During the beginning of the pandemic it often felt like groundhogs day, every day the same thing... over and over and over again...... and If you know me, you know, I LOVE FOOD. All kinds of DIFFERENT food, all the time. I will research the best restaurants, ones I've never been to, specialties.... I am here for it. Well, during the Pandemic, we stayed in our little circle, I felt like we were going to the same restaurants over, and over again........Not that I don't love them, but we just needed to switch things up. When I found Tabu Shabu I was SO EXCITED! We got take out it was more than I imagined! First of all the kids felt like it was SO different & exciting, you saw the joy in their eyes from something NEW! I could smell the flavors filling up our home, the kids were cooking their own food and we were all laughing. For a minute, we traveled outside of our little walls and had some JOY! We will be visiting Tabu Shabu for at home special occasions and probably a few date nights in the future! 

Self Care is taking care of YOU! We all know to be our best we have to eat our best, drink water & get the nutrients your body needs. Plan ahead! Prep your lunches and snacks.

Quick Tip- after your coffee has cooled off, stick it in the fridge for later. Viola, you’ve got iced coffee in the afternoon! If coffee in the afternoon isn’t self care, I don’t know what is!

Sometimes Self Care can be getting your life together. Take a moment, de clutter a space, clean out a drawer or empty out your purse. I cleaned off my desk!

Self Care : At Home
Face Masks, Hair Masks, Foot Peels, Manicures & Pedicures, Oh my!
This is a great way to practice self care.
There are so many options out there, here are some of our favorites!

Do something to help you grow professionally or find a cause that you can support in your community.
Getting to know your community is so important in creating a place to raise your family. Last week my friend Jess and I attended our local Chamber Breakfast. She is always super inspiring, always has an idea up her sleeve & truly motivates me to get involved and do more for my community. This act of self care gives you time to be you, find a passion and drive forward!

Go eat at a new restaurant! Last week my husband and I went to Chocolatine, a lovely French restaurant in Thousand Oaks. It was the perfect change of scenery to take a moment, step out of our reality and into a little cafe in Paris. We chatted, shared bites and enjoyed the view! This is a perfect way to practice self care!

Every parent deserves the best sitter for their children. Download the Bambino app today and get connected to your neighborhood sitters that are recommended by friends and neighbors!
With the school year just around the corner, we’re all trying to juggle a million things, don’t get stressed over a sitter!

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Let’s talk 3 year olds for a minute.
They are busy little people with lots of energy! Keeping them on a schedule and entertained while doing all the 92847464849 tasks you need to get done can be challenging. We’ve come up with a few quick reminders and tips to help you!

What things should a 3 year old do everyday?


🛁Hygiene
From morning to night this is an important one! When we get up in the morning, we head straight to the bathroom (also to avoid accidents!), potty & wash our hands. Before we leave the house you’ll find us brushing our teeth & hair, getting dressed. Sometimes we let them pick out their own outfits, yikes... and sometimes we change, A LOT! We talk about clothes matching and appropriate attire. We help them to make decisions on what they should were. Why do I do this? Because all day long we tell them what to do, and this is my chance to let her choose, let her be in control and have her own style.
During the day we’re constantly reminding them to wash hands, and of course wiping messing faces! We also keep LOTS of wipeys & hand sanitizer handy!
Our kids are in daycare & camp, and that means germs! So once we arrive home we change, well, some of us do and then there’s Patriot. You can usually find him in a diaper. Clothes go in the laundry room too! After dinner it’s bath time. We don’t wash hair everyday. Why? Lice freak me out, and I’ve heard they like clean hair. So. We wash hair 2/3 times per week depending on the week.
After bath its lotion (we’ve got one with ezcema, so this is a step we cannot miss!), teeth, and pajamas.
And one more time before bed, potty and wash hands!

Read
Every.Single.Day!!!! We just started reading boxcar children with our 5 year old and I AM so excited! It’s one of my favorites and brings up so many discussion topics. Our 3 year old loves the ABC book right now, it has a bunch of pictures for each of the letters and he loves saying what they all are.

Art
Color, Paint, Chalk, just get them creating! We run a summer camp and today we made shields out of cardboard! We painted it and decorated it with leftover craft supplies like jewels, feathers & stickers! You can use any medium you’d like, just color their world! Our kindergartener absolutely loved talking about the color wheel in school this year, she constantly talks about what color makes best and loves to mix them and make her own colors. We started incorporating mixing colors with our 3 year old, and to see the sparkle in his eye when he makes green is amazing!

🤸🏼‍♂️Large/Small Motor Skill Activities
Running, rolling, throwing, sorting, pouring, stacking, riding, climbing- tire those little energizer bunnies out! Work on hoping on two feet, one foot, backward, forwards, zig zag running, bear crawling! Choose a different motor skill to work on each day and watch your child to see where you need to adjust regularly!


👭👬Socialization
Talk & play!
Go on a play date, sign up for a class, meet a friend at the park, head to a free indoor playground, or just simply have a conversation during a meal!

Eat!
This is the time when our little munchkins can get very picky. Make sure to switch up your child’s meals. Don’t get stuck on the Mac n Cheese, chicken nugget, banana diet. Try new foods, put new foods on their plate. Give them the options to try them!
If you’re having trouble eating meals, try your best to cut down on the snacking.

I work. A lot. Good Babysitters are life!

When it comes to bringing someone into your home to watch your children, IT IS A BIG DEAL. This person has your most prized possessions, inside your most expensive purchase, your home.

I started babysitting at 12 years old, 3 boys 6,3 and 1. It was INTENSE. Today we would say that's crazy! I agree!! But I did it, I worked the entire summer for $8 per hour. I was loooooaded for a teenager! I spent it all at Claire's...

Before I started babysitting my mom gave me some tips that I think are SO important.
​
1. NEVER leave the children alone. Period. They are your responsibility and you are in their territory. They will get ya, their like ninjas.

2. Feed the children, and while they eat do the dishes.
Oh, and if there's any other dishes do those too. It's just nice. (My sitter does this when I leave dishes, and it is A TREAT!)

3. Check Diapers often & be sure the children are clean/bathed/hair brushed/teeth brushed/pajama'd and ready for bed when mom & dad arrive home.
*If your unsure if they want you to do this, ask!

4. Have them write down phone numbers & emergency contacts before they leave, find out if they have any allergies, and if there is absolutely something they should not do or some where they should not go.

5. Play with the children!! Play freeze dance, color, go outside and play soccer, INTERACT.
This is what you are being paid to do.

6. When mom/dad arrive home, be sure the house is in the condition they left it, or better. If they play with a toy, they pick it up before they get out another. Just because this isn't your home, doesn't mean it's ok to let the children deystroy it. Again, you're being paid to oversee the children's behavior.

7. Let the parents know what you did & what you fed them along with any important information about the day.

And Some of our Favorites from MOCV members:
Keep the Children Alive.
Stay off your phone.
Do not lose the children.
Dont Burn the house down.
Get off your phone.
But, if you do burn down the
​house, be sure to get the children and animals out.
Please no permanent markers, please. PLEASE!
Please do not let them eat every fruit snack packet in the house.
For the love of god get off your phone.
Please do not invite any friends over without my permission, especially your boyfriend.
Stay off your phone!
don't let them manipulate you. Oreo cookies in bed at 10:00 is NEVER an option.
Put the phone down.
if you give them something to drink before bed, make sure they go potty. Unless your coming back for clean up tomorrow......
Make them Laugh!
PHONE DOWN.
Channel your inner child!
I'm looking for ward to sleeping in the next day, so be sure to exhaust them.




Bonus info for MOMS of Teenage girls:
CRPD offers a babysitting training course along with cpr classes, this is a great way to get the basics!