The holidays are right around the corner and soon you will be searching for those perfect gifts! There is a website that may not only have great gift ideas, you find something for yourself as well, while shopping from the comfort of your own living room. Upper St. Clair resident Deirdre Lovelace is the founder of the website store called www.LovelaceDesigns.com, where you can find a wide array of items in two main groups. "My one-of-a-kind designs are items that are made-to-order and range from personalized picture frames to a collage designed on a plaque or frame intended for the arrival of …

You thought the challenge was over. When your child reached the end of his terrible twos phase, you were in the clear and life would be golden until the college years, right? Not so fast. There are those little nuances called manners, which will not only aid your child in getting through to his college years, but may actually HELP him with his efforts at getting into college. And although that part of his education may be many years away, there is no better time than the present to start him on this part of his education. “A child is ready to understand the concept of manners when he …

Think you are in the clear from your allergies now that fall has arrived? Think again, fellow moms (and dads) of Upper St. Clair. The fall allergy season is now upon us, and if you are an allergy sufferer, it is likely you have spent much of your time the past few weeks sneezing and shopping for relief. “Fall allergy season typically begins in mid-August,” said Deborah Gentile, MD, director of research in the Division of Allergy, Asthmaand Immunology at Allegheny General Hospital. “The season peaks in early to mid-September and ends with the first hard frost, which usually is in October.” The…

It was April 17, 2007, one day before the due date of their unborn son, Ryan Oliver.  Lynn and Rick Knause of Scott Township remember the day like it was yesterday. Lynn visited the doctor five days before for a regular check-up. The doctor used a Doppler—a hand-held device used to listen to an unborn baby’s heartbeat—to listen to her baby boy’s heart, and everything was normal. Her check-up on April 17, however, was a different story. The doctor repeated the Doppler exam and what he said following the exam would be words she would remember for the rest of her life. He did not hear a …

Ask any parent of a two-year-old if they are experiencing a childhood phase called the “terrible twos,” and you are likely to get a roll of the eyes, not out of annoyance, but out of genuine exhaustion. A betterquestion might be about the level of severity of this trying time in a child’s (and parent’s) life. “The terrible twos describes the behaviors that toddlers this age exhibit, and are marked by the children developing preferences and expectations. When these expectations are violated, the children often become very frustrated, possibly throwing temper tantrums in response. It can be …

Summer has come and gone for Upper St. Clair students, who are back in the classroom this week. For some, returning to school is a time to reconnect with friends they have not seen in a while, step back onto the sports field and see favorite teachers. For others, however, it is a time of dread and fear and can even bring about feelings of anxiety. “Anxiety about change or a new environment is common,” said Joe Falbo, OD, an optometrist at Advanced Vision Care in Bethel Park, andfounder and chief executive officer of Red Apple Learning Centers. “However, a student who absolutely says he …

If you are anything like me, you have the best intentions. The day you brought your baby home from the hospital is the same day you swore you would capture every single moment of his childhood. From his first tooth, to his first smile, to his first steps, you promised to take pictures, shoot videos and design a fancy scrapbook that the two of you could look at and reminisce on his high school graduation day.  Fast forward six months, and you realize that although you have taken a lot of pictures, which are conveniently stored on the digital camera, you barely have enough hard copy photos to …

About 17 percent of children age 2 to 19 in the United States are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Thatstatistic has nearly tripled since 1980. Obese children not only are more likely to be obese as an adult, but they are at risk for a number of health conditions, such as high blood pressure and high cholesterol, both of which are risk factors for cardiovascular disease; type 2 diabetes; breathing problems, such as sleep apnea and asthma; joint problems; and social and psychological problems. “A combination of catastrophic things has led to our population of underfit…

Many parents may wait until their baby mutters his first word before they think about communicating with him. But there is another way to communicate with baby long before he starts verbalizing his thoughts. “Parents can begin teaching sign language to babies who are even younger than one year,” said Alison Graham, certified speech-languagepathologist at River Speech and Education Services, Inc, and Upper St. Clair resident. “For example, when the baby begins to eat solid foods, snack time is a great opportunity to introduce the sign for ‘more’ using hand-over-hand assistance, which simply …

If you are like most women, you significantly question your body after going through childbirth. The weight that you gained during your pregnancy was supposed to come off with the birth of the baby, right? To make matters worse, the skinny jeans that you were expecting to wear home from the hospital will now need to be replaced by the maternity jeans that you wore to the hospital. Although you may be anxious to get active and lose that extra weight, you should gradually ease into a fitness routine, rather than pushing yourself too hard, too fast, according to Sherry Locke, American College of…

According to the song, love and marriage should go together like a horse and carriage. The song doesn’t account for kids, because if it did, it would mention something about the carriage ride being somewhat bumpy at times, especially on a marriage. “Kids can add a number of stresses to a marriage,” said Brittany Edge, licensed marriage and family therapist. “The addition of a child is a major transition for couples, and often times, it is not navigated well. Kids can add financial strain and time constraints to a family, and they absolutely add to the number of activities the family …

What mom doesn’t love a good deal, to chat with other moms about child-rearing issues or to find a good home for all of the clothes their children have outgrown? But, what mom has the time to search for all of these things? Here, to make Upper St. Clair moms’ lives a little bit easier, are some popular “mom sites” that are packed with all of the above and more. Zulily.com is an online store offering daily deals—sometimes up to 90 percent off—on apparel and a variety of accessories for moms, babies and kids. Only members can take advantage of Zulily’s deals, but membership is free. …

It is the beginning of summer vacation, and kids everywhere are making plans to stay busy during this break from their normal routine of classes, homework and studying for tests. For most, those plans do not include acquiring the daily dose of learning that takes place behind classroom doors for nine months of the year. But taking advantage of learning opportunities during the summer may prevent the onset of the “summer slide.” “Summer slide, or summer setback, is the loss of skills that occurs over the summer,” said Jill Szafranski, an elementary school principal at the Pennsylvania Virtual …

The job descriptions of stay-at-home moms probably venture well beyond their primary role of raising children. They also likely take care of the house, pay bills, do the grocery shopping, fold the laundry and perform an array of other duties that comprise a list too long to even start. In addition, they are forced to deal with their own emotions, one of which is likely to be stress. “Stress is defined as any demand to adapt or change, such as having a baby,” said Deborah Grice Conway, PhD, psychotherapist at the UPMC Center for Integrative Medicine. Dr. Conway spoke recently about managing …

Prior to her first pregnancy more than three years ago, 31-year-old Brittany Edge, a licensed marriage and family therapist, was a really happy, content person. But that all changed when she was pregnant. “I went through a drastic change when I was pregnant with our first child, a daughter,” Edge said. “I cried uncontrollably for hours at a time, and I felt intense loss and devastation over being pregnant. What kind of mother would I be? How would my life change?” Edge sought help to get her emotions under control, but the response she received from the physicians and therapists she talked to…

During a recent trip to the grocery store, I heard a child crying. It was nothing out of the ordinary, until the crying escalated to screaming and the screaming escalated into a pitch that made it sound as though the child was right next to me, when, in fact, she was more than a few aisles away. "The most common age for temper tantrums is between ages two and three, although some kids may start having them as early as 18 months," said Kimberly Pezzone, MD, pediatrician at Pediatric Alliance-St. Clair Division. "Children this age do not know how to handle their emotions, and as a result, they …

My son’s first birthday was a little less than the cheery celebration we had anticipated practically from the day he was born, and I remember it like it was yesterday. We planned the party for 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on a Sunday, not giving an ounce of regard to his naptime. As he had been trained to do, he promptly fell asleep around noon that day, and my thought was that a little bit of sleep was at least better than none, so I awakened him around 12:45 p.m., just in time to go “mingle” with the guests. He cried from the minute the party started and continued crying and screaming until the party …

When I became a mother two years ago, I acquired an entirely new set of emotions. One of them — an overwhelming sense of panic — set in recently when I called a local gym to inquire about enrolling my son in a class. “Sure, but we require that all of our toddlers be potty trained before participating," I was told. I swallowed a hard gasp and said that I would call back if I was interested. “Most kids are ready to be potty trained by age two or three,” said Kimberly Pezzone, MD, pediatrician at Pediatric Alliance-St. Clair Division. “Children under age two often do not understand the concept …

It was about this time last year that my now 2-year-old son developed a chronic cough. It was deep, almost seal-like, and it was loud. With the cough came the runny nose and congestion, and after several trips to the doctor, during which he was diagnosed with a variety of illnesses, including croup and sinus infections, we were finally handed the final verdict: seasonal allergies. "About 35 million people in the United States suffer from seasonal allergies," according to Deborah Gentile, MD, director of research in Allegheny General Hospital's Division of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. "…