A friend of mine is due in about 7 weeks. Her baby shower is in 3 weeks.
I noticed on her invite she requested ‘no plastic toys’. Her registry is almost entirely organic or green choices. She still has rubber bottle nipples but they are ‘free’ from all the harmful plastic additives. The onesies she registered for are either bamboo or organic cotton. She registered for an organic layette though I don’t think her crib set is organic cotton.
She herself does not live ‘green’ and her husband doesn’t either (if they were die-hard organic-only people I’d understand more).

Here is my problem. I was going to hand-paint some onesies for her. I already bought them, they are 100% cotton, but not ‘organic’ cotton. I can buy the ones she registered for and paint those, but I’m concerned she is going to freak out about the paint being on them (the paint is labeled as non-toxic and made in the USA – its intended for fabrics).

I’m sure she’ll be polite but I don’t want to waste my time, money and energy if she’s going to smile then not use them because they are ‘tainted’.
I am also an avid knitter. I find that most parents appreciate some kind of poly blend yarn on baby blankets because it makes them machine washable and dryable. 100% cotton yarn is NOT soft and cuddly.
I was planning on giving her a hand-knit blanket as well.

Now I don’t know what to do…..
I kind of think this is an ‘ideal’ she is trying to meet, but will quickly abandon once her kid is here. I understand about being strict about the food they consume, but unless its a lifestyle choice for yourself, then organic cotton clothing doesn’t seem to be any safer to me.

I don’t know what to do. I don’t know her well enough to call and ask since I’m afraid I’ll insult her. I LOVE making this stuff and its very cute and I’ve always gotten tons of thanks… but now I’m afraid to give her anything I make.

Help?

Technorati Tags: baby blankets, baby shower, choices, cotton yarn, crib set, die hard, fabrics, freak, google, layette, lifestyle choice, nipples, onesies, organic cotton clothing, parents, plastic additives, poly blend, script type, text javascript, time money

im planning to start an at home daycare. i live in a city but have a house. im only 22 but i am a single mother who’s very responsible and have a 9 month old DD. my house is immaculately clean and i will have a seperate room for naps. i plan to take 5 children 2+ and will be licensed.
we are TV free and i babywear (and would for any baby who needed it) live very naturally. have few plastic toys. spend alot of time in our big backyard. i am very nurturing and would never let a child CIO or anything of the sort.
I have never worked in a daycare only babysat but i was a nurse’s aide for five years and worked in alzheimer’s care for 2 years where i was solely responsible for 8+ patients
since i cook all our meals (DD and I) and they are allergen free organic homemade meals i would like to provide them for the kids as well.
all the kids would need to bring would be diapers and wipes and their own cream and a change of clothes.

does a day per child sound reasonable? we are is MA btw. would you trust me to watch your child? will my age be a negative factor?

Technorati Tags: allergen, btw, clothes, diapers, google, home daycare, homemade meals, naps, negative factor, nurse, plastic toys, script type, seperate room, single mother, text javascript

I’m like never hungry the way I thought I would be, especially at 7 months. I basically have to remind and force myself to eat, especially when I wake up. Is this normal? I thought I’d be very hungry during my pregnancy. I went to the doctor, and she weighed me, and told me I only gained 6 pounds in total, which was normal she said. It’s basically baby and boob weight, I don’t notice it coming on at all, I still fit all my clothes normally, except my stomach. Anyways, I was just wondering if this was normal.I’m also taking really good prenatal vitamins, called the perfect prenatals, and they’re an all organic vitamin. I love them! they don’t make me nauseous at all, so I haven’t been throwing up or anything, except in the beginning of my pregnancy. So I’m getting the nutrients I needs, and my baby is doing well so far.

Technorati Tags: 7 months, clothes, google, nutrients, pregnancy, prenatal vitamins, prenatals, script type, stomach, text javascript

Hi everybody!

I have some trouble with my english homework.

What mistakes do you found in the following phrase?

Thaks!!!! (k)

"""Our goal while developing this project is to find unexploited markets, by creating original marketing strategies that will improve the market share of Sporto Company. Our company’s main objective is the maximization of profits through the final consumer’s satisfaction with a product of global excellence.
Besides being a product that takes care of environment, the use of 100% organic cotton made infant apparel can protect the skin of both our children and us. Usually babies and children are more sensitive than adults to synthetic chemicals. Given that fact, choosing clothes made with organic cotton can help to reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals for their skins and bodies. The use of organic cotton clothing for babies, it is highly recommended, since their delicate skin requires extra special care and extra soft tissues that have contact with your skin, especially in those with diseases such as atopic dermatitis."""

Technorati Tags: atopic dermatitis, babies, delicate skin, dermatitis, english homework, global excellence, google, harmful chemicals, infant apparel, main objective, market share, marketing strategies, organic cotton clothing, original marketing, quot quot, script type, skins, soft tissues, synthetic chemicals, text javascript

If you can please include an address and as many details as possible.. thanks a lot

Technorati Tags: google, script type, text javascript

So it seems I am an old-fashioned thinker or something. I read What to expect along with a lot of other baby books, magazines, and internet sites, and frankly- I don’t follow the trend. I use a crib bumper, I don’t do baby wear. I tried to breastfeed but it didn’t work out, so I use formula. I don’t buy organic ANYTHING (unless it’s on sale and cheaper than what I usually would get- but that has yet to happen). I use disposable diapers, and i do a host of other things that would probably make most mommies cringe- like not wash a brand new outfit before putting it on baby!

I have 4 cousins that have babies, and they do everything by the book… Everything from buying all the ‘right’ baby essentials, to making homemade baby food. Cloth diapering, organic clothes, wipes, food… for petes sake, one of them posted an article about how Johnson & johnson products are unsafe and contain formeldyhide! *sigh*

So ranting aside.. is there anyone.. ANYONE who is like me and loves and takes care of their children, uses common sense, but doesn’t follow the trends or the hype?

Please tell me I’m not alone!
I guess I should explain.. it’s not that I am against anything per se, it’s just i have chosen wheat I think works best for my family, and most of the time, what I think is best isn’t what the ‘experts’ believe is best. Oh well.. to each his own. i just can’t stand getting repremanded for my choices when they are just that- CHOICES!
PS- Yes, I do research on things when something comes into question, but usually (such as in the J&J thing) I blow if off as media hype.
I guess I should explain.. it’s not that I am against anything per se, it’s just i have chosen what I think works best for my family, and most of the time, what I think is best isn’t what the ‘experts’ believe is best. Oh well.. to each his own. i just can’t stand getting repremanded for my choices when they are just that- CHOICES! *** Why am I explaining myself anyways hahaha***

PS- Yes, I do research on things when something comes into question, but usually (such as in the J&J thing) I blow if off as media hype.
♥Riyen’s Mom: no, I don’t think I am at all better than anyone! In fact, quite the opposite, I feel like I am somehow lost in the mix because i don’t always understand the new ‘rules’ to parenting. To me, some things just don’t make sense. And if it doesn’t make sense, I don’t do it until it does. Why is it any mom who disagrees with me on here says something to put me down? I have never said anything bad about anyone or anything.

Technorati Tags: amp, baby books, baby essentials, cloth diapering, common sense, cousins, crib bumper, cringe, disposable diapers, google, homemade baby food, internet sites, media hype, organic clothes, repremanded, sake, script type, text javascript, thinker, wheat

I probably have about 100 items to sell ranging from newborn to 6 months, A lot have either not been used or hardly used. Most of it is from Next, debenhams, baker baby, adsa, matalan gap, jojomananbebe, organics for kids.

Technorati Tags: debenhams, gap, google, organics, script type, text javascript

My MIL lives right down the street from us (me, my husband and 9 month old child). She keeps my son 3 hours a day, three times a week due to mine and my husband’s worktimes overlapping. We pay her to keep or son due to her own financial problems. She is very critical to me ONLY and says things that hurt you, but in a nice way. Like, should you let your son eat an organic cereal bar. He is 9 months and has 2 teeth, yes he can eat it! I am not going to buy your son anything since he has so many clothes and toys (but she buys him something anyway). She keeps him from 630 AM until 900 AM. She keeps him in his PJ’s and after me working all night, she does not offer to bathe him, etc. She does not pick up and rinse out his bottle and she refuses to feed him baby food because it is "dangerous" She is weird! I have confronted her and she said she was only trying to help! She dotes on my husband and my son and I do not want my son growing up thinking his mom is horrible, because I am not. I am trying to change my night scheudle so I can be here with my son when he wakes up, but it may be a few months from now. Are there any suggestions on how I can handle this situation? I have spoken with my husband and he does support me, but I do not want to bother him with this MIL situation every day.
WOW! I got some really rude comments. I think I am trying to help with communication with her, and some of these comments are offensive.
in respect to the bath, she told me whatever I can do to help out since I am tired from working all night, that includes helping out with the house nad my son!!!!
You missed the point MIA, she dotes on my husband and my son, but only negative to me, that is jsut not right.
i am not talking about homemade baby food, she only thinks he shoudl drink the bottle (formula) and no baby food. I and my husband disagree.
BTW, I am grateful! I bake her cookes always tell her THANK YOU, purchse snapshots for her everymonth of my son. She takes pictures but never develops them. I buy her frames to put the pictures in!! So, please do not tell me that I am not grateful, because I am. We pay her to care for our son!!!! Plus, always tell her thank you!

Technorati Tags: 9 months, baby food, cereal bar, clothes, google, mom, organic cereal, pj, rude comments, script type, teeth, text javascript, three times, toys

I have a friend whom I have been friends w/ for about 3 1/2 years now(whom I will refer to as friend 1). She and her husband have been trying desperately to conceive for the last 5 years, and finally conceived via IVF a few months ago. My friend is a middle school teacher, and her husband is an economics professor at a small local state college, so they are not exactly rolling in money, and during the school year friend 1 is quite busy. They also found out they are having twins, so they are now preparing for 2 babies.

When I was expecting my son about 2 years ago, friend 1 didn’t come. She had recently had a severe letdown in the trying to conceive department(they were going to try a sperm donor, got almost to the end of the process, then the donor decided he didn’t want to donate anymore), so I understood(as it had taken me about a year to conceive my son, and we had had some concerns as to my fertility as well as my husbands due to previous medical issues on both our parts) why she wasn’t interested in coming. I saw her after this, and we talked, and I told her I understood her reasons for not coming, and left it at that.

Friend 1 also didn’t come to friend 2′s baby shower, but by this point they had drifted apart a bit, not to mention that friend 2 is a bit bossy and demanding(she is one of those ppl who do their best to make your POV the exact same as theirs), as well as had kind of made light of friend 1′s husbands fertility issues. Plus, Friend 2 had gotten pregnant on a 1 night stand w/ a guy she had been seeing off and on for the last year or more, after which she didn’t allow the guy to be a part of the pregnancy or the baby’s life for any reason other than she wanted to control every aspect. The guy had a good job, and was very nice(I met him a few times) and he was interested in being there, but backed off when friend 2 said she didnt want him around. I had been out of work about a year at this point, so I was pretty much broke, however I scraped up the money to get her some of the items she had on her registry(most of which were pretty expensive as they were all organic clothes, and all natural this and that, seventh generation diapers-which I can respect, b/c I do my best to get as much organic food and all natural things for my son and myself, but only to the extent I can afford, and when your friends are not that well off, you cannot expect them to just drop on an organic outfit set from a specialty store)and went to her baby shower w/ my then 7 month old son.

I emailed Friend 2 and another couple of our friends to ask them if they thought they would be interested in helping me host a proxy baby shower for Friend 1(I thought this would be easier for friend 1 b/c she is in the middle of preparing for her maternity leave, as well as middle of the school year whatnot, and it would mean that no one -except me and my husband- would have to drive all the way out to where she lives now as she lives about an hour and half away from most of us; & further from me). I thought it would be nice, as well as being helpful, as I have known a few mothers w/ twins, and every little bit helps in those circumstances, especially w/ things like diapers, and she is due at the beginning of May, so it is coming up quick.

No one responded to my email. I finally got a call from Friend 2, saying that she didn’t want to do it b/c "well, (friend 1) didn’t get me anything for my baby shower, and she didn’t get you anything for your baby shower or your wedding,"-neither of which bothered me btw- "I can’t afford to buy her anything" -you are a single mom working at an ipod store less than 20 hrs/week b/c you stay home w/ a "headache" at least once a week, you need get what you can afford, not spend every dime you make on over priced expensive things for your child, then complain about being totally broke all the time, not to mention if it was really that desperate of a situation, I could get a gift for her to give to her, or go in w/ her on something-" And (another of our friends) is mad at her(some situation that occured over a year ago, over some knitting needles), and w/ her having twins, she will get all this free stuff anyway"-At this point, I am just thinking to myself, If you don’t want to be bothered w/ doing it, just say that and don’t make excuses.

Then friend 2 said " I would really like to see you when (her child) and I finally feel better"-fyi, friend 2 will make plans w/ me and my child, then a few hours before they are supposed to show up, I get a phone call from friend 2 saying "Oh, (her child and/or her) are sick, so we won’t be coming today"- to the point that if I believed her, her child would be sick literally all the time(I know this isn’t true as she hangs out w/ her other friends, and they leave her messages on her facebook page in regard to them). It has gotten to the point that my husband jokes anytime I have plans w/ her, b/c we both know they will never come to pass.

I asked h
er to help me w/ this b/c I thought it would be a nice thing for friend 1 and her children, as I have watched her go through not being able to be pregnant for several years, and this will probably be her only pregnancy. I was thinking about making her a diaper cake or 2 and putting things on &/or in it. I am still unemployed, but I wanted to do at least something that wasn’t a gift card, and the only other people are her family that live up north, whom I’ve never met. I told my husband what Friend 2 said, and he said that he thought it was kind of messed up.

I am starting to think that Friend 2 only really wants to talk to me when she has nothing better to do, and that she is not at all interested in seeing or hanging out w/ me anymore anyway, and I should just cut her out of my life. Granted I don’t get to see Friend 1 much, but we still talk occasionally, and try to get together during the summer when she isn’t working. I also know that she would really appreciate anything for the b
abies.

Thoughts?
I worked w/ both these friends for about 2 years, then we all moved on to different jobs but stayed friends.

Technorati Tags: babies, baby shower, bossy, economics professor, fertility issues, google, having twins, letdown, medical issues, middle school teacher, night stand, pov, ppl, pregnancy, rolling in money, school year, script type, sperm donor, text javascript

a little background.

i have a friend, a woman i have been friends with for about 3 or 4 years now. my son and her son are 9 mos. almost to the minute apart. she got pregnant on what i guess would qualify as a one night stand sort of(?). she went on another date w/ a guy she had gone out w/ several months before, and had been hanging out w/ as a friend for sometime in between. they got tipsy, and didnt use any protection even though my friend knew she was ovulating, b/c she didnt tell him to be careful. so she ended up being a single mom, as she didnt really want the dad in the picture(she is in her late 30′s, and the guy was about his mid 20′s and a college student). she eventually told the guy about their son, and got his medical information for her son’s sake.

she told me all of this, and i figured it was her life and she could do what she wanted. she wanted to keep the baby, and her plan was to only give him breastmilk and organic baby food, only use glass and bpa free bottles and only dress him in organic cotton clothing, and have him in organic cloth diapers or the 7th generation diapers at all times. & do all of this on a retail position salary. okay. sure. the organic clothes & diapers seemed a bit much on that budget, but okay.

i went to her baby shower and bought her some of the bottles off of her registry(as there wasnt much on there, and the bottles were pretty expensive for someone who was-and still is- unemployed). the days she spent at the hospital(she had low fluid and had to be induced) i would text her and her doula who was a friend of ours to see how she was doing. it took her about 2 days to finally deliver.

i went to the mall w/ her and her son(who was about 3-4 months at this point). i held him and played w/ him(i love little babies, so i didnt mind) while she went in a few different stores. we got some gelato together, and hung out.

her mother will only keep the baby while she is at work from what i can tell, but if he starts crying, she has to come home from work to get him settled. (i know how hard this can be as my mil is the same way w/ my son for the most part). she was also joking on her fb page that her son took off his shirt so he wouldnt have to go in the car, and she stayed at home w/ him rather than putting his shirt back on and going.

recently however, she keeps blowing off play dates for our son’s at the last minute. we have moved and are down to one car now, and i dont have a license as i have no job to pay for it(we live in a state that you have to be insured to drive). where we have moved however, is not so far away that it would be hard for her to drive, and i have told her that if it is a problem to drive out to where i live, to let me know and i will try to make other arrangements to get to where she is, and she always says that she wants to see the apartment(we have been here about 2 1/2 mos., and we have been trying to set up these play dates the entire time we have lived here b/c her son is now 9 mos. so he is big enough to play w/ my son a bit). we then make plans, and then the day of, right about the time she is supposed to be at my house, i get a phone call: her son is still napping(she doesnt wake him after 2 hours either- she just lets him sleep. the other day she couldnt come over b/c he was "napping" from about 1pm to 4:30 or 5 pm), or her son is suddenly sick and they "don’t want to come over and get us sick".

i understand that children get sick periodically and that things can and do happen sometimes that make it impossible to do things you planned on w/ kids, but today is like the 10th time in a row. i have gotten to the point i dont even bother to do extra cleaning if we have made plans b/c there is no point, i know she won’t show up. my husband is getting fed up b/c he sees how much it hurts me(i dont have many friends, and since i dont have a car or a job, it’s not like i can just go to my friends houses or get out much). i am also getting tired of getting my son excited about getting to play w/ someone, and then they never show up.

what would you think?
if she just told me "hey, i have other plans today" or something like that i wouldnt be mad. but there has been more than a few of the times that i can tell she is outright lying to me, as she is horrible at lying.
i have an 18 mo. old that i take care of virtually by myself all the time. i do not lie about my child napping or being sick to get out of plans i made w/ someone. also, i have seen via her fb page that she goes and sees her other friends a lot(comments from these other friends on her page, along w/ comments from her, whereas i leave a message for her on her page, and there is never a response, written or otherwise).
this has also been going on for about 4 mos., & she hasnt been worried about or talked to her son’s father in about 2 years.
im really not trying to be insensitive, im just getting the feeling like she really doesnt have any interest in seeing me or my son, which if that is the case, i would rather her just not contact me.

Technorati Tags: 4 months, 7th generation diapers, baby shower, bpa free bottles, cloth diapers, doula, google, medical information, mid 20, night stand, organic baby food, organic clothes, organic cotton clothing, ovulating, retail position, sake, script type, single mom, text javascript, use glass