Make Your Own Moonsand!

We had a great time last night making and playing with our own homemade Moonsand. Best part was it was made with 2 ingredients I had just lying around. Its super simple and fun. Its a bit messy but nothing a broom and a dustpan can't fix, oh and a bath, they will definitely need a bath!

All you need is

8 cups of flour
1 cup of baby oil

and a container to put it in.

Take off your rings and mash it all together. Make sure to really work the oil into the flour. It only takes a moment and things start forming together

That's it, now let the kids take over and have fun. I throw in some plastic cups last night but you can add so many things that can scoop, poke shapes, add dolls.

When the kiddos are done, you can bag it up in a large ziplock bag and save it for another day of play.

This sand is a great sensory craft to do with toddlers, Even my 8 year old loved playing in it.

Surviving Staying At Home the Facebook Page!

Now that I have a few posts behind me I've decided to make a Facebook page so I can share my blog posts and organize things. I've made it easy to find recipes by putting the food photos into one album and adding the link to the recipe.

It's still a work in progress! But you can like the page and easily find my previous posts under the photos.

Also, I like to share relevant links, personal updates, discuss related topics, and more.

Here is the link...Surviving Staying At Home Facebook Page

You can also easily click the Facebook button on the right hand corner as well.

Enjoy!

Adventures in Breastfeeding: Its The Top Teeth That Will Get You!

I thought my daughter and I got past the teething issue while breastfeeding. Her two tiny pearly whites on the bottom are out and she has figured out not to bite the nipple that feeds you. All was going well. I thought I had mastered this breastfeeding thing. Then came the top teeth.

Honestly, its not her fault. Nothing has been in her way before. She knew how far to open her mouth to fit all she needed of my flesh to eat. But now there are two little barriers that are in the way. She isn't biting but as she pulls my nipple into her mouth she rakes my skin over those razor sharp brand new teeth. It still hurts! Nipples are tender! As much as people say that nipples toughen up with breastfeeding, they don't. They shouldn't have to if mom and baby are doing it right.

With the bottom teeth, the tongue covers those teeth. If baby doesn't bite then there isn't anything to worry about. But those top teeth, those don't have any buffer.

So, my advice to you new to breastfeeding moms out there. Be warned! Top teeth hurt too!

I found that my daughter wasn't opening her mouth wide enough to get the nipple past the top teeth. With any problem that arises during breastfeeding, its back to basics. Get baby to open up nice and big before latching. Even if baby has been doing well self latching. Until they learn to open up so not to scrape you with teeth then you may have to work on latching all over again.

Remember, breastfeeding shouldn't hurt. When it does, you need to fix something. Go back to the basics and figure it out or seek a lactation consultants help. Good Luck Mommas!

Soaking Up The Last Few Days Of Summer

Though the rest of the area is no longer experiencing heat. My towering apartment is anything but cool. With my eight year old home for the long weekend I had to come up with something fun that will cool us off.

While giving the baby a bath I thought to myself at least she will feel cool. Then I figured why can't we all take baths. After her bath I put her down for a nap. Once she was out like a light I drew myself a bath with a bath bomb from Lush. If you haven't been to a Lush store you have no idea what you are missing. If there are no Lush stores near you, order from them online. They are amazing natural products.

I soaked in the now pink scented water with little seaweed paper pink hearts floating around me. Loreena Mckennitt played softly from my phone. I was in bliss!

Then came time for my oldest's bath. She loves baths and had already used her own bath bomb and a half of mine. So I had to come up with a different bath for her. The girl loves bubble baths but I took it a step further.

I took the Dawn and with a bit of water in a bowl I whipped up a bowl full of foam. This is not like a normal bubble bath bubbles, these are dense soap foam. I then added food coloring all around the bowl (it didn't mix well so I learnt you can just dump the food coloring in the middle) then I later the foam on top of the already drawn bath water. I had to do two bowls for one color. I did this for another two colors. You could make the foam bigger or do more colors.

In the future I think I will make bowls of colored foam and add them one after another. The first color I put down ran all over the place by the time I whipped up the next color.

She had a blast. The color washed into the water after a bit of playing but it was fun. She enjoyed mixing all the colors making swirls.

Give it a try. It's a mess if you are not careful with the food coloring. I think I dyed my bathroom sink green. But I still enjoyed surprising my daughter with this cool bath. Messes are a part of life, thank goodness for rubbing alcohol!

Adventures in Breastfeeding: Feeding an 18 pound Mexican Jumping Bean.

At least that is what it feels like. My youngest is a far more wild child then my first was.my first loved hugs and cuddles and sleeping in my arms. My youngest can't sit still for a moment. Hugs include hair pulling and kisses involve teeth. I feel like I've been attacked by a pack of wolves for 14 hours by the end of the day. Just as play time with my youngest got harder, since she rather pin me to the ground and gnaw on my face for fun then play with toys, so has nursing.

Nursing now involves her standing on my lap and flopping over from one side to the next taking my nipple in her mouth with her. She twists her head all about and tries to climb up my stomach and chest all while she has a good latch going on so if she falls over I'm going to get clamped down on by 3 tiny but razor sharp baby teeth.

I was struggling to explain this to my friend who just started her nursing journey with her newborn. I struggled to get a picture since there is so much moving, jumping, tossing, and climbing. I tried my best so here is the result...

I didn't think my boobs could face up like that but she managed to get it so she was standing and leaning on top of my chest and nursing. I can't say this wasn't painful but it certainly isn't the worst she has done. She is also a pincher and likes to pinch my boobs and under arm while nursing. She leaves little bruises all over my arms and boobs.

When I pull the baby off carefully, sometimes not carefully and then OUCH!, I get this baby that comes at me like a piranha with her toothy mouth wide open swaying her head back and forth looking for the best position to lunge at me. It would horrifying if you went trying to keep it alive with your breast milk.

I have now spent a half hour googling what to do about this. I have finally found someone with an actual solution. A nursing necklace! It keeps fidgidy nursing babies calm by giving them something to play with and its silicon covered so baby can chew it. Brilliant. I found these on Etsy Silicone Nursing Necklace Chewable Teething Breastfeeding Necklace Beads for Mom to Wear and Baby to Chew.

So if you too suffer from an attack of wild nursing baby then here is your solution. Let me know if you have any other suggestions in the comments below.