When Traveling with kids…

Hello beautiful people!

With school out and summer vacations in full gear I thought I’d share few tips when traveling with kids. We have had quite some traveling under our belt since our 8 years old was an infant and I think by now I have it figured out lol. (I think) If anyone has additional ideas feel free to add in the comments below 🙂

First thing I pack is medicine aka Emegency Kit.

1. Advil or Motrin
2. Benadryl (I would also bring EpiPen if you or your children have severe allergies. or asthma inhalers.)
3. Pepto-Bismol  (not on picture but Dramamine is highly recommended for motion sickness/nausea)
4. Anti-Diarrheal medicine (trust me you never know when you will need this)
5.  Alcohol wipes, Band-Aids, Neosporin
6. Vaseline (I use it for minor burns, blisters if you are walking a lot on vacay :-), dry skin)
7. Silverdene cream- this is a sulfa antibiotic. This is amazing for burns. Accidents happen, and this is a life saver if you get a burn. Last year one of my boys got bad sunburn on his shoulders, I mean bad! We used this on his shoulders.
8. I also keep a finger splint there.

Of course bring medicine for you if you take any.

CAR TRAVEL

If you are traveling by car depending on the ages of your children I recommend bringing some type of entertainment. DVD players, coloring books, or do good ol’ car games. Packing a new toy the children have not seen yet is always good entertainment.  I would also pack snacks (NO SUGAR) and water in a little cooler and keep in the car so you do not have to stop every time someone is hungry.

PLANE TRAVEL

Pack your documents/ flight tickets ahead of time and double check expiration dates on documents. Do you best to pack everything ahead of time so that you are not frazzled the day of you trip. I have learned from experience that our moods rub off on our children 🙂 If we are stressed they will be stressed too. Prepare flight entertainment just like you would for your car trip. For babies I always make sure that they have their pacifier or a sippy cup / bottle at take off, it helps with their ears. Also, our pediatrician has always recommended giving our kids Benadryl (dosage appropriate for age/weight) before take off if the trip is longer. Check with your pediatrician or advice nurse. It helps tremendously with decongestion (and of course some kids sleep well with Benadryl and that’s awesome lol). If you are traveling out of country its always recommended to check your children’s immunization record and make sure they are up to date and if they need additional travel immunizations/medications. Bring copy of immunizations along. Of course you should check this for your self as well. When at the airport let them run around, watch planes take off but please be with your children at all times and keep in mind people around you. I find that this exhausts them and they are calmer on flight. If you know you have a hyper or curious child (don’t we all) when you are seated in the plane and you know that your child may have a melt down or a tantrum introduce your self to the people in front, behind and next to you. Simply say I have a little one that is flying for the first time, I am sorry if she/he has tantrums or is upset during the flight. I promise this makes a world of difference, people immediately become more understanding. One of my friends flew to Japan from USA with her daughter under 2 years of age. She actually made little goody bags with a note introducing her daughter, apologizing in advance if child screams or cries and put little mints / candy in the baggies and placed them on the seats around them.

Here is her letter.

Isn’t she creative?! I am trying to persuade her to start blogging. She currently lives in Japan, her husband is in the Navy. She is a stay at home mom and student, and she is very crafty. Her little daughter is a kids fashion model and you can check out her Instagram @AidaHilgart.

Do you guys have any tips you would like to add for easy traveling with kids? Feel free to share in comments below 🙂

Have a great day!

Everyday is Mother’s Day

Hello beautiful people! 

I don’t know if I mentioned before but some of you may know that I am originally from Europe. I moved to USA 17 years ago. Back home we did not have Mother’s Day, we had International Women’s day which falls on March 8th. So when I learned of another day to celebrate the beautiful and amazing women in our lives I was excited to celebrate my mom and spoil her with gifts, however no matter what gift I bough her it could not reward her for her endless love and support. I did not understand that until I became a mother myself. 

We love them and sometimes, we become them. Whether she carried you inside of her for nine months or if she put her life aside and adopted you and you became her life most people can identify a person who they can be thankful for on this holiday. These women work hard, especially these days where most women are employed and stay at home moms are so rare. Wether you are a stay at home  Mom or a working Mom I know you are wonderful and hard working. I know you fill your roll with so much love and you are so selfless. I know that you put your kids first no matter what, I know that you are tired but you rarely complain, I know that no matter what you would do it all over again for their smile and a hug. Being a Mom is a lot of work but it’s worth it. 

My mom is my best friend, she is my hero, my cheerleader, and my rock, and if that was not enough God blessed me with another wonderful mother figure and that is my mother in law. I wish nothing but the best for them, and hope that one day I can be as half as good as them and that my children appreciate as much as I appreciate them.

  

And those of you without your Mom’s on this day I know it sucks. I can’t even imagine the pain. Celebrate her and most importantly, remember that even in the darkest days of life you still have her in your heart. 

Mothering has been the richest experience of my life, and we should celebrate our families everyday not just on this day. I want to thank my husband for supporting me and helping me be the best mom that I can to our boys, and for keeping me sane with this mom has a “moment” 😂😂. 

Rainy Monday!

It is such a gloomy and rainy day here today…makes Monday that much more exciting lol. Even through the day is gloomy and tiring especially first work day of the week I still plan a workout tonight. Monday’s are the most challenging to me and that’s exactly why I never skip Monday..because it’s my personal challange and because it’s a way for me to destress and burn off some steam.

The weekend was awesome!, especially Friday. Hubby and I took the day off and the kiddos were in school so we used that time to spend outside. We really needed this break and time to our selves. I know all your Moms and Dads can relate.  We went to Stone Mountain and hiked the Cherokee Trail. The view was amazing!! Must do if you are in GA.

    

I also recreated  Panera’s Quinoa bowl (if you have not tried this magic yet you should, it’s so delish) which I will post soon.

Saturday we spent with the kids doing whatever they wanted.

Sunday I ate horribly!!!! Mainly sweets 🙊🙈 still got another hike up the mountain and weight lifting but then ate more sweets ha ha!

This little fella worked out too. If he can do it you can too

You are being watched

While no one expects us to be a “perfect” parents it really isn’t that complicated to raise happy, healthy, well adjusted kids. I am no expert and I am still raising my kids..(not out of the woods yet ha ha) but I did learn so far that kids need love. Kids need boundaries. Kids need someone to look up to and learn from.

 This post was inspired by our older son. Couple of weeks ago he did his first 5k with me and loved it. Today he did his first solo 1k. He is only 8 and it was a big deal for him. He completed it effortlessly and was so happy about his accomplishment. On the way home he actually thanked me for signing him up and said he loved it and he has been wanting to do it because he loves that I do them. He said that one day his wish was to complete a stop free 5k with me in under 30 minutes. That is a huge reward to me. I knew this before and it was just a reminder that kids look up to us, they see what we do, what we say, how we act, if we work hard for something and how we react to things. How we go through life teaches our children how to go through life. That goes for anything. If they see us making a goal and working on that goal wether we accomplish it out not it teaches them to try. If you are using bad language or bad behavior,  do not be surprised if you hear your child speaking like that tomorrow. If we eat healthy and take care of our selves we teach them to love their body and nourish it with the best quality it deserves. 

Our job, as a parent, is to lead by example. Modeling the kind of behavior that we want our kids to adopt. Becoming a role model, of course, often means taking a close, honest look at how we live our own life. This kind of self-examination can be uncomfortable, but it’s absolutely necessary for the well-being of our children. This may be a great discovery for us and them. 

• Be your best 
• Be dependable
• Take care of yourself 
• Be attentive
• Be loyal
• Be honest
• Admit when you do something wrong, and teach what’s right. 
• Enforce consequences when your children do something wrong. 
• START NOW. You are being watched. 

  

  

So proud of him and his friend and all the children and parents involved today.

2015 Hunger Walk

Today has been an awesome day. My boys and I went to the turner field in Atlanta with some very dear friends of ours and participated in The Hunger Walk. The first sucessful hunger walk/run was in 1984 and has been held every year since then. In 2014 it raised over $800,000 for local hunger relief. 

Today’s progress so far.



My older son understands the idea of the walk and because we were in downtown Atlanta we passed quite a few homeless people, even cheering us on, he saw them and said “mom this is for them.” My younger stubborn one had no idea why we were walking but by all means he wanted to walk too, and for his little feet he made it almost a mile on foot, the rest I carried him and pushed him in the stroller when he fell asleep. 



Our children supporting the cause







There were so many people I could not even capture a good shot to show you guys. It was insanely awesome!!!  If you want to learn more about the event or wish to donate you can go to the website here Hunger Walk. 

I hope you all are enjoying your weekend! 

Do girls run the world or run DOWN the world???

This is not really fitness related but I just had to speak my mind on something. I am sure I will get some attacks but here goes. I was scrolling through my Facebook yesterday and saw several different “viral” posts. Like the fitness model that is 8 months pregnant and still works out and has abs (Comments were that she is a bad mom already or is her baby even healthy). Another one was the Duggar daughter that is about to have her 3rd baby (many women commented that her mother did not teach her anything other than to reproduce or that she had no life), and one more I saw was a lady that used to be really fit and into fitness and decided to gain weight and says she is happy with her 30% BMI (On this one comments were that she is setting bad example for people who are over weight trying to lose weight).

So you are thinking why am I complaining about this…Well out of curiosity I clicked on comments on all 3 of those topics and I was completely shocked. Not only were the comments 90% from women but the things that were said about these women that the topics were about was completely shocking.
I have realized this before but its just proves my realization more, women do not worry about impressing men I think we are worried about impressing other women and that is a SHAME. If you are a woman who is hiding behind your screen and are slamming other women on social media for being fit, fat, a good mom, or fighting for any goal in their life, the way they dress, the way they look then shame on you, I call you the internet bully. We fought for equal rights, even to this day we are quick to point out that women are discriminated against any opportunity we get but we run over each other first moment we get. We have an opinion and we thing we know what is right in every situation. Well guess what WE DO NOT.

If you are a fit an healthy person please do not judge the one who is not you don’t know their struggles.

If you are not fit and you are judging the fit please do not you don’t know their struggles.

If you are a mom and have given birth, do not judge another mother on her postpartum weight, she grew and nurtured for 9 months and she gave a life for crying out loud, shame on you.

Don’t judge someone’s worth by the brand of clothes they have, how they dress, how much $ they have, where and how they spend. Have you not heard the saying “Don’t judge the book by its cover”

If you are a mom especially of a daughter and you do any of the above shame on you for setting that type of example for your daughter.

In today’s society girls will not run the world, we will run it down at this rate and hate, and we ask why we don’t have women presidents.

I wish women would empower each other and praise other women that are successful in any way. We all have different goals in life, just because yours is different than mine it does not mean mine is wrong or vice versa. Ladies lets stop the hate and show the world that we can run it. I find it that a lot of negativity is coming from jealousy and the ones that are not happy with their life. Be in love with your life and enjoy every minute of it and if you do not like your life change it, nothing will change if YOU do no change it. But whatever you do, do not use your words to hurt others you never know what someone is going through and what it took to get there, you never know how your words can hurt a person. Think before you speak, and if you have nothing nice or supportive to say and you disagree then don’t comment, keep scrolling.

If you have been bullied by other women before, or if you have been the bully please pick up one of these books. It may help you.

1. Be impeccable with your word-
Never use the power of the word against yourself.
2. Don’t take anything personally-
All humans live in their own world, in their own movie/story/dream and you in yours.
3. Don’t make assumptions-
Most assumptions are not the truth; they are fiction.
4. Always do your best-The only thing you can “do”;
the first three will naturally follow.
5. Be skeptical and listen for the truth.
When you listen, you start to understand the story-both yours and theirs.
~Miguel Ruiz

The Fifth Agreement by Miguel Ruiz found here

The Voice of Knowledge by Miguel Ruiz found here

SORRY FOR THE LONG POST! BUT THIS HAS TO STOP! SPREAD LOVE LADIES!

Some of my favorite phone apps

There is an app for everything!!!

I love technology and I can not decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing LOL. My phone is my go to place for a lot of things when it comes to organization. I have an Iphone 5 and I love that I can launch Siri and just tell her to put stuff on my calendar and not bother to even open my app or type. So the calendar is a major favorite of mine. Here are a few others that I love.

Artkive– I LOVE THIS APP. I have an older son who is in elementary school. I got this app when he was in kindergarten. It lets me take pictures of all his creations (artwork, projects, ect) and print it into a book. This way we do not have art and paper all over the house I can have it all in one place. PhotoVault- I got this app for a lot of reasons. Its started for my progress pictures, then my kids just in case phone is ever stolen. You can store and protect your pictures under a password. I hate when someone wants to see a specific picture on my phone I show it to them then they start flipping back and forth through my pictures

RunKeeper and MyFitness Pal – Run keeper I use a lot when running outside. I link both apps together so it gives me a good idea of my calorie intake too which I obviously log through MyFitnessPal. I love that myfitness pal app even has foods listen from my home country of Bosnia so I don’t have to struggle to figure out how much calories something is. It also has all restaurant food and bar codes, so if you eat lets say a protein bar you just scan the bar code and it will log it. I link both of these app with my health insurance Humana Vitality and score some major points and rewards 😉

Now the shopping apps!!! Grupon- I have used this app from ordering flowers for a friend to booking a getaway with my dear hubby. There are always awesome deals. If you have not tried it you MUST! Target Cartwheel– I am sure a lot of mommies out there are familiar with this app. Especially if you had to buy a lot of diapers 😉 It is basically their app for digital coupons and discounts.

Apart from general social media, Pinterest and WordPress apps I also have a SnapSeed (awesome photo editor) and my new FitBitt app. DO YOU HAVE AN COOL APP YOU WOULD RECOMMEND?

Free tickets to the Atlanta Zoo

For those of you living in Atlanta. My oldest son loves animals and he also loves going to the library. We go to the library often and we enjoy that time together. We browse through books and love the smell of them lol..I know, we are dorks. So last week we learned if we rent a DVD about Atlanta Zoo upon return we received 4 tickets to the Atlanta Zoo. Now you must use the tickets within a week from the receipt but we thought that was soo cool. We even brough his best friend along since his brother’s admittion was free. I know the tickets to the zoo are not that expensive to some but the whole idea and the learning process was fun and my son enjoyed the DVD. We saved $17.99 per child and $22.99 per adult. We were blessed with good weather this past saturday and were able to visit the zoo. I thought to share the idea with all the mommies out there for some fun.

til next time Maya

Build Strong Relationships

We are so close to the end of the year. I want you all to sit down and reminiscent on good and bad things that happened this year. Think about the bad because I believe the bad is what makes us stronger. We learn from the bad and become better stronger people. Think about the good, happy moments, and appreciate them very much. Think about what you wish you would have done this year and write it down and make sure you do it. Don’t hold your self back, reach for your goals, the only person standing between you and your goal IS YOU.

Spend more time for family, if you can not physically spend time with family reach out to them…phone, text,email, Skype.  I get it. You have the best intentions, but you are busy. Super-busy, in fact. Between your job and your family and taking care of your home you barely have time to…well

Let me stop you there.

You can tell what is important to a person by the way they spend their time. If relationships are important, you will make time for them. You will make it a priority to send birthday greetings, celebrate the joys and mourn the losses of your nearest and dearest. And if you want to truly live the good life, you’ll expand this out to include friends and acquaintances.

When your friends need you, you’ll be there. And when you need them, they will be there for you, too. But I ask you all to please not put your friends before your family. It is important to have friends but I believe it is just as important to be close to your family. If you look at your past I am sure you will realize friends come and go, but your family is there to stay whether you like it or not, so make the best relationship out of it. Make it your goal not to only stay in touch when there is a death or a wedding. Send a random “hey Uncle Joe! How are you? Just wanted to check on you…” It will not hurt you, if you spend time on Facebook or any social media daily then  you can make time for this. Heck you can even use social media to stay in touch. I challenge you for the next year to contact a family member you have not talk to in a while. So contact one family member per week. If you want to make it even better and they live close by make a lunch date or visit. And I leave you with one of my favorite quotes