My Baby's First Loose Tooth!!

I can't believe my son has a loose tooth!  He was sitting snacking on a fried plantain stuffed with cheese when he screamed saying his tooth hurt.  I thought maybe he bit his tongue or maybe the plantain scratched his gums, but no..it was a loose tooth.  I was not expecting for him to have a loose tooth.  I thought it was when he turns 6, slightly frantic I turned to Google - somehow still in denial that my baby is in fact getting older.

One tooth is saying "I got to get out" and the other is responding "Me too."  He drew a little spot on one tooth and said "just like I have a loose tooth and it hurts this tooth has a boo boo and is saying he does too." 

Since he has cousins a year older than him, he has been wanting to lose his tooth since last year so once I told him what was going on - he was excited!  I on the other hand, hugged him and uncontrollably teared up.  He ran to get a piece of paper and "document this amazing moment in his life."

When did your little one lose their first tooth?  I am surprisingly very emotional over this, how did you handle it?  Oh and tips about the tooth fairy will be greatly appreciated.  :)
      

A Note that's Worth a Thousand Smiles! #homeschool

I have been homeschooling my son for the past year.  He is doing very well, amazing me with all that he can do.  Considering how easy going our days are, I am extremely proud of how much he has learned so far.  He continues to impress me with everything he does.

We don't have a strict schedule, but one of the times we are consistent with is when my daughter is down for her nap.  I have him do a few pages out of one of his workbooks.  Yesterday while my baby girl was napping, I told him to quietly do any page.  He didn't seem so happy, so he brought a paper over to me and started to write.

He was writing instead of speaking because his baby sister had just fell asleep and he didn't want her to wake.  What a sweet big brother moment.  He started writing one word at a time as I followed along.  He would write one word and look up, and then another, making sure I understood him.  He wrote all over the page, once his message was understood - I numbered them in the order that he wrote it.
"I :( bkos I dont wont to do skol I wont to draw"
This has to be the second time he has wrote a message to me, just a few weeks ago he could barely read and here we are spelling out words - expressing his feelings on paper so his sister wont wake up.  If you are wondering, after this note, he was allowed to draw.  Little does he know, that's something I want him to do anyway.  It's easily considered "art" class! ;)  

This is truly a MOMent I will cherish forever.   

Yoga for Beginners..with My Husband

In the drawing above, you can see my husband and I doing yoga on our flower patterned rug, while both kids are hanging out around us.  My sweet boy drew this up and wrote "Family Yoga" on top. <3 em="">

Whether you know me online or off, you know that I am always trying out new workouts and videos at home.  I do what I can, since I'm a full time mom that seriously never gets a break from the kids.  My most recent "workout" sessions are mostly about stretching, doing yoga for beginners.  I'm only a week in, doing it while my husband is at work with the kids rolling and hopping all around me.  Can't say I got the relaxing part of yoga down yet, but I am stretching!  I recently asked, and then begged my husband to join me for one short session.  More on that further down the page.

I used to be, used to be very flexible.  Like abnormally flexible, but after my first pregnancy six years ago, I'm like a stick that wont bend.  I hurt my back doing cardio/high intensity workouts a while back so I took a long break from at home workouts, until I decided to give yoga a try.  

So far, I love how light my body feels after all the stretching.  I did feel sore the first few days, and continue to as I progress from beginner level to higher.  I highly recommend it to every stay at home parent.  Our body needs all that twisting and stretching that we just don't get from our daily routines.  On an average I'd say we bend to pick up toys, food, children off the floor, stand up on our feet all day in the kitchen, and maybe walk or a drive outside.  It can be exhausting, and hard on our bodies.  Yoga seems to let our muscles stretch in ways it wouldn't regularly, and heal the aches and pains as well.

As you can see I'm quite fond of it so far, so I thought I had to get my husband to give it a try.  He would never even speak of giving it a try, and before I tried it, I wouldn't even think of asking him to do it with me.  But then I tried it, and knowing that after a long work day he comes in with his back, and body aching - I had to convince him to give it a try.  

I asked him if he'd do something for me, with me, and that it would only take..at the most..20 minutes.  With raised brow I had him curious.  I informed him.."not that."  Once that confusion was out of the picture, I let him know I wanted to do stretches with him.  We laughed.  Then after some more begging and convincing.  He agreed.

It was all laughter for the first 5 minutes.  We also had both kids jumping, and rolling around us.  My daughter wanted to nurse, my son wanted to jump on top of us.  It was a mess.  Then they backed off and wandered off to the corner of the room to play.  

At one point the instructor in the video said something along the lines of "your organs will thank you, they are waking up."  We were both completely twisted up trying not to laugh, when my very uncomfortable husband turning even more flush in the face said "my organs are saying code red, code red, they are freaking out wondering what's going on" as he fell to the floor out of the twist.  I followed him out of my twist because it was hard not to laugh.  

It was a great 20 minutes of our day.  A healthy 20 minutes.  We laughed, we bonded, and we got up off the floor with our bodies feeling lighter, until the kids jumped on top of us.

Have you done yoga before?  What do you to work out?  I'd love to know.

   

Meet Pumpkin from the NEW Disney Princess Palace Pets Collection at Build-A-Bear Workshop! #Giveaway

*I received the item/s for the purpose of review.  All opinions are a 100% my own. No other compensation was provided. Giveaway is sponsored.

Meet Pumpkin, Cinderella's puppy, she is one of the new Disney Princess Palace Pets from the collection at Build-A-Bear Workshop!  

Pumpkin is a stylish little super soft white puppy, with bright blue eyes and is sure to be a hit with your kids.  My dog loving little girl adores her.

Cinderella received Pumpkin as a present from the Prince while she was celebrating her first year at the palace.  

Similar to most Build-A-Bear Workshop friends, Pumpkin costs $25.  The Blue Fancy Dress costs $13.50, and her accessory set is $12.50.

Visit Build-A-Bear online to check out Treasure, a coral red kitten which is another adorable Palace Pet coral red kitten.  My kids both love Pumpkin, and as you can see it's hard not to.  Enter below using the Rafflecopter for your chance at a $25 credit to Build-A-Bear Workshop for your own Palace Pet. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And Then She Said "He can't have it at all?" #foodallergies

We are still celebrating the lunar new years here.  Our family traditions are simple, all reflect around family gatherings and food.  It is a beautiful and fun time of year for us, as is any other big holiday throughout the year.  Unfortunately as my little boy gets older holidays are getting more and more difficult to deal with because of food allergies.  Not only does this mean he will be left out, but he will also be in danger.  I can proudly say he is a happy child and that keeps me going, but food allergies do stand in our way quite a bit.  How does one enjoy a holiday/event when it revolves 98% around food?

One of the traditions for our lunar new year celebration is that everyone visits their respected elderly family members, and receives a small gift when they leave.  It could be something as simple as a candy bar, a sock, or the more evolved over time present are toys, clothes, and gadgets.  We pretty much skipped the big tradition of visiting every elderly family member hosting this year, but a couple.  I made my kids allergy friendly versions of what I can before we headed out, and had many talks with my son about the holiday.  I let my 5 year old know that there will be many different dishes of food on the table that he cannot eat, touch, smell, or even get near.  He already knows at this age, but we go over it all. all the time.  Life threatening food allergies for yah!

All went well, despite the moment when hope got the best of my little boy.  He ran to the kitchen where I stood with the lady of home we were visiting.  He asked her looking past me what was used in the huge roast beef on the table.  I interfered and had to speak to him about why he can't have it.  Apparently he wasn't the only one hoping they had just used salt and pepper, as his father was behind the question being asked.  He doesn't even like roast beef, it just looked so grand, he wanted to try.  Nothing wrong with that, but so heartbreaking.  I told him that we'd get one and make it ourselves, even that big - as he wanted.

On second thought, all wasn't well.  But it was expected as the very close family members home had a cigarrete smoker, my son started to cough needing his asthma medicine.  I almost didn't mention it, everyone else's attitude towards it, is rubbing off on me.  Everyone acts like it is just supposed to be.  So let me say now, it isn't okay, and it isn't normal - which is sadly why we don't visit as much as we would otherwise.

Then it was time to leave.  Remember the little gift I mentioned above.  So let me repeat one fact..these are close family we chose to go to out of respect, and know us very well.  Someone I speak to in depth, often about our troubles with food allergies handed us all little bags.  My son the last to receive something, looked on.  Then a "YES!" as he wasn't sure if he was getting one.  He quickly thanked them, turned around and opened his bag.  I hear him say "how did they know?! I always wanted this.." in pure joy, I stop him to see a small clear bag with chocolate coins and lollipops.  I hugged my son closely, told him they had made a mistake, and set it aside.  He quickly understands and tries to ask if maybe we can eat the chocolate and re-use to gold foil.  My heart, my heart.  My poor sweet little boy.  I spoke to him about it, and he didn't speak of it again until we were riding in the car back home.  He stared blankly out the dark city lights as we drove over the bridge and asked "how can they forget about my allergies?"

And that was exactly the question.  How could they?  I placed the candy (aka poison to my child) right where they can see it when I left, and expressed my disappointment on my face with a frown.  The lady of the home we were visiting said questionably "he can't have it at all?"  I said "no of course not, everything about it is allergies."

They just don't get it.  I'm so sad.  The world is so scary.

In my frustration once the kids were asleep I talked to my husband.  I rambled and rambled, until I summed up my points with two sentences.

"It's the same as having your most wished for gift wrapped up, handed to you. And once you open it up, get excited. Having the person gifting it to you, tell you that you can't have it - without a sorry."  Clearly twice as bad if you're a child.

"Giving a child poison as a gift."  I don't know how else to describe it.  They know he only eats food that comes out of my kitchen.  We've been over it so many times.  They know how extremely severe his allergies are.  We've told them a bazillion times, they've heard of our incidents just as many times.  Food allergies, anaphylaxis can kill in 2 minutes.

I'm out of words for now.

Snacks, Drinks, and Treats for the Big Game! #DRBigGame #shop #cbias #CollectiveBias

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper amplification for Collective Bias and its advertiser. #CollectiveBias

It's that fun time of year again!  The big game is this Sunday!! What am I excited about most?  The snacks, and hanging out with friends so we can "watch" the game.  I'm being honest here, I haven't watched the game in so long - I can't remember.  But I do remember what I ate every year during football parties, can you relate?  This year we are going to have a couple of friends over and while the guys watch the game, I'll be around with the kids..munching and cheering on when I can figure out what's going on in the game.  I went to my favorite one stop shop Duane Reade to pick up some stuff for the big game night.  I decided I'm not even going to cook, or bake.  With the many selections of deLISH snacks and more, I didn't think I needed to, to have a successful fun night.  They have everything you could need for the evening. 

Everywhere I go, Duane Reade is a block away or a quick stop away on the train.  This time I went on a quick train ride with the kids,  I bought chips, and salsa - it's pretty much an essential snack food for watching the game right?  I bought frozen pizza for everyone, because I deserve to enjoy the night too, instead of spending it cooking and cleaning up.  And of course cookies, and sweets.  And if the sweet treats weren't enough, I also bought ice cream for desert.  It's not our typical football game foods, but when it's not a huge get together, I thought I'd change and adjust accordingly.  I usually cook, and bake tons - but thanks to Duane Reade assortment of foods I got our whole night taken care of.

If you know Duane Reade, you know that it is the store for snacks..here's just a part of the chips section. 

We will start by filling our tummies up with pizza.  One of the deLISH pizzas we will be enjoying, I love the six cheese flavor.  And at first I was reluctant picking up frozen pizza for the night, but then thought half the food (if we order out) is probably frozen to start with anyway.

Snacks will be laid out for everyone, I plan to have Tostitos chips and deLISH hot salsa dip.

I personally love to have cookies while hanging out, so I was excited to see this delicious assortment of cookies.  deLISH Exquisite Cookie Ensemble, I'm sure it will be a hit with everyone.

I also need chocolate, who doesn't!?  deLISH caramel chews are going to be the perfect treat, maybe during halftime?  These are on of my favorites.

Ice cream, just in case anyone is still interested in another treat since we all know that game nights can get late. 

Now my husband and some others will be enjoying beer, which is probably more typical, but I will be enjoying my hot tea.  I saw a great selection of deLISH teas, and chose this very aromatic fruity green tea (Acai, Pomegranate, and Blueberry).  It will not be your "typical" big game hoorah, but this will be an intimate get together full of good tasting snacks and food.  I'm glad Duane Reade makes it easy to keep a budget and get all that I need in one visit - no matter what kind of game night fun you'll be having.  The only hard part is choosing from the great variety.  I can't wait to enjoy it all.  Enjoy the big game, hope your team wins, and if not at least make sure you have some delicious food.