Eco-Friday: 10 Books to Read if You’re having a Vegan Pregnancy

Posted on August 19, 2016

A few year ago, actress Emily Deschanel got some heat by continuing with her vegan diet while pregnant last year.

However, despite concerns, remaining vegan while pregnant can be done safely with the consultation of a doctor and nutritionist and maybe also by reading up on some recommended books on having a well-rounded vegan diet.

She is not the only celebrity to stick with her vegan diet even while pregnant. Alicia Silverstone even wrote about her vegan pregnancy diet. Carrie Underwood, Natalie Portman and Allyson Hannigan are vegans who softened up and switched to vegetarianism during pregancy.

The Happy Herbivore put together a post that includes a list of recommended books for having a safe vegan diet and pregnancy.

Check them out:

The Kind Life
Our Vegan Pregnancy
Being Pregnant
Kid Tested, Fire Fighter Approved
Vegan Pregnancy Survival Guide by Sayward Rebhal
The Everything Vegan Pregnancy Book by Reed Mangels
Disease-Proof Your Child by Joel Fuhrman
Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven by Rory Freedman
Creating Healthy Children by Karen Ranzi
Feeding Baby Green by Alan Greene

Happy Healthy Pregnancy!

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These are the Chores Most Moms Would Love to Outsource

Posted on August 18, 2016

I’ve always joked that if there was a mom lottery that the top prizes should be something like lifetime of laundry doing or a toy-pick up butler. Something, useful like that. But truthfully, there is a lot of multi-tasking involved with parenting and moms usually have way more roles and tasks than dads un mos households.

Our partners at Mode curated a few articles featuring those tasks that are painstaking and challenging for moms which they would love to outsource to someone else to do! check it:

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Back to School: 5 School/Life Balance Tips for Kids

Posted on August 18, 2016

bellyitch rewind

As many children go back to school this month, several struggle in class, lose assignment sheets and notes, miss assignments and forget to bring home books needed to complete homework if he or she is not organized. There are tremendous benefits to teaching children executive functioning skills. These are the type of skills top or mid level execs use to succeed in work but certainly can apply to kids as well.

Organization and focus are key qualities for many successful adults, but these skills do not come naturally to grown ups, imagine if you were taught it at a young age and grew with those skills.

The Glenholme School in Washington, Connecticut actually has a program called “Executive Functioning Skills” which helps its students focus on tasks at hand, prioritize and organize in a way that will help them throughout their lives even after leaving school.

Here are 5 tips that Maryann Campbell, Executive Director of The Glenholme School, offers to assist all parents and children:

Stash and trash– Prevent mountains of papers from accumulating by learning what to keep and what to toss. This is a very important skill, even for the most organized adults! Teach children at a young age what types of documents to keep and throw away as well as how to best organize the materials they are keeping. Your future storage bins will thank you!

Balancing work and fun – It is important to teach children that there is a time for work and a time for play, and that they are both important for a well-balanced life! Make time for studying, after school activities and dinner with the family.

Manage the day – Parents have planners, and so should children! Teach your child to use a day planner or calendar, where they can record their school work, after-school activities, social events and family time. Whether it is paper or digital, it doesn’t matter. The point is that the child learns to manage their time and sets realistic expectations for each day.

Organize assignments –Parents can help their children stay organized with color-coded folders and a desk-top storage system for their school work. Children also really enjoy label makers. Divide the folders and storage containers by subject, and teach children how to label accordingly.

Lightening the backpack without losing the work – We’ve all witnessed the tiny child with the gigantic backpack that weighs nearly as much as they do, as well as the extreme opposite of the student who shows up to class without a pen or paper. Teaching children to carry what is important for the day will help them be better prepared for class. Go over the day’s activities the night before, make a list of what classes and activities the child has and pack accordingly.

This solid advice should help parents have a basis and foundation for passing on these critical skills to their children.

photos: courtesy Ikea, The Glenholme School

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You Can Get Rid Of Pregnancy Strechmarks, kinda

Posted on August 17, 2016

What is more amazing than Kerri Walsh Jennings‘ abs is the virtual absence of stretch marks after giving birth to 3 kids.

She may be among the small lucky group of women who have the elasticity in their skin naturally that is resistant to stretch marks.

A lot of women who do get them want to know if they can get rid of their post-pregnancy stretch marks or will they have to live with them.

Dr. Rosemary Leonard, health expert at The UK Express explains:

Stretch marks are caused by tears in the dermis, the middle layer of the skin. This allows the blood vessels in the deep layer to show through which is why stretch marks are often red or purple in color when they first appear.
They occur when the skin has to stretch and although they are most commonly associated with pregnancy they can also occur in the growth spurt that occurs in puberty or when a person suddenly gains weight.
Some skin types are more prone to stretch marks than others and if a close relative in your family has developed them you are more at risk.

Unfortunately despite the claims that you frequently see on very expensive creams, there is very little that you can do to prevent them occurring if you happen to be prone to getting them.
The good news though is that when the skin contracts after pregnancy the blood vessels are no longer visible and the marks will fade to a silvery white colour and will be much less noticeable, although this process can take several years.
Laser therapy can help stretch marks to fade although it can’t remove them completely and typically several treatments are required. Most insurers don’t pay the cost and is usually very expensive.

The answer is yes you can get rid of them but you need time and money to make it happen.

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6 iPhone Apps to Get You Thru Bedrest

Posted on August 16, 2016

Nothing frees up your time like being told you have to stay on bed rest for the remainder of your pregnancy, and if you don’t have enough distractions you can quickly find yourself bored out of your mind. Of course you can play your favorite games like Words with Friends or Wheel of Fortune, but after a while even those will lose their luster, and you’ll need something else to occupy your hours.

Here are 6 iPhone applications that will help take up some time and answer any questions you may have regarding concerns about the baby that may pop into your head while you are lying in bed. There’s an app for everything from saving for college to listening to the baby’s heartbeat:

1. CollegeSave This application allows you to do the calculations to determine how much per month you will need to save in order to pay for your child’s college tuition. If you start early then you will have the advantage of compounding interest and you won’t have to put as much away each month versus starting when your child is 10.

2. Soundhound Ever been bored and start humming a song and wish you knew what the song was? With this application you can hum a few bars and it will use its vast library of over a million tunes to identify the song. Want to come up with a bunch of lullabies for your baby? This application can help with that.

3. iPregnancy Want to know what’s going on inside your body at this very moment? iPregnancy tells you how big the baby should be, what’s going on physically with the baby, keeps track of appointments and has a great baby name function to help you figure out what you are going to name your little peanut when the time comes.

4. ZipList You may be on bed rest, but the rest of the family still needs to eat. Don’t feel like you have to rely on your partner to handle everything with this application. Now you can look up recipes, create a grocery list, sort the items on the list by aisle in the store, and then text everything to someone else to run to the store for you. If your family runs out of anything they can scan the barcode using this application and it will automatically be added to the list.

5. My Baby’s Beat With this application you can actually use the microphone on your iPhone to hear your baby’s heart beat and your own. You can record the heart beat and e-mail it to

6. After Baby is born: BabyTimer This application allows you to keep track of the number of wet and dirty diapers your baby has each day. It also keeps track of feedings so that you can report all of this information back to your pediatrician.

Good luck moms!

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Back to School Review: Best Printer for Your College Kid

Posted on August 14, 2016

After several years working at various companies, institutions and government bodies, I struck it on my own about 10 years ago. I ran my own boutique media and tech law firm (and later a boutique public relations firm briefly). Now I have a digital publishing company.

Between then and now, I had always worked from a home office. Sometimes, I worked out of that space solely and other times, part time, splitting hours working in a shared-office suite I leased in the city.

Naturally, to complete my office space, I had to get a mult-functioning printer that also had fax, copying and scanning capabilities.

My first one was a very heavy bulky laser desktop version by Brother. It did the trick and lasted a long time.

As my business grew and I started doing more public relations work for clients, I decided to get a supplemental printer. This second one was an even larger multi-function printer, made by Dell. It too was laser and could do print jobs super fast. It lasted several years and still works though it no longer faxes. Both came with printer cartridges that lasted pretty long before needing to be replaced.

Recently, I upgraded the home office and acquired a few more desktops so the kids could each have their own computer. My eldest had several computer-based projects and my three school-aged kids were fighting too much over the two desktops we owned. I decided to leave the Dell to the kids and get myself a small desktop.

So I set off one day specifically to search for a laser printing, assuming laser was mandatory for professional documents.

I headed to my local Staples store and saw an HP Office Jet Pro 8610 desktop printer there on sale for about $79.00 after a manufacturer discount. It was a good size to fit on my new desk or underneath it on the floor. It was color so I was geeked as I had never had a color printer before.

I didn’t even realize that it was not a laser printer, though I should have known given the great price.

It isn’t until I set it up that I realized. However, when I did my first few print jobs, I saw the quality was precise and distinctive.

You couldn’t even tell it wasn’t a laser print job. I decided against returning it.

I really dug being able to print in color as well. The color was sharp and true. It was great for flyers, and other graphic design projects. HP has a series of printables and templates you can access too that would supplement or complement your design needs. You could download a desktop app or use the ones offered through its Snapfish partner.

And the printables are not just for business documents, but also personal stuff like invitations, party printables, worksheets for the kids, greeting cards, family calendars, chore lists, grocery lists, meal planners, cupcake wrappers. The works!

Because I have been so busy, I never took the time to study the owner’s manual and learn of all the other functions.

Nonetheless, each month, I would discover a new one.

Like, one time, my son started printing from his computer and that is when I discovered he had connected to the printer too via a wireless network connection option meaning, it could connect wirelessly to all the computers in the home and be used by each to print!

Wow!

One day, I needed to scan a document and that is when I learned that I wasn’t limited to the scanned document being simply downloaded as an electronic document on the c: drive in the attached computer. I also had the option to email the doc, send it to any of the other computers in the network, and to send it to a thumb drive I could connect to the printer. That last option could come in handy during rush time when you need to just pick up a doc and go!

Very neat!

Then today, I finally had the need to send a fax and that is when I discovered that I didn’t need to connect the fax to the telephone jack in my wall via a telephone cord. It sent the fax via the IP network. (and it could send using the DSL, and other fiber optic non traditional landline telephone connections in the home).

That was a great discovery for several reasons: 1.The wall jack was remotely located behind a bookshelf in my office and is very hard to access; and 2. I don’t even own a telephone cord long enough to reach.

I feared having to haul the entire printer to the next room to connect to the jack there because it was more accessible physically there, not blocked by anything like a massive bookshelf.

Thus, I was pleasantly surprised to see the fax was sent off in no time and I was given a fax confirmation promptly after to alert me it was successful.

I got a call shortly after from the recipient to let me know the transmission was received. Perfect!

It was a God-send because the other alternative would have been to feed and scan in several pages of documents, then take a few extra steps to forward the document off. It would have been a slightly more time-consuming process.

I appreciated the quicker fax option. To think, so many young people these days don’t use and don’t really even remember the fax days.

I even learned that you can print to home from anywhere in the world and even when you are far away from the printer.

I imagine that this would be awesome if you had this printer at a remote location for an event, conference or convention you were running, for example. You could have some secretary, clerk or assistant back in the home office send in print jobs for event registration lists, guest updates, or Powerpoint presentations that someone forgot in the office.

Other neat functions I learned about include:

It prints photos if you feed photo paper and it has a borderless option so the photos print like photos you get from the drug store or print shop without the trim.
You can print and fax at the same time. I discovered this on accident when my son sent something to print while the fax was sending a file.
It can hold up to 240 pages in the printer tray and prints as fast as 13 seconds per page and up to 19 pages per minute.
It has 2-sided printing for graphic jobs like printing brochures, menus and programs.
It has an automatic document feeder so you can scan multiple documents without having to lift the flat bed and insert each one separately which could take a lot of time for large scan jobs.
You can print from your desktop, tablet or phone, any device that connects to the printer wirelessly.
It has the standard one-year limited hardware warranty.

Overall, this is an awesome, highly recommended printer!

You can order it from Staples and they will ship it to you for free. Or if you have Amazon Prime, get it there too and get it shipped for free!

If you pick one up, do let me know how it works out for you!

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Tips

Eco- Friday: 3 Steps to a Greener, Healthier Home

Posted on August 12, 2016

It’s easy being green. Follow these three steps to a greener and healthier home.

1. Prevent Pests

Pests are a nuisance and a hazard to human health in many cases. Cockroaches, for example, can trigger or worsen allergies and asthma. Mosquitoes are known carriers of disease like Zika and West Nile. Rodents can contaminate food and spread disease. Termites can eat away at the wood in your home’s structure.

There are hundreds of pests that can make your home unsafe. However, there are simple measures you can take to keep pests from making your home their home. Keep a clean and tidy home to eliminate food sources that attract many of these pests. Prevent moisture in the bathroom, kitchen and yard, too. Seal up access points such as cracks and crevices in your house’s foundation to keep pests like rodents out, keeping your family safe.

Even pests that are not known carriers of disease, like bed bugs, can still cause chaos in your home. And they aren’t just limited to hotels, either. Families can pick up these pests in any public space, from daycare and school to the gym and airport. Their bites can cause serious redness, itchiness and swelling, a nightmare for parents with small kids. To keep your family and home free of bed bugs, always wash your linens in hot water and dry them on the hottest setting when returning from trips and avoid purchasing items like furniture second-hand. This is especially important for families living in cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, as these places fall within Orkin’s report of the top bed bug cities.

2. Buy Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products

Despite being marketed as “safe” or “green,” many cleaning products on the market contain harmful chemicals. Keeping a clean home is important to ensuring your family stays healthy. Bacteria and germs are lurking everywhere, from the kitchen to the bathroom. But green-minded experts suggest swapping standard cleaning agents for cleaning supplies that are natural and healthy, such as white vinegar and baking soda.

3. Invest in Energy-Efficient Heating and Cooling

Automation is one of the biggest trends in home technology right now. For good reason, too. Not only is automation convenient for homeowners, it is also eco-friendly. Take Nest, for example. This automated, self-learning thermostat controls the heating and cooling when you’re home and when you’re out of the house, ensuring that no energy is wasted. Compatible with your smartphone, this self-learning “smart” thermostat also offers insight into how much energy you are consuming every single day with the Energy Report and every month with the Home Report.

Additionally, Nest’s leaf feature helps you keep the environment in mind when you’re adjusting your heating and cooling. When you change the temp to save energy, a small, green leaf appears on Nest’s display, showing that you are making an eco-conscious decision. Nest also alerts you on your phone when your home may be unsafe. It sends alerts if the temperature is too low, which means pipes could burst, and if your furnace is acting up.

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Tips

Negotiate Your Maternity Leave: Follow This Guide

Posted on August 11, 2016

Negotiating Your Leave

There’s no magic formula for calculating the perfect maternity leave. It depends on you, your job, your baby — even where you live and what time of year it is. Lock up a new mom for the winter in Maine with a colicky baby, no help, and few visitors, and you’ll probably have a woman begging to return to her job, or any job, in a matter of weeks.

What’s more typical, though, is the new mother who’s forced — for reasons of finance, job security, or workplace demands — to return to the office long before she feels emotionally and physically ready. “I was so exhausted when I went back that I couldn’t see straight,” says a friend who took a six-week leave. “And I missed my baby so much that I just sat at my desk and cried. I really wish that I had taken a little more time.”

There’s no way to predict in advance how you will feel, what kind of baby you’ll have, or exactly how much time off you’ll want — and need. But unfortunately, you have to make decisions about your time off long before your leave begins.

So what to do? To help you negotiate the best possible maternity leave, here are some things to keep in mind.

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Rio: Brazilian Food You Can Make for the Family

Posted on August 10, 2016

We’re smack dab in the middle of Olympics coverage. Besides watching the various events and games, moms (and dads) can get their children into the spirit by making and eating foods from different nations.

And why not start with the host nation. Brazilian food is varied and colorful and yummy. It’s quite easy to find recipes that are kid-friendly as well.

Check out Mode.com’s curated recipes to get you started!

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Moms, Do you Do any of these Top 10 Distracting Things While Driving ?

Posted on August 10, 2016

Bellyitch Rewind

Most moms know how important it is to multitask, but multitasking while you’re driving is something that should certainly be off limits, no matter how long your to-do list is. While we all know distracted driving is a faux pas, here are the top 12 dangerous things moms have been seen doing while driving.

Distraction #1: Drinking Hot LiquidsSipping a latte while driving may seem like second nature to you, but it’s really not. With one hand off the wheel you have less control of the vehicle. You also risk spilling hot liquid on yourself, which could cause you to lose control of the vehicle, depending on how you react.

Distraction #2: EatingDriving takes two hands and when you’re eating, only one is available. In addition to the risk of spilling crumbs on yourself, fiddling with the packaging or wrapping can also be distracting.

Distraction #3: Applying Make-up

It can be tempting to pretty yourself up while you’re driving, but you shouldn’t. Doing so is a huge distraction. Looking in the mirror with one hand on the wheel is a recipe for disaster.

Distraction #4: Grooming

In the same sentiment, tweezing your brows and fixing your hair should also be off limits when driving. Your eyes need to be on the road, not in the mirror.

Distraction #5: Tending to the Kids

Reaching behind the driver’s seat to fish for a dropped teddy bear or a sippy cup is an act that requires strength, endurance and concentration. Pull over if you need to tend to the kids while on the road.

Distraction #6: Texting

Although many states now have no texting laws on the books, people continue to text and drive, which can set the stage for trouble.

Distraction #7: Talking on the Phone

Chatting while driving may seem like a great way to pass the time, but engaging in conversations when driving can be distracting, especially when discussing emotional topics.

Distraction #8: Playing with Electronics

Whether it’s adjusting the volume on the radio or popping a new DVD into the onboard DVD player, the second or two it takes to make the adjustment is enough of a distraction to put you and the children in danger.

Distraction #9: Driving while Drowsy

Being a mom is tiring, no doubt, but dosing off for just a second can put you and your children in a life or death situation. Well-rested drivers are typically better drivers and have better response times when facing obstacles in their paths.

Distraction #10: Zoning Out

Being on autopilot won’t cut it when it comes to driving, especially with the kids. While you may naturally tend to zone out when driving the same route day after day, it’s important to stay focused while on the road.

Distraction #11 Pumping

While it could be argued that as long as you hook up and unhook yourself while the vehicle is at a complete stop, pumping isn’t a distraction, the opposite could also be argued. Having to fiddle with the controls or deal with spilled milk could certainly be a distraction.

Distraction #12 Breast Feeding

Children are supposed to be in car seats for a reason, to protect them. Never mind how distracting it may be trying to manage the wheel and the child, taking a child out of his seat while the vehicle is in motion to nurse him puts you both at risk should an accident occur. Should the airbag ever deploy, it could be fatal to the child.

Watch yourself moms.

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