04.23.07

Healthy Eating During Pregnancy

Posted in Great Products, Pregnancy, Great sites at 10:39 am by Cristina

Jennifer and I recently embarked on a new healthy lifestyle kick (instead of drinking milkshakes at lunch).  Her good friend Tracy is a personal trainer, and took us under her wing (and whip) to get us into shape. Along with the death marches workouts, Jennifer turned me on to My Food Diary - an online diary where you can record nutritional info on everything you eat, how much you work out, and track your progress toward your goal.  It’s been awesome, and it’s cheap - $9/month.  Tons of the products you eat have already been added so it’s quick and easy to track everything from fat to calories to protein intake.  It makes me a little anal-retentive (more than usual) but in a good way.  I really recognize how many calories I am eating and I am better able to make the decision about whether it’s worth it or not to eat whatever looks good to me at the moment.

Jennifer found out about My Food Diary through BabyFit, which is a similar product for pregnant moms-to-be.  Check it out!  We both have gotten a lot out of the services.  I wouldn’t say I’ll be wearing a bikini anytime soon, but small steps lead to big changes. 

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04.11.07

New Parent Brain

Posted in Great Products at 3:34 pm by Jennifer

My daughter was one of those babies that needed (and still does) a regular routine to help her sleep better. I read the book Baby Whisperer, recommended by Cristina, and it really helped me. But because of Sophia’s reflux, she had a terrible time napping. They would last only 20 minutes. I referred to her as “The Anti-Napper”. One of the recommendations Tracy Hogg (the Baby Whisperer) made was to keep a written journal of times for sleep, changes and eating. This really did help me but I would sometimes not be able to write this stuff down because a pen wasn’t near by or I couldn’t find the paper I was writing on. Things always went missing, including my memory, when I was so desperately sleep deprived.

I recently came across this new product that likely would have been a great help to me. It’s call the “Itzbeen Baby Care Timer”. It’s basically a brain for sleep-deprived parents. Here’s a quote from the dad inventor about his product: “It’s all about helping those sleep-deprived parents remember the basic baby tasks: the last time they changed a diaper, fed the baby, how long the baby’s been awake or asleep, and a bonus timer to be used to time anything you want, like the last time you gave the baby medication. It also has alarm features, so if the dad needs a reminder every three hours to change the diaper or feed the baby every two hours, you can program those alarms for whatever time you want. If the alarm goes off, the light will light up and the small beep will go off. It has a night-light to help find that dropped binky in the dark or if nursing moms need a little bit of extra light. Also for nursing moms, there’s a left right switch so they don’t have to mark their bra with a safety pin or sticker anymore. It’s got a belt clip on the back and a backlight so they can see the display at night.”

This is one of those times where I say to myself, “Now, why didn’t I think of that?”

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03.16.07

More on my cooking-challenged life

Posted in Great Products, Great sites at 3:32 pm by Administrator

Yesterday, the infamous Chef Maura was in our office working on her latest e-newsletter.  Seeing her always reminds me of what a great gift Chef Maura can be. 

When I had my first child Lily, nice people who liked me enough to spend money on me banded together and got me a month of Maura-food.  It arrived like clockwork every Tuesday evening for four weeks straight.  Not only was the food delicious - it came in Gladware so I could easily divide the food and even freeze the items I knew we weren’t going to get to that week.  When the month ended, I died a little inside. 

 For those of you who love the idea of delicious, nutritious, and best of all, easy food - Chef Maura is the real deal.  Unfortunately she doesn’t send her meals out of the Richmond-metro area, but if you are lucky enough to live In Richmond, you can find her weekly meals online at www.chefmaura.com.  If nothing else, you can sign up for her e-newsletter - she writes hilarious Chef Notes every week.

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02.01.07

Cooking . . . Not So Much.

Posted in Great Products at 11:12 am by Cristina

Those who know me, know that I don’t love to cook after working all day.  Add to the mix two children who are picky and half the time don’t like today what they liked yesterday, and I REALLY don’t like to cook.
 

Thankfully, I have a business partner who is the Queen of the Internet when it comes to research and ideas. No, not the Queen - The Master.  The Ruler. The High Priestess of Internet Research.  She came across The Six O’Clock Scramble (www.thescramble.com), and it will revolutionize your life if you are like me!My big isssues with cooking during the week are my inability to plan for meals, not knowing what to cook, and the fact that the majority of my recipes are from my mother, which means that you have to be Martha Freakin’ Stewart to make them and everything is from scratch.  It would be no surprise to you then that my mother was a stay-at-home-mom, and enjoyed making things for me, like toast with smiley faces cut out of them and eggs poached to perfection in delicate cups.  She’s crazy that way. 

The Six O’Clock Scramble solves all of my problems.  For a small fee, you get a shopping list of raw ingredients, tons of menus to choose from, family-friendly meals, and best of all, they are health conscious (i.e., you can do them on Weight Watchers or any other plan).  It rocks! 

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01.19.07

My Two Favorite Products January 2007

Posted in Great Products at 4:18 am by Cristina

I’m a big fan of products that make my life as a mom easier, especially when it makes my kids feel better!  That being said, my two best friends and two favorite products of January 2007 are BOTH made by Little Noses.  My pediatrician introduced me to the nasal drops when Lily had her first bad cold.  He also gave me the coolest thing ever - a modified syringe.  He took a syringe and deftly removed the needle (lest he be supplying a heroin addict), and told me that I could put a couple of drops of Little Noses into the cap, then use the syringe to suck up just the right amount.  The syringe is small, so I can put the tip into whatever child of mine has a cold or stuffy nose, and dispense the right amount of drops before they can even say “boo”.  Or “get out of my face, FOOL!”