From the category archives:

Month 9

Activity #361: Turn your commute into happy time

June 2, 2010

If you work away from home, odds are good that commuting back is a rushed frenzied time. If that’s true, you’re ruining it! This is prime-mama-alone time. Take our advice and savor these tiny moments: If you’re driving a short distance: sing a song that takes you back in time. Really belt it out. If [...]

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Activity #184: Swap your babies

March 19, 2010

Free childcare is a precious thing. I am far too embarrassed to tell you how much money we spend on childcare (beyond preschool) every weekend. If you are willing to put in some time watching other kids, then swapping babies is a great way to get some childcare.  Also known as a babysitting coop, these [...]

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Be selfish, be happy

February 4, 2010

As a mom of five children, Meagan Francis is no rookie. When she launched The Happiest Mom, I invited her to share some of her experience to inspire moms to have more fun during the first years of motherhood. She offers us some tips and reassurance that happy moms put themselves on top of the [...]

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Activity #168: Help a mother out

September 1, 2009

Did you know that government assistance programs like food stamps cannot be used for diapers? Also, food banks don’t stock diapers. This means that mothers without the means to pay for the supply of diapers their babies require may be using dirty diapers for more hours or reusing soiled diapers in order to make their [...]

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5 great scavenger hunts to get you + your baby out of the house

August 12, 2009

If you’re running out of ideas and mommy yoga just isn’t doing it for you today, might I suggest a few great scavenger hunts to shake things up? Grab a diaper (and all that other stuff) and hit the road. Go on an alphabet walk: Take a walk with your baby and your camera. Shoot [...]

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Activity #380: Give advice to people who want it

June 1, 2009

We have to give props to rookie parents Rachel and Clay who came up with Minti.com, a web site that enables the sharing of advice from parents to other parents. You can post advice based on your experience, read advice from other parents, and answer the requests for advice that are posted here. Plus, you [...]

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Take your baby to a grown-up restaurant

May 14, 2009

Whitney and I both love Picante. But sometimes you want to go to a place that feels a little more grown-up. There are fancy restaurants with linen tablecloths and eerie, romantic silence and there are groovy, funky, cool restaurants that make you feel like an adult again while being a sensory treat for your older [...]

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Activity #453: Send a message via diapers

March 6, 2009

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. When I was selecting some posts from ParentHacks to highlight over on SafetyAtHome, I remembered this clever one: Pass secret messages on diapers. The parent/hacker wrote: The other [...]

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Banish your mommy guilt

March 3, 2009

My caring husband bought me the book Mommy Guilt as a not-so-subtle hint for me to lighten up and have more fun. The subtitle, Learn to worry less, focus on what matters most, and raise happier kids, was appealing enough… and my commute and daily visit to the pumping room gave me ample time to [...]

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Activity #146: Create a family photo wall

November 13, 2008

Real grown-ups probably have one of these in their house already. I am just getting started. I started working on my picture wall to help Julian learn his grandparents’ faces. Now I use it to show Scarlett who they are before they come. I suggest assigning this task to family members, both to get it [...]

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Activity #76: Blow bubbles

October 13, 2008

Let’s stay realistic. Bubble blowing is not something that you can build your whole day around, so it’s the type of thing I usually refrain from posting here. But, watching your baby react to bubbles IS pretty fun. So take them with you in your diaper bag and pull them out whenever you need a [...]

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Activity #221: Run Mommy run

April 1, 2008

Before my pregnancy, I trained for triathlons with the half-asses, a subset of Team Bad Ass. Now, I really miss having a training buddy and I use that as my main excuse to not exercise. If you like to run or walk with a partner (and actually want to get back out there), See Mommy [...]

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