From the category archives:

Month 1-3

Getting used to having a new baby in the house takes time. Take some baby steps and build your confidence. Here are 25 great activities to try during maternity leave (not all at once, ok?)

A baby book for the BlackBerry set

June 29, 2010

It would indeed be wonderful to have a completed baby book at the end of one’s first year of parenting, but remembering to fill it in as the months go by doesn’t come easily to many of us. This life is fast-paced. If a reminder to do something is not on my precious smart phone, [...]

Read more →

Activity #470: Pick your flix

June 22, 2010

Here’s a fun little activity to squeeze in during naptime this week. This suggestion was excerpted from the book If You Give a Mom a Martini…100 Ways to Find 10 Blissful Minutes for Yourself: Update your Netflix queue–it’s surprisingly relaxing. “Accidentally” delete any movies chosen by your husband that feature Angelina Jolie wearing leather. Intentionally [...]

Read more →

Getting used to having a new baby in the house takes time. Take some baby steps and build your confidence. Here are 25 great activities to try during maternity leave (not all at once, ok?)

Write down your best advice before you forget it

June 7, 2010

Under my bed there is a box of motherhood-related mementos. One of them is a collection of notes I wrote for Heather who was six months behind me in her baby-having time table. I noted when my milk came in, where Julian slept when he came home from the hospital, when he lost his cord [...]

Read more →

Activity #347: Photograph a nasty crying jag

May 17, 2010

Argh! A crying infant. It breaks my heart a little every time… I’m going to give him four minutes and then go in there and let him out of the crib for a while. Ok, but first, I’m going to take his picture. That might piss him off more, but that will work for this [...]

Read more →

Getting used to having a new baby in the house takes time. Take some baby steps and build your confidence. Here are 25 great activities to try during maternity leave (not all at once, ok?)

Activity #84: Smile

April 30, 2010

I have heard — and totally believe — that babies give their first real smiles right when you don’t think you can go another day without one (like you’re starting to joke about how you want to leave junior out by the dumpster, ha ha?). When your baby smiles, praise him and smile back to [...]

Read more →

Activity #11: Photograph every day moments

April 20, 2010

If you’re looking for more photo ideas, we’ve got ‘em: Milestones- smiling, pushing up, reaching for an object, holding a toy Gift outfits- the more ridiculous, the better the picture Where your baby hangs out- the background of your house will also be fun to look back on in 25 years Whitney’s (paying) job sometimes [...]

Read more →

Getting used to having a new baby in the house takes time. Take some baby steps and build your confidence. Here are 25 great activities to try during maternity leave (not all at once, ok?)

Write a “did do” list

April 6, 2010

If you’re getting sick of your “to do” list getting longer and not shorter and wondering where the heck is all your time going, try writing a “did do” list. Share it with your baby-daddy at the end of the day and encourage him to be very impressed. The truth is that your time is [...]

Read more →

Reduce postpartum stress

March 25, 2010

Amongst my memories of high school, some of my fondest are laughing so hard that I cried (mostly in inappropriate situations, such as Psychology class or Yom Kippur services). One of the people who was frequently responsible for this behavior is Alison, pictured below. I was not at all surprised to learn that, as an [...]

Read more →

Getting used to having a new baby in the house takes time. Take some baby steps and build your confidence. Here are 25 great activities to try during maternity leave (not all at once, ok?)

Activity #566: Find out who else is up all night

March 22, 2010

Though it might feel like it, you’re not the only ones up all night. Find the places that are open all night and who will deliver to your home; keep a running and accessible list of nearby pharmacies, grocery stores, take-out joints, etc. and have these numbers readily available. Program these fantastic vendors into your [...]

Read more →

Brace yourself: The zero to ten scale

March 12, 2010

The best advice Ryan and I got during our first days with Julian came from a source that I can no longer remember, perhaps the pediatrician who made rounds in the hospital.  It was this: Babies need to go from 0 to 10 on a daily basis. A sleeping baby is at 0 and may [...]

Read more →

Getting used to having a new baby in the house takes time. Take some baby steps and build your confidence. Here are 25 great activities to try during maternity leave (not all at once, ok?)

Timestamp a monthly baby photo

February 26, 2010

How cute is this series of photos from Hey Jen Renee? She created a printout for each month of her daughter’s first year and took a photo of her baby girl “holding” it. At the end of the year, she printed the twelve photos and placed them in an accordion fold-style photo album so that [...]

Read more →

Parenting trends: muslin swaddling blankets

February 8, 2010

When I first heard of muslin swaddling blankets, my children were already 2 and 5.  And this was just last week. It hurt me to say, “Back when I had babies… ” But I did. Well, anyhow, apparently muslin is they way to go these days.  When Heather asked our readers via Twitter if they [...]

Read more →