From the category archives:

Geeky

This is what we’re all about, tracking, counting, recording, measuring…

Activity #51: Print baby trading cards

October 13, 2010

Until our first kids turned four, we held a yearly joint birthday party for the babies in my mom’s group, in addition to their own private birthday parties. When they turned two, I volunteered to do favors because the magnets I did the year before were such a hit. The two-year old party favor was [...]

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Activity #590: Make a photo collage of your kids’ different moods

July 7, 2010

Catalog your child’s emotional states and facial expressions in the form of a photo collage. Or the various mental states of your whole family including the pets. Finally, some use for all the drama they’ve been saving for their mama! In this image, Chris selected the 100 best emotional expressions from all members of the [...]

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This is what we’re all about, tracking, counting, recording, measuring…

Date night in: Let’s get cooking!

June 4, 2010

New parents owe themselves date nights. Regular, frequent, child-free nights of enjoying each other’s company. If the kids must be around, I think its fair to dress them up as waiters or maids and have them serve you. When some nice folks at Nintendo offered to send me the Nintendo DSi new game from America’s [...]

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Get the Skinny Scoop

May 24, 2010

When I wrote on our “About Us” page that Heather had spreadsheets for tracking party guests back in the post-college days and then for tracking her baby’s eating habits when he was born, I was not joking.  I am not such an alpha mom myself, but I do appreciate folks who do the number crunching [...]

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This is what we’re all about, tracking, counting, recording, measuring…

Put your Stander-Upper down for a nap

April 15, 2010

Spend a little extra time putting your active monkey down, and see if it pays off. When Julian first started standing in his crib, I was at a loss for how to get him to nap. After listening carefully to Ryan’s procedure for putting him down, I realized I was trying to do it too [...]

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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 [...]

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This is what we’re all about, tracking, counting, recording, measuring…

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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Activity #300: Be in love

February 13, 2010

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 [...]

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This is what we’re all about, tracking, counting, recording, measuring…

Activity #7: Make a list of 50 things you like to do

February 5, 2010

This sounds like a self-help suggestion, but it’s actually really fun and the best part is trading your list with your friends and/or spouse if you can convince them to do it. Heather challenged me to do make a list of 50 things I like to do, and then she went all over-achiever on my [...]

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Activity #315: Collect all the funny faces together

January 5, 2010

I am the first person to delete the blurry pictures and the closed-eyes pictures from my computer. Despite what my MIL might think, I make a strong effort to edit what I share with the world. What about the funny, goofy faces? Do those get chucked out too? Well, how sad. Do yourself a favor [...]

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This is what we’re all about, tracking, counting, recording, measuring…

Desperately seeking 5k training buddies

December 27, 2009

My boys stayed in their matching Christmas jammies all day on Friday. It was a first. We played with new toys and read books until it was time to go to bed again. One benefit is that transitions such as “getting ready in the morning” and “getting ready for bed” are noticeably smoother when nobody [...]

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Activity #147: Take an extra walk

November 27, 2009

Pedometer assignment: double your average steps today. You might have to take an extra walk. Maybe you can take your extra walk by yourself when your partner gets home from work. Yes, you can take a walk in the dark. Stick to well-travelled routes and wear white if you do. You don’t have a pedometer? [...]

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