Big fan of the Queen of Clean! Looks like a neat product. I'm not sure if I'll order the Baseboard buddy, but I will definitely be using her cleaning solution recipe! Her concoctions always make cleaning much easier and fume free.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Queen of Clean tests Baseboard Buddy | azfamily.com Phoenix
Queen of Clean tests Baseboard Buddy | azfamily.com Phoenix
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
The Domestic Professional • Be nice, be honest, and get out of your PJs! ...
The Domestic Professional • Be nice, be honest, and get out of your PJs! ...
Let's be honest, one of the perks of being a full-time mom is not really having to get dressed if you don't want to (she typed while wearing sweats and a tank top sans shoes, bra, and make up). Point being, it's really easy to neglect our appearance. Once we start overlooking the small things, it's all too easy to start letting the bigger things slide (i.e. manners and kindness toward others). I'm a huge fan of Tim Gunn, and I think this excerpt from his book has good reminders for us all!
Let's be honest, one of the perks of being a full-time mom is not really having to get dressed if you don't want to (she typed while wearing sweats and a tank top sans shoes, bra, and make up). Point being, it's really easy to neglect our appearance. Once we start overlooking the small things, it's all too easy to start letting the bigger things slide (i.e. manners and kindness toward others). I'm a huge fan of Tim Gunn, and I think this excerpt from his book has good reminders for us all!
Friday, July 8, 2011
Deciding to Have a Child
I stole this quote from a friend's FB post. I think Elizabeth Stone pretty well summed it up...
“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” --Elizabeth Stone
“Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” --Elizabeth Stone
Thursday, July 7, 2011
When Eating Is a Challenge for Your Child
Let me start by saying that I am incredibly blessed and lucky to have a healthy and happy three-year-old! By all accounts she is doing great - she's in the 99th percentile for height and the 95th percentile for weight. So what's the problem?! The problem is that we have a really difficult time getting her to eat. I'm not talking about the usual feeding challenges faced by the parents of many children (though I certainly don't want to minimize their challenge). I am talking about having a child with severe texture aversions to food.
When my daughter was an infant, she was a great eater! The transition from formula to cereal to baby food was uneventful. With baby food (1 & 2), she would eat anything except beef. We continually gave her different combinations of food and looked for new flavors. In fact, I often thought "Wow! We really lucked up and she is going to be a good eater!" This changed when we tried to transition to number 3 foods. She consistently choked and/or threw up. Now, remember, she had no problem with cereal (even when it was thick and lumpy). Bananas and any other soft foods - same thing. She would choke and/or throw up. It was terrifying! Every time mealtime rolled around, I was a nervous wreck! Crackers, Gerber puffs, & french fries - she gobbled down with no problem whatsoever! This went on for a while. I consulted her pediatrician, who said that he couldn't find any physical reason for this response, and to continue presenting different foods to her. He thought that she would eventually start eating other foods. All of this was okay since she was still eating her number 2 foods, so I knew that she was getting some nutrition. Month by month I kept thinking she would start eating non-pureed food.
Well, eventually she was tired of eating number 2 foods. She was over two years old and was clearly over strained food! When we again met with her pediatrician (Who, by the way, is wonderful! He is very knowledgeable and up to speed on all the latest research and best practices for treatment. - Point being, IMO, he's a top notch physician who is not used to seeing this level of eating difficulty.) he gave me the contact information for an eating therapist. As he said, she was growing and developing very well, but if I felt like the situation wasn't getting better or if it started getting worse that this was the next step. Well, I took the information and decided to wait and see. This was in May. It progressively got worse over the next couple of months. Every meal was a struggle to get her to eat anything but crunchy foods. We were supplementing her caloric and nutritional intake with multiple bottles of whole milk (yes, she was still taking a bottle since that was the only way we could get her to drink milk) a liquid vitamin (which she had been taking since transitioning from formula to milk), and liquid DHA. I tried to convince myself that everything was fine - she was getting enough calories, vitamins, and nutrients, right?
In August, we took a trip to the beach. This was the week that she decided she was completely finished with baby food. She refused to eat anything other than crackers, juice, and milk. In a panic, I went to the grocery store and bought every flavor of Pediasure made. She wouldn't even try it. I kept thinking that "she'll eat when she gets hungry." It was a very long week, and I was really worried. Actually, I was scared. As soon, as we got home, I called and scheduled an assessment with the eating therapist.
Really long story, a tiny bit shorter, she has an extreme aversion to some food textures. Most importantly, my thinking that she would eat when she got hungry...completely WRONG! The reality is that children with severe texture aversions would literally starve rather than eat.
**This is the first part of an ongoing series. I will be sharing our journey - which is ongoing. Almost a year later, it's a big deal if we can get her to lick a piece of corn and touch (yes, just touch) applesauce. Trying to find crunchy foods that have any level of nutrient density is a challenge. I'll be sharing some of the foods we've found and anything else that has helped.
When my daughter was an infant, she was a great eater! The transition from formula to cereal to baby food was uneventful. With baby food (1 & 2), she would eat anything except beef. We continually gave her different combinations of food and looked for new flavors. In fact, I often thought "Wow! We really lucked up and she is going to be a good eater!" This changed when we tried to transition to number 3 foods. She consistently choked and/or threw up. Now, remember, she had no problem with cereal (even when it was thick and lumpy). Bananas and any other soft foods - same thing. She would choke and/or throw up. It was terrifying! Every time mealtime rolled around, I was a nervous wreck! Crackers, Gerber puffs, & french fries - she gobbled down with no problem whatsoever! This went on for a while. I consulted her pediatrician, who said that he couldn't find any physical reason for this response, and to continue presenting different foods to her. He thought that she would eventually start eating other foods. All of this was okay since she was still eating her number 2 foods, so I knew that she was getting some nutrition. Month by month I kept thinking she would start eating non-pureed food.
Well, eventually she was tired of eating number 2 foods. She was over two years old and was clearly over strained food! When we again met with her pediatrician (Who, by the way, is wonderful! He is very knowledgeable and up to speed on all the latest research and best practices for treatment. - Point being, IMO, he's a top notch physician who is not used to seeing this level of eating difficulty.) he gave me the contact information for an eating therapist. As he said, she was growing and developing very well, but if I felt like the situation wasn't getting better or if it started getting worse that this was the next step. Well, I took the information and decided to wait and see. This was in May. It progressively got worse over the next couple of months. Every meal was a struggle to get her to eat anything but crunchy foods. We were supplementing her caloric and nutritional intake with multiple bottles of whole milk (yes, she was still taking a bottle since that was the only way we could get her to drink milk) a liquid vitamin (which she had been taking since transitioning from formula to milk), and liquid DHA. I tried to convince myself that everything was fine - she was getting enough calories, vitamins, and nutrients, right?
In August, we took a trip to the beach. This was the week that she decided she was completely finished with baby food. She refused to eat anything other than crackers, juice, and milk. In a panic, I went to the grocery store and bought every flavor of Pediasure made. She wouldn't even try it. I kept thinking that "she'll eat when she gets hungry." It was a very long week, and I was really worried. Actually, I was scared. As soon, as we got home, I called and scheduled an assessment with the eating therapist.
Really long story, a tiny bit shorter, she has an extreme aversion to some food textures. Most importantly, my thinking that she would eat when she got hungry...completely WRONG! The reality is that children with severe texture aversions would literally starve rather than eat.
**This is the first part of an ongoing series. I will be sharing our journey - which is ongoing. Almost a year later, it's a big deal if we can get her to lick a piece of corn and touch (yes, just touch) applesauce. Trying to find crunchy foods that have any level of nutrient density is a challenge. I'll be sharing some of the foods we've found and anything else that has helped.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
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