Virtual Baby

They change so fast! We try as hard a possible to capture, record, memorialize all of the special moments. But being a mommy to 1, 2, 3 or more little ones does not leave you with the luxury of leisurely writing in and designing a baby book. And if you're like me, your smartphone, tablet, laptop is usually a lot closer when these memories occur than that beautifully embroidered keepsake book gathering dust in the top of your little one's closet. 

I soooo want to be the mommy who has a beautiful book that includes all of my little ones' firsts and special keepsakes.  But alas, I'm up to baby number 2 and haven't even gotten past 4 months in my book for baby number 1.

That is why I LOVE the concept behind MyOwnLittleStory. They claim to be the "only on-line baby book with email reminders".  Sounds good to me, but I haven't come across any with non-email reminders so..hey...ok. But what I think is great about them is that:

♥ you can design and create a book for free {yes, free!}. That way if you start working on it, with all the best of intentions, you're not out 25, 50, 75 bucks if you don't quite complete the project; 

♥ the interface is so user-friendly and they even give you prompts {on each page and via email} so you don't have to come up with what to include on each page; 

♥ your book can be as long or as short as you want; and 

♥ best of all, you can upload pictures to your book! What I lack in book creation, I more than make up for in photographic memory creation.  I have gigabytes of photos of my boys. Cheese was {and likely will be} both of their first words.

The only catch is what the book looks like after you print it. That's where the money comes in, but the prices are reasonable.  Unfortunately, they don't give you a lot of detail about what the finished product will look like, or better yet show you detailed samples of finished book. It would be very helpful for me to see how moms who are really good at this wrote in and designed their books. 

If nothing else, I have an easy and highly accessible place to record the memories until I get around to actually figuring out the book creation process. Which is.....Priceless.

101 Things to Eat

So you've been feeding {and feeding and feeding AND feeding} your little one nothing but milk every day, all day for months now. All of sudden he doesn't seem to be satisfied any more, eats more often, has more than doubled her birth weight, and chews hungrily while looking on as you gobble down your food {in between feedings}.  He may even seem to try to grab your fork every once in awhile.

All of these are signs that the time has arrived for your babies palette to expand. No it doesn't mean she can start eating cheeseburgers and french fries, but it does mean that it's time to break out the starter food.

And if you want {and have the time} to give your baby the best, then homemade baby food is in order.  It's not as difficult as it sounds. In fact, even my friends who can barely boil water have become consummate baby food makers.  That's because babies are easy! They haven't developed the sophisticated palette that we have. They are happy with simple, wholesome, natural ingredients. 

If you're still reading this in a daze and don't believe you can do it {or have time to do it} then you'll love Annabel Karmel's Top 100 Baby Purees baby food book. She'll have you baby food making like a pro in no time.  

And when you add in all the new found baby food making gadgets that are now on the market -- Beaba Babycook Baby Food Maker, Reusable Baby Food Containers -- you'll feel like the next [fill in your favorite celebrity chef name]!