What to do re: flu season?

Our little girl is due at the very end of December, right in the thick of RSV and flu season. This year's flu season is predicted to be bad, and where we live so close to Mexico, the H1N1 (aka- Swine) flu is a particular threat. Both my in laws and Scott are being strongly encouraged through work to get flu shots, and Scott's work already has a plan in place for how to handle things should mass amounts of officers be out at once. Officers are already being told not to come in if they show signs of being sick, and that they will be sent home immediately if they do show up for work sick.

I've had a nurse strongly suggest that I not take our new baby (Eva) out and about during flu season. She recommended that I not even attend church. Normally (as in the one time I've had a baby!) I do not miss much church due to it. But I am really nervous about flu season so I'm contemplating keeping Eva in for at least the first month or two. But this brings me to my next issue... Eva and I avoiding church and public situations is one thing, but Cecelia is the one who seems to always get sick at church. During the winter, she is lucky to make it to church every other Sunday because she always gets sick on the in between weeks. :P Nursery is basically a big old pool of germs. So do I keep her home from church as well????

I hate the idea of missing church, but I am concerned about the health of both my girls, especially our new baby. What are your thoughts on this? I know we're blessed for being at church, but I also think its important to do what I can to keep my family healthy and safe. Opinions?

For your favorite pixie fan

You can view the first six minutes of the new Tinkerbell movie at Disney.com. The DVD comes out in October.

Wednesday Weekly

What is your dream car?

Bread Machine Quest

I'm in the market for a bread machine, but I want a good one that mixes everything up (unlike the one I had that left some of the dry ingredients in the corners of the loaf!). So my questions are:

Does anyone have a bread machine they love? Why?

Does anyone have one they don't love? Why?

Thanks!

Healthier cookies

How do you make cookies healthier?

Does anyone have some good recipes?

Burn-out

Lately my almost three year old and I have been having a rough time. She is going through a stage where she is especially defiant and is testing her boundaries to the max. I am working on having more patience, but sometimes I just feel like we battle each other half the day! Anyway, it's really having a negative effect on the whole family. I start out each day fresh with patience and a positive attitude. And by the time my husband gets home, I am ready to hand him the tot and run screaming to the next city. It's not fair for him to be greeted with this, especially because he has been pretty burnt out with work himself. Instead of coming home and relaxing, he comes home to a tense household, where we all feed off each other's grumpiness!

Help! What do you do when your kids are going through stages like this? How do you attempt to stay fresh and upbeat to greet your husbands at the end of the day? And how do you give yourselves a sanity break in the evening, without just dumping on your husband (who has also worked hard all day.) The other night I put on my ipod and attacked the mountain of dishes, while my husband watched our little girl. It actually felt like a treat to do dishes, since I got to escape eveything else going on for an hour or so. But it was better than actually just leaving for the evening, which wouldn't be fair to do every night. (But I'm telling you, these days I almost feel like it...)

Drawing with toddlers

I've never used any workbooks or read anything about coloring with toddlers, but my soon-to-be 3 year old likes to draw a lot and she has inspired some fun drawing activities that go beyond scribbles.

In the past few months, I've been interested in teaching her how to draw things she can recognize instead of the aforementioned scribbles. The first thing I ever tried was drawing a line with a pen and seeing how well she could draw over it with a marker. She liked it a lot.

Then I started drawing circles for her and asking her to add eyes, nose, etc. It was crazy stuff at first, but then about two months later, she decided to try it all on her own and could do the circle, eyes, nose, mouth, and hair and it actually looks like a face.

Drawing something together I think is a great way to encourage drawing skills. You can do the "hard" part, and your child can add something to it. We've done this with houses where I draw the main shape and she adds the windows, door, or whatever else. Sometimes she'll simply draw a line for a flower stem, stop sign, etc. When I thought she seemed ready, we tried a few letters. She is lucky that the letters in her name are not hard. She doesn't know what the letters sound like or anything, but she's getting exposure and it's amazing how introducing one thing can lead to another when they show you they're ready.


I have never been good at organized learning with my kids. I think it would be cool to have a bunch of planned learning activities ready for each day, but it's not practical for my life and the time that I have. But I have found fulfillment for myself and my kids in teaching things in the spontaneous activities we do throughout the day.

If anyone has insight to share in the world or drawing, please share!

Home Preschool

Has anyone ever done a home preschool with their kids? A few moms from church and I are going to start one up this fall, but we're debating about cirriculum. We are leaning heavily toward Joy School found at www.valuesparenting.com but I wanted to know what others have done or if there are any other options for lesson plans, etc. out there.

Thanks!

New Moon

I'm on Team Edward but this trailer still excited me.

Wednesday Weekly

How often do you write in your journal? Do you have a journal?

I came across this quote today from Gordon B. Hinckley.

"To you women of today, who are old or young, may I suggest that you write, that you keep journals, that you express your thoughts on paper. Writing is a great discipline. It is a tremendous effort. It will assist you in various ways, and you will bless the lives of many-now and in years to come, as you put on paper some of your experiences and some of your musings."

Project SAHM

My friend started a project a couple years ago that is really awesome. It is called Project SAHM (Stay at Home Mom). What she originally did was she would collect donations up to $150 and then she would go to the mall during the day, scope out a Mom, find out if she was a stay at home Mom, and then suprise her with $150 to go buy herself a new outfit! Then she would take before and after pictures. I loved her idea. It is so awesome to reward stay at home moms. She is trying to expand her project and is looking for some new ideas and she is trying to collect donations to suprise Mom's with. I just thought I would share the link so you could all go check it out. It is so cool. Share your ideas with her if you have any too. She would greatly appreciate it.

http://projectsahm.com/

The DivaCup

So, I just happened upon this. What do you think?!?

Primary Program Preferences

I am once again in charge of writing the primary program for our ward and wanted to get some input on what everyone thinks about primary programs. Are there things you have seen done that you really like? Or don't like? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks a bunch!!!

Update for Those Who Are Interested

I posted a few weeks ago that we found out our baby was a boy and asked you girls where you buy boys church clothes... well just to keep you in the loop, baby boy ended up being baby girl in our last 2 ultrasounds, so its back to easy church clothes shopping for me! :D I'm just glad our last ultrasound was a really, really clear shot and we know for sure that its a girl... at least, as sure as you can know before the baby arrives!

Wednesday Weekly

What is your favorite kind of "eat out" food?

Family-friendly stir-fry recipes

I am looking for some new stir-fry recipes to use with my family. They are not super picky eaters but the kids wouldn't like anything spicy. Does anyone have a recipe to share?

Breast feeding baby doll

What do you think about this?

Staying at Home

Well I used to be busy all the time. Even as a stay at home Mom. Between the kids, shopping, taking care of my husbands grandma, and school I was overwhelmed. Well right now I don't have school, money to shop, or my husbands grandma to take care of anymore. So I am finding myself with not a whole lot to do. I would like to read but it is hard to sometimes with kids. What are your days like? What do you do that doesn't cost money or keeps you away from stores? (I like to spend and stores can be dangerous!) I just want some ideas to fill my time and keep me away from sitting at the computer all day or in front of the TV.

Wednesday Weekly

What is a talent that you wish you had.