Sunday, June 29, 2008

How to Make Your Own Baby Boy Gift Baskets


Baby boy gift baskets are great baby shower presents for mothers who are expecting a baby boy. By combining a number of small gifts into one present, baby boy gift baskets allow the gift giver to tailor the present to the parents' needs and desires. While it is possible to order baby boy gift baskets either from local florists or specialty shops or through online merchants, those who are looking to save a little money or would rather add their own personal touch to the gift can consider making their own baby boy gift baskets.

Baby boy gift baskets can contain a number of different kinds of items, from the whimsical (a musical toy or a silly baby hat) to the practical (baby boy night clothes, baby teething rings) to the downright necessary (diapers, baby wipes, etc.). Baby boy gift baskets can be as large or as small as the gift giver desires and, since they always contain an assortment of small gift items, are sure to be a hit with the parent and perhaps the baby as well. Be sure to remember that the gifts are for an infant, so please do not include anything that could constitute a choking hazard. The parent will be busy enough the first few weeks--the last thing she needs is to have to inspect all of the gifts to look for potential hazards.

By taking some time to consider the situation of the mother-to-be, it is easy to create your own baby boy gift baskets that are sure to be the hit of the shower.

For more information concerning baby showers please visit The Baby Shower Zone - a website that specializes in unique baby shower gift baskets


Baby Gift Baskets - A Personalized Way to Show How Much You Care

When baby showers abound what can you give to that new mom that will be a unique gift for baby? The choices for baby and infant gift ideas are considerable but one of the best baby gifts that you can give is a gift basket. A gift basket is one present that comes in many varieties, themes and price ranges and can offer great baby shower ideas when it comes to unique baby shower gifts. A vast selection of baskets exists not only for baby and mom but there are even gift baskets for dads, siblings and specific baby shower themes.

The diversity offered by gift baskets is never-ending. For baby you can give a diaper gift basket, baby necessities gift basket, baby bath time basket or an everlasting baby time capsule basket.

Distinctive gifts not just for baby

Baskets for the mom-to-be can be made up of maternity clothes, morning sickness remedies, products to pamper her with or even a spa-time basket. Unique baby shower gifts that are helpful, practical and a little luxurious. But let’s not forget about dad either. He’s going to need something to help him cope with that new infant in his life too so how about a daddy diaper tool kit or a new parent survival gift basket?

Pregnancy is an exciting time for a woman and her family. Whether you’re giving a gift for a new mom, soon-to-arrive baby or thinking of baby shower ideas, gift baskets make a great present. Baby gift baskets will provide many memorable and practical items for her and baby. With endless choices you too can find that truly magical gift for baby or new mom!

Looking for baby bedding, baby gift baskets, baby furniture, baby shower invitations, baby strollers, Robeez shoes, baby shower games or themes, please visit http://www.baby-shower-4u.com

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Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Teens and Cells

Nearly half of the teens and tweens, 10-18 year olds, in the United States have a cell phone representing over $10 billion of the market according to a study released by the market research firm GfK NOP Technology.

Numerous cellular companies are offering cell phones and plans for the younger market. Nearly all of the major carriers including T-Mobile, Cingular and Verizon offer text and pic messaging packages and downloadable games and ringtones, which are very popular with the young crowd.
Recently new phones hit the scene, marketed to an even younger crowd. Firefly Mobile introduced its kid friendly pre-paid cellular phone with one touch mommy and daddy buttons earlier this year. Other companies such as Disney are expected to release cell phones marketed to kids and tweens as well.

“The teen and tween market is a critical one for wireless providers to capture, with 70% of its value coming from kids who spend more than $50 per month on their phone service,” says Ben Rogers, Vice President, GfK NOP Technology. “Clearly, the days when parents admonished their kids to use cell phones only for emergencies are over. Now, cell phones are a staple of teen and tween life, not only for calling friends and family but also for a range of other activities.”

More and more cool options are becoming available to the young crowd. Cingular just released its ROKR phone. The phone allows users to download iTunes and has regular phone functions. Websites such as www.teencells.com features cheap cell phone plans, ringtones, and more all geared to the young market.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Robyn_Abrames

Best Cell Phone for Young Kids

Just think of this scenario. Your kid has been bugging you all day and night for their own cellular phone, but you are apprehensive since, well, they are kids. Nevertheless, you cannot deny the fact that cell phones are indeed a good way of keeping in touch with your kids and keeping track of them when you are out. They can also prove to be highly invaluable when emergency happens within the family.

On the other hand, cell phones can mean responsibility. They have to keep track of their phone and need to be very mindful of any allotted minutes. They should also stay away from any expensive add-ons like swapping images or text messaging.

The Firefly phone can be the simplest phone that you may probably encounter. There are no keypads, no cameras, no MP3 players, and no video playback. Who needs them anyway? Instead, your kid will be treated to an almost candy-bar style. It is highly compact and very lightweight, which makes it perfect to your kid’s pocket or kiddie bag. Also included in the package are a backpack clip and a lanyard.

The monochrome display is very small, so if your kids are having eyesight problems, you might give the phone an initial test run. The screen also shows the battery life, time, date, caller ID, and signal strength. And despite being a very small and limited phone, there are still a wide variety of choices when it comes to style. By default, the phone comes with its very cool see-through case. But you can also choose other extra color skins which you can purchase through Firefly.

What makes Firefly an ultimate kiddie phone is the kind of control parents can have over their children through their phone. The phone book, for example, can contain as much as 20 contacts, not to mention the designated numbers for both Mom and Dad. So for your kids not to go into a calling frenzy, you can protect the phone book and the call-screening function with a PIN. This means that when call screening is active, your kid can only receive phone calls from numbers that are stored only in their phone book—no unknown number can contact them. No numbers can be added to the phone book unless you enter the PIN, and even if the phone is capable of displaying a missed calls and call timers list, your kid cannot accept any voice mailbox messages.

Aside from these, the phone is practically barebones. There are no organizer and messaging applications, yet Firefly tries to compromise this with other functionalities. For example, you can choose from a wide variety of colors for backlights as well as screen animations. You can also activate the light while you are charging the phone. There are 12 monophonic ringtones which you can designate for every contact in your phone book, including those of Mom’s and Dad’s. Your child will definitely enjoy the varying lights sparkling every time the phone rings.
It may not be easy to teach responsibility to kids, but a Firefly phone can help you out. And with a price of $100, it is definitely worth every buck.


Milafel Hope Awe is a writer, copy editor, SEO specialist, and entrepreneur. She is currently sharing cell phone reviews and cell phone accessories at Cell Phone Review.

Monday, June 23, 2008

Coping with the Stress of Moving Home and Childrens Concerns

Moving house can be an emotional experience for adults, so imagine how much more unsettling it can be for children who don't really understand what's going on.

There are many things to consider when relocating, none more important than the impact of moving on your children.

REMAIN POSITIVE:

The secret is to remain positive.

Most often the reason for moving is a happy one, such as a new home or job promotion, which generates excitement and compensates for the inconvenience of packing up and relocating.

However if the move is associated with an unhappy event it can be hard to keep a positive attitude in front of the children.

Children feed off the emotions of their parents.

If you are not happy the chances are they are not happy either and will need more reassurance and attention to ensure the move is a positive experience for all of you.

TALK TO YOUR CHILDREN:

Explain to your children what's happening, why you are moving, where you are moving to and what they can do to help so that they feel a part of what's happening.

Listen to them.

Let them express how they are feeling, and empathise with them, even if some of their feelings are negative.

It is only natural they will be concerned, leaving familiar surroundings and friends.

Leaving the known for the unknown can be pretty scary.

Most importantly be honest with your children.

Reassure them that they are an important part of the family, and can help make the move a positive family experience.

TEARS AND TANTRUMS:

Children express their anxiety in a number of ways.

Tears and tantrums are the most common. If your children have moved before, and the experience was not a happy one, they may show signs of depression, withdrawn behaviour, or signs of aggression such as tantrums.

Once again, the answer is lots of reassurance and a positive attitude.

You can read more of this article at Moving Again

Family Beach Vacations

Family oriented all-inclusive vacation resorts provide vacations with activities tailored for the whole family. A family all-inclusive resort hotel features entertainment, activities and dining for all members of the family. Many all-inclusive family resorts include children’s clubs and activities targeted to different age groups from infants to teenagers.

Some all-inclusive resorts for the family provide vacation nannies, supervised day-care, and/or babysitting. Some may have a teen disco. Children stay free at some all inclusive resort hotels. Other resorts offer a deep discount for children. Some resorts can accommodate larger families and allow up to 3 children and 2 adults in a room. Some all inclusive family resort hotels have adult-only restaurants and areas, children-only and adult-only pools, and water parks.

Some of the Best Family Beach Vacations Resorts include:

By Ross Bainbridge

Atlantis Resort - Paradise Island, Bahamas, a 14-acre water park with waterfalls, streams, and lagoons with more than 50,000 sea animals. The Atlantis also has thrilling waterslides and a lazy-river ride, as well as a Discovery Channel Camp for kids.

Beaches - Negril, Jamaica offers kids programs from infant care to teen activities; other features are a major game complex and a new, on-site water park including snorkeling trips to a coral reef, and scuba diving for kids 12 and older.

Beaches - Providenciales, Turks and Caicos has a Kids club with daily nanny service for ages 0-2 in the nursery and 3-5+ Here the children enjoy ice-cream parties and arts and crafts. At Beaches Turks and Caicos, there are organized activities for older children. In the Pirates Island area, there is a 1950's diner, a Sega games center, a tropical game room with air hockey and pool tables, a disco, basketball court, swim-up soda bar and a swimming pool with water slides.

Sunday, June 22, 2008

1% of Newborns Now Test-Tube Babies

June 20, 2008 -- One in 100 U.S. babies was conceived in a test tube -- and half these babies were twins, triplets, or higher multiple births, the CDC reports.

The CDC's most recent data on in vitro fertilization or IVF covers the year 2005. The data come from 422 of the 475 U.S. medical centers that provide various forms of assisted reproduction technology to people with fertility problems.

The findings highlight a major issue for IVF: multiple births. Because IVF is expensive, and in 2005 had only a 35% chance of resulting in a live birth, doctors most often implant multiple embryos into a woman's womb. The result: In 2005, 49% of IVF babies came in multiple births.

While IVF led to 1% of births in 2005, it accounted for 16% of twins and 38% of triplets or higher multiples. That's a $1 billion health problem, the CDC calculates, because twins and higher multiples are at high risk of being born prematurely.

Preterm babies have more health problems than do full-term infants, and IVF babies are more than three times more likely to be preemies.

"Approximately 42% of assisted-reproduction-technology infants born in 2005 were preterm, compared with approximately 13% of preterm births in the general U.S. population," the CDC's Victoria Clay Wright, MPH, and colleagues note in their report.

Currently, there is a trend among fertility specialists to encourage single-embryo procedures. Wright and colleagues argue that these efforts to limit the number of embryos transferred in each procedure "should be continued and strengthened."

Single-embryo transfers in women under age 35 had a 43% chance of resulting in a live birth. That's only 10% less than the 53% live-birth rate for multiple-embryo transfers.

"The 10% increase in the live-birth rate was accompanied by a 41% increase in the risk for a multiple delivery," Wright and colleagues observe. They suggest that IVF success should be measured not only by whether the technique resulted in a live birth, but by whether the technique resulted in a singleton birth.

Fertility, Infertility, and In Vitro Fertilization

The report carries a number of other eyebrow-raising findings:

  • 42% of IVF procedures result in a pregnancy; 35% result in a live birth.
  • The highest live-birth rate -- 52% -- comes from IVF procedures using freshly fertilized embryos from donor eggs.
  • The lowest live-birth rate -- 28% -- comes from IVF procedures using the patient's eggs and thawed embryos.
  • Low birth weight was seen in 9% of IVF single births, 57% of IVF twins, and 95% of IVF triplets or higher multiples.
  • Premature birth occurred in 15% of IVF single births, 66% of IVF twins, and 97% of IVF triplets or higher multiples.
  • 11% of medical centers performing IVF procedures did not report data to the CDC as required by federal law.

The report notes that one in 10 U.S. women of reproductive age has consulted a doctor for infertility issues. As 7% of women trying to have a baby fail to conceive after 12 months of unprotected intercourse, the popularity of IVF is dramatically increasing.

In 1996, there were at least 64,681 IVF procedures reported to the CDC. In less than a decade, this doubled to 134,260 reports.

The findings appear in the CDC's MMWR Surveillance Summary, "Assisted Reproductive Technology Surveillance -- United States, 2005."


By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health New