This post is from from my other blog here

Mother Shock: Loving Every (Other) Minute of It is a collection of essays about the first year of mothering, comparing the experience to the culture shock one experiences when travelling to a foreign country. I like the analogy a lot and I think Heather will like it even more since she and Alec [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

My very good friend, Crystal, lives in Chicago as a writer with her wee little son, Harry. Harry is a mere one day younger than Milo and sadly they’ve never met in person. We fully expect that one day they’ll be using Crystals instructions in poker for their own miseducation. Here’s what Crystal has to say [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

A friend of a friend, Missy, who is now known as GearHead Mom told us that she invented a new game for her toddler that she found quite entertaining: Ever since the massive toy recalls have begun, I’ve been a bit more hesitant to pull out Sy’s legos or other plastic boxes of fun. So yesterday [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

Gather some friends together for a BBQ or potluck. The easy thing is that by distributing the responsibilities, you’ll have less to worry about. And more fun all around. Easy rules to a sharing-the-load: Assign jobs and give yourself an easy one. The goal is to keep your butt out of the kitchen [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

I just read this tip in the cute new book Mama Knows Breast: A Beginners Guide to Breastfeeding: What you wore on your way up the scale, wear on your way back down. It sounds simple enough, but if you’re still pregnant, do yourself a huge favor and store all your maternity clothes in reverse order [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

Friends without babies love to wear the front carrier. Let them — 6-month olds are heavy! Ask a friend or sibling if they want to “wear the baby” while you are out and about. Look how how happy my friend Doug was in this picture to be wearing my son around. [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

This is an outing for beginners: go to your favorite outdoor breakfast venue. You have about five more months to enjoy cafe culture. For your sake, I hope that some of this includes the warmer months. Once your baby crawls, she will not tolerate your fondness for people watching or spacing out, [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

For those who have kids who eat real food, I wanted to share this web site: SnacksForToddlers.com. For those who have a newborn in the house, you might find it convenient to go back to some basics for snacking. Cheese sticks, apple slices, dried fruit. These are all easy to put into ziploc bags in [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

This one’s especially good if you feel like your living room is already an obstacle course — now it can be on purpose! Set up an obstacle course so your baby can test his mobility skills (crawling, rolling, lurching, flailing, whatever!). Try a couple of pillows, some toys, a plastic bowl, and (to make it really [...]

This post is from from my other blog here

I couldn’t decide if I should title this “Help your kid be cool” or “Make yourself cool”. Either way, this is an activity whose payoff is years and years down the line. I was reading MetroDad (who is hilarious and a fantastic writer, by the way) and saw that he and his wife are buying concert [...]