For such a trip, here are a few tips in order to get you organized:

Tip 1: Prepare yourself physically

Especially when you plan to travel alone, be sure that you are in prime physical health when traveling with the baby. You are the most important factor in determining whether your baby is comfortable on the trip or not. Almost surely, you will have to multitask. Trivialities like carrying your own backpack, the baby’s bag, the baby himself and travel necessities will tend to take a toll on you and your physical well-being if you don’t prepare beforehand. Be sure you exercise regularly so you don’t easily tire during the trip itself.

Tip 2: Brief the Infants before the Travel

It’s difficult for infants to instantly change their routine for one trip alone. That is why it is important to slowly ease him in to the rigors of travel. Is he a wriggly and active kind of baby, for instance? Then practice guiding him to be still while you’re carrying him so that you won’t tire too easily or there won’t be any dangers of him wriggling out of your arms during the trip. If you’re planning to use a baby carrier, ease him into that as well. If possible, do test runs with him. Take him on short bus rides or short ferry rides just to break him in and see what his initial reactions are. This way, you are also able to anticipate any mishaps that might occur on that big trip.

Tip 3: Pack his Comfort things

Although you’re sure to be packed already, it would help soothe the baby if he has things he’s comfortable with close by. Some bring a security blanket. Others bring their favorite teddy bear. Still others would bring a pacifier or pictures of loved ones to give the child a feeling of security in the midst of a new environment. You will be surprised how this will be of use in many occasions.

Lastly, don’t forget to have fun with your baby along the way! Point out to him new things that are unique to your travels. Traveling together is a unique bonding experience that is truly priceless, so be sure to make every moment of it count.

Related articles

• Best Products for Traveling with Baby (mamanista.com)
• Have Baby, Will Travel (naturalurbanmama.com)

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If you’ve done any crafts with your kids you know this is not an activity that you can set them up with and leave them unattended – there will be a thousand questions and likely a huge mess if that’s your approach. Taking the time to spend with your child while you work on a craft gives you a chance to have some fun time with them while you step back from the craziness of life for a little while.

So in the spirit of promoting fun with our children, here are a couple of homemade craft ideas you can do with your child:

Keepsake Handprints: You will need Crayola Model Magic, paint and a small bowl or plate. Make a flat shape of your child’s choosing, just make sure it’s bigger than your child’s hand (you can use a bowl as a guide for the shape). Press your child’s hand into the model magic to make an impression, peel it off of their hand and set out flat to dry for 24 hours. After the Model Magic is set you can paint the handprint in your favorite color. Let paint dry and give as a great keepsake gift.

Homemade Sidewalk Paint: This is environmentally friendly, easy to make & inexpensive! You will need ¼ cup cornstarch, ¼ cup cold water and 6 to 8 drops of food coloring. Put the cornstarch in a small plastic bowl and gradually stir in the cold water. Add your desired food coloring and stir. If the paint still feels too dry add a little more water until you get the right consistency. You can make as many colors as your heart desires by repeating the process with different colors. This paint washes off very easily and will not harm plumbing or plants. If you mix it in containers with lids you can keep the leftover paint for next time.

Homemade “Stained Glass” Decorations: You will need good quality wax paper, inexpensive crayons (cheaper quality crayons are actually better for this project!), hand held pencil sharpener, shapes to use as stencils, a hole punch, some ribbon, an old dishtowel and an iron. Fold your wax paper in half, using enough to be able to get multiple shapes from. Using the pencil sharpener, sharpen the crayons all the way down until you have a pile of wax shavings. (Use any color or combination you choose) Scatter the shavings evenly inside the wax paper and fold flat over them. Lay an old dishtowel over the wax paper to protect the surface of your iron, which should be on a high heat setting without steam. Iron the wax paper evenly under the dishtowel until the wax shavings are all melted. Let the paper lie flat until cooled. Using your stencils (you can use cookie cutters too!), outline your shapes on the wax with a pencil and then cut them out. Punch a hole in the top of your pieces and hang it in your window with yarn, ribbon or string.

Please visit the following sites for more great ideas.

http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/crafts-by-age/

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/kids/index.shtml

Related articles

• Stumped Finding Easy Christmas Crafts for Kids That Are Fun? (prweb.com)
• Making Homemade Gifts With Kids Using Broken Crayon Pieces (suite101.com)
• Make Cookie Cutter Crafts (brighthub.com)
• Preschool Crayon Activities for Young Artists (brighthub.com)
• Gobble Gobble: Time for a Thanksgiving Craft Round-Up! (blogher.com)

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Sweatsuit Costumes are the easiest and fastest way to make a costume for your child. With a basic hooded sweatshirt or jacket, matching sweatpants, felt and hot glue gun, you can make just about any animal you can think of and you have the added benefit of dressing your little one warmly. Here are some instructions on how to create a few different animals, once you have the idea
you’ll see you can do anything with this basic beginning:

Lion: Glue yellow felt ears (semi-circles with the flatedgeglued down) to a yellow sweatshirt hood. Glue several brown felt strips around the hood to form a mane. Cut a length & glue to the back of the pants for a tail, using some yarn for the furry tip. Black eyeliner for nose, whiskers.

Puppy: Glue long dark brown felt ears to the sides of a tan sweatshirt hood. Glue dark brown felt spots all over the rest of the hooded sweatshirt and matching tan pants. Black eyeliner for nose & whiskers.

Kitten: Glue folded black felt triangles to the sides of a black sweatshirt hood. Glue a length of felt to the back of a pair of black sweatpants for the tail. Black eyeliner for nose & whiskers.

Skunk: Glue folded black felt triangles to the sides of a black sweatshirt hood. Glue a length of white felt down the back of the sweatshirt. Cut a strip of black felt and after glueing a white stripe of felt down it’s center, glue it to the back of black sweatpants. Black eyeliner for nose & whiskers.

Some other ideas can be made up almost entirely from items you have already have. How about a Princess? Any fancy dress your little one already owns, a chop stick with ribbon glued around it & several more to it’s tip, a headband wrapped in ribbon with any additional flair you’d like to add. Or how about a Cowboy? Jeans, a plaid or demin shirt, bandana and/or cowboy hat. Voila!

For additional ideas, take a look at FAMILYEDUCATION.COM, they have links to dozens of great ideas! (http://fun.familyeducation.com/halloween-costume/halloween/33247.html?detoured=1)

Related articles

• Top 5 Do-It-Yourself Kids Costumes (hellobeautiful.com)
• Greening the Kids’ Halloween Costumes (1800recycling.com)
• DIY Hallowe’en: Swedish Chef (boingboing.net)
• 5 DIY Halloween Costumes Made from Materials You Already Own (treehugger.com)

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Ok..back to reality!

Yes….Jimmy college fund comes to mind, the mortgage, utilities, ugh. I have living in the real world.

With that said, here is our TOP 10 list of what we would love to get for Valentine’s Day:

#1. MAC Book Pro!

Ahhh…the inner geek in my screams for this sleek shiny new machine. I can already imagine my fingers effortlessly gliding across the smooth keyboard building my next web project and planning my world domination! I can just imagine the possibilities – work at the kitchen table, in bed, ahhh the battery life alone is enough to buy this baby!

For a full review of this fabulous lap, check out Gizmodo’s Mac Book Pro Review here.

The Whopping price:  $2,499

#2. Jura-Capresso Impressa S9 One Touch Coffee Center

Ok..so I am not a morning person. I admit it. I can’t even speak before my morning cup of coffee, let alone deal with an uber active 2 1/2 year old’s tantrums and demands. Let’s just say my mental awakenss doesnt start before 2PM.

But I bet this fantastic cappuccino/coffee maker can change that. Even calling it a coffee makes is demeaning.  I’ve had my eye on this for about 6 months now. I cannot wait to get my hands on one! I dream big, what can I tell you?

Whopping Price:  $3,376.95

Yes, yes, we have expensive taste in gifts! Stay tuned for some more exciting luxury Valentine’s Gifts coming up next.

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Here are some ideas for dads on celebrating their baby’s first Valentine’s Day:

1. Dress up your baby: Find your baby an appropriate outfit to mark the occasion. Think of something with cute red hearts all over—the perfect choice for any baby’s first Valentine’s Day.
2. Have a photo session with your baby: Take lots of pictures to keep the memories of this day alive. Let your baby pose with different people amongst your friends and family members, with pets, and in different situations. You can later compile these into a scrapbook and preserve the memories of your baby’s first Valentine’s Day.
3. Prepare a special treat: Serve your baby your love in the form of a tasty treat. Use heart-shaped pans to make your baby some Valentine’s Day cookies or muffins. Serve them as little red hearts with strawberry jam or red sugar crystals. An even easier option is to make your baby some sandwiches and cut them up to resemble little hearts.
4. Give your baby Valentine’s Day popsicles: Here is another novel idea to make your baby’s first Valentine’s Day special. Use heart-shaped molds to make Valentine’s Day popsicles for your baby. Simply freeze fruit and vegetable juices or pulp in the molds with little sticks in them. Give them to your baby to relieve teething pains.
5. Gift your baby a Valentine’s Day basket: Celebrate your baby’s first Valentine’s Day traditionally with a gift basket. You can put some new toys and clothes in it. Also, remember to include something to keep a record of the day, such as a baby handprint kit, or a picture scrapbook.

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Don’t get me wrong! We’ve gone out all together but that is an experience for a different post!

I cannot tell you how refreshing it can be to go out and just enjoy a night out! But it does involve some planning ahead of time and a reliable babysitter. Here is a great post from The Bump with some creative ideas on how to spice up your Valentine’s Day.

Planning ahead is key here!

Gone are the days when you and your partner can jump up and go out to dinner or even a movie. Try to plan in advance either a long lunch from work or even take a day off and enjoy a spa massage, mani-pedi, or even couples’ facials. Anything to break the routine of work, home, diapers, bottles, pumping, feeding, etc.

And even if you stay at home with the baby, it’s still a good idea to prepare in advance, get a babysitter, pump extra milk.

Simple gifts can be appreciated more than store-bought gifts.

I must admit, in those early days with an infant, the opportunity to take a shower and/or a nap, was an absolute luxury. Give your partner a few hours off to do something for themselves or even treat them to a massage, a relaxing bath, a middle of the day nap and a home-made dinner would be an absolute thrill!!

Get adventurous and creative!

From The Bump: Couples therapist and The Nest expert Dr. Ingrid Schweiger of New York City says “Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to make your relationship center stage again.” While a dozen roses, a box of chocolates and a fancy dinner out are all great (and universal) ways to woo your partner, think about what you can change within your own home. “A clean bedroom, a made bed, some candles and soft music is pretty romantic when you’re used to diapers, bottles, piles of laundry and dirty dishes,” says Blumencranz. Once baby goes down for the night (or for a couple of hours) uncork the wine and whip out the china—even if it’s just takeout or pasta on the fancy ware, the ambiance is key. Bonus points if you take the time to cut out little hearts from construction paper and sprinkle them on the table when your partner isn’t looking. And remember, says Blumencranz, Valentine’s Day is the day when you show your partner how much he or she means to you. The day can be as special as you want it to be. Dr. Schweiger agrees. She says the biggest mistake you can make is to not acknowledge the day because baby is here. Schweiger recommends writing your partner a love letter. “Even if life has been stressful with all the changes brought by parenthood, reflect on what makes your partner unique and lovable,” she says. “Deepening your intimacy is what it’s all about.”

There you have it. So even in a tough economy you can enjoy your Valentine’s day as a couple and bring romance back into your relationship!

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The sadness and tragedy caused by the devastation in Haiti this week is  extremely misfortunate.

We wanted to provide you with this list of several organizations currently working to provide aid and relief. We encourage you to help if you can.

The American Red Cross

www.redcross.org

Text “Haiti” to 90999 to donate $10 (billed to your phone)

The United Nations World Food Program

www.wfp.org

The Salvation Army

www.salvationarmyusa.org

Action Against Hunger

www.actionagainsthunger.org

Project HOPE

www.projecthope.org

Partners in Health

www.pih.org

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As the scope of the devastation from a magnitude-7.0 earthquake became clearer Wednesday, survivors spoke in terms of all that has disappeared. Most hospitals, houses, schools, roads and grocery stores — virtually every necessity of basic life — were transformed into piles of rubble.

Thousands were dead, President René Préval said, and one of the world’s poorest countries had become almost entirely dependent on outside help to survive.

The fastest way to donate $5 to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Earthquake Fund is by texting “Yele” to 501501 (the $5 will be charged to your cell phone bill) or www.Yele.org and click “donate.”">visit www.Yele.org and click “donate.”

Here are some other links from USAToday…

Disaster Relief and Non-governmental Organizations:

-You can make a donation through the American Red Cross’ International Response Fund, and it will be allocated specifically for Haiti relief efforts;

-Action Against Hunger has mobilized an emergency response and has teams already on the ground, assessing and responding to needs;

-Mercy Corps has a way for you to donate your money straight to their efforts in Haiti, and Unicef also has a donation site set up;

-The United Nations World Food Program has teams “already on the scene, mobilizing emergency food assistance to families.” To support these efforts, you can make an emergency donation here;

-Operation Blessing International also has disaster relief teams on the way. A donation of $50 or more will bring emergency food, water, medicine and more to the quake victims;

-Project HOPE, which provide medical supplies and health care services to those in need, is seeking donations for their aid efforts in Haiti;

-The Salvation Army is also sending personnel and supplies to assist in the relief effort, and needs of donations;

-American Jewish World Service is collecting donations for its “Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund,” which will help “their network of grantees in Haiti to meet the urgent needs of the population based on real-time, on-the-ground assessments.”

-Baptist Global Response, which coordinates the mercy efforts of the Southern Baptist Convention, is sending a team from Florida to help for its initial outreach. In addition to donations, the organization asks that concerned individuals join in focused prayer for Haiti’s 9 million people.

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During her colic months, it was the only thing that would soothe her crying and help her relax. I don’t know if it was the vibrations or the bounce, but it’s one item I and she couldn’t live without!

Two years later, my nephew is reliving the boucie chair phenomenon. He loves his bouncie and refuses to sleep anywhere else!

So it’s two for two!

Imagine my happiness, if I were to have a second child, when I discovered this bouncie chair by Bright Starts – “the only bouncer that truly bounces.

The boucies we had so far didn’t actually bounce, but this one features a unique technology that provides a smooth, consistent bounce that mimic’s mom’s natural bouncing motion.

Features and Benefits:

• Automatic Bounce with 2 bounce speeds: low or moderate
• Battery Savings – more than 2X the battery life of other bouncer seats
• Removable Toy Bar – pivots back for easy access to baby
• 10 Melodies and Nature sounds to soothe baby
• Removable head rest
• Cushioned bolster system for ultimate comfort
• Integrated, cushioned foot rest
• Machine Washable seat pad, bolster system, and head rest
• 3 point Harness keeps baby secure
• Non-slip feet

Need I say, music to my ears!!! aaahhhh…..can you hear the silence???

If you are looking for the perfect baby gift idea, this is IT! The new mom will be thanking you for months to come!

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Acrylic-sided cribs made by Spot On Square are such an obvious upgrade to cribs, that I am baffled by the fact that we’ve settled for dingy, ugly wooden crib rails for so many years! My gosh!!!!  What an AWESOME choice for babies!

Imagine the improvement to your little ones view this new crib will create!  Made out of durable half-inch, BPA free, phthalate free, 100% recyclable clear acrylic that is framed by locally sourced Walnut, this modernist crib creates a stunning addition to the modern nursery.

Simply Genius! Now you can truly admire your offspring day and night without any obstructions!

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