Kristie McNealy, MD

This month I’m excited to be participating in the 31 Days of Aries blog book tour, celebrating the release of Aries Rising, the first in the Star Crossed series of young adult books by Bonnie Hearn Hill.  Aries Rising features Logan McRae, an ordinary highschool girl who finds an old astrology book, and uses it to try to change her “sucky life” so she can get into the writing camp of her dreams and win over the boy she likes.  Two more books in the series, Taurus Eyes and Gemini Night are also set to be released this year in May and August.

Bonnie Hearn Hill is the author of six adult thrillers, and Aries Rising is her debut in the young adult genre.  As a parent, especially one who homeschools, finding books that will interest my kids and keep them entertained and wanting to read more is both a priority and a challenge.  It’s always cool to find out about a new author or series to keep in mind for them as they get older and their taste in books evolves.  I have a feeling my girls will be seriously sucked in to this series when they get to read it (and so will their mom . . .)!

If you’re in the Fresno area, you can meet author Bonnie Heaarn Hill at the debut book signing for Aries Rising, which will take place on March 13th at 2pm at the Villagio Center Barnes and Noble.

To win your own copy of “Aries Rising” leave a comment below telling me whether or not you read your hososcope!  A winner will be selected at random from the comments at the end of the blog tour.

The Aries Rising Blog Tour & Book Giveaway continues through March 31. Destinations will be posted daily on the Star Crossed series FaceBook fan page, and a free copy of Aries Rising will be given away at each one. At the conclusion of the tour, a drawing will be held for an iPod Touch. No purchase is necessary.

You can enter to win the iPod Touch as often as you wish, and you can qualify in three ways:

1. Be an Aries. Just send your birth date (month and day) to starcrossed.contest@gmail.com.

2. Write a review and post it anywhere. Send the link to the same address.

3. Post a fan badge on your Facebook page and send the link to above address.

On each entry, include your name, address, e-mail, and phone number where you can be reached March 31.  The winner of the iPod Touch will  notified by telephone.

I know that back in January, I posted some goals for 2010, and one of them involved continuing to reduce our dependence on packaged foods.  Then, baby number four was born, and he turned our world right upside down.  It’s kind of amazing how foggy my memory was about just how hard it is to get anything done when you are nursing a newborn around the clock . . .  but, needless to say, a simplified morning routine that our oldest daughter could help out with became a must, and cereal for breakfast became a major player in that routine!

I had been working on adding more whole grains to our breakfasts, and the fact that General Mills Big G cereals are guaranteed to have whole grains in every box makes me feel a lot less guilty about grabbing a box of Cheerios more mornings than not!  In fact, every variety of Big G cereal has at least 8 grams of whole grains (half a serving) in every serving of cereal – this even includes the kid cereals like Trix and Lucky Charms!

Whole grain foods use the entire grain without stripping away the bran or germ, which contain fiber, B vitamins and healthy fats.  Choosing a diet rich in whole grains may improve heart health, help you manage your weight and reduce the risk of certain cancers and diabetes.  US dietary guidelines recommend at least 3 servings of whole grains a day (48g).  With 20 Big G cereals containing 16 grams of whole grain or more per serving, a bowl of cereal in the morning can go long ways towards meeting these dietary guidelines. You can find out more about whole grains and Big G cereals at WholeGrainNation.com.

If you’re trying to add more whole grain foods to your diet, you can look for foods which bear Whole Grains Council Stamps.  These stamps appear on food packaging, and indicate that that the food contains at least 8 grams of whole grains per serving.  The General Mills check-mark logo is the way General Mills signifies their own whole grain guarantee.

I got the chance to learn more about General Mills Big G cereals and their whole grain guarantee through MyBlogSpark.  I received a “Grains of Goodness” prize pack that included the following:

• 2 VIP coupons for Big G cereal products
• A breakfast chiller
• A large cereal mug
• A tote bag

and thanks to General Mills and MyBlogSpark, I have another gift pack to give away to one of you!

To enter, simply share your favorite cereal in the comments below. One entry per person, and one winner will be randomly chosen at noon MST on March 13, 2010.

I can hardly believe it’s been two weeks.  TWO WEEKS!!  At this rate, he’ll be in kindergarten before I get back to writing regular blog posts.

All the way back on February 13th, I woke up having contractions.  They weren’t exactly painful, but they were enough to wake me up and get my attention every 15 minutes or so.  I stayed in bed timing them for as long as the other kids allowed, but eventually I had to get up and make breakfast.

My contractions came and went for most of the day, but finally, around 7pm, with contractions 3-4 minutes apart, we decided to drop off the kids and head to the hospital.  Between contractions, we spent time debating which would be better (or worse) a birthday on the 13th, or being born on Valentines Day.  With my previous 4 hour labor, and everyone predicting another 6 pound baby, I think we were all convinced he’d arrive before midnight, but alas, M had his own plans.

Finally though, at 1:16am, on the 14th he made his way into the world!

We were able to come home the next day, but we were barely settled in before I started feeling pretty crappy.  I thought I’d just over done it a bit with the older kids, but I decided to take my temperature just in case.  Needless to say, I was surprised, and more than a little bit freaked out when my temperature was 103 degrees!

As it turns out, I had a reaction to the TDaP vaccine that I got in the hospital to help me protect M from pertussis.  My fever lasted about 48 hours, but as soon as I was feeling better, my girls both got fevers.  They ended up having strep throat for the very first time, and they managed to pass it on to their brother and dad too!  Between two bilirubin checks for M, and trips to the doctor for antibiotics for the other three kids, we were at the doctor 4 times in 7 days.  Fun, fun!

While we were all busy being sick and miserable, M passed the time by getting his first bath (and totally hating it!),

. . . being worn

. . . and just chillin’ in some super cute clothes!