Celebrating New Years Eve with Little Children

This year my sons have been asking to stay up on New Years Eve.  I wasn't crazy about letting them stay up until midnight, but we did come to a compromise-  this year we'll be celebrating 2010 at midnight in New York (11pm here).  It's still very late for our kids (ages 2-6 years old), but an hour earlier may make for less cranky kids in the morning.   

To celebrate, I made surprise bags which I had seen in Family Fun Magazine.  I've made 5 bags each marked with a different time.  Starting at 6pm, the kids can open up one bag each hour.  Inside the bags there are:

*Glow Sticks (we stocked up around Halloween, but you can find them for 88 cents a piece in Wal-marts toy section)
*New Years Plates and Napkins- to go along with a cake I plan to make
*Cute Plastic Cups- for punch
*A DVD (free from the library)
*Colored Papers- to write messages to themselves for next year.  After writing the message, you stuff them in your stockings so that they are safely packed away until next Christmas season.  Next year when you pull out stockings to decorate, they can read the letters they wrote to themselves!
*Confetti/noise makers to use at *midnight*

We've never tried staying up this late at home, so we'll see how it goes.  Next year when the kids are a little older, I'd like to try more games and activities.  Maybe we'll even stay up until midnight our time then!

Another fun idea I've come across is making Time Capsules.  Courtney on Women Living Well has a post today that shares how you can make one with your family.  I plan on making one with my kids later this year.

If you have New Years Eve plans with your children, I'd love to hear what they are!  Have an idea of something else fun to do tonight?  I'm up for suggestions!

Have a happy New Year!

Questions to Ask During a Hospital Tour

When I was expecting my first baby, I had no idea what questions to ask when choosing a hospital.  Knowing what I know now (after having 4 babies- 1 labor, 4 c-sections), here are the questions I would ask before choosing which hospital to give birth:

Questions to Ask When Choosing a Hospital for Your Baby's Birth 

*What are the rooms like?  Are they private or shared? Is there a jacuzzi tub to labor in? Would I labor, deliver, and recover all in one room?

*What about in the event of a c-section?  Would I recover in the same room I will spend my entire stay, or will I spend an hour or two in an official recovery room?  Would the baby be taken away after delivery while I recovered?  Or do you keep babies with their mothers at all times unless medically necessary?

*Can I eat and drink during labor?

*What type of monitoring do you require while I'm in labor?

*What methods does the hospital encourage for pain relief during labor?

*Is the hospital pro-breastfeeding?  Are there well-trained lactation consultants on staff every day?

*What things are provided during labor and my stay?  A birthing ball?  Lactation pillow?

*What will happen to the baby after he/she is born?  Do you routinely take healthy newborns to the nursery after birth, or do you encourage mother/baby bonding during the first hours after birth?

*What's the hospital's visitors policy?  Is there an age requirement to visit?  What are the visiting hours?

*How do you handle security?  Does everyone go through a locked area in which they can only pass through by someone allowing them to before visiting you in the hospital? How do you ensure that babies do not get leave the maternity floor without their parents? 

*Do you have a snack room?  What types of snacks do you provide?

*Are meals provided for my husband?

*Is there a place for my husband to sleep in the room with me?

*How long can I expect to stay in the hospital after a vaginal birth?  C-section?

*What level of NICU does the hospital have?

*If my baby would need to be transferred to a higher level of care, what hospitals could I expect to choose from?

*If the baby is a boy and I decide to circumcise, which day after birth could I expect that to be done?

*Is there a free breastfeeding support group at the hospital, or a free lactation consultant line for after I'm discharged?

*Do you follow-up with mothers after they are discharged and back at home?

Who do you ask to find out about a hospital?  

*Many hospitals have maternity coordinators whom you can call and ask questions to over the phone.  Most (if not all) also allow tours of the birthing rooms/suites where you can get a feel for the hospital and staff before making your choice.  You can also get helpful information about a hospital by asking your doctor and friends who've delivered there.

Stocking Stuffer Ideas for Young Children

 When I was little, my favorite part of Christmas morning was opening my Stocking.  I had more fun opening my stocking gifts then opening the bigger items under the tree.  My husband and I have kept the tradition of stockings with our own children.  Each year we fill them with inexpensive items that vary from things that are practical and needed to just for fun trinkets.  In case you are stuck with what to put in your child's stocking this year, here's some ideas of what our family has done:

Practical:
*Bubble Bath  *Socks   *Undies   *Tooth Brushes *Lip Balm

Candy/Snacks:
*Candy Canes  *Fruit Snacks  *Yogurt Covered Raisins  *Life Saver's Candy Books

Just for Fun:
*Bracelets  *Matchbox Cars   *Thomas Trains  *Playmobil Toys  *Children's Wallet
*Play-Doh   *Pez Dispensers  *Slinky  *Small Dolls
*View Master Reels  *Magazines (i.e. Dog Magazines, Highlights, ect.)
*Puzzle Books  *New Jammies  *Dress-Up Clothes  *Glow Sticks 
*Color Changing Markers  *Glitter Crayons   *Sketch Book   *Stickers  
*Mad Libs Junior  *Travel Games

Have an stocking idea that your children have loved?  Leave a comment and let me know!

6 Hour Road Trip + Pregnancy + Stomach Virus = BAD IDEA!

 Eating pizza in Iowa the night before we became ill

My husband and I ventured to Illinois with other family members this week.  Little did I know that on the day we were to come home I would have quite a case of nausea. 

So picture this.  I'm riding in our van with my husband, 3 year old daughter, sister-in-law and her rottweiler puppy and feeling very sick.  3 of our children are riding with other family members in a vehicle in front of us and we are starting on a 6 hour drive home.  My stomach burns and I feel as though I may get sick.  I try my hardest to get comfortable and yet feel miserable.  For hours.   Nothing helps.  I can't stand the thought of eating anything other than a few sips of ginger ail.  After 4-5 hours of driving, I switch vehicles and ride with my other children and family member.  It's then that my stomach can't handle it anymore.  I tell my driver/family member that I feel like I'm going to throw up.  He hands me a bad.  Trying my hardest I tell myself that the nausea is only in my head and that I'm not going to get sick.

We drive on and hit the traffic filled interstate that will take us home.  It's then that it happens.  For the first time in 9 years, I throw up.  A lot. Thankfully I have the bag.  So here I am, sitting in the vehicle with a bag of you know what on my lap and 3 of my kids pretending to vomit in the backseat.  Yes, they thought it was a riot.  My 4 year old thought it was great fun to make his fire truck pretend to vomit.

It's about then that I realize there is a leak in the bag.  Not good for my clothes and about to be not so good for my family member's vehicle.  I warn him that the bag is leaking.  We're still on the busy curvy interstate and trying to get through traffic and yes, iciness is about to get on the car.  Any guesses on what happens next?  Let's just say the bag was not in the vehicle anymore.  Highly illegal, I know, yet not my fault.

We finally make it home.  Still feeling ill, I lay down.  My husband leaves the kids and I with a movie on while he goes to pick up our puppy from my dad's.  Wouldn't you know that within only 5 minutes of my husband leaving my 6 year old throws up too!  At least it was in the toilet.  Next, my 4 year old is telling me he doesn't feel well.  My 6 year old spent the night sick, but finally seems better.

Now another family member from our trip is ill.  Whatever kind of bug this is, it acts fast.  Thankfully it seems to be one that goes away fairly quickly, which is a huge relief considering how badly we want to make Christmas cookies this weekend!

Here are a few things I've learned from this experience:

*Try to avoid going on road trips while pregnant.  Nausea is so much worse when riding in a car for long periods of time.

*When packing a first aid bag, include antacids and instant hand sanitizer!

*Always pack a vomit bag in the car, just in case.  And make sure there aren't any holes in it!!!

*Sanitize your hands when traveling!  Especially when eating at fast food places!  Maybe even wipe down the table first.  I've been pretty careful about germs during this pregnancy, but let my guard down while on the trip.  Perhaps that's where we caught the stomach bug?  At a fast food place?  I will be more careful about making sure our hands are clean before eating out next time!

Preparing to Cloth Diaper a Newborn

Next year, I am looking forward to saving 100's of dollars by using cloth diapers on our new baby!  Some people may think cloth diapering sounds gross, but I think using cloth diapers is great!  I enjoy saving money and I like putting a nice soft and cute diaper on my babies.  It took me until I had my 4th. baby to consider cloth, but now I am hooked!

When I started cloth diapers in 2008, my 2 youngest children were 4 months and 1 1/2 years old.  Now my children are all potty trained.  Most of my cloth diaper stash held up and can be used for the new baby.  What I don't have, though, is diapers to fit an infant.

After asking advice from friends, reading countless reviews and opinions, and punching out the numbers to figure out what would be most cost-effective, here's what I plan to use:

*Thirsties Duo Wrap Size 1
I bought 5 of these covers. Size 1 fits Baby from 6lbs up to 18 (or 16)lbs.  If the baby is a girl, we will get at least 5 months of use out of the covers.  If the baby is a boy, we will be able to use them for about 3 months.




*Cloth-eez Prefolds
1 Dozen Orange Edge (newborn size)
2 Dozen Yellow Edge (small)






Cloth-eez are supposed to be super soft and seem to have a high resale value on cloth diaper swap sites.  I'm debating on whether to buy the regular cloth-eez or to pay a few dollars extra for the organic ones. 

I also need to find some cloth wipes.

For the covers, diapers, and shipping, it should cost less than $140 to diaper the baby for at least Baby's first 3 (maybe even 5) months of life!  Plus, I can resell the diapers when I'm done! 

If you used cloth diapers on a newborn, what type did you use?  Any advice on cloth diapering during the first few months?
Have any of you tried the Cloth-eez Organic prefolds?  If so, is it worth the few extra dollars to buy them?

Child's Picture Frame Ornament

Here's another super easy Christmas gift idea.  Give them away to grandparents or even keep them for yourself (I did both).  You can hang these frames up on the wall, or even up on the tree.  They are incredibly easy to make, and yet still a nice gift for family. 

Supplies:
*Craft Sticks
*Craft Glue
*Photo of Your Child
*Pipe Cleaners
*Glitter or Glitter Glue

Instructions:
*Lay 4 craft sticks out as a square with the top and bottom sticks on top of the side sticks and overlapping a bit.
*Glue sticks in place.
*After the glue is dried, place the photo of your child under the craft stick frame and mark on the back of the photo where you will need to cut photo.  Make sure you leave enough space on the sides of the photo that you will be able to glue it to the frame.
*Have your child decorate the frame using glue and glitter.
*After the glitter and glue have dried, glue photo to the back of the frame. I glued a piece of construction paper onto the back of the photo, but that's completely optional and not something that's necessary.

*Cut a pipe cleaner 6 inches long and bend into a curve.  Glue ends of the pipe cleaner onto the top sides of the frame.
*Allow frame to completely dry and your frames are ready to decorate the tree!

Hungry for more Christmas Keepsake Ideas?  Here's a few more to get you started:
♥Snowman Hand Print Ornaments
♥Cinnamon Dough Ornaments
♥Hand Print Reindeer

Sabrina's 6th. C-Section Birth

Over the past year, I have encountered many women that have had 4 or more c-sections.  Hearing their stories has been a huge encouragement to me as I am now pregnant and anticipating my 5th. c-section next Spring.

Today I would like to tell you about one of those women, Sabrina, who recently had her 6th. c-section.  Sabrina gave birth to her sixth child on December 1st this year.  Although her fifth c-section was only 13 1/2 months prior, she had no problems with her newest baby's birth.  She even feels that her sixth was the best cesarean she's had!  You can find Sabrina's 6th. c-section birth story and birth photos on her blog.  Hopefully you'll find her story as encouraging as I did.

Spacing Out Pregnancies with Breastfeeding?

There are many articles on the internet about how to use breastfeeding to naturally space out pregnancies, basically breastfeeding being a natural form of birth control. I'm here to tell you that doesn't work for all women. I cringe whenever I see articles claiming breastfeeding will delay your periods if you follow the rules.

If you're considering relying on breastfeeding exclusively as a means of birth control, please take note of what I'm about to say.

My pregnancies with our 4 children were only 7 months, 9 months, and 6 months apart. I breastfed exclusively, co-slept with 2 of the babies for months, night fed (all except one who slept through the night by 8 weeks), and it was an incredibly rare event that one of our children would be offered a bottle. My children still nursed frequently even after starting solids. According to the "rules", my last 3 children shouldn't be here, and yet here they are. : )

Exclusively breastfeeding does NOT prevent fertility for all women. You ARE less likely to become pregnant within the first 6 months of having a baby if you exclusively breastfeed, but that is not a guarantee. I knew I could have become pregnant within 2 months of giving birth after one of my babies. I have met women that never had a menstrual cycle until after they weaned their babies, just as I have met other 100% breastfeeding moms with closely spaced pregnancies.

My children (who are now 6, 4 1/2, 3, 2 years old)

Fall 2009

For those that are wanting to use a natural birth control but want something more reliable than solely breastfeeding, I highly suggest you look into FAM, or Fertility Awareness Method. This method involves charting (which you can follow as much or as little as you want, in my opinion). *For the record, I did not chart between my pregnancies with my first 4 babies, but did between my 4th. baby and current pregnancy.

With any kind of birth control, ultimately God is in control of life and death. When things don't happen as we planned, we know that He has a reason. I'm reminded of this when I think back to the times I wanted so badly to have a baby but had to wait, and then the times when I didn't think I was ready for another child and yet found out I was expecting anyway. Some of the best blessings in life are ones we didn't expect.

So how about you? If you've had a baby and breastfed, did you find that your menstrual cycles were delayed? Were any of your pregnancies close together despite exclusively breastfeeding on demand? Anyone else found the FAM helpful?

Hand and Foot Print Reindeer

Here's another easy Christmas craft to make with children.  You can use these reindeer as decorations up on the wall or even as gifts for grandparents!

To make the reindeer, have your child make a foot print on the center of a paper using brown paint.  Next, have them dip both of their hands into black paint and have them put black hand prints at the toes part of the foot print to make the antlers.  Once the brown paint has dried, your child can use paint to add eyes and a nose.  Make sure you write the date somewhere on the picture and they're done!  Very easy, but very cute. 

We have the reindeer pictures up with each of the children's Santa photos underneath their reindeer.  My now 2 year old was only a few weeks old when we did this craft in 2007.  It's amazing to see how teeny tiny her footprint was back then!

 FYI- Bass Pro Shops are offering free photos with Santa as well as other fun things for kids to do at no cost.  We drove out to one the other day and made an afternoon out of it.  Our kids had a lot of fun and we didn't spend even one dollar!
*I also just noticed that Bass Pro is offering a hero's night on Dec. 13 for firefighters, military, police officers, and paramedics.  There will be a free craft, drawing for a gift certificate, and a 10% off discount on regularly priced merchandise! 




More Christmas Craft Ideas:
*Snowmen Hand print Ornaments

.

Snowmen Handprint Ornaments

Here's a cool keepsake idea I came across recently. I found this idea while googling ideas for homemade Christmas gifts. They're snowmen hand print ornaments that you make with your kids. After coming across this idea on the web, I bought shatterproof ornament balls in 4 packs at Hobby Lobby when they were 50% off. I purchased enough packs of them to do one hand print ball per child for each set of grandparents, as well as a set for our family's tree. It was a super easy and super inexpensive gift to make! If you'd like to make these ornaments with your kids, you can find the instructions on Living a Better Life.

You can find other great homemade ornament ideas on One Pretty Thing.