It’s time to link back to the blog carnivals I’ve participated in over the past little while. All of them are full of interesting information, entertaining anecdotes and ice cream…sweet, sweet ice cream. I am sorry to be so lazy about linking back, I get a little overwhelmed at times

The latest Carnival of Family Life is up in the Expatriate’s Kitchen.

Allerjeez presents the second edition of the allergy carnival.

The Carnival of the Recipes is up at Everything and Nothing.

And the Stories of Change Carnival is up too.

Post from: Babylune

The family flu has put everyone on edge. I had to make the baby CIO a few times over the past few days just because I didn’t have the strength to go to her. Since we co-sleep, that should tell you how bad it’s been. Even my bachelor brother, who usually writes about his dog, has had an introduction to the tough side of parenting.

I guess it’s no surprise that I don’t have an entry in The Ninth Healthy Fit Family Carnival up today at Thrifty Mommy.

There are, though, ten great posts about how to encourage being active together, healthy fluids, healthy attitudes and even a little healthy sarcasm. There are also some danger signs every family should be on the look out for to ensure nothing in the effort to become a healthy and fit family is taken too far.

Next month, The Healthy & Fit Family Carnival will be back home here at Babylune on April third. As usual, the carnival will be limited to just ten spots, so please submit only your very best family-oriented piece on the topic.

Post from: Babylune

Photo by Kate Baggott

Can you guess which one is the ugli fruit? Not especially challenging, is it? We’ve gotten a bit carried away with the “let’s try new things” spirit of the Eating the Alphabet Challenge. So much so that going grocery shopping today was, well, expensive.

Sure, the quince jelly and 4 little lychee nuts didn’t set us back much, but the won ton pastry to make out Daikon Pot Stickers combined with the sesame oil, really added up. Luckily, we could only find one nectarine and were happy to share the ugli fruit four ways too (imagine a grapefruit without the zip). So, I think by sharing 4 pieces of exotic fruit 4 ways (we also ate the baby pineapple) we got 4 letters, but only one serving toward our daily total of 5. It was, though, a very interesting serving.

Post from: Babylune

Here’s a challenge for everyone.

I’ve been gaining weight and I hate it. What’s worse is that I know exactly where I’ve been going wrong and I’ve been too boring to fix it. I need my 5 to 10 servings of fruit and vegetables every day to maintain a healthy weight. Filling in hunger gaps with cheese and yogurt is delicious, and convenient, but too fatty for someone whose exercise time has been taken up by blogging (the truth still hurts). The rest of the family is going to do it with me.

Inspired by the children’s book above (click on the image to go to Amazon), we are going to eat the alphabet this week in an effort to get back on the healthy diet track.

Here are the rules, every day eat at least five servings of fruit and vegetables whose names begin with 4 different letters of the alphabet (for two days, you only need 3 letters). By next Friday, you should have all 26 letters eaten. I’ll update this post daily to let you know how we’re doing. Use the comments below to update your own progress. You do not have to eat in alphabetical order! You just have to cover all the letters.

Any other families up to doing the challenge with us? Progress Report under the cut

A – apple

B – blueberries (frozen), broccoli, baby pineapple

C – carrot

D – daikon (a/k/a horse radish)

E – eggplant (a/k/a aubergine)
F – figs

G – grapes, garlic

H – herbs (various)

I – iceberg lettuce

J – Jerusalem artichokes
K – kholrabi

L – lychee, lemon (juice)

M – mango, mushrooms
N – nectarine

O – onions

P – peppers, pomegranite seeds, potatoes

Q – quince (jelly)

R – raspberries (frozen)

S - spinach
T – tomatoes (canned)

U – ugli fruit

V – vine leaves (stuffed)

W – watermelon

X

Y – yams
Z – zuccini

Post from: Babylune