happykiddo

Every Baby Has a Story - another excuse to Scrapblog

The March of Dimes has teamed up with Scrapblog to create interactive scrapbooks of kiddo stories from around the country in their 'Every Baby Has a Story' campaign..  Parents (and presumably grandparents and other relatives) are encouraged to start their own Scrapblog page here and share their most memorable, humorous and special baby moments with the world.

I think this is an awesome campaign as it encourages parents who may not normally have the tech-savvy to post photos, videos and stories about their families online to share with friends and family quickly and easily.  An added bonus - it's super easy to make donations to the March of Dimes NICU families on each baby story.

The 'Every Baby Has a Story' campaign has also hit the Real World road with a big bus that travels city to city recording parents' stories and memories.  I'm super bummed to just find out about this now!! as they were in Houston on Saturday.  Boo.  Maybe you still have time to catch them in your corner of the world.

Link us your Scrapblog baby stories in the comments!  I'll post mine as soon as it's presentable :)

Ella as a small almost-walking Bunn

Here's Ella back a few months ago as a very small, open-mouthed munchkin just learning how amazing it feels to 1) take her first steps and 2) face plant into the kitchen floor.  I still do both of these regularly myself.  It's genetic.

Keep your Bumbo Baby safe!

Have a seat, my little elephant
Originally uploaded by happykatie.

Most mommies I know have a special place in their heart for Bumbo Seats - but (frustratingly enough) some parents aren't using them to their safest advantage...

Bumbo, with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, is working to make sure that Bumbo users/lovers are keeping their kiddos safe by following some basic common sense rules. Namely, uhm, don't put your Bumbo and child in a high spot to avoid said child and Bumbo from tumbling down.

From the Bumbo Safety site:

In the meantime, we have temporarily stopped selling the Bumbo Baby Seat until our packaging can be updated. The Bumbo Baby Seat is safe when used properly, but we have voluntarily agreed to update the packaging to ensure there is no confusion about the safe, proper use of the Bumbo Baby Seat.

We expect to resume sales of the Bumbo Baby Seat in the next several days.

I really dig it when companies take a pro-active stand on major issues surrounding their consumers. I couldn't even imagine the Short One taking a fall and getting hurt (even less than I could imagine putting her in a position to do so, but anyway...) - but it's cool that Bumbo is putting their little customers first.

Show your Bumbo love by joining the Flickr Bumbo group and checking out some Bumbo Safety info.

On lead and liability - mommies stand up to Toys "R" Us

A group of mommies and child advocates protested an owner of Toys "R" Us (Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Company) demanding stricter testing and quality control for Toys "R" Us products.

This protest comes after several months of lead-tainted and other toxic recalls of toys ranging from Elmos to art cases to Curious George monkeys.  Scary much?  Yes.

You can learn more about their movement on the Toys R Toxic site, as well as keep up with recalls and news updates on the accountability issue.

We are winners! The Bloggess told us so...

Uhhh... so I'm really slow, but we won a Very Important Photography Contest from a lovely little one named Hailey for our, uhm, beautiful family portrait efforts.

Thanks to Jenny the Bloggess and her (obviously) amazing taste for such a beautimous art piece prize. 

And also thanks to Jenny the Bloggess for her hilarity and all-around great sense of humor.  I snort at least once a day when reading her Blog.  It's ab fab in a way that only mommies with weird senses of humor and very little hours of sleep could understand.  :)

Also, look at her trashing a dress in seagull poop.

Infant cold meds recalled - visions of runny noses in sight

Ella is blessed in many ways - but thanks to living in Houston (yes, I fully blame the city we live in - if you live here you know what I mean) she is also blessed with wonderful seasonal allergies. 

We didn't want to jump into prescription med world at too young an age, but man was Ella miserable.  So per our pediatrician's advice we started giving her (fairly) regular doses of over the counter remedies during the really tough allergy times.  So hearing this has kind of made me feel blah:

The NY Times announced that many major companies are pulling their infant cold medicines off the shelves due to 'rare patterns of misuse leading to overdose recently identified, particularly in infants'. 

Among the products being withdrawn are Dimetapp Decongestant Infant Drops, Little Colds Decongestant Plus Cough, Pediacare Infant Drops Decongestant, Robitussin Infant Cough DM Drops, Triaminic Infant and Toddler Thin Strips Decongestant, and Tylenol Concentrated Infant Drops Plus Cold and Cough.

Translation:  parents who apparently can't read have been randomly doubling up on identical medicines or giving enormous dosages are hurting their children.  So the drug companies are taking it upon themselves to remove their products, to ensure children's safety.  And by children they mean kids 6 years old and under.

How pathetic that parents aren't aware enough (or concerned enough?) to do what's right for their kiddos.  Drugs, no matter how bubble gum flavored, are certainly nothing to be taken lightly.  But maybe that's what we get for being a Prozac / Bud Light nation.  How will you battle your kiddos' allergies this upcoming season?

Ella the cow hugger / happyveggie baby

A lot of people seem to get nervous when we tell them that we're raising Ella vegetarian.  To me this is much less 'extreme' than raising a small vegan or raw foodist (although we may head there one day), but it is still pretty freaky for a lot of people.

Luckily we found a pediatrician who, while not really educated about it, is at least understanding and supportive - especially when she sees how healthy and happy Ella is.  Seriously the kid just glows and is barely ever sick.  I can't say that of the majority of omnivore munchkins that Ella is around at daycare, etc.

So Ella's diet has been tops in my mind the last week or so, as we've made the decision to take her off of formula (she weaned herself a couple of months ago from breastfeeding -- she is seriously the easiest child ever in the history of the universe...) as it's just icky and she loves eating Big People food anyway.

With meals in a bottle out of the picture (for now, we're in testing mode) it's become 20x more important to make sure Ella has the yummy and nutritious food she needs.  But to be honest, I've mostly been worried about her getting enough fat in her diet -- supermodel baby is long and lean.  I think a couple more baby rolls wouldn't be a bad thing.

Although I know Adam isn't super happy about it, I've been adding some whole milk yogurt and cottage cheese to her diet every couple of days.  I'm pretty sure I'll drop this pretty soon, but want some other fatty alternatives to include before then.   We already do avocados and some other things - but I really want the kid to be getting enough calories especially as she's moving around like crazy these days.

This weekend we also started adding wheat germ and flax seed oil to some other things she eats / drinks.  I blend in a little silken tofu (but not too much - everything in moderation...) in her coconut milk creamed spinach and I am making her some hummus spread to dip her veggies in tonight.

What are some of your ideas on a good veggie kiddo diet?  What am I missing?  I'll be posting a few posts this week on veggie family sites I use for inspiration (okay, and validation) and might add some recipes too.  Would love your thoughts!!

On that vein, be sure to check out Dreena's (from Vive Le Vegan) post on raising vegan kids on Yummy Mummy this month.  I love seeing positive vegan family content like that, we desperately need more!