Living in the Now

This has become a theme for me. Taking time to enjoy what's happening right now in my life and in the lives of those I love. It's definitely a theme that I've touched on before...once or twice anyway.

What does that mean for today? It means that I am at my parents house, enjoying time with my family. Jeter is sitting with his Poppy, watching the Steelers game. Simms was using his laptop to do some research on TV's for my Dad - he's checking out the cable hookup now - we're looking to get a TV upstairs for him. Thankfully they already have a table for the new TV or we'd also be completing some research about TV stands for flat screens. If you are in the market check out the CSN stores - one click allows you to access a great variety for a great variety.

Grammie is mixing the icing so that her grandson's can join in with cookie decorating this afternoon. Brady and Barber are currently playing with their animals which talk in a very squeaky voice. Promises is upstairs chatting with my mom...now she's downstairs with me and my Dad. Me...I'm taking a moment to document the "now" I'm living in today. Dawson will join us later. He's home because Smiles is still sleeping. I just really love my family and need to get back to living life with them. We got some fun cookies to make. I'll post pictures at a later date.

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How many teeth do you have?

This is a question that the boys ask me at least twice a year. Why? Because one of the things that our dentist does is count their teeth. They then know that they have 20 teeth and want to know how many teeth their Mommy has. I have 32 - which is four more than most adults because I have all four of my wisdom teeth (you probably had yours pulled, right?).

I then take time to remind them that it doesn't really matter how many teeth are in your mouth but how you care for the ones that you have. Thankfully, they are very good about brushing their teeth every night - we are working on greater consistency for every morning as well. Jeter has also begun to floss more regularly - very important since he has 6 permanent teeth now. Barber is a bit more resistant to the whole thing - complaining that two minutes is just t-o-o l-o-n-g to brush. We've used the egg timer that we purchased at the dentists office but I'm thinking of employing a tip or two that I recently received from Oral-B - specifically finding a song that can become their getting ready for bed song. The difficulty will be finding one that they will actually brush their teeth rather then stop and sing. It might also be good to find a song that qualifies as getting ready for the day to be used in the morning.

Here are some other great tips from Oral-B:

• Brush your teeth with your child to set a good example. This also helps your child to learn by watching and imitating you.
• Choose toothbrushes and toothpaste with popular kids’ characters, like Oral-B Stages, to help establish positive oral care routines with familiar friends like Winnie the Pooh or Disney Princesses.
• Sing your child’s favorite song, such as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,” for two minutes to encourage brushing for the dentist-recommended time. For older children, play a song from their favorite pop singer for two minutes.
• Making your child’s brushing routine fun will encourage proper habits early and help prevent oral care issues later in life.
• For more information please visit, www.oralb.com/kidscare.

The second tip deals with choosing the right toothbrush for your child. Have you ever wondered if there is really a significant difference between the toothbrushes? I know I have.

The video below was taken at a blogger event in New York at a fun, kid-friendly venue and features some great information from Dr. Laura Jana, M.D., author and founder of Practical Parenting Consulting, LLC – she is also mother of three. I encourage you to take time to watch it. It helped me to understand the differences between the toothbrushes that are made for children and determine what toothbrush I need for each of my boys. Guess what has been added to my shopping list?

Changes and a NASCAR Sweepstakes

Have you noticed changes in the sidebar? Call it spring cleaning and the desire to reorganize. As you were glancing over the changes did your eyes happen to notice the new purple widget in my Miscellaneous column? No? Really...you missed it? Look again. I would definitely prefer more of a color coordination BUT I don't think the sponsors would go for that and I can handle a little extra purple in my life...especially when there is a potential giveaway attached to it!

So why am I interested in this giveaway? Well...you most likely know that I enjoy sports - as a spectator. I've talked about football and baseball but have I ever mentioned NASCAR? Okay...if you do the search (because I did) then you will find that I have talked about NASCAR - twice. However, I have never mentioned Jeff Burton who drives the Prilosec OTC car. Honestly I have been a loyal Jimmie Johnson fan since his rookie year - but he's not sponsoring a cool Lowe's giveaway right now (wouldn't that be awesome?!?) so Burton's purple button is in my sidebar.

What's the giveaway you ask? It is a sweepstakes to win a free weekend trip to the final NASCAR Chase for the Championship race in Miami, Florida - weekend of November 14, 2008. You can enter once a day at http://prilosec.eprize.net/winnerscircle/ or you can simply click on "Enter Now" button in my sidebar. And if you are curious, you can also read up on the latest NASCAR news. Simms are you reading this? You can enter too. We could win and then see Jimmie Johnson and maybe even Jeff Gordon!

Aside from the major sweepstakes prize, there are also more than 100 instant winners that will receive other great prizes including an authentic NASCAR firesuit with driver autograph, NASCAR SuperStore.com gift cards and a race tire signed by No. 31 PrilosecOTC driver Jeff Burton and the No. 31 team.

So...if you are ready...start your engines and enter!