Pacifiers that close when they’re dropped and other crazy baby stuff you might actually want
I haven’t had an infant in years so it’s easy to forget that the world of baby stuff keeps on expanding. While looking up something or other on Amazon the other night I stumbled upon the Keep it Kleen Pacifier — aka the pacifier that closes up when it’s dropped.
7 ways motherhood shocked the hell out of me
Full disclosure: I have been a mother for nearly six weeks now. I didn’t think it’d be easy, but when my pregnancy went extremely smoothly I got to thinking that maybe, just maybe, my baby would be easy and being a Mom wouldn’t be too hard. Lo and behold, there are definitely a few things that shocked the hell out of me in both regards.
I feel like Attachment Parenting is detrimental to MY health: how do you define your boundaries?
I had read and read how “happy” attachment parenting babies were. Because they had confidence due to their needs being met, they were “good” babies. They didn’t cry if they were being breastfed on demand. The breast cures all! All articles had photos of smiling moms and babies that made parenting look so easy. I wish I would have come across one article that told the truth: “This isn’t going to be easy.”
I love my friends, but can’t handle their parenting: how to bridge the parenting styles chasm?
I have some couple friends who I adore, cannot stand as parents. I still see both of them all the time, but “family hangouts” almost never happen even though they live nearby and all our kids are the same age. Compared to my parenting style, my friends are neurotic and over-controlling with their kids, and it makes me anxious and exhausted. Sometimes they’ll even try to keep MY kids from doing shit I’m totally fine with, just because it makes them nervous.
A very gigantic age-appropriate gift guide for the adult and child geek(s) in your life
Here are three things I really, really love: holidays, geeky stuff, and gifts. I love giving gifts and receiving gifts and in general just having an awesome time with gifts — especially if they’re remotely geeky in general. Here are some of my favorite things I’ve found online — I felt like I couldn’t possibly pass up the chance to share them with ya! Some are kid-specific, and some are for adults, and some are just… for whoever loves them the most.
Parenting advice I ignored… but now wish I had tried sooner
After getting unsolicited comments from just about everyone you know (and strangers! So fun!), it gets really easy to just start tuning people out — and by people, I mean everyone. Brooke sent me an email saying it might be fun to ask around and find out what parenting advice people have received that actually did work — and it turns out you guys have tons of it.
How a purple fairy helped our son ditch his pacifier for good
I noticed that my son’s addiction and attachment to his binky/pacifier (“smukk”) was starting to become just as much of a security blanket for me and my husband as for himself. We had great plans of keeping it to night — and naptimes only, but often it was brought out during extenuating circumstances like boo-boos, travels, car-rides, transitions times etc. Then it became a fight. We were not consistent about our rules, so the screaming and tantrums would often elicit more willingness to dig it out of the pocket.
Kids are portable
One of the promises that my husband and I made to ourselves when we talked about having children, was that we’d continue to satisfy our desire to travel. We looked forward to carting our future children around the country and around the world. Our 16 month old daughter has taken three trips in her life, […]