Family

Despite our best efforts, our son is a super picky eater. He has been since he was an infant. He didn’t even want to eat solid foods for the longest time. I really thought being a picky eater was a phase, but my son has taught me some people are just pickier eaters from birth.

We moved our kids into the same bedroom last weekend. With a brother and sister sharing a room for the first time, you could probably imagine this week has been very long for everyone. Yes, some of the reasons why this transition has been a little trying may be obvious, but others may not.

I’m so glad there are so many summer activities for kids out there! We all look forward to summer time, but with kids out of school, summer can sometimes feel really long. There’s nothing that annoys me more than when my kids tell me they’re bored.

Well, when I wrote this post I didn’t assume that Disneyland and the Disneyland Grand Californian Hotel and Spa would be closed! In these unprecedented times, when everything is closed and most people’s travel plans have halted, it’s still a great time to reminisce and think about a better tomorrow. With optimism and future family travel adventures, I wanted to recap our recent stay at the Grand Californian.

Costa Rica has been on our family travel list for years. Between the beaches, wildlife, and laid back culture, it feels like the perfect destination for a family vacation that blends adventure with rest. When the opportunity came to stay at the Westin Reserva Conchal on a sponsored trip, I was excited to finally experience one of the most talked about Costa Rica all-inclusive family resorts for myself.

Have you ever heard of pasta fagioli? First, it’s Italian so it’s technically called pasta e fagioli, pronounced “pas-ta fa-jo-li” in English, and literally means ‘pasta and beans’. It’s a classic Italian soup, but depending on the variety of bean and type of pasta, it can almost be called a stew.

This Sunday is my last, first Mother’s day and I’m already nostalgic. This is my first Mother’s day having a daughter, and my last, first mother’s day, since we don’t plan to have any more children. As I reflect on what Mother’s day means to me this year, it dawned on me that there are now three generations of women in my family. Now that I have a daughter, Mother’s day feels different somehow–when daughters become mothers to daughters.

My last living grandparent, my Grandpa Richard Vivian, passed away at age 86, less than a week before Giada was born. Yesterday was his funeral. Since I was not able to be there, I wanted to take a minute to say goodbye to my grandpa, to share what he meant to me, and what he taught me.

This Fourth of July weekend, I’ll be chasing this little guy around, spending some time at the pool with friends, grilling out, and playing with sparklers. I hope you have a safe and happy holiday weekend. Happy 4th of July!

My sweet natured son constantly amazes me. Of course there are many toddler tantrums, when he flings himself to the ground with his crocodile tears streaming down his full cheeks. But what has surprised me the most about his growth and development is his goodness, his sweetness, and how he radiates love, especially the love he shows his baby sister.

Last week, our friends at Toyota invited us to the Phoenix Zoo to get a preview of ZooLights, and also check out a few of their new cars for 2015. During the day, Jade put a ton of miles on a sporty 2015 Camry. The kids and I joined him later to see ZooLights, pretty much by ourselves.

I’m a rule follower by nature. When Rocco turned one, I immediately switched him to whole milk, per the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and others’ suggestion. But when he turned two in October, I broke the rules. For once, their advice just didn’t make sense to me.

Did you get an ugly Christmas sweater? Another pair of flannel pajamas? A really ugly set of dishes? Despite your family and friends’ thoughtfulness and spirit of giving, I’m sure you got something you don’t like, don’t have space for, or can’t use.

A lot has changed this year. Two biggies—my daughter Giada was born and we left California and moved back ‘home’.

My daughter turns one next month. So, I’ve been digging around on Pinterest, looking for cute first birthday ideas. I found so many cute baby girl birthday themes, it was hard to narrow them down.

Today is National Siblings Day. I feel very lucky to have a sibling that I also consider my friend. Things didn’t start out that way though.

I’m really proud of my Italian heritage. Since today is Ellis Island Family History Day, I wanted to share just a little bit of history about my own family.

It’s 5 pm some random weekday afternoon and Rocco’s daycare teacher asks if we’ve thought about potty training. Rocco asked to use the potty at school, so she thinks he’s ready. I wince, but admit that he’s asked to sit on the potty at home several times (with his pants on). I concede that he is probably ready to potty train, but I’m not at all prepared. I thought boys usually learned later. He’s just over 2 and a half, I thought I had more time with my baby boy.

I never thought this day would come, that my parents would sell my childhood home. Yes, my dad had been talking about it for several years, but something always stopped them from moving forward with the sale. This summer, they finally decided it was time to move into a new place, with less maintenance and more convenience as they grow older. I (not so secretly) hoped something would happen so they would keep our home, but the sale went through last week and they are closing on their new place later this month.

There is a ton of potty training tips for boys out there, but a lot of those didn’t really work for us. I already wrote about our early adventures in potty training with our two and a half-year-old, Rocco. The standard ‘sticker chart’ was a big flop, and using a training potty seemed to inhibit rather than help Rocco learn.

As I reflect on 2015, I realize it has been a year of a lot of transitions. We moved back to Phoenix and slowly settled back into our lives here. I reconnected with friends and former colleagues. We explored some of the fun things to do around the valley with toddlers and visited some of the great nature Arizona has to offer.

I started Posh In Progress about 8 months after my first child, Rocco, was born. I told my husband I wanted to maintain my sense of self, and blogging was a way for me to express myself outside of the daily tasks of motherhood.

My baby girl just turned two (more on that next week!) and Rocco is already three. I can’t believe I’ve been a parent for three years already! There are times when I miss my life before kids, but most times, I can’t imagine my life without them. Parenting taught me many things, and I’ve learned a lot about myself in the process.

Last weekend we attended a Phoenix hot air balloon festival, the Out West Balloon Fest, in Glendale Arizona. I have never seen hot air balloons close-up, so we thought this would be a fun, family and kid friendly event, and a nice way to spend a Sunday morning.

Siblings play together, without a parent around, from the beginning, right? Wrong! I had no clue how long it would take. I am so grateful my kids are finally there. I mean, finally! Yay! It seems like it’s been forever. I had no idea just how tough it would be to raise two kids who are only 15 months apart. We actually thought it would be easier, and I think it will be when they’re older.

Just a couple weeks ago my son started asking why, why, why for everything! Literally any time we ask him to do something, he asks why. Asking why all the time can definitely get on my husband’s and my nerves. I don’t want to have to explain myself all the time, however, there are a lot of good reasons he is asking why. Here are some tips for how to deal with children asking why all the time.

Can peaches grow in Phoenix? That’s the question I asked myself when I heard about the Phoenix Peach Festival. It seemed unlikely to me that peaches could grow in such an arid climate, but apparently they can. My friend brought her kids last year, so I thought it would be a fun event to check out the Festival with my kids.

So what do you think of our new look? I can hardly believe Posh in Progress turned three last week. Wow, how quickly three years goes by! What started as a hobby to share my guide to sensible style, has evolved into a fledgling business that we hope to continue to grow.

During the summer, I often travel overseas for work. When I come home, catching up with my babies and husband is a priority. But, after a long trip, jet lag has me dragging my body around like a zombie. Lastly, I live in Arizona. In the summer, temperatures routinely reach over 100 degrees before 10 a.m. Putting this all together for you, when I think about summer activities for toddlers, I need: 1) fun, 2) easy, and 3) cool – literally.

Summers in Phoenix are hot. Like really hot! We have a zoo membership, but it gets hardly any use in the summer because I assumed it would be too hot to visit. I was wrong. The zoo has a lot of cool summer activities, like snow in July! A couple weeks ago, we visited the zoo bright and early on a Saturday morning and our kids had the chance to experience their first snow at the Phoenix Zoo winter in July event.

Back to school is right around the corner! When HP offered us their brand new HP Deskjet 3636 All-In-One Printer, we were really excited to finally have a colored printer again, and also to think of creative ways to prepare our kids for back to (pre)school. My hubby created free printable letters with wild animal pictures on them. We thought it was a fun way for our kids to practice their letters while also learning about some animals they haven’t seen or heard of before.

It’s 1 pm and I’m sitting at my computer when the phone rings. I don’t pick up. Who answers their cell phone to an unknown number? Then there’s the ding of a voicemail. “Hi, this is your preschool calling about Rocco….” That’s never a good sign. I immediately call back, as thoughts race through my head about what it could be. “Rocco stuck a bead up his nose.”

Italy is more than just major tourist destination to me. My grandparents are from a small village in southern Italy, so this a story about the search for my southern Italian heritage, and the family roots I have been dying to explore.

Right after Christmas, I had grand plans of a girly-dinosaur-themed birthday party I was going to create for my daughter’s third birthday. I started scouring Pinterest for inspiration and even reached out to a couple of companies with chic dinosaur accessories for women that I thought would be fun to incorporate into her third birthday. I was determined to throw a majorly adorable toddler birthday party for my daughter, like I had done when she turned two (in case you missed it, it was zoo themed).

Did you know the average American child spends less than 30 minutes outdoors each day and more than seven hours in front of an electronic screen? These statistics were shocking to me. Not only do our kids not get enough time outside, as the obesity rates soar, our kids are missing out on all of the amazing health and developmental benefits of nature for kids.

What is your toddler bedtime routine like? Do you struggle to get your kids to go to bed? No matter how much tough love I try to show them, they will not stay in bed! We’ve tried shifting their bedtime to later, but that doesn’t help, they still won’t go to sleep. Instead, they get louder and more riled up, which only means they get less sleep and they are even grumpier in the morning.

In July, we had the chance to take our kids to southern California for a long weekend. Hilton invited us to check out three of their properties as part of their California Road Trip promotion. We also arranged visits to the San Diego Zoo and LEGOLAND. We were so excited for this trip and the kids talked about it for weeks in advance.

With our big move to Boston, our kids are also starting a new school in September. With so much change happening for them, I want to prepare them as best I can for this big transition. Starting a new school can be really scary for kids, especially little kids. Here are 6 simple things you can do to help your child adjust to a new school.

It’s 5:00 am on Saturday morning. My eyes snap open as I sense someone is staring at me. It’s my two preschoolers, poking me, whispering in the softest voice, “is it time to get up mommy?” I want to scream at them, “go back to sleep!” but instead I roll out of bed, blurry-eyed and put on a morning cartoon to appease them until I’m awake. For the longest time, I was desperate to figure out how to keep early risers in bed longer.

I get anxious a lot. Since having kids, it’s gotten much worse. I think all of the jugglings of the daily tasks has turned me into a much tenser person. This increased anxiety is not good for me, my kids or my marriage. It makes all of us stressed and on edge.

I wish I could take your unconditional love and box it up. The way you look at me, the way you adore me, I want to sear it into my memory – the memory of your innocence, your perfect self, before the world gets in the way. This unconditional love is something I never knew existed, not truly, until I had you.

Despite my love of the holidays, I have a problem. My husband is a Grinch. He hates the holidays, for a variety of reasons. We’ve been together for almost 15 years, so I’m used to his grouchiness around the holidays. However, I still want my kids to love the holidays just as much as I do. My husband keeps his grumpiness to himself, most of the time, so I want to start some fun holiday traditions this year that are simple to accomplish with preschoolers.

Not too many things in nature are as beautiful as the falling of the first snow of the year. Then, reality sets in. But before you have time to complain, to dread the shoveling and the slush, you see the world inside of a snow globe. It is quite, magical, serene.

“G, look at you, only 3 months old!” as I showed my daughter one of my favorite pictures of her as a baby. “Am I Black or White?” she asked, with her big brown eyes staring up at me.

When I was a baby, my mom let me eat dirt. I was probably about one at the time, and I had a mouthful of dirt. This might make you cringe, but I’m glad my parents never limited my ability to explore nature. To this day, I’m a nature-lover and when I’m in nature I feel the most at peace. Whether they knew it or not, they were onto something. There are major benefits to let kids get dirty. It’s actually good for them.

It’s never too early to talk to your kids about money. Understanding financial literacy is a fundamental skill that all people should have. Getting your kids to understand finances when they are very young will set them up for financial success when they get older.

One of my favorite parts about living in the Northeast is the opportunity to see a brand-new part of the country I haven’t seen before. We’ve done some traveling around MA, ME and RI, but we’ve mostly stayed on the coast. This past weekend, we had the opportunity to travel to Wachusett Mountain for their annual Kids Fest.

The other night, I realized something. My kids aren’t so little anymore and there are a lot of things I’m going to miss about kids being little. It may be obvious to someone from the outside that they’re growing. But sometimes, seeing them everyday, the transition from baby to toddler to preschooler to school-ager just flies by in a flash, without even realizing it.

Even before we had kids, we decided Santa wasn’t going to be a thing in our house, not in a traditional way. We both didn’t like the idea of lying to our kids, but I personally also hated how hurt I felt when I found out Santa wasn’t real. I can still remember the exact day, the entire scenario that played out, and how crushed I was.

When we decided to move to LA in December, I knew it would mean some challenges. My biggest fear, aside from finding a place to live on super short notice, was changing schools in the middle of the year.

For a lot of Americans, MLK Day is just a day off of work. For me, it’s a whole lot more. See, these two kids of mine already experience racism and discrimination on a consistent basis. I’ve witnessed it. I’ve been a part of it. Today, I hope we can all take a minute to be introspective about the state of our country and the way we treat our people.

Did you have chores as a kid? I did. But they were all very simple, and I received incentives for helping. My kids have always been very interested in helping around the house. As preschoolers, we came up with several things they could do to help around the house. I’ve read several articles that talk about the benefits to kids who have chores. But should little kids get an allowance for helping around the house? Or is this part of their ‘job’ to live in our family’s home?

When I was six years old, my parents took me Disneyland. It was my first time on an airplane and I can distinctly remember the excitement leading up to this trip. Given my fond memories of my first time at Disneyland, I wanted my kids to have that experience around the same age. Since my parents were going to be in town, it felt like the perfect opportunity for all of us to experience it together – just as I had 30 some years ago. So I made all the plans. Going to Disneyland with little kids takes a little extra planning, but it’s totally worth it.

Have you considered the benefits dance class for young kids and whether you want to sign your child up? When my daughter turned two, I signed her up for ballet class. At the time, I thought it would be so adorable for her to be in a little tutu. Ballet was something I always wanted to do as a child but just never ended up doing. I did a lot of organized sports, but not dance.

Summer is all about slower days, more time with my kids, and all the ice cream we can eat. Well, not really – I’m not that nice of a mom. But I do keep more ice cream in the house in the summertime than the rest of the year. Enjoying a cold treat with my kiddos on a summer day is one of the few times when I actually slow down and can really be present with them. If you’re anything like me, I struggle to find that down time, even in the summer. We’re rushing from one activity or summer camp to the next, planning another road trip or family adventure. That’s why I decided to write this post about 5 simple ways to slow down and spend some quality time with your kids this summer.

Did you know that October is National Bullying Prevention Month? Now that both of my kids are in elementary school, I’m becoming more aware of bullying. Although so far, my kids haven’t experienced any bullying, I still want to be prepared. It’s equally important I teach my kids how to be kind to others. Just as I don’t want my own kids being bullied, I’d hate for them to be the ones who are unkind. Both real-life and cyberbullying are major problems that my kids will likely face. They are still pretty young, but I want to be prepared. So, I am working on teaching my kids how to be kind through real-life actions that will someday translate to online actions.

We’ve lived in LA almost a year, but there are still so many areas we haven’t explored. Last weekend, we decided to check out Abalone Cove Shoreline Park and their tide pools. It was such a gorgeous drive, with amazing views. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, you should definitely check it out and here is everything you need to know.

My baby girl turned 6 in February, so I wanted to write a little birthday wish to my daughter. I can’t believe she’s 6 already. It honestly feels like yesterday that she was born. There are many moments when I mourn the fact that they are getting older – that I’m done having kids.

Mommy PSA: No matter what kind of mom you are, you’re doing great. I had an experience at the bank yesterday that got me thinking. We need to talk about how moms can support each other during the pandemic. We all need ideas for coping with all of the added stress and our kids being home for weeks, if not months. So, I thought it might be useful to share my experience. I also want to talk about how moms need to support each other during the coronavirus outbreak.

It’s been almost 5 weeks that I’ve been home with my kids, homeschooling them and sheltering in place, as mandated. None of us had any idea 2020 would bring such a drastic change to the way we live our lives, but not everything about COVID-19 has been bad. I actually think a lot of good things are going to come out of this difficult time. I’ve been contemplating a lot about my life before COVID and my life right now. I’ve had a lot of time (clearly) to reflect and here are the 7 things I’ve learned from COVID so far.

To say I’m a busy mom would be an understatement. With my kids at home so much more, and telecommuting for my job, I’ve had to work a lot harder to stay organized so I can manage my busy mom life. Many people have asked me over the years how I manage a full-time job as a university administrator, a full-time blogging business, and all of my duties as a mom. I’m not superwoman, and I promise you, it’s not always pretty. There are many days when I fail at one or more of my jobs. But, I keep trying, and learning as I go, to be as productive and happy as I can be. I bet you’re really busy too, so here are some tips on how I manage my busy mom life.

Since we are spending so much more time at home, a lot of us are also spending more time in the kitchen. If you haven’t baked or cooked with your kids before, it’s never too young to start! As early as toddler and preschool age, your kids can join you in the kitchen and start learning some really important skills. There are so many benefits to baking with kids, I’m going to share 8 of them.

The last year has been unexpected and difficult, yet it has also been beautiful. I never envisioned I would have to navigate parenting during a pandemic. So, I wanted to write a letter to my children, not only to thank you but to remind you just how proud I am of you.

Are you struggling to keep your kids’ (or your own) snacking in check since we are all spending more time at home? I know this can be such a struggle for families. That’s why I wanted to share some tips with you for how to keep snack-time nutritious and yummy too. If this is an issue you’ve been having at home, here are three tips to keep snacking in check while your kids are home.

Have you experienced a time where you needed to advocate for your child? I think a lot of us have been raised to respect authority and not really questions decisions that affect our kids. However, I recently had an experience at my daughter’s gymnastics that got me thinking about how parents can advocate for their child. If you’ve ever wondered about how to advocate for your child, keep reading about my recent experience.

One of the things that have been a challenge during the pandemic is my kids’ lack of access to youth sports. Although we’ve found ways to incorporate sports into their daily lives, we’ve definitely missed team sports. Thankfully, we have a lot of memories from our past sports experiences and have even found ways to keep in touch with our past coaches and families. Now that we are back in sports this spring, we are excited to start building new relationships and friendships. Even during the break from our sports seasons, we’ve been able to keep in touch using the Spond app, which is perfect for youth sports team management.

“I want to be an NBA player when I grow up.” My son has been saying this statement for a couple of years now. Basketball is his first love. Like many young boys, he dreams of being a professional athlete. However, the chances he will go pro are not in his favor, only 0.02% of boys will make it to the NBA.

Reading is an essential skill that opens doors to knowledge, imagination, and success in all areas of life. However, for some elementary school students, becoming proficient readers can be challenging. Whether due to learning differences, lack of exposure, or other factors, a struggling reader may need extra support and encouragement to unlock the world of literacy.

In today’s rapidly evolving world, the significance of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) education cannot be overstated. STEAM subjects form the cornerstone of innovation, driving progress across industries and shaping the future of our society.

How do you celebrate Easter? Last year was the first time that my kids really ‘got’ Easter. I coordinated a small little Easter egg hunt in the backyard and filled their eggs with little toys. Now that they’re another year older, I figured it was time to up my decorating game. I created this simple bunny candy jar that’s a quick and easy DIY Easter decor idea anyone can create at home.

I’m so excited that my kids are getting old enough to enjoy the holidays. This year, I’m already getting in the Easter spirit. I created these cute bunny candy jars and I’m starting to plan all the adorable treats I can make to celebrate. I decided to let my kids get on the action, so we created these DIY window clings.