Filed under: Gear, Health and Safety, Siblings, Stores and shopping, Outings

When I am out and about, I usually only have one child to keep track of. Loading up the car after a shopping trip is pretty simple - Ellie gets in first, followed by everything else. But for those with several little ones to corral, keeping one kid safe from traffic while you attend to another can be a challenge.

Two mothers in Michigan have come up with a creative way to entice kids to stick close to the car and out of harm's way. It's a magnet shaped like a hand that you place on the side of your car. While you are strapping in the baby or otherwise distracted, the other kids are concentrating on placing their own little hands on the magnet hand. As long as they are touching the magnet, they can't move away from you.

Parking Pal magnets were born out of Denise Whitney's struggles keeping her own children safe. ''I thought there's got to be something better, something easier,'' she said. She and her mother, Dottie Daenzer, came up with this solution and now sell the magnets locally in Bay City as well as online.

While this wouldn't be a fail-safe way of keeping your kid from running out into traffic, it does give an easily distracted toddler a task to focus on and a more explicit instruction to follow than "don't move." Plus, Whitney says kids like it. ''The kids are kind of just drawn to putting their hand in the middle (of the magnet),'' she said.

Read | Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Media, Elementary school, Middle school, Public school, Private school

Even though I'm a voraciously left-leaning person, I've not a big fan of most forms of affirmative action. In most cases, I believe, let the best/most talented person win: no matter if he is a she or is purple, black, or has twelve fingers. And when it comes to children, I believe this even more. And in some cases, affirmative action hurts the very minorities it intends to protect.

Take the case of 11-year-old Nikita Rau, a talented Indian girl who was denied entrance into a prestigious public school solely on the basis of her skin. Mark Twain School in Coney Island admits its students according to racial quotas established 33 years ago -- 60 percent of admitted students are white, 40 percent are of other races.

Nikita is a smart young lady, and scored a 79 on an admission test to the school. Her parents were told it was not good enough, even though white kids who had scored a 77 on the test were admitted. Minorities, Nikita's family was told, needed to score at least 84.4 to be accepted into the school.

Though the rules at the school were put in place to boost minority enrollment, they are hampering fairness now, and detractors declare that the racial admission standards are "antiquated".

Nikita's parents intend to pursue admission for their daughter at Mark Twain school.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Child Development, Emotions, Exploring, Whining

Nolan is at my favourite stage yet. I know I keep saying it, but seriously this is really it: his eyes sparkle with mischief, his chubby hands still hold wisps of baby and yet he can tell me about the ball in his pockich, the fact that he is interested in a 'nack of frozen raspberries and cheese. He gives spontaneous hugs and retains all the sweetness of babyhood with the bonus of defined, amazing personality. I am smitten.

Except. I cannot stand the whining. It makes the little wisps of hair on the back of my arms stand up, it's worse than nails on a chalkboard, sneakers and fannypacks and dear god, even that awful man behind Girls Gone Wild. There is something about the tone and the pitch of a whine that makes focusing on other things totally impossible. I have tried to ignore it, attempted to divert it, and recently, I have mocked it.

My Mom tells me (in her gentle, placid way) that it is in no way reasonable for a 32-year-old woman to whine back at her not-quite-two year old in an effort to make him to stop. But yesterday when I squawked right back at Nolan after he had a violent meltdown regarding my trying to take his wet sock off, he stopped. He looked at me curiously as the tears dried on his face. And then he stopped whinging, totally, and gave me a hug.

"I know, " I told him,"It doesn't sound nice, does it? No whining, OK? Normal talking only."

I am almost ashamed to write this, because I know that smarter parents than I will give me a shopping list of reasons why adult whining does not effectively combat toddler whining. But it gave me a brief respite from the agony, and though I'll try not to use this technique again, I can't promise.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Gear, Lifestyle, Family togetherness, 3-6 months, Infant / First year, Adventures in Parenting, Road trip, Outings, Vacations

Well, it's just after 5:00 AM on Saturday and I am ready to get back into action. After a near nervous breakdown trying to reassemble the pack and play and a quick (albeit gigantic) burrito from Chipotle, which totally hit the spot, we went to bed.

I didn't get the shower I had so desired, nor did we have drinks. I'd thought it would be fun to have drinks in the room--meaning A drink--to help wind down from the frazzling first day, but it was too late and I was too tired. After we were all tucked in I couldn't fall asleep. Too many things to think about, I guess, plus everyone in the hotel just happened to be on our floor and returned to their rooms at the top of their lungs.

Then Don couldn't figure out how to get the curtains closed. Clearly the day had bested us so we just gave up and hoped for a better tomorrow. The baby woke up a few times but we were able to get him back down. Luckily the room is HUGE and the staff very accommodating. As I write this I await two eggs over hard and some sourdough toast.

Plus, yesterday when Don went out to get dinner he scoped out all the Starbucks within spittin' distance. This means I'll be kept in iced chais (only 1/2 the pumps though so less sugar and little caffeine) and free wi fi when I need it.

We're off to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this morning, come you-know-what or high water. I am getting the baby a onesie from the gift shop and photographing him in front of something KISS-related or am never leaving Ohio. Actually, to be honest, I kind of really like Ohio. It sort of rocks!

Don is currently making decaf in the mini coffee pot in our room. I mention this only because last night I had to use it to heat up the frozen breast milk for the baby's final meal of the night. Since there was no microwave I thought I'd improvise-and it worked! I thawed the breast milk with warm tap water then rested the bottle of breast milk in the coffee pot (filled with hot water) just long enough to get it to the right temperature. Mercer likes his breast milk medium rare, you know. Just keep that little tip in mind!

Notice how this didn't get posted until after 8:00 AM? That's because we lost wi fi repeatedly until I gave up and just ate breakfast. It was delicious. The baby is wearing a onesie that says, "Don't wake me--I'll wake you." He's ready for action even if we're just half awake.

Also, it appears that the camera and the computer don't speak to each other so I've been trying to download the proper software so I can share some of our great pics. So far no luck. Every time I get about half way through the process I lose Internet access. That said, by tonight I'll be in Louisville where I can download pics much more easily.

I'll leave you with this: last night before dinner Don went to tip the man who helped us with our luggage. This guy had two kids, both daughters, one eighteen and one fourteen. He looked only a few years older than us. Don told me that he found this man in the shuttle wearing headphones and totally checking out to Metallica. He is one of us: I feel OLD. But I also feel pretty good.

That's because the official rule of this trip is that we get to go to Starbucks as many times as I want. Yeah!

Now it's off to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (and Starbucks, although the decaf coffee at the Sheraton is really good--wow!). Keep your fingers crossed they let us in with a stroller (not an umbrella stroller, mind you).The baby is actually cool enough to get in, but I'm not so sure about us!!!

By the way, the baby just barfed all over Daddy's nice new shirt. And we returned our luggage to the car.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Sleepover

I'm working around the clock these days, interspersed with random snippets of Nolan and a lot of tortilla chips and suspicious cheese dip. I've been remiss on my blog reading, but last weekend, my interest in the state of the Momosphere was renewed after the random visit of a blog friend.

Angella was a reader of my personal blog back in the days of its existence, and her insightful comments and bubbly insight prompted my interest in her blog. She lives with her gorgeous family in the interior of my home province: a place filled with sunshine and peach trees and rolling green hills. I met up with her for a coffee and a chat, and, even though I'm a bit of a guarded introvert, I found myself chatting comfortably with her like I've known her for years. Her blog, Dutch Blitz, is worth a gander for the pictures of her gorgeous kidlets, the sunny slopes of her hometown gleaming in the background. The woman has a heart you can see in her eyes and I am better for having met her.

Onward! Angella told me about some of her best blog friends, some of whom I read religiously, some of whom are new to me. Kerflop is a name I've heard before around the blogosphere, but hadn't yet added to my bloglines. Well, now I have. I developed a blog crush on her just after reading a few lines of her about page:
My husband and I have three adorable, gifted, and talented children. All of which we deeply feel are way more adorable, gifted, and talented than yours." She's also a professional quitter. And a talented writer, I'm looking forward to more.

Finally, after talking with Angella I decided to re-emerge myself in Whoorl, who I have read and admired sporadically in past. If you are as out of the blog loop as I am, you may not know that Whoorl has a Hair Project, which involves neither furballs nor spreadsheets. It's a collage of blog reader good hair days, which is actually way more fascinating than it sounds. Who knew the Internet was so pretty?

Happy weekend, everyone, and to my fellow Canucks, happy Canada Day, eh?

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Gear, Family togetherness, 3-6 months, Infant / First year, Adventures in Parenting, Road trip, Outings, Vacations

Oh MY GOD. Today, and especially this morning, has been nearly as insane as when I went into labor. I know it's my first time traveling with an infant and everything, but I think I might lose my mind if I don't get to take a shower and just go to bed.

We didn't pull into our destination of Cleveland until after 7:00 PM. My husband thought (rather foolishly) that we'd be in around 3:00 PM. I knew we'd never make such good time, even if we had gotten out early like we planned to (but didn't) but I still thought we'd make it in sooner than that. It was still light out, though, so that's a plus.

Another plus is that the baby slept through the night for the first time ever. Of course we were counting on him to wake us up between 3:00 and 4:00 AM like he always does so we could get an early start, but he obligingly slept all the way to 5:00 AM! Normally I would be ecstatic. Instead I was well rested and totally late.

Even though I spent the better part of two days planning and packing for this trip we still managed to be completely consumed by chaos this morning. I had to feed the baby and pump and then re-sterilize the breastfeeding equipment since we didn't know if our hotel room would have a microwave for the sterilization equipment (it's Avent and I LOVE it. So much better than boiling).

And that was if we actually made it to Cleveland. I wasn't 100% convinced we'd get out of Manhattan.

In all the madness we still managed to get the house in order, change the sheets, feed and walk the dogs, pack up all our stuff and get the hi ho out of dodge. Our kitchen looked like a war zone. Our bedroom looked as if it had been robbed. There was basically nothing left in it. Like a cruel game of Tetris we loaded the Ford Escape with the material aspects of our lives. Then we got in and drove off.

The baby, contrary to what I believed would be the case, was an absolute gem the entire time. He cooed and slept and drooled the way babies are supposed to, even when we got caught in Battery Tunnel traffic. In short, he was perfect. The two of us, however, were not.

I nearly lost my mind at the house trying to get the baby monitor cord untangled from the rest of the cords and a wire bookshelf. My husband couldn't fit everything we desperately needed to pack into the Escape. Frankly, the rest of the morning was a blur, and I'm glad I don't remember it.

Speaking of not remembering things, as soon as we hit our first rest stop we realized we forgot the baby bjorn. Seriously. So, uh, how are we supposed to get the kid through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, let alone around Louisville and Indiana? We have the stroller, as it fits the infant carrier (which fits the car seat base) so we have some wheels, but the ease of the bjorn will be sorely missed, almost as missed as the bjorn itself. Sigh. It was THE ONE THING we REALLY needed to NOT forget.

So we hit a little bump. Then, later, we hit traffic. Throughout ALL of Pennsylvania. No, really, like every twenty minutes we came to a complete stop for at least twenty minutes due to road work. We asked a nice trucker at a pit stop if there were any way out of this and he replied that PA had two seasons: Winter and Construction. The road work was why we were late, not the baby. Did I mention the little cherub was a dream? Well, he was. In fact he is sleeping in his pack and play right now. Wish I were.

If I get a chance tomorrow I will get into the gory details of the first part of our trip. Right now I am looking forward to a nice hot shower, a good night's sleep (the Sheraton Independence ROCKS almost as much as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) and the second half of our trip.

All I have to say about Pennsylvania, besides that it is truly beautiful country speckled with a lot of road kill, is that Ohio has Starbucks. And Starbucks has wi fi. So tomorrow, hopefully, you should hear from me a little sooner than 9:21 PM, which is normally after my bed time.

Tomorrow I promise to add some fun pics of the trip so far--nothing like the real thing right?

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Media, College, Movies, Books

We're mere weeks away from full-blown Potter-mania, when the series' final novel will hit bookstores, and the 5th movie will be released in theaters. The questions are mounting -- how will it all end? Who's going to die? What will the stars be wearing?

But perhaps the oddest addition to the growing hysteria is the recent news that Harvard Summer School and the Harvard Square Business Association are organizing "the most grand celebration of literature in Harvard history" -- part of which, will be the renaming of Harvard Square...to Hogwarts Square.

Granted, the Harry Potter books are unbelievably popular around the globe, I'm not sure they're worthy of the "most grand celebration" in Harvard's history. In explaining the seemingly random act, which will include music from the band, Harry & the Potters, and a scavenger hunt for owls and bats at the Harvard Museum of Natural History, Denise Jillson, director of the Harvard Square association said: "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows and the hallowed halls of Harvard" (which is a pretty weak connection if you ask me).

It's just further proof that J.K. Rowling and her Potter empire are slowly taking over the world.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Stores and shopping, Momwear, Cassidy

A couple of days ago i did something I had been putting off for over eight years, I bought a new swimsuit. My last suit was missing some trim, had small tears in the middle and the elastic in the bosom area could no longer contain my top half. My 10 year-old daughter Cassidy, the proud owner of at least four swimsuits, mentioned that since we were venturing out to the pool I might need to wear something more appropriate. Normally I would have made a million excuses about why I couldn't buy a suit: the expense, the many other things I absolutely need to buy, the alignment of the planets. But for some reason the planets must have been sending alternate messages because I agreed with her.

When we entered the swimsuit store and headed toward the back of the store, the part where the sizes run only in double digits, I again felt a twinge of anxiety about the plan. I remembered fondly my days in a size six and how pleasing I felt. But I soldiered on to the bigger racks. Cassidy was a trooper and helped me compile a hefty pile of suits while my youngest, Devon, crawled about under the clothing racks making dinosaur sounds. Then came the challenge of actually donning them and facing the mirror.

Turns out the whole experience wasn't nearly as bad as I had been anticipating. Since I had been realistic about my size when choosing the suits, I didn't have to stuff my bits and pieces into something that simply had no chance of accommodating them. There was the occasional cringe when Cass would holler from one of the racks as she chose another suit for me, "Was that a size 14 or 16, mom?" My final choice was a two piece tank suit with a mini skirt attached to the bottom. It is slightly granny-esque, but the under wire bra and plumeria print make up for that aspect. Plus the mini skirt relieves me of my poochy mommy tummy insecurities and will ensure that I will actually go to the pool with my kids in the light of the day.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Image of the day

Today's Image of the Day, taken by North Idaho Dad, took me right back to when I was just about her age, riding around Lake Texoma in my Poppa's boat. Course, Lake Texoma doesn't have those stunning canyons, but I did catch and release a lot of fish! I love how we get to share the view with the girl in the photo, and the reflection of the canyon and sky on the window of the boat is really nice, too. When we photograph children, we are recording parts of their story. Someday when this girl is grown up, she'll see this picture and think Oh, yeah, I remember that summer. . .

f you'd like your own picture featured here, simply upload photos into our group Flickr Pool - We'll select an image every day to highlight. Remember: we're on the lookout for shots with interesting backgrounds, cool angles, or original composition. Be sure to read the intro on the main Flickr page for more information and limit your uploading to 5 photos per day.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here

Filed under: Pregnant celebrities, Rumors

For a couple weeks now, rumors have been circulating that the shockingly skinny Nicole Richie might actually be hiding a baby in there. While, given her physique, that certainly seems unlikely, now that the famous-for-nothing celebri-brat is on the hunt for a wedding dress, there's even more reason to believe she's a mom-to-be.

An "informant" for 24Sizzler.com reveals: "She's calling around looking for a dress, and asking stylists for help."

The "lucky" guy, and presumed father of the as-of-yet-unconfirmed mini-Richie is Joel Madden from the band, Good Charlotte. His band isn't performing much in July, which has led to speculations that the wedding might happen as soon as next month.

They'll have to do it soon, in any case. If the rumors are true, whatever super-small wedding dress Richie picks out won't fit for long.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Read the Full Story Here