However, having had a quick look at the baby name list for 2012, it seems that this year we could be seeing a resurgence of more “normal” baby names. And not before time!

Although some might still be considered trendy, at least they are recognizable as real names

Baby names 2012 are already proving to be very different from last year’s choices, with The Hunger Games taking over from Twilight as the primary cultural influence on names, the hottest boys’ names taking a cue from the girls, and musical names trumping Hollywood for inspiration.

Apparently we should be hearing a lot more of these names this year.

..More at The 11 hot baby names of 2012, revealed

More Reading

• Could Your Baby’s Identity Be Stolen?

What are you calling your little girl or boy? Something recognizable I hope!

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Trying to find out what you can and can’t (or should or shouldn’t) eat can be a bit of a nightmare.

I was just reading this article by Stephanie Wood at Parenting.com where she goes into great detail about how you can make sure to eat the right things during pregnancy.

Here’s something of what Stephanie is saying:

It seems like every day, there’s a story in the news about yet another favorite food that’s now off-limits for pregnant women, leaving you scared to take a bite of anything lest it be on the list. It’s enough to make a woman crazy. But now, learn how other moms-to-be have coped.

There are also some other links in the article for further reading.

Read it here…

Healthy Pregnancy, Healthy Baby: Healthy Food Choices
March of Dimes videos and DVDs are available for presentation on your closed-circuit TV, digital and/or on-demand systems. For licensing information, please contact productquestions@marchofdimes.com or 914-997-4781. www.marchofdimes.com Dr. Siobhan Dolan goes food shopping to talk about the essential nutrients pregnant women need, and provides tips to maintain a healthy pregnancy diet.

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Photo courtesy of dailydelights.sheknows.com

After your baby is born, it’s only natural you will want to spend a lot of time with this newest and most adorable member of your family. But in the back of your mind, you’ll probably also be wishing for your pre-baby body! Happily, new mothers can have the best of both worlds. You can spend lots of time with your new baby and get back in shape. Here’s how:

1. Before your baby is born, discuss a postpartum exercise plan with your doctor or obstetrician. Of course, if you did things right, you should have been doing some light exercise before and throughout your pregnancy. Usually, you can simply continue with the exercises you have been doing as soon as you feel able and add new forms of exercise gradually. Ask your doctor how long you should wait before resuming exercise. Follow your doctor’s advice on the safest and most effective exercises to add.

2. One form of exercise that many new mothers find very helpful is yoga. There are many excellent yoga workouts available on DVD that are designed for participation by both mother and baby. By using these types of “baby and me” style yoga workouts, new mothers can gain strength and flexibility while spending quality time with the new baby!

3. Of course your post-pregnancy tummy will probably be an area of great concern. Don’t hurt yourself trying to do vigorous abdominal exercises. Gentle abdominal exercises such as slight leg lifts, gentle knee bends, or simply lifting your chin toward the ceiling while lying flat on your back (even in bed!) can do a great deal to strengthen and tone your abdomen. Any exercise that you do for your back will automatically strengthen and tone your tummy, so doing a light weight workout with dumbbells that focuses on back muscles will help to tone your abdomen. You can do this while watching television or bouncing your baby in a bouncy seat!

4. It goes without saying that you will want to show off your new baby, and nothing can be better for that than a good stroller. It’s a good idea to invest in a running or jogging stroller so that as you become more and more fit, you can gradually take up jogging with baby and running with baby. Modern jogging and running strollers have all kinds of fancy conveniences such as a special receptacle for your water bottle, compatibility with whatever sort of music software you carry and exciting and interesting toys for baby. You and your baby can spend many happy hours enjoying a well designed and high quality running stroller.

5. As your baby grows older, you’ll have more and more opportunities to exercise together. You can be proud of yourself for having set an example that places your baby securely on the path to lifelong fitness. In addition to “baby and me” style yoga, there are many other types of exercise that mothers and babies can do together. You can add mother and baby workout DVDs to your collection and/or check your local community center listings for mother and baby exercise classes that will provide both of you the opportunity to stay fit together while socializing with other moms and babies.

Postpartum Recovery Exercises
www.beYOU.tv brings you Postpartum Recovery Exercises.

By beginning a habit of exercise before and during pregnancy, it will be much easier for you to retain and regain your pre-baby figure. When you seek out forms of postpartum exercise that include your baby, you’ll be able to make the most of the time you have to spend with your baby and the time you have to spend on your body. Additionally, by exercising with your baby, you will teach your baby how to be fit, strong and active for life.

That surely is a win win situation

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Photo courtesy of funniest-commercials.net

Coffee is one of the staple diets of millions of people throughout the world. But drinking coffee during pregnancy? Yes – it’s OK!

It’s long been thought that the caffeine in coffee, if consumed during pregnancy, could result in the baby having sleep problems.

However, according to a new study in Brazil (where else! there’s an awful lot of coffee there) drinking coffee during pregnancy does not have any adverse effects on baby’s sleep habits. This is according to a report by Alan Mozes of HealthDay News at Health.com.

As Alan says:

Caffeine consumption among expectant or new mothers does not appear to affect the nighttime sleeping habits of their newborns, new Brazilian research indicates.

The conclusion is based on an analysis of sleeping patterns among more than 4,200 infants until the age of 3 months, in light of the caffeine-consumption habits of their mothers both before and after delivery.

Read the rest of the story…

Coffee Health Benefits
Over 400 billion cups of coffee are drunk globally each year, so it´s important to establish what impact coffee has on our health.

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Well, according to “I know more than you” Wisconsin Legislator Donald Pridemore, it does!

How absurd can some people be.

This quote comes from an article on the Huffington Post website

The bill says a child being raised by a single mother could be considered living in an abusive situation and because of that, a woman should not jump into a divorce, but rather look at alternatives, state Rep. Donald Pridemore (R-Hartford) said in a television interview Friday.

Honestly, who conducts these studies? At our expense mind you.

I know plenty of single parent families, including two of my nieces, and their kids are just fine.

Read the story here…

Single parenting – Sadaya, Kauai Hawaii
More videos and topics www.juicyli

Photo courtesy of http://www.singleparentbenefits.com/

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Coming up with baby nursery decorating ideas is usually a matter of personal taste but can still lead to confusion.

Lots of baby nursery pictures are always helpful and I found a few at Unique Baby Gear Ideas which you might like. They have ideas for boys and girl’s nurseries and their home page has links to lots of stuff.

Thanks to Unique Baby Ideas for the photo.

Read the rest here…

Our Baby´s Boy Nursery Room Decor!
I wanted to do this video to show ya how we started designing,painting,and decor our baby´s nursery room! It took us alot of work! But it was worth it! Hope this helps you and maybe give ya some ideas! Thanks for watching & Enjoy! Song: Alison Krauss-Baby Mine www.zulily.com

Did this give you some ideas?

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Photo Courtesy of http://parentables.howstuffworks.com

Morning sickness during pregnancy is something that is usually dreaded. But there is a silver lining! Apparently, Moms who experience morning sickness are more likely to give birth to a healthy baby.

Added to this is the possibility that they may have better intelligence in later years.

So now you can have a little smile to yourself as you are crouched over the toilet bowl

“For most of us, tossing our cookies every morning isn’t exactly an exciting experience. Maybe it should be. Believe it or not, a recent Canadian study has linked morning sickness during pregnancy with children’s intelligence. According to the study, all that nausea and vomiting during pregnancy might be a sign you have a little Einstein on the way.”

…More at Morning Sickness Has Been Linked to Children’s Intelligence

More Reading

• Morning Sick Mom Ticketed
• Women Reluctant to Talk to Doctors about Morning Sickness

What do you think? Does knowing your baby might be smarter make suffering with morning sickness more “worth it?”

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Photo Courtesy of Huffington Post

Usually a pregnancy test will tell you whether or not you are pregnant. It’s just something you rely on – especially in the first stages.

But don’t believe everything you see! The Huffington Post has reported on various ladies who had no idea they were pregnant and then gave birth. Even the pregnancy test showed negative.

In a real-life example of something from the TLC television show “I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant,” a Kentucky mother unexpectedly gave birth to a full-term baby boy in her bathroom on Dec. 30, and she had no clue she was carrying a child, according to WKYT News.

But we should note that these are exceptions to the general rule – as there always are.

Read the full article…

How Pregnancy Tests Work (Pregnancy Health Guru)
Most pregnancy tests measure the hcg levels in your urine, and can give a false negative if you test too early, or a false positive if you´ve been taking fertility drugs. Pregnancy.Healthguru.com

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Even if your particular religion doesn’t recognize Easter, there’s certainly no harm letting the kids indulge in a little sweet stuff for once – I know I will

I was just looking at Parenthacks.com and they have compiled a great list of activities and stuff to keep you and your kids occupied over Easter.

There are even some non-candy ideas if you need them.

Read more…

Make Easter Bunny Masks For The Kids
www.kidspot.com.au Kids love Easter time and what better way to celebrate Easter than to get creative. This short video will show you how to create a wonderful Easter bunny mask – it´s a great creative art and craft kids activity that your kids can wear around the house or with their friends in the garden. All you´ll need is: small paper plate, pink card, scissors, elastic, craft glue, white card, large pompom, 3 x white pipe cleaners, pink painty pen and then just watch this video. Looking for more fun Easter activities for the kids? Visit: www.KidSpot.com.au

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Photo Courtesy of Stuff.co.nz

Hey all you Dads out there, do you want to be able to choose the right toddler clothes that your wife will approve of?

Well, fear not! Apparently there is an Iphone app available that will help you to do just that I guess it’s true when they say that you can get an app for just about anything these days!!

I came across an article in a New Zealand online mag. which reminds us that Dads aren’t always capable of making the best choices when it comes to dressing the kids!

Now I’m not sure just how effective this app is, but it may well be worth checking out. Who knows, maybe it will make people think you have excellent dress sense where your kids are concerned

Blog commenter Mandy asked last week for my thoughts on an iPhone app that’s been developed by the guys at DIY Father. They’ve designed an app to help dads dress their kids. You might be asking yourself why this might be necessary. If you are, then you probably haven’t seen the aftermath of dad trying to dress little Johnny or Jemima.

Read More…

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