Written by Nell @ Whole Parenting Family, Contributing Writer

When you’ve sugared out, and your kiddos have too, it’s time to detox before New Years so you can get a smooth start on your resolutions to eat less sugar, and work out more. Wait, that’s your plan too?? Who doesn’t have that resolve (at least til February)? Maybe you can put this off til after New Years, if you’re going to be at home on vacation, eating those leftover cookies.

First and foremost, let’s address our food habits.

Are we eating as healthfully as we can financially and time-wise afford? How many vegetable servings a day? C’mon, Nell, potatoes in the form of fries count, right?? How much is fresh or frozen and how much is processed? It is amazing how a food plan can save you lots of money and turn meal planning into a once-a-week stress instead of every night scramble. Have you seen all the great healthy recipes day2day joys offers? Look HERE!

I aim for one chicken night (chicken parm over a bed of lettuce?), one beef night (tacos!), one soup night (my fav butternut squash recipe here), one pizza night (easy homemade recipe here), one veggie night (getting creative with beans & grains: faro & millet risotto with peas), breakfast for dinner!, and takeout or leftovers. I think that covers all our nights. My best friends are frozen veggies I steam & toss with butter, or roast on a sheet in the oven with olive oil. Instant kid-vitamins inhaled.

Scour the interwebs and pinterest to find meals that touch on all the food groups and are realistic for you. I’ve pinned a whole slew of “lunch & dinner” recipes, many of which I may never actually cook. Keep the ingredients real and the directions simple.

Secondly, how much we move our bodies.

We so often procrastinate working out because we need to work up to it. Working out doesn’t have to mean spandex and a gym or yoga studio pass. It can truly mean wearing the sweats you’ve slept in and going for a brisk walk. Kids in carriers & strollers & trotting alongside you, et al. Just walking a few times a week reduces heart disease in people at risk, according to a recent study out by the NHS.

If we don’t view it as all-or-nothing requiring a new workout wardrobe, trainer, and body, and instead embrace that our busy parenting lifestyles aren’t as conducive as our single hood days to being fit, we can start to actually do it. Take a hike, take a walk, do an online workout or yoga video, swing your free weights during nap-time while on a conference call, or even simply stretch. I know when I’ve stretched and how much better I feel (not to mention better posture! hello, Mrs. Humpback!), and when I haven’t.

Be where you are today and make baby steps to go toward moving more, just to move that blood around!

Thirdly, take your spiritual pulse.

How much time did you dedicate to your relationship with your screen-tool-of-choice (smart phone, computer, tablet) this past year/week/day? How much time did you dedicate to your relationship with God? I can easily confess the former has received way more time than the latter. It’s so easy to slip into the comfort of feeding our egos and brains instead of contemplating our actions, reading spiritual books and the Bible, and engaging with our Creator.

If we died tomorrow, would we be happy with how we’ve treat God? Even in the busiest of lives with no extra moments squandered, that person too can make time for God, and needs to for her spiritual health. How can we stay grounded if we don’t ground to the ultimate tether? How can we replenish our well of love if we’re not dipping into the source?

Make that new habit. Start the morning with a quick prayer. Start each meal with thanks. Read the good stuff instead of perusing the internet if we have a few moments. Go over your day in your head before you fall asleep, asking for forgiveness for your failings and offering thanks for your blessings. Teach these habits to your children and nudge your spouse in this direction.

We will all be better family members if we put time into this relationship, both with our earthly family and our heavenly one!

What do you do to recover from the Holidays?

The post Post Holiday Health Recovery appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Written by Nell @ Whole Parenting Family, Contributing Writer 

*Note from Rachel: Since I am nearing 28 weeks pregnant, I have asked Nell to help me with today’s review but be confident I support and love Lilla Rose. 

On the 9th day of Christmas, day2day joys gave to me…

The most beautiful and useful hair accessories to date Giveaway from Kristen of Lilla Rose. Kristen is an expert and private consultant with Lilla Rose hair products and when she sent me my poppy pins and flexi-clip for review, she couldn’t have been more helpful or more knowledgeable about what my crazy locks need to be tamed and look (semi) presentable for the holidays.

My idea of dressing up my hair is a clip half up/half down. Or my hair down, with some sort of product that makes it look less . . . boring? So when Rachel asked me to do this review and I agreed,  Kristen contacted me and I was so delighted to be able to try something that might actually work. But who wants to just comb through the bins at Target for something that might work when you can talk to someone, and have it delivered to your house, and it will work.

The company offers personal shopping for hair products ranging from flexi hair clip to bobbies to you-pins, to hair sticks, to O-rings, to hair bands. Kristen was kind enough to guide me through the products and see the range of actual offerings, and then styles within the offerings. The company focuses on unique, comfortable, and strong hair clips sold by real people to us, the real people in need of hair help!

Features of Flexi Hair Clip & Bobbies:

1. The flexi hair clip is an adjustable clasp for your hair that allows you to adjust the clip to your own hair needs and volume. A few styles the company suggests you can do with it are the pony tail, half-twist, up & down, drop bun, tails-up, french twist, half-up, and extra long. There is flex to the portion of the clip that wraps around the upperside of your hair. The underside is adjustable both in how far it slides, and in which groove it clasps into when it connects with the top.
2. The bobbies are a firm long and just the right kind of thickness kind of bobby pin. The decorations range from festive to quiet, and would go well for a night out, a yoga class, or your wedding. I felt like I could boogie down all night with these bad boys in, and have nothing out of place, except maybe my breath.

Now for my review:

I was given a set of bobbies & flexi-hair clip by Kristen, in beautiful packaging and with helpful instructions.

What I Liked:

1. I liked that the bobby pins are incredibly sturdy–like made of unbreakables! But still had an appropriate amount of bend. They would keep anyone’s hair in place, firmly. These bobbies are much better than any others I’ve had. AND they don’t snag your loose hairs away. They are like Mary Poppins–firm but nice.
2. I loved that the flexi hair clip is adjustable. I could do my hair in a number of ways with it, and it still looked nice! Trust me when I say this is saying a lot for my hair which is both fine and lots of it–a tricky combo. I opted for the half up/half down here because, let’s face it, if I even did this with my hair I would feel ready for the ball! Needless to say my husband was surprised my hair wasn’t pulled back in a sloppy bun when he came home. He gives it a double thumbs up!

What I didn’t like:

1. I loved it all! 

You can Buy It!

Go to Kristen’s Lilla Rose page and check out all she has to offer! Kristen is running a special, if you buy any 3 items, you get 1 item for FREE! Be sure to check out her website for all the details!

You can Win it!

Enter this giveaway! If you win, you will get a certificate for new customers to choose any item from the online catalog up to $16 mailed directly to you. Use Rafflecopter below to enter Giveaway! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: I, Nell, was given the product(s), free of charge, to review with my fair and honest opinions. If you would like more info or to have a product reviewed, please contact Rachel.

The post 12 Days of Christmas {Day 9: Lilla Rose Hair Accessories} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Written by Nell, Contributing Writer

Does your toddler go-go-go-go? I know ours does. She’s 18 months and all locomotive. Except when she crashes and burns for lack of sufficient down time. If your child is transitioning from one nap to two, or simply is ready to learn (in a gentle way) how to be alone, join my club!

The big disclaimer is, of course, that not every child needs quiet time, and not every child responds well to this method of helping them appreciate quiet time. You know your child better than any blogger, doctor, child specialist, and distantly bossy relative. Follow what you think is right for your little one.

The average trajectory for a child’s schedule is some variation of the following: naps generally shift from every-other-non-eating-minute for babies through 4-6 months, to the old 9am & 1pm, or 10am & 2pm for babies through 15-24 months, wherein the morning nap is generally dropped and the afternoon naptime is bumped back slightly to accommodate crappy mornings. And if your 3 1/2 your old is like mine, he still takes an afternoon nap (and morning quiet time has turned into play-in-your-room time).

Here comes the magic part: a morning quiet time. This is, for those who are safely containable in their cribs, a period of 45 minutes to an hour &a half wherein the child plays with books, toys, maybe has an non-mess snack & sippy. And you eventually get to go do something else. Nap. Eat candy in the closed pantry. Cruise the internet. Handcraft bread for dinner. Whatever.

6 Steps to Initiating Happy Quiet Time

1) Set the child in her crib, lights on, music on, you in the room. Ensure there are interesting books or toys in there. If she freaks out, go to step 2.

2) Sit in a chair in the room, closer or farther from the crib depending on how it’s going. Bring a book or your laptop. Do something other than engage with your child. Demonstrate to her how fun it is to self-entertain. If she’s still freaking out, PLAN B: put your book down and play with her, keeping her in the crib. Make it fun & lively! Do a puppet show over the railing. Distract her from her discomfort. Tickle her. Page through some of the books. Do crazy dances to the music until she does them too.

3) Say Plan B never happened. Read your book for a while, then tell the child you have to go potty. Leave the room. Door open. Come back in a few minutes. If she’s happy, RUN LIKE THE WIND BEFORE SHE CAN SEE YOU AND BE UNHAPPY. If she’s sad, utilize PLAN B until she’s happy again. Keep coming and going until she’s desensitized to your absence.

4) Ensure this does not feel punitive. Do not confuse quiet time with time out. Quiet time builds a safe association with her crib, being alone, and engaging with her toys and books. If you’re feeling upset by a failed PLAN B, remove her from the crib and resume normal life. Both of you may not be ready yet.

5) Only place board books in the crib. Ones you don’t care if she eats. Only place a snack in there that can’t be smeared, liquified, or emulsified. Stick to raisins? Same goes for your sippy. If it has a weakness in the engineering, she will find and exploit it. Preferably soft toys as well. Those great wooden stackers can be inadvertent weapons when left in the hands of a tot. Think of something you’d let your kid play with in their carseat while you’re driving.

6) Consider your music selection. Is it going to rile them up or calm them down? Ironically, our son’s favorite music during quiet time was Silly Songs. I hate Silly Song because no adult loves children’s voices singing Found a PEANUT or One Bottle of POP. But he loved them and learned all the words. Some children may respond better to classical or folk.

A note on screentime. We’re stricties on screentime and allow none with rare youtube exceptions for something musical or educational. Most parents probably have incorporated some screentime into their children’s lives. I would strongly discourage using quiet time as screen time. The idea is self-stimulated play and engagement in a quiet, contained space. Screentime would encourage a different kind of engagement and could be counterproductive for this end.

Good luck & happy quiet timing!

How do you handle your child’s quiet time?

The post Toddler Quiet Time: a daily routine to give everyone breathing time appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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Written by Nell, Contributing Writer

We all have the desire to make something beautiful for a new child in a loved one’s life. Whether it is a boy or a girl, a long-awaited journey or an unexpected surprise, that life is precious.

Before I started my Etsy shop, before I knew much about fabrics or patterns or this that & the other, I made these simple burp cloth sets for friends with new little ones. They make the perfect shower gift! Or visiting gift. And they’re not too fancy no one will use them–nor are they too plain that they’ll get used as a diaper accidentally. You can personalize them as much as you want with monogramming, or let the clean lines of the fabric speak for themselves.

Use your imagination! If the nursery has a theme, you can follow it, or select a fabric that ties in with something your friends love, like culinary arts or horses.

Start your sewing machine’s engine, or select a hearty needle to sew it by hand, get the prefold diaper & the decorating fabric and you’re off to the races.

How to make Homemade Burp Clothes:

1) Select fabric & burp cloths.

Use 100% cotton or cotton flannel, not anything synthetic as it doesn’t breathe or absorb as well. I’d suggest cotton flannel as it is very absorbent and will wash & wear well for baby fluids. For your prefold diaper, go to a good baby store and touch their prefold diapers–my local favorite is Peapods–to see which one you like the look & feel of. The Gerber brand at Babies R Us works too, but don’t get a thin birds eye pack. The more durable, the better!

2) Cut the fabric to fit down the middle panel of the prefold.

Measure, giving yourself at least 1/4 inch on each of the four sides so you can hem it in. My hems were a bit, well, irregular, at first. Pin the fabric so you know where you need to sew the hem. Press with a warm iron and your hem will stay in place for you. Before you sew the fabric on, if you have the inclination or ability, you can do some monogramming here or applique. The possibilities are endless.

3) Sew, snip, wash, done!

Sew four straight lines, or a zig zag stitch, to hem the fabric in that middle panel. Tah-dah! Then snip your spare thread, which if you rotate your fabric, should only be in one spot. I waited to wash mine until they were completely assembled instead of the usual wash-prefold-and-fabric-separately because I wanted them to get some shrinkage together. They wore well in a quick rinse cycle with a gentle detergent and then a trip in the dryer. Pull them out, fold them, and feel great about the gift you’ve made!

Have you ever made a homemade gift for a baby shower?

*this post is linked to: Encourage One Another, Titus 2sdays, and WFMW*

The post Homemade Baby Gift: Burp Cloth Set in Three Easy Steps appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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 Written by Nell, Contributing Writer

Our son is three. By most accounts, he’s considered a preschooler. That would indicated that he is in a stage before school, and should be prepped for school in the coming year or two, right? That means I should worry and fret, purchase pre-K materials, drill him on his alphabet, numbers, colors, rings around Jupiter, right? For our family, these anxieties are not right. And maybe they’re not right for your family, either.

After prayerfully considering our son’s temperament, the wonderful conventional school options around us, and our hopes for his development, we’ve determined that at this point, we’re going to homeschool for grade school. I’m a lawyer, not a teacher, by trade. Despite that apparent handicap, it feels like a good fit. If you’ve made that determination for your family as well, or are living it out, what does this mean for homeschooling preschool?

The first thing I’ve learned from my other friends who homeschool is to relax!

Before you buy the software that guarantees your kiddo will get into an Ivy League, or invest in workbooks and instructional tomes, remember your child is still a child. One who is navigating and conquering basics like linguistic expression of feelings (fancy talk for temper-tantrums), awareness of physiological urges (ditto for toilet-training), grasping gastronomy and correlative behavior (triple for eating & how food affects you), and navigating interchild relations (you know, figuring out sharing and play with others). Add to the mix perhaps being an older or younger sibling, having multiple care providers, and bursts of hormones. Wow! God designed us to develop over time in a beautiful fashion. Who are we to rush this?

The second thing I’ve learned is to let your child play.

Play unhampered by you. Play in an unstructured manner. Use his or her creativity to fire up all those neurons and grow that brain! That may mean play dates at the park where they can run and explore and make forts. That may mean you have to “prime the pump” by helping to ignite creativity–something like Oh, here are the dinosaurs in the sandbox. Where are they going? Are they going to need you to build a road to get there? I’ll come check on what’s happening with them in a little bit! That may mean having an art cupboard where you can encourage your child to go get the supplies they want and go to town. That may mean lots of books in a basket in your kitchen they can pour over while you’re cooking dinner. That may just mean jumping on a trampoline.

Play can and should involve concepts like colors, numbers, the alphabet, and so on. Use the oatmeal box to point out letters, get flashcards with animals on them to play with in the car, go over colors while you’re finger painting. I’m all for learning tools and books, but letting our son learn through play has helped me to know I don’t have to do it all–and can’t (humbling, right?). As a wannabe homeschooling mama, this is a good lesson to learn from the onset. Songs, games, books all are wonderful and aid our kiddo’s development greatly, alongside and inside unstructured play.

Lastly, I’m in the process of learning to let go of our expectations, and trust in the Lord.

He has a plan for our child, as he does for yours. If I want SuperBoy to be a professional baseball player, or the leader of the pack, or the quickest to know the answer, maybe that’s all about me and my ego as a mother instead of what’s in his best interest. If I want him to be mannerly, kind to others, respectful at church, those are expectations that align with him growing in grace. Homeschooling love, charity, and goodness are far more important attributes to focus on with a three year old above all else. As my mom likes to say, it’s more important to be good than to be smart.

Whether homeschooling or having your child go to preschool, what is something you try not to worry about?

The post Homeschooling Your Preschooler: What Not to Worry About appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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I know it’s summer now, but harken back to when it was springtime. What were you planting? What were you dreaming about having in your little window garden? Or your big backyard plot? When you looked at and thought about sumptuous herbs for your cuisine, did lavender come to mind?

Lavender is a flowering plant whose known use stretches over 2,500 years. It is grown and harvested across the world for its beauty, essential oils, healing qualities, and gentle taste. The flower forms in a whorl shape–meaning a spiral that rises about the foliage. Lavender is even mentioned in the Song of Solomon 4:13-15 in the Old Testament, under its common name of the time “nard,” as one of the holy herbs used in the temple:

“nard and saffron,
calamus and cinnamon,
with every kind of incense tree,
with myrrh and aloes,
and all the finest spices.”

If it’s good enough for the Creator God, oh my! it’s more than good enough for us! It is truly one of the sacred spices, and worthy of blessing to our bodies.

Let’s look at a few ways we can use lavender in our everyday life: baths, sleep aids, tea, and baking.

To dry the lavender whorls, simply gather them from the garden when most of the flowers are in bloom, rinse & pat them dry, and then lay on a screen or drying rack in your kitchen or a not-too-humid room and wait for the air to do the work for you. Once sufficiently dried, you may leave them intact, or gather the buds, depending on how you plan to best use your beautiful gift.

For the bath, lavender is a particularly powerful relaxing agent due to its antiseptic and anti-inflamatory properties. Simply adding your dried lavender flowers, perhaps gathered into a sachet or muslin pouch, to the running warm water of the bath will soothe your senses and your body.

For sleep assistance, gather dried lavender into an eye sleep pack or a flaxseed sack, or even a small pouch of it under your pillow. A number of studies over the years has established this inclusion of lavender will ease and enhance sleep quantity and quality. For relief from eye swelling or post-partum body swelling, consider a product like this lavender & rose petal witch hazel or make your own. Consider infusing it into coconut oil for a skin cream or wound salve as well. So many health & healing properties in one tiny fragrant flower!

My favorite tea is a combination of dried lavender and mint: 2 tablespoons dried lavender with 1/2 cup mint leaf. Heavenly–a recipe from Wellness Mama! The longer you steep it, the better it is. Add a little honey for sweetness if it’s too bitter. It sits well in the fridge over night, continuing to steep, and can be enjoyed in your glass in a refreshingly chill state as well.

When contemplating its role in baking and cooking, think on its light, floral flavor. Then add to your cupcakes, scones, shortbread, ice cream, and whatever else your little heart (and tummy) desires. It infuses well into honey and butter. Imagine a little toast in the morning with sweet creamy butter and then lavender honey! Remember that dried lavender is to be used in a 1/3 proportion to fresh. For the choco-holics among us, lavender is surprisingly lovely with chocolate as well. And if you’re a creme brulee devotee as well, even that pairs nicely with our new favorite occupant of the garden. {Disclaimer: I haven’t tried all of these recipes so I’m hoping they’re as good as they look!}

Now that you know all this, if you could go back in time to this spring when you were planting, tell me you’d plant copious amounts of lavender! My sweet husband gave me over a dozen plants for Mother’s Day and we’ve all been enjoying them so much all summer long. A real sacred herb, and a versatile one.

Have you ever used lavender? What was your favorite way to use it?

The post Four Sweet Reasons to Plant Lavender in Your Garden appeared first on Day2Day Joys.

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