Call the Witch Doctor!

Home with a sick Maya-Moo... Poor girl.  She started with a cough on Thursday night which progressed to a fever and constant cough by Friday.  Sick all weekend.  She seemed to be on the mend yesterday but after not eating her breakfast (waffles- her fave) this morning, her temp was back to 101 and so she's home with mama...

She's sleeping at present and, even sick, she's my sweet little angel.

Sick, but still gorgeous

So, I've got African Peanut and Yam Stew in the crockpot, laundry going, and the windows cracked (in the hopes that the sickness will leave this house once and for all!).  I'm so done with being sick.  And, of course, I'm missing class #2 of my Bible study, which I think is God's sense of humor at work, since I bothered to register for a class that is during the school day.  Of course!  Sick kid! ;)  (I'll write about the book we're reading later because it's actually a great read, regardless of your spiritual tradition.)

I was at my wits end yesterday.  Maya's cough was nonstop. No one has been sleeping well.  Bobby is the only non-sick one in the house (Peter has a runny nose now, and I am all stopped up/coughing/fever yesterday), so I was really D-O-N-E.  I put out a call for help, since the twins are too young for OTC cough medicines.  We arent normally the medicating type (I can actually count the number of times, together, the kids have had Tylenol or Advil for a fever, etc) and we dont take them to the pediatrician unless it looks like they are sick-beyond-riding-it-out-sick.  So I asked some fellow 'crunchy' moms if they had any home remedies for the littlest of sicklings.

Why I didn't call on Sarah (different, non- Aunt Sarah, Sarah), a close friend and our local herbalist, is beyond me.  Within seconds of my post in the FB group we are both members of, she had texted that she'd just made a horehound expectorant and suppressant and would I like her to bottle up some for Casa Haytko.  Sweet Sunshine in the Morning!!!  While Bobby and Peter were at speech last night, Maya (who seemed better) and I dropped by her house a half mile away and picked up a bottle of liquid gold I tell you.  She also tossed in some slippery elm lozenges in case sore throats got out of hand.  I gave Maya a quarter teaspoon of the elixer a few minutes later followed by some water (a note from the patient: she said it was "nasty" but that "it would make [her] feel better"... cute).  And an amazing thing happened... her cough quieted!  Hallelujiah!  She actually slept through the night (which is the first for a few nights) without coughing.  She's back to sleeping, relatively peacefully, now, which I'm grateful for.  Like her dad, she tends to mend best when she's sleeping it off.

As a back up this morning, I made some of what Maya calls (because of the smell/taste) "Grandpa's Special Orange Juice" (a home remedy Peter's dad used to make him when he was sick- equal parts gin, lemon juice, and honey) as a back-up and, hopefully, the sunshine and warm-for-February weather is going to help clean this house (with some bleach and vinegar- not mixed together!!!) of whatever home-from-preschool illness has us by the cajones!

(If you are local and want to consult with a WONDERFUL herbalist, Sarah does keep a limited schedule because she's a homeschooling, gardening, housewifing mama first, but she will accept new clients.  And she's awesome- not just because she's a dear pal, but because she is great at what she does.)