Not so bold and loud

Seems like once you have your 20 week ultrasound appointment and find out the gender of your baby, your next stop is to the big box baby stores to pick out the essentials for your nursery.  When it comes to crib bedding, you can count on the following colors and combinations of these colors

Girl: Pink, Purple, Brown, Green

Boy: Navy, Yellow, Green, Brown

Not only are the colors bright and not soothing they pair them with big animal faces.  I know when I'm sleeping I don't want a big lion staring at me.

Recently, I have seen a transition from bows and big animals to a more serene and simple nursery.  While browsing through the Land of Nod catalog recently, I loved what I saw! Grey, Aqua, Lavender.  They have bedding with prints, but it's a more subtle approach.

As with Fall Fashion this year, nurseries are taking up a less is more approach! 

For First Time Parents...

Just because you never know...Humor

Source Wry Baby

Baby Gear that makes you go WOW!

A stroller with an LCD screen....a baby monitor where you can monitor your baby's breathing on your iPhone...who knew!!

The Origami Stroller, $850

If you're into gadgets and gizmos — and you have to have the best new gear on the block — then let me introduce you to the Origami, from the maker's of the Mamaroo. This bad boy has power folding, an LCD screen (that tracks the temperature, your mileage, etc.), daytime running lights, and a built-in generator that recharges as you walk. It can even charge your cell phone! This, my friends, is the stroller of the future.


SafeToSleep Sleep and Breathing Monitor, $329

No need to check your newborn every 5 minutes to make sure they are breathing with this, state of the art monitor---this high tech apparatus will record every breath your baby takes, monitors your baby's sleep time and (get this!) generates a report, and most importantly communicates with your smartphone (because we all know that device is on your nightstand).  How does it work??? Simply place your baby on the sleep mat, connect to smartphone and viola! begin to monitor!

...what did our parents do without these gadgets??!?!  HAHA

 

Important Field Trip

I have to write about one of the most important field trips in my child's life....visiting the Fire Department.  We had this outing a while ago, but I had to encourage parents of preschoolers to please visit your local fire department, so your child is not afraid of a fireman in the event of an emergency.

At first, I thought "yeah visiting the fire house would be cool we get to see the fire station and the trucks", but once the fireman started putting on his gear I realized that this was well worth cutting nap time short that day.  Once they had on all their equipment the last thing the Fireman put on was his mask and at that point a lot of the children took five steps back.  Let's face it, Fireman sound and look scary when they have their gear on and if I was a 4 year old I would not want to be taken out of my house or car with this stranger that sounds like Darth Vader.  Parents-let your children know that if there is an emergency and a Firefighter is trying to get them out of the car or out of their bedroom window, they should not hesitate and go.  These are good strangers!!! 

The kids had a great time seeing where the fireman eat, sleep and hangout.  They even got to sit inside the truck and learn little tidbits of information (as my daughter always points out that fire trucks have ladders and fire engines don't!).  Kids nowadays are just too smart :-)

Motivated today...

Finally found some time today while the kids were taking their afternoon nap, to make some headway into starting my business.  This blog is step #1....took me long enough.  It's not that I don't have the passion, I do! It's finding the time between, school drop off and pickup, keeping my body in shape, making healthy lunches and dinners, play-dates, trying to keep a somewhat of a clean house (I gave up on clean) and everything else that goes into being a suburban housewife.

This week the kids and I have had some time to discover new places and really spend time laughing and being silly with each other, minus all the running around.  One day this week we discovered a Bay Area gem, Ardenwood Historic Farms http://www.ebparks.org/parks/ardenwood.  This working farm is in Fremont, kind of bordering Newark.  It was a cheap, educational and fun filled morning out! Driving up to the farm you see their vegetation areas, the girls were so excited to see real tractors (that's what happens when you have a NY transplant as a Mom)! We saw different animals ranging from rabbits to horses, and pigs to peacocks.  The best was seeing the girls pump water up from the ground, they had a blast.  We went on a Tuesday, which wasn't one of the best days to go.  From Thursday-Sunday they have a train ride that goes to the other side of the farm, guided tours of the Victorian House on the premises, staff demonstrations of what life was like in the early 1900's.  We are definitely going back on a different day to get the full experience.