My son just had his birthday this last weekend.  He was 10 pounds 8 ounces at birth and was 22 ½ inches long.  We bought him a cake and presents and everyone called to wish him well.  I was terribly sad, however that I wasn’t able to spend his birthday with him.  Why you might ask?  Well, because he just turned 21 and he had to work!  It was just yesterday when he was born and I can’t for the life of me figure out how he got this old, never mind how I got this old.  I was pretty distracted for a long time, from how old he was getting, since I had a younger, child, a daughter, who is 15.  Yes, it took me along time to get over the whole pregnancy and birthing experience.  I’m afraid I didn’t “glow”  when I was pregnant and delivering a nearly 11 pounder my first go-round left me, well…..disillusioned with natural child birth, which afterward, I was positive, was brought back into the forefront by a man.
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But besides being willing and able to ingest more, would my status quo diet do a unborn baby justice?

It can’t be rocket science.  With all the technology these days, there might just be a good reason
why pregnant mothers aren’t suckered into taking a ‘miracle pill’ - that is - one that contains all the essential vitamins
and minerals necessary to beget a bright and bouncing baby.

Men have their logical world (and I swear, if they were the ones getting pregnant, there WOULD be such a Miracle Pill) but women
-especially those who choose to become pregnant - typically own some type of instinct and intuitiveness as to what is good
for their (unborn) children, if not themselves.  Are they willing to tap into their own resources?

Back to the basics.  Like good old reading and writing, eating fruits and veggies are an obvious lively springboard for nutritional snacks and meals.  Personally, I prefer the latter with some kind of whole-grain (yes, homemade) bread or cereal, but I’m active, so my body signals that I need good old (fashioned) carbs, you know, the way gramma used to make.  For all their lack of medical care, I bet you would agree they turned out some pretty good whiners.  Well, impact the value with various protein sources (again, if we have ears and eyes, we have been inundated with what is ‘healthy’) and wholesome foods that shouldn’t take more than a few pots and pans to make. think simple: like yogurt.

If pregnant women were supposed to learn everything from scratch, I believe they would have adapted a keener memory retention and more plausible virtue of patience during their stretch.  Could it be more than common sense that ingesting foods that give one significant odorific gas or breath might not be too well-liked by the little tike inside?  You know the wise saying, “Do unto others…”

For me, eating intelligently while pregnant seems in the natural order of things.  We know our own bodies better than anyone else; perhaps we all need to listen and trust our own instincts.  Perhaps present society suggests that we women should be more resourceful concerning the next board room meeting than we do our personal dietary and life-giving contribution to the unborn child.

Now that I have had my little say on the topic of eating well while expecting, I will leave off before delving too deep into the drinking department.  I confess, the double espresso or glass of red wine might be tougher to intuitively hurdle.

Scrapbooking can be one of the most fun and rewarding ways of documenting all those precious moments of your little one’s first years. Adding stickers, commentaries and mementos to your photos builds a more complete memory of this amazing time in your life that you will both be able to enjoy for years.

You can start your scrapbook at any time: during pregnancy, when your child is born, or in the few brief moments you will have to yourself after that point. Even if you do not have time to work on your scrapbook on a regular basis, you should get a box where you store anything that you think you may want to add to your book when you do get a chance to work on it. That way, everything will be ready to go and you will not have to waste time gathering your ‚’scraps’
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I expected to complete the usual paperwork when registering my son for school. They needed our address, medical history and related personal information, but had I known I would be required to complete a 100-page manual for my son to attend school, I would have started an exercise conditioning class for my writing hand several months prior. It would involve writing on a chalkboard 100 times, “I will not talk in class again, I will not talk in class again, I will not talk in class again,” like punishments given to students who are social butterflies and continually disrupt the teacher on television sitcoms.

In addition to registration, they had us completing forms for parental telephone contact, volunteer applications, prescription medications and health services, to computer use and local field trip permission slips and free and reduced lunch and group counseling policies.

What I didn’t find among the myriad forms was the school’s policy on fiscal and social responsibility by utilizing technology to save paper and time.

Not only that, but the paperwork didn’t include how often my child would be getting out of his chair to play outside or how many opportunities he would have to express himself in art or music. Was my child going to be encouraged for his hands-on learning style, or would he be labeled as inattentive because he’s not able to sit still at the age of five? Did the school provide social opportunities for the teachers, parents and child to get to know each other outside of the classroom and what was their policy on bullying, weapons and nutrition?

I left the school with no idea I would be asked to fundraise several times a year for the purchase of library books, computers and classroom supplies. Wait a minute! Are you telling me books and computers are a luxury for a school? That’s like saying a vehicle is a luxury for a company that makes deliveries, isn’t it?

The paperwork was insightful because it highlighted the schools philosophies and values. It led me to understand where they put their energy and time. Sending your child off to school is difficult enough without having to question whether your family values align with the school systems. Here things to consider when looking for an elementary school:

* Does the school incorporate movement, art and music in their curriculum?

* Will you be asked to fundraise? If so, how often and for what purpose?

* What is the school’s policy on paperwork?

* How does the school promote social responsibility?

* Check the district’s policies on bullying, nutrition and weapons?

* How does the school engage the family in the education process?

When we had our first baby I had this constant feeling that there was nothing we could do to make it safe enough for her to be away from us. It took us months to realize that having our baby sleep two doors down from us, one of those doors being a small bathroom, was a perfectly natural and healthy thing for a baby. Regardless of how high I turned up the volume on the baby monitor or how many times I checked to make sure the mini blind cord was tied up high, it was still an adjustment to just move our baby out of our bedroom. Once I realized that this was a developmental progression in the life of our 4 month old, and unavoidable to some degree since we had decided on not continuing our family bed past the first few months, I knew it was time to buckle down, get out my safety goggles and start the move.

One of the first things I did was pick a place for the crib that was away from the window so she would never be able to reach anything to do with it. Cords, curtain tassels and window locks can be shiny and attractive to little hands and I knew we had to watch that. I also made sure the crib was in a place where things would not fall into it. Wall shelves (or ledges which seem more common now) were installed across the room and above the crib we hung a colorful mobile that was out of reach but beautiful to look at. Nothing was within reach of the sides of the crib as well because we had a feeling our curious angel would be reaching her hands through the crib slats in no time.

The next thing we did in our baby’s new room was make sure everything was working that needed to be. My husband and I checked the smoke alarm, closet door rails, sliding window and door hinges just to make sure everything was up to date and safe. We even checked a paint chip from the window ledge to make sure there was no lead paint in the room. We knew that it was only a matter of time before our baby would be crawling around in there and we didn’t want her to pull a loose door over or get her fingers pinched in a poorly hung closest door.

At the end of it all, a friend of mine had a suggestion that I still do to this day about once a year around my house and I know I should do it more. She was a mother of two and suggested that I get down on my hands and knees and see what is at the baby’s level to see what I had missed. I got down on all fours one afternoon while my little girl was waking up and was surprised to see that we had missed a few things. We had a bottle of rubbing alcohol on the 2nd shelf of the changing table that our little sweetie could’ve reached and there was a loose rod on the bottom of our crib that would’ve been a painful thing to fall into while learning to crawl. Both of those would’ve been completely missed if I hadn’t taken a closer look that day.

All in all we felt like we had set up the perfect baby room when we moved our 4 month old in there 9 years ago. More and more safety products come out every year and incredible amounts of money seem to be spent on protecting our babies but I believe it comes down to a staple rule of parenting: always be aware of your child’s surroundings. You can buy a dozen furniture straps and knock yourself silly trying to buy the right blanket that won’t hurt your baby but the responsibility of keeping your baby safe is still your job as a parent and no product can guarantee that. Getting the room safe and simple from the beginning is the best baby proofing I can think of and I know it has paid off for us. I’m happy to report that even though I still don’t know that any of our baby rooms have been “perfect”, we’ve made it through the baby years 4 times now and all of our children have come through safely with flying colors.

Face it, the second child doesn’t get the same attention as the first, especially if they are close together in age. The 200 pictures of your first child’s first birthday turns into “Oh! I forgot the camera. Could someone take a picture before the party’s over and send it to me, please?” with the second.

The guilt can be overwhelming.
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Scoring fab fashion finds can be tricky enough when you are a plus size woman. However, once you add pregnancy to the mix, the shopping process becomes a downright challenge. Historically, many plus size women were forced to wear regular clothing a size or two larger than what they normally wore. However, as times have changed and the plus size fashion industry has grown, the options for plus size maternity clothes have expanded as well.

By the time you really need maternity clothes, you are probably saving all of your energy just to get through the day, which means you definitely don’t feel like spending hours walking from store to store finding new clothes. Because of this, the Internet will be your best friend during this time. There are a slew of fabulous sites out there specifically for plus size women who are expecting. I have found that the best way to purchase plus size maternity clothes online is to order a “test” piece. This will help you to gage how the garment from a particular site fits on your body before you order more. Remember that even though you still want to look fashionable, comfort is key here. There will be many more days than not during your pregnancy when you won’t care if you have to leave the house in a burlap sack as long as your comfortable, so make this your first consideration. If an outfit is very cute and very stylish, but feels like hell on your belly, forget it! It won’t last more than five minutes before you are darn near tearing it off.
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Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. That might have been good advice in the 16th century, when entire families bathed once a year in the same tub of water, head of the household on down the line to the youngest. By the time a baby made it into the bath, it would have been black and thick with grime, and while no good mother would have actually made the mistake of confusing her baby with floating filth, it’s easy to see how the saying came about.
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There are all kinds of blogs out there. Some are more “out there” than others with topics ranging from trash crafts to foot disease to chinchilla lovers. Clearly, we are a very diverse species with diverse interests. Like all species, however, we are all preoccupied with one thing – procreation. Granted, some are only preoccupied with the act, not the result, but for those of us interested in the strange and wonderful life changes that begin around 9 months after nature is allowed to take its course, here’s to the baby bloggers who keep this strange world entertaining, especially since it is virtually impossible to escape once trapped.

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If you want to please “mom” with something special, mother’s necklaces (and
other mother’s jewelery) can be found in many styles. Red Envelope offers some
unique and tasteful necklaces, including the Loving Arms necklace. Made of
sterling silver, a mother’s arms cradle a small freshwater pearl to represent
her child; additional pearls may be added for other children. Another great
choice from Red Envelope is the Family Tree birth stone necklace; the delicate
tree design is made of forged sterling silver and can be personalized with up
to eight birth stones, each representing a child or family member.

Another idea for new parents is a keep-sake box such as Babies First
Keep-sake Box, made of paper mache’ and hand-painted in an adorable design.
Offered by Uncommon Goods, the box contains illustrated sleeves to hold
baby’s first lock of hair, first tooth, i.d. bracelet and other keep-sakes.

Also great for keeping track of baby’s milestones and preserving memories, are
Big Day books. A kit includes an attractive baby album, in your choice of
several colors and styles, as well as access to the company’s online system for
new parents to create a month by month personalized baby book. Visiit
www.bigdaybooks.com to view these time-saving, all-in-one memory books.

Other unique ideas include designer diaper bags, including some which are
especially for dads. Dads can tote their babies in style with the Diaper Dude
diaper bag for dads, or Land’s End’s back pack style diaper bag.

A pack of pee-pee tepees from Uncommon Goods is a cute and practical little
gift. These tiny cloth “tepees” provide cover when parents change their
baby boys; anyone who’s ever had a baby boy knows about getting “squirted”
during a diaper change!

Gifts to soothe baby (and bring peace to parents) include the Twilight Turtle by
Cloud B. Featured on Babyscholars.com, it is the first and only plush
planetarium.It attaches to baby’s crib and projects a starry night sky onto the
room’s walls and ceiling. It is an educational toy which contains 8 actual
constellations, to be enjoyed when baby’s older,

Also from Babyscholars, is the Sleep Sheep, which attaches to baby’s crib and
plays soft sounds from nature as well as the sound of a mother’s heart beat.

Sleeplullabies.com offers a parent-acclaimed collection of baby CDs. The albums
are used to calm babies in hospital nurseries around the country. It includes
the white noise, vacuum sounds and fan sounds editions, among others. Every
lullaby and nursery rhyme album incorporates soothing white noise and sounds
from nature, including ocean waves and mother’s heart beat.

A final gift idea for new moms and babies is a gift basket containing skin care
for mom and baby, including diaper balms, lotions, stretch mark creams and
ralaxation treatments. Pamper mom and baby with a selection from vedaPURE.
This organic skincare line comes in gift sets including one for new parents
(vedaMAMA), one for babies (vedaBABY) as well as a new parent/baby combination
set. Organic skin care is a smart choice, particularly when it comes to treating
a baby’s sensitive skin.