One evening playing around on Pinterest started this particular pull-apart rolls post.  Here’s what got it rolling…

Stuffed Grilled Cheese Rolls from My Fridge Food

Image from My Fridge Food

Honey Butter Pull-Apart Rolls from High Heels & Grills

Image from High Heels & Grills

Cinnamon and Sugar Pull-Apart Rolls from The Cupcake Diaries

Image from The Cupcake Diaries

Garlic Pull-Apart Rolls from Sizzling Veggies

Image from Sizzling Veggies

Blueberry Pull-Apart Rolls from Mod Meals on Mendenhall

Image from Mod Meals on Mendenhall

Garlic Parmesan Cheese Pull-Apart Rolls from Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen

Image from Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen

Roll it!

Easter Brunch – Homemade Rolls

Soft Milk Rolls

Mom’s Cinnamon Roll Recipe

The post Pull-Apart Rolls Round-Up appeared first on TodaysMama.

I’m serious.

Put down that box of “rice cereal” and walk away.

Rice cereal is BAD for your baby. Rice cereal is probably at the root of the obesity epidemic in children.

Why? Think about what you know about healthy, nutritious foods. We know we’re supposed to be eating whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Do you know what rice cereal is?

NONE OF THOSE THINGS.

Rice cereal is processed, pressed, milled, sealed, fillers, shelf-stable for months or years. I don’t eat that kind of food. Doctors tell you not to eat that kind of food. Why do baby doctors tell you to feed your baby that kind of food? It goes against everything you know about what food is: real, whole, unprocessed, fresh, in its original state, no added ingredients, no fillers, something that eventually decomposes. Rice cereal is white flour with iron added back in.

How They Make Rice Cereal

The box of rice cereal says it’s fortified with a dozen vitamins and minerals and won’t expire for another two years. Two years. How they make rice cereal: the whole grain of rice is stripped of its nutritious shell, processed, and vitamins and minerals are added to try to make it worth something again (because they took out what was good and integral, and had to add a synthetic version back in.) White and starchy–what you’re supposed to avoid. Vitamins and minerals that your baby probably can’t even absorb because it doesn’t come from real food.

Well, My Pediatrician Said…

But the AAP, the American Academy of Pediatrics said,

“For a baby’s first food, rice cereal is not as nutritious as other food options and only became popular in the past 30 to 35 years because it was thought to be the least allergenic of the cereals, Dr. Greer noted. Other options for a first weaning food include red meat, which Dr. Greer said contains the iron and zinc that breastfeeding babies in particular are lacking after six months of breastfeeding.”

Ask your pediatrician why their professional organization calls rice cereal “not as nutritious as other food options.”  Point your pediatrician to White Out, where they might be able to look at the evidence for themselves.

It’s Refined White Flour Cereal 

Giving your baby a spoonful of rice cereal is practically like giving your baby a spoonful of sugar. Refined carbohydrates are bad for all of us, let alone your baby.

Rice cereal makes no sense. And I’m not the only one. Dr. Alan Greene, a well-known pediatrician, has made it his mission to get the White Out of our babies’ diets. He thinks rice cereal is at the root of our nation’s childhood obesity epidemic, and I don’t think he’s wrong.

“Rice cereal isn’t just babies’ first food. In the US, this processed white flour is the number one carb eaten by babies from the first bite to the first birthday (It’s the #1 food carb, behind formula, but ahead of breast milk. And average babies get about twice as many carbs for the entire first year from rice cereal than from any solid real food.)…Processed white flour is the single largest food influence on taste preferences and metabolism during the entire first year. It’s no wonder we have a snowballing obesity and diabetes epidemic…Kids born in the 60s, and just before and just after, usually had parents who were still raised on real food. Many of these babies did come to prefer processed foods, but not in excessive amounts and their metabolisms were mostly able to handle it.

However, when they grew up and started to have children of their own, this generation was exposed to heavily processed food both in the womb and in their earliest direct food exposures. This was when the childhood obesity epidemic started to take off.

Obesity is a very complex issue, but we know that the it’s strongly  influenced in the womb. With the obesity epidemic starting in the 80s, the question isn’t just what was new about babies then, but also what was new about mothers then. For one thing, it was the first generation of mothers whose tastes and metabolisms were influenced by white rice baby cereal.”

-Dr. Alan Green

Rice cereal in your baby’s bottle?

The number of babies who actually benefit from rice cereal in their bottles is tiny compared with the number who get it. There are a lot of studies out there that show how putting rice cereal in your baby’s bottle is leading to obesity, constipation, and asthma. Unless your baby is literally vomiting so much they have stopped gaining weight, it’s probably a bad idea (and I’d really give a pediatrician who recommended it to keep a baby sleeping long at night, a kick in the butt and a pink slip.) If you have a doctor that recommends rice cereal in your baby’s bottle, ask them to back up their recommendations with evidence.

The Arsenic in Rice Cereal

And then there’s the whole arsenic thing, you know, where rice cereal has high rates of arsenic. Literally poison in our babies’ food.

What Should I Feed My Baby Instead of Rice Cereal?

What about actual vegetables and fruits? How about soft meat, like from stews, cut into bite sized pieces, and let baby feed himself? What about oatmeal, or steel-cut oats? Whatever fresh fruits and vegetables you have with dinner, like avocados, red peppers, pears, peas, broccoli, peaches, carrots, chicken, celery, beans, beef, barley, quinoa, squash, green beans, and actual whole foods.

So Why Are You Feeding Baby Rice Cereal? 

Other posts you might enjoy:

DIY Baby Food

Your Baby Can Read Shut Down

Put Together a Realistic Nursery for Your Baby

The post Why Are You Feeding Baby Rice Cereal? appeared first on TodaysMama.

It was recommended to bring “fresh-cut flowers from your own garden” which I found to be an entertaining suggestion since I have to fight to keep a tomato pant alive.  And a bundle of weeds doesn’t scream appreciation, even if it is tied with a bow.

Thanks to a good flower find at Trader Joe’s we weren’t rolling totally empty-handed, but as my daughter was decorating her hand written cards with stickers of dog food last night, I felt like we could have done better.

One of her teachers told me this morning that she had gotten a card with poison stickers on it yesterday, so I do think we might be one step ahead with the dog food decorations. Come end of school, I’m going to be ready. And probably next year too. Check out the links below for some awesome teacher appreciation ideas.

Thank You for Helping Me Become a Smartie from Cooking For My Kids

Image from Cooking For My Kids

Thanks for Sparking My Creative Juices this Year from Tatertots & Jello

Image from Tatertots & Jello

There’s Muffin Like a Great Teacher from Two Busy Blondes

Image from Two Busy Blondes

We Need S’more Teachers Like You from Domesticated Lady

Image from Domesticated Lady

A beach towel, sunglasses, sunscreen and magazine from Junk in Their Trunk

Image from Junk in Their Trunk

School Supply Cake from What’s Scrapping

Image from What’s Scrapping

Thank a teacher!

End of School Teacher Note

Printable Teacher Report Card

Get Involved in Your Child’s School

The post Teacher Appreciation Ideas appeared first on TodaysMama.

It seems unfair that unlike leg hair, eyebrow hair refuses to grow when you’re looking for a do-over.

If you need an eyebrow “do-over”, neuBrow is just the ticket. With a strong blend of vitamins, proteins and rejuvenating ingredients, neuBrow helps to create natural looking brows within thirty days. I gave neuBrow a try, and it was amazing. Let’s just say I needed to book an appointment to get my eyebrows cleaned up post thirty days.

With my eyebrows looking good, let’s take that scrutiny a little lower to my eyelashes.  While mascara is magical and can do wonderful things, it seems entirely unfair that little boys have the longest eyelashes in the world.  For some reason it seems like girls don’t get hit quite as hard with the lash gene.  In addition to using neuBrow, I tried neuLash and let me just say, I gave my son and his wall of lashes a run for their money.  Within the thirty day period I noticed a serious difference and I was leaving a lot more mascara in the tube.

Click here for more information on neuBrow and neuLash from Skin Research Laboratories. I was provided with a sample of neuBrow and neuLash to try, but my opinions are my own.  Give it a try and watch your own lashes and brows grow!

Beauty

How to Get that Summer Beauty Look for Less

Best Drugstore Beauty Products

Beauty: Yes to Carrots

The post neuBrow and neuLash appeared first on TodaysMama.

Find your favorite spinach and pasta recipe and you’ve got a hearty dinner in the making!  Technically, this is a Spinach Cannelloni recipe, but as you can see, I skipped the cannelloni part and stuffed some jumbo pasta shells with spinach and ricatta cheese before smothering with a mushroom-filled marinara sauce. It’s spinach and pasta and cheese – you can’t really go wrong with this trio of ingredients.

The original recipe calls for using egg roll wrappers. You might also try rolling the filling into al denta lasagne noodle strips to make your cannelloni tubes.  If you’re using fresh spinach, you’ll be able to use nearly three-fourths of your Costco bag or you can always thaw and saute two 10-ounce packages of frozen spinach.

Why not make this for your next family dinner?

Spinach and Pasta Recipe (aka Spinach Cannelloni)

Filling
20 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, chopped
2 tablespoons butter + 2 tablespoons butter
15 ounces ricotta cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1/4 cup Romano cheese
1 cup mozzarella + 1 cup mozzarella
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs

Pasta
1 box jumbo shells, cooked al dente, cooled

Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 8-ounce package fresh mushrooms, sliced
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 can (28-ounce) crushed tomatoes
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil

Prepare the pasta shells by cooking according to box directions for al dente pasta.  Drain and spread on a baking sheet to prevent sticking. Set aside.

Prepare the spinach by sautéing half of the fresh spinach a large skillet using 2 tablespoons butter.  Cook approximately 3 minutes or until spinach has reduced to one-fourth the original volume. Remove spinach from pan and store in a small mixing bowl.  Add second batch of spinach and butter and repeat.  Drain any excess liquid and return all spinach to your large sauté pan.  Add ricotta cheese and cook another 3 minutes.  Add Parmesan cheese, Romano cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, nutmeg and eggs. Continue to stir until well blended.  Remove from heat.

In a second sauce pan, sauté onions and garlic in butter until onions are translucent.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer for at least 15 minutes.  Short cut – You can also use a store-bought pasta sauce, but jazz it up by allowing to simmer and by adding the extra ingredients above minus the tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a 9×13-inch pan, spoon one half of the sauce and spread evenly.  Using a spoon, fill the jumbo shells with filling mixture and place in pan.  Cover shells with remaining sauce and cover pan with foil. Bake for 30-40 minutes. With 10 minutes bake time left, remove the foil and sprinkle last cup of mozzarella on top. Bake until cheese is melted and bubbly.  Serves 6-8 dinner portions.

Adapted from Colorado Collage

More Dinner Favorites

Quick and Healthy Meal Tips for Summertime

Thai Fried Quinoa

Baked Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

The post Spinach and Pasta Recipe – Call it Cannelloni appeared first on TodaysMama.

But boy was I laughing HARD by the middle of the video.

What did you think? Have you shown your husband the video yet?

 You can see the whole story over on LiveLeak.com

Other videos you might like:

Heartwarming Mistletoe Prank

Mr. Rogers Video (Feel Free to Weep Openly)

The post Men Experiencing Labor Pain appeared first on TodaysMama.

In 2007, we distantly knew of one living Wyatt, and we chose our Wyatt’s name to commemorate my family’s love of the West, where Wyatt Earp reigned supreme in the late 1800′s.  While biographies differ on some darker areas of Earp’s character, he was widely known as a strong, independent lawman.  The name was perfect for our baby.

A few months later, actor Kevin Costner named his son Cayden Wyatt Costner.  He can slide — he played Wyatt Earp in the title movie.  

That same month, singer Sheryl Crow adopted a boy and named him Wyatt.  Wait a minute, what’s happening here?

In 2009, I was in a mommy-and-me swimming class when a woman and her son, Thomas, swam up to us.  When she learned of my son’s name, she exclaimed that she’d just named her baby Wyatt.  I started to feel mildly ticked, like I had this claim on my son’s name and she shouldn’t use it just because Sheryl Crow blasted such a cool name on the cover of People magazine.

Then I met two more Wyatts.  One was my assistant pastor’s baby, and the other was my friend’s toddler.  These are Wyatts that I got to look at in the eye and say, “Wyatt, meet Wyatt.”  And suddenly I realized how silly I was.  I don’t know what made these other families choose that name, and it’s none of my business.  What makes my son strong or independent isn’t his name — it’s how we lead him in life, what choices he is allowed, how he makes those choices, and how we support him along the way.

So, what do you do when your baby’s unique name gets trendy?  You raise that baby to be a unique person unto him or herself (even if we did dress him up like a cowboy each time we visited his grandparents in Wyoming).

He’s a good pard.

Steve could be the name of the jerk boss who fired you and hired his nephew, and it’s also the name of the man who invented Apple computers.  Timothy is the name of a man who bombed a building in Oklahoma and killed dozens, and it’s also the name of a lovely fashion editor on TV, and the same name of the man who invented the World Wide Web.

So what’s in a name?  Well, the last name obviously makes a difference.  The people attached to that last name make a difference.  The people who influence the child, who shape and lead and help that child.  In the end, the name is attached to a person.  It’s up to us to help that person be the best kind of person possible.  Even with a trendy name.

Has your kid’s name become a trendy name?  Have you had a similar parenting moment when you realized you were looking at it all wrong?

The post What To Do When Your Baby’s Name Becomes A Trendy Name appeared first on TodaysMama.

He’s currently gluten free and dairy free (he does drink goat’s milk) which can definitely present some challenges.  I usually bring food with us to restaurants but it would be nice to not have to fly with our gluten free bread, and he probably shouldn’t spend two days consuming only Popchips, convenient and delicious as they may be.

If you’re gluten free and planning on going to a theme park, Disney is the place to be.  With an up to date list in City Hall on Main Street of gluten free dining options, you can plan your meals in advance.

Click here to read to get the gluten free eating in Disneyland scoop with a list of restaurants and gluten free options at Gluten Free Glamour Girl.  Disney does it right!

I wonder if they have goat milk available on request?

Image from Gluten Free Glamour Girl

Skip the gluten!

Gluten Free Desserts

Gluten Free Mac and Cheese

Healthy , Gluten Free, No Bake Treats

The post Gluten Free Eating in Disneyland appeared first on TodaysMama.

Graduates will pull their tassel off of their cap and hang them over their rearview mirror for all to see.

It’s awesome you graduated.  We all like to see the year.  But eventually that tassel is going to get a little dusty.  And faded.  And outdated three years later.

Turn your tassel into a keepsake with this Graduation Tassel Ornament idea from Do It and How.

Image from Do It and How

It’s the perfect way to commemorate the big day without creating a driving distraction.  Congrats to the grads!

Ornaments!

Time Capsule Ornament Tutorial

Free Printable Ornaments

Creative Christmas Ornaments

The post Graduation Tassel Ornament appeared first on TodaysMama.

When a woman tells you her story about giving birth, you will most likely hear words like Miracle, Joy, Husband, Beautiful and Love. My story also includes words like, “exploded” and “drove backwards for two miles in a police car.” That’s just how I roll.

I was nineteen when I had my first child. I was living in upstate New York and my husband was in Pennsylvania at basic training for the Air Force. By the time he was ready to graduate, I was almost 2 weeks over due. Throughout the pregnancy I had only been to the doctor a few times and had only a basic idea of my due date. I didn’t know I was over due. My mother and I decided to make the long journey to be there in person. This decision, as you may already have guessed, proved to be a bad one.

Graduation was over and the three of us were headed back home. It was an easy, uneventfully trip at first. And then we hit massive traffic. After over an hour of sitting in what looked like a long, very narrow parking lot, people started getting out of their cars. I had started feeling contractions earlier but now they were getting more intense.

Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on, going car to car and mingling with our fellow freeway captives. At the time, the road was under construction on one side. This was over 20 years ago when cell phones were rare. Cars were backed up as far I could see in either direction. Finally, after another half hour or so, we found out what had caused this stand-still. A truck carrying gasoline had caught fire and exploded. Traffic was backed up for miles and I was in labor.

We had made friends with our new automobile neighbors. It was those new friends who reached out and held my hand through each contraction. People started to go car to car to pass along the word that we needed a nurse or doctor. There were large cement barriers lining the left side of the turnpike. It seemed like only minutes had passed when I noticed two women, in the back of a pick-up truck heading my way on the gravel road that sat on the other side of those barriers. I was informed by these kind women that they were qualified nurses who were ready to help me give birth in the back of the truck. Right there, in the middle of this crazy parking lot.

I should have panicked at the thought of giving birth in general, instead I was horrified that 4 men had been recruited to lift my humongous pregnant self over that waist high chunk of cement. There I was in a white dress, being hoisted up in the air. I felt like the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man from Ghostbusters. NOT attractive. (Note to self: all pride has disappeared.)

I sat there in the back of that pickup protesting. I was telling everyone involved that I refused to let my child come into the world under these circumstances. They just smiled, laughed a bit and told me I may not have a choice in the matter. Thankfully, I didn’t have to protest long. The police showed up on that same gravel road but from the opposite direction. There was no room to make a u-turn so the officers helped me into the car and drove frighteningly fast, in reverse to the exit. My mother had to stay with the car and that meant I had to go with my husband, who I had not seen in months. A husband who had punched me in my pregnant belly the last time we were together.

At the hospital things got crazy very quickly. I was hooked up to a machine, had an ultra sound and was informed the baby was in serious trouble. I started to cry. The doctor briefly explained what was going to happen in the operating room. They wanted to put me under so I would just wake up and “Voila,” I’d have a baby. I was having none of that. He asked us if we had any questions. My question was “do you promise to take care of the the baby first, if something goes wrong?” He said he would do his best. My husband said he also had a question. His was, “How long before those stretch marks fade and she looks normal again?”

I will never forget the look on the faces of everyone in that room. I was whisked away to have an emergency C-Section.

I couldn’t stop crying. I felt pressure and tugging but no pain as the doctors went to work on my tummy. The man who should have been at my side announced that the whole thing grossed him out. He stood by the door, even after the nurses suggested he be more supportive. I felt two soft hands wrap themselves around my right hand. The nurse gave my hand a little squeeze, whispered in my ear, “you’re doing great.” I shut my eyes and tried to calm down. I heard someone say “here he comes” and POP! out he came. He was beautiful and perfect. I had my Joshua. I knew my life would never be the same.

Josh was only a few hours old when my mother and my husband left me in the hospital, in a state where I didn’t know a soul, with a new baby, all alone. There was a party back home to welcome “Mr. Wonderful and Supportive” and he wasn’t about to miss it. I stayed alone in the hospital for 5 days. I watched the nightly news as they reported on the events that had taken place on the turnpike. They even mentioned that a lady had gone into labor but made it to the hospital in time to have a healthy baby boy.

The good thing about being there alone with only my baby boy was that I realized I would end up a single mother one way or another. I knew what I needed to do. I deserved a better man in my life, and my child sure as hell deserved a better father. (I filed for divorce not long after.)

I spent those 5 days with only my baby, promising myself I could do right by this boy. Five days of loving, talking to and caring for my little boy. I have spent the next 22 years doing the exact same thing. There were two births that day: Josh was born and so was my new found self-worth and determination.

Other posts you might enjoy:

When Sticking to Your Birth Plan Makes You an Idiot

An Adoption Birth Story

The Best Gift Ever

The post The Two Births The Day My Son Was Born appeared first on TodaysMama.