The things I worry about as a Mami
Kodak and JucieBoxJungle sponsored me to write this post about Mamihood, and they asked me to talk about the top and /or bottom 3 things I think/worry about as a mom. Here goes!
I like to think that I am an easy going mom. I tend to notice what my son’s mood is for the current day and go by that. When you’re dealing with a precocious three year old, it’s sometimes the best thing to do for everyone. And for my sanity. Not that I always let him get his way because that doesn’t happen in the real world and our role as a mami is to prepare them for the real world. Here are some things that I don’t worry about as a mom.
1. If he eats all of the food on his plate. My son is a healthy weight and looks pretty solid almost like a football player. As high as the rate of obesity and childhood obesity is in this country, I shy away from my own Mami’s complaint of “eat all your food mija!” and if he doesn’t want to eat it, he doesn’t. But don’t think I will give him something else either. He eats dinner or he doesn’t. But there is no negotiation on what he’s eating for dinner.
2. The pace at which he’s learning. He’s a very smart kid, and honestly what parent doesn’t think their child is smart? He knows a few Spanish words and loves our food and culture. He’s also fluent in English and speaks very well. He knows his ABC’s and 123’s. I’m not going to rush him to speak one language or another or make him learn. Children learn while they are having fun and that’s what we tend to do at our house.
3. His growth rate. I don’t compare my child to another one his age. I’m blessed to have a happy and healthy child and as a preemie, he surpassed all his goals and was always at the top of weight and height even for a normal child. As long as he’s developing normally, that’s all that matters. What someone else’s kid does in comparison is irrelevant to me.
So it looks like I’m very easy going huh? But there is one thing that I do lay awake at night thinking of. Should I give him a sibling? We’ve had such a trying time that I’m not sure whether or not I’d like to go through that again. Also, we seem to be very comfortable with just the three of us. But I do think I’m being a bit selfish by not having another child. I’m sure that every parent has gone through this decision. What influenced your decision to have an only child or to continue to have more children?
Product Review: Ninja Master Prep
This product was sent to me for review by Alpaytac, Inc. I have not been in any way compensated for this review. You can always count on an honest review from Mami’s Time Out.
I received the Ninja Master Prep
The Ninja Master Prep comes with two Pods, a pitcher to make smoothies and the Mini Master Prep which is perfect for chopping. You can find the Ninja Master Prep
Product Review: Swiffer 360
This product was sent to me by MS&L for review. I have not received any kind of compensation for this review. Always count on an honest review by Mami’s Time Out.
I have always used a regular swiffer duster. I honestly didn’t even realize that it could work so much better if it was an all around duster instead of one side. I love the Swiffer because I have allergies and this really helps to lock in all the dust and household allergens that can accumulate. Especially when you turn on the heat for the first time. My vents get so dusty over the summer and it just seems like the dust is the first thing to blow out when I turn it on for the season.
I waited until I turned on my heat in order to try out this Swiffer 360. Mainly because the ceiling fan in my living room gets coated with dust. It’s so gross it looks like I never have dusted it! One Swiffer 360 worked to remove all the dust off my ceiling fan. Great part about it, no dust fell on my face. When using a regular duster, the dust falls on my face and my sneezing, runny nose and eyes soon follow. Needless to say it’s not my favorite chore. I had no sneezing or allergic reaction while cleaning the ceiling fan! Of course, I had to get up on the chair because the duster didn’t extend to cover a high area like the ceiling fan.
One thing I didn’t like was how hard it was to click on to the handle. Maybe it was just me but it did take me a while. I am used to the slide on motion of the regular Swiffer duster. It was also kind of difficult to remove the duster to throw it out. I felt like I was about to break it.
It’s very economically priced at $2.49 for one duster with handle, a starter kit is $4.59 for three dusters and one handle (best value in my opinion) and $8.59 for duster refills (6 in a box). If you already love and use the Swiffer but want a bit more…this Swiffer 360 may be for you. I may stick to the regular Swiffer for the ease of use. Have you tried the duster? Please share!
Below is a link of the video of the Swiffer Allergen Reducing Blogger Roundtable at Appleseeds NYC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pu6UfKnvndY
Product Review: Febreze Flameless Luminaries Holiday Collection
This product was sent by Febreze but I have not been compensated for its review. Mami’s Time Out never receives compensation for reviews. You can always count on an honest product review from Mami’s Time Out..
This summer, I received the Febreze Flameless Luminary which I loved. I have now received some holiday scents for review. As the holidays approach, your family starts pouring in and we know that we’d like our house to smell and look good. Especially when you finish cleaning your home, an air freshener is almost like the icing on the cake. The holiday edition I received is cranberry pear. This smells so yummy and the Christmas design on the shade is very cute and a great touch. It can blend in with the rest of your holiday decorations. As always, the fragrance is just enough and not over the top.
Also, if you send in six used Febreze Flameless Luminary Shades, you can receive a coupon for a free two-pack refill. Log on to Febreze for more information on the Show Us Your Shades program.
Here are some holiday tips from Sebastien Centner, Canada’s premier home entertaining guru:
1. A signature drink for your party is a great way to simplify and save money-llok for a recipe that features fall flaveors like apple, pear or cranberry.
2. It’s easy and economical to decorate for a fall event-use pumpkins, gourds, eggplants and other autumn harvest items like lavendar and berry branches.
Check out Festive Home for more ideas!
Halloween webinar evite!
Any of you ladies interested in a Halloween webinar hosted by Que Rica Vida? Check out the details below it’s for Wednesday October 28th. Hope to see you there!
Product Review: Febreeze Flameless Luminary
I was greeted with a box from Febreeze one day that included the Flameless Luminary in Green Tea Citrus. It was beautifully packaged in a tray. Here’s a picture. Anyway I was excited to get this in the mail because I absolutely love Febreeze, every product I have or received for review has been great and does what it claims to do.
Well, I had a cat whose litter box was in the powder room downstairs. I ended up giving the cat away but the odor was sticking around even after mopping and opening windows. I did just about everything I could in there but even my Mami (and you know how mothers are!) told me that the smell still lingered in there. So needless to say, I was very excited to receive and try out this Flameless Luminary and knew exactly where to put it. I turned it on and left the bathroom door open to see how strong the scent was. Not only did it eliminate the odor but you can smell the scent throughout the dining room and living room. It also automatically shuts off after four hours which I think is a great plus. And it’s battery operated so you don’t have to worry about placing it close to an electrical outlet.
It has such a great contemporary design that I’m sure you can find a scent and design to suit your home. Another great product from Febreeze! Huge thumbs up from Mami’s Time Out!
What I learned Traveling with a Toddler
So I wanted to just finish off this week by sharing some tips with you on what I thought about traveling with a toddler. All in all, it wasn’t so bad. I really did expect a lot worse, lots of meltdowns. Booba definitely exceeded my expectations. Here’s what I did to keep the road trip fun for him.
1.Brought his favorite videos and DVD player. This is a must.
2.Also when traveling with a toddler, the GPS is a must. You can get easily sidetracked and we were making quite a few stops so I didn’t want to miss an exit. It was nice not to have to worry about getting lost.
3. I made him as comfy as possible. No shoes or socks in the car, lots of toys, we looked out the window for trucks, lots of snacks in the car.
4. Leave early in the morning. That way they are sleeping most of the way.
5. If you think you are over packing…go ahead and pack some more. I packed every outfit I could think of and every toy I thought he may want/need. All his favorite snacks. I even packed Benadryl, Neosporin and band-aids. Thank goodness we didn’t use all that but you just never know.
6. Don’t leave the stroller. While my hubby complained about lugging it up and down in the subway, once Booba fell asleep or got tired he went right into the stroller. I would happily lug it around again. And we didn’t take the umbrella stroller we took the full size one.
So would I do it again? In a heartbeat! But I wonder how much tougher would it be to go on vacay with two kids. All I heard when we visited my family was that we couldn’t leave Booba by himself. "He needs a sibling" they said. But it just seems so perfect just the three of us! Having Booba as a single child is almost like a taboo for Latinos isn’t it? But I do think it really works. We’ll see what happens though. 
Our First Family Vacation!
Inspired by Lily’s post on taking your pets on vacation I wanted to write about taking toddlers on vacation. My hubby and I haven’t been on vacation since before our son Booba was born and now that he is two and a half we are very excited to go on a family road trip to the Jersey Shore and do some touristy things in NYC. Hubby and I are both from NYC but we actually live in western NY. I love to shop ( as you all know!) so I am very excited about that part. I love finding deals and of course I will share with you what I find.
Besides shopping, we are going to spend some time at the beach, hit up some zoos and aquariums, go to Central Park and chill with some family. We’re also hitting the boardwalk and amusement park at the Shore. The GPS is ready to go and I’m starting to get my list together of what we’ll need on our trip. Here’s my list so far…
- Stroller (wondering between the big one and the umbrella one. Going with the big one?) I also hear you can rent strollers
- A cooler for snacks and juice.
- The portable DVD player and some kid approved DVD’s. (Right now at my house that’s Madagascar,
Finding Nemo
, and anything with animals in it. He loves 101 Dalmatians & 102 Dalmatians
and Toy Story
are also a hit at our house.)
- Beach toys, beach towel and bathing suit for him.
Since we are new at this, I’m wondering….is there anything I should know? Is there something I’m missing that I should be taking along? Can’t wait to read your tips and I’ll be posting about my vacation when I get back. I’ll be on vacay from 8/5-8/10. Wish me luck!
Pets on vacaciones?
Recently, my husband and I took a short vacacion to visit friends and family about an hour away from Miami and we took our Chihuahua Diesel with us. Because we don’t yet have children, our dog is like our child and we take him with us wherever dogs are allowed. This particular weekend, we went boating in South Florida. The sun was shining, the water was clear and the sand whiter than ever. It was the perfect day at sea. However, I was a little surprised and pleased to see how many people brought their dogs with them when they spend the day at sea. Increible! And one after another, I would see owners pulling their medium to large sized dogs on a floater around the sandbar. Something tells me these South Florida pampered pooches have it good after all.
What pets do you have? Would you ever take them on vacation with you? What is your take on taking your pets out to sea?
Have a Happy Father’s Day!
To all the great Papis…..I hope you have a wonderful day! We all appreciate you!
