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So the other day I was on my way to take a dump when I realized that I had no form of entertainment to bring with me. Now I don’t know about you, but dropping a load can get pretty boring. So what I’d usually do is bring my laptop in with me. But a few months back, the backlight in my laptop’s LCD screen went out and I’ve had an external monitor hooked up to it ever since (just been too lazy to fix it). Lugging a laptop AND a computer monitor into the bathroom with me is just a bit too much. I’ll pass. My other form of entertainment is usually one of my school newspapers that I’ll pick up from earlier on in the day. Unfortunately, I didn’t grab one that day, so that option was out too.

So what was I to do? I couldn’t go in there and just poop. Where’s the fun in that? So that’s when I approached Mommy and asked if she had anything that could keep me company. After scouring through her pile of magazines, she hands me an issue of Babytalk. Uh… I don’t think Babytalk is my ideal choice of a poop companion. But hey, who am I to argue? Beggars can’t be choosers.

So there we were, in the bathroom. Me and Babytalk. Babytalk and me. How am I supposed to approach this magazine? I mean, I’ve never met it before. What if it doesn’t like me? Then after a few minutes of me staring down at this unopened magazine in my lap, I started to feel disturbed as there was a baby on the cover staring back at me while I had my manly chunks exposed. So I quickly flipped to the back of the magazine in hopes that I’d find an ad for that brand spankin’ new Dodge Charger SRT-8 for under a grand I’d been looking for (hey, can’t a man dream?) (and on another note, I don’t care how overrated the Charger is, that car is one of the sexiest automobiles to grace the road. Can I get an Amen?… *cricket cricket*… agh who asked you anyway).

Well I didn’t find the Charger ad that I’d hoped for, but surprisingly enough I did find something that kept me entertained for the duration of my load shipment. It was an article by Babytalk contributor, Melissa Balmain, entitled, “Finally, the websites new moms have been waiting for…”. The “websites” part is what caught my attention (I’m sort of an internet geek), but it was the names of the websites that really reeled me in. Ever went shopping on Peebay.com? Me neither. Read on:

Finally, the websites new moms have been waiting for…

Weeharmony.com - Never mind that your baby’s the only one in the neighborhood who still isn’t doing yoga/learning Russian/keeping 5-4 time on the maracas. Register here to find hundreds of compatible playmates in your area!

Now if you’re anything like me, you immediately went to check out these websites. I’m pretty sure most of you probably stopped in the middle of this post to type one of the above domains in your browser (yup, I caught you!). Unfortunately, none of the websites exist. All except two of the them are parked domains. As for the other two, one redirects to a real estate website (Peebay.com) and the other redirects to a MySpace page (Zagattogo.com).

It would be pretty cool if the websites did exist though, as each one had a unique and creative idea behind it. I don’t know about you, but I definitely would’ve been on Peebay bidding on that Snoop Dogg potty! Fo’ rizzle!

Melissa Balmain, whoever you are, where ever you are, thanks for the poop time humor! And if any of you are interested in reading the actual article, it’s in the March 2008 issue of Babytalk on page 76 (It’s the page with a picture of a baby taking a poop on MY Snoop Dogg potty that I was supposed to win on Peebay! The little booger outbid me at the last second!). And by the way Babytalk, you now have a special place in my home reserved just for you!

In the prenatal months, a baby’s brain is at its most receptive stage of learning. This would explain why pregnant women are constantly told to talk to, sing to, and play music to their bellies. When hearing the same sounds outside of the womb, babies tend to react to them positively. The sounds that they’ve heard inside of the womb help them relax once exposed to the world outside.

Daddy and I talk to my belly and in addition we use a product called BabyPlus. The BabyPlus is a device that introduces patterns of sound to a prenatal child. The BabyPlus is programmed with 16 one hour lessons that resemble the rhythm of a heart beating, a language that a baby recognizes best. The rhythms gradually increase when advancing to each new lesson. It is recommended that pregnant women start BabyPlus lessons at 18 weeks. At 18 weeks a mother should start on lesson one and should play each lesson for one hour twice a day for 7 days. After an hour has passed, BabyPlus will cut off automatically. BabyPlus comes with a chart which lists allow you to record your week of pregnancy, the day and times you had your lessons, and the baby’s response to the lessons. There is also a chart that tells you how many days to use BabyPlus according to the week of pregnancy you are in. So if you are past 18 weeks, you can still use BabyPlus!

Studies have shown that babies that have been exposed to BabyPlus prenatal curriculum are born more relaxed and alert. They are more responsive, interactive, and are ready to start observing the environment around them. Parents who have used BabyPlus have reported that their babies nurse more readily and self-soothe more easily. As they grow older they demonstrate earlier developmental milestones, have longer attention spans, and improved school readiness. Check out what parents have to say about BabyPlus.

BabyPlus can be compared to a prenatal vitamin. Prenatal vitamins encourage strong physical development and BabyPlus encourages strong, cognitive development. This being said, don’t expect BabyPlus to turn your baby into a genius; BabyPlus just simply strengthens the foundation for learning.

I started using BabyPlus at 24 weeks and I will admit to missing quite a few days due to being overwhelmed with business and tasks at home. Since I threw my BabyPlus schedule off so bad, I decided to start over because I wanted to do it RIGHT. I found that the best time to do BabyPlus lessons are while doing housework or exercising, that way the beating sounds are less distracting. It is said that babies inside of the womb may react while BabyPlus lessons are in session. Some babies will move to the rhythm of the beats and some may settle down as if they are observing the sounds. When I use BabyPlus, I don’t notice a significant change in Jayden’s movements. Jayden’s really frisky, so he twists and turns during BabyPlus lessons as he would when lessons aren’t in session.

This is my experience with BabyPlus thus far. I still have 6 weeks of pregnancy and 10 BabyPlus lessons to go. I don’t know if we’ll be able to determine the effect, if any, BabyPlus has on Jayden since he is our first child and we have nothing to compare it to. But of course we’ll be documenting all of Jayden’s developments here on Mommy Daddy Blog. So we’ll see!

As of today I am 34 weeks preggo! I really have to get some exercise, going to and from the kitchen just isn’t enough, lol. It’s starting to get warm out so now I can take walks with Daddy. Yesterday we went to the mall, so that was something. I managed to somehow rip my jeans at the crotch while at the mall or coming home. The jeans in particular were a pair that were a tad too loose pre-pregnancy and I’m now nearly busting out of them. I guess I learned my lesson from that rip! Don’t wear anything else that I know is too small!

I had to get my grandma on and purchase a pillbox. Lately I’ve been forgetting if I’ve taken my prenatals or not. Some days I probably took them twice.

I can’t hold much liquid, as soon as my bladder reaches maximum capacity, my lower back starts killing me. It makes me want to cut down on drinking, but I’m always so thirsty! I’m going to talk to my doctor about the back pain just in case because it is so uncomfortable, but it only happens when my bladder is full. Once I take a tinkle, it goes away.

We had a doctor visit on Tuesday and of I get asked these questions one more time, I’m going to scream!:
- Is this your first baby? (They should know this by now.)
- Did you register for the child birthing class? (I was uninterested the first however many times I was asked.)
- Are you going to breastfeed? (Should have remembered my enthusiasm when asked this however many times.)
- Have you decided about circumcision? (I’ll let that one slide since it’s only been asked twice.)
- Have you decided on a birth control method after you give birth? (DIDN’T WE ALREADY DISCUSS THIS!??!?)

I hate having to repeat myself, why don’t they just record my answers in my chart?! I’m getting tired of hearing what classes are all about, I nod and “umhm” in a way that lets them know that I know already. I don’t want to go to any classes other than the epidural (required if I need one during labor) class, geez. Just because this is my first baby doesn’t mean I NEED to go or that I need to ask a bajillion questions either. In addition, I was asked if I was taking my iron pills and my answer was no because I’m afraid of getting sick. The doctor that prescribed them told me that many women don’t take them anyway. I’m not supposed to take the iron pills with antacids, eggs, cereals, whole grain breads, tea, and dairy products. I consume all of those things, around the clock!!! I took an iron tablet one morning and I starved that whole hour waiting to eat. Plus the pills can cause constipation. I already poop around the clock too (TMI, lol), so the last thing I need right now is to be constipated! I can’t do the iron pills, sorry. I get my iron in other foods (red meat, tuna, red beans, greens, whole grains, etc.) anyway. When I mentioned red beans, my midwife gave me a blank stare. When I looked at her back with my eye brow raised, she told me that she didn’t know red beans were a source of iron, but she could be wrong. Shouldn’t she know these things? Overall I’m very calm and on top of things and I guess that surprises them this being my first pregnancy. Plus nothing hurts, nothing swollen, I have no problems just the lower back pain that I mentioned above when I have to tinkle. Everything’s looking good, we’re sliding into the home stretch and I can’t wait to find out how my cervix is looking in two weeks!

(We have been keeping weekly accounts of our pregnancy since the 22nd week. If you’re interested in reading weekly updates prior to or following this one, click here!)

I recently received coupons to try YoMommy and YoBaby Yogurt, so on our latest trip to the grocery store we picked up a 4 pack of YoMommy in raspberry and blueberry flavors. I’m saving the YoBaby coupon for when Jayden is old enough to eat yogurt. As for YoMommy, it is a low fat, organic yogurt that is formulated to meet the special nutritional needs of moms and their developing babies. YoMommy is ideal for expecting and breastfeeding mothers. YoMommy is formulated with DHA, Folic Acid, and vitamin D and contains no artificial colors or sweeteners. YoMommy is available in packs of 4, with two flavors per pack: strawberry and peach; or blueberry and raspberry. Each flavor contains organic fruit pieces at the bottom!

So I bet you are wondering how YoMommy tastes. Well, YoMommy yogurt is full of flavor perhaps more flavor than ordinary yogurts. The only difference that I noticed is that YoMommy is a thinner yogurt, so it kind of drizzles off of the spoon, which isn’t a problem.

Each year Stonyfield Farm gives away 10 percent of its profits to organizations and projects that work to protect and restore the earth. In addition, Stonyfield Farm will be donating $1 for every click to Environmental Working Group to help protect families from harmful chemicals in foods. Stonyfield Farm will donate up to $20,000 to this cause, and you can help make this possible by visiting their donation page. Enter your email address in the form and click the cutie pie underneath. When you do this you will be taken to a page where you can download a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. This wallet sized guide will help determine the fruits and vegetables that should be purchased organic based on their pesticide levels.

If you’d like to try YoMommy yogurt, I’ve included a link to a printable coupon below. YoMommy is available in all major grocery stores. If you plan on trying YoMommy yogurt, or already have, I’d love to know what you think of it!

If you haven’t heard of Entrecard, then you’re definitely missing out on all the fun! Entrecard is a networking tool that, if used on a regular, can bring lots of traffic and tons of new readers to your blog. Entrecard has continued to be one of our top sources of traffic (bringing us just about as much traffic as Google!) for the past 3 months that we’ve been using it! And we constantly receive comments from new readers saying that they found us through Entrecard!

Entrecard can also be viewed as a community of blogs. Not only can it bring new visitors to you, but it can also bring you to new, interesting blogs you never knew existed! Take a look into the Parenting and Family category of Entrecard. There are currently 220 blogs listed in this category. Some blogs you may recognize, many others you may not. I myself have personally discovered many blogs I never knew existed that I now read on a daily basis, all because of Entrecard!

How does Entrecard work?

The first step towards getting the most out of Entrecard is by signing up (it’s free!) and creating a 125×125 banner that represents your blog or website. This 125×125 banner will be used as your “business card”. After you’re all signed up, you’ll need to install the Entrecard widget on your blog. If you take a look to your right in our sidebar, you’ll see our Entrecard widget under “Blogosphere”. Once you have that installed, this is where the fun begins! You can begin “dropping” your Entrecard on other members, and other members will “drop” their Entrecard on you! Every time you drop your Entrecard on someone, it will show up in their Entrecard dashboard. That person will see your Entrecard the next time they log in and may click on it, which will take them to your blog. Do you see what just happened there? You just received a new visitor, and possibly a lifetime reader, and it costed you NOTHING! Now imagine the possibilities if you dropped your Entrecard 300 times a day (the daily maximum amount Entrecard allows)! That could be 300 new visitors to your blog each day! But Entrecard currently stands at only 6,274 members, so eventually the amount of new visitors you receive will top off once you’ve gotten through all 6,274…

…and that’s where credits come in to play! What I didn’t mention before was that every time you drop your Entrecard on someone or someone drops their Entrecard on you, you receive 1 Entrecard credit. These credits can be used to purchase ad space in other Entrecard members’ widgets that I discussed earlier. The amount of credits it costs to advertise varies from member to member, and your Entrecard will show in their widget for a full 24 hours. The amount of new visitors you can get from advertising in other members’ Entrecard widgets are endless! It all depends on the amount of traffic the blog you are advertising on receives; and there are quite a few highly trafficked blogs on Entrecard! Take John Chow for example (I’m pretty sure everyone knows who John Chow is). He receives tons of traffic on a daily basis. Advertisers pay him hundreds of dollars to advertise on his blog. But what does it cost you? Currently only 178 Entrecard credits!

More on how to effectively utilize Entrecard can be viewed on Entrecard’s help page.

The giveaway!

So now that you know the value of Entrecard credits, I want to give you the opportunity to win some! I’m giving away a total of 1,500 Entrecard credits, and there will be a total of 3 winners in this giveaway! It all breaks down as follows:

First place winner will receive 1,000 credits.
Second place winner will receive 350 credits.
Third place winner will receive 150 credits.

I will use the Random.Org Integer Generator to determine the 3 winners, with the first number corresponding to first place, the second number corresponding to second place, and the third number corresponding to third place.

How to enter:

There are 3 ways you can enter this giveaway!

1. Simply leave a comment below! Only one comment per person will be counted.
2. Write a recommendation for Mommy Daddy Blog on Entrecard. Only one recommendation per person will be counted.
3. Add Mommy Daddy Blog to your favorites on Entrecard. Be sure to let us know in the comments below if you have added us to your favorites!

You can use just one method of entry, or you can use all three! It’s up to you! Each method of entry counts as 1 entry, for a maximum of 3 entries total per person.

This giveaway will end on Wednesday, April 9th at 11:59PM CST! At that time, comments will be closed and no additional entries will be accepted.

Good luck to everyone who enters and Happy Entrecarding!

Comments are now closed and winners have been announced! Thanks to everyone who took the time to enter!

Jayden is most definitely one loved baby! The baby shower we received last weekend very well justifies it! The baby shower was simply amazing! We had a really great turnout. Many people from both Mommy’s family and Daddy’s family showed up, along with many of Mommy’s friends and Daddy’s friends. The food we had was absolutely delicious! It was like a buffet, and everyone made sure they treated it like one! We played many games that some of you who have been to baby showers before may be familiar with: Guess The Size Of Mommy’s Belly, Don’t Cross Your Legs, Don’t Forget About Daddy, Word Scramble, Guess Mommy’s Weight, and How Many Words Can You Come Up With? (not exactly sure if those are the “official” names of the games, but you should be able to pretty much get an idea of what games are being referred to!). And the gifts, let’s just put it this way, because of the baby shower, Jayden is covered until he’s about 20! Ok, that was an exaggeration, but we received lots and LOTS of gifts for Jayden; everything from clothes to cribs, toys to breast feeding kits, and everything in between! We’re pretty sure that Jayden now has more stuff than we have COMBINED! There were cameras flashing everywhere throughout the duration of the shower! It was as if we were surrounded by paparazzi!

So of course, there is no way we are even going to continue on without getting into the pictures! Let us warn you though, there are LOTS of pictures. So you may want to go grab a cup of coffee, take a bathroom break, and call off work for the next few days, because you may be here for a while!

The People!

As stated before, many people from both families and both sets of friends were there; and every single one of them wanted to get in a picture with Mommy and Daddy!

The Food!

Chicken, fish, ham, greens, dressing, lasagna, sweet potatoes, cake, need we say more? Needless to say, everyone grubbed down!

The Games!

What’s a baby shower without games? We played quite a few games including Guess The Size Of Mommy’s Belly, a word scramble, and of course, Don’t Forget About Daddy! Daddy actually suggested bringing in some Xbox 360’s and having everyone play Halo 3, but his idea was promptly turned down by Mommy

The Gifts!

Gifts galore! It took us HOURS just to get through all of the gifts and to thank everybody! Jayden is going to be one stylin’ little dude!

And that’s only a fraction of the total amount of pictures we were able to take! If you’d like to see the full set of pictures we took at the baby shower, click here!

Well, that about wraps up our baby shower! We definitely had lots of fun and enjoyed ourselves. And we also appreciated the love we received from our family and friends! Our baby shower couldn’t have been any better!

Can I interest you in the following giveaways?

• Win a $25 gift voucher to Luca Bleu over at Sweet Pea Cakes, Etc! Luca Bleu has some really cute diaper bags for Mommy and the Papa Pillow for Daddy! Deadline: Before March 31st, 2008
• Win a $25 gift certificate to Little Piddles over at An Island Life! Little Piddles also carries super cute diaper bags as well as matching mommy business card holders! Deadline: Before March 31st, 2008
• Win a Trista Baby Tulip Bloom diaper bag tote in berry/pink/black over at Mama Loves Giveaways! Deadline: April 1st, 2008 at 5 PM EST
• Win a Wupzey over at An Island Life! Deadline: April 2nd, 2008
• Win a Mandi’s Menagerie fitted newborn (small) diaper and snappy cover over at From Dates To Diapers! Deadline: April 6th, 2008