Oh Happy Day -- a music giveaway!

I remember the first time I heard a song by Jonny Lang. I was with a group of co-workers in a car going to lunch. (It feels like a million years ago.)

"Oh, this is that guy!" one of them said. "He's 16 years old."

"Sixteen?!" someone else said. "It sounds like he's been smoking and drinking Jack for 40 years."

I was intrigued and had to check him out -- a 16-year-old blues singer. Jonny Lang was popular that year. Since then, JP and I have seen him in concert a couple times. We also ended up buying all of his CDs, including his most recent, a gospel album, Turn Around.

So it wasn't a surprise when I found out Jonny Lang and several other artists have worked with gospel choirs to put together Oh Happy Day: An All-Star Music Celebration, which was given to me to review. But I was surprised to see a few of the others on the list, like 3 Doors Down and Jon Bon Jovi! Michael McDonald, Queen Latifah (who sings the title track), Robert Randolph, Al Green and Joss Stone are also on the album, which includes songs like People Get Ready, This Little Light of Mine and Bob Marley's Redemption Song. Some songs, like Jonny Lang's and Michael McDonald's, are filled with passion and energy, and others -- like Queen Latifah's -- are peaceful and calming songs. All of them are what I like to call feel-good songs! You can listen to the songs here.

If you like gospel or any of the headlining artists, Oh Happy Day is a great addition (oops! I almost typed addiction!) to your collection and can be found at iTunes, Amazon and Walmart.

The nice folks at EMI Music/Vector Recordings who provided the review copy also gave me a copy to give away! If you'd like to win, leave a comment mentioning your favorite gospel song or artist, or your favorite song by one of the headlining artists. I'll pick a winner randomly on Friday.

Update: Random.org chose the number 1, and Chelle was the first commenter, so she wins the CD!

Mothers & Children

Mothers in different parts of the world look different from one another. They raise their children with different expectations and customs. They feed their children different foods. But all mothers share the joy of having a bond with their children. And I believe we all want what is best for our kids.

The new National Geographic book Mothers & Children celebrates this most basic human relationship with photos of moms and their kids from all over the world. We see a mother and her daughter laughing in Suriname, a child sleeping in a sling on his mother's back in Botswana as she submerses herself in water, a mother in Iceland pushing her baby in a pram across the ice and a mom in Indiana breastfeeding her toddler while driving a farm tractor. True to National Geographic's style, all of the photos show real, everyday life -- they're not posed studio portraits -- which is the nature of motherhood, after all. I keep wanting to look at the photos again and again.

Among the rich photos are short essays on mothers as well as quotes like "Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother's secret hope outlives them all." (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

Mothers & Children is a perfect gift book for Mother's Day or for a mom as a new-baby present.

A diaper? A cake? A diaper cake!

Look what came in the mail for me today!



It's a beautiful diaper cake from Diaper Cakewalk! Isn't it pretty? The owner knows I'm not finding out the sex of my baby, so she sent me a gender-neutral diaper cake. Thank you! I'm still sick, so this was a nice highlight in my day.

I've truly never seen diaper cakes up close and personal before, so this was a cool gift to receive. And I can see that it would make a great new baby gift for someone. I am thinking this would be fun for the daughter of a friend who just found out she's expecting her first baby. It would make a cute centerpiece at a baby shower.

Look at the cute bunnies! The top one is a pacifier holder, the middle one is a wrist rattle and the big rabbit on the bottom plays a song when you press its chest.



The diapers are two different sizes of Pampers. Very clever. It's almost too pretty to use!

Bustin' Out Babies giveaway

To celebrate the new year and try to breathe some life into this dusty blog, I thought a giveaway was in order.

That, and I am doing a bit of organizing now that Christmas decorations have been put away and it's time to start fresh. Ahem.

I found the following DVDs that I enjoyed watching but which I no longer need to keep, so I am giving them away. Yes, they are pre-owned. But still very watchable.

The Happiest Baby on the Block

This DVD will show you some tricks for helping babies to calm down or stop crying during that "fourth trimester."

Bringing Baby Home

If you are a new parent and terrified you will break your baby within the hour of getting him or her home, this goes over the basics of baby care. Nothing more, nothing less.

Toolbox for New Dads

A fatherhood expert talks man to man about baby stuff and makes it seem less mystifying. You can see my review about this DVD here.

I also have a novel, which is brand new and direct from the press:

The Book of Mom

This is the story of a stay-at-home mom who is trying to figure out where her life went and how to find "inward and outward balance."

I'd like to give all of these items as a package to a new parent! It could be yourself, a relative or friend. Just leave a comment and mention who you would give these goodies to. I'll let random.org pick a winner next Monday.

And if you or a blogger you know is expecting or adopting a baby, please check out my Bustin' Out Babies list of bloggers anticipating a joy bundle.

Good luck!

The birthday party that wasn't

On Sunday, we were supposed to have a nice family gathering at a local park to celebrate Fly's 2nd birthday. But it was a no-go.

JP and I went back and forth about the party. Mean ogre of a mother that I am, I didn't want to have a party at all. I felt we had given Fly the best possible birthday he could have wished for. I felt Fly didn't know any better and certainly wasn't expecting to have a party. I felt I really didn't want to spend five hours cleaning my house.

But JP debated me on all those points, plus he threw in extra reasons Fly should have a party.

If you can call it a compromise, JP and I decided to have a low-key party at one of Fly's favorite local parks.

Funny thing is, I ended up doing almost all of the planning.

(How do moms get suckered into stuff like this?!)

JP told me he would take care of buying and mailing the invitations. Calling people on the phone to invite them over just doesn't work in his family.

Days went by. No invitations.

Then Tiny Prints came riding in on a white horse and offered to give me invitations for free!



This is the invitation I would have chosen. But by that time, it was so close to the party, the invitations probably would have arrived after the date I'd reserved the pavilion. So it wouldn't have worked out.

But then Tiny Prints said How about some thank you notes? And I wanted to give them a virtual hug. I couldn't have been happier.

Unless Tiny Prints offered to write the thank you notes for me as well. That would have made me happier. I am a super grateful person, but writing thank-yous is a chore. I guess you could say I have thank you note angst.

Tiny Prints has so many thank you notes to choose from. These are my favorites:


Well, it goes with his name, right?


Fly has now become enamored of anything on wheels.


I just thought this kid was so funny.


These are the thank you notes I decided on because JP made Fly a train table complete with elaborate train track for his 2nd birthday.

JP finally picked up some invitations and sent them out. Four family members said they could come. Then JP's grandma went into the hospital and his parents were afraid she'd need emergency surgery. So we just called the party off.

Do you know how many cupcakes are in my fridge right now? Well, admittedly not as many as there were earlier in the week.... Mmmm....

Anyway, if and when JP's family does give Fly a birthday gift, I will be ready, willing and able to graciously thank them with Fly's own personalized thank you cards.

And someday Fly will be able to write his own thank-yous:


These kids' thank you notes are just genius. Tiny Prints, can you make them for adults?

(Tiny Prints also has fun Christmas cards and photo cards for showing off cute kiddos.)

I don't think we'll have a party do-over for Fly. I'm a bit relieved not to have a party, but I have to admit, I was disappointed when we canceled it.

Next year, we'll just make it extra fun.

A perfect read

My first real job out of college, I worked at an educational publishing company. My division produced a CD-ROM full of reprinted articles and other information for children in elementary and middle school. We cataloged everything by subject and offered educators a guide along with the CD. It was a popular product with libraries and schools across the country. I could go into detail about my job and prove just how big a nerd I am, but how fun would that be?

One of the best parts about this job was that we subscribed to almost every single children’s magazine that was published. There was a large closet that served as our library, and we stored several years’ worth of all these magazines. I tell you, I was an expert on children's magazines.

Basically, it was the perfect job for someone who liked to read. A lot. Like, all day. But at a child’s reading level.

One of our staff’s favorites was the Cricket family of magazines. Cricket magazine is the flagship magazine of Carus Publishing Company. It publishes several magazines for kids, from pre-readers on into high school. For older students, there are magazines on specific subjects like archeology and American history. Everything is well-written and is produced with wonderful art.

I am not kidding when I say our staff fought over who was in charge of reading the Cricket magazines for content. (I read Ladybug, for three- to six-year-olds, and Spider, for six- to nine-year-olds.) I don’t remember if we had permission to reproduce the articles, but even if we didn’t, we couldn’t let that stop our company from funding our subscriptions! Er, I mean, our division’s subscriptions.

Now I have a kiddo of my own. Through the Parent Bloggers Network, the Cricket folks generously gave us a subscription to Babybug (for children up to age three). It's the perfect magazine for someone named Fly! He loves looking at the illustrations, which feature children his own age. Babybug’s stories and rhymes are about subjects Fly can relate to -- or he will in a few years. The current issue includes stories about a child moving from a crib to a bed, and a boy looking around his home for his teddy bear. The words are in large print, making them easier for him to look at. Each issue always has a new story about Kim and Carrots, a stuffed rabbit, as well as poems and simple tales.

Babybug is also the perfect size for little hands to hold. The pages are thick and don’t tear easily. (Fly hasn’t torn one yet!) So it’s really like getting a fun new book for Fly several times a year.

To make Babybug (and all the other Cricket magazines) even better, there are no ads!

Probably almost every parent wants their children to have a love of learning and reading, and I think it has to start young. Providing Fly with eye-catching, age-appropriate books and magazines -- and reading to him -- will help him want to turn to books to learn and to have fun. And if he reads so much that he wants to subscribe to every single children’s magazine there is, I’ll just have to clear out a closet.

Fertile ground

I have made it known to anyone and everyone how much I would love to have another baby. I don't know why I feel so free this time around about sharing my reproductive hopes. It certainly is a conversation starter.

My friend Roo said to me, "You have the first baby for yourself and the second baby for the first baby." At first I thought, Hmm, maybe, but now I don't think so. Part of the reason I think I want another child is I miss Fly's baby days. I want to savor that little-babyness. As a first-time parent, adrenaline would keep me up 20 hours of the day, and I was dizzy from doing things for Fly and learning how to take care of a baby around the clock. I feel -- I hope -- the second time around, I'll be used to all of that doing and I can take more time to just appreciate the miraculous joy bundle. Of course, I would love for Fly to grow up with a sibling, but I also want the baby for me.

So I was interested in reviewing The Tao of Fertility: A Healing Chinese Medicine Program to Prepare Body, Mind and Spirit for New Life for the Parent Bloggers Network. Written by a doctor who specializes in using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) to help women overcome infertility, the book in general recommends overall health as a way to prepare the body for growing a baby. I don't have infertility issues -- at least not that I know of -- but I enjoyed reading what author Dr. Daosing Ni had to say about fertility and health. Throughout the book, Ni illustrates what TCM has done for women trying to have a baby. These individual women's stories are at times frustrating and heartbreaking. Many turned to "Dr. Dao" as a last resort, after years of trying everything else. Most of them found success with his regimen of healthy diet, moderate exercise, stress reduction -- all common sense -- but also herbs and acupuncture.

Although I don't share the same problems as the women in the book, I do share one important commonality: age. It's harder to conceive after 35. It seemed all of Dr. Dao's patients were in their 30s and 40s. He has good news about this -- well, it seemed like good news to me -- that good health has a positive effect on your eggs. Even a twentysomething can damage her fertility with an unhealthy lifestyle, he points out.

The Tao of Fertility includes a questionnaire to find your "fertility map," a 28-day fertility program featuring a healthy diet (with recipes!) and self-acupressure, a discussion of how acupuncture works and a special section on specific infertility problems.

If the recommended six months go by and I am still not pregnant -- some women do experience secondary infertility -- I would certainly look at TCM as one of my options. In the meantime, after reading this book, I'm definitely going to try to eat better and invest more energy into my overall health.

Rookie moms make good

It's not every day that a mom blogger turns her blog into a book -- a real, on-the-bookstore-shelf published book. Heather Gibbs Flett and Whitney Moss of Rookie Moms -- a blog I've been reading for a good while now -- have done just that! When "one of us" gets a big name, that's a cause for celebration. So....

All hail the Rookie Moms! Way to go!

Their book, The Rookie Mom's Handbook: 250 Activities to Do with (And Without!) Your Baby includes many of the tips they came up with for their blog, but also some new ones. Taking moms from birth through the first year, this book gives great ideas of just what to do with that wee one. Reading through the book (I read every page!), it really took me back to when Fly was two months old, seven months old, 11 months old.... And the tips were all right on, as I remember.

In fact, it was one of the Rookie Moms' tips from their blog, which I also found in the handbook, that helped me start to get over the anxiety of being a new mom: Tip #79, do the thing that you're afraid to do. They suggest identifying what you're afraid of, then trying to overcome it. I really wish I could remember what it was that was holding me back, but I don't have a great story. All I know is that I took their advice, and now I've forgotten what it was I was so anxious about with Fly! See how much Heather and Whitney have helped me?

I also love tip #156, to paint over any board books you may have received as a gift for your child and make up your own story. I wish I had thought of that one!

The Rookie Mom's Handbook is full of good tips like that. One tip encourages nursing moms to think with their breasts and go ahead and order that item on the menu when they get a tingly feeling. Another tip encourages moms to stay hip with current music. There are tips on baby massage, daddy time, preserving memories of your baby in various crafty ways, and even hosting parties. This book really should be the best new baby shower "it" book!

I was lucky enough to not only get a review copy of the book, but also an extra, so I'd love to give it away to a Rookie Mom or someone who knows a Rookie Mom. Please leave a comment saying you'd like to win the book, and I'll pick a name at random early next week. UPDATE: The random.org die roller came up seven, and Kristi at Interrupted Wanderlust was commenter #7, so she wins! Although as a soon-to-be-mother of three (it's twins!) and Fly's future mom-in-law, I doubt she could be called a rookie. Congrats, Kristi!

Quiet time

Fly doesn't watch much TV. I think everyone needs a little down time, though -- time to relax and be quiet -- especially an active little boy who seldom slows down for anything.

Even book reading is a sport for Fly, as he rapidly turns pages, does motions I invented for certain books and gets up and down off my lap or off the floor to get more and more books for me to read. I have even been known to turn a somersault if the book character does. So I don't want anyone getting the idea that reading is quiet time in my house. Not at 19 months old, anyway.

But Fly will settle down for the Baby Einstein caterpillar that creeps across the screen. He loves Baby Einstein, it turns out. If he is going to watch anything, I think it's good for him to view something educational.

The Baby Einstein folks sent their latest DVD for us to review: Baby's First Sounds, for ages six months and up. It features five main sounds ("ah," "buh," "duh," "ee" and "mm") and provides examples of how to use them -- first in English, then in other languages. It's really fun and, as always, uses the Baby Einstein puppets and bright illustrations throughout the video. We also own the Baby Einstein DVD Language Nursery (which includes several foreign languages), and I think this new video is even better than that one. I would have liked to see real people making these language sounds, but Fly hears -- and sees -- JP and me talk aplenty.

(At last count, Fly says 27 words and makes six sounds that have meaning. For example, he can say dog and bark, and he can say duck and quack, and he knows the connection between those animals and the sounds they make. He can also recite the alphabet to E. I just had to brag a little!)

Baby's First Sounds is a fun video -- and a nice half-hour of rare quiet time.

Maybe life really is a beach

Because I've been in a beachy mood, I recently took Fly to the beach.



Typically, people go to the beach to relax. Like the retiree who was sleeping in her beach chair when Fly threw a handful of sand on her and woke her up.

Ohyeshedid.

But when you take a toddler to the beach, it's not very relaxing. The waves weren't a concern -- Fly wasn't too interested in them. Fly eating sand? I'm already over that. It was the constant getting-off-the-beach-towel and running to the under-repair pier (lifeguard: "Hey lady, watch your kid!" as I'm already standing up to go after him), navigating the jellyfish obstacle course on the shore and preventing other beachgoers' beverages from being slurped that made our beach outing exhausting. And keeping Fly away from the mean lifeguard's stand, which Fly was drawn to like a grain of sand to SPF lipgloss.

No, to get any relaxation out of the beach, it's going to be virtual. During our recent stay at a beach house, I started reading Truffles by the Sea, blog-friend Julie Carobini's follow-up to Chocolate Beach. But -- come to think of it -- Truffles wasn't exactly relaxing, either. (But the reading was. I just hardly ever pick up a novel and start reading anymore, sigh....) Chocolate Beach was about Bri Stone, but Truffles tells the tale of her best friend, Gaby Flores, after she loses everything in her apartment to a fire and the contents of her flower shop have been stolen. What else could go wrong? Her car won't start. She gets sued. It's trouble piled up on trouble for poor Gaby.

Fortunately, Gaby's friends and neighbors help her survive and put her business back together. Bri lends Gaby clothing (and a sympathetic ear), and friend Livi helps out in Gaby's flower shop. Gaby's new landlord Jake -- a hunky restaurateur -- leaves her meals even though he's out of town opening restaurants, while Max -- a friend of Bri's husband -- takes Gaby out for romantic dinners and repairs her car for free. New neighbors provide more than enough gossip. But still, Gaby is just scraping by and wonders how she is going to support herself. Going back to her mama isn't an option because she knows her mama would stick it out and make it work, and Gaby should do the same. "Flower girls don't quit," her mama once told her, and those are words Gaby lives by.

Gaby keeps telling herself this is her chance to start fresh. But she still has to take care of herself -- including guarding her heart. She feels herself falling for Max, but her heart races whenever Jake is around. In her early 30s, Gaby dreams about finally having what her friend Bri has: a loving husband and a family.

When Gaby finally gets away by herself for an afternoon to slow down, pray and savor some truffles, she knows the direction she needs to take with her life -- but her heart doesn't catch up until the very (satisfying) end of the novel, on the beach.

Truffles by the Sea is a great continuation of the story of the friendship between Bri and Gaby -- and the restorative powers of the combination of chocolate and the ocean!

If only chocolate didn't melt, maybe that's what would have made my day on the beach with Fly a little more relaxing....

Learning and living through strengths

It might have started as a way to keep track of how much Fly nursed and how much he slept as a newborn -- yeah, I think that was it.

Then it evolved as a way to fill in the first year baby calendar I got as a gift at a shower.

After the first year was over, I still made notes about him in a computer file. Every week for the first six months, I cataloged Fly -- his first smile, when he sat up, crawled, walked, what he liked to eat, what his daily routine was like, which toys he enjoyed playing with. Then I went monthly with those details. I still like to write down when he learns new words or understands something new!

I know, I know, it sounds a little anal. But from month to month, I can see how he is growing and changing. The person he is today won't be here again. And I know it's so easy to forget the little details moms cherish....

I am keeping track of Fly's growth and traits, and this will eventually help him discover his strengths, it turns out, after reading Your Child's Strengths: Discover Them, Develop Them, Use Them by Jenifer Fox. She actually recommends keeping a record of your child's preferences, activities he enjoys, tendencies, quirks and personality traits because they will help uncover strengths.

Fox's book takes a look at the ways many students are shortchanged in their education because our typical education system is set up to focus on a student's weaknesses, not her strengths. For Fox, strengths aren't talents or skills, but something that makes you feel strong when you're doing it -- and that is the key to learning and to living.

What she says makes a lot of sense, really. Do you remember the scene in Pretty Woman when Julia Roberts tells Richard Gere that the bad stuff people say about you is easier to believe than the good? Fox makes a similar point in many places throughout the book, including her own experience as a student, giving anecdotes about students who were having problems in school because their strengths weren't being recognized.

Most of Your Child's Strengths seems to focus on children who are already in school -- this is a book about education, after all -- but there are some sections that mention things parents of very young children can do to help their kids find their strengths, like family traditions and rituals that help kids form memories and projecting a positive attitude yourself as a model for your child.

This is a book I'm going to hold onto and read again when Fly is ready for school. I will need a refresher on the three kinds of strengths (activity, learning and relationship), and I will use the workbook in the back to help uncover those strengths.

One of the things I loved best from the book: "Knowing your own strengths will help your children understand theirs.... You will teach your child how to live a full life by living one yourself."

Sounds like something that is more caught than taught.

Songs that stick in your head

There's a song that's been stuck in my head for weeks now -- but it's a good thing. The funny part is, it's from a children's music album for Fly called That Baby CD. The Happiness Runs/Circle Game medley is so fun and sweet that I find myself singing it all the time.

That Baby CD -- and the corresponding video That Baby DVD -- is a great concept for children's music. (I would know, because Fly has a stack of music a foot high already.) I reviewed the CD and DVD as part of the Parent Bloggers Network, and I confess it's my favorite thing to review so far! I love how the creators have updated regular popular music for kids, including Brass in Pocket by the Pretenders (when it comes on, I pretend I'm Chrissie Hynde), These Are the Days by 10,000 Maniacs, Three Little Birds by Bob Marley and Anything Is Possible by Jonny Lang. The DVD has several of the songs set to video of children playing, which is fun for Fly to watch. What I really like about the DVD is each song uses a different artistic style in the video -- it could be a cartoon, live action or simple animation. You can view part of the DVD here.

The best part of the CD and DVD is these are songs Fly can grow up with. His lullaby music will eventually be tossed aside (sob!), but That Baby CD will stay in rotation for a while to come. I imagine Fly learning to sing the songs and getting them stuck in his head just like me!

If you want to order the CD or DVD, you can use the discount code PBN to get 20% off! There's a no-questions-asked money-back guarantee, and you can get a lifetime replacement on your DVD and/or CD.

It's Christmas Movie time

Holiday movies really get me in the Christmas spirit. Maybe it goes back to my deprived childhood, when my family owned a simple television with antennae because cable hadn't been invented yet -- and neither had DVD or even videotape players -- and the only time to watch holiday movies like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer or Frosty the Snowman was whenever the networks decided to air them. (I can imagine the future conversation with Fly: "But why can't I have a DVD player in the car?" "When I was your age, we had to watch fuzzy shows, on the floor of the living room, at the mercy of scheduled programming, once a year only, and we were grateful for it!")

I can also thank my childhood for fond memories of Winnie the Pooh. I had a well-loved Pooh teddy bear and a Pooh-themed room until I was 12. (My stepmother wasn't into changing decor frequently.)

Just like TV, Pooh has changed a lot since then, and so have the rest of his friends. Christopher Robin doesn't exist anymore; he seems to have been replaced by a spunky red-haired girl named Darby. This might be sacrilege, but the much-improved animation and catchy new songs make up for it. I know all this because Fly and I watched the latest Pooh movie, the My Friends Tigger & Pooh Super Sleuth Christmas Movie.

In the movie (just as in the Disney series), Pooh, Tigger and Darby form the Super Sleuths, who solve mysteries and try to figure out strange things that happen in the Hundred-Acre Wood. This time, it's Christmas Eve, and a young reindeer named Holly gets lost trying to find Santa's magic bag full of gifts, which was dropped during a practice run with all the reindeer and sleigh. If Santa doesn't get back his magic bag, Christmas present delivery will be canceled! The Super Sleuths (along with the other Pooh characters Piglet, Rabbit, Eeyore, Roo and Lumpy, and Darby's dog, Buster) have to find Santa's bag and take it to the North Pole in time for him to deliver Christmas presents. Along the way, some of Pooh's friends are able to get their Christmas wishes come true.

The DVD also comes with two episodes of My Friends Tigger & Pooh -- one for winter and one for spring -- and a game.

The Disney folks who provided the DVD for me to review also gave me one to give away! I'll randomly give away one copy of the My Friends Tigger & Pooh Super Sleuth Christmas Movie the day after my birthday to anyone who leaves a comment here about their favorite holiday movie. Update: Congratulations to Groovy Old Lady of Groovy's Ruminations for being the random winner!

"I love you" books

Some great folks sent me the book I Love You More by Laura Duksta to review it. They told me it was a unique, special book written by a woman with a special story of her own. I thought the promo was nice and all, but when I read Fly the book, I was truly impressed. (I think Fly was, too.)



I Love You More is really a sweet picture book. It has a good message told in a fun way, and the childlike pictures are extremely colorful -- which Fly loves. The pages and the words on the pages are big (unlike with some picture books that have small text), so when Fly learns to read, he won't have a problem reading this book himself.

But the best part of this book is, well, it's reversible! First, you read the mother's point of view of how she loves her child. Then you flip the book completely over and read from the child's point of view. Very cool. I have never seen a book like this before!

I Love You More is a great book to have, and it reminded me Fly has two other books with "I love you" in the title:



JP gave me Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney on Valentine's Day when I was still pregnant with Fly. JP and I took turns reading the pages that night. It's a wonderful story, and although it's too long for Fly's attention span now, I just know it will be a bedtime standard in a couple years. It's a newish book, but it's already a classic.



Another book -- Fly's second favorite, after Hippos Go Berserk by Sandra Boynton -- is I Love You Through and Through by Bernadette Rossetti Shustak. When Fly wants me to read to him, he finds this book and throws it on the floor in front of me (nice hint, huh?). While I read, he points to some of the pictures and smiles at some parts. I think Fly mostly loves the motions I do while I read the story, like touching his nose.

Do you have a favorite I love you book?

Odds and ends and giveaways

Last month, I invited anyone who wanted to join in the catalog fun to blog about the overabundance of catalogs they get. And only Kristi from Interrupted Wanderlust played along. Her catalog post is way funny. And did you know she also has a fabulous blog about cooking for babies and toddlers? (BTW, you can sign up here to get rid of unwanted catalogs.)

Then back in August, I posted a review of the Little Einstein's DVD Rocket's Firebird Rescue. Well, I just got two more copies in the mail for some reason! So I'm giving them to you. Just leave a comment here, and I'll randomly.org pick winners over the weekend. (Update: Congratulations to winners Awesome Mom and Stacey, who got picked by Random.org!)

- - - - -

I was a teenager when Baby Jessica fell down a well and created a media stir as the nation prayed and watched as she was rescued. Now, Jessica is 21 years old and in the news because she's supposed to be collecting the cool million in money that people donated to her. She is a mother. To a kid who is Fly's age. But Jessica's parents are practically my age. Do I need to tell you how old this makes me feel to know I could be a grandmother but instead I have a toddler?!

Speaking of feeling old ... is it still considered trichotillomania if you pull only the gray hairs out of your head?

Unlingual

People tell me boys generally are slower than girls when it comes to developing language skills. (And boys are supposedly slower to potty train, too.) Please tell me there are exceptions to these rules.

Fly is a smart cookie and says a few words now, but sometimes I still worry he'll be a gangly teenager pointing and grunting at the fridge instead of saying, "Hey ma, we're outta milk."

For example, Fly still puts everything in his mouth. Including our shoes. After saying NO for the eleventy-millionth time, I started going "PBBBBBFFFT!" any time he wanted to chew on something gross. To my surprise, after only a couple days of "PBBBBBFFFT!" he started doing it too. So now when he sees a shoe, Fly first goes "PBBBBBFFFT!" and then eats the shoe.

How is saying "PBBBBBFFFT!" easier than, say, making the Baby Sign for "drink?" I'm a little disappointed that I've been doing Baby Signs with him for nine months now, and he still won't sign with me.

But I press on. Not only am I continuing to do Baby Signs with Fly, but I also read to him. (I try to get him a new book every month, and I leave books out where he can look through them.)

There's something else in my arsenal of language teaching skills: the new Phonics 4 Babies DVD, Baby's First Words. This DVD is hosted by Mallory Lewis (the daughter of Shari Lewis, the famous puppeteer many people remember with cute little Lambchop) and her baby bug, a "Tummy Tot" caterpillar named Giggles. The DVD says it will "unleash the genius" in my child and "jumpstart early language development." Aha! Fly could learn 300 words. ("PBBBBBFFFT!" makes 301.)

Mallory Lewis, Giggles and the other Tummy Tots sing really catchy songs and play word games. One of the games Lewis plays several times throughout the DVD is Can You See It? It shows three items on the screen, and Lewis asks kids to find each item as she names it. This is a good game, but many times the three items have nothing to do with one another -- there's no theme. (One time, the game displays a coat, a mother and a fish.) Other times, though, the items do have a common theme, such as they all start with the same letter.

The DVD makes fun use of music, puppets, animation and real children. Lewis is an excellent performer, too.

Overall, Baby's First Words is a fun DVD to have and is certainly more educational for Fly to watch than even most PBS TV shows, but I think it's mislabeled and is really for an older toddler than Fly (now 13 months). I'll still watch the DVD with him, though -- because I know he's capable of more than "PBBBBBFFFT!"

A Parent Bloggers Network review

Free Shoes

Got your attention?!

Can you believe there’s a company that’s giving away 50 pairs of shoes every day until October 25?! Ryka is also giving away 50 tees, too. Please, do yourself a favor and sign up here. A hundred chances to win every day -- someone has to win! You would love these shoes and tees, too, because they are made just for women.

I was lucky enough to try out the MC2 Walk from Ryka. They are perfect for me, because every evening after dinner, JP and I take Fly for a walk around our neighborhood.








These are truly the most comfortable athletic shoes I’ve ever worn.

Little black book tell-all

Fashion quiz time! See how many of these statements you agree with.

1.) "I hardly bought any maternity wear ... instead, I just wore a lot of loose, comfortable jersey and cotton dresses, long tanks and tees, and bought jeans a few sizes too large for me normally and wore them low."--supermodel Heidi Klum (who strutted on the Victoria's Secret catwalk nine weeks after giving birth)

2.) "[A woman] should exude confidence, charisma; the beauty and style will happen on their own."--designers Domenico Dolce & Stefano Gabbana

3.) "Without a doubt, the most stylish asset that any woman can have is confidence."--designer Donatella Versace

4.) "You should never stand still."--designer John Galliano

5.) "Be comfortable in your own skin. Don't follow trends. Only wear what looks good on you, but update it. Rock whatever you wear and smile, honey, smile!"--supermodel Iman

6.) "A woman is stylish no matter what she wears if she is comfortable in her own skin. I love when a woman is uncontrived and simple with a sense of inner strength."--supermodel Elle MacPherson

7.) "You have to figure out where you are going and what you have to do and then just go for it."--designer Diane von Furstenberg

8.) "Less is more."--designer Carolina Herrera

9.) The hallmarks of good taste are "all in the eye of the beholder."--designer Oscar de la Renta

10.)"Look for your natural inner animal magnetism. Be confident and have fun with fashion."--designer Roberto Cavalli

Whatever you agree with, it really doesn't matter. As many of these quotables point out, style is about being who you are and being an individual. I don't know about you, but I feel off the hook! (Although, I am still laughing over Heidi Klum's maternity wardrobe. And John Galliano's statement about never standing still? That's every single mom in the world!)

All of these fashion celebrities and others are in the new book The Little Black Book of Style by Nina Garcia. Garcia is the fashion director at Elle magazine and has also been involved in Project Runway on Bravo. Her little black book is a perfect place to start if you are feeling blah, revamping your wardrobe, looking for some fashion inspiration or in need of a relaxing, fun read. Other than the chats with designers and supermodels, this little black book does have practical advice such as what to wear for certain occasions (how to dress for a first date, for example, but unfortunately not how to dress for a first play date), and also the basic items every woman should have (a little black dress, a classic white shirt, cashmere cardigan or turtleneck, trench coat, jeans, a man's classic watch, diamonds, ballet flats, classic high-heeled pumps and a great bag). There are also tips on how to edit your wardrobe, choose accessories, how to find a good tailor and most importantly, how not to become a fashion victim! There's a fun guide to fashion by decade over the past century. All of it is enhanced by wonderful illustrations of fashion characters in every possible style of dress.

Basically, I love this book because it points out style isn't just for rich, skinny people. If you have confidence, you will look good in anything -- even a mom uniform worn while never standing still.

Russian to the rescue

This week, Fly and I took a trip to Russia with the Little Einsteins in the new DVD Rocket's Firebird Rescue. Really! The movie puts together several components of Russian culture -- especially music, our favorite -- along with some magic to create an entertaining, but educational, DVD. Rocket and characters Leo, June, Quincy and Annie travel to Russia to free the musical firebird (from Igor Stravinsky's ballet) so music can be heard across the land once more. Every story has a villain, though, and here it's an ogre in the form of one of those Russian nested matryoshka dolls. He hates music and uses magic to keep the Little Einsteins from getting to the firebird every chance he gets.

Rather than being just a regular movie that you zone out and watch, the Little Einsteins are interactive, talking directly to viewers -- asking you to sing or clap or answer a question. That would definitely engage an older toddler or a preschooler! Even though I think Fly is a toddler now, he is still a little too young for the Little Einsteins. But the colorful, music-filled DVD held his interest for a while. (For the record, I don't let Fly watch a lot of TV or DVDs, but I think once in a while is fine.) While I love the interactivity and focus on music, I thought some of Rocket's Firebird Rescue was a little advanced for most toddlers or preschoolers -- like when one character describes a Russian building as "so Byzantine." (Then again, maybe you have your own Little Einstein who rolls the names of architectural styles right off the tongue!)

If you want to see some clips of the movie, check out a snowstorm scene and the fun instrument forest scene.

The DVD includes a second fun movie called Rocket Soup. The Little Einsteins have to feed Rocket, and the ingredients to make his special soup come from places all over the world. So not only does Rocket Soup teach nutrition, but geography, too.

The Disney folks provided this DVD for review, and also the DVDs that will be given away next week during Fly's "Growing and Giving" first birthday celebration! Check out Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams and Disney Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Mickey's Treat. Good luck winning!

Toolbox for New Dads

When JP and I were expecting Flybaby, we felt we were on a mission to Do Everything Right. We took a series of prenatal classes at the local hospital. We also took an infant CPR class. We wanted a knock-your-baby-socks-off nursery (which JP did almost single-handedly, and proudly.) And JP brought me roses every month!

JP's co-worker and his wife were also expecting, but it was their second time around. The co-worker recommended JP take yet another class called Daddy Boot Camp. JP never got around to taking that class (probably because he was sanding and varnishing Flybaby's furniture), but I suspect his co-worker filled him in on a lot. Either that, or JP was born knowing how to swaddle and rock a baby to sleep.

Turns out there's a DVD that would have been a great substitute -- even better than a substitute -- for Daddy Boot Camp: Toolbox for New Dads by Armin Brott, who has written lots of books for fathers. This DVD is by a dad, for a dad, and it covers the basics: what babies do (crying, eating including breastfeeding, pooping, sleeping, etc.) and what you can do with a baby (how to interact with your baby).

The best part of the DVD, though is a section called Life with a Baby. Ooh, this is a goody! This is something the classes we took didn't touch. On this DVD, it's man to man: "Hey, brother, things are going to change. Your wife might get the baby blues. She might get depressed. There are going to be intimacy issues. Don't take it personally. You are going to be a dad for the rest of your life." There's also a section on work that offers this golden advice: as a dad, you may be tempted to work more in order to provide more for your family -- but if that means you're gone from your family more, you'll just be adding more stress to your family life, not making things better. I'm happy to say JP has taken this advice to heart.

The DVD has a bonus section that shows how to diaper and swaddle a baby, talks about what to do when "bad things happen" (if your baby is born ill or stillborn) and tells Armin's story of how he came to fill the role of "the dad's dad" in writing so many books ... and now this DVD! For him, necessity was the father of invention. There weren't any books giving dads advice on how to be dads -- so he wrote them.

JP enjoyed the DVD, and I think Fly watched some of it too. (Fly loved the portrait photos that scroll during some of the fatherhood discussions throughout the DVD, especially the photos of dads with their babies!) The title Toolbox for New Dads sure caught JP's attention -- he's all about tools! If you know someone soon to be a dad, this is a great gift.