Tiny Tips

I didn’t know I would be doing a Drypro Waterproof Cast Protector review and a blog about what to do with a kid in a cast on the beach, but unfortunately, I am. However, as you can tell by her happy popsicle-ladden face above, things turned out OK and this product ended up being the best thing to come out of a crappy circumstance.

So last week took an unexpected turn when Morgan broke her elbow at the playground. It was awful. One of those stupid, freak accidents on a last minute run to the park which resulted in a 3 hour doctor visit, and a full arm cast two days later.

It happened in the blink of an eye, within one moment of me turning my back to talk to a neighbor, she climbed up the ladder to reach the first monkey bar, slipped and fell on her arm.

I turned around to check on her, saw her start to slip, ran to catch her, but couldn’t. She went down in slow motion, me yelling, “Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!” in my head.

When I picked her up I knew. It’s a terrible feeling.

Of course, there is never a good time for this to happen, but the incident happened to fall (no pun intended) the week before we were going away for the weekend to stay at one of the historic Crystal Cove beach cottages.

If anyone has tried to reserve one of these cottages, you know, it’s not easy.  You have to try to reserve them six months in advance and they sell out within like 10 seconds. So we got very lucky.

But now I had a three-year-old in a full arm hot pink cast. That + the beach is not an ideal combo. Mommy was a little stressed out.

My husband ended up buying this Drypro waterproof cast cover at a medical supply store by his office, which turned out to be AWESOME.

The cover is made out of a heavy duty latex with a vacuum seal, so literally nothing could get in that puppy.

My little one was so resilient and completely unfazed by her arm in the cast cover. She didn’t mention it or complain about it one time. She just went about her beach day as if she wasn’t wearing a waterproof oven mitt.

We used it mostly for protection from splashing and the sand, as well as for showering, and it was fabulous. I don’t know how it would do for swimming and full submersion in water, but for our purposes of protecting a child’s cast at the beach, it was perfect.

So if anyone lands on this page looking for a Drypro waterproof cast protector review, first off, I am sorry. Secondly, the product rocks.

I am always looking for tips on getting kids to eat more veggies, and I have found one trick that works (sometimes) I wanted to share with you.  Can you share your tips with me below?

So here’s my tip on getting my kids to get more veggies.

In the 30 minutes or so before lunch or dinner when all of a sudden they go from playing to climbing up to the kitchen island exclaiming with intensity “Mommy! I’m HUNGRY!” I will put out a little plate of hors d’oeuvres consisting of a variety of pre-cut veggies and dip or hummus.

If they truly are that hungry, they will eat it, and mom is victorious.  If they are not that hungry, they will magically disappear and go back to playing until dinnertime. Most times however, they will eat at least some of the veggies before dinner.

I love to get the veggie consumption out of the way before dinner so I can go into the meal without stressing about getting some greens in them!

Like all things in parenthood, this works sometimes, not all of the time. But you have to take those times it does work for all it’s worth!!!

Your turn! Do you have any tips or tricks on getting kids to eat more veggies?  

I took a mom sick day last month. One that was three weeks overdue, lessons learned, which is the reason for this post.

So I got a stupid cold. One of those colds more annoying than debilitating. Back in the day I probably would have called in sick to work, taken a day to rest and kicked it pretty quickly.

But since becoming a mom, unless I was down and out with the stomach flu, I would take a Sudafed and do what I had to do to make it through the day.

I used to joke, “there are no sick days when you are a mom!”

So fueled by Sudafed I went on with life with a three and six year old.  Drop offs, pick ups, classes, play dates, events, you moms know the drill.  It just doesn’t stop.  So even though I was feeling crappy I just forced myself to keep going.  I kept telling myself I HAD to be better the next day.

Fast forward 22 days later. I was STILL sick and hit the wall one afternoon when I broke down and cried with exhaustion. I felt horrendous and I was getting worse, not better.

I realized I needed antibiotics. I also realized I needed to rest and get BETTER the next day.

So I decided to call in sick.

I cancelled appointments, called in favors to friends to help with drop off and pick up, called the neighbor girl to come over for a couple hours in the afternoon to play with my girls, and when my girlfriend asked if she could take my girls from 5 – 730pm and have them returned fed and in jammies ready for bed, I thought I might cry with gratitude. People went above and beyond to help me. My heart felt so full.

I laid in bed for the entire day and within 24 hours, thanks to rest and antibiotics, I finally got better and felt like myself again.

What I learned is that I am human. I get sick, and if my body is sick, I need to listen to it and rest at the beginning to allow myself to get better.

I also learned that friends are more than willing to help.  I wrote them all an email and told them how much I appreciated them and how they could call me and I will help them anytime.

People want to help. I want to help others. Don’t you? We just have to be willing to ask for it. 

So, moms, I give you permission to take a sick day if you need it. We deserve it and owe it to ourselves, don’t you think?

Have you ever done this?

In this video I share 5 things that help my kids sleep better.

Number one being our amazingly comfortable, cozy, don’t want to get out of bed dreamy Serta mattresses. Now that we are sleeping on our Serta iComfort and my girls are sleeping on their iSeries mattresses, I have learned you cannot underestimate the power of a great mattress and what it can do for your quality of sleep.

Do you have tips on things you feel help your kids sleep better? Please comment below and join the conversation!

[Disclosure: I am a participant in the 2012 Serta Blogger Program and received complimentary household products for review. Opinions are 100% my own. We LOVE our iComfort and iSeries mattresses. So much. So very, very much.] 

This is an “it worked for us” post. Since I have been blogging about my awesome iComfort bed so much it gotten me thinking a lot about sleep.  More specifically, how much BETTER you feel mentally and physically when you are getting enough sleep.  Now that my kids are two and five, in retrospect, there were 5 things that helped my babies sleep better and become great sleepers so I thought it might be worth sharing.

In case any of you are sitting reading this right now, dark bags under your eyes pounding a big cup of coffee and exhausted, I hope that maybe even one of these tips might prove to be helpful to you!  And when you are that tired I know sometimes you are willing to try anything!

When my babies were born I became obsessed with sleep and my lack of it. I had no idea how much the interrupted sleep would affect me mentally. I felt horrible, like I was on the fast train to looney-town.  The only way I could describe it was that I just didn’t feel like myself.  Once my kids slept through the night, I felt like a different person.

Babies and the sleep topic can be a sensitive issue and everyone has different philosophies and styles.  From co-sleeping to cry it out sleep scheduling, I believe you have to trust your natural instincts on what is right for your babies, and if it works for your family, embrace it!

For me, it all started with a book. One day when my first baby was about six months old, I called my cousin (who was a seasoned mommy) almost crying with exhaustion asking her if she had any tips to help my baby sleep.

I will never forget it, she said, “Have you heard of THE BOOK?”  Me, being desperate, asked, “WHAT BOOK?!” I had read several of the sleep books and nothing seemed to connect with me or fit my instincts.  The book she recommended, which is number one on my list, was a lifesaver for me.  So that is where it all began….

5 Things That Helped My Babies Sleep Better

1. “The BOOK” was Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. I swear by this book and used it with both my babies. It totally connected with me and it made sense to me.  I learned a lot about how important sleep is for children, quality sleep, and his philosophy and tools made my kids AWESOME sleepers.  I owe a lot of my sanity to Dr. Weissbluth!

2. Foster an attachment to a  lovey, blankie or some kind of attachment item. This was recommended in the book.  When they were itsy bitsy I introduced the lovies. Emma still sleeps with her two Angel Dear bear lovies, who at 2 1/2 she named “Carter & Siena” and she told me they are twins. No joke. And Morgan sleeps with her Darling Droolers Ribbon Lovey she calls, “Bee.”  They are both really attached and it has helped them get to sleep and soothe themselves when they are upset. Parenting expert, TheGoToMom.com, has a great video as well on just how important an attachment item is.  You can watch it here.

A note on the lovies & blankie! We have made it a ritual from early on that our kids don’t take lovies or blankie out of the car on errands or to the park, or anywhere (God forbid) they could get lost. The thought of it is too traumatic! So they will take them in the car, but I got them used to leaving them in their carseats and told them we didn’t want them to get dirty. Big help as they are always in the house or in the car, and no where else.

3. Blackout shade in their bedrooms – My husband bought and installed a cheap-o roll down blackout shade underneath both their blinds in their rooms so their rooms stay really dark. If someone puts them down and forgets to shut it, they will wake up WAY earlier due to the light. I swear by the blackout shade.  Especially for naptime.

4. Pavlov’s dog sound association- Just like Pavlov’s dog, I swear by some sort of sound that they associate with sleep. For my oldest, we had the Fischer Price Ocean Wonders Crib Aquarium in her crib that she would push to play a song and she goes to sleep to the same music. At 5, we still have that aquarium in her regular bed. For the little one, we got this Homedics SoundSpa Sound Machine and put it to the “ocean” setting.  Both these are helpful as you can take them with you to set up their same “sleep scenario” when traveling.

5. Regular crib naps & times and early bedtimes. One of the things Dr. Weissbluth preaches is the importance of quality, restful sleep.  Since they were about 6 months old, I have pretty much done anything I needed to do to get my kids home to nap in their crib at roughly the same time and get them to bed early at night. It has meant that I have had to say “no” to things if it meant interfering with a crib nap and has been often inconvenient, but it is just a way of life. The sacrifice of being a tad “home bound” is MORE than worth it to me because of the great sleepers they became because of it. Everything is a trade off! Many probably wouldn’t agree, so again, it is all about what works for your family and this has worked for us. Hallelujah!

Does anyone have their own tips to share?  I know kids and sleep is always a hot topic, so PLEASE comment and let us in to your “secrets!”