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.