What's Your Excuse?

The whole "What's Your Excuse?" thing started when Maria Kang posted a picture of herself in workout attire surrounded by her three young children. It bugged me then, it still bugs me now. Even moreso, I'm starting to see my "friends" on social media starting to use the #whatsyourexcuse hashtag. At first I couldn't pinpoint what exactly unnerved me about it. Was it because I have a million excuses? Was it because I wish I could find time to workout, but I really, truly can't? I really didn't think that was it. I finally brought it up to my husband. My husband does find time to workout. He goes to the gym about four times a week. So when I told him I was severely bothered by the whole #whatsyourexcuse movement, I wanted to know his opinion. Was I jealous of these friends? I told him I felt like it was an almost self-righteous statement. Like an "I'm better than you" sort of thing. He agreed. This coming from a same "friend" who posted the new commercial with all the moms judging each other's parenting and said "I'm sorry for judging my fellow moms." Really? Because I'm pretty sure every time you brag about getting up at 6am on a Saturday to work out with your trainer and say #whatsyourexcuse, you're judging. If we posted a picture of our nice car sitting in the driveway of our nice house with the hashtag #whatsyourexcuse it would be very distasteful, and something I would never dream of doing! Here's the deal. Even though you're asking, you don't care one bit about my excuses. I have a million of them, and a lot are very valid, but it doesn't matter. You're posting #whatsyourexcuse because you think you are better than me. You are judging me. Everyone comes from all walks of life and has different circumstances. Circumstances that you don't know about, and to be honest, are none of your business.  I workout whenever I can, whether I can sneak away 45 minutes to go to the gym, or do a 20 minute fitness video at home.  I don't feel the need to make a spectacle of myself every time I do so.  If you are a #whatsyourexcuse gal, good for you for working out and staying in shape!  I'm sure you feel good about yourself after every workout.  Just don't make others feel bad about themselves for not being like you.

Snow Day Fun! Snow Ice Cream!

I LOVED snow days as a kid.  And now, since I'm a teacher I get to enjoy them with my kids!  There's just something thrilling about getting that 5 am phone call.  I'm not even kidding.  It doesn't even make me mad to get woken up that early.  One of my favorite snow day traditions is snow ice cream.  Even if it's too cold to go outside to play, we still will go out long enough to fill a bag with snow so that we can make some delicious snow ice cream.

There are TONS of variations that you will find on the web, but this is our tried-and-true recipe.  I offered to add chocolate once and my son almost lost it on me.  We don't mess with the original snow ice cream!

You will need:

That's it, people!  No need for the sweetened condensed milk or any of the other crazy ingredients I've seen.  These are all things we always have on hand, just in case a snow day hits us by surprise!  Just kidding, we obviously have these things on hand for other reasons.  Like cookies.

So after you've gone outside to play in the snow, grab a gallon-sized bag.  Better yet, take it out with you so you don't have to traipse snow throughout the house and get everything wet.  There's nothing worse than wet socks.  Fill the bag with snow that you haven't touched yet and hasn't touched the ground, then come inside to warm up and get started on the ice cream.  After you're nice and toasty, fill the bag with the sugar, milk, and vanilla, then have fun mixing.  The kids love this part.  Shake, shimmy, turn on some music and dance.  Once you feel like it's well-mixed, you're done!  Serve in bowls or eat it right out of the bag!

Even baby girl got a taste!

Mommy Necklaces-Perfect for the Nursing Mother!

Between my two kids, I have nursed for 21 months, and still going strong with the baby girl.  Because I worked with my oldest, he mostly got bottles of pumped milk during the week, but I always nursed him on the weekends.  Since I'm home with baby girl, she nurses exclusively.  Even with all my experience, I never realized how distracted the nursing baby can get!  As much as you can say, "I've been there, done that," kids will always surprise you.  When I found Mommy Necklaces, I decided I needed to get one.  I was so pleasantly surprised by how much both myself and baby girl enjoyed it that I decided to contact the company to see if they would be willing to giveaway a necklace to one of my readers.  And guess what....(drumroll..)..they said YES!

So what are Mommy Necklaces?

Mommy Necklaces are durable, yet stylish necklaces that moms can feel safe wearing around their babies.  My child has already broken one of my gold chain necklaces, but I don't have to worry about her pulling on my Mommy Necklace.  Mommy Necklaces come in several different designs.  The original, dangling donut strand is designed to catch the eye of a nursing baby.  The necklace can be worn with or without the donut charm.  They also offer teether donut strands, that I just might be purchasing in the near future!  The locked donut strands are another option, but the donut charm cannot be removed.  Flat facets and short strands are other Mommy Necklace designs.

The faceted rocks strand is what I purchased, and love.  It's trendy, and reminds me of the beautiful costume jewelry that you can purchase at parties, but for a whole lot more money.  Unlike the Mommy Necklaces, that jewelry is not safe around babies.  The standard length of the faceted rocks strand is 20" but you can pay a little extra for a longer length.  I wear a lot of v-neck shirts, and I do wish my necklace was a bit longer, both for style and for practicality.  My baby loves to play with my necklace, especially while nursing, and a longer strand would make it easier.

There are several color options to choose from as well.  So much, in fact, that it makes it so difficult to choose just one!  I went with Entice, which I think matches both my style and my personality.  I'm not into flashy, showy jewelry, and the light purple, cream, and light green beads are easy to match most of my outfits.

photo credit: www.mommynecklaces.com

For my giveaway, I chose the the Nourish Necklace in black and white.  It is a standard 34" strand, the perfect length for a fiddling, feeding baby!

photo credit: www.mommynecklaces.com

How do I enter?

a Rafflecopter giveaway This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only (sorry readers in China!).  The giveaway ends on February 11, 2015 at 12:00 midnight EST.  I purchased my own Mommy Necklace and contacted the company for a giveaway.  They provided this giveaway necklace in exchange for an honest review.   

The No-Sippy, No-Straw Solution!

Baby girl WILL NOT drink from a sippy cup.  It's probably due to the fact that she has never really been forced to take a bottle, but now that she's eating solid food three times a day, she NEEDS to drink some water!  We've tried Nuby and Munchkin brands, both soft spouts, and all she wants to do is chew on the spout.  I'm guessing some eventually gets in, because her bib is soaked by the time we take it away from her.  We've also tried straws, and she will let me just pour some into her mouth from the straw, but actually drinking from the straw?  Forget about it!  I am starting to get worried for when she does eventually wean and needs to take liquids from something other than me!  After researching other sippy cups that might work for our stubborn little angel, I came up with a solution of my own.

Introducing...the No-Sippy, No-Straw Solution!

Inspired by the spoutless cups designed for toddlers that I found on Amazon, I used a small square of Glad Press 'n Seal and placed it over a regular cup.  I then poked a small hole in the covering.  The hole in the picture actually turned out to be a bit too big and I will make it smaller next time.  Next, because I am dealing with an 8 month old, I held the cup for her and allowed her to drink from it.  The Press 'n Seal kept me from pouring a too-large amount into her mouth.  She wanted to try to hold the cup herself, but without handles it was a little difficult.  I think this is also the perfect solution for toddlers transitioning from a sippy to a regular cup.  I learned the hard way that kids need to learn how to drink from a regular cup before they go to preschool! 

Do you have a stubborn, no-sippy, no-straw baby?  What solutions do you have?  If you try this, let me know how it works for you!  

Sensory Bags for Babies

I got "pinspired" this weekend and made a sensory bag for my 8 month old.  I can't even believe I have an 8 month old. Where the heck does time go?!  Yesterday was one of those days where it seemed whatever I did, I could not keep her happy or entertained for more than 10 minutes.  She got a TON of new toys at Christmas.  We worked our way through each toy until there were no more left.  Instead of rotating back through, I hopped on Pinterest and looked up "Activities for babies."  Of course, I got a million and one pins that I didn't have time to go through, but a sensory bag activity caught my eye and I decided to go for it.

My sensory bag was inspired by Plain Vanilla Mom but she used hair gel in her bag, and let's be honest here, I don't even dry my hair let alone put product in it, so I didn't have any hair gel laying around the house.  I did have dish soap, though, and that is what I used.  All you need is a gallon-sized Ziploc bag, some duct tape, dish soap, and little trinkets you can put inside the bag.  Everything I used I had in my house.

I first duct taped the sides of the bag.  Next, I dumped in the dish soap.  I used about 1/3 of the bottle shown here.  Then I scrounged up as many little trinkets I could find.  We had just cleaned the play room the day before, or else I probably wouldn't have had to look so hard!  I ended up putting in some plastic easter grass, a nickel, a penny, a square of bubble wrap, some plastic paper clips, some water beads, and (my favorite!) some glitter.  After adding everything inside the bag, I zipped it and sealed it with two layers of duct tape.  

Finally, I let baby girl have at it!  She loved it!  I had to show her what to do at first, but she loved smushing the dish soap around and feeling all of the different textures.  She had to be very closely supervised, though, because she does still enjoy putting everything in her mouth.  Those two teeth she has are very sharp and I didn't want her to puncture the bag.  A happy accident that occurred since I used dish soap is the more she played with it, it started to form bubbles.  That was fun for her (and my five-year-old) to see.  

A New Year

I don't think I've ever been so conflicted in my feelings before.  2014 was the toughest year of my life.  I was pregnant during the first months of 2014, and though I was very much looking forward to our baby girl's arrival, I was so very sick.  I was suffering from constant headaches, was under so much stress at work, and was beginning to deal with climbing blood pressure.  While my ob/gyn insisted I was fine, I knew differently.  We welcomed our baby girl in April, three weeks before her due date, and under very difficult circumstances.  After being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance, I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome and had to deliver her immediately, for both her health and mine.  Though small, she was perfectly healthy.  I, however, was not.  With extremely low blood platelets that wouldn't rise, and very high liver enzymes and a blood pressure that wouldn't decrease, I endured an 8-day hospital stay.  After an MRI and MRA, I was also informed that I had suffered several acute strokes at least two weeks prior due to my extremely high blood pressure for an extended period of time.  My daughter's birth will always be linked to this horrific time in my life.  Such a joyous occasion tarnished.  Thus, my conflicted feelings.  While I am so ready to bid farewell to 2014 and welcome 2015 with open arms, I can't help but feel guilty.  Is it right that I feel this way about the year my daughter was born?  Since I took a leave of absence from my job during this time, I have been very present in my daughter's first 8 months of life and we have an indescribable bond.  I don't want to just dismiss this time and say good riddance to this year, but on the other hand, I am very much looking forward to a healthy 2015.

A New Use for Old Christmas Cards

This is a repost from my teaching blog http://gofourthwithowens.blogspot.com/

Christmas is over.  Now comes dreaded winter.  I don't mind the cold weather in December.  I do mind it January through March.  It's just no fun.  I still look forward to snow days, but after 12+ last year, even snow days got tiresome.

How many of you still receive Christmas cards?  We got a few this year.  Mostly, our friends send photo cards.  It's fun to see the pictures each year, and I usually keep them in a magnetic photo album.  So what do I do with the "old fashioned" cards?  Some of them are so pretty, I hate to just throw them away...one of my hoarding tendencies (I'm working on it, ok?).  So I don't throw them away, I repurpose them!  How many times do you have students come to you asking for a bookmark?  That's right, I cut up those old greeting cards into bookmarks for my students.  A pretty and practical use for the old Christmas cards!