Blog Updates

**UPDATE below**
Because Babies Grow Up is excited to announce a new look for the blog as well as a shift from Blogger to Wordpress. I'm doing this all on my own (with Brent's help) and hope the transition is smooth. I have spent countless hours searching, reading, downloading, uploading and the like to get it right.

As a result, there will be a few changes to look for that may need your attention.

1. I will be offering an updated button to match the new look! If you have a button, please take a moment to update it to the new button.
   
2. Also, I will be changing the feed to a Feedburner feed. If you subscribe to the blog, please re-subscribe using the new feed to continue to receive new posts in your favorite reader. If I've done this correctly, which I think I have!, this is the only time your feed should be interrupted. No matter what else I change or do this feed should work no matter what.

**UPDATE**
This change actually happened several months ago. I have been posting, reviewing and giving away all this time. I'm sorry if you missed out on some of the great things that happened at the end of last year, but 2010 promises to be full of more great things, so come on over and get settled into the new place :) It's cozy there so I hope you'll be comfortable.

In fact, don't miss the giveaway for Roger Day's new album: Why Does Gray Matter? ...and other brainy songs for kids! It's a catchy, clever album you'll not want to miss.

Laptime Songs for Mommies

It's here! It's finished! And I'm so excited to share my joy with you! My very first eBook is finished and ready for purchase. Laptime Songs for Mommies captures the essence of Musical Development, which is combining the melody of familiar songs with traditional and new variations of lyrics. Music is a great way to bond with your little one as well as a way to keep kids active and engaged. Having the right tools makes your part easier and maximizes the benefits for your little one.

Laptime Songs for Mommies includes

• Full-Color, Interactive PDF
• Intro to Laptime, including explanations of development and adaptations with little ones
• 6 Traditional Songs
• Over 50 Rhymes
• 4 Original Rhymes Written Just For This Book
• 4 Themes or Topics for a Complete Laptime Experience
• 4 Craft Ideas with 3 Printables

As a bonus, I've also included a printable version of the book that has all the color removed and the graphics minimized to help save on ink. There's also the MP3 version of each song included in the book.

I'm really excited that this project came together so nicely and is finally all the way finished. I'd love to hear what you think of it. Go check it out!

Biggest Loser Week #2

At the second weigh in this week I lost another almost 2 pounds! That makes a total of 6 pounds so far. I love the accountability of the scale every week and looking my team members in the eye to tell them how I did. Definitely helps when I want to eat the entire batch of No Bake Cookies I made for Brent to celebrate surviving his first test in medical school! We got our T-shirts this week! I love the yellow because it's cheery and energizing.

The meeting this week was interesting, too. One speaker gave information about a study on sleep. They looked at how the body is affected by the amount of sleep we get each night. They found that 30 years ago people got an average of 8 hours a night (wouldn't THAT be heaven!) and 1 in 10 adults were in the obese category. Now the average is 6 hours of sleep a night (that would still be heaven!) and 1 in 3 adults is in the obese category. Wow!

Then a lady spoke who has lost 200 pounds over the last four years. She shared her story focusing on what got her to decide it was worth the work it takes to change. Four years ago she weighed 350 pounds and now she teaches Disco aerobics at a local gym. Amazing!

My goal this week is to step up the intensity of my workouts. I DVR'd an exercise program on FitTV that is 30 minutes long and does warm-up and cool-down with Tai Chi and the intense part is aerobic kickboxing. Super fun! There's also a 3 mile trail (6 miles roundtrip) that I want to walk and then eventually be able to run. Hopefully I'll keep myself so busy I won't have time to poke around the kitchen for snacks.

Snack Time

The standard education parents get about how much their children should eat goes something like this: "They will eat until they're full." So, based on that I kept giving my oldest food as long as she kept eating. After her third or fourth helping I started to wonder if she'd ever get full! She has also consistently been in the 99th percentile for weight (and, fortunately the 95-98th percentile for height) so I've had to re-evaluate the standard education because my daughter is not standard. She's a bottomless pit!

All day long she asks, "Can I have a snack?" I seriously regret ever using the word snack in the first place. Although I'm sure something else would have taken its place. So I am constantly trying to create ways to lengthen snack time and choose snacks that are filling but lower in calories. Here are some solutions that have worked for us and are quite fun, too!

To lengthen snack time I look for ways to prolong the eating. This gives her tummy a chance to tell her brain she's full. I keep anything that has small sections, like an egg carton. I cut it down so it only has 4 or 6 sections. Then I put a couple of each snack into a compartment. For example, I put 2-3 grapes in one, 2 pretzels in another, her chewable vitamins in a third, 3-4 dried blueberries in the fourth. She gets really excited watching me put the snack tray together. Then we sit down at the table and visit as she eats. I ask her questions and help her remember to swallow before talking. We talk about what she'll choose next, what she likes most, what color the snacks are, how many are in each, how many different snacks, etc.

Sammi's all-time favorite, though, is Easter egg hunting. The Easter eggs from last year have been a regular toy around our house. I fill each egg with just 2 of a snack. Then I hide the eggs around the room, give Sammi a basket and let her find them. If I really want to drag it out, I only let her eat one egg then we hide them all again. We continue hiding/finding until either she's bored or the eggs are all empty. While this is a ton more work and I don't always feel like it, it has been a great way to slow down her eating and get her moving in the meantime.

Here's to fun, healthy snack times everywhere!