Babies Gotta Have It

If you are a new or expecting parent, odds are that you’re doing some reading about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, or SIDS. My understanding has always been that SIDS is a bit mysterious. Doctors can recommend steps to sharply decrease the incidence of SIDS, but can’t really explain what causes it.  The good news is that the wicked smart docs at Children’s Hospital Boston have just published new research linking SIDS to low serotonin production in the brainstem. The great news is that this finding may lead to a concrete test to identify babies at high risk for SIDS, bringing us another step closer to eradicating this devastating syndrome.

The CJ Foundation for SIDS has given millions of dollars to support SIDS research and provide public education and awareness about SIDS risk reduction.  As the largest non-governmental funder of programs meeting the needs of the SIDS community, they participated in funding the research cited above. And I am so excited to share with you the CJ Foundation’s new initiative: Sleep in Safety, Grow in Style. According to the SSGS site,

“The CJ Foundation’s Sleep in Safety, Grow in Style campaign
aims to
educate consumers and
raise public awareness about
what constitutes a safe sleep environment for infants.
We will help parents and caregivers learn how to create nurseries with style
and safe sleeping environments for babies that can cost less, be beautiful and
comforting, grow with your child, and most importantly
significantly reduce the risk of SIDS and
other sleep related infant deaths.”

Let’s decorate our babies’ nurseries with an eye toward style and sleep safety! SSGS offers a webpage with Design Safety Tips as well as Sleep Safety Tips. Let me share their list of Sleep Safety Guidelines with you here (check out the site for more detail about each guideline:

• Always lay your baby to sleep face up
• Remove all loose bedding, bumpers, stuffed animals, and pillows from the crib
• Don’t let your baby get too hot
• Control room temperature where baby is sleeping
• Consider using a fan to increase circulation in baby’s room
• Lay your baby to sleep in an approved crib, on a firm-fitting mattress
• Don’t share sleep surfaces
• Don’t smoke while pregnant and never smoke near your infant
• Create a healthy lifestyle for you and your baby
• If possible, breastfeed your baby
• Offer your baby a pacifier at all sleep times
• Put your baby on his or her tummy to play when your baby is awake and supervised
• Share these tips with everyone who cares for your baby

One of my favorite baby and toddler products companies, aden + anais, has partnered with SSGS to promote safe sleep. The CJ Foundation recommends the use of wearable blankets and sleepsacks in place of blankets to keep infants warm while sleeping. Each aden + anais cozy sleeping bag is made of 100% breathable muslin cotton, which allows baby’s body temperature to adjust naturally, reducing the risk of overheating. This time of the year I feel like I am always cold. And I have really turned to sleepsacks and wearable blankets to keep my Little Bean warm and snuggy in the winter months without overheating her to a dangerous degree.  aden + anais sleeping bags are the perfect solution, and the muslin they are made of just gets softer and softer with each wash. I have absolutely observed this with the washcloths I bought on babysteals.com! So what’s the deal with muslin?  This ancient fabric, traditional for swaddling, has an open, loose weave that is breathable and allows air to circulate around your baby.

And their mod, stylish patterns are to die for. No need to sacrifice appearance when you add these wearable blankets to your nursery. They are adorable.  And I’m delighted announce that the great people behind aden + anais are giving one Babies Gotta Have It a sleeping bag of your choice! Want to enter? Read on!

To Enter the aden + anais Giveaway

• MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Browse aden + anais’ selection of stylish cozy sleeping bags.  Come back and leave a comment on this post saying which pattern you would chose if you won. Entering is that easy!
  

***Want extra chances to win? After you have made your first entry as described above, do anything listed below and leave me additional comments for each one letting me know what you did!  Maximum of nine entries per person.

• Follow me on Twitter and Tweet this giveaway  just cut and paste): Win a cozy sleepsack and learn about the CJ Foundation’s SIDS education & awareness efforts @BabiesGottaHavT http://tinyurl.com/ydly8tw
• Become a Fan of aden + anais on Facebook. Click HERE!
• Become a Fan of the CJ Foundation for SIDS on Facebook. Click HERE!
• Blog this giveaway (send me the url so I can enjoy your post!)
• Subscribe to my blog using the button on the left sidebar
• Grab my button and put in on your blog or website! Button code is in the right sidebar. Leave the link in your entry.
• Become a Fan of Babies Gotta Have It on Facebook. Click HERE!
• Email your friends about the giveaway and link to the giveaway post! cc me in the message (babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com)–I promise I will not spam you or your friends. Cross my heart

Your email address will remain private and not be shared with anyone. Giveaway only open to those with U.S.  and Canadian addresses. Must be 18 or older to win. Giveaway begins on Friday February 5th and ends on Monday February 22nd at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time. On Tuesday February 23rd,  Random.org will select the winner,  and I’ll email you immediately. After my daughter called Larry the Cable guy the last time she did a drawing, we have decided to take a little vacation from her choosing the winner. Random.org is in no way as cute and unpredictable as my daughter, but it is much more efficient and does not use any pieces of paper, even recycled ones. I am sure you will understand. Thanks for entering!

Disclosure: aden + anais offered the cozy sleeping bag to the winner of this giveaway at their expense.  Additionally, they gave me a cozy sleeping bag as well for my time and effort in writing the post.  I was not compensated monetarily, and all views and opinions with regard to the product or company itself are my own and were not influenced, nor reviewed, by the company prior to posting.

From time to time lately I look at my dear but irascible twenty-eight month old and miss the snuggly bundle of blankets and gugrling that she was two years ago at this time…

And then I remember the puke.  The copious, voluminous, fountains of egested breast milk that sweet beautiful baby could be.  And even worse, the public puke. Right on your good Anthropologie tee that still looks hot even with the baby weight.  I remember my friend Sarah quoting her pediatrician.  “Spitting up is totally normal.  It isn’t a medical problem.  It’s a laundry problem.”  And when you’re out and about in the world it’s a fashion problem, and a disposal problem.  Sure you can wipe it up with a burp cloth, but then where do you put the sopping stinky cloth?  In your cute new diaper bag?

So the clever couple behind Ready Go Baby decided to address this laundry problem in a really creative and cute way…with a kickin’ name that makes me giggle every time I see it.  Mamas with playgroup upchuck crises–I give you The Puke Purse.

Made in Canada from 100% cotton, the Puke Purse is a cute and reversible towel that is designed to contain your baby’s mess.  When the puke happens, as it inevitably will, simply put your  hand inside the puke purse and wipe up the glop.  Then grab the little ribbon inside the towel, pull it out (thereby turning the purse inside out), close it, and seal with velcro. Voila.  You can drop it in your diaper bag and the mess will stay nicely contained until you get home and toss the whole thing in the washing machine.

Genius.  I totally wish I had one two years ago.

This would make such a great stocking stuffer for the Mama in your life!  And thanks to Colin and Nancy, the mom and dad who developed, own and run Ready Go Baby, I’ve got two to offer!  Win a Puke Purse in either the Pink Butterflies Pattern or Duckies Pattern the Want to enter?  Read on!

To Enter the Puke Purse Giveaway

• MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Swing by Ready Go Baby and browse their selection of baby products.  Come back and tell me which product other than the Puke Purse you’d like to try.  ALSO, tell me if you’d like to win the Duckies or Butterflies pattern!  Two winners will be chosen!  Entering is that easy!
  

***Want extra chances to win? After you have made your first entry as described above, do anything listed below and leave me additional comments for each one letting me know what you did!  Maximum of eight entries per person.

• Follow me on Twitter (click the birdy button on the left to do so easily) and Tweet this giveaway (I’ve even made it easy for you, just cut and paste):  Got a messy baby? Win a Puke Purse from @BabiesGottaHavT! http://tinyurl.com/ykfscoo
• Follow Ready Go Baby on Twitter - just click here!
• Blog this giveaway (send me the url so I can enjoy your post!)
• Subscribe to my blog using the button on the left
• Grab my button and put in on your blog or website! Button code is in the right sidebar. Leave the link in your entry.
• Become a Fan of Babies Gotta Have It on Facebook–just click the link on the left sidebar!
• Email your friends about the giveaway and link to the giveaway post! cc me in the message (babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com)–I promise I will not spam you or your friends. Cross my heart

Your email address will remain private and not be shared with anyone. Giveaway only open to those with U.S.  addresses. Must be 18 or older to win. Giveaway begins on Wednesday December 2nd and ends on Saturday December 12th at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time. On Sunday December 13th,  Random.org will select the winner (I’ll keep running the numbers and the first person choosing each pattern will win), and I’ll email you immediately. After my daughter called Larry the Cable guy the last time she did a drawing, we have decided to take a little vacation from her choosing the winner. Random.org is in no way as cute and unpredictable as my daughter, but it is much more efficient and does not use any pieces of paper, even recycled ones. I am sure you will understand. Thanks for entering!

Disclosure: Ready Go Baby has provided the puke purses to give away to the winner.  I was not compensated in any way for this post. All views and opinions with regard to the product or company itself are my own and were not influenced, nor reviewed, by the company prior to posting.

UPDATE!  We have two winners!  Random.org says “Result:  50” and  “Result:  37” .  Congratulations NGS and Kristen Long! Thanks to everyone who entered!

So it’s Black Friday. I love Black Friday.  Maybe I’m the only one.  But my mother and grandmother and I have always enjoyed a big shopping day on the day after Thanksgiving.  When I was small we went to a wonderful downtown department store called Hess’s in Allentown, PA  (sadly no longer in existence) and dined at a restaurant inside the store!  I remember eating french fries and drinking vanilla cokes while very glamorous models strode by our table wearing clothes you could actually buy right there at Hess’s.  My mother is so committed to Black Friday and the amazing door busters that she once waited in line at 5:30 am to get a free ten dollar gift card…in a wheelchair!  She had broken her leg while hiking and insisted that my brother and I wheel her there in the freezing pre-dawn madness of late November anyway.

But I understand that we may be alone in this view.  I am aware that the mall on the day after Thanksgiving can be something of a nightmare.  I love to shop as much as the next gal, but I do feel that we may be going a wee bit overboard in our holiday purchasing these days.  At least in my family.  My mother also used to say “Well, you know, the Kennedys just write each other poems for Christmas!”  Needless to say, the Kennedy kids probably weren’t really lacking for socks and underwear and Ataris so poems probably were okay by them.  I thought that was a horrible idea at the time.  Now, I start to wonder…

I’ve been on the quest for some gift options that won’t contribute to the stuffification of my tiny apartment and might even give a little bit back to the world.  Now I’m not saying I want to get rid of Christmas presents entirely…but maybe I can pepper in a few greener, more generous, gifts as well.   Want to join me?

Check out Oxfam America Unwrapped.  I totally love this idea and I totally love this site.  Oxfam America is an international relief and development program, dedicated to creating lasting solutions to poverty, hunger and injustice.  Among leading humanitarian organizations, they are unique in that they are completely independent and accept no government money or money from any other sources that would compromise their ability to speak frankly about injustice.  How awesome is that?

So go to Oxfam America Unwrapped, and you can buy gifts that will truly help those who need it most–and still stay within your budget!  For only $12 you can contribute much needed soap to stop the spread of disease and keep a child healthy.  $18 buys a pack of seeds or mosquito nets.  For $20 you can contribute two school uniforms or irrigate a farmers’ fields for two months.  And those are just a few of the gifts available for under $25 (the selection is really super fun and I just have to mention that I’m totally giving my brother manure for Christmas this year).  When you buy a gift from Oxfam Gifts, your recipient gets a card with an image of your specific gift, and your donation profoundly affects the lives of people around  the globe.  Check out the Gifts in Action page on the Oxfam America Unwrapped site to see just how these donations help people in over 100 countries worldwide.

Manure for your little brother.  Chicks for your favorite Chicks.  Yeah, that’s something baby’s definitely gotta have.

Disclaimer: I wrote this review while participating in a blog tour campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Oxfam America Unwrapped and received a credit for a gift on the Oxfam site.

Halloween has come to Cloverleaf Corners.  The folks at International Playthings were kind enough to send us this set of Costume Critters from Calico Critters for the Bean to try out.  Watch the video to see how she liked them.

Tiny hint?  If the Bean’s reaction is any indication, your wee gal with adore the Costume Critters from Calico Critters.  And let me just say, if these had been around when I was little I would have been so into them.  Cute. Fuzzy. Tiny. Collectible.  Little outfits.  And if you want to learn more about Calico Critters, check out this informative video.

And thanks to International Playthings one lucky Babies Gotta Have It reader will win a set of Costume Critters…just in time for Halloween!  Want to enter?  Read on!

To Enter the Calico Critters Costume Critters Giveaway

• MANDATORY ENTRY #1: Check out the Calico Critters website.  Browse, around, and then come back and leave a comment sharing your favorite Calico Critters product.  Entering is that easy!
  

***Want extra chances to win? After you have made your first entry as described above, do anything listed below and leave me additional comments for each one letting me know what you did!  Maximum of seven entries per person.

• Follow me on twitter (click the birdy button on the left to do so easily) and Twitter this giveaway (I’ve even made it easy for you, just cut and paste):  Halloween has come to Cloverleaf Corners. Win a set of Costume Critters from Calico Critters @BabiesGottaHavT http://tinyurl.com/yktgje5
• Blog this giveaway (send me the url so I can enjoy your post!)
• Subscribe to my blog using the button on the left
• Grab my button and put in on your blog or website! Button code is in the right sidebar. Leave the link in your entry.
• Become a Fan of Babies Gotta Have It on Facebook–just click the link on the left sidebar!
• Email your friends about the giveaway and link to the giveaway post! cc me in the message (babiesgottahaveit@gmail.com)–I promise I will not spam you or your friends. Cross my heart

Your email address will remain private and not be shared with anyone. Giveaway only open to those with U.S.  addresses. Must be 18 or older to win. Giveaway begins on Wednesday October 14th and ends on Friday October 23rd at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time. On Saturday October 24th,  Random.org will select the winner I’ll email you immediately. After my daughter called Larry the Cable guy the last time she did a drawing, we have decided to take a little vacation from her choosing the winner. Random.org is in no way as cute and unpredictable as my daughter, but it is much more efficient and does not use any pieces of paper, even recycled ones. I am sure you will understand. Thanks for entering! Disclosure: International Playthings sent me one set of Calico Critters Costume Critters to review.  I was not compensated in any way for this post. All views and opinions with regard to the product or company itself are my own and were not influenced, nor reviewed, by the company prior to posting.

UPDATE: We have a winner!  Random.org says “Result: 11″.  Congratulations Vickie Wurgler!  Thanks for all the entries!

This post is so not about baby products.  It is, however, about Facebook.  And back to school.  And it’s definitely for a good cause.  So stick with me here.

Billy Ray Cyrus (yup, Mr. Achy Breaky, Miley’s Dad, sans mullet, ah how I miss the 80’s, himself) came to NYC on August 20th to announce that he has teamed up with Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and Feeding America to provide lunches to hungry Americans.  And you can help!  All you have to do is visit Facebook.com/hellmanns, create a virtual sandwich (check it out…all will become clear), and Hellmann’s will donate seven lunches to Feeding America.

I mentioned in a previous post how the idea of my baby girl (okay I still know she’s two) eating lunch by herself  like a big girl at preschool next year was enough to send me into conniptions.  But here’s a reality check.  According to Feeding America, one in six children in the U.S. resides in a house that is food insecure and can’t count on having lunch at all.  During the summer, nearly 18 million children lose access to the free and reduced price lunches they receive at school during the school year.   And if we’re talking preschoolers and day care aged kids?  Between 2005 and 2007, on average 3.5 million children under the age of five were food insecure.

So while I’m prepping to pack my Little Bean’s lunch in a green lunch kit and fretting over her beige diet, some Mamas are struggling to provide lunch at all.

All this to say, next time you’re Farkling on Facebook, take a break from your middle school boyfriend’s beach vacation photos, make a sandwich, and help feed a hungry child right here in the USA.

Wanna know what I wore for the first day of high school?  A purple plaid shirt with puffy sleeves, purple corduroys, and my gold “W” necklace.  Back to school time is a memorable time.

My baby girl just turned two.  And I’m already deep in the preschool application process.  Yup.  No Joke.  For the Fall.  Of 2010. School is coming.  For the wee ones and the big ones.  Next year will be our first ever “back to school” season.  I’m not sure what you call “back to school” time when you’re not coming back but going for the very very first time, but we’ll be in it.  And here are the three must haves that my little Bean will not face the day after Labor Day without.

New Shoes.  The Bean will definitely be sporting a new pair of kickers on her first day of preschool. If your wee one is off to preschool or day care this year consider shoes by Stride Rite or New Balance.

Stride Rite is well known for their incredible quality, durability and style, but they recently came out with amazing new shoes for early walkers based on cutting edge research into babies little feet!  Based on their studies, they created “Sensory Response Technology,” designed to optimize the biomechanics of the foot and encourage development of a healthy and natural gait.  Their SRT shoes come with a moisture-wicking lining, multi-directional flexibility, an amazing fit check system (just remove the lining and hold your wee one’s foot up to it–special marks will tell you if it’s time for new shoes), and rounded edges to prevent falls.  The most amazing feature, to me, are the “sensory pods” in the bottoms of the shoes that allow your baby to really feel the ground.  Also reducing falls.  I don’t know about you, but if her shoes can keep my baby from falling down at daycare, I’m all for it.

And if you’re just  looking for some super cute sneaks for fall, consider the new line of New Balance sneakers coming out in October…featuring the Peanuts!  In general, I’m not a fan of slapping cartoon characters on shoes.  But there’s something about the Peanuts characters that’s different to me.  They are classics, and the scenes depicted on these sneaks take me right back to 1980–in a good way.  I’m totally loving the shoes featuring Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin. But you can also get this classic running shoe with scenes from Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving or Christmas.  The shoes come sized for infants, preschool and grade school kids, are constructed with premium materials for comfort and breathability, and feature EVA cushioning in the midsole and heel and a solid rubber outsole for excellent support and durability.

A Lunchbox. OK I had a Charlie’s Angels lunchbox in 1977.  I have no idea where it is. I miss it.  To quote John Mayer (for the second time I believe…what’s up with that?) “whatever happened to my lunchbox?” I have, in general, been so emotional about the idea of my wee little baby (ok I know she’s two) eating lunch at preschool that I have weeded out all the schools that require 3 year olds to eat lunch. Snack she can handle. But lunch…without me?!?  Well, the Citizenpip Soup to Nuts Reuasable Lunch Kit has come close to making me change my mind. I kinda shudder to think abut all the baggies that I threw away(in addition to two, count ‘em, two, retainers)  in the 18 years my mom packed me pb & j, chips, a piece of fruit, and cookies. This super cool lunch kit is better for the environment and quite frankly, awesome.  It comes with: 1 insulated lunch bag with nametag and carabiner that easily attaches to a backpack, 1 stainless steel water bottle, 1 stainless steel insulated food jar, 4 BPA-free airtight food containers, 1 stainless steel fork and spoon set, and 5 100% cotton napkins. Thank you so much Citizenpip for sending one for us to try out and put away for next year.  We got the “Tasty” style and it is adorable.  Looking for a wee kit for your wee tot? All the components are available a la carte as well.  (And just a heads up…be sure to check back in September for a Citizenpip Giveaway!)

Ok, I guess she can have lunch school after all…

A Camera. Because the back to school photo is a definite must have. And if I were a better blogger, I’d have some old grainy photo of me and my brother to post here.  But I don’t.  Want to take that first day of school pic in style? Check out the new smart cameras by Samsung! These seriously tricked out cameras were designed for today’s seriously digital world. The DualView TL225 and TL220 both feature dual LCD screens with one on the front so you can see yourself in that awesome facebook pic you’re trying to take in front of your new minivan.  Also, and get this, these cameras feature a child mode which, when enabled, plays a little clown movie on that front LCD to get your wee one’s attention and up the odds of him actually smiling for the camera.  And want to get that photo to Grandma in a heartbeat?  The Samsung CL65 features Wifi and Bluetooth so you can upload the pics directly–no computer necessary.  Smile! This camera will be available in September…just in time for school.

Who would have thought that sleep could be so complicated? I mean, sure, I often have trouble falling asleep.  And I have always been a night owl.  I can remember sneaking out into the living room and hiding behind the sofa while my parents watched “Roots” because I just wasn’t sleepy.

Should it surprise me, then, that my baby girl stays up jabbering and singing the Elmo theme in her bed…often for hours and hours and hours?  In many ways, she is absolutely my girl.

So when the generous folks at Lilitah offered to send me one of their blankets to try, I leapt at the chance.  What’s so special about Lilitah Blankets?  In their own words:

Lilitah Harmony Symbols and Blankets are precisely designed to lower your stress, help you sleep, and create happiness and contentment.  Science has shown that your unconscious responds to symbols, not words, and Lilitah Harmony Symbols have the ability to enhance, instill, and create feelings of always being safe to experience life,  with the freedom of being who you are, all while developing the courage to move forward.  Lilitah Harmony Symbols help to clear nightmares and create lucid dreaming.

Indeed, Lilitah claims that when your baby is snuggled in one of their blankets, the embroidered symbols will help them feel safe, calm and soothed.  They encourage you to wrap your  newborn in one to be passed from person to person to create a cocoon of safety and warmth around them.  They also claim the blankets help relieve nightmares, contribute to solving sleep problems in children, help speed up healing, and alleviate the effects of jet lag.  My little Bean was sent the gorgeous, plush polka dot “I’m A Big Kid” blanket pictured above.   I have posted about the value of super snuggly blankets for babies and Mamas, and let me just say that this Lilitah blanket is divine.  It has all 12 symbols attractively embroidered on it, and just could not be any more soft, silky, plush and snuggly.  It is, in fact, one of the Berkshire Blankets that I featured in my blanket post. The polka dot pattern is gorgeous and I love it. It is a beautifully made blanket.

The baby blankets Lilitah offers are also exquisite, as you can see. I love this “Waffles Please” design which is embroidered with the symbols for Clearing, Heart and Joy.

So I imagine you’re wondering if this blanket has indeed solved my child’s sleep problems.  Now let me say, that we have had it for the months of June and July.  This blanket is thick and plush and warm.  I haven’t had it in her bed at night, simply because she would swelter and that would not do any of us any good.  I have used it as a receiving blanket after bath time, to sit on and cuddle with as we brush hair and read books and it has contributed to making that pre-bed time ritual soothing, calm, and special for us.  The blanket has been hanging on a chair right next to the baby’s crib while she sleeps, and I have to say, she is still having troubles going down at night.  She does, however, (and in fact always has) sleep nearly twelve hours at night so that’s really nothing to complain about.  I am eager to see how the blanket serves us this winter when she’s actually wrapped up in it.  I’ll let you know.

That said, here’s a little story for you.  Two  nights ago, my friend Rebecca was making us a wonderful dinner in the apartment.  It was sweltering hot, the lights were off in the living room, and the Bean was fritzing a bit, hurling herself into her little foam arm chair and goofing around. Suddenly, with the speed of an Olympic gymnast, she rocketed into the chair, over the stuffed arm, and landed with some force on the hardwood floor, directly on her forehead. She screamed and a freakish goose egg the size of a golf ball appeared on her sweet little forehead. After calls to the doctor and many exams from Doc Hubby, we determined no trip to the ER was necessary.  We woke her up every hour until midnight and she was alert (albeit exhausted) but fine. I, however, was traumatized.  I couldn’t let her sleep alone. But we have no mattress or sofa in her room.  So I spread the Lilitah blanket on the braid rug, plopped down my pillow, and the girl who snuck into the living room to watch “Roots” actually slept for six hours on a hardwood floor. Let me say, that night I was pretty glad to be surrounded by Protection, Joy, Heart, Abundance, Creativity, Gratitude and Receiving.

Almost two years ago a pretty wonderful thing happened to me.

She was born.

Now…she looks like this.

To celebrate The Little Bean’s big number 2, I’m hosting the very first ever

Because out there in the great big world, there are lots of other Mamas and Mamas-to-be welcoming wee little life-changers into your homes.  And I want to say happy birthday to all of your little ones.  Here’s some super cool stuff to enjoy with your babies!

I already have so many wonderful products lined up from all kinds of big and small companies like: Evenflo, Lubies, No Slip Charlie, Baby Dipper, No Throw, Miessence, That Baby DVD, Safety 1st, No Plastic, Happy Babee and Beeyond, Little Journeys Baby World, Bamboo Couture, locoMOmomma, Daddy’s Design, Clorox Green Works, Hanes and more!  One lucky reader is going to win a lot of amazing baby gear!  Look for this giveaway in early August and be sure to enter!

And if any of you have created or sell a must-have baby or toddler product that you’d like to be part of this happiest of birthday baby showers…just email me or tweet me or send me a carrier pigeon.  I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Birthday to all the sweet sweet babies out there!  We love you! Now let’s eat some cake!

It’s about danged time I had my own TV show. Thanks to the fabulous Mae Mason of Mutha Mae, the only blogger I know who has a TV development deal (rock on Mae), I now do.  Or at least, what may be a regular appearance in an online parenting video show that she’s creating, exploring how the experience of parenthood varies drastically simply based on where you live. Cool idea, no?  This is one of, like, one hundred eighty shows that Mae is creating, producing and everything-ing from her home in St. Louis while the folks in Hollywood figure out how best to use her considerable talents.  They are dragging their feet and making shows starring the Octo Mom and lots of blond rich chicks instead. Who exactly do they think is gonna watch this stuff?

So back to me…in my episode, I show you in gory detail the challenges of going grocery shopping with a toddler here in the biggest of apples. Yeah, we don’t have supermarkets. We have bodegas. We don’t have shopping carts with little racecars in the front.  We don’t have shopping carts at all. And how do you get all that food home? You carry it. While you push a stroller. In the sleet and the snow and the freezing rain and the humidity. The entire way. It’s super fun. Check it out.

And thanks Mae. You’re the best.

I like documentaries. Especially when they turn the camera on crazy.  As far as I’m concerned, bring on the wackiness.  The Kids Who Compete in the National Spelling Bee, The Obsessed Scrabble Players, The Dude Who Made His Own Body a Science Project and Lived On McDonald’s Food for a Month.  I can’t get enough of this stuff.  Especially when the sweetness of the people featured, their earnestness and dedication to their insane passion, makes my heart ache just a little bit.

Based upon these criteria I should have loved “Nursery University,” a feature documentary that follows five NYC families on the wild journey to nursery school admissions.

“Nursery University” didn’t make my heart ache a little tiny bit. It gave me a full on coronary.

Now let me say, if you are not facing the prospect of trying to enroll your child in a Manhattan preschool in the next year, you will probably enjoy this movie from start to finish.  And in the moments when I could forget that I’m about to get on this particular train to Crazytown, I TOTALLY dug it.  It’s funny and outrageous and fascinating and heartbreaking.

But it’s also completely insane.  Not the movie.  The New York City preschool admissions scene.  I am embarrassed to say that I actually learned things from this movie. I learned that I will spend the entire morning the day after Labor Day on the phone trying to beat out one million other parents simply for admissions forms. Not admissions. The pieces of paper you fill out to even begin to be considered.  Did I mention my baby is ONE???  She is.

Any parent of young children will get a kick out of this movie, provided he or she does not live in one of the five boroughs. And then congratulate him or herself heartily for choosing to live in a sane, healthy town or city in which you do not need to pay thirty thousand dollars a year for your child to fingerpaint at a preschool that promises to get her into Harvard. Put it on your Netflix queue. Preorder it at Amazon. Just check it out.

“Nursery University.”

Directed by Marc H. Simon. Co-Directed by Matthew Makar.

http://www.nurseryuniversitythemovie.com/