As much as I LOVE summer and all that happens during the summer months, fall has a special place in my heart. I love the leaves changing, the weather getting crisp but not quite bitter and most of all, the festivals. If you haven’t made your way to any this month yet, you’re in luck because there are 2 left that are worth checking out. Unfortunately the end of the month is sooner than later so make sure to check out the following festivals:
Who is in the driver’s seat in the house? Is it you? Your child(ren)? Sometimes balance can be tricky…especially when it comes to a child with disabilities. Balance is one thing every parent strives to conquer and usually fails before getting it right.
As parents, we tell our children what to do. It is our job to set limits and boundaries, and teach them how to behave and be respectful. I would imagine I bark orders at my kids at least 20 times a day: “Be nice to your sister.” “Get dressed.” “Sit up.” “Chew with your mouth closed.” “Clean up your toys.” These are just a few of the everyday utterances that leave my mouth.
I don’t know about you, but when our girls are going through a growth spurt, our household is in disarray. In fact, we have started recognizing the “symptoms” of growth spurts so that we can adjust the way we handle certain situations accordingly. The first step though is recognizing them.
Here’s how to recognize your little sprout’s spurt:
Your baby wants to eat nonstop. If you’ve been breastfeeding every three hours, your baby will now want to belly up to the milk bar every hour or two. That’s just fine. The more often your baby breastfeeds, the more he stimulates milk production to keep up with his growing appetite. Older babies will also want to nurse more and up their intake of the jarred stuff if they’re eating solids.
Our youngest (born) three-year-old child has been potty trained for a good 4 months now and things were going GREAT! We were having ZERO accidents and only wearing pull-ups at night…and waking up dry 50% of the time. We felt that Delise was on her way to a pull-up free life in just a few short weeks.
Then something happened…the idea of being in underwear, stopping what she was doing to use the restroom, and the novelty of being a “big girl” wore off. Potty accidents started creeping into her day and she started wetting the bed during nap time. I found myself getting frustrated day by day at her lack of care for being “dry” anymore. Why was this “Potty Trained little 3 year old” going backwards with her milestones?
If your household is anything like our household, then your household thrives on repeating solid routines to make things run smoothly. In fact, all the research suggests that bedtime routines work best if you reserve the hour before bedtime for quiet play. It lowers your child’s activity level and prepare Read more…
You probably already know that you should read to your children, but do you know why? Here are three important reasons to not only read aloud with your child, but also to make it a shared activity:
As a mom, I know the struggle of trying to get your family to eat healthy. What’s worse, even seemingly “healthy” snacks are filled with refined sugar, saturated fats, and artificial flavors. I also know that while Shakeology is an incredibly important source of dense superfood nutrition, most of us Read more…
Stressed? You’re not alone. Apparently 70 percent of U.S. moms say mothering is “incredibly stressful.” And 96 percent also feel that we are far more stressed than our own mothers were.
So what’s triggering Mommy Angst, circa 2017? (How much time do you have? LOL) It’s everything from financial insecurities, a more intensive parenting style and higher expectations for our kids’ success to a lack of support, time famine, relationship demands, and concern that the world is more perilous for kid raising.
The excitement when I found out our youngest was a girl and would be the little sister to our sweet 2.5 year old daughter was just overwhelming. I was excited for them to be the best of friends like my sister and I. They would play dolls together, have sweet tea parties, run around together, etc. Life would be grand as sisters.
Then reality set in about 12 months in. Our girls are complete opposites and getting them to play together is like oil and water. NOT the vision I had in my mind the day our second was born. In fact, it has been a struggle to teach them how to get along and understand each others’ differences since pretty much day one.
For most (If you haven’t already returned to school), It’s that time of the year when schools are getting ready to re-open and begin the new academic session. While all will make a fuss about going back to the school routine, it is this same school routine that gives kids the much needed focus and stability we all long for. So how do we go about preparing for this return?