Hi everyone, just checking in with my trimesterly post (as in once-a-trimester, that’s totally a word, right?). We’re getting close to the end, and I keep thinking of the Great Pumpkin.

First because I’ve heard that pumpkin-esque bellies are the hottest look for fall. But maybe that was a temperature statement, not one on fashion…better than fanny packs, they’re still not the most flattering.

(Photo is Tate’s and my annual one with the biggest pumpkin at the MN State Fair. His freaked-out face is because Dad was using “Mom’s” camera, not fear of the prize-winner!)

Next because I’ve been thinking about Halloween costumes for Tate and the baby. But with an October 19 due date, there’s a small chance that I could be overdue enough to dress myself as a pumpkin. Trust me, there wouldn’t be much effort put into such a costume if I were that far past my date, probably just an orange shirt, or maybe a Fleet Farm bag (Midwesterners, you know what I mean).

But mainly, the Great Pumpkin symbolizes waiting, with much uncertainty. It’s not a perfect analogy, as Linus couldn’t be assured that the Great Pumpkin would actually appear. Mine will eventually be here; I’m just unsure of which day he’ll arrive…

And how will the labor/delivery go? And what have I forgotten about newborns in the last two and a half years? And what have I neglected to put on my before-baby-arrives checklist? And am I going to despise the minivan that we’re shopping for???

Stay tuned…

Photo Courtesy:
Number 2 Pencils

That’s right, our ultrasound last week told us that Baby #2 is a boy! I’m most excited for Tate to have a brother, but also that most of the clothes our baby boy will need are in bins downstairs, and that we’ll only have to decide on one set of names!  

We didn’t find out Tate’s gender until he was born, so this is new territory. As much fun as that surprise was in the delivery room, I’m feeling a little more need for advance-organization this time around. This post by Kelly helped seal the “I want to know now” deal in my mind, and thankfully my husband felt the same way.

What I didn’t expect was that his birth suddenly seems imminent…a strange ”I know you now, so you’ll probably be here by next weekend.” feeling. Can anyone else relate to that?

Back to the choosing of the name, though, here are some good sites I’ve come across, most of them in a “where were you when I was agonizing over my first child’s name?!” category:

• My new favorite (thanks, Angela!) is the baby name finder-extraordinaire from Yeah Baby. It allows you to select the number of syllables, including a combination (like 2, 3 or 4 syllables). Most sites let you choose the first letter of the name, but you can also select the last letter here, or the first/last letter that you don’t want. And a few other cool options too.
• The coolest is at Nymbler where you enter up to six names of either gender, and they then suggest other names that you might like. It’s a bit addictive, I’ll warn you.
• Silly, but also addictive is Baby Name Genie – enter just your last name, or if you have a first or middle name but need the other one, enter that too. The “genie” produces a perfect name for you, and if you keep asking for more ideas, you get snarky comments to go along with them. It also has a place to test out a name in everyday conversation tidbits.
• BabyNamesPedia has some interesting lists, like unique, trendy or odd baby names.
• The Baby Name Wizard is another great search engine, with some of the same features that Yeah Baby has, plus the option to choose how common the name is in the U.S., ranging from very popular to rare.
• If you’re looking for advice based on user-experience, BabyNamesHub has input from people with that name, or parents who gave that name to their child. Just enter a name in the Name Trends section, select it on the next page then scroll down for user comments. You’ll find out if there are common pronounciation problems, possible nicknames, etc.
• All-purpose, no-frills, lots of choices at BabyNames. They have some fun lists too, like Shakespeare Names or Oscar-winning Names.
• Finally, the Social Security site can track any name’s popularity by year, and also by state – names that may be in the top ten nationally might be less common where you live. You can even look up popular names for twins.

Any others that I’m missing? What are your favorite baby-naming websites or the best baby name books?

Photo Courtesy:
handmaidenbymaria

Some of you probably didn’t blink an eye when you read that title…she lives in Minnesota, surely the lakes are still frozen in May, are they not?

In fact, I had to put sunscreen on my son’s face this week, it was so hot and sunny! This is just a very, very belated post, the last one I intended to write before The Great Blogging Break of 2010. I’m hoping to get back in the groove here, but for now, here’s a little flashback to winter…

Before this outing, Tate had never actually been fishing, regular or ice fishing. He’d just heard about it, seen pictures of Dad’s fishing trips, etc. Fascinated with the idea, he would bring us empty paint rollers (because our basement is sooo organized, such items are lying about for him to find!), asking for “bait”. 

One sunny March afternoon, we decided the time was right. After Tate woke up from his nap, we told him we were going ice fishing. I pulled out snowpants and boots while he ran downstairs to find his “pole”. Here he is, riding out to the middle of the lake, ready to land a big one.

First came the excitement of seeing Dad drill holes with the auger, with a big whoosh of water as he reached the bottom of the ice layer. Then watching minnows swimming around in the bait bucket. Oh, the joy of a 2-year-old!

While Dad was busy getting the poles ready and looking for fish on the depth-finder, Tate kept himself quite happy with his paint roller dipped into the water. (No, I couldn’t convince him to keep his mittens on.)

After 20 minutes or so, the roller was finally dropped down to the bottom of the lake. Partly my fault; I should have thought to tie it to his wrist or something. But he couldn’t understand why we didn’t just get it back for him. Dad gave him a few lessons with a real pole, but they didn’t catch anything.

Following our “leave while you’re still having fun” strategy, we were just out for about an hour. Tate loved it, and hopefully this summer he’ll get to do some “catching”, not just “fishing”!

Hi Again! Sorry for my long absence from the blogosphere, and thanks to those who checked in on me.

My last post was for Tate’s birthday in February, and the day after his party, we celebrated Valentine’s Day with a positive pregnancy test. Better than flowers and chocolate, right?

And before too long, I was in the throes of what my husband likes to call “evening sickness” – for some reason, I felt yuckiest in the between-dinner-and-bedtime hours. And since that’s when I normally blogged, I didn’t get any blogging done.

In the midst of the second trimester, I’m feeling much better and ready to jump back on the blogwagon. Thanks for your patience!

P.S. I got Tate’s big brother shirt at this Etsy site. It was a fun way to make our announcement. My other favorite customized tees were here and here.

Tate is officially 2! If you ask him, though, he’s more likely to say that he’s 9 or 13, his favorite numbers of late.

Upon realizing that his birthday would fall during the Winter Olympics, I had a flashback to a jellybean-Olympic-rings cake my mom made when I was little. (I’m guessing ’84 in LA?) With my theme established, I started scouring the internet for other Olympic-related party ideas. Here’s what we ended up with:

• My brother downloaded the Olympic theme song to be playing as the guests arrived.
• The colors were red (for Team USA, with a nod to the Canadian host country) and silver, since it was a second birthday.
• Awesome 3-D paper snowflakes – awesome because of how great they looked, and also because I didn’t have to make them (a leftover Christmas decoration from the MagnetStreet office – thanks Rene’!). If you have older kids, though, it would be a fun craft.
• Chocolate gold medals for the kids – you can buy them here. Or for our cheapo version, use super glue to attach chocolate gold coins to plastic gold medals.

• Olympic Flag posters – Using Lindsey’s watercolor valentines as inspiration, Tate and I painted six half-sheets of posterboard, one in each of the ring colors*. The next day I traced around 2 different-sized plates, then cut out the ring shapes. A little glue stick under each ring, and we had a flag. Since there was plenty of painted paper, I made 3 flags to hang around the house.

• Tate helped to put a flag toothpick in each of the corn muffins. We had chicken chili and tater tot hotdish for lunch.

Some other fun ideas that I didn’t end up using:

• Assigning a different country to each family, asking them to come to the party dressed accordingly.
• Preparing an international menu that represents a variety of countries – ideas at Kids Birthday Idea Guide.
• Decorating with a banner of international flags. (I had great intentions of sewing these, but then remembered that I never finish sewing projects. Also decided not to pay for a plastic one online.)
• Sledding or skating activity – maybe we’ll do this in 4 or 8 years, when Tate is having parties with friends.

Unfortunately, my “inspiration piece” cake was less than spectacular. I started off feeling all chef-ly, slicing off the rounded top and frosting a base layer. Then I ran out of frosting and ended up putting the whole thing back into the pan so the unfrosted edges wouldn’t show. I added extra toothpick flags around the edges, as a distraction from the mess. The peanut M&M rings worked, at least!

The real highlight of dessert was the Olympic torch ice cream cones that my sister made. Earlier that morning, she filled the cones with vanilla ice cream and doused them in yellow and red sprinkles. We lined them up in a plastic container and put them back in the freezer.

In addition to being adorable, this strategy made the dessert-serving go quickly, since we weren’t scooping out ice cream on each plate. Everyone got to enjoy a cone while I was cutting the cake.

I’m a big fan of having a theme for parties – it makes the planning easier by providing a focus for the food, decorations, invitations, etc. What party themes have you used for your child’s birthday?

*For our Olympics, I went with “brown is the new black” because there was no black paint in the 10-pack of Crayola paints. And also because a standard bag of M&Ms has brown, not black candies (for the rings on our cake).

I’m finishing a post about Tate’s birthday party…here’s a sneak peak:

Yes, we still call him Tater Tot, even at the ripe old age of two. Yes, we live in Minnesota, home of the hotdish. Yes, his birthday is right in the midst of the Winter Olympics.

Stay tuned…

Today’s post is about thinking outside the box. I’m featuring customers that took one of our standard designs and changed it to suit their needs. I’m not just talking about picking your favorite colors and fonts – that’s fairly standard and expected. These people took it to the next level…

Ella’s mom Liz started with a birth announcement and ended up with an adorable first birthday party magnet:

These wild and crazy folks (okay, it’s my brother) took a wedding photo card and imagined it into a fabulous family photo Christmas card!

You’ve read about Melinda before, as she prepared her daughter for a new arrival. She creatively turned this baptism invitation into a birth announcement for baby Kaylin. Then for big sister Zaylee’s second birthday, a birth announcement became a party invitation. I love how the monogram was switched to a number “2″.

So if you see a product you love, but it’s not quite right for your announcement or invitation, fear not! MagnetStreet Baby is all about customization, wherever your imagination takes you.

Do a little browsing through the birth announcements, party invitations, baptism invitations and holiday cards. Remember, it’s okay to be out of the box!

Help! We seem to struggling with separation anxiety – again!

We’ve gone through some rounds of this previously, but recently had been in the clear. It was to the point where Tate was saying “buh-bye” and literally pushing me out the door when his grandparents were here to babysit.

For the last couple of weeks, though, he has a screaming fit when we leave him at any type of child care or with a babysitter at our house. He’s also fighting sleep at night and naptime, whereas he used to go down easily. Now it’s all tears and pleading.

At first we thought it was just a power struggle as our almost-2-year old tries to assert himself. Then the early childhood coordinator at our church pointed out that separation anxiety was common at his age.

Hmm, suddenly I was having flashbacks to my child psychology class, with something about “differentiation of self” running through my mind. Of course I can’t find the textbook when I want it, but it had to do with the child realizing that they are separate from the mother. They love this independence but it also scares them. The same thing happens in the early teenage years and then again in the late teens/early twenties.

So after trying for an hour to get the tired boy down for a nap yesterday, I finally gave in and sang him to sleep in my bed with me. I realize that I’ll probably regret that decision, but I felt like he just wanted some reassurance and mommy time. Truth be told, I wish I could do it more often, without it forming a habit – a la the Baby Whisperer’s “accidental parenting“.

For the long term (starting today!) though, I’m looking for some expert advice. In his book Touchpoints, Dr. Brazelton recommends a routine of preparing the child for a separation, promising that mommy will return. Then when you’re reunited, remind him that you have indeed returned!

The Toddler Tamer gives two solutions to the problem: One is to never leave your child’s presence until the anxiety period is over. The other is to be loving but firm, leaving your child with trusted caregivers without lingering or providing extra comfort. Like Dr. Brazelton, he says to reinforce the event of your return so that it really sinks in for them.

An article at KidsHealth not only gives advice on toddler separation anxiety, but recommends several children’s books that deal with the topic. We’ll be looking for these at the library!

• The Good-Bye Book by Judith Viorst
• The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn
• Even If I Spill My Milk? by Anna Grossnickle Hines

BabyCenter also gives some good advice on dealing with an anxious 2 year old. 

Has anyone else experienced separation anxiety with a toddler? How long did it last? (please say it wasn’t long!) How did you combat the problem?

Photo Courtesy:
MShades

Are you hosting a baby shower anytime soon? Baby shower games seem to fall into the love/hate category, so be sure to check with the guest of honor on her preference. Personally, I’m a fan of games, but for those who aren’t, I’ll point out that games help get all the guests involved. That’s especially important if they don’t know each other, having only the mom-to-be in common.

A recent post at Extra(Hour)dinary Parenting got me thinking about some alternate methods of bringing the guests together. Amanda’s friend hosted a children’s book baby shower, for which each guest brought a book as a gift, and read it out loud. (Read her entire post for details, including a fun idea to keep the reading from getting long or boring.)

Some of my former co-workers each gave me their favorite childhood book when Tate was born. I loved that gift, and it would be so fun to have that be the theme of the entire shower.

This “ABC” baby shower invitation would be a perfect fit for a book shower. It also comes in a flat card version. Click here to view other shower invites.

Have you hosted or attended any unique baby showers? Any fun activities beyond the traditional games? Please tell us about them!

Photo Courtesy:
clevercupcakes

I’ve mentioned before that decorating Tate’s nursery is an ongoing process…adding bits and pieces here and there.

One of my favorite pieces is a custom print that I ordered from Penny People Designs. I saw them on the Spilt Milk Moms blog last summer and just had to have one.

They happen to be running a buy-one-get-one sale right now on the 13×19 prints, so hop on over to their etsy shop!

As you can see below, I chose the greens-and-blues style, and decided to use both his first and middle names, since just “Tate” is short.

The wooden “T” block is from another cool company – Craft-E-Family. As the name implies, they’re a family business, and have excellent craftsmanship and great prices. An entire alphabet set is less than $20 – what a great baby gift that would be! They also make custom blocks featuring the baby’s name, birth stats, parents, etc.

We purchased the wooden duck on our “babymoon” trip to Maine. Sorry I can’t link to the store, but if you’re ever in Bar Harbor, be on the lookout! My friend Tonya made the adorable frame - she actually does the crafty things that I aspire to do.

Speaking of aspirations, my next nursery project is to frame the “T” pages from the Dr. Seuss ABC book: “Ten tired turtles in a tuttle-tuttle tree”. I love that there’s a sleeping theme, and the colors on that page just happen to match Tate’s room.

Growing up with a fairly uncommon name, it was always SO exciting to find something with “Kara” on it. Maybe that’s why I love the current availability of custom-imprinted items, to make my son’s nursery really unique.

What custom touches have you used to decorate your nursery? Anything from your own room growing up, or other family heirlooms? Have you incorporated your child’s name or initials anywhere?