***Trigger warning - hemorrhage/traumatic after birth I said from the beginning I wanted to be transparent about homebirth, and I think it's even more important now to share with homebirth gaining in popularity due to COVID-19, but also because things did not go as perfectly as they did for us last time. -I woke up from a contraction at 3:24am, and puttered around cleaning up for about an hour making sure it was "real" labor, because I'd been having prodromal labor for about a week. I texted my midwife to let her know labor was starting and also downloaded an app to track my contractions - they were 4 minutes apart and about 45 seconds each and definitely gaining in intensity. -Justin woke up and came downstairs a little after 5am carrying his work clothes, at which point I laughed and told him he wasn't going to work that day. He blew up and filled the pool around 6am, and Brynn woke up around 6:30. He and she watched Bolt while I coped through contractions, each time Brynn asking me, "You kay Mommy?"
I'm a snob when it comes to children's literature. There, I said it. I swear it isn't my fault though - it's just because I've been reading them for over half my life between working in daycares, as a nanny, and then as a Mom. That's A LOT of toddler reading and I've noticed that some stories are wholly unenjoyable because they have no rhythm, or the story isn't exactly how I would teach something, etc. I have a strong preference for books with a good cadence, I'm picky about the artwork, and especially when it comes to holiday or themes, I like books that lend well to related crafts or discussions. Now that I've made the compulsory introductory paragraph, here are my picks for Christmas/Advent! I recommend picking them up at your local library as the most sustainable option! If you prefer to purchase, I've included Amazon affiliate links.
This blog post is brought to you in collaboration with Ohio. Find It Here. , Ohio's state travel agency. Halloween is over so you know what that means - it’s officially the holiday season!!! Having grown up in Germany there really hasn't been anything that compared to the Christmas season there for me - until moving to Cincinnati. It makes sense, there being such a huge German population and culture in Ohio, and in my opinion it truly is the best time of the year here. It goes well past the gifts and the food; it’s the entire atmosphere of giving and good cheer, and this community who already pulls together in extraordinary ways, coming together even more. I don't know how that's even possible, but it truly is so heartwarming to see and experience. Here’s a short list of our favorite activities, festivals, small shops, and a few extras to help you ring in the season! The holidays are always a special time, but having my own children now and seeing everything through their eyes is truly indescribable. The way they visibly feel awe is pure magic. One of our all time favorite things to do together is the Festival of Lights at the Cincinnati Zoo. It’s the first holiday event we attended when our oldest daughter was born, and it never gets old experiencing the magic together. From walking through the light tunnels, to the best food truck hot chocolate, to visiting Santa and the reindeer, to getting yet another light wand from the gift shop, by the time we get back to our car we’re all ready to fall into bed happy and exhausted. -Tree Lighting Ceremonies There are a few tree lighting ceremonies you can participate in, with two of the biggest being at the Cincinnati Zoo and Fountain Square. Be sure to visit the ice skating rink while you’re at Fountain Square! -PNC's Festival of Lights If you didn’t already know, the Cincinnati Zoo’s annual winter wonderland is one of the biggest and best in the entire country, and this year there’s a brand new Princess Fiona statue standing guard at the entrance to the zoo, as well as five Fiona fairies in Fairyland, and a blacklight puppet show! They are also a stop on the Ohio Holiday Lights trail which features 55 stops throughout the state!
This blog post is sponsored by Ohio. Find It Here. Fall in Ohio is something special. It's exactly how storybooks describe the season and what your mind conjures up when you think of autumn - the cool dry air, the smell of the earth, red and gold leaves drifting off the trees, the magical feeling of calm that overcomes seemingly everyone. Even our morning walks turn into something extra peaceful. Here are a few fun ideas to make the most of the season around Ohio before we coop up for the winter! Take the family to the farm There are so many to choose from - no matter where you live I guarantee there’s a pumpkin patch in your area. Our personal favorites have the classic pumpkin patch and then some, like the cut flower garden at Gorman Heritage Farm, the sunflowers at Blooms and Berries, seeing all the animals at Shaw Farms, and the apple orchard at A&M Farm Orchard. Go camping It’s the perfect time to get out and spend time reconnecting with nature. The cool fall air has a way of grounding you after a summer chock full of activities. Most of us know Hocking Hills is a very popular destination, but the list of gorgeous campgrounds is extensive and there are a ton of great options. Find a list here -> https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-odnr/division-parks-watercraft Get into nature Visit the trolls at Aullwood Audubon , watch the birds at Cincinnati Nature Preserve, go on safari at The Wilds, explore Appalachia , the options here are endless. RENAISSANCE FAIR Need I say more?? Ren Fest comes around every September-October in Waynesville and offers all the family and grown up fun! A nostalgic childhood experience at it’s best, and bigger and better every single year. Drive in to the movies Nothing beats driving in to the movies and sitting in the open air under the stars with a cozy blanket and some snacks! One of our personal favorites is Starlite Drive In, but make sure to get there early! Celebrate Oktoberfest Ohio has a very large German population and the festivities are definitely worth checking out. The Cincinnati celebration is even the biggest in the entire country and includes a dachshund costume run and the world's largest chicken dance! Hit up alllllll the markets If you’re in the Cincinnati area, you can’t throw a rock without hitting a market of some kind. It’s a great way to support your local economy, your local businesses, and meet like-minded people since there is a lot of overlap! Some of our personal favorites are OFF Market, Second Sunday on Main, City Flea, and the Hyde Park, Madeira, and Anderson Farmer's Markets. Take advantage of all the Halloween activities Go on a tour of haunted locations around the state, visit Dent’s Schoolhouse, see your fears come to life at Land of Illusion, go back in time at the Sharonville Heritage Village, wear your costumes to Hallzooween and Boo at the Zoo at the Cincinnati and Columbus zoos.
Soooooo I didn't get my 100% eco-friendly party, but here are some tips anyways because something is better than nothing! Did you know that hosting a traditional kid's birthday party can send over 100 single use items to the landfill? That's on top of the plastic, cardboard, tie wraps, and other trash from packaging! I started out by asking B what she wanted to do for her party, and she requested "a picnic outside with my friends!" Obviously we could have just done a literal picnic, and she would have been happy with it, but since we do that ourselves almost everyday I went a little over the top. I let her choose a theme from Pinterest, and she chose a fairy picnic! Once we got that, I took stock of all the things we already had - faux florals, streamers, leftover compostable plates and utensils from previous parties. Then I started looking on FB Marketplace for secondhand fairy house decorations so the kids could make their own fairy houses. I ended up getting the actual houses and a couple extra things from Michaels (they're listed as bird feeders).
Hi friends! For those of you who don't know us, we are a family of four living in Cincinnati Ohio. We have recently started partnering with Ohio. Find It Here. to share all that Ohio has to offer - which is A LOT! There is no shortage of fun summer activities to engage the whole family to choose from here; the real challenge is figuring out how to fit everything into one summer! *U-Pick events at Blooms and Berries Market and Garden I'm positive everyone around Cincinnati knows about their Strawberry Days, but did you know they also do Blueberry, Blackberry, Potatoes, and Elderberry U-Picks?? And all of that is in addition to their really fun events that they host like their Ladies' Night, Container Design Workshop, Blueberry Sunset Picnic, etc! *Visit a splash pad The splash pads were one of the very first things I checked out when I became a parent, and there are SO many to choose from like Juilfs in Anderson, Parky's at Woodland Mound, Washington Park, or go all out and head to Coney or King's Island! *Attend a nature class at the Cincinnati Nature Preserve From toddler story times, to bird watching, to classes on native plants and their uses, these are truly one of the best hidden gems. *Farmer's Markets galore!! (Anderson, Blue Ash, Madeira, Ft Thomas, Findlay, etc) It seems like during the summer months there's a farmer's market around every corner; making shopping local and eating sustainably all the easier! *Cincinnati Pride Parade June is Pride Month and there are so many incredible events to attend, culminating in the Pride Parade in downtown Cincinnati. *Go to a Reds game A go-to summer tradition, there are fireworks following Friday home games and Family Sundays make it much easier and more affordable to attend because let's be real, the kids are there for the hotdogs and lemonade. *Visit a beach When you think Ohio, you probably don't think about beaches, but we actually have several gorgeous ones to choose from. We personally frequent Eastfork Beach where we love the quiet of the mornings and the shallow shoreline perfect for littles. *Stop by an ice cream shop Oh my gosh, how do I even begin to name all the ice cream and soft serve places. The Cone, Dairy Corner, Flub's, Old Milford Parlor, Legen-Dairy, Aglamesis, Graeters, this list is seemingly endless and there's even an ice cream trail! *Fill up your passport on the donut trail ! Need I say more, though? *Picnic at a park (Woodland Mound, Ault, French) We love to grab a sandwich and snacks and head to our closest park for a picnic dinner all through the summer! *Hang out at a brewery Fifty West is awesome and spacious, Rheingeist is great for hanging out indoors, Fretboard is super fun, this is another list that goes on and on! *Visit a lavender field, and then a sunflower field Did you know Ohio has 16 lavender fields to choose from?? Sunshine Acres is one of our personal favorites. Around July and August be sure to check out the sunflower fields - Gorman Heritage Farm has a great one! Feel free to add your favorite family friendly summer events in the comments, and check out Ohio. Find It Here. 's list as well! https://ohio.org/100-Things-Summer
We try to stay pretty minimal when it comes to our home, and of course our three year old thinks she needs EVERYTHING, but the tried and true toys that both she and her one year old sister play with all the time? Surprising. 1) Wooden blocks - you can really get creative here; I recently found a set where you can put little treasures inside and I already have it on my list for my oldest's birthday! Practice shapes, colors, sorting, patterns, spatial reasoning; blocks are a must. 2) Sensory Table - Pro tip: get the DEEP bins. They don't fit the aesthetic as well but they contain the mess much better. Fill your bins with differently shaped and colored pasta, beans, uncooked rice, water, literally anything. 3) Slumberkins - Designed by counselors, therapists, and educators Slumberkins are super soft plush friends that come with their own books and affirmations to help with social emotional development. Slumberkins also has free resources on their website as well as free videos on their Youtube! 4) Play couch. Yes you can get the extremely popular version and I will not blame you - they are a great company who takes care of their employees the way every company should, BUT we traded ours for the one from Brentwood Homes because they are also sustainably made in addition to being a responsible employer.
Okay, this was HARD trying to keep it down to a small number of items per age/basket because seriously, I found sooooooo many awesome ideas. Everything listed is from Flying Pig Toys, a local Cincinnati shop, and they have everything you could possibly want. All of this depends on how wild you want to get, so there's a good range of prices. All of the images will link you directly to the corresponding listing on Flying Pig Toys. We do not make any commission off of this; we just love the shop so much and want to support their business! For infants: Probably the trickiest to shop for in my opinion; I went with a teether for baby babies, pull and push toys for mobile little ones, and for all of them - one of the most clever books art-wise I have ever found!
With coronavirus, this was actually our first time flying since 2019. This trip was also a bit trickier to prepare for, as we weren't sure exactly how long we would be gone. However, no matter the length of the trip, preparing and packing is basically always the same. As a former military kid, I've moved and traveled by weight my entire life and luckily most of those skills transferred over to having children and having to make room for their many needs. 1) Include them Firstly with toddlers, letting them know what's going to be happening beforehand makes for much less stress and drama on their part. Try to make it as exciting as possible - it's a big adventure! Let them be a part of packing and choose one or two things all on their own that they want to take. We drew an airplane on our calendar so the kids could see it was coming up and count down to the day. 2) Prioritize what to take When packing, prioritize needs and things that can not easily be replaced first. I knew we needed room in our luggage for our noise machine, which the kids absolutely can not sleep without. It would also be a pain in the butt to replace my prescription, so that was one of the first things packed. In our case for this trip I knew we'd have access to a laundry machine, so I only packed three pairs of pjs, and about enough clothes for a week, which was the shortest amount of time we'd be staying. When choosing clothing, I tried to stick to items that could be mixed and matched for a month, which was the longest we'd potentially be staying. If you need them, get some space saver bags! They're an awesome hack that we used for our cloth diapers, but remember they don't decrease the weight of what you're packing. Try not to stress about items that can easily be purchased. For example, I forgot the kids' toothbrushes, oops. We also wore our bulkiest items such as our jackets and boots in order to give us more room in our suitcases. 3) Plan extra travel time Whether driving or flying give yourself time for extra and last minute potty breaks, but also to let the kids run around and get some energy out every now and then. I let the kids walk/run/explore through the entire airport on our way to our concourse. There was a kid's play area in our concourse that they got to spend about twenty minutes in before getting to our gate. They also loved the moving walkway and rode on it about six times while waiting to board. 4) Remember how they're experiencing things Once on the plane I also did my best to answer all their questions; mostly - what was that sound?? Sitting for the length of the flight was definitely the hardest part of the journey for my youngest who's almost two years old. For both of the kids I brought their tablets, snacks, and their comfort items, but my two year old just wanted to get down and move around which obviously we couldn't do on a small airplane. I anticipated them having issues with their ears and the air pressure, but luckily they both did really well with it - my oldest only felt it once as we were descending and I fake yawned to get her to yawn and pop them. 5) Stick to a schedule With any trip, once we get where we were going we try our absolute hardest to stick to our same sleep schedule. This gives the kids a sense of routine and grounding. Giving them something that's a part of their normal day gives them something to anticipate and helps when they eventually feel the stress of not being in their home. Expect that meltdown to come, which it almost always does and almost always does at bedtime. This trip it hit my oldest the hardest on the second day at nap, when she woke up and forgot where she was. I've kind of already said this, but be gentle with yourself and with them. It can be stressful for you traveling with small children, and it can be easy to forget that it's just as stressful for them if not more. Everything around them is new and different, even if they've traveled before, and children thrive in environments where they feel familiar and comfortable. By putting yourself in their shoes it makes traveling much easier for all of you.