 In my opinion, get rid of it. No joke, between all sides of the family our children after it was all compiled 8.78 pounds of candy! Keep in mind, only two of them can eat candy and they are 3 and 19 months right now. How the heck would we ever feed our children this much candy? AND why? To torture ourselves everyday for the next year with children on a sugar high day in and day out?
There is not enough bribery in the world for this much candy. After consulting with a fellow momma bear she proclaimed, "throw it out in front of them." As my heart wrenched with the thought of hurting my own parents feelings that way, I first inquired with my local Facebook Bulletin Board to see if I could share these goods somewhere that may appreciate it - kids less fortunate around the Easter holiday, food shelves, I don't know... somewhere. I am not a mom that sits around waiting for things to happen so after 24 hours of no response, I opted to bring it 80% if it into work and set it on the lunch table. Two days later most of the candy is gone. I still feel amazing about myself (for not binge eating it after the kids were in bed). What did I do with 20% of it... well, I portioned for bribery and baking needs. The question here ends up being what do you do with all that candy? Am I the only mom in the position?
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Body by Trimester 
Let's be honest I was TIRED with each of my pregnancies. While I was pregnant with my first. I had no obligation other than to my pregnancy. Just prior to becoming pregnant with my son I had finally, 2 years in the making, welcomed a healthy lifestyle. At the time I was managing a local gym, had a trainer, and was tracking everything I was eating. It was an addiction for me. Adapting that lifestyle to pregnancy was harder than I would have expected. I had just worked so hard to get my body to my goal. I did periodic workouts (when I wasn't sick). In no way was a spending the 2 hours a day in the gym that I was before. Being my first pregnancy and at the time was in limbo with insurance I had no way to ensure I was doing things right. I would have welcomed this recommendation during Holden's pregnancy. In the end, Holden was a happy, healthy newborn.
It wasn't until my second pregnancy I was introduced to "Body by Trimester" by another mom I had met in Early Childhood Family Education. In the thirteen months between having my son and getting pregnant with my first daughter, I had used Beachbody workouts at home because the gym was no longer a trip I could make happen. I had progressed from 21 Day Fix to 21 Day Fix Extreme all the way to Insanity Max:30. I had been so very close to my goal again. I faced the fact I was far too tired to continue with the intensity I was at with these workouts and though I had the resources this go around to consult with my doctor I decided to use Body by Trimester. I would proudly say my second pregnancy may have been my healthiest pregnancy as far as working out throughout the pregnancy because of Body by Trimester. I will say with my third pregnancy, working out was out the window being pregnant with a 2 year old and a less than 1 year old was A LOT of work! Though I made the promise to myself in the beginning I would continue with my fitness journey, I just couldn't. Fail, I know, but did I ever run my hinny off! I truly believe trying your best to maintain activity throughout your pregnancies is so important, it not only fuels your body, but it feeds your mind.
PROCEED WITH CAUTION: I realize I am about to write a blog post on a topic many feel very, very strongly about. I have personally been crucified by a fellow mother for a Facebook post on Halloween with my 3-year old son in his Halloween costume in the Graco Highback listed below (please note: my son is above the specs listed for the Graco Highback and the state of Minnesota does not have regulation past the requirement of matching car seat specifications). So I am well aware and prepared for others to have an opinion on my opinion which is completely okay with me.
I know your probably thinking, why.. I mean why, does she have experience with so many different seats? Well we had a few cars at one point and with grandparents and so forth, you get variety. I first want to say if I had an endless bank account ALL vehicles transporting my children would have Dionos. I enjoy every feature the Diono's have to offer, though they do take some time to setup (2 hours on my first install :-/). You will need to revisit the owners manuals more than once. The Dionos ARE the way to go if you can support the cost. Now another mom might say how can you put a cost on your child's life and though I agree to some extent, growing up I had many near death experiences that my parents could have likely prevented. I am still here today.
I know this is going to be another extreme statement, but do you believe when it's your time to go you will be taken? If god needs your child for a greater good, do you believe it could be the car seat you pick or a random wrong jump off a toy or something else? Do I want to do everything I can to keep my children with me for as long as I can... YES. With that, if you can choose a Diono. All three of my children have had the same Eddie Bauer SureFit above. Two of my children screamed the whole time they were in it. I graduated both kids to the Evenflo SureRide rear-facing as soon as I could come to terms with carrying them to the car from daycare in all Minnesota's weather conditions. Why with my first did I choose the Eddie Bauer Surefit? Well, it came with the perfect jogging stroller and being the fitness mom that I am it was obviously a more important feature than researching car seats to the point I have now at number three. Would I pick something different now, yep, probably. How many times did I use my jogging stroller you ask? Like twice. Do not pick a car seat because of a stroller. Two of my children have used the Evenflo SureRide both forward facing AND rear-facing. I enjoy this seat and believe it to be a great seat for its price. I would buy it again. The Cosco Highback's are in grandparents cars for transporting my son. They are low priced and well lets just say you get what you pay for. My son does not seem to mind the Cosco Highback and everything seems to secure well. I believe the price point is accurate for what you get and for infrequent, short transports that this is a good route to go. Finally, the Graco Highback is an amazing deal, be prepared to get a rath if you put a picture up on social media with a child under 5 years old in the seat. I understand all the statistics and research done behind car seats. I do believe we have a right to our own opinions and do what we believe is best for our children. Ultimately, I now have Diono's for each of the children. They are space savers and offer top of the time security I personally do not believe you will get with any other seat. As I said above, invest in Diono.  My pregnant friend asked me lately how it really is at home with kids. She wanted to know the raw, true report straight from the battlefield. You could say it was regular chat between mom of three and mom-in-progress, but let me tell you – I froze for a second. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I was keeping some secret known only in mommy society, but think about it – what to tell a young girl that has an adorable baby in her belly and probably equally adorable ideas about mom life in her mind and at the same time be completely honest (it’s my friend after all!)? Before you judge me as a terrible mom who doesn’t like her kids let me share a quick story. That day I was met my friend, I woke up with a sciatica pain in my lower back. Nothing unusual, it started during my third pregnancy and now visits me from time to time. If you don’t know how it feels – great! Be happy about it. If you want to know, it’s like somebody was stubbing you with a knife in your buttock and thigh whenever you want to move any muscle. Back to the story. My toddlers made sure I was awake thoroughly checking with their cute little fingers if my eyes were open and if my ears were working by screaming random sounds. After this nice everyday protocol, we went to get some breakfast. It’s a whole family mission, since kids outnumbered parents. Three milk spills and cheerios everywhere catastrophes later, the oldest went to school, middle one went with daddy to preschool, so it was only me and the little one to get ready to leave for our morning coffee with the mentioned friend. The idea of coffee outside the house made me excited (yes, those are exciting events when you’re temporarily a sahm) so I tried to not think about my pains and the fact that I slept only 4 hours (toddler’s night terrors, anybody?) and I decided to…drumroll please! (I mean it!)… do make up!! I can hear your gasps! Good. I deserved that with my bravery. After 3 and a half minutes (that’s how long Peppa Pig bought me) I was ready enough to go out. I just needed to clean mascara out of my daughter. How could I not notice she took it? That must have happened when I was turning the TV on with my foot cause my hands were busy preventing the little one from taking a dive into the toilet. With the sciatica. That should be the Olympic discipline, thank you very much. Yeah, that was just my morning. It went quite good, I must say. Should I tell this to my friend? That this is how a good morning looks like with kids at home? No child was sick – win; there was no tantrums, no dramas – win, win; no last minute “I forgot to do my homework” – win and definitely no, “I don’t know where is my shoe” – win!! Naaah. It’s too soon to tell her that, she would probably be interested more in how it goes with a baby anyway. So, I run the list of stuff that I don’t remember as horrifying (anymore) in my head. Labor, first weeks of breastfeeding, being pooped on, sleepless nights when the baby got sick for the first time, teething! And then - I realized that I blog about mommy motivation, about the right mindset and I should probably use my own advice. So, I told her the truth. How it really is at home with kids. How incredibly fantastic it feels to take your baby into your arms for the first time after having her/him so long under your heart. What amazing connection it is to hold and feed your precious child (no matter the way you choose), when he/she looks at you with absolute trust and love in the eyes. I told her about the relief you feel when your baby feels finally better after being sick and the best laugh of my life when I saw my husband in a wet, peed-on t-shirt. I think my friend kind of snoozed a bit when I elaborated on perfection of baby feet, or maybe it was when I told her how awesome it is when children get excited when you show up, no matter of their age and no matter how long were you gone, six hours or couple of minutes. It was so nice to remind myself what a blessing it is to be a mom and to welcome another friend to the club! And then I sneezed. But that’s “insiders only” joke.
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February 2019
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