Have you ever noticed how people use the term “cobbled together” when referring to their maternity leave?

It’s about to be “The Holidays” and gift season is upon us. And what to get for the baby who has everything?

I am ridiculously excited for our first Halloween! I'm having the mommy group over, and I'm making big girl cupcakes, and baby cupcakes. I was psyched to make carrot cake with nuts and candy corn on top, until someone reminded me both are a choking hazard...I will definitely be sending photos to the BlogHer Halloween Photoshare! My son is going to be Superman (of course...).

This is the first year my kids are aware of the existence of Halloween.  My older daughter, somewhere north of four and a half, is in school for the first time, where Halloween themes began to permeate school activities two weeks ago.  There will be a class party and a "Halloween Parade", which, I gather, is marching around the building in a costume.And thus, this year, the lid has been blown off of Halloween.

In my neighbourhood here in Houston, people go completely insane when it comes to Halloween.  Starting about 2 weeks after the school year begins, houses in my area start putting pumpkins out on their front porch, there are "bats" hanging from the trees, fake cobwebs and tombstones all over the front yards.  At first, I thought it was the homes that had hyper-excited young children who had been forced into putting out all the decorations, but now I'm not so sure:  the house with the most decorations, to my knowledge, is owned by a childless couple.I'm not sure I get it.

Here are three reasons why smart phones terrify me. 1) My 23 year-old nanny is now driving the baby around! She is fantastic but when she is at home, the phone buzzes constantly. So I had to figure out how to talk to her about safe driving when she has the baby, and I struggled with it because I felt awkward about it. I asked Sheila Marcelo, founder of Care.com, for her advice on how to talk to a caregiver about texting and driving. She says,

I would love to tell you how even-tempered my husband and I are, how we never ever raise our voices.  I'd love to tell you that on the exceedingly rare occasions that we disagree (because really, we never, ever disagree), that one of us just gets a quiet little smile and raises an eyebrow, as a signal to the other that This Is A Topic Better Taken Offline, Where Young Ears Will Not Be Affected By Words of Discontent.  I'd love to say that when it comes to the topic of arguing in front of our daughter, there's really no discussion:  it never happens.I'd love to tell you that, but that would be a Big Fat Hairy Lie.

Some parents never fight in front of their kids, and their kids grow up fine. Some parents scream at each other day, and their kids grow up fine. And some in each camp end up with kids who either think a fight means the end of the world or that love is best expressed by yelling and cursing.What's the right thing to do?

Not only do my partner and I argue in front of our kids, we believe that arguing in front of the kids is an essential responsibility of parenting.Now, here are my caveats:I am not talking about intense arguments about grown up issues like money and sex and whether we ever should have had children in the first place.  I am not talking about knock-down, drag-out fighting; no screaming, no door-slamming, no throwing things or stomping off.

So, at nine months, breastfeeding has become so painful, thanks to the baby’s four extremely sharp teeth. This is a common story: Christina at a MommyStory even nicknamed her baby “fang.” It’s not even that he bites me, although he has, it’s that he can’t nurse without cutting me.  His chompers are so sharp and he is so busy while nursing, grasping, moving around. So I feel guilty about wanting to wean him.

Are you happy? Is your husband? Do you need to be happy to be happy? When I became a mom I didn’t expect to be happy. How could I? What I see, read about, watch on TV, follow on the blogs are a lot of stressed out working mothers. But it’s stark indeed to look at robust data that shows women are getting progressively less happy.

Are you planning to vaccinate your little one for H1N1?