Evolution of a night light

Z does not like to sleep quietly in the dark, that much is clear. She's a door open, lights on and music playing kind of kid, and for a few years she's supplemented the hall and bathroom light spillover with a low-wattage red plastic table lamp from IKEA.

There was something wild and a little spooky about checking in on your little one only to see her bathed in blood red light, but it worked. Still, Z didn't always go right to sleep and I worried that she was straining her eyes as she "read" books by crimson glow.

So I was delighted to replace the IKEA lamp with the woefully-named but wonderfully designed Sylvania PalPODzzz Portable Night Light. (Seriously, who named that thing and what were they thinking?!) This little light-sensitive rocketship now sits on Z's dresser and starts glowing as her room gets dark. Pick it up off its cradle and it's a powerful LED flashlight for looking at books and scaring away monsters after lights out.

Did I mention its rechargeable? Z, like all kids, loves flashlights, but since I don't like the cost or environmental consequences of buying batteries in bulk, I've limited their access to flashlights. But since this one is rechargable, there are no batteries to run through. Plus, since Z always puts it back in the cradle to glow, hers is the one flashlight in the house that I'll be able to find when the electricity goes out.

See what other bloggers has to say about the Sylvania PalPODzzz Night Light over at Parent Bloggers Network.

I am a Boogie Superstar

My name is Alma, and I am a Boogie Superstar.

My Facebook friends know this already, but after weeks of subscribing to text alerts from Amazon, I finally scored a Wii Fit.And before it even arrived on my doorstep, I'd decided to sell it.

Why? Because a girl with the Boogie SuperStar hookup doesn't need Wii Fit to work up a sweat!

As my 4 year old says, watching me work it to "Hot 'N' Cold" and "He Said She Said," "when you're dancing on the Wii it's good to be on fire."

I don't pretend to be a video game expert. We've only had the Wii for a few months and we own a mere handful of games. But while Wii Sports and Wii Play bore me to tears and Super Mario Galaxy taxes both my abilities and my attention span, Boogie SuperStar lets me bust a move and sing along to over 35 Top 40 songs, including pop, dance and urban hits that are so recent they're still on the radio.

The game comes with a microphone, and you can sing along karaoke-style or dance holding the Wiimote. Your skills are critiqued by a snide panel inspired by reality television judges. It is easier to master than DDR, so I quickly caught on and started amassing tokens which I've been using to unlock more songs and update my wardrobe. I'm sure Boogie SuperStar would be an absolute blast to play with girlfriends or older, Wii-savvy kids, but I've managed to log hours of play all by myself.

But usually not alone. Z sometimes dances or sings along and Josh sits in the background, checking his email and snickering as I butcher the lyrics to less familiar songs.

I don't know if Boogie SuperStar is going to have much of a shelf life once the songs included on it disappear from Hot 100 since it seems you can't download new tunes to it via an Internet connection. But until I'm tired of "El-El-Ella-vator," my living room rug remains a dance floor.

This review of Boogie SuperStar with Microphone was made possible by Parent Bloggers Network, who will be posting a review roundup shortly.

Feeding time at the monkey house

Dinner this evening. I give Baby A a handful of bite-sized pieces of chicken and some roasted carrot. She shovels three pieces in her mouth and flings the rest onto the floor. I pick up the pieces and return them to her tray. She eats another bite and sweeps the rest off her tray and across the room. None land on the splat mat. I try giving her fresh chicken from my plate and she pushes it away.

I offer her bread with butter. She spends five minutes greasing her palms and hurls the bread across the dining room table before howling to be released.

Welcome to feeding time at the zoo.

While the smaller monkey flings food and communicates her needs through a series of grunts, the slightly-less-small monkey refuses chicken and carrots and pushes her sweet potatoes around for 10 minutes after having her plea for a spoonful of butter denied.

Feeding time was followed by indoor exercise for the animals. This consisted of taking all toys out of their places, disassembling them, and abandoning them to climb the furniture.

Before the zoo closed for the evening, visitors got to see the monkeys perform tricks. Tricks like shaking milk out of a supposedly leak-proof sippy cup onto the carpet, upending a bowl of Cheerios and unzipping Mommy's purse, removing her mobile phone and dialing the last number called.

This post is inspired by the Parent Bloggers Network's "I Live in a Zoo" Blog Blast, sponsored by iKnow Letters, Animals and Sounds.

Adopting internationally, Cabbage Patch style

Remember the Cabbage Patch craze? My parents weren't the type to camp out outside Toys R Us, but they did finally furnish me with the must-have doll of 1983. Her name was Johanna and she was from Finland. My dad purchased her while on a work-related trip to Scandinavia.

Johanna's "adoption papers" were in Finnish, but she was otherwise a dead ringer for the Cabbage Patch Kids all my friends had. You couldn't say the same for the handsewn "Cabbage Patch" my Great Aunt Helen gave me. I knew she wasn't quite "right," so I didn't trot her out for my friends to see. But I loved her ugly nylon face and chose her to share my bed.

I haven't chased after any "hot" toys for my kids, but I finally procured a Wii for the adult members of the family!

This reminiscence was brought to you by Parent Bloggers Network and Hasbro, whose Hot Summer Toys Event is donating up to $400,000 in toys and games to needy kids.

More than you ever wanted to know about early learning

Some parents want to give their kids every edge. They'll buy flashcards for their babies, consult with preschool admissions advisers and send their elementary school kids to storefront tutoring centers.

I'd like to think I'm not one of those mothers.

Sure, I'm paying a pretty penny to send Z to a Montessori school instead of a traditional play-based preschool or one of those we-don't-care-about-reading-we'd-rather-hug-cloth-dolls Waldorf academies. But that's because I think Montessori curriculum is a perfect match for her inquisitive, self-directed personality.

But I don't think her school is 100% responsible for what she learns. I want to provide enriching opportunities at home, and I'm always on the lookout for suggestions for books to check out from the library, ideas for art activities and tools for fostering an interest in math and science (not my strong suits, honestly). And I recently learned you can find all this (and a whole lot more) at a site called The Savvy Source for Parents, a resource-filled website for the parents of preschoolers (thanks for the hookup, Parent Bloggers).

Check out the quiz on the right-side of my blog. Seriously, try it and come right back. I completed all of the questions (yes, there are a lot) and got a breathtakingly in-depth look at my preschooler's knowledge and skills across a variety of subjects. For example, Z can't yet "observe and talk about art." When I clicked through to SavvyPicks for toys, books and activities that might strengthen this skill I saw two books we already owned and I made a mental note to share Harold and the Purple Crayon and Dancing with Degas with my daughter again soon.

You can find suggestions for activities, crafts and toys that help enrich each skill area (and again, there are a lot). It is a little overwhelming, honestly. But motivated moms can print the free activities and create and share wishlists with grandparents for puzzles, block sets and much, much more. Even if you don't take all of the quizzes, you can browse activities by category or by your child's age. Here are the ideas for 3-4 year olds.

The SavvySource quiz is being sponsored by Leapfrog, which sent me their brand new Tag reading system to review. Now as a general rule, Josh and I don't buy electronic educational games. I figure if I managed to escape childhood and become a professional writer without a Speak N Spell, my children can survive as well. So color us shocked when, just hours after we powered up the "pen," both of us were determined to buying more books for the system. It's that good.

So what is this miracle toy? The Tag reader is a pen-shaped electronic device that "reads" books from the collection, which includes many classic titles as well as crappy-looking licensed character books. Our reader came with Ozzie and Mack, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and a Kung-Fu Panda book. In order to get the books to "read," we had to first download software to our Mac and connect the reader to the computer with the included USB cord. You transfer stories from your computer/online library to the reader much like you'd add songs to your iPod. It holds five books at a time. And, like an iPod, you can attach a pair of headphones to the reader and keep your kid quietly occupied in the car or at the doctor's office

Z immediately figured out how to get the pen to read the stories to her. Imagine--a tool that responds to her commands to "read to me!" without an "after I unload the dishwasher, honey." She really got a kick out of the word games embedded on pages throughout the book and doggedly worked to master levels 1, 2 and 3 (pretty good considering the toy is rated for 4-8 year olds)! And come August I'll be able to monitor and track her progress via the Leapfrog Learning Path.

LeapFrog's Tag Reader retails for $49.99 and comes with one book. Additional books cost $13.99.

Diaper Goop Product Review: It's Tops on Bottoms

Back in September, I was so moved by the rash-fighting wonder that is Boudreaux's Butt Paste, that I sang its praises right here on this blog. So when I was given the opportunity to tush-test a tub of another whimsically-named caboose cream, I doubted it could live up to its much-loved predecessor.

Butt (nyuk, nyuk), I gave Diaper Goop a go. I laid off the preventative smearing at diaper change time and let Baby A's undercarriage get a little rusty before slathering on a fingerful of Diaper Goo at bedtime. It's got a color and consistency kind of like soft, slightly sticky Vaseline, and it smells slightly medicinal, but not horrible old man medicinal like Desitin. It's more of a vitamin aisle at Whole Foods kind of smell. The stickiness likely comes from lanolin, one of the product's main ingredients and one more typically dabbed on boobs than behinds.

Bottom line? It works. By morning Baby A's diaper rash was gone. And for the past month I've been using Diaper Goop exclusively and still no rash. Which means that functionally, it is Butt Paste's equal. It doesn't smell quite as nice and costs a bit more ($6.95 for a 2 ounce jar), but it will be heard to go back to using diaper cream in a tube after seeing how much more convenient a tub can be.

10 outfits and 1 book for $37

Hanna Andersson, Old Navy, Gap, Children's Place and OshKosh--those are just a few of the brands I stuffed into an extra-large garbage bag while shopping at the Parenthesis Spring Rummage sale this morning. I've always believed in shopping the sales, but I see little need to venture into retail stores for kids' clothes and toys these days. With so many families in Oak Park, the quality and prices I can find at community rummage sales really can't be beat.

But it isn't just economics that has me purchasing barely-worn embroidered denim and kitty-cat pajamas for my young-uns. Ecologically speaking, reusing children's stuff makes sense too. The world doesn't need to manufacture plastic for yet another high chair or Cozy Coupe (and pump enough oil to ship it here from China).

That's why our high chair is a Freecyle find and Z's push-powered car was picked up at our synagogue rummage sale. Our toddler bed, Britax car seat, bouncy chair and Exersaucer are hand-me-downs and both my Baby Bjorn and my Hug-a-Bub carriers are on loan from friends. Even our plastic kiddie picnic table was a freebie--we swapped it for a mini backyard slide we'd inherited from friends.

With day care, preschool and babysitters, kids are expensive enough as it is. I don't need to spend a fortune on crap that we won't be using for more than a couple of years. That's why I was intrigued when Parent Bloggers Network alerted me to a new resource for parents who want to expand their baby gear sharing beyond their immediate circle of friends. Zwaggle assigns point values to children's items given away to other members--points which can then be spent on new used stuff. There don't appear to be many Chicago area members yet, but I'm tempted to join anyway since some items won't be too expensive to ship (FedEx is integrated into the site).

Product review: HP Photosmart Compact Photo Printer

Once upon a time we took pictures with our cameras. We looked through the viewfinder, located our loved ones and snapped a photo. We didn't know what the picture looked like until we'd finished a whole roll of film (35mm or disc--remember those?), packaged it up in a York mailer and waited for the pictures to arrive in the mail ("Didja get doubles?").

How things have changed. My 3-year-old daughter knows to look on the back of a camera to see a photo immediately after it's snapped, and she loves watching our desktop computer's photo slideshow screen saver. She's familiar with Apple's iPhoto books since I've ordered half a dozen since her birth, but actual photo prints? Not so much.

I'm typically too busy to stop at Wolf Camera or Walgreens to print out photos and it isn't worth the ink to print pictures out on our regular print only to screw them up while trying to trim them into standard print sizes.

Which means too many adorable pictures are hidden away on our hard drive, safe from toddler fingerprints but too rarely enjoyed. But hey, at least they make it to the computer. I've got friends with hundreds of shots still stored on their camera's SD card! So while I'm a pretty savvy amateur digital photographer and a flickr photo-sharing fiend, too often I've neglected to make prints to glue into baby books and share with older, less digitally-inclined relatives.

Enter the HP Photosmart A636 Compact Photo Printer. You don't need it, but let me tell you why you want it (and will get more use out of it than you might think).

• It's idiot-proof. Plug it in. Slide ink cartridge into place. Then insert your camera's memory card and you're in business. The large color touch-screen is as intuitive as any photo kiosk's. I haven't cracked open the manual yet.
  
• The prints are surprisingly good. While probably not heirloom quality, they stand up to drugstore photos and are only a hair worse than Wolf camera's pricey prints. You can print onto standard 4x6 or 5x7 photo paper (both widely available), so you won't need to mess around with scissors or an X-acto blade.
• Instant gratification, baby. My sister was in town, and while our cameras' USB cables weren't compatible, I could print my favorite photos right off of her camera's memory card with the HP. When I returned to work I wanted some snapshots of the kiddies for my office. Three minutes later, they were ready to hang in my cubicle.

The printer comes with stylus and a very basic suite of photo editing tools. The cropping and red-eye reduction were easy to use and worked well, but beyond that I'd rather edit my photos with iPhoto and print from my computer. HP's also included some really basic scrapbook-inspired functions. I liked the frames since they let me group two or three related shots on one print, but the caption fonts and clip art are cheesy with a capital C.

HP also sent me a couple of their photo books, which consist of a hard cover album and photo paper. You can create an album directly from the printer by selecting all the photos you'd like to include and an appropriate theme, but the software is far too limiting for even the modestly creative type. You can't even change the order of the photos within the book! And unlike all the other photo books available out there, this one only has images on the right hand side.

So the HP photo books are a bust, but I still like the HP Photosmart compact photo printer a lot. It's tiny (about the size of loaf of bread); it's easy to use. The prints look great and the ink lasts a relatively long time (you can further stretch your dollars by getting the cartridge refilled). My only complaint is that it doesn't come with a USB cable. After a nudge from Parent Bloggers Network, HP mailed me one and I was able to print directly from my iMac with no trouble, but I think it should be included in the box. That said, while USB cord-less I came up with an easy work-around. I saved photos I'd edited with iPhoto to a memory stick and printed directly from it.

Amazon sells the HP Photosmart A636 Compact Photo Printer for around $150 with free shipping. Save 20% on HP photo books at the HP store with coupon code AC8595.
Read more parent-tested reviews here.

Product Review: Ready Set Learn Radio Control Fire Truck

Sit back and imagine you're in the market for a new toy. Perhaps you have a niece or nephew on your holiday shopping list. You want to impress your sibling by purchasing their kid an "educational" toy, but you don't want to saddle the poor child with (yawn) yet another painted wooden Euro plaything. No, you want the kid to tear open the package, panting with excitement at what his favorite auntie or uncle brought just for him.

It needs to be BIG.
And LOUD.
With FLASHING LIGHTS.

It should NOT contain lead paint or date rape drugs.

Enter the Ready Set Learn! Radio Control Fire Truck from the Discovery Channel Store. It's educational...if you consider teaching your toddler how to operate a radio control vehicle a valuable lesson.

Now here's the deal: Do you like the sound of screaming sirens filling your living room? How about the crash of an oversized toy truck slamming into walls, furniture, pets and and small children? No? Then by all means do not buy this toy for your child. Buy it for someone else's kid. (You'll piss off that child's parent, but not as much as you would if you'd bought the kid AquaDots.)

Now I'm pretty lucky. Z isn't all that into annoying battery-operated toys. She'd rather play dress up or let's pretend than operate a remote control vehicle. She (quite rightly) demanded to know why only one of the included fire fighters fit onto the truck (a design flaw in my opinion), and after figuring out how the two button remote worked, she lost interest.

Which I can't say for her playmates--particularly boys. They pretty much went ape shit for the fire truck, setting off its irritating alarms and running it into the dining room chairs until I quietly flipped the power switch and proclaimed the toy "broken."

One final note: if you stop playing with the fire truck but you neglect to flip it over and turn it off, it will act possessed, powering itself up and vrooming short distances on its own. This scared the crap out of me (and my cats) until I figured out what was going on.

Disclaimers: This review was made possible by Parent Bloggers Network. The ladder pictured in the photos is from another toy. Z decided that every fire truck needs a ladder and added it of her own accord.

Product Review: Sequoia Vehicle Survival Kit

A couple of weeks ago I picked a friend up at the airport. I'd gotten there a few minutes early, so I decided I'd change Baby A's diaper and sit down in a quiet area of the baggage claim to feed her and wait. So I changed her. Nursed her. Hugged Franny hello. And then I heard it. Poosplosion. A diaper blowout of tremendous proportions. And I'd just used my last diaper.

Fortunately, I had a zipper storage bag in my trunk with three spare diapers in it. Three spare size 4 diapers from before Z was potty trained, but hey, better too big than too small!

Lesson? It pays to be prepared.

But can you pay to be prepared? Why, yes you can. For a steep $99 , the preparedness experts at Sequoia Survival will assemble for you the ultimate vehicle survival kit, a tiny red duffel jam-packed with emergency items from the obvious (first aid kit, light sticks, thermal blankets, rope) to the ingenious (duct tape and playing cards). I was thrilled to find a hand-crank radio/flashlight with a built-in cell phone charger, rain ponchos and a multi-function tool.

Add a few fresh diapers, a package of baby wipes, a jack and a set of jumper cables, and I'm ready for virtually any roadside disaster. Plus, having these items in my car makes me feel more safe at home. I'm more prepared for our next massive power outage and ready to hit the road should we be faced with an emergency evacuation order.

Which has me thinking, perhaps I should add a list of emergency phone numbers (insurance company, credit card issuers, family members) to the Sequoia kit notebook...

Read more real-life reviews of the Sequoia Survival Kit and plenty of other cool stuff at Parent Bloggers Network.

It's not just the icky she's picky about

My daughter does not eat fruit.

She'll eat dried fruit, dehydrated fruit, fruit jams, fruit muffins and fruit juice, but she won't touch an apple, orange or peach in its original format. Is there another kid alive who doesn't like strawberries? The only fresh fruit she deems acceptable is the banana.

Now I know plenty of kids (I was one of them) who turn their noses up at green vegetables, but Z will happily eat baby trees (broccoli) and peas. Corn, black beans, sweet potatoes and chick peas (in hummus form) are among her favorite foods, right behind the standard kid faves of quesadillas, macaroni and cheese, pizza, tacos and spaghetti.

And then there are her favorite foods that catch others by surprise. Every day she asks for African Peanut Soup and Weetabix with peanut butter. Not only has she inherited my addiction to peanut butter, she shares my love for the kitty-litter of cereals, Grape-Nuts. But can she blame her distrust of fruit on mommy dearest? No way.

This entry is part of a Parent Bloggers Network blog blast about children's food fetishes. It's sponsored by Deceptively Delicious, which I reviewed here.

Book review: Kids are Americans Too

Remember that obnoxious know-it-all boy from the 8th grade? The one who panted "ooh-ooh-me" as he raised his hand and parroted his right-wing father's views during Social Studies discussions?

Fox News blowhard Bill O'Reilly wrote a book for just for him. If you can call it writing. Kids are Americans Too purports to be a guide to legal rights for kids, but it's really a smarmy overview of the legal process dumbed down with horrible raps (yes, raps), smug multiple choice quizzes and mock Q and A's between the kid reader and O'Reilly himself.

You might think that a book about rights would at least pretend to come from a "no-spin zone," but O'Reilly dismisses any opinion that doesn't line up with his worldview as idiotic or stupid. Every chapter includes a dig at the ACLU. Ironic, given they're all about guaranteeing our civil liberties (aka our rights).

Now here's where I try to give Bill O'Reilly the benefit of the doubt. He does emphasize, again and again, that the best way to get what you want is to negotiate calmly and use tact. Tact, huh O'Reilly? Is that what you were using when you sexually harassed a Fox News producer? What O'Reilly doesn't recommend is taking your complaints to court. Which might explain why he agreed to settle that nasty little harassment suit.

I'm not the only member of the Parent Bloggers Network to review this book. Click here to see if anyone had anything nice to say.

Product review: Vincent Shoes

What, somebody besides Robeez makes baby shoes? Are they any good?

Thanks to the kind folks at Parent Bloggers Network, I got to find out for myself. I mean, for Baby A.

Now, let me preface this by saying that there really isn't any compelling reason to put shoes on a 3-month-old. She's not walking. She's not crawling. She's mostly wiggling on her back like an overturned stinkbug. But winter's a-coming and I'm all in favor of keeping her tiny socks on and her sweet tootsies warm with a pair of buttery soft leather slippers.

So I gave Vincent Shoes a try. A Swedish company, they've got a huge variety of Euro-stylish shoes for little ones--a lot more to choose from than Robeez, which are pretty standard pull-on kicks with themed decorations. I chose the formal black leather Mini Angela and the charming pink Mini Betty mary janes for my little girl. They recommend Prewalker Size 1 for two to five month olds and Prewalker Size 2 for four to eight month olds. Since Baby A's on the big side, I ordered the Angela in a 1 and the Betty in a 2. Turned out the 1 fit perfectly and the 2 is enormous. It fell right off.

Which is too bad, because I much prefer the soft, adorable Mini Betty to the too-fancy Mini Angela, which is too fussy and way too stiff for my taste. The patent leather trim interferes with the leather's softness and the shoe has a lot less give than the Mini Betty or the broken-in Robeez I'm using for comparison. Still, if I had an occasion appropriate for dressy baby shoes, I'd put her in them without hesitation.

I was a little disappointed to see that the shoes weren't actually made in Sweden. They're manufactured in China like everything else. But I feel like the quality is there. Vincent Shoes have the soft leather sole of a Robeez slipper, but unlike Robeez, they have a terry lining to help absorb moisture (baby feet seem to sweat a lot).

And since Vincent loves Mommybloggers and their readers, they're offering us an exclusive discount code and they're giving away two $50 gift certificates. First-time purchasers can enter code "OCT-20-OFF" for 20% anything in the shop through 11/11/07. To enter to win a $50 gift certificate, check out the Vincent Shoes website and leave a comment on the Vincent post at PBN with your favorite style and why (it does not need to be a prewalker).

Book review: Printakid Personalized Children's Books

When Parent Bloggers offered me the opportunity to test drive Printakid's personalized books for children, I jumped at the chance. I knew my daughter would flip over a book starring her. After all, she's your typical two-going-on-three-year-old. A wee bit self-centered.

And since the world revolves around her, Z was as pleased as punch (but not entirely shocked) to find that she was the main character in Laughing All the Way to School. Not only that, her best friends were included in the cast of characters. As a new preschooler, she liked seeing herself and her buddies at school, but I'm not sure what she made of the schoolyard, hallway, teachers and public address system. Her Montessori preschool doesn't resemble the typical elementary school pictured in this story. Since I was able to specify Z's hairstyle, hair color, skin tone and eye color while ordering, hers was a pretty good likeness. However, she was a little confused to hear her friends' names without finding their pictures in the book.

And then there's the plot. Basically, "your child here" goes to school with her friends and all of the kids and teachers turn into animals. Funny enough if you're under five, I guess. And I'm sure the preschool set don't care much about the clunky prose and a terrible ending (it turns out laughter is the best medicine for best friends who've been turned into baboons). But this mom's still responsible for reading aloud, and it pains me to see such poor writing.

Printakid's personalized books will run you about $25 for a sturdy hardback, which seems like a decent deal for a keepsake-type gift. Just don't buy it for the offspring of an English major.

Blog Blast: How do you FIT it in?

Parent Bloggers Network and the fine women behind Ryka shoes (those mary jane sneaks are mine) have teamed up to ask moms how we fit fitness into our busy lives. Perfect timing for me, since I just passed the 6-week postpartum grace period and I'm finally working out regularly (at least until I return to a regular work schedule in early November).

So what's on mommy's workout plan? I'm hitting the YMCA 2-3 times a week for 15 minutes of cardio and 20-30 minutes of ab work and free weights. I take my toddler along and drop her off to explore the toys and climbing apparatus in the free babysitting room.

My newborn is welcome at the weekly postpartum yoga class I'm taking through the park district, although so far that class is more nursing, rocking and talking about kegels than it is cobra and downward dogging.

But that's the structured stuff. I also get burn a few more of those Trader Joe's peanut butter filled pretzels by wearing Baby A for at least an hour a day and squatting down to pick up toys and fallen pacis. Plus, I push both girls all over Oak Park and Forest Park in my beloved Phil and Teds Sport Buggy (to be the subject of a future post). And I'm sure there's some benefit to hauling laundry baskets upstairs, pushing swings and carrying around that infernal infant car seat!

If I'm going to keep this up I'm going need some new (and very cute) athletic shoes. Good thing Ryka's giving away 50 pairs of shoes and 50 tees every single day.

Book review: The Little Black Book of Style

Dear Nina Garcia,

Let's just get this out of the way: I'm in awe of you. As Fashion Director of ELLE magazine and a judge on Project Runway, you define fabulousness. You ooze it.

So when Parent Bloggers Network invited me to preview your new book, The Little Black Book of Style, I salivated. I knew that if I could absorb just one-one hundredth of your fashion savvy, I would be--by far--the coolest mom on the block.

It wasn't long before your cute little hardback (adorably illustrated by Ruben Toledo) arrived in the mail, I knew right away it would fit perfectly in one of today's It bags. The problem is, I don't own an It bag.

You see, Nina, I don't need inspiration, I need direction. Fashion fundamentals. Reading your little black book is like taking French composition before passing French 101. Like trying to master the high dive before learning how to swim. Since I don't have the time or inclination to read the fashion magazine prerequisites for this guide book, I am completely out of my depth.

Sure, you drill us on a few basics, but they're so elementary even I've heard them before: invest in a great little black dress, a cashmere sweater and a white button-up shirt. Don't buy something just because it's on sale. Spend more on a few timeless pieces. Got it. But between working in an industry where image matters and dealing with the reality of being a mom to two very young children, I need you to spell out exactly what should be in my wardrobe. And I'll be passing on the fur, thank you very much.

I want a book that takes the "Girlfriend, here's what you need for your flat ass and poochy belly," attitude of What Not to Wear and pairs it with the catalog-like shopping sense of Lucky magazine (the Lucky of a few years ago, before they went all $500 pants on me). Oh, and can we keep the price-points at an H&M level? Cool.

I want you to take me shopping, Nina. Show me what will disguise my figure flaws, wash out spit-up and chocolate ice cream stains and require little to no ironing. Take my credit card and charge a few key pieces I can mix and match to create a week or two's worth of outfits. Don't tell me Michael Kors thinks every woman should own a pair of crocodile stilettos. Help me pick out a fabulous pair of Michael Kors trousers.

I don't trust my instincts, and a book full of mini interviews with fashion designers and a guide to finding style inspiration from famous films isn't going to get me to start. The Little Black Book of Style is the perfect primer for someone who's already halfway there, a glam gal with money burning a hole in her clutch. That said, reading your book as got me feeling that I need to inject a little bit of fabulousness into my daily looks. So today I changed out jeans and a tee shirt and put on a cute little nursing-friendly aqua dress. And I paired it with... a classic white button-up shirt.

Want to win my copy of The Little Black Book? Leave a comment telling me about your greatest fashion faux pas. Really want to win big? (We're talking $250 Coach bag big!) Participate in today's Parent Bloggers Network Blog Blast by blogging about the one item in your closet you are most ashamed of.

Book review: Body, Soul and Baby

What happens when Parent Bloggers Network asks a heavily pregnant woman for her take on Body, Soul and Baby: A Doctor's Guide to the Compete Pregnancy Experience, from Preconception to Postpartum? You get a personally invested book reviewer who skims over the first half of the book before delving deeply into the chapters on the third trimester, labor and the postpartum period.

Pregnancy--and childbirth in particular--is an intensely personal experience, and I'm writing this just days after delivering my daughter. So my perspective on Dr. Tracy W. Gaudet's book is definitely colored by how close I am to the subject matter.

As the Director of the Duke Center for Integrative Medicine, and Dr. Gaudet approaches the pregnancy experience holistically. Unlike so many pregnancy guides--be them books or online resources--she doesn't treat pregnancy as merely a physical condition. Instead, she offers insight into the emotional journey of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. While she covers the physical aspects of pregnancy and fetal development in great detail, her focus is always on the expectant woman, and she reminds us at every stage to tune into ourselves, to check in on our feelings and expectations.

But that's not to say Body, Soul and Baby glosses over facts in favor of feelings. Dr. Gaudet thoroughly covers every part of the pregnancy experience with the authority of an experienced physician and someone both knowledgeable and accepting of alternative and complementary therapies like acupuncture and hypnotherapy. It's an exhaustive resource book with information on everything: nutrition, prenatal screening, potential complications, childbirth options, pain management, you name it. Every option is presented respectfully, a refreshing alternative to both the overly medicalized approaches to pregnancy and the scolding, holier-than-thou tones marring the alternative birthing movement. Still, as someone who birthed with a midwife, I felt the author was somewhat dismissive of midwife care, and I personally disagreed with how quickly she writes off water birth and eating food during labor (thanks, but I don't think popsicles and ice chips would have kept me going during my 25 hour drug-free labor).

I read the postpartum chapters through the fog of my own hormone-fueled tears, and I can't emphasize enough how much I appreciate her reminders to own my birth, committing the occasion to memory and reflecting on the accomplishment. Dr. Gaudet doesn't treat the period after birth as a mere footnote--she dedicates a good portion of the book to this sensitive time in a new mother's life. When everyone else has shifted their attention to the new baby, she helps moms continue to focus on caring for themselves.

See what other moms had to say about the book and leave a comment for your chance to win an autographed copy!

Are you ready to pop?

If you're asking whether I'm ready to have this baby, the answer is yes. Particularly now. Three months ago? Not so much.

Besides, laboring women don't pop out their babies. Even a lightning fast c-section requires some serious preparation and equipment. My stomach might be big, but there's a baby, fluid and a whole lot of gunky stuff in there. I don't want it to pop. Unless, of course, that means my stomach would instantly deflate.

There are dozens of annoying questions people ask us when we're pregnant or pushing around a new baby.

"Is the nursery set up?" No.
"Does Z know what's going on?" Yes.
"Is she sleeping through the night?" What matters is whether I'm sleeping through the night. "Don't you just love being a mommy?" If I didn't, do you think I'd tell you?

It's enough to make you wish you could just hand them this.
This entry is part of a Parent Bloggers Network's Blog Blast. Hear what other moms had to say by clicking here.

Who has time for hobbies?

Not me, that's for sure.

ReadyMade editor Tina Barseghian's Get a Hobby: 101 All-Consuming Diversions for Any Lifestyle has succeeded in making me feel woefully inadequate.

Potty training? Not a hobby. Reading library books on the El? Not a hobby. Making my own ice cream and topping it with melted peanut butter and Hershey's syrup? Somehow it didn't make the cut. But--wait a moment--blogging is included as a hobby! I have a hobby!

I used to have plenty of hobbies--artsy-craftsy stuff like drawing, knitting and pottery. I've even tried mosaics, silk-screening and sculpture. But reading about them makes me feel all the more guilty for abandoning them in favor of Deadwood marathons and that most precious of all pursuits, sleep.

But while full-time employment and early mommyhood has put a damper on my free time, I know it's only temporary. I plan to get back into knitting during my maternity leave (although I'm not promising to finish niece Eliza's b-o-r-i-n-g baby blanket), and I think I can find time to try out some of the smaller, low-investment ideas like olive oil infusing and beading.

Better yet, I can look forward to revisiting this book with my girls as they grow older. I'd love to involve them in composting, candy making, decoupage and rubber stamping.

But I'm definitely going to give falconry, fantasy sports leagues and model shipbuilding a pass.

See what other bloggers had to say about Get a Hobby and see how you can win a copy of the book plus a $100 Michael's gift card at Parent Bloggers Network.

But before you leave, I'd love to hear about your hobbies, past and present.

Date night? Not tonight!

The last time Josh and I went on a date, we headed to La Piazza for dinner. And there, just as we'd finished our salads, my mobile phone rang. Z had just thrown up on the stairs. We got the rest of our dinner to go and headed home, where a feverish Z was already falling asleep in her bed.

Now we've got six weeks--give or take--to go on another date. Because once we throw a nursing newborn into the mix, going out to eat isn't going to be as simple as leaving Z at home with one of our two wonderful teenage babysitters.

That's why I want to win the Parent Bloggers Network's latest Blog Blast, sponsored by eHarmony's new marriage program. They're giving away $100 for a fabulous date night plus an additional $100 for babysitting. You've got until the end of the day to participate.