Zephyr Hill

A Family Blog

How to File Taxes if You Have a Blog

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If your blog generates income, you might need to report it on your family's annual tax return. Here is a quick Q&A to get you started. If you do your own taxes at home, my personal recommendation is FreeTaxUSA, which has all the federal forms you need at no additional cost. They guarantee accuracy 100% and offer free customer support. What kinds of income and expenses do I need to report? Report any income that you receive from your blog whether it's actual money or products/services Continue Reading

Why I Don’t Believe in the Terrible Twos

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Two is one of my favorite ages. A little bit independent and a little bit babyish. Small enough to hold but big enough to be talking. Two-year-olds can make you laugh out loud with the things they say and do. "That's true," you might say, "but are you really denying the well-documented phenomenon known as The Terrible Twos?" Yes. And it's not because my children are perfect angels. And it's not because parenting is easy. Erik is two right now and his hobbies are saying NO to everything and Continue Reading

Is it a Night Terror….or a Nightmare?

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If your child wakes up crying or screaming in the night, it could be due to a nightmare or a night terror. But how do you tell the difference? Nightmares typically happen during REM sleep. Your child can be woken up and calmed down. He may be able to remember what the dream was about. Once he is calm and feels secure, sleep should return pretty quickly. Night terrors are a bit different. They are more dramatic and typically occur during deep, non-REM sleep. Our daughter, Catherine, had Continue Reading

Can Breastfeeding Hurt Even When You’re Doing it Right?

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If you've always heard that breastfeeding shouldn't hurt if you're doing everything right, I'm here to tell you from personal experience that it just isn't true. Putting aside the typical causes of pain which DO indicate something is being done wrong (bad latch, poor positioning, tongue tie, etc.), let's look at some of the other reasons even the most experienced nursing mother may suffer from pain. Letdown: It can hurt when your milk lets down. For me, it hurts for the first two or three Continue Reading