Thursday, March 12, 2009

Pregnancy and Diabetes

Parenting.com has some good information about having diabetes and getting pregnant. Check out the details at the CNN website.

Millions of women with diabetes have gone through healthy pregnancies and delivered healthy babies. There's no reason why you shouldn't also -- providing you take some precautions.

1. Get your diabetes under good control
2. Eat the right carbs
3. Stay away from the wrong carbs
4. Have smaller, more frequent meals
5. Eat more protein
6. Fill up with fiber
7. Change your oils
8. Control your weight

Friday, March 6, 2009

Classic Baby Names

Some of the best names I've heard! There are lots of baby name sites out there - just remember that baby will live with it for his/her entire life...... please, don't name your precious new baby Norbert - ...although Bert's pretty cute! (He'll not be happy)



Aidan

Lilly

Oscar

Jack

Ruby

Chloe

Millie

Oliver

Grace

Alex

Archie

Noah

Charlie

Emily

Matilda

Ava

Erin

Olivia

Kate (my favorite!)

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Adorable Diaper Cakes

More great submissions to Martha Stewart's Baby Shower Idea page.

I love the block letter and the green rubber ducky on top here. Very chic and gender neutral without being too pastel.


Classic, simple diaper cake with great choice of ribbon.


Again, the block letter here is a great touch.


The ribbon could be done better, but I love that they included a book and other great items in this cake.

Baby Shower Food Ideas

Martha Stewart is running some sort of competition for baby shower ideas. Deadline for photo submissions is Jan 1, 2009. The pool of photos has some great ideas already. Here are some great food ones.

Cake Baby Blocks


Adorable jungle themed cookies:



Watermelon Fruit Basket- made to look like baby carriage!

Make your own favor- paper cones to be filled with mom-to-be's favorite candies. Very clever!

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Rickets Makes a Comeback

A NYTimes article out yesterday reports cases of rickets showing up in infants and toddlers recently. While rickets is a common childhood disease in many developing countries [1], in the US it is not often heard of.

Rickets is defined as a softening of the bones in adolescence. This can lead to fractures and deformities such as bow-legs and wrist widening. However it is easily preventable with proper nutrition- specifically vitamin D.

And here enters the recent problem- doctors are suggesting that infants aren't getting enough vitamin D, even with proper diet. Dr. Catherine M. Gordon, director of the bone health program at Children’s Hospital Boston, says

"I completely support breast-feeding, and I think breast milk is the perfect food, and the healthiest way to nourish an infant... However, we’re finding so many mothers are vitamin D deficient themselves that the milk is therefore deficient, so many babies can’t keep their levels up. They may start their lives vitamin D deficient, and then all they’re getting is vitamin D deficient breast milk."

Dr. Frank Greer, chairman of the committee on nutrition of the American Academy of Pediatrics, adds that, “Historically speaking, we probably got it from the sun, but now we’re afraid of the sun and we don’t go out as much.”

While rickets is still rare in the US, the number of cases has been cropping up in recent years. Talk to your pediatrician about possibly adding supplements over the wintertime when sun exposure is down and make sure when breast feeding that you are getting adequate amounts of vitamin D yourself.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Ikea Finds!

IKEA- that wonderous place with reasonably priced cute furnishings for every room of the house. Here are some of their new stuff for kids rooms.

Hanging wall organizer for $9.99


Adorable black and white sheets to match any room $19.99



Cute rugs for $34.99



New Fabler series features all kinds of plush toys from 2.99-9.99

Monday, August 11, 2008

National S'more Day!

Yes, according to some (Holiday Insights, About.com, wikipedia) August 11th is National S'more Day. The only real trivia associated with s'mores is that they were first mentioned in the Girl Scout Handbook in 1927, claimed to be inspired by Loretta Scott Crew's campfire treats. I suppose the rest is history, since these tasty treats are so unanimously popular.

Grab some graham crackers, marshmallows and Hershey's bars and teach your kids some S'more trivia tonight.

(Tip for city folk- the microwave works just as well as a campfire. Place the chocolate on and nuke for 15 seconds, then add the marshmallow and go for a few seconds longer. Watch carefully! The once marshmallow swells to great size its done.)