A Scout’s Guide To The Ultimate Summer Camping Trip

27 ℃. That’s the perfect temperature for summer camping according to Scouts – Canada’s youngest outdoor experts. So, go check the thermometer. It’s time to answer the call of the wilderness!

Scouts learn essential outdoor skills and how to prioritize safety in all activities from day hikes or week long portage tours. Prepare for your next camping trip – whether it’s the first of fiftieth – just like a Scout with Scouts Canada’s Ultimate Summer Camping Guide to make your adventure both memorable and safe.

Campfire Construction

For many, a campfire is a beloved tradition and the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of camping: laughing, roasting hot dogs and sharing stories around crackling flames. The best fires are made up of three things:

Tinder: Small twigs, dry leaves, needles, bark, wood shavings, paper or even dryer lint. These burn immediately and are a crucial element to spark the fire.

Kindling: Sticks as thick as fingers help to build a strong foundation.

Firewood:  Logs of wood keep the fire burning long into the night.

Collect plenty of dry wood before striking a match so the fire isn’t left unattended to gather more fuel. If the campsite has a designated fire pit, use it to keep the flames contained. If it doesn’t, build the fire away from brush, branches, and tents on a durable surface like a rock, dirt or sand to prevent scorching the earth. Always have water close by to extinguish the fire.

Animal Encounters

You’re venturing into animal territory while camping. Knowing in advance what types of wildlife reside in the area will help prepare for and avoid animal encounters. Check for reports of recent sightings and keep an eye out for signs of wildlife nearby such as tracks, fresh droppings, scratches on tree trunks, or animal homes.

Be particularly cautious to protect against ticks, tiny bugs typically found in grassy, wooded areas or along shorelines and in parks – all places campers like to go! Some ticks can be carriers of illnesses like Lyme disease.

To prevent a tick bite, wear long sleeves and pants tucked into socks so they can’t crawl in, use bug spray that has DEET, and wear light clothing so ticks are easier to spot. Before heading back to camp do a thorough check all over your body – and continue to check because ticks can stay attached for five or more days.

If you are bitten by a tick, remove it carefully with tweezers by pulling upward with steady even pressure, clean the area well, and watch for symptoms including a bulls-eye shaped rash. Seeing a doctor is recommended, as early detection is key. Symptoms of Lyme disease may not appear for weeks or even months after being bitten! Make sure to save ticks in a clean container and contact a local public health unit. As Lyme disease spreads to more ticks, it is increasingly important that ticks be identified and tested.

First Ow, First-Aid

Before heading out on any camping adventure, make sure your supplies include a fully-stocked first-aid kit. Scouts use the below checklist of items, so they’re prepared for anything!

First Aid Checklist copy 575
  • Antiseptic wipes
  • Antibacterial ointment
  • Compound tincture of benzoin (bandage adhesive)
  • Assorted adhesive bandage (fabric)
  • Butterfly bandages / adhesive wound-closure strips
  • Gauze pads (various sizes)
  • Non-stick sterile pads
  • Medical adhesive tape
  • Blister treatment
  • Ibuprofen / other pain-relief medication
  • Antihistamine
  • Insect strong relief treatment
  • Tweezers (for splinters)
  • Safety pins
  • First-aid manual or information cards
  • Whistle

Scout-Recommended Adventure Activities

Adventurous activities go hand-in-hand with camping, and prioritizing safety is essential to a great trip. A few Scout favourites are:

Canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding provide stunning views of nature, but even on a clear day, safety is key. Always paddle within your capabilities, wear a life jacket, bring an emergency kit, tell someone where you’re going and stay close to land when possible. Also, there is a difference between a lifejacket and PFD (personal flotation device): a lifejacket will turn most people over to keep their faces out of the water even if they lose consciousness. A PFD will not.

Stargazing is of the most beautiful parts of going camping and a perfect opportunity to learn about constellations and the mysteries of the night sky!

Swimming is the best way to cool off on a hot sunny day. Always swim in a group, avoid rough water and strong currents, and wear a PFD if you’re not a strong swimmer. Don’t forget to reapply sunscreen!

Hiking Watch out for hazardous plants like poison ivy. Remember: leaves of three, let it be! No one plans to get lost, but it can happen even on a short walk so always bring a daypack with emergency supplies including extra water, snacks, a headlamp, first aid kit and emergency blanket.

Leave No Trace

One rule Scouts always follow is Leave No Trace. This means not disturbing nature while enjoying the outdoors. Plan trips to ensure waste is packed up and disposed of properly, invasive species are not brought into the campsite, and wildlife isn’t disturbed by excessive noise, light or garbage. Leave nature exactly as you found it.

For even more camping and safety tips visit scouts.ca/safety/safety-tips or join Scouts Canada to learn firsthand! Register for your local Scouting group at scouts.ca/join. Join by June 30 and receive a $30 discount!

Starting Music Lessons In Phoenix

The Kids Are Taking Music Lessons!!

Hey ladies, it’s been a while and I know it sounds boring as hell… but I really haven’t had much to report on other than the chaos that comes with parenting 4 kids. All has been well here as we start to wrap up the school year and gear up for the hot hellish Arizona summer days that await us. I wanted to drop a quick note and get this email out to you, the kids have just started taking music lessons in the Phoenix area and I have just been so thrilled with their growth. As most of you know my husband was an audio engineer for many years, so we have many instruments laying around the house. Drums, drum machines, guitars, bass guitars, piano, and the kids school instruments that include a saxophone and a trumpet. The instruments the kids use at school are rented from Milano Music in Mesa.

 

The excitement I have felt watching them grow in school band was never really close to the excitement I feel now that they are playing instruments that I’m a fan of. Don’t get me wrong, I love the saxophone and some Louis Armstrong on trumpet in small doses, but I like traditional bands that feature drums, bass, guitar, lead guitar, keys, and some rock’n vocals. Some recent bands that I’m into include Stone Foxes and Dax Riggs. My son (for the second time) has started learning how to play drums, and my oldest daughter is back on the piano after many years off.

 

Both kids are into rap and hip-hop and listen to some pretty rough music. Although I’m not a fan of most of the language and content, I still let them listen to their own music without interfering with it. The fact that my son plays hip-hop beats on his drum kit does not bother me, at least he’s working on rhythms and timing. My daughter plays chords and riffs behind his drums that actually sound pretty cool. Seeing them play together makes me daydream about them becoming the 2020 version of Donny and Marie Osmond. I know if they knew I referenced that to them they would freak out, but you catch my drift!

 

Playing musical instruments is a mind stimulating activity. The hand I coordination, and the way the brain responds to music is so beneficial to children that it’s encouraged that they study music early in life to help prepare their brains for more complex problem solving and increased focus. This blog post wouldn’t be complete without a little shout out to Shirley Hayes, the primary music instructor at The Note Room Academy of Music where the kids study weekly and learn from a very qualified group of music teachers here in the Phoenix-Metro area.

 

 

Well, that wraps up this post ladies! I’ll be busy blogging this summer as I’ll be home more frequently with the kids. Hopefully everyone doesn’t start practicing their instruments at the same time, or I might just pull my hair out of my head. Stay safe this summer, stay cool, and make sure to have your AC unit serviced before the summer heat hits your home like a bat out of hell!

 

Special Needs Program Tempe AZ

Special Needs Program For Kids In Tempe

disabled programs in Tempe AZ

My kids train Jiu-Jitsu in Tempe at an amazing school. The owner is an active competitor and 5x world Champion. You can check out his website at http://www.atacademyaz.com/. They teach BJJ for sport, not so much for self defense, but obviously it can be used in the streets just as it can be used on the mats in the gym or during a competition.

But this post isn’t so much about the gym and all it offers, it’s about a special program one of the instructors has put together for special needs children in Tempe. I don’t have a child with special needs, but I have a friend that does and I know that finding group activities that are engaging for her can be difficult. This year, one of the professors of the gym launched a program called Unlimited BJJ. This program is absolutely free to any family that enrolls a child with a disability into the school. The idea is to give these children an opportunity to learn this amazing art from a group of amazing people right here in Arizona.

I know there will be a lot of you reading this from the email blast I will follow up with so that you know this blog has been published. I have been corresponding with you all for years through email and always appreciate the support. I’m sharing this today in hope that you can spread the word to anyone you know that may have a child with a disability that would benefit from a special needs program in Tempe. I don’t know enough about you all to know if any of you have that in your life, but if not, we ask that you pass this along to anyone you may know that would benefit.

This might be the best sports program in Tempe for these kids. I haven’t researched special needs programs in Tempe, but I have been around long enough to almost guarantee that the environment and the people behind it are the best in Tempe. Please share this on social media, through text message, email, and any other source you feel worthy to spread the word.

AC Repair Phoenix

Air Conditioning Repair In Phoenix AZ

phoenix hvac

Hey everyone, sorry it’s been so long since I last posted something on my blog. The holidays were crazy busy with all the kids and everything going on. Plus we have a pretty big extended family, so the travel and making the rounds was not only time consuming but it wore us down pretty bad. Everyone in the house got sick and this virus going around Phoenix right now is lasting about 2 weeks on average. Also, if you haven’t been receiving the newsletters, email me and I’ll add your address. I have been doing a lot more email letters as it’s just a little more convenient than logging into the website each time I want to communicate with you girls.

Okay, intro is out of the way and I want to dive into something that is very important to me and my family here in Arizona. Last summer we had some issues with our air conditioning unit and multiple bids to repair it and felt disappointed that everyone seemed to want us to take out a second mortgage to replace some of the parts there were apparently going out. They wanted to replace the ac compressor and some of the electrical components, I can’t remember the exact terminology used, but it was a capacitor or something.

phoenix ac repair

We changed the air filters, re-filled the freon, and had our duct work sealed by an energy efficient contractor here in the valley. The issue wasn’t the the AC unit wasn’t working, it just didn’t seem to cool the house down until the sun set. It maintained a constant temperature of about 76 during the day, and then would drop into the 60’s during the evening. That may seem like a comfortable temperature, but 76 during the day is still pretty warm for the interior of the home. We wanted this to be functioning 100% before the hot Arizona summer arrives and temperatures average 100 degrees or more in Phoenix. We decided to do it right after the holidays, and it was a strategic move, and something we knew was going to be an expense coming out of an already expensive holiday season. But we figured since it was winter, service calls may have been slow, and companies would be willing to work on our AC unit because of that. Not sure if it worked, but the price we paid was executable in the end.

We called around the Valley and received multiple quotes for AC repair in Phoenix and settled on an HVAC company we felt was honest and forthcoming with the true condition of our AC unit. I am a firm believer in “you get what you pay for” and I’m not afraid to pay a little extra coin for quality, especially when it impacts the comfort of my family during the hot summer months. I ended up speaking to a woman named Janah at (https://morehartac.com/) in Phoenix. From the first point of contact, to when the technician came out and inspected our AC unit, I knew it was more than a business to them. I can sniff out BS from a mile away, and the sincere nature in which they communicated with me from the beginning really made me feel good about the decision. Fixing your AC unit can be costly, and nobody wants to be ripped off. The techs at Morehart AC came in and did an amazing job getting our unit serviced before the hot summer months.

The true test will come in July when Arizona starts heating up into the triple digits and the soles of your shoes begin to melt on the sidewalk. Right now it feels ice cold, but we will know for sure just how well the AC is pumping cool air when the sun is beating down on the rooftop mid day and I’m stuck inside with the two babies. I’ll update this blog post during the summer months and let you all know how it performs.

Parenting Sleep Tip: Ditch the Gadgets and Get the Help!

“Sleep while you can! You won’t sleep again once baby arrives!”

How many times have you heard that? If you’re a parent, chances are you heard it at least a thousand times in the weeks and months before your child was born. And as soon as your little one arrived, chances are everyone started asking, “are they a good sleeper?”

It’s enough to give anyone a complex!

And have you noticed that the makers of baby gear have figured out that sleep is one of the biggest concerns new parents have? I can’t turn around without bumping into a new product that claims to make baby sleep longer, better, quicker, deeper, or some other magical claim. From swaddles to noise machines, big expensive gadgets to books. It doesn’t matter, there are a million products designed to solve a million sleep problems.
But what if we’ve been looking at sleep all wrong?

I’m not talking developmentally. We’ve talked about the myths of sleep training before and we know that sleep can change depending on the age and stage a child is at. What I am talking about is the stuff. Of course there are tools and tricks that help us sleep, but which ones are legitimately helpful and which ones are just dollar signs in disguise?

I wanted to know so I reached out to our sleep coach, Rosalee Lahaie Hera of Baby Sleep Love and we very quickly realized that not only do most of these gadgets not work (either in the short-term, or in the long-term), some of them are just outright dangerous!

Safety First

One of the most important things for parents to know is that how a product is marketed is extremely important. In Canada, the only approved, safe-sleep surfaces are labeled “crib”, “bassinet”, or “cradle”. In the United States, “play yard”, or what we call a pack’n’play is also safety tested.

Any product that does not call itself one of those things has not been safety tested or evaluated for safe sleep by Health Canada.

Unfortunately, that means all those fancy “soothe your baby to sleep” baby beds, “sleepers”, rock and plays, and cosleepers are not safe sleep surfaces. And in addition to being potentially unsafe, these beds are only meant to last a few months! Babies grow quickly and by four months most infants have outgrown many of these products.  Leaving babies in these gadgets after they have outgrown them can make them even more unsafe.

Okay, but sleep deprivation is real and tired parents are looking for solutions, right?

Right. The thing is, gadgets aren’t actually solving your problem anyway! Not in the long-term at least. While you might get a few immediate weeks of relief, before long your child’s sleep is going to shift (four month “sleep regression” anyone?) and now your baby is too old for that wonderful, expensive, sleeper bed and they don’t know how to put themselves to sleep.

So what do you do?

Take all the money you would have spent on fancy machines and lights and beds and everything else, and put it toward building a support team for the entire family. It is possible to create healthy sleep habits and hygiene right from birth! Use a doula to help you become familiar with your baby’s normal sleep patterns.  If that isn’t working or you want more help with sleep, working with a sleep coach to create an individualized sleep plan for your baby and your family can create the life-long healthy sleep habits and skills your baby needs.

By hiring expert help, you are learning the skills you need to support your baby both now and in the future.

Like so many other things in life, the experiences are so much more valuable than the things.

 

Meaghan Grant works with families to explore their options and help them to discover their own strength through pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum period. She is a Certified Labour Doula, Postpartum Doula, Childbirth Educator, and Postpartum Placenta Specialist. As co-owner of Toronto Family Doulas, Hamilton Family Doulas, and Family Doulas of Ottawa, she is committed to providing judgement-free support of all birth and parenting choices.

Winter Baby Car Seat Safety

With the arrival of the winter season, parents are tempted to bundle up their babies as thickly as possible in order to keep them snug and warm. The warmth factor can interfere with the safety factor of the baby car seat. The problem is that this is not the best idea if you are planning to put a baby in a car seat with a five-point harness. The reason is that the harness system then serves to hold the coat in place and not the baby. This defeats the whole safety purpose of the car seat.

Unfortunately, rescue workers and police report seeing empty coats strapped safely into baby car seats. This proves that the impact of a crash can cause a baby to “fly” out of the coat. The fact that bulky winter coats can sabotage your baby’s security in a car is a well known fact and that is why it is often included as an important warning in most manufacturers’ car seat manuals.

Whenever possible, it is best to not have your baby wear a coat at all once placed in their seat. However, coats can be a necessary evil in frigid parts of Canada. Your baby’s winter clothing should never interfere with the proper tightness and position of the clips and harness.

Dressing your baby with only the warmth factor in mind is not being conscientious of the impact on the safety factor of the car seat. To check if your baby’s coat is too bulky, place your baby in a coat and then put them in their seat and tighten the straps as you normally would. Then without loosening the harness straps take your baby out of the seat and remove the coat. Put the baby back in the seat and then look at the gap between your baby’s body and the straps. If you can fit in more than one finger at shoulder bone level, your baby would not have been strapped in securely in the seat with their winter coat on.

One trick is to take off your baby’s coat and put them in the baby seat and tighten the harness and then put the coat on your baby backwards. For colder weather, you should also keep an extra throw or blanket in the car to cover the entire seat with the baby so they don’t get cold. With the use of blankets you also have the option of simply removing or replacing them according to the change of the car’s interior temperatures. Babies in large coats can sometimes become too warm and start to perspire and if taken into cold temperatures immediately they can catch a chill which is undesirable.

Instead of bulky winter coats many parents are opting to dress their babies in thin performance fleece. This is also called polar fleece. It is warm, comfortable and very soft and does not add the kind of bulk that big puffy snowsuits can which would compromise the security of your car seat.

Despite the niftiness of this clothing, the ideal is still to have as much of your baby’s spine meeting the back of the car seat so that the shock of any impact is spread over the entire body and not just a certain point.

Whether your baby is wearing a coat or not, the retainer or chest clip should always be positioned between the nipples and armpits. This ensures that your child does not fly out of the seat. You should also not allow any gaps between the baby’s groin area and the harness.

To warm or not to warm, that is the question. Whether or not your engine needs warming in winter is a discussion for car gurus but for your baby’s safety and comfort it is a preferable choice. Without a remote starter it requires effort but it can make scraping snow easier if you also leave your window defrost on. The best option to keep your loved one warm and safe is to adequately warm up your vehicle, dress them in quality fleece, place a blanket to cover your baby after they are strapped in or flip their warmer thicker coats around. Then they will be “snug as a bug in a rug” and safely secured in their car seat.

Mohammad Bhorat is the owner and operator of Baby Car Seat Installers located in Markham, Ontario. He is a certified Car Seat Installation Technician. Mohammad offers free car seat inspections. Visit www.carseatinstallers.com.

Edgy Dresses

Girls Night Out At A Club In Baltimore

Hey everyone! If you are here from my last email blast, thanks for subscribing! If you randomly stumbled across my blog – thanks for stopping by!

sexy dress I bought for the clubSo last month I went to Baltimore to visit my bestie who used to live out here in Arizona, we attended FIDM in San Diego together and are now all grown up with families. It’s so fun getting together with friends from the past that you went to college with, but it’s a little scary how fast time goes by.

Prior to my departure, I spent the week packing and getting my wardrobe together, I couldn’t show up to her place with lame clothes so it took me a bit to pull out some old club wear and get things in order. There were a few problems I came across, one was that those amazing dresses I used to wear just didn’t fit me as well as they once did, and the other was that they were a little dated. I really wasn’t worried, I had budgeted to buy some new dresses as we had planned to go out a few nights for cocktails and appetizers. I thought about running over to Nordstrom Rack to find some clearance dresses but didn’t want to deal with the traffic and hassle of rummaging through leftover dresses. I was looking for an edgy dress, something that would fit the older me well, but would make me feel like a younger version of me.

I ran to a few local boutique shops around town but couldn’t find any dresses that really jumped out at me, I was starting to panic a little because the clock was counting down and my flight to Baltimore was creeping up on me like some loser in the club looking to get my number. I called my friend out of desperation and asked her where she was currently getting edgy dresses from, club wear, things that I haven’t purchased in a long time. I was surprised to hear her say that she had the same problem and had been scrambling to find something sexy and edgy that fit her thirties body. She went on to say that she had ordered a sexy, edgy dress from an online retailer at www.edgycouture.com and that the dress shipped quick and fit perfectly. Considering that she also went to the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, I took her word a little more serious than I would most of my other gal pals. I placed the order a week out and received my edgy looking dress the day before I flew out. The risk here was that if the dress didn’t fit, I would either have to go to the Rack or wait until I got to Baltimore and shop there (which wouldn’t have been the end of the world). The dress fit like a glove accentuated my curves and made me feel sexy as hell. I was extremely thrilled about this trip now!

edgy club in Baltimore Overall the trip was a massive success. We had a girls night out with some of her co-workers at the Mosaic club in Baltimore where I rocked my Edgy Couture dress like a 21-year-old rock star! The rest of the week we were hurting pretty bad from the liquor we consumed that night. She had people over for dinner all week, co-workers and random friends she has made since living in Baltimore. What a fantastic time we had, I wanted to get this posted for those of you that read my blog and may have found yourself in a similar predicament at some point in recent months. Not sure I will have much use for the dress now that I am back home in mom mode, but if I have a chance to hit up Scottsdale in the coming months, you better believe I’ll have the edgiest dress of all!

Trying Pure CBD Oil For The First Time

Pure CBD Oil Really Worked For Me

cbd oils for tension relief

I am usually pretty skeptical when it comes to buying into the latest craze, there are diets that surface that all my girls rave about, workout routines that are the end all for weight loss, and carbonated probiotic drinks that guarantee to keep you healthy during flu season.

When my mother-in-law started using CBD Oils for her fibromyalgia, we had a long talk about it. I was super skeptical, I had not heard enough about CBD to have an educated discussion about it with her, I just knew that it came from the cannabis plant and I was hesitant about her using it. She insisted though that she had felt relief from using the product and wanted me to try it for my tension headaches. As a mom that is constantly on the go, shuttling kids around, and busy at home, I suffer from tension headaches. Friday nights is fine, a glass of wine usually relaxes me enough to relieve the strain in my neck, but Monday through Thursday it’s just not something I can do and still function all day.

I bought 750MG of pure CBD oil from Medicinal Essentials to start out, a few drops a day is what was recommended to me by my mother in law and so I figured I would start there. I started by taking a droplet full in the morning when I woke, in the afternoon around lunch time, and again about an hour before bed. At first I wasn’t sure if it was doing anything, then I CBD Tincturerealized that the time the kids got home from school I was pretty tension free. Again, being skeptical, I made the excuse that it wasn’t the CBD oil providing relief for my tension headaches, it was just a better day. Well, I followed the same dosage schedule and found the results to be similar. For me, a glass of wine is never enough, I’m a full bottle girl and that usually is enough to relieve me of most of life tensions. With the CBD Oils I decided to take a little more than my mother in law had suggested, she is a little older and is usually more sensitive to things. OMG! I increased the dosage amount to six full droplets, that was double what I had been taking. The sense of calm that came over me was unreal, and my mind was completely clear and normal. I had reservations about CBD, I thought that there may be a chance that it could get me high, but there is no THC in pure CBD Oil.

So much for my skepticism, I’m a new fan of CBD oil and will continue using it until I have a reason to stop. Anything that is plant based from the earth and relieves pain and discomfort without impacting my mind is welcome into my life. So many of the muscle relaxers I have been prescribed for tension relief just left me feeling groggy with a cloudy mind. That was not the case with CBD Oil, it brought relief to my neck and shoulders without the nasty side effects you get from prescription meds. I have since told my mother in law that she needs to up her dose also to get even better results, she didn’t think twice. I bet we both take 6 full droplets daily.

I love cbd oils

One last thing before I check out of here, I would approve of a small trace amount of THC in mine. I’m not gonna lie, me and my husband have smoked weed at every concert we have attended, I like the vibe when the music is on and the sun is out. A small trace amount in my CBD Oil would be the perfect combination for this girl, and if you live in a state that has legalized marijuana for recreational use, you should be able to find yourself some edibles with a nice CBD to THC ratio that is perfect for mellowing out, but doesn’t launch your mind to the moon and back. Thanks for swinging by, if you have thought about using CBD oils I would consider just doing it. It’s legal in most parts of the country, and can be shipped to your home. It’s worth it. Bye!

Chemistry Supplies

Does Target Sell Chemistry Dye?

dyes used in chemistry I already know the answer to this one, it’s no! What in the hell is chemistry dye? School starts in August here in Arizona and one of the kids is taking Chemistry… yay! Another topic I know nothing about, nor does anyone living under our roof! So when my son came home after the first week of school and said he needed some chemistry supplies so that he could run some experiments at home. I thought that sounded normal, we could go get a beaker, a lighter, some goggles, and a lab coat and he could do chemistry stuff in the backyard. Come to find out, that is not what he had in mind, nor is it even what kids these days are doing in the science lab. Not that I’m some expert, not sure I paid attention much in science, but I know enough to be dangerous at science trivia (not really).

So he brings me this list of stuff he needs and I have no clue what I am even looking at, seriously, who has ever hear of Alexa Fluor 488, Alexa Fluor 594, carboxyfluorescein, NHS-Fluorescein, alexa fluor 488 phalloidin, 5-carboxyfluorescein, carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester, Alexa Fluor 488 NHS Ester, nhs-fluorescein pierce, and fluorescein nhs ester???? What the hell does that stuff even mean? When he handed me the list I thought they might be ingredients to make a nuclear bomb or something, I was not about to buy any of it until I spoke to his chemistry teacher. I sent the chemistry teacher an email and replied pretty quick (I love the Kyrene School District). Turns out that fancy list of dyes he needs for experiments are just dyes. Like something you would dye your shirt with I guess? Once I started calling around I realized real quick that nobody knew what these chemistry dyes were. I dug around further and found a website (https://fluoroprobes.com/) that sells this stuff.

After looking at the price tag on some of these chemistry dyes, I reached back out to the teacher to discuss alternate options. He replied back that the purchase wasn’t mandatory and that my son was just doing it for extra credit. Sorry Charlie, not dropping $500 on a bunch of chemistry dye so you can get some extra credit! He’s going to need to find another way to do it that doesn’t cost me a bunch of money! Chemistry is beyond me, and dropping 5 bills on chemistry dyes is not in my budget at the moment.

Health And Wellness Tips For Expecting Moms

Every expecting mother hopes and prays that after nine months they will be delivering a healthy and strong baby. It’s vital to eat well, practice appropriate exercises, tend to one’s mental health, and practice self-care. There are a lot of considerations related to preparing your home for your baby, but it is of the utmost importance to make sure you and your baby are healthy and ready for the birth and everything that comes after.

Good health starts with good eating habits. It’s called an eating habit because consuming certain types of food becomes an effortless and regular part of your life once you’re used to it. Shifting eating patterns might take a little time, but you’ll find it’s easy to avoid craving junk and processed foods packed with sugar, salt, and preservatives once they’re out of your system. These foods are all addictive and you can break the habit. Gaining weight is a normal part of pregnancy and it’s important to not be too hard on yourself. However, giving into cravings every time isn’t wise, either. There’s always a healthier version of what you want that will satisfy. Be sure to eat lots of plant-based foods like veggies, fruits, whole grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds. Definitely check which foods to avoid while pregnant!

Expecting mothers need to stay active to maintain their health as well as baby’s. This will also aid with stress-reduction, mood-boosting, blood circulation, and quality of sleep. Swimming, prenatal yoga, and walking are wonderful activities that won’t put too much strain on you. Always check with a doctor before starting or changing any exercise regime. Jumping into something new after you have been sedentary for awhile has an increased risk of injury for everyone, regardless of a baby in the belly.

Seek advice from your doctors, other medical practitioners, and certified herbalists regularly. Access experts in pregnancy who are up-to-date with their research and practices. When you purchase books, look at the credentials of the author and take their advice with a grain of salt. Ask friends and family about their anecdotal experiences with help for every day care and what they found worked and didn’t. If you don’t know any parents, a local baby and parenting trade show is an excellent place to meet and talk to other parents and expecting mothers about their stories and fears. To learn about The Baby Show which is a biannual trade show with top brands, handcrafted and artisanal products, and seminars with top industry experts, follow that link. A trade show has everything that you need to prepare for baby and pick up some health and wellness tips for yourself. Check out classes that are offered at your community centre or local college, as well.

Keep a close eye on any changes in your health, contact your doctor, or call an ambulance if you suspect anything might be wrong. Sudden swelling of joints, difficulties breathing, leaking of fluid, bleeding, constant and unrelenting nausea, and vomiting are some signs that something could be wrong. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Call a cab or get a friend to drive you to a hospital if you’re suffering. It is likely unsafe to get behind the wheel.

Expecting a child is an exciting and stressful time all at once. Make sure to take care of yourself with healthy eating, exercise, and by seeking advice and learning opportunities in your community.