Nanny to Mommy

Pregnancy can be a time where you experience more changes at once, more than any other time in your life. Whether it’s emotional changes or physical, everything changes and it can be extremely overwhelming, especially if you don’t know what to expect.

From dealing with morning sickness to dealing with a whole world of responsibilities, there are all kinds of different factors that are now being introduced into your life that can turn your world upside down.

You may think that you’re ready for these changes, but one change particularly that you might not be expecting: is stress. Stress is something that seems to hit you right when you least expect it. It can disrupt your life and literally put you down constantly if you don’t know how to see it coming and put a stop to it.

So many people have this idea that being pregnant is butterflies and roses, so many individuals constantly think that when you’re pregnant, you’re just a mother, you don’t have to worry about anything else. But this is completely false.

Pregnancy is a beautiful, miraculous occurrence, but let’s face it: it’s also extremely uncomfortable at times.  From swollen feet to morning sickness and everything in between, carrying a child is certainly no picnic. According to the Sleep Foundation, “78% of women report more disturbed sleep during pregnancy than at other times.” It can be difficult enough to sleep while pregnant, and the last thing you need is your mattress adding to your discomfort and inability to sleep. Memory foam mattresses as well as heated mattresses provide many benefits for women during their nine months of pregnancy and beyond.

Image Found HERE

Earth Day is a great time to teach children about sustainability and humans impact on the planet. There are so many different topics to cover, science experiments, and craft ideas to help teach little ones about their world. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. To complete this super cute craft idea above, all you need is:

tissue paper

construction paper

glue

and a printer

Have your child take small pieces of blue and green tissue paper to glue them in a circle on the construction paper. Then Take a picture of the child looking up and holding their hands in the air, resize to 3x5, cut their outline and paste on construction paper. Voila! What a memorable and adorable craft idea!

This post is sponsored by Basic Invite. All opinions are my own.

 

I love sending personalized cards to my friends and family. Whether it's birth announcements, baby shower invites, and first birthdays there are a lot of reasons to celebrate your special occasions with Basic Invite.

 

 

Basic Invite is one of the few websites that allows customers almost unlimited color options with instant previews online. Once you select a design you can change the color of each element on the card to over 160 different color options. So you can make sure the card is exactly how you want it down to the tiniest detail. This is what sets them apart from almost any other online stationery company.

The information in this post was sponsored by LifebankUSA. All opinions are my own.

When you are having a baby, there are so many things to consider. You read all the books and have dreams of what life will be like with a newborn. You want to protect them to the best of your abilities. You probably already know that banking your baby’s umbilical cord blood could one day help your child or a close blood relative. As you’re thinking about saving your baby’s cord blood, consider maximizing this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to protect your child’s healthy future with placenta banking as well.
 

Here’s what you need to know about the placenta and how you can collect and preserve even more potentially life-saving stem cells when your baby is born.

We are very excited to share with you an awesome "Be Mine" Valentine's Day Giveaway sponsored by Mommy Scene and filled with lots of amazing natural products and fun stuff for families!

 

These products are featured in our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide.

No I am not pregnant. I thought it would be nice to feature an awesome gift idea for all of you pregnant ladies though because you deserve to be pampered too. Introducing Ecocentric Mom Subscription Boxes! But it's not just pregnancy boxes, they also have a mom version and a mom & baby. And I LOVE subscription boxes. I think they make a GREAT gift idea. I received this month's box and I wanted to let you see what was inside.


What I love about Ecocentric Mom subscription boxes is they have researched everything to only include the best, healthiest products for you and your family. You also get an item that is a "keeper", something that can't be "used up" and what is more eco than that!

Here's what came in this month's box:

This post is sponsored by LifebankUSA. All opinions are my own.

When you are pregnant (especially with your first) you worry about everything. You read all the books and have dreams of what life will be like with a newborn. But what about if something happens? It isn't something we like to think about, but it is something we should be talking about. Have you ever considered cord blood banking? Do you even know what it is or why you would choose to do it?

This post is sponsored by The Stork OTC through the Motherhood. All opinions are my own.

Trying to conceive can be a long, heart-breaking experience for some. But if you are on the outside looking in, you may not realize how to respond. Someone you know may be dealing with issues of trying to conceive and you may not even know it. Here are some tips to help.

Image found at HerHealthMatters.org

I participated in a Influencer Activation on behalf of Influence Central for First Response. I received product samples as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.
  

I remember seeing these two pinks lines like it was yesterday. It was very early in the morning, around 4 a.m. or so. I wasn't due for my period for a few more days, but I wanted to test because I just had that feeling. I wanted to wait until the morning because HTC levels are suppose to be highest then. Although I normally consider 4 a.m. night time, I was awake and excited and wanted to test. Almost immediately both lines turned pink. I decided to take the other test to make sure and both lines turned pink just as quickly. I was ecstatic. I couldn't hold it in. I tried to go lay down, but I had to tell someone. So I poked my husband until he asked, "Is something wrong?" And I said, "No, I'm just pregnant." "What?!" Neither of us could sleep, we were too excited! Our second baby was on the way.

I'm going to tell you a story that not many people know about. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was a nanny and use to take them regularly to this bounce house place. It was a little bit of a drive from their house, but totally worth it because the kids loved it. One day, my friend had invited us to come jump and I noticed that the girl I was watching had a dirty diaper. No big deal, they had awesome family restrooms. My friend watched the little boy I cared for while I went and changed the diaper.

 

The diaper was a bad one. So bad, I couldn't stand the smell and started getting sick. Actually, this was normal for me. I had terrible morning sickness with my first pregnancy, the difference this time.

This post is sponsored by FERTILIFY. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

 

I don't know if I have really talked about this before. It is something that is very personal to me. I wanted to have children for as long as I can remember. Children were always a part of my life goals. So when I met my hubby, that was one of the FIRST things I asked him, if he wanted to have children. We got married relatively young, I was 21 and he was 23. And we both knew we wanted to be married at least a year before we got married, but then one turned into two then two and a half...

 

 

At family events, people would ask us constantly when we were going to try to have a baby. They would really ask me specifically. Which if you think about it, it's really too personal of a question for anyone to ask. But it was still very difficult to have to just shrug and smile, when inside I felt like crying because I was yearning for a baby. And it felt like everyone around me was getting pregnant and although I was happy, I was a little bit envious as well. Especially when it "just happened". Well why didn't it "just happen" for me?

This is a sponsored post. I received a gift or another form of compensation to write this post. However, I only support and recommend products and companies that I believe in.

Have you ever considered cord blood banking? LifebankUSA is the only company that offers cord blood, placenta blood and tissue banking - and the first to release placenta-derived stem cells for a successful transplant. LifebankUSA is a technological leader that is pioneering key medical innovations in the field.

Through cord blood banking at LifebankUSA, you can collect and preserve potentially lifesaving stem cells, and doing so could one day save the life of your child or a blood relative. You can bank even more stem cells by collecting them from 2 usable sources of stem cell-rich blood: the umbilical cord and the placenta. This service is called Placental and Cord Blood Banking, and it's available only from LifebankUSA. Whether you choose Placental and Cord Blood Banking or Cord Blood Banking alone, there are many important reasons to choose LifebankUSA.

Secrets of Tea is a small, family owned craft tea blender. Their teas are based on family recipes passed down from one generation to the next. Their teas combine ancient knowledge with modern botanical research to create the perfect, purposeful blends. Each is carefully formulated with the finest ingredients to create delicious brews infused with nature’s healing gifts. Parenting – and especially motherhood – is a beautiful blessing. But it requires giving of yourself disproportionately. These organic herbal tea blends are infused with nature’s healing gifts. Wholesome, natural remedies to help alleviate issues during pregnancy and the entire maternity cycle. Secrets of Tea has kindly offered a wonderful prize pack for moms or moms-to-be!

This prize pack includes:

This is a sponsored guest post.

 

Pregnancy can be the most important phase in the life of a woman, and if it’s the first time there is a lot of anticipation, anxiety experienced by the to-be parents. These are the nine most important months of your life when you are actually creating the basic character of new life. Here are five things to take care of during this phase to make it smooth and stress-free.

This is a sponsored review brought to you by AVASIA Prenatal Vitamins. All opinions are my own.

When should you start taking a prenatal?
You should start taking them before you are pregnant, like when you are trying to conceive. But if this isn't an option, start taking them as soon as you find out you are pregnant. The folic acid element is particularly important at this stage and in your first trimester.

 

People will tell you that your body will change after pregnancy and you won't believe them. You may say, I'm going to work out and et everything back to the way it was before (or better)! Yeah I said that too. And while you can get your pre-baby body back in some ways, there are some things that are just going to be different after you have a baby. Here are some things that changed for me, your experience (will hopefully) be different. Just be aware that this is also a TMI post (what is up with that this week), but there is a giveaway at the end of this one too. :)

Welcome to the Belly Dance Maternity Giveaway, hosted by Spit Up is the New Black!

Pregnancy can be a pretty uncomfortable time for many moms and moms-to-be, but Belly Dance Maternity bridged the gap between 9 months of comfort and style.

 

 

 

Although a woman's body is designed to carry and deliver a baby, it may still suffer as a consequence of pregnancy. A woman's back and pelvis can suffer stress from carrying a developing baby as well as because of hormonal changes. Coping with the stress is important in order to protect your back and pelvis throughout the pregnancy and beyond. The following tips will help you protect your back and pelvis during pregnancy.