How has everyone’s Mother’s Day been? I hope that your kids and husband spoiled you some and/or that you got to spend some quality time with your mom. Or at the very least called her.
This was my first Mother’s Day of being a mom myself. Wow!! What an honor, responsibility, pride, insecurity, joy all lie within the name mom!
My little girl is 10 months now. What a ride those last 10 months have been. And I wouldn’t change it for the world. Sure, it has been harder and more work than anyone could ever have told me. Also, no one could ever have told me how much I would LOVE and adore my daughter!
(any male readers, feel free to skip straight to the recipe at the bottom now 😉 )
But you know what they could and should have told me? What exactly everyone means with ‘your body will not be the same after giving birth’. Boy, was I ever in for an unpleasant surprise when I started to workout again for the first time postpartum. Jumping jacks were my most dreaded exercise for a while.
I had no idea how much child birth weakens your pelvic floor muscles causing Light Bladder Leakage (LBL). Aside from exercise, just coughing, laughing or sneezing can be triggers as well.
Actually, one in three women experience LBL. Other reasons include being overweight, complications from surgery, stroke, or chronic diseases like diabetes, multiple sclerosis (MS) or Parkinson’s disease, bladder or urinary tract infections and even certain foods and beverages.
On top of dealing with the responsibility, fatigue and sleepless nights associated with keeping a newborn alive, you don’t need to worry about LBL as well. That’s where Poise® pads and liners come in. The new Poise Thin-Shape pads are designed to move with your body. They feature Super Absorbent Material (SAM) and a Thin-Flex design for extraordinary protection that’s still 3x drier than period pads to help you take care of leaks with confidence.
In case you’ve bought period pads for the purpose of catching LBL:
- Get your FREE Poise samples here.
- Recycle your period pads and make super soil!
You’ll need the cotton inside of the pad. Soak it in water and watch it expand and create a sort of gel. There are super absorbent hydra crystals within the cotton, that can hold over 500 times their weight in water.
Now mix the gel (you can use the cotton as well) with an equal amount of potting soil and you have a sort of super-soil that can absorb more water, without drowning the plants.
If you are anything like me, this can be your plants’ saving grace. I notoriously forget to water, but with this super-soil plants can go twice as long between waterings.
It also makes a great seed starter.
I sprouted my first chia seeds with this super-soil by simply sprinkling some seeds on top of the soil. Within a week the sprouts were ready to harvest.
Apparently these little microgreens are a lot more nutrient dense than mature leaves. And they sure made a pretty topping for my Cucumber Hummus Appetizer.
If you want an eye-catching appetizer that is super quick to make, these little bites are the answer! They are also a great way to serve hummus, without having everyone dip into the same bowl.
- 1 long English cucumber
- ⅓ cup hummus (store-bought or homemade)
- chia sprouts
- Peel the cucumber and cut in about 1-inch thick slices. Using a melon-baller or teaspoon scoop a hole in the center.
- Pipe some hummus into the cavity. You can use a swirly piping tip, or cut off a corner of a little ziploc baggie and pipe through that.
- Sprinkle chia sprouts on top of the hummus.
Suzy @ The Mediterranean Dish says
I love anything presented in cucumber cups! But hummus and cucumbers are a great pair!!! Great post, Regina!
Regina says
Thanks so much Suzy!
Jacquee | I Sugar Coat It! says
Very cool, this super soil!! May have to try this with our compost. The cucumber bites are adorable!
Regina says
Thank you Jacquee 🙂 With store-bought hummus this is like the fastest hors d’oeuvre style appetizer ever!
Winnie says
These are super cute and so unique!!
Happy Mother’s Day to you 🙂 We actually have a different date for this “holiday” and we also changed it to “family day”
Regina says
Thanks so much Winnie 🙂
If I remember correctly, in Germany we had Mother’s Day on a different day too.
Here we have a separate day for everything, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Family Day… 😀