Sunday

HOT Printable Coupons & Deal


Pillsbury & Cooking Coupons - 
Scrubbing Bubbles & More - 
Glade Coupons - 
SC Johnson Coupons - 
Movie Night Coupons - 

MedImmune RSV and Baby Etiquette


Bringing home a new baby involves a lot of new stress. Yes, it is a joyous occasion but there are things that you need to be aware of to prevent your new stress from getting out of hand. Nothing can be more stressful than your new baby catching a cold. They are exposed to a lot of germs because you want to show of your new baby to family & friends.  Not only will family and friends look and touch your baby but so will strangers when you are out and about. Little ones are very susceptible to infection in the early weeks of their life. This is especially true for babies born early, because they have underdeveloped lungs and immature immune systems. 

We had twin preemies who were 2#5oz and 4#3oz so we know small. We were instructed about a very common respiratory syncytial virus or RSV that was a big threat to them being preemies and those with certain lung and heart diseases—it can lead to a serious respiratory infection. This virus spreads easily, lives on doorknobs, countertops, etc and especially spread through human contact. 

Because of these dangers, parents of new babies need to be cautious about exposing infants to visitors. Communicating your concern to family and friends eager to meet your new child is difficult. It is a struggle to be appreciative of people’s excitement and wary of their contact.  Don't feel bad asking people to wash their hands and stay away if they have been sick recently.
We asked people to touch the girls feet instead of their tiny fingers and hands. You can keep little mittens or use the pi's that covers their hands & fingers.  Here are some pointers that you can print off and share with others before they come see you. 

A few tips to remember when a loved one has a new baby: 
  • Call before you visit. New parents need time to set up a routine and bond. By giving them time to do so before you visit, you are respecting the new family.

  • Postpone a visit if you feel that you may be getting sick, have recently been ill or exposed to illness.  

  • Offer to do something to ease their responsibilities as they spend time as a family, such as laundry, cooking or dishes. Sleep-deprived moms and dads will appreciate your help! 
  • Leave toddlers at home, especially during the winter months. Young children, especially if they attend day care or preschool, often carry germs and viruses, like RSV, that are easily spread. 
A few facts about RSV that all parents, caregivers and loved ones should know: 
  • Almost every baby will contract RSV by age 2, but only 1/3 of moms say they’ve heard of the virus.

  • Serious RSV infection is the leading cause of infant hospitalization, responsible for more than 125,000 hospitalizations and up to 500 infant deaths each year.

  • RSV occurs in epidemics each fall through spring. The CDC has defined “RSV season” as beginning in November and lasting through March for most parts of North America. 
  • There is no treatment for RSV, so it’s important for parents to take preventive steps to help protect their child (e.g., wash hands, toys, bedding frequently; avoid crowds and cigarette smoke). 

  • Symptoms of serious RSV infection include: persistent coughing or wheezing; rapid, difficult, or gasping breaths; blue color on the lips, mouth, or under the fingernails; high fever; extreme fatigue; and difficulty feeding. Parents should contact a medical professional immediately upon signs of these symptoms. 

To learn more about RSV, visit www.rsvprotection.com.  

I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of MedImmune and received promotional item to thank me for taking the time to participate.
         

Enter to win $25 with Walmart and Bakeoff #MyBlogSpark


I have always been intrigued by the Pillsbury Bake off. I remember as a young kid seeing the results in newsstand magazines. These women (and men) were kitchen rockstars, to me! It was always amazing to me to read how they created original recipes and entered them into the Bakeoff.com contest. I have never entered their contest but might do it in the future. Have you ever entered the contest?

If you go to Bakeoff.com you can find the current Pillsbury Bake-Off recipes. Over the years, I have made quite a few of their recipes. This year I tried the Breakfast Crostatas submitted by Barbara Targna from Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Doesn't it look great? Check out the recipe at the bottom of the page.
I love to create recipes so when I have a recipe from someone else, I always tweak it to suit my needs. I made the Breakfast Crostatas but mine did not turn out like Barbara's. I'm not sure what I did wrong but I plan on trying it again. I used sausage instead of ham but I don't think that was my problem. For some reason my dough did not want to coperate. I'm really embarrassed to show you how mine turned out BUT to be honest in my review, I need to! Here is my picture:
Do you still respect me? haha I really hope so. I really do cook as you know if you are a regular reader of my blog. 

How about you? Have you ever had a recipe that didn't turn out as expected? I'd love to hear it. I challenge you to go to Bakeoff.com and find a recipe that you want to tackle. I've always found the Bake-off recipes to be easy to make and very family friendly. I'm not discouraged by my first try this year. Once you print off your recipe, go to Walmart and check out the everydaysaver.com/Walmart savings to print off coupons for your shopping trip. 

How would you like to enter to win $25 at Walmart to even better your savings? It is a win-win situation! Enter below in the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway ends 3/4/12.

Disclosure - The gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by Walmart and General Mills, through MyBlogSpark.

Saturday

Five Days of belVita Breakfast challenge

I just finished the Five Days of belVita Breakfast challenge. I was challenged to eat breakfast for 5 days, which needed to include belVita breakfast bars. I work from home so you would think that it would be easy to eat a well balanced breakfast. Well guess what? It isn't. Once I get working, I loose track of time and forget to eat until lunch time. Most of the morning I find myself yawning and struggling to keep my eyes open. 


The challenge was to incorporate belVita into my breakfast each morning. My first  breakfast was a pack of belVita, which is 4 breakfast biscuits and my morning cup of coffee. I was so surprised at how much I LOVED these breakfast biscuits. I use to love granola bars but most are too hard and crunchy. The other granola bars are way too chewy. What I found with the belVita biscuits is that they tasted like a really smooth granola bar that was thin, crisp but not hard and chewy. I actually looked forward to each morning to eat another breakfast biscuit. 


The belVita breakfast biscuits are whole grain and have nutritious sustained energy. To find out more about their fiber rich benefits, check out their website: www.belvitabreakfast.com. A package of biscuits are to be served with a piece of fruit and a serving of low-fat or non-fat dairy. The first day I just had coffee and the belVita but then the rest of the days I added in fruit. I felt so healthy and easily sailed to lunch time without realizing the time. 
The biscuits come in 3 flavors; Blueberry, Apple Cinnamon, and Golden Oat. The Blueberry had small chewy pieces of blueberry. Not too many but just enough. The Apple Cinnamon had a light cinnamon flavor. The Golden Oat had a light honey flavor. All were delicious, lightly sweet and crisp. They all melted in my mouth, too! Serious people I love these.


I haven't checked the store for these but plan to when I go shopping. belVita can be found in the cookie/cracker aisle since February 2012. I didn't know that they existed until I took this challenge. Each box contains 5 packs of 4 breakfast biscuits under $4. These are a keeper and I will keep them at my desk to eat every morning. Out of all 3 flavors I did have a favorite. Do you owner which one? Stop over to my Facebook page for the next 5 days and you will soon find out my favorite! 


You can find out more info on their Facebook page, too at belVita Facebook.



I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central Consulting on behalf of belVita Breakfast Biscuits and received belVita Breakfast product samples to facilitate my review, and a promotional item to thank me for participating.

Cake Pops, Cake Balls and Pinterest Blog Hop

We are huge fans of cake pops and cake balls here! How about your family? What are some of your favorites?

Happy Saturday! Here are some of my favorite cake pops and cake balls recipes on my blog. 


1-Easter Egg Pops
2-Melt in your Mouth Cake Balls-baked
3-Snowman Melters-cake pops
4-Mardi Gras Bites
5-Lucky Leprechaun Bites
6-Fairy Bites
7-Cake Pops
8-Cookies & Cream/Oreo Cake Balls- no bake
9- Pinterest- click over and follow me for even more recipe ideas.



Bonus- Pretzel Dippers. Instead of using a cake pop stick, use a pretzel stick. Then everything is edible and no waste!


Friday

Spring and Easter Crafty Recipe Blog Hop

(Click, EASTER EGG POPS to get the easy-to-do recipe)
Happy Friday!

What a busy week! I love ending the week with my Happy Friday Blog Link! Today the theme is Spring and Easter! Link up anything related to spring and Easter. It can be crafts, recipes, spring cleaning tips, other blog link ups related to this theme, etc. The only rule is for you to have FUN! Feel free to spread the news to the usually places like Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook! Don't keep this party a secret!

Have a great day! As time permits I will visit and follow, Tweet, Facebook, Google+, and Pin your post on Pinterest, too! This linky will run through May so stop back over anytime to add new links and feel free to take the code and add it to your blog. It is a blog hop so all are welcome to play along.


 FYI LINKY TOOLS had a MAJOR hard drive crash on Friday. If you stop in, just please leave your links in the comments and then I will add them in once it is working, hopefully soon! Thank you!

Easter Egg Pops & Bowdabra Bow Tutorial

March is National Craft month which includes tasty recipe crafts like this one! These Easter Egg Pops are so easy to make and fun to give aways.
March is National Craft Month! Have you been celebrating? I have over at the Bowdabra blog because they are showcasing the many uses of ribbon all month long. Yes, today is the 23rd of March but you can still celebrate by checking out all of their ribbon craft tutorials and enter their giveaways. 

Do you include ribbon & bows on crafting projects? I like to add a touch of ribbon to food items and gift packages. Just last week I started making some hair bows! Stay tuned for some of those projects. 

Check out these super easy Easter Egg Pops that I made with my 13 year old, EB (aka Easter Bunny.) We had a lot of fun together in the kitchen from start to finish! 

Supply List

Easter egg shaped marshmallows
1 package chocolate almond bark
Wilton pop sticks
Wilton cake pop stand or a foam board
Sprinkles
Cellophane gift bags
Spring ribbons
Mini Bowdabra
Hair Bow Tool & Ruler (optional but helpful to have exact measurements on your ribbon)
Bowdabra Bow Wire


Instructions
1. Follow melting instruction on the chocolate almond bark package for the microwave.
2. Dip 1 inch of the pop stick into the chocolate and then into the marshmallow.
3. Let harden for 30 minutes.
4. Dip entire marshmallow into chocolate, shake off extra chocolate.
5. Use colorful sprinkles to decorate your Easter egg pops.
6. Let it harden for another 20 minutes and eat or put in cellophane gift bags.
7. To make the bow for your marshmallow pop, begin by cutting 18″ of Bowdabra Bow Wire. Fold the wire in half and place it into the Mini Bowdabra. Cut 18" piece of spring ribbon, a 6" strip of coordinating ribbon two 6-8" of Bowdabra Bow Wire.
8. Determine how long you want your tail and then place it into the bowdabra. Make a loop, add it to the center by pinching it, create another loop and pinch. If your tail isn't even, don't worry about it. You can trim it when you are finished.

9. Scrunch the bow with the Mini Bowdabra Wand.  While the bow is still in the Mini Bowdabra, thread the two loose ends of the Mini Bowdabra Bow Wire through the loop at the other end. Pull the Bowdabra Bow Wire tightly while the bow is still in the Mini Bowdabra. 

10. Gently pull the bow out of the Mini Bowdabra. Separate the two loose ends of the Bowdabra Bow Wire and bring them around to the back of the bow and knot.  Next, use the Mini Bowdabra wire to tie the bow to glass mug with a handle. You can also use this to tie around and close off the cellophane gift bags. Spiral the Bowdabra Bow Wire around a pencil to create fun ringlets.








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