Enjoying the Small Things.

I thought you might want to read Kelle Hampton's most recent blog posts from her blog entitled "Enjoying the Small Things." She is a professional photographer and former teacher based in Florida who is also a Michigan native. She is also the daughter of the pastor who married us and the mother of 2 young girls. One week ago, she gave birth to a daughter with Down's Syndrome. She chronicles her life's journey in beautiful words and photography, and I think it is a special place to visit.

THE DANA FAMILY’S 2009 YEAR IN REVIEW

You know you are the Parent of a Young Child when...

1. You have ever used a baby monitor as a walkie-talkie. “Dude! We are out of diapers/wipes/patience up here. Come quick!”
2. Seeing a movie in the theater and taking long, hot showers are rare luxuries.
3. You play rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock over changing the next soiled diaper.
4. You rarely wear clothing that cannot be easily wiped clean of bodily fluids.
5. A diaper bag is your new little black dress or “man purse,” as the case may be.
6. The consistency, frequency and odor of poop are frequent topics of casual conversation.
7. You plan your days around another person’s sleep schedule.
8. Your living room resembles a day care center in the aftermath of a cyclone.
9. You develop hair pulling and pinch deflecting moves that rival the best mixed martial artists.
10. Your spouse calls you at work to inform you that your child now knows what sound a cow makes. You consider drafting a press release.
11. You marvel at the versatility of the baby wipe. Perhaps it can cure cancer?
12. You have strong opinions about diaper pails.
13. You have ever hastily ripped out the batteries to a repetitive children’s toy while quietly muttering obscenities to yourself.
    
14. You have had to be peeled off the ceiling after being startled by a toy’s sudden, unexpected sound or movement in the middle of the night.
15. You know all of the words to [fill in the blank] children’s CD, as it is the only thing that magically captivates your child during long car trips.
    
    

Developmentally Speaking

You probably expect me to regale you with cute anecdotes about how precocious and above average our 16-month-old daughter, Kate, is. But I won’t. Kate is fairly average thus far. She rolled over at 5 months, crawled at 8 months, pulled herself to standing soon later and took her first steps at 11 months. At 16 months, she mostly babbles but says enough words to satisfy her pediatrician and uses sign language to say even more. So what if she sticks her index finger in her mouth when we ask her where her nose is? It’s perfectly normal that she likes to stick a bucket on her head and wander around the house bumping into things and giggling about it, right? She frequently walks on tip toes and admires the view between her legs in the downward dog yoga pose. I swear I did not teach her to make farting noises with her mouth pressed against the leather couch backs, either. And doesn’t every 15-month-old devour a chunk of raw, ginger and soy-infused tofu, miso soup and a whole bowl of pickled ginger while her parents have sushi?

Kate also has awesome taste in literature—“I Love you Stinky Face,” “The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and “Hands, Hands, Fingers, Thumb” are certainly tops. But she also appreciates other perennial classics like “Goodnight, Moon,” and “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See?” Gloria and I started a 2-person book club. Unfortunately, unlike Kate, we have yet to finish a single book.

Recently, Kate has even cultivated a quiet reverence for “The Muppet Show” when she rarely pays TV much attention, otherwise. And my smart brother chose a Sit and Spin as a Christmas present for her this year. It is not the Sit and Spin of ‘80s yore, though. This thing plays a mixture of upbeat popular music and techno, so she can practice what it feels like to attend a rave. She even giggles and staggers drunkenly after playing with it for a while and now enjoys spinning around while standing in place, until she falls down. Her favorite CD is definitely Ziggy Marley’s children’s reggae music, “Family Time.” That thing is like toddler crack! One moment tears and whining, the next moment smiles and squeals and then car seat sleep.

Soon after being introduced to solid foods, we opened the stinky pureed meat food jar, and smart girl hated it. To those of you who have no experience, it resembled something worse than SPAM salad or cat food. While still not a major fan of beef, she now enjoys pork, lamb and seafood of all kinds, especially if loads of garlic, ginger or tomato sauce is involved.

Around Easter, she began crawling and almost immediately cruising throughout the living room. At her Great-Grandma Rosalie’s, she did repeated laps around the coffee table to cheers.

Road Trip!

In March, we took a pilgrimage to Virginia Beach and DC to visit Kate’s Gram and Uncle Bill. On the way, we took a detour to see Chris’s alma mater—James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. While there, we stayed with the gorgeous and extremely hospitable Showalter family. Unfortunately, Kate redecorated their couch with her vomit. Poor Chris soon followed suit.

Interests and Inactivities

In June, we realized that Kate was a bit too young for the Frederick Meijer Children’s Gardens . But we enjoyed the flowers, sculptures and strollercise, regardless.

We celebrated the 4^th of July in Mason with my Mom and Stepdad, watching the parade of large farm equipment and the Ingham County fireworks from our backyard. Unfortunately, despite our countermeasures, this also resulted in a particularly rousing attack of the merciless mosquitoes.

In July, we got to spend some time with old friends and their families--the Bells and the Aggarwals, who were in town visiting their families. Kate also experienced her first boating trip on Pine Lake courtesy of our neighbors, the Langones. “Go! Go! Go!” she seemed to instruct the Captain Jay, excitedly.

Meanwhile, Chris was consumed with constructing our self-proclaimed backyard “deck of ill repute” with the generous help of neighbors and friends. My brother, Trey, also came to stay with us to take care of Kate while Chris labored during the week. Kate adored spending time with her uncle and took her first steps during his visit.

A Man in Uniform

While enjoying ice cream at Turtle Tom's in downtown Mason, Kate spotted a uniformed Mason Police Officer standing in line for some ice cream. She promptly made eye contact with him and began beckoning him toward her with her index finger. He slowly saddled up alongside her to greet her and gave her a police badge sticker. She was beyond thrilled, and we never saw her do that to anyone before or since. What can we say? She likes men in uniform.

Kate Graduates to Toddlerhood; Cats Stage Boycott

In August, we commemorated Kate’s first birthday with a Winnie the Pooh themed party and BBQ lunch at our house with family and neighbors. We stripped her down to her diaper and placed her own personal chocolate cake on her high chair tray for her to devour with her hands. My Aunt commented that this should be a birthday tradition well into our adult years. I agree. On her actual birthday, Kate got shots and not the fun kind.

As Kate gained increased mobility and independence, both of our cats developed UTIs and an aversion to peeing in the litter box, once treated. After a weekend ER visit, our older fat cat was diagnosed with diabetes and now receives 2 insulin shots per day from Chris. My one and only attempt at sticking her resulted in malpractice as evidenced by the yowling. Our younger cat is apparently depressed and/or anxious, since Kate learned to walk and more easily chase and torment him. He began marking when he never did before. So, now our smallest furry family member is on anti-depressants. He is not yet seeing a therapist. Too bad cats cannot qualify for Medicare or benefit from health care reform.

Furlough Fridays Fun

The summer and fall were consumed with state budget woes. Since I am a state government employee, we experienced another suspenseful night on September 30^th, wondering if we would have another state government shutdown based on the legislature’s inability to reach a compromise on balancing the budget by the constitutional deadline. During the summer, because of the deficit, we took 6 involuntary unpaid furlough days. At least they resulted in long weekends, sometimes around paid holidays. We took advantage of those days to visit the Ablers over Labor Day weekend in Manitowoc, WI. This year was special, because we got to watch Kate interact with their two boys, one of whom is only 1 month older than Kate. However, I am thankful to have a job at all.

This year, Chris honed his photography skills by shooting weddings throughout the summer and fall, including one he shot by himself in Lansing. He is excited to continue doing so in the coming year.

For my birthday, we managed to exploit Detroit’s first annual restaurant week to have a hugely discounted meal at Opus One in downtown Detroit. Unfortunately, around the same time, I somehow managed to injure my pelvic joint during a yogalates class at the Y. Happy Birthday to me. I am still not quite right. But you all already knew that.

The Great Pumpkin, Kate Monster

In October, Kate’s Gram visited for a week while we prepared for Halloween and attended Chris’s first Mason Orchestral Society concert of the season at MSU. Gram also taught Kate the ever amusing "happy face/angry face" routine which provides hours of entertainment for adults and toddler alike. They constructed a large wooden painted witch for our front porch that slightly disturbed and/or impressed our neighbors with its size and intricacy. Kate took her first trip to Uncle John’s Cider Mill and helped pick out our big pumpkin. Unfortunately, once it became a Jack ‘o Lantern, it transformed into a scary monster that eats cute toddlers. Later that month, we saw Robin Williams: Weapons of Self Destruction live at the MSU Auditorium and relished the brief child-free excursion.

Kate was an actual “Kate Monster” for Halloween. She was very scary in her puffy pink outfit complete with horns and large feet. After watching her valiant efforts at unwrapping some of the candy she received from trick or treating, we opened a few miniature chocolate bars and gave her a sample. She could not stop with the “Mmmmmm-ing!” And she cried between bites, because we could not get them to her lips fast enough for her liking. She now does this in response to me demonstrating how much I like a particularly healthy fruit or vegetable I want her to try.

Kate’s Great-Grandma Jo survived 2 major surgeries to remove colon cancer and correct the incision site this year. She is now recovering and living with my Dad and Stepmom in northern Michigan. We wish her continued healing and an improved quality of life.

Kate’s Uncle Bill dropped in for a visit during a working tour of US cities in November. In no time, Kate was reaching up to him and climbing all over him in glee.

Spirit of Christmas

Later in November, I took a squirmy screaming Kate to the Mason Orchestral Society’s Christmas concert to watch her Dada play and the Lansing Civic Players act out a few skits. We think she may have to stay home for future concerts, until she gets a bit older, but it got me in the Christmas spirit, and she made a few older ladies giggle.

Over Thanksgiving, we traveled up north to celebrate an early Christmas with my Dad’s family. Being the only tot in the family, she received a ridiculous amount of toys and clothes. In fact, she had to take a nap while we continued opening her presents without her.

Like a true dieting martyr, I began a new campaign to lose 35 pounds within the next 9 months or so just before Thanksgiving. After a brief hiatus, I am back on track and have lost 11 pounds so far just by restricting calories and keeping an on-line food journal. This should be a bit easier now that Chris stopped the continuous baking of Armenian shortbread cookies and key lime cheese cakelets!

Annual Wins and Losses

This year, we lost Michael Jackson and Edward Kennedy among many other notables. Obama increased the number of troops in Afghanistan but set a goal for withdrawal in 2011 AND won the Nobel Peace Prize. We followed the train wrecks that were the Gosselin family and Octomom. Perhaps having extreme multiples is an indication of other ailments. Boo on Carrie Prejean with her fake boobs, beauty queen crown and support of Proposition 8. And I must snicker a bit at SC Governor Mark Sanford’s “hike” along the Appalachian Trail of lies. He may have met his “soul mate” in Argentina, but he also lost his mind and political career. At least his wife, the apparent brains behind his political success, landed a Vogue interview and a book deal out of it. And she didn’t go all Tiger Woods’s wife on his ass, either.

And how can we forget poor, vomiting balloon boy, Falcon Heene. First of all, who names their son Falcon? At least his parents were sentenced to non-consecutive jail terms, so they can keep better track of all of their children in the future.

Also in 2009, “Wise Latina” Sonia Sotomayor became a new U.S. Supreme Court Justice. We worried about H1N1 and stalked public health departments for our share. “Birthers” questioned President Obama’s origin, and we questioned their ability to read. We watched the U.S. Legislature debate and ultimately pass a version of healthcare reform and the Michigan Legislature hem and haw over state budget cuts. Cash for Clunkers was a smashing success. My, what a large Stimulus Package you have there!

Groovy Train

Kate’s Gram and uncles Bill and Matthew visited us over Christmas. Much to our surprise and delight, Uncle Bill presented Chris and our whole family with an elaborate Lionel Train set modeled after the Polar Express to start our own family tradition. This reduced Chris to tears, as he thought of his late Father and his childhood love of train sets. Kate loves to make it whistle and will even control the train herself and then squeal and run away to Mama. We are proud of our budding conductor.

Well, we hope you enjoyed our little year-end review, despite its lack of colonoscopy, childbirth and kidney stone references. Off we go to crash a Presidential Ball or two.

Helicopter Parenting.

This article by Nancy Gibbs of Time Magazine discusses the new fangled concept of "slow parenting," where you allow your child free play time and do not constantly hover over their every activity and learning opportunity. C and I have discussed this numerous times. Parents who overschedule and constantly push their children may be doing them a disservice. The freedom to actually be bored births some of the most creative boredom busters and sparks independent thought. While I can relate to and understand the inclination toward helicopter parenting, I am glad to see a cultural shift in the works.

Whether born out of necessity or on purpose, I often had time to do nothing as the child of a single parent. Although I was not athletically talented or predisposed, I spent hours riding bikes through our neighborhood with my best friend, watching the dreaded TV and writing and tape or video recording our own newscasts, choreographed dance routines and plays in her parents' basement. We even kept journals, wrote poetry, sang and played instruments. We did not attend a regular dance, music or gymnastics class outside of public school, and Gymboree did not exist. However, we were able to explore our own interests, cultivate creativity and test the boundaries of our independence. As teenagers, Chris volunteered caring for autistic infants, and I helped clean up a local river. He also played the violin, began learning German and cultivated his other, varied interests, and I acted, sang and hosted a high school radio show.

Kids may also benefit from being allowed to fail, get hurt and fight their own battles. Not once did my Mom intervene on my behalf to argue a grade with a teacher. And I would have been absolutely mortified if my Mom ever argued with my college professor or attempted to negotiate my starting salary with an employer! If I felt strongly enough about it, I knew that it was my job to do so, or I could simply work harder to prove myself the next time. While I agree with the author that immunizations, car seats, seatbelts and bike helmets are rational methods of reducing risk to children, I also agree that trying to shield them from every possible harm, no matter how remote or improbable, is irrational.

These are interesting revelations for me, because, by all accounts, my Mom was an overprotective and nervous Nelly as a parent. She was one of the first moms in the 1970s to insist on the use of a child car seat and fought with her parents and in-laws about it. When I was a baby and toddler, she was afraid of letting me fall and get hurt, or that I would catch a cold from an inquisitive stranger at the grocery store. She constantly read books and talked to me as an infant and toddler, exposed me to boy-centric toys, taught me "Free to Be You and Me" and told me I was smart and beautiful all the time. And she was terrified when I learned to drive and rode in cars with teenagers. But, she must have eventually let go or learned to live with the fear. I hope we can, too.

Creating a Happy Family Life.

This article entited "The 5 Secrets of Happy Families," by Barbara Rowley, in Parenting magazine offers some insightful tips:

1. Express gratitude to yourself and those around you even if you have to fake it.

2. Try to be satisfied with your choices instead of constantly trying to maximize or second-guess them. Do not compare yourself to others. Limiting your options and those of your family helps.

3. Focus yourself and family members on moments of joy in your past, present and future.

4. Spread out special experiences and treats like toys, clothing and vacations to create contrast, anticipation and appreciation.

5. Nurture your inner circle of friends and family, because your relationships, not your money or success, bring you happiness and satisfaction.

Medical Decisions for your Children.

The case of Minnesota 13-year-old Daniel Hauser and his parents recently thrust the issue of religious/parental rights vs. a government's right to intervene and prevent child medical neglect in the national spotlight. This article summarizes other, similar cases and their outcomes throughout the years, making it abundently clear that the issue is far from black and white. I found it especially interesting in the article above that one set of parents would get their family dog vaccinated regularly due to legal mandates but would opt out of vaccinating their children and seeking medical treatment based upon their religious convictions.

In my opinion, there needs to be a multi-pronged approach to this medical, ethical and legal question. If the child is mature enough to understand the treatment options, risks and benefits, then the court should defer to the child's preferences as expressed through his own legal representative. However, if the child is too young, uneducated or immature to make this decision for himself, his own legal representative should, together with medical professionals and child welfare officials, collaborate to develop the appropriate treatment plan, regardless of the parents' religious beliefs. To me, doing otherwise is child neglect and endangerment.

Of course, my opinion is colored by the fact that I do not belong to a religion that eschews traditional medical treatment. But I agree that a line needs to be drawn between parental rights and state rights where medical treatment and other issues are concerned. There is a potential slippery slope if the line hovers too far toward state rights. For example, should the state intervene to require vegan parents to feed their children foods it deems more appropriate to sustain their growing bodies? Should the state be allowed to forbid a parent from homeschooling their child or treating a non-life threatening illness with homeopathic or alternative medicine rather than traditional drugs? There are already state mandates regarding child car seat use, school attendance and some vaccinations are required before children can attend daycare or public school.

What concerned me most about the Hauser case was that, although he was 13, Daniel was homeschooled, illiterate and could not even identify the word "the" when tested by a teacher for entrance into a charter school. In addition, doctors testified that chemotherapy had an over 90% success rate in curing his type of Hodgkins lymphoma. In fact, the cancer was responsive to the one treatment he previously had and grew larger once treatment stopped. I think the judge in this case did an excellent job of weighing the issues and crafting a reasonable resolution that did not separate a scared child in extreme pain from his concerned, but perhaps misguided, parents during his next set of chemotherapy treatments.

Child Safety Seats

C and I have been navigating the complicated market for convertible child car seats, since Kate is nearing her infant car seat's height limit, and we want to keep her in the safer rear facing position beyond the 20 lbs and 12 months old recommendations. Note: At 6 months old, Kate, my petite flower, is already 20 lbs. She is also tall with long legs that are reaching the end of her infant seat.

Like my search for the best initial car seat, there is a dizzying array of options on the market catering to different heights, weights, uses and budgets. So far, I mentioned Baby Bargains as a good resource for buying all things baby. I also stumbled upon this resource from the American Academy of Pediatricians. Thank goodness for charts with height and weight comparisons as well as some guidelines for when a child can transition to a forward facing seat, a booster seat with harnesses, a booster seat without harnesses and finally just a seat belt in the back seat.

So far, I think we are buying the Graco ComfortSport (up to 40" and 40 lbs for about $80 at Target), unless we decide to spring for a model that will last beyond 3-4 years, like the First Years True Fit Convertible Car Seat (up to 50" and 65 lbs for about $180) or the Evenflo Symphony Convertible Car Seat (all-in-one rear & forward facing plus converts to a booster seat up to 100 lbs for about $200.) We are trying to avoid the ultra expensive but well reviewed Britax models that cost $300+. Hmmm....how big will you be at 3 years old, Kate?

Most states now have a child safety seat and booster seat law that requires all children to be restrained until they reach a certain height or weight and/or age. In Michigan, all children must remain in a safety seat until they are 4'9" and 8 years old, effective July 1, 2008. See MCL 257.710e.

Childhood Vaccinations.

This is such a hot button topic on nearly every internet-based parenting board or magazine. Some parents are adamently against vaccinating their children for any disease, others selectively vaccinate their children (usually omitting or delaying the MMR vaccine) and still others strictly follow their pediatrician's advice and the CDC Immunization Schedules.

I will disclose that we fall squarely within camp #3 after researching the research on this issue. Also, my husband is a scientist. All of the reliable medical evidence is on our side in addition to a recent court ruling that there is no link between mercury-laden vaccines and the MMR vaccine and autism in children. Reporter Campbell Brown from CNN recently summarized our sentiments on the research and court ruling here.

I want to emphasize one of Brown's points and my largest concern. The more people either refuse to vaccinate or delay vaccinating their children, the more once arrested communicable diseases will experience resurgences and spread among our population. Keep in mind that immunizing your child is not the only intended consequence of the vaccination program; immunizing everyone protects your child before she receives each vaccination from encountering someone who could transmit that disease to her. The more non-immunized living amongst us, the more risk to everyone's infants and toddlers of diseases once fatal or permanently debilitating to those populations. In addition, sometimes the vaccination dose given is insufficient to prompt a strong enough immune response from a particular child. Instead, we must rely upon other successful immunizations to help protect her from exposure to the disease. Anecdotally, my dentist told me that her one-year-old, despite adherence to the immunization schedule, contracted the Rotavirus from a daycare setting.

In addition, the Times of London recently conducted an investigative report concluding that the scientist who published the study linking the MMR vaccine to autism was found to have improperly altered his data to derive the result he desired. This offends principled scientists and researchers who spend much of their time painstakingly testing hypotheses in a manner that can be replicated.

So, we immunize our children not just to protect them but also to protect others from potentially life threatening diseases. And the science behind Dr. Wakefield's 1998 paper should not be trusted. I choose to rely upon the mountain of scientific evidence that contradicts his findings instead. I can only hope that other parents' decisions not to immunize do not adversely impact my child or other children. What do you think?

Newborn Wrangling Advice.

As many people are fond of saying, newborns do not arrive home from the hospital or birthing center with an instruction manual, much to the chagrin of newly minted parents. And most prenatal classes focus on pregnancy and labor and delivery with one session on "newborn care." In fact, my Mom told me that she attended many Lamaze classes in the seventies and read all sorts of pregnancy literature, but it slipped her mind to learn or read anything about childcare before I arrived. Luckily, her Mom was there to teach her the ropes.

Almost as soon as the home pregnancy test displays a plus sign, well-meaning folks begin dispensing with parenting advice. Swaddle your child to help her sleep/swaddling your child can cause SIDS, Co-sleeping is best/Co-sleeping is not safe, respond promptly to all her cries/let her cry herself to sleep (i.e., the Ferber method), follow the CDC's immunization schedule/avoid some immunizations, do XYZ to help your child sleep through the night/allow her to develop her own sleeping schedule, feed her on schedule every 2-3 hours/feed her on demand, etc. The only consistent messages we hear: 1. Do not shake the baby, 2. Back to sleep, tummy to play, 3. Use a rear-facing car seat until at least 20 pounds and 12 months old, and 4. Breastfeeding is good. What I learned in my short tenure as a Mom is that one size does not fit all, and people are extremely opinionated about these issues, but it is a good idea to at least listen to it, do your own independent research, and decide what works best for your family.

So far, we are blessed with a relatively predictable newborn who does not cry inconsolably for three hours a day (the hallmark of true colic.) Farts loudly and frequently while whining in displeasure? Check. Burps loud enough to cause a room full of day care workers and children turn around and take notice? Check. Produces enough spit-up to fill a bottle nearly every day? You betcha!

For us, we found the following advice most useful:

• Dr. Harvey Karp's "The Happiest Baby on the Block" DVD: http://thehappiestbaby.com/. He explains that the first 3 months of life are really like the 4th trimester of pregnancy. To soothe your newborn, you must create an environment similar to the womb by using the 5 "S's": Swaddling, Place baby on her Side or Stomach, Shushing her in her ear, Swinging, and Sucking. Kate responds best to swaddling, sucking her pacifier and swinging, but sometimes the others help ease her to sleep or at least out of a cryfest, too.

• White noise. Our friend, M, suggested investing in a white noise machine to help Kate fall and stay asleep, and it totally works. We bought ours from Target: http://www.target.com/Conair-Infant-Sound-Machine-SU7/dp/B000EXTWHA/sr=1-15/qid=1225119387/ref=sr_1_15/179-3486258-1850628?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Awhite%20noise&page=1.

• Learn how to decipher the difference between her cries. Kate actually makes different noises and exhibits different body language when she is hungry vs. overtired vs. in pain. http://www.parents.com/baby/care/crying-colic/why-is-baby-crying/. One Australian woman even studied many newborns for patterns in their crying: http://www.babyzone.com/baby/nurturing/crying/photos_decode_baby_cries/2. 1. "Neh/Nah" means hungry, 2. "Owh" produced with a mouth shaped similar to a yawn means tired, 3. Repetitive "eh-eh-eh" means "burp me!", 4. "eeerrrhhh" means she has gas, and 5. "heh" means she is uncomfortable. Once you learn the sounds and body language specific to your baby, it is sometimes possible to catch the request before it escalates to screaming.

• Most helpful books: What to Expect the First Year, by Heidi Murkoff, http://www.whattoexpect.com/store/ProductDisplayDetail.aspx (the infant care bible) and Baby Bargains, by Denise and Alan Fields, http://www.windsorpeak.com/babybargains/ (find out what gear is best for your money and what you can skip.)

• Most helpful web sites/magazines: http://www.parenting.com/ (home of Babytalk and Parenting magazines and covers nearly every child care topic and controversy in a non-judgmental way); http://www.parents.com/ (home of American Baby, Family Circle and Parents magazines); What to Expect the First Year, http://www.whattoexpect.com/first-year/landing-page.aspx (companion to the book); ivillage, http://parenting.ivillage.com/; CDC Vaccinations, http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/ (get the facts); American Academy of Pediatrics, http://www.aap.org/ (child health and safety); U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, http://www.cpsc.gov/ (check for baby gear and toy recalls), the La Leche League, http://www.llli.org/nb.html (breastfeeding advice and support).

• Sign up for newsletters and coupons at baby product web sites and stores like Target, Walmart, Babies 'r Us, Gerber, Similac, Enfamil, Pampers, Huggies, etc. Each company wants to get you hooked on their product or store, so they will give you free samples and coupons at every turn.

• Do not forget to take care of yourselves postpartum. Moms and Dads need to eat right, find romantic time together, time apart, and try to find time for exercise, even if you do it with your newborn. I am already kinda laughing at the notion of playing patty cake with Kate while doing lunges, but hey, I am willing to try it. She already thinks her Mommy is a bit nuts.

I am sure there is more that I just cannot recall at this moment. Please feel free to share your advice and/or favorite resources.