Month: April 2015
There is a tiny bit of Good Baby Advice
When you are pregnant, and after you have your little bundle of joy, you get bombarded from all directions with unsolicited advice. Friends, family, your doctors and even strangers feel the need to tell you: what you will need, what you will want, what you should and what you shouldn’t do with your baby. A few words of caution: most of the advice you will receive will be utterly worthless. Did you read that, utterly worthless! But…a few randomly tossed pieces of advice will stick to you like glue and you will rack your post pregnancy brain to no end trying to remember what saint of a person delivered you such advice so you can send them a Thank You note with a gift card for their genius.
1. Have a diaper party and buy diapers once every paycheck while you are pregnant. If you aren’t part of the cloth diaper revolution I suggest you start stocking up on diapers! This technique lets your wallet feel the pain in advance and then if you get in a pinch with money a little later on your baby’s butt can still be covered. Buy all different sizes newborn-6. Yes, it will take up some of your precious storage, but let me tell you how awesome it is to NOT have to buy diapers all the time during the first year of baby’s life, you just open the door to the closet and, wham, take your pick. (On a side note your husband will thank you for not having to make a run to the store in the middle of the night because you thought you had enough diapers to make it through until morning. He got his fill of that when you sent him for hummus and watermelon at midnight while you were pregnant.)
2. Sleep when baby sleeps. I think a lot of us have heard this one and don’t think much of it, until we actually do it! I cannot tell you how much you should heed this advice! I still do this and my baby is almost two! Most mothers are sleep deprived and can use every extra wink of sleep they can get. If you put your baby down for a nap and try to accomplish anything, that little sucker will wake right up, babies have a sixth sense that kicks in anytime you try to get something done and they will immediately put a stop to progress of any kind. If you sleep while they are sleeping, you feel better and I swear they sleep for longer because they can sense they aren’t missing anything. (For hands free cleaning try wearing baby in a sling/carrier of sorts.)
3. Get a good baby monitor. You will appreciate this for the few nights the baby actually sleeps in their own bed. You can spy on your spouse while they are in with the baby, so you know if you need to come flying in to fix something they are doing wrong. And if you need to go outside for a minute to scream and release a little tension of your own, you can watch your little angel on the monitor to make sure your own screaming doesn’t in turn cause their screaming.
4. Find a good online mommy group and join! Because, let’s face it, the only other people that are awake at 2:30 in the morning who willimmediately respond to a question you post (because they are also up) is another mom. If you have a good mommy group you can post all sorts of questions you are too embarrassed to ask your friends or family and you will get NO JUDGEMENT because they know exactly what you are talking about and want to help you through it the best they can!
All the advice on what items you need for baby are opinions. Different things work for different babies and parents. Take all this advice with a grain of salt (even mine). It’s all trial and error when it comes to yourbaby. You will hear people say you can’t live without “blah, blah, blah”… but the truth is, if you didn’t know it existed, you might just be able to.
Cheers!
Quote of the Day
Laughter is timeless,
imagination has no age,
and dreams are forever.
-Walt Disney
(This one is for my sister. <3)
Menu Planning
One thing that I have learned is that when you’re on a budget it helps to have your meals planned when you go grocery shopping. Planning out your meals can seem like a tedious, time consuming waste of time when you first start out, but once you take your first trip to the grocery store buying what is on your list for meals (and anything else planned for snacks or paper/toiletry products) the savings starts to add up.
There are some wonderful websites that can help you with meal planning. There are subscriptions to meal planning services for small fees. Or you can just plan your own meals using recipes you already use on a fairly regular basis and than jazz it up by trying a new recipe once a week. You can plan your meals weekly or monthly. You can write down your meal plan on a sheet of paper or display it on a whiteboard or chalkboard in the kitchen so the family has in on the action. Put down what you plan to eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner and don’t forget to include snacks. I also like to pick one or two what I call back up meals for in case you forget to take out something to thaw. I also recommend to pick one night a week where you can eat left overs or designate one day a week as crockpot night because coming home and not having to cook is just plain awesome (and sometimes you just get burned out from cooking all the time, or at least I do.)
Now it’s time to make your grocery list. Refer to your recipes if need be so you don’t forget anything. You will find most spices and some staples (like butter or flour) you already have in the kitchen, so you won’t have to include them on the list, but double check just in case. After you have the lists taken from the meal plan/recipes, don’t forget to include your toilet paper or toiletries.
Time to grocery shop! The hard part of grocery shopping is not straying from the list. Don’t be tempted to buy a bunch of stuff that’s not on your list. Those impulse buys are the ones that will blow your budget. Go grocery shopping weekly (or in my case bi weekly as I almost always forget one important thing on my list like bread, or butter or toilet paper and sometimes I like to go bi weekly so my veggies are fresher). Only buy what you need for the meals you’ve planned so you aren’t wasting as much money. I promise, the longer you do this the more it turns into a habit and the easier it becomes. You will soon have the recipes ingrained in your head or have them so easily accessible you just have to do a quick double check while you’re in the store to make sure you haven’t forgotten everything.
The plus side to menu planning is the hour it took you to plan the meals will really pay off during the week, not just in money savings but it lowers your stress because you already know what you will be cooking for dinner. Meals don’t have to be elaborate, it just helps if they’re planned out.
A Journey in Making Your Own Household Products- Bug Spray
I live in the great state of Texas where we have mosquitos the size of golfballs. When I first had my son I decided fairly quickly that I didn’t want to use anymore chemical crap on him than absolutely necessary so I looked into making my own bug spray. I looked over some recipes online and decided to try this one from Jenae at Icanteachmychild.com http://www.icanteachmychild.com/make-it-natural-mosquito-spray/ I altered it a little and this is the formula I came up with:
BUG SPRAY
a bottle of Witch Hazel
12-15 drops Lemongrass Essential Oil
12-15 drops Citronella Essential Oil
12-15 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil
15-20 drops of Lavender Essential Oil (or a few more to make the smell tolerable)
I recommend using gloves when handling essential oils to avoid getting any excess oils on your hands (I promise you do not want to walk around for the day smelling like citronella). Mix the ingredients listed above in a glass container and pour the mixture into a METAL or GLASS spray bottle(s). Essential Oils can eat through plastic over time so I alwaysrecommend using metal or glass.
CAUTION: This formula is Not recommended for use in babies under 6 months old! There is little research of essential oil use on babies and children so it is best to use your own judgement and do your own research to decide if you feel comfortable using essential oils on yourself or your child. Lavender, Tea Tree and Citronella Essential Oils are generally regarded as safe for babies 6 months and older. Lemongrass is generally regarded as safe for children 2 and up. I always recommend to test the product on an adult first (um, that would be you) before use on a child. I also recommend to do a patch test of the product on any new users by testing the product on a small area of skin before slathering it on your whole body, you know, just in case.
General Safety:
- Keep out of reach of children and pets
- If swallowed immediately contact poison control and do not try to induce vomiting.
- If product gets in eyes flush with milk than water
- Keep away from heat
- Do not leave in direct sunlight
For more safety tips go to https://www.naha.org/explore-aromatherapy/safety/#general
Find Essential Oils at:
Disclaimer: All information on this blog is for educational and informational purposes only. The statements/products on this website have not been evaluated by the FDA or any other organization. Products and/or information are not intended to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent any diseases. Readers are advised to do their own research and make their own decisions and refer to their own healthcare provider regarding anything health related.
FTC disclosure: I may receive monetary compensation for my endorsement/recommendation/testimonial and or link to retail products in this article to support my blogging habit. I will never link to a retail provider I have not used. I will only link to providers I would personally recommend
Spring Brings Ode de Skunk
Spring is the time when you start seeing all sorts of little critters meandering about. Around us, spring means the perfume of skunks starts to permeate the air. If you have been fortunate enough to never have had a close and personal encounter with a skunk thank your lucky stars! If you are like me and you have had a few encounters you understand when I say once you’ve smelled skunk spray up close and personal, it never smells the same again. I still choke just a little everytime “ode de skunk” fills the air.
My first encounter with the mighty skunk perfume was thanks to our loving dog. In the wee hours of the dawn during her morning potty break she encountered her first skunk. The sun hadn’t made its appearance yet so I didn’t witness the event, but as I called the dog to return to the house I heard a yelp from the far back corner of our yard and Sadie came running towards the house full speed. She had some sort of goop on her snout. I went to wipe the goop off with her foot towel when the smell hit me like a freight train. Really? A Skunk? What the heck do I do now? Remembering a Co-worker had stated his dog had had numerous encounters I texted him for a remedy, I let my boss know I was going to be in a little late to take care of my little problem, and then I called the vet for advice… This is when I learned how to deskunk the dog.
First I washed her off with dawn dish soap. Then I mixed up the following recipe of three things I actually had on hand…
1 qt of hydrogen peroxide
1/14 cup of baking soda
1 TSP dawn Dish Soap
I mixed the ingredients in a bowl and took them outside to the dog. (I highly recommend you keep the stinky offender outside during this process.) I put all the mix on the dog. I was told the longer you leave on the mixture the better so I put her in her kennel and left for work. I came back at lunch to rinse her off and then bathed her with the dawn again. I toweled her off and left her in the sun to dry. The difference in smell was amazing! There was still a slight hint of noxious odor, but unless you leaned in for a good sniff she was now worthy of re-entering into the house.
Some words of caution
- I have read that hydrogen peroxide can bleach fur so you shouldn’t leave it on the animal too long.
- Do NOT get the misture in the animals eyes, if you do flush immediately!
- Do NOT save the mixture or make it ahead of time, the combination of ingredients can become unstable and explode.
I really hope you never have to use this recipe, but in case you have an adventurous animal… at least you have it!
