My first born, his first May.

It is just not fair for someone to lose a child. That should not happen… and yet it does. Without sharing too many personal details, a wonderful woman, wife, and mother (along with her husband, daughter, and family) has had to experience this tragic loss. Yesterday she lost her beautiful baby girl.

For anyone out there going through a similar tragedy, Earth Mama Angel Baby has put together a great page of resources for grief support. If you are a parent, grandparent, friend, relative of an angel baby I invite you to explore those resources here: http://www.babylosscomfort.com/resources.html

I will never understand why something like this happens, but what I can do is try to prevent it from happening to someone else…

I have just learned that April 24 was SIDS Awareness Day and even though we missed that there are still ways to help and many resources to explore at the American SIDS Institute. There are so many things that we can do to reduce the risk of SIDS, but we still don’t fully understand everything and unfortunately won’t be able to prevent all SIDS deaths now.

Photo via BadrNaseem’s Photostream on Flickr Creative Commons

Lifefactory (formerly Babylife) has been making these safe and modern glass baby bottles since 2007, but now they have made them available at a much lower price. Clementine NW is pleased that we can now offer the lower price on the fabulous Wee Go bottles: one bottle for $14.49, a pair for $26.90, and a set of 3 for only $38.95.

Wee Go baby bottles are a new take on the old glass bottles. With a new design and safety twist, the bottle is covered with a modern silicone sleeve (patent pending) that will help protect the bottle from breakage and also prevent bumping into other articles in your diaper bag. This silicone sleeve is free of plastics and is 100% non-toxic. The bottle and the sleeve can be boiled or put in the dishwasher together. The silicone nipple is latex-free and non-toxic. The plastic ring, plug and cap contain no polycarbonates and are food grade, FDA approved and recyclable. The sleeve provides a good gripping surface during feeding and also a great tactile experience for your baby. Features a traditional venting system. A great baby bottle option that is bisphenol A, phthalate, PVC and polycarbonate-free.

Are you a celebrity watcher? See these cute twins with their Wee Go bottles!

Happy Earth Day!!

Wow, what a great time we had at The Mom Shop on Saturday! Thanks to all of those who came out. We got to meet a lot of fantastic people and saw the cutest kids in the fashion show that you have ever seen!

We had great weather all weekend here in Portland. It is so lovely to see the sun shining again. My family I spent most of Sunday outside. We planted our small vegetable garden, made pine cone bird feeders with the boys, and watched a pair of birds building a nest in our apple tree. The baby got to crawl all around trying to eat the grass. Playing outside was everyone’s favorite part of the day. We even ate our meals outside!

Did you get your green hour in?

This week we will celebrate two events: Earth Day on April 22 and TV Turnoff Week April 20-26.

There is some controversy about Earth Day this year. Yes we should be living green all year long, but I have come to love the big symbolic gestures. Earth Day is less about being green for a day and much more about bringing awareness to those that may not realize all of the great ways to save money and save the planet all at the same time! Plus it is a great excuse to do something out of the ordinary with your children: go on a mid-week nature hike, do an Earth Day craft, take part in a special Earth Day event near you, learn something new about recycling or a new way to reuse your old cloth diapers.

TV Turnoff Week is near and dear to my heart, much to my oldest boy’s chagrin (he had a hard time with this last year, and he doesn’t even watch that much tv!). I think that so many American kids spend way too much time in front of the television each day and far too little time exploring their natural world. I am excited that this week looks like it will be great for my kids to spend more time outside. But even inside, there is a lot to do besides watching a show or playing a video game.

Do you have any special Earth Day plans? Any fun activities for TV Turnoff week?

We have been busy bees here getting ready for The Mom Shop 2! This will be my first event and I am so excited. I hope to meet a lot of people and hope to introduce Clementine NW to more fabulous Portland families.

We’ve got special event only pricing on all of our items we are bringing, as well as some great samples, Earth Day projects for the kids, and the chance to enter a drawing to win a $40 gift certificate! So make sure you stop by and say hi!  If you are local, this is the place to be on Saturday.

Besides all of the fantastic exhibitors and swag, there is going to be a whole lot of activities to keep you entertained. I am personally really looking forward to the fashion show! Plus it’s at Oaks Park and you get a discount on rides with your admission to The Mom Shop.

Check out the schedule of events:

Go here for full details: http://www.mamapreneursinc.com/momshop

Tickets will be $5 at the door. Children under 12 are free!

Some of you may have heard recently about sweet little Maddie Spohr passing away unexpectedly. Some of you may have noticed the March of Dimes badge to the right there under my blogroll. Some of you may have no idea what I am talking about, but that’s okay.

I did not know them, only a bit from their blog, but I feel compelled to share this and to try to do something for all the other babies that March of Dimes helps. Since Maddie’s passing there has been an incredible outpouring of support for her parents, Heather and Mike, in this sad time.

There are people all over the country donating their time to do the walk (click here to find an event near you) and/or donating money to the March of Dimes for all that they do to help moms have healthy, full-term pregnancies and fund research to find answers to the serious problems that threaten our babies.

I urge you all to do what you can. For Maddie and all the babies and families out there that need our help.

To learn more about Maddie: http://www.remembermaddie.com

Why you should March for Babies: http://www.marchforbabies.org

For more information on what you can do to help Heather and Mike directly: http://amomtwoboys.com/for-maddie/

After finally getting over a stomach virus that ravaged the whole family and sent the baby to the hospital with dehydration, we are now sick again. What’s the deal? I thought at first it was allergies, and there may be a bit of that in there as well, but it’s a cold. All three of the kids and me.

Of course tonight is the 5 year old’s very first t-ball game ever. He is feeling fine and well enough to go, but that leaves the rest of us. I really don’t want to miss my son’s first game. I just don’t. But… how can I take a baby who isn’t feeling well, or how could I leave her home with my husband- who I am sure doesn’t really want to miss this game either even though he said he would stay home? The 3 year old will be fine either way, as long as it doesn’t rain like they say it will, although I am sure he would be better off staying home too.

So, what do you do? How do you decide? What have been some tough, or trivial, parenting choices that you have had to make and what were the outcomes?

Photo via Flickr

My little man is 3 years old today, I can hardly believe it. We are just having a family day since the boys already had their shared birthday party with friends. The 5 year old had t-ball practice this morning, so we all went to the park to watch. Well, I watched. Little man ran around and climbed. This afternoon he has chosen to watch a movie about fire trucks that we picked up at the library. Later on we’ll have the pancakes he decided on for his birthday dinner and the cake we made together yesterday. And maybe a few presents too.

My best April Fool’s joke ever. We had been planning this for a little while and it turned out soo well, it was fun. I took the kids out so my husband could make dinner in peace. When we got home it was time to eat and we told them we were having chili, grilled cheese sandwiches, and peas & carrots. They didn’t even question it…