ready for bed, we rub some on her chest, on her feet and then place socks on ( your feet have the highest absorbency rate of your body) and then a smear under her nose – it loosens all the congestion up and allows her to breath easier – there was no snoring last night and I think she went through about half a box of tissues – it definitely loosened stuff up!  If you get a chance check out their website and all their wonderful, natural products, you will love them all!! http://littlemoonessentials.com/

As she was leaving for school this morning, yes the cold is not keeping her from her studies – she LOVES school, she told me she does not like having a cold – then I thought, this is the first time she has really had the common cold!  I agreed with her and told her that it is no fun and we decided that I would get her after school and she would not go to her after school program, which she loves – they have singing class every day and she loves to sing!  So I will pick her up early, early dinner, game of Boggle and then to bed!

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7 Responses to It Has Arrived – The Common Cold

  1. Jo says:

    Great and interesting posting!

    • simply0637 says:

      You should get some of the vapor rub, when I feel any congestion I put some on my feet and under my nose and within a very short time it is loosening everything up – works really well when you feel congested but can’t blow your nose – try this and you will be blowing your nose and getting it all out!

  2. Candace says:

    Little Moon Essentials should post your blog!! I wish you could get this out to more parents. Nice job!!

    • simply0637 says:

      I wrote them and told them that I was writing about them on my blog today – hopefully they will re-post or tweet it.

  3. wendy grudzien says:

    great information & advice Pamela…sounds like you have a lovely day planned in spite of the cold!
    I made the beet burgers the other night and really liked them…mine were very moist so they really ended up being beautiful little islands of “stuff” that we had with sweet potato rounds!
    keep up the great blogs…again I love being part of your life with Stella through them.
    XOXO
    W

    • simply0637 says:

      My beet burgers were also very moist and looked more like islands of “stuff” than traditional burgers – but they were yummy! Glad you like them. Nice to have you along on our journey of Simply Rurban living!

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