Whitney ran into my friend Jeanine outside her house. Jeanine was helping her 9-month old daughter, Pepper, touch some furry lavender sticking out from Whitney’s garden, and didn’t realize whose house it was. The girls had been going on a sensory tour of the neighborhood.

Try it yourself to keep the neighborhood walks interesting:

1. Stop and smell the flowers.
2. Lean in so your baby can touch a fuzzy leaf.
3. Look at the bright colors and shadows.
4. Step on crunchy leaves and sticks, rustle paper or candy wrappers (err, I mean Luna Bar).
5. Are you eating or drinking something your baby can share? Squeezable applesauce maybe?

This is your 38th challenge. This baby tour of your block is great preparation for walking with a toddler.

Share your experiences in the comments.

The wonderful thing about an almost-nine-month old is that fabulous head control that just screams “put me in a baby jogger and let’s see how fast this thing can go.”

Thinking about the open road with Daddy

Send your partner out for a short run with the jogging stroller and you can catch up on sleep, phone calls, or reading. Make sure to check with your pediatrician before the first trip for any safety tips. This is your 36th challenge (and you don’t even have to leave your bed)! Love or shove it? Let us know.

I recall the supreme pleasure of sending my husband out for a run with not one baby, but both!! I had a full extra half hour of near-sleep (after loading everyone up and making some mini waffles for the road) and a blissful shower before making pancakes and bacon without anyone crawling up my leg. Yay!

Today’s challenge, your thirtieth, is to discover a family-friendly pub in your area and test it out. Yes, we tried this a few times. Sure, baby Julian made a frat boy of himself and booted the first time. Nobody cared!

You don’t have to compromise on ambiance every time you go out for dinner with your baby. You want a beer after work (or after spending the day alone together), and your baby wants to bang spoons on the table. No problem.

Bars that serve food also service babies. Many of them have noise levels that will enable your family to blend right in. So don’t be afraid: Go to a sports bar or an Irish pub. Pull up a high chair and get rowdy with the rest of the crowd.

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Excerpted from The Rookie Mom’s Handbook. Photo from Greg Neate via flickr.

The challenge for the day is to take advantage of a warm afternoon and feed your family outside; it’s time for a family picnic. It is so much easier to clean up Cheerio crumbs when I can just shake my blanket into the grass and leave the rest to the bugs.

I like to keep it simple by splitting planning duties with friends or just hitting the great outdoors with my lunch and my baby:

• Pack up the requisite baby gear during a naptime.
• Pick up your lunch at a favorite deli or take-out joint. In other words, don’t hurt yourself by cooking if you don’t have to.
• Head to your local park or favorite grassy patch with a blanket.
• Enjoy the first-rate free entertainment of light dancing through the leaves and cold, prickly grass. Watching other kids and dogs rounds out the fun. Holden can just sit there and watch a caterpillar (like for 30 whole seconds).

This is your twenty-eighth weekly challenge! Share your successes, attempts and photos with us here or on facebook.

In theory, my family likes to camp. We celebrated Holden’s first birthday with a camp-out barbecue bash. We camped in a big group when I was pregnant with Milo (pregnant camping is questionable). More often, we fall apart trying to reserve a spot, pack the gear, be healthy, and coordinate with friends.

One solution: Pitch a tent in your own backyard!

Alec reads to baby Holden in the tent

There are many benefits to this modified camping adventure:

• It’s great to do a practice run to see if you and your baby can handle it
• No such thing as forgotten gear
• No traffic or carsickness
• You can cook on your own grill for dinner (with cheater access to a fridge)
• You can bail really easily if needed
• Indoor toilets that are actually pretty clean
• Less laundry and dishes

If you’re so inspired, you can register with the Great American Backyard Campout and plan your night under the stars to coincide with a greater happening to support the National Wildlife Federation on June 25, 2011. Frankly, I think the benefit of being in your own back yard is that you can do it on your own terms and timeline. And even walk to a cafe for brunch!

Related activity: Go camping with a baby (includes kickass gear packing checklist).

Find more fun outdoorsy ideas on Babycenter for Big Day Out.

While Heather was keeping her current pregnancy secret from me, she started paying heightened attention to products for young babies in a way that didn’t tip me off, due to our jobs as “mommy bloggers.” I thought she was just trying to keep up with changing trends and technologies for parents.  When she accepted a Baby Bullet baby food-making machine for review, I did think it was a little weird because it’s the type of thing that takes up space in your house.

It comes with all these awesome accessories, so there’s an element of “How can I resist?” Agreed?

And so we embarked on a collaborative baby food making session to put this thing to the test in my kitchen. Having both made our own baby food in the past (but apparently using different methods) we didn’t really correct each other as we went along, leading to a bunch of assumptions and flawed methods, each of us assuming the other person knew what she was doing.

This moment was the highlight. Heather thought she was about to give a convincing demonstration of how the device is used. I cleaned up my kitchen for the occasion.

Whoops.

Thanks to Baby Bullet for sending their awesome baby food making kit to Heather so that she can feed her baby freshly pureed fruits and veggies. We believe the splattering was user error and not a flaw in the product.

Can she do anything particularly interesting that your adult body can’t do? Your mission is to photograph your baby sucking her toes or sitting in the sink for a bath.

Milestone: Suck toes. Check.

Share your baby’s achievement in the comments.

Take a photo of your baby looking at himself in the mirror. You will not want to use a flash, so open all the blinds to fill the room with natural light.

Stand behind him and try to get both the real baby and the mirror image baby in the frame of your photo.

Um, we have none, so we must turn this over to someone who knows about such things.  A request came in for us to make some recommendations for how to look like you’ve gotten a full night of sleep and haven’t had your skin and hair ravished by monstrous hormonal changes over a long period of months.

Susan Wagner, who normally blogs about fashion, did us the generous favor of responding with tips, grace and humor below, and isn’t she just the best?

Dear Rookie Moms,

I haven’t looked through the RM archives, but I’m wondering if you’ve done a post about post-baby beauty secrets. I’m talking the eye creams for the dark circles, the hair products for the newly limp hair post nursing, the 30-second make-up tricks for moms on the run. I’m sure there are many moms — like me — that could use your wise tips for not looking like a train wreck after two kids!

JK

Ah, the post baby days; nothing is better than bringing that wee little bundle of joy home with you. At least until you look in the mirror. Then maybe it’s not so great.

The first weeks home with a baby (and by “weeks” I mean “months and possibly years,” if we’re being honest) can take a toll on your looks. But it doesn’t have to be that way — there are some simple tricks that anyone can use to look better. Here are my three favorites.

The simplest way to keep yourself looking good is to take care of yourself. Eat right, drink lots of water, get as much sleep as you can, of course — but that’s not the end. Make time to wash your face every day; if your skin is in good shape, you won’t need a full face of make up to look good. Use a gentle face wash; I like Neutrogena’s Fresh Foaming Cleanser, which is gentle enough for any skin type). In the morning, follow up with a light moisturizer with SPF, always. A tinted moisturizer will give you a little color and coverage without any extra effort.

JK asked specifically about eye creams for dark circles. Try an eye cream with caffeine in it; the caffeine constricts the blood vessels around your eyes and reduces puffiness and dark circles. Eating an ounce a day of dark chocolate can also increase the blood flow to your skin and reduce dark circles (yes, really!).

What if you’re taking good care of your skin and yet you’re still looking tired and wan? Here’s my super quick morning secret: skip concealer, which often just highlights the flaws — instead, use a wee concealer brush to apply foundation only where you need it. I use foundation on my eyelids, to even out my skin tone, and under my eyes, for those dark circles; I’ll also apply a wee bit on any blemishes, because who needs that? And that’s it! Set the foundation on your eyes with a little powder; add some mascara and blush and you’re good to go. Seriously.

You don’t need a full face of makeup to take the baby to Gymboree; a few strategically applied products will make you look fresh and awake and pretty. And it will only take five minutes, promise.

JK also asked about post-baby hair; as with skin, take care of basic maintenance. Don’t skip hair cuts — it’s easier to style your hair when it’s healthy and the right length for your style. Plus, a hair cut is an hour to yourself, which is a good thing for everyone. Seriously.

In terms of day-to-day styling, the secret is that less is more. We all know how hard it can be to get a shower every day when you’re caring for a new baby; instead of worrying about washing your hair every day, use a dry shampoo to string your hair along one more day. My friend Sarah James (who is about to be a mom again herself, and who has the best hair ever) recommends Big Sexy Hair Volumizing Dry Shampoo. Spray it in and go. So simple — and so good for your hair, especially in the post-baby days.

And if all else fails, wear big sunglasses and hold the baby out in front of you. No one will even notice your hair or your dark circles. (You know I’m right.)

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Do you have more beauty secrets to share?

Want more of Susan? She can be found at FridayPlaydate.com.

I really love bossing people around organizing easy dinner parties. 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.

Simple rules to sharing the load with a potluck:

• Assign jobs and give yourself an easy one. The goal is to keep your butt out of the kitchen (Unless being in the kitchen is your thing… then delegate childcare to free your hands!)
• Find a good location.
  • Outdoor meals generally mean less clean up before and after. If you choose to dine al fresco, bring plenty of sun protection (hats, sun blocks, tents).
  • Your house means you’ll have all your usual amenities plus a place to put the wee one down for a nap or bed.
  • A friend’s house or yard make it that much easier to cut and run.

This activity is especially great for rookie moms who have well-meaning friends who all want to stop by and visit the baby. Invite them to bring over dinner.

Gone are the days when Alec and I could just go away for a few months with nothing but a pair of backpacks. Traveling with a baby requires more strategery, but this is one of my strengths, so allow me to share a tip:

You do not need to bring it all with you!

Flying with babies is a whole new adventure. And with the new luggage restrictions? Hold me. After a recent trip to Chicago (in which we did not travel light), I discovered that there are many ways to avoid carrying 17 bags, a stroller, a suitcase full of diapers, a carseat and a sleeping place for the baby. Here’s how:

1. Call before you go. If you’re visiting friends or family, can they borrow a bouncy seat and a pack n play for a few days? Does the hotel already provide portacribs? Whitney and I bring our own sheets so the bed will smell like home (and a single sheet packs easier than the whole portible crib).
2. Send stuff ahead. Jet Set Babies and Babies Travel Lite both send ahead kits of diapering and feeding supply “bundles.” You can do it yourself on Drugstore.com or Amazon too.
3. Shop when you get there. Do yourself a favor and carry on one diaper per hour of the flight and toss a few more in your luggage. Then plan to buy ‘em when you get there. On this same trip to Chicago, we only packed about 10 of Holden’s #2 Huggies and the drugstore we went to carried only #1 or #3 (of every single brand!) but we managed.
4. Rent some baby gear. After you’ve exhausted the free options, Traveling Baby Company and The New Parents Guide list many baby equipment renters across the country so you can have a high chair and a bag of toys ready when you get there. If you are traveling without your partner, you might want to consider doing this, as carrying all that crap AND a baby who needs to get changed or fed as soon as you get off the plane is pretty overwhelming.

Now, going to visit grandma doesn’t have to be like camping unless you want it to be.

Anyone else have tips to share about lightening your load when traveling with a baby?

Yesterday while my baby slept, I went around the house and gathered up all my shoes. There were some in my bedroom, some in the hall closet and some under the desk and dining room table. I brought them all into one clear space and laid them out in a grid. My objective? Toss my six least-favorite pairs of shoes.

Setting up the grid was satisfying. I was able to see how many shoes I have in the Sneaker category, Dress Up category and Boots category. It was a revelation and quite a trip down memory lane. I picked the worst shoes in each row and moved them to the toss pile. Then I struggled to come up with two more pairs I can do without. I have two pairs of running shoes and I rarely ever run (tossed the pair with the most miles on them).

Dear Clunky Pink Boots (back row) purchased on Haight Street: Alas, I am too old for you. I will miss you. But probably not too often.

The positive outcome is that I fit my remaining shoes into existing storage containers and I was reminded of some great shoes that I had forgotten about.

Confession #1: When my husband got home and I told him what I had done, he said that I had some shoes in the car as well.

Confession #2: I had 34 pairs of shoes, and I counted my husband’s shoes to make sure I was not insane and he had 34 as well. Now I can gloat about having a more streamlined shoe collection.

Confession #3: I took numerous photos of the grid of shoes. I also color-code my books.

What’s stopping you?

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