At one of our last Moms’ Night Out gatherings, we were all discussing babies (duh! We ARE a bunch of moms!) and their cries. Several of us had heard of the ‘baby whisperer’, Priscilla Dunstan, who was on Oprah, but only a couple of us had ever tried it. My sister-in-law has tried it with her baby, Grayson, and is swearing by it! She said she’s been able to figure out his cries pretty easily and is having a much easier time with him than with her other 2 kiddos. Just thought I’d pass it on…
The one where you gasp, your heart completely melts, and you’re filled with more joy than you ever thought a human could feel…
The moment when your baby first smiles at you.
Well, apparently, some super-smart people at Baylor College of Medicine decided to find out exactly what that smile does to a mom.
Here’s what they say:
They found that when the mothers saw their own infants’ faces, key areas of the brain associated with reward lit up during the scans.
“These are areas that have been activated in other experiments associated with drug addiction,” said Strathearn. “It may be that seeing your own baby’s smiling face is like a ‘natural high’”.
We just recently moved Karis into a car seat out of her infant seat which meant Ethan got kicked out of his seat. Since he’s over the weight requirements for a booster, we opted to just move him straight into this Graco TurboBooster instead of buying ANOTHER car seat that would only last another year or so and also cost an arm and a leg.
I LOVE how easy this booster is to move from car to car. Basically unthread the seatbelt from the shoulder belt positioner and you’re good to go!
Ethan loves the race car color scheme (as does his daddy!) and the fact that he now feels like a ‘big boy’.
Kate loves that she’s not getting hit in the face with the side of a huge car seat. (She sits in the middle of the back seat between her two siblings. Not something she’ll be able to do much longer as her hips and shoulders grow and become wider than the opening between the two seats. Hopefully we’ll be able to purchase a larger vehicle by the time that becomes an issue. And when we do, we’ll probably get Kate the pink princess version of this same seat.)
Shawn loves that the price didn’t strain our pocket book too much. I think we got ours on sale for around $40.
Karis loves the fact that she’s not stuck in that rear-facing infant seat anymore. She loves being able to see out the windows!
One of my favorite blogs that I visit all the time has just launched a new forum-based website called Freepeats. It works very similarly to FreeCycle only it’s more for the mommy demographic. It’s all about finding and giving away new or gently-used baby items in your local area. The cool thing for me is that they just added Houston (my home town) to the list. And through the month of February, it’s completely free to join.
So, if you’re even the slightest bit thrifty and want to know how to get a hold of baby and maternity stuff for free, check out the site and sign up for your local area. Then come back and tell me what YOU gave away or got for free!
When I decided to buy an outdoor activity table for Kate, I did lots of research. I knew that she LOVED playing in the sand, but didn’t want to necessarily build a ‘real’ sand box in our back yard. So, I went to Amazon.com (of course) and started reading reviews on all the different brands of sand and water activity tables out there. Many of the brand names that I normally would have trusted to make a good quality table got bad reviews and so I wound up purchasing the “Naturally Playful Sand and Water Activity Center” by Step 2 and I’ve never regretted it!
Here’s the product description from Step 2…
This adorable Sand and Water Activity Center features wood crafted styling and nature’s colors that blend with traditional landscapes in residential outdoor living areas. It’s divided into two separate sides - one for water, the other for sand. Continue reading…
Gerber is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the onesie! Not only are they hosting a sweepstakes for a $25,000 savings bond, but BabiesRUs is also helping them celebrate by offering free shipping on all their onesies. Check it out…
Free Shipping on Gerber Onesies at BabiesRUs.com
I finally did it! After using the same diaper bag since Kate was born 4 and a half years ago, I finally got a new bag!! (Can you tell that I’m excited?)
Granted, it’s not my dream bag (I’m still in love with the whole DadGear line of bags), but it’s still a great bag, especially for the sale price of only $16.83 on Amazon! Continue reading…
Right before our trip to LA, the Hoover Dam, and the Grand Canyon, my mom and I bought this umbrella stroller at Wal-Mart. When you’re trying to pack 4 adults and 3 kids into a minivan along with 2 weeks worth of all their various and sundry stuff, you don’t exactly have room to bring the nice, big double stroller.
Let’s just say that I enjoyed that vacation experience of whipping out the stroller and putting Karis in it in 10 seconds flat so much that I decided to buy myself an umbrella stroller to throw in the back of my car for quick jaunts to the library and such.
So, last week when I was at Wal-Mart I stopped in the baby section to see what they had in stock. They had the same exact stroller that my mom had bought just a month ago, but I found one I liked little better. The one I wound up buying had metal legs and a really cool primary color design.
And the best part??
I only spent ten dollars and 52 cents!!
What could be better?
And I’ve already used it several times and have LOVED how easy it is to get out, use and put back in the car without throwing my back out!!
Don’t get me wrong. I still love my bigger strollers for longer walks and strolling the mall and anything else that would need the diaper bag and other gear to come along. But for those short little adventures out with baby, I’ll take my $10.52 Wal-Mart umbrella stroller any day of the week!!
All three of my kiddos have been very attached to their pacifiers (Karis still IS). So, when it came time to wean them, I was definitely looking for tips on how to do it! Here’s a couple of ideas that I’ve come across… Continue reading…
My baby girl, Karis, just turned into an eating machine! She was doing great nursing and eating a few solids (mostly cereal) during the day until a couple of weeks ago. Then all of a sudden she couldn’t get enough! My normally laid back, sweet-tempered baby started wailing within only an hour or two of the last meal.
By Kay on Wed, Aug 20, 2008
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