We've been swimming so much this summer. My preteen daughter was breaking out and I realized that it was the sunscreen that was doing it.

Well, I got Oil of Olay moisturing lotion with SPL 15, and voila! Her skin cleared up.

It hadn't occurred to me that a BEAUTY cream could substitute for sunscreen! (My husband was the one who realized that, actually...)

 

Walkie talkies definitely help...

but another piece of advice for not losing lots of kids in the store -- is have them wear matching, bright, solid colored t-shirts!

Seriously, it's so much easier. IMMENSELY easier, particularly when they're all little and likely to wander away.

I just get 20 t-shirts in one color, and keep them in a stack in the laundry room. No worries about whose shirt is whose.

For any mothers out there with a houseful of young children, I'd like to say this:

It gets easier.

When mom is young and lots of young kids in tow, and a pregnant belly, mom can get some nasty comments. It happened to me. It's happened to just about every mother of a large family that I've been priveleged to know. I think it has to do with how much work it LOOKS like to others. And being pregnant -- well, for some reason, that seems to upset some people.

It's very disheartening to get negative comments about the size of one's family.

But I just want to say that as your kids grow older, that will go away.

Nowadays we just get admiration. I think that's true for other families, as well!

Okay.. shopping is a LOT easier with walkie-talkies. I haven't lost my husband since we got them. That's refreshing!

We just bought some walkie-talkies. The kids are having a blast with them. They're going for lots of walks... "Can you hear me now?" And when the older ones went to the store yesterday, they took a radio with them, so we could call them. It was great! "Did you want us to get some milk?"

We got the radios on sale for $28 (half off). They can get expensive, but if you shop around, you can get good radios for not too much money.