I joined the Gym....eekkk!

I realize that i have been MIA lately. I don't have too many excuses except that i have been pretty busy. I have been spending more time than i ever thought i would at the YMCA. Yep i did it, i joined the Gym, deep breath......Actually it's going quite well and i feel a little better about myself already. I have only been going for a week and a half but i have high hopes that this is the time i drop some weight!

I joined with one of my favorite gals and it's so much more fun to workout with a friend....and it's so nice to talk without little voices interrupting us every 2 seconds....i think we are both quite enjoying it.

I will be back tomorrow with a project that i have been working on and it's almost finished!

Helping your car sick child

I have been thinking about our summer Utah trip lately and how i have got to make it a more enjoyable experience for all involved. I am talking about the 14 hour drive to get there and to get home. My oldest gets car sick. He has never thrown up in the car but he is usually in the back seat crying that he feels sick and has to get out of the car, that is usually about 1 hour into the trip.

I decided to do a little research and try to be prepared this time. I thought i would share my findings with all of you in case you have the same problems with your little ones.

I found this helpful information on momsminivan.com:

Tips for Prevention or Treatment of Car Sickness

• Peppermints...lots of LifeSaver Peppermints, or peppermint candies. Keep a supply in the car
• Ginger snap cookies. Eat a couple before you start the trip and then periodically during the trip. This tip was recommended by several readers!
• Avoid reading in the car, particularly on winding bumpy roads. Be sure to keep eye focus mainly to front. This helps the brain process sensory data and avert the vertigo.
• Use Seabands, which are wrist bands with a small round metal button that presses into the inside of each wrist. They are tight & work by acupressure. Some people swear by them! Also called, "No Queeze Wrist Bands"
• Place the child in the middle of the backseat so they can see out the front, rather than the sides, which can appear as a blur.
• Pick a spot as far away as you can see and just focus on that for a few minutes not the road whizzing by
• Breath deep through your mouth, not your nose.
• Stick your hand out the window, just a little bit; whether it is 100 degrees or 10 degrees.
• Fresh water and saltine crackers
• Keep empty 3-pound butter tubs in the van with their covers, so that in case of an accident, you can re-cover the tub until you reach a place you can empty and rinse it out.
• Keep plenty of lollipops on hand. You can even get special motion sickness ones called Queasy Pops.
• A cool face cloth. The minute someone feels that urge come on, hand them a peppermint and have them place the cool face cloth on their forehead.
• Ginger root capsules, ginger ale and plain cake donuts!!
• An ice pack applied to the back of the neck -- ten minutes on, ten minutes off -- works wonders.
• Wear wrap around sun glasses
• Take Benadryl or Drammamine 1-1/2 hour prior to drive. Don't wait until you are already on the road or it will be too late. Consult a doctor if necessary before using!(You May not be able to use Drammamine with young children, read the age warnings, also Benadryl makes some children hyper as apposed to sleepy, just a heads up on that)
  
• Keep a bottle of Fabreeze to get rid of accident odors
• Never travel without a big tub of wet wipes!
• Keep an extra change of clothing easily available for all travelers

I think there are a lot of great tips in that article and i plan on using several of them the next time we make that LONG trip to Utah.

On a somewhat related note...Do any of you own one of these? Found on Amazon

Have any of you sworn that you NEVER would own one of these? I did, until i had boy #2. I will be purchasing one of these as soon as he refuses to be strapped into a stroller, which is coming soon. I use to make fun of them and say that i would never put my child on a leash but.....boy #2 usually acts like a out of control puppy so i guess i should leash him like one. Really he is all over the place and i actually think he would like this cuddly restraint system. It would be great for the airport or zoo i think.

Do any of you have kids that get car sick? If so do you have any tips to add? I am hoping to find one of the above remedies that works on our next road trip.

- Jaime

Full Moon = Out of Control Kids?

Ever notice a certain few days out of the month when your kids are just down right out of control? It doesn't happen every month at our house but i have noticed that every 2-4 months around the time it's a full moon, my 5yr old especially is just a bear to be around. He has his days every so often but there are certain months that there really is almost a force that comes over him and I'm all but out of control.

I have been really intrigued by the myth that change in the weather or particularly a full moon, will in fact change the behavior in some people.

I have discussed this with my son's past preschool teacher. She told me that her and all the other teachers at the center definitely notice a change in behavior when it's a full moon or there is a drastic change in weather, stormy days, windy days, ect.
I have also heard that hospitals, police stations, ect. tend to get crazy during a full moon

I researched it a bit and some astrologer's believe that individuals who are born at certain times of the month will be more likely to be affected by environmental changes.

On the website WikiAnswers.com i got this information....

Moon Phases and People:

It affects behavior in all things even plants.
Think of the Wolf howling at the moon?
Certain plant species ding abnormal things while its full or new.
It also affects the weather which of course affects living things.
Think of the saying, "Where did all these crazy people come from?It must be a full moon!"
Its somewhat true, it changes things globally only subtly but enough to affect behaviors.
There has never been adequate studies done on this, it would be very difficult to get accurate results and very expensive and time consuming.

While there is no clear cut proof that a full moon is the reason why your 5 year old is acting like a complete lunatic i think there is definitely some truth to it. I am looking forward to hopefully getting my sweet little boy back in the next couple of days, and to not hearing the coyote's howling me to sleep at night. They sure are pretty to look at but I'm not such a huge fan of the full moon anymore.

Have any of you noticed your kiddo's acting different under a full moon??

-Jaime

Neti Pot Review

So i have felt pretty crappy for the last couple of weeks. I am finally starting to get rid of this junk but i wanted to share with you the story behind my discovery of this thing called the Neti Pot.
I started feeling that tickle in the back of my throat on Sunday night a couple of weeks ago
and i just hoped and prayed but, it came anyway.

I hardly slept a wink all night, i tried and tried but i am not a mouth breather, you know what i mean, i can't sleep with my mouth open, i try but it's always a no go. I took sudafed but still the sinus infection plagued my every hour. I got through the night and had a little bit better night the next night. I at least had one working nostril, i was very happy with that. I know too much information but stay with me here.

The next day while talking to my neighbor she told me about the Neti Pot. "What i said, you want me to smoke pot?" No she didn't tell me to smoke pot. She told me about this nifty yet so disgusting invention called the Neti Pot. It is supposed clear out your sinus, which i was all about.

So i tried it and it was definitely very strange and pretty gross if i am being totally honest but it did work pretty well. While it didn't totally cure my sinus infection it definitely helped. Google it to see how it works, i don't want to get too into the snotty details. Oh what i wouldn't have done to have one of these years ago. I had REALLY bad sinus infections at the beginning of both of my pregnancy's. One was so bad that it was putting so much pressure on my nasal passage that it was giving me a tooth ache, weird i know. I was calling 24hr dentists in the middle of the night because i was sure my tooth was about to explode. It didn't and i was sent home with a sinus infection to thank for a unnecessary dental bill.

Anyway my point is that no matter how gross and disgusted you are by this post and no matter how weird you think i am right now, some day you are going to have a horrible sinus infection and you are going to think of this post and start searching for a neti pot.

This second picture is really uncalled for but i laughed so hard when i saw it i nearly peed my pants so of course i had to include it. And yep that's exactly how it works.