What am I doing?

So here I am. Writing my first blog post! It's exciting but also incredibly terrifying at the same time. What I plan to do is blog about all the changes going on in my family and just create a "journal" to look back on and remember all these crazy times. This is another way for family and friends to keep up with us.

Just to get everyone up to speed, here is a little bit about what is going on right now:

Axton and I are living in GiGi & Papaw's basement in order to save some money while Josh and I are working out some personal issues. For anyone who doesn't know, Josh and I separated last November and it has been a huge learning experience for all of us. We have had some crazy ups and downs, but we have finally come to the conclusion that we should be together as a family. It has taken a lot to get to this point but we are excited to see where things go from here. Josh is in the process of buying some property and the plan is to build our dream home there. I can't wait to get a photo of the view. It is stunning! And absolutely where I want to raise my family and grow old with the love of my life.
We are still discussing lots of things, but the ultimate goal is for us to be a family again and to do things "right" this time around. We have a lot of work to do, but we are getting there and I couldn't be more excited about what the future holds for us. The hard times only make us stronger!

A lot of what I plan to blog about is our adventures in "going green" and living more naturally. So far I have made a few changes to our "beauty" routines but I have some other ideas I am looking forward to implementing. Josh has been extremely open-minded through this process, so I am thankful for that. Most men would raise an eyebrow and smirk at "Honey, I want to start using no-poo!"

I started researching natural alternatives to everyday products when I was pregnant with Axton. We used cloth diapers for a while, made our own all purpose cleaners and made other small changes in our lives but never got extremely serious about any of it and most of the time we got strange looks from family. I recently got "re-addicted" to Pinterest and started to see how simple a lot of natural products were to make and use, so this has been our trial period.

Since this post is getting sorta long, I'm going to list a few of the natural products I have been using and in my next post I will elaborate. I will say that I am very pleasantly surprised at how well these things have worked for us. If anyone has any specific products you want me to test out, let me know and I will be happy to let you know how they work for us. I am no pro in any of this and I don't claim to even know what I am doing. I am only reporting on how these things work specifically for me and my family and what our thoughts and experiences are. I will also invite Josh, aka Daddy, to share his thoughts on some of the things we try, just to get a man's perspective.

Thanks for joining us in this new chapter in our lives and we hope you enjoy our stories!

Getting Our Feet Wet in DIY/Natural Routines:
*no-poo (baking soda shampoo/apple cider vinegar conditioner)
*coconut oil everything! (body wash, shaving cream, moisturizer, conditioning treatment)
*coconut oil/baking soda toothpaste
*natural deodorant
*face wash/acne treatment

toni xo