When my daughter was born, the first thing I said was "I won't let her touch electronics until she's old enough to read!" That promise to myself was very short lived, as I realized there were many teaching apps out there even for babies. As she got older, we found that she could begin learning her ABC's, listen to learning songs, and so on through my old iPhone and we even would get her basic tablets when we started to realize it would impact her eyesight. We still read to her every day, but her electronic was with her all the time. She's now turning 8 and yesterday I had to finally put my foot down. Her usual routine is now this:
When we began The Review Ballerina, we created something that was a hobby of ours. It still is, my husband and I work together to bring to you wonderful reviews of products, services, and attractions that we know are awesome for the families and parents along with their beautiful children. But just as with your lives, ours has had its ups and downs.
My husband and I began watching The Masked Singer the day after it aired, and as soon as we sat down the guesses began. One thing I adore is that my husband knows a lot of musical talent. He's able to pin point a lot of people by voice or by history so I expect him to get a lot of these right. But I'd love to show what we've thought of so far! (Obviously not including those who have been unmasked!) For the record I am hooked on this show!
If you're just like any other person out there you find the new year as the opportunity to make resolutions with the hope of following through. But do you match up with all the others? Let's take a look at the most popular New Year's resolutions! You'll see what percentage of people choose these resolutions and if I am joining them!
In 2015, I made a top 10 list that I truly thought could not be beaten. Last year it became clear that the Pumpkin Spice craze has really became so insane that I wonder how many people do not have brains--just giant pumpkins filled with "spice" in their heads! Here is the 2017 edition of "Top 10 Pumpkin Spice Items Currently in your Stores!"
The opinions expressed in this article are The Review Ballerina's.
Several weeks ago, a new television show began on Thursday evenings and I decided it was a great event for my husband and I. He is a walking encyclopedia of music (the fact he beat my Dad on Trivial Pursuit told me a lot) and when it comes to the genres he doesn't know I'm great filler, I thought this show would be right up our alleys. So Thursday nights became a night of:
In March of 2016, we moved from an extremely large and busy city to a semi-rural town. Doing a literal "hop" over my parents, we are 45 minutes from them either way, and now living further North which is awesome. When we moved though, we ended up on DUN DUN DUN:CAPPED INTERNET! It's okay, tell your hearts to re-start! We have actually never gone over our cap even though we're a family of three who are always using the internet. It's not even a high cap either, we have just toned down our constant need for "HD" on Netflix and stuff. Anyway, I was unable to bring my AT&T U-Verse account with us to our new home so I went with Direct TV. First thing I wanted to do was get my DVR back...but I couldn't. Why? Well Direct TV would say "Oh it doesn't use your internet!" Which I knew was a lie. Never listen to companies when they say this, want to know why? When I was with U-Verse and my internet dropped off, I couldn't watch ANYTHING that was recorded. It would stop recording, it would just stop altogether. Now why, seriously why would you say it doesn't use internet when clearly without internet it doesn't work?
I have always been an only child; my entire life I have never had a sibling to blame when something broke. I never had to share anything, and it was lonely sometimes. I can remember being around the 5th grade and going outside to play. Within maybe 20 minutes, I just remember sitting down with what I was playing with and looking around, wishing I had someone else to hang out with. To be honest it's a worry with my daughter that she feels the same way, as it appears she may never have a sibling.
Last year, I made a top 10 list that I truly thought could not be beaten. Then this year it's become clear that the Pumpkin Spice craze has really became some insane that I wonder how many people do not have brains--just giant pumpkins filled with "spice" in their heads! Here is the 2016 edition of "Top 10 Pumpkin Spice Items Currently in your Stores!"
When I was nine, I went through something that most people will not go through their entire lives. When it occurred, I became depressed. I got PTSD before I was 10 years old and this caused parts of my brain to shut down. As I grew older, the effects of depression and PTSD caused issues such as short-term memory loss, anxiety, lack of math and science comprehension and more. I was prescribed medications that I would take to try to right the chemical imbalance that was causing my depression, because of what happened. About a month ago, I was sitting in a waiting room at a business and the subject of vaccinations came up. The mother I was speaking to will not vaccinate her child, and I made the comment that my daughter was fully vaccinated like I was and I will continue to make sure she gets her shots. The mother, in horror asked me if there was anything wrong with me and I said "Not at all, I mean I have depression but who doesn't these days." The response I got was astounding:
"Vaccinations have been proven to cause depression!"
Today we are going to do an awesome countdown for you to love, and you can share with your kids! The Top 10 Disney Villains -- At least The Review Ballerina's...
Today's Mommy Monday blog is something that I thought about long and hard and figured it would be great to discuss. My daughter was diagnosed with Laryngomalacia with Stridor as an infant. Many people not only didn't understand what on earth I was saying but assumed we were just being over protective first time parents. So I've decided to bring this condition to attention because many don't even know it exists let alone how to handle it.
This is a personal article, but something many can relate to. This is long but I think in at least one way or another, anyone reading this will relate.
I have always found a way to find humor in life out of sorrow. My life has been exceptionally rough, though I never play "My life is worse than yours!" because in everyone's eyes their lives are hard. But genuinely speaking I have always said if I wrote my life out from my point of view, changed the names, and sold it as fiction I'd be a multi-millionaire already. Of course I'd never do that considering the majority of what would make great "meat" for the book I tend to try to block out it is that bad. But one thing I've learned is to take the negative and create a stronger and more positive life from it. No matter what people will say or do to you, your family, your friends, your life, your love if you can step up and tell yourself "That was them, not you", you can always guide yourself to a better life.
One of the things that I have not only been taught by my Wicca teacher (my Dad) but found along my path is meditation. My Dad taught me grounding and centering and it has been an incredible form of self-soothing I never had before. With my past comes awful repercussions medically. PTSD, anxiety, depression, short term memory loss, paranoia, and all of these things could be treated with rounds of therapy and pills. No, thank you. I've been in and out of therapy my entire life and on and off medications just as long. I'm tired of having to chemically change my brain to be "normal" and I'm tired of listening to therapists tell me that my abusive ex (true story by the way) was correct in pointing out other women and their beauty to get me to see that I wasn't trying hard enough. Yes, I left that therapist quickly. When I start to have panic attacks now, instead of just falling apart and screaming, crying and losing control, I ground and center. It helps tremendously and has also given me a new appreciation for the outside world around me.
In the last week, I was noticing that when I tried to meditate my brain would not stop thinking. It would continue to worry and stress and I couldn't shut that part off. So I was pointed to "Guided Meditation". In particular the first one I ever tried was this:
The positive affirmations in this and the imagery that my mind's eye created has become a nightly routine for me as I lie in bed. I find myself imagining a garden, with a small half circle of white flowers that I see myself laying in. A small brook is rolling about 10 feet away, I can see trees bending above hiding the sky to the South of me but right above me, blue and white shows. For me, this is my place of calm and soothing. But this is not the one that does the most in positive changes for me, no that would be this one:
Within this meditation I am able to choose based upon the chakra color what it is I need to heal for myself. I take this time every night to heal, and I mend whatever it is inside me that is dwelling. In the last couple of days alone I have had a lot of emotions that have flooded me that I didn't know I had. But instead of letting them consume me I use the meditation. I find myself letting go of a lot that would dwell for days. It helps me think and see clearer and understand situations that normally emotion would have forced me to misconstrue.
My husband told me one day something that makes a lot of sense: There is no perfect person in this world. You can have money, you can have fame, power, a big house; What seems to be perfect but inside no one truly is. There is always a fear or a stress that daily penetrates your thoughts and is so powerful it will change your personality even for a short time. My meditation has not only healed me so many times when I found myself hurt or distraught, but it has given me more confidence within myself to speak my mind or ask for help or clarification. I used to find myself in tears so often, that my four year old had felt she had to calm me down and comfort me. As sweet as the moment appears on the outside, the guilt that consumed me knowing she saw me this way was too much to bear. Now, she sees me stronger and more confident and that is the Mother I always want to be for her.
Before you close this article, please turn on the above meditation for color healing. Please use headphones, it works a lot better that way and try it just one time. Meditation may not be for you, but it might be and you don't realize it, and I hope it can be just as eye opening for you as it was for me.
Blessed Be.
Elizabeth is a work at home Mother of a sweet and beautiful daughter. She is a wife of seven years and a blogger for some time now. When she isn't spending time with her "Livvybug" she is looking for new review opportunities and writing or singing along to classic rock and pop music!
I am a Mother to an extremely picky eater. No matter what I do, and no matter what I introduce her to, her meals usually come from the same three or four food options from Peanut Butter to Chicken Nuggets. I've introduced vegetables to her and she won't touch them (though she still loves the pouches!) and I'll try to get her to try meats and she will only eat chicken. According to her pediatrician she is very healthy, growing just fine so they aren't too concerned in terms of health. Her prior pediatrician said it was perfectly fine and actually very normal for children her age to be picky. But her current pediatrician says no, this is not right and it needs to be changed. Hard to do, but when you are wanting to make dinner on a limited budget the hardest thing to do is make two separate meals.
First, a huge thank you to the Moms in Shopkins of America on Facebook for taking the time to answer my questions. As we continue Shopkins Friday, the parents of the children will be the ones who helps me keep this going!
About a month ago, I turned to my daughter and asked "What do you want to do for your birthday"? Her birthday isn't until October 29th, in fact this year we can actually do her birthday party ON her birthday so I know she was really excited as it falls on a Saturday. Her answer was quick, simple, and made me feel my eyes fall out of my head: "Mommy I want a Shopkins birthday party in my back yard!"
