Search Results for: breakfast

Routines {Our Favorite Friday Hangouts}

April 27, 2012 by Danielle

Every Friday my son gets dropped off at his great aunt’s house and my daughter and I have a little one on one time. It’s a great day to catch up on the weeks house cleaning or work that I hadn’t yet had the time to finish. But we also get to go out and enjoy ourselves for a bit in the mornings after we do drop off.

One thing I love about Fridays is our standing play date. Without fail, just about every other week, we end up heading to story time at The Yellow Book Road after dropping off Brother. Then we head over to Con Pane with friends to enjoy a delicious cup of coffee and something to nibble on.

The Yellow Book Road features a new theme every week and they always include a few books geared to children under two as well as some fun music they play and dance to that go along with the theme. My daughter loves getting her groove on with the other kids.

Last week the theme was kittens. And they sang Soft Kitty. For any Big Bang Theory lovers out there I’m sure you’re now singing it to yourself.

After the quick 30 minute story time we make our way across the street to indulge a bit in pastry (my one major weakness). I so look forward to this every week. It’s like a little treat to myself.

Sure, some mamas love going out and getting pampered or head out to happy hour for a margarita on the rocks or watermelon martini. I wait all week for a brioche twist, a piece of delicious buttery bread with nuts and chocolate folded inside. And oh my is it amazing.

Paired with a cup of coffee and it’s my breakfast and lunch all in one.

There are also delicious cookies, scones, and breads to choose from. And their sandwiches are filling and unique. One of my favorite sandwiches is their Turkey Cobb. Turkey breast, avocado, bacon, and gorgonzola cheese (that I usually omit and sub brie for) with crisp lettuce and tomatoes atop a fresh rosemary & olive oil bread. I order a 1/2 sandwich and it’s still enough food to feed two!

Once we let our food settle we head over to the park to get some more energy out of the kids before heading back home for nap time. Watching my daughter socialize without her big brother is quite fun. She definitely has a big personality and it shows when she plays with her friends.

The best part about our Friday morning playdate is the fact that it’s so casual. If we wake up too late or my son doesn’t get dropped off at his great aunt’s house in time we can just skip the storytime and go straight to brunch. And if we skip brunch… well then I just pop in and grab my order to go and than take a little stroll to the NTC park for some fun in the sun.

And even if a friend or two cannot make it, no big deal! There are plenty of other kids and mamas at all locations for my daughter to socialize with. Plus we like to get all of our shopping done after playtime since it’s right next to a Trader Joe’s and Vons.

So if your local and free Fridays and have a little one come on out to The Yellow Book Road for story time. It’s a fun, relaxing morning that’s perfect for moms and kids alike.

Do you have any weekly routines? A standing play date somewhere?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Activities, Baby #2, Fridays, routines

Case of the Mondays

April 26, 2012 by Danielle

Do you ever have a day that just, well, sucks?

That was totally me this Monday. I don’t know what was going on but on Monday the universe hated me. Sure, I tried to make the best of it and moved forward but I’m still feeling the impact and not in a good way.

Monday started out like any other day. Woke up to my son rubbing my arm and my daughter slapping my chest asking to nurse. We got up, I made coffee and fixed breakfast, and logged in online to check email, facebook, work stuff, etc while the kids watched Curious George.

And what do I see as soon as I open my email? An email notifying me that an order I placed online was cancelled due to an item being out of stock. Why in the heck would an online retailer, in this internet-crazed world, not be able to update their site with the correct availability BEFORE emailing a great deal? When you email something to your subscribers you want them to buy, right?

So I just left it at that and won’t be returning to purchase the item when it’s in stock.

Then there was a last minute change to our planned playdate due to the weather and I had to deal with an upset 3 year old and try to explain why we couldn’t go play. That was easily resolved when I made other plans with another mama friend.

Of course, as I’m trying to convince my son that it’s not the end of the world and we’d be going to the park at the beach instead, my egg cups burned. Who wants burnt eggs for breakfast? Not my picky eaters!

Three for three and it wasn’t even 8am.

Then as we’re headed out the door to make it to our new playdate my daughter decides it’d be a great time to put her shoe in the toilet. It was dirty and needed a bath, right?

We finally got into the car, fed, dressed (minus the soggy shoe), and ready for fun when my cell phone started acting up. Now this isn’t the first time my stupid phone started going on the fritz. But since I wasn’t familiar with getting to the park we were headed to I desperately needed the Maps app to work. And work correctly.

When you need technology it just isn’t there for you, right? But I figured it out and made it to the park.

But we made the most of our day and enjoyed the beautiful weather at the beach. It was overcast, but warm, and the kids had a blast in the sand and water. They shared toys, snacks, and I shared a moment of peace with the other mamas as our kids happily played in front of us.

The worst part about my day, though? The fact that I gained 3lbs and was over my starting weight from two weeks ago. How in the heck did that happen? Oh, did I mention I was back on Weight Watchers again? I’ll have to leave the weight loss for another post.

So even though the day started out like crap it wasn’t as bad as it seemed as I was going through it.But I think it created a chain reaction. Needles to say, I can’t wait for this week to be over! Luckily I’ll end my week with Mamafest and Legoland. Good friends and family time. Perfection.

Have you ever had a case of the Mondays?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Being a Mom, Life, Mondays

Underweight and an Iron Deficiency?

April 25, 2012 by Danielle

Last Thursday my daughter had her follow up weight check. If you remember, she fell off the chart at her 15 month appointment and the pediatrician wanted to make sure she was staying on her own curve and not plateauing in weight. Height and head circumference were just fine.

So we beefed up the healthy calories and really focused on structured meals and snacks to make sure she had as many opportunities to eat healthy, caloric foods as possible to keep her on the right track.

And the results?

In six weeks she gained 11 ounces. Enough to keep her on her own curve and out of the ‘danger zone’ of plateauing on the curve.

But, and that’s a big but, the pediatrician wanted to see a bit more of a gain to get her back onto the charts. We’ll continue to make sure she’s offered a variety of nutritious meals and snacks as well as making sure the foods we feed her are higher in calories.

Now that we’ve gotten the weight issue taken care of we’re fine, right? Wrong.

At the 15 month check up my daughter’s iron levels were low. The pedi re-checked the numbers again this time and they’re still low. Now we have to supplement with iron drops. Not easy for a girl who doesn’t eat much.

Not only am I now trying to offer lots of foods, I’m also trying to offer foods that I can hide the iron drops in. And this girl eats maybe 5 bites of one thing at a time. Not great when the metallic flavor of the iron supplement needs to be masked by the food or drink it’s in.

I still have yet to get a full dose in her. And she needs two doses a day, every day.

Luckily I have an awesome BFF who recommended a few products to try out. She currently uses Floradix Iron & Herbs and loves it.

I actually first heard of this brand back at BlogHer’11 last year and have even received samples at a few events I’ve attended over the past few months. I’ve put a call in to the pediatrician to see if he approves of this alternative.

They even have a kids multivitamin I’ve heard great things about called Floradix Kinderlove Children’s Multiple Vitamin. I might get that as well to start Ethan on something in case he’s lacking in nutrition too.

We’re also making Green Monsters every day and are considering adding chlorella or spirulina. There isn’t a ton of iron in the chlorella or spirulina but it’s very easily assimilated. There’s also a chewable called Nature’s Plus Animal Parade Kid Greenz that I’m looking into as well.

And on top of the supplements I am also watching her Vitamin C consumption as well since it’s supposed to aid in absorption of iron. So along with the iron drops I’m also offering orange juice, melon, strawberries, apricots, kiwi, broccoli, tomatoes and potatoes.

I’m going to try my best to get her iron levels up and decide on a course of action. If it’s not one thing it’s another! So is life…

A positive in this is the fact that my daughter is a smart, funny, and very personable 16 1/2 month old and we are blessed that our problems are ones we can address and resolve. I know that some families aren’t as lucky.

Have any suggestions for increasing iron? I’d love to hear them!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. By clicking through to the sponsor’s website your are helping support the Simmworks Family Blog.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Health, iron deficiency, Kids Health, low weight gain, supplements, vitamins, weight issues

A Dinosaur Train Celebration {Birthday Party Ideas}

February 29, 2012 by Danielle

Pin It

When my son mentioned having a Dinosaur Train themed party a few months back I was happy to start planning out all of the details. I searched through Google and Pinterest and even created a board of inspiration to go off of.

But I was surprised to find very little in the form of ideas and details. Most of the posts I came across linked back to the same two designs and I didn’t quite love them. So I decided to pick and choose design elements from various sources and pieced them together to form my son’s Dinosaur Train birthday.

The Cake

Any dinosaur themed birthday has to have a volcano cake. It’s a must. And my kid is kind of obsessed with any thing that explodes. We recently purchased a mini volcano set from Lakeshore Learning Center that allows you to add baking soda and vinegar to watch the volcano erupt over and over again. It’s one of the only toys that he asks repeatedly for every night when daddy gets home!

I had great visions of multi-tiered, fondant covered cakes with tunnels and trains but just couldn’t come up with the money and lacked the talent to make one myself.

So this easy-to-do volcano cake was my go-to. And boy did it give me trouble! The bundt cake stuck in the pan not once, but twice, the day before the party. But I just went with the flow and pieced the second failed cake together to create my final product.

To read more about the volcano cake check out my post here with recipe and design details.

The Cupcakes

In addition to the volcano cake, I also made cupckaes for the kids. They’re much easier to deal with when feeding 3 year olds and the kids love them for the frosting.

When I searched for ideas for cake toppers I knew my friend, Jeanna, over at the Sweets Fairy Bakeshop would know just what to do. She created these darling toothpick cupcake toppers with dinosaur train images on them and even created some decorative dinos and train fondant pieces to go along with the theme.

We placed the dinos and trains around the cupcakes and sprinkled the tray with the first bundt cake crumbs (way to reuse, right!?) to give the illusion of the cupcakes laying on dirt. Half of the cupcakes had the cute toothpick tags on them and half had whopper eggs on them to make dinosaur nests.

The recipe I used for the cupcakes is from Glorious Treats.

The Place Settings

Yes, I know it seems silly to have place settings for a kids birthday but I thought this added a special touch.

My husband’s aunt surprised my son on the morning of his birthday by dropping off some dinosaur cookies. These cookies were absolutely adorable so I asked if she wouldn’t mind making a few for his party too.

She packaged a few of them up for each kid and put them in a plastic bag with ribbon to make cute favors for the table. I also made some dinosaur and train paper hats for each of the kids as well and set them next to each plate, napkin and cookie.

To read more about how to make your own dinosaur party hats check out my post here.

The Food

In staying with the Dinosaur theme we created fun food names for each of the snacks we offered. Since the party started at 10am we stuck with a brunch menu. Here’s what our menu looked like:

Sweetivore Grub
Rip Apart Raptor Bread – Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread
Ceratops Cookies – sugar cookies
Cephalosaurus Cupcakes – vanilla cupcakes
Chocolate Lava Volcano Cake – devils food cake with chocolate frosting

Herbivore Grub
Brontosaurus Burritos – potato, egg & cheese, and bean, egg & cheese
Herbivore Delight – fresh fruit with fruit dip
Dinosaur Bones – pretzel sticks

Carnivore Grub
Brontosaurus Burritos – ham, egg & cheese, and bacon, egg & cheese

I was amazed at how much the kids (and adults) loved the breakfast burritos. They were seriously the easiest thing I’ve ever done besides ordering pizzas and pleased everyone. And since we live in So Cal everyone loves Mexican food! We also served some hot carrots and had salsa on hand. We also had Jurrasic Juice for the kids and coffee & tea for hte adults. Since the party was held at a place with a cafe there was no lack of caffeine.

Here are some photos of the grub:

Herbivore Grub

Carnivore Grub

Paper Goods

For the food and drink labels I simply designed a template in Word that included the name of the food and the dinosaur train image. I played around with the fonts and downloaded a Jurrasic Park font from FontSpace.After playing around with the fonts, sizes and picture I decided to add a thick orange line around the wording and picture. After I printed the pages out I cut them to size and layered them with blue cardstock.

I did the same with the favor bag tags but used a different layout and orange and blue cardstock (without the orange line). I absolutely loved how the signs turned out. They were perfect for the party.

Snacks

Jurassic Juice to drink

My son blowing out his number 3 candle

The Party Favors

We tried to include some fun goodies for the kids to take home in their favor bags. It all started with the wooden train whistles I found in the dollar section of Target. My son and I painted and personalized the whistles for each of his guests.

He had so much fun in the process and was so excited to give each bag to his friends (later at the party when he found out he didn’t get to hand them out he was a little upset but we remedied that by showing him all of the presents he received!).

Here’s what else we included in the favor bag:

Personalized train whistle
Dinosaur Sticker Books
Playdough
Assorted Dinosaur Stampers in Plastic Dino Eggs
Plastic Dinosaurs

All in all I’d consider this party a big success. I loved talking with my son about what he wanted to include and how he wanted to celebrate.

And seeing the joy in his face every time he talked about his “Dinosaur Train party at Kid Ventures” was more than enough reward for us. I’ll be posting more about my experience with KidVentures and their party packages soon!

I hope the guests had as much fun attending the party as we did throwing it!

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. By using these links you are supporting the Simmworks Family Blog.

Filed Under: Party Ideas, Uncategorized Tagged With: Birthday, Dinosaur Train, Dinosaurs, parties, Trains

Gardening with Kids

February 27, 2012 by Danielle

Since we started our garden in November we’ve been trying to find more and more ways to get the kids involved in tending to it.

I’ve found that by including them in the process they’re not only more willing to actually eat what we harvest, they also are less tempted to start playing in the garden with trucks, balls, dinos and airplanes.

Those get left in the sand box where they belong! Below are a few ways to get your kids involved in the yard whether it be tending to an edible garden or picking the weeds in the flower bed.

The Perfect Birthday Pancakes {How-To}

February 22, 2012 by Danielle

Our family loves pancakes and waffles. But we hardly ever get to making them on weekdays. So when my son asked for pancakes on the morning of his birthday I had to give in. But I couldn’t just make any normal pancake. They needed to be special birthday pancakes! So I grabbed a box of multigrain pancake mix from Trader Joe’s and got to work.

Here’s how to make the perfect birthday pancakes:

1. If you aren’t making your pancakes from scratch (they’re super easy to do!) pick out a multigrain mix. Grab the sprinkles while you’re in the pantry.

2. Mix ingredients together and let the batter sit and thicken. This will allow the batter to thicken and make fluffier pancakes. You can add in sprinkles now or wait till later.

3. Preheat your skillet on medium. You’ll know it’s ready when you place a few drops of water on it and they sizzle and evaporate quickly.

4. Grease skillet with butter. Then wipe away any excess with a towel.

Perfect Birthday Pancakes adding sprinkles

5. Place no more than 1/4 cup of batter for each pancake (unless you’re a pancake master). Sprinkle each pancake with sprinkles and set timer for 1.5 minutes.

6. Turn pancakes when the edges start to bubble or when timer goes off, whichever comes first. The pancakes should be golden brown.

7. Let the other side cook for 1-1.5 minutes or until golden brown.

8. Place pancakes aside and cover loosely to keep warm. You can also put them in a 200 degree oven if you have a lot of pancakes to make.

9. Make a special icing instead of using syrup and butter. Take 1/2 a cup of powdered sugar and add in 1-2 tablespoons of milk. Stir vigorously to combine and remove lumps. Add more milk if too thick. Add 1-2 teaspoons of maple syrup to the icing.

10. Top with icing, sprinkle more sprinkles on top and include a candle or fun cupcake topper to make this special stack of pancakes perfect.

Enjoy!

What do you do to make your child’s birthday special?

Filed Under: Baking, In the Kitchen, Recipes, Uncategorized Tagged With: Birthday, how-to, In the Kitchen, Pancakes

Disneyland with Infants and Toddlers

February 21, 2012 by Danielle

After being asked a few times for tips and tricks to visiting Disneyland with an infant and toddler I thought I’d finally just write everything down in a post. My husband and I have been annual passholders since before we were married. He actually proposed right next to Snow White’s wishing well.

So Disneyland has always held a special place in our hearts. And it comes as no surprise to those who know us that we would frequently take our little ones to visit the park. Both kids have been going since they were newborns and we’ve never felt limited or held back because of them!

Here’s what we do:

Bring a small umbrella stroller –

Both kids use it and switch when the other is walking (or the youngest is in the Boba carrier). Invest in a swivel hook like these if you don’t already have one. It makes carrying bags around so much easier. We have one on each side of the stroller. If you really don’t want to bring your own stroller then you can easily rent one from Disneyland starting at $15 a day. Just remember you can’t take it with you outside of the park (and that includes Downtown Disney).

We choose not to bring our double stroller because 1. we’ve heard of others getting stolen and 2. it’s just too bulky to lug on and off the tram and/or busses. If you bring your double please make sure to bring a stroller or bike lock with you just in case.

Pack snacks in a lunch bag & bring a reusable water bottle or two –

That way you can snack as you go and fill up the water bottle at any restaurant or food line (just ask them to fill it up and take off the lid… we do this to save money and never buy sodas). These don’t need to be stored in lockers if you don’t want to. You can just hang it from your umbrella stroller or put it in the basket underneath.

Buy meals to split –

Lets face it… most places serve meals that can easily count as 2-3 servings. Why not take advantage of the big portion sizes and split your meals amongst each other? We usually buy two meals and split it between the four of us. Sometimes we get a kids meal for the kids to split (they also have toddler meals most places… just ask!) and a meal for us to split or we get two adult entrees and share. In the end we pay about $15 for the whole meal when it could easily be $30+.

For breakfast we always get a parfait and a cinnamon twist inside the bakery to share. It’s more than enough food for all of us. And I get my coffee from the coffee & tea place on the right hand side of Main Street next to the snack cart because they give you free refills all day with your receipt. If you want a nice place to sit down and eat for dinner check out Downtown Disney before you head back. Or you can eat outside the park at one of the restaurants around Anaheim.

And since we pack snacks we usually allow our children one or two treats inside the park. One of our son’s favorite treats is a fresh popped box of popcorn. The whole family can enjoy it and there’s more than enough to satisfy everyone. When we’re leaving the park we can’t help but stop for a sweet treat in the bakery or candy store. We usually buy a box of cookies for the road and a small chocolate or sucker for the kids.

Take advantage of the baby care center –

It’s located at the end of Main Street has quite a few amenities for their smallest guests. Here’s what they have to offer:

Diaper Changing Stations – these are not your hard surfaced, bathroom changing stations. Each station is a padded, comfortable area with more than enough room for a squirming baby and your diaper bag. They have disposable liners to put under baby to insure each change is germ free.
Small Toilets – right next to the changing stations there are two small toddler-friendly toilets to make going to the restroom a lot easier for our little ones. These are potties that the kids can actually touch the ground while sitting down. Makes potty training a LOT easier.
Feeding Station – Need a quiet place to nurse or feed your child a bottle or are you away from baby and need to pump? This is the perfect place to do so in peace. There are comfy chairs to sit in and there’s even a curtained off area for more privacy. There are also high chairs available for the babies on solids!
Diapers/Accessories – if you’ve forgotten anything at home have no fear, the Baby Center has diapers, formula, wipes, baby food and much more for sale at a reasonable price. I remember having a horrific morning at the park and going through every single diaper we had in the bag. Thank goodness for the Baby Center! No need to turn home (or to the Target down the street).

Make sure to get commemorative pins –

First time at the park? Celebrating a birthday or other celebration? You can go to City Hall on Main Street when you first get in the park OR if there’s a line at City Hall just ask any cashier in the stores on Main Street for a special button to make your toddler’s day.

Packing Extra –

We always bring a sweater or jacket for each kid but store an extra set of clothes in the back pack just in case. These are lightweight, easy to store outfits that won’t take a lot of room in the bag. It does get chilly in the evenings so we always keep a pair of warm clothes in the car in case we’re coming back for the evening.

Rides! –

Just about every ride at Disneyland (save for a few “big kid” rides) is toddler and infant friendly. And you’ll find a ride for every age in every land. That’s the magic of Disney! Some of our family favorites are the Disneyland Railroad, Casey Jr., It’s a Small World, The Haunted Mansion and Astro Blasters. So don’t hesitate to jump in line and enjoy the excitement!

I suggest going to Fantasyland either right when you get to the park or in the late afternoon because there’ll be a lot of people rushing to the “big” rides first and it’s less busy. Also, a great time to ride without lines is parade time. Everyone’s lined up to get a great spot on Main Street and the lines for the rides are near non-existent.

And if you want to catch a parade, don’t worry about sitting to save a spot to watch it. There’s always room for more people right as the parade starts.We actually don’t even look at the parade times and more likely than not we “run into” them as we’re going from one attraction to the other. We also usually stumble onto other forms of entertainment around the park. There’s always something exciting in the form of music, laughter and dance going on in every land.

Whether it be the Billy Hill and the Hillbillies at the Golden Horseshoe, the marching band on Main Street (with Conductor Mickey) or the Jazz Band in New Orleans Square, there’s never an end to the awesome entertainment found at Disneyland.

If you have any questions about your upcoming trip to Disneyland I’d be happy to answer them! Email me at simmworksfamily (at) gmail.com and I’ll answer as best I can.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Disneyland, infants, southern california, toddlers, traveling with a toddler

Food, Nutrition, and Health Tips for Kids

August 18, 2011 by Danielle

One of the biggest problems I have when it comes to my toddler and eating is that he doesn’t eat meals like I do. He would much rather snack all day then have large meals.

So in order to get him to eat during the day I let him have small snacks every two to three hours versus a set breakfast, lunch and dinner. And because it’s so easy to grab a pre-packaged snack from the cupboard I needed to find some simple, quick, healthy snack ideas to keep him fueled throughout the day. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Health & Wellness, In the Kitchen, Kids Health, Snacks, Uncategorized Tagged With: Cooking with a Toddler, Health, Snacks, Toddler Food

Taking a Baby to BlogHer ’11

August 9, 2011 by Danielle

Now I know I need to start posting about my experience at BlogHer’11 before I start forgetting very important details but I needed some time to decompress before jumping in. And I really need to clean the house… 3-4 days away from the home and it looks like a disaster area! Now that I’ve decompressed I can push the house cleaning to the side and jump in to share my experience(s) at BlogHer. I thought the best way to do this would be to write about different aspects of BlogHer. I will start by talking about my experience taking Miss M with me to attend the conference on Friday and Saturday.

Before I even signed up to go to BlogHer back in February I knew I would more than likely be taking my little girl with me. So I kept my eyes and ears open for any and all suggestions for taking nurslings. Luckily a lot of people on twitter, including the ladies at BlogHer themselves, eased my mind and made it very simple to figure out how to work things out.

Not only did I have the support of 3000+ women (including many, many moms) but I also had the support of the conference itself. BlogHer set up a special Lactation Room that could double as a changing station and storage room. I was able to drop off my diaper bag each day so I didn’t have to lug it around with me and I was provided with nursing pads, wipes, and samples of other Lasinoh products. There was even food for M. The awesome ladies at the Ella’s Kitchen booth in the Expo let me grab a few puree pouches for her to try and guess what? She loved them! I’ll definitely be buying those for Hawaii at the end of the month.

During meal-time there was always a smiling face and pair of hands for my daughter to go to while I ate. None of this scarfing food down in 30 seconds or less before having to stop a hand from grabbing food out of my mouth. Friends and strangers alike were more than happy to have Molly sit in their laps. And I let them! I even met an amazing woman at the Quaker Breakfast with Bob Harper who not only held M for me but also gave her an adorable knit bunny toy! How awesome is that? I have to get a picture of M and her new toy.

And while I was oogling Bob while asking him a question he surprised me by complimenting me on how beautiful M is. Swoon! Maybe next time he’ll hold her while I eat. Healthy food, of course. She was also my ticket to getting a picture with him. He couldn’t pass up an adorable, sleeping baby.

Each session I walked into was like a breath of fresh air. All of the women around me would smile at M and myself and those who I sat with would reassure me that they were there to help me out if I needed it. I brought a small Aden & Anais blanket with me and used it to let M play on the floor when she wasn’t sleeping or nursing. She even started to fuss during (in my opinion) the most informative and inspiring session, How to Put the Professional in Professional Blogging, and Jessica Rosenburg of ItsJessicasLife.com and Tiny Prints turned to me, smiled and mouthed, “It’s ok!” as I rocked and shushed M in hopes that she’d go to sleep. Luckily shortly after she did pass out and I got to enjoy one of the best sessions of the weekend. Check out a great recap here on Vampy Varnish’s blog.

I was lucky enough to meet up with Jessica of And Then There Were 4 and scored some awesome Smart Mom Teething Bling including a necklace and bangle bracelet. This kept M entertained during sessions and while I was walking around from location to location. I am pretty sure there are many pictures out there of M gnawing on mine or Jessica’s necklaces. Another lifesaver was my Ergo carrier. As I’ve posted before… I love my Ergo. M never once complained. I guess I wouldn’t either if I had the option to be carried around. All throughout the conference women commented on how pretty the design was. They had never seen embroidery on the Ergo before. It definitely made the carrier more appealing to those I talked to.

If you are planning on going to BlogHer’12 next year and are thinking of bringing a nursling or small baby I say go for it! It’s totally doable (and you may just get more coupons and samples from the vendors at the Expo). Just remember to:

Bring a carrier or stroller
Be open to having the supportive women around you help by holding/playing with your baby
Locate the lactation lounge right away (also a great place to make bottles and store breast milk/formula)

I hope to see you (and your baby) there! There’s no way I’m missing another BlogHer now that I know what all the hype is about. I’ll be the one offering to hold your little munchkin next time. Maybe your little one will learn to wave like mine did. See a video of her doing it (at home) below.

And stay tuned for more fun posts about all of the great memories I’ve made over the past few days (like the Flash Mob I was in and an awesomely amazing limo ride!!) and to thank the generous sponsors who hosted the amazing parties I hung out at with my friends (old and new). I’ll also be hosting a few giveaways that I’m very excited about.

Filed Under: San Diego, Travel, Uncategorized Tagged With: aden+anais, Babywearing, BlogHer

Great Snack Ideas for Kids {Tips and Tricks}

August 9, 2011 by Danielle

You know the saying, “Variety is the spice of life”? This really holds true when it comes to toddlers and food. I sometimes get in a rut when I go grocery shopping. I buy the same fruits, veggies and snacks over and over again. And I notice that after a few weeks of the same handful of choices my son starts to lose interest in those foods. He even started to turn down berries for breakfast or dessert so I knew things had to change.

This summer I have been buying strawberries, grapes and apples weekly. On a quick trip to Trader Joe’s with my son he saw the oranges from across the store and literally ran to them with glee. He practically begged me to buy some for him. So I obliged and threw in a bag of oranges. I asked him if any of the vegetables looked tasty and he grabbed a crown of broccoli. We got home and immediately he asked for an orange. I peeled it and he devoured it in minutes. Then at dinner time he asked to help make the broccoli so I let him break some up to put in the steamer. He ate that as well (along with a few bites of chicken).

It seemed as though having him choose a few items that he was willing to try lead to him eating more than normal. So I started looking for great suggestions to keep him excited about the food we served him so he would be more willing to eat. Now I don’t expect him to eat like a champ every day. Toddlers eat like cavemen. They scavenge for a few days and just snack a tiny bit and then they have what I call eating days where they seem to not get enough. Eating days maybe come every 4-5 days… Below are a few tidbits I’ve found from various sources that now help me keep things exciting for him when he does decide to eat.

1. Get the Kids Involved in Meal Planning
Starting the week off with a list of meals to make each day not only saves time but ultimately helps save money as well. Adding the kids into the mix will also save tears and aggravation at dinner time when your child doesn’t like what’s been put in front of them. Let your child help you meal plan so they can choose what they want to eat. Perhaps start by letting one choose one meal a week. Or if you have younger children like me, let them choose the side dish (carbs, starches or veggies). If my son has chosen his veggie than he more than likely eats at least 3 bites of it when served to him at dinner.

2. Take the Kids Grocery Shopping
I know, I know. It’s a pain to take the kids in the grocery store. I used to dread shopping with both of mine and would wait till the weekend to do all of my grocery shopping alone and kid-less (plus I got to indulge in a coffee that wasn’t cold while I shopped). But then, like I mentioned before, my son got excited about eating the food he chose. And I’ve been taking him alone without the baby so he feels like he has my complete attention when I shop. It’s a great bonding time that I actually look forward to now! Plus as your children help choose the meals and then see what ingredients go into the meals they may just start to get interested in making the meals.

3. Let the Kids Help in the Kitchen
Grab that stool from the garage or closet and push it up to the counter. Find odd jobs while prepping for dinner that are safe for your child to do. I purchased a child-safe knife from Pampered Chef that my son uses along side me to chop up herbs while I chop up veggies. He also helps rip up lettuce for salad, add pre-measured cups of ingredients to the bowl and crack eggs. When he starts cooking with me he gets excited about the food he is working with. He’s even taken to eating lettuce and salads without prompting because he prepares the salads for mealtime.

All of these three things will lead to your child not only being proficient in making meals for your family but will also help your child stay on the healthy track. By giving your child the opportunity to make smart choices about food, and then showing them how to prepare the meals to eat, they will know what to do when they get older and have to think about food on their own. My greatest challenge to myself right now is to try and lead a healthier life for my children so that I am the role-model they look to when they choose how they’re going to eat and live.

A great tidbit I heard in a panel discussion at BlogHer’11 from one of the speakers was that the old saying “Do as I say, not as I do” holds no value. What you do says a lot and kids are going to follow your lead. So keep a variety of healthy choices available for your children and get them involved!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Baby Food, Health, Snacks, Toddler Food