Well, I took the plunge and just went ahead and bought my own domain to blog on! Hurrah! So if you are following me here, can you please wander on over to www.barefootinmykitchen.com and check out my new site there? All the posts have been imported there, and it is still WordPress formatting.
Please keep in mind that the move is still a work in progress. Having issues with a couple features they don’t affect the posts and hopefully they are worked out ASAP.
Thanks!
I have pulled together a button for you to use on your blogroll if you choose to do so. Drop me an email at barefootinmykitchen@gmail.com and let me know you have followed me and added my button, and if you include a link to your blog I will follow you and add your button to my blogroll as well!
I love reading blogs of almost ANY topic and I am always looking for new ones to read!!
It has arrived. Flu season. According to the CDC’s flu page, November is a typical beginning of the flu season, but most of the time February is the peak month for the seasonal flu. So, it is time to kick those precaution efforts into high gear!
So, as promised on Twitter, here is a post on some tips to help your family avoid spreading the flu and other bugs…
First of all, the cardinal rule is to wash your hands often. I myself do not use antibacterial soap at all times, but after bathroom trips and during flu season it is used at every sink in my home. A little tip for kids is to have them sing the ABC’s while washing their hands. This usually is about the amount of time needed to get hands clean. You can also utilize a hand sanitizer such as GermX. This is NOT a replacement for good handwashing, but use in between hand washings can always help. I use GermX each time I wipe a nose and after washing my hands following a diaper change. I also use it before feeding infants or preparing meals in addition to washing my hands.
Some other illness prevention cleaning tips include:
Some other tips include sneezing or coughing into the bend of your elbow, minimizing the surfaces you touch (both to not spread germs should be ill and to not come in contact with flu germs), and of course staying home if you are not well. Your employer would much rather you take a day off than have 5 others take a day off after you pass a virus on to them.
www.cdc.gov/flu has great tips on flu symptoms and prevention.
Keep healthy!!
So, Tuesday night. Nothing special about it, right? Monday, it’s the first day of the week. Blah. Monday, Monday… Wednesday, well for many of us this is filled with church functions such as religious education or ministry organizations (I sing in my church’s santuary choir and play handbells). Thursday, well… the week is almost over! For us, this is family dinner night since it is the only night of the week all 5 of us are usually together. Friday, of course, is the start of the weekend. So, what about poor little Tuesday?
My husband, along with the husbands of a few friends, plays on a pool league on Tuesdays. It is also my most stressful work day as I have 2 infants all day. And I have now stumbled upon my sweet relief. 24/7 Moms and their live webast!!
I have added a button to my side bar and as you can see, they have shows at 7pm and 9pm pacific. For me, this is 9pm and 11pm. My boys go to bed at 8:30, so the timing is perfect! Hurrah!
There are weekly topics, this weeks include meal ideas for busy families, crock pot recipes, and a Nestle halloween pumpkin demo. As usual, there will be awesome giveaways (I won a book about a cat named Moe who travels through the holidays, and get this… it is a scratch & sniff book!!) and plenty of mom-versation in the chat room. The 24/7 moms chat along for a while after each hour long show.
So, as they say… put the kids in bed, throw on your PJs, and surf over to www.247moms.com!!
Time for my first product review! I hope to review a product every week or two. This week I want to take the time to tell you about Norwex products. You can see their company website HERE.
I was introduced to Norwex by one of my daycare clients. She started selling Norwex this summer as a way to make some extra income. I offered to host a party because I was intrigued by these products. Norwex products are environmentally friendly, which is great! I was first drawn to them because of how much money they save me, but after my party I love this product because of how well it all works! The products are mainly in 2 catergories. Cleaning products and personal care products. I haven’t used the personal care products, but look forward to trying them in the future. If my pocketbook allowed, I would try it all! So I will focus on the cleaning products.
Their cleaning tools work by using antibacterial microfiber technology. The fibers are integrated with silver particles, which is how they maintain their antibacterial benefits. Bacteria cannot survive silver exposure! No chemicals are involved, making it healthy for your family and the environment.
I think a focus product for them is their mop system. There are 2 sizes (13″ and 20″) and it is a piece by piece product, although you can order a set for a reduced price. My home has smooth laminte wood flooring, not all that high quality I don’t believe, and so it shows every little foot print and hair. Having almost a dozen children here most days, you can imagine the messes. I mop at least my kitchen daily, mop the rest of the wood flooring 2-3x a week and mop the stairs, foyer, and laundry room once a week (faux stone linoleum). The products I had used in the past left a disgusting film, causing that nasty sticky or ripping noise when you walked. I used varius floor cleaners and a few different rag mops, I used the wetjet daily and was not impressed… even though I loved this item at my old home with our nice textured laminate wood floors, I tried mopping with dishsoap, and finally just used the wetjet pads and handle with a bottle of vinegar and water. The last combination worked the best, but still that film remained. It was also a hassle to spray, put down the bottle, then scrub. And while I personally don’t mind the smell of vinegar, my family members whined and moaned when I mopped and our house smelled of vinegar for an hour or so.
After using the mop system, my floors are divine! Absolutely divine! From my party, I received the 20″ mop set (dry and wet pads, base, and telescoping handle) as a hostess prize. The dry pad picks up everything. Well, within reason. It doesn’t pick up larger items like rocks and leaves tracked in my the kids and their parents, but I can sweep my living room, kitchen, hallway, and main bathroom very quickly with this and I just work my way into the kitchen were I do use a dustpan to pick up the pile. It is faster, reaches way under my furniture, traps all the dust and pet hair, and I can adjust the handle to any height. Then once a day, since as I said I have a LOT of traffic in my house, I take the pad off and take it outside where I can brush it off with their rubber brush. That’s it. Piece of cake!
Their wet mop pad I simply wet down in my kitchen sink and squeeze out the excess, lay it on the floor, stick the base and handle to it (it all works with velcro!) and go to town. No cleaners. No buckets. No spray bottle. On extra messy days, like spaghetti days, I can rinse it out as needed in the sink and not be using up a product like with the disposable pads. When I am done, I simply rinse well… I use my dish sprayer, squeeze out the extra, and let it dry. Mine usually hangs over my faucet for a while but I just keep it under my sink.
Isn’t that easy? But how well does it clean? As I said, my floors are just so clean and film free now. Easy to use AND a high quality clean! But what’s the price you ask? You have to find a consultant to get a catalog with prices, I believe they vary by country, but I can tell you that here in the midwest, my 20″ mop system runs about $100 full price. I sat down and did the math and would have purchsed this if I hadn’t received it from my party prizes. Figure in the cost of your current system, over the course of a year or more. With this, ALL you need is the system. No cleaners, no disposable pads, and you get the high quality ANTIBACTERIAL clean!
I am a believer and will not turn back!
In addition to their mop system, I also purchased or received their enviro cloth, a basic catch-all cleaning cloth and their window cloth. These 2 cloths clean my whole house. I dust with them, clean windows and countertops, bathrooms, you name it! I use the enviro cloth wet and then dry with the window cloth and everything is shiny. No chemicals, no dust in the air. I also purchased some of their baby wash cloths to use for my daycare children. I have seen IMMEDIATE savings from these. Keep in mind that I have at least half a dozen children here for each meal, sometimes more, but I used to use baby wipes to clean them up after meals. 6-8 wipes aren’t much at once, but 3 meals puts me at 24 wipes a day or almost a half of a box each week just for lunchtime clean up… and that is not accounting for those messier meals like pastas with sauce. I personally used to purchase a box of Huggies wipes every week or two. Figured that made sense since I have a large number of diapers to change. But when I received my Norwex cloths and stopped using wipes for lunch, I actually only need a box of wipes every 6-8 weeks! WHAT a difference! Plus, they are way easier to use, much more thorough of a cleaning. And again, no chemicals! I simply have a cloth for each child that I hang on a bar near my sink. They are antibacterial, so I use the same cloth all week. Red sauce is no match for these either, it all rinses away.
For maintenance, I do wash all my Norwex stuff each weekend and dry with NO dryer sheet. A typical household could probably go much longer, but having a daycare here and the amount of dirt it produces, I do this weekly. The only things to avoid are bleach or bleach alternative and dryer sheets. You get a detailed description of care instructions when you order your products, that that right there is the bulk of it!
As for the cleaning products, I have tried their cleaning paste and their toilet system. I am in love with both of these! The cleaning paste lasts forever, so the $25 price tag is easy to swallow. And it takes anything off of any surface. It cleaned those awful black rings from my ceramic stovetop. Made my bathtub glisten! And it even took all the grime off the door to our garage! After all that and weeks of use, there is barely a dent in the product! The toilet system is also a bit spendy at $46 here, but it lasts for a year and I will say it does a remarkable job in my toilets. I was using those disposable pads with the handles and figured they were costing me $2 a week as I have 2 bathrooms. This is costing me less than $1 per week and the cleaning quality is awesome. And again, both are free of toxins and dangerous chemicals.
Their personal care items, while I haven’t tried them, warrant a mention as well. These products are organic and free of chemicals just as the cleaning products are.
If you have any questions about these products, please comment below! I can surely find out for you. I can also put you in contact with a favorite consultant of mine if you wish to order. She does ship! I am personally looking forward to adding their laundry care products to my collection sometime this month!!
Welcome to class!
If you are reading this, you are probably at the very least interested in slings and other baby carriers. I will provide here a basic explanation of various slings and carriers, but I have found the best way to figure out which one is right for YOU is to try them out. You can often find babywearing and attachment parenting groups through networking sites such as Facebook or MeetUp. La Leche League meetings usually are thick with experienced babywearers, if only for the sheer fact that one big advantage to using many slings is the ability to nurse hands free.
I myself own a small fleet of various slings and they all have their advantages. My personal stash, as they tend to be called, includes a WAHM mei tai that I purchased through the classifieds on www.thebabywearer.com, an Ella Roo brand wrap, 2 Moby brand wraps, a Hotslings brand pouch, and a Gypsy Mama brand water wrap. I have had others, but some had to go in order to fund the others. I will give a quickie review of these specific slings before I go into detail on others styles and brands.
My WAHM mei tai is by far my favorite, simply because it is easy to get on and off and easy to store (more on this technique in a moment). It is quite limited in carries though as most mei tai carriers are and I use it only as a front or back carrier with the child facing me. The panel is too wide to use it facing out for younger children. If I did use it later on into toddlerhood, which is entirely possible as my 3rd child is 14 months old now, then he may be comfortable with that panel width.
My Ella Roo wrap is gorgeous. It is a gorgeous green fabric with lots of bright colored threads runing through it. This was my first sling, purchased from Peppermint. I can do a wide array of carries with this. It has just a little stretch to it, unlike the Moby brand wraps which are quite stretchy. I don’t mind either’s amount of stretch, but wanted to note this in case one of my readers is seeking one or the other. I have done back, front, side, facing in, facing out, and variations of each. It is a bit bulky for storing and I use this one at home mostly, just because I am quite protective of it and don’t want to soil it by trying to get it arranged while standing in a parking lot.
My Moby wraps get used much more than my Ella Roo just because they are more washable and cost me much less. I purchased both used on ebay and The Baby Wearer’s classifieds. One is blue and never leaves my van, except to be used of course! The other is a cream color that as expected can get dirty easily. This is my “special occasion” sling since it can look great with any outfit I am wearing. Again, I have used these for numerous styles of carry.
My Hotsling pouch almost was sacrificed for another a couple years ago. I purchased this on Peppermint when my 1st son was just a few weeks old and we hated it. He screamed and greatly disliked it and so therefore I found no benefit or pleasure from it either. I figured it was junk and needed to go! Then along came my 2nd son and he loves this sling and it actually spent quite a few months in our diaper bag. This just a prime example of why you should try to experiment with slings before purchasing a certain one.
My Gypsy Mama water wrap I purchased from a friend and highly recommend this style of wrap to everyone! Yes, it is great for the pool and water parks, and it did get a great deal of use in that way and it was for this use I originally purchased it. But, in the end, the vast majority of its use has been so I could take my sons into the shower with me. This was such a blessing and helped when they were fussy, a little stuffy, or time just didn’t allow for us to bathe separately. And that skin to skin contact, as we all know, is an amazing bonding experience.
The basic types of slings out there are wraps, pouches, Asian carriers or mei tais (MTs), soft structured carriers (SSC), and ring slings. There are many variations of each and some brands have a variety of versions of their products as well. There are also some less common or well known slings such as the onbuhimo which is an Asian style carrier similar to a mei tai but with only 2 straps that you thread through rings at the base of the body.
Wraps can be stretchy or or woven, such as the case with my Mobys and my Ella Roo. Wraps offer the most ergonomic support for both the infant and mom. It is also the easiest to use for long periods of time. This is because with most carries the weight is distributed evenly across the body. It also takes the longest to get into and out of and has the greatest learning curve.
Pouches are probably the simplest to use, but the most limited in carry variety. They also are not near as one size fits all. Most sites selling pouches have body measurement and/or height weight guidelines to help you select the correct size. There are also some adjustable pouches that have a few series’ of snaps that you can use to adjust to 2 or 3 sizes, but the adjustment is usually slight, so you do still need to be careful to order the correct size. One of the pouches I would most highly recommend trying out before purchasing.
Asian carriers such as the mei tai (prounounced may-tie), usually consist of a panel with straps extending from 2 or 4 of the corners. Some brands and styles feature interchangable panels you simply velcro into the panel to suit your mood. I had one in the past that also featured a muff like pocket. They are simple to wear and relatively quick to get on and off, but the carries are limited as well. Most can only be used for front and back carries, but sometimes you can figure out a hip carry method.
Soft structured carriers are similar to mei tais in form, but usually have a number of features and will have things like buckles and straps. These are some of the simplest to use as they are often not much more complicated than a back pack. Some also offer a variety of carries and features. These carriers are usually not recommended for infants that cannot hold up their head.
Ring slings are similar in use to a pouch, but are much more size adjustable and can also be adjusted to make cradle or hip carries much more comfortable by adjusting the tension on the top or bottom rails or edges of the fabric. As a personal note, I know a local woman who makes the most beautiful ring slings and would gladly pass her information on to anyone. She is at home with her children whom she homeschools and she recently gave birth to her 7th! These slings are a great source of income for her family.
This is by far a complete explanaion of baby wearing and the many uses of so many types of slings. I will return to this topic in the future and perhaps focus on the pros, cons, and uses of a single style of sling at a time. But this gives at least a good taste of the types of slings if you are new to the world of baby wearing.
Or lack thereof…
I am surprised that I don’t recall in more detail the harrowing task of potty training my oldest child. Granted, it was well over a decade ago, but I recall it taking some time. Perhaps it is similar to how we cannot remember the pain of teething. One would think that such an experience would be burned into our memories much deeper than other less painful life experiences. But alas, I cannot recall many details at all of her potty training.
I do recall that once she was potty trained, we dealt with years of bed wetting. No, I don’t tell her friends that, but I remember how difficult it was for her and for us. She just had too small of a bladder. We did the whole routine of having her drink lots of water from after school until dinner and then NO water the rest of the night. It stretched her bladder and she was able to sleep, accident free.
I have a little girl I babysit who struggled with potty training. Not with the technicality of it, but with the control aspects of it. In fact, when I went on a 4 week maternity leave with my youngest, she was a good 98% potty trained. At just over 2, that was good progress. Of course, 4 weeks at a back up daycare that she apparently dislikes set her back to square one. In fact, it was a full year later when she finally said ‘I don’t WEAR diapers no more, mommy!” and was instantly 100% potty trained. Just days before we were still struggling with what I would consider the bare basics of potty training.
But now I am faced with the daunting task of attempting to potty train my 3 year old autistic son. How will I do this? First of all, he is non-verbal. He imitates quite a few words now, and actually uses a handful of words, but as expected… potty, toilet, bathroom, pee, and poop are not any of them. I am in no rush for him to be trained and I am fully aware that it could be years before he will be, but he is showing signs of readiness so I figure it can’t hurt to try.
So I thought, why not write a blog post about all the potty training tips and techniques out there. Perhaps in some way I can take this from one method and that from another and somehow get this boy out of pull ups. If you are also working with an autistic child, there is a book out there called “Toilet Training for Individuals with Autism or Other Developmental Issues” by Maria Wheeler. Great tips and ideas.
But autism and other developmental delays and disabilities aside, how do we go about this? First of all, your child must be ready. Some children start earlier while others are not ready until later. One thing to keep in mind is that if you start too early and your son or daughter is not ready, potty training will be a longer and much more difficult journey. Signs of readiness include an interest in the potty chair or toilet, an interest in wearing “big kid underwear”, ability to follow directions and ask questions, tendency to stay dry for 2 hour or longer stretches, waking up from naps dry, predictable bowel movements, no longer being comfortable in a wet or dirty diaper, telling you they need to be changed, and an ability to pull their pants up and down. All of these signs need not be present, but the more signs present, the more ready your child may be for this milestone.
The next step is finding the right potty chair. I personally like the models that have a removable seat that can be placed on the toilet. You can also purchase just a seat inexpensively. And of course, for the boys make sure there is a front guard. Many potty chairs can double as a step stool as well. Some models have handles on the seat so that your child can hang on while using the seat on the big toilet, but these are not necessary at all. I have used a variety of potty chairs and you definitely get what you pay for in many instances.
In the beginning, you will want to schedule frequent potty breaks. You can use a kitchen timer or a special watch designed just for this purpose if you are like me and lose track of time easily. You will also want to consider incentives. These can range from small immediate rewards like an M&M for peeing and a tootsie roll for bowel movements to stickers and larger rewards at the end such as a special toy or a sleep over.
When your child has been successful for a few weeks, you can get rid of diapers and try training pants or underwear. Make a big deal of this and celebrate it proudly with your child. Also, when your child does have an accident, don’t make a big deal of it. Keep in mind that your child may not be night time potty trained quite as quickly as day time trained. There are plenty of products out there to help with this as it can be months or even years longer for overnight dryness. These products look similar to regular underwear so the child can avoid embarassment at sleepovers and family functions.
If you do begin the training process and your child is having a great deal of difficulty, don’t push it. You want this process to be low pressure and something your child is proud to do and enjoys going through. You can even leave the potty chair in the bathroom so your child can grow accustomed to its presence and perhaps show you at a later time that they are now ready to start again.
I am sure most any of you know some who has been touched by breast cancer. I myself have an aunt who beat it, a fellow church choir member who beat it, and a former hairdresser who beat it at age 22! I also was able to see first hand the most dire results of this disease. During my 2nd run through college (nursing) I was an intern in the human anatomy department. Every year our university gets 2 cadavers, 1 male and 1 female. Usually they are elderly people who passed from things such as stroke or heart attack, but the year I was there, our female cadaver was a young 50 something and had passed away from a very hot/fast brest cancer. She underwent a massive mastectomy immediately, but the cancer still took her life very quickly. Her last request was to donate her body to education, and that her body went to a program focusing on nursing as most nurses are female… she herelf was a nurse. Nothing encourages you to perform those monthly self breast exams like her story and seeing how horrific her surgery had been.
For your benefit, I am adding a few links on breast self exam, symptoms, and other facts.
Breast Cancer Signs and Symptoms
Now, go feel your boobies!! Try to pick a regular time to do so such as the day after your period stops.
Tis the season for fretting over all those costume ideas and plans! Halloween is my favorite holiday and yes, at 32 years old, I still dress up!! I like to dress up with my kids, but don’t know how I will do that this year. As of today, my 1 year old will be going as Curious George and my 3 year old as The Man in the Yellow Hat. Now, there aren’t many pre-made costumes for that in a size 3T, so I need to get in gear making his outfit. This of course means I need to finish our family room curtains and free up my sewing table!
There are many places you can purchase costumes such as www.halloweenexpress.com, www.buycostumes.com, and www.halloweencostumes.com. And many moms find this the easiest wayto go. Then there are patterns for make your own costumes, ranging from those requiring a great deal of sewing experience to those requiring nothing more than a hot glue gun. I myself have run the full range from sewing a complicated vampire gown for my daughter to purchasing a few costumes for my sons.
If you are hoping to save some money and maybe get more bang for your buck, I highly recommend a mix and match approach. Purchasing some aspects of the costume and making the rest yourself. And if you are not too particular, compromise. Do I need to purchase black slim boots for my 3 year old to wear once? No. I will have him wear his black tennis shoes and use dark self-adhering bandage wrap to make it look like boots. He will probably wear a simple yellow turtle neck vs. a yellow button up shirt, that he may also not wear ever again.
Also, many costumes, particularly pre-made ones, aren’t always weather appropriate. We deal with this a lot here in the midwest. Be creative with keeping your kids warm. I remember as a child being upset because I had to wear a jacket over my costume. I always plan under clothing with my costumes. Like turtle necks, tights, leggings, and so on. Then the chances of not neeting a heavy jacket are less. Yes, there are years where even this isn’t enough, but not every year.
As usual, be safe with your child’s costumes. Dark costumes can be a danger in the dark, so use reflective patches or even glow sticks to help your child stand out in the darkness. Use caution when it comes to homemade treats. Sure, there will be neighbors you know and trust, but otherwise beware of dangerous treats.
Feel free to share your own tips and safety information below!
I wish you all a fun and safe Halloween 2009!!
I couldn’t think of a better title for my blog on motherhood and all it entails. Partly for the old cliche’ “barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen”, but mostly because of my disdain for socks. Ick. The phrase “I wear flipflops in winter” fits me to a T. If my feet will not come in contact with snow, I do NOT put on socks and shoes… well, except to run and exercise of course.
This is a blog about motherhood. Being a mom, a wife, a woman. I plan to write about aspects of them all from pregnancy and birth to health and fitness to recipes and household tips. I hope you enjoy!!
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