Dress up your baby in the worst, ugliest gift outfit and invite over some other poorly dressed babies for a costume party and ugly-clothing contest. Dorky gifts, ratty hand-me-downs, and hopeless mismatches can finally have their day.

Try not to be offended if your idea of cutest-outfit-ever winds up on one of the other models. Cute is completely in the eye of the beholder here.

My younger brother Chad (pictured above) models something from the mid-seventies in the hopes that I won’t offend any of YOU with my idea of ugly. I actually think he’s pretty adorable here anyway.

Take lots of pictures, but be careful who sees them!

This is your 25th challenge. Have you done this yet? Share your story and pictures.

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I used to see 3-year olds around town dressed in wild combinations of stripes, gingham, rainbow tights and superhero capes. I wondered when my baby would look that creative and charming.*

Then it dawned on me and I began to create wild combinations and increase the creativity in my infant’s wardrobe. If your baby is grabbing, he can help pick out his own clothes, just like a willful preschooler.

We start at the bottom and work up:

• Let the baby “choose” from two or three pairs of socks. The idea is that whichever ones he touches (grabbing or sucking is ok too), he wears. You might need to hold them close to his hand if he’s not flapping or waving his hands about.
• Now allow him to pick from two shirts.
• Let him pick pants, hats, and any other accessories.

Now you can brag that baby picked out his own clothes. Good mommy.

* Now that Holden is pushing six, he doesn’t like to be quite as wild in the fashion arena, he prefers sweats every day. Oh well.

Hiking with your baby is easier than you might think. Oh sure, you’ll need to be prepared just like when you go practically anywhere, but the exercise and fresh air are a little bit magical.

Your challenge for this week is to find a pal (or a whole moms’ group), choose an easy hiking trail, put your baby into your favorite carrier, then just go!

Fellow East Bay mom, Dana, reminds us to take the Treehuggers In Training Oath, centered around three “B”s: beverages, blankets and bumcover disposal methods when hitting the hiking trails:

1. I promise to pack beverages – Milk for me [the babe], in whatever form I prefer, and water for mom
2. I promise to never leave the house with out the blanket- on which to sit, with which to cover, and to share
3. I promise to be responsible with my bumcover- Tree Huggers always pack out what they packed in. A ziploc is your friend.

I’m not gonna lie to you. After During my baby’s first hike into the woods, he had a poo’splosion so massive, it required a full change of clothes. Ahh, but those memories are priceless.

This is your sixteenth challenge. How are you doing? Did you complete this challenge? Love it or hate it, tell us how it went:

• Comment below and spill the details.
• Share a picture with us on Facebook.
• Name your destination on Twitter and use hashtag #rookiemoms.
• Or, link in the comments to your own blog post about this challenge.

Not the outdoorsy type? Hit a fabric store or a cafe while your baby is still wee. Trust us.

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?”

This is your twelfth weekly challenge.

Many museums waive admission fees on certain days of the month. Make that your big day.

Rosa reports that SFMoMa was a successful outing. “Both babies were intrigued by the colorful modernist paintings and sculptures,” she brags. “Mommies get to chat and enjoy the art too.”

For our Bay Area mommas, she suggests that you arrive late morning to San Francisco and use the Nordstrom mother’s lounge as home base. There is a great changing/nursing area for comfort and privacy. You can lunch in the mall’s basement food court, Sony Metreon or if the weather permits, eat outside in Yerba Buena Gardens.

Becky in Boston said that her baby Nick was a trooper at the Museum of Fine Arts. “He was patient. After lunch he nursed and went to sleep in the stroller, I pushed him around and looked at art, when he awoke, we looked at art together – I was amazed at what a great day we had together.”

I took Holden to the BAM/PFA here in Berkeley with some other mommy friends and he enjoyed it a lot (which means no screaming fits — yay!). We ate a nice lunch at the little cafe and negotiated tables, strollers, nursing, and crowds. Parking was kind of a pain, so it was nice to have girlfriends to sort out the logistics.

Did you complete this challenge? Love it or hate it, tell us how it went:

• Comment below and spill the details.
• Share a picture with us on Facebook.
• Name your destination on Twitter and use hashtag #rookiemoms.
• Or, link in the comments to your own blog post about this challenge.

The other day Milo fell asleep in his car seat, and I took his picture. Then I put a few props around him and shot a few more. I stopped at a stuffed pig and Whitney called me the under-achiever version of Mila’s Daydreams. (Or a G-rated version of PutStuffOnHerBadMother.com)

Have you already heard about Adele Enerson and her chosen maternity leave hobby? She photographs her daughter Mila’s imagined fantasy life at MilasDaydreams.blogspot.com. Somehow, Mila falls asleep (unswaddled!) and Adele manages to sneak around with folded blankets and a few key props (plates, flowers, an umbrella!) fueled by her vivid imagination (and thousands of website fans) to create amazing photos. Seriously stunning, inspiring, and funny.

The Real Princess Was Yawning by Adele Enersen

I love this Princess and the Pea homage, but see the video and tell my your favorite. My husband went nuts for the space baby.

(Stunning photos by: Mom aka Adele Enersen)
(Music by: Dad aka Lasse Enersen)

Visit MilasDaydreams.blogspot.com to get inspired for your own naptime project. If you do try this at home, please post a link so we can ogle at your efforts too. And maybe I’ll show you Milo daydreaming about his life as a farmer.

I saw this video “How to Be Alone” on my friend Andrea‘s blog and it stuck with me. I like the style and the tone, so there’s that.  But mostly I wanted to share it because I believe loneliness is the aspect of new motherhood that is most surprising. Do you agree?

I thought some of you might enjoy the piece and the encouragement it provides. I’d guess that we all interpret it in our own way.

Do you want to squeeze in some exercise during your day? But also just want to lay around?

While lying on the floor, hold baby above you and rhythmically lower baby to your face, kiss baby’s face all over, and raise baby back up again… I used to like to say “kiss the baby” when I kissed his face so he could build vocabulary while I struggled to regain core strength.

Realize this may not be such a good game to play right after a meal or if your baby has reflux. Trust me.

Rookie mom, Emily, suggested hitting the drive-in movie as a great baby-on-board date night.

The last time I went to a drive-in I was driving cross-country with my pal, Rachel, and we actually watched the movie Twister (in which a drive-in theater is decimated by a tornado). I only wish the drive-ins near Berkeley were still operating!

Emily tells us about taking her two-month old to the movies:

This is perfect for my baby – she falls asleep on the drive there, sleeps through most of the movie, and when she wakes up (and cries), no one can hear her, and I can breastfeed discreetly in the car.

When she is fussy, my husband and I take turns bouncing her on our laps, just trading off every 20 minutes or so. This has allowed us to see all the first-run adult movies.

Oh yeah, and since the sound comes in through our car stereo, we don’t have to worry about loud movies.

For Peninsula moms, there is one in San Jose off Capitol Expressway. Check out DriveinMovie.com to see if the drive-in movie is still alive and well where you live.

We agree with Emily that having a baby DOES NOT mean the end of loving movies.

Related activity: Go to the theater where crying is allowed.

When we first added Goodnight Moon to our bedtime ritual, I thought, “This book is sort of boring.” After a few months, I thought “This book is painfully boring.”

One day, my friend Sunny said, “I see new things in that book every time I look at it.”

Um, what?

So I started paying more attention and here are my suggestions to keep your interest level tolerable as you read Goodnight Moon. Maybe it works with other books, too. You’ll have to tell me what you’ve found.

• The bunny is in a different position in bed each time the bed is pictured. Check it out.
• The mouse is in a different location on each page.
• The clocks advance in time as the moon’s position changes.
• How many of the words in this book do you know in another language? Test yourself and brag to your baby. “Luna!” “Cama!” “Conejo!”. No fair if you or your parents are immigrants.
• The light and dark areas of the pages vary. The art is better than I first thought…
• Is this a living room or a bedroom? Or… a studio apartment? Where’s the kitchen? Who made that mush? Think about it.

When you bother to cook, double it and freeze half. Make sure to freeze in portions that you’ll want to use because nothing bums me out faster than trying to defrost the entire basketball-size brick of beef stew because I can’t snap off a portion for me and Alec.

Ideas for meals to cook and freeze:

1. Lasagna
2. Beef Stew
3. Any casserole or masterpiece from your crock pot

The follow-on tip is from parenthacks: remember to schedule and use up the treasure trove of meals in your freezer. And pretty soon, you can make and freeze food for baby too.

You know how everyone wants you to buy green stuff in order to do your part for the Earth? Well, being green is more than just buying more crap we don’t need, it’s also getting our hands dirty planting a garden, annoying your family by turning out the lights when they’re still in the room, and having some fun with the babies in our lives!

1. Go > Outing: Fondle the goodies at the Farmer’s Market; share something yummy to eat or just navigate your way through the aisles looking at big kids.
2. Move > Start raising a treehugger by taking a hike in real nature.
3. Play > Play in a different kind of nursery; enjoy the flowers and butterflies at the garden store, starting a garden is optional.
4. Eat > Project: Make your own baby food; DIY with fresh veggies and fruit is hecka cheap, better for health, and not as hard as you think!
5. Hide in bed > Send your partner out to jog with the baby while you SLEEP or browse eco boutiques online.

I’ll post another day about the bajillion ideas we have for refashioning and upcycling. For now, go have some fun outside and let the ants clean up the crumbs!

Scrounge around for some pictures of you and your mate together from when you first started out dating and wooing. Make a collage and put it on the fridge to remember your pre-baby lives.

It can be as easy as tacking up a few old favorites that have been sitting in a drawer (bungee-jumping, wine tasting, skinny dipping?) or as high-tech as you want.

I did this for our dating-aversary using Kodakgallery.com a few years back and it was a big hit (still on our wall!). If you go this route, you’ll want to pick a square number (4, 9, 25…) to avoid the weird repeat feature. You can use as few as four pictures or as many as a hundred.

Looking for other ideas? Here are 50 Ways to be cheap on Valentine’s Day without looking cheap.