I was told by a creditable source that Amazon is enhancing their Amazon wish list feature to allow you to “remember” a hidden wish list. As a mom of two wonderful children with two very different needs and wants, this new feature will significantly reduce my time, frustration and repetition.  Every holiday or special occasion (e.g., birth present, baby shower, birthday, Christmas, just because, etc.), I will not need to send an updated email with the kids’ “private” Shared Wish List URL to my family and friends of their (our) latest gift requests.  I will simply be able to share the list and my family and friends who will be able to “remember” it. My very first blog post “Gift Registries, Are They Worth The Drama?” I discuss the benefits of having a wish list for my child. When my son turned one, I made C2 Amazon Wish list public for his 1st birthday because I had so many people ask me what C2 wanted and I found myself copying/pasting the links into an emails and repeating that process several times.   So to be more effective, save time and reduce frustration, we made the decision to go Public (anyone can search for and see this list. You can also share using a link.). I did have hesitation not only because I did not want people to think we were greedy, rude or ungrateful.  But, the main reason was I did not want some predator checking out my son’s wish list and deriving Intel about our family through the wish list.  Being “public”, left us vulnerable.  The day after his birthday, I did change the privacy setting back to “Shared (link only).  Only people with the link can see this list. It will not appear...

[category_specific_rss_menu] Although this is not a “race”, I was inspired to put Touch A Truck on the 2013 Stroller Friendly Race calendar where you can find the information on how to purchase tickets.  In addition, you can  download the Excel 2013 Stroller Friendly Race Calendar. Today, I was contacted by Melissa Mikulak of San Diego, California.  Melissa is a mom, the race director of Max Run, but also co-founder of a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization Max Ring of Fire that was founded in 2008 by her and her husband Andy.  The charity is a pediatric cancer fundraising and advocacy organization that supports innovative neuroblastoma research and clinical trials. Melissa and Andy started the foundation in honor of their late son Max.  Max was diagnosed with the disease at the age of three and battled hard against the disease for four years until the age of seven. I first reached out to Melissa because I heard from a mom that the Max Run is an awesome race that is family friendly and stroller friendly, but they did not have their 2013 date picked.  Melissa wrote back stating they don’t have a date set yet, but their next event Touch A Truck on June 8, 2013 in San Diego, California is very family friendly and of course stroller friendly. She asked me to add it to the calendar. How could I not?  I am a mom of two and my oldest is a little boy who is now three, same age as Max when he was diagnosed.  My heart was touched by Melissa, Andy and their son Max. I have added Tough A Truck on June 8, 2013 in from 10 AM – 3 PM in San Diego, California at Qualcomm Stadium to the calendar.  If you...

[category_specific_rss_menu] Updated as of June 18, 2013. Due to high demand, I have migrated all the stroller friendly races to an actual Stroller Friendly Race Calendar; whereby, you can search by state (categories) and race distance (tags) to see the races available.  Currently, there are more than 1000 races listed throughout the United States and on average, 20-30 races are added a week. ******************* January 11, 2013 Stroller friendly races are hard to find. While many races discourage or outright prohibit the use of jog strollers during the race, I have found several races that offer special start times to strollers, some that encourage all family participation or allow the strollers to start in the back.  As of 2012, I began developing a comprehensive list, but I never completed it, so I am trying again this year. Currently,  I have a fairly comprehensive list with more than 60 stroller friendly races in the following states; Virginia, Illinois, California (San Diego and working on San Francisco), Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Maryland, Missouri , Nebraska, North Carolina and Texas.  Furthermore, you will notice in the Excel document there are worksheets for every state. The Excel document is is alphabetical order by state and each state’s list is organized by date of the race, distance (5K, 10K, 4 miler, 1/2 marathon or other distance) and location. As you probably have found there is no one comprehensive list and/or website to go to that indicates races as stroller friendly. Sites such as Running in the USA, Active.com, or Runner’s World do not have a search filter for “jogging strollers”, so in order to find out if races are jog stroller friendly, you have to contact each individual race director. As you can well imagine this is a daunting...

As a mom, I have done things I never thought I would such as sucking the snot out of my child’s nose. old.  I swore before ever having children that I would never use the NoseFrida Snotsucker. Yes, I said Snotsucker. Really, why and I talking about snot much less sucking snot out?   Unfortunately, one of the responsibilities listed in my job description as mommy is “snotsucker” and I take it serious when my baby gets a cold.  I am sure as you are reading this, you are either saying, “eww gross” or “I would never” because like me, the thought of sucking snot out from your child’s nose with your mouth grosses you out .  Well, I said in the past, “Never say never” and I have written in previous post that I have done things as a parent I “never” thought I would, this being one of them. We had our second child in September and since her birth, she has always been stuffed up, which made for breathing difficulty. After using several aspirators over the course of the last three months to help clear the snot and “boogies” out of her nose, I decided there had to be a better solution. Using the bulb aspirators, I would spend minutes just trying to get some of the snot out and not enough to even make her breathe easier.  Plus, I am not sure if you ever tried getting snot out of a moving infant, it is like trying to play pin the tail on the donkey after you had a few glasses of wine. Lil’ Ace (of course not her real name) would squirm anytime she saw me come close to her nose with an aspirator and it would take, what seemed...

Does your toddler get sand chafing while playing on the beach? Mine does. After spending a couple of days at the beach with my son who loves to play in the sand and the water, I needed to come up with a solution to fix his sand chafing rash. After playing in the sand for two hours with a wet swim diaper from the salt water, my son would come home with bright red chafing rash on the inside of both his little legs. He would tell me, “That hurts me” when I put him in the bath. Being an athlete and having to deal with chafing issues myself, I knew what I did to prevent chafing while running, on a bike, etc; I would use body glide, Aquaphor or chemise cream. So the next day before going to the beach, I put Boudreaux’s Butt Paste® where he was getting the rash. Then lathered him in sunscreen, got the swim diaper, shirt and swim trunks on and we were off. Low and behold after spending two hours digging and building sand castles in the dirt – no rash. The next day, I repeated the same steps, but with Aquaphor Healing Ointment and it worked as well. After trial and error, both Boudreaux’s Butt Paste or Aquaphor work well to prevent sand chafing. Ensure you put the chafing prevention ointment on prior to putting their sunscreen on; apply the sunscreen afterwards. Good luck and happy beach...

Toddler protection from the sun and bugs. Now that the first “unofficial” weekend of summer just passed us by, most of us and our families will be out in the sun a great deal more, especially at the pools and beaches.  I wanted to share with you two great products that I have found that are so helpful in protecting my toddler (1 years old and up) from the sun and bugs. No Mess Sunscreen Wipes My new summer favorite is the Baby Silk Babysafe Sunscreen Towelettes Sunscreen Spf 30. In my house, we no longer have the sunscreen battle; my two year old does not mind having sunscreen put on his face anymore. I only need one or two towelettes for full coverage on my two year old. They are not messy and so easy to carry around. They are more expensive than regular sunscreen, but what you are paying for is convenience, no mess and no more fights. Great toddler sun protection. According to the packaging, the product features are: Contains no phthalates, lanolin, mineral oil, petroleum or waxes Contains physical sunscreens, titanium and zinc oxide, as the only active ingredients Protects against UVA and UVB rays Clinically tested & hypoallergenic Made in the USA. No animal testing The Babysilk Babysafe Sunscreen Towelettes Spf 30 are $26.00 for 20 on Amazon.com (does not include taxes, shipping or handling).  I would suggest doing price comparison at a couple stores in order to get the best price. This product can be purchased at Amazon.com, Diapers.com, Drugstore.com, etc. Natural, Chemical Free Bug Repellent Another new favorite is the non-toxic, non-chemical, non-invasive and non-irritating California Baby Bug Repellant Spray, 6.5 Ounce.  The bugs already seem to be out in droves’ this summer and my two year...

[category_specific_rss_menu] *Updated April 22, 2013 For a comprehensive list of 2013 & 2014 stroller friendly races, please see the Stroller Friendly Race Calendar.  We currently have more than 1000 races listed and adding approximately 20 races weekly. *********** January 17, 2012 Stroller friendly races are hard to find. While many races discourage or outright prohibit the use of jog strollers during the race, I have found several races that offer special start times to strollers and some that encourage all family participation. Although, in search of stroller friendly races, I have not found one comprehensive list anywhere. Sites such as Running in the USA, Active.com, or Runner’s World do not have a search filter for “jogging strollers”, so in order to find out if races are jog stroller friendly, you have to contact each individual race director. As you can well imagine this is a daunting task, especially for parents who are trying to plan out their race schedules for the year.  Don’t get me wrong, I do plenty of races sans jog stroller – my husband and I switch of race days or get someone to watch our son – but, there are times it is nice to bring him to “race”.  As you know, for whatever reason, not all parents have the luxury of having someone else watch their child, so racing without them is not an option. One note:  I do encourage anyone racing with a jog stroller to abide by Jog Stroller Racing Etiquette. This is very important not only for the safety of you and your baby, but also for the other runners. I began doing research on stroller friendly races and reaching out to the race directors of each race so I can develop a 2012 stroller friendly...

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...

  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....

  The holiday season is just around the corner and it one of the busiest seasons for airlines; like millions of other people you probably are considering traveling to see your family and friends.  And if you are anything like me you want to carry on to avoid checking in bags, if at all possible, especially now that airlines charge you for checked baggage. As I stated in my post on 15 Tips for Flying with a Lap Infant, I am not an expert flying with a toddler, but have done it many times in the past 20 months since C2 was born. To provide additional value, I have partnered with another mom, Kristy Wood stay at home mom to 20 mos. old J. Kristy travels often with J and has been on 14 flights with him. We are two moms that want to share our tips and experiences with other parents in hopes that our tips will make your travel experience a bit more pleasant and less stressful. Here are our top 10 tips on how to Travel Carry on Only with a Toddler. 1.  Research. Research. Research. Purchase. Prior to purchasing any items for travel, research and think about the items you really need versus the items you want. My husband and I travel a lot, so when we found out we were expecting we knew we had our work cut out for us. I hate to check baggage with a passion, so this also fueled my need to pack smart, and buy products that served more than one purpose, or were compact. Every trip that we went on after we found out we were expecting became a research trip. We would look around the airports, planes, and at families traveling with...