Hot fun in the summer time

This week we had a HUGE spike in temperature!  Of course it was THIS week.  This is the week we signed both our big girl and mini me up for soccer camp...every morning for 5 straight days!  Luckily, we are always prepared.  Water bottles abound in our house, but this got me thinking...how much do we really know about dehydration?  Obviously we get tired and lethargic if we don't get enough water...but what else can go wrong?  What are some other signs?

According to the mayo clinic, symptoms of dehydration include:

• dry, sticky mouth
• sleepiness or tiredness
• children are less likely to be active than usual
• thirst
• decreased urine output
• no wet diapers for three hours for infants
• few or no tears when crying
• dry skin
• headache
• constipation
• dizziness
• lightheadedness

Symptoms of SEVERE dehydration include:

• extreme thirst
• extreme fussiness or sleepiness in infants and children; irritability and confusion in adults
• very dry mouth, skin and mucous membranes
• little or no urination-any urine that is produced will be darker than normal
• sunken eyes
• shriveled and dry skin that lacks elasticity and doesn't "bounce back" when pinched into a fold
• in infants, sunken fontanels-the soft spots on the top of the baby's head
• low blood pressure
• rapid heartbeat
• rapid breathing
• no tears when crying
• fever
• in the most serious cases, delirium or unconsciousness

As we packed the girls up each morning we made sure they had a good breakfast, and LOTS of water to take along with them.  The hubs stayed to watch too and make sure the girls got breaks when needed and drank water on their breaks (sometimes mini me is too busy being social to realize she needs to have a drink).  Mini me was only there for 2 hours and the big girl for 3 each day, but WOW what a scorcher yesterday was...97 degrees.

Happily I can say it rained last night, like RAINED, and the temps dropped. Today is a beautiful 75 so they are MUCH more excited about running around outside.  These are some action shots of mini me...her sister doesn't really let us get pics of her anymore #preteenangst

 

Something else I learned while investigating dehydration, is a quick way to check if you are in the "danger zone" is by the color of your urine. 

Have you had enough water today??

Baby It's Dry Outside

Oh winter!  You can make things so beautiful with your white fluffy snow...but the things you do to my skin.  Is it just me, or does the idea of the snow and turning on your heat make you think of turning into Mother Gothel?!?  I feel like no matter how much lotion I use or water I drink my skin just gets so dry and cracked and, well blech!  I sometimes imagine myself turning into Mother Gothel at the end of Tangled when she starts to dry up and age.  Yuck! 

So I have invested in various lotions (by fav in case you care...Palmers Daily Intensive), have upped my W.Q. (water quotient) to try and offset some of it.  I'm also being very aware of how much I am drinking as part of the Small Changes Challenge from Small Changes. Big Picture.  No help it seems.  We as a family have also been using our humidifier daily and running vaporizers at night (dry skin and dry sinuses need a little love from Vicks). 

Now this guy here

he is not just good looking, he is smart as a whip too.  He too is suffering with excessively dry skin, and the kiddos have complained about dry, chapped lips.  As the sun disappears more and more in these long winter months, and the fresh veggies and fruits are sometimes of a variety that the littles don't' like so much...my genius of a hubby suggested looking at possible vitamin deficiencies.  Genius!

So that is what I have been doing the past few days.  Checking to see what we may need more of.  I found this article helpful from Dr. Oz.  (no comments Kate C.).  So I am going to start being more diligent about a multi for everyone in our house. 

 

What are your winter woes?