30+ Simple Stocking Stuffers for a Preschooler, Toddler, and Baby

30+ Simple Stocking Stuffers for a Preschooler, Toddler, and Baby

Without a doubt stocking stuffers were my favourite part of Christmas morning as a child.

My siblings and I would wake up super early and wait not-so-patiently in our rooms until the agreed-upon time (usually 7, I think – such cruel torture! and yes, I’m absolutely doing the same to my kids). Then we’d bound out of bed and wake our parents, who groggily told us to go to the living room and get our stockings (but DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING ELSE!).

We’d haul them back to our parents’ room, and all five of us (plus the cat) would tear into them with gusto and excitement. One year I got a cassette tape of Michael W. Smith’s “The First Decade”, and oh how I loved that album (“You don’t have to, you don’t have to, you don’t have to be picture perfect”). I always felt an extra amount of awe when I got something “big” in my stocking like the year I got my first sportswatch. (with blue indiglo! score!)

Little did I know, as that scrawny red-haired girl with boundless energy and exuberance for life, that I’d be even more excited about buying and stuffing stockings for my own kids one day.

If I had fun, my parents must have been having a total ball. Buying things that you know will delight your children is SO MUCH FUN! Of course, being a natural-minded, simple-lifestylin’ mama, I am careful not to go overboard in the buying of cheap junk, and instead try to pick items that I know they will love and use for a long time.

For the four-year-old (boy), we got the following:

• Colouring book and a new box of crayons
• A sheet of stickers, transportation-themed
• Small bottle of white glue for crafts
• Small snack-sized bag of gluten-free pretzels
• A “big-boy” (non-sippy) Klean Kanteen in red, his favourite colour
• A real wristwatch (digital) that was just $9
• Blue “floppy friend” – you push underneath the base and he collapses, then stands up again when you let go
• A package of craft feathers
• A blank wooden door hanger to decorate for his & sister’s bedroom
• Pomegranate & bamboo goat’s milk soap (sounds like an odd choice for a 4-year-old boy, but he loves playing with soap in the bathtub)
• A mini-flashlight
• 5 mini tubes of glitter glue (a new love)
• 2 juice boxes of pure apple juice (we only drink water at home normally)

For the two-year-old (girl), we got the following:

• Colouring book and a new box of crayons
• Sticker album & stickers
• Fuzzy socks
• 5 mini tubes of glitter glue
• A mini-flashlight
• A package of pink underwear (by request)
• Hair elastics with bows
• 4 Hairbands with bows
• Green “floppy friend” like her brothers (see above)
• A little-girl-sized necklace with blue butterfly beads
• A cute long-sleeved peasant top that I found at the dollar store
• A “big-girl” (non-sippy) Klean Kanteen in pink, her favourite colour
• 2 juice boxes of pure apple juice
• one bottle of “Piggy Paint” – a non-toxic nail polish

For the 6-month-old baby (boy), we got the following:

• 2 little wooden toy cars, handcrafted in Prince Edward Island, bought last summer
• A 3-pack of new socks
• Christmas bib with a snowman that says “Just chillin'”
• A board book called “You are My I Love You”
• A wooden pull-along bunny, handcrafted in PEI, bought last summer

In addition to stockings, we got the older two kids a board game to share (Hungry Hippos). We also got them each a new book, and a doll. Yes… we got our son a doll (his name is Walter).

We also got one box of non-HFCS candy canes to share (bought at Whole Foods). These are a definite treat!

We didn’t get Canaan (the baby) anything in addition to the stocking. My rule of thumb is that you don’t need a ton of gifts until you’re old enough to open them (assuming you have two older siblings and already have everything you need, plus extended family to “spoil” you too). Also – we’re kinda broke… so keeping it simple was perfect all around.

What is the thing you are most excited about giving your kids this Christmas? For me, it’s definitely the dolls – I know they will be so loved.

What kinds of stocking stuffers do you like to buy?

Original article and pictures take redandhoney.com site

30 Fitness Blogs in 30 Days from Fit2B

30 Fitness Blogs in 30 Days from Fit2B

In addition to being a fitness professional, writing is a huge outlet for me. I’m fairly certain I have never gone to sleep at night without writing something somewhere about something, either in my journal, or online, or whatever. Even so, when I dove into a 30-day blogging challenge – which I am finishing today WITH THIS BLOG RIGHT HERE – I was worried that it would break every writing bone in my body.

Are you a blogger or business owner? Click the image to meet the woman behind this challenge. She’s really helped me the last 30 days to find a new stride!

But it didn’t break me. As I said here in this blog by Kayla Fioravanti, another participant in the challenge, this challenge has taught me that my writing is a huge part of my ministry to broken women who are trying to put their bodies back together. It’s revealed how I’ve run from that aspect of my ministry, because while I’m good at it, I’m lazy about it. It’s showed me how smart (and dumb) it was of me to keep dumping ideas into draft posts so that I’d have (too much) content to sort through on rainy days. It’s highlighted what my fans do and DO NOT want to hear from me. It’s forced me to create outlines, learn some new tricks, and finally figure out how to yoast my post.

Here are the 30 fitness blogs I’ve published this past month:

#1 – Protecting Your Abs When You’re Coughing & Sneezing

#2 – Protecting Your Abs When You Have a Cold: Part 2

#3 – A Fit Balanced Approach to School Lunches {And Staying Sane}

#4 – Fit2B Celebrating our 5th Anniversary!

#5 – Are You “Fit To Be” Running with A Diastasis Recti?

#6 – Racewalking My First Half Marathon

#7 – DIY: Making Elderberry Syrup in A Crockpot

Day #8 had me guest blogging for gretchenlouise.com about babywearing. Click the image to read it.

#9 – Stop Body Shaming! Thinness does NOT equal Fitness! Free Video!

#10 – Diastasis Recti & Yoga … Shocking Image of Hole in Stomach!

#11 – Healthy Home Updates That Encourage Fitness

#12 – Fit2B Auctions Shirts Worn in Workouts to Benefit Mercy in Action

#13 – State of Fit2B Adress: The Next 5 Years

#14 – Join Our November 30-Day Walking Challenge #walkthankful

#15 – What Is TummySafe Fitness for Diastasis Recti?

#16 – Five Reasons to Become a Fit2B Affiliate

#17 – Giving Diastasis Recti Time to Heal (This post was once a very VERY very long draft that might still become a book, but meanwhile I opted to break it down into 5 separate posts. So this one became the introduction for a series. See parts 1-4 below)

#18 – Five Little Fitness Things to {NOT} Obsess About

#19 – Three Times to Use Timers for Better Health & Fitness

#20 – Part 1: Hope for When That Diastasis Recti Will Not Close!

#21 – Part 2: How Your Chemistry Affects Your Diastasis Recti

#22 – Healthy Christmas Gifts Based on The 6 Dimensions of Wellness (I needed a brain break from the series)

#23 – Part 3: How Emotions Affect Your Diastasis Recti

#24 – How Sit-Ups Hurt Veterans with Diastasis (another brain break and honoring Veterans day)

#25 – How Your Position Affects Your Poochy Tummy. Click the image to read it, and YES indeed I really do use this station. I’m sitting at it right now. See below! The seat is an Ikea alseda stool made from straw/rushes over a wire frame.

#26 – Free Podcast: Diastasis & Tummy Fitness

#27 – Practical Tips for PMS + A Special Routine

#28 – Why Fixing Your Core Won’t Save You

#29 – Build a Better Belly: 10 Times to Align

#30 – The one you’re reading right now about all the fitness blogs I’ve written.

I literally just took this and added the words and sent it from my phone to this post. I use the green foam block to stretch. Moving it around with my feet while I write feels good. Both the small wooden spool and the alseda ikea stool together cost me less than $30 at resale vintage shops.

Whew! Praise Jesus I’m done … for now …

As a child, I wrote about flowers and ponies and babies. As a teenager, I took journalism classes and wrote about school mischief and politics. As a college student at OSU, I was a paid news writer and fitness columnist at The Daily Barometer. For the past 5 years, I’ve written all the content here on Fit2B plus so many guests posts for other sites.

Sometimes, I do so much writing for others and with daily member communication, that this blog gets neglected. Accepting this blogging challenge forced me to knuckle-down and allow all the stuff in my brain to flow. It forced me to quit agonizing and start writing. It forced me to open up more. It forced me to take a hard look at old draft posts and trash a lot of things to find the good stuff. Call me crazy, but I’m looking forward to the next one already!

If you have an idea for a blog I should write, or if you’d like to have me as a guest blogger on your site, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear your input! Thanks!

Here are a few images from some personal favorite fitness blogs that I’ve written for other amazing sites. Just click the images to be taken to the articles!

Click the image to read this one over at Whole New Mom

Click the image to read my guest article over on Smithspirations.

Click this image to read my funny stories about oil pulling at Hybrid Rasta Mama

Original article and pictures take fit2b.us site

3 Ways to Rescue the Family Dinner Hour from Chaos

3 Ways to Rescue the Family Dinner Hour from Chaos

I’m a yeller. If my household read like a classic novel, that would probably be my fatal flaw. I don’t particularly enjoy the bubbling over feeling of anger and overwhelm, in fact – I hate it. It is near to my mind on a daily, hourly basis: how to bridle my tongue and my emotions effectively while dealing with small, irrational human beings who depend on me for their every need and possess a PhD double majored in whining and trouble. It’s one of the profound mysteries in life. Because of this, the end-of-a-long-day craze can easily spiral us down into total disaster if I’m not careful.

Being in the trenches of mothering small children – in my case 3 kids born in less than four years (now ages 1, 3, 5) – is very obviously a train-to-crazytown sort of life. (Insert disclaimer here about how it’s not all bad, I really do love it, blah blah.) I have known for a long time that a huge part of the chaos of the day is all centered around the dinner hour, like a perfect storm. That’s when everything comes to a head, and the day just sort of unravels into one giant tangled mess of chaos.

They call it the witching hour, and it if you are not familiar: it is exactly as it sounds. No – scratch that – it’s way worse. If you are not careful, it can be the complete undoing of an otherwise good day. And at the end of an already bad day? Well, let’s just say that those are the days I cry and go to bed early so the day can be over.

Recently, Chris and I decided to seize back control of that space in the day and implement a few specific strategies. We have three particular elements which seem to be working exceptionally well. Rather than letting that part of the day sweep us up onto the express train to crazy, we get our game-faces on, and play the offense by getting meticulously intentional with some small but powerful changes.

First things first: we thought about the peaceful and enjoyable dinners we’ve had in the past. As we’ve been together over the years (together for 14 years, married for 11), we have had a handful of fancy candlelit dinners at a restaurant on special occasions. When we are in those situations, our behavior changes slightly. We are more aware of our actions, more careful in our manner, and more polite.

So, we thought, let’s try an experiment. What if we tried to create that sort of special atmosphere around our family dinner table? So we did, and it worked miracles. Here are the three key elements:

1. Create the atmosphere

When dinner is almost ready, Chris changes whatever music is playing currently to a relaxing classical music station. When dinner is served, we dim the lights, light candles and place them in the center of the table. We eat dinner by candlelight every night, as we all sit down together.

This part is key. It is absolutely incredible how much more peaceful our dinner time has been when we add these small elements. We also hold hands as we sing our grace. There’s something powerful about the physical touch that grounds us and brings us together. We also make a point to ask the kids about their days, and connect on that level, too.

2. Evening tea

We make a pot of tea, usually this kind, and set it in the center of the table. It cools to a kid-friendly temperature while we eat our dinner, and then we all enjoy a cup together after we’re finished eating. Even the toddler absolutely loves his tea. We use real china tea cups (I have a nice thrifted collection of china tea cups) because why not, really? If they break, there are more at the thrift shop. (We believe in giving kids good-quality things so that they learn to care for them with intention.)

It is amazing to me how enthusiastic the kids all are about this nightly ritual. They see the teapot come to the table, and literally jump up and down in excitement. When it’s not there – they insist on getting it. Many nights also see us adding a simple bowl of cut fruit (whatever is in the house, nothing complicated) to share with the tea. It’s a dessert and a bedtime snack all rolled into one, and, of course, eaten by candlelight it’s extra-special.

We have found that by treating them “like grownups” in this small way, they rise to the occasion, and want to act appropriately. They easily learn proper table etiquette and behavior when they are paying attention in this manner. Oh, they still act like little kids, of course, but there is a marked difference in their efforts to be polite and ‘grown-up’.

3. Appetizers

We have been totally rocking the crockpot dinners lately, which means that we’ve been doing pretty well at getting it on the table right at 5:30pm. Despite this, some nights just go a little haywire for reasons beyond our control.

Although we cut off snacking after 3:30pm, we do allow unrestricted access to carrot sticks in the fridge at any time. We find that sometimes the whining and chaos is due to them being legitimately hungry (for various reasons – like perhaps lunch wasn’t hearty enough, maybe they’re going through a growth spurt, etc.)

When they whine about being hungry half an hour before dinner, they will sometimes eat a huge bowl of raw carrots, but most often they’ll eat one or two and then run off to play happily. We try to keep this as a firm rule so that they always know what to expect, which cuts down immensely on continually whining about it. In our family, raw veggies are always ‘on tap’ to help curb the hunger.

***

Those are the three main elements that we have incorporated. They have worked absolute wonders in our family dinner hour. It is enjoyable and peaceful (for the most part), and it has restored equilibrium to the end of our days, rather than an out-of-control unravelling.

Do you find the witching hour a struggle? What strategies do you use to help?

Affiliate links included in this post.

Original article and pictures take redandhoney.com site

3 Ways to Encourage Children to Purge

3 Ways to Encourage Children to Purge

Guest post from Denise of Life With the Lid Up

Ah, consignment sale season. The time of year when the house becomes a total disaster as it gets stuck somewhere between yard sale and retail outlet.

I scour every drawer, closet, and toy shelf to collect anything eligible to go into the sale. I read articles on decluttering and downsizing to maintain my motivation. I pin and tag and sort and size — all in a valiant effort to get rid of the unwanted, the outgrown, and the unnecessary.

The army men lurking under the couch, you have been found. The size 3T footed pajamas, you’re no longer needed. You loud, obnoxious, blaring, battery-sucking toy, your time is up. Mama is cleaning house.

And then the children discover the piles. They become like hoarders. Everything is all of a sudden a “favorite.”

It could turn into a battle. However, this go around, I implemented a few methods to help ease the madness and they all involved the kiddos.

If you’re planning to purge kid’s items this year, here are a few tips to get your kids involved:

1. Give them choices.

For a children’s consignment sale, the bulk of the items you’ll be selling will be “theirs.” For clothes, size often determines what you consign; however, I still go through closets and ask about correct size, but seldom worn items, “Do you think you’re going to wear this?”

For toys and books, I asked each of my boys to find a certain number of items to consign. When we went through the games and puzzles together, I gave choices, such as, “Would you rather keep this firetruck puzzle or the dinosaur one?”

It puts the control into their hands, helping them learn some decision-making skills, as well as taking away some resentment that could arise.

2. Put them to work.

Children can help with some of the work that comes along with getting items prepared for a consignment sale. Mine helped to group and bag smaller items.

The sale I use requires consignors to print out labels for each item. My guys helped cut out the labels. Some kids may be able to help sort sizes and tape on labels.

3. Teach them during the process.

As we were getting some things together, I tried to explain why I put in the effort to a consignment sale. After all, it can be a lot of work. “You see these pants you’ve outgrown and how tall you’re getting? I’ll use the profits from the sale to help buy you some new things.”

Further motivation may come from saving the profits for a family goal, such as an outing or project. We also talked about the importance of giving items as we made piles for donations as well. Additionally, the kids heard some thoughts about being frugal and how shopping at consignment and thrift sales can be a fun adventure.

Consigning clothes, toys, and baby gear that are no longer needed or wanted is a great way to clear clutter and make a little money in the process. Getting the kids involved is an added bonus!

Denise is a follower of Jesus, full-time wife and mommy to three boys, part-time preschool teacher, and involved with a parent and youth skills building program. She enjoys cooking, watching football, and writing for her blog, Life With the Lid Up.

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Original article and pictures take moneysavingmom.com site

3 Truths to Teach Your Emotional Child

3 Truths to Teach Your Emotional Child

By Katie Bennett, Contributing Writer.

Knowing how to best help an emotional child can be difficult. It’s hard to know what to do when they are genuinely that upset (not just putting on a show), despite the irrationality of their reaction to the situation.

As my kids have gotten older, I’ve tried a few different things to help them process through their feelings, particularly my highly emotional one. These methods have not always been a home run, but I do believe they are taking root over time.

I’ve seen some great progress and triumphs through these few conversations that we repeat often together.

Before I share those with you, I would like to note, I’m not a trained behavioral specialist or anything of the sort.

However, these three “truths” have helped my daughter and I process through her overwhelming emotions together. I have also seen her take these truths to heart and implement them of her own accord. She is so proud of herself when she successfully rises above those high-level emotions and makes good decisions when she doesn’t feel like it!

Three Truths to Teach Your Emotional Child About His or Her Feelings

Feelings are Valid

The feelings that we have are not wrong or invalid. There is not right way to feel. We should not shame our children for the way they are feeling, but rather validate their feelings, and use them as a jumping off point for teaching them how to cope with those feelings.

Sample Dialogue

“I told you that you can’t go swimming with your cousins, and I can see that you are very disappointed. I understand that! Disappointment is a tough emotion to feel. I don’t like it either. It’s okay that you’re feeling this way.”

Feelings are Tricky

When our actions are driven by our feelings, we are certainly a ship tossed around in the waves.

When our child feels hurt, he should not scream and throw sand at his friend. When our child feels lonely, she should not hide in her room for an extended period of time, and the sob accusations at her mother for not reading her mind.

Although feelings are valid, they are not a reliable guide for our choices. We must teach our children to discern what their emotions would have them do from what their right thinking would have the do, and then act on the latter.

This might seem like too high of a task for a young child, but I’ve gotten to see it put into action in my five-year-old! Teaching this explicitly empowers a child to be self-aware and successful.

Sample Dialogue

“Sometimes your feelings will trick you. Remember, don’t do what those tricky feelings are telling you to do. Rather, do what your mind knows is right. Your feelings are telling you to collapse in a heap of sobs because we are leaving before you’re done playing with your friend, but your mind knows that you should obey me and go put on your shoes. You must choose to do the right thing, even when your feelings are telling you something different. Your feelings are not wrong, but they are very tricky.”

Feelings (and Your Reactions) are Yours, and You Must Own Them

No one can technically “make” us feel upset or sad or disappointed. Ultimately, those feelings are our responsibility. We can choose to exercise self-control, or we can choose to totally lose it. We can choose to respond gracefully or we can choose to give full rein to anger. We do have a distinct measure of choice.

Now, of course others can be hurtful towards us, and yes, there are natural feelings that come with those wrongs. Again, feelings are valid, no matter how justified we judge those feelings to be.

But our children mustn’t point a finger at their sibling who purposefully antagonized them and scream, “He made me upset!” That’s not the truth of the situation.

Sample dialogue:

“Your brother did not “make” you upset. The fact is, he antagonized you and disrupted your play, and that was wrong. And you are upset, that’s also a fact. But you must take responsibility for your emotions. You chose to get upset, and you can also choose to calm down.”

Do you have an emotional child? How do you help him or her rise about those emotions?

Original article and pictures take youngwifesguide.com site

3 Tips to Start the School Year So Your Family Can Thrive

3 Tips to Start the School Year So Your Family Can Thrive

Here are some tips to start the school year so your family can thrive, battling the back-to-school chaos and stress together.

At back-to-school time, I’m always torn between wanting to get back into a routine and wanting to stay in that laid back, barefoot, sun tanning groove that we had going all summer. I’m always looking for tips to start the school year, and lately, I want to make sure they’re tips that help my whole family thrive.

I didn’t get a whole lot of work done this summer, but wow! We had some pretty amazing times together. We spent oodles of time with family and friends who we don’t normally get to see. We hosted families in our home and traveled across states to visit grandparents, great-grandparents, and friends.

We made some special memories together. We learned about each other and we learned about ourselves. Thanks to this summer, we grew together as a family.

Sadly, the day has come and our kids have gone back to school. This year we have kids across the spectrum of schooling options: some are full-time in public school, some are full-time homeschooling, and some are even half-and-half.

Each of our kids have different needs for their education. I’m thankful that we have been able to be flexible and keep each one in an environment that encourages them to love learning and strive to be their best.

We’ve struggled to reach this point, and I have no illusions: this year is going to be hard.

Over the years my husband and I have learned that if we are intentional about three specific things, then our family runs more smoothly and everyone is on the same page. He calls this “winning at home.”

When our family is winning, we’re thriving, which is what makes my heart glow and the challenges something that we face with courage.

Here are some tips to start the school year so your family can thrive, battling the back-to-school chaos and stress together.

3 Tips to Start the School Year So Your Family Can Thrive

1. Get on the same page with family meetings.

Whether your kids are in public school, homeschooled, or in private school, the school year can quickly get crazy and out of control with sports activities, academic school clubs, and homework.

Be intentional about communicating with your kids and give them a safe place to voice and express their frustrations. Open communication is key to overcoming the excitement and stresses of the new schedule, new classes, new material, and new people drama (with friends, teachers, parents…).

With six kids, each with different schedules, it became nearly impossible to sit down together as a family for dinner or even game nights.

Confusion seemed to overcome us. We were no longer on the same page about anything, from bathroom time to driving schedules. Who was taking who and where were they going and what time and how do we keep track of all of this?

Family meetings have become what my husband calls the glue that holds the family together. These weekly meetings allow us to not only collaborate and coordinate all the craziness, but they help us to communicate on a deeper level.

It doesn’t hurt that my husband is CEO of Ziglar Family, or that he has a streak of parliamentary procedure that runs a mile wide. But I promise, you don’t need that to figure out a family meeting style for your family!

2. Learn to communicate on a deeper level.

Communication is essential for collaborating and coordinating. Your family needs to understand each other on a deeper level to be able to care for each other, support each other, and encourage each other in ways that bond and grow your family together.

The struggle to communicate begins when we don’t understand the communication style of the person we are talking to. In our family alone we have a wide variety of communication styles to learn.

Here are some tips to start the school year so your family can thrive, battling the back-to-school chaos and stress together.

Some of us (like me) are quiet, non-verbal, good listeners, while others are verbal, and we have a couple who are loud and aggressive. None are necessarily negative, but without understanding each other, feelings easily get hurt and frustration quickly takes over, which ultimately shuts down the communication path.

Learn, understand, and really appreciate each other’s personalities and communication styles, including love languages, and you will quickly find that communication gets easier.

3. Use a family calendar to keep it all straight.

We have a hallway white board. It might seem extreme, but it was from an old office and it has been one of the best finds for our family. We’ve divided it so that it shows three months at once, and it’s right by the door where everyone in our family goes in and out.

I just finished our first white board for the year. The months of August, September, and October are now embellished. It’s mostly after-school activities, including sports practices, games, academic clubs, driving school, and appointments with the dentist and orthodontist.

It adds up fast in our house with six teenagers, and this year is going to be no exception!

Without a central place for everyone’s schedule there is sure to be mass confusion and constant questions directed at Mom and Dad.

This calendar system is a quick glance for the kids on the way in from school or on the way out the door in the morning.

Be purposeful in your parenting and start your school year so that your family can thrive!

What tips do you have to start the school year so that your family thrives?

Here are some tips to start the school year so your family can thrive, battling the back-to-school chaos and stress together.

Up Next:

The school year is upon us. And didn't it happen so fast? Where did the summer go? For our family, this is a novel year. We're trying…

Ann Timm

Ann Timm considers herself blessed to be the wife of a Christ follower and mother to six amazingly cool kids. She strives to keep a happy, healthy home, although she openly admits to failing often. She loves to share her foibles and encourage other women on their journey to healthy living.

More posts by Ann Timm

Original article and pictures take keeperofthehome.org site

3 Things That Prevent People From Traveling {and How to Overcome Them}

3 Things That Prevent People From Traveling {and How to Overcome Them}

There are things that prevent people from traveling, but the good news is that there are ways to overcome most of them!

When I wrote about the five reasons why our family has taken our children to Costa Rica for five weeks this summer, I was a bit taken aback that a few readers on social media reacted negatively, with expressions like “it must be nice to take such a long, lavish vacation.”

I had to laugh at the “lavish” part because, as I hope to write in Saturday’s update, that couldn’t be any further from the truth!

Others responded to the post by listing out the reasons why they can’t travel.

Many of these are very valid reasons. I have been there.

Then there were some people who have no interest in traveling (and that’s OK!).

But for those of you who do want to do travel–whether in the U.S. or abroad–there are usually three main things that prevent it: lack of finances, poor health, and season of life.

The good news is that most of these things that prevent people from traveling can be overcome!

3 Things That Prevent People From Traveling

1. Lack of Finances

The number one reason many give for not traveling is lack of finances. This is completely understandable.

This was our family for many years and may very well be our family again in the future.

I remember a time when we barely had enough money for gas to make the drive out to Mississippi to spend time with my husband’s family. (Actually, his grandparents would give us money to help compensate for those trips!) A 5-week international trip with our kids wasn’t even on our radar a few years ago!

But once we discovered that we had an income problem, we worked hard to do something about it. We both took on extra jobs in order to increase our income, and we began to save.

For some people, the extra money simply is not there. For others, the money might be available, but they choose to spend it in other ways.

It’s really no one’s business how anyone else chooses to spend their money, but, for our family, we have chosen to forgo expensive and brand new cars, new clothing for our children, and a larger home in order to have the funds to take the trip we are now on.

It took a whole lot of hard work and saving to make this trip possible.

If you do have the travel bug, I would encourage you to:

• make sure you are tithing to your church (this is something we have always done–even when we were low income),
• pay off all debts,
• save $1,000 for an emergency fund (that you only touch in the event of an emergency!), and
• save 3-12 months of living expenses.

If you have completed all of the above steps, then you will feel much more freedom to travel.

2. Poor Health

The past two weeks in Costa Rica have already given me more motivation to get in shape when I get back home. Why? We are currently living in a mountain village, and we have to hike up to the school where we are studying every morning.

Getting winded during this trek each day has shown me that I need to take better care of myself! I am 34 years old and want to still be able to travel when I am older!

Some people, though, have chronic, debilitating illnesses that prevent travel all together.

IBS, ulcerative colitis, and other stomach issues are diseases that keep many people at home. Many sufferers are not able to go on a family trip and travel because they have to be near a restroom at all times.

I do not take for granted that our current health has given us the opportunity to travel. Going on a long plane or car ride is something that many people are unable to do.

Even though our family has not dealt with debilitating digestive problems, we have seen that taking a daily probiotic has helped make us more comfortable during travel.

The makers of VSL#3 recently emailed to educate me on their high-potency probiotic, which is clinically proven in the dietary management of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), ulcerative colitis (UC) and ileal pouch. It is at least 10 times more potent than the average probiotic yet is still available at most local pharmacies in the refrigerated section.

If you suffer from debilitating digestive problems, you can check out VSL#3 here via their website or like them on Facebook here. You can watch this video to learn more.

As for many other health conditions, I believe that regular exercise and eating real foods can make a big impact. I want to work towards bettering myself in both when we get home because I can see that my body is not getting any younger! I want to be able to hike up mountains for years to come!

3. Season of Life

For some people, their current season of life might be all that is preventing them from traveling. And that is okay.

I left part of my heart here in Costa Rica back in 2004. When I left the country then, I had no idea that eleven years would pass before I would be able to return!

But those years were worth it. During that decade (plus a year!), I survived trials of the Great Recession, birthed and breastfed three babies, and started this blog.

It was simply not the life season for me to be traveling. At one point, I honestly thought I might never return to Costa Rica again. I was at peace with that.

This season of life is perfect for our family because our youngest child recently potty trained, and all three of our girls are much more independent now than they were just a year ago.

How do you overcome this reason for not traveling? Simple: wait. Be content in the season you are in. I know it’s easier said that done, but these years of waiting might just go faster than you think.

All of this said, the “perfect” life season will never come. Many people wait until they are retired to travel, but we want to experience family travel while we are young enjoy to truly enjoy it together.

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What are things that you think prevent people from traveling?

This post was sponsored by VSL#3. All opinions, text and experiences are my own. VSL#3 is a medical food and must be used under medical supervision.

VSL#3® is a high potency probiotic medical food that’s clinically proven in the dietary management of IBS, ulcerative colitis, and ileal pouch. To learn more visit www.vsl3.com and LIKE the brand on Facebook.

This is a product-provided, sponsored conversation that contains affiliate links. All opinions, text and experiences are my own. VSL#3 is a medical food and must be used under medical supervision.

Original article and pictures take thehumbledhomemaker.com site