Author Archives: krystynabowman@gmail.com

SOS: Help! It’s HOT! Going crazy inside!!

Posted by Krystyna Bowman

This was originally posted last July, but as many of you are probably finding yourself at the end of your patience with these high temps & lack of indoor activities we thought it would be helpful to revisit a few ideas!

~~July~~ August is here, and the heat of Arizona is officially upon us!! Even if you are not living in AZ, you may also be in need of indoor play ideas in your part of the world. Since the temperature is only going up, I want to share some ideas to enjoy the summer with your family and not get overheated.

Do you like to be outdoors? The Phoenix Zoo and the Desert Botanical Gardens offer earlier open times – maybe the one in your area does, too. We have always enjoyed going early in the day when the mornings are under the 100F mark. The city parks are opening their splash pads – check out your city’s website and find out locations and hours.

If you have a little room in your budget, you can sign up for classes in your child’s age group. Here are some ideas: music, gymnastics, swimming lessons, summer camps held at churches or dance schools.

Are there any museums in your area? You can see if they offer special programming for children, and ask if they offer group discounts. Maybe you can get some friends together for a discount while having a museum playdate!! In addition, check your local museums for Family Free Days over the summer months. We have found that arriving right at opening time, or going a couple of hours before closing helps to avoid the crowds. Museums let us enjoy some time out of the house and out of the sun while allowing our little explorers all kinds of growth opportunities.

If you are on a tight budget, pick some different places to go out every day. You can still find plenty of ways to learn and grow – you just have to get a little more creative! Here is a money-saving idea: Let your destination pay for air conditioning! Make it a point to leave the house while your kiddo and you are fresh and rested. Here are some free places that you can go for a walkabout:

Shopping malls – be brave and drive a little farther. Go to one that isn’t in your neighborhood and you get A/C time coming and going as well! While you are there, explore the children’s stores that have toys out for the kiddos to sample. Our favorite place is Pottery Barn Kids. I don’t like having the big playsets in our home, however, it’s great to have the kids go there and enjoy them, and then get to leave them behind! Many shopping centers open early for mall walkers – it’s a great time to go to the children’s play areas before the stores open and the mall gets more crowded. The story times/ mall activities listed in this month’s newsletters (activities in the Chandler, AZ area) all start between 10:00 am and 10:30 pm – depending on how your child naps, you might be able to do both, and then head home and get some chores done while your tired baby sleeps.
Big super-stores like PetSmart, Walmart and Target. I like PetSmart and Walmart because they have lots of fish tanks+ with live fish to explore. Here are the kiddos and Bruss playing with the fishing poles at Walmart – all the fun, none of the clutter 🙂
Bass Pro Shop – they have a fish pond where the kiddos can learn to fish, plus lots of other things to see and explore. Kiddos can enjoy some of the displays – Bruss says some of them are climbable!
Bookstore – Barnes & Noble has a great kids area with a reading area plus a different selection of books than you might find at the library. You can look over on the “meetings and groups” list to find the monthly listing for their story times.
Grocery Store – instead of making a mad dash through the place with your list, go with the time and the intention of walking up and down all the aisles. There are lots of foods to explore in the produce section, you can take your time and look in all the display cases, you can touch the doors in the frozen food section, and take in all the colors as you talk about how things are sorted, grouped and why your family makes the food choices that they make. There are lots of smells to identify, with the added bonus of sensory items to touch in the pet aisle.
Office Buildings – does coach, or another family member or friend work in a high rise? How about going to visit them? While you are there, ride the elevator and look at some of the artwork along the different floors of the building. You can get off at the different floors and observe the different views that you see at different heights. You can check your local listings to see if there is a top deck restaurant that offers a 360 degree view of your city while you are dining.

You can also take advantage of the public libraries. Pack yourself plenty of water, a couple of portable snacks, and head over to the stacks to hang out for a while before and/or after library activities.

Need a day at home? How about doing some sensory play? One of our best investments was a sand and water table we bought when our oldest was a toddler. We lost the lid a long time ago, however the base is still sturdy and usable. You can do all water, or a mix of sand and water, or all sand. Get out the stackable cups and measuring spoons you already have around the house and let your kids measure and pour to their hearts content! You can hide toys in the sand.

We have also set up a water station in the kitchen. We lay out a few towels first, and then fill different size pots with varying amounts of water. If you are so inclined, you can set out some rice, beans, or pastas for the kiddos to “cook” with. Let them spoon, measure and pour and get nice and wet. As an added bonus, you can get a chore done by breaking out your mop when it’s time to clean up!

Do you have a “safe” place for your kiddos to play in the kitchen? Maybe you can set up a drawer, a cabinet and a pantry shelf that are “safe” for them. Ask them to look in the different places for different things – maybe a mini-scavenger hunt for all the items they will use at their water station!

How about a fort? Here is a fort we made using a kit the kiddos got for Christmas. However, there is nothing wrong with taking a sheet and hanging it over a table, or taking some chairs into the middle of a room and hanging a sheet over those. It’s great fun to play peek-a-boo, or create a temporary reading nook with a new twist.

HERE is a list of other sensory ideas that you can easily set up at home when your kiddos are tired of playing with their regular toys and walking through the house has become an exercise in futility. My favorite on this list is freezing toys into a block of ice and then letting the kiddos carve them out with spoons. That would feel really great when it’s 117F outside!

Send us your pictures of indoor fun! What is your family’s favorite indoor, beat the heat idea?

Disclaimer:
The material included on this site is for informational purposes only.
It is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. The reader should always consult her or his healthcare provider to determine the appropriateness of the information for their own situation. Krystyna and Bruss Bowman and Bowman House, LLC accept no liability for the content of this site, or for the consequences of any actions taken on the basis of the information provided.

Thoughtful Thursday: High Chairs

(photo credit: KSBW.com)

I saw THIS news story posted on Twitter. The tweet, composed by @ConsciousBirths on their another social media page, asked, “Controversial restaurant sign! What are your thoughts? Would you be offended by this or be happy to go to a child free restaurant?”

I used to be one of “those” people who believed we should have child-free restaurants, airplanes (I had a whole business plan around a child-free airline!), shopping experiences. Who in their right mind wants to be around screaming children??

My mind was expanded when we welcomed our first child. So much miracle in one little body – I was not leaving her alone. Ever. She went with me everywhere…including work. I could not imagine leaving her for a second, especially since I was breastfeeding and babywearing…there was not a single place we couldn’t go together.

By the time she was a year old, she had already flown ten times (five round-trips). I saw the dreaded looks from other passengers – I recognized the look of disbelief and dismay when we got on the plane and took our seats. Without fail, every flight we heard, “She is such a good baby!”, or, “We were scared when you sat next to us – what a nice surprise!”

Why? Are we some kind of baby-whisperer? Or did I put bourbon in her bottle with breastmilk? (Since we had a car seat in a plane seat for her, the “rule” was that she had to be strapped in for take-off and landing, so I would give her a bottle to help with ear pressure since I couldn’t nurse her in my arms.) NO!

No. We treated her with love and respect. We talked her through the experience. We pointed out all the different features on the plane. She had her breastmilk, liquid love, from the start through the end of the flight, since I could take her out to nurse while the “fasten seat belt” sign was off at cruising altitude. She was a miniature, darling, little travel companion.

Along the lines of treating your child with love and respect, comes the part where you pay attention to their needs. We booked flights around the times when she would naturally be sleepy so that it would be less stressful for her. Since she nursed to sleep, we would both arrive rested at our destination.

Extend that concept of parenting with love and respect to dining out of your home. A phrase that I learned early on when I was in management was to, “set yourself up for success.” There are a lot of different scenarios where it can be applied, and it definitely drives the way I approach any excursions with our Sweet Peas.

You want to go out to eat with at a restaurant? Plan for it!

Pick a day when you do not have a whole lot scheduled so that even if you haven’t been able to get a nap in, your Sweet Pea isn’t over-stimulated before you even head out the door. Call ahead, confirm the menu is suitable for you, and for your little one if they are eating solids (to be safe, we still brought our own snacks just in case!). While you’re at it, ask the staff when the off-peak times are, and plan to eat there during the down-time.
Start small and start teaching your children etiquette from the beginning. Go to a local diner or drive-in where it doesn’t matter if your Sweet Pea has a melt-down because the dining area is already operating at a dull roar. Use all the same tools you would use at home and they are familiar with (we use the suggestions from Dr. Harvey Karp’s “Happiest Toddler on the Block”). And if they really cannot pull it together, love on them even more, and tell them it’s okay to go home – we can try again another day.
Bring your own entertainment. We do not rely on restaurants to have coloring pages and crayons. We would bring books to read, our own coloring books, and now that our kiddos are older, we bring our Busy Books. We take turns walking around with them when the entertainment is no longer engaging and they are getting restless before the food arrives. Once the food is served, we eat, pay, and leave according to our children’s frame of mind. If they are rested and patient, we dine. If we are at the end of a long day, we eat at the speed of lightning, pay, and go, leaving a cartoon streak behind us.

If all else fails, we ask for our dine-in to turn into take-out, we call it a day and go home. There is no reason to stress ourselves or our children out. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, and being okay with that is honoring and respecting your child. It has nothing to do with fussy restaurant owners – my children’s needs will always come before anyone else’s opinion.

We are also good at asking people, “Today is not a good eating out day for us – can we do take-out at our place or your place?” We adjust our expectations according to our children’s needs and abilities in that moment, and hence, we get the, “Your children are so well-behaved!” every time we do go out to eat. Of course! Because we do our best to take rested, “respected for their humanity” children out to dinner.

What if you are out of options? Like the parents in this news story, what if you are traveling and there is no “home” to go home to? Use the tools you have at hand to set yourself up for success. There are so many great search sites or smart phone apps out there that can help you find family-friendly dining. Another idea is to ask the employees at the hotel where they like to eat with their families, off the beaten path. You’ll find yourselves at a place that wants your business, and is probably less expensive than the tourist-driven restaurants.

When your children are at an age where they understand restaurant etiquette and like eating out, take them out for a fine-dining experience. While you’re at it, take them to a place that has high chairs. Although white linen service doesn’t necessarily cater to families with small children, by all means give your business to an establishment that recognizes that children at any age are people, too.

To the restaurant owner in Old Fisherman’s Wharf in Monterey: We will not be asking for a high chair, nor will we be eating at your restaurant with our awesome and “well-behaved” children – thanks, anyway.

Wordless Wednesday: Sun-Kissed Summer

Sweet Peas are out and about and having all kinds of fun this summer – these are adorable – thank you to all the families who shared their enchanting images…and now I am off to enjoy the summer sun with our Sweet Peas and today’s birthday boy – Happy 5th Birthday, Charger!

Charger as a toddler – how time flies!!

Phoenix Children’s Museum

Sea LIfe Aquarium – Phoenix

A Tale of Potty Training

A Tale of Potty Training in which Otter validates my belief in attachment parenting

Through this journey of mothering, my philosophy has become, “drop the book, read the child”. I do not discount the books out of hand – many of them have sage advice and are written by experienced professionals and parents. I offer our students the La Leche League approach: treat the information that is offered as a buffet; take what is appealing and leave the rest. My mantra has become, “Honor The Child”.

A wise aunt of mine once told me that our children are gifted to us to be our teachers. I have tried to embrace that concept whole-heartedly. Yet every once in a while, they remind me again of their role in my life. Oh, that Otter. She continues to teach me about mothering although I am already ten years into this adventure.

Her latest lesson to me arrived via potty training: it’s the promise of that glorious day when you don’t have to change another diaper…especially those of the “stinky, poop-y, how-does-all-this-fit-into-your-tiny-body diapers that have you running to the toilet as you gag to empty them” variety.

There are SO MANY books on potty training on the market – a quick search on-line yields several titles that promise an easy passage to the promised land. There are videos you can buy, books written for children to ease the transition, and if you are a family with a fluid bottom line, you can hire a potty coach for $925/day! (Read about that trend HERE.)

She did not want to know what we knew; she did not care that we had already potty trained three children. She was on her own path.

Winter 2012: Otter showed early signs of being ready to use the potty. The winter after her first birthday, she sat down and used the potty chair – she was probably 15 months old. Then she did it again. When she wasn’t around the potty, she told us that she had gone potty and that we needed to change her. And she couldn’t stand to be in a poopy diaper – I was thrilled!! Were we really going to be free of diapers so soon?!?

Alas, it was not to be. After a promising week, she started screaming when we brought her near the potty. She much preferred to do her business in her diaper and then have someone change her *immediately*. As an attachment parent, I went with the flow, so to speak. I did not want to push her into something that she was not ready for and forced her into tears.

Spring 2013: The pressure starts to build. A few mamas of Sweet Peas born from our Fall 2011 and Winter2011-12 classes are announcing that their little ones are sitting on the potty. They are using it. A few are actually potty trained!! What?!? These children are younger than Otter and they are out of diapers already?

Summer 2013: So I bring out the potty again. I figure different space, different place; maybe we’ll have a different result. Still the same reaction – tears and screaming. I put it back up with the resolution to just let Otter be Otter. I *know* that it is developmentally impossible for her to be in diapers forever. Breathe. Mantra. Repeat.

Fall 2013: More Sweet Pea babies younger than Otter are potty trained. Breathe. Mantra. Repeat.

WInter 2013: Otter wants to be in the Christmas show with her siblings. We remind her that she is not in dance classes yet and she cannot dance on stage with them. However…light bulb moment…we point out that all of the children dancing are out of diapers. Especially the ones in her favorite number, Santa Baby, a daddy-daughter dance performed by the youngest students in the school.

New strategy!! Instead of offering the training potty, every once in a while, we will drop the line, “It’s okay to keep using diapers. You’ll have to be out of them if you want to dance in Santa Baby – no diapers on stage!”

Spring 2014: We go to birthday parties for Otter’s contemporaries from our Bradley Classes. They are out of diapers. We are still lugging our diaper bag around, albeit a very adorable tokidoki bag. The SPB alumni mamas tell me what they are doing to facilitate potty training. A mama from our Fall 2012 class is actively training her one-year-old. I begin to question if I am crazy to just leave Otter alone and leave her in diapers until she is ready.

YES to leaving her alone, jury is out as to whether I am crazy. Honor the child. Breathe. Mantra. Repeat.

May 2014: The diaper service we use announces it’s going out of business. We warn her that her diaper days are numbered. Diaper service ends and she is distraught to be in training pants, even the adorable ones in patterns she is familiar with since they look like her diaper wraps. After two days of an unhappy Otter, we decide to buy organic disposable diapers by the sleeve because we Honor The Child. She is waking up dry, even with night nursing. I offer the potty in the morning as an alternative to wetting the diaper and an immediate change. She declines. For weeks.

Sunday, June 22, 2014: Otter sits on the training potty that we have left, lonely in the bathroom, for months. She pees. She stands up and announces, “I am ready to do Santa Baby.” She was “potty trained” at two years and eight months – done with never another day in diapers. Or thirty-two months old if you prefer that method of accounting.

No joke. Since that day six weeks ago she has had exactly two accidents. One the next day when she was playing with a friend and was too distracted to really go potty and she let the rest go when she came back to play. And one a week later, strangely enough, overnight when she wet the bed after waking up dry for weeks.

It has been a great validation to Honor The Child. Once I stopped offering the option to use the training potty, neither of us shed a tear in this non-process. She is done, without the mess of soiled clothing, misses on the floor, and a training potty to empty over and over again. I do not miss the piles of laundry covered in human waste!! That was awesome.

Now, we do keep the training potty available – she doesn’t always want to use the “big potty”. I figure that is a fair trade.

Breathe. Honor The Child. Repeat.

Do you have an AP “Aha” moment to share?

Tuesday Tips: Busy Books

We are going to be taking a few road trips this summer, so when my friends posted THIS link, I was intrigued. A portable activity kit could definitely entertain our kiddos on the road.

I also thought that they would have the added benefit of keeping the little Sweet Peas entertained when I was reading out loud to the older kiddos during our morning school session. So far they have been a big hit.

I am sharing our modifications and some new ideas that occurred to me based on the skills we want to improve. I decided to start from scratch with most of the activity cards instead of printing off the provided links for a couple of reasons. I want to provide a print-rich environment, so I added words to many of the activities. In addition, I also want everything the Sweet Peas see to be bi-lingual so that they are exposed to both of the languages we speak in the house in print as well as sound. (Even when some of the activities had words, they were English- only. )

The books were such a big hit with Otter and Charger! Puma and Night Owl were also flipping through the books, checking out the different activities. I felt badly that I hadn’t created something for them, so when the opportunity presented itself, I bought more supplies to create books with age-appropriate activities for them. They helped me choose what they wanted in their books.

As far as the little Sweet Peas go, I am thrilled that they are enjoying their books and looking for new pockets to unzip. I loved all the printables (free!) on the Busy Little Bugs site. I am thinking that I will have to go back there to the to find new games that I can swap out periodically so that the littles do not get bored doing the same activities. Ideally, I would like to have twenty different “busy bags” with activities to rotate through, maybe putting in five zip pockets at a time into the Busy Books, and letting them choose their favorites when it’s time to hit the road.

We are three days into having these books around, and every day I still hear (several times a day!), “Where is my Busy Book?” YEAH!

Notes:

Links to all the websites I used to make the Busy Books are at the bottom of the post.
If you would like my English/Spanish activity cards, then please send an email to sweetpeafamilies@gmail.com. I will send you the file I used so you can print them out for your Sweet Peas.
Felt sticks to itself!! You probably knew this – I am thrilled since it is new to my memory bank! Saved all the leftovers – looking forward to cutting it up and using it for future activities.
Cardstock and Con-Tact® Laminate paper are the best! I wish I had picked up the cardstock the first time around at the store. Since I didn’t and I am not patient when my mind is set on finishing something, most of the activity cards are printed on regular copy paper. Still okay – the laminate paper make them durable enough to get good use out of them. In the future and for any recipients of Busy Book gifts, we will definitely use cardstock.

Charger’s Book (5 years old)

Felt Name Board with letters color-coded for vowels and consonants

Shape-Match

Buttons + Boards for sorting

Counting Cards 1-10 odd/even color-coded

Memory Game / Puzzle Cards

Charger’s pieces double as a puzzle and a memory game; I chose a fun chevron print for the top-side of Otter’s game

Color Card Match

“Copycat” bags: Felt “Snake”, Velcro Craft Sticks, Before & After number game from Busy Little Bugs

Mona MELisa Sticker Playset – we store it in a page protector sleeve so that the sleeve also serves as sticker storage.

Image from Mona MELisa Webpage

Otter’s Book (2.5 years old)

Felt Name Board with letters and shapes
Shape-Match Buttons + Board for sorting
Counting Cards 1-10 odd/even color-coded – Otter’s set has pom-poms to put on the circles – she is still having a hard time with the mini-clothespins. She reminded me that she can use the big ones 😉 I tried to explain to her that they don’t fit in the bags and we’ll have to save those for the schoolroom games.
Felt “Snake”
Velcro Craft Sticks
Memory Game
Color Card Match
Mona MELisa Sticker Playset – we store it in a page protector sleeve so that the sleeve also serves as sticker storage.
Image from Mona MELisa Webpage

Puma’s book (nine years old):

Felt shapes for creative design
Beads + Cord for jewelry making
Horse coloring pages
Memory Game
Mona MELisa Sticker Playset – we store it in a page protector sleeve so that the sleeve also serves as sticker storage.

Image from Mona MELisa Webpage

Night Owl’s book (six years old):

Sorting Cards + Buttons
Velcro Craft Sticks
Knights (Printed on cardstock /laminated. They stand-up for play and fold flat for storage)
Memory Game (Dragon Images + a Bowman Family Crest for top-side)
Dragon Coloring Pages

Link List

Inspiration Post From Mama.Papa.Bubba blog

Portable Activity Kit for Little Travellers

Busy Little Bugs – Printable activities
http://www.busylittlebugs.com.au/

Travel Play Sets – Mona MELisa Designs
http://www.monamelisadesigns.com/Travel_PEEL_PLAY_Sets_s/1839.htm

Chevron Paper
http://www.minqandmode.com.au/2012/06/11/chevron-digital-paper-free-download/
http://www.craftyferret.co.uk/viewItem.asp?idProduct=759

Pirate ship background turned puzzle
http://background-pictures.picphotos.net/fantasy-pirate-pirate-ship-ship-skull-ocean-wallpaper/images7.alphacoders.com*304*304125.jpg/

Flowers for Puma’s Memory Game
https://sites.google.com/site/lucknowflowers/lucknowflowers2

Google Searches
Knight Images
Horse coloring pages
Dragon coloring pages

Monday Musings: Healing

What does that mean, really? HEALING.

Is it from one ailment? Good enough to function? Or am I praying for truly a complete, transformational healing that changes a life?

Let me back up. Puma has been struggling with her bowels for years. It started when she was about five years old. We suspected food poisoning, and later blood tests showed Hepatitis A, which is generally an indicator of food poisoning. As our pediatrician told us, “you could get it from lettuce in a salad bar”.

Ever since then, she has not been well. After going the Western allopathic route with no positive results, and the weekly visits to the chiropractor that started when she was six years old didn’t resolve the issue, we started working with an acupuncturist when she was around seven. He has an Asyra machine that evaluates the whole body….after three sessions, we were able to get that her body was not tolerating gluten. An answer!

So we cut out gluten – things got better. Then she got hit with Rotavirus last April (2013). Her little body could not recover from that on her own and we ended up with a five-day hospitalization. Little by little she got stronger and added more weight. Things started to improve again – life goes on.

Last September, I start having this nagging suspicion that something is still not right. After the “summer growth spurt” children go through, I see that she is among the “small” ones in her peer group as other girls her age have added inches to their stature. Then Night Owl, who is 2 years and 9 months younger is gaining on her height (he is actually now taller than she is.) I begin to wonder if maybe, just maybe, this gut “thing” is still preventing her from using all the nutrients in her food, and if I will have any regrets if I don’t follow up.

So after talking with Bruss, praying about it, we decide it is time to go the allopathic route again. She does another round of blood work; our pediatrician recommends a naturally-minded GI specialist. We make the appointment and are counting down the days until we take another stab at getting some answers and some kind of solution.

In the meantime, Puma comes down with another virus. It is suspected to be Norovirus. Thank goodness there is no vomiting this time (we know if that happens, we try the Zofran and if Zofran doesn’t work we need to go to the hospital…) – anyway, it’s just a gradual decline into helplessness as I watch our child fall into despair and listlessness and she refuses to eat because she knows it’s just coming right out the other side. I hear her crying every time she is in the bathroom, and one morning she asks me, “Why me – why am I always in the bathroom?”

I remember the lesson she taught me – ask for prayer – plain and simple. I send out an email to our family requesting prayer. The next morning, I have a revelation that I am praying for her to get better. What I really should be praying for is not just for her to get better, but a full, complete HEALING. Entire body well. Entire body functional. Entire.

Why does that scare me? If she is off gluten (and Night Owl is also GF among other allergies), we have the perfect reason to keep wheat out of the house. That crop scares me – it’s primarily GMO, highly processed, and found in all the foods we so conveniently and thankfully keep out of the house. I often say that our children’s allergies are the best thing that ever happened to us – it forced us into whole food eating without a fuss.

If Puma, and Night Owl for that matter, are HEALED, then the food restrictions go away. AWAY. It means that they can eat anything. I had to ask myself if there is pain/pleasure disconnect in my children’s suffering and my desire to have the simple answer, “You know you cannot have that,” and it’s the end of a discussion.

I had to face the reality that if I trust that God is the Supreme Healer, and that He wants the best for us, then I must pray for a complete healing. I have to trust that He can heal, and I have to believe that is the best for our children. He did not design us to be sick and intolerant of his wonderful provision. We are to be healthy, full expressions of His Glory.

I must pray for complete healing, and then change the paradigm for our food choices. We are not going to avoid foods because we have allergies anymore. We will make wise choices that nourish and feed our healthy bodies and souls. All the same rules still apply – the motivation behind our food choices must change to accept that my children can be healed if that is God’s will for our lives.

So I wrote down the prayer that was in my heart – it came to me almost as soon as I had the revelation that I was praying the wrong prayer. Here it is for you to share in communion with me, and join me if you are so inclined, or maybe they will be a blessing to someone you love.

This is my parent’s prayer:

Prayer for a child – I say her name when I pray for her.

And I also wrote down a version for Puma to keep at her bedside and pray if she wanted to pray for her own healing:

Prayer that Puma can read and pray if she is led to do so

I had an initial gut-check – I have seen the blogs of parents who pray for healing and the answer is a child that is called back to God. Who am I to pray for a complete healing? Can I be so bold? And the answer I get is YES. A resounding YES because I felt called to pray this prayer. I cannot know what the answer is. I just know that I am called to faith and prayer.

So every morning, I start with the Our Father and then this. I trust in all the goodness and the glory of Our Maker.

(P.S. Thanks to some direction from our chiropractor on what she needed to take, and the combined voices of our family joining mine in prayer, Puma woke up the next morning so much better than the day before. By the third day, she was back to what I would call herself. God has already showed me that I just need to have faith.)

Hello, hello!

Yes, we are still here! Our nanny is on sabbatical so my days are *full*. We homeschool year-round, plus now there is all the housework, laundry, and cooking to do. The commitment to get good sleep every night so I can be Peaceful Mama is even more important now….so yes, something had to go by the wayside. I hope you will stick with us through these lighter months of posting.

I have loved the time with the kiddos – we all fall into bed exhausted at night!! It’s been nice (in the sense of living in gratitude) to have my yearly “reality-check” of just how grateful I am for my husband who provides that luxury for us, and how much I appreciate our hard-working nanny who so lovingly cares for our family so I can homeschool, write, and support our student base of growing families.

I have a couple of posts that are in the works for this month, and Cassandra has a couple that she is working on. We are also still hosting a Wordless Wednesday submission contest this month. Our theme for July is “Sun-kissed Summer” – get your submissions in by July 23, 12:00 am PST in order to be entered into our random.org drawing to win SPB gear.

So while blogging will be lighter than normal, we are still here. Living, growing and learning! We look forward to sharing with you as time permits.

WIshing you and your Sweet Peas a great summer!

Click HERE to see our July newsletter that we publish for our students.
Click HERE for some sun-safety tips for your Sweet Pea.

A picture of some of the summer fun we’ve been having – the Sweet Peas checking out an elk herd on the golf course:

Checking out the wildlife at the golf club

WW: Sweet Peas and Their Guys

In honor of Father’s Day, we asked for students and readers to send in images of their Sweet Peas with the men in their lives…be that their Bradley® Dad, grandpa, uncle, family-in-love…here are the amazing images we received. The love that shines through all of these is palpable and heart-warming – enjoy <3

Do you have a favorite Sweet Pea + guy moment? Tell us about it!

Tuesday Tips: Club MomMe

I had the privilege of attending the Club MomMe Spring Family Fest on Saturday, June 7th. Talk about blown away!! You can see some of our photos from the event on our Instagram account.

Attendees got to see Dr. Harvey Karp, who took questions after his presentation and stuck around to sign books at his table after his keynote address. There were four fantastic panels from which to glean information. At the end of the day, there was an “Around the World” tour of baby and mama gear, from strollers, car seats and play yards through to the best and safest gear for your Sweet Pea and convenience for you as a family.

On top of all this great information, there was a pamper lounge – all MomMes in attendance were treated to a manicure from Ella Mila. There was also a nursing lounge outfitted by Lansinoh, and the elusive Daddy Lounge – I didn’t ever find it….I guess the dads kept all the fun to themselves!! 😉

And…there was entertainment for the Sweet Peas. The performers on stage were completely dedicated to entertaining the littles and there was a clown painting faces and doing balloon sculptures all day long!!

As I get the pictures organized, I will share an “on the scene” tour of all the amazing vendors that were there with the finest in organic baby wear and food offerings, eco-friendly gear, and all the amazing new products hitting the market this season. I will also post links as I have them for all the speaker notes I jotted down that day.

If you are in an area that has a Club MomMe, join. Now. These Spring and Fall events are the big blow-out events. Educational seminars and meet-ups happen every month. I am excited to hear that Club MomMe might be considering a Phoenix chapter. Count me in!!

Thoughtful Thursday: Overwhelmed

Today I am sitting here in absolute awe of the amazing community of people we have met through our childbirth classes. We just received and collected over 400 ounces of breastmilk from five different mothers.

THIS mama has been in the hospital for several days, and she needs to pump and dump due to the medications she is on. Her doula was able to collect milk for the first few days of her hospital stay. When I made the delivery today, they were literally down to the last bag of breastmilk.

God is good, He provides, and He Has Humbled me. I need to be more grateful for the amazing people he has placed in our path, and for our incredible health that allows me the ability to breastfeed without giving it a second thought.

So, please, if you are in a position where breastfeeding is not an option, please keep in mind that you can supplement with donor milk. There are two organizations dedicated to connecting mothers who can give to mothers who need – check out Eats on Feets or Human Milk 4 Human Babies to see which one has networking groups in your area.

If you have enough supply, and you have it in your heart to add a pumping session to your day, your precious milk would definitely be appreciated by a mother in need near you. Eats on Feets has also created donation/recipient screening guidelines – check them out HERE.

Great news – it sounds like Mama is coming home sooner than later. I am thrilled that she has a stash of milk. It may give her peace of mind that baby is getting breastmilk while she rebuilds her own supply, and allows herself the time she needs to heal so she makes a complete and full recovery.

Cooler full of milk – 400+ ounces for a MotherBaby who couldn’t breastfeed due to a hospitalization.

Thank you gifts for all these amazing women – to be enjoyed by their Sweet Peas 🙂

Sweet Pea Families

Life beyond the Birth-Day

Author Archives: krystynabowman@gmail.com

SOS: Help! It’s HOT! Going crazy inside!!

Like this:

Thoughtful Thursday: High Chairs

Like this:

Wordless Wednesday: Sun-Kissed Summer

Like this:

A Tale of Potty Training

Do you have an AP “Aha” moment to share?

Like this:

Tuesday Tips: Busy Books

Charger’s Book (5 years old)

Otter’s Book (2.5 years old)

Puma’s book (nine years old):

Night Owl’s book (six years old):

Link List

Like this:

Monday Musings: Healing

Like this:

Hello, hello!

Like this:

WW: Sweet Peas and Their Guys

Like this:

Tuesday Tips: Club MomMe

Like this:

Thoughtful Thursday: Overwhelmed

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Do you have an AP “Aha” moment to share?

Share this:

Like this:

Charger’s Book (5 years old)

Otter’s Book (2.5 years old)

Puma’s book (nine years old):

Night Owl’s book (six years old):

Link List

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: