Parenting Blog

I just read an article that discussed the desire for parents to have the perfect, brightest, most skilled child. It was an interesting read and made me reflect on my parenting style. I will not talk for everyone else here, as I have no place to. I will discuss my thoughts and experiences.

I remember as a child that I was always really bright and often found school very easy. School was easy to the point that I was often bored. It did not challenge me much. In sports I was always good at just about anything I tried. In life, I have made many accomplishments as an adult. I feel proud of myself and accomplished.

I know that as a child my parents provided me with excellent support. I was not forced to do anything. I was encouraged to explore the things that interested me. I was encouraged and expected to do my best no matter what my best was. If my best was a C+ in a subject, then my parents were as proud of the C+ as they were of the A+’s that I got. I believe to this day, that my parents’ attitude helped me be as successful as humanly possible. Their parenting attitude relieved pressure from home to excel and succeed and gave me the freedom to be the best I could be and to just be myself.

I learned a lot from my parents’ parenting style. I too expect only what my daughter is capable of. I am proud of her for every accomplishment no matter how big or small or how long it took her to learn.

My daughter is just a toddler. Last night she counted to ten for the first time and only missed the number 7. Yes, I think that is an awesome accomplishment. I am very proud of her. However, on the other side, she still is not potty trained. Although I would love to save money on diapers, I know that she is not ready to use the potty yet. I know that she will eventually use the potty. We will get there and I think it will happen sooner if I pressure her less.

I am so proud of my daughter for who she is and what she accomplishes. I believe that as a parent, my job is to expose my daughter to as many experiences in life, so that she can find her own loves and place in life. I hope that through my guidance she can become the best she can be. I want her to feel fulfilled in life and to love life and who she is.

I thank my parents for being supportive of whom I wanted to be. Sometimes it was not easy for them, but no matter what, they supported me for who I was and am. It was their undying commitment to support me in whatever made me happy, that made me successful and truly happy in life and with myself. I promise to parent my daughter the same way.

This is an old post, but it deserves to be revived and posted again.

This video creator is amazing......check it out!

Ok everyone, you absolutely have to go to Animoto and sign up for your FREE account. Check this video out below. You can get a FREE Animoto account that allows you to make unlimited 30 second videos. The 30 second video allows about 12 to 15 pictures. It is so easy to make a video at Animoto. All you do is upload your pictures. Drag and drop them into the order you want them to play. Then you go through their music library and add the music or upload your own music. After that, you hit the render button and go have a coffee while your video is being put together. They even email you to let you know when it is ready.

I love Animoto. I find it almost addictive. If you want videos that are longer than the 30 seconds then you have to get a membership. The memberships are very inexpensive starting at $30.00 for a year. It is just all a matter of how long you want your videos to be.

This video creator has to be the easiest one around. If you want to embed a video like I did here to show you all how it works, you just click a button and it gives you an embed code. Your videos are private too so no worries. The only people that see your videos are those you give the video or the link to.

Check it out. It is awesome to have. I truly love it.
If you want to sign up for your free account to do your own free 30 second videos click on the Animoto link at the top of the page and you will be taken to where you need to go to get your free account.

Today I was browsing through the local paper and came across a new mother asking if there were any resources on the web for new mothers. Well, the answer to that question is YES! There are a ton of resources for new parents.

The article mentioned a resource called Zero To Three. I went and checked out this website. It is a pretty good website. It does have a lot of resources about pretty much every topic you can think of. They even have downloadable pamphlets. It is such a good website it has made it under my Health Section!

If you are a new parent I would recommend stopping by the Zero To Three website.

Another option for new parents is to check out the parenting blogs, like ours! We as parents like to blog about our experiences and share stories and tips. So check out the blogs. Sometimes I think that the best answers to some parenting questions are from the parents that have already been there. You can learn some amazing tricks,tips and ideas from experienced moms and dads. My biggest recommendation if you do check out the parenting blogs is to make comments! Bloggers blog to get conversation going!

You can also go to Twitter. There are a lot of connections on Twitter to other parents and parenting blogs. You can follow us on Twitter. Twitter is a great place to ask questions and provide tips to other parents.

On another note.......
Did anyone else in Canada know that the Sears website has daily deals???? I love Sears and I never knew this. I am not sure how I could have not know that they had a daily deal section! I came across it last night it my deal hunting adventures. I love finding good deals.

Anyway, if you did not know about the Sears.ca daily deals you gotta go check them out. Everyday there is something new!!!

Gotta love a deal! Make sure you look at the scrolling bar at the top right of the Sears Daily Deal webpage. There are extra deals there too! Today it is getting a pillow for $0.01 when you buy a pillow.

I just cannot believe that I did not know about this yet!! If you knew how much I shop at Sears you would be shocked that I did not know about the daily deals yet too.

Enjoy your day with your little one.

I had to do a short blog on this topic. I am so happy that I found this swingset for my daughter. I was hunting high and low and here and there. I never thought that it would be so hard to find a swingset.

I did not want to spend a lot on a swingset so the wood swingset/playsets were out. Plus, our backyard gets pretty wet quite often with all the rain we get so I figured that the wood playsets would just rot out quickly. I looked into the plastic playsets like the Little Tikes sets. The reviews on the plastic sets pretty much agreed that children outgrow these type of playsets by the age 4. Seeing that my two year old toddler is at 95% on the growth charts I figured she would outgrow the plastic playsets in about a week!!

My mind was made up pretty quickly. Good old fashioned metal swingset! Durable, strong, been around forever and can easily be repainted if rust starts to show through. So the hunt was on.

I went to every store I could think of. Canadian Tire, Toys R Us, Zellers, Sears....and the list goes on and on. I could not find a swingset I liked and that was actually in stock. It was like the sun started shining and everyone ran out and bought up all the swingsets!

I am not sure why I did not think of this next store, but thankfully my spouse said hey, does Walmart have any swingsets? We were already in the store so I went and hunted down a clerk and asked the wonderful question my spouse asked me. Does Walmart have any swingsets and are they in stock? The answer was yes!

This swingset is an amazing set. It has room for seven kids. It is rated for ages 2 to 10. The mazimum weight per child is 105 lbs. The combined weight for all seven children is a maximum of 735 lbs. The box says it does not come with the anchor system, but when I opened it up it actually does come with the anchor system.

It was time consuming to put together, only because the holes do not match perfectly but what ever does!! It is worth the effort though, because my daughter absolutely loves the swingset. She woke up this morning asking to go out to go on the swing and slide and it was pouring rain here! Thankfully it is getting sunny now!

The swingset is a Flexible Flyer Star Chaser Model 41576T. We paid $220 Canadian plus taxes!

I had to blog about this. I received the best compliment today!

Our family is comprised of myself and my spouse. We have our daughter who is a toddler. We also have my spouse's two children (15 and 7) half the time. We also have a ton of animals so life is busy, but that is another blog!

Today, my spouse's 7 year old came home from school and told us that parent's day is coming up at school and she has to bring only one parent to school with her. She told us that she wanted to bring me as her one parent on parent day! She has a choice of her two biological parents and their spouses (me being one fo them) and she chose me! I don't think that I have ever been more flattered in my life!

I had to blog about this for two reasons, one I felt proud of my parenting because of this incident and two because it made me reflect on my parenting style. I by no means am a parenting expert. I have read a ton of books on parenting to try to fill my head with ideas on ways to approach things.

All I know is that I believe that children need structure. They need to know the rules and what is expected of them or they feel lost. It would be like us going to work and the boss not telling us anything. We could get through the day, but we would not know if we were being productive if we had no direction. We would feel lost! I believe kids feel lost if they do not know what is expected of them. They need structure, stability and familiarity.

I also believe in being firm, fair and fun. The three f's! Firm with your expectations and dealings with children. Fair with consequences and expectations. And fun as often as you can. The kids know that they can have a ton of fun with me and we can joke around, but they also know that if I ask something of them I expect them to get it done.

I think that the most important thing I have learned so far though, is to always acknowledge the childrens' feelings and emotions. It might seem silly to us to cry over a broken crayon, but it is a big thing to a child if their crayon that was their favorite colour in the world has just broken. This might seem like a silly example, but my point is that sometimes kids have big emotions over something that seems silly to us. We have to remember to stop and look at life through their eyes too.

Like I said, I am not a parenting expert. I just try my best each day to be a great parent.
I must be doing something right if my spouse's seven year old wants me to be the parent to attend her parent day with her.

If there is one parenting book that I would recomment reading it would be the following book.

I found a wonderful resource for putting on a Baby Shower. If you are the pregnant mom reading this blog, be sure to tell your girlfriend's planning your baby shower to stop by here and read this blog first.

Baby Showers should be fund and easy to plan. For those planning the baby shower, it is often easier to plan if you have attended a baby shower before. If you have never attended a baby shower then you might be a little nervouse and wondering what games you will play at the shower. Well, rest easy because I have found a place where you can get a FREE e-book on how to plan a baby shower. Best of all, this same website has tons of baby shower games that you can print off for the party.

Click the link below and you will be brought to where you can get the free e-book.

When planning the baby shower, it is great to think of a theme. There are so many to choose from there could be a blog on that alone. However, I recommend that you think of the pregnant mom that the baby shower is for. Plan a theme that suits the pregnant mom. If she loves Winnie the Pooh then plan a Winnie the Pooh shower. You know your friend best so make it something personal for her. It will mean the world to her.

When it comes to the baby shower games check out the printable games on the website I mentioned. They do have great games and ideas.

I recommend that you take a look at their packages or sale items. You can usually get a pretty good deal for their games. It is very inexpensive and you will be so relieved to have the games planned out for you. I hated it when I had to try to think up a game. They always felt silly. I really like the games they have above.

Once you are on your way and have your guest list, you will need to do up the invitations. I think the best invitation to do is one that has an ultrasound picture from the pregnant mom. They will love this invitaiton. You can get your invitations made or order them online. Check out the following company. If you click through this link you get 5% off your order, so check them out. They have great products.

One of the best things that I have ever seen done at a Baby Shower is the guests all came prepared to start a scrapbook for the pregnant mom. What a great gift! You can start the scrapbook by putting in some photos of the pregnant mom, ultrasound pictures of baby if you have them, stuff from the baby shower and best of all a page from each guest that they have made that congratulates mom and welcomes baby. It will be a major hit.

Check out some of the scrapbook stuff online. It does not have to be expensive and you can purchase and print a lot of the stuff right from the online store.

I hope that if you are new at planning a baby shower that this little blog helps you out. You can make it a really memorable moment for everyone. If you have planned a baby shower before I hope that I have provided you with a couple of new, great resources that you can use.

Well life can get chaotic at times, but it sure fun and entertaining.

Three kids, three dogs, two cats and a bunny and the house can get chaotic! But we made it through Easter morning. Now the kids are getting all sugared up with their chocolate breakfast!

This year was my daughter's first real Easter where she understood a little bit what was happening. She was so excited. It did not take too long for her to catch on that chocolate was hiding all over the house!

We hid the easter eggs in plastic eggs so the dogs would not eat the chocolate over night! It worked out well. My daughter has been into her play eggs lately since she got a huge play kitchen. By the way, the play kitchen we got her is amazing and the best one I found. It is on sale right now at Toys R Us. It is called the Sizzle and Serve kitchen. It was actually hard to find and I paid full price $169.99 ouch! The sale is $50.00 off which is actually a good sale because I have never seen this specific kitchen go on sale before.

The kitchen is exactly like the one pictured above, but do not buy it from Amazon right now! It is a lot cheaper at Toys R Us right now! It is an amazing kitchen because it has the bbq with it as well. It makes realistic sounds for the bbq and the burners. It is really amazing.

Anyway, that was an aside....we were talking about Easter!

When I was growing up my parents always hid the Easter eggs and then there were clues that led us to the big chocolate bunny or gift. I have such fond memories of reading the clues and hunting for the big chocolate. We did the clue method for the kids this year. My daughter was too young to read the clues, so her older siblings helped her out. Everyone's face was amazing when they solved the clues and found their "treasure." It is a great way to do Easter and the kids love being a little detective.

Of course the kids had to know that the Easter Bunny had been here when they woke up, so they woke up to their special bucket and Easter Bunny ears in the bucket, in the middle of their room. I think they had their bucket in their hands before they were even really awake!

It has become a tradition to let the kids watch a new Easter video on Easter morning as well. This year they are watching the Toopy & Binoo Funny Bunny dvd. They love it. Like I said in an earlier post, my daughter is absolutely crazy about Toopy & Binoo.

We also get them a special Easter book (to help encourage reading and they love stories). There are so many amazing Easter books out there. You can pretty much get an Easter book with any character out there now. It all just depends who your kids are into that given week!

We hope that you are having a great Easter.

I am not a doctor so I can only talk about my experience. I can tell you what worked for me and what really did not work.

In my situation, in order to get pregnant I had to use the services of a fertility clinic. I did not use fertility drugs. I did not use IVF. I was in a situation where in order to have children, I had to get pregnant by way of donor insemination. So I can talk about the donor insemination process that I went through. Remember that I am not aware of all the processes in every country for going to a fetility clinic. I can only talk about the process that I went through.

For a lot of people, they have absolutely no trouble getting pregnant. Sometimes of course it is planned and sometimes the pregnancy is not planned. A lot of people do not have to think much about the fertility process or what they can do to increase their chances of getting pregnant. Other people plan a bit and start taking their folic acid vitamins before trying tot get pregnant and do a little reading and research on what foods are good to be eating for optimum fertility.

Then there is the rest of us. It is said that about one in six couples have fertility issues whether it is from the male, female or both. Apparently fertility issues increase as age increases too. So there are a significant number of people out there that need the help of a fertility clinic.

The process I had to use was donor insemination. The first thing that I had to do in order to get an appointment at the fertility clinic was I needed a doctor's referral. That was easy to get.

My first appointment at the fertility clinic was basically an introduction to the fertility doctor. We talked about my health, fertility issues and testing that was recommended prior to starting the insemination process. I was also informed that I had to go through an appointment with their psychologist. The purpose of the psychologist appointment was to ensure that I was comfortable with the donor insemination process.

So the first test that I had to go through was a hysterosalpingogram. It is a long fancy word, but basically it is like having a pap smear test and an xray all at the same time. What happens (in non medical terms) is that the doctor gets you all ready as if you were having a pap smear. You have a tube placed inside you which the radiologist shoots dye through into your cervix. The dye goes through your uterus and fallopian tubes and allows the radiologist to take xrays of your female reproductive system so that they can see if there are any reproductive issues.

I will admit that the test is not the most comfortable test. The radiologist asked me to shift around on the table with all this stuff hanging out of me. It was not that bad, but it was not fun! I recommend taking a couple of tylenol before you go because the hysterosalpingogram caused cramping in me. We can handle that though right ladies!

So there I was, test done ready to find out if there were any fertility issues. Next was another appointment with the fertility doctor. Well, I found out that I had some sort of blockage on my left side. They assumed it was a mucous plug that would move on its own so we proceeded as if nothing was an issue.

I completed a blood test for everything possible and passed with flying colours. I found out that I was what is called CMV negative (which is rare) and thus I had to pick a donor that was also CMV negative.

Next was picking a donor. The process I experience was looking through short profiles online. I decided which profiles peaked my interest and told the fertility clinic my list of maybes. The clinic provided me with a longer profile to read through to help me get more information on the donor and decide who I would use.

I had decided I wanted a closed donor. There are open and closed donors. The open donors are okay with your child contacting them in the future. The closed donors are not okay with any involvement and thus their identity is not provided. I also decided I was not okay with seeing an adult picture of the donor. I would compromise and see a baby picture, but I did not want some strangers face in my head.

I finally found a donor I was happy with. I liked the essay the donor wrote. The medical history seemed good for the donor. They were a closed donor. They had other successful pregnancies. And this donor only had a baby picture. I was set and ready to go. I ordered the number of viles I wanted knowing that the supply from this donor could become unavailable at any time and not knowing how many kicks at the can it would take for me to get pregnant.

So every month after the start of my mentrual cycle I counted down to ten days and started peeing on an ovulation testing stick. When I hit my prime ovulation time I was on the phone to the clinic and setting my time to go in and be injected with the washed sperm. Yes, it is washed. It is vigoursly tested and then washed so all that is injected in you is the stuff needed to get pregnant.

Now let's talk about those ovulation testing kits. Some ovulaiton testing kits are horrible. I hated the cheap little strips you peed on. They are less expensive, but they were messy. I like the expensive testing kits unfortunately. They were cleaner and seemed more accurate. I think they were about $50.00 for a package of six. It was almost ten dollars everytime I tested, but you only test once a day for a set period of time. One package was enough each month so I was looking at $50.00 a month. I was okay with that. If you want to find the ones I mean, they look pretty much the same as the pregnancy test kits. It is a plastic penlike object with a little part on the end you pee on and a lid. They are great!

Ok so I found my fertile day and called the clinic and went in. I went into the private room, got undressed from the waist down and covered myself with the paper blanket they give you. It is a similar process to getting ready for a pap smear.

Next the nurse comes in and brings in your washed sperm in a container. I had to verify the number on it and sign that it was in fact the sperm I had ordered. The process is quite quick and simple. The nurse puts the speculum in you to open you up so they can see up to your uterus (just like a pap smear). Then the nurse sucks the sperm up with a straw like needle that is made completely of soft flexible plastic and is really thin. Then she places it inside you in the optimal position to find the egg. The nurse will likely give your partner a choice of injecting the sperm so they feel a part of the process. If your partner decides to inject it, tell them slow and easy. If the sperm is injected quickly you will cramp up.

Then after it is injected everything is taken out, you get dressed and off you go about your day. you do not have to go home and stand on your head or rest or anything. Just let your body do its thing and forget about it. Eat good, sleep well, be happy and stay positive.

So after six unsuccessful attempts I had to meet with the fertility doctor again. At that time, the fertility doctor decided that since I had not gotten pregnant that we should now make sure that the blocked left side I mentioned earlier was just a mucous plug and not something else preventing me from getting pregnant. This meant I had to have two procedures done at the same time. It was like surgery. I had a hysteroscopy and a laparoscopy. They were no big deal and most women probably will not have to go through them unless it is suspected that something is affecting your fertility. It was a fifteen minutedprocedure for me and I was knocked out for it. When I woke about half an hour later I was told they found nothing.

So I went home and waited for my next menstrual cycle so I could test for my prime ovulation time. With each time I was inseminated I decided I best rest and take the day off and just chill out in general. I was hoping this would maximize my chances of getting pregnant. I did just about everything except standing on my head.

Well, with attempt number ten done and still not pregnant I had pretty much mentally given up. I went for try eleven, but had pretty much decided ahead of time that it was not going to work. I was running every night, not resting and not even thinking about getting pregnant. I ran the day I got home after being inseminated. I did absolutely nothing to "assist" in ensuring this eleventh try of donor insemination worked.

Then one day I realized my menstrual cycle was late. I did the pregnancy test and there was the faintest line possible that indicated I was pregnant. I was afraid to get my hopes up. I waited until later that day and tested again. The line was darker. I was pregnant! I called the clinic and went for my blood test. Eleven tries and it finally worked. I was flying higher than the clouds.

My time with the fertility clinic was pretty much over at this point except for one last thing. I had to go for my internal ultrasound at week seven. It is an easy process ladies. Basically there is a camera that is shaped like a dildo (for lack of better terms) and the doctor gets you to put it in to make sure you are comfortable.

And that was my adventure for having my daughter. I now realize that in wanting to get pregnant so badly, that for tries one to ten I was probably putting unknown and unecessary stress on my body. When I stopped thinking about it all the time and stopped trying so hard to get pregnant I was pregnant on that very try.

I think it was just meant to be, that I got pregnant on the eleventh try so that I had my angel of a daughter. She is my dream come true. I have that phrase on the wall above her bed.

"A Dream Come True."

Lets talk about a topic that applies right from when you start letting your baby watch television.

I was and am not crazy about television in general. I think that it is good to encourage our children to use their imagination and play instead of sitting in front of the television hour after hour though. Now having said that, of course I let my daughter watch television. I do decide what type of shows she is allowed to watch and for how long she can watch tv.

Prior to my daughter there were significant periods of time in my life where I did not have cable because I just did not enjoy watching tv all that much. Sure there were shows I enjoyed, but there was always so much to get done. I just never seemed to have the time to watch tv. I also found that when there were times I decided to just relax and watch tv, that I had access to 200 some channels and it seemed like there was nothing on! So I cancelled cable. I did not even notice that cable was gone from my life.

Well, one day the cable company called and offered a great deal so I hooked it up again. I was paying a bill for something that I did not use. When my daughter came along I realized just how much I do not like tv. So I cancelled it again.

I wanted my daughter to have entertainment, especially educational entertainment so I started checking out tv shows and deciding which dvds I would purchase for her to watch. I know this might be extreme for some parents, but we can at least talk about what shows we think are great kid's shows.

We talked in an earlier blog about Baby Signing and the Baby Einstein dvd series. The Baby Einstein series is a must for any parent. I list my recommendations in the blog where we talk about baby signing. The Baby Einstein dvds are not just for signing (only a few deal with signing). They have an entire collection. We have twenty four Baby Einstein dvds and we do not have them all. They are amazing dvds. Check out my earlier blog on this series because you can watch one of the Baby Einstein videos in my blog.

Another amazing dvd set that is educational is the Leap Frog series. If you look at the reviews at Amazon about the Leap Frog series, most parents purchased the series when their children were quite young and as a result, their children knew their alphabet, numbers and had a good vocabulary quite early. You really have to check this series out.

I think one of the most innovative and educational dvd series that is available is one called Word World. Word World is a cartoon series where everything in the cartoon is made up of the letters that spells the word. So the cartoon dog is made up of the letters d-o-g. It is amazing to watch and excellent for word - object association. You have to check this series out for sure.

Check out the pictures below. They show how the characters and houses are in the Word World program.

It would not be right if we did not talk about a classic. My daughter is absolutely crazy about Elmo. She cannot get enough of Elmo and she has always loved him. The Elmo dvds are pretty inexpensive and very educational. Elmo has taught my daughter a lot. They have great dvds such as the one about opposites. These are definitely amazing dvds.

Hi-5 is another series that my daughter loves. It is a very educational series as well. They learn colours, songs, dancing and much much more. The first song my daughter sung to was North, South, East and West by Hi-5. It was really cute. A word of caution though. I found that a lot of the content repeated from one dvd to another so make sure you just do not purchase a bunch of them without reading what is in them. I would suggest following the volumes or buying the seasons, but do not buy both. If you purchase some of the volumes and then purchase a season you will have duplicate content.

Ok this next series I am going to talk about I will be honest that I purchased with reservations at first. Most people have not even heard of Toopy and Binoo. Toopy is a mouse or rat or something like that and he has his little friend who looks like a stuffed cat. I cannot believe how much my daughter loves this show. I cannot believe how many words my daughter learned because of this show. My daughter still stands there watching an episode of Toopy and Binoo and giggling so hard she is standing on her toes. It is funny and amazing to watch.

Toopy and Binoo dvds are hard to find and the toys are even that much more difficult to find. Do not even try to have a Toopy and Binoo birthday party because they do not make birthday supplies in this theme yet. I searched everywhere for Toopy and Binoo stuff and just could not find it.

Just the other day I bought another classic for my daughter, Clifford The Big Red Dog. My daughter loves this show too. I actually was not sure if she would like it, but she does. Now I will always be honest about the best deals around for things and I tell you there is no better deal out there for Clifford dvds than what I found the other day. I purchased the best of Clifford series which has five dvds in the series for more than 450 minutes of shows for (are you ready) $7.99. I got this set in a bin of dvds on sale at Superstore just two days ago. You cannot beat the price and the series is educational. I have the series I am talking about below in the Clifford carousel of dvds and check out how much it is there!

Everyone knows about Barney. Barney has been around for more than twenty years. Barney is a great series. The Barney dvds are very educational. I could not believe how early my daughter said Barney! She thinks that this purple and green dinosaur is amazing. My daughter has a hard Barney doll that sings and talks and she carries him around everywhere. Sometimes it is good to stick with the classics! They are still around for a reason!

Now lets talk about Blue's Clues. This series is up there for my daughter along with Barney and Toopy & Binoo. She is crazy about Blue (a blue dog). She has a blue stuffed dog and she carries him around quite often. There are three types of Blue dvds that I know of. There is the original series of Blue's Clues with Steve in them. I hate this series. I am sorry Steve, but you freak me out! Steve seems a little weird to me. Then there is the Blue's Clues series with Joe. Ok Joe I can handle. Joe does not seem as weird to me. Joe replaced Steve. The newest series is Blue's Room. In Blue's Room, blue (the dog) is not a cartoon, but now is a puppet and can finally talk to the kids. In Blue's Clues Joe and Steve do the talking and Blue is the cartoon dog that just barks and such. My daughter likes all the series. She loves puppets so Blue's Room is a real hit.

My daughter is absolutely crazy about the Backyardigans. I actually enjoy this series too. I am not sure why! I think it is the catchy songs or something. Backyardigans is a cartoon series where there are five characters who are friends and use their imagination to explore everything. They always start out in their backyards and as the adventure starts their imagination transforms their backyards into whatever is needed for the adventure (ie, ice age, forest, fairytale land). It is a great show.

An honourable mention goes to Farzzle's World and Ni Hao Kai-Lan. My daughter likes Farzzle. Farzzle is a baby and makes baby sounds as he explores different things. My daughter gets bored of Farzzle though quite quickly and does not ask to watch it very often.

Ni Hao Kai-Lan is newer and is a little asian girl who talks in english and in her native tongue. It is good for having your child hear another language. I have not bought any Ni Hao Kai-Lan yet. My daughter has seen the show over at a friend's house and she seemed to like it, but was not absolutely crazy about it. I might buy one or two just to have around for something different now and then.

Now who not to buy in my daughter's opinion....

My daughter has never liked Dora the Explorer. I am not sure why, but she will not even look at the tv once she sees that Dora is on. She does not like The Wiggles. I do not like The Wiggles either. My daughter also does not like The Doodlebops. The Doddlebops are all dressed up weird with weird makeup and my daughter just does not even give them a chance.

That is our review for you. We have quite the collection of dvds in our house. My daughter has a wide variety of dvds to choose from and I am comfortable with the dvds we have in our library for her. We do limit the amount of tv she watches though. I read that the recommendation is to not exceed two hours of tv a day. In the end though, you will make the right decisions for your children. It is all a matter of preference. I know a lot of kids that watch more tv than my daughter and they turn out just fine.

I hope our review of dvds has helped you decide what dvds you will spend your hard earned money on. I hate wasting money on a dvd that I end up not liking.

I want to talk about getting ready for baby and what you can do the days leading up to the arrival of baby that will help you for when you first come home with baby.

You probably will have your friends offering to help out and wondering what they can do to help you get ready for baby. They are probably pretty excited for you. This is my biggest suggestion that if you listen to you will be so happy that you did....When your friends are offering to help and no one is really sure what they can do, ask them to cook for you! Yes, cook! When you are home alone with baby and exhausted and needing good food energy and rest, you will need to sleep and eat well. You might choose to breast feed so your diet is going to be important. You will be so exhausted that you will need to sleep when baby does and you will be busy with baby when baby is awake. So ask your friends that want to help, to make some meals and package them in individual servings that they can bring over and you can freeze. You will be so happy when you are tired and hungry to have this awesome supply of home cooked meals that are healthy and nutritous and that you can simply heat up in the microwave. Trust me on this one, it will help so much.

I never thought asking for prepared meals when all my friends were offering to help me. I wish I had. There were many days where I had cereal for breakfast, lunch and dinner because I was home alone with baby and just too tired and I had no energy or time to cook. So get your friends help.

You can also have your friends over for a girls evening when you are home with baby and alone. Your girlfriends will love to see and hold baby (which gives you a break) and they will probably even be willing to cook up a fresh feast for you. You will need little breaks and help like this. It will be a good little break for you. It will also allow you to have a great home cooked fresh meal that you will need to help make breastmilk for your baby.

You can also stock up on the frozen dinners as another option. Try to find healthy frozen dinners though. You have to remember that you are eating to provide healthy breastmilk for your baby (if you choose to breastfeed).

Almost every mother loves preparing the room that their little one is going to come home to. I loved getting my daughter's room all ready. However, I knew ahead of time that I would be nervous to have my daughter sleeping in her room all alone when I first brought her home. I knew that I would want her to sleep in the same room as me so I could check on her throughout the night (until she got a little older). So I went and purchased a bed that went in my bed so she could more safely sleep with me.

I was lucky that I knew I would be wanting my daughter sleeping with me because the bed I wanted that is displayed above was on back order where I purchased it, so I had to wait for it to come in. I did receive it on time though.

The sleeping arrangement that you choose for your baby will be a matter of personal preference. If you are a really sound sleeper or are on any sedating medication after child birth, then having your baby sleep with you might not be the best idea. There is also the issue of how soundly your spouse sleeps. You have to be confident that you and your spouse will not roll onto your baby.

There are numerous sleeping options. You could get a bassinet. You could also get a playpen for your baby to sleep in. I think that the bassinet option is an expensive one because depending on how big your baby is and how fast they grow, they could be out of the bassinet in no time. The playpen option is a good one since you will likely need a playpen anyway when your child is a bit older. You might also be comfortable with having your baby in their own room. It is all a personal choice and you have to assess the situation and do what is most comfortable for you and your spouse.

Above is a picture of a bassinet. They range in price and can be expensive for the period of time you will get to use it. The playpen pictured above I think is a better value. It has a built in bassinet and a change table. Plus there is the playpen feature also. A playpen as the one pictured above is more versatile and I think is more value for your money. You can also get playpen fitted sheets as shown in the last picture of the playpen above.

Now a life saving product for me was a bouncy chair. I was able to put my daughter in a bouncy, vibrating chair and she was so happy. The bouncy chair gave me time to shower with her sitting in the bouncy chair in the bathroom with me. I could peek at her and talk to her and we were both happy. The bouncy chair was a lifesaver. It allowed me to get so much done! Bouncy chairs come with many different features from vibrating functions to different toys. They bounce with the baby's movements.

As you can see from the bouncers I placed above, they vary in price. So check a few out. I recommend a bouncer for sure. I found the bouncer gave me those few moments I needed to shower or eat quickly or even go to the bathroom. It was a lifesaver.

Let's talk about swings. My daughter loved having a swing. Like the bouncy chair, the swing worked wonders for entertaining my daughter and keeping her happy and thus giving me a few moments to get some things done. A word of caution though! I have found that not every child likes swings. Some parents will tell you their baby just would not sit in a swing. Swings are very expensive. So if you are going to get a swing, then keep the receipt so if your baby does not like it you can return it! The other option is to wait till you and baby get home and then go to the store and try your baby in a swing and see if they like it. Make sure the floor model is safe before you try it out though.

If you receive maternity leave and are considering sharing it with your spouse, I suggest you both sit down and talk about this. I wanted my entire time with my daughter. The time goes by so fast you will not believe it. This is a serious topic that only you and your spouse have to assess and agree on.

My most important advice is, listen to your mother's instinct. If you have that little voice inside of you saying baby needs something or something is just not right, LISTEN TO IT! You sill have a bond with your child that is like no other bond and that no one else will have. What mother's instinct says, GOES! If you think your baby needs something, do not let anyone else talk you out of your mother's intuition.

There are a lot of things to consider when getting ready for baby. The factors change depending on your circumstances. Are you a single mom? If you have a spouse how much will they be home? Do you have pets that will need walking or specific care also? Are you having natural childbirth or are you scheduled for a c-section? I had a c-section and this brought about an entire new set of needs for when I brought baby home. Will you have family visiting that will be there to help you out? There are a lot of factors to consider. Take the time to write down a plan. You will likely find that as you write things down, more things that you had not even thought about will come to mind.