Mommy Wishes (Caramel Chocolate Chip Blondies)

I stare at my kiddo a lot.  He's adorable; how could you not?  This morning I was staring at him and wondering what he's going to be like when he grows up, what kind of character he will develop.  I know all parents want things for their children.  They want them to be smart, happy, successful, better off than they are.  This morning I thought about what I want for my son.  

 I want my child to be curious.  Curiosity leads to questions and questions lead to problem solving and creativity and knowing things.  All those eventually lead to intelligence and understanding.  All of the smartest people I know are also very curious (with maybe the exception of George, who was a good little monkey, haha).  I hope that my child will to want to know everything, to be interested in the world around him, and to constantly ask questions:  why is the sky blue, how much water will the bath tub hold, who invented the refrigerator, what is the difference between baking soda and baking powder, where do butterflies come from, when do the red crabs make their migration across Christmas Island...everything.  Wanting to know everything is the first step toward actually knowing everything.  Or at least enough to make you happy.

First Time Mommy: Tips for Baby Registries

Recently, one of my good friends asked me for some tips on putting together her baby registry. I put together a list for her of the things that we use for the kiddo, what you really need and what you can skip. She told me that it was helpful for her, so I decided to post it here in case there were any other first time moms out there who were feeling overwhelmed by the whole registry process and wanted some tips from someone with real-world, 5 month old experience. I know we did.

Our first attempt at registering for baby stuff was a nightmare. Hubs and I went into the National Baby Store Chain, all hopeful, me on a pregnancy-induced hormone high armed with my Baby Bargains book (which I highly recommend) and my short list of what to look at. The lady at the registry desk was super sweet, helping us fill out the paperwork, showing us how to use the scanner gun thingie. Then she handed us a list of what they suggest we would need. It was, no lie, 6 pages long. SIX PAGES!! In size 12 type. Already trying not to freak out, we wandered over to the strollers. Twenty minutes later, after a snarky saleslady had already made me feel like the world's worst mommy-to-be while we struggled with the carseats, I had a panic attack in the middle of the Baby Bjorn mannequins. When we returned to the registry counter, the nice lady printed out our choices and remarked that it was "good start". I stared at her with barely suppressed rage while she insisted that any "successful" baby registry has at least 200+ things on it. Hubs pushed me out the door before I ended up in jail for retail-induced violence.

Don't buy into that. The list that they give you when you sign up for a registry - ignore it. The store's purpose is not to equip you with a functioning household of useful things, but to sell you as much crap as possible. Below are her questions and my suggestions, tried and tested by a real mom with a realistic and down to earth lifestyle.