Bringing Baby Home

I just recently brought home my new daughter, Zari Katana. Here I am finally home with her. Bringing home a new baby from the hospital is something that shouldn't be stressful. You should be able to enjoy your baby and not be bombarded by chores or things that have piled up while you were away at the hospital.

Here are 10 Tips For New Moms (or well versed moms) Who Are Bringing A New Baby Home:

1. Have an adequate support system! Someone to provide emotional support, help with chores and cooking, run errands, watch other siblings, etc. Sometimes you just need some time alone with baby or a nap once in a while!

2. Spoil your newborn. Give your new baby loads of attention, lots of love and affection. Hold your baby and cuddle it.

3. Babywear your baby safely! I am a big promoter of babywearing! When done safely there are so many bonding experiences you can share with your new little one!

4. Go Green! Use reusable cloth diapers, eco-friendly cleaning products, etc. These are better for the environment and better for you and your family!

5. Make sure pets are prepared for baby's arrival. Here is a great resource for doing so. Pets need to be accustomed to babies and introduced to this early so that they don't react in a negative way.

6. Start Going to Bed a little earlier. You need your sleep and so does baby. Being well rested is essential to being a mom and not feeling so stressed!

7. Make noise while baby is asleep! It really doesn't need to be totally quiet for baby to sleep peacefully. I have found that making noise while baby is sleeping helps baby come accustomed to everyday life around my house and become more of a sound sleeper.

8. Give other family members and pets your attention too! Hubby needs some lovin' too. Don't forget to include the pet and the other siblings in activities with the new baby or some one on one attention while baby is getting held by someone else.

9. Breastfeed if you can! Breastfeeding is so much healthier for baby than formula. It helps baby ward off sickness too. It also creates more of a bonding experience and helps you lose that unwanted post baby fat that you gained during pregnancy!

10. Enjoy your newborn! Your little one won't stay little for long. Take lots of pictures and/or videos of your infant. Babies keep changing and they change quickly ...so get it captured and write down those precious moments in a keepsake book of some sort.

Do these 10 tips and I assure you life will be better and less stressful for everyone. Make time for yourself, the other members of your family, and your pets. Cherish the precious time you have with your baby...they grow up so quickly!

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Lysol® Wee Wisdom blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

Lysol Mission for HealthNewborn Baby

Ten Tips for Planning a Unique Baby Shower

Even though this baby will be my 5th child I have been thinking about having a baby shower. Who doesn't love getting gifts and having parties?? I want to throw a great party before the birth of my baby if I can pull it off. So, I have tried to do my homework on what exactly makes a great baby shower and I have come up with 10 tips. So, here they are:

1. Who, What, Where, When?: These simple questions should be answered before anything else happens in the planning process. Everything else will fall into place once the who, what, where, and when is decided. A great idea is to make a time line of what is going to happen in sequence at the party so you have a idea of the order of things.

2. Budget it out: You don't want to overspend on things. Make a budget of what you are willing to spend on everything and stick to it.

3. Pick a Theme: It is the theme of the party that makes the party special and all your own. This creates the layout and background for the decorations, food, games, party favors, cards, etc. Just don't overdo it!

4. Invitations: Go to these great online places to find cute baby shower invitations: Tiny Prints Baby Shower Invitations and Pear Tree Greetings Baby Shower Invitations. Also, if your feeling crafty you can make your own. Create a guest list of who you are wanting to invite. Are you going to invite just women or is your party going to include men too?

5. Party Decorations: Party Decorations come in all shapes and sizes. We have balloons, streamers, Diaper Cakes, table toppers, center pieces, etc. The list goes on. Also, don't forget the disposable plates, cups, and utensils...these can be decorations or decorated too.

6. Party Food: You can either plan on making the food yourself or have it catered. You don't have to serve a large meal...instead have a lot of different types of finger foods. Or another fun alternative plan is having a potluck or a "BabyQ", LOL!

7. Games and Festivities: Games help bring the guests and guest of honor together to mingle and possibly learn a few new things about each other. From guessing: the gender, size of the momma's tummy, how many safety pins in a jar, etc. to playing baby bingo, diapering dolly races, trivia, or charades. There are a lot of baby and momma-to-be themed games out there on the web. Make a list of your favorites and how they are played.

8. Party Swag Bags: Give your guests a little something they can remember your party by! Party favors are great, but most of the time get overlooked or under appreciated because of quality and under-use. Pick something or more than one something that you know all of your guests would love and use often...like a kitchen gadget or maybe a homemade magnet with a picture of your pregnant self and them to take home and place on their fridge. Don't forget that crafts the guests can take home can be fun at the party too!

9. Wrap It Up: Know how you are going to end the party and to politely tell the guests that it is time to wrap up the party and go home before you start. Know who is going to help with cleanup and how you are going to get the guest of honor and gifts home if the party was elsewhere. Also, find out where the extra leftover food is going to go.

10. Thank You Cards: When the party is done and over thank you cards are such a nice thought. While opening the gifts from your party have someone write down what you get and who it is from so you will know who to thank for what and who the gifts were from. Whether they gave a gift or not we want everyone that attended to know that we are grateful for them coming too so don't forget to send thank you cards to those people too. Tiny Prints and Pear Tree Greetings are great places to find very cute Thank You Cards online. Also, if your feeling crafty you can make your own.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Tiny Prints blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 Tiny Prints Gift Code plus 25 FREE Tiny Prints Greeting cards (valued at $149.75). For more information on how you can participate, CLICK HERE.

Baby Shower InvitationsTiny Prints on Facebook

My 5 Favorite Family Time Ideas

I love to spend time with my family and this summer has been great for getting together. I would love to share my 5 favorite family time ideas with you:

1. We love the outdoors and love to camp, hike, search for cool rocks (my boys are avid rock collectors), and go explore or visit new destinations. We also love to go to the park, playground and have a picnic. This is a picture of my kids at Arch Cape Beach in Seaside, Oregon in a arched cave we found.

2. We love to watch movies as a family. We sit around the computer monitor and watch because we don't own a TV.

3. We love to have a game night/day as a family. My favorite board/card games are Apples to Apples, Druthers, and Wildcraft.

4. We try to have have Family Home Evening together as a family. Since I am of the LDS/Mormon religion my family tries to hold a special time set aside each week that brings our family together and strengthens our love for each other. This helps us draw closer to our Heavenly Father and encourages us to live righteously. We sing hymns, go to events/outings, read scriptures, and pray together.

5. We love to do arts and crafts, cooking, and reading together. Since I homeschool I try to incorporate these activities into our learning.

Get some more family time inspiration from LEGO here!

Like/Fan LEGO on Facebook. Go to LEGO Games Challenge website and you can enter to win the LEGO Games Sweepstakes for a chance to be one of 4 families chosen to go to LEGOLAND California and compete in the LEGO Games Challenge.

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and LEGO blogging program, making me eligible to get a prize pack. The first 30 qualified participants will get a LEGO prize pack that includes 2 games for your next family game night! In addition, 10 random winners will get a grand prize of a complete set of LEGO games! For more information on how you can participate, click HERE.

LEGO Games ChallengeFamily Time Activities

10 Tips For Saving Money During The Back-To-School Season

Staples is helping to get school supplies into the hands of those in need through the 3rd Annual Staples Do Something 101 School Supply Drive. The first two Do Something 101 school supply drives raised nearly $1 million for local charities to purchase back-to-school supplies for students who need them. In addition, Staples stores donated thousands of school supplies to its recipient organizations.

In honor of this program, Staples and TwitterMoms have teamed up with a blogging program to share 10 tips for saving money during the back-to-school season.

Here are my 10 Tips For Saving Money During The Back-To-School Season:

1. Go to Back-To-School Sales
2. Clip Coupons (the Sunday paper, circulars, coupon blogs, coupon websites, BOGO, follow places on Twitter and Facebook that might have sales or coupons, look for coupon codes, discount codes, price match, etc.)
3. Shop Online for sales (Usually you can compare shop easier this way.)
4. Reuse, Use Hand-me-downs or Used items again, and Recycle ( Freecycle is a great place to go to give & get stuff for free in your own town. Buy or get Reusable items and keep good stuff out of landfills! Craigslist, Ebay, Garage/Yard/Moving/Estate/Going Out of Business Sales, Thrift Stores, Flea Markets, and Dollar Stores are all great places to find good deals on used items.)
5. Make your own school supplies or get it handmade (homemade bags, backpacks, pencil cases, clothing, re-usable sandwich bags, etc. you can sometimes find on Etsy and other places for a great price or you can find a pattern online and make your own.)
6. Look for Rebates
7. Buy In Bulk and stock up when there is a deal!
8. Swap, Barter and Borrow from friends and family.
9. Grow Your Own Food and Pack a Lunch (Growing a garden will help with the cost of food for lunches you pack.)
10. Tax-Free Weekend (Some states offer this as an incentive to shop)

For four days only, Staples is offering a special discount to the TwitterMoms community and your followers and friends. Print out this coupon and bring it to any Staples to get 25% off their collection of Sustainable Earth by StaplesTM notebooks and writing pads. These eco-friendly notepads are made from 80% sugarcane so fewer trees are used! Click to Tweet an invitation to save!

Fan/Like Staples on Facebook. Follow Staples on Twitter.

DISCLOSURE: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Staples blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. The first 50 qualified participants will get a $50 Staples gift card to help get your kids prepared for back-to-school! In addition, one lucky random winner will get a grand prize of a $150 Staples gift card! For more information on how you can participate, click here.


Back-to-School SavingsStaples Back-to-School

Tips For Getting Kids Ready For Back To School

My kids are homeschooled so they really don't need to get out the door and on a bus, but we do spend a lot of time getting ready for the school year so they can be prepared for learning. These are some great tips that I have done in the past and are doing now to gear up for the upcoming "back to school" fun :)

Before the school year starts I like to make an inventory and list of what school supplies and other things we need and then find those items on sale or at a discount somewhere. I create a curriculum and schedule for the year so my kids know what to expect. We have preparation "drills" the week before we start so that we know the routine and know how to handle something unexpected.

When it is school time we like to already have the routine down. Getting a good amount of sleep each night before the school day is essential. A healthy breakfast each morning is a must! I also advise my kids to lay out their clothing the night before so we can get a head start on the days activities and learning. I also feel it important to have them keep their desks, supplies and shelves organized so that they can find things when they are needed.

Since we homeschool we do various field trips throughout the year to different places and so when we are on these field trips we need to be prepared for the weather Mother Nature will throw at us especially if the trip is an outdoor one. Having a backpack for each child on such an occasion is a great idea so they can have their individual items with them when they need them. Have the child help pack the items needed the night before so there is no rushing when it is time to leave. On hot or sunny days we pack sunscreen, hats, sunglasses, water bottles, bug repellent, snacks, the proper clothing and shoes, and sometimes a lunch in a cooler. On cold days we pack coats or jackets and other proper clothing and shoes or boots. On wet days we also take rain gear.

Also, you can get ready for Back to School by entering HarperCollins Back-to-School Sweepstakes and possibly win some fantastic books!

DISCLOSURE: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get a HarperCollins book set. For more information on how you can participate, click here. The first 50 qualified participants will receive a signed copy of Al Greven’s book “Rules for School” and a copy of “A Light in the Attic Special Edition” by Shel Silverstein. Three randomly selected participants will win all 8 titles that are featured in the HarperCollins back to school sweepstakes.

Back-to-School BooksBack-to-School Sweepstakes

Dove GoFresh Better Than Ever Contest

My life is better than ever because I married my husband and had children. My husband is such a wonderful man! He is there for me when ever I need him. As a mother I also now know how great a blessing having children can be. I received the biggest blessing with my daughter, Tatiana, who just recently passed away this April. She helped my life become better than ever because of her infinite love and happiness even though she had disabilities and had so many more trials than anyone should have ever needed to go through in the 6 years she was with us. She was such a beautiful, wonderful child and I miss her! My life is better than ever because I got to know Tatiana and be her mother.

Dove gofresh is sponsoring a Facebook photo contest. You can share your photos about what's "better than ever" for you on the Facebook contest page for a chance to win a spa weekend getaway in Sedona, AZ, and thousands of dollars worth of great prize packages from Dove gofresh!

Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Dove® gofresh™ blogging program, making me eligible to get a $25 gift card and a bottle of Dove® gofresh™ Revive body wash with NutriumMoisture™. For more information on how you can participate, click HERE.

Check out Dove^® gofresh™ with NutriumMoisture™Dove^® Better Than Ever Facebook Contest

Getting Kids To Embrace Summer Reading

If you have ever been to my house you know that we love books. We have almost every wall in our house lined with bookshelves and those shelves are covered in books. I try to read every chance I get. I love the learning that comes from opening a great book! Reading can be a great way to go to a new place that you've never been or to gain a new skill.

There was a time; however, when my oldest boy didn't like to read. He struggled with it and gave up on it several times. He, like so many other children that don't like to read, had a learning disability. He was slightly dyslexic and tested positive for ADD. I took him out of the public school setting after he finished kindergarten and decided I would homeschool. The one on one attention really helped him and we started a program called All About Spelling that helped him with learning the spelling rules for words so that he could read them easier. Some of which I was learning right along with him because I was really only taught phonetic spelling and reading of words when I was growing up. Anyway, he also started to love books because not only was he learning things from them, but he was learning how to read better and faster. His favorite books were from the I Can Read! series. They have books that are on 5 different levels...from shared reading to advanced.

Tips To Get Your Kids To Embrace Summer Reading:

1. Have books that your child will enjoy reading: If your child has a particular interest in something let them read about it. I got my boys a Encyclopedia of Dinosaurs and they poured through that book taking in everything because dinosaurs were something they had a big interest in at that time.

2. Make reading important to you: Have plenty of reading materials in your home, read often and become a good role model for your kids.

3. Sign up for your local library's Summer Reading Program: If your library participates in the Collaborative Summer Library Program (CSLP) they will undoubtedly have fun materials that will help kids want to read during the summer. Some libraries who don't participate in this particular program have their own program for summer. My kids received all kinds of goodies for signing up including bookmarks, reading lists according to age, a library book bag to carry books home they check out, and a sheet they can fill out that shows which books and how many books they read during the summer to receive another prize at the end. Also, a lot of libraries have other activities that go on there throughout the summer, so make sure you get a schedule of those.

4. Sign up for your local or online book store's Summer Reading Program: Besides the library some book stores also participate in summer reading programs. Here is a list of ones I know about: Barnes & Noble, Borders, Half Price Books, and Scholastic.

5. BOOK IT!: I remember doing this national reading incentive program when I was young in public school and now I do the homeschool version and get free Pizza Hut pizza for my homeschooled kids during the school year. If you homeschool or are a teacher at a public or private school the 2010-11 enrollment deadline is June 30...so hurry and you will get FREE BOOK IT! materials for the 2010-11 BOOK IT! Program for grades K-6. They also have a Summer Break with BOOK IT! Program where you can read to win prizes.

6. Summer Home Learning Recipes: Go to the America Reads Summer Reading Program website and click on the Recipes for Summer Fun link. These are great ideas for keeping learning...including reading strong during the summer.

7. Travel and read: Read books about where you are going to be traveling. Have your child read the brochures, pamphlets, etc. about where you are going. Travel with kids books and have them read in the car (be careful if your little one gets motion sickness) or at the destination. You can also listen to audio books while traveling.

8. Read to your kids: Younger kids love to be read to and even older kids sometimes love a break from reading themselves. Read to them not just at bedtime. Make chores fun by reading to them while they are working.

9. Make reading fun with food: Use ABC cookie cutters and make finger sandwiches, pancakes, or cookies to spell a word and have them read it. Alphabet soup, Alpha-Bits cereal, and ABC Pretzels are great to use to spell words and read them.

10. Get a subscription to a magazine for kids with topics in it that interest them: They will look forward to reading it every time a issue comes in the mail. HERE is a list of good ones to try.

11. Create a book club for your kids and their friends: Having their friends over to discuss a chapter in a book that they are all reading would be a great way to get your child to read during the summer.

Disclaimer: I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms blogging program to be eligible to get an "I Can Read!" book. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

I Can Read! BooksBecome an I Can Read! Member

Cooking with Canned Foods

TwitterMoms and their RAMBO, "Reach A Mom Blogger Online" ALERTS told me about a video called "Canned Food Field to Table" made by the Canned Food Alliance.

You Can Watch It Too:


I learned quite a bit about how foods become canned foods by watching the video. They don't loose as much nutrients as I previously thought would happen during the canning process and seem to retain most even compared to their fresh, cooked counterparts...some even retaining more when canned. For example I learned that: canned tomatoes contain more lycopene than fresh, cooked tomatoes; canned pumpkin contains 3 times more Vitamin A than fresh, cooked pumpkin and canned blueberries offer more antioxidants than fresh or frozen blueberries. Also, canned foods have a longer shelf life than fresh, bagged, or frozen foods. Fan the Canned Food Alliance on Facebook. Follow them on Twitter.

I would love to share a recipe that I made up from a lot of different ingredients I had lying around the house including some canned foods I had in my pantry. It is a Tortilla Soup that I just threw together one evening for dinner and it turned out really tasty. Even though I like to experiment with ingredients I usually come up with something that turns out yummy. Most the time I just eye a whole bunch of different recipes for the same thing and pull together what I like from each of them and then from there I don't look at the recipes again...I just cook. So, here it is in my own words. I hope that it makes sense...


Mexican Tortilla Chip Soup

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 celery stalks (washed and diced)
1 onion (peeled, washed and diced)
1 sweet red pepper (washed, de-seeded and diced)
1 spoonful of garlic (peeled and minced)
1 can of whole kernel corn (drained)
1 can of tomatoes and green chilies (diced)
1 can of kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cans of chicken broth
2 Tablespoons lime juice (can substitute lemon juice)
2 pinches of crushed chili pepper
1 dash of ground cumin
1 dash of garlic powder
1 dash of seasoned pepper
1 dash of red pepper (cayenne)
salt to taste


Additional Ingredients If Wanted Per Bowl:
1/2-1 avocado (peeled, sliced and pitted)
1 handful cilantro (washed and snipped)
1 handful cheddar cheese (shredded)
1 handful tortilla chips
1 dollop sour cream

Get out a large pot. Melt butter in the bottom of the pot on medium-low making sure all the bottom is coated. Place diced celery, onion, sweet red pepper, garlic, and corn into the pot and stir to saute in the butter. When the onions start looking see through or when sauteed to your liking add the can of diced tomatoes and green chilies to the pot and stir together. Then add kidney beans and black beans. Let simmer on medium-high until bubbling. Then add both cans of chicken broth and lime juice. Add crushed chili pepper, ground cumin, garlic powder, seasoned pepper, red pepper (cayenne) and salt to taste. Stir until it comes to a simmer. Dish out in bowls. Add avocado, cilantro, cheese, tortilla chips and sour cream to your bowl of soup if desired. Enjoy!!

DISCLAIMER: I received this information free from TwitterMoms and their RAMBO, "Reach A Mom Blogger Online" ALERTS. There is a partnership between the Canned Food Alliance and TwitterMoms for this campaign and blogging contest. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this post, but have been entered into a blogging contest for posting.

Getting Dinner Ready in a Flash Samsung Contest

TwitterMoms and Samsung is asking you what your 3 valid tips for getting dinner ready in a flash. Today is the last day to enter for your chance to win a Samsung Refrigerator (RFG297AARS).

With 4 children, a blog, and a husband I can get really busy sometimes. It is really easy for me to procrastinate and put dinner off until the very last minute. Sometimes prepackaged meals are the fastest dinner option at the time. Other times I find myself wanting to make a homemade meal for my family. To do this sometimes preparing a meal plan ahead of time needs to occur. I have to tell you that setting aside time to do a meal plan is one of the hardest things for me. Here are my 3 tips...

1. Pick a quick recipe 30 minutes or less including prep. time that you have all of the ingredients for. (Homemade soups, casseroles, or pastas are some of my favorites. One dish or one pot meals are the easiest.)

2. Use a crockpot. This is a lifesaver to getting dinner done fast. Just throw your ingredients in the night before or morning of and let it do the cooking. (Same goes for a rice cooker, bread maker, etc. These devices are supposed to make our lives easier.)

3. Use prepackaged, precut, preshredded, precooked ingredients in your cooking. (Stuff like pre-cut precooked frozen meats, preshredded cheese, precut veggies, boxed already seasoned grains...like couscous or rice, canned beans, etc. can really speed the cooking time.)

Sneaking Fruits & Veggies Into My Toddler’s Diet

I am a very big fan of eating healthy. Getting the right amount of fruits and veggies in my kids' meals is important to me and the task can be challenging at times. There are many ways I have hidden fruits and veggies in my kids' foods. Some of my kids are more picky than others. My youngest, Teela, isn't the pickiest of my bunch by any means as you can probably tell from the picture here of her eating broccoli. But hey, I would love to share some secrets I have tried to get her and my others to eat their veggies in particular...fruits I don't seem to have a problem with...unless you are discussing the eating habits of my developmentally delayed special needs child, Tatiana.

SOME IDEAS:
1. Fruit and veggie smoothies.
2. Fruit and veggie juice blends without added sugar or high fructose corn syrup. You can also make them into popsicles or frozen cubes.
3. Bake them into things. I love chocolate chip zucchini muffins :)
4. Make zucchini puffs, poor mans crab cakes, an omelet, or Okonomiyaki (A Japanese style pancake that you can put all sorts of things in.).
5. Have them make their own foods with ingredients you provide. Kids who cook or prepare it themselves (with a little help) usually end up also eating what they have made. Salads or fruit and veggie kabobs are wonderful to do this with!
6. Broccoli with cheese sauce. Classic!
7. Casseroles and Crock Pot meals loaded with veggies. Have your little one help you with what goes in it.
8. My kids think they are cool because they like "green paper", seaweed wraps for sushi, to eat plain. They think it is funny to eat them in front of someone who might think they were a bit strange for doing so.
9. Rename things in fun ways like the above "green paper"...broccoli could be mini trees, peas could be called "power peas", or spinach leaves could be "dinosaur scales", etc.
10. Have them help you in the garden...if they have picked it or grown it maybe they'll eat it.
11. Teach 'em while they are young. Read books to your baby and toddler about fruits and veggies and the importance of eating healthy.
12. Use Japanese Bento Boxes or be creative about serving the fruits and veggies. You can make all kids of fun creations from animals to faces the skies the limit!
13. Frozen fruit and veggies...some kids love to just eat them frozen...esp. good on a hot day!
14. Start early, offering your toddler lots of different types of foods and letting them see you eat and enjoy a variety of foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
15. Last but not least, I am going to give Little Blends a try.

ABOUT LITTLE BLENDS:
Little Blends from Horizon is an all-natural yogurt blend of fruits and vegetables that will help parents incorporate more nutrition and variety into their child’s diet. Each 4-ounce cup packs a daily value of 20 percent calcium, 25 percent protein, omega-3 DHA and probiotics. Parents will really love how Little Blends makes sneaking fruits and veggies so much easier. This new line is just one example of how Horizon continues to deliver nutritious food options that support healthier kids and a healthier planet.

Little Blends is an all-natural yogurt, meaning it’s produced without added growth hormones, artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. It is also created without high fructose corn syrup. It comes in three flavors: Banana and Sweet Potato, Apple and Butternut Squash, and Strawberry and Carrot.

Thank you TwitterMoms for telling me about Little Blends! Go to TwitterMoms and you can blog and tweet to win some cool prizes too.