Honey...Don't Cough Review

My daughter has a cold. She was up every 2 hours 2 night ago. I went to 3 different pharmacies looking for something "safe" to give her to help her sleep, but was told the same thing every time. Since the new rules of giving cough medicine to kids under 6 ( some say 12) I was at a loss.
The 4th pharmacy I went to had a new product called Honey....Don't Cough. The pharmacist told me to try that and a cool mist humidifier ( which we already have been using).
She told me that all the medical journals are recommending this new product.
All it is is 100% pure buckwheat honey! I gave Amara a packet of the honey supplement last night and she slept all night ( she got up once at around 1:30am to give her dad a kiss).
Here are some of the facts of this product:

• Safe- There are no surprise side effects. Honey is considered safe for children who are 1 year of age and older.


• Effective- The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends Buckwheat Honey to " relieve cough" for children. A recent study by Penn State University showed that 100% pure Buckwheat Honey out-performed current products.


• Affordable- Unlike many natural products, Honey, Don't Cough is priced for the average family.

I paid $4.99 for a pack of 10. Not bad at all! Amara loves honey, but has never had buckwheat honey. She was reluctant to try it because it is so much darker in color. She said it was yummy, a little bit too sweet at times, but still good. I am sold just because she slept all night without waking because of coughing herself awake.

If you want to learn more about this amazing product check them out: http://www.honeydontcough.com/

Moderation is the key......

I was talking to a friend the other day about limits. By limits, I mean how far to take this eating healthy thing with our kids. She mentioned a situation that I have been through many times with my children. In a nutshell- she mentioned that her 1 year old son had never tasted ice cream before and her friends were basically in disbelief! I can totally relate to that. People think I deprive my kids or something. I can assure you that I don't, but I don't think ice cream and cake needs to be a staple in my kids diets. I don't judge others for giving their kids junk food all the time, so please don't judge me for limiting my kids intake of crap! :)
This is how my husband and I choose to raise our kids. Yes, they have had fries and will continue to do so. We also make our own "fries" at home. We use sweet potatoes and olive oil and bake them in the oven Yes, Amara eats candy. Not everyday or week for that matter. No they don't drink soda and neither do Matt and I ( unless there is some rum in it) It's just about having limits.
I had never had sugar cereal until I was in the 5th grade and that was at my best friends house. We were raised on oatmeal, Corn Flakes and Cheerios. A special treat was Honey Comb cereal which is a low sugar cereal.
I just want my kids to know that fries, take out pizza and Totino's Pizza Rolls ( Amara just asked for these after seeing a commercial) are a treat and not an all the time thing.
Sorry for the tangent, but that's what I do.

Update......

Well my Operation Declutter was a no go! It's easy to blame the kids--but it was their fault! Our plan was to take the kids to my brothers after Miles' nap time . Only thing is Miles decided to take a late nap and by the time he woke up it was too late, my brother had football to watch at a buddies. So I guess it was only Miles' fault and not Amara's. Now Matt says he hopes to declutter before June.....great! We might be buried alive before then..........

I am in the process of reviewing my next giveaway, and let me just say that it's delicious and healthy! Who would've thought?!??!

Yoga for Families DVD winner!

Congratulations to deedleweedle!

Please contact me w/in 48 hours to claim your DVD.



Thanks for all that entered.




* Next giveaway coming soon..stay tuned!




http://missionpossible1.blogspot.com/2009/01/sprigs-banjee-review-and-giveaway.html

Time to declutter!!

What a busy week. I am adjusting to new things this week. All this blog stuff is still new to me and now with the reviews and giveaways added, I am up even later then I normally am. I have been so tired this week. Amara usually comes into my bedroom between 2-4am every night and just stares at me until I say something. I have stopped saying anything and then she just goes back to bed. Last night she never got up, but good thing Miles decided to wake up at 11:30pm until 1:30am and then wake up at 7:30am! Thanks buddy! He just wanted to cuddle and then practice his ABC's--who could be mad at that!?!?
I am also adjusting to running a little bit more and in these frigid temperatures too. Brrrrr! It's fun though. If you want to read more about my running click http://missionpossible1.blogspot.com/
Matt and I decided to take a few hours this weekend and DEEP CLEAN one to two rooms in our house. I am kind of scared to tackle this project. We need to finally do it though. I am trying to win some cool books about how to start this task..I wonder if I should wait to see if I win before we start to clean?? Probably not. If you want to try to win these books to help declutter your space check out this site- The Dirty Shirt- http://thedirtytshirt.com/ The book series is called 1-2-3 Get Organized and it sounds like a really thing!
Tonight, Amara had PB and J for dinner and a side salad! She asked if she could have it for breakfast too. Not this time. I was not in the mood to make anything but sandwiches. She had the choice between PB and J and tuna. Tomorrow she gets organic mac and cheese for dinner. I learned that just because it is organic does not mean it will not do a number on her tummy! It will, which is why she only gets it a few times a year and tomorrow is one of them! She thinks it's worth every bite and trip to the bathroom!

*Thanks for all of your support with my blog review and giveaway! This giveaway ends on Monday at midnight!

Yoga for Families Review and Giveaway

Let me first start by giving thanks to Ingrid Von Burg for allowing me the opportunity to try Yoga for Families! Amara and I had a blast doing this the other day. Amara is 4.5 and I was surprised at how well this DVD held her attention. The usage of bright and vivid colors and ever changing scenery's was very refreshing.
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About YOGA FOR FAMILIES:
In order to keep the entire family engaged during a yoga session, we developed a sequence of fun, lively "kid" energy poses. Original music was also created to help carry the practice - and enable our yogis to stretch deeper, get stronger and rest easier. Practicing together this way builds a special connection. At Yoga to Have Fun, we like to live the true meaning of Namaste - may the light in me, reflect the light in you.

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I asked Amara what her favorite part of the DVD was and it was definitely when she was instructed to act like an animal while doing the poses. She also liked the partner segment where she and I were able to work together. There were lots of giggles there! I loved those parts as well, but the thing that I enjoyed the most was the small segments. There were several different short segments for times when you (or your family) only have the time or energy for a bit of yoga and not the entire DVD. The whole DVD is about 30 minutes long-perfect!
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ABOUT INGRID VON BURG:
Yoga for Families started for Ingrid as a small child, going to class with her Dad in the late 1970's. Her Dad was a corporate type, but also enjoyed stretching his body during his time off. In a room full of adults, Ingrid remembers wanting to be just like Dad, trying to coordinate her body into as many yoga poses that she could figure out. She feels very grateful to have been exposed to yoga at a very young age, since it has helped with discipline, peace, and self-confidence throughout her life. Ingrid continued to practice different types of yoga as an adult, including Bikram, Ashtanga, Vinyasa Flow, and Hatha yoga, both here in the U.S. as well as throughout Switzerland and Germany. As a child of a Swiss father and Czech mother, she spent many years in Swiss boarding schools perfecting her active technique. After moving to Los Angeles, she received her teacher training certification for adults from Steve Ross and William Duprey at Maha Yoga, as well as her certification for yoga for kids from Shana Meyerson at Mini Yogis. She enjoys making life like a party and having fun, because as her teachers have showed her, without smiles and giggles, yoga is just a lot of hard work!
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I recommend this DVD to anyone that has kids or knows anyone that has kids! It’s a great way to expose young people to exercise, but more importantly how to have fun while doing it.

If you would like to be eligible for this DVD please follow these instructions:
· MAIN RULE (this must be followed or no other entries will count!) Tell me who you would want the DVD for if you win.
· 1 extra entry-subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know that you already have) in a separate comment.
· 2 extra entries- Write a post in your blog linking to my blog and to the Yoga for Families site

*You have 4 chances to win. Please be sure to separate your entries in the comment box.*

This giveaway will run through midnight of January 20th and the winner will be announced by the afternoon of January 21st. The winner will be chosen by using Random.org from all valid entries and will be contacted via email. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me before they forfeit their prize. Giveaway is open to US residents only.

Thursday

This week seems to have gone by so slowly for some reason. It's probably because I am back to my regular work schedule. I guess I had gotten used to all that time off. Back to the grind....

I am still hard at work with getting more sponsorships and donations for my reviews and giveaways! The first one arrived today. I just need to "test" it before I talk about it! I can tell that I will like it already.

On Wednesday Amara asked when we get to eat our "free meal" of the week. I better spice up her dinners a bit better! I really think Matt and I are doing a good job in providing her ( Miles too) with healthy options and explaining why we choose to eat the way we do.
She asks a lot of questions and also likes to drop a lot of knowledge on us about food. She knows what a gain is and what a protein is and what it does for her body. I can't take all the credit for that though. She learns a lot in school and during her gym/nutrition class she takes. She's really a sweet kid.
Miles got 4 immunizations today. Poor dude. He did quite well while there, but after his nap he was kind of cranky. His cranky is still not bad. He's very good natured and laid back. He has also been eating non-stop. I just found out from the pediatrician that I have been giving him too much milk daily. I only give it to him because he asks for it. He even says/signs "please." I suddenly had flashes of my family on Jerry Springer. Cut to Miles at 2 years old and 55 lbs. chowing down on a Whopper and fries.
Cut to Matt and I shaking our heads and saying, " He's just husky and has a big appetite." Yikes.

Reviews and Giveaways

I am excited to announce that I will be having my first review and giveaway at the end of the week!
YAY!! I have been hard at work contacting a lot very cool companies and I am very happy to be able to join the world of online giveaways and review blogs.
I think it's such a neat idea to be able to try out a product and offer my opinion on it and also hold a contest ( of sorts) and then brighten someone' s day.
I think what really sparked my interest on doing this is when I recently won a blog giveaway. I never win anything ( besides board games!). Even though my prize was just a book it still felt awesome to win and it might sound cheesy, but I want to let someone else experience that same feeling.
More details to come!

Welcome to 2009!

Happy New Year all!
I hope this year will bring great thing to each and everyone of you!
This year I am going to get back to my main reason for having this blog. I am going to do better at staying true to the title. I found myself going off in tangents and not really focusing on anything besides myself (oops!)...so I made a new blog more about ME!! Ha ha!!
http://missionpossible1.blogspot.com/
My new blog is more about my fitness adventures and not so much about my family life and I hope it's just as entertaining!

OK, back to this blog!
I am also in the midst of working with another blog on doing some cool things. I will keep it a secret for now until I know it's a sure thing!! But let me just say that I am very excited about it!
AND I am going to venture into the bloggy world of reviews and giveaways! I have already contacted some very cool companies asking ( begging) for products to review and giveaway and have already heard back with some positive results!

The newest thing to happen in our household is recycling. I can't believe it took me this long to finally recycle! I am so late on that one. I cannot believe that we used to throw away so much stuff that did not to need to be thrown away! We normally had 4-6 bags of garbage a week. We are down to maybe 2 or 3 at best. Our recycle bins runneth over! One of the best things about it ( besides saving the planet and making it a better place for my kids etc. ) is how excited Amara is about it. When I told her we were going to start recycling she says " recycle means to take something old and make it new again." I wish I was the one to teach her that. It was either her school or Dora the Explorer. I am grateful for both!
I also purchased some reusable shopping bags for the grocery store and am glad that they hold more than the plastic bags do. They are only 99 cents too-bargain!

On the nutrtion front: Let's just say that the kids have been doing well! I have not been doing that bad, but I am still using the excuse of having the flu a few days ago and probably losing 3-5 lbs in a day! Just trying to gain it back I guess......

On the exercise front: There has been lots of dancing in the living room with the kids this week. Miles' number one jam is Single Ladies by Beyonce'. That kid will stop whatever he is doing..even crying to break it down! I want to record him, but he is too curious about the camera and would stop in mid twirl.
I think I have been able to really exercise every other day this week. I did make it out in the fridgid air yesterday for a nice run. And I plan on going out in the morning for 7 miles. It's so cold though. I better get to bed.
Happy New Year!