Nursery Water: Convenient, but harmful to babies

If you are using Nursery Water to feed a baby who is under 1 year, dump it out!

According to the ADA (American Dental Association), water with fluoride is NOT good for the development of teeth and can actually be harmful.

I just dumped my container out. Bad Mommy!

Check out more info at Citizens For Safe Water.

Makes me swoon!

A very smart & sexy combo: "Lullaby," Josh Groban (vocals) and Dave Matthews (lyrics)
And a great song to play for your baby

Buying a house in New Jersey

Before Maddy was born, Rob and I started to think very seriously about finding a house in the area. Our townhouse is fine right now, but as soon as she starts crawling AND requiring more toys, we are quickly going to push ourselves out.

For awhile we had a our sites and hearts set on Pennington, but the houses in our price range either needed too much work or had no basement. We definitely can't afford Princeton and have also decided against hopping over the river to Bucks County (though if Rob and I didn't have our professional and personal roots set in Princeton, we would gladly go). So we have opted for Lawrenceville for a few years. You can get more house for a lower cost and tax bracket. The only negative is the quality of the high school is not a good as the surrounding towns. However, we have awhile before we have to worry about it.

We have seen 2 houses so far that are contenders but with different pros and cons.

House #1: Lovely neighborhood with an abundance of trees. Gorgeous exterior and lawn. Very well kept, but: the basement is about 10 x 10, the master bedroom could probably just hold our bed and the bathroom only has a shower. The dining room is small as well and we would need space in case we host a holiday. On the positive, it's really well maintained, there's a great sunroom in the kitchen and it's totally in our price range. My worry is that we'd grow out of it once we have a second child. We'd also have to do some upgrading: maybe expand the master bedroom and renovate the bathroom.

House #2: Another lovely neighborhood. Newer homes. Well kept house, 2-car garage, bigger basement, plenty of space, large master bedroom with full bathroom and vanity area. A lot of the appliances and exterior has been upgraded. We could essentially live here for double the time we would live in the other house. The only con is the price. It's a little out of our range.

Here's the question: Do we pay in our range, but expect to shell out 20k+ in renovations or do we pay a little more for minimal if any upgrades and get a house we could live in long term?

The answer seems obvious, but it's still hard to know the right thing to do.

Eat your veggies!

While I was at the gym, I read some tips in Parenting magazine on how to get your kids to eat food they don't like. On my drive home, I thought of a technique that sounds good in theory but I don't have a way to test it out yet (Maddy has quite a while before she gets argumentative about her dinner food!). So I wanted to pitch my idea to the audience and see if anyone would give it a go and let me know if it works. Here it is:

Each week (or maybe each month), you designate a specific color to a vegetable that you will cook. If possible, take your child with you to the food store and have them pick out the color veggie that looks good to them. For example, if the color is yellow for the month, they can choose from zucchini, spaghetti squash, yellow onion, and corn. It seems fun to associate colors with food and secondly, to let your kids pick them out. Maybe they'd be more inclined to eat it if they picked it. Take it a step further, and designate a second color for fruit.

So please, try it out and let me know if it works!

Really good and filling snack

I might be going a little overboard trying to bounce back to my post pregnancy figure (and maybe even more than that), but I can't help it. It's just the way I am. Well, in an effort to find healthy and filling snacks that do not include nuts (unfortunately I am now slightly allergic), I came across a yummy winner.

I have always been a fan of Whole Foods Salsa Fresca. I use it a lot with fish (add some canned peaches and a dash of Splenda and you have a sweet compliment to the salty fish) and decided to use it for it's original purpose-to eat with chips. But instead of pigging out blindly on chips, I picked up Real Foods Corn Thins which are about the size of a rice cake but as thin as foam board. With 44 calories for 2 thins and the very low calorie salsa, it makes for a tasty snack.

Eat up!

New Huey Lewis

My husband is a big fan of Huey Lewis and for all of you are share the interest, he has a new single out for the movie Pineapple Express. Listen below:

Windows

Quick Time

Real Player


Courtesy of Cornerstone Promotion

How to get 5% off at iTunes, BestBuy, Dell

Click here to find out how!

Photoshop Fun

I'm so proud of myself for coming up with this after just playing around with Photoshop. If you want me to play with any of your photos...send me an email!

Work-from-home Mom: Part 1-The Job Hunt

I've learned that you can't always trust verbal agreements for employment..and it really is a bummer.

I was excited when a high-end wedding planner (who is actually featured on TV quite often) contacted me after seeing one of my posts on Craigslist looking to get practice with event planning doing small affairs. She was looking for a virtual personal assistant who could work 4 hours a day from home. Perfect!! We had a verbal agreement that I would replace her current PA and I would touch base in May after Maddy was born to meet with her and get started.

May came and went. While we were in the hospital with Maddy, I sent an email and then followed up with another email about 10 days later. June came and went with no response. I finally called early July and left a message. Still no response. I'm assuming it's a no go and I'm out of a perfect stay-at-home job.

Which brings me to the purpose of my post (no, it really wasn't a chance for me to vent). I did some research on stay-at-home jobs that were actually legit. Then I found this site: http://onlinejobstoday.org/default.aspx which was created by someone who had found a lot of success with freelance working and wanted to share the wealth. By paying a small fee to help with the website domain maintenance, you get a database of freelance/work-from-home sites.

I tried out and am currently setting up a profile on Odesk.com. At Odesk, you can search and bid on numerous freelance opportunities like data processing, writing, editing, translating, etc. You keep a log online of your work and submit it at the end of each pay period for your compensation. I started my profile and will hopefully get it completed this week. I'm hoping to find some work as either a virtual assistant or doing some blog writing. It would be great to turn my Mrs Mo's hobby into a paid job.

Wish me luck!

Bored much?

Need a new method of procrastination?

Try ZUMA!

Rock with your baby

When we feed Maddy, we usually have one of our baby classical music compilations running on repeat on iTunes. Now I've added some rocking new baby tunes to the list!

There is a series of baby music called Rockabye Baby which has remastered popular rock groups into lullabies. From Coldplay to U2 to Metallica and Queens of the Stoneage, there is something for every future rock star.





My favorite is Clocks by Coldplay


Another favorite is Led Zeppelin-Kashmir



You can preview more bands and purchase music at the RockabyeBaby YouTube site.

Insurance: A convenience and an annoyance

In one day I went from being indifferent about our insurance company to being really annoyed by it.

We have an HMO which requires that I get a referral to have special procures done which, although new for me since switching from a PPO, is not a big deal. For Maddy, I quickly learned that there is more required with newborns. In addition to the referrals that I need to get for her GI specialist visits, I also have to have Prior Authorization for any medication that is not standard for babies (i.e. Prevacid, Zantac, etc). I’m assuming this is a standard practice of insurance companies when covering meds for the little ones. Unfortunately, I only learned of this when I went to pick up her medication and 1) their system had her as not being covered and 2) after I called the company to make sure she was, they told me that she needed the prior authorization. Good to know!

Now back to the referrals. This, I don’t understand and will need to make my 3rd call to the company to get smoothed over. My pediatrician’s office has 2 locations: Princeton and West Windsor. It’s the same office, same doctors, same everything. The only things that are different are the last 2 numbers on the end of the code that they bill with to the company. We had Maddy signed up with the WW office and had no problem with copays. All of a sudden, her copay at the Princeton office was $40 instead of the regular $20. When I made the call about it, I was told that the Princeton office registered as an out-of-network doctor since it was a different number from WW. What I was told is that I have to get a referral if I wanted to go to the same doctor but at a different location. RE—DIC-U-LOUS! The billing dept NEVER heard of this issue with my insurance company and thinks I’m getting the run around. I’ve spoken with 2 different customer service people who tell me, sorry I have to get a referral. I decided to give it a rest for a week before I call back again to speak with a manager or supervisor.

Back to prior authorization. The GI specialists told me that the Neocate formula, which Maddy has to feed with, is most definitely covered by insurance as is her special compound medications. I’ve submitted my receipts to them to submit to my insurance. We’ll see if it gets approved. One positive out of all of this is that it’s helping me to be more organized with paperwork, etc.

Thank You Note Templates

Gifts...I like. Thank you notes? Not so much. It took me FOR-E-VER to write my thank yous from my wedding, but I was much much better with my baby shower. Never-the-less, writing thank you notes is a long process and I never know what to say without sounding impersonal. If you are like me and always struggle with just the right thing to say, feel free to check out the templates I provided to make your life easier.

For baby gifts after the shower:
Clothing
"It was great to see you again at the shower. Thank you for the adorable outfit. I can't wait to dress [baby's name] in it! I will also be sure to take lots of pictures. Thanks again, [love/from/regards/all my best] [your name]"

Necessities and furniture (diapers, bottles, stroller, bouncy seat, etc)
"It was great to see you again at the shower. Thank you for the [gift]. I can't believe how much a little baby needs, but I can't wait to use it all! Thanks again, [love/from/regards/all my best] [your name]"

For baby gifts after baby is born:
"Thank you for the [gift]. It was such a nice surprise and very generous. [Baby name] is doing well and keeping me/us very busy. It's so much fun watching him/her grow! Thanks again, [love/from/regards/all my best] [your name]"

For gifts after a wedding shower/wedding:
Household items/registry items
"It was great to see you again at the shower. Thank you for the [gift]. I am sure [fiance] and I will get plenty of use out of it/them. Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you again at our wedding. [Love/from/regards/all my best] [your name]"

Money
"It was great to see you at the shower. Thank you for your generous gift. It will be helpful as [fiance] and I start our lives together. Thanks again and I look forward to seeing you again at our wedding. [Love/from/regards/all my best] [your name]"

Money (after the wedding)
"[Husband] and I were so happy to have you at our wedding. We're glad you could share this special time with us. Thank you for your generous gift. It will be helpful as [husband] and I start our lives together. Thanks again, [love/from/regards/all my best] [your name]"

Shout Out: Atlantic City Hotels

If you frequent Atlantic City and want to scope out some deals while you're there, check out Atlantic City Hotels. This site provides a one-stop, go-to place to book a hotel, buy tickets to a show or scope out promos from your destination of choice. If you're not sure where to stay, the site has a convenient room finder based on your date of arrival. I know plenty of people who could benefit from this site and so will you!

Pets and Kids: Reaction to baby

There is no doubt that our cat Bridie has been displaced by Maddy's arrival. Not only has there been someone new taking all of our attention, but when Maddy was in the hospital, so were we and that meant alone time for Bridie.

The past few days, I've noticed how similar Bridie is acting to how an older sibling might when the new baby is down for a nap. Miss Bridie, who usually takes cat naps in the corner of the living room has been cuddling up next to me on the couch when Maddy is not in sight. It is like clockwork: as soon as Maddy is put down, Bridie jumps up for attention. It's as if she is saying, "yes, now I get Mommy's attention." I have to admit that I have to remind myself to give her scratches and attention. She went from being my "baby" to being my cat and her behavior change is very easy to read.

So just as older siblings need some private "Mommy and Me" time with the arrival of a new baby, so do pets. Give your dog or cat an extra scratch today.