Oral-B Tips and a Giveaway!

With summer approaching, many families will go on vacation or to an amusement park...and may allow their children to eat a few more sweets than "normal." It is important to remember to teach our children good oral hygiene, which includes correct brushing and flossing techniques, along with using a toothbrush that is designed for their current age.

I have to admit, that I did not completely understand all of the different stages of toothbrushes that are designed for children. Thanks to a representative from the Oral-B company, I have learned about the importance of having a toothbrush designed for the stage that they are currently at and I also learned how to continue to teach my children to brush correctly!

Check out the video below that was taken at a blogger event in New York at a fun, kid-friendly venue and features some great information from Dr. Laura Jana, M.D., author and founder of Practical Parenting Consulting, LLC – she is also mother of three:

I did appreciate the information that was included in this video, and when I brush my 3 year-old's teeth, I have been singing to him - and he liked it! I hope that you found a tip or two helpful to you as well!

Here are a few other tips that Oral-B Stages put together to "Make Brushing Fun"

• Brush your teeth with your child to set a good example. This also helps your child to learn by watching and imitating you.


• Choose toothbrushes and toothpaste with popular kids’ characters, like Oral-B Stages, to help establish positive oral care routines with familiar friends like Winnie the Pooh or Disney Princesses.


• Sing your child’s favorite song, such as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” for two minutes to encourage brushing for the dentist-recommended time. For older children, play a song from their favorite pop singer for two minutes.


• Making your child’s brushing routine fun will encourage proper habits early and help prevent oral care issues later in life.


• For more information please visit, www.oralb.com/kidscare

Now, for the GIVEAWAY:

A representative for the Oral-B company provided me with four toothbrushes (one from each of the 4 stages), a tube of Baby tooth and gum cleanser and a tube of anticavity fluoride toothpaste to give away to one of my readers! How cool is that.

All that you need to do to enter is submit a comment which includes a way for me to contact you (either an email address or through your blog). This is open to bloggers and nonbloggers. Only one comment per person.

Comments will be closed on Monday, June 1st by 5pm. I will then choose a winner and contact that person!

Healthy Living: Our Goals

We have now been exercising for 4 weeks, and it has been great to have 2 friends that are my accountability partners and my encouragers.

We came up with 6 weekly goals when we started "To incorporate healthy eating and exercise in daily life and decision making," and I would like to share those with you.

1. Exercise three times per week. Choices: the 30-day shred (this is a great workout! I have already seen great results) or walking for 25 minutes and 3 minutes of abs. I opt to do the the 30-day shred.

2. No candy or sweets (we have made an exception on the day of a birthday party or a holiday)

3. Loss of 1 1/2 pounds per week - this should happen as we exercise and eat well. We know that we are also building muscle, so our weight may fluctuate a little bit.

4. Increase our water intake - Basically take your weight and divide by two. The number that you get should be the number of ounces of water that you should drink each day...and increase that number a little bit if you would like to lose weight! (yes, I am peeing a lot!)

5. See a loss in measurements. We decided to take our measurements, so that we will not only get encouraged by the number of pounds that we are losing, but also the inches!

6. No snacks after 8 pm.

It has been so good to have accountability partners while I am working on these goals! We all meet once a week and exercise and go over our goals, take measurements, etc, and it is great. That type of accountability has encouraged me to abide by these rules to a greater extent than if I was trying to do this on my own.

Are you trying to live healthier? Have you made any goals? Do you have an accountability partner? I would love to hear what you are doing...or would like to do!

"No Offense"...BUT YOU ARE A STRANGER!!!

Today was a busy day, but it was fun too. We went to the library, to my nephew's preschool picnic, I had my 2 nephews over for a quick dinner, and then brought them and my two boys to church for bell choir and worship practice! (so thankful for the minivan, so that I was able to take my nephews with us!).

The picnic was a lot of fun. There was lots of food, singing during circle time, games, and the kids got to pick up candy off of a hill (and put it in a bag for later). That was the fun part of the day!

What I do not understand, is when a complete stranger (to me - she obviously belonged to someone at the picnic) smiles at my cute 16 month old (and he smiles back of course), and then puts out her hands for him to come to her. UMMM...are you kidding me!!! This lady did not introduce herself to me (or my mom, who was holding Smiles at the time), but yet she was trying to "lure" my child into her arms. The first time that she tried, his smile immediately left his face and he walked towards me. However, later on, when my mom was holding him, she did it again...and Smiles went to her!!! I was NOT happy about this...and I am NOT overreacting!

You see, I am trying to teach my kids the difference between a stranger and someone that is "ok." I can easily talk about this with my 3 year old and he seems to understand it - we have been talking about it a lot lately, since he has become more friendly with people. However, my 16 month old does not completely understand what I am saying...and what this lady did was really inappropriate. I did not actually see what happened until Smiles was being handed back to my mom (and my mom and I talked about this and came up with something that she can say next time so that she does not actually let Smiles go into someone's arms - I think that my mom was so shocked that this lady would do what she did, and did not know what to say).

So, in the future, I told my mom to just tell the stranger that:

"We are trying to teach our children not to be lured by a stranger, so we would rather that you do not hold him. No offense...but you are a stranger!"

Ok, maybe that sounds a little harsh, but whatever I do say will have that tone to it.

What are your thoughts about this? Do you let strangers hold your kids?

Motherhood

As I walk around my house, things are screaming at me to: put things away, find homes for things that I am not sure where to put them yet, or just get rid of some things (yard sale, give away or just trash it).

My house is definitely not the way that I would like for it to be, but I have come to realize that I just have to work at one thing at a time...it will soon be sorted out. In the meantime, I need to realize that my self worth and who I am as a mom, wife, woman and child of God is not dependent on whether the dishes are caught up, if all my papers are filed or all of the groceries are put away (although I will get to that in a minute) - who I am in Christ is what really matters.

However, I do want to continue to organize my house and to try and incorporate more things into my daily life and schedule (cleaning routines, etc). Motherhood is great, but it is a lot of work too! (so well worth it!)

I have begun reading a book called Professionalizing Motherhood, by Jill Savage, and it has really been ministering to me in many ways. It is a book that has been written to encourage SAHMs, and I am looking forward to sharing bits and pieces of it with you.

Get Out and VOTE!

Today, you have the right to VOTE!

No, not for a president, but it is very important!

WHY?

Because you are voting for people that will run your township (school board, commissioner), the constable, common pleas judge, prothonotary, controller, register of wills, clerk of court, recorder, or deeds, sheriff, coroner, Supreme Court Justice (I recommend Cheryl Lynn Allen), Superior Court Justice, Superior Court Justice (I recommend Judy Olson), Commonwealth Court Justice, and our county District Judge. (note: those in bold are only my recommendations - you need to make your own decision based on your beliefs)

I know that life is busy, but pack your kids in the car and demonstrate to them how important it is to do our part and vote into office those that we would like to see in office.

We all make a difference!

So, what are you waiting for? Stop reading and GO VOTE! :)

Making Great Decisions

"Why is it easier to make a healthy choice for what my child should eat (for a snack), but when it comes to myself, I often make a poor one...such as chocolate for a snack?"

This is a question that began to run through my mind a few weeks ago, and I decided to address it!

A few months ago, I came to realize that I needed to start exercising. After having two children and not incorporating any real form of exercise into my life, my body was out of shape, and the "baby fat" had not completely gone away...and since my baby is now 16 months old, I decided that it was high time to begin to exercise! My sister volunteered to help me out with childcare while I worked out on her treadmill - and that was a good start...but it has changed, for the better!

My sister was working out with her husband, but some things changed (which you can read more about here), and she was in need of a new partner...so, I suggested that could watch the kids and she could also work out...and since then, another friend has joined us!

We then took this a step further. We talked about what we were doing and why we were doing it, and we both agreed that we were not exercising to just lose weight (although that is a great benefit), but this is what is on our hearts:

"To incorporate healthy eating and exercise in daily life and decision making."

That is our focus. By making great decisions in our life - we are choosing a healthy lifestyle, to be healthy person, mommy, and wife.

So, what are our goals? I will tell you more about that another time!

"Mommy, I'm Not Done!"

I have a great little story to tell you...

Last week, I did not get Brady (almost 3 1/2 years old) down for a nap until 3pm! I was busy with the yard sale, and well, time slipped away. He woke up crying about 45 minutes later.

"Great," I thought. Smiles and I went up to get Brady, and he was not a happy camper, and was all sweaty. He was not making sense with what he was saying - he was still tired. I decided to take him downstairs, instead of trying to get him back to sleep (which does work for me, with him).

We were downstairs in the family room and Brady was sitting on my lap on our recliner - Smiles was playing with toys. The following conversation really did take place, and I wanted to share it with you (and I am not making it up!)

Brady: Mommy, I'm not done sleeping.

Me: Well, why don't you just snuggle with Mommy for a little bit

Brady: No, I'm not done sleeping! I want you to bring me upstairs to finish my nap!

Me: Are you sure? You know, Mommy will just bring you upstairs, put you in bed and then leave. Are you sure you want to do that? (since it was 4pm, I kind of did not want him to go back to sleep, but he persisted).

Brady: Yes, Mommy, please bring me upstairs so I can finish my nap.

Me: ok, hunny.

So, I carried him upstairs, place him in bed, pulled the covers on to him, kissed him goodnight, and went back downstairs. Part of me was thinking that he was really going to go to sleep and the other part of me was thinking that I might see him back downstairs in about 2 minutes.

Well, the first part of me was correct! He fell back asleep for an hour and a half!!! He did not get up until 5:30pm!!! Normally, I would not let him sleep that long (5 pm is the latest), but since I remembered that Dawson was not going to be home until about 7pm, I decided to let my little guy sleep a little longer than normal!

And you know what? He was in bed by 8:30pm...and fell asleep! He amazed me!