Even in utero I knew my daughter would be strong and tough like her Dad. It was easy to envision my future olympic swimmer as she kicked and prodded me with all her might. But when she arrived 5 weeks early with all her delicate appendages, I babied her to pieces. My husband, on the other hand, has spent every waking minute with her trying to “toughen her up.”

At first it wasn’t easy to watch him fling her around in a pillow fight or flail her around, but she absolutely loves it now.…

Hannah, my six month old, just got her ears pierced! She is rocking her birthstone, Alexandrite, which is a cute pink gem. My ears were pierced with Ruby Red Garnets, so I thought it would be a fun way to continue the tradition. Of course, her Dad wanted to get her diamonds since he's crazy, but he came around when I showed him that I only had one of my first earrings left of the pair. And that's perfectly OK since they are the cheapies! On the rack, the stones looked so small, but they…

Today is "World Prematurity Awareness Day." The March of Dimes has asked parents to share their experience raising premature babies as a group today.

As you know, Hannah was born 5 weeks early and just made the cutoff of preterm birth. At 5 pounds, 13 ounces, she was a healthy, good sized baby, but the early days brought many unique challenges. The main concerns for babies in this age range are iron deficiency and weight gain. Full term babies arrive with stores of iron and fat to get…

It’s no secret that the main reason I stumbled into an eco lifestyle is because I am cheap. Fortunately, I found many more benefits that encouraged me to supplement my suburban lifestyle with green living. The first choice I made was to cloth diaper my baby. She just outgrew the diapers I bought for her newborn phase. It’s time to see how they stack up and which brand brought the most bang for the buck. I’m comparing the price of the three systems to each other and to disposables. Overall,…