Empowering Your Journey

100% agree with limited activities after school. I had my first in gymnastics and hip hop on separate days and it was pulling teeth to get her there because she was so tired. Also, limited questions about the school day until they are ready to chat. AND stick to an early bedtime. We try to have ours in bed by 7:30pm every weeknight. They need the sleep!

We love the breakfast for dinner! I usually make a batch of shredded chicken in the instant pot and use that for quick quesadillas, tacos, fajita bowls, and enchiladas. Super quick and easy.
My kids also love ‘sparkle chicken’- I get plain chicken tenders, place them in Pyrex and add olive oil and just lightly sprinkle Italian bread crumbs and bake for 20-30 min. Add a side of veggies and some noodles and done!

Earlybird CBD gummies are a game changer. Went to high school with the owner they are local!

It really just depends on us with out life is going. Are the kids sleeping? Is work stressful? Are we traveling for work? I really try to make sure we are intimate at least once a week but it truthfully doesn't always happen. Hopefully it won't always be this way though.

@AhMummy

If I don't do it in the morning, it's not happening and sometimes when it doesn't happen, it's ok! Being a mom IS a workout (lol) so give yourself some grace. This morning I was getting the kids ready for daycare, eating my breakfast and doing squats. It's not ideal, but right now that's all I can fit in with my work life.
It's not a workout, but we've started to take family walks after dinner. It's not as great as a cardio workout, but it's still nice to get some movement.

Adventures in natural parks! Whole series and gets your get excited about exploring nature and hiking. It’s a mystery type series

Babo makes the best non-toxic sunscreen. The only one that works on my whole family!

I say hold out as long as you can. It’s is SO hard and they will try to wear you down. We got our now 9th grader a phone in 7th bc we were in the thick of coming back from covid and the bus situation was a hot mess, but I’m holding out as long as I can for our now 7th grade girl. My 9th grader has no social media and very tight restrictions on his phone. He’s given us 3 power point presentations on why he “needs” Snapchat, but we just keep saying no. It’s so hard but so worth it.

My thought is we as adults have a hard time managing the addiction to our phones and they just aren’t mentally mature enough to do so.

Stay strong and I will as well 😝

We used the Nuna Mixx! It was fantastic as a bassinet. We ended up returning our Snoo because we did not need all the features. Loved that I could also take it for walks.

In my opinion, no one regrets having another kid 🙂

I forgot to mention Larabar kids (chocolate chip, brownie, and cinnamon swirl)!

I am a May baby and was held back and I don't think it was the best choice for me. I excelled as a child, was mature, teachers loved me etc but as an adult i've had to learn skills that I missed learning as a kid because I never had to. So childhood was easier but adulthood was harder.

This may not be everyone's experience but it's mine ❤ These things might be impossible to predict and we are all just making the best decisions that we can for our kids!

The good is that it eliminates all of the food noise and helps you to not over eat. The bad is that if you don’t use it in conjunction with healthy habits like lifting weights and eating more protein you’ll end up losing your hair and then gaining it ALL back when you get off of it. It’s definitely not a quick fix- so please please please up your protein and weight training!

Here is what worked for us and I still battle this today. It is tricky, once you start it is near impossible to go backwards and I wish I could go WAY back! We did sleepovers with only certain families in elementary and then that became challenging to explain to your child why you can at this house but, not that house? And who knows what they said to their friends. It's a terrible battle that little minds just can't understand and just as challenging with older kids too - although it's a tad easier to reason with an older child...sometimes! We pushed to more late-overs in middle school and then just left it at that for a long time - although there were some sleepovers thrown in there however, very limited.

Now that my kids are older teens in High School - we still do not prefer sleepovers and say no often - staying busy helps as we all know sleep is important. And I actually feel different about them for our daughter vs. our son which is extra challenging. All this to say - kids just love them so it's so hard to say no, so I wish I would have just said no from the very beginning as just a standard rule.

I am a Speech/Language Pathologist who supports dyslexia in my private practice in collaboration with dyslexia therapists. A child with Dyslexia's brain is usually exhausted by the end of the day! I suggest audio books/ using colored rulers can help for the eyes to focus on the sentences being read and not visually getting over-stimulated, setting realistic goals so the child feels successful, having the child work with a reading tutor who can make reading fun and interesting so you don't have to have this battle at home. Remember this time will pass! It is challenging but hang in there with them!

@clingingtogood I love this!! Also love the jar idea!!

Factor is delicious and quick to heat up! One of the best one's we've tried!

My son was a massive biter in the 1/2 YO class (sometimes so many times he got kicked out of school for the day) and I was blessed with a daycare teacher who tracked when he was doing it. It came down to frustration. The friend could walk and he couldn’t yet or could talk and he couldn’t yet, etc. She advised we take one of those thick cactus teethers and tell him when he’s frustrated to grab that cactus and bite it. Sounds silly, but it worked. He’d go grab it. Then, once he was older and could do the same as friends and understood we didn’t need it anymore. Obviously this requires buy in from anyone who watches the child through the day, but might help.

@CinniGram

We love going to the Panama City beach area! We go to carillon beach. It is gated and quiet for families! There are also direct flights into ECP!