Jill Amery, Author at Urban Mommies

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Jill Amery

Jill Amery is a mom of 2 small boys and the Publisher of UrbanMommies, a stylish digital lifestyle magazine filled with fitness, style, health, recipes and savvy mom advice to help you through pregnancy, birth, and raising your kids.

Halloween Safety Tips

holidays, kids By Jill Amery October 14, 2019 56 Comments

I remember as a little girl – saving all of the ‘used-almost-to-the-bottom’ candles for the whole year to use for Hallowe’en. Our jack o’ lanterns would house a cornucopia of bright red and gold Christmas candles and a few yellow Easter ones. I would be a bit rattled that my beautiful pumpkin was getting red wax dripped all over, and then completely dejected that whenever I passed my own house (as I was doing the neighborhood candy marathon) the pumpkin would be dark. A gust of wind had just spoiled a child’s excitement at boasting artistic achievements to her friends. I’d quickly apologize and run up to grab a lighter or matches. And I can’t remember being anything other than a princess in chiffon so that + matches was clearly a bad idea…

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Helping Elderly Parents Thrive

FAM, health By Jill Amery October 9, 2019 No Comments

I wish it were 2018. If this were last fall and I had known more about the flu vaccine for seniors, I would have done things differently. When my mom died unexpectedly on Christmas morning, the reasons why were unclear. What was 100% evident is that I thought of her as living for years to come. She was the master of her home. Vibrant. Feisty. Perhaps it was child-like denial, but I didn’t know how unwell she was. Sadly, I hadn’t yet researched the myriad of special solutions for seniors that can help maintain good health.

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7 Reasons Why Beaches Resorts are Budget Friendly

International, ROAM By Jill Amery September 22, 2019 2 Comments

After travelling to Beaches Resorts three times, both in Turks and Caicos and Negril, Jamaica, I’m convinced that despite these all-inclusive meccas providing being luxury-level vacations, they are also very budget-friendly. I have 7 awesome reasons why. In addition, there is freedom and relief when you arrive at a resort that gives the highest level of service and quality, and you need not open your wallet the entire time you vacation. It’s as if the relaxation has double the effect.

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Coronado Springs Resort

Disney, ROAM By Jill Amery September 10, 2019 No Comments

Whenever we go to Walt Disney World, we try as many hotels as we can. Visiting Coronado Springs Resort was super exciting, as the Invictus Games were being held at ESPN World of Sports while we visited and many of the athletes were on the property. I find that this is one of the beautiful things about Disney – you meet so many interesting people from all walks of life and can learn so much. My kids chatted with a British wheelchair volleyball athlete and watched him remove his prosthetic leg as they stood in awe!

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Dealing with Separation Anxiety when Kids Return to School

grow, LIVE By Jill Amery August 29, 2019 Tags: back, classroom, Education, getting lost, lovey, return, school, separation anxiety, slider, stress, teacher No Comments

Dealing with separation anxiety when kids return to school can be heartbreaking. Whether kindergarten or university, many parents struggle with tears and phone calls during this time of change. It takes strength and trust in the teachers to leave your child in a state of duress. Here are a few ideas of what may help to mitigate the anxiety for both of you.

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Teen with type 1 diabetes monitors her blood sugar

Tips to Help Teens Manage Type 1 Diabetes

FAM, health By Jill Amery August 3, 2019 1 Comment

Communication is key for us all. It enables growth, self-confidence and drives our ability to live an enriched life. As teens transition from childhood to adulthood it can sometimes be difficult to maintain open lines of communication. But when a teen is living with a chronic disease, such as type 1 diabetes, it becomes critical to keeping them healthy.

Many teens with type 1 diabetes are often in denial. They don’t always manage their condition optimally because they just want to be normal teenagers. I interviewed Deirdre Brough, National Director, Corporate Partnerships at JDRF. Brough is a parent of a young adult who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a teen. In speaking to Brough about what life is like for parents of teens with diabetes, it became abundantly clear that friend-to-friend and parent-to-teen communication and respect can be very helpful for all involved.

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Filipino Spring Rolls

EAT, entertain By Jill Amery July 21, 2019 Tags: entertaining, filipino, party, philippines, spring rolls, springroll No Comments

When the kids were tiny, we hired a live-in caregiver from Baguio in the Philippines and she has graced our life with love and kindness ever since. Before every special birthday party or event, I would come home from work to find a freezer full of amazing filipino spring rolls, and the kids and I would devour them early in any party! The rolling of these gems always eluded me, so I sat down with her and we all learned proper spring roll rolling technique together.

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25 Fun Toddler Energy Busting Ideas

LIVE, play By Jill Amery July 15, 2019 Tags: energy busters, exercise, kids-1, playtime, slider, tired, toddler 2 Comments

Especially during summer vacation, we have to keep our toddlers busy, hydrated and burning energy. I for one run out of exercise ideas faster than I get boring with making school lunches! We asked you to send us toddler energy buster ideas and tips.. here they are!

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Our Technology Diet using Shaw BlueCurve

apps, GEAR By Jill Amery June 12, 2019 No Comments

While tax time makes you do a hard look at your spending habits and swimsuit season can help us realize we’ve been light on kale servings, there has been little impetus in my family to check our technology usage. A bank balance or a scale can provide some hard data to allow us to analyze and then change habits, and now, the Shaw BlueCurve Gateway modem and Home app allow us to do this with device usage. It just can’t make you eat more veggies!

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Fresh Summer Cocktails

EAT, Mommy Mixology By Jill Amery May 30, 2019 No Comments

We are supposed to be working while balancing the shuttling of kids to and from camp or letting them be free and active in the yard. I’m not feeling the ‘easy breezy summer’ quite yet. I think it must indicate that I need a break – maybe a vacation for the first time in what feels like ages. (Or more Pokemon GO and fewer invoices deadlines!) Maybe some perfect fresh summer cocktails would help ease me into the guise of a vacay at least! I’ve got some delicious ideas to bring the feeling of vacation to your backyard.

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