My sister-in-law and her family came down to FL for a visit so we took a day to head out to Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa. I haven’t walked around the entire zoo in years so it was nice to get a chance to see everything. Our last visit was to Zoo Boo in October 2009 so we didn’t see many animals. I think our older daughter enjoyed seeing the giraffes the most as well as riding the train and merry-go-round.

We skipped lunch but had a little snack at the Sweet Shoppe. They had lots of big cupcakes and cookies but the cupcakes didn’t seem to be that much better then one you’d pick up at Publix.

Tags: Cupcakes, Lowry Park Zoo, Sweet Shoppe at Lowry Park Zoo, Zoo Boo
Filed under: Travel, children

We wanted to take our two daughters to the St. Pete Grand Prix a few weeks ago but not without ear protection. I’m sure you’ve seen pictures of Apple Martin in ear muffs at Coldplay concerts.  Also, one of the newest celebrity babies to sport the protective ear muffs was Drew Brees son, Braylen.

I’m not sure what brand of ear protection they use but after a quick search on Amazon we decided to order Peltor’s junior ear muffs for our daughters to wear to the Grand Prix.  The kids did great! Our younger daughter hung out in the Ergo most of the day and was even able to take a nap.

Tags: Drew Brees son ear muffs, Ergo, peltor junior ear muffs, protective ear muffs kids
Filed under: children

If you have a teething baby you might be familiar with Sophie the Giraffe. She is made by Vulli, a French company. Apparently, babies have been playing with Sophie for over 40 years now. She is made of 100% natural rubber and paint. On the box our Sophie came in it said the paint used is food paint which is safe for the baby. After hearing all the rage about Sophie we decided to spend the $20+ to get one for our little teether. I was so excited when it finally arrived! I took it out of the box and what is it? It looks just like a dog toy! It even comes with a squeaker just like a dog toy! My daughter was about  4months old at the time so she takes it and tries to hold it. Not too interested in it but she’ll hold on to it, maybe gnaw on it for a few minutes. Now at 8 months she still plays with it but whether I give her Sophie or a rubber play block that squeaks she’s just as happy.

Will I spend $20+ to get another Sophie ever again? Probably not. Will I recommend Sophie to friends? Probably not. It really does seem like a glorified dog toy. Babies can be happy with many random objects that cost a lot less then $20.

Tags: baby, sophie the giraffe, teething toys
Filed under: children

Yes we have another addition and it is not an orchid. Baby Girl joined us on August 2, 2009. Our first daughter was born on February 8th so now we have a 2-8 and a 8-2 baby. Pretty cool.

She came in lightning speed. My labor started around midnight by my water breaking and then intense contractions set in immediately. The grandparents got here as quick as they could to watch our older daughter and we were off to the hospital. I had to be dropped off at the ER Entrance as it was past midnight and L&D was closed unless you entered through the ER. I quickly got an ER Nurse to wheel me up to L&D. The contractions were very intense. Once up to L&D they checked me and I was 8-9cm. Baby girl was born at 113AM.

Filed under: children

My family and I took a trip to the lovely city of Chicago last week and it was a blast except for two things, a lost car seat and horrible flight delays. Our flight was two hours late arriving into O’Hare. Ok, no big deal. I take our daughter and go check into the Hilton at O’Hare while my husband gets the bags and the…car seat? No, no car seat. The time is approximatley 2AM EST. I am furious. Finally after talking to the baggage claim department of our lovely airline we get a loaner and my husband tells me it’s a little dirty. Ok, fine lets get it and lets go to sleep. He arrives in the room and the “loaner” car seat is disgusting. I of course have some Colorox sanitizing spray and I spray the thing down before we sleep for 3 1/2 hours. In the morning we install the car seat and put our daughter in and we cannot tighten the chest belt because the strap that tightens it is crusted in gum and won’t budge. Again I am furious so I sit in the back with my arm over my daughter as we drive into the city praying we don’t get into an accident. I call the airline once we get to the hotel and ask them what kind of liability they want to put themselves under by giving us a crusty non-functional car seat for our daughter.

The first woman I spoke with tells me that they found the car seat in Philly and it was put on the wrong flight out of our airport. I said I don’t care where it is get it to me. She then tells me the next day is the 4th of July so they can’t Fed Ex it. Again I say I don’t care get it to me. She says they can’t and I say for the third time I don’t care get it to me or get me a new one by tonight. A few phone calls later and a nice male supervisor tells me he can give us $150 for a new car seat. I tell him that our car seat costs $250 (which any Britax can cost or more) and he tells me their liability insurance only covers $150. I say fine and we get our new car seat. Now we sit and wait and pray that we get a reimbursement check from the airline. Please beware of Crusty Car Seats! Thankfully my daughther didn’t get a bad rash or anything from the crust.

Tags: airlines and kids, airlines lose carseats, car seats
Filed under: Travel, children

I guess I was maybe a tiny bit excited to update my iPhone with the new software today. But that does not compare to the excitement that came after I attempted to update my phone. I offered to watch my friend’s adorable toddler for the day.  I thought I might as well go ahead and update my phone while my daughter and my friend’s son play. Bad idea! My phone does not work there is nothing on it other than “slide for emergency” as most Apple iPhone users know you should be able to make an emergency call without having the phone activated. I cannot even make an emergency call, I have NO SERVICE. I emailed my husband at work and he called Apple which transferred him to AT&T to place the blame. AT&T said wait an hour and try again. It’s been at least a few hours now and nothing. I can download music but I can’t update my iPhone. I could go on and on as to what I have tried to do but that would bore anyone reading this. Anyway, CNN and The Industry Standard are both proclaiming this a disaster. I agree. It could be a disaster if something happened while you are watching two toddlers run around and you have no way to call 911!

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/07/11/iphone.sales.ap/index.html

http://www.thestandard.com/news/2008/07/11/breaking-iphone-purchases-are-totally-screwed-every-imaginable-way

Tags: 3G, 911, apple, emergency calls cell phone, iPhone, new iPhone, toddlers, updates
Filed under: Technology, children

I was reading an article on a blog that I visit frequently- Celebrity Baby Blog and they were talking about Expanded Newborn Screening Tests. Apparently, Scott and Renee Baio’s daughter had a positive result for one of the metabolic disorders glutaric acidemia type 1 (GA-1). To read the article please go to Celebrity Baby Blog.

After reading about all the additional tests and anxiety that they went through I had to do my own research to make sure my daughter has been tested for as many of the endocrine, metabolic, and other disorders that can be detected by newborn screening.

In addition to celebrities, pro athletes like Jim Kelly are fighting to get states to expand newborn screening tests.

Buffalo Bills’ Hall of Fame quarterback Jim Kelly is fighting to get more states to implement expanded newborn testing. Jim Kelly established Hunter’s Hope Foundation in 1997 after his son was diagnosed with Krabbe Leukodystrophy, an inherited, fatal, nervous system disease.

To find out the different disorders each State tests for you can read the National Newborn Screening Status Report Updated 06/02/08 . The U.S. National Screening Status Report lists the status of newborn screening in the United States.

Other information pertaining to Newborn Screening in the U.S. can be found at: http://www.newbornscreening.info

Tags: celebrity babies, expanded newborn screening, Health News, Hunter's Hope Foundation, Jim Kelly, newborn screening, Renee Baio, Scott Baio
Filed under: Health News

No, we didn’t bring home a new cat, dog or other animal rather a new orchid to add to our growing collection.

This past weekend, my husband attended the bi-annual Florida Native Orchids sale located in beautiful Saint Petersburg Florida. Florida Native Orchids has an amazing amount of beautiful orchid species. The owner, Bud Spence, is incredibly knowledgeable and boasts over fifty years of growing experience!

Our native and non-native orchids are classics, some old & some new hybrids; also our own crosses are available. These are divisions from our very best plants. Some are not to be found anywhere else! We recommend the Florida native,

With so many orchids for sale, it is so hard to choose just one. My husband decided to being home a Phalaenopsis hybrid (an Elegant Select TW50 to be exact). So, I have decided to share some pictures. Note: our camera does not due this plant much justice and the true colors of the petals do not really come through. The white areas are really a darker shade of yellow.

Close up:

To get a better idea of what the flower looks like, check out this great picture of the same species I found here.

Jessutopia

Tags: hybrid, Orchids
Filed under: Orchids

This morning while preparing whole wheat waffles and kiwis for my daughter I decided to revisit the nutritional facts of the kiwi. I found a lot more than nutritional facts. The first interesting piece of information I found was that the kiwi fruit may reduce wheezing in children especially among children susceptible to asthma. Having asthma myself I hope that my daughter does not have it. A study done in Italy discusses kiwi and it’s health benefits:

The protective properties of kiwi have been demonstrated in a study with 6- and 7-year-old children in northern and central Italy. The more kiwi or citrus fruit these children consumed, the less likely they were to have respiratory-related health problems including wheezing, shortness of breath, or night coughing. These same antioxidant protective properties may have been involved in providing protection for these children.

The second interesting piece of information that I found was that the kiwi was originally known as the Chinese Gooseberry. Via Wikipedia:

Originally known as the Chinese Gooseberry, the fruit was renamed for marketing reasons in the mid-20th century, first to melonette, and then to kiwifruit. The latter name was chosen for the indigenous New Zealand bird, kiwi, which is one of the country’s national symbols. The first renaming was done in order to avoid a tariff on melons imported into the US.[1] It is not uncommon outside New Zealand and Australia for the fruit to be referred to simply as “kiwi”. Today, kiwifruit is a commercial crop in several countries.

Jessutopia

Tags: Add new tag, asthma, children, Healthy Eating, kiwi
Filed under: Healthy Eating

My husband and I thought it was pretty funny to find a sticker on the Chiquita bananas we bought for our daughter because she says “yum yum” to tell us that she is hungry or something is good.

With the growing epidemic of childhood obesity parents need to think more about what they are feeding their kids today instead of just handing them whatever they want to eat. Snacks that are made up of mostly carbohydrates are usually the quickest and easiest to hand to a hungry, whining kid. Some consideration should be given to make sure throughout the week children are given a balanced diet.

In the UK fruit vending machines are being tried out in schools to help with this epidemic.

“New fruit vending machines being tried out in Liverpool schools to tackle childhood obesity are proving a huge hit. Since the start of May, seven city schools have introduced the fat-free drive with bananas, grapes, pears, strawberries, plums and oranges on offer to pupils. The machines have hit the jackpot with supplies gobbled up so fast they have to be restocked three times a day.”

Link to article about UK schools:

http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=22365

Link to CDC:

http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/obesity/

Tags: childhood obesity, fruits and vegetables, Healthy Eating
Filed under: Healthy Eating