Free Range Family

Well I finally did it! I cut and donated my hair! As of this Sunday, I had been growing my hair out for donation for two years and nine months. I donated a total of sixteen inches to Pantene's Beautiful Lengths Program. I chose to donate through Pantene this year (I donated through Locks for Love after I had Alan) for a few different reasons. Around the time I had originally planned on donating, I had heard some negative comments about Locks for Love. I spoke with my boss, who also runs the Livestrong Program at the Y, about other options and she introduced me to Beautiful Lengths. Pantene joined with The American Cancer Society to develop this program in 2006. They have since donated more then 500,000 ponytails! That is 24,000 wigs! :D They also are a bit more lenient on their donation requirements, which is more realistic to these days with how many women dye their hair. This was the program for me. If you have never heard of Beautiful Lengths: (Taken directly from th...

As a skin cancer survivor, I am a huge advocate for sunscreen especially on children. Now that it is June, we all need to start thinking about what types of sun protection we will use on our little ones. Did you know that just one blistering sunburn in childhood more than doubles your chances of developing melanoma later in life? Unfortunately, 54 percent of children burn or tan in their second summer, and 22 percent burn in their first, according to one US study. (Information thanks to the Skin Cancer Foundation) Here are some tips on keeping your toddler sunburn free this summer: -Try to keep your toddler out of the sun and in the shade as much as possible between 10 am and 4 pm. This is the hottest and sunniest part of the day. -Have your toddler wear a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses. I like these types of hats best for Alan because you can strap them under their chin so they won't blow off during playtime. Via And we get strap-on sunglasses, like these,...

Happy Friday everyone. Not looking forward to the weekend, my Saturday is going to be just as stressful and busy at work as any weekday. I open Child Watch and work til 11:30, then I have a meeting from noon to 1, and after that I have a birthday party to do from 1:30 to 4. Ugggh. At least after work, I have a baby shower and then we're going to the circus with Grandma Melanie, Aunt Natalie, Aunt April and Uncle Kalvin. Should at least be a little fun. And Sunday I have off, so we're doing our traditional Family Sunday activities. Hope to get Alan and I out in the sunshine at least once this weekend, but I don't honestly know if it'll happen. FYI, I don't celebrate April Fool's Day, so today is nothing more than just the day before Uncle Tyler's birthday (April 2). As I child I used to hate and dread April Fool's Day because I have never been a trickster. I don't enjoy teasing or playing tricks on people, even though I know its done "in fun...