With the holiday quickly approaching, we have begun the crazy schedules. Although we would love for our children to have the best Thanksgiving and Christmas EVER, we need to be realistic too.  

How can you eliminate unnecessary stress we are dreading and have the family holiday of your dreams? “Start by lowering your expectations,” advises Ann Vernon. A counseling professor at the University of Northern Iowa “Be more realistic about what you can do. This usually involves changing the tradition — it can be equally as good, but it has to be unique to your family.” The following tips can help:

1. Reassess and Prioritize
Holiday stress sets in when you try to do it all. “Stress is an emotional reaction to circumstances that you feel are out of control,” says Vernon. “To cope, take some time out, rethink what’s stressing you out, and look for alternatives.” Vernon also advises changing your demands to preferences: Tell yourself, “If I have time, I’ll do this and that. If not, I’ll only do that.” 

2. Delegate!
Does the house need cleaning or decorating? Let each family member be responsible for a room. “When you delegate, you have to make your expectations clear to your kids, and you may have to lower your standards a little bit,” says Vernon.

Fight the commercialism of the holidays is to beef up on the traditions that don’t cost any extra money. Bake cookies, give to needy families, or volunteer. Explain to your kids that there are a lot of families who don’t have as much as they do. To get kids into the spirit of giving, ask them to pick a few of their old toys to donate to the less fortunate.

Don’t be so hard on yourselves.  This time of year, people are so concerned by what others might say about them if they don’t do everything perfectly. You’re human — like everyone else.

Here’s a depressing study about working moms that I came across from HealthDay News:

The analysis of national data on 2,130 mothers with depression also found that working mothers were less likely to receive adequate treatment, possibly because long work hours make it difficult for them to find time to seek treatment.

Why am I not surprised? We usually put ourselves last, whether it’s regarding our physical or mental health. When a busy working mom is feeling depressed, she’s more likely to brush it off because she simply has too much else going on to deal with it.

If your own happiness isn’t worth the time and money for treatment, do it for your family. They need you to be in a good place mentally:

Depression in mothers can have a major impact on the entire family, especially on the health and well-being of their children, the researchers noted. Treating depression in mothers can improve the long-term health of their families. If you know you’re depressed, please get some help — you can start with an appointment with your regular doctor. If you think you might be depressed but aren’t sure, take this depression health check from WebMD. Even if you’re uninsured, there are options, including generic antidepressants (for as little as $4 a month) and public health clinics with free or sliding scale fees for therapy sessions.

Take care of yourselves! You deserve to be happy.

As a working mom, we have our children in the cars quit a bit. While in route to the sitters, home, or grocery store we want to make sure they are safe. The safety of our children is always our top priority.  

The Shopping Mama was able to attend the ABC Kids Expo and get a first hand look of the new Safety 1st Complete Air car seat. And she’s giving one away to one lucky winner. Here’s some information from her blog:

Side Impact Crash Facts
* 1 in 4 car crashes involving children are side impact collisions.
* Side impact collisions are among the deadliest type of collision for children, accounting for 1 in 3 child crash fatalities, nearly all of which are caused by head trauma. 

Safety 1st worked with the Kettering University Crash Safety Center to develop and test the revolutionary Air Protect System to protect a child’s head. How Does Air Protect Work?
During a crash, the system immediately shields your child’s head from the impact. In a second layer of defense, Air Protect™ allows air to escape from the headrest: channeling crash energy away from your child, creating more ride down time. It is this double layer of protection that makes Air Protect™ technology unique. 

Read the full product review and enter here to win! A Safety 1st Complete Air Convertible Car Seat!

The Today show talked about the 9 surprising places that germs lurk. Germs that cause illness lurk in some out-of-the way spots, and bacteria and viruses can remain active on surfaces for days or even weeks, especially in wet areas. “Because of the natural moisture of our skin, we easily pick up these organisms, and we transfer them to our face,” says Elizabeth Scott, co-director of Boston’s Simmons College Center for Hygiene and Health in Home and Community. Good hygiene in the home is especially important for people with compromised immune systems, Scott notes. 

Surprisingly, the kitchen it the most germ infested place in our homes. We have cutting boards, sinks, trash cans, and the worst – sponges. Sponges carries billions of bacteria. When you clean off the counters with a sponge, you are literally spreading the bacteria around. 

The bedroom – There are tons of dead skin cells that are lying in your bed. Wash linens regularly. And the pillows…all that dust from your pillows are actually dust mites and their feces. 

Other places that house germs are the laundry room and remote control. Make sure to use a disinfectant on the remote, door handles, and light switches regularly. 

The cleanest place is actually the bathroom. Make sure to put toothbrushes away in cabinets and put the toilet seat down before flushing. 

Here are a few places the Today Show mentioned to be mindful of: 

• Office: Desk, ATM, Elevator – Office desks contain hundreds of times more bacteria per square inch than office toilet seats.
• Shopping cart – Those rolling carts may be bacteria wagons. A recent University of Arizona study found that the handles of almost two-thirds of shopping carts were contaminated with E coli. Drool, saliva and mucus from children also collect there. The grocery cart “is one of the most surprising places [for germs] we’ve come across,” says Chuck Gerba, a microbiologist who conducted the study.
• Public salt/pepper shakers – Those sneaky condiment containers. The University of Virginia researchers in the same home study found an unusual location for rhinovirus — salt and pepper shakers. “A person gets mucus on their fingers, then picks up the salt and pepper shakers, and they leave [the virus] there,” says Dr. Owen Hendley of the University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville.
• Cell Phone – Your hands can be home to plenty of germs, and with regular cell use, the result can be a filthy phone. Cell phones also are stowed in nice, warm pockets, making a good breeding laboratory. Your phone can carry lots of bacteria, including staph, which can cause skin infections. 

We can’t escape the germs, but there are was to protect yourself and your children. Wash hands regularly and use hand sanitizers. Clean items disinfecting wipe regularly. 

You should wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds before touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. 

Another interesting fact –Adults touch their faces up to 18 times per minute. Kids touch their faces up to 80 times per minute. 

To read more or watch the video check out the Today Show: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33606252/ns/health-cold_and_flu/?pg=1#Health_LurkingGerms

Over the past few months, I have been sharing my iPhone with my Toddler. I added a list of toddler tunes to my phone, which has come in very handy. Whenever I take him to the grocery store, I simply turn on the music and hand him the phone to listen to. Of course I turn the volume low because not everyone likes to hear the wheels on the bus. He sits quietly and bobs up and down to the music. It helps me out a lot. Plus it makes me laugh, which helps reduce the stress of a chaotic grocery store.

My son is now 16 months and amazes me every day. I bought an application called ITot Cards. I think it was $1-$2 and has realistic pictures. It breaks things down into separate categories (animals, objects, foods, colors, shapes, and alphabet). There is even a voice that tells your child what the card is showing. Ben is really into the animals and likes to copy some of the sounds. I am still in awe that a 15 month old would learn how to work the application so fast. After watching me a few times, he figured out how to swipe his finger across the screen to change the card.

I have been having trouble coming up with things to write about lately. I hope I am not the only one that has this problem.

Raising the awareness of hunger has been weighing on my heart a lot lately, so I decided to start up a separate blog to help the cause. So far, I only have a few posting and still excited. You can check it out at: http://starvingchildren.wordpress.com/

Another issue I am coming across is traffic. Since there are so many blogs and sites to get information, it’s hard to capture and audience and attention. Regardless, I enjoy writing about my ideas and experiences. It’s like my personal digital diary – that I will allow you to read. Hehe.

I didn’t want it to come down to this, but I am going to beg. If you happen to come across this blog, can you please send me any comments and/or suggestions. Pathetic, I know…but everyone needs a little now and then.

Thank you & God Bless

When it comes to getting organized, we are our worst enemies. We hold onto things we think we may need – even when we haven’t used them in the last five years. Must of us need to emotionally separate from the possessions we no longer need and that clutter our minds as well as our space. 

Since I am obsessed with organization, I would like to share some tips I have learned along the way: 

Mark all appointments down on a calendar. Google offers a free online calendar that you can share with other members of the family. (My husband and I use this all of the time – and love it.) 

Create a meal plan for the week with all the necessary groceries—so that you won’t need to go to the grocery store all the time. Set a specific day of the week to do the grocery shopping. 

Shred everything with your name, address, and any personal information, especially credit card offers and anything with your social security number.

Get virtual: anything that you can keep as a document on your computer, do! Do not print out anything—unless you will need it outside your home or office. Always back up important information from your computer onto backup drive!

Get over the emotional roadblock to getting organized. You must be willing to throw things out! There is no one’s home where something can’t be thrown out—including mine! If there’s an item you haven’t used in six months, chances are you won’t ever use it; it’s only taking up space.

Go through your items quickly and make snap judgments—that first inclination is generally a good one. Then repeat the process. Often, you will find more items that you can live without. If you are holding onto something in case you “might” need it in the far off future, get rid of it! You can always buy whatever it is when you actually need it.

If you really can’t throw things out, I suggest staging those items out of your life. Put the items in a box with a destroy date written onto it—generally about six months from now. If you find yourself needing to go into it to find something—and you end up actually using that item, not just taking it out of the box—put it with the items to keep. Anything left in the box at the end of the time should be thrown out.

If you are a frequent traveler, have a travel bag all ready to go, with toothbrush and miniature toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, liquid body soap.

Create a To Do or task list. Prioritize items and assign all a due date. If a task needs following up, set a date to take further action.

Do not get overwhelmed. Pick one thing that needs to get organized—the smaller the better—papers, computer files, clothes, linen closet, kitchen, mail, children’s room, and work on that one thing until you are content that it is sufficiently organized. Then move onto the next item. Never attack the whole house at one time. 

I absolutely love this picture of Ben playing in the leaves.

When ever there is yard work to be done, we like to do it as a family.  Our 15 month old son plays in the yard while we work and occasionally likes to help. He will carry little twigs to the branch pile and toss in a few leaves into the bag. We praise him each time, which makes him want to do more. It’s super cute, but I also realized how much children want to contribute to the family. .

Children need chores. Helping out around the house teaches family responsibility. It gives your child a sense of accomplishment and pride and helps them learn practical skills. Contributing to the household also helps your child feel important, like one of the “team”.

The earlier the chore habit begins, the more readily your child comes to think of it as just another part of family life. Most early-elementary-age kids are enthusiastic about pitching in — at least at first. They may need gentle prompts and reminders to keep routine chores going. 

Pick tasks that are appropriate to your child’s age.

Toddlers: Choose simple jobs/tasks for toddlers.

• Putting laundry in a hamper
• Putting toys back into designated bins *Tip: Put a picture of a car and the word on the bin cars go into.
• Put their toothbrush back into the holder
• Put their plate/bowl and utensil into the sink (with your help picking them up)

 Toddlers want to be just like Mom and Dad, so capitalize on your power as a role model and let your child work alongside you as an assistant. Hand him a sponge while you’re cleaning the kitchen and let him wipe off the table. You’ll find him quite willing — even thrilled — to be called on to help.

When your toddler first tries a task on his own, be patient. Jumping in too quickly to lend a hand gives him the message that you don’t think he’s capable. Offer tons of praise to boost their confidence. 

At 5 and 6, your child should be able to:

• Keep her own room tidy
• Make the bed
• Set the table
• Put clothes away into drawers
• Match socks
• Feed and water pets
• Put dishes in sink
• Empty smaller wastebaskets

At 7 and 8, your child should be able to:

• Take out garbage
• Empty the dishwasher
• Help with yard work
• Clear off the table after meals
• Clean sinks and toilet
• Carry in groceries
• Entertain a younger sibling for brief periods

There are several templates for chore charts online. Decide what is best for your family. Remember to always praise your child(ren) and tell them how much they are helping.

Fisrt, I want to share my cute little “puppy” with everyone. He’s a St. Bernard. I just love the way he looks up with those puppy dogs eyes. Yes, my son is a ham when it come to the camera. Super Cute!!!

Now the serious stuff…. 

Safety is at the forefront of everyone’s mind as Halloween approaches, especially parents of young children. These safety tips can make a difference. It’s a good idea to talk with your children before venturing out. 

• Parents should accompany young children.
• Don’t go inside a stranger’s house, no matter what anyone says.
• Trick-or-Treaters should always be in groups so they aren’t a tempting target for real life Goblins.
• Stay close to your own neighborhood.
• Stop only at well lit houses.
• Carry a flashlight or light stick. (you can find these at the local Dollar Store)
• Use make up instead of a mask so you can see.
• Wear light colored clothing or costumes.
• Always keep a safe distance between you and moving cars.
• Be respectful of other people and their property.
• Screen all treats before you eat them.
• Don’t accept and, especially, don’t eat anything not commercially wrapped.
• Start early, end early.
• Use sidewalks or walk facing traffic.
• Stop, look and listen at corners. 

Before taking your children out for “trick-or-treating”, feed them a goolish dinner. This will keep them from filling up on candy. Also, visit the Illinois Sexual Offender and Predator database, http://www.city-http://www.isp.state.il.us/sor/ , to ensure the residences your children are visiting do not house registered sex offenders. Have a Happy and Safe Halloween!