For Parents Only

As avid fan of Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations on the Travel Channel, I was intrigued when I saw a link to a recent blog post of his titled, "For Parents Only" with a note that the following material was only for parents of small children. Since I fall into that category I kept reading. What I found was funny and all too true account of childrens TV programming.

My children (and me I must admit) love Yo Gabba, Gabba. I mean who wouldn't, with guest appearance by Jack Black, Tondy Hawk and Sugarland. We haven't quite gotten into some of the others such as Wonder Pets and Dora yet.

Snapfish Photo Adventure

What a fun way to capture some summer photos through the eyes of your kids!

From the July Fishfood newsletter:
Play the Snapfish Summer Photo Adventure to earn great prizes while having a blast with your family. Choose from four fun themes, and earn a free 5x7 everyday photobook if you complete all of them!

There are four themes: Beach, Fun around the home, Camping & outdoors, and Theme parks & County Fairs. Each theme has 7 challenge tasks for budding photographers to complete with suggestions for younger and older kids on how to complete the task.

To start your Summer Adventure, go to Snapfish, and either login or create an account.

My favorite baby gear

There was a recent discussion on a CafeMom about mom's favorite baby gear items and I thought I'd come up with my top 10 list of baby/new-mom items I couldn't live without:

1. Double electric breast pump (My fav - Medela Pump-in-style)
2. Baby carrier (My favs - HugaMonkey sling, Moby Wrap)
3. Travel system (My fav - Graco)
   
4. Pack -n- Play
5. Swing
6. Bouncy seat
7. Food mill or food processor - a must for making homemade baby food
   
8. SwaddleMe blankets
9. OxyClean - this has saved many an outfit
   
10. Healthy Care Booster Seat - this is super portable and a great travel item

What are you favorite baby gear items?

Who knew I was a lactivist?

So the other day another mom that I know from a local mom's group was at a local rec center with her children at their "indoor park" that they offer twice a week. She was breastfeeding her youngest child while the older child played. After she finished feeding her daughter a director for the rec center approached her and asked her to in the future either cover up more, or nurse her child in the locker room or bathroom.

Well to make a long story shorter, today a nurse-in was staged at the local rec center to show support for her and all mothers whether they nurse their children or not. The local media was present and I was interviewed. My interview was the lead story on the 5 o'clock news and other parts of the footage were shown on the noon and 6 o'clock news as well. To view the story, click on the picture to the left.

Breast-feeding is a natural process and one of my favorite things about being a mother. There is nothing sweeter than the milk-drunk look my son gives me after I finish nursing him. I won't get on my soap box too much on the benefits of breast feeding and how we don't ask other people to eat in the bathroom but we ask nursing mothers to feed their children in bathrooms. I didn't really consider myself to be a lactavist before today but I guess I am now.

Here's a link to Tara Thomas's blog as well. She is a anchor for the news station that covered our nurse-in.

Coffee Cuts Stroke Risk in Women

Yay! Another reason I don't have to give up my morning coffee addiction.

WebMD reports in their latest issue of the Women's Health Newsletter that - for people like me who love my morning coffee - it may actually be good for us.

In a recent study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association women who drank 4 cups or more saw a 20% reduced risk, drinking two to three cups reduced risk by 19%.

You can read the whole article here.