News Moms Need

Hurricane Sandy has made a mess of so much, including Halloween. It’s too dangerous in many neighborhoods to go out and the little ghosts and goblins I know are pretty disappointed. Here’s a suggestion:

Make a few “houses” in your home (under the dining room table, in the bathroom, in the bedrooms) and supply each one with a couple of treats. Then let your tots dress up in their fun clothes and knock on the door of each “house.”  If you have a next door neighbor with kids, invite them over. You can make funny faces with flashlights and tell silly stories. (I’d steer clear of the scary stuff. Sandy brought enough scary to last a very long time.)

Our town has postponed trick-or-treating to Saturday, but we’re still going to have some fun tonight.  Happy Halloween!

Carving pumpkins is fun and eating their seeds is good for you. Hoisting a hefty pumpkin will not only help your muscles, but did you know that eating a serving of seeds will give you 5 grams of protein? They also are yummy sources of zinc, manganese, phosphorus, iron, and potassium, too.

An excellent way to enjoy this healthy snack is to let the seeds air dry by themselves or roast them. When you’re done carving the pumpkin for the kiddos, separate the seeds from any extra pulp and dry them off. If you want to roast them, coat them with a dot of olive oil if you like it, you don’t need much at all, and perhaps a pinch of sea salt. Spread them in a single layer on a cookie sheet and roast them at about 250 degrees F for about an hour, turning every 15 to 20 minutes.  Be sure they have cooled off before you dive in!

These are great as snacks, on salads, ground up in muffins or bread crumb mixes. What do you do with your pumpkin seeds?

For more information on the benefits of pumpkin seeds and a different roasting technique, here’s a link to an interesting article.

Halloween is upon us and kids from 12 to 92 are carving pumpkins.  If you haven’t taken a knife to yours yet because you think you lack creative abilities (that would be me), here’s some helpful news.

Better Homes & Garden has created two, free, downloadable pumpkin stencils that will showcase your talents as well as your support for the March of Dimes. BHG will make a $2 donation to the March of Dimes for every stencil downloaded! How cool is that?

My family is hosting a carving party on Friday night and we plan to serve up food, fun and support for the MOD. Won’t you consider joining us? Just click on this link to find and download your stencils.

It’s hard to believe, but Halloween is right around the corner. My husband and I are both off from work today, so we’re headed out to buy decorations and mums for the front stoop. Our little pumpkin is too young for trick-or-treating, but it’s not too soon for us to learn how to enjoy this holiday safely with her. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has some helpful Halloween safety tips on their website. Click here to check them out.

It’s Halloween and the kids will be bringing home LOADS of goodies. It’s okay for mommies to treat themselves every once in a while during pregnancy. But don’t overload on the fun-size candy bars and the candy corn.

A recent study in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology shows that moms who gained more than 40 pounds during their pregnancy were twice as likely to have babies who were too large, compared to other moms. In fact, out of 40,000 moms in the study, 1 in 5 of them had gained too much weight during their pregnancy.

So what’s the harm in having a large baby, you ask? Well, let’s start with what that means for moms. Moms who gain too much weight during pregnancy are at increased risk of facing serious health complications such as gestational diabetes, gestational hypertension and preeclamspia.  Also, a pregnant mom who gains too much weight is more likely to encounter difficulties during labor and childbirth, such as a baby stuck in the birth canal, vaginal tearing, c-section, a longer hospital stay and other recovery complications.

Babies born to overweight or obese moms face their own special health risks, too. These newborns are at increased risk of being born prematurely, having certain birth defects and needing special care in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Some studies even suggest that babies born too big are more likely to face obesity in their childhood, which is a growing problem in the U.S.

While you don’t want to go on any “fad diet” during pregnancy, it’s important that you make healthy food choices.  Watch our video on healthy food choices during pregnancy.  Talk to your health provider for more nutrition tips.

Image: Juushika Redgrave, Flickr

I’m totally convinced that the best costumes out there are homemade.  Not only are the kids looking great and having a blast, but you can see Mom or Dad hanging back in the bushes beaming with pride over their creativity.  (Then there are the folks who are experts at tracking down truly outrageous costumes for a pittance on e-bay.  They get kudos, too.)

When I was a kid, we all were pirates and ballerinas, ghosts and princesses and ugly witches.  These days, however, it seems that kids and parents are getting incredibly creative with costumes and makeup and I just love opening the front door on Halloween.  Here are a few of the more memorable costumes in our family:

My step-daughter once was an alarm clock with two big bells on her head.

My nephew over the years has been a large cup of water (with a PVC straw); a box of popcorn (think of stringing a tree at Christmas and moving the garlands of popcorn to the top of his head); and a bulldozer.

Two years ago, my grandson was the Empire State Building (it took forever to draw in all those windows!).  Last year he was a Tivo box.  He has decided to be a cup of Starbuck’s coffee this year.

I think my favorite of recent years was my co-worker who, draped in black cloth from head to toe, announced that she was “Death by Chocolate!”

Send us links to your pictures and have fun!