This past Thursday we got a call from one of the girls' friends saying she had lice. Ugh. I checked both girls' hair and sure enough...nits. I'm in my late 30s and have never had to deal with lice before. I called my neighbor and she came right over! There are things I would have never known about how to get rid of lice so I thought I would share what I learned. Lice is harder to find than you might think. Google photos of lice in hair and you'll get pictures of worst cases that are easy to spot. You'll also get pictures where the nits and lice have been blown up to be easier to see. In reality, nits are super tiny and blend in with hair. Lice, are super quick at hiding and you may not find live lice with just a hair check. My girls' hair looked like this...one nit every rare strand of hair. Most over-the-counter head lice treatments will work just fine. All kill lice and nits making them easier to remove. However, lice are becoming resistant to insecticide treatments such … [Read more...]
Pet Safety on the 4th of July
More pets are lost on the 4th of July than any other day of the year. July 5th is the busiest day of the year for animal shelters nationwide. How sad (and scary) are those facts? While you are out having fun, remember your pets and pet safety on the 4th of July. Keep your pet inside Pets are often scared of fireworks and will injure themselves trying to find a place to hide from the noise. Even if your pet is usually an outdoor pet, fireworks are an exception to the usual noise they hear. Make sure your pet has a safe place INSIDE to escape. Close windows and doors to lessen the noise and play a fan or background music/tv to help drown out the pops and bangs. Don't use insect repellent or sunscreen on your pet Just because it's not toxic to humans does not mean it's not toxic to pets. Pets lick their fur, we don't lick our skin. Ingestion of sunscreen products can result in drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, excessive thirst and lethargy. Ingestion of insect repellents that … [Read more...]
6 Friendly Summertime Reminders
Today is the first day of summer vacation for my girls. Today begins 98 days of fun (at least for them, maybe not for me). Today I bring you some friendly summertime reminders... Drowning Is Silent I will repeat this over and over again on my blog - drowning is silent. I wrote a post about it last year (see link) and I'm considering republishing it this year. I can not reach enough people with this message! Also remember that most drownings occur when multiple adults are present. Don't assume someone else is watching your child(ren) in the water. Designate someone to watch children in the water and make a clear hand-off when you want to switch people watching. Don't always rely on the life guards either. They have more than just your children to look out for. Food Shelves Need Your Donations There are tons of food drives during the school year and especially around the holidays, but did you know that summertime is when food shelves need your donations the most? Children are … [Read more...]
Bed Wetting is More Common Than You Think! #ConquerBedWetting
*This post is sponsored by Acorn, an Influence Company 15% of children still wet the bed at age 5 5% of children still wet the bed at age 10. A few weeks ago I wrote a post about why I did not potty train my girls. In that post I talked strongly about the fact that you can not night train your children. Your child’s ability to stay dry through the night is solely based on physical development and their subconscious ability to hold their bladder while sleeping. You can't teach that. While I admit, both my girls stayed dry at night before they stayed dry during the day, we still had one or two bed wetting accidents per girl. Nutty was more mortified by it than Tottie was. A lot of my friends have had their kids continue to wet the bed long after they were potty trained during the day. Bed wetting (even in children up to age 10) is more common than people realize (or talk about). Again, I'll remind you that night-time dryness is NOT something you can teach. It is also not … [Read more...]
Blood Donation Process #GiveLife Part 2
The American Red Cross supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood supply. The Red Cross provides blood for patients in approximately 2,700 hospitals across the U.S. Yesterday I walked you through the process of blood donation with the American Red Cross. What happens to the blood after you donate it? Being a Red Cross Minnesota Social Media Advocate, I was able to take a tour of the North Central Blood Services building to see what happens to blood post donation and all the steps (and checks!) it goes through before it reaches a patient in need. Here's a very simplified look: ***WARNING: There is a lot of blood (in bags) in these photos*** Blood comes into the center through triage. Here donations are inventoried and sorted by component (cryo, plasma, whole blood, double red cells, platelets...). Those components with a shorter life span are processed first. The blood center has to inventory and keep track of EVERYTHING that comes in and goes out including their waste and … [Read more...]
Blood Donation Process #GiveLife Part 1
Every two seconds someone in the U.S. needs blood. More than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day. Although an estimated 38% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate, less than 10% actually do each year. March is American Red Cross month. As a Red Cross Minnesota Social Media Advocate, I was given the chance to tour the North Central Blood Services building. I donated blood (for the very first time!) and learned what happens to the blood after it is donated. It was fascinating and I'll take you through the process! First you'll decide to donate blood. I hate needles so this was my first time donating. This is what I looked like on my way to the donation center. Once you get to the blood donation center, you'll check in what a photo ID. You'll get a name tag, and if you are a rookie donor like me, you'll get a rookie sticker too :) You'll be asked to read a packet with all the rules to blood donation. It lays out who can and can not donate based on … [Read more...]
