My kindergartner is the most prolific artist in the house. Allow me to present to you five from his recent series of monsters and beasts (incredibly adorable until you realize that they’re all holding weapons and shooting poison from their spiky appendages).

I really love all most of what he creates but I can’t possibly store all his artwork. I mean, really, we only have so much wall and shelf space.

Enter the kid art storage app!

I started using Artkive to manage our ever-growing art collection earlier this year at the recommendation of CoolMomTech. It really works for me. I photograph each drawing right into the app and then categorize it by artist, schoolyear, and date. From there, I can make custom digital or printed albums. It also lets me share among circles of his interested art fans.

I’m already grateful to have a place to put sweet little recyclables like this toddler masterpiece from Sawyer; I might feel nostalgic for it if I tossed it out.

Wait. Is that upside-down?

I have heard of other apps worth trying out: Art My Kid Made (check out this review on cnet) and Evernote (which I hear does everything but I haven’t figured it out yet), but I’m pretty satisfied with the features on Artkive.

Find ArtKive for FREE on iTunes.

What’s your strategy for saving and organizing kid art? I’ll share some non-app ideas in another post.

I struggle with figuring out what to wear. Before kids, I didn’t know. And ten years after buying this What Not to Wear book (and gestating three humans) I sure don’t know any better.

So, I’m on a quest to figure out my style along with realistic, affordable ways to get there without shopping. And then I found this blog: My Year of Fabulous!

Wow! Holly is a girl after my own heart and totally doing something about it. After having her three children, she grew tired of dressing like a meth addict every day and came up with a plan (a kind of nutty “one activity for every year of your baby’s first life” kind of plan, but that’s why I love it!).

Each month, she’s going full-force into a new style. This month, she’s knee-deep in American Classic wearing the styles of the preppy and the presidential. January was sexy tough Rock n Roll, February was eclectic Euro Chic, March was Mod, and April was Bohemian. And we don’t know what’s next!

She’s got photos of her different outfits and reflections on how they make her feel. She’s having fun but keeping the goal in mind. And ps she lives on a FARM.

How does she keep it affordable? Read her secret to letting her $500 clothing budget last all year.

I discovered My Year of Fabulous from Ain’t No Mom Jeans.

Giveaway Now Closed—
*Congrats to the winner: Julie S. (entry #13056)

Whitney and I teamed up with some of our favorite bloggers to offer you a totally high-end Canon T4i DSLR Camera 2 Lens Bundle and a funky cool Epiphanie camera bag to carry it around. We all chipped in to buy you a nice present to say Thanks and Happy Mother’s Day and Enjoy Spring and You’re Worth It!

This camera is so much nicer than anything I’ve had my hands on so let me list out the specs for you:

• Canon T4i DSLR Camera with 2 lenses: 18-55mm IS II Lens + 55-250mm IS II Lens
• New 3.0-inch Vari-angle Touch Screen Clear View LCD monitor II (approximately 1,040,000 dots)
• 8GB SDHC Card, Mini HDMI Cable, Hybrid CMOS Sensor, New Digic 5 Image Processor
• Ok, I’m in over my head; learn more about the camera
• the Charlotte camera bag in Metallic Chevron print designed for girls on the go with removable padded dividers to protect your lenses

Please wait patiently for the rafflecopter widget to load. There are dozens of ways to enter, choose your favorites.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holy cow, right?!! It’s about a $1200 value!! Sponsored by the ladies of Boston Mamas, Eat Blog Run, Make and Takes, Mom Generations, No Biggie, Petit Elefant, Pinterest You Are Drunk, Rage Against the Minivan, Rookie Moms, The Happiest Home, This Week for Dinner, and Todays Mama.

Whether it’s for Mother’s Day or just something you want to get yourself, I couldn’t not tell you about my deep and abiding love for these three products. The first one is the cheapest and my most recent infatuation. The second has been wrapped around my loins since Halloween. The final pick has been heating me up for about a year.

Sleeping mask. While at the blissdom conference, I was given this lavender eye mask. It is perfect for the mornings when some little person wakes me up at 4:30am and returns to sleep but now I can’t… also those mid-afternoon pockets of time that would be perfect for a nap but the room is too bright. This thing works. For about $10 it is a sweet little Mother’s Day or new mama gift. Or just buy it for your own self!

This skort by Soybu. I purchased it via Amazon for Halloween in order to be Hermione to my son’s Harry Potter. It arrived as I was leaving for the class parade and party. It is perfect. I’m too modest to wear short skirts in real life, but with the shorts built in, I feel free to ride my bike, play on the floor, and show a little leg. Super comfy (like the yoga pants my husband wishes you would stop wearing) and washable. About $35.

ps Skorts that look like shorts in the back are stupid and are missing the point. There, I said it.

My sincere apologies for showing her flat stomach. This skort looks cute on real people, I promise.

Capresso hot water kettle. As they all do in Europe, use instant hot water to make your morning coffee or evening tea; warm up baby bottles; quickly boil water for pasta; heat baby food pouches; make instant oatmeal; etc. So great! At about $50, it is much cheaper than having an instant-hot installed into your kitchen (like I used to have), but it’s no bargain. That said, I use it constantly and had to tell you about it.

Related: 3 HOT kitchen products I lust.
Do you have any favorite products that you tell all your friends about? Tell me!

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PS Totally not sponsored, but if you purchase through our amazon affiliate links, we will get a few cents and be so grateful.

If all the top parenting experts were your best friends and available in that “call me anytime” way via skype, then your middle-of-the-night feedings might start to look a little bit like KidsintheHouse.com. Worried that you’re holding your baby too much? A top pediatrician will reassure you.

Have questions about if you’re producing enough breastmilk, the right age to potty train, or the secret to making mommy friends? You’ve come to the right place. Kids in the House has created a repository of 8,000 one-minute parenting videos about any topic you could want to know about from hundreds of real parents as well as the pros. Wow, right? And they’re just getting started. Videos are arranged by age of child and you can create your own playlist of favorites to watch now or save for later.

Three videos I liked for rookie moms (coincidentally by pretty blond women):

Bonding with other moms

Finding the right sleep training method for your family

First foods

Whitney and I were completely thrilled and honored to participate in this ambitious project in their Santa Monica studio. The team at Kids in the House prettied us up with makeup and false eyelashes before asking us questions about subjects we wanted to discuss like adjusting to motherhood, making dinner every freaking night, and easy outings with a baby in tow. And after that, we met our friend Asha for a huge lunch then rode a roller coaster before flying home. It was a ton of fun.

We are very pleased with how our own (twenty!) videos turned out and plan to share them over the next few months. In the meantime, I’d love to know your burning parenting questions and whether Kids in the House is a useful addition to your parenting toolkit.

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We received no compensation for our participation in this project. We did get to keep the snazzy new headshots on our site as well as the eyelashes (which fell off).

Fun outing for moms of babies too young to whine: get a free ice cream cone at Ben & Jerry’s on 4/9. Find your nearest location and then go!

As part of a partnership with Philips AVENT, I attended a super amazing event in Los Angeles last month. The Biggest Baby Shower is an expo-style event where attendees pay for tickets to access a beautiful room stuffed to the gills with the stuff a pregnant woman needs to know about in her first year of motherhood. Stylish baby gear and opportunities to win fabulous prizes greeted guests at every turn. I probably said, “Wow!” twenty times.

I was helping the Philips AVENT team introduce their new double electric Comfort Breast Pump to expectant moms; the space we created was an oasis that included free massages and comfy chairs to take a break from walking the floor. We also talked about breasts. I won’t lie: it does get a little awkward to talk breast pumping with a man who is not yet on the other side of the childbirth experience.

The ballroom space offered moms a chance to check out strollers, baby carriers, designer high chairs, and cribs. Resource providers, such as LA baby coach Jenni June, Urban Sitter, and giggle — along with a bajillion cupcake bakeries — were on hand to introduce themselves to the pregnant women and woo them with free samples.

I’m not even kidding you guys, there was a red carpet entrance and a crapload of awesome gift bags.

It was simply adorable to see all the guests sporting their round bellies. Partners walked alongside, carrying bags, dutifully listening to marketing folks explain the features and benefits of all the baby gear.

So what does one say to an expectant rookie mom who has arrived at such an event?

I felt pressure to strike the right tone, to be positive, encouraging, and also useful without being scary. I mean what’s the point of telling someone that childbirth is excruciatingly painful? There’s no way around it. We may as well focus on the cupcakes.

Should I say, “Look, you don’t need all this stuff in advance. The price of your stroller does not reflect your love for your baby.” Or say, “Here are ten things I learned in the first month that I want to pass on to you, ” and risk that she can hardly understand what I’m saying and will come away feeling overwhelmed? Or maybe the startled-looking pregnant woman doesn’t even share my values and will be 100% fine going in another direction without my guidance.

Ignorance is bliss. And so are cupcakes. (Did I mention the cupcakes?)

I am extra cautious when talking to pregnant strangers whom I truly, sincerely want to help. Multiply that by 500. Certain factors impact each woman’s experience of early motherhood, but I can’t guess where a new mom lands on the spectrum without getting to know her better. Here are the obstacles that prevent me from doling out buckets of unsolicited advice:

• Support system. I don’t know how much support she’ll have at home. Is she single? Does her husband travel a lot for work? Will they have hired help? Does her mother live in town?
• Work situation. I don’t know if she’ll be back at work within 6 weeks, 6 months, or ever. One adorable woman I talked to had already given birth. She was wearing her 11-day old in a Baby Bjorn carrier and said she had already worked a few shifts at the restaurant where she was a waitress.
• Shopping preferences. Does buying stuff make her feel good? Some of us like to acquire beautiful things, gadgets, or just get a little head start in providing for the baby to practice feeling like a parent. Some fear spending money on the wrong things or don’t have room for loads of “stuff”. I can’t tell by looking at your belly if you like to shop or hate to shop.

We tried to write The Rookie Mom’s Handbook so that it would speak to all new moms, and it’s challenging to not start every sentence with “if.”

“If you live in an urban area…”

“If you have a flexible work schedule…”

“If you’re bottle feeding…”

“If your baby sleeps in a crib…”

There are so many different variables! Though I post a lot of tips on this website, when I’m in person with a new mom, I’m actually pretty quiet. I mostly listen to what they say and agree with them. I wait for them to ask me specific questions.

If you have five minutes with a first-time mom-to-be, what do you like to tell her?

Note: this same event is coming to San Francisco on April 25, and I’ll be there again to help answer questions about the Philips AVENT comfort pump.

photos: The really good pictures in this post are by photographer Danielle Wang. The rest are from my Instagram account.

Reader Alana shared a terrific tip for keeping an at-home date night creative for less than five bucks:

Head over to the thrift store and buy a few new board games. Play with your partner after your baby goes to bed. Done and done.

Nala’s games were all half off at the thrift store

She added a favorite family recipe of Fettuccine Alfredo to the date. When I try this assignment over the weekend, I plan to add a fancy dessert (I would do anything for Whole Foods’ chocolate cream pie) turning the grand total of the date from about $5 into about $11.

Please share your fun at-home date night ideas with us in the comments!

That’s a pretty bold claim, huh? Well, it’s true. If you follow the exercises and suggestions in the Minimalist Parenting: Enjoy Modern Family Life More by Doing Less book by Christine Koh and Asha Dornfest you will automatically bring more good stuff into your life while avoiding more crap.

Here are a few brief excerpts that I highlighted in my copy of the book:

The goal is actually quite simple: keep or add the stuff that increases the joy, meaning, and connection in your life, and reduce or get rid of the stuff that doesn’t.

The question goes from “How do I fit everything in?” to “What’s most important to fit in?” The beauty of this approach: when you minimalize your schedule, you have a shot at ending most days with the knowledge that you did most of the things that matter.

For me, it is exactly the right book at the right time. As I am rereading through Minimalist Parenting slowly, I’m taking notes on all my favorite parts and lessons like how to de-clutter or shop through the lens of decreasing long-term stress.

Both authors are amazing people that I’m proud to call friends. I met Asha from ParentHacks in 2006 at my very first BlogHer conference and Christine in 2009 after she had already written such nice things about our book. Whitney and I each received an advanced copy of the book and when we sent our feedback, they blurbed us! You’ll have to look pretty closely to find it because many people gushed about it.Oh how this resonates with me: To keep the stuff that increases joy and reduce what doesn’t. But realizing this goal requires Asha and Christine’s gentle coaching, exercises, and examples. Their tone is authentic, encouraging, and above all realistic. I only wish I had this book sooner.

Whitney summarized her take, “Minimalist Parenting is not about following someone else’s plan, but finding the path that works for you. The tips provided by Asha and Christine are not only actionable, but reassuring. Reading this book is liking talking to a friend that understands your challenges and cheers you on.”

Or as I so eloquently said about Minimalist Parenting on twitter:

More unicorns, less donkeys! #gno #MinimalistParenting

— Rookie Moms (@rookiemoms) March 27, 2013

If you’re not capable of reading a book right now, no problem. The authors offer “MinCamp” , a free 14-day dose of their philosophies via email. You’ll make progress toward minimalist parenting in about 5 to 15 minutes a day. If you want to do the deep dive, you can buy the book on Amazon in paperback or on kindle (how minimalist!).

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This love letter was not sponsored.

I’m pleased to present this guest post from our good friend and rookie mom, Karen, who invented her own way to get fit with a baby in the house:

After I gave birth last year, I lost a lot of my baby weight pretty quickly without a huge amount of effort. I did a lot of walking and hiking with baby and continued taking Pilates a couple times a week, plus I nursed around the clock- all of which helped a lot. But I’m still not quite as trim and toned as I want to be. My son reached a big milestone this past weekend: he turned one. I decided that a year was long enough to wait without getting a little more serious about attacking my baby flab. But like pretty much everyone in the world, I’m really busy, don’t have a lot of time to exercise, and find it hard to get motivated.

My solution? The surprise-laden exercise bingo jar! First, I spent a little time googling good exercises to target both post-pregnancy belly and my other bete noire, that flappy underarm flab (or “chicken nuggets” as my Pilates teacher colorfully calls them.) I picked 12 exercises and wrote them down on little slips of paper. I put the target number of sets and reps on each slip as well. Then I put the little papers in a jar in my kitchen. Every day I have to pull out five slips and do whatever they say. This makes it fun because I never know what I’m going to get, and it only takes about 15 minutes to get through all five exercises. Plus, I don’t have to do the most hated exercises every day –side plank, I’m looking at you– or get bored by doing the same routine over and over.

I only picked exercises that required no equipment or equipment I already own (which is one set of weights and one magic circle) Also I only picked exercises you can do in your PJs, since I’m planning to do them on the living room rug right after I wake up each morning. I’m not expecting Jessica Alba results, but I feel great that I’ve come up with a solution that sounds doable and targeted… and maybe even a little bit fun. And I’d REALLY love to kiss those chicken nuggets goodbye before the weather warms up enough for tank tops.

Sample exercises for your jar of surprises (copy/paste/print or hand write like Karen did):

• Alternating arm and leg lifts: 8 count / 2 sets
• Bicycle crunches: 30 count / 2 sets
• Mountain climber: 10 reps / 3 sets
• Scissor kicks: 10 each leg / 3 sets
• Single leg circles: 10 reps / 3 sets
• Magic circle (ooh, where do you put that and for how long?)
• Plank: hold for 15 seconds / 3 sets
• Side plank 10 seconds / 3 sets on each side
• Deep plies 16 reps
• Standing kicks (front then side then back) 10 count each leg / 2 sets
• Cherry pickers (reach high, then put ‘em in the basket): 20 count / 3 sets
• Floor effers: 20 count / 2 sets
• Boxing for 2 minutes with jabs and uppercuts

Suggest more in the comments, ladies, this is a team effort!

Related: Naptime workout ideas, just add technology
[Photos by Karen Merzenich]

If you’re an avid pinner, then you’ve certainly run into the perfect outfit on someone’s board only to click through to a dead link. So sad. I’ve done my very best to make sure these are all current purchasable items as of last night at midnight with the exception of the last one (which was too lovely not to share).

This sheer top from ModCloth is lovely for spring and summer when you have to look a little nice. Pair with a nursing tank.

This slouchy sweatshirt is cozy and so fashionable (for a sweatshirt!) and comes in many colors.

To hide or control your “baby bangs” you can use a cute headband like this one.

We’ll never know why but this shirt we LOVE is still just $6.99 on amazon. Great for pregnant and post-partum ladies. Good quality too.

Find more pretty clothes for the post-partum mama on our post-pregnancy fashion board.

If my closet could magically fill itself with well-fitted (pressed!) clothes that suited my shape and whims without me ever having to set foot into an apparel store, I would be a very happy girl. I hate shopping; I like having cute stuff but not all the picking and sore feet that goes along with it.

I also want all new clothes. Following about eight years of gaining and losing 50 pounds in the name of building my family, I feel like I deserve it. (Money, we will speak of you another day. A girl is allowed to want things.) Realistically, I want to prune out the clothes that don’t suit me and strategically purchase classic pieces I will love. But what? So that’s my dilemma.

Step One: Speed-pinning. I was trying to follow Shana’s method for discovering my personal style by speed-pinning everything I like from any source, but I lost patience and interest around Step Two. (If you have time, you should totally try her process!) I wound up with a board stuffed full of “what I think looks cool” without regard for price or practicality.

So, yeah, it’s a lot more dresses than I wear in real life but it certainly shows a pattern. Ha ha. Patterns.

While creating a visual inspiration board of clothing I like did not make Zooey Deschanel appear on my doorstep with a bag of stuff to try on, the exercise was worthwhile. Here’s how my style Pinterest board has helped me:

1. Remembering what I like. With my style board around, I can be inspired by friends and strangers and not forget those fleeting thoughts. I have a place to save my ideas like “I love these red shoes” or “Must wear more A-line dresses” (this is where Whitney would like to me make a note to self about a brown cardigan that is more current than Y2K. Ha, I love that sweater!). Simply creating a board is the first step toward figuring out what I’d like to add to my wardrobe. I can “me too” with a click of the mouse by repinning my well-dressed friends.
2. Speed up my real life shopping. Shortly after this exercise, I walked into a shop with Whitney and invited the sales person to understand my fashion hopes and dreams and make them come true by flashing my Pinterest iPhone app in her face. Immediately, she could look past my Old Navy jeans and see the kinds of things I really like. She brought me cute stuff while I sat there snacking in the fitting room. Pretty easy and successful. Score.
3. Remove pain from my husband’s holiday shopping. My excellent husband hates shopping so much he makes me look like I love it. But armed with a link to my board, he, too, was able to look around and see what I’m coveting without having to take my girlfriends into a store. Nevermind, he said he didn’t even look at it.

And here’s where I still feel stuck: I work from home, occasionally going to in person meetings and conferences, and ideally on a date with my husband once a week. Yet, I keep pinning 40s-inspired frocks as if I work in a Los Angeles graphic design studio. It’s both too cold and too casual to wear such dresses on a daily basis in my current life. So here’s the challenge I’m now issuing myself: What do I want to wear at 10 am on a Tuesday?

Do I need a separate board for this? A 10 AM Tuesday Pinterest board? What do you normally wear at 10 on a Tuesday? Will you share it with me on Pinterest?