One cannot leave water out, when the subject is healthy eating, healthy weight loss, and nursing. Especially if you’re changing your diet and reducing your portions, it is important to increase your water intake for your digestion system to continue functioning well.If you would like to make sure you are getting the right amount of water every … [Read more...]
Easy wearable blanket for children
My daughter grew out of her Cozy blanket with arms for children. I decided to use one of her existing blankets and turned it into a wearable blanket. It's the easiest solution to keep the kids covered with their blankets while asleep at night. Materials: 1. Blanket big enough to cover your child 2. Ribbon 3. Bias (optional) Directions: 1. … [Read more...]
Moving into new bunk beds
Last year during our trip to my parent's house, kids loved sleeping in the bunk beds that I and my brother used to sleep. Especially my son enjoyed the top bed.As my daughter got closer to outgrowing her crib, we started thinking about how to setup their rooms. Out house layout has 2 rooms on one floor and 2 rooms on the second floor. … [Read more...]
Siblings share a bed
Once upon time, Daddy was late. It was upon mommy, To put the kids to bed.Once she put them In their own rooms, Kids started calling mommy From opposite directions.Tired of running in between rooms mommy decided to tuck the little one in her big brother's bed. Kids thought it was a game first. Then were surprised when lights were … [Read more...]
Separate room readiness test for children and parents
Our babies slept in their cribs, in our room, from the day they came from the hospital until they were 8 months-old (2,5 years apart). Around 8-months, after a test I'll call "separate room readiness test", we decided to move them into their own rooms for their and our sake. Actually, let me rephrase, we moved out of the room and found ourselves a … [Read more...]
Neti Pot, a.k.a. Aladdin’s Lamp, for Nasal Congestion
My son has a long history of ear infections that will hopefully end soon after his upcoming tonsil and adenoid removal surgery. The main source of his ear infection is his constantly runny nose. We don’t quite know how it began. I have a theory: a connection between his first and only flu shot at 6-months old, but I cannot prove it. Once his nose … [Read more...]
We have begun our descent
Mark April 23, 2010, as the date I weighed my heaviest. Supposedly, I was eating healthy with seafood and salad for in Sweden. With all the stress and not moving around, I have put on 6 lbs in 3 weeks. I weighed for 3 consecutive days. No change.I started working out. Adding the gardening and all the outdoor activities with kids, I've lost 5 of … [Read more...]
DIY: Cozy blanket with sleeves for children
My daughter is quite independent and can dress up and down by herself. Which is really good. Except when we find her stripped to her underwear when we go to check up on her after she goes to sleep. it's really hard to get her dressed when she's asleep. Not because she won't fall back asleep if she wakes up, but she gets really upset if she wakes up … [Read more...]
How to teach your child to blow their nose
One of the biggest troubles with the common cold is cleaning the runny noses of small children. I had shared some of the methods I use, in my Fighting colds post. In my opinion, one of the most important developmental milestones for children is to learn to blow their noses. Despite our doctor’s prediction saying they would only learn that at around … [Read more...]
How did this happen?
Last weekend we went skiing up north. Everyone came back healthy, except for my swollen purple eye.Since the extreme weather is over Chicago, I have decided to keep the kids at home. I haven't even sent my son to preschool since Tuesday. Stayed at home and played in our newly decorated basement. Only my husband went to work.And what … [Read more...]
Breastfeeding 108 – Why does refrigerated breast milk smells sour
When you thaw or warm your frozen and refrigerated milk, you might find t he milk smelling sour. If you followed the rules and guidelines to safely store breast milk, then this information might help you to feel a little bit at ease.I faced this problem during the breastfeeding of both of my babies. Apparently, this common issue is cause by an … [Read more...]
Teaching toddlers safety at home
In my previous posts I wrote about the precautions we must take as parents and child proofing, in order to protect our children against the dangers and any possible accidents at home.As our babies grow into toddling phase we can also teach them, within the scope of their physical and mental abilities, how to protect themselves against such … [Read more...]
Winter health and wellness tips for parents with babies
Here are a few practical health and wellness tips for parents and babies to stay healthy and enjoy the snow and even cold weather outdoors during winter:Get out and have fun outdoors: Do not be trapped indoors. Take your baby and yourself out to get fresh air and daylight. It's the best for your health and your mood. Outdoors is always better … [Read more...]
Craving
I am terribly craving to read a book. I have so many waiting for me on the shelves of my library. Childcare and child psychology ones, books about plays, novels, books in foreign languages - which if I don't practice soon enough, I'll forget. And I am about to order another batch from Amazon.com, after a long long time. I was able to get by, by … [Read more...]
Oral and dental care for infants and babies
Infants We started to wipe my son's mouth with a wet, clean gauze pad when he was 2-3 months old upon the advice of our pediatrician. As I wrote in my post about oral thrush, when my son had thrush, we also added baking soda to the water in which we soaked the gauze. We started using the same method as soon as my daughter was born. Benefits of … [Read more...]
Is it normal for an infant not to poop for days?
My son was pooping - what was normal to me at the time - 3 times a day as an infant. So when my daughter didn't poop for a week when she was 2 weeks old, everyone in the family freaked out. We learned through this experience that breastfeeding babies could go without pooping as long as a week and not considered constipated. Surprisingly, this is … [Read more...]
How to help your baby fight a cold naturally
Unfortunately, now that there are two kids in the house, they share everything including viruses. Two weeks ago, my son got the flu. Despite all our efforts and precautions, my daughter got it too. A 6-month-old baby with a congested nose is heartbreaking. But we were determined. We've had a similar 6-month-long cold drama with my son when he was … [Read more...]
Books to help children prepare for a new sibling
Here are the list of books we used and loved on preparation of the arrival of a new sister:I am a Big Brother My son and I have enjoyed this book the most. This is ideal for children of my son’s age (2,5). You can also find big sister version of it. I am a Big SisterHello Baby! This is a nice book as well. Lots of illustrations. This is … [Read more...]
Preparing our son for the arrival of his new sibling
We have completed our preparations for the arrival or our new baby as much as we could. I went out for one last time to buy things which were on my missing stuff list. After my son, we did not have that many missing items anyway. I only bought containers for milk, garbage bags for diapers and boppy pillow. The old ones were really old. I found an … [Read more...]
Nasal Congestion and Runny Nose Remedies for Babies
It's change of seasons. A runny nose, nasal congestion, cold, and flu are common spread amongst children. We go the library, or during playtime and everyone’s nose is running and sneezing. Especially if you have children that are going daycare or school, this is unstoppable. The hardest is the babies with the cold or a runny nose. They can’t … [Read more...]