Archive for August, 2010
Aug
31
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Dr. Noel Alonso is a practicing pediatrician in South Florida who recently answered readers’ questions as part of a back-to-school online chat.
Question: At what point should a parent keep their kid at home from school? Is it (when they’re) running a temperature, or are there other signs? — A. Wenger
Answer: Running a fever or having flu-like symptoms should probably keep the kids home. I would encourage parents to wait at least 24 hours before returning them back to school. Other things might include vomiting or more than a few episodes of diarrhea. Finally, any unusual rashes should be checked out first.
Q: Do we still have to worry about the swine...
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Aug
31
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Blythe Bernhard, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
When Owen Stark came to St. Louis Children’s Hospital in June with severe lung disease, he had just a few days to live and even fewer options for treatment.
Owen, 2, had severe pulmonary hypertension, meaning the blood vessels in his lungs were so constricted they could barely carry blood. He had to go on life support to keep his heart and lungs functioning.
Medications for the disease can take weeks or months to improve a patient’s condition. Waiting for a suitable lung transplant can add another two to six months.
“Transplant or medication, both options take time, and he didn’t have time,” said Dr. Mark Grady, Owen’s cardiologist.
A surgeon on the team had heard...
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Aug
30
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Traci Arbios, herdingsquirrels.com
It seemed like such a great deal, who could resist?
All I had to do was re-post the free iPod Touch offer on my Facebook account, and fulfill a deal, and bam! I’d get a free iPod Touch. Or maybe it was an iPad? Or a digital camcorder? Wait, no, the offer was for weight loss! A local-area woman lost 40 lbs using this one, age-old trick. Or with Acai berry juice or something. All we have to do is click through and give up some personal information to find out!
Internet scams are so cheesily delicious, aren’t they? They follow you from site to site, nagging, pulling, promising the delivery of some tasty little nugget all for absolutely nothing. Intelligent, thoughtful, persistent people ignore them. And then...
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Aug
30
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Bridget Carey, McClatchy Newspapers
The era of child cellphones is gone. A 3-year old can understand how to use an iPhone better than some adults and, because of that, cellphone makers quickly learned that no kid wants a Fisher-Price-looking plastic phone.
Children want the phones mom and dad have. They want to text easily, upload videos to YouTube, check Facebook and take quality photos. But do they need to have the most expensive, top-of-the-line phone? And how do you avoid surprise bills because someone talks or texts too much?
Before shopping for your child’s cellphone, ask the carrier what plans they offer to monitor usage and parental control settings. Controls can help track where a phone is or limit what time a phone call or text can be...
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Aug
29
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Rebecca Fanter, Hybrid Mom
So, you are a new mom and overloaded with advice? Veteran moms tell you to breastfeed, bottle feed, sleep with your baby, don’t sleep with your baby, use a pacifier, don’t use a pacifier and we could go on and on. Well, new moms, listen up for just one more piece of advice and it’s going to be the best one that you’ve ever heard. Start a monthly girls group!
Yes, you heard me right, a mandatory once a month girls’ night out (or in)! Let me tell you, those friends that you went to college with or grew up with will soon become hard to keep up with. Phone calls will become few and far between. The phone calls that you do have with them will end with “we’ll have to get together,” but you may...
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Aug
28
Posted by
Julie Wallace
I read with interest a recent Associated Press story about the birth rate dropping. The recession is getting at least some of the blame.
Apparently, that doesn’t apply to our family. That’s right: In November, our cozy little family of three (five if you include the dog and the cat) will grow by the addition of one little girl.
To say her impending arrival was a surprise is an understatement. Sure, I know how babies are made. But with seven years between this little girl and our daughter, I kind of thought we’d skipped by the family growth cycle. Neither Lewis nor I are young — I’m labeled AMA, which stands for advanced maternal age, or too darn old, if you care for my interpretation — but someone with a higher power than us decided...
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Aug
27
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Jenny Schafer, McClatchy-Tribune
Ricky Schroder stole our hearts in the ’80s TV sitcom “Silver Spoons” as the rich kid we all loved. Now 40, Rick has outgrown the child star persona — and the “y” — and appeared in shows such as “NYPD Blue,” “Lonesome Dove” and “24.”
Rick is also a dedicated family man, having been married to his sweetheart Andrea for 20 years. Together, they have four gorgeous kids: Holden, 18, Luke, 17, Cambrie, 13, and Faith Anne, 9. Rick opened up to Celebrity Baby Scoop about his personal evolution, Holden’s traumatic head injury, the non-stop cooking and cleaning it takes to raise four kids, and their one-year family adventure in Spain.
Celebrity... Read more
Aug
27
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Julia Edwards, Chicago Tribune
Every fall, the hopeful warriors of tryout season stampede gyms and fields across the country. Whether they’re upperclassmen hoping to make the leap to varsity or seventh-graders facing the selection process for the first time, each student faces the possibility of rejection.
“My coaches say that’s the hardest thing they do, having to cut kids,” said Terry Cooper, athletic director of Mountain Brook Schools in Birmingham, Ala.
Unlike grades that can be raised over the year, team cuts are quick, blunt and final. In today’s parenting climate of positive reinforcement, not making the team may be the first time a child is told he is not good enough. What to say, then, to the sullen, sweaty child...
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Aug
26
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Lorain County Moms
By Emilie Le Beau, McClatchy-Tribune
Expecting parents understand that changing their bundle of joy will be gross. They understand the need will be frequent and at times, extremely foul.
But it’s surprising to learn how extra gross it can be to change a child when traveling. Airplane bathrooms are both small and unsanitary.
Many planes have changing tables but some airplane bathrooms do not have space to accommodate parents. In these instances, parents are forced to change their child on a closed toilet seat.
Using a portable changing pad can help parents buffer their children from the grossness of airplane and other public bathrooms.
The Pronto is a travel changing pad that slips into a diaper bag or clips onto a strap or stroller. When...
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Aug
26
Posted by
Lorain County Moms
By Amy Kossoff Smith, The Business of Motherhood
I recently published some tips for back to school and wanted to share some of the highlights. In “New School Year, New Trends,” I compare the home to the school setting to help parents find creative ways to bring expectations and rewards offered at school into the home environment. This way, you’re consistent; you’re speaking the same “language” as the teacher; and it may surprise you that your child is capable of many things … even vacuuming!
I suggested modeling the home system after the school system if possible, and also, using the school year as an opportunity to set up (or re-establish daily routines at home). For the full set of tips, visit Read more
