Postpartum depression has been more in the spotlight in the last few years. Or maybe I just started noticing it more after I became a Mom. It’s easy to overlook topics until they are super relevant to you.

We all know first-hand someone who has been affected by this condition, which can affect any pregnant or postpartum woman. Pregnancy hormones are complicated, and they can make us feel a range of emotions, good or bad, which sometimes feel like a roller coaster that we can’t get out of. The same process that preps our body for carrying and giving birth to our babies can seem to turn on us and cause havoc in our lives.

Most importantly, those of us who have had experience with PPD, either personally or through a loved one, need to be vigilant in informing our new Mom friends about the potential for postpartum depression and how it may rear its head. I read a great interview on The Family Groove about this topic, and I wanted to share it here. I’m all about sharing our parenting resources, so look through my other blog posts and see if anything else is helpful to you.

Below is a link to the article on Postpartum Support International. Feel well!
http://www.thefamilygroove.com/may12_CharityMonth.htm

Before my son was born, I didn’t really consider how much help I may need in adjusting to motherhood. How could I, really? That’s like knowing the ins and outs of driving an 18-wheeler without ever being behind the wheel.

Soon after we brought him home, though, I began to realize how nice it would be to have my family close by. We live in a different state than any of our relatives, so the stories of Mom living in with you for two weeks to help with the transition or siblings gladly sitting for you to allow for an occasional sanity-saving date night were just subjects of my deep jealousy. Well, jealousy may be a little strong. Envy might be better suited here. Or Still, you get the picture.

Seriously, though, when you are a new Mom, everything is not innate. You need other people to talk to, comiserate with over lack of sleep, share tips with, help you find great baby gifts and gear, and compare experiences to be sure that you’re “doing it right.” And if your family is not nearby, it’s time to become resourceful and find yourself an outlet!

I finally wised up and started taking my son to a local branch of The Little Gym, of which there are many off -shoots now. I got to socialize with other Moms of same-age kids while the program leader taught us songs, age-appropriate gymnastics or dance moves, and induced screams of joy whenever she brought out the giant parachute for the kids to run under and jump on.

In addition to that, I discovered that my neighborhod had a preschool play group. They met every other week for a couple of hours at the pool or playground. This was a great resource for both of us. Max met friends from our neighborhood, and I had the advantage of the experience of six or seven other Moms to draw from. My son is almost six, and that Moms group still gathers several times per year!

If you are starting to look for an outlet like these, I have put together a short list of some national organizations, which may have branches in your area. Some have annual dues to join, and some don’t. Thank goodness for the Internet! I encourage you that, if you don’t like the first group you go to, you should try a second or even a third. You’ll find the right place eventually, and you will be so glad you did.

International Moms Club http://www.momsclub.org/

Moms Meetup Groups http://moms.meetup.com/

Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) http://www.mops.org/

Moms Groups posted on BabyCenter.com http://community.babycenter.com/groups/topic/21/local?sortby=pop

Nanny, au pair, baby sitter, caregiver…all names for one of the most important employees you will ever hire. When we entrust the care of our children to a non-relative, it can be daunting and scary.

I am a working Mom, but I am fortunate to have a home office. Even before I started Bottle Snugglers, when I was a PR professional, I had a home office. This is a bonus when you have child care, as anytime you want, you can drop in downstairs and see how things are going. It made me much more comfortable when we hired a nanny. I was only a few steps away and could be on the scene whenever I was needed!

Having a nanny was a huge asset to our family. My husband and I both work full time, and having my son cared for at home, in his own environment, without having to travel with him in the mornings was so nice. Also, with a regular nanny, you have access to baby sitting in the evenings and weekends with a consistent, familiar face for the baby. Less need to frantically search for and train babysitters= less stress for Mom and Dad.

We used a nanny placement service in order to find several capable nannies to choose from. Then it was up to us to decide which candidate was right for our home. My husband and I sat down together with each woman and asked about several topics to get an idea of who they were as people, as caregivers and as employees.

I kept a file from that period, including the nanny’s time sheets and background check documents. I pulled some information from the interviews, which I thought may be helpful to others who are in the process of searching for a caregiver right now. Please add your own spin on some of these topics, take out what doesn’t relate to you, and use several sources to find your complete list of questions.

How long have you been a nanny?
What is your prior nanny experience? How old were the children? How long were you there?
Why do you want to be a nanny?
Any special training, like degree in early childhood development, sign language, CPR?
What is your style of resolving conflicts?
Are you good at maintaining a schedule as given by a parent?
What is a typical day like with you and a child the age of mine?
Do you have experience caring for multiples, more than one child, an infant and a toddler, etc.?
Do you smoke?
Do you have a reliable car or other transporation?
What are your favorite and least favorite parts of your job?
What kind of work environment is best for you? (Parents in home office or not, stay home or do activities in walking   distance, bring your lunch or enjoy food from our kitchen, fold laundry while baby sleeps or not, etc.)
Do you have child care lined up for your own children while you are at work?
Do you have at least three references from the past few years?

You will think of many more questions to ask, and these just scratch the surface. But this list will start you on the right track! Your friends will have great ideas, too, if they have been through this process before. Good luck with your interviews!

I love talking to other Moms about how we “do it all.” Everyone has a little trick or tip for how to make dinner a little faster, organize our schedules a little more realistically, where to find a great baby shower gift, or how to squeeze some “Me Time” into our hectic days.

In March, I was fortunate to be the subject of a Mom-Preneur blog feature. The blogger also happens to be a photographer, so she did a beautiful layout of photos of my son and me. Too bad my hubby was traveling, or he would have been in on the shoot!

Annemarie asked some good questions about business and life, balance, challenges and rewards. Maybe you will get a new idea about balancing your own life (hint: I don’t believe balance exists!) or perhaps you have been thinking about starting a business, and you will benefit from my insights. Let’s keep sharing our information among ourselves so we can all benefit. :)

Here’s the link to the article from Marie Holmes Photography. Happy Easter! http://marieholmesphotography.com/blog/

If you have been down the baby food aisle in a supermarket lately, you have no doubt seen the vast array of options. It’s not just Gerber anymore!  Many new organic and all natural baby foods have come onto the shelves, though they often bring with them a higher price than the conventional jarred foods.

Luckily, today there are nearly as many baby food recipe resources and puree-making gadgets as there are jars on the shelves. Hooray for progress. One book that I found interesting is called, 201 Organic Baby Purees by Tamika L. Gardner. It is available on Amazon.com. I like that by making purees at home, as Tamika points out, your baby is eating the same whole foods as you are. Plus, you can control the ingredients, and you may even find a delicious new combination that is not available in stores. Your creativity will soar!

Here is a “featured recipe” copied from the book’s website. It sounds like a delicious smoothie. Hope your little one likes it and that you like the book. This book might even make a great baby shower gift or Mother’s Day gift.

Featured Recipe: Bananaberry Power Puree
201 Organic Baby Purees by Tamika L. Gardner

For babies 6 months and older
Yield 4-5 servings

• 1/4 cup frozen organic blueberries
• 1 small, ripe organic banana (with lots of brown spots)
• 4 ounces whole fat plain or vanilla-flavored organic yogurt for babies

1. Blend blueberries and banana. Puree until smooth.
2. Swirl together puree and yogurt with a spoon. Serve immediately.
3. Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 3 days.

With the announcement of Beyonce’s baby’s birth this week and the debate over her daughter’s name, Blue Ivy, all over the Internet, I have been thinking a lot about baby names. Personally, I like names from nature, so Ivy is a great choice in my book. You can bet she will get plenty of baby shower gifts with her name in blue and little ivy designs everywhere.

I remember a few friends from school who I thought had cool sounding names. An uncommon name can add a certain mystery or intrigue to a person. (At least until you meet them.) One girl in my elementary school was named Tinsley, and I thought it was so exotic. Of course, in a sea of Jennifer’s, Kristy’s and Amanda’s (all popular in the mid 1970′s), a lot of things sounded new and different. Another classmate named Shelby had the bonus of a first name that was also a last name. I still like names, like Anderson or Brady or Madison, that could be first or last names. Careful, though, or your baby’s name could end up sounding like a law firm.

I also tend to favor names that are spelled slightly different than the norm, though I know this can cause frustration if your name is constantly misspelled. My last name, Marko, is spelled with a “c” rather than a “k” all the time, so I can relate. I end up spelling it out loud for people several times every day. A friend named her daughter Wanita several years ago. That’s Juanita, but with a “Wa” because she wanted to be sure that the stress was on the first syllable. Poor thing. She will be spelling her name out loud forever, just like me.

In my research for my baby’s name before we knew the sex, I was determined to name him after an element of nature, a la Raine, Storm, River or Lief or, if it was a girl, Ruby, June or maybe Autumn. My husband was having none of that, and we settled on the well-used Max Benjamin, after our grandfathers. Maybe one day I can have a pet named Rocky and leave it at that.

The popular baby website Baby Center posted the most popular baby names of 2011. Compared to some of the latest Hollywood baby names and my nods to elements of nature, these are pretty tame.  http://www.babycenter.com/popularBabyNames.htm?year=2011  What do you think? Did your baby’s name make the cut this year? If you have a Mason or an Emma, you may need some creative labels when they starts school so they can tell which is their lunch box in preschool. As long as you spell it correctly, though, I’m sure they won’t mind.

I am almost ashamed to post this recipe because it’s so simple. Almost. :)

You may have already discovered it, but yesterday was my first time to make these cute little donuts using canned biscuit dough. My son has some food allergies, including eggs, and I assumed that canned biscuits had egg in them. To my delight, they don’t. I even found a less offensive ingredient list on the Pillsbury Simply Buttermilk Biscuits. They don’t have artificial colors or high fructose corn syrup. There is a small amount of hydrogenated soybean oil, though, so they are not totally virtuous.

But for our purposes here, they were the best choice. And the recipe is a no-brainer. Cut a hole in the middle of each biscuit using whatever tool you like. We found that water bottle caps are the perfect size, but biscuit cutters work, as do cookie cutters or shot glasses.

Heat about an inch of oil in your pan or fryer, and test the oil with a small amount of dough to be sure it’s right. You want the dough to turn golden brown in about 30 seconds.  (Too fast browning will mean the middle will be doughy, and the temp needs to cool a little. I learned this from experience.) When one side is golden, flip with tongs and brown the other side. It’s easy to see when they are done. Then drain on a paper towel.

Now comes the glaze, which you could make to your specs. I just eyeballed it, pouring some powdered sugar in a bowl and drizzling in milk until the consistency was right for me. Then, just dip the donuts into the glaze on each side, and they are done! Don’t forget to cook the donut holes, too. They are great little bites.

One note is that these donuts were so much better on the first night than the morning after. Hope you love them!

Happy December! It’s hard to ignore that the holiday season is here, right?

With Christmas and Hanukkah decorations appearing in stores as early as Halloween, I tend to get holiday burn out way before December even arrives! But, just in case you are still going strong, here’s a little gift from Bottle Snugglers to you.

From Dec. 1 – 15, 2011, when you order on our website www.bottlesnugglers.com, shipping is just $1 for your first Bottle Snuggler. You will need to use the coupon code 1SHIP at checkout. (This equates to a $3 discount, as shipping is $4 for one Bottle Snuggler.)

The fine print: One coupon per customer, and $1 shipping only applies to one Snuggler.

So, save that $3 and think of us when you treat yourself to a “free” peppermint hot chocolate! Thank goodness for small favors. Happy shopping!

This is a guest post from an organizing professional whom I really admire, Angela Harris of Angela Harris Design. As the holidays approach, I start to feel the pressure of all those extra tasks. Angela gives us three tips on how to overcome! For more great advice, visit her site at www.angelaharrisdesign.com.

As the holidays approach, the building of excitement often begins to be overtaken by the escalating stress thatinevitably takes over. While I attribute some of my lower stress these days to the overall shift to order I’ve made in different areas of my life, do these three things today to feel an immediate difference:

#1:  ASK:  What’s on your {and your family’s} list? In general what are your favorite parts of the holidays – what do you want to experience?During dinner the other night, I asked my family what they most wish for for the upcoming holiday season: emphasizing I wasn’t talking gift wish list!  Here’s part of what we came up with:

• Attending the Nutcracker{something we used to do but hadn’t gone to in a while}
• Making peanut butter balls {a holiday favorite – we ran out of time & didn’t make last year}
• Spending an evening viewing Christmas lights
• Walking through a nativity scene at a nearby church
• Doing something to help others
• Bringing holiday style to my window boxes
• Decorating Christmas cookies {trial & error last year; learned some great tips – will share later}
• Reading our favorite Advent book together each night {helping to keep us focused on what Christmas means to us}

Just getting to know what each family member wants to experience can sometimes be an eye opener.  It helps to know what to prioritize and can slide.

#2:  Establish a budget.  Maybe not the most fun part, but a crucial one.

A.  Know how much you have {are willing} to spend {without going into debt}.
B.  Make a list of what you’ll need to purchase, including:

• gifts
• cards, stamps, pictures
• decorations
• entertaining {if you’re having a party, all of the expenses involved with this}
• travel
• groceries {above & beyond what you normally would spend}
• wrapping supplies
• special event tickets

C.  Allocate amounts for each. 

Tips: 

• I do my holiday budget in an Excel spreadsheet. I list every item in one column and put a budgeted amount in the column next to it.  Using the auto sum button, I add the $ column and then play around with budgeted amounts for each item until the sum is where I need it to be.
• After the holidays, indicate how much you actually spent {you can add an “actual” column}. Also, note other expenses you didn’t anticipate.
• Next year, you can pull up that spreadsheet, “save as” that new year, tweak slightly and your new budget will be complete! {Last night I did my 2011 one in five minutes.}

1. Ideas: Ideas I tear out of magazines are kept right here.
2. Coupons: I’m not a huge coupon clipper but do clip during this time of the year.
3. Receipts:  ALL of my holiday receipts go in this ONE place. {In an upcoming post, I’ll share what I do with my receipts and  how it kept me under budget the last two years!}
4. Cards:  My Christmas card mailing list – along with a few extra cards, stamps and addressing pen – goes here.
5. List:  My specific list of whom I need to shop for. I print out my budget list {above} then, using a pencil {which I keep in my organizer at all times!} I jot down ideas and cross off when that person is taken care of.

Tips:

• Take some quiet, focused time to set up your own organizer – customize to best fit your needs.
• Keep it with you. {I have mine with me throughout the season. I’ll take out what I need for that store, leaving the actual folder in the car.}
• Before running out to shop, sit down and look through what you need. Visually think through where you’ll need to go for what. Do a little on-line research prior to leaving home to keep from having to run from place to place.
• If you end up going over budget or find something else you’d rather give, you’ll have your receipt right there so you can return original item.  {Know return policies from the stores you purchase from.}
• Plan trips out when stores are least crowded.  Or do you shopping on-line.
• Streamline whenever possible!

Do YOU have a favorite way to stay organized during the holidays?  I’d love to hear!

My five-year-old is OBSESSED with cake balls and cake pops.  Have you made them yet?

You can buy a special cupcake pan that bakes them into perfect spheres, and then you put a lollipop stick in them and decorate with frosting or candy coating. Or you can bake a cake, crumble it, mix in some icing and form balls by hand. Then you chill them so they are firm enough to insert the stick and dip into the coating of your choice.  They are a big hit with kids, as they are about three bites big, and you can have fun decorating them into characters, etc. There are entire cook books dedicated to this.

But I had some cake pops at a Halloween party that were so good I had to try them myself. They are now one of my very favorite recipes, as they have 3 ingredients and are basically impossible to mess up. They are Oreo Truffles, and they might just be your new favorite, too.

Ingredients:
36 Oreo cookies
8 oz block of low fat cream cheese at room temperature
14 oz. bag of white candy coating chips or almond bark

Put the cookies into a large Ziploc bag and crush into crumbs by pounding and rolling with a rolling pin. (You can use a food processor, if you prefer.) Next, add the cream cheese and mix together thoroughly. I tried using a spoon, but ended up mixing it by hand like I would do with a meat loaf. Then, form balls of the dough, and place them on a wax paper-covered cookie sheet. I suggest making them small, as they are very rich! When the balls are all made, chill in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes, so the balls hold up when they are dipped.

The candy coating is best melted over a double boiler. I filled a medium sized sauce pan with water and put a large glass mixing bowl on top of the pan. The water should just touch the bottom of the bowl. Bring the water to a boil, then add the chips into the bowl and stir occasionally until they are very smoothly melted. You can also melt them in the microwave on Defrost, but I have never gotten that to work as well!

Now, drop the Oreo balls one by one into the melted candy, and return them to the cookie sheet. Return them to the fridge for about 20 minutes, until the coating is crisp. Done!

They are so delicious. If you like, you can dip them in colorful sprinkles or sugar while they are warm, just to dress them up. Though, really, once you taste them, I predict you won’t even care how they look!