Monthly Archives: April 2018

Make Lovely Presents With Yarn For Mother’s Day

 

 

There are plenty of gorgeous gifts that you can make with yarn for Mother’s Day that won’t take weeks and weeks of hard work. Knitting an entire sweater or crocheting a throw pillow will be difficult tasks to squeeze into your schedule, which is why you should try to put together the following handcrafted presents for your mom.

Before you even get started on the craft for your mom, you will need to stock up on yarn — you don’t want to be half-way through your project and realize you have run out of your most important material. You can get a deal and buy your yarn online and then have it delivered to your front door within days — this means that you can skip the long drive, avoid slow lines and save more money in just a few clicks. The website Yarnspirations carries an incredible range of yarn colors, fibers, weights and brands so that you can find the exact material that you need.

  1. Spa Kit:

The website also offers free knit and crochet patterns that can help crafters of any skill level. For instance, you can follow patterns for bath mitts and facecloths so that you can put together a lovely spa kit for your mom to have a soothing day. You can also make homemade bath salts or bath bombs with essential oils for the ultimate relaxation experience — if you don’t feel like creating these items at home, you can buy specialty options from the store.

  1. String Art:

This craft uses a few simple materials to make a colorful design in whatever shape you prefer — some of the most popular choices are hearts, flowers, stars and letters. All you have to do for a string craft is get a flat wooden board, trace the desired shape on the surface and then hammer in nails along the outline, making sure to leave gaps in between each nail. Tie a very long piece of yarn around one of the nail heads and then wind it through and across the outline until the shape is filled out.

  1. Wrapped Vase:

This is an easy craft that you can whip up on your own, or that you can put together with your kids. All you will need is colorful yarn, scissors, glue, embellishments and a simple vase — mason jars or glass cylinders will also work if you can’t find the right vase. Add dots of glue along a clean and dry vase, and then wrap the yarn around the glass until it creates a smooth pattern. Don’t forget to fill your cozy crafted vase with real blooms when you are done or make several pom pom flowers with your leftover yarn as a finishing touch.

You won’t have to stress about whether you’ll have enough time to complete your simple spa kit, your string art piece or your wrapped vase. These fantastic presents will be finished in a flash so that you can tie them with ribbon, sign a card and be ready to impress when Mother’s Day arrives.

How to Get the Best Out of Your Baby’s Pacifier

Babies are born with the innate skill to put anything they come across into their mouths. Some have even been seen on ultrasound sucking their thumbs while still in the womb. It is a reflex action. Sucking brings them comfort and doesn’t necessarily mean they want food. A pacifier may come in handy in comforting and calming down your baby. Some babies can’t get enough of suckling and cuddling or rocking them won’t be soothing enough. It is better to get them a pacifier (which you can get rid of) than to let them get used to sucking their thumbs.

Here are five tips to get the best out of your baby’s pacifier;

Don’t force your decision on the baby

Yes, you need something to distract your baby as you struggle to meet some tight deadline. A pacifier might just be the answer. Do not however force it on your baby. If they are receptive to it, go along. If they are not, try again some other time or just let them be. You’ll have more on your hands than you can handle.

Pacifier isn’t a substitute for your attention

Read that slowly and let it sink in. While pacifiers can come in handy when the baby has to wait, for example if you are in a check out queue, it should not be a substitute from you giving the baby attention. It is your parental duty to spend as much time as possible with them.

Taking care of the pacifier

Tying the pacifier around their neck or the crib to avoid it getting misplaced is a bad idea as the cord can strangle them. Instead, pin it to the baby’s clothes using a clip. Keep the pacifier clean by frequently detaching it and rinsing it with warm clean water. Do not clean the pacifier by sucking on it, neither should you dip it in sugary drinks. Replace it once it starts cracking up or wearing out. A silicone nipple-shaped pacifier is the Best Pacifier For Breastfed Baby since they are much easier to clean.

When not to use a pacifier

Pacifiers aren’t recommended for babies who have a problem breastfeeding. Suckling on the pacifier and breastfeeding require two different techniques and combining them at the same time might cause ‘nipple confusion.’ It can lead to them having weight problems from poor feeding. Keep the baby off pacifiers too if they have ear infections. Extended periods of use has also been known to cause dental problems to the baby, so get them off a pacifier as soon as you can.

Cleaning the pacifier

Before you get your baby on a pacifier, clean and sterilize it first. You have no idea the amount of germs you’ll find on things that otherwise look clean. You can use hot soapy water and a clean dish rag.  You can also boil the pacifier for about five minutes then let it cool totally before letting the baby use it. If you are willing to dig deeper into your pockets, you can purchase an electronic sterilizer.

How to Celebrate Your Child’s End of the School Year Success in a Fun Way

As we head into the remaining months of the school year, it’s normal to start thinking ahead to summer vacation and plans you may have. Before getting too wrapped up in the summer though, it may be nice to give a little thought as to how you plan to celebrate all the success your child has had during their school year. For elementary school aged children in particular, it’s always nice to give them that recognition and show them how proud you are of their hard work. This can also help to motivate them as they head into a new school year in the fall.

So, if you’re looking for some fun ways to celebrate another successful year for your child in school, here are some ideas you may want to use.

Hold a Backyard Party with Friends

What better way to celebrate the end of the school year than a party with friends. As long as the weather allows, a backyard party can be the perfect plan. If you happen to have a pool, then obviously you can turn it into a pool party. If not, you can create your own fun and entertainment instead. There are all kinds of fun outdoor games that you can post around the backyard, creating stations if you will, so kids can mingle, socialize, and enjoy the activities.

The party can be made even better with a casual barbecue complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, and lots of snacks. Top off the party with a customized cake, which you can access pricing information for at Allcakeprices.com and the party will be a hit.

An Afternoon at the Spa

If you happen to have a daughter who loves being pampered, then a mommy and daughter afternoon at the spa can be a wonderful option. You can book services such as a manicure and pedicure, and even a facial. It’s a special treat the two of you can enjoy together, which means it’s also a chance to bond.

The Summer Vacation Basket of Essentials

While summer is something everyone looks forward to, unfortunately most parents can attest to the fact that it doesn’t take long before they start to hear the kids complain that they are “bored”. Rather than listen to the complaints all summer, you can think pre-emptively and gift them with the summer vacation basket of essentials on the last day of school.

This basket can contain all kinds of board games, indoor and outdoor activities, craft supplies, snacks, and treats that will keep them busy throughout the summer. Fun items to include are skipping ropes, sidewalk chalk, water guns, bubbles, a soccer ball, kite, water toys, kid-sized gardening tools and gardening gloves, coloring books and markers, a variety of crafting supplies, and anything else that catches your eye.

Make It Special for Them

Whether you go all out with a big party, or opt for something a little more low-key, recognizing their school achievements is something kids will greatly appreciate and remember as they grow older.

Remove Old Wasps Nests Before The Queen Awakes!

 

The benefits of removing a wasps’s nest early while the queen wasp is establishing it rather than the nest becoming larger and causing a large infestation.

Respond to the queen wasp’s nesting and egg laying to prevent infestations

While some pests can be a year-round concern, some are seasonal including wasps – they’re active from spring to late summer and maybe on into the early autumn if the weather stays warmer. The spring and early summer is the time to ideally spot a nest in its early stages of development and have it removed before it grows and becomes potentially full of thousands of wasps.

An aggressive pest

Wasps are particularly unpleasant pests; they’re aggressive when anyone or anything approaches their nest and will attack ‘en masse’ in certain cases.

They can be especially annoying and possibly dangerous later in the summer. Wasps cluster around sources of preferably sugary foods and drink as their own supplies of sweeter food declines so making summer drinks outside a less enjoyable experience as they gather round to scavenge.

Removing their nest – preferably at an early stage – is well worthwhile and should be undertaken by local experts such as these Chelmsford pest control professionals.

From one queen to thousands of wasps

At the end of the ‘wasp cycle’ each year – about the time you stop seeing them around –  the last of the wasps and the queen die as the weather cools off and autumn wears on. The nest then becomes dormant so could, in theory, be left alone but removal is advisable as it could encourage a nest to be built nearby by the next generation of queen wasp during the following spring.

In late summer young queen wasps that grew from the egg during the spring and earlier summer period are fertilised by males before leaving the nest to fly off to find a warm and secure place to hibernate over the winter.

You may come across a hibernating queen in locations such as sheds, small crevices or cracks. Not all hibernating queens will survive; many get killed off by predators such as spiders.

The following spring the queens who made it through their hibernation unscathed wake and seek out somewhere to build a nest. At this point, a queen may choose somewhere in your property or its surrounds such as the loft, a roof cavity, a garden shed or maybe a tree or shrub.

The golf ball size nest: beginnings of an infestation

The queen’s original nest building work produces a nest about the size of a golf ball and will be generally rounded in shape and have a pale grey or woody colour; it’s actually made from a form of wood pulp the queen produces through stripping off small layers of wood from fences and the like and mixing them with her saliva.

The queen lays a handful of eggs to start with and continues doing so as spring and summer wear on. The eggs turn into adult wasps who start work enlarging the nest, and the population of the nest could grow to between 3,000 to 5,000 wasps. By this stage, depending on exact weather conditions, it will be in the period between late May and late June when the nest contains this number of wasps.

By this point it’ll be clear enough you have a major infestation as you’ll notice wasps frequently entering and leaving the nest or, if it’s concealed, higher numbers of wasps generally ‘around’ whether near a certain area of the property adjacent to the hidden nest, in the garden, or maybe in various rooms in your home on a regular basis.

Once the weather cools off and autumn gets under way, the nest will ‘quieten down’ as the resident queen and the workers die and the young, fertilised queens leave to go and hibernate elsewhere so starting the cycle all over again.

Striking early

Ideally, you’d prefer to identify and have the nest destroyed – or at least the wasps and queen inside killed off – when it’s still ‘golf ball size’ rather than when it’s larger and full of possibly thousands of wasps.

The nest is harder to spot when smaller as activity round it will be less obvious as there are fewer wasps. If you do notice the small nest – and you may if it’s situated somewhere more open such as in the garden shed – then having it removed by professional pest removers will head off the likelihood of a major infestation in a month or two’s time as the nest and number of wasps inside it grows.

4 Ways To Help Your Child’s Speech Development

 

 

Language, speech and communication skills are of key importance in a child’s formative education and success. Humans use a variety of ways to communicate, but arguably none are as important to a child’s academic success as language and speech skills – their ability to express themselves through spoken and written language. A child’s brain is a flexible, curious and bottomless object, and as a parent it is your job to help them wrap that brain around speech and language conventions, exposing them to new and different ways to communicate. Whether your child is a language whiz or having difficulties with expression, here are four ways you can help their speech development.

See A Speech Therapist

If you have any concerns about your child’s speech development, it’s a good idea to start looking for a childrens therapist that specializes in speech therapy – they’re often known as speech-language pathologists, or SLPs for short. SLPs focus first on assessing and evaluating the speech issues, and then on creating a treatment plan, which can help children express themselves better and, in turn, see greater academic and social success. This is the first and best line of defense if you are concerned about your child’s speech development – language acquisition and usage is a vast and complex subject, so it’s best to get help from the experts.

Read Together

Hearing you read to them, seeing the words go by on the page, and then taking a turn themselves trying to read – these three steps, as part of an evening family ritual, can be extraordinarily effective in helping speech development. Don’t be afraid to start your kids early. Even if they just sit there and absorb themselves in the narrative of the story, they are learning valuable things about language and speech operate. Choose books that are appropriate for their age group, but don’t be afraid to give them something complex – children listen on a higher language level than they are able to read, so this is a great way to expose them to complicated ideas.

Chat About Everything

Chat about the book you just read together. Chat about the things you see out the car window. Chat about their day at school, their friends, their teacher, their lunch, their hobbies, their hair… anything! The more you engage with your child, the better their speech development will be. And don’t be passive in the conversation – get in there and talk about yourself, your day and your interests, because receiving information is just as important a language skill as being able to dispense with it. Try to vary up your vocabulary as well; whereas yesterday you asked them about their favourite “sports”, today ask them about “athletic activities”.

Be Supportive, Not Critical

Finally, it’s important to always be supportive of your child’s attempts, and refrain from being critical if they make mistakes. The last thing you want is to stifle your child’s desire to express themselves, but the fear of failure can be a strong deterrent to a child. Helpful, happy corrections are welcome, of course.

Language and speech skills are the foundation upon which much of your child’s academic, social and (later) work life will be built, so it’s important to help their development any way you can. Visit a Speech-Language Pathologist if you are concerned about your child’s speech development, and remember to read and talk with them often.

How to Choose the Best for Your Baby

 

As a parent, the most natural thing in the world is to want to protect your baby and give them the best possible care. But with the baby equipment industry being bigger than ever, it can be hard to know when you’re making the right choices for your child. There are simply too many offers, each claiming that they are the best one. But the trick is to know what you are looking for in products, rather than looking for a specific recommendation.

Know your child

The first part of buying perfect products for your child is to know what perfect means for them. Each child is different, and since they have no way of telling you what they like, you need to look at all the other signs that might indicate that a product is or isn’t good for them. Some things you should pay attention to are quality of sleep, skin reactions, stool and the general mood of the child. All of these can be subtle signs, and it’s especially important to pay attention to them in the period right after introducing something new into their life.

Inside out

The first thing you want to make sure your baby is getting is proper food. If you are breastfeeding, then you are going to need a pump, and any other breastfeeding assistance like a pillow and a synthetic nipple if yours are inverted. However, if for any reason you can’t breastfeed your child, then you want to make sure they are getting a suitable replacement. There is a variety of different formulas, from animal-based to plant-based, and it’s up to you to pick what you think is best. Of course, you should always consult your doctor to see which brands they recommend and to check whether the ones you pick are good enough. If your baby doesn’t have a proper diet, they will get sick easier and might fall behind on growth. Keep an eye on any symptoms of an upset stomach (apart from the usual gas and cramps) and inform your doctor during regular check-ups.

A soft touch

A baby’s skin is so delicate that it should only come in contact with other delicate materials. When choosing clothes, many parents opt for cheaper options, under the explanation that they will only be wearing these clothes for a month or so, and that there is no use buying something expensive. However, the quality of cheap clothing is often low, and your child might feel itchy and even get skin irritations. Always check the clothing and bedding materials that your baby is in contact with. Ensure that it is made of bamboo, cotton or wool, like the ultra soft Bubba Blue products. The same goes for towels, blankets and literally anything touching your baby’s skin. But since they are so delicate, you might want to keep some rash cream on hand all the time for when their skin gets irritated.

Entertainment

The life of a baby is pretty great, but when there aren’t many places to go, you should at least give them plenty of things to do. Yes, when the baby is very small, it will mostly sleep and cry, but even then, they can enjoy some things, like electronic cradles with sound effects that remind them of the womb or their mother’s heartbeat. And after just a few months, they will start grabbing things, which is the perfect time to see if their hands are developing properly. If you see that their grip is a bit off, there are simple correction toys that will put their hands in the right place when the child simply plays with them. And, of course, every child needs their favorite stuffed toy. Make sure that the toy is completely safe, without any parts that they can swallow or any harmful stuffing.

Getting the best for your baby also means being the best parent you can be, which means getting enough sleep, eating properly and making sure you’re in a good state of mind. Going to parenting workshops before the baby is born is a great way to hit the ground running, and make sure you give your child the best love and support you can, from the day they are born.