 Welcome to Spring! Let’s clear the chaos in our surroundings to help clear our minds. More organization can mean less stress. 5 Easy Tips for Spring Cleaning: – Use 3 bins: Keep, Donate, Trash. – Think carefully about your belongings. When was the last time you used each item? Did you enjoy it or is it time to part ways? – Work your way around the house by rooms or by categories (whatever makes more sense in your space). – Use labels so others can easily find items and follow your organization method when they put things back. – Create a place for everything and then put everything in its place. 1. Keep. Donate. Trash. 2. Categorize. 3. Label. 4. Keep everything in its place…      Parent of the Month: Andrea Neill Andrea Neill is a mom in London, England who loves family time and thrift shopping. She loves taking walks, exploring new areas and traveling. Andrea loves meeting like minded people with shared aspirations for our children. She loves all things art and performance and is addicted to the Edinburgh festival. Lastly, Andrea is the proud mother of her 17 year old daughter, Liberty, who happens to have Prader-Willi Syndrome. Andrea is also proud to be her daughter’s personal assistant since her daughter is now a member of the youth council, a political organization in each district in England. Liberty’s manifesto focuses on improving the lives of people with disabilities, animal rights, and affordable, healthy eating for families. Describe your daily schedule in five words? Challenged, overlapping, prioritizing, caring, involved. What’s your favorite family activity and why? I love venturing out into the world with my daughter. It’s not only fun for me and Libby but it’s a great way of educating her since she’s very visual and sensory oriented. Our outings serve both purposes. What’s your idea of a perfect day? In my realistic perfect day, finding time to be worry free, my loved ones are relaxed and together doing activities like a walk in the park and everyone’s at peace. My Fantasy perfect day would be having the freedom to go anywhere I want, to be in the sunshine, and to be together with my family having leisure time. Also going to the opera house or ballet. What’s your favorite song? I have many! What inspires me since it covers all moods is Pink Floyd! The song Shine on, You Crazy Diamond, especially. Even the title resonates with me. What is your guilty pleasure? A glass of Prosecco and a moment to take in the greenery with my friends… What is your most useful skill? ADHD because I can juggle! I also have an excess of energy which my friends find a bit annoying :-). What is the most challenging part of having a child(ren) with a Disability? The most challenging part is not wanting Libby to suffer. What would you tell your former self when your child(ren) was diagnosed? With the benefit of hindsight, I would say to believe that your child is unique and not to take the word of the medical professionals too seriously. Your child can and usually will exceed expectations. My Libby definitely does and will continue to do so . In one sentence, what’s your best parental advice? You are stronger than you think you are. If you believe in your child they will believe in themselves. Always give them compliments and praise which will be instilled in them, helping create who they will become. What is the silver lining to having a child(ren) with a disability? The silver lining, from what I’ve experienced and seen in others, is that there is a deeper bond and show of love from our children . We get to hold our babies for longer, even when they become as tall as us.    If you would like to be featured in our newsletter Parent of the month, please write to us at info@2momsnofluff.com.  Recipe of the Month: Easy Granola Imagine a world in which you simply reach into the cabinet, take out some wholesome and delicious granola, add some milk, yogurt or nothing at all, and you are nourished and feeling good about starting the day off on a good note? Well, it’s that simple if you plan ahead, invest just a few minutes of your day and prepare this tasty and simple recipe in bulk. It can be made with gluten free oats if necessary and use any nuts you like if you don’t care for or have the nuts I suggest. Enjoy! Easy Fruit and Nut Granola: 3 cups raw rolled oats (NOT quick oats) 1/4 cup maple syrup 1/4 cup coconut oil 1/4 cup slivered almonds 1/4 cup cashews 1 TBS vanilla extract 1 TBS cinnamon 1/4-1/2 tsp salt (to taste) 1/2 cup raisins (to be added at the end of baking) Steps: Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Prepare a large, greased baking sheet or line with parchment paper if you have some. In a large bowl bowl, combine all the ingredients EXCEPT the raisins!!!! Dump the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, spread into one layer, and place the pan on the middle rack of the oven. After 20 minutes, stir the mixture around and place back in for another 10 minutes. Add the raisins and bake for another 5 minutes. You’re done! Remove from the oven, let cool COMPLETELY and then you can store in an air tight container. YUUUUUM!!!! Guest Article by Stacey Pinilis, LCSW  Parenting with a Pause: Stop. Pause. Breathe in. Exhale slowly. Take a moment. Feel better? Keep reading. I started running Parenting with a Pause workshops and groups about fifteen years ago. My three kids were each under the age of seven, and I saw a need in the community. Parents, especially mothers, were under water. I am a clinical social worker and have a lifelong dedication to self improvement. This gave me the skills necessary to teach parents how to help their families. I understood the challenges we all faced, yet was just further enough along the path to offer some help. Mothers came together in a safe, judgement free space to share, learn and get support. I continue to provide these spaces for parents, however now know more than ever that the most important piece is the pause. Many parents have read the books, taken the courses and might have even met with experts to help them with their children. Parents see slight changes for a time but soon they are back to feeling terrible about themselves for resorting back to old patterns. I now have a better understanding for why this keeps happening. For years I offered techniques for what to do in certain situations to parent more smoothly. I continue to offer techniques to parents in the hopes they will make some strides, find some peace and be ready to learn more about the concept of pausing. Once they understand the power of the pause and how to do it, they will create their own techniques for what works best with their children. Parenting children who have more needs than others tends to give them more motivation to look for and find the pause. They have no choice. As an allergy mom, I have to understand and manage my thoughts, feelings, stress, anxiety and even grief around my son’s allergy. I want my son to have the best chance of not being anxious and upset because of me and my issues. I have worked hard at it and continue to do so everyday. The muscles I built around learning to regulate my own nervous system and access the pause have helped in more ways than I can count. Here are a few techniques that have helped me and people I have worked with to really understand and own the pause. 1. Breathe. Practice taking a few deep breaths when you are not in crisis. If you begin to build a mindful breathing habit, your body and mind will use it without even thinking about it. Try it now. Decide how stressed you are on a scale of 1-10 and make a note of it. Now breathe In for the count of four and out for the count of four. Do you feel a slight shift? If not, try it again. How about now? Any calmer? Noticing a change and making note of it will also allow deep breathing to become a habit. 2. Look Within. When you know you are triggered, stop and check in with your body. This will take the focus off of your busy mind and allow you to refocus. See if you can tune into what your body is feeling, where you are feeling it and what your mind is thinking. What might that tightness in your throat be trying to tell you? You have the answers. You just need to quiet your mind enough to hear your own wisdom. 3. Visualize or Meditate. Look for things in your environment that make you feel good, calm and centered. Spend time thinking about those things. Begin to sense what it feels like in your body to feel calm and regulated. Savor the feeling so that your body understands what it feels like to be calm. There is a lot of new and helpful information out there on learning how to calm the nervous system. This is just a tiny part of it. Learning to do this is the greatest gift parents can offer themselves and their children. Stacey Pinilis, LCSW Montclair, NJ 07042(973) 951-6356www.StaceyPinilisLCSW.com If you or someone you know contributes to improving the lives of children with disabilities, we may be able to feature you (or them) in our newsletter. Please reach us at info@2momsnofluff.com. |