Christmas in Boston :)

"I used to think that being a kid on Christmas was the best thing ever, but it turns out having kids on Christmas is."

Basically just a photo dump for you ... Spending time away from technology and the internet and enjoying our holiday with family and friends and all these new beautiful babies Wishing everyone a very very Merry Christmas and a blessed 2015! 

My beautiful new neice Amelia Paige <3

"Pampa Marcoux" aka the Baby Whisperer

Cousins meeting for the first time

Trying really hard to take a pic of all the 'Marcoux' cousins

And itty bitty baby Ella!

Soon to be baby Cole :) 

10th Annual CliffDoggie Christmas Party

Blair's ever growing posse

Xmas Eve crafts 

Xmas morning!

Bits of Life Lately

The face of a child who just told Santa he wants a Lamborghini car for Christmas.

some christmas craftin' with L

& craftin' for B's baby frien's

Breastmilk donation (read more)

Some Santa pics. Poor Bears isn't a fan of the jolly ole man

Evidence of one successful crib attempt. She looks so peaceful looking at her here. But trust me guys, this has not been easy. We don't call her the the Blair Bears for nothin'.

& because who doesn't love a baby butt

DIY Christmas Garland

Here is a really great festive and educational craft you can do with your kids and have the outcome really be for yourself - win win ;) This DIY Christmas garland is especially great to do with kids who might have some OT or fine motor planning issues, or just to practice on those areas with them, through cutting and lacing. 

All you need for this is some baker's twine, paper straws (got mine on eBay for $2 bucks), beads (check out dollar store or Michaels), and bluntly tipped children's scissors. Have your child practice cutting with scissors by slicing up the straws, (which is easier for them to do than cutting paper as all it requires is one quick cut). Then alternating between the freshly cut straws and beads, lace onto the twine until you reach the desired length of garland for your tree. 

There's so many different ways to personalize your garland depending on your tree and desired look you're going for. Since our tree has a silver and gold theme, I used silver and gold striped paper straws along with silver and gold beads, but some other ideas I love are the wooden beads with various colored paper straws, or varied shaped and sized crystal beads with white straws for a more elegant look.

There are so many ways to make this craft even more of a learning experience for them - the most obvious is through the concept of a pattern - you can discuss how you are developing repeat pieces/colors and have them pick out the next piece in your garland as you go (this is more of a higher level/4-year old skill). You can also discuss other concepts and vocabulary such as comparing lengths of the cut straws, ("taller than", "shorter than", "the same as") and introduce or practice other descriptive words like round, shiny, smooth, hard, thin, fragile, striped, etc.

Merry Christmas Crafting!

The Gift of Giving! - Breast Milk Donation.

The most valuable gift I gave this year -- worked extra hard the past several months to donate just over 300 oz of breast milk! It was shipped via overnight delivery to a hospital in Southern California to give to premature and critically ill babies in the NICU. 

Adding in a couple extra pumping sessions a day over the past several months was definitely not easy but I am soo happy I was able to do this, and this little chuckers is clearly happy to share :)

If you have ever thought about doing this, or if you are now thinking of ways you can give back this holiday season, I honestly can't think of a more valuable, precious, and rewarding gift to give to a fellow mother and baby in need. Breast milk donation is the only way a premature baby can receive the proper nutrition through an exclusive human-milk diet. Even if a mother is able to produce her own milk, preemie babies need more protein and nutrition than what her body alone can give. By supplementing with donated breast milk, they can up to triple the amount of protein they receive. (Milk fortifier made from cow's milk or formula can cause problems for premature babies because they are not natural human proteins and the baby's underdeveloped systems cannot always handle the cow protein).

Breast milk donation is also used to help mothers who have problems producing milk, or who are taking medications that her milk unsafe for baby, or if her own milk is otherwise not available in the NICU.

The World Health Organization now recommends that babies are given breastmilk for the first TWO years of their life. For the entire first year of life, the Organization recommends babies receive their mother's milk, donated breast milk, or formula, in that order, as the primary source of nutrition. 

I worked with National Milk Bank to give my donation, and I highly recommend going through them if this is something you're interested in -- they were truly incredible to work with, answered any and all questions I had about the process and throughout the screening process, and really made you feel like you are making a huge difference in the lives of these little babes :)