Modest Clothing for Babies

Here is a question for all you moms with little girls and anyone that has an opinion about this subject. So, I was just wondering what you all think about letting your little girls wear sleevless shirts or dresses? Do you feel that they should be modest from day one or do you think there is a time when it should be implemented? I ask this because I have a 22 month old and haven't thought too much about it. I have bought plenty of sleevless dresses and shirts because it is soo hot here in Michigan. I guess what I've always thought is that I'll start making her dress modest when she is a little older and understands being modest or even a little sooner. I was thinking around age 4. It has never bothered me to see babies or toddlers in little sundresses. However, lately I've been getting some comments by women that think you should dress them modest at a young age to teach them early on. Do you think by letting her wear it now that she'll look back at pictures and ask why she could wear it then? I just want to get your opinions. Maybe I should start dressing her in modest clothing now.

Trouble Sleeping

Whenever I try to go to sleep, whether it's a nap during the day or going to bed for the night, my nose gets stuffy and I have a hard time breathing. Sleeping with my mouth wide open so I can breathe is annoying. Perhaps it's the humidity in TX but if so wouldn't my nose still be stuffy when I'm not laying down to sleep? My pillow is flat. Perhaps that has something to do with it? I remember seeing an episode of Oprah w/ Dr. Oz and they talked about some nose "cleaning" thing ... I wasn't paying close attention but it looked like a little white tea pot with water or saline solution in it and the girl tipped her head to the side poured the liquid in one nostril and it came out the other. I think it was to help relieve sinus problems. Does anyone remember this? Does anyone else have this problem? Any recommendations?

Independence Day

What do you do to celebrate the

4th of July

now that you have kids?

Wednesday Weekly

Where is the worst place to be stuck waiting?

(Wow, it's going to be hard narrowing it down to one! Write a few if you need to...I hate WAITING!)

backpacks

I was thinking about purchasing a backpack to tote my 9-month old around in, now that she is a bit heavy for the frontpack. Some days she just doesn't really want to be in the stroller, but loves it when I carry her on my shoulders. I think the view must just be better up there! So I was wondering, does anyone have a baby backpack that they really like?

Aaaaaaaah!!!!!

My baby is in a screaming phase! She's almost a year and a half and she's in a (hopefully short) phase where she screams a high pitched wail if she doesn't get her way or we're not paying attention to her. I'm pretty sure it's just for attention. We've tried reinforcing other behaviors, ignoring it, shushing it, telling her to "talk nice" and "use her nice words/voice" and we've actually given her a time out when it escalates into hitting. I have loved every stage since she was born so far but I'm not loving this! :) Did your kids scream? Did it last? How did you deal with it? What am I doing wrong or do I just need to wait it out????? The part that drives me the most batty is that I want to scream after a day of this and I can't because I know it will be teaching her the wrong thing!!!!!! Help!

Chocolate Peanut Buddy Bars

Beat together 1 c. peanut butter and 6 T. softened butter until smooth. Add 1 and 1/4 c. sugar, 3 eggs, and 1 tsp. vanilla. Blend in 1 c. flour and 1/4 tsp. salt. Stir in 1 c. chocoalte chips. Spread in 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 min.

Sprinkle 1 c. chocolate chips over cookie layer. Let stand 5 minutes; spread evenly to "frost." Cool completely.

Seven Layer Bars

1/4 c. margarine
1 c. graham cracker crumbs

Mix together to make crust.

1 pkg chocolate chips
1 pkg butterscotch chips
1 c. chopped nuts (ie: pecans or walnuts--I'm not a nut fan, so I guess I just make 6 Layer Bars)
1 c. coconut (I always add more)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Spread on crust in layers, following order of the above list. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until coconut is golden brown.

German chocolate layer bars

This is to answer Linz's post about bars. These are pretty rich but very yummy!

1 package caramels
1/3 c. evaporated milk
1 german chocolate cake mix
1 package choc chips
3/4 c. melted butter

Combine caramels and milk in a sauce pan and melt over low heat. Combine remaining ingredients except choc chips in a bowl. Spread 1/2 of this mixture in a 9x13 pan, greased and floured. Bake at 350 for 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips then pour caramel over everything. Drop the other 1/2 of the mixture on top of this and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Bar recipes

We went to this really incredible grocery store across town this weekend and purchased a delicious pumpkin bar and butterscotch brownie at their bakery. It made me think about making some kind of a bar because I never have. Does anyone have a good recipe they could post?

Baby Powder

Does anyone use baby powder on their kids? What are the advantages of using it?

Tutus!

We have lots of little girls in this group and I recently found this and thought it looked so fun and easy and hopefully cheap! It's a No-Sew Tutu where you just tie the tutu fabric in knots to an elastic band! My little one is ALMOST ready for dress up (I say this as she is demanding to change her clothes for the third time and it's only 8am!!!) Anyway, enjoy!

Disappearing blush!

Can anyone recommend a blush with staying-power? Most of my makeup is Mary Kay, but I've had terrible luck with their blush and eyeshadow disappearing within about an hour, despite using moisturizer, foundation, and powder beforehand. Estee Lauder blush works better for me, but I still have to reapply a couple times a day. Is this normal and I'm just too lazy and cheap to want to reapply, or is there a better blush that I'm just missing out on?

HUGE Time Saver!

I don't know about all of you, but by the time dinner comes around each night I want to almost rip my hair out. And it use to be really hard for me to get dinner cooked with a baby on my hip.

My neighbor introduced me to this about 3 years ago and I love it. You've probably all seen similar products and stores that do the same thing. This is how I like to cook dinner:

http://www.30MealsinOneDay.com

The coolest product they have now is the software! You can search their recipes by ingredient...so if you don't know what to make with the chicken and cream cheese in your fridge you can find a recipe within seconds.

I don't have the room to make 30 meals in one day, but I am able to make 2 weeks worth of recipes at a time. It's been so handy on those days when I'm not feeling well, or when the baby has sucked all of my energy from my soul.

Check it out. Maybe it will work for some of you.

DS example

My SIL added some comments to answer your questions about digital scrapbooking. Here is the example she referred to in one of her comments:

A DIVA'S DAY

Today is one of our girls birthday. Happy Birthday to Bethany Flake!!!!! Today she is the Big 25. How about everyone give her a shout out!!!!!! Sorry I don't have a pic to put along with this post.

Digital Scrapbooking!

Hey Sugar & Spice sistahs! I asked my incredibly talented and creative sister-in-law to put together a "guest post" for us on digital scrapbooking as there was a post on it awhile ago. She has spent a lot of time compiling a fabulous introduction to digital scrapbooking for us. Enjoy!


Digital Scrapbooking Introduction

Imagine for a minute that the only things you needed to make amazing scrapbook pages are your digital photos and your computer! No more expensive brads, tags, punches, scissors, glue, endless supplies of cardstock, paper, ribbons, embellishments, photos you printed and never use, etc! No more running out of the right colors of anything or getting stuck, or realizing you cropped a picture too small or wishing you had an enlargement! Oh, and to clean up, just shut down Photoshop! Perfect with little kids around! If you have a few minutes, open up your page, and then finish at your leisure. When you are done, email the pages easily to family and friends, print them and back them up on your computer or CD/DVD!

Digital Scrapbooking (DS) is simply AMAZING! I am going to outline just a few things you can do in a program like Adobe PhotoShop CS:

1. Recolor pictures – the sky is the limit here with your creativity, but if you are a traditionalist you can do sepia and black and white instantly…
2. Resize pictures – you can easily and quickly crop or resize any picture, into any shape you like! You can enlarge and reduce!
3. Recolor paper, ribbons and embellishments – do you need just the right color cardstock or ribbon? You can recolor (almost) anything! So, once you stock up on some basic ribbons in digital format, you have every ribbon you will ever need.
4. Go back and undo or edit anything!
5. Print as many copies as you like!
6. Make darling custom photo announcements for baby births, birthday parties or Christmas cards!

So how do you get started?

The best way I know how to tell anyone, and how I learned, is in a class. Check around and see if any local adult education classes, college classes or other places have classes. Ask at your local scrapbook store. Most colleges will have PhotoShop classes, however, this may be hard to translate into scrapbooking and may focus mostly on photos. Just for reference, the class I took was 12 hours long, and I feel like we barely scratched the surface…Another note, and not to be discouraging, but PhotoShop is not something that is easily self-taught…even if you are kind of a computer guru, it would still be hard…

There is a site I know of that does offer an on-line class specifically for Digital Scrapbooking:

http://www.digitalscrapbookplace.com/university/Scrapping101/basics.shtml

These sites offer some tutorials:

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/tutorials/software_tutorials.asp

http://scrapbook-elements.com/sbe/index.php?option=com_content&task=section&id=13&Itemid=97


So, one of the fun ways to get interested is to look at Galleries to see the amazing pages other normal people are making! Here are a few of my favorite inspiration spots:

http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?gallery=4

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=506

http://heatheranndesigns.com/pp/

Deciding if DS is for you!

So after you have perused some sights, looked at some galleries and done a little research on your own, you will need to decide if DS is for you…

1. Selecting a DS program. There are a lot of options out there, but the only 2 programs I recommend are Adobe PhotoShop CS (#1 pick) and Adobe PhotoShop Elements. PhotoShop CS is expensive…last I checked I think around $700…so this is a big investment. This is what I have, and it will give you the most functionality and flexibility. Elements is significantly cheaper (Costco had it a few months back for like $50 after rebate) but you lose functionality. I would not even bother with any of the prepackaged Scrapbooking programs – they are very limited and you cannot buy any of the kits, embellishments, etc. you see for sale on the sites under Shopping below. If you or a family member are enrolled in a college or university, see if you can get a significant discount on PhotoShop that way. I personally feel like I save a fortune DS by not using all of the paper, wasted supplies, and wasted photos that traditional scrapbooking used to waste.

2. Decide if you will miss the hands on approach of traditional scrapbooking. Personally, I do not miss it, but I also belong to a card club and we make handmade cards each quarter so I don’t miss the physical paper/embellishment part of scrapbooking.

This link will take you to my favorite digital scrapbooking store front – Michelle Coleman was my teacher and she is so talented! I feel so lucky to have had one of THE best designers in the industry teach my class!

http://www.littledreamerdesigns.com/shoppe/index.php

Here is her blog too, sometimes she gives away freebies!

http://mysecondmile.blogspot.com/

The FUN Part – Shopping!

Ok, first off let me tell you that the shopping for DS supplies can be 100% addictive, I have to control myself because there is so much gorgeous stuff available!

Here are 2 ways to save money:
1. Download as many freebies as you can, there are many, many freebies available and remember, you can recolor and resize almost anything!
2. Watch for sales and get on the email newsletters for the shopping sites you love. I often get 50% or more off of my orders this way.


Here are my all-time favorite stores (in no particular order)!

http://heatheranndesigns.net/catalog/hadtemplate.php?tname=products

http://www.designbydani.com/store/index.php

http://www.theshabbyshoppe.com/scripts/homepage.asp

http://scrapartist.com/store/index.php


I hope this brief introduction to the wonderful world of Digital Scrapbooking has inspired you to check it out! Your scrapbooking life may never be the same when you see what you can quickly do with DS! I can make a page in 15 minutes or so that I am happy about. Here are a few examples of pages I have made. Good Luck!

Wednesday Weekly

What is your favorite piece of clothing that you own?

Frizzy Hair

I am originally from Utah, where humidity is rare. Now that I live in the heat and humidity of San Antonio, I am experiencing for the first time some frizziness, but don't know how to combat it. Do any of you have suggestions? Favorite products? Anything other than the ponytail solution I am currently using?

HP Cheats

I have to preface this post. If I could, I would have read all Harry Potter books a second time this year to make sure I'm ready to read Number 7. I believe both of my sisters are doing this/have done this. I really should...reading comprehension was always my lower score on standardized tests. But I also have a problem of falling asleep when I read so I just haven't been able to.

Seeing as I do forget things that I read and I want to be fully prepared for "HP and the Deathly Hallows", I found this site that gives chapter summaries in case any other Muggles have the same need that I do.

Frozen Corn on the Cob

Okay, this is a totally random post. I was buying frozen veggies the other day, and saw a bag of Green Giant half corn cobs. My three year old LOVES corn on the cob, so I got them, thinking that she'd be in seventh heaven, and we'd be able to get through next winter without her pining for some. Unfortunately, it was totally chewy and inedible. Even my daughter took one bite and wouldn't touch it again. Granted, maybe it was my fault for steaming them in the microwave (like I do with every other frozen veggie) instead of boiling them, but I think my daughter will have to be having a serious craving in the dead of winter before I think about getting those again! Thank goodness it's summer, and we can just buy fresh!

Carseat Stiff Neck

Do you know what I'm talking about? It's when your baby finally graduates to a forward facing carseat and you're all excited. Only now, the carseat is sitting up and not at a nice recline like carriers. So all of a sudden napping becomes dangerous for her neck. Or at least uncomfortable! Every week, my little one falls asleep on the way home from church. She gets a lot of catnap time in the car as a matter of fact. But I feel so bad as I watch her little head bob and when I try to reach back and fix it, it does nothing! She just goes back. I don't think I put her carseat in wrong so I must not be the only one out there with this problem. On our last road trip though, I felt so bad for hour after hour of head bobbing action. Have any of you figured out a way to help this problem????

Mom's Day and Dad's Day gifts

I'm sorry if this is an inappropriate question but I'm just curious. What does your ward/branch give to the men and women on Mother's Day and Father's Day? I was actually pleasantly surprised when the moms in my ward got a bar of soap, a bookmark, and some Ferrero Rochers. I'm used to the single carnation that inevitably breaks before church ends. But then I was a little jealous today when my husband got three different delicious cookies and a Mr. Goodbar. My mother-in-law said that in her ward they gave out mini-pies today. We obviously don't need to get anything, but I just think it's kind of interesting. What do you get?

Come On BENJI!

I don't know if any of you watch So You Think You Can Dance. I got hooked on it last year and was totally jazzed that Benji Schwimmer (a returned missionary) won. I've been watching it this year and caught a return performance of Benji's on Thursday nights results show. I'm a really big Benji fan; I've listened to interviews he's given, watched online dance clips, and I check his MySpace once in a while. He seems to be a really funny guy with a good attitude and a strong testimony. Anyway, at the end of his performance Thursday night (which in and of itself was FAB) he dropped his pants to reveal American Flag undies. I was disappointed and put off. Did anyone else see this? Does anyone else think this was not a good choice on Benji's part as a representative of the church? I've seen him do other funny little things in some of his other dance clips, like rip his shirt off and stuff, but the dropping the pants on national television seemed to cross the line for me. I'm not too concerned when dancers wear skimpy clothing; I know that is part of dancing. But when they are unnecessarily revealing, like some of the tops I've seen Benji's sister Lacey where on this season of the show, I think, "Come on Mormons! Let's make some better choices here." Am I blowing this out of proportion? Let me end with stating that no matter what I will always adore cute little Benji and I'm fast becoming a fan of his talented sister this season. So, your thoughts?

Summer Movie Reviews

Does anyone have any thoughts on summer movies they have seen thus far in the season?

Drying out

How do you dry your breasts out?

I'm nearing the end of my breastfeeding journey, but I'm wondering how the heck you stop. I'm not worried about my baby in this issue. She is already weening herself. I am worried about my body. I don't have nearly the milkflow I once had, but I still get hardness if one side is ignored too long.

Sorry to get personal, but one side is virtually out of working order now, and yet even though it produces like an ounce a day, it still gets hard if not in use. How do I dry it out? Can you still get an infection this late in the game? Do I just let it be hard and then it eventually softens up and dries up?

Bad Mom

Our family o' three visited my hubby's family this past week. I still consider us quite the novice parents, and in that regard, I think we traveled really well...for the most part. I had some bad mom moments. Here is one of them:

On Sunday, I had to feed the baby her lunch at church. I don't think that's the right thing to do most of the time but when you travel, you do what you have to do. We were only there for sacrament meeting so I had just a short amount of time to feed her before we needed to leave. After the first talk or so, I took her out to feed her. Thus far on our trip, meals fed without a highchair have been challenging. She gets very distracted. So I took her in a classroom to avoid possible distractions. She started crawling around and such and I still managed to somehow get mouthfuls in.

The first couple of days of our trip she didn't eat well. I think she was overwhelmed by all the people, new locations, and traveling. So in a short amount of time, I was trying to get her to finish all the food I packed for her to ensure she was getting what she needed. I shoved a huge bite of baby mac and cheese in her mouth and the moment I did it I realized her mouth was already pretty full from the last bite, or two, or three. In about 1.67 seconds, she gagged and then threw it all up. I knew immediately it was my fault. Too much food too fast. She and I had macaroni and cheese all over us. I was proud of myself for not letting out a single squeal and allowing my heart rate to stay at a reasonably normal level. I reached for my backpack that had a spare onesie in it, undressed the utterly confused babe, and then realized my gallon sized Ziploc bag in my backpack was not large enough for her poofy dress, bib, etc. I thought back to my days of changing the trash in YW after church. I looked under the trash bag in the can and found a few spare bags. Yippee!! Then I walked the babe down to the chapel, opened the door where I knew my hubby was seated, and mouthed the words "Time to go", and we were off. I admitted to my husband that it was truly my fault and he, as usual understood, and just laughed. Sometimes I let my agenda come before my baby!! I really need to work at this.

Wednesday Weekly

If you could choose a view to see from your bedroom window, what would it be?

Camping, anyone?

Are any of you campers? We love to camp but haven't been since our little one was five months, not crawling and not walking! Now it's a different story! Any tips on keeping them contained, safe, etc?

Hello new friends

My name is Bethany. I've been reading the posts for a bit and noticed there is someone else here named Bethany. To keep things from being confusing I've added my last name initials to my screen name. Linz introduced me to this blog.

I live in Texas. I moved here almost two months ago with my husband, Jason, and our son, Luke. Luke will be 7 months on the 21st. He is our first child. Jason and I will have been married for five years in September. We moved from Utah where we were assigned to Hill AFB. Before that we were at BYU in Provo. Jason graduated a year ago. I have yet to start college. Some day I will and I look forward to it! Jason is in the Air Force and is going through Navigator training here. Are any of you in or married to the military? I am enjoying TX so far. Jason is really busy so we haven't been able to see many sights.

I like to sew. I am not very good at it, yet. I want to improve my skills. Right now I am working on some simple blankets for Luke and curtains for his room. I like to cook. I pretty much follow recipes to the T but I'm starting to venture out own my own. I'm just happy that I've prepared a dinner menu for the last few weeks and have been able to stick with it! I LOVE LOVE LOVE taking care of my son. I am so blessed to be able to stay home with him. However, there are those moments when I don't know what I'm doing or why Luke is doing something and it gets frustrating. I also like to read and watch movies. I don't usually like to read or watch things twice, I just don't see the fun in it when I already know whats going to happen. There are some exceptions.

If any of you would like to see what I or the rest of my family looks like you can see my personal blog at http://usafwifo.blogspot.com

In need of Dr. Laura

So my husband and I are in an awkward predicament and we need help solving this matter with our neighbors. In January our neighbors that live directly below us talked to us about getting a router so they could use our wireless internet and split the bill with us. It sounded great at the time. Our bill was small and it wasn't really that big of a deal, but now our bill has doubled because it has been six months and it is really bugging me that our neighbors have only paid for 2 of the six months. Should this bother me?? I've talked to them and just asked if they still want to help pay for it and they said they forgot, but still haven't done anything and another month has gone by. I don't want to be unkind or make things awkward...what would you do in this situation?

Yard Sale Tips

Hi all -

This weekend I am having a yard sale in preparation to move out of state. Have any of you ever thrown a yard sale, and if so, have any tips? I have been tagging/pricing items as I go through things and separate into "yard sale" pile and "to pack up" boxes so that I only have to think once about items. Any tips related to prep work or the actual sale would be great!

Nutrition and Baby Food

My daughter just turned 8 mos. old, so I referenced a pamphlet that my Pedi had given me for feeding guidelines, to see if I was feeding her what I should. I learned something interesting and thought I would share. Some of you may already know this. It said when you start introducing meats, to stick to just the meats and avoid the mixed dinners, because they're not as high in nutritional value. It suggested just buying the plain meat, and then mixing them yourself with veggies, cereal, etc. I went and bought some yesterday, and it's true! I was shocked at the comparision. The crazy thing is that the only meat I could find (it's called chicken and chicken gravy or turkey and turkey gravy) came in the smaller 2.5 oz jar as opposed to the 4 oz jar. So it has MORE nutritional value in a SMALLER amount! Here's a breakdown

Chicken (2.5 oz): 4 grams fat, 6 grams protein, and 15% daily value of Iron

Chicken and rice mixed meal (4 oz): 1.5 grams fat, 2 grams protein, and 2% daily value of Iron


I was happy to learn this because my daughter is finicky with food. Sometimes she chows and sometimes she'll barely take a bite. So I'm trying to find ways to get as much nutrition as I can in her when she will eat. From now on I think I'll mostly buy the plain meat and then mix it myself with the veggies, sweet potatoes, etc. If any of you have learned other interesting tidbits about nutritional value in baby food, please share! (Katie, I know you pay a lot of attention to that stuff.)

Wednesday Weekly

Hi gang! Linz asked me to do the question this week because she's on vacation in an internet-free zone, poor girl! :)

So, here goes. This is actually a question a friend of mine asked me at dinner a few weeks ago.

What do you think is the greatest invention of mankind?

Missing

Lost: One 5'4", semi-fit BODY.

Body is able to run 3 miles at a time, hold bladder during sneezing fits, and do an occasional somersault. No gray hair, no stray chin hairs either. Chest is a cute, tight size 34B. Hips proportional to upper body. Back can withstand lifting more than 15 pounds. Belly only looks bloated during PMS. Was lost somewhere during pregnancy.

If found will trade for current body. Includes: slight extra weight, saggy breasts, large hips, and lumpy middle.

Baby Games

I got this article in my weekly Baby Center Email. I thought it had some fun games to play with babies-some that I didn't realize my little one might be ready for yet! Enjoy!