my secret savior

I have a secret.

I'm terribly ashamed of this secret, and I work to keep it hidden from my co-workers and friends, although sometimes it sneaks out despite my best intentions.

I am horribly disorganized.

Disgustingly.

Seriously.

If you look in my desk drawers, you'll find lovely systems of organization, folders, files, labels. They are all set up differently. Sometimes by date, sometimes by category, sometimes random, but in the end, they are all unused. I have grand plans about how I am going to keep my life organized, and in the end, it all gets thrown by the wayside because I get caught up in life.

I've tried PDAs, Blackberries, paper agendas, keeping it all in my head, keeping it all online, and none of it seems to work.

When I was pregnant, and since giving birth to Gabriel, it has become a serious feat to keep track of all our appointments and meetings and classes. This kid is a serious social butterfly!
All of this makes me nervous because I know how hard it is for me to stay organized, so when my sister in law told me about momAgenda, I jumped at the chance to try something that might actually work.

Last year, when I was in my last month of pregnancy, I purchased the momAgenda in the hopes that it might keep me organized through the last-minute classes, doctor's appointments and errands that I needed to complete before the birth. The good news is that the momAgenda is very stylish and easy to use. If anything was going to help me get organized, this was it. The agenda is set up as a calendar in the beginning, with one month set out over two pages, and then another section with space for you to write in your daily appointments and reminders. The daily pages are listed at one week over two pages.

The daily section is what really sold me on the agenda, because there is room to write out appointments, but also room below that to list out the names of your children (or husband) and what errands or reminders you might need for them.












This was extraordinarily helpful to me, because besides appointments, I also needed a section to write out the different things I needed to remember for each of Gabriel and Josh. For example, today Gabe and I have music class and a lunch date, but I also need to remember to go look at car seats for him at some point today, and Josh needs me to pick up some stuff for him at the pharmacy. Before, I would just have made a long list of everything that needed to get done, and I would have to keep reading the whole list to decide what could wait and what couldn't, and I'd have to keep rereading the list to decide how to structure the day. Sounds like it isn't a big deal, but now I see everything I have to do at a glance, all organized clearly on the page.

My other favorite feature is that at the bottom of the page there is a category for dinners for the week. I've used this feature for the last couple of months and it is so helpful, I can't believe I didn't do this before. On one of the days during the weekend, I sit down for 5 minutes and decide what we're going to eat for each day of the week, and jot it down quickly. Then on Sunday or Monday I go to the grocery store for the ingredients, and I never have to think about it again. If I list out "chicken" for Wednesday, then when I look at the agenda on Tuesday, I know I need to defrost the chicken the day before. Or if I list "salmon" for Thursday, I know that I need to stop by the grocery store to pick it up. Before using this system, I was agonizing every evening over what we would eat and fretting because we had no vegetables in the house or no rice in the house. Inevitably, I was always missing something.

The momAgenda has a few other cool features, like a section at the beginning for important phone numbers and websites. I've used this a few times for airline numbers or rental car company numbers, especially when I'm not near a computer. There are also section for party planning and vacation planning, and a phone book at the back that is removable from year to year, so you don't need to reprint everything, you can just transfer it. With the advent of cell phones, I don't use this feature much, but I have jotted down some numbers there when I meet someone and don't have my cell phone handy.

Like all systems, you have to use the momAgenda for it to work, but I've found that even for me, this agenda is incredibly easy to use. It comes in 5 colors and several different sizes and styles. My only complaint is that it is a bit heavy, but I have to admit that I chose the larger size because I prefer the bigger pages. I get around this by keeping it in the car rather than my diaper bag.

Long story short, the momAgenda is a huge help when organizing the life of a little one, and I only imagine that as Gabe gets bigger, it'll be even more helpful! The agenda runs from August to August, so I just purchased my new momAgenda (in purple!) and cracked open the binding last weekend. It is just waiting to be filled in with our exciting little life!

herbs, vitamins or maybe a prescription?

What are my complaints these days? Well, exhaustion is one, irritability is another, and my leftover pregnancy weight is one of the biggest. All of these combine, of course, for forgetfulness, a low sex-drive, and occasional aches and pains. I don't like to call my doctor unless I'm really feeling unbearably sick, so these are the types of complaints that go diagnosed over the Internet, or simply tolerated indefinitely. Before going to business school, Josh used to work at a pharmaceutical company, and one of his early assignments was to take various illnesses and do Internet searches on them to see what type of medical information was readily available to the public. I don't need to tell you that the response was alarming. For the same problem, he might uncover one website that told you it was no big deal, while another told you that you were on the verge of death, and another might give you inaccurate advice on medical procedures or medicines you should be getting. From then on, Josh told me never to go on the Internet for my information.

Even though I know that using "Dr. Google" can be dangerous, it is far too tempting to resist simply typing in my symptoms and getting instant gratification. That is why I loved reading The 24-Hour Pharmacist. In one reputable book that I could keep in my library, I had information about things like fatigue, weight loss, anxiety, heart problems, cramps and crankiness, among others. The author, Suzy Cohen, R. Ph. has been a pharmacist for 2 decades and has a syndicated column that reaches 24 million readers across the country. Although I've always thought that pharmacists would be more likely to promote prescription drugs than anything else, The 24-Hour Pharmacist recommends natural options such as herbs, enzymes and supplements instead of overmedicating with drugs.

If you were to sit in my living room for an evening of television viewing, you'd discover that this is one of my biggest pet peeves. I hate the fact that now we have to sit through commercial after commercial for the drug companies. As my mom pointed out last night, we see so many drug commercials that we can now recognize the drugs just from the description. A little purple pill anyone? How about the butterfly?

It worries me that people watch these commercials promising quick fixes for any discomfort, and might go to their doctor with a specific drug in mind to request it, whether or not that drug is the right choice for them. Additionally, if you wait for the end of the commercials, or read the drug inserts, the long list of side effects are often much worse than the original symptoms!

Because of this, I'm a big fan of either trying to prevent illnesses before they occur, or trying to resolve illnesses through natural remedies- both of which The 24-Hour Pharmacist tries to do. Specifically, some of the remedies described even hope to get you healthy and off any prescribed drugs through natural remedies. It sounds a little crazy to say that, but the author doesn't advise you to stop taking your medications cold turkey, but rather to start following natural remedies, or try them as an alternative and then see if your health problems don't resolve. She describes different health problems in great detail to zero in on what the problem might be, and then advises you to work with your doctor to see if supplements might help you as much or more (!!) than drugs.

For example, in her chapter on Overcoming Fatigue: From Stupor Woman to Super Woman, Suzy Cohen R. Ph. describes the different types of fatigue experienced by different women. She has catchy names for the different problems (I think I'm a Juggling Janet) and then describes what might be causing the problems (maybe a drug reaction, maybe an adrenal problem, maybe your thyroid) and then makes suggestions for natural remedies (ask for an alternate medication, change your diet, try an herbal supplement, try an over the counter additive).

My mom and I were glued to her chapter on weight loss, Lose Fat While You Sleep... When Pink Elephants Fly. My mom, specifically, is always trying to lose weight without doing anything, and she's willing to try loads of diet pills if she thinks they'll help. I'm constantly chastising her and begging her to just e-x-e-r-c-i-s-e, but the appeal of an easy fix is just too much. I was sure that The 24-Hour Pharmacist would be a chapter telling you that all the herbal remedies and diet pills are all a waste of money, but instead, Suzy Cohen went into great detail about why each supplement works or doesn't work and what you can try for your different problems. My mom, needless to say, was THRILLED. In fact, this past week we traveled to Montreal and Quebec, and before we left she followed one of the book's suggestions and purchased some hoodia gordonii in pill form. According to her, the hoodia was a raging success. Even when faced with the French treats we passed at the bakeries in Quebec, she was able to resist engorging herself. That is HUGE for her, because notoriously, she has no will power. She's excited to try some of the other remedies described also, and I may just have to eat my words.

Unfortunately, I had to use my mom as my guinea pig because since I'm still breastfeeding Gabriel, I was a little nervous to add anything new to my diet. One suggestion I did follow from the book was to add Omega 3 fatty acids to my diet. I purchased both fish oils and flax seed oils, and alternated for the last month while taking one in the morning and one at night. Gabe's pediatrician approved, by the way. I can't tell you 100% for sure that the fatty acids did it, but I lost about 4 more pounds that had previously been stuck on my frame, and my skin seemed clearer, my hair shinier, and best of all, I felt a little less fatigued and with a little more energy.
I didn't make any other changes besides adding these supplements to my diet, so I'm definitely sticking with it. Plus, of course, we've all heard of how great Omega 3's are for our bodies, so it is certainly worth trying.

I could go on and on about the book, because even the chapters that don't apply to me (yet), like the ones on stomach or bone problems were interesting. My mom is begging me to let her borrow it because she found the information so helpful. The 24-Hour Pharmacist is more than worth it's price, especially if you are a closet Internet diagnostician.

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The Parent Bloggers are giving away a $50 gift certificate to CVS, so if you'd like to be entered in the running, leave a comment on the post for The 24-Hour Pharmacist.

rrrrrrr... a parent bloggers review

Parent Bloggers Review

I grew up speaking Spanish. In fact, Spanish was my first language because my parents didn’t speak much English when I came along. I learned the little bits of English that they knew from them, and then learned more in school and of course, from television. I went through different stages during my childhood of refusing to speak Spanish or being embarrassed to speak Spanish in front of friends. When I was 10, though, we took a trip for 3 months to Argentina to visit all of our family and friends, and since then, I’ve been enraptured with the language. All of a sudden, I realized what being bilingual meant. Since then, I’ve worked to keep up the language, including studying there in high school, college and law school, each for a semester. I’ve tried to get back to Argentina whenever possible, and Josh even took an immersion trip to Costa Rica 2 years ago in the hopes that he’d be able to speak Spanish fluently in the future.

It appears that Gabriel is also working on being bilingual. At least, he’s been gargling and gurgling so much, that my mother in law asked me the other day if he was practicing rolling his r’s. I doubt that, but I certainly have been working to make sure that he will also grow up bilingual. And trust me, this is harder than it sounds. I have to remind myself constantly to speak to him in Spanish, even when Josh is around. I have also been buying books and music CD’s in Spanish so that when we read and sing together, he will constantly be exposed to the language.

When the Parent Bloggers asked me to review the Boca Beth language program, I was excited. Gabriel is still too young at 4 and a half months to give me much of an indication as to whether he likes the products, but I tried them out myself to see what I thought. The Boca Beth set that we received included a DVD called “I like animals”, music CD, coloring activity book, Boca puppet and maraca. All of these products come in a set that retails for $29.99.

The first thing we tried out was the musical CD, along with the props. I tried mimicking the songs from the CD with the Boca puppet. Gabriel was a fan, and I agreed that Boca was pretty cute, with bright colors and ease of maneuverability. The maraca was also a hit with Gabe, although his rhythm was a bit off. The CD had 15 songs that included phrases in both English and Spanish, often directly translated one after the other. The same song might include one sentence in English, followed by the same sentence in Spanish, or vice versa. The songs were catchy and not too long, and I was able to get through a few of them before Gabriel lost interest (not bad for a 4 month old, I’d say). I didn’t love the CD, though, mainly because I would have preferred a full song in each language, or at least a full section of each song in the different languages. Since almost every sentence was in a different language, I thought it could be a little confusing for a non-native speaker. I worry that it might not be totally clear whether each sentence is a repetition of the previous sentence in the other language, or whether it is just a continuation of the song. I did think the songs were fun for kids, though, and as long as you were clear on how the songs were structured, you’d definitely learn Spanish from the CD.

The DVD won me over, though. Gabe doesn’t watch TV yet, but when he does, I’m sure he’ll love the DVD. I believe that the best way to learn another language is by seeing language in context, live and in action, and that is what the DVD does. The DVD is interesting enough to keep a child’s attention, and included quite a bit of vocabulary and language. The DVD’s description boasted 200 vocabulary words and 85 phrases. Not too shabby for one DVD, that’s for sure. Animals are featured throughout, with their names in both Spanish and English, along with descriptive sentences in each language. I also loved the fact that Gabriel will hear grammar and other words besides just the names of the animals. I may even try to imitate that structure when I teach him other words in Spanish and English in the future.

The coloring book was cute, but definitely too old for a baby. I did show it to my 7 year old nephew and almost 4 year old niece, and they both seemed interested in learning the different Spanish words featured in the book. I was pleased to see that the products will apparently appeal to a broad range of ages. Once Gabriel is old enough to understand a little more, I suspect we’ll be using the whole set of products for quite some time.

My overall feeling about the products is that they will definitely come in handy if you’d like to introduce a foreign language to your child. Obviously, they can’t do it all by themselves, but the DVD and CD could certainly spark an interest in Spanish in your child. All the products appear to be entertaining for children, and I’d definitely recommend it to friends.

If you’re interested in checking out one of the Boca Beth sets, leave a comment on Parent Bloggers for a chance to win a free copy!

in the eternal quest for more fiber

Since being pregnant, my quest for enough fiber has been a never-ending one, as I'm sure you all can relate.

I have to share my newest discovery... Fiber One's Granola Bars. Seriously, I cannot stop talking about these granola bars because they are sooo delicious, and the best part is that they have 35% of your daily fiber. 35%!!! Do you know how many vegetables I have to eat in order to get to 35% of my fiber?!

I have never had tastier granola bars than these, and I tried both flavors- Oats and Chocolate and Peanut Butter, and both were fantastic. I thought that maybe I was crazy because I loved these bars so much, but I ran them by both Josh and my parents, and all agreed that they are sweet and yummy. More like a candy bar, than a granola bar. I even made my mom take me straight to the grocery store in California to pick some up, because I love taking a short break in the afternoon with one of the granola bars and a cup of decaf coffee as a quick pick-me-up.

The funniest thing is that I googled the granola bars to see where I could find them here in California, and there were tons of blog posts about them, so I'm not the only convert.

I'd definitely give them a try if you are also in the hunt for fiber, and if you don't like them, send them my way!

public service announcement for new moms

I told Gabriel that it's about time that he starts making a living around here, we're not running a free joint. So Gabriel and I have been hard at work for the past couple of weeks reviewing a product from the Parent Bloggers Network- the Burpcatcher. The Parent Bloggers Network reviews all kinds of kid and parent appropriate products through blogging. I've been looking at their products for a while now and have found tons of items that are interesting, so check it out if you have a minute!

If this is your first visit to the Halloweenlover household, welcome! I'm a new mom to an 8 week old baby boy (Gabriel), on maternity leave from my law firm in Boston, married to a business school student (Josh) who is currently knee deep in his post-graduation job search, and living with our two adorable pooches.

I have to admit that many things about being a new mom were a surprise to me- the explosive and leaky diapers, the socks that constantly slip off, the dry skin (for both of us), and definitely, DEFINITELY, the spit-up. My mom never mentioned the spit-up and my niece and nephew never seemed to do it, at least when I was around, so I was wholly unprepared for the prolific, ahem, liquid that could appear without warning. So when the Parent Bloggers Network asked me to review the Burpcatcher, I was psyched!

Funnily enough, I'd just seen an advertisement for the Burpcatcher when I received the email from PBN. The Burpcatcher is just like a regular burp cloth, but with a pocket at one end. Once you place the Burpcatcher over your shoulder or arm, the pocket automatically hangs open, and stays open, to catch any spit-up that might ensue from a burping session. The Burpcatcher comes in a couple of options, both costing $9.99. You can either purchase a package of two flannel Burpcatchers with a ribbon lining in pink, blue or green, or one fleece Burpcatcher also coming in pink, blue or green. Gabe was a little disappointed to receive his sample Burpcatcher in pink, but after some convincing he agreed to try it out anyway.





See? Doesn't he look a little moody about the pinkness?







The Burpcatcher is the first burp cloth to include a pocket that catches spit-up rather than letting it run down your back, or over your arm and onto the rest of your clothing.
The hardest part about using the Burpcatcher, is to remember to pick it up every time you go to burp your baby, or if you know that you are approaching a fussy time that often includes spit-up. In our case, Gabe doesn't consistently spit-up so I occasionally risk it and leave off the burp cloth, but since I was trying the product I made an effort to use it constantly and it certainly worked.

We've found over the last 2 months that regular burp cloths aren't absorbent enough, so for the most part we stick with cloth diapers. I was happy to find that the flannel fabric was just as absorbent as the cloth diapers we've been using and caught most of the spit-up before it reached the pocket, but the pocket did save my sweater a couple of times. We also draped it over the boppy and leaned him onto the boppy for some modified tummy time. It caught some unanticipated spit-up then too. I even brought it to my new mommy's group to see what some of the other mothers thought, and those of us that have experienced the spit-up agreed that it would have been a great gift. The colors are simple enough to go with anyone's style. It would be a cute shower gift if you were in the market for gifts.

Now if only Burpcatcher could come up with a burping bib with a pocket too, for those spit-up episodes when I'm sitting Gabe up in front of me for a chat!

All in all, I was definitely pleased with these burp cloths and found them easy to use and pretty cute. One of the other reviewers mentioned that in her dryer the Burpcatchers were the last things to dry, but I didn't have that experience, although now I'm wondering if maybe I'm overdrying my clothes! I'd definitely recommend them to a new mom or anyone looking for a baby gift.

monitors anyone?

There is an awful lot going on in the halloweenlover household these days, most of them relating to the bayyybeee that is possibly arriving in this household in the coming weeks. This Monday was our 32 week appointment, at which time the pumpkin showed off its wriggling skills and moved in and out of the reach of the doppler several times, making it difficult for the doctor to get an accurate read on the heartbeat. He or she probably weighs around 4 pounds, based on her manual estimates and measurements. All appears to be well, and we're very happy to be crossing the threshold into 32 weeks. For some reason, this whole baby thing feels very REAL these days.

Over the past couple of weeks, Josh and I have been fortunate enough to play around with a new product sent to us for our review. A very, very new BABY product, that has just hit the shelves at your neighborhood Huge Baby Store, the Philips DECT Baby Monitor.

Now, a baby monitor was something we'd thought long and hard about. Should we get a video monitor or an audio monitor? What were the relevant features? What about interference? Would it block the cordless phone and internet (we've experienced this problem before)? What about price? What about size and looks? There were a number of things to think about.

Once you've made the choice for an audio monitor rather than video, the Philips monitor definitely comes out as a front runner. After owning it and playing with it for a couple of week, albeit without a baby, here are my thoughts:

1. It is the cutest baby monitor I've seen out there.
These monitors, both the one that remains in the baby's room and the one that goes along with you, are pretty sleek and modern-looking. The monitors are white with yellowish/orange accents. The parental unit comes with an attachment to wear it on your belt or around your neck. It is small, about the size of a small cordless phone or largish cell phone.

2. The features and perks are very nice.
Both monitors have bright displays that are easy to read. Both show you the time, volume, and temperate in the nursery. The parental unit (handheld one) can activate a few lullabies and a nightlight from a remote location. We tested this one out and could scroll through and turn on lullabies from downstairs! The nightlight can also be turned on from downstairs, and it seems to be a good strength, nothing so crazy that it would wake up a baby, it just sort of casts a soft glow over the room and displays little stars on the light up portion. You can also use the parental monitor to talk to the baby from another room. I'm not sure how much we'll use this feature, but I didn't see it on other monitors. Of all of these, my favorite feature was seeing the temperature in the nursery since I'm a little paranoid about that room getting too hot, since it is very small.

3. Best of all, NO INTERFERENCE.
We used the monitors near the computers while surfing the internet, and tested them with each of our cordless phones and even while the microwave was running. This was a problem we'd had in the past with tons of electronics, so it was a relief to get away from it! Apparently, Philips uses "digital enhanced cordless telecommunication" to make sure you don't hear your neighbor's baby instead of your own by scrolling through up to 60 channels to find a clear connection. I don't know anything about the technology, but it definitely worked. Our neighborhood is full of kids and even when we left it on for hours, we never heard anything but our own house. Josh and I had a good time using the monitor as a walkie-talkie and running around the house chatting to each other. When we aren't making noise, I hear absolutely nothing from the monitor- no background noise or strange sounds or buzzing or anything. I think I'll appreciate that when I'm trying to sleep.

The monitor is really new, and I've only seen it on display in the glass display case at Huge Baby Store, looking all petite and cute next to the other models. I was nervous to have a review a product like this one, because I've been so picky about other baby items, I was convinced I'd be disatisfied. But truthfully, I'm very impressed with how easy to use and functional I think the Philips monitor is. I'd definitely recommend it to other new or expectant parents I know. Feel free to email me if you have any other questions! And I'll do another review once the littlest member of our family is here. I'm sure I'll have more opinions once there is a baby on the other end, instead of Josh making scary noises and trying to terrify me.