Traveling with a toddler sometimes can be difficult, especially a hungry, tired toddler.  If you are like most parents, you want to ensure you have healthy snack alternatives– instead of cookies – and games to keep your little one occupied when you are standing in lines or waiting at the gate.   With airline regulations now, going through security with foods for toddlers can be difficult; unless it is formula or breast milk the TSA agents might not allow you through security lines with certain foods. Yes, you can buy food in the convenience stands and restaurants, but they might not have any healthy snack options to your liking. One healthy snack alternative that most likely will get through a TSA security line (although, it is always subject to the TSA Agent) is FruitaBu Organic Smooshed Fruit.  Portable and convenient, our Smoooshed Fruit Rolls contain: 1 serving* of all-natural fruit Now Non-GMO Project Verification No artificial additives Real-fruit purée No added sugar – all sugar comes naturally from fruit This taste great and I personally have been eating their fruit leather from years; I buy them at Whole Foods. Originally, I was going to suggest the fruit puree pouches as the best healthy snack alternative for traveling with a toddler, but after reading about how much sugar is contained in the pureed fruit, I opted against them for my children. However, if you are still interested in the fruit pouches, and a lot of parents are — companies such as Plum Organics, GoGo Squeez and Smashies Pouches—as well as multi-national conglomerates such as Gerber® sell them.  Most pouches are within the limit of 3.4 oz, and generally will be accepted by a TSA Agent.  Please check the pouch size before throwing them in your diaper...

If your kids are home for the summer whether it is with you or with a care giver, here are 50 great summer activities for kids 2-5 years old. There are many versions of these activities below and can be tailored to your location; so make it fun for you and your kids. Have a wonderful summer and enjoy!...

What does your Au Pair do during the day while your children are at school?  I have been pondering this question for three years now because our Au Pairs have only watched babies and toddlers (not of school age).  My Au Pair’s work all day and gets only a slight reprieve when both my kids nap in the afternoon; of course, that is if my three year old cooperates.  In the past three years, I would estimate that at least 95% of the Au Pairs we’ve met are Au Pairs for school age children. From what they tell us, they generally work from 7:00 AM -8:30 AM to get the kids off to school and then from 3:00 PM -6:00 PM when the kids get home from school to when their host parents get home.  Yes, some work some additional week nights and weekends and have other required household chores, but that still allows a lot of downtime for these young ladies.  I am curious what one does with the time between 8:30 AM – 2:30 PM? Are the Au Pair’s bored? Do they join a gym?  Do they take their required courses?  Do they prepare activities for the day or week for their host kids? Do they cook meals because they can? The reason for asking is I have seen a correlation between the busier an Au Pair is less the homesick they are.  From interviewing more than my share of Au Pairs, I have learned that for most of these girls it is the first time away from their home and their country. They either just finished school, or taking a break from University, or taking some time to decide what they want to be when they grow up. These girls have...

Like any young woman between the ages of 18-26 years old, Au Pairs are attached to technology.  Most Au Pairs have smart phones or devices, whether the host family provides it or they purchased their own.  To make their transition go more smoothly and help them feel more acclimated, here are top 10 Apps for Au Pairs. Alarm Clock Free Alarm Clock Free turns your mobile device into a beautiful digital clock and alarm clock for free! It even displays live, local weather conditions and temperature that makes you know about the weather immediately when you wake up. Cost: Free Platform: iPhone and Android   Gas Buddies Find the cheapest gas (petrol) around you. GasBuddy uses gas price information provided by our users to bring drivers together to support the common goal of saving money on gas.  Gas prices only for USA and Canada. Cost: Free Platform: iPhone, Android, and Blackberry   Circle of 6 Circle of 6 lets you choose six trusted friends to add to your circle. If you get into an uncomfortable or risky situation, use Circle of 6 to automatically send your circle a pre-programmed SMS alert message, with your exact location. It’s quick. It’s discreet. Two taps on your phone is all it takes. Cost: Free Platform: iPhone and Android   Wi-Fi Finder  Over 650,000 locations in 144 countries worldwide! Quickly and easily find FREE or paid Wi-Fi when you travel with the JiWire Wi-Fi Finder. Cost: Free Platform: iPhone and Android   Clothing Size Conversion While shopping abroad, travelers often run into the dilemma of figuring out foreign sizes. Whether you’re shopping for shoes, pants, a shirt, or even a bra, the app converts sizes for a number of different countries (Britain, Japan, Korea, France, for to name...

Mother’s Day in the United States is just around the corner. Looking for some unique gifts for your mom or wife, here are my top three favorite personalized photos gifts. iPhone Personalized Case. I love mine! I carry around pictures of my kids every day and it puts a smile on my face every time I look at photos.  Several companies offer customized iPhone case, but my personal preference is Shutterfly.  The case is high quality, the price is reasonable and they have ample style designs to choose from – 44 to be exact.  You can customize iPhone cases for the iPhone 3G/3GS, iPhone 4/4S and iPhone 5. Here is a list of companies that offer personalized iPhone cases. Shutterfly  – $34.95 (my personal favorite) not including taxes or shipping and handling Tiny Prints – $39.95 not including taxes or shipping and handling Walgreens – $29.99 not including taxes or shipping and handling Walmart – $29.98 not including taxes or shipping and handling Target – $32.99 – $34.29 not including taxes or shipping and handling SkinIt – -Starting at $14.99 not including taxes or shipping and handling Fleece Photo Blankets. I do not own one, but have made more than a half a dozen of these blankets for gifts.  These make for a great gift for Grandmas. The blanket itself is so soft; it makes you want to cozy up with the blanket and a good book.  Several companies offer customized fleece photo blankets, but my personal preference is Shutterfly. Shutterfly offers the blankets in two sizes 50×60 or 60×80 (featuring up to eight photos per blanket). I have always purchased the 50×60 and they are plenty large for two people to sit comfortably under the blanket. Here is a list of companies that...

I usually don’t post recipes, but I wanted to share one I created this weekend out of necessity. I was making baby food and I ran out of storage containers and had two ripe bananas leftover, so I made Nutella Banana Popsicles. I did not have a recipe for it, but after creating my concoction, I decided to see if a recipe already existed.  Low and behold you can find several recipes  for Nutella Banana Popsicles, but they all called for milk, cool whip or some other variation. I used no milk because I did not even consider it, but I am sure the other recipes taste as good or better. FYI, these were a big hit with my 3 yrs old.  Furthermore, for all the people that workout, this is a great recovery food too. NUTELLA BANANA POPSICLES GLUTEN FREE 2 medium ripe bananas 3 tablespoons of Nutella 2 scoops of non-flavored Protein powder (optional) Yields 6 Popsicles Instructions In a medium bowl warm up three tablespoons of Nutella in the microwave for 30 seconds. Mash the bananas up in a blender or with a fork.  I just used a fork because my bananas were so ripe. Add the banana into the Nutella and mix well. Add protein powder if you so desire. Pour the mix into 6 Popsicle containers. Freeze at a minimum for six hours, but overnight might just be easier. Nutritional Facts Without Protein Powder 1 serving = 1 Popsicle 85 Calories 0.80 grams protein 14 carbohydrates 3 grams of fat Nutritional Facts With Protein Powder 1 serving = 1 Popsicle 118 calories 7.5 grams of protein 15 grams of carbohydrates 3 grams of fat    ...

This week for this first time, I realized how quickly people are to place blame on little boys and classify them as “bad”, “naughty”,” aggressive”, etc.  Here is what I witnessed.  My son C2 – newly turned 3 years old – and his little girl friend were playing around; they are always so excited to see one another. His little friend kept pulling at C2 shirt collar and pushing him to get his attention and C2 repeating asked her to stop. She persisted and finally C2 hit her.  At that moment, the teacher scolded C2 for pushing his little friend. Now, I do agree his behavior needed correcting and hitting wasn’t warranted, but what I do not agree with is that the little girl received no correction and/or direction from the teacher.   The teacher and I watched the entire scenario unfold and of course, I did correct C2 as soon as I saw him hit his little friend, but I was stunned by how the teacher reacted.  She physically gasped at C2 and made an ugly, disgusted face before correcting him, when she clearly could have stepped in and told the little girl that C2 asked her to stop.  C2 friend’s mom did correct her and both C2 and his little friend said their apologies, hugged and ran off to play. And at that very moment, I finally got it; this is how little boys get such a bad rap. As a parent, my job is to help C2 learn how to cope and find other ways handle his emotions. But, my job also is to protect my children until they can protect themselves. Prior to having a son, I really never gave credence to how little boys are treated or perceived in school...

I was told by a creditable source that Amazon is enhancing their Amazon wish list feature to allow you to “remember” a hidden wish list. As a mom of two wonderful children with two very different needs and wants, this new feature will significantly reduce my time, frustration and repetition.  Every holiday or special occasion (e.g., birth present, baby shower, birthday, Christmas, just because, etc.), I will not need to send an updated email with the kids’ “private” Shared Wish List URL to my family and friends of their (our) latest gift requests.  I will simply be able to share the list and my family and friends who will be able to “remember” it. My very first blog post “Gift Registries, Are They Worth The Drama?” I discuss the benefits of having a wish list for my child. When my son turned one, I made C2 Amazon Wish list public for his 1st birthday because I had so many people ask me what C2 wanted and I found myself copying/pasting the links into an emails and repeating that process several times.   So to be more effective, save time and reduce frustration, we made the decision to go Public (anyone can search for and see this list. You can also share using a link.). I did have hesitation not only because I did not want people to think we were greedy, rude or ungrateful.  But, the main reason was I did not want some predator checking out my son’s wish list and deriving Intel about our family through the wish list.  Being “public”, left us vulnerable.  The day after his birthday, I did change the privacy setting back to “Shared (link only).  Only people with the link can see this list. It will not appear...

Does your Au Pair travel? Does your Au Pair stay in cheap hotels/motels or hostels?  Most likely the answer to these questions are yes.  Has your Au Pair heard of bed bugs?  The most likely answer to this question is no and if they have heard of bed bugs it is because the commonly  used phrased by parents worldwide when tucking their children into bed. “Sleep tight; don’t let the bed bugs bite.” This is no longer just a phrase. This past August our Au Pair had friends visit that frequented several hostels while traveling the United States East Coast.   Not only did her friends stay at our home, but they left some uninvited guests – bed bugs. According to Orkin Pest Control, they have seen a 33% rise in bed bugs since 2011.  As of 2012, New York (ranked 10th in the country) and Washington, DC (ranked 7th in the county), of course two of the places my Au Pair’s and their friends frequented. Every morning for about a week, our Au Pair would wake up with bug bites all over her legs, neck and back. We thought at first that they were mosquito bites and then perhaps spider bites finally my husband – who lived in New York – said that we might have bed bugs.  Of course I was mortified and automatically started itching. I knew nothing about bed bugs, so immediately I did research, but my husband did.  You can’t get rid of bed bugs with RAID and normal spray…it does nothing; over the years bed bugs have become more resistant to pesticides.  First, we found a reputable bed bug exterminator and one that used canines to detect if we had these little mites. Low and behold, the dog detected...

[category_specific_rss_menu] Although this is not a “race”, I was inspired to put Touch A Truck on the 2013 Stroller Friendly Race calendar where you can find the information on how to purchase tickets.  In addition, you can  download the Excel 2013 Stroller Friendly Race Calendar. Today, I was contacted by Melissa Mikulak of San Diego, California.  Melissa is a mom, the race director of Max Run, but also co-founder of a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization Max Ring of Fire that was founded in 2008 by her and her husband Andy.  The charity is a pediatric cancer fundraising and advocacy organization that supports innovative neuroblastoma research and clinical trials. Melissa and Andy started the foundation in honor of their late son Max.  Max was diagnosed with the disease at the age of three and battled hard against the disease for four years until the age of seven. I first reached out to Melissa because I heard from a mom that the Max Run is an awesome race that is family friendly and stroller friendly, but they did not have their 2013 date picked.  Melissa wrote back stating they don’t have a date set yet, but their next event Touch A Truck on June 8, 2013 in San Diego, California is very family friendly and of course stroller friendly. She asked me to add it to the calendar. How could I not?  I am a mom of two and my oldest is a little boy who is now three, same age as Max when he was diagnosed.  My heart was touched by Melissa, Andy and their son Max. I have added Tough A Truck on June 8, 2013 in from 10 AM – 3 PM in San Diego, California at Qualcomm Stadium to the calendar.  If you...