Monday, April 29, 2013

Peaking Out!

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I love the little exciting things that Mini does.  She started to peak out of her chair when she is in the car and look at Baby Bear.  I can hear her excited sound and giggles when Baby Bear talks back to her.  


She started peaking out while I was walking outside and tried to snap a photo.  


It cracks me up that instead of laying back that you can see her little bald head!

Thursday, April 25, 2013

When to take a kid to the ER

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Mini has had croup 2 times already.  So the other day when she started to sound a little croupy when she cried, I wasn't so worried.  Mr. BBH was worried the first time that Mini had it, but the nurse told me to trust my mother's instinct and to worry if she was struggling to breathe.   

{side note-I love our Pediatrician's office!! This is our 3rd one.. our first retired and we didn't like the other..3rd times a charm!!}  

So this tonight she woke up to nurse and wouldn't go back to sleep.  She was wide awake so I took her to the living room. I put her in the swing and she was really raspy (the medical term is strider).  I woke up Mr. BBH and he is in the medical field and was worried that since her airway is so small.  So at 4:30 he drove her to the ER while I stayed with Baby Bear.  She got a breathing treatment and steroids.  She is feeling under the weather today but does not have that sound from breathing, only if she cries (it is like a cry cough).  

We had to follow up with the Pediatrician today and she said that Mini needs to be outside in the cold to help her croup.  I bundled up and walked around in the cold for 2 hours (after it stopped raining.) She was able to take a really good nap since she could breathe easily. I almost thought about letting her sleep on the balcony in her buggy bassinet.  

baby with a breathing mask

Mini was OK and probably would have been OK to wait until the morning. We both wanted to be on the wrong side just in case but paying our co-pay is not fun. What do you think-
When do you think it is OK to go to the ER?

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Summer at Camp

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I am so lucky and excited to be able to work at Tamarack Camp  this summer to create a brand new art program!  I literally 'got my feet wet' when visiting the building project last week.  


This photo is actually AFTER I got stuck in the mud!  I was joking with my friend that I was going to walk in the puddles since I dug out my rain boots for the trip.  I stepped into the puddle and it was really sticky, so I stayed on the path that looked dry-er.  Next thing I knew, I got stuck in the mud!  I tried to move my feet and sunk deeper {all the way to my knees}.  I was so stuck that 2 workers had to come and help pull me out of the mud! 


These are all different buildings pictured!  




I will have so many different areas~ crafting, wood {aka projects}, sewing, jewelry/metal/glass, drawing & painting!


I have a big job ahead of me just filling up these buildings with equipment, tables, and supplies and that is even before I get to train staff and start programming for the campers... but I can't wait!!


The little Bears are so lucky, they get to be campers for the summer! 

Friday, April 19, 2013

Free Printable Tooth Fairy Chart

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I saw a cute idea of a certificate that was given to the tooth fairy with the tooth and worked with Stephanie from Olive and Ruby Kids to create a free printable keepsake for the tooth fairy.  


My little Bears are pretty far away from losing teeth, but I would use this as a certificate that they can leave for the tooth fairy.  You could also glue a small envelop on the certificate to hold the tooth.  Print it on card stock and put it in a binder to save for when your children get older!



I love Stephanie's work at Olive & Ruby Kids!  She makes the most incredible baby nursery artwork and birth print mementos  We ordered them for both little Bears and get tons of compliments. 

See the shop here 
(Olive and Ruby Kids also made a babysitter checklist  printable)

printable tooth fairy chart

What do you think of this chart?
Don't forget to enter our giveaway on the top of the page!


Thursday, April 18, 2013

First Day out in the Sun

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Today was incredible in the afternoon! We played outside and went to see the ducks in the pond.  Baby Bear was having a blast and Mini fell asleep in her carrier.















Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Yummy Mummy Lactation Cookies Review & Giveaway

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Yummy Mummy Lactation Cookies Review & Giveaway


Searching for yummy lactation solutions, I found Yummy Mummy Cookies online and saw that they had some wheat free cookies! 

There are 3 different kinds that I tried- 
  • Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip (Wheat/Dairy/Egg Free)
  • Oatmeal Dark Chocolate & Pumpkin Seed
  • Lemon Poppy Seed & Fenugreek
Lactation cookies are cookies that are packed with nutrition for nursing moms and also contain herbs and foods known to increase milk production. 

I have a horrible sweet tooth and I am trying to lose my baby weight at the same time as eating healthy and taking care of 2 kids. It is not easy to stay away from sweets for me and I was so happy when I found the solution.  Since the Yummy Mummy Cookies contain a ton of protein for a cookie~ 5-7 grams depending on the flavor (that is pretty unusual when I looked at the nutrition label on some of the G Free cookies at the store).  They are pretty big cookies and a really generous portion for a filling snack. The Yummy Mummy cookies have a great soft texture too when you are eating them (amazing warmed in the toaster too)! 

They are all tasty, but my favorite is the Lemon Poppy Seed (nut free).  It tasted like a muffin and would make a great early morning snack. The cookies are delicious adult cookies that are not overly sweet. 


I ordered these online and they come in a pack like this. I kept one out in the pantry and put the other 2 that I ordered in the freezer. The Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip have only 155 calories per cookie, so it is an indulgence that you don't have to feel guilty about!


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Sunday, April 14, 2013

My two little Bears

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I don't know how, but Baby Bear is ALREADY in love with boys!  You can tell by the way that she is squealing and giggling who she is talking to (she has a crush on certain boys that we know).  

How do little kids learn how to flirt and have crushes?

two little girls in a shopping cart
My two little Bears 
  
Baby Bear and Mini are getting along so nice now that Mini is more interactive.  She is 4 months old (can you believe how fast time has flown?)


Since she was able to follow things with her eyes, Mini has been watching her big sister.  She laughs and smiles every time Baby Bear plays with her or looks her way.  Mini even has a special sound that she makes for her big sister! 

2 sisters one in a stroller and the other a shopping cart


Wednesday, April 10, 2013

7 Delicious Milk Makers for Mommas

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7 lactation galactagouges

I wanted a natural way to increase milk production and I looked into different foods that I could eat or drink that were delicious. I  came up with this list of great things to add to your diet for nursing moms.  These items would also make great home-from-the-hospital gift baskets! 

{1} Oatmeal
Good Source of Iron. I love to eat oatmeal for breakfast with fruit, or you can make my granola for snacks.  

{2} Beer
Helps relax the Mom so you can letdown more easily  Also the barley and hops stimulates prolactin production. 

{3} Dark Greens
The minerals, vitamins, and phytoestrogen support prolactin production in greens. I love to make smoothies out of them or use them in cooking.  You can try my coconut kale rice.

{4} Black Licorice 
The anise in black licorice is a phytoestrogen.  Anise is also said to reduce colic in breast fed infants.  Not everyone is a black licorice fan, but I LOVE it (sadly, it contains wheat so I can't eat it anymore)

{5} Nuts & Seeds
Almonds, Cashews and sesame seeds are said to help produce breast milk.  They are also a great source of protein and minerals.

{6} Nursing Cookies
There are several brands of nursing cookies out there.  I LOVE the Yummy Mummy brand. Nursing cookies contain different herbs and foods that help stimulate milk production.  And seriously, who doesn't like cookies!

{7} Nursing Tea
Nursing tea is a great way to relax and drink some herbs that promote lactation.  They usually contain herbs like fennel, fenugreek, anise, raspberry leaf and nettles.  

Sunday, April 7, 2013

We must Remember the 6 million

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6 million innocent men, women, and children.  

11 million total murdered by the hands of Nazi soldiers.

We Remember YOU 


I asked my students in class today if they knew how Nazi Germany started.  It started as a democracy and none of them knew it.  I told them that good people can do terrible things (as evidence in the Milgram experiament) and they need to remember that and be the good in the world.  They need to look onto others different then them with LOVE and see them for the beauty that they have for being different.

I told them that they have a very big burden on their shoulders to remember. Our generation has grandparents, aunts and uncles that were survivors, but they may never get to hear the horrors first hand but they still cannot forget.

to educate yourself about the Holocaust see the links at the end of my friend Hillary's post here

Feeling good about that 'Starbucks Habit'!

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I admit it, I LOVE a cup of Starbucks to start my day.  I usually brew it at home, but I do treat myself from time to time.  I noticed at Starbucks that they are now advertising that they give their coffee grounds away for your garden!

coffee grounds from starbucks

Coffee grounds are a safe way to fertilize your garden and you don't have to worry about little hands getting into it since it is safe.  You can add it to a worm compost, or just put it straight on your garden. 

When I needed some coffee ground for my garden, Starbucks gave me a HUGE bag of grounds.  You might want to even bring a bucket to keep it in in your car.  My car smelled so delicious! 

coffee grounds from starbucks

Major Benefits:
Coffee grounds are free
They keep moisture
They are easy to store
They smell good compared to other natural and organic garden compost/fertilizer
So if you want to start your coffee ground nourished garden, head off to the nearest coffee shop. They would gladly give you as much coffee ground your garden can hold and start nourishing your plants to be healthier in an organic and safe way.
{with permission from Ground to Ground}


I read on Ground to Ground about the benefits of why coffee grounds are so good for your garden (better then just any type of compostable material).  Shane let me share a post from his site

Millions of pots of coffee and tea are brewed everyday. And where do the tons of coffee grounds and tea bags go? They go into the trash. How thoughtless it is to just throw these organic materials away when there is surely of better use.

It is good to know that coffee grounds have become an increasingly popular material to use for compost and fertilizer. Methods of preparations has been experimented and developed by garden enthusiasts and coffee grounds are put to use.

What Are The Benefits Of Using Coffee Grounds?

Coffee Grounds vs. Manure

Instead of using manure, coffee grounds have become a more nutritious source of nutrients for plants. Using coffee grounds for plants and garden soil eliminates the risk of increase of pathogens entering the soil.  They help kill diseases living in the seeds and roots of the plants, keeping them healthy for growth.  At the same time, it is economically friendly as purchases of chemically based fertilizers are minimized. It is also environmentally friendly since you help the trash going into landfills where they are only left to rot and put to waste.

Nitrogen, Calcium and Magnesium

Coffee grounds are a good source of nitrogen, calcium and magnesium that are greatly beneficial for the growth of plants. These are also beneficial for compost piles. Coffee helps maintain the balance of nitrogen which is helpful in decomposition of organic materials. Nitrogen is also very valuable for the fast-growth of vegetables.

Worms
Earthworms love to feed on coffee grounds. They are attracted to them. So as they feed and move into the soil, they help spread the nutrients and fertilize the plants. They also aerate the soil, inviting more oxygen for the roots.

Snail and Slug Killer
The caffeine and acid present in coffee grounds were proven to be fatal on slugs and snails that infest the plants. Spreading or spraying coffee on the soil around the plants would prevent slugs and snails from attacking them.

Acid
The grounds help increase the acidity of the soil which is helpful for the growth of acid loving garden plants.  However, it must not be used for non-acid loving plants for it may kill them.

Improves the Soil
Coffee grounds make the soil easier to till, thus it is easy to put nutrients and also easy for the plants to absorb them.




Drink up for Mother Earth!

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

$#*! digital natives say

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Baby Bear just assumes that all screens are touch screens.  She has been able to talk to her grandparents through Skype since she was born and knew how to use the iPhone before she turned 1.  
Skype-ing with Grandparents
It just cracks me up with her vocabulary and she says the funniest things

She was playing with 'her' iPod touch and it was making clicking noises, so she said "Ema, I'm texting"


Baby Bear just assumes that you can FaceTime anytime you want to talk to someone.

Facetime conversation

But the FUNNIEST thing is something that my cousin's son said: His mom asked him (while he was playing) if he wanted to sing a song for everyone.  He continued to play and run around.  Then his mom said something like "I thought you were going to sing a song" to which he answered "I'm buffering"!  How cute! My sister told me the story!!

Another favorite is a video that I saw (go to 8 minutes into the  video)



I once asked my grandmother what she thought about the iPod touch when it first came out.  (We used it to show her some photos).  She said that as a little girl she could not have even conceptualized the technology that we have today.  I remember reading in elementary school that by the year 2000, there would be a flying car.  I waited and waited and that never happened! BUT, at that same time I was reading that, we used an apple computer at school to play games and type on and at home we had a Tandy100 computer. 



Our school taught computers and we did some very progressive things for that time, like animation.  I won an award for my animation that I made of the big bang using just a Paint type program on the Apple computer.  We had Prodigy and Compuserve (very basic chat technology) before AOL.  I remember thinking that AOL was cool because we would post on boards with our Youth Group friends after a convention.  Who would have thought that this is how our children would grow up with even more unimaginable technology to come. 


Monday, April 1, 2013

It's April 1st!

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How easy is this?! 


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