In order to put things back into the perspective after the terrible tragedy at the Boston Marathon yesterday, I went home hugged my husband and kids and I went on a family run.  We strapped the kids in the double jog stroller and went to our favorite lake and ran.  Not unlike the rest of the world, I am stunned, shocked, horrified and restless.  Who would do this? Why would you do this? My heart aches for the father who lost his precious son and his wife and daughter suffered major injuries while waiting for him to cross the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I am saddened that spectators who came to share in a glorious moment of celebration with their family member(s) and/or friends will forever associate this tragedy with the Boston Marathon. I am sad that runners/racers will be concerned – myself included – that entering any major race is no longer safe or fun.  Why put ourselves in harm’s way? Should we race? Should our family come out and celebrate with us? While my heart heals, my legs will keep running.  Yes, I will continue to race. Yes, I want my family to celebrate my accomplishments with me. Yes, I will still be fearful that we are in harm’s way.  But, I will keep going.   Each day I am suffering on the bike, or tired of the monotony in the pool, or breathless running fartleks, I be grateful that I can still run and I have my wonderful family around to support me.  I am grateful that my teammates racing the Boston Marathon were all safe. My prayers and thoughts go out to all those who lost a loved one or have loved ones injured. From the Washington Post Boston...

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...

Toddler protection from the sun and bugs. Now that the first “unofficial” weekend of summer just passed us by, most of us and our families will be out in the sun a great deal more, especially at the pools and beaches.  I wanted to share with you two great products that I have found that are so helpful in protecting my toddler (1 years old and up) from the sun and bugs. No Mess Sunscreen Wipes My new summer favorite is the Baby Silk Babysafe Sunscreen Towelettes Sunscreen Spf 30. In my house, we no longer have the sunscreen battle; my two year old does not mind having sunscreen put on his face anymore. I only need one or two towelettes for full coverage on my two year old. They are not messy and so easy to carry around. They are more expensive than regular sunscreen, but what you are paying for is convenience, no mess and no more fights. Great toddler sun protection. According to the packaging, the product features are: Contains no phthalates, lanolin, mineral oil, petroleum or waxes Contains physical sunscreens, titanium and zinc oxide, as the only active ingredients Protects against UVA and UVB rays Clinically tested & hypoallergenic Made in the USA. No animal testing The Babysilk Babysafe Sunscreen Towelettes Spf 30 are $26.00 for 20 on Amazon.com (does not include taxes, shipping or handling).  I would suggest doing price comparison at a couple stores in order to get the best price. This product can be purchased at Amazon.com, Diapers.com, Drugstore.com, etc. Natural, Chemical Free Bug Repellent Another new favorite is the non-toxic, non-chemical, non-invasive and non-irritating California Baby Bug Repellant Spray, 6.5 Ounce.  The bugs already seem to be out in droves’ this summer and my two year...

With our new Au pair starting last week, I knew it was time to update our Child Care Emergency Checklist. You might not use a babysitter, care giver, family or friends to watch your children often, but there will be a time when your child is left in the care of someone else; therefore, have the emergency checklist prepared before you need it. Here are some items to include in an emergency checklist. Keep the list on your refrigerator or close to the phone and give a copy to your care giver. Child Care Emergency Checklist Your children’s full names correctly spelled. Your children’s address, ZIP code, and phone numbers. List two addresses if parents live at separate homes. Contact information for each parent, including work and cell phones, name of employers, work addresses, and hours they will normally be there. Please provide the best number to reach the parent at, for my family it is always our mobile phones. The pediatrician’s name and contact information (including address) and the same information for any specialists your children see, along with a notation on what their specialties are. Contact information for the dentist and orthodontist. Drug and food allergies your children have. Local Poison control number. Fire Extinguisher status. If you have one in the home, let the care giver know where it is located. Fire Escape Emergency Route. Medical conditions your children have, medications taken, and danger signs to be aware of for each of those conditions. Your children’s health insurance policy number, the subscriber’s name, and the address and phone number of the insurance company (there’s usually an 800 # or member service number listed on the back of the insurance card). According to Care.com, some insurance companies will allow you to order duplicate...

With baby shower seasons  just around the corner it is only appropriate to talk about one of the best baby shower gift a new mom could receive. Yes, generally speaking the expecting couple registers at stores that are specific for babies or have a large baby selection (Buy Buy Baby, Babies R’Us, Target, etc.) or online retailers (Amazon, Diapers.com, etc.) and friends and families usually purchase their gifts off the couple’s registries. However, one of the best gifts I received at my baby shower was a basket full of everyday items that mom and baby need after the baby is born; usually items that mom and dad are not thinking about until the baby arrives. To help prepare the new family for their arrival, consider putting a gift basket together of the following items with a note that says, “All the things you need, but don’t know yet.” The new mom and baby will greatly appreciate the gift. Butt Paste – Awesome diaper rash cream. Price  is approximately $7.19 for a 4 oz. tube. Gripe Water – Completely natural product which is great for curing hiccups and relieving gas pains in newborns. C2 had hiccups starting at one week old. Price is approximately $7.00 per bottle. Baby hair brush and/or comb – Price is approximately $4.99 per set. Baby Nail clippers – Babies nails grow so quickly, we were cutting C2 nails once a week, so he would not scratch up his face.  Price is approximately $2.29 per set. Baby Wipes – Always in need of these. Boogie Wipes – Developed by moms tired of chasing runny noses, Boogie Wipes® are the latest innovation in a moist wipe product. Price is approximately $3.79 per box. Aquaphor – Fragrance-free, preservative-free formula for baby skin care...

Being that Educause, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology, coined January Data Privacy; it got me thinking about kids’ privacy online.  With so many people blogging about their day-to-day lives, especially new parents wanting to document their child’s milestones online and share them with family; I wonder how we go about ensuring their privacy online. As of July 2011 according to Mashable, the two largest blogging sites Tumblr and WordPress.com, together hosted more than 20,958,182 blogs (Tumblr had 20,873,182 blogs and WordPress.com’s had approximately 85,000 blogs). So to me, the question arose do you have “rules” about what you will and will not post in blogs, forums and other online spaces such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Babycenter.com, etc.? Someone once told me that anyone could find out anything about me because my life was so public on the web.  I said, “Yes, you can, but there are a lot of things you will hopefully never find out about me because my husband and I have  house “rules” for social media (more guidelines because use of mobile technology and social media change daily) about how, what, where and when we choose to share our personal information. As my hubby and I have become more actively engaged in social networks and in combination with the our son’s birth, we decided it was time to have family “rules” (guidelines) for social media.  Our rules are constantly  being revised based on new security and privacy issues that arise daily, especially with regards to our son’s privacy online. According to comScore.com, social networking sites now reach 82 percent of the world’s online population, representing 1.2 billion users around the world.  In my opinion, that is a...

  [category_specific_rss_menu] Since holiday gift buying season is now – with the help of other running mama’s – I gathered enough information to write a two part series on great gifts for active moms: 10 Great Stocking Stuffers for Running Moms and 10 Must Have Holiday Gifts Every Running Mom needs. Part One focuses on 10 Great Stocking Stuffers for the running, multi-sport mom or a special woman in your life. These little gifts are small enough to be placed into an already stuffed stocking. Just remember, although these items are small, doesn’t always mean inexpensive. I organized the 10 Great Stocking Stuffers into five categories: Accessories, Fashion, Motivation, Music Lovers, and Recovery and Relaxation.   ACCESSORIES If your loved one loves to be active—and stylish—then accessories are the way to go. 1.  Road ID The Road ID ($19.99) offers stylish bracelets in different colors to fit your athlete’s persona.  In the event of an accident, if you can’t speak for yourself, your Road ID will.  I use my Road ID for every activity. I have mine in hot pink and my hubby has his in orange. 2.  Head Bands If you’re looking for something more fun, yet practical, why not pick up some headbands. Running or working out with hair in your face is annoying—a sturdy headband keeps hair in its place, and your athlete can focus on her workout. Many running and triathlete moms I asked suggest Bondi Bands. Bondi Bands are are a comfy, colorful and creative way to hold your hair back with a wicking favorite.  According to some moms, you can also get them personalized as well. Active.com suggests Sweaty Bands ($6) offers cute styles and never slips.  Sweaty Bands are the ultimate sports and fitness headband, uniquely designed...