With the summer right around the corner, parents are starting to think about summer child care options especially for parents of young babies and toddlers.  There are so many options available, but they all come with a price. Although, child care is truly a decision between two parents, it is amazing to me what a hot and controversial topic child care is. People from all walks of life like to chime in and tell you what are the best child care option for you and your family. Some people say, “Be a stay at home mom and it will solve your child care issues.” I can go on and on about why this is not feasible for all; in addition to, pros and cons to almost every child care option (family care, day care, nanny, nanny shares, Au Pair, in home day care, and etc). But this is not what the post is about; it is just a few of my thoughts on child care options and what we found works best for our family. Being a stay at home mom/dad is not necessarily financially feasible option for every family or is not the best for “you” as the parent mentally. I use the word “mentally” meaning that some people (both mom’s and dad’s) are better parents if they work or have another purpose other than being “mom” and or “wife” (whether that be in the home or not).  People might disagree, but I believe a lot of women do not take this into account or factor this into their decision of being a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM); therefore – for some – their self worth tends to suffer and overspills into other areas (e.g., relationship with your spouse). I did extensive research...

The Crane Frog Humidifier is not only cute, but extremely quite.  It does not require filter replacement or daily cleaning.  You can find this humidifier from anywhere from $31.99 – $43.99 all depending on the store you purchase it from. The only down fall is you still need to purchase distilled water, which we now purchase gallon jugs.  This humidifier comes in other cute animals, so if you are not into frogs you have other options.  Here are some of the Crane collection. Why a humidifier? Are they necessary for a new born?  No, I don’t think that they are necessary, but boy they can help when your child gets a cold.  When C2 got his first head cold, we were told by our advice nurse to purchase a cool mist humidifier. Apparently a cool mist humidifier helps relieve congestion, which it did for C2.   Of course, like any parent would after work I headed over to Buy Buy Baby to purchase one.  There are so many different brands of humidifier, plus you can choose between a cool or hot humidifier.  I thought I made a great purchase; I walked out with a Vicks Cool Mist Humidifier. I never had a humidifier before, so I was not quite sure what to expect.  It cost about $30, which I thought was reasonable.  We used it for about 6 months before purchasing the Crane Frog Humidifier.  The reason we switched is four fold. 1)      It required filters that are $15 a piece and they need to be replaced every three months. 2)      The humidifier needs to be cleaned out daily or else pink bacteria would grow, which defeats the purpose of purified air.  Cleaning out the filter was not easy because it has nooks and crannies...

I am wondering if I am the only one; as I have gotten older Valentine’s Day has become increasing less important to me. When I was a teenager and in college, I had expectations like most girls that it would be great to receive something from my boyfriend like red roses and be taken out for a “romantic” dinner. Unfortunately for most guys and sometimes girls, Valentine’s Day is an unfortunate holiday.  Of course, the stores and commercial enterprises don’t do anything to help the situation.  We are barraged with Valentines decorations, red hearts, and Valentine’s candy soon after the Christmas decorations come down. The holiday in my opinion is one specifically designed to set up men for failure. Most girls/women hope and hint that they want a “romantic” surprised filled night. But, the problem is those women don’t verbally discuss this with their guy and unfortunately, the majority of the time someone in the relationship ends up extremely disappointed on the coveted day of February 14th. Yes, I have been on both sides of the fence the disappointed and the disappointee. As I have matured – and perhaps comfortable and confident in my relationship – my view on Valentine’s Day is; it is only one day of the year. Don’t get me wrong my husband is extremely romantic and he has sent me flowers at work on Valentine’s Day and we have on occasion gone to dinner on or around Valentine’s Day and I have thoroughly enjoyed it.  But, what is most important to me is that he is able to express his love daily and not just on one special day of the year. With all that being said, my advice to any young couple, don’t put too much pressure on your...

In the past two month, recently a lot of our friends gave birth, which got me thinking of unique baby gifts. We received so many unique and personalized gifts when C2 was born that I wanted to share. The unique and/or personalized gifts mean so much to me because as a kid – and even now – I could never find anything with my name spelled correctly or personalized. Therefore, I am always in search of unique, personalized gifts that would be great to give to others.  Here are some of my top favorite unique baby gifts.   Lovem Security Blankets.  C2 received a Lovem Security Blanket from his Aunt and Uncle. His Lovem was custom made to look like our first baby (our lovable, English black Lab Parker).   Lovem blankets are made with two luxurious layers of coordinating Minky and an adorable stuffed animal, so your child is actually getting an animal to love as well as a favorite blanket!  They average price range is $17-$35.     Bodmer’s Pottery. Personalized handmade custom pottery plates are excellent gifts for a baby. We received one when C2 was born, and now it is proudly displayed in his room.  The plates are 7” in diameter and cost approximately $50.00.     Monthly Onesies Stickers.  I really wanted these for our son, but could not find them until of course he is almost 12 months old.  These are a great gift for an expecting mama, Monthly Onesies Stickers and/or Monthly Onesies Complete Set.  You can celebrate your baby’s “monthiversary” by photographing them in this set of 12 onesies. The Monthly Onesies Complete Set actual comes with onesie that are made with love using 100% cotton Carter’s brand bodysuits using high quality transfer paper. Each onesie has a...

Being that Educause, a nonprofit association whose mission is to advance higher education by promoting the intelligent use of information technology, coined January Data Privacy; it got me thinking about kids’ privacy online.  With so many people blogging about their day-to-day lives, especially new parents wanting to document their child’s milestones online and share them with family; I wonder how we go about ensuring their privacy online. As of July 2011 according to Mashable, the two largest blogging sites Tumblr and WordPress.com, together hosted more than 20,958,182 blogs (Tumblr had 20,873,182 blogs and WordPress.com’s had approximately 85,000 blogs). So to me, the question arose do you have “rules” about what you will and will not post in blogs, forums and other online spaces such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Babycenter.com, etc.? Someone once told me that anyone could find out anything about me because my life was so public on the web.  I said, “Yes, you can, but there are a lot of things you will hopefully never find out about me because my husband and I have  house “rules” for social media (more guidelines because use of mobile technology and social media change daily) about how, what, where and when we choose to share our personal information. As my hubby and I have become more actively engaged in social networks and in combination with the our son’s birth, we decided it was time to have family “rules” (guidelines) for social media.  Our rules are constantly  being revised based on new security and privacy issues that arise daily, especially with regards to our son’s privacy online. According to comScore.com, social networking sites now reach 82 percent of the world’s online population, representing 1.2 billion users around the world.  In my opinion, that is a...

Is the hotel kid friendly? Traveling with your baby and/or toddler and planning on staying in a hotel? Kristy Wood, one of my favorite guest bloggers, and I have developed frequently asked questions to make sure the hotel you plan on staying at is kid friendly. If this is the first time staying in a hotel with your baby, make sure you ask the hotel the following questions or be sure to check their website for the accommodations before booking your reservation.  By finding out the answers to the questions before you arrive, will make for a more pleasant first time experience for your entire family, plus you will be more prepared. Do you have refrigerators in the standard rooms? If not, be sure to ask if they could put one in for you. A refrigerator is essential if you are breast feeding and you need to store breast milk. Or you have a toddler that is already on whole milk and you need to keep some at your disposal. In my experience some boutique hotels might not provide refrigerators in the rooms, but they will put your breast milk in their kitchen refrigerator. If they do, be sure to mark the cooler well with your last name and identify it is breast milk. Do they have a crib available to use or rent? This is only essential if you are planning to not bring your own pack-n-play or another sleeping device.  Ensure you ask them how old the cribs are and if they know when they were purchased.   From experience, I found that higher end hotels generally have the newer cribs ones that have not been recalled, but with lower end or cheaper hotels they have cribs that have been recalled or the...

Since children grow so fast, I wanted to capture the 10 best things my toddler – now 22 months old almost 23 months old – has said to me this past year that has warmed my heart and still does every time I hear them. 1.  “Ma Ma” 2.  “Da Da” 3.  “Wuve you.” (Love You) This warms my heart every time I hear this, which I usually hear several times a day. 4.  “Nite Nite” Both Brett and I love to hear this. C2 usually says this when he is going to bed and waves good night. 5.  “Da Da race, Ma Ma Race” While Brett was racing the Ironman Cozumel in November 2011, C2 would lay in bed when he didn’t want to go to sleep and talk to himself for an hour about racing. 6.  “Go fast” C2 loves to run, so when he runs he says “Go fast”. 7.  “Brovers” (Brothers) Referring to our two lovable labs Parker and Cole who we refer to as “The Boys” or his brothers. C2 does not recognize that his brothers are dogs. 8.  “Yeah, did it” He usually claps and cheers for himself after he accomplishes something like jumping off a stair or his interpretation of jumping. 9.  “Go, Go, Go” C2 loves to play chase and when you run after him, he yells “Go, Go, Go”. 10.  “Oh, no” When C2 was 15 ½ months our Au Pair started teaching him when he drop something to put his hands on his head and go “oh, no”. Although, as we know,  toddlers can be challenging, but I think the good times, toddler hugs and kisses outweigh any of toddlers trying...

A friend asked me this morning if I had any suggestions on last minute newborn holiday gifts. Luckily, for parents with newborns, you do not need to spend a lot of money because you only “need” one or two gifts. The baby will not be able to open the present themselves and probably will not aware of the festivities. Every day for a newborn is festive. Yes, “need” is in parenthesis because most newborns do not need any toys, but if most parents are like me they want to spoil their child during the holidays regardless of their age. Here are some last minute gifts that you can pick-up at Buy Buy Baby, Babies R’Us, or Toy’s R’Us. Of course, you can purchase them on Amazon, but with only two days left (including today) until Christmas and Hanukkah has already begun, you will not get them in time.  The list is derived from my own personal experience and friends. C2 loved anything that played music; he could chew on, or had bright colors. Leap Frog® Twinkle Twinkle Little Scout Activity Gym Kids Preferred Eric Carle’s Developmental Plush Toys Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Fun with Friends Muscial Table Fisher Price® Precious Planet™ Kick & Play Piano Baby Einstein® Roller Pillar Activity Balls Baby Einstein™ Sea Dreams Lullaby Soother by Kids II® LeapFrog My Pal Scout Vulli Sophie Giraffe Soft Rubber Toy Kids II® Baby Einstein™ Take Along Tunes 1.  Leap Frog® Twinkle Twinkle Little Scout– $17.99 Only available at Buy Buy Baby or Amazon 2.  LeapFrog My Pal Scout – $19.99 Available at Buy Buy Baby, Babies R’Us, Toys R’Us and Amazon 3.  Kids II® Baby Einstein™ Take Along Tunes – $9.99 Available at Buy Buy Baby, Babies R’Us, Toys R’Us and Amazon 4.  Baby...

  Traveling with an infant can be very stressful especially with a new born not knowing what to pack and how much to pack.  For me, it was the first time I had to worry about packing for someone other than my husband and me. I was told that I needed to bring two outfits per day in case my son had a blowout or threw up.   Wow, that is a lot of clothes.  Like a new mom, I took the advice only to realize after several trips that I did not need two outfits per day and came home with a lot of clean clothes. OK, maybe that is not such a bad thing on the laundry front, but not good in trying to minimize bags. This is great advice, especially if you are traveling via car and you have no place to wash laundry, which the first couple times we traveled via car this was the case for us.  But in order to reduce my luggage, I developed my own rule of thumb, one and half outfits per day.   For example:  a six day trip, I would take 9 onesies. I am no pro at traveling, but we have done several long road trips with our son including a 50 hour car ride in 10 days and crossed 13 states, so after preparing for that trip, I feel more equipped to provide a infant packing check list. I developed an infant packing check list of necessity items that I needed  to remember when traveling with my son. Your list will become more modified and honed over time based on your baby’s needs and yours, but hopefully, this is a good starting point for you.   For additional packing resources check out BabyCenter.com....

  Picking a pediatrician is extremely important.  When we were born our parents chose a pediatrician based on their parents and friends recommendations; not much has changed.  You will still receive the majority of your recommendations through your family and friend network.  But what has changed since our birth is now you interview the pediatrician. With so many of our friends having babies, I found it only appropriate to write about how to go about choosing a pediatrician. I am no expert, but this was useful information that was passed down to me when we were expecting from many mommy friends and sisters who all had to go through the process of choosing the right pediatrician. You should begin your pediatrician search in your sixth or seventh month of pregnancy.  Most pediatricians now have new parents informational sessions or “meet and greets’ with the pediatrician. If not, call the office and set up an introductory appointment.  They will generally not charge you for this appointment.  My recommendation is that if the pediatrician does charge, then you might not want to go with that practice.  To me it is just like any other business, you do not charge prospective clients; it is considered business development and it is the cost of doing business. When you begin calling the offices to set-up a time to meet the pediatrician consider the following: How long does it take to get through the phone system?  Were the people answering the phone polite, knowledgeable and helpful?   How long did they put you on hold?  If you choose one of these offices, you want to ensure you can speak to someone in a timely manner because if there is an emergency you want to know they will be there for you....