Missed Baby Camp But Still Got Some Goodies
May 5 2008

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to Johnson & Johnson’s Baby Camp but fortunately they sent me some goodies.  My kids aren’t babies anymore so some of the items I’ll probably give to some friends with new babies or maybe even use them myself!  They wrote a nice note saying they were disappointed I could not make it to the camp and sent me some of their classic and new products:

Baby lotion
Moisture care baby wash
Baby cream
No more tangles® shampoo + conditioner – straight hair
No more tangles® shampoo + conditioner – curly hair
2 bottles of no more tangles® leave-in conditioner

Smelling the scent of their classic line brought back memories of when my kids were babies.  Sigh.  Nice for a moment of nostalgia, but I’m thankful those early days are over!  We still have an almost empty bottle of their original baby shampoo that we sometimes use on our daughter.

Here are links to some of the posts other bloggers who attended wrote about the baby camp:

Mom’s Favorite Stuff: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Plain Jane Mom: So why did J&J send me to New Jersey anyway?

SoCal Stuff: My Mommy Went to Baby Camp and All She Brought Me Was This Lousy Lightup Mirror

Maryamie: What happened at Camp? Johnson’s Camp Baby Report Day 2 and 3

From dates to diapers: Camp Baby

Marketing Roadmaps: Camp Baby Post Mortem Part One: The Mom Bloggers’ Perspective  (a long, but good one!)

The LadyBug and her Blogging Mama: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Wow, I even found the Flickr J&J Camp Baby pictures and J&J Camp Baby blog they set up for the event!

I’m sure there are more posts out there about Johnson’s Baby Camp, so please leave the link to your or someone else’s post in the comments below and I can add it to the list.  I would search the Internet endlessly myself, but I’m home with a recovering sick kid and wondering how I’m going to get caught up on all of my other work.  Plus, I’m feeling a bit achy myself.  Bleh!

I only have one request for J&J. Please give me more than a few weeks notice next time because I will take any excuse to get pampered! 😀

The Cutest Dancing Shoes Ever!
Oct 17 2007

I just saw this post on Boing Boing.  Oh my gosh, how cute is this!?! I wonder if it’s one size fits all…

Parent-child dancing shoes

Posted by Cory Doctorow, October 16, 2007 9:49 PM | permalink

These felt dancing shoes from Finland are designed to be worn by a parent balancing a child on her/his toes while dancing. Sweet! Link (via Neatorama)

Breastfeeding Tip: Use Two Boppy Pillows – Baby Tip by Babble Soft
Jul 9 2007

Here’s a tip on breastfeeding a newborn:  Use TWO boppies.  When I had my son in 2002, I received a boppy (breastfeeding pillow) at my baby shower.  I really liked using it but discovered that I often had to put cushions or pillows beneath it to get our newborn son at a comfortable position for feeding.  The cushions would slip out or somehow (I don’t know how) he would kick them out.  I would then find myself hunching over and my back aching a bit after a while.  When my daughter was born in 2005, I received another one and happened to try stacking them and putting them both around my waist.  It was great!  Since I’m a bit short-waisted having the two breastfeeding pillows made me sit up straight thereby forcing me to maintain good posture (a plus).  Having two boppies was helpful to me in the cradle, cross-cradle, and football positions.  In the football position, I would put both boppies stacked on each other to my right or left and then I would place my daughter with her head toward me and her body/feet behind me resting on one of the sides of the boppy.  I used two for the first probably 12-16 weeks of her life.

Of course it’s not that easy to take a boppy with you when you are breastfeeding/nursing-in-public so on those occassions I propped them on our big, fat diaper bag because I always had it handy. 😉

If you can’t afford another boppy, try to find a really sturdy/hard cushion that you can place under the boppy for the football position.  You’d have to find two slightly firm cushions if you want to use them for the cradle and cross-cradle positions.  You can also ask a friend if they are done with their boppy…I just gave one of ours away to a friend.  We also used our boppy for tummy time, sitting support, and all sorts of fun things that I’m sure you are not supposed to use it for. 🙂

Aruni

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Note to new readers: these tips are based on our experiences, as well as those of our friends and readers.  Please always consult with your doctor before implementing any tip that might impact the health of your baby.  If you have a tip you’d like to submit please send an email to babblesoft blogger for possible inclusion.  Please check the ‘baby tips’ category to make sure your tip (in some form or fashion) hasn’t already been posted.  If it has been, feel free to comment on that post and support the tip.  We also welcome respectful challenges to the tips because as is noted in our inaugural baby tip ‘everything is relative!’  We will, of course, give anyone who submits a tip we publish credit and a link back to their site!

Inside Out Teddy Bears?
Jul 5 2007

I recently subscribed to a blog called Boing Boing: A Directory of Wonderful Things and saw a post on Inside Out Teddy Bears.  How interesting.  As stated below, I agree that people will tend to feel more empathy for these creatures than feel comforted by them.  I wonder if Build-A-Bear workshop will start offering the option to create these inside out stuffed animals?  See below for the entire post: 

Here’s an interview with artist Kent Rogowski, about his “Bears” photographs. Furry, huggable teddybears, gutted and inverted. 

Q: I love these bears so much. They remind me of my early sewing experiments. What happens when you take such a beloved and iconic toy and transform it by literally turning it inside out?

A: (…) Teddy bears are designed to be innocuous and non-threatening creatures. Inside-out the bears are still sometimes recognizable but are now much more complicated and contradictory. The seams of the bear now look like scars, and some bears lose their limbs and other appendages depending on how they were constructed. When you look at the inside-out bears they appear to have a history or a past. They no longer offer comfort but instead seem to want our empathy.

These are phenomenal. I think this one’s my favorite — the poor li’l guy looks like he’s all tubed in to a catheter or an oxygen tank. Link to interview by Nicole Pasulka at The Morning News, here’s the gallery show in NYC through August 10, and here’s an Amazon Link to buy the book (thanks Rosecrans!).

Mom-To-Be Depot Launched June 26, 2007
Jun 28 2007

Mom-To-Be Depot just went LIVE this week.  I wish they were around when I was expecting.  What a great resource for expecting moms!  Mom-To-Be is Your one-stop-shoppe for everything you need when you’re expecting – “must-have” products, expert advice and more!  See below for their review (4th one down) of Baby Manager!

We LOVE This product!!
Baby has arrived – how do you track feeding, pumping, medicine, etc.?
BabbleSoft keeps you right on track.  They created “Baby Manager” – a web and mobile software that helps you track all the important things – from diaper changes, to feeding times, and more. You can take notes, upload photos, allow your healthcare professionals access to this.  It’s so cool because now you finally don’t have to write everything down and keep things organized in a notebook.  Join the 21st century and have it all tracked for you. We think this is a pretty cool tool.  When the doctor asked me how often the baby ate, when I was nursing, how long on each side, etc. – I hadn’t a clue.  I guessed – and was probably way off.  When you’re at the pediatricians office and they ask how many ounces does the baby drink in a day – I hadn’t a clue.  Some quick math made me guess way beyond what the real number actually was.  Now, I can give accurate information – and know what’s going on.  Why do you need to know all this?  Because babies develop patterns and cues to ensure their health and happiness.  This tool helps you accomplish that.  Go to www.babymanager.com for a free trial!

I don’t know about you but when looking at the review above ours for My Lacy’s panties, I wondered if the woman who is modeling the underwear has ever been pregnant. I know my tummy doesn’t look like that after having had 2 kids.  😕

Aruni

Baby Sleep Ideas – Baby Advice by Babble Soft
Jun 25 2007

Many seasoned parents probably know this: When all else fails to calm your baby down (i.e., mylicon drops, gripe water, walking around the house a million times (with your baby next to your chest, in a sling, on your shoulder, or on your back), putting your baby on a running clothes dryer, standing by the refrigerator in a semi-comatose state, yelling at your partner, yelling at yourself, yelling at your baby, all sorts of herbal/homeopathic medicines, giving him/her a pacifier, giving him/her food (bottle or breast), and/or pinching yourself, try a) putting your baby in the car and driving around or b) walk outside.

Several people will tell you (they told us) that putting your baby in a car and driving them around would create bad sleeping habits.  We finally figured out we were screwed no matter what we did since our son (who is now 4 1/2) was born with the questionable ability to sleep so driving him around so that he could fall sleep would calm us down and in more cases than not put him to sleep so we wouldn’t totally lose it.   Driving around in the car was a much better solution for us than being in the same room with him while we were extremely sleep deprived and irritable (caution: don’t drive when you think you too might fall asleep!).  If you feel sleepy and your baby has fallen asleep stop the car somewhere safe and take a nap yourself.  If you are close to home see if you can take your baby out of the car (keep him/her in their car seat), bring him/her inside and crash on the nearest couch.

Several well meaning folks might also tell you that you shouldn’t take your baby outside when it’s cold.  Here in Texas it doesn’t get cold too often, but we found even on cold days taking him outside for 2-5 minutes made him look around and calm down.  The only trouble with this tactic is he would cry for a bit when we first walked outside making us (or mainly me) worry about waking the neighbors!  Thankfully, our daughter was born a wonderful sleeper because otherwise I might not have survived to write this tip!

Aruni

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As a reminder, these tips are based on our experiences, as well as those of our friends and readers.  Please always consult with your doctor before implementing any tip that might impact the health of your baby.  If you have a tip you’d like to submit please send an email to babblesoft blogger for possible inclusion.  Please check the ‘baby tips’ category to make sure your tip (in some form or fashion) hasn’t already been posted.  If it has been, feel free to comment on that post and support the tip.  We also welcome respectful challenges to the tips because as is noted in our ‘inaugural’ baby tip ‘everything is relative!’  We will, of course, give anyone who submits a tip we publish credit and a link back to their site!

Listen to Yourself: Baby Tips and Advice by Babble Soft
Jun 18 2007

I have been thinking about publishing a series of interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes serious, hopefully useful Baby Tips by Babble Soft for quite some time.  Now that I’ve started to get the hang of blogging, I thought this would be the perfect time to start.  Keep in mind these are based on our experiences, as well as those of our friends and readers.  Please always consult with your doctor before implementing any tips that might impact the health of your baby.  If you have a tip you’d like to submit please send an email to babblesoft blogger for possible inclusion.  Please check the ‘baby tips’ category to make sure your tip (in some form or fashion) hasn’t already been posted.  If it has been, feel free to comment on that post and support the tip.  We also welcome respectful challenges to the tips because as is noted in our ‘inaugral’ baby tip below ‘everything is relative!’  We will, of course, give anyone who submits a tip we publish credit and link back to their site!

Now here comes the inaugural Baby Tip by Babble Soft:

No matter what advice, tips, coercing, guilt trips, or loaded suggestions you receive, trust your gut/mind/heart above all else (unless of course you have a track record like George Costanza on Seinfeld and in that case do the opposite!).  In 99% [not verified, just something I thought would emphasize the point] of cases, new parents wish they had followed their thoughts/feelings about a stressful situation instead of acting blindly on the advice of friends, family, strangers, health care professionals, or innocent bystanders.  You and your baby are unique, the situation in your home, the situation with your spouse, and the situation with your family is also unique and there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution.  So if all the books in the world tell you to let your baby cry his lungs out and your gut tells you ‘this doesn’t feel right,’ then pick him up.  On the other hand if all the books in the world tell you to carry your baby 24/7 and you are about to have a nervous breakdown, put her down and take the break your mind/body is telling you that you need.  Make sense?  This tip is probably the hardest to implement and follow…but try to keep it in mind in between feeding, napping, eating, going to the bathroom, cleaning dishes, pumping, doing laundry, and changing diapers. 🙂

Mr. Bobbles’ Blankets – What a funny name!
May 22 2007

After looking off and on for over 2 years (Yes TWO years!) for the perfect toddler pillow, I finally turned to the Internet, did an exhaustive search and happened upon Mr. Bobbles’ Blankets.  Over the years, I have been in Target, Bed Bath and Beyond, Amazon.com, and pretty much any store or site that I thought might carry them and was often disappointed and shocked that I couldn’t find a good toddler pillow.  Target would always tell me to check back just before school started.  Of course I would come back only to be told “if we had them, they would be in aisle number X” and they were never there!  A friend of mine found one at the Salvation Army store once but by the time I made it there they didn’t have them anymore.

I ordered two pillows…one for our son to use as his nap pillow for school and of course one for our daughter…just to make sure there would be no fighting over the pillows. They have washable, replaceable pillowcases AND you can wash the pillows themselves…with kids the washability factor is key.  I liked them so much that I bought two more for my niece and nephew. 

I contacted the genius, Renee Sirulnik, behind these pillows and we have been helping each other promote our businesses ever since.  It’s amazing the relationships you can build over email and the Internet! If you buy a subscription to Baby Manager, you will get a coupon code to save money on purchases at Mr. Bobbles’ Blankets through the end of May 2007.  If you buy from Mr. Bobbles’ Blankets you will get a coupon code for 15% off a subscription to Baby Manager through the end of June 2007.

Renee just shared with me that they are in the process of launching a new line of crib sheets that have zippers for safety and she has added a new line of designer fabrics (funky/retro inspired prints in flannel and percale).  She also has a new Pirate theme fabric coming out soon so any of you with kids who get caught up in the Pirates of the Caribbean III movie mania, this fabric just might be for you! 

As for the funny name, you’ll have to read her About Us page to get the story! Please check out her site and share your thoughts.

Aruni