Progress

Summer break has been here for a couple weeks now and quite a few changes have happened!

First, Evan was re-evaluated and his speech has improved so much that he would not even be eligible for speech services! Now, we just have to keep working on it and working on the those behaviors that came along with the frustration! He is going to a summer program where the teachers are experienced in dealing with these issues and are focusing on getting him more involved in group activities. We have the option of continuing with a program like this for fall and our first reaction was to send him back to "regular preschool" but after seeing the attention he is getting, we are quickly changing our minds! How great would it be to get him completely caught up (and possibly even further along) by time he goes to kindergarten and look back at all this!!

Dylan is bored out of his mind this summer! He is not going into a summer program because we didn't like it last year so he is staying home. He entertains himself a lot and he loves our new sitter or "mommy's helper" that we just hired. Kristen started yesterday and she is so great with both the boys! Unfortunately, it was rainy and wet outside so they had to occupy themselves inside but she did a great job interacting with them! Being she is also a certified teacher helps =) She has lots of ideas to keep them busy and to get Evan eating!! She got him to eat his PB&J bite for bite with a granola bar yesterday while I was out running errands!

I might as well totally utilize this time with her and give her a list of things Dylan needs to work on for preparation for 1ST grade as well as a list of goals that Evan is working on at school!

OH EVAN!!

This has become the new saying in the house because quite a few times a day Evan gets into something he shouldn't and even Dylan now says "OH EVAN!" Most of the time Dylan just laughs at him which as you can imagine doesn't help ;) Evan turns 3 next month and it is reminding me what a long way we have come. I've been really frustrated with myself lately for my lack of memory. I thought I was passed being pissed about what had happened in that labor room 3 years ago, but I guess I am not. It's causing more problems than I thought. Adam has to deal with the gaps of memory that sometimes does not make sense. I can sometimes remember the most random things that doesn't have any significance but can't remember an important date. I am terrible with recognizing people (even right after meeting them), can't remember names, and have to write everything down.

With all of these issues, I have to realize that I am lucky but damn it sometimes it doesn't feel that way when my 6 year old looks at me with confusion when I can't remember something he had told me. For all I know, he thinks I just don't care.

Evan continues to have some speech issues, but last week after going back to see the ENT, it was decided it was best to proceed with having ear tubes put in. This was after getting 2 ear infections within a 6 week period. They scheduled it really quickly and we had to go into surgery yesterday morning at 6:45 AM. I basically had to do what we did for the sedated ABR hearing test. I went into the room with him where we put the mask on him for gas while the anesthesiologist talked softly about taking a balloon ride and flying high in the sky which was totally appropriate since he is always talking about flying to the moon! He was out quickly, I gave him a kiss and it seemed like it took 10-15 mins and he was in recovery. Since the little bugger didn't sleep the night before, he was OUT! Daddy tickled his feet until he woke up. We had to make sure he was OK before we were discharged.

He was in a little discomfort, but we gave him some Tylenol and he has been in a pretty good mood since so it looks like everything went fine. PHEEEW! I am positive we made the right decision here.

He went back to preschool and recently had a Mother's Day brunch where he was supposed to hand me a potted flower and bring me to the table and serve me a Pb&J sandwich but as usual he did not want to participate and refused to be a part of the group. While all the parents stared on, I tried to calm him down and get him to sit at the table with me but kept screaming "NO TANKS!!" (This is because he would typically scream out "NO" so we are trying to replace that =) It was just too much for him (and me because I felt like I was going to cry if I had to sit there any longer with everyone's eyes on me) so off we went and he was happy again.

I felt a little pathetic walking out because I could not stop the flow of tears. I sucked it up quickly and decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and I should be grateful that he is at least talking more! We just have to kick these behaviors =)

Evan's Sedated Hearing Test

Tomorrow Is Evan's ABR (Auditory Brainstem Response Hearing Test).... and I could not sleep last night! It's not a major test and Adam thinks he will just be a little groggy to relax him and not be completely out. I am not sure why I am so nervous! Maybe it's the thought of possibly they won't let me be with him during testing (I'm little controlling) or maybe it's the actual results of the tests that will scare me.

If his hearing is OK, that means the delay is a DELAY... and if his hearing is not OK, then we may be looking at hearing devices, and depending on results could mean adjusting to a new therapy...

I just want to know NOW what I should be doing or could e doing to help him. It's extremely frustrating!

Here is the explanation of the exam from the Boston Children's Hospital:

What is an Auditory Brainstem Response Evaluation (ABR)?

An Auditory Brainstem Response Evaluation (ABR) is a type of test, usually performed for infants and young children, that evaluates how well sounds travel along the hearing nerve pathways from the ear to the brainstem. There are two main types of hearing loss:
Conductive hearing loss -- problems transmitting sound from the outer ear (where sound is collected) to the inner ear. This type of hearing loss can often reverse itself as children grow older.
Sensorineural hearing loss -- problems with the nerves connecting the inner ear to the brain. In the inner ear, tiny hairs on the cochlea act as a neural pathway, transmitting through the inner ear. Usually, problems with these hairs on the cochlea are responsible for sensorineural hearing loss. It is usually permanent and present at birth.
An ABR test, by evaluating the hearing nerve pathways, can identify cases of sensorineural hearing loss. It is a sleep EEG hearing test which shows the softest sounds your child's ears can detect at various pitches. The ABR compares changes in brain activity to the timing of repetitive sounds to determine whether the particular intensity of sound can be heard.

How is it performed?

There will be three or four small stickers on your child's head, connected to leads going into a computer. Sounds will be presented through an earphone to each ear separately while a computer analyzes the changes in the brain wave pattern in response to sounds.
Your child should be sleeping for the duration of the test. Young children under the age of six months are not usually sedated, and the test is performed while the infant is naturally sleeping, following a feeding. Children over the age of six months are usually sedated with chloral hydrate.

The test is not painful or uncomfortable in any way, but it is necessary for your child to be asleep in order to obtain clear recordings during the test.

You will be in the room with your child during the test, and the results will be explained immediately afterward.

Bad, bad blogger (family update)

OK, I realize it's been over a month since I last posted but I have good reasons =) I have been busy with the 2 businesses, Evan's therapies, and all these holidays! Unfortunately, I pulled something in my back which I thought was better until the other day, and snap! It's back and worse! I called my insurance company to see if I could get approval to see a chiropractor and they said we haven't had insurance since November! So, I am treating myself through my heating pad and old muscle relaxers left over from my TMJ pain. I can stand up for about 5 minutes before it starts to pull again. Hopefully Adam will get the insurance thing worked out soon.

Luckily, the kids are still insured which is needed for Evan's hearing test coming up soon that he has to be sedated for- I would hate to see that bill!

Evan has been showing improvements in all of his therapies, so his 33% delay is now at a 25% delay which dosen't seem like a lot but we're heading in the right direction. We're hoping the hearing test will give us some answers.



Dylan is doing really well in Kindergarden and I recently had our first parent/teacher confrence and the teacher says he is a great listener, helpful, and patient! He is on holiday break now and is "sooooo bored" but I haven't been able to do much with my back so Adam took him to the movies the other night and last night he went to Grandma's house... THANKS MOM! You have single handily saved my sanity today.


As for the holidays, this year we celebrated Chanukua early with my in-laws at Thanksgiving time, so we did X-mas with my family. We decorate our "Chanukua tree" with blue and silver as usual and added our new star of david ornament we found at Disney but I didn't take pics this year because Evan pretty much would take the decorations off, even sliding his chair over to reach further! He then decided to decorate it with his Hess trucks! Really, I found a truck smack dab in the middle of the tree. Looks like it may have been flying when it crashed =)

We went to my mom's for x-mas and exchanged gifts. Every year my sister gets something noisy for my kids, so this year I thought it would be funny to get a child size drum set for her 1 1/2 year old daughter, Trista! She actually plays it! I think this one may back fire on me next year......


This year was incredibly tight financially, so we didn't spend a lot of money but still had a good time with family which is the best part anyway. Evan got a red Radio Flyer tricycle (with a very cool compartment on the back that he likes to hide thigs in) and Dylan got a really cool scooter that he was actually able to ride the other day at the park due to some strange warm weather we had.

Tonight we are looking forward to going to a family friendly New Year's party that one of Dylan's friend's parents are having so that should be fun- wonder if I can bring my heating pad??

See you all in 2010!

Business coaching for momprenuers

Ever hear of business coaching? It's a person you hire to give you information/advice to improve your business. It could be improvements to your business plan, marketing, website, etc...

Over the past couple years while developing Bubele and joining tons of social networking sites to help spread the word about my new brand, as well as connect with other small business owners to share tips, I have come across tons of offers for "coaching." I always laughed at the idea of having someone coach me, thinking "what are they possibly going to tell me?" That doesn't mean I didn't think I knew all the answers or I had the perfect marketing plan but I did know that I had certain problem areas that needed improvement and that I just needed to focus more to change those things. I thought having a coach would just point out what I already knew what was wrong. I didn't want to pay for that!

Even though being very skeptical, I have been following "The Mogul Mom", Heather Allard, a business coach, on Twitter, facebook, and I have been receiving her newsletter for a year I think. I have to admit, I am one of those newsletter subscribers that just skims through a newsletter, half-reading it and then deleting it! But after a few of Heather's newsletters that are jam packed with solid advice, those emails same became my partner. I began labeling several of these emails, such as "marketing" because it just wasn't one of those emails that gives you a tid bit of info, no, her newsletters were actually useful. There are plenty of times when Heather outlines a very important tip and how to implement it.

Like all good blogs, Heather offers contests. It just so happened she was offering a free coaching package that I had won! After seeing how skeptical I am about coaches (if you've half-red this post, see above =) you may wonder why the heck would I try to win this coaching package? Well, Heather is just not any business coach, she developed her own baby product, marketed it, and sold the company. This is how she became a coach for mom entrepreneurs. She knows the business and I wanted a glimpse!

So, what did I get out of it? A kick in the ass!! Yeah, she mentioned some problem areas that I already knew about but she had instructions of what to do and how to change it! It was basically like having a partner for 2 weeks. I let her know my problems and concerns and she always had an answer! I wanted a way to get more sales, she said go here and place an ad. OK, done. She noticed I was not describing my patent pending feature, the Bubele Loop (to attach a paci) well enough on my website. I began changing pictures and descriptions on my site to better explain my features and why you can't live without my products! OK, this one is going to take awhile to finish, but at least it's a start!

Anyways, I had problems, Heather had answers! So, now what do I think of business coaching? Well, I definitely know what they are all about now that I have worked with a great coach so I can share what I have learned. A great coach, like Heather Allard, will get to know your product, website, and your market in order to give you valuable ways to improve your business. Obviously Heather is so good because she was a mom entrepreneur who knows my market, who's been there herself! Maybe this is the key to a great coach.

If you're running around in circles trying to figure out what your next step is, or if you need someone to help you acknowledge goals, or even help carry out your own goals you set for yourself, I will tell you Heather is worth every penny she charges! Forget about wondering if it would actually work or not, it will! How much money did you waste this year on trying to figure out what works? Let Heather get you focused for the new year and I guarantee you will be thanking me!

Now, if you are just starting out as a new mom entrepreneur, hire Heather now! If I would of hired her 2 years ago, it wouldn't have taken me the past 2 years to learn what I have learned.

I've contacted Heather to let her know I am going to ramble on about her services and she let me know she has this special going on right now:

I've extended the 20% off coaching special until Sunday, November 15, 2009. Just use THANKS at checkout for 20% any coaching package.

Don't overthink this one, just do this! It's not expensive and after she's done with you, you'll wonder why she dosen't charge more =)

Update on Evan's early intervention

It's been a few months since Evan started in the early intervention program and he defintely is making great improvements! We started out with one day a week of speech therapy and one more day another teacher would come and just work on general stuff. After seeing some imporvement, we wanted to push! We then requested to increase his speech services to 2 times a week where one of the days the therapist would go to pre school with him. So far so good! He has been learning some basic signs like "help" "more" "eat" etc. He now uses words with the signs and is a little easier to communicate with him- before he was so frustrated!!

A few weeks ago, it was time for EI services to review his progress and they determained that he was really delayed in gross and fine motor skills =( When I found out, it was like a kick in the gut and I just wanted to cry, but we are moving forward! Evan now receives 4 days a week in therapies. A new OT, Beth has started with him once a week on top of his other 3 days of therapy- PHEW! It's a lot, but we are hanging in there and juggling it all!

New Bubele Bums AIO diapers are here!!

I am so excited to introduce these new AIO diapers! This shipment came to me today which was a good surprise because I wasn't expecting them! Good thing they came in the morning because we had Evan's teacher coming to the house in the afternoon and tons of other stuff going!! I'm a little overwhelmed with the amount of stock I have now.....

I have a couple different options with these great AIO diapers. I wanted to do a competitive price on a bulk starter pack so I am offering these on my website:

$189
12 Basic AIO diapers
12 Snap in boosters
6 Cloth wipes
1 Wetbag
1 Snappy

But for my very supportive Ebay Mamas, I am offering an Intro price where you can win one diaper to give these a test drive =)
You can try your luck at one of the auctions starting at $1 or buy them for $12!

Don't forget to check out the super cute printed Minky AIO diapers on my site: MINKY AIO
These are a little pricier at $24 but match them with my clothing or leg warmers and it's well worth it!! The leg warmers are a little delayed but will be here soon.

Stay tuned here for contests and keep checking on the website because I am adding more cute product pics as all chocolate prints will be in next month so BUY BUY BUY! Please!

Explaining death to a 5 year old....

This picture was taken the last time we saw my father-in-law, Marty or AKA "Grandpa Marty". He has been battling Crohn's disease all of his life and has been very sick on and off for quite some time. He actually was going to cancel the trip to meet us in NY because he was recovering still from being very sick. This was in May and we knew it would be a special trip to take the boys to see a Mets game with Grandpa Marty, but I would have never guessed it would be our last time together.

We drove down, which is about 5 hours from us to pick up my FIL from the airport and drive to the hotel near the new Mets stadium. It ended up being a dive of a hotel, but we made the most of it! We had some time before the night game to grab some dinner so we decided on Chinese. Since Marty worked at JFK for years and knew the city pretty well, he wanted to try and find a really good authentic restaurant. So, we asked one of the driver's and away we went!

I have never had such great Chinese food before. It was extremely fresh. I remember what we all ordered to. It's like family style, so you order platters of things and pick out what you want. Of course I got the kids sweet & sour chicken (which is fried) so I also ordered vegetable lo mein, grilled chicken and broccoli, and Marty got steamed fish (he was trying to be good). But the longer we sat, the more me and Marty started to pick at all the left over food- there ws no way of eating it all.... Of course, Marty wanted to take it with us.

We freshened up and went off to see the Mets! We were all decked out in our gear. We had our Mets hats, Dylan in his Met shirt, Adam in his Met Jersey and he gave Marty a Met jacket. Dylan belongs to a Kid's fan club so he got all kinds of cool stuff like a lanyard, backpack, and hat! We were on our way to find our seats (which weren't the best, but not the worst) and Adam said he had to go off to the ticket office to get something that came with Dylan's flan club pack. Minutes later, Jen (from the Pepsi giveaway crew I think) came up to us and says we have been randomly selected to get an upgrade on our seats!! I called Adam immediately so we could go check out our new seats which was only a few rows away from the field! It was crazy... Adam had been talking about bringing his dad to a game for awhile and we actually did it and got this awesome upgrade!

Marty was a trooper. He had restless leg syndrome as well as severe gout in his legs right before he came, but he sat through most of the game, clapped and laughed with the kids, and of course made some jokes which he was famous for :)

I am so glad we got this time with him because we rarely get to see Adam's parents who lived in Florida. Once we had the kids, we started only coming once a year right after we visited Disney which became the tradition.

Over a month ago, Adam got a call that he should get down there ASAP because his dad was back in the hospital and he was not doing well. He seemed to be going back and forth with his heath but it didn't look good, so Adam went down as soon as possible. At that point, he was on life support and unresponsive. As the days went on, the prognosis got worse. Other family came to see him, so Adam came back home and we had to start planning on the worse case scenario and how we would all get down there, and then there's telling Dylan.... We decided to wait until we knew for sure what was going to happen. He knew Daddy was visiting Grandpa Marty in the hospital because he was very sick.

This was one of the hardest things we had to do.... look Dylan in those big blue eyes and tell him Grandpa Marty was dying. How do you explain this to a 5 year old? We thought about it for awhile before we actually approached him together. As Adam began to explain how sick he was, Dylan's eyes grew bigger and I could see the anxiety inside him, he knew. We had talks about death so we think he understands when we told him what was happening. He cried some and snuggled up on my lap. We wanted to be as open with him as possible and encouraged him to ask questions, which he did. At this point, Me and Adam were crying a bit and then Dylan looks up and asks "What are eyebrows for?" OK, we burst into laughing. Adam actually answered the question (in great detail) and then we talked about Grandpa Marty some more.

A couple days later, they decided to take him off life support knowing that he would not want to go on like he was. We started the 24 hr. drive to Fl, stopping once half-way through. Dylan knew that when we got to FL, we would stay awhile and end up going to a funeral which was explained to him at home. We were in the car, when we got the news that He had passed away. Luckily Adam's sister got to be with him.

I don't think we told Dylan right away, I think we may have waited until we stopped to rest. In fact, I think he actually brought it up. I had a long time in the car to think about all the great memories we had with him. I was mad, for selfish reasons, that Evan would not be able to get to know him like Dylan did. He was truly great with Dylan. He called him "Hollywood".

In the Jewish faith, you have to be buried right away, so the funeral was just a couple days later. We did take the boys to it. Evan wasn't old enough to really understand what was happening, but Dylan certainly did. We felt he needed this as closure, and I let him take some of the sand from Israel and place it on the coffin.

It's so hard to know if you are doing the right thing or saying the right thing to your own children. We didn't want to do something that could traumatize him for life, but we knew that Dylan could handle this. He very bright and intuitive for his age. He knows what is going on around him.

A couple days later, we decided to start back from home. As I mentioned earlier, we always go to Disney and then to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Well, while we were in FL, it was actually only a couple weeks before we had flights to head down there, to visit them first before heading to Disney this time around. We decided to go back home so we could separate this expedience from our family trip.

My biggest regret is not thanking Marty for the help with my business. He was a freight forwarder for years at JFK, so when it came down to me needing assistance with this part of my business, he took care of me. I always thought I would have more time to thank him, and I should know better than anyone that you can't put things off because things can happen!! So, this is another great life lesson learned, and that is all we can do from these experiences is learn.

Grandpa Marty, you will be in our hearts forever and will be truly missed!

Navigating through early intervention

For the past few months, we noticed a slight delay with Evan's speech (he's now 2). At first, I was a bit in denial thinking that every child is different and he would soon say more words, but after bringing it up to my pediatrician and due to the trauma during birth, we should have him evaluated.

So, we made an appointment with early intervention and had a special education teacher as well as a speech therapist come out and do an evaluation. I knew what to expect during this meeting because I use to work as a behavior therapist for a school district on Long Island before we moved upstate.

They came out and sat on the floor and brought a "bag of toys." Little did Evan know they were there to test him, not really to play. Well, he became tired and frustrated with the teacher and they began to see how he does not transition well between activities! He had to go down for a nap and then they calculated his scores and they did see a slight delay in a couple of areas.

A final report came in the mail the other day and we set up an appointment with a service coordinator where we went over our goals we would work on with Evan. We will be working on speech obviously as well as some fine motor skills.

It's really tough being the parent in this process as I am used to being the one on the other side of the table. I am lucky that there is nothing major going on with him and that I should just count my blessings, but I can't help but feel guilty! Could I be doing more? Is there something I should have been doing differently? I am not the greatest mother, but I would like to think I am a pretty good one.

Dylan (our 5 year old son) is at summer camp during the day, so we will be focusing a ton of attention on Evan this summer. It will help that next school year he will be going to preschool which will help with his social skills.

It's a scary thing to go through, but I am glad we are doing it. I think it's better to be cautious and get him the extra help and attention he needs to grow. I was reminded my by mother than my brother had speech therapy when he was in kindergarden and he overcame it and did well. So, all in all, I think it will turn out to be a good thing having all this one on one instruction for Evan.

May is a tough month personally

Some who have been following me since the beginning already know why May is extremely tough for me so I apologize if this seems like I am repeated myself every year! :)

I lost my first son years ago on May 17th and some birthdays are tougher than others. I have a routine on that day, which is to pick out flowers for the cemetery. I pick out 2 hanging plants, and I pick out flats of flowers (typically pansies) to plant in his planter near the stone. I always get too many, so I started planting the extras outside my window every year. In a crazy way, it just feels nice to have some connection with him.

Last year, as you can read from my old blog, I was at peace with everything that had happened because I know have a new tradition of celebrating life.

2 years ago, while delivering Evan, I stopped breathing. I had an "amniotic fluid embolism" which caused me to go into DIC and cardiac arrest. They performed an emergency c-section while trying to resuscitate me. After nearly 45 mins. later and about 25 units of blood, I was back. They didn't think I would make it through the night. After making through the night, they thought I would never recover and may suffer from major brain damage.

I was in the ICU for some time in a drug induced coma (so my body could heal). Every day they would wake me and see where I was at. Finally, after a couple weeks, I started talking although I could not remember anything. I was soon moved back to the maternity floor and they kept Evan in the hospital so he could be near me. Eventually I started remembering who everyone was and I received some physical therapy that got me up and walking. Needless to say, I had tons of doctors stop by to see how I could possibly be still alive, and walking and talking!

So, May 21st is Evan's birthday and the day I celebrate being alive. Last year I was more at peace with it, but this year was difficult for some reason. I am very thankful to still be here, but I often question why I was saved and not the mother before me?

Anyways, I am working through it. I keep busy with work and the kids. I wanted to share this with my new readers, not because I am fishing for sympathy, but because I want to share my story and hopefully may inspire you to enjoy life more :)

Being a WAHM.... easy, right?

I am sure every WAHM gets comments from people every once in awhile about how easy is must be to work from home while you take care of your kids. Well, my 5 year old was on spring break this week and it is now Friday and I love him dearly, but I am about to pull out my hair out and cry in a corner!

Yes, maybe I get to stay in my Pj's a little bit longer than moms that go to work outside of the home, but most days I feel like I work from 7:30 AM to 11 PM. I am not complaining because the best perk of being a WAHM is I can take a mini break and play with my kids any time I want. But to say it is easy, is not true at all!

Shortly after I can manage to get out of bed (after baby throws paci on the floor and yells uh-oh! for the 100Th time) I make the kids breakfast (and coffee) and go straight to work. There usually is some pressing issue that I have to take care of right away and as soon as I start my work day, I can get stuck at the computer for hours.

Of course during the morning rush, I have to change diapers, entertain a 5 year old and break up any fights/tantrums(Usually the baby starting a fight w/big bro). Hopefully I get lucky enough to break for lunch which often gets spent back at the computer.

Most days, I do try and not answer any emails after 4 or 5PM so I can start dinner, play with the kids and then... bedtime! Lately I have been lucky with the kids going to bed pretty easily!! Afterwards, I go back to work for awhile to follow up on any loose ends from earlier and then I take a break with hubby to watch TV. Before bed, I check emails to make sure everything is on track so I don't wake up to any disasters!

With all that said, I know this will get easier when the kids are both in school all day long. It's very difficult now to balance things just right because as a WAHM you have to focus on several things at once! Hopefully, with a little more organization on my part, I can find a way to balance family and work a little better than I have been! I wish I had some secrets to share to give other WAHMs some hope but the best advise I can give is be productive as possible each day to get closer to goals you set but set aside time throughout the day for kids. If something doesn't get done as fast as you would like, the world is not going to end!

Being a WAHM and staying healthy

I am sure many work-at-home-moms find this as difficult as I do. The main problem is we rarely leave the house. We work from home and stay at home with the kids so it is difficult to get out and get that exercise we need! Not to mention, if you live out in the country and get tons of snow like we do, leaving is not an option this time of year!

There is also another problem: eating healthy. While managing 2 businesses from home, sometimes I don't pick the healthiest choices. I do try and cook healthy for the kids, but I refuse to use unnatural ingredients while cooking for the kids. Using natural ingredients adds flavor and sometimes more fat to food. While the kids eat the portions they should, I just grab and go, not noticing how much I am actually eating.

I am also a bad snacker, especially when working. I often like to munch on anything salty or sweet for a quick snack while I check emails.

So, I have decided that I need to live healthier so I feel better and have more energy. It's not impossible. I already identified the problems, now all I have to do is fix it, right? ;)

Here are some of my solutions I have come up with to my problems:

1. Getting out of the house to get me time/exercise. I am looking into local gyms and even though we live out in the country, I found a nearby Curves that I may join. I am going to go check it out and see if I feel comfortable there. Not everyone may feel the need to exercise out of the home, but considering I work from home (and so does Adam) I would like to take the opportunity to get out and do something healthy for myself!

2. Portion control. I have had a membership to Weight Watchers online for awhile because I have used it in the past and it worked. I have not been strict about keeping track of what I put in my mouth. I leave the tracking tools open on my desktop so I have a constant reminder to keep track.

I sometimes do buy ww frozen entrees for myself but I have also started making dinners for myself that are low fat and I enjoy. I make several portions of the same dish and measure it out into containers and freeze.

3. Snacking. I need snacks that are pre portioned. I bought several ww and 100 calorie snacks that are all 2 points so I emptied them all into a bag and I can grab one when I feel the need. I have also taken a look at my eating habits and I make sure I keep enough points for those snacks I crave!

Any WAHMs out there on WW? Leave a comment or connect with me on twitter: http://twitter.com/bubele to support one another!

Organize your shopping list!

I love my new Smartshopper! It makes grocery shopping so much easier. I am not an organized person by nature but I am trying really hard to get organized and this little machine is perfect!

It is an electronice list maker that can be put on the fridge. All you have do is press a button and speak the item you want added to the list. For example, when I am running out of coffee, I go to the fridge, press the button and say coffee.

It categorizes everything into dairy, canned goods, etc.

It comes preloaded with several foods and you have to program it, but once you do, it is so easy to use. I programmed different lists so that I can have seperate lists for each store I shop at. For example, I like to have a grocery list and then a B.J.'s (wholesale club) list.

Chocolate ice cream banned

..... only from our house!

I have decided that if anyone in our house wants to eat ice cream, it will be a flavor that I do not like. I can pretty much pass on any other flavor, so they have a lot to choose from!

I have found that when I am stressed or tired, a big dish of chocolate ice cream is so yummy. Therefore, it is banned.

I am sorry chocolate ice cream, you are no longer welcome in my house. I am replacing you with a fruit smoothie with maca root.

Merry Chrismukkah!

My husband's family is Jewish and mine is Catholic so we celebrate both holidays now. Even before the kids were thought of and before we were married, living on Long Island, I would put up a small tree in our rental and we would decorate it with blue and silver bulbs and call it our "Hanukkah tree." This has actually become a tradition now each year.

I started a new one this year.... trying to prepare Hanukkah foods. Dylan is a picky eater so I thought this was a good opportunity to try some new foods. I made potato Latkes, homemade applesauce and pastry puffs. Dylan tried the Latkes... which he ate at first but then decided he didn't like them very much. He then gave them to baby brother and ate the rest of his applesauce. Evan had no complaints! We then had our pastry puff and there is no question that everyone liked those... fried with sugar :D

I wish I would have remembered this sooner, but a couple years ago, I found this site: www.chrismukkah.com
It has everything one needs for Chrismukkah!

Stress

I think I have hit my limit of stress!

I knew I was stressed out about a lot of things, but mostly about my one business(Not Bubele). I also produce clothing for other designers. I use the same factories for orders which leaves me up half the night most of the time negotiating prices, terms, details, etc. Then, I have to wake up with the kids and handle the customers, who are mostly from the U.S. I am running in and out of my home office all day answering emails, going over details, etc.

Luckliy Adam is now working from home to take on some clients and lessen my load, but the transition has been tough. I am still overworked and it's showing. I am grinding my teeth at night so bad it stripping away my enamel!! What happend to the promise I made 18 months ago that I would live a simple life?

To top it off, because of what happend 18 months ago, I have hormone issues that came from all the blood loss. So, mommy is very cranky for about 2 weeks.... it's great being a woman!! :D

Getting Organized: Home and Office

Even though I do work out of my home office,and it is technically the same thing, they do have to be organized differently. For home, I have to organize to make it more efficient for us as parents and kid friendly. I am trying to find a way to minimize the "junk" in our lives. It seems that we have more than what we need and stuff just sits around. It doesn't help that our house is not finished so it is difficult to put things away in "it's place" if it doesn't exist yet :)

So, I have been organizing the office to make it more efficient. Especially for Bubele. I recently reorganized the website and came across the problem of items not being in stock because of poor inventory management. (Who do I fire for that?) So, I decided that all items need be be organized in small bins by color and size. This is a nightmare with small baby items but it is almost done!!

Moving the Bubele Blog

After creating a blog about my journey into starting Bubele, I decided to create a dedicated blog for my clothing line. While I still want to blog about my family life along with my business (I feel the two go hand in hand for me) I wanted to become a little more organized! This is my attempt at becoming more organized and hopefully blogging more often ;)

I am still leaving my old blog up because it explains the meaning behind Bubele and how it got started: www.my-trip-to-africa.com