A Green App!

A big trend in nursery decorating these days is eco-friendly designs. There are so many ways to go organic when it comes to preparing your baby’s room, and now there is an app to help you figure out how to make your baby’s room as “green” as possible. It’s called “The Peaceful Nursery” app, and it can be yours for $2.

Created by Laura Forbes Carlin and Alison Forbes (authors of the book, also named The Peaceful Nursery), it guides expectant parents on how to best design an organic nursery for their new arrival. The app also shares great tips for how parents can prepare for the early months with baby with eco-friendly and pure products.

Did you know that there are organic baby mattresses on the market? How about organic baby bedding? There is even organic baby furniture that is made from non-toxic means and won’t omit gases from the chemicals and glues normally used to make furniture. Who knew there were so many ways to make a greener and more healthy lifestyle for our babies, even before they get here!

Check out the app here if you are in the market for an organic nursery.

What Does Food Dye Have to do with Hyperactivity?

About two years ago, after a few months of wondering why our sweet kiddo was bouncing off the walls a good majority of the time, my husband and I decided it was time to do some research into what could be causing this behavior. In our findings, some researchers believed there was a direct link between hyperactivity and the ingestion of certain food dyes and additives. We decided to try to cut preservatives and red food dye out of our daughter’s diet as much as possible to see if it helped our daughter’s overly “spirited” behavior. I felt, it couldn’t hurt, and it would only force us all to eat healthier, right? Surprisingly, we felt it made a big difference in our daughter in a positive way! It may have just been the case of the terrible twos rearing its ugly head, but eating healthier seemed like a win-win, regardless of whether it was truly having an affect on our child's behavior. In the months after this little experiment, when we found ourselves backsliding and not being as diligent with monitoring our daughter’s diet, the hyperactivity seemed to intensify, thus confirming how the change in diet was working for us. We would then become conscientious once again. I came across an interesting article today and wanted it to share it with everyone. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now formally weighing the evidence if hyperactivity is truly tied to certain food dyes and additives. If the FDA determines that additives and dyes do intensify hyperactivity in children, then the agency may eventually have to strengthen its regulations with the food dye and additives ingredients. Check out the article here and sound off below in the comments section. Anyone else have an opinion or any experience with eliminating food dyes and additives in their kids’ diets?

How to Explain the Unthinkable to Your Kids: Natural Disasters

With the horrendous earthquakes and subsequent tsunami occurring in Japan this week, our children are seeing some pretty horrific images on the television and hearing discussions in the community and in our churches about how we can help the people of Japan. How do you explain such a terrible situation to your young children?

It is important to take into account how old your child is and their developmental stage, because every age is going to have differing levels of comprehension. Even adults struggle with understanding these unthinkable disasters, so can you imagine how a child grapples with such a tragedy? It is important to explain an earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, and any other type of natural disaster in a manner in which children can understand. Here are some tips on how to do just that:

- Answer your child’s questions about the natural disaster, but don’t overload them. Too much information will just overwhelm them.

- Try to keep your emotions in check when discussing world disasters with your kids. If you cry or appear upset or angry, this will certainly spill over into how your child views the situation, thus making them feel even unsafe or insecure.

- Talk about what you can do as a family to help the people of the torn or ravaged nation. This is an amazing opportunity to teach your child about charity and the importance of helping others in need. Volunteer together as a family or do something at home to help the people who need it.

- Don’t keep the television on all the time when the news is covering a disaster 24-7. While, as adults, we can get enthralled in gathering information and learning as much as we can about the disasters as it is occurring, this is not healthy for your children. The images and sound bites used on the news are often too graphic and hard for kids to understand.

- Reassure your children they are not in danger and make them feel safe. Yes, the world can be a dangerous and unsafe place, but it is important to make our children feel loved and secure. Talk to your children about all the things your family does to keep yourselves safe from danger and prepared in case of emergency. Although no one knows what will unfold in the future, it is important to make your child feel safe and secure today.

How To Survive Your House Being on the Market with Kids

It’s day three of having our house on the market, and you know what?!?! It’s not so bad! (Again, it’s only been three days. Ask me three weeks from now if I am feeling the same way.)

The reason I think it hasn’t been so bad is we prepared. We cleaned out. We streamlined. And then we cleaned out some more. It has taken several weeks to get to this point, and now I am kicking myself because our house has never looked so good! I am wondering why we didn’t live like this years ago?

Here are some of my tips on how we keep our house “show ready” with two kids and two dogs. Never a dull moment around here!

- Streamline as much as possible. Determine if each household item is used on a daily basis. If it is not, then pack it away. If you do need it on a daily basis, then it should have its own spot. Every time you use this item, put it back in its designated spot. This will make it so much easier on you when someone calls you for a showing and only gives you a 15 minute warning (this happened to us on Saturday, but we were ready!)

- Consolidate bathrooms. We are all using the master bathroom to bathe, brush teeth, etc. This limits the amount of time I have to spend cleaning bathrooms each night. One bathroom is much easier to clean than three. Bathrooms and kitchens, in my opinion, are the most time consuming rooms in a house to clean and both should be spotless during showings.

- Clean and pick up every night. Make it part of your nighttime routine. This will cut down on the “frantic time” in the morning when you are trying to get your kids ready for school.

- Box up toys in bins or boxes and then rotate them in your child's play area every few weeks. The other bins and boxes go in storage. This way, you keep your toys at a minimum for showings, but your kids don’t tire of them because they get to play with "new" toys every few weeks.

- Make a new rule: Before you leave a room, you must all pick it up. Again, why didn’t I enforce this rule years ago?

- If you know you are going to have a showing that day, clean up, get your house set up how you want it, and then go on a family adventure to get yourselves out of the house. It will be less stressful for everyone to just get out of your house then it is to try to not mess up the house all day.

- Prepare your meals ahead of time. Make a lot of meals all at one time once a week and then freeze them. That way, you only really mess up your kitchen once a week. Then, at night, your dinner is already made and all you have to do is pop it in the oven. This will save time in the long run because you don’t have to worry about making your kitchen spotless every night.

Again, this is only day three for me. If anyone out there has any other tips, please leave them in the comments section! I'd love to read them. I’ll check back with you guys in a few weeks and let you know if my attitude towards keeping a clean house while it’s on the market is still this chipper!

Going Back to Work after Baby? Here’s How to Make Life a Little Easier on You and Baby

Adjusting to life with a newborn is hard enough, but when the days of your maternity leave are coming to an end, here are some tips on how to make life a little easier when it’s time to head back into the office.

• Set up your childcare as far in advance as possible so you can begin to adjust to this new situation.

• A few days before your first day back in the office, if your childcare is not in your home, do a trial-run of leaving your house to the childcare location at the same time you will leave in the mornings for work. This will give you a better idea of how long you need to allot for travel time. Once you figure out travel time, factor in the time it will take you to get your baby in and out of the car, and also leave enough time to give instructions to the daycare teacher or nanny. Always give yourself a few extra minutes in the morning, too, in case there is a spit-up or if you need to do an emergency diaper change.

• If your childcare is away from your home, pack your baby’s bag the night before. Also make your bottles ahead of time. This will save you so much time in the morning. If you have a nanny come to your house, set up the bottles, clothes, diapers and anything else the nanny will need for the next day the night before. This will alleviate stress in the a.m. while you get ready for work.

• To make your mornings go more smoothly, lay out your outfit for work the night before as well. After you have a baby, you may not be back in your regular clothes right away, so finding suitable outfits for work can be stressful. Do this the night before to avoid wardrobe meltdowns!

• If at all possible, try not to have the childcare travel arrangements solely your responsibility. Sometimes work or personal things come up unexpectedly, and you may not be able to always be the one who picks up your baby from childcare.

• If you are nursing your baby, set up a pumping location with your boss and the HR department before you return to work. Pack your pumping necessities the night before, too.

• Take care of yourself and get plenty of sleep when you can. Working all day and then taking care of your baby at night leaves little room for “mama” to take care of herself. If you have a spouse or partner, divide the responsibilities at home so it doesn’t all rest on you. And remember to cut yourself some slack. The laundry can wait another day- get your rest while you can!

• Make time for your friends with babies even when you go back to work. Nothing can substitute your “mama friends” as they provide emotional support and understand what you are going through!

Good luck heading back to the office!

Valentine's Day---Homestretch

My daughter is a holiday-a-holic. What does this mean, you ask? It means she is obsessed with holidays. ALL holidays. So, needless to say, she's pretty excited about Valentine's Day being less than a week away!

We’ve already made Valentines goody bags for her friends. She’s crafted the perfect Heart Day cards for her family and teachers. She’s colored countless Valentine’s Day coloring sheets, and she has made a plethora of V-Day crafts I have been collecting from all over town.

With t-minus six days until February 14, what else can we possibly do to celebrate the holiday?

I came across some Valentine’s Day Apps for the IPad/IPhone today that look pretty cool, so we'll probably check those out tomorrow. Maybe these free or low-cost apps below will bring us into the homestretch of Cupid’s very favorite day!

Julius Harts Cupcakes: Decorate a cupcake on mommy’s IPhone/IPad with the perfect Valentine’s Day decorations app!

KidCalc 7-in-1 Math Fun-Valentine’s Day Theme: This app teaches math skills for ages 3-9 year-olds, but does so with a fun new Valentine’s Day theme.

Valentine’s Day Coloring Books: Get your creative juices flowing with this cute and colorful way to personalize and send Valentine’s Day e-cards on the IPad or IPhone.

Matching Hearts Game: It’s memory time, but this clever game uses conversation hearts to get in the mood for February 14!

Valentine’s Day Countdown: Instead of enduring the, “How many more days until Valentine’s Day, mommy?” question that I will inevitably get every day, I am going to download the V-Day countdown so my daughter can see for herself and tell me all about it!

Talking Cupid: Who wouldn’t be entertained by a cupid that talks, laughs and interacts with you? This is a must-have download for February 14!

Valentine’s Day Painter: Let someone special know how much you love them with this free
Valentine’s Day heart painting app. Send it to your loved ones via e-mail!

Looking for a Rainy Day Activity? Homemade Play Dough!

The weather is cold and rainy this week where we live, and I have been trying to think of something fun to do with my four year-old daughter tomorrow. Luckily her preschool teacher

e-mailed me tonight reminding me I signed up to make homemade play dough for her class for the month of February, so I thought...why not? Let's go ahead and make it! We'll make enough to play with at home, and also enough to share with her class.

I wanted to share the recipe with you, too, in case you are in need of a fun activity to do this week with your kids! Hope you have fun making homemade play dough...I know we will. Now, the question is, will it be more fun making the play dough or playing with it afterwards?

Homemade Play Dough Recipe:

Ingredients:
3 cups Flour
1 ½ cups Salt
3 cups Water
2 TBSP Vegetable Oil
1 TBSP Cream of Tartar
Few drops “ Neon” Food coloring of your choice or 1 package unsweetened "Kool-Aid" of your choice

Instructions:

1. Mix ALL of the ingredients in a large saucepan.

2. Cook over medium low heat, until the dough comes away from the edges of the pan and it becomes difficult to move the spoon. Remove from heat. Cool until it can be handled.

3. Place on counter or wax paper. Knead until blended and smooth.

4. Store in a large zip-lock bag or air-tight container.

Tip for you- You must let it cool ALL the way before sealing it off, or it will be gooey--even if it feels like a normal play dough consistency after even 20 minutes...it needs longer.

Enjoy and have fun!