3 Kids and Us

Top 10 Baby shower gift ideas

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Having a baby is one of the most significant events in a person’s life. If you’ve been recently invited to a baby shower you’ll know just how much the parents want to celebrate, and you might be feeling a little pressured to get the perfect gift. Here are a couple of ideas that will please both parent and child.

  1. Parent-child t-shirts

Many guests at the baby shower will show up with cute baby clothes, so take things one step further by purchasing matching t-shirts for the parents as well as the baby. Some t-shirt manufacturers even print funny slogans on the t-shirts that will have passersby cracking up when the family goes out.

  1. Baby booties

A baby can never have enough shoes, and there are so many amusing  baby bootie designs out there that it isn’t hard to find something that the parents will love. From booties shaped like little cars to those modelled after cartoon characters, you’ll be able to find something that’s both adorable and functional.

  1. Photo printed on canvas

A parent knows all too well that childhood is fleeting, and documenting their child’s growth is a huge concern. Choose a beautiful photo of the baby and have it printed on canvas for the parents to display at home. This service is available at many online vendors such as Canvas Printers Online. Not only will it be a lovely addition to the home, it will also function as a record of their baby’s first few months of life.

  1. Hanging mobile

Babies spend an awful lot of time in their cribs and can get restless with nothing to capture their attention. A hanging mobile instantly brightens up the room and also gives the little one something to look at.

  1. Diaper bag

The mother of the child will thank you for your gift of a stylish and commodious diaper bag. People without kids cannot imagine the hassle of having to lug diapers, milk bottles and towels everywhere. Get a bag which is functional and yet looks good enough to go with most outfits.

  1. Bibs

Mealtimes can be a mess when you’ve got a baby with you, and a bib can help to catch the dribbles as the little one tries to get the hang of eating without having any accidents.

  1. Changing mat

As if going out with a baby in tow isn’t stressful enough, when a diaper change is suddenly needed, it can be hard to find a clean surface and avoid soiling public property. A portable changing mat will enable mum and dad to effect painless diaper changes virtually anywhere.

  1. Pacifier

When the baby starts wailing and nobody knows what’s wrong, sometimes the only thing that can calm him or her down is a pacifier. Just pop the pacifier into the child’s mouth and like magic, all is right with the world.

  1. Baby book

The baby might not be able to read right now, but leafing through a favourite picture book is something many kids like to do. Give the child his first book and years later he might thank you for introducing him to the joys of reading.

  1. Baby supplies

Baby supplies can place quite a financial burden on parents. From diapers to milk powder to baby food, there’s a lot that parents have to shell out for. Help them to stock up on baby supplies and they’ll be more grateful than you would expect. It’s a practical gift that can turn out to be a lifesaver.

Create a Bedroom That You Absolutely Love

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Your bedroom is much more than just a bedroom. It is a haven where you can unwind, relax, and escape from your busy day and the outside world. There are a number of ways to create a comfortable bedroom that you won’t be able to resist. It doesn’t matter if you have a small or a big bedroom either. You can create the perfect space no matter what the size of your room is.

When shopping for a new mattress, it pays to do your research. Shop around, and if you have a health condition, talk to your doctor to see what he or she recommends. Try out your new mattress. Go to a mattress store that will let you lie on their mattresses for 10 to 15 minutes to get a feel of how comfortable they are. A mattress that your best friend loves may not be ideal for you. When you get recommendations, remember that you’ll still need to try a mattress out for yourself. Recommendations are a good starting point, but test it out first before committing to buy.

Although things, such as the paint color of your bedroom, your choice of linens, and other details are important, your mattress is also very important. You could have a bedroom that is worthy enough to be featured in an issue of Better Homes and Gardens. If your mattress is not comfortable, you will not only wake up with a sore body and feel like you got ran over by a bus. You simply won’t be able to relax.

There are many different kinds of mattresses to choose from; simple to high-tech ones that give you the power to adjust the firmness of your side and the side of your partner. You can even get cooling sheets and pillowcases if you find that you are often hot at night. It is always best to keep the temperature low when you are sleeping as well for a better night’s rest.

It is best to keep your bed for sleeping only and not do work on it or even eat or watch TV. This is a hard rule to follow sometimes. You see that big comfortable area and think how nice it would be to watch some TV or check your phone. But if you begin to do these things, your bed will become just another work area. If you stick to only sleeping on your bed, you will be able to associate your bed with only sleep and will be able to drift off easier.

You should also keep your bedroom clutter-free. It’s hard to relax when you have piles of paperwork piled to the ceiling and clutter covering your nightstand. It is a constant reminder of all the things that you need to do. Just keep the essentials that you need in your bedroom and keep items on your dresser and nightstand to a minimum. You should also organize your closet and dressers so that they are neat and aren’t overstuffed with clothing. Even if you can’t see the unorganized mess, you’ll still know that it’s there and be thinking about it in the back of your mind.

Different people have different needs when it comes to getting the right amount of sleep. For example, most adults only need about seven to nine hours of sleep, while teenagers eight and a half hours of sleep to nine and a half hours of sleep. Pregnant women will require more sleep in the first three months of pregnancy.

Sleep affects your body in many different ways. Your body depends on sleep in order to reboot and to function. When you sleep, your body is able to heal and to restore its chemical balance. If you don’t get enough sleep, you can get irritable and experience daytime fatigue. If you regularly miss out on the amount of sleep that you need, you may suffer from impulsive behavior, depression, and paranoia in extreme cases.

How To Deal With Drug Addiction Among Teens

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Drug Addiction is a condition that is hard to deal with, especially if the person involved is a teen. The effect of drug addiction will be harsher on a teen’s life because this is the stage where a person’s mind is being developed. In addition, the victim is not only the one who is affected by this but also the people around him or her, namely his or her friends and family.

Because of drug addiction, the victim’s relationship with other people might fall apart. The victim will also like start avoiding participation in activities that he or she likes before. His or her relationship with the family will also be in jeopardy as priorities switch up. People who are addicted to substance and alcohol will prioritize his or her connections to people who will help in getting those things. With relationships severed by drug abuse, the victim will likely delve on to substance abuse.

There are two types of drug addiction: physical addiction and psychological addiction. Physical addiction is when a person’s body has a build dependency on a particular substance. This is the case where stronger doses of the drug are needed to achieve the same effect because the body has built tolerance for the drug. Psychological addiction, on the other hand, is when the victim started to have cravings for the drug because of its emotional or psychological impact. They consume drugs not because of their body’s dependency on it, but because they desire to consume more.

IMPORTANCE OF DRUG REHABILITATION

The only way to get out of drug addiction right now is through a rehab facility such as www.harrishousestl.org. Drug treatment is more effective if the victim, or his or her family, and friends, started to seek help as early as symptoms started manifesting. Drug treatment programs, such as inpatient treatment programs and outpatient treatment programs are available options. The inpatient treatment program is a more successful method but is the more expensive option. It will only run for a couple of months. Meanwhile, the outpatient treatment program is a cheaper alternative, but it is only used to treat mild addiction.

Getting out of addiction is a hard thing to do, especially if the victim is blinded by the highs and the fun of doing drugs. The victim often cannot see the damage that is being done to him or her. To prevent more damage, the victim should start to get help in a rehabilitation facility. Help from the people around him will also be needed.

SIGNS OF ADDICTION

Depending on the person, symptoms are sometimes easier or harder to spot. Other symptoms might even point so other serious conditions. Psychological signals are also occurring more than the physical signals.

One of the psychological signals is when the victim keeps loosing interests on activities that used to be important. In addition to this, there are problems with the schoolwork, school attendance, and grades started to slip. Victims might severe his or her friendships in favor of people who will support his or her addiction habit. If he or she started to talk less about usual friends but doesn’t talk about new friends, parents would want to consider checking up on their child. Mood swings, depression, being irritable or angry all the time, and anxiety are other signs of drug addiction. If the child is asking for a significant increase in allowance, he or she might be trying to find a way to get more drugs. Physical signals include changes in sleeping habits as well as changes in eating habits. Also look out for withdrawal symptoms such as getting sick and losing weight. If your child started to manifest one or some of the symptoms, it is time to have a serious talk.

REASONS WHY TEENS USE DRUGS AND HOW TO PREVENT IT

The common reasons why teens use drugs is because of curiosity. A curious teen will likely be coerced by peer pressure. And the first usage will often lead to substance abuse or drug dependency. There are also teens who cannot handle stress very well and relies on drugs and other substance to relax. With stress comes the emotional struggles that they want to forget. When a teen wants to escape his or her life for a while, the high of drug use can take him or her to a great high.

3 Positive Ways To Prepare For The Birth Of Your Baby

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Giving birth is not something that many women look forward to in itself. The pregnancy leading up to that moment might have been painless enough, if a little uncomfortable, and the baby that labor results in will, of course, be amazing, but the birth itself can be something that worries women hugely, whether they have been through it before or not.

It’s important to prepare for this inevitable moment, and the better prepared you are, the more positive experience you will have, which is better for both you and the baby involved. Here are some ways you can prepare for going into labor and giving birth – think through these, and you’ll be partway there.

Know What You Want

For some women, it’s the lack of control throughout labor and the birth itself that is scarier than any of the pain or hard work involved. Therefore, knowing what you want in advance and creating a birthing plan can allay at least some of these fears, giving you a more positive birth all around.

Your birthing plan is where you can write down everything you want to happen during and after your labor. You can include who you want to be present, what kind of pain relief you want, if any, and any emergency numbers for those who might help if there is a problem during childbirth. This can be caused by various issues, and you may need to turn to experts such as Erb’s palsy lawyers. If you are prepared like this, you will feel a lot more relaxed and the birth should be an easier one.

Do some research on the different birthing methods you can choose from. Understanding your options and talking through each one with your birthing team and your partner, discussing the pros and cons, will help you to feel – and be – totally in control of the situation.

Prepare Your Mind

The mind is a powerful thing, and it can have a huge impact on what we feel even if we don’t realize it. All those horror stories of terrible births that you will no doubt hear throughout your pregnancy, usually told by well-meaning but misguided friends and family, will stick in your mind, and build your labor into something to be afraid of.

That shouldn’t be and certainly doesn’t need to be the case. Rather than focusing on the negative, seek out the positive. For every scary birth story, there will be dozens of happy ones. Look for those, and keep those in your mind. It will make a big difference to how you begin to perceive the labor to come.

Prepare Your Body

Although the start of being more confident about labor definitely begins in your mind, your body also has a lot of work to do. You will require plenty of strength and stamina. Therefore, doing gentle exercises throughout your pregnancy to boost your strength and get your body prepared for what is to come can be a great idea.

Not only will it strengthen you, but this exercise is a good way to de-stress too, which will help you to feel more positive.

You can join specialist pregnancy classes that will teach you the correct ways to exercise without straining yourself. Alternatively, speak to your doctor about the best ways to exercise safely for you and the baby.

Fresh out of Driving School? Don’t Get Tempted into Making Any of These 6 Beginner Mistakes

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You finally have that license to drive freely in the country. Nonetheless, you are still new in driving and there are going to be circumstances which will require you to have the experience to maneuver. Instead of learning through mistakes, here are 6 beginner mistakes you need to avoid.

1. Speed

Ask anybody what is the common mistakes novice drivers make and the answer will always be over speeding.  Indeed, this is of the major mistakes new drivers make, but the issue is more than just the speed. The ability of a person to judge speed is usually something that develops with time and it can be difficult for beginners to accomplish this without the experience of being on the road. As more experience is gained, one will learn about the different ways to react during speeding situations. The steadier you approach it, the more likely you’ll survive any road incidents. As a beginner, take it slow and allow yourself to build the experience as time goes by.

2. Inability to Handle Emergencies

Driving experience makes it possible for one to handle emergencies appropriately. A classroom can only offer theoretical knowledge about driving, which leaves road maneuvers such as the correct application of brakes to the real world. Distracted driving and speeding make things more difficult because they compound the effects of inexperience by putting the learners at greater risks of encountering emergency situations. Avoid over-speeding and distractions so you can give yourself the time needed to learn how to maneuver successfully while on the road.

3. Braking Sharply

New drivers usually find it hard to judge how long they will take to stop after they hit the brakes. Braking sharply makes it impossible for the driver behind you to adjust their speed accordingly, and more often than not, this results in accidents. Braking gently will help avoid these situations from occurring. In case of an accident caused by you or the other driver, do not rush to apologize or admit fault. Call a car accident lawyer to help handle the case on your behalf.

4. Driving Tired

Tiredness suppresses your reflexes and places you at risk of falling asleep while on the road. This is another common mistake new drivers make. On average, you are required to make a correction after a few seconds of driving, so when you fall asleep for a couple of seconds, you could easily go off the road. Turning the air conditioning on or winding the car windows down will help to stave off the tiredness.

5. Tires and Maintenance

You might not have the experience when it comes to vehicle maintenance, but it’s imperative to ensure your tires are well maintained and replaced. Tires are usually the most crucial part of an automobile since they keep vehicles on the road. Make sure you check the tread depth and the tire pressure as well to ensure safe driving.

6. Failure to Indicate

New drivers usually forget to indicate when switching lanes or making turns. To avoid accidents, make sure you remember to signal during these situations.

Conclusion

Being a new driver, there is so much to learn about driving which you may never learn in the class. You can perfect your skills through real-world experience and by considering the pointers above.

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We left our home in Sydney, Australia many moons ago in May 2012 and, other than a brief stint back in Perth for Christmas and a wedding in early 2014, we have been travelling the world nomadically ever since, running a business from our laptops and we’re here to show you how to do it!