Parenting Children

Halloween is one holiday that we prepare for but creeps up on me. The kids get wishy washy about their costumes, although this year we are doing pretty well and both kids have their costumes already. It also has been so warm here in NJ that I haven’t been in the fall/Halloween mood. Today it is finally cool and I am officially going to start doing some Halloween crafts with the kids.
I have listed some ideas here for you to do with your children to prepare for this fun season.
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5 minutes for mom is having another great giveaway. In honor of breast cancer awareness month Casio is giving away an adorable pink digital camera.
Learn more about breast cancer and how you can help the fight against it here.

The minute I found out I was pregnant I got sick and that lasted until week fourteen. I never threw up but I was queasy 24 hours a day. If I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom I was queasy, watching TV, going to the park with the kids and eating are all activities I did while I was queasy. I was also incredibly tired. At least there may be some benefit to me in the future!

I am not sure anything would have helped, and there are a lot of home remedies for morning, or all day, sickness out there. The Earth Mama Morning Wellness Bucket may have helped me though. The basket includes Morning Sickness Relief CD, “Tea for One” Teapot and Strainer,
Morning Wellness Organic Loose Leaf Herbal Tea and Earth Mama’s Happy Mama Aromatherapy Spray. It is on sale right now so buy one for someone you love, chances are she will love it.

Some mothers swear by pregnancy pops. Sucking on something did make me feel better, but I used plain old life savers and I kept them by my bed. I just read about a mother that used these accupressure bandsduring her first trimester and she wasn’t sure if they were helping but by just wearing them it helped her feel a bit better.

The hard candy helped me, I also avoided cleaning with anything but a mixture of vinegar and water and we were on a lotion/cologne/candle ban in this house because smells bothered me so much. I tried to eat frequent small meals. My doctors said that protein would be best to eat during this time, but who could eat anything but carbs?

So what did you do to help your morning sickness? Any home remedies that you heard of that were too ridiculous to even try?

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I have some news to share with you guys, I am pregnant. I am due with our third baby March 2008. I was much more sick and tired this time around so I have had some issues, but otherwise I am feeling fine now. I am happy to share with you all the things that are going on with me, my body and my family while getting ready for this new arrival.

Now that I am in my second trimester and feeling better, I am getting excited about this pregnancy. We are not going to find out the sex of this baby at my upcoming ultrasound, so I am having some fun online. I have writtten before on some sites to have fun on and I have recently found some more. Check out this site to track your growing belly. I know you see it growing before your eyes but it is fun to see it from a different perspective.
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When Lara from Hatleynature.com emailed me to see about reviewing their products, I didn’t hesitate. After checking out their website, and I was hooked. I loved the humor they had and more importantly, I loved their clothing. Plus I was always looking for a children’s retailer that had clothes that were well made, run true to size and comfortable, somthing you think would be easy to find, but it is not.

They generously sent me a pair of pajamas for each of my children and I felt like I was a kid at Christmas. I couldn’t wait for them to arrive to check them out. We received the glow in the dark PJ rex dinosaur pajamas and the nature rocks pajama set. The first thing I noticed about them was how soft they were! They were generously sized and did not shrink at all during the washing. My children LOVED them (who wouldn’t love pjs that glow in the dark?) and wanted to wear them that evening, even if the temperature wasn’t perfect for long sleeve pajamas.

I am now hooked on hatleynature.com and will be ordering some long sleeve shirts for myself. They have adult clothing, infants, organic tees, children and accessories like adorable rain boots with cute animals on them and my newest favorite, tote bags.

Also, for the entire month of October, Hatley is donating 20% of it’s online sales to Breast Cancer Research! That is fantastic, I love supporting companies that give back and are involved in charities that I care about. They are also featured in the October issue of O magazine. Go check them out and get “clothes to nature”.

children’s clothing, infants clothing, children’s pajamas, glow in the dark pajamas, gifts, children’s gift

I let my children watch TV but only certain shows and I usually record them on channels with no commercial interruptions so my children do not have to watch commercials. They have enough marketed towards them in the cereal aisle of the grocery store. I think the barrage of you have to be skinny/young/beautiful/not even a little body fat is good, is the most damaging to young girls.
Check out this video from Dove about the images that young girls are faced with day after day.

girls, parents of girls, mothers of girls, parenting, parenting children, kids, advertisements, good body images

Have you already started looking for ideas for the holiday season? I know I have, with two kids to buy for and plenty of nieces and nephews, I always try to get a head start. It doesn’t mean I buy anything yet, but I am in the very important planning stage. Plus, I do a lot of research and shopping online during the holiday season.

I came across this Puppy Grows And Knows Your Name Retriever by Fisher Price.
You personalize the dog with the included CD ROM including the child’s name, the dog’s name, your child’s friends names, where they like to go and the child’s birthday. The dog is a puppy when you take him home and apparently “grows” to full size in one week.
Puppy comes with a bone, brush and puppy toy. Once Puppy is full grown, you can re-set him to watch him grow again and again.

Although I have a stuffed animal ban in my house, this sounds like something my children would love. It takes 4 AA batteries and is for children ages 3-7. They also have a poodle if you are not loving the golden retriever. The cost of this puppy is $45.00.

Later in the year I will have some must have gifts with reviews for this holiday season, and you can always check out toys at this site.

toys, toy reviews, kids, parenting, popular toys, parents

According to the Washington Post, a coalition of top scientists from private groups and federal agencies are disputing the no to little fish for pregnant women rule. For years women have been told to cut back to less them 12 ounces or eliminate fish from their diets when they are pregnant because of the high content of mercury in fish.

Fish and seafood are the major dietary sources of omega-3 fatty acids, especially a substance called docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). They are key nutrients for the brain and nervous system in developing fetuses, infants and young children. This data are inaddition to a growing call for consuming more omega-3 fatty acids during pregnancy. The fish with the highest amouts of omega-3s are as salmon, tuna and sardines.

If you do not like or are allergic to seafood you can get omega-3s in other areas like flaxseed, oils or eggs that are fortified with omega-3s.

pregnancy, healthy pregnancy, mercury in fish, omega-3s, developing babies, babies, infants, eating fish while pregnant

United States researchers say that having children may help reduce a woman’s risk of breast cancer. The protective cells transferred from the fetus to the mother may get into a mother and recognize a pre-cancer breast cancer cell and kill it before it becomes an active cancer.

“Researchers in Seattle studied 82 women, 35 of whom had been diagnosed with breast cancer, to test a theory that fetal cells which take up residence in the mother — called fetal micro-chimerism — protect against breast cancer. ” They think that these fetal cells can stay with the mother all through her life and protect her against this type of cancer.

The results of the study were published in the October issue of Cancer Research. So according to this new study having a baby and having morning sickness may really help your changes for getting breast cancer.

[source]

breast cancer, pregnancy, women’s healthy, preventing breast cancer, having children

Everyone has cell phones these days, even teens and tweens. When you are out and you use your cell phone to get a phone number for a business or location you are headed to, does it cost you money to call 411 like it does with my provider? Plus an additional $.30 to get connected to the number directly, right? This infuriates me and now I pay for 411 from my home phone! I will not use this feature unless I really have to, I already pay enough for my cell phones!

Now google (we love google!) has a new service called GOOG-411 (or Google Voice Local Search). If you use GOOG-411, you can find local business information completely free, directly from your phone! How cool is that? Google will not share your information with telemarketers or businesses, and is simple to use.

Dial 1800-GOOG-411 from any phone
State the location and business type
Get connected!

If you are using the service from a mobile phone you can even have google send you a text message with more details and a map. Simply say “Text message” or “Map it.”

I think this is not only a perfect service for anyone but especially for kids. Program the number into every cell phone that you have in your house and save yourself some money on information calls. I know we will be using it in our house!
Check out this video on GOOG 411 for more information.

cell phones, kid’s cell phones, families, parenting, google 411

We are coming up on cold and flu season and for kids this season could be deadly. Not because of the cold or flu but because of the medicine we give our kids. According to the Food and Drug Administration the medicine we should never give our children would apply to decongestant use in children under 2, and antihistamines in those younger than 6.

The review on the medicines, came in response to a petition by Baltimore officials, who charged that many over-the-counter cough and cold remedies can harm toddlers and preschoolers. Those officials, along with the American Academy of Pediatrics, cite evidence that suggests the drugs are not only risky but also don’t work in the very young. I have heard that these types of medicines don’t work for children under 2, but since my children were so healthy and had no need for medicine, I paid little attention to that.

An FDA review of side-effect records filed with the agency between 1969 and September 2006, found that 54 reports of deaths in children were associated with decongestant medicines. It also found 69 reports of deaths associated with antihistamine medicines and most of those deaths were children younger then the age of 2.
I always thought that children’s over the counter cold medicine was safe and this really makes me think twice.

Do you always check with your doctor’s office when giving your children over the counter medicine?

cold and flu, sick kids, children’s medicine, children’s cold medicine, parenting, parenting children, over the counter medicine

Did you get to have a small celebration in school for your birthday? I remember my mother bringing in my favorite birthday treats, cupcakes in ice cream cones every year for my birthday. It would be the end of the day and your mom was allowed to bring in a treat and a drink for everyone to celebrate your birthday.
It is one of my fondest memories.

Imagine my surprise when my sister and I were talking recently and she told me that her son who is 7, brought home a note from school saying that you are not allowed to bring cupcakes or anything that is remotely artery clogging for birthdays anymore. No granola bars, no cake, no ice cream and NO cupcakes.
“How can they do that, how can they BAN cupcakes form children?” I shouted.
They can and they did.

I am fully aware of the childhood obesity problem in this country. I understand how and what you eat as a child can lay the groundwork for good eating, health and exercising habits for your entire life. How many kids are in a class anyway 24? Count birthdays in the summer or breaks and weekends and you can probably guarantee 18 or so school birthday “parties” throughout the year. Would 18 treats a year kill anyone?
Wouldn’t it be better if parents sent their children to school healthy snacks all the time so the cupcakes would be a treat?
But banning cupcakes for your birthday? That is just plain un-American.

A cupcake is happiness in a wrapper, it is baking with mom, it is portable love, it is the Amercian dream. A fruit platter for your class will just never be the same.
At least I know at home my children will always have a yummy, fatty birthday cake because you should have that on your birthday.

So tell me, what do you think of the “school fat ban” on birthdays? Do you have this food restriction in your school?

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