If you’re a parent, chances are you are already familiar with just how important proper infant nutrition is for your growing child. A new wesbite has recently launched called InfantNutritionCenter.com and is designed to give parents and expectant parents an amazing interractive look into how your infant grows and the nutrients needed to help in the normal growth development of your child.

I viewed the videos and wish this site had been available while I was pregnant because the 3D interractive aspect of learning more about infant development is really amazing and informative.

There will be a live launch of the site on Monday, October 18 at 7 AM Eastern where you can tune in here. If you know an expectant parent, please feel free to pass along the link.

“I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Mead Johnson. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.”

I used to be so good at posting links to great blog posts I would come across each week, and somehow I got very, very far behind. Some of these links lead you to older posts on each blog, but they are definitely worth a look.

Cutest cookies ever at Bakerella. The packaging alone had me sighing with happiness.

I read this post from Scribbit and if you ever wonder about your blog traffic (who, me?) and just how much the blogosphere has changed (at least since I started 2 years ago), then read this. It’s gold, y’all.

And then go read this from Marty at Don’t Take The Repeats. Perspective in blogging is a very good thing.

And THEN….Megan will tell you why some people shut down their blogs after big blog conferences.

Neatest refrigerator makeover ever for those of us with white appliances. Now, just to convince my husband…

Happy Sunday and happy reading!

Having a little boy means having some interesting toilet adventures in our home. My son has his own half bath in his bedroom, so I am constantly going behind him to make sure he has kept the bathroom clean and washed his hands. I hate germs with a passion and am almost obsessive about cleaning our home in the hopes that everyone will stay healthy.

We recently tested out a great little product called The Shandle, a toilet seat handle that helps to remind children to wash their hands while actually offering an antimicrobial surface that prevents germs from growing on it. Since I have a boy and little boys are constantly having to touch the toilet seat to lift it, this definitely caught my attention.

To use The Shandle, all I had to do was simply peel off the backing on the self-adhesive strip and stick it to the toilet seat. That’s it. Now when my son needs to use the bathroom he can simply lift the seat up using the Shandle while also getting a reminder from Frog Bear to wash his hands when he is finished.

The Shandle proved to be an absolute hit. It’s sold exclusively on their website and now comes in Halloween designs!

GIVEAWAY: REMIND YOUR KIDS TO PRACTICE HAND WASHING WITH THE SHANDLE. The Shandle has generously provided 5 Shandles to give away to 5 lucky readers.

To Enter:

Sign up for the Shandle Newsletter at theshandle.com for promotions, discounts and product news and then leave a comment on this post.

Earn additional entries by completing any or all of the tasks below. Each optional task below is worth one additional entry.

Become a fan of the Shandle on Facebook.
Post a message on the Shandle Facebook Page
Follow The_Shandle on Twitter and Tweet about why you would like a Shandle in your home – include a link to www.theshandle.com.
Tweet about this Giveaway and include a link
Post a link to this giveaway in your Facebook feed
Post a link to this giveaway on your blog

To complete your entry you must leave a comment on this post. Please state which Shandle design is your favorite and indicate any additional entries you completed and your email address for contacting.

Comment Example:

“ I love Frog Bear Washes His Hands. He is so cute. Hope I win!! My additional entries are the newsletter sign up, tweeting about Shandle and tweeting about this giveaway. Thanks for the chance! My email is Mommy (at) nextdoornyc.com”

CONTEST CLOSES ON Sunday, October 25, 2009 at 11 PM Central. All winners will be selected via random number generator. Winners must be confirmed as Shandle Newsletter subscribers and will be notified via email. Prizes will be sent directly from www.theshandle.com

The past few days have been extremely yucky in terms of weather. At one point I thought we might have to start building an ark. E.B. decided Wednesday that he wanted some “ghost cookies”, so as soon as I picked him up from school we went straight to Kroger and purchased them. They’re from Pillsbury, already portioned, and just the easiest things ever.

It was a fun way to spend a rainy afternoon.

It pained me greatly to do it. My finger hesitated on the mouse before giving the go-ahead to do what couldn’t be undone. I wondered what I would miss…would it be a fabulous room makeover, a hilariously funny moment in parenting, or perhaps a link to another great blog I’ve yet to discover? I’ll never know, because I did it.

I clicked on “mark all read” in my feed reader.

During a normal week, I have a little time to relax after E.B. is tucked in bed and catch up on my favorite blogs. I try to keep up with 300+ blogs and savor reading each and every one. I’ve tried in vain many, many times to pare this list of blogs down to a manageable number, but I just can’t. Each one has sucked me in and I can’t seem to part with them.

However, this has not been a “normal week”. We have battled sickness, fatigue, working longer hours, schedule innteruptions galore, and the list goes on and on. And each time I opened my feed reader to catch up, the number of updates on each blog began to reach the double-digit numbers and left me overwhelmed so much that I didn’t attempt to catch up because I knew I couldn’t and enjoy doing it.

So, I gave myself permission to start fresh. I’ve actually been thinking about giving myself permission to start a lot of things fresh in my life lately and if clearing the feed reader is a small, tiny step towards that, then yay me.

Poor Clyde. His meow-er is broke. Yesterday while getting ready for work I noticed he was awfully quiet while I was breaking out the can of cat food to feed him. He usually meows to beat the band when it’s feeding time. Before I sat his dish down I looked at him and saw that yes, he actually was meowing….only, no sound was coming out.

Weird.

I’ve started him on an antibiotic (in case it’s a sore throat or something like that) and we’ve also started some hairball treatments. If I had to guess I would have to assume it’s a hairball. He is acting fine, otherwise.

Let’s just hope that hairball elimination thing will happen while he is playing outside.

I think felt boards are the neatest way to make a story come alive for a child. There are so many great books for children that become twice as fun when using a felt board. It’s definitely an attention getter!

A fellow blogger friend, Tammy Lessick from AutismLearningFelt.com is an independent consultant for Story Time Felts, a company that sells felt kits and story boards in a variety of themes, such as Holiday, Preschool, Religious, Creative, and Educational. Tammy very generously sent me a sample to use with my son and we have enjoyed it so much. It’s also a great way to spark a child’s (or your own!) imagination when you let them make up their own story as they go along. For visual and tactile learners, like my son, these felt activities are perfect for reinforcing thinking skills. I apologize for not having a picture of our particular set that was clown themed (camera issues), but below is a sample picture from Tammy’s site of the Child’s Dress Up Set which I thought was super cute. What a neat way to teach your child how to dress themselves!

Tammy has so many other fantastic felt kits and felt boards available and they are reasonably priced and would make a great (and educatonal) holiday gift for the kids on your list! Click here to visit Tammy’s site.