Caring for Your Child's Teeth with Dr. Gerald Cox, Pediatric Dentist - October 8th

For our meeting on Tuesday, we had a fantastic speaker join us to discuss caring for your children's teeth. 

Dr. Gerald Cox is a Pediatric Dentist practicing in Waco. Here are some of the tips Dr. Cox shared with us on oral care and hygiene for our kids!

-The best toothbrush is a moist one in the parents' hand! (Children' don't have dexterity to brush teeth well until the 3rd or 4th grade!) You also don't need training paste for the little ones, just a moist brush will do the job.

-Plaque likes to hide at the gum line, especially in the back. Most kids won't brush way in the back because of the gag reflex. That is why it is so important for parents to help.

-Baby teeth are important to take care of, since kids will have them at least 6 or 7 years until age 12, when many boys lose their molars.

-"Open bite" is caused by genetics, as well as sucking fingers, thumbs, blankets, etc (frequency, duration, and intensity are all factors in how affected the teeth will be from sucking habits)

-Genetics plays 75-85% of the effect on teeth, but diet, oral hygiene, and early diseases (ear infections, RSV, premature birth) also affect development of tooth enamel

-Tooth decay is not entirely preventable (80% of cavities occur in 25% of kids, even in the same family with the same diet & habits as other children)

-Enamel is broken down when teeth are bathed in refined carbohydrates (eating, drinking things other than water), but enamel can be rebuilt when teeth are brushed with fluoride.

-The process of tooth development is most susceptible from 6/9 months to 34/36 months. 

-Bacteria causing cavities is transmissible through saliva! (A cavity-prone adult can pass on this bacteria by sharing an ice cream cone with a child, for instance! Yikes!)

-Bacteria in plaque colonize and make acid; the solution is to get rid of the plaque

-Once brushing is firmly established, add flossing to your children's oral hygiene routine.

-Topical fluoride (soaks in) vs. systemic fluoride treatment (affects developing teeth), but too much fluoride can be dangerous and weaken teeth coming in.

-Use fluoride toothpaste as soon as children can spit it out.

-Sticky, sugary, and acidic foods/drinks are the most dangerous in promoting plaque growth (and even diet sodas have carbonic acid).

-Most damage is done in first the 20 minutes after food is eaten, because of the saliva generated, so if you're going to indulge, it's best to eat a candy bar or drink juice/soda in one sitting instead of biting/sipping it slowly over the course of a few hours.

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Cox for your kids, contact his office at 254-772-4184. 

Check out Dr. Cox's website for more helpful information: http://www.geraldcoxdds.com/dental-topics.php

We have some great events coming up in November and December for our members. Check out our Facebook page at Heart of Texas Moms of Multiples Support to get more information about joining as a member!

You can also join us for our next Monthly Meeting on Tuesday, January 14th at 7pm at Providence Hospital in Waco to check out a meeting and join as a member. 

Financial Planning for Families with Cindy Mosley-Guy - Monthly Meeting September 10th

Our first Monthly Meeting of 2013 kicked off with a great speaker, Cindy Mosley-Guy. 

Cindy is a Wealth Strategy Associate specializing in wealth management and financial advising at The Helton, Browning & Mosely Wealth Management Group, a branch of UBS Financial Services, in Waco. Cindy focused her discussion during our meeting on financial planning for young families and she covered the following topics with us during that discussion. 

Life Insurance:
-Term life insurance is a relatively inexpensive way to protect your family against risk. Consider getting insurance for stay-at-home parent as well as the one working.
-When considering how much life insurance to get, take expenses and future expense into account. Think about college expenses for your children, living expenses and any debt you might have as well. 

Wills, Medical Directives and Estate Planning:

-It is very important to have a will and medical directive. Make sure someone knows where to find your will in the event of your death. 

-Make sure you communicate any planning you may have in place for your children & estate to family members. They need to know your wishes in the event you pass away. 

Safe money concepts:

-Emergency fund: build up to 3-6 months of income, in case your job has to change unexpectedly. The amount you may need depends on how secure your job is and how long it might take you to find another one. 

Managing debt:

-Work your debt down by paying of the debt with the highest interest first.

-Try the "Latte effect" for a month: write down every expense for 30 days to account where your money is going and find room to save, if necessary.

-Pay yourself every month with automatic savings plans. You can use an automatic transfer from one account into a savings account so you don't even have to think about it.

Retirement planning: 

-Consolidate 401K plans or other retirement plans you may have acquired from various jobs for simplicity

-Turn IRA's into "stretch IRA's": If you name children as contingent beneficiaries (after spouse as primary), they can inherit it in full instead of paying up to 30% in penalties. Children under 18 will need a custodian named for them.

College planning:

-529 Plans: You retain ownership and can change beneficiaries as your or your children's needs change. This can be used for housing, rent, and books, as well as tuition.

-Texas Promise Fund: You can pre-pay at today's tuition rates for courses at Texas schools in the future when your children are college-age.

If you would like to have more information on how to plan financially for your family's future, contact Cindy at:

Cynthia 'Cindy' Mosley-Guy 

The Helton, Browning & Mosley 

Wealth Management Group

UBS Financial Services, Inc 

254-751-5034 Direct Line 

Cindy.Mosley@ubs.com

Potty Training, Financial Woes and Other Thoughts by Leah Magid

HOTMOMs will be featuring guest posts from our members on any and all issues facing families with multiples. Our first guest post is from Leah Magid, mom of twin boys and twin girls!

Potty Training, Financial Woes and Other Thoughts 

First let me begin by saying, I PRAYED HARD for the Lord to bless me with children, and the second greatest joy in my life is being a MOM, the first is being my husband’s wife.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a Mommy, every sweet, amazing, gross and ewwy part of it!

My twin boys, Lukas and Mason turned 2 ½ on July 4^th this year (2013). My twin girls were 10 months old on the 21^st of July. 

Yes, I have TWO SETS (I’m sure you can do the math).  That’s four babies in diapers! Four babies in diapers is roughly $1200, or more spent in diapers a year. Unfortunately, I don’t have stock in diapers and my amazing husband and I provide for our family based solely on his salary and my home-based design business, which is enough to get us by, but not much else, for now. So, I made the courageous decision that I was going to potty train my boys, not for financial reasons (that was a bonus) but based on the fact that I felt they were ready.

A brief back history of my personality would tell you that I am a PLANNER. I research, get all my ducks in a row, and then get all my other ducks lined out if plan “A” should fail. This is NOT my personality anymore, no one tells you, but kids change you.

I planned to start potty training the boys when their school closed for a 3 week break, August 6^th was the big day. August 4^th I started reading “the book” I was planning to follow, a 3 day potty training method. August 5^th I was scrambling to get a second potty chair (I actually have four, but wanted a second of the one we liked best) and make potty charts, gather prizes and rewards. Whew! I almost called the whole thing off. BUT, if nothing else, I would not disappoint my children; we had been marking off the days on the calendar beginning the week before.

August 6^th - NO MORE DIAPERS. We “threw them all away” (NO WAY, I went back and dug them out of the trash and hid them in the closet) but for “the book’s” sake we threw them away. And so began the first day in potty training boot camp HELL.

August 7^th - The second day.  I almost cried, drank a bottle of wine, and seriously considered giving up. BUT the largest accomplishments in life take work, and sometimes almost break you, I’m not an easy quitter, I pressed on; all my hopes in “the book”.

August 8^th - Day 3, I see the light! This day miraculously began with about 75% less anxiety as the second day. Only one accident ALL DAY!

So in review of my potty training: The 3 day method worked great for us, I potty trained the boys (don’t forget I also have two 10 month olds) by myself, with the help of our sweet 18 year-old neighbor who came for 4 hours each day. It was brutal, and I had to make revisions to “the book” to better fit training multiples.

Now we are a month potty trained, accidents are less often but they still happen, I mean they ARE only 2 ½ years old. Mason can take himself to the potty, Lukas still has trouble pulling his pants down and so he needs help. Overall, I can say that I only have TWO in diapers, and that is ROUGHLY an extra $600 a year, that has already found a home, because my car needs some serious work done. Oh well, this is the financial cycle of life.

Potty Training tips:

• Potty chart w/ stickers
• Make sure to have the twins cheer each other on, so they don’t feel bad if one has an accident, and this encourages the other too. Plus it just feels good to cheer!
• Candy treats (With twins, I find bribery works to help my own sanity) We did small ones (Valentines hearts) for tee-tee and suckers (dum-dums) for poo.
• I had a prize bag with stuff like coloring books and Hotwheels for waking up dry and other big accomplishments, staying dry on a car ride, ect.
• One of my boys sleeps AT NIGHT ONLY in a pull-up. The only reason I gave in to this is because he is a restless sleeper, and has night terrors, so he has accidents.
• The other boy asks to be put in a pull-up, but I say, “No, you wake up dry, Lukas is still working on that”.
• You must be as close to your kids as you can during the initial potty training. The times they had accidents were the times I was being pulled away from them. It IS SO IMPORTANT TO DEVOTE YOURSELF TO “X” number of days for this initial process.

After about 6-7 days I felt comfortable to ask them less often if they need to potty. I DID NOT LEAVE the house for 2 ½ weeks! This alone will make you crazy, so be prepared, but know that the joys of this accomplishment last forever! ~ Leah

Join Us For Our First Fall Meeting!

Sweet Book

I recently found this book at the library--

Written by a twin, she tells a story of "look-alike" twins that share everything from toys to a blanket that they have had since they were born. They are now five and the blanket is too small for both of them...

I have 4 year old non "look-alike" boy twins and they loved this book--I was unsure if they would really relate (have never shared a bed or a blanket) but they really did and think its pretty funny (maybe they related to the twins arguing...)!

Enjoy!

Great Article

Scrolling through my Facebook feed this morning, I found this article "The Mom Stays in the Picture" posted. I usually don't spend much time reading links from other's FB pages, but this one caught my eye--and then had me in tears the more I read. I encourage you to read the article by Allison Tate from the Huffington Post, and I would love it if you wanted to post a picture of you and your kids--send it to our e-mail heartoftxmoms@gmail.com and I will put it up on the blog! Or lets start a discussion in the comments section below--what did you think of the article? Do you see yourself wanting to take pictures that you are not in?

October Happenings

It seems like fall is in full swing (except for the cooler weather) and we have a lot planned for October. Our next meeting is October 9 at Hope Therapy--we had such a great turn out for our first meeting, we loved meeting so many new faces, and reconnecting with old friends!

 We look forward to hearing from Kristen Horner Warren from Live Oak Acupuncture & Herbal Medicine.  You can check out their website here or find her on Facebook. Bring your questions on healthy diet, Chinese medicine or any other questions you may have about acupuncture!

It's time for our Fall Festival--we are so excited this year the festival will be hosted by one of our members. This is a member only event, and if you have not yet become a member, it is not too late to sign up. We hope to see you at the Fall Festival