Megan Miller Collection nail polish review

It's not cheap but I saw a deal from one of those deal sites so I caved in, especially that I've been on a polish kick lately (as in I haven't seen my bare nails in 3 weeks). I bought 6 colors; carribean, latte, pink lilly, roja, foxy, and ganache. In my opinion, there is nothing remarkable about the polish, except that the colors attracted me. The bottle is pretty with its cork top though.

I tried the foxy first. It's grey, and so happens to match exactly the gray leather on the steering wheel of my town and country van. The polish is too runny for my taste. It was completely transparent on the first coat. I had a good enough coverage on the second so I stopped there. I'm a mother of 4 young kids and I paint my nails on borrowed time. To top the polish I used Sally Hansen Anti-Chip Top Coat.

Next I tried the Caribbean. Again, it was too runny and thin. For this color I had to apply 3 coats.
The website does not have very many colors. The 6 I got was over half of their collection. They boast of rustic colors, which they are. They also say the line is free of some chemicals commonly found in drug-store nail polish, though. It's free of  DBP (Dibutyl Phtalate), Toluene and Formaldehyde.

Each nail polish will set you back $12. Yeah, they're expensive.



This is the Caribbean color.

Orthotic footwear to relieve knee pain

In early 2008, after suffering from crunchy knees for a while, I was diagnosed with PatelloFemoral Arthritis. Both my knee caps do not stay in place when I bend and flex my legs, so it is worn out. It makes a crunchy noise, and it's painful. My doctor prescribed 6 weeks of physical therapy, which actually extended to 3 months before we finally decided on surgery. I had an arthroscopy with bilateral release on my worst knee (the right). But after 6 weeks of physical therapy after, I still couldn't extend my knee very much without extreme pain. Finally, my doctor referred me to a sports therapy orthopedist, who gave me a simple remedy - a steroid shot on the knee. The shot blocked the pain and I resumed physical therapy. It was successful.

I knew I had to have the same surgery on my left knee, but with life changes and moves across the country, it had to wait. Meanwhile, it was the same as before, I felt constant pain with going up and down the stairs and any squatting motions. The degree of pain differed, but it was always there. After my fourth child, the plan was to wait until he was at least a year old before I think about the surgery. But then again, the pain was miserable. Waiting that long means I was going to endure pain.

My house has 2 floors and a tall stairs (without any landing midway). I had to plan out my days so that I didn't have to go upstairs too many times. Of course with young kids, I had to make several trips anyway. I started researching doctors and asked for recommendations. Then I saw online that using orthotics may lessen knee pains, so I started looking for people who could do orthotics. Someone told me I should try store-bought ones first and see how that goes. So I went to Wal-Mart and stepped onto the Dr. Scholls thing and bought what it recommended. I placed those on my tennis shoes. The problem was, based on my cultural upbringing, I'm not the kind of person to wear shoes at home. Even my kids removed shoes at home and either went barefoot or with indoor slippers. I then researched flipflops with arches, and came across the Orthaheel Orthopedic Sandals from Amazon. It was expensive in my opinion, at $65 dollars, but I had to try it. I've been using this since April of 2011 and I can't tell you how much better my knees feel!!!!

Instead of the pain constantly being there and ruining my mood, the pain is now forgotten! I can go up and down the stairs without having to think of all the things I should do before I go back down so I wouldn't have to go up again later. If I have to go upstairs, I just do. Sometimes there is a little pain when I bear weight as I go up the stairs, but it's more than 50% reduced compared to before, at the very least. Pain doesn't rule my day. It's not constantly there. Many days, I forget about knee pains. It's amazing!

Between the Dr. Scholls insert on my tennis shoes and the Orthaheel sandals, I am wearing high-arch footwear most of the day. As of today, I have no plans on getting surgery done on my left knee. This might change in the near future, or maybe not...but at least now it's not a foregone conclusion just yet!

Plum District DFW & Birthday Blessing TX partnering together for a cause

 Plum District DFW is working with Birthday Blessing TX to help in their cause give under-privileged children have a birthday they deserve. They are a non-profit organization who provide everything for the party in order to make feel a child important and loved on their special day. 

For every new subscription to Plum District through the link below from now through Aug. 29, 2011, we will donate $3 to Birthday Blessing TX.  

Win Legoland Discovery (Grapevine, TX) tickets (4 pack) ends 7/31/11

Plum District Dallas is sponsoring a giveaway at Dallas Single Mom to bring Dallas/DFW families a family 4-pack ticket to Legoland Discovery Ctr in DFW (Grapevine, TX)! It's so easy to enter, so head on over there and win your family the tickets! With over 100-degrees in the Dallas area for almost a month, you're probably running out of new places to bring the kids to cool down. 

Hurry, the contest ends on 7/31/11.

Plum District

Plum District's new logo! 

Kids Play Fore Kids North Dallas Charity Event Aug 2011

Date: Friday, August 5th, 2011

Location: Firewheel Golf Park (Old/Lakes Courses) 

600 W Campbell Road

Garland, Texas 75044 (map)

This is a charity event benefiting the Northern Texas PGA Jr Golf Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of North Texas. Kids ages 6 -18 play a 9-hole scramble in teams of 4. Kids can sign up as an individual or as a team. All kids are asked to set a goal of raising at least $100 and kids win prizes on the amount of money they raise.

My 6-year old son has never played golf but is always up for fun. I am trying to get a team together just because it's fun to do this with friends. I have spoken to the coordinator for the event and was told that they will provide golf clubs if needed. She also said that they will have plenty of assistance for the younger players, and if they just end up throwing the ball that's alright too. The goal is to have fun and help a cause.

If your kids, or your kids' friends are playing for this great cause, contact me at izzy4300(at)gmail(dot)com OR leave a comment here leaving me your contact info and I can get Plum District - Dallas help you out in your efforts of raising funds!

non-toxic nail polish for kids

My 4 year old twins have been asking for their nails to be painted lately. Several months ago, after having been in their current preschool for a year, I found out that their teachers have been telling them apart based on their hairstyle. J has always loved two ponytails and K with only one. But the system stopped working when K decided she wanted her hair to be just like J. The preschool teachers said they could tell them apart, but not when their backs are turned.  Fair enough.  But this got me thinking of ways to differentiate my girls more, so I bought a purple and pink nail polish. The problem is, they're not safe, and they stink.

Today I decided to search online and discovered Piggy Paint, a non-toxic, hypoallergenic, water-based nail polish for kids. I ordered several so now all I have to do is wait. I will post my review in the coming weeks.

Plum District Deals

I am the new Community Relations Consultant for Plum District Dallas! Have you heard of Plum District? It is a deals website BY women for savvy moms out there. When you sign up, you pick your region and you will get alerted to deals in your surrounding area. If you like the deal, you go buy it!

Sign up now through this link Get Your Plum District Deals here and get started.

Plum District will reveal it's new website on Friday, and so to celebrate you can 

get 20% OFF one purchase  by using the code  buhbye at check out. So simple!

attempting the scary

This week I am going to take my 4-year old twins and my 15-month old to the pool to join a group of moms. I've been to this pool so I know the layout and I know how the kids handle it. K was comfortable swimming on her own while wearing a vest, J was clingy and had to grab onto an adult at all times, and then there's Little M who is just a happy go lucky toddler that I must hold onto the entire time. I figure I'll get J on my back and Little M on the front and just hope the God that K don't go too far away. Sounds good. All set. 

There is a matter of the potty break that is also scary when I have all three. But I think we'll stick to a strict schedule. Potty before going in, and potty an hour and a half later. 

I got it all planned out. It's do or die.

How to Tandem Breastfeed Twins

Breastfeeding isn't easy to begin with and when you're breastfeeding twins, it's exponentially harder. Thankfully for me, I was a seasoned pro by the time my twins came. After breastfeeding my first born for 12 months, the act didn't scare me I just had to work on the logistics for my girls.

My girls spent 10 days in the NICU so I didn't have to breastfeed in the hospital. But once they came home, we ditched the bottle. Armed with my EZ-2-Nurse Twins pillow, I felt at ease. The problem was, how do I get them on? On my king sized bed, I placed my little girls in between my outstretched legs. I then took my EZ-2-Nurse pillow and buckled it around me. After tightening it, I reached for one baby and placed her gently down in position. But as I reached for my other baby, the first baby started sliding down. Afterall, the middle part of the pillow was above my legs but the edges hung down. They were small at that time so I just clumped down my arm on my first baby and reached for the other quickly. When they were in place, I scooped up their heads with each of my hand and latched the on. Success! For a week or 2 I only breastfed in my big bed. But I couldn't keep doing it since my bedroom at the time was in the second floor. So I had to try the sofa.

The sofa set-up started with placing my babies in their bouncy cradle very close on either side of my legs (I learned this to make the dismount easier). I then placed them on the ends of the sofa on either side of me one at a time. I buckled my nursing pillow and reached for them. Again the first one started slipping down as I reached for the second (I learned to use the sofa pillows and placed one on either side of me under the nursing pillow to make it level). For the dismount, I had to reach for the bouncy sit to put first baby down and then the second. TA-DA!

I am proud to say that I breastfed my twins for 14 months.

Tom Muehlenbeck Pool - Review

(Photo from planotx.org)

The entry fee for the Tom Muehlenbeck pool is $3 for ages 3-16 and $6 for 17 years old and up. It's a big facility that is appropriate for all ages. For the very little ones, there is a water play structure with a slides and spray. 

Right next to it is a circular area (see the picture above) with a fountain in the middle and spray waters surrounding it. The kids can walk in the circular area. The water between that and the fountain in the middle is 3.5 ft deep with a sitting area on either side. My adventurous 4-year old daughter would jump from the spray area into the water over and over (wearing a vest that is provided by the facility). My 15-month old enjoyed walking on the sitting area around the middle fountain. I just followed him around. Out of this circular area is the rest of the pool. The entire pool is 3.5 ft deep. There are steps that gradually go down into the pool. 

For the older kids (minimum of 48 inches tall) there are a couple of slides. The slides end on a landing pad and not into a pool. The lifeguards were strict about the height. My 6-year old is 48 inches tall with shoes, but of course he was barefoot when we were there and was refused entry to the slides. Bummer. 

Though I never made it to the indoor pool, my husband said there is also a small water structure for the little ones and a slide that drops into the 3.5 ft deep pool. There are tables and beach chairs but it's best to come early if you want a good spot. For a fee of $5 a cooler is allowed. 

Jack Carter Pool

(Photo from planotx.org)

This is only our second summer here and I am now only learning of the many pools Plano has to offer. If not for the wonderful mommy groups that I've joined, I wouldn't have known these pools exist.

For $3 each my twins and I enjoyed Jack Carter for a couple of hours. We were there from 10 - 12:30 on a weekday. We were the only few there at 10, but by 11:30 the place was filling up. By the time we left there were no more tables available. The tables were under a canopy and surrounds half of the pool. The playground is enclosed by a metal fence, which makes it great for families with little ones. It makes it possible for some mommies to enjoy conversation with others because you don't need to follow your little ones so closely. You would just want to keep an eye of where they are. But there were 2 lifeguards on duty when we were there.

The restroom facility was a short walk in the same area as the entrance. The restroom looked well kept.

Some kids had their own buckets, cups, little inflatable toys that others just pick up when left laying around. It's important to clearly label everything. If the kiddos have swim shoes, it's best to wear them here. My girls had blisters on their toes after an hour of playing.

There is a big pool beside the kid area, but as I mentioned, there is fence. Overall I loved this pool. I only had my 4-year old twins with me when we went but it is small enough that I want to take the whole family the next time (including my 6-year old and 15-month old sons, and of course hubby). We are mindful of where we take all the kids because the adults being outnumbered, but this is one place we can handle without stress.

I would say Jack Carter pool is appropriate for 0 to about 7 years old. And it is OK to bring strollers in for the little tiny ones.

Crayola Window Markers

I have always thought that windows are prime real estate for controlled mess-making art and I've been lucky to have over-sized windows. I've tried Crayola finger paints but it's a mess because it can drip even if you use a brush to paint it on the window. So finding the Crayola window markers at Walmart was very exciting! At $9 it is not that expensive and a whole lot of fun for my almost 4-year old twins, though I'm sure my 6-year old will also love it. The pack comes with 25 markers, many stencils and 2 sheets of static cling stickers that can be colored in. Clean up is easy with a damp paper towel.

personalized picture chore chart

Way back when we only had one child and we thought our lives were so chaotic (shyah, if we only knew how much more chaotic our lives would be with 4 children!) I came up with a picture chore chart to help my Darling Dawdler. He knew what he needed to do, and would make the effort to listen, but somehow along the way he gets distracted. Hubby and I resorted to using a kitchen timer. It worked because he always wanted to beat the clock, but the problem was we only had one timer and it was downstairs in the kitchen.

I searched the internet for ideas and eventually came up with a picture chore chart. Darling Dawdler was only 3 years old and couldn't read yet, but he was great at recognizing pictures. I came up with a list of things I wanted him to do which was very basic: getting dressed, eating, brushing teeth, cleaning up. I took pictures of him doing all of the things in my list and laminated them (I used self-laminating ID protectors) and labeled each one. Then I bought a white poster board and covered it with self-adhesive laminating sheet. I also bought velcro dots (rough part on the board, smooth part on the pictures).  I divided the board into 3 sections for morning, noon and night. The pictures were kept in a little zip lock bag on the left. In the morning as soon as he did each one, he searched for the corresponding picture and velcroed it to the board. At the end of the day when he had done all his tasks, he received a special sticker. To prevent him from putting the stickers all over the wall, I used the left over poster board and designated it as his Reward Board. Using 3M command adhesive (the velcro kind) I mounted the board in the landing of our stairwell, and the Reward Board in my son's room. 

This kind of chore chart would be appropriate for young children and the rewards can be modified to suit the child's interest/motivation.

new car seat guidelines 2011

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The American Academy of Pediatrics has new recommendations in regards to children and car seats. Here are the highlights:

• It is now recommended to keep infants/toddlers rear-facing until they are 2 years old (Check the height/weight limit of your current car seats because you never want to go over that limit. If you are above the car seat limit, it's time to invest on a new one.)
• Children must be in booster seats until they are 4 foot 9 inches tall. 
• Children should not ride in the front seat until they are 13.

This is quite a change, yet nothing new. More and more mothers are already deciding to keep their children rear-facing longer than the previous 1 year old recommendation. Today, the AAP supports this decision. 

With my oldest, we followed the 1 year recommendation before turning him around. With my twins, I kept them rear-facing a bit longer because they were on the small side because they were preemies. With #4 who is about to turn 1 year old, we are definitely going to keep him backwards until 2. It is better to be safe than sorry.

a great twin stroller

We love the Combi!

 Before my twins were born, my husband and I were prepared. We bought all the essentials including an infant car seat and stroller. We looked at double strollers out there but eventually picked Graco. We have a single Graco Metro Lite stroller with our oldest, so we trust Graco. For the longest time I hauled the twins in this when I took my oldest to and from preschool. I had no complaint until I found the Combi on a twin blog. I researched it online, and found a local store who carried it. A few more days of research and I bought it. I loved it!

The Combi stroller folds more compact because it can stand up, but perhaps the thing I love most about it was that it was light. I didn't even think the Graco stroller was heavy, at least until I found the Combi. While folded it can be pulled to roll so you don't need to carry it. It also has a shoulder strap if you want to carry it while folded. I love the fact that the girls sit side by side. I've had to take them with me everywhere, being a stay-at-home mom, and some of the places we've been they didn't respond to very well. They became scared and anxious of their surroundings. In times like this, they actually comforted each other. But it's pretty hard to do when one sits behind the other. With a side-by-side stroller, they never felt alone. Of course that also presented it's own problems. As they got older, they started grabbing each other's sippy cup and snacks.

But perhaps the greatest thing about the Combi is that the two seats recline independently. If one is asleep, I could lay her down. Unlike the Graco where only the back could fully lie down and the front could only recline.

The only 2 things I didn't like about the Combi double stroller is the basket and the canopy. The basket were too small. I was never able to fit a diaper bag in it. I just always hung the handle of the diaper bag on the stroller handle. Only small snacks and small toys can fit. The canopies were also a disappointment. They were too shallow to fully cover my twins from the sun.

Graco - heavy!

the greatest bassinet for twins

When I had my son (my first), I used a midrange priced bassinet  so that I could have him beside me in my room. This made breastfeeding easier. In addition to waking up every couple of hours to nurse, I woke up every hour (sometimes every half hour) just so I could peak at him to check if he was still breathing. Having to lift my head slightly in order to see him was not too comfortable, especially since I wasn’t fully recovered from my c-section. In order to breastfeed I had to sit up, pick him out of the bassinet and lay back down. A few times, I picked up my son using his swaddle so that I could avoid having to sit up. This was disastrous. Once, I dropped one end of the blanket and dropped my little man back in the bassinet. It was only a 5 in drop, but it was not something I wanted repeated with subsequent kids.

When I became pregnant again, this time with twins, I researched bassinets and found one by Arm’s Reach. It’s a unique bassinet where one side is lower than the other 3 sides. With different models, I was able to pick one where the low side is exactly the same height as my mattress. This made it easier to glance at my twins and made it easier for me to grab them to breastfeed. It was also the only bassinet I found (the Arm’s Reach Original model) that could fit twins. The bassinet position could hold up to 30 lbs, and the playpen position could hold up to 50 lbs. The rest of the 3 sides have pockets on the sides to store diapers, extra clothes and whatever else you may need in the middle of the night.

Though quite pricey, it’s been very useful. If you are thinking of a great sturdy bassinet that makes co-sleeping and breastfeeding, I highly recommend this one.  The Original model that I have is quite big, but they also offer a mini version for single babies and/or if you have a smaller area beside your bed.

As you can see, my twins fit with room to spare. They are in a regular sized boppy.  When they became too big for the boppy, they slept oriented in the same direction without it.


***This was originally posted by me on Minti.com here.

label your kids!

I stumbled upon SafetyTat several years ago when my twins turned 2 years old. It was a stressful time with their newly found independence. My son was only 4 and with the twins, I had 3 going in different directions. Actually, my son always tried to help but more often than not, it resulted in mishap. So I was excited about the SafetyTat and ordered a pack right away.

Once I got them, I was able to use them right away for the 4th of July celebration. It was at night, so it was the perfect timing. Should the twins get separated from us, they were too young to tell their names and their parents names. How would we ever get reunited? With SafetyTat, if they were found, our phone number is right there.

SafetyTat looks like a sticker that has a design and a space to write a phone number in. It is then placed on a child’s arm (or wherever you’d like) so that in case they are separated from the grown-ups, there is a way for them to get reunited. It has a strong adhesive and can’t easily be taken off. In fact, it stayed on for days when I used it with my kids when we left it alone. I also used it on our 1000-mile 3 day trip (1610km) on each of my 3 kids and it lasted the entire time.

Personally, I love the write-on SafetyTat because we move a lot, and therefore change phone numbers a lot. With the write-on SafetyTat, we can write our current cell phone number in or of the number of a parent/grandparent/babysitter who is present on the trip (or whoever didn’t forget their cell phone at home).

It’s easy to use. If you can put a band-aid, you can put this on a child. Just make sure the skin is clean and dry. The write-on SafetyTat sticks very well and can last up to 2 weeks according to their website (though I have never left it on the kids that long). Removing it can be painful, especially if it’s stuck to a body part with a lot of hair. Peel it slowly. I found that applying a good moisturizer and massaging it on and then leaving it for a few minutes work best.

***Part of this post was originally posted by me on Minti.com here.

Baby Dipper Bowl Review

When my twins were infants, I entered a blog giveaway. The prize was a pair of baby bowls. I entered and surprisingly, I won. I wasn’t looking for a baby bowl, but what the heck, it was free. I’m so glad I did! What struck me most is that it was a nice weight and it had a rubber bottom that grips the table. On the twin’s next feeding, I promptly used it. I loved it!

I have fed my girls by setting the bowl down on the table. But the problem with typical plastic baby bowls is that they slide whenever I get a spoonful. Several times I have to push the bowl back into the middle of the table before it falls to the floor. And on occasion that I feed the babies something thick, I couldn’t even get a spoonful out without using both hands. With the Baby Dipper Bowl, I was able to just keep it on the table without worrying it would eventually fall off the table. This leaves my other hand free to do a whole lot of other things like preventing baby from swatting at the incoming spoonful of food.

The Baby Dipper bowl quickly became my favorite. I packed the bowls, and the spoons it came with whenever we visited the in-laws 3 hours away. The spoon was great too. It rested on the bowl nicely, unlike other baby spoons that are usually heavier than most bowls – which then tips over whenever the spoon is put back in the bowl. When my twins entered toddlerhood, the Baby Dipper bowls were excellent. It allowed them to practice their grip of the spoon without having to chase after a constantly moving bowl. It was less mess for me to clean up – always a good thing!

Today, I’m still using my Baby Dipper bowl with my 7 month old. He is still new to solid foods and grabs and swats at the spoon coming to him. With one hand free, I’m able to hold his hand at bay so that the food can make a clear landing to his mouth.

The bowl is BPA-free, lead-free and phthalate free – though perhaps the most impressive of all is that it was invented by a mom of 2 sets of twins. 

***This post was originally posted by me on Minti.com here.

Multi-room baby video monitor

After researching video monitors for a couple of months, I finally bought a Lorex LW2003 Live Snap Video Monitor from Amazon. The monitor and 1 camera was around $130 and it has fluctuated up and down since then. I also bought 2 more additional cameras at the same time, and then later bought one more. The cameras run somewhere from $70-$90.

I have 4 small children and all the bedrooms are upstairs, with the master bedroom downstairs. The main reason why I wanted a video monitor with a talk back feature is so that either my husband and I wouldn't need to stumble our way up the stairs when one of the kids yell for something in the middle of the night.

Overall I love this monitor and it's the cheapest I've found. But with all the neat features to love, there are some cons. Let me start there.

CONS:

1. There is a stand-by mode called VOX that doesn't work right. VOX is a mode whereby the sound and video goes on standby and only turns on when a sound activates it. You can set the sound sensitivity. For example, if you have 2 cameras that are on VOX mode, the monitor will be on stand-by (no video, no sound), unless of the cameras detect a sound. If the camera detects a sound, that camera will pop up on the monitor. Or at least this is how it's supposed to work. The problem is, 2 of my cameras make the monitor turn on even without detecting a sound. One day I experimented on it, and put it in a room and changed the setting to detect the loudest sounds only. This made the monitor always on. Then I changed it to the softest sound only, and the same thing happened. I also found that 2 of my cameras work well on VOX setting, but the other 2 don't. So I just quit using this feature.
2. The charging base for the monitor is weird. It has a mini-usb port sticking out. I have to be careful aligning the monitor to the base when I charge it.
3. Battery: Battery charge doesn't last long in a dark room because it has to use the night-vision. I found 2 hours to be a max in a dark room, but up to 5 hours in bright room.
4. Camera: This feature is a little silly. The camera can take a picture but very low quality. So why bother?

PROS:

1. Power-save mode: On this mode the monitor goes dim but the sound still works. I have 4 cameras and I use this mode while the camera cycles through each camera (8 seconds each camera). The sound works and the video only turns on when I press any button.
2. Talk back: I can talk to each kid by using the monitor. I hold down the dialog bubble button and my voice comes out of the camera. The sound is great and doesn't come out booming. I have never scared any of my kids by talking out of nowhere. When one of my kids ask for me to come up just to say goodnight for the 10th time, I can talk to them through the monitor.
3. The camera can be mounted, or can be propped up. This is excellent because I can take it to the backyard and monitor the kids there when I can't be out there with them. In the rooms, I use 3M velcro and it works great.

So overall, I love this monitor. There are more features, but I just wanted to mention what sticks out the most. Because I use this mainly at night, I have the cameras charged through the night. If I don't, it dies in the middle of the night. But in order to preserve the battery life, I unhook it from the charger and just leave it on during the day. Lorex doesn't mention to do this, but I've burned out many a batteries by leaving this plugged, so I've learned my lesson.