Big Kid Advice - Sleeping Through the Night

I wrote a blog a while back about how to stop your young child from coming into your room in the middle of the night.  I am following up because my child, now 5 ½ comes into our room once again.  Sticker charts and the bunny clock no longer work!

I have a new system.  I ran it by my pediatrician and she improved!  We have created “sleep tickets.”  I simply cut card stock into pieces – about 4 inches by 2 inches.  I then wrote something on each one that my son loves and would hate to be without.  Currently, his sleep tickets have the following written on them: Treats, TV, iPhone, Computer, Angry Birds (his stuffed toys) and iPad.  We count how many times he comes into our room at night, and then the next morning, he has to give us a sleep ticket for each time.  Sometimes we let him choose and sometimes we choose.  We then post the ticket (or tickets) on the refrigerator for the day.  And then before bed, (hopefully we remember), we put the tickets back on his nightstand.

And of course, we do have exceptions when it is OK to come into our room.  He is allowed to come in if he hears thunder (because he is terrified) or if he needs help going to the bathroom.

We have had these issues with my son for several years.  My pediatrician said that it COULD be that he wakes up from anxiety.  And you might ask, for a 5 year-old, what causes anxiety?  She actually asked my son what he thinks about when he wakes up in the night.  He started telling her silly and small things like his excitement about playing on daddy’s phone!  She said if the sleep tickets DON’T work, then a couple of sessions with a psychologist might help.  A doctor can give your child coping tools for easing anxiety in the night.

Techy Advice - My Favorite App Part I

I finally purchased an iPhone a couple of months ago and MAN DO I LOVE IT!  It really should not be called a phone, that does it little justice.  It is a gadget of gigantic proportions, with the ability to make phone calls too.

I am really enjoying all the amazing AND FREE apps out there!  So I have decided to periodically use my blog to give you a rec for a favorite app.

My first suggestion is Nike Training Club.  I have a 4-month old baby, so I really need to start working out.  This app is sooo cool and watching it has almost motivated me to start exercising.  You can pick beginner, intermediate or advanced, then pick from several workout options and even set it to music!  And if you need help understanding how to do a portion of the workout (ie, partial plank), there is a video of a svelte gal doing it.

Let me know if you try it out and tell me what you think!

New Baby - Nursing and the MSPI Diet

I thought I would be an old pro when I started nursing my second child.  But new problems came up with him – namely, REFLUX!  We have been trying countless things to make him feel better while trying to solve the core issue.  In addition to two medicines, sitting upright after feedings and block nursing, I have been on the MSPI diet (milk-soy protein intolerance).

Friends had told me that being on this diet while nursing was so restrictive and so miserable, I was petrified.  I really lack discipline when it comes to dieting, especially while nursing!  But honestly, it has not been as bad as I expected.  It IS a bummer to have to plan every meal in advance, and I really miss buying baked goods to satisfy my cravings.  Between the resources online and what I was given by my pediatrician, I have survived – for almost a month.

Below you will find some helpful things to get you started, if you too decide to try the MSPI diet.

1. The greatest web site, started by a mom, that has some delicious recipes – even if you aren’t on the diet: www.mspimama.com
2. A wonderful mother created a cook book that lists some ingredients to avoid, some foods that you CAN eat and plenty of yummy recipes: www.mspiguide.com
3. A recipe of the food that is keeping me going: puppy chow!
4. The milk and soy ingredients to avoid if you are on the MSPI diet: see below
5. A list of processed foods u can eat: see below

PUPPY CHOW

1. Melt 1 cup MSPI safe chocolate chips (I like Guittard) in a large pot over low heat.  Mix until completely melted. 
2. Turn off heat and add ½ cup MSPI safe peanut butter (I like Jif Natural.)
3. Remove pan from heat and add 9 cups Rice Chex.  Mix until coated.
4. Add ¾ cup powdered sugar to two gallon Ziploc bags (3/4 cup in each bag.)
5. Split Chex mixture in each bag and shake well.
6. Store in airtight container.

MILK INGREDIENTS TO AVOID:

*artificial butter flavor
*butter, butter fat, buttermilk
*casein
*caseinates (ammonia caseinate, calcium caseinate, magnesium caseinate, potassium caseinate, sodium caseinate)
*cheese
*cottage cheese
*curds
*custard
*half and half
*hydrolysates (casein, milk protein, protein, whey, whey protein)
*lactalbumin, lactalbumin phosphate
*lactoglobulin
*lactose
*milk (derivative, protein, solids, malted, condensed, evaporated, dry, whole, low fat, non fat, skim)
*nougat
*pudding
*rennet casein
*sour cream, sour cream solids
*sour milk solids
*whey (delactosed, demineralized, protein concentrate)
*yogurt
*brown sugar flavoring
*caramel flavoring
*chocolate, milk chocolate (cocoa butter is ok)
*high protein flour
*margarine
*natural flavoring
*Simplesse A "D" on a product label next to a "K" or circled "U" may indicate the presence of milk protein

SOY INGREDIENTS TO AVOID:
Avoid foods that contain any of the following ingredients:
*miso
*shoyu sauce
*soy (flour, grits, nuts, milk, sprouts)
*soybean (granules, curd)
*soy protein (concentrate, isolate)
*soy sauce
*textured vegetable protein (TVP)
*tofu ingredients
*flavorings
*hydrolyzed plant protein
*hydrolyzed soy protein
*hydrolyzed vegetable protein
*natural flavoring
*vegetable broth
*vegetable gum
*vegetable starch

**Studies show that most soy allergic individuals may safely eat products containing soy lecithin and soybean oil

Grocery Store Items that are MSPI-safe (always check the ingredient list, in case anything changed!):

Breads:
Orowheat 100% whole wheat bread
Orowheat cracked wheat hamburger buns
Squirrely Sprouted Wheat Bread
Sara Lee 100% whole wheat bread
Mission whole-wheat tortillas
Old El Paso Taco Shells
Van's Organic Blueberry Waffles
Healthy Harvest pasta and most other pastas
MultiGrain Flatout Tortillas
Pitas
Rudi's Organic Bakers 7 Grain Bread
Most varieties of Orowheat and Sara Lee breads are safe
A lot of bread from the grocery store bakery is safe too

Crackers:
Honey Maid Graham Crackers
Triscuits
Wheat Thins
My Family Farm organic whole-wheat crackers
Pretzels


Cereals:
Barbara's Shredded Oats
Honey Nut Cheerios
Cheerios
Quaker's Oatmeal Breakfast Cookies
Wal-Mart's Great Value Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal
Wal-Mart's Great Value Nature's Grain Cereal
Life Cereal, Cinnamon
Life Cereal, Honey Graham
Life Cereal, Original
Wal-Mart's Great Value Raisin Bran
Cascadian Farms Organic Cinnamon Raisin Granola
Post Raisin Bran
Kix
Organic Wheatabix
Instant Quaker Oatmeal

Snacks/Sweets:
Regular Pringles
Lay’s Naturals tortilla or sea salted potato chips
Plain Sunchips (blue bag)
Barrel O Fun Tortilla chips (several kinds of Barrel of Fun chips are ok)
Two-Bite brownies by Homestyle
Wal-Mart's Great Value semi-sweet chocolate chips
Lindt dark chocolate bar
Baker's brand semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Duncan Hines white frosting and cake mix (several other varieties also ok)
Duncan Hines brownie mixes, several varieties
Great Value (Walmart brand) white cake mix and frosting
Pillsbury Funfetti frosting
Dad's cookies, several varieties
Oreos, original and Uh Oh Oreos
Various Nabisco 100 Calorie Packs
Rice dream ice cream (available at health food stores)
Purdy's dark chocolate
Boxed chocolates from Rose City (rosecitychocolates.com) choose vegan varieties
Twizzler's licorice
Newman's Own Organic Dark Chocolate
Wal-Mart's Great Value plain and barbecue chips
Health food stores carry several different brands of cake mixes that are milk and soy free. 

Meat/proteins:
Old El Paso Refried Beans
Wal-Mart's Great Value fat-free refried beans
Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans
Any dry bean, prepared per package instructions
Nuts: almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios, peanuts, etc.
Eggs: fried, boiled, scrambled, etc.
Boar's head deli meats (all varieties but ham and turkey)
Mrs. Paul's fish filets and fish sticks
Tyson chicken nuggets
Applegate farms organic turkey dogs
Hummus
Quorn brand vegetarian sausages (also have a vegetarian chicken nugget and burger crumbles)
Citterio proscuitto ham
Applegate Farms ham
Applegate Farms turkey
Applegate Farms turkey bologna
Trader Joe's Southwest Style Turkey Burgers
Amy's Kitchen California Burgers (vegetarian)
Ian's allergen -free chicken and fish sticks
Oscar Mayer Oven Roasted Turkey
Oscar Mayer Honey Roasted Turkey
Oscar Mayer Smoked Sausage
Shake and Bake Original Chicken
-Any other fresh prepared meat that has no added flavorings 

Drinks:
Rice Dream Rice milk: plain, vanilla, or chocolate
Westsoy Rice milk: plain or vanilla
Almond breeze milk
Health food stores also carry oat milk, hazelnut milk, and mixed grain milk as well as other brands of rice milk
Orange juice with added calcium
Any other fruits juices
Soda pops 

Misc:
McCormick's Fajita Seasoning
Smart Balance Light spread
Fleishmann's Light (the one with the blue lid) sold at SunMart in Kearney
Avo Classic Guacamole
Alexia oven fries
Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing
Wal-Mart's Great Value Thousand Island
Dorothy Lynch dressing
-Many brands of Italian, just check for cheese in it.
Chocolate Chip Teddy Grahams
Dried fruit
Fruit rollups
Amy's kitchen pizza roasted vegetable without cheese
Maggie's seasoning for flavoring stir-fries. (Like a soy sauce, but made with wheat rather than soy).
Mrs. Dash 10 min. marinade
Lowry’s Baja Chipotle marinade
KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce-several varieties are safe
Or homemade barbecue sauce: ketchup, rice vinegar, onion powder, and molasses
Ketchup
Salsa (most are ok)
Mayonnaise-most brands
Miracle Whip
Mustard

Good luck to you and let me know if you have any other suggestions!

Just for Fun - Preschooler Games without any "Stuff"

Before bed every night, my son wants to play on the bed.  We have a king sized bed, and he loves to get wild and crazy on it.  If he is playing with daddy, that works.  They rough house, create obstacle courses and even do running flips to try and touch the ceiling!  But if daddy is working late, then mommy sure doesn’t want to pillow fight.  So I am constantly trying to think up games to play that require no tools (ie, I can lounge on the bed and only use my voice, little energy required.)  I realized recently that I have quite a few.  You can also play these in the car, while waiting in line at the grocery store or when trying to calm down your wired preschooler before bed.

Anything Alphabet – The child starts with A and says “a is for apple.”  Then mom says “b is for baby.”  You can adapt this to Beach Alphabet, School Alphabet, Animal Alphabet, Name Alphabet, City Alphabet, Christmas Alphabet, Sports Alphabet and my son’s very favorite, which he came up with “Stinky Alphabet.”  If you want to make it more challenging, you can repeat every letter by playing the “I’m Going to the Store Game”.  Kid – “I’m going to the store and I am buying an apple.”  Mom – “ I’m going to the store and I’m buying an apple and a basketball.”  Kid – “I’m going to the store and I’m buying an apple, a basketball and a crayon.”

What age will your brother be? – My 5-year old has just become a big brother and he is very excited.  He is also really into people’s ages.  He recently introduced my dad to his babysitter and said “this is my grandpa, he’s 64.”  That is how this game started.  I said, when you are 10, how old will your baby brother be?  OR, when your brother is 8, how old will you be?  He got so into it, we started doing crazy ages like 64, 88 and 105.  And I taught him how to subtract on his fingers by five (their age difference.)

Rhyme Time – If mom says rat, kid says bat.  Or, if mom says log, kid can try and come up with as many rhyming words as possible – dog, fog, bog.  And then this game adapted further to “Silly Rhyme Time.”  This came from that Yanni song, you know the one… “Have you ever seen a cat, wearing a hat?”  OR “Have you ever seen a whale with a sock on his tail?”

Last Letter – Mom says elephant, then kid has to know what the last letter of that word is (T) and then say a word that STARTS with T.  To make this harder, do only animals, only kid’s names, places you have visited, etc. 

Check back, I will add more games as we invent them!

Just for Fun - Interview with Author Monica O'Brien

I recently came across this new author, Monica O'Brien.  She has just completed her first novel, Silver Smoke.  As some of you know, I am a avid reader and a lover of entertaining book series.  Check out the interview that I conducted with Monica below.  And at the bottom of this blog, you'll find a link to Monica's web site which tells you how to take part in a contest she is running, in celebration of her new novel.

What is your all-time favorite “classic” book?

I really love Emma by Jane Austen. I think I saw the movie first, with Gwyneth Paltrow, then read the book. It was my first Jane Austen book. I moved on to the other greats, like Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion.

How did you come up with your novel’s character’s names?

Well, I just thought about how celebrities always give their kids dumb names like Apple (I just referenced Gwyneth twice in this interview) and then copied that idea. Pilot's name just came to me out of thin air (no pun intended). Then came Breeze, which was later changed to Brie because Pilot and Breeze is just too comical. So then I decided that Brie is short for Gabriella and that her mother named her after one of the archangels, Gabrielle. And Rykken is a derived from the word reich, which is German for rich empire or kingdom.

Were you an avid reader or a creative writer (or both) as a kid?

I read 2 to 3 books a day when I was between 7 and 13 years old. I'm assuming I didn't have a ton of friends or a social life! I did write a couple stories but nothing of substance until I wrote this novel.

What is your favorite “beach read?”

I like the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries. I won't typically keep up with her series as the books come out, but when I'm on vacation in Mexico I'll bring two or three of her novels with me to read on the beach.

Who would play Brie in the movie adaptation of Silver Smoke?

Well, I have my eye on Vanessa Hudgens--but let me explain! Brie is one of those characters that just has a sparkle about her. She's popular and people look up to her and she doesn't know why, and she doesn't really care or notice because it's been like that her whole life. She hasn't done anything to earn that--she's not talented, and she's not particularly nice, and she's not always easy to like. I would equate her with the popular girl at school who isn't a bully, isn't outwardly mean but also isn't outwardly friendly, doesn't actually do anything of note, but manages to steal attention because there is just something about her, that X factor, that you can't stop watching. I can see Vanessa Hudgens playing that well, for whatever reason.

Regarding Brie, I should mention that I was not that person at all in high school! I knew a lot of girls like her though, and I found myself wanting to be accepted by those girls even though I couldn't come up with any logical reason I should be friends with them. They were the girls you hated mostly because you were jealous. Brie's fairly vacant and glassy-eyed at the beginning of the book, but eventually you see what really motivates her and she becomes more of a human being by the end.

What is the first step to getting a novel published?

Deciding whether you want to go the traditional route or do things on your own. There are advantages to both. I think a lot of people would say that the first step is to write the novel. You honestly can't get a sense of whether the novel will generate any interest until you write it. There are so many factors to consider.

What has been your favorite Halloween costume (as an adult and as a kid?)

I've always wanted to be Snow White, but for some reason I never did it! I guess my favorite costume is from when I was a kid. I had waited until the last minute to make something, so I found this huge box and wrapped it in birthday wrapping. I cut out two holes for my arms and went as a present. It was pretty tough to navigate in that thing.

 

To celebrate the release of a new novel to the Seven Halos series, Monica is doing a Kindle Fire giveaway for Silver Smoke, the first novel in the series! 

 

Check out the contest details here and enjoy this very informative web site.  http://howtobeanauthor.net/blog/contests/12-days-of-fire-contest/

Toddler Advice - A Fun Food Idea

I am constantly trying to come up with new snack ideas, new lunch ideas, new dinner ideas, ETC for my picky and very vocal son.

One of his favorite lunch side dishes is Ants on a Log.  I recently made Ants on a Log for a play date and my friend had never heard of this delicious snack!  And she certainly had not heard of my invention - Ants on a SNOW COVERED log!

Ants on a Log are celery sticks, with peanut butter and raisins on top.  And Ants on a Snow Covered Log are celery sticks with cream cheese and ants on top.  They are both a sure-fire way to get your kids to eat a vegetable.

Just for Fun - Rainy Day Activities Part IV

I am loving this time of year because the weather has been glorious.  And by glorious, I mean unseasonably warm!  My family and I have not had many 'rainy day activities' lately.  We have been at the botanical gardens, the apple orchard and the pumpkin patch.  

My son and I both obsess over Halloween (he chooses his costume 9-10  months before October).  So currently, we are in preparation for the big day.  Over the weekend, we went to the Halloween store (the one that just opens up for the month), decorated our house with all the spooky decor that I bought the day after Halloween LAST year AND we even made pumpkin bars. 

Whether it is raining where you are or not, this is an easy and delicious recipe.  I took it from my Parish's web site, so you know it is a classic.  It is listed amongst chicken salad and potato casserole recipes.  Comfort food!

PUMPKIN BARS

(11 x 15 pan)

Spray or grease a jelly roll pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together:

1-1/2 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

Add and stir together:

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp baking powder

1-1/2 tsp cinnamon 

Add 1 (16 oz) can of pumpkin.  Stir until well combined.

Bake 25-30 minutes @ 350 degrees. Let cool.

Frosting:

Mix together 3 oz softened cream cheese and 3/4 cup butter.  

Add 1/2 tsp vanilla.    

Add 3 cups sifted powdered sugar.  

Mix with beaters until smooth.  

Spread on cooled bars.

Enjoy and happy fall!