Healthyville: The Children's Museum

The latest traveling exhibit to come to the Virginia Children's Museum is Healthyville, a bilingual (Spanish/English) exhibit that teaches children and adults how to take care of their bodies. This exhibit, here until September 2nd, focuses on what to put in your body, how to keep it clean, and what exercising does to help it. It also highlights the different doctors that we should be going to regularly to help take care of our bodies.

The focus is for ages 5-12, but there is a good amount of sorting and physical play that kids of younger ages will enjoy. If you're looking for a good summertime reminder of why we should all add a few veggies to our plate, stop by and check it out. For tips on coming to the Children's Museum, check out our post here.

One Month

This past month has been a whirlwind. I thought that becoming a mom of two would be double the work, but it's more like quadruple the work. It seems like everyone always needs to eat or poop at the same time. RT is smack in the middle of swim lessons and soccer and being shuffled here and there, which has become infinitely harder with a newborn. Ex: on Tuesday rain was falling from the sky in ways that I can only imagine angry giants dumping buckets of water down below. Cue me trying to wrangle a toddler out of the car while holding a diaper bag, soccer stuff, and the baby in the carrier. Thank God another mama saw me struggling and came to save me with an umbrella, because there are just not enough hands!

Even with the struggle, watching RT become a big brother has been amazing. He tells me almost every hour how much he loves his brother. He shows him off to other people and asks to hold him constantly. When I feed Baby Ronnie, Raleigh wants to hold the bottle. When I change him, he climbs up on the table and watches. (He doesn't volunteer to help with that one.) We read books together and snuggle together and laugh together. It's been awesome watching him.

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I've already talked about our living situation here, and we are currently still in the thick of it. We did get out of the contract with the first house and have closed on a different house. However, the house needs a good amount of work, including gutting a kitchen and two bathrooms so we are still living at Bubbie's house. In the end, I'm thanking the universe though because my mom has been an invaluable help with the baby. Neil and I have been painting and working on the house to get the things done that we can do. We have started moving over a few things little by little and hope we can in to the rooms as we finish them.

It's hard to believe I've been a mom of two for a whole month. Summer always has a way of making time stand still and feel easy breezy, but I'm watching the dates fly by and worrying about heading back to school. I remember going back to school after having RT. I was nervous and sad but I had thirteen weeks because of the way maternity leave and summer break fell. I missed my baby, but was happy to be around some adults. This time I don't get a true maternity leave. The six weeks I would have are taken up by the summer. I go back to work in just a few short weeks and little Ronnie seems so small and our time seems so short. I'm just trying to soak in the snuggles and the sun while I still can.

Bug Bite Thing: Review

Product c/o Bug Bite Thing

Summer means no school, pool parties, cookouts, and.... mosquitoes. My childhood can be measured in summers with legs and arms covered in their red, itchy bites. I've got the spray. I've got the candles. I've got the oils. You know what else I've still got? The bites. I seemed to have passed this genetic trait on to RT, lucky for him.

So when I stumbled upon this Bug Bite Thing, I decided it was obviously a bunch of nonsense. The idea is that the tube sucks up insect venom and saliva which is what causes your skin to itch. Unlike other products it does NOT stop you from getting bit, but it does get rid of the itch once you have been bit. Because of this it is reusable forever and claims to work on mosquitoes, bees, wasps, flies, chiggers, sea lice, no-see-ums, and any other insect whose bit makes you itch.

Okay, Okay.... I decided I would... bite. (heh heh heh). The company offers a 100% guarantee, so there really isn't much to lose. The idea is that when you get a bite you put the suction tube on and suck it out. It's super easy... but it does leave what looks like a hickey! After trying it, I'll say that it does reduce the itching enough that I don't want to scratch my skin off my body. Because the bite is still there it still does scab over, and depending on how long the bite has been under your skin you may need to use it multiple times. People online claim that it works better on stings that bites and that you can see the venom coming out, but luckily I haven't had to test that out. RT isn't afraid of it, and doesn't mind me doing it on him. He even laughs because he likes the sound it makes. Like I said, it doesn't prevent the bite from happening, but it does seem to reduce the itching some. If I was a camping mama, I'd be sure to keep one of these in my bags. I love finding stuff that other mamas can use, so I'm passing this info along! Check it out if like us you can't seem to fight off the bugs!

Tunes for Tots

Every day is a good day to be at Botanical Gardens, but they have added another reason to be there on Tuesdays with their Tunes of Tots sessions. From 10-12 you can now join in a jam session in the WOW Children's Garden. Once you're in the garden, head behind the bathrooms and toward the hill. You'll come across a little shaded area where musical instruments have been set out. This isn't a formal class; come and go as you please, but be aware that it does start with a musical parade through the garden.

One of the things that we love about Botanical Gardens is that there is so much to do, and this addition just adds one more thing. If you need more ideas, check out our post on the Sand Pit, the Little Houses, the Butterfly House, the airplane overlook,  and of course, explore the WOW Garden. Of course, sometimes a good roll down the hill (or 30) makes all the difference too!

Michaels: Camp Creativity

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays kids ages 3 and up can now participate in Camp Creativity at Michaels stores across Tidewater. Each thirty minute session is only three dollars and follows a theme with a different craft each day.

Check them out before summer ends:

• July 15, 17, 19- Word Explorers
• July 22, 24, 26- Sea Treasures 

Although they say to pre-register online, we had no problems getting in. The sessions technically run from 10-12 but ours was a "come and go" type thing. If your child is independent enough, you can drop them off to do a craft while you walk around the store or you can stay and work with them. Good to know for mamas with little ones- Michaels does have a changing table located inside of the women's bathroom in the handicapped stall. Now if someone could just answer for me, why it seems like everyone always has to go at once?!

By the way, did you know that Michaels does birthday parties for kids 4 and up? They are $120 (ten more for each addition guest) and includes invitations, thank you notes, craft supplies, a drawstring bag for the birthday kid, and the use of their classroom and one team member. They have different themes including unicorns, llamas, emojis, slime, under the sea, robots, monsters, and more.