Babies

Aloha! Do you have a teen that loves the ocean and the surfing lifestyle? If so, transform their bedroom into a surfing paradise! With many great ideas from HGTV and other design blogs, this post is sure to give you plenty of generous ideas to get started on your surf teens dream room! Archinect Eclectic Kids by Orange County Media And Blogs Shelley Gardea Eclectic Kids by Chicago Interior Designer How amazing is that giant surfer picture above the bed? A picture that size can instantly turn a simple room into a surfing room just by adding the picture. Modern Kids by San Francisco Interior Designer Matthew MacCaul Turner Want to see more surf room posts? Check out Surf Shack Room and our Roxy Girl Surf Room.   The post Teen Boys Surf Room Ideas appeared first on Design Dazzle.

The other day Harrison picked out his outfit. Red & blue Cars tshirt. Green Master’s belt. Blue & orange bulldozer socks. He spent ten minutes admiring himself in our full-legnth bathroom mirror doors, telling me & himself & all the green & pink tile that he “looks good!”  Until he got so close that he whacked his head. I understand that problem. Being so good looking that I just get closer & closer so I can admire myself down to my pores & then WHAM! face meets mirror. (picture from the quarterly shearing of our lamb. i prefer the shaggy curls but dudes, summer is hot down here.) Related Postshow it feels to be meHow Working From Home With A Toddler Is Like Surviving A Zombie ApocolypseWee TreeBecause it’s Wednesday & that means you need some cute to get you through the rest of the week.Another generation.Zemanta

Are you looking for a way to ease your baby’s transition in to night time sleep? Playing a lullaby CD is a great way to soothe them and get them to fall asleep quickly. And studies have also shown babies who listen to music have better cognitive development – so what are you waiting for?? This award winning, lullaby CD called Dreamland will broaden their little musical horizons as it contains lullabies from around the world. Songs on the CD are from Africa, Europe, North America, South America and Asia. $14.98 at Amazon.

Your little baby kicking in your womb, what a sweet feeling. So you don't know yet what stepping on Legos feels like? Oh you will. It's is the rite of passage for all moms.Our toy story starts way back when I was a child. I pretty much remember each and every toy I owned. Every stuffed animal, every doll, and the dollhouse I created myself on our bookshelves. I could probably count them on four hands (always wished I had that many hands).I entered motherhood with this idyllic idea that my children will have few quality toys, simple ones that child after child can play with. Wooden toys, classics, maybe a few stuffed animals and dolls, you know - a manageable amount that wouldn't overload their developing imaginations... Ha! Hahaha! So very funny! ?I had good intentions, obviously. But now we are living the reality of a white picket fence American life. Okay, so we have no white picket fence, but we do have middle class consumer buying power and two sets of loving, well-meaning grandparents. Scratch that, we don't actually buy toys, but the grandparents really mean well. While I suspect that our toy bins are still smaller than that of the average American child, it just feels like too much. Maybe it's because the playroom/bedroom is in the middle of the remodel and our tiny living room is the playroom right now? Maybe it's because I find myself tripping over toys? Maybe because I repeat "Please put that away!" only 129 times a day?So if you are a mama-to-be, I'll give you one word of advice. Okay, three words. Just say no. You don't have to say no to everyone who wants to bless your child with a new toy, but you can and should say no to keeping those toys forever. An uncluttered home is more peaceful. Less toys = less clutter. Less toys = more peace. Less toys = less clean up time. Less toys = more down time. Less toys = more imagination! Kids don't need toys, honest. Their favorites? Pots and pans, cardboard boxes, random empty containers and bottles, towels, phones, remotes. Books. You can [almost] never have too many books. Do I regret letting our toy collection get out of hand? Yes, a little. Some days it nearly sucks the life out of me (of course I'm being overly dramatic).Start now, when your little one is still in the womb. Make a place for toys, just toys. Maybe a set of bins (like these) in cubbies (like these) and don't let them overfill. Once you have a collection, make a point of donating a toy for every new one brought in. I wish I started that policy around age 2 with my first child. Sigh. Better late than never, right?Of course you may have some toys that don't fit in a bin and that's fine, but it's the little ones that are hardest to manage. I sometimes think that toys with many parts are evil! If you want to know what I would keep if I had to toss everything else, it would probably be these favorites: a wooden play kitchen (this one is a splurge, you can make one too), dollhouse, building blocks, walker wagon, a real rubber duck, a doll, sand play set, wooden railroad, pull toy, Lego Duplos (and original Lego when they are older), art easel, rocking horse, a few wooden puzzles, musical hand bells, a few stuffed toys, and a xylophone. Always keep in mind that many toys will be inevitably gifted to your children, so don't feel any pressure to buy them yourself. We rarely buy any toys, yet ended up with a houseful. They are like cockroaches, they multiply pretty quick!Oh, and start teaching that baby to put their toys away at around the age of two weeks [wink].Do you battle toy overload in your home? How do you keep it from defeating you?This post is part of a series called {Dear Best Friend...}. See previous posts below:5 Foods That May Make a Breastfed Baby Fussy5 Tips for a Peaceful Birth ExperienceCreating a Non-toxic NurseryCosleeping is Not a Fad, Cribs AreHow to Cloth DiaperPregnancy Must HavesThere is Only One Mom Like YouHow to Pick the Best Stroller for Your BabySurviving the Glucose TestBaby Must Haves,

Fabulous sale alert for one of our favorite children's clothing brands, ever! Through Monday, May 27th, Tea Collection is offering $15 Girls Dresses, $12 Girls Leggings and $12 Boys Tops. Stock up on comfortable and durable tops for boys. Mix and match adorable girls' legging and dresses for endless outfit combinations. Don't miss your chance to take advantage of this amazing sale from Tea Collection! Just take a look at some of these fabulous finds that are on sale... Limited availability is available in each size!SHOP TEAContains affiliate links to where we usually shop, your purchase supports Eco-Babyz at no extra cost to you. Thank you!Top Mommy Blogs - Vote for us @ TopMommyBlogs.Com!

Ali Landry was spotted at Juvenile Shop in Sherman Oaks, CA yesterday, shopping for a Belly Bandit in preparation for getting her pre-baby body back.Ali was overheard at Juvenile saying she is “obsessed with” the Belly Bandit, as well as their product Upsie Belly and that wearing the Upsie Belly “saved her” while on a trip to Rome. She also said she used Belly Bandit to return to her pre-pregnancy figure after her first 2 pregnancies and that she’s a big fan of the Belly Bandit Mother Tucker Nursing Tank. Ali was dressed super chic, wearing a long, silky, ikat print dress with black leather jacket and a Celine bag.

I can’t imagine going through something like this and my heart goes out to everyone affected by the tornado in Oklahoma. I have a list of ways you can easily help from home, thanks to Danielle from Just Danielle. Text STORM to 80888 to donate $10 to the Salvation Army USA Text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross Text FOOD to 32333 to donate $10 to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma (The $10 will be charged to your phone bill) Operation BBQ Relief is a non profit corporation founded in 2011 in response to a need for relief efforts in Joplin, Missouri. They served over 120,000 barbecue meals in less than two weeks. From that, their organization was born. Visit their facebook page at www.facebook.com/operationbbqrelief for updates, volunteer information, needs, and requests for donated supplies. They deployed to Moore, OK, on May 21st. From their website, operationbbqrelief.org, you can donate to their relief fund or volunteer to work with them. If you would like to help in the clean up please contact the Red Cross at 405–228-9500 and give them your information. Judah 1 is a Christian non-profit aviation ministry. Besides providing air transportation for organizations like Make a Wish foundation they also provide mission transport for disaster relief. They have a donate box on their website, www.judah1.com. Your donations are tax deductible. Please mark your donation “Tornado May 2013.” The Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma is another great place to donate. 100% of your donation goes to disaster relief and helping victims. There is a button on the website,www.okdisasterhelp.com/donate/ or you can mail checks to BGCO, Attn: Disaster Relief, 3800 N. May Ave., OKC, OK 73112 www.feedthechildren.org has a button up on their site specifically for Oklahoma Emergency Response. While some Red Cross and Salvation Army locations are at capacity with donations, Feed the Children can still help. Tide “Loads of Hope” has responded to Moore. While supporting them isn’t direct support, it’s still a great cause. Visit their website and buy a t-shirt.  A minimum of $4 from every shirt goes toward helping families affected by disaster. Check out: https://www.facebook.com/MooreTornado, https://www.facebook.com/groups/375883429186645/, and https://www.facebook.com/OpOKRelief Feel free to share or copy and re-post this information. Thank you, Danielle, for compiling it. Thoughts are with everyone affected The post HOW TO help the Oklahoma tornado families appeared first on Baby Dickey | Chicago, IL Mom Blogger.

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{My thee kids and me, snuggling.} This afternoon is our twenty-week ultrasound. They will check to make sure baby’s four heart chambers are all properly formed and functioning, that his or her brain and spinal cord look right, and a dozen other things, I’m sure. This always makes me a little bit antsy, as it is the first peek inside and abnormal results can be life-altering, medically speaking. However, more often than not (and in 100% of our past experience) the fetal survey ultrasound has been rather uneventful as far as baby development is concerned. Gender discovery, however, is always an event. We choose to find out the gender at 20 weeks because I’m not particularly patient, nor have I ever felt an inkling of conviction that not finding out is somehow better for our family. I don’t need a surprise upon delivery or ‘more of a reason to push’ (the notion of which has always made me laugh because Lord help me, I did not need any further persuasion to push than was, uhm, already present). There is another reason we do choose to find out: sorting out gender preferences. I have one. There, I said it. I have a gender preference for this baby and I’ve had one for both of my others. Perhaps to some this makes me less of a good person, less of a loving mother, and that is quite alright because frankly I could talk to you about my short comings as a mother from here until Sunday. Not this Sunday but the one after that. This gender preferring just happens to be among them, and what’s worse is that it’s less a gender preference and more a non-preferred gender. The idea of raising a daughter is severely intimidating to me. Paralyzingly, frightfully so. I know what kind of a daughter I was, and I cower at the idea of having to parent that. I know where my own mom tripped up and how that has effected me into adulthood. In my mind, it feels like more is at stake when raising a daughter and I’m frankly not sure I am up to the challenge. This is all very non-politically-correct-heart-dump, and I’m sure two-thirds of you are thinking “Allison! What if your (potential) daughter finds these words and reads them someday? Are you sure you want this out there in the interwebs for all eternity?” And yes, I have thought about that two, and my reasoning for sharing anyway is two-fold. First, many of you have felt this way. Whether it’s about possibly having a daughter or possibly having a son, you’ve felt the preference and you weren’t sure what to do with it. So, here I am holding your hand in solidarity and saying “I’ve felt it too, and you are not alone.” Second, but more importantly, when I think about my maybe-daughter finding these words some years in the future, my immediate reaction is this: I hope I will have already told her how frightened I was of raising a girl, that we will have talked about that fear, about those lies I believed, and we will have laughed at them. I have to believe, in my mind, that this will all seem silly one day and that having a daughter will knock my socks off, because I know that brokenness is meant to be redeemed, that weakness is meant to be strengthened, that fear is meant to be cast out by blinding light. What I hold right now in my heart is a little bit broken, a little bit weak, and a little bit afraid, so even if the process of it (raising a girl) freaks me right out, I have to trust that there will be healing.

I need help finding Simmons Valencia crib parts. I'm looking for Simmons Valencia 267181-24 Crib Conversion Rails. If anyone has any suggestions for