Skip the High Chair

You may want to skip over the high chair when you are registering. Instead, check out the infant to toddler feeding seat from The First Years. It's much more compact, it's portable and it grows with your child, so instead of buying a high chair and a booster seat (and later storing both in the attic), you can just get the smaller feeding seat from the get-go.

We went the route of the high chair and booster seat and it worked for us the way our kitchen and dining room were set up, but I can easily see how skipping the high chair altogether could be a better option for some. What do you think?

Pets and Infants

They can coexist under the same roof. Of course children come first, but there’s no reason that the family pet has to suffer. There are many things you can do to peacefully and safely introduce a new baby and a pet as you grow your family.

Baby Sign Language Grows in Popularity

Just a few years ago baby sign language seemed like a novelty. Now signing has become mainstream. Studies have shown how simultaneously learning two spoken languages at first delays talking. But research also shows that teaching baby sign language can help toddlers talk sooner and maybe slightly boost their IQ.

Free Book: What to Expect the First Year

Simply sign up for Balmex offers and receive a FREE copy of What To Expect the First Year. Check it out. I'm beyond the first year already, but it sounds like a pretty good deal if you don't mind filtering through more email and snail mail.

Teething Isn't Fun for Baby or Mommy

There's a newsflash. And what about Daddy? Yeah, it's a field day for us. Headlines and articles like this drive me nuts because the writers act like there's only one active parent in most babies' lives. At least it offers some tips and suggestions for dealing with the difficult time.

Unborn Baby Saves Mom's Life

Parents always say their children are angels, but it isn't often an unborn baby gets credited for saving her mother's life.

And Baby Makes Nine...

This group tops the Brady Bunch by three.

Hot off the Wire...

LUTZ, Fla. (AP) — More than 500 visitors showed up at a Baptist church Saturday for what is being billed as Tampa Bay's Biggest Baby Shower. The community came to support Ben and Karoline Byler, who are expecting sextuplets sometime in the next three weeks. According to the Florida Department of Vital Statistics, the Byler babies will be the first sextuplets born on record in the state.

Baby Survives Five-Organ Transplant

Doctors at New York Presbyterian Hospital are celebrating a successful five-organ transplant that potentially saved the life of an eight-month-old boy.

Today's Headlines

>> Tom Brady Welcomes Baby Boy...
>> Baby Alfie Was Born at 30,000 ft...
>> Jaime Pressly Loses Baby Weight with Cabbage Soup...

Recipe: Pizza Pinwheels

Here's a follow up to Melissa's request on our forum for toddler party foods. I suggested making turkey and cheese pinwheels which got Melissa thinking. She went to allrecipes.com and found an easy and delicious recipe for Pizza Pinwheels.

1 (8 ounce) can refrigerated crescent roll dough
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
24 slices pepperoni
1 (14 ounce) can pizza sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. On a large baking sheet, pinch the 8 crescent roll dough triangles into 4 rectangles. Layer each rectangle with 6 slices of pepperoni and even amounts of mozzarella cheese. Roll tightly lengthwise and slice each into 4 or more pieces.

3. Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 minutes. Serve with pizza sauce for dipping.

Melissa said, "The kids and adults loved them! I doubled the recipe and still returned home with an empty dish. Allrecipes.com is a fabulous website for finding recipes. There are several search options. My favorite is one where you can type in the ingredients you have on hand and it will provide you with a list of recipes that call for those particular ingredients."

Now that's the kind of recipe finder I need. Thanks for the update, Melissa!

Click here for more of our recipe posts.

Baby Talk is Universal

According to a new study, the relationships between sounds and intentions are universal, and thus, should be understood by anyone regardless of the language they speak.

Website Spotlight: Babystrology

We've already featured a couple of options when it comes to pregnancy tickers - lilypie.com and baby-gaga.com.

Babystrology offers another free ticker to add to your blog. Due to popular demand, they even added multiple support - twins, triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, and more.

You thought you spent a lot of time checking your favorite baby blogs...now babystrology even offers Baby Games like the PeePee TeePee Launcher to use up even more of your free time. Remember the creative Pee-Pee TeePee for boys that we featured a couple of months ago? Now you can play the game.

Baby Adoption

Infertility often leads couples down the road to adoption. As this family found out, the process is costly and priceless.

>>Take a look at the adoption discussion in our forum.

Toddler Party Foods

Melissa needs some ideas on our forum and I'm sure the feedback will help all of us when we host kid-friendly parties.

She says... "My husband's coworkers are always hosting what I like to call "driveway" parties, and expect everyone (even those with little ones) to attend. The problem is that the parties are never kid friendly. They've planned another party, so I would like to provide some kid-friendly foods for the toddlers to enjoy. I mean, do they really expect a two year old to eat ribs and stuffed jalapenos? Does anyone have suggestions for great party food for toddlers? Also, any ideas for keeping them entertained and out of the street would be appreciated."

Help Melissa out on her post! Feel free to reply as a guest or register for our Baby Blog Addict forum to offer other suggestions or seek advice from other parents.

Domain Name Frenzy

Before officially deciding on a name for a child, a lot of parents are checking to see if the domain name is available first.

Website Spotlight: Diapers.com

Did you know that August is the month most babies are born? For the month of August, diapers.com is offering at least 20% off newborn size diapers. And, as always, shipping is free on orders over $50 and get 5% back on orders over $75.

PLUS, get an extra $5 off your first order by entering our Referral Code: BlogAddict on the shopping cart screen.

I know my grocery shopping trips would be much easier if I didn't have to add diapers to my cart every trip. I'd love to get diapers, wipes, formula and the other baby necessities they sell shipped directly to my door!

Will Older Child Make Room For Baby?

What's the best age separation for acceptance? How do you convince a resistant child that a new sibling is a good thing? Find out more here.

Mom Delivers Rare Identical Quadruplets

A 35-year-old Canadian woman has given birth to rare identical quadruplets at a Great Falls hospital. Autumn, Brooke, Calissa and Dahlia were born about two months early and were conceived without fertility drugs.

According to their perinatologist who delivered the girls, the chances of giving birth to identical quadruplets is about one in 13 million. Medical literature indicates there are less than 50 sets of identical quadruplets, said Dr. Jamie Grifo, director of the NYU Fertility Center in New York.

The article states that the parents declined to be interviewed by The Associated Press and have been a little bit shy about the press. I guess they don't have a baby blog for us addicts!

Another Interesting Baby Name...

A chinese couple, looking for a distinctive baby name, has settled on the 'at' symbol. That's right, they want to name their baby @. And get this--the couple were cited Thursday by a government official as an example of citizens bringing bizarre names into the Chinese language.

Check out the 200+ articles written about this unique naming attempt.