On Tuesday night, I was beginning to feel a little under the weather and thought to myself  “I cannot get sick right before Thanksgiving…I have too much to do!” So I decided that I better nip this thing in the bud and took out my ever-so-dependable Neti Pot. “What’s a Neti Pot?” you ask? It’s a nasal cleansing pot that irrigates your nasal passages with saline water (the Pot comes with a special salt). I started using Neti Pot years ago at my husband’s recommendation and have been a non-paid promoter of it ever since!

The first time you try it, it’ll feel a little awkward because you have to tilt your head, put the tip of the pot into one nostril and let the saline solution run out the other. I usually do this when my sinuses start to feel a little tender or if I’m suffering from allergies. It’s a great natural remedy…I haven’t taken sinus/allergy medication in years!

Another tip: When I feel a sore throat coming on, I do something similar by gargling with salt water. It sounds horrible, but the results (for me anyway!) are fantastic! I recommend doing this right before you go to bed. Just mix about two teaspoons of salt with about 4-6 oz. of warm water. The salt water cleanses your throat much like the saline solution does for your nostrils with the Neti Pot. I gargle for about 10-15 seconds and repeat two more times. You might feel a little burning, but I like to think of it as the start of the healing process.

So today, I feel great and I truly believe it’s because I was able to nip it in the bud. A positive attitude and keeping busy helps me too!

Skip the 3 a.m. wake up call…

…and the huge crowds! Take advantage of embe’s sweet deals right at home!

In honor of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, embe is offering a 10% discount on our entire catalog – all you have to do is shop directly from embe between Friday, November 27th and Monday, November 30th and enter promotion code BLKFDY10. No alarm clocks or people pushing necessary!

And in the spirit of giving, each person will be automatically entered into our holiday gift promotion which includes a free embe gift package. If you’re the lucky recipient, you can keep the goodies for yourself (and your little one) or give to a loved one!

For Etsy account holders, you can get a great discount on select items such as our growth charts, holiday stockings, sk8er booties and earflap hats! Visit our Etsy store today!

I’ll admit it, I keep almost every card given to me. For awhile I didn’t know how to store them and just shoved them in a box. Then one day it dawned on me. I could use metal rings and “bind” the cards together by occasion so that whenever I wanted to look at my wedding cards or baby shower cards I could read them like a “book”.

Supplies

• Metal rings – I get the ones in the embroidery section at Michaels. They come in sets of 2.
• 3-hole punch – or any type of whole punch. The 3-hole works great because it will punch both holes at the same time and I don’t have to measure.
• Greeting cards

Instructions

Just punch the holes in the card and slip them onto the rings.

Tips

• align the hole punch at the bottom of the card so that the bottom align.
• use cardstock to divide events if you put multiple events into one “book”

When I was young I remember my family waiting for the Thanksgiving Day Star Tribune (our local newspaper) to arrive. My mom of course was waiting for the ads and coupons to plan her Black Friday agenda. My sister and I on the other hand were waiting for the annual Thanksgiving coloring turkey. It was a lot of fun to each take a section of the turkey to color and I’m sure my mom enjoyed having us out of her hair while she prepared the feast.

I had completely forgotten about the coloring turkey until a few years ago when my nephew recruited me to help him color the page. For those of you who do not have the Star Tribune embe has created our own Thanksgiving Day coloring turkey!

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

This weekend my little baby turns one. I can’t believe it! How fast the time goes by. The last few months have been so much fun, watching her learn new things and put associations together. These are a few of her milestones and favorite activities:

More pictures mommy?

1) Walking at 10 months. She didn’t roll over until about 6 months so we were surprised to see her learning to walk so early. For awhile she preferred crawling over walking but has been toddling around a lot more recently and even has tried to run.

2) Communicating with gestures and sign language. We started teaching sign language (eat) at 6 months when she started rice cereal. She didn’t pick it up until about 10 months when she learned “more” in one day! Since then we’ve added eat, drink, no and carry. We’re working on “poop” and “book.” Gesture wise our little one has been pointing for a long time. Now she knows what she wants and will point in addition to grunt. Sometimes she’ll start babbling too.

3) Playing peek-a-boo. She’ll go around a corner and will pop her head back out smiling. If we respond she will start to run away and squeal. She also take her burp cloth and cover hear face with it and giggle until we ask, “Where’s baby?”

4) Reading. Our little one loves to read. Sometimes first thing in the morning she’ll bring a book over and sign more. Then when we’ve finished reading the book she’ll sign more again! We go to story time at the library weekly and always try to borrow new books so we (mom and dad!) don’t get tired of reading the same stories over and over again.

5) Tricks. Well we call them tricks- things like waving, clapping, touching her nose and toes are a few. She’s also just learned how to answer “how old are you” by holding up one finger. One of our favorites is the small bow when greeting elders and doing the cute pose (putting one hand on her cheek and tilting her head to the side). Lately she’s been picking these up pretty fast so it’s fun to teach her new things!

Well, I don’t really get excited about the thought of diaper changing pads, especially with the task that it involves , but as I was working on another project, I realized that the leftover materials that I had would make a great pad. It’s always good to have an extra one around too just in case.

Here are the supplies I used:

1) 6 oz batting cut to desired size (mine measures 14″W X 24″L) - I wouldn’t recommend going any higher than 6 oz batting.

2) Liner (the side the child would lay on cut to same size as the batting) – I actually used scrap tablecloth material for easy cleaning.

3) Cute design cotton fabric for the underside – cut piece to be 3/4″ larger all the way around than the batting/liner.

4) 2″-3″ of Velcro – both the positive and negative sides

And here’s how I put it together:

1) After cutting all the pieces, the first thing I did was sew on the Velcro pieces – the positive (or soft) side to the top of the liner (I’d say about 2 inches from the top). As the pad will be a trifold, you would sew on the negative (or rough) side to the bottom of the cotton fabric. I suggest positioning it and pinning the Velcro to make sure you have them in the right spot!

2) Lay the cotton side down (wrong side on top), place the batting in the center of the cotton piece and then put the liner piece on top of that.

3) Use pins to hold the pieces in place.

4) Use roll hem method to sew up all four sides.

This project from start to finish took me about 35 minutes. And I didn’t have to spend a dime because I used scraps from other projects. Now hopefully my son will be taken with his new changing pad and will lay still the next time I change his diaper!

When I was pregnant with Isaac, I did a lot of traveling. If I counted correctly, I flew at least seven times for both work and to visit family in Texas. Perhaps that was his initial “training” because he’s been quite the easy traveler ever since. This last trip to Texas was probably the most challenging but only because Isaac with curious about EVERYTHING – buttons on the plane, the airplane windows, strangers’ laptops (he’d walk right up to them and take a peek, hehe!) and so on.

I decided it was worth it to share some of my tips for traveling with the little one in your life! I suppose my #1 tip would be to travel with your spouse or someone who could help you with the baby and/or luggage! I traveled once with just me and Isaac and was lucky to have a pleasant experience. I don’t think that will ever happen again!

PACKING:

1) Have easy access to essentials – pack the must-have items in the diaper bag and make sure they’re easily accessible. This includes diapers, wipes, changing pad, pacifiers, toys (that won’t irritate other passengers), and food!

2) Pack extra outfits – babies tend to get irritable when they’re wet or dirty so make sure you have an extra outfit just in case there’s spillage!

3) Bring plastic bags – make sure to have extra bags (or Ziploc bags) available for soiled clothes. 

4) Borrow a car seat at visiting location - as mentioned, we’ve traveled with Isaac quite a bit and this last occasion was the first time we’ve ever had to bring his car seat. Before, we were able to borrow one of my sisters’ child’s car seat that they saved just for us! It was great not to have to lug that thing around! But if you’re not as lucky to have a seat waiting at the other end, it’s NOT considered a check-in item that would require you to pay that $20 or so fee.

5) For moms – if you’re breastfeeding, I highly recommend bringing a manual pump. I was never one to breastfeed in public so a manual pump was compact enough that I could have in the diaper bag and pump in the restroom if need be.

FOR THE AIRPORT:

1) Wear comfortable shoes – slip-on shoes preferrably! It’ll help you get through security faster and your feet will thank you after having to carry both your baby and your luggage through the airport terminals!

2) Use a baby carrier / toddler harness – before my son turned 1, we put him in a baby carrier at the airport. It was great because it allowed our hands to be free to get through security and it also gave him a great view of the airport! Now, we use the toddler harness to keep him close by our side as he tends to go “exploring”. I’ve seen those travel backpacks that can actually carry a toddler so I’m going to have to check that out for our next trip!

3) Check in baby food/milk – airport security will need to screen your child’s food to make sure you can easily access them when you go through security. As long as you declare them, they shouldn’t give you a hard time (and it can be more than the 3 oz. liquid limit that they put on other items such as toiletries).

4) Time your kid’s meals – it’s a good idea to get your kid eat either right before you board or once the plane takes off. In my opinion, they’re less likely to be fussy if they have a full tummy. And if you’re lucky, they’ll fall asleep during the flight too!

5) Choose the right seat – when my son was a baby, we opted for the aisle seats so that we could have easy access to the bathroom. Now that he’s older, we choose window seats so that he can look outside. Also, we prefer sitting at the front of the plane vs. the back because we get off the plane faster!

6) Ask to pre-board – every time we’ve asked, we’ve been able to board before our group was called because we were traveling with a kid…there are some advantages afterall!

ON THE PLANE:

1) Prepare your baby for take-off/landings – my son really never had a problem with this, but we made sure we had his pacifier handy just in case the take-off and landings made his ears hurt. Another good trick is to get them to eat during this time to move their jaw muscles and also to distract them!

2) Make sure your baby is entertained – bring his/her favorite stuffed animal, books, quiet toys, etc. Although we haven’t had the need, I’m sure we’ll have to look into bringing a portable DVD player in the near future (don’t forget the headphones!).

3) Keep your baby comfortable – regardless of how or where I’m traveling, I make sure my son is dressed comfortably and in layers if possible. That way, if he gets too warm, I can remove clothing or if he’s cold, put him in a jacket.

4) If breastfeeding, be prepared! Bring a baby blanket or a nursing blanket if you have to feed your kid. It’ll make it more comfortable for you and the person sitting next to you

5) Be courteous to other passengers – if you have a fussy baby or a baby that won’t stop crying, offer earplugs to those around you. It might not help, but maybe they will be empathetic to your situation.

Which brings me to my #1 tip for the “other” passengers: It’s not easy traveling with kids…especially young ones. It’s hard to predict how kids will behave (maybe they’re scared or it’s too warm on the plane). So try to be empathetic to the parents/caregivers and cut them (and the kid) some slack. Who wants to have a crying child on the plane?!

My daughter is still too young for these but I thought that when the time came they would be a great way to help encourage her. The nice thing about making them is that you can write anything on them to suit the occasion. (I see “great pooper!” on one when potty training time comes along, hehe)

These also would be great for parties as place cards (minus the ribbon) or as rewards or even decoration.

1. Cut a 7/8″ strip from the 11″ side of a piece of paper.

2. Fold the paper accordion style. Make each fold about 3/4″

3. Overlap and glue or tape the ends together to form a circle. I used double sided tape. The circle won’t lie flat and the next step will fix it.

4. Cut out two circles – one 1 3/4″ in diameter, one 1 7/8″ in diameter.

5. Glue the larger circle to the back side. Place something on top to flatten (I used the rubber cement glue bottle). Wait for the glue to dry.

6. Write a message on the smaller circle before gluing it to the front. Place something on top to flatten. Wait for glue to dry.

7. For the ribbons, cut out two strips of paper 3.5″ long and 1/5″ wide. Glue to the backside. Cut the ends to form an upside-down V.

8. Adhere a pin or string to the back for wearing.

It’s been about 6 months since my daughter started watching the Your Baby Can Read videos. While I was skeptical of the program when my MIL first mentioned it, we gave her the go ahead to purchase it for our daughter anyway. Our thoughts were that if she learned to read- great! If she didn’t – well the videos would help her learn new words and actions.

We started the videos when she was about 5 months. The first month, she wasn’t very interested in watching at all so we only had her watch it occasionally. At about 6 months we tried again and this time it held her interest and we began to have her watch the videos daily. She’s almost 12 months now, but has yet to “read.”

I’ll admit that we’re not following the program to a T since there are so many components. The flash cards, sliding cards and books are hard to fit into our day and sometimes she’s more interested in playing then learning. There are also the days she goes to grandmas that she misses the videos but we’re trying!

She has learned a few things though. We’re a bi-lingual family and try to speak 100% Vietnamese to her. So when she started waving and clapping only when she heard the words in English we knew it was because of the videos. We’ve seen her touch her nose, shake her head no and do “arms up” a few times when the video says to but she is not quite at the reading yet.

Just yesterday I did the flashcard test where I laid out clap and wave and asked my daughter which one said clap. She went for both. I think the videos (and books, cards etc…) need a lot of time and emotional investment for the program to work as promised in the infomercials.

We’ll keep having her watch them and try to do more of the books and cards and hopefully soon I can report that my little girl is reading.

While my husband and I were sitting at the dining table eating our dinner, I asked him to get me a napkin. He put his fork down, got up from his chair, went to the pantry and grabbed me a napkin. That’s when he suggested that we get a napkin holder. Why not have a nice stack of napkins already at the table so that he wouldn’t have to be interrupted from his meal to get napkins?!

It wasn’t an unrealistic request so I decided that instead of going out to buy one, I was going to make one! Surely it would be a simple project–I just had to find the perfect size box, right? But alas I didn’t have one so I just did the following…literally, I just made it about 15 minutes before posting this blog!

1) Grabbed some supplies: Empty cereal box, scissors, glue, tape and design or wrapping paper

2) Cut out the top portion of the box and resized it to fit the size of a standard paper napkin (I pretty much just had to adjust one side of it!).

3) Taped the corners to keep it in place.

4) “Prettied up” the holder by wrapping it with design paper (or wrapping paper)

From start to finish, this project took me 10 minutes! Now, no more interruptions during meal time