Belly Bug

My little Belle got the stomach flu. For a glorious week. All of sudden signs - vomiting, dry heaving, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and fever. Watch out it's contagious. My three old caught it and combined with the tonsillectomy it was not so good. My hubby caught it and a host of other friends and relatives who had the pleasure of being around us. True to being a mom, I managed to avoid the bug. My tips - take your vitamins, mix and sip on Airborne, keep washing your hands, do not share drinks or food, clorox down your counters, door knobs, faucets, and toilets. Feed the sick: water, broths, bread, bananas, pasta, Gatorade, crackers, and sugar free Popsicles. Do not serve (I learned) peaches, grapes, apples (if vomiting), fruit juice, or dairy. Keep it bland and un-sexy. Let the flu ride it's course by sleeping as much as possible and avoid taking any anti-diarrhea medicine. Bien Suerte.

Say Ahhhh...

Snoring. Always tired. Sore throats. Ear infections. Sleep apnea. All signs your kid may need a tonsillectomy. Janae, my energetic three year old had her tonsils and adenoids taken out last Saturday. I couldn't of read enough blogs and articles to be prepared for what happened to her. She just wasn't herself for the first three days. My tips if your wee one gets them removed...talk about what will happen, there will be some pain, they can eat Popsicles and drink juice all the time. After the surgery your baby will return tired, cranky, filled with pain and whining. Get ready. Pamper them, cuddle, kiss and tell them how brave they are. Then keep the liquids going. The throat needs to stay wet otherwise it could bleed. Once home we battled it out about this time and time again and threatened a trip back to the hospital if water was not consumed. Here is a blog site and another site that helped me prepare. Foods to keep on hand - applesauce, jello, soup, gatorade, and oatmeal. So she could feel better, Janae did request a return to get her tonsils hours after the surgery. And stay on top of the meds for pain. Good luck.

Dinner then lunch

Give yourself some extra time in the morning and make your kid's lunch while you make dinner. I know. One more thing to do. But why not? I timed it and it takes me 15 minutes to make lunches in the morning. Here are some tips on speeding up the process: give everybody dinner left overs for lunch in pyrex glass containers, cut up a veggie for the week and place into a container, and place small snacks in a small reusable containers for easy refill and grab n go. If you are using plastic containers, avoid the ones with a 3, 6 or 7 on the bottom and don't microwave them. Here's why. Want reusable eco-friendly containers? Click here.

Silly Teeth

Tom's of Maine has a silly strawberry Children's toothpaste. I saw it and bought it. My daughters now REALLY enjoy brushing their teeth. There was joy before when we received a free tube of Crest's kiddie glitter blue toothpaste but now...forget it. I get squeals of delight when I announce it's time to brush. If you didn't know, Tom's of Maine creates natural, sustainable and responsible health care products. And hey, get the most from your toothpaste with this reusable handy squeeze it tool. Happy brushing.

Grab n' Go

I'm all about being more organized in 2009. Got a great tip from a co-worker I wanted to share. I tried it out yesterday and I can see the light. When you are folding laundry, take an extra second and fold together outfits (a top and a bottom). Then in the morning frenzy you can grab n' go without hesitation. And to be eco-friendly, how about having your child wear it one more time if there are no drips or stains. You could also play a game with them to get the folded clothes in the drawer. 09 is looking sweet.

Snowy Cupcakes

We got snow. A lot of it. So to pass the time, we used Janae's 3rd birthday gift, a Sassafras cupcake kit. Not so eco-friendly ingredients but oh so tasty. This one came with a spoon, cupcake liners, cupcake tray, mix, sprinkles, frosting and cute rhyming instructions. I didn't even check the various artificial ingredients it contained but the girls had fun helping mommy in the kitchen and those little cakes were dee-licious with a tall glass of milk. Zebra Mix is a company creating organic baking mix kits for kids. You can purchase simplified kits with mix, frosting and a Safari baking map on Amazon or Shop Organic for about $4.59 and one with all the bells and whistles. I am trying the Zebra chocolate chip cookie kit next time.

Get Creative

We purchased a doll house for my three old yesterday for Christmas. Well, we purchased two of them but one is going back. Janae wanted a Dora Doll House but that one is orange, plastic and kind of gaudy. The one we love is a pink and purple (her fav colors) and hand crafted wood with non-toxic paint Melissa and Doug house. Oh and did I mention the wood one is $40 cheaper on Amazon? So we are furnishing it with the Dora furniture and figures and will probably slap a big ole Dora sticker on the front of it. Toys R Us sells Wooderland, an eco-friendly line featuring non-toxic paints and rubber woods. Little more expensive but very cool.