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Beep, beep. When Holden hears my watch sound, he knows it's time to eat. At least I think he does, because he's so dang smart. When he was very new and I was overwhelmed and sleep-deprived and couldn't honestly tell you whether he had eaten 30 minutes ago or 4 hours ago, Alec started timing feedings with his digital watch. If you start the stopwatch setting when you start the feeding, then the "baby clock" will always tell you when baby last ate. When Alec returned to work, I got my own Timex (as purchased ...

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If you are a new parent and don't know about parenthacks.com, get on over there. It offers tons of suggestions from readers with kids of all ages. My recent favorite post on parenthacks was "Pass secret messages on diapers." The parent/hacker wrote: The other day after "school" I was surprised at changing time with a message on J's diaper: "My Last Diaper!" -- a message from one of her teachers that we needed to bring in another batch of diapers. The next day we sent her to school with her replacement diapers and with a response "Have a good day!" -- ...

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You heard me, woman. If it's not happening yet, I'll assume you are terrified, disinterested, or terrified by your own disinterest. Talk to your other mom friends about this. You are not the first person in history to give birth and not be ready to get back in the game after the doctor-prescribed six week waiting period. Talking about it will help you feel normal. It's hard to break this ice on this conversation, so you might try this subtle introduction: "Hey [lifelong friend's name who has a child 11 months older than yours], it's [your name]. I'm calling ...

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Learn a few techniques of infant massage -- its a wonderful time to be quiet and get to know your baby’s developing body. I took a short workshop in baby massage with my mom's group. Only one baby had to leave early for having a melt-down. The Baby Whisperer book has a ten-step plan to great infant massage (that I've used for reference). As long as you start slowly and watch the baby for cues, it can be fun for both of you even if you are making it up as you go. Then you can build up to a longer ...

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Look at my son. He is such a baby supermodel! Look at him! Although I am usually opposed to studio photography, there is something about it that's easy to look at. I guess that's why our parents took us to Kmart for portraits all those years. Your assignment: Take advantage of the free 8x10 portrait offered by the Picture People company on their website. Their style of photography is a step up from the Kmart photos we grew up with. Cheesy or adorable - there is a fine line. And when it comes to your own baby, I'm guessing you'll side with ...

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Over at MuchMoreThanAMom.com, Rylan's mommy challenges us to finish this sentence and share with each other. I'll go first, based on an experience from last week: Real moms wish their kid wasn't sick so that they could go to daycare. Real moms fear they can't handle ten hours at home with their sick kid.

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As I stare down the gun barrel of being alone with one toddler and one newborn while my beloved husband returns to work, I simply don’t know how we’re going to eat dinner anymore. But I think I have it covered for at least one night a week. I’m going to declare next Monday (and [...]

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Most of us are not nearly as crafty as PunkyMoms.com founder Winter Wilsey, but when you see her masterpiece, you'll sure wish you were. Whether your design sensibilities are mid-century modern, European vintagey, or sub-continent Bohemian, you'll have to agree with her: Unless you are a Winnie the Pooh or Disney enthusiast, you are pretty much screwed once you have a kid, as far as acquiring anything for your child to match your punk rock lifestyle. Welcome to your newly decorated home, soon to be littered with non-recyclable, neon red and blue plastic crap. As new punky parents we are ...

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My friend Linda turned me on to this idea and I really don't know how I didn't think of this myself... I came oh-so-close to it. This was me: Why does Holden cry when I need my keys for driving? How come the plastic keys just aren't doing it? Gee, where can I get a set of really good fake keys? I need to throw away some of these keys that I don't know what they open And then like magic today, I learned that baby Amalia also loves keys and she is just as happy with her "fake set" of ...

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Oh yeah! Our friend, Angie, at Baby Cheapskate offers five great tips to save hundreds of dollars on diapers. She estimates that parents will spend over $1500 on diapers before their child is potty trained and hopes these tips will save up to a third of that. Go on, get yourself some cheap diapers. Found on ParentHacks during a night-time feeding.

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WIN THIS BOOK! Send an email with your due date in the subject line to moms @ rookiemoms.com by midnight on Friday March, 30. One person will be randomly selected to receive a free copy of the book. Read my glowing review over on our blog.

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Before I let Andrea tell you how much she liked taking her 18-month old twins to IKEA, I want to mention her new business, little uni. She is selling handmade baby clothes that are simple and sweet, with modern appliques. Her babies Mira and Will are modeling for us in these pictures. Andrea lives [...]

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My old roommate and I used to have an activity that we called "Liberation through Clothing Donation". As much as we hated dealing with cleaning out our closets, we loved the feeling of moving that bag of undesirable clothes out of our bedrooms and dropping it off at the GoodWill. For the past few years, Heather has hosted a Clothing Swap, which enables us to go through each other's bags before hitting the women's shelter where we now donate our clothes. And now I've just learned about the 27-Fling Boogie. This is a phrase that comes from the FlyLady, who ...

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This has got to be one of the fastest projects I've ever done. And this time, I made it for myself. Well, for my new baby; however, since babies don't know what they're wearing, it's truly for me. In short, the instructions go like this: cut a front and back of a hat from the bottom portion of a t-shirt and sew them together. For those who need more details than that, here's the tutorial. 1. Select an appropriate shirt. (This one is going to be too tight for me for longer than I care to think about.) 2. Fold shirt in half length-wise ...

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Fellow parents of newborns, here's a super easy way to make a time capsule that your child will love (some day): Buy disposable camera Take lots of pictures around hospital, home, baby, car, and your life as it is in general Write your name, address, phone, email, today’s date, and the words “Photo Time Capsule! Develop me in a few years” on the camera Throw it in a keepsake box and let time pass. Done and done. This idea brought to you by the good folks at Photojojo.

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Allergic to duckies and bunnies? Feeling too sophisticated or hip to welcome a baby into your home? We have some thoughts for you... and some of 'em are downright cheap. I was wandering around IKEA at about 15 weeks pregnant when I saw a baby's room design that I loved. Mostly it was the stripes on the wall. They were so much fun, and gender neutral. I took a closer look at the wall and saw that IKEA had done me the favor of indicating exactly what paint brand and color they had used. Fast forward two months and I had ...

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A fun suggestion from our friend and fellow rookie mom, Rosa, is to pack yourself up and head into the city for a museum outing. Assume you go to a cocktail party sometime soon. When someone asks what you do, instead of mumbling about maternity leave or bursting into tears when you think about how you can't drink much because you have to nurse every 3 hours and wake up at 6 am, change the subject and say "Have you seen the Rothko show?" Many museums waive admission fees on the first Tuesday of the month. Make that your big day. ...

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We cannot emphasize enough the importance of hanging out with other women who are doing what you’re doing. Swaddling, nursing, trying out bottles, using front carriers, swings – these are some of the things you’ll discuss. But there are also the sensitive issues of body image, careers, and relationships. It’s quite likely that you and your partner are experiencing parenting a little differently. Finding other women with whom you can share your experiences is important. Furthermore, it is an excellent motivator to get you out of the house. Mom’s group outings can give some structure to your week. You will make ...

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