Author Archives: krystynabowman@gmail.com

Happy Holidays

First of all, let me start by wishing you a very happy holiday.  This year has been an adventure for us, including the decision to start a new blog.  We appreciate all of you who are reading, commenting, and sharing your journey with us, and allowing us to share with you.  You inspire us to do more and to be better.  Life on the green path is not always easy, it sure is worth it, though!!

We may be posting sporadically over the next two weeks.  Our husbands are going to be off of work, so we will be spending most of our time with them and our kiddos, instead of on the computer.  We will be posting pics over on Instagram, please feel free to follow @sweetpeafamilies and see how we are spending our holidays.  You can also follow us on twitter (I tweet early in the am before the Sweet Peas are awake) if you want to see green living – family related info we share.  Our twitter handle is @SweetPeaFams

I want to close out this year’s “official” posts with these tips to stay safe over the holiday season.  Here is an excerpt from an article entitled, “Be aware of latest product safety measures, recalls when shopping for toys, AG advises”:

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission’s, there were an estimated 265,000 toy-related injuries treated in U.S. hospital emergency rooms in 2012. Of those injured, more than 70 percent were children younger than 15 years of age. [emphasis mine]

You can read the whole article at KyForward.com http://bit.ly/1c7DEmV.  The article lists several recently recalled children’s items, including a lamp that was sold at IKEA from 1999-2013.

And here is a safety list from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital:

Doctors at the Comprehensive Children’s Injury Center at Cincinnati Children’s and theAmerican Academy of Pediatrics give the following tips on toy safety this holiday season:

  • Parents are encouraged to read all warning labels carefully before purchasing any item.
  • Consider a child’s age, interests, and skill levels when purchasing toys.
  • Look for toys with sturdy construction and avoid items with sharp edges and points.
  • Choking is one of the leading causes of toy-related death. Most of these deaths are attributed to toy balls, latex balloons and small magnets.
  • Small items can be risky for young children. For children under age three, choose toys that are at least 1 inch in diameter and 2 inches long, so they will not lodge in a child’s mouth or throat.
  • Beware of toy jewelry that may contain lead or cadmium. Both substances can be harmful to children who put items containing these chemicals into their mouths.
  • To prevent both burns and electrical shocks, don’t give young children (under age 10) a toy that must be plugged into an electrical outlet. Instead, buy toys that are battery-operated.
  • Watch for pull toys with strings that are more than 12 inches in length. They could be a strangulation hazard for babies.
  • Parents should store toys in a designated location, such as on a shelf or in a toy chest, and keep older kids’ toys away from young children.
  • Be extra cautious about toys that are handed down from friends and relatives that may not have warning labels. Inspect these toys carefully and use your best judgment.
  • Be careful with button batteries found in toys. If ingested they can become lodged in the esophagus causing serious injury and even death.
  • High power magnets can be found in some toys and if a child ingests more than one they can attract to one another and result in serious injury or even death. Seek medical attention if your child ingests one or more magnets.
  • Once the gifts are opened, it’s important to quickly discard plastic wrapping.

Read the whole article, Toy Safety Advice for Children During the Holidays at The Global Dispatch http://bit.ly/1jq8jBu

Remember the little tip that anything that fits through an empty toilet paper tube is a choking hazard.  Also be aware of staples, plastic fasteners, and stiff paper – all can scratch, puncture or cut your child.  We run the vacuum early and often when we are all together!

One last reminder that they don’t mention in either article: be sure to watch your children in the kitchen.  We have a “no play” expectation in our home.  They know that the kitchen is “HOT”, and that they need to walk and move slowly when they are in there.  We encourage you to designate someone in the group as the “kiddo wrangler”, and make sure that the Sweet Peas are clear while the stove is on, and the oven is opening and closing.  Make sure all knife handles are out of reach, and that there is nothing dangling on the edges that they will be curious about, or try to use to pull themselves up.

That being said, enjoy the holiday season with your Sweet Peas!  We will definitely be kicking off the New Year with a Holiday Wordless Wednesday – take your fun pics, and send your shares to sweetpeafamilies{at}gmail{dot}com.

Do you have any holiday safety tips to share?

 

Tidbits & Soundbytes: Asking for help

We are this family on a journey to “green” our lives.  The constant inspiration and motivation to live for wellness is our children.  We want them to have the best opportunity to live long, healthy, lives, so we feel like their best opportunity begins by building healthy habits.

Recently, I wrote about wanting to “green” our household cleaners.  Within the week of stating that goal publicly, we had an episode where one of the conventional cleaners our housekeeper used literally made Night Owl throw up – twice in the same day.  After airing out the house, he felt better.  That event definitely kicked me in the butt to make my desire to find greener cleaners into high gear, and turn it into a reality.

I will admit – I am a little afraid of our housekeeper.  She is a no-nonsense type of gal, and she is very particular about the way things are done.  On top of that, I don’t want to add more to her workload of cleaning for our family of six.

After fretting about it for a week, I finally came up with a solution.  I printed up different recipes that I gleaned from our Learning to be Green Pinterest Board.  I approached her with them the next time she cleaned for us.  I asked her to look them over and share her thoughts.  I told her I only wanted her to experiment with whatever appealed to her in the bathroom which we use the most.  Almost all the surfaces are represented there: tile, wood, glass, and definitely areas that need disinfecting.

As it turns out, by honoring her area of expertise, explaining my concern, and asking for help, we got a win-win for everyone.  She shared an idea that wasn’t on my list and will require no extra cleaners…just water and a good steamer.  She also told me that if Night Owl was getting sick, she was not going to bother with the bathroom.  She said she would do the whole house for us using the different recipes on the list I printed up.

I could have cried!!

So, in about the same amount of time that it usually takes her and her partner to clean the house, we got a “green” clean, the house smelled of refreshing peppermint from the Dr. Bronner’s castille soap, and no one threw up later on.

Lessons I am adding to the Tidbits & Soundbytes page:

  • Being humble and asking for help can yield surprising and positive results.
  • If you ask nicely, you can achieve the goal you want without having to tell someone what to do, and sometimes you get a better idea than the one you started with.

Has asking for help yielded positive results in your corner of the world?

Wordless Wednesday: Sights of the Season

We have so many families celebrating first holidays with their Sweet Peas…so fun to share one of those pics with you!  And here are some pics from life with our Sweet Peas this month.  The energy level here is bigger than the walls of our home right now!

An SPB family enjoying first Christmas with their Sweet Pea

An SPB family enjoying first Christmas with their Sweet Pea

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T. enjoying time with Grandma

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The Sweet Pea Kids made this year’s teacher baskets in under an hour – all four pitched in and we were done! Now to load them into the sleigh…

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Night Owl enjoying some shopping time with his uncle…has barely left his side since he arrived for his holiday visit 🙂

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Best non-drug “green” cold remedy? Garlic! Drove the bad spirits away in a hurry.

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Part of our luggage for the Christmas show

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The three older Sweet Peas dressed and waiting to perform on show day

Tuesday Tips: Shopping Local

I discovered two more amazing local stores that I wanted to share with you.  If you are not in the Phoenix area, you can still #shopsmall because both of these stores have on-line shopping options.

Here are two toy stores that carry a huge variety of imaginative play, learning toys and books. Both offer  gift wrapping, and parking and getting in and out of their respective shopping centers was pretty easy.

The Doll House & Toy Store
Promenade Shopping Center
16447 N. Scottsdale Road D115
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
480.948.4630
http://www.azdollhouse.com/
BLOG spf doll house

Kidstop
6990 East Shea Blvd.
Suite #103
Scottsdale, AZ 85254-5208
480-609-9012
http://www.kidstoptoys.com/
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Here is a find from a babywearing event I attended in Phoenix.  I started by buying her shaving “zoap” – another personal product we wanted to  “green”.  Totally addicted!!  If you want to give the gift of natural, vegan  cleanliness, check out
ZOAPS!
http://www.zoaps.net/

Totally addicted to the shaving zoap! Excited to try out the facial green tea zoap :)

Totally addicted to the shaving zoap! Excited to try out the facial green tea zoap

And another local favorite that is running a 20% off your whole order promotion for at least one more day:
http://store.weiofchocolate.com/
Coupon Code: Wei2Share20

Image from their site - click to jump over there.

Image from their site – click to jump over there.

Need more ideas for gifting?  Check out our #shopsmall #shoplocal list HERE

I hope you and your Sweet Pea(s) are enjoying the days of December!  Be sure to check out our listing on Sweet Pea Births for upcoming events throughout the month!  Lots of holiday ideas – many of them free or low-cost.

Real Life With Baby: First Christmas

This idea was shared by one of our Fall 2012 Sweet Pea Births alumni students.  Her son is now nine months old and starting to pull up on objects.  This blockade would be ideal for a pre-walker or pre-climber.

Here are her three easy steps to a baby-proof Christmas tree…

Christmas Box Blockade:

1.) All I did was take large rocks or cinder blocks and put them in heavy-duty boxes. Produce boxes or boxes gallons of water come in work well – they are double walled.

Double-wall means:
BLOG cbb.1 box

This is what she used:
BLOG ccb.3 cinderblock BLOG cbb.2 box
2.) I taped up the box with packing tape and wrapped them in foil paper so it wouldn’t tear, and I wouldn’t have to rewrap them!

3.) I placed them around the bottom of the tree and voila! Instant baby fence.

BLOG cbb.4 madden.2If your kiddo is already climbing, this may not be what you want next to your Christmas tree.  This collection of grounded boxes provides them with a perfect wall to climb…not a bad thing – just probably not something you want next to your treasured holiday decorations.

What are your holiday baby-proofing tips?

Thoughtful Thursday: Taking Time

As you may have gathered if you have been following the blog for a while, our AZ Sweet Pea Family consists of four children.  Our holiday calendar is as full as yours probably is.  How do we make time to connect with each child individually through this busy season?

There is only one way:  take the time.  There is no such thing as “extra time” when it’s a regular time of year, even less so during the holiday season.

The first suggestion is a freebie: share a hug with your children every day.  Not just a little pat on the back.  I mean the kind of hug you have to be grounded for so you are not knocked down.  Then look them in the eye, tell them that you love some, and maybe even something you appreciate about them or noticed that they are doing well today.  It is not a lot, however, that moment of connection every day can be enough to keep everyone connected when you are all pulled in many directions.

I would go far as to suggest that it would be a great idea to do the same with your partner.  One of the hallmarks of giving is spending.  The kind of spending that goes on around these particular holidays can be very stressful on a couple with the best of relationships.  So, also take time every day to connect with your best friend, and keep the lines of communication open.

The next five suggestions can take as much or as little out of your wallet as you deem appropriate.

Shopping date – One of the ways we make time to connect with each Sweet Pea individually is to take them out to shop for their siblings.  We get to talk about the family, evaluate what a good gift is for that particular person, encourage giving, and talk about a budget all while enjoying time with one kiddo.

Craft date – Another way to carve out individual time or family time is to craft together.  You can take a trip to the craft store to pick their craft, and then take time to make it together – even a few minutes a day.  You could pick a craft to decorate the house, to use as gifts, or just something fun to use as a stress relief through the season.  Some toddler friendly crafts if you are going for a family craft night are projects that involve glue with pom poms or buttons, stickers, or markers (think the wood crafts that come with the pens).

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Holiday Cards – These are a fun project – add in some popcorn and hot chocolate to enjoy after the project is complete for holiday bliss!!  Taking an evening to sit around the table together to sign cards (with actual names or their drawings if they aren’t writing yet), decorate the envelopes with stickers, affix the address labels (if you use them) stick the stamps on the corner over the “x marks the spot” – there are lots of ways to make an assembly line and involve all the Sweet Peas.  They may not be the prettiest cards you have ever sent, however, they will definitely stand out from all the “perfect” cards, and be an awesome memory for your children that they will look forward to next year.

Holiday Event Date – We are so lucky in the Phoenix area that we have lots of Nutcracker productions to choose from.  This year, I took the older Sweet Peas to the Ballet Arizona production (because I *love* the ballet), and it was a treat for them to get out for their own “Big Kid” night.  Conversely, we take the littles out for a Mommy/Daddy date during the day when the nanny is there to watch over the older Sweet Peas.  It is a so easy to go out with two kiddos at a time – overall time spent getting in the car/traveling is less and we get a lot more face time with the set we are with.  We also do “girl trips” and “boy trips” – lots of ways to combine them for a 1-to-2 outing 🙂

Party Date – Another way to take pressure off the season is to only attend parties with the non-nappers.  That way you don’t have to wait for nap times, you don’t have to worry (as much) about meltdowns, and again, you get one-on-one or less-on-one time to talk in the car and listen to them as you drive.

I would love to hear what you do to carve out time to spend with your little Sweet Peas throughout the busy holiday season.

Wordless Wednesday: This and That

Here are some of the highlights from our last couple of weeks.  Since I am a day late, I won’t worry about being wordless – LOL.

Our church did “A Walk Through Bethlehem” that was a great hands-on experience.  We got to see pictures from Palestine and learned about the manger, we learned about pottery, baking, spices, woodworking, cooking, weaving, wine-making, games, and music that were contemporary to Jesus’ birth.  My two favorites were the spices, because it was neat to see that we still use many of them that are mentioned in the bible; and the donkeys because it really brought a vivid picture of Mary to mind.  I have traveled in the last week of pregnancy – can’t imagine making that journey on a donkey.

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Here are some other scenes:

Stretching out toes after flamenco class

Stretching out toes after flamenco class

BLOG ww spf 1212.2Hand-in-hand with Daddy

 

BLOG ww spf 1212.1Green start for the day

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Morning smoothie brought to you via the Kitchen-Aid, the Champion juicer, and the Ninja blender 🙂 So delish – it was worth it!!

Tidbits & Soundbytes

Hi – it has been a little rowdier than usual over here today.  Naps were in order, and boy, did I have a good one!!

I have had a page rumbling around in my mind for a while – here it is:
http://www.sweetpeafamilies.com/tidbits-soundbytes/

You can check over there to find the little bits of wisdom that Cassandra and I are learning along our way as mamas and parents…I hope you will glean some wisdom, and share your own so we can make a nice list of lessons for parents who need encouragement on the journey!!

Namaste.

What did I just say about toxins?

So, yeah.  That post I wrote on Tuesday about making a complete switch over to greener cleaners??? That priority just got stepped up a notch.  I have two kiddos with headaches, dizziness, and nausea after our house was cleaned yesterday.

It is amazing to me how just one little thing can make such a difference for our systems.  We now have all the windows in our bedroom thrown open in the hopes that the room can air out enough for our kiddos to be able to feel better soon.

HERE is a link to my Pinterest board so you can see the places I find recipes for our cleaners.  I would love to hear what you do to clean green  in case we need to find other recipes when we make the final switch for our cleaning lady.  My big concern is that some of them leave residue that I don’t mind dealing with…she may not be to crazy about the extra steps when she is used to a simple spray and wipe.

Please leave me a comment and let me know your favorite green recipes, or you can email me your favorite links to sweetpeabirths{at}gmail{dot}com.

 

Thoughtful Thursday: New Normal

We have had several students welcome their second children this year.  It brings back memories.  Both Bruss and I remember going from 1 to 2 children as the hardest transition to make as we were adding children to our family…and maybe that’s because we have stopped trying for more children after we welcomed our fourth in 2011…anyway…

While it was hard to readjust to using the diaper bag again, the amount of time it took us to go from wanting to leave the house to actually leaving the house, the sibling rivalry…it was not until we welcomed our third in 2009 that I had an epiphany moment about my expectations and “normal”.

I remember sitting on the couch – overwhelmed with how much I needed to do, not being on top of my to-do list, feeling like I was neglecting my usually ordered life somewhere because I still felt like there was so much chaos.  And the realization hit me – our third child was already nine months old!  This WAS my normal…as I came to call it, my “New Normal”.

Once I accepted that things were never going to be like they were before, and that I was going to be okay with that, I made a new game plan.  I started by identifying my priorities.  Once I made those, I took a hard look at our day, and realized that although we liked our nanny, she was not the right one for our family.  Another adult in the house who made more work for me rather than make our day smoother was not an option anymore.

And yes, we have a nanny – that is one of the ways I am able to do all the things I want to do on a daily basis.  And I buy $5 pants from goodwill, or buy no pants at all and keep mending my torn pair because I would rather have a nanny than new clothes.  When we do buy new, we buy on sale, or we shop gently used at consignment sales.  We have also cut back in other areas so that I can keep that help, and still homeschool, teach childbirth classes, and devote time to writing almost every day.

My other “secret weapon” is an incredibly supportive partner.  He totally believes in co-parenting, and I know I can count on him to take care of the Sweet Peas when I need to go out and network, or go to meetings in the evenings.  He works hard to support our family, and allows us to afford the nanny so that I can be a mom, teacher and burgeoning free-lance writer.

I cringe to say I have found balance – I see balance as a stationary thing with no movement…I definitely don’t strive to be motionless.  I do aim to be kind, be peaceful, grow our children, grow & support our students, and grow as a writer, all while maintaining some sanity and a relationship with my partner and best friend.  I do look at our life every few months and try to figure out if we are at another “New Normal”, or if things are still going well as we go along.

As I reflect on the lessons of 2013, here are my big a-ha’s for this year:

  • Accepting that I need to sleep has been transformational.  Sleeping more than 6 hours a night has pretty much put Crazy Mama to bed and allowed Peaceful Mama to show up and stick around almost every day.  I love Peaceful Mama, and since she is who I want to be when I grow up, I am going to keep sleeping.  As a wonderful side benefit, I have barely had a sniffle all year long.
  • I embrace that I can only do so much.  I identified my two biggest priorities, and all other decisions stem from my ability to do those two things.  Wow – I can’t even begin to tell you how immensely freeing that has been.  It’s so easy to say no without regrets, and again, Peaceful Mama reigns the day because I am not overdoing things.
  • I have compartmentalized my time.  There is school time, social media time, and writing time.  Once that time is used up, then it’s face time with the kiddos. If things are not done within their time frames…move along.  By the end of the day, it all gets done, and if it wasn’t perfect…I am okay with it.  I feel like our children see me, and my face, instead of a shining computer screen, clicking keys, and my backside.

I am reflecting on 2013 and considering what I want 2014 to be like…I have some good ideas to build on the lessons I learned this year.

What is on your wish list for 2014??

P.S. Blue Russ from Blue Russ Health Coaching was instrumental in helping me identify and realize my “a-ha” lessons over the course of our coaching sessions.  I encourage anyone who is ready to grow to give her a call!