Note from Heather: I had vaguely heard of Baby Planning & Maternity Concierge while pregnant, but didn't really consider it as I just assumed it was something way out of my price range. I planned my wedding all by myself, after all. *whoop whoop* Though, that was friggin' hard... Anyway, here's some info about what Baby Planners can do for you, straight from the source! Thank you to Pitter Patter Baby Planners for taking the time to explain!

You may or may not have heard of a baby planner before.  Many of those who have heard of baby planners maintain a negative view of them as taking advantage of new, nervous parents and believe that a mother’s instinct will instantly kick in and take care of many of their questions and concerns. While this may be true for some people, it is not the case for all new parents. Asking for help during the transition into parenthood is not only okay, it is widely accepted in most of the world.  In many other countries around the world, the postpartum period is treated in a special way. Mothers are given the opportunity to rest and bond with their baby while family/friends take care of the household chores and other duties for at least 6 weeks after baby's birth. Not only is this to help mom recover from the physical, mental and emotional stress of childbirth, but it is also important in promoting a positive attachment between the baby and her parents. Not everyone is so lucky to have their family/friends pitch in to help after the birth of a child. Also, family/friends are not always up-to-date on the best/safest products and services for babies. At Pitter Patter Baby Planners, we want to help take care of new and expecting parents to make the transition into parenthood as smooth as possible. We offer services such as introduction to baby gear, assistance with setting up and managing a baby registry, and organizing baby's nursery. For those in search of additional baby-related services, such as childproofing, sleep consultant, or doula services, don’t fret; we also provide concierge services to find you the most reliable businesses in Central NJ.

In addition to baby planning services, Pitter Patter Baby Planners offers childbirth education classes, breastfeeding counseling, and psychotherapy for postpartum depression, newborn care class, and The Happiest Baby on the Block™ class. Interested in documenting baby's first precious moments? We have a professional photographer who can capture this most special event in your life in a fun, natural way and in your home environment. In fact, all of our services can be provided in home. We will also travel into NYC and Northern NJ, for a nominal fee. For more information or to register for one of our services, please call 866-836-7916 or email us: [email protected].

Meet the Pitter Patter Team:

Maria is a licensed clinical social worker, who has devoted her career to helping new parents and babies make the most of their first moments together. She is an experienced psychotherapist, who has worked with children and adults providing individual, family, and group counseling. Maria is also a mother of two precocious little boys, ages 4 and 2.

Melanie is currently a Registered Nurse in the Maternal Child Services department at a medical center awarded an international designation as a Baby-Friendly hospital.  She gained great experience and passion caring for mothers and babies in antepartum, labor & delivery, and postpartum areas. Along with all of Melanie’s professional experience, she is also a mother of two very active toddlers, so she understands the stress of being a busy working mom.

Ivelisse has an educational background in Communication Arts and well over 22 years experience in Television Production.  She is also a very proud aunt of two adorable boys. Her camera is ever-present to capture their first steps and giggles. In addition to her skills as a baby photographer, Ivelisse is also a Certified Child Passenger Safety Technician and will go to your home to teach you how to properly use child safety seats and seat belts so that you can travel safely with your family.

I love food, don't get me wrong, but what is up with these crazy food fads that have people lining up for hours in the wee hours of the morning??

Did you know in Japan they actually pay people to stand in line to add hype to something? Because if people are in line, it must be ah-mayyyyyyyy-zing, or that's the idea anyway. When Cold Stone and Krispy Kreme first came to Japan - forget about it - lines around the block!! I actually did wait in a long line at Krispy Kreme in Yokohama when they first opened, I was THAT desperate for a taste of home. What's funny is that they actually gave you a free donut while you waited! I ate my freebie, re-evaluated the need to wait any longer, and ended up going home - HA!! Crazy foreigner. I guess most customers were there to buy the big ol' box to bring to their co-workers or families.

OK, so let's talk about some food fads going in in New York at the moment...

First, we have the Ramen Burger.

A burger, some sauce, and a bun made of noodles. Created by Keizo Shimamoto it has become THE THING at Smorgasburg on Saturdays in Williamsburg. Seriously, people wait in line over 2 hours to grab one of these $8 burgers. They only make about 400, once a week, and then they're gone by around noon. So is it the low supply causing the high demand or are these things really that fabulous?

Survey says... yeah, they're pretty good! Personally, I'm not a huge ramen fan, nor am I a huge fan of red meat (I eat it about twice a year), so I'm not the best judge here. But, the bun was really interesting - the noodles (freshly made - not the horrid $.99 ones you downed in college!), despite being fried on the teppanyaki grill, were soft and stayed congealed together in bun form through every bite. My favorite part was the sauce which was tasty with a capital T!!

My advice, if you're intrigued, go for it! But do it on a nice day when you won't be standing in line for two hours feeling miserable! Go with some friends, brown bag it and play some games in line :) There are port-a-potties nearby so no worries there! After you're done, check out the other bazillion food vendors - tons of amazing things to try! Then, take the ferry down to Governor's Island!

OK, next up we have the oh so famous CRONUT!!
Half croissant, half donut, this thing looks de-freaking-licious!!!

Launched in May of this year, these $5 pastries are only sold at Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York's SoHo. Apparently your best chance of getting a cronut is by lining up by 6am on a weekday morning, facing up to 5 hours in line. WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA??? Also, there's a 2 cronut limit per person, so don't think you're all smart by sending a friend to buy for all of you lazy sleeper-inners! Another option is calling on Monday at 11am and trying to get on their pre-order list - you can order up to 6 but apparently it's hard to get on the list. The final option is doing a bulk order (at least 50) one month ahead. If you're planning some kind of party, this could be a good idea - your guests would luv luv luv you and forever remember your bash as "the one with the cronuts" haha!

So... have you tried the ramen burger or cronut? Do you have another crazy food fad to tell us about?? Please leave a comment below!!

I love my local mommy group. Love love love! Since I started the group on Facebook in March of this year, we've grown to over 150 mommies strong!! Need a buddy to take a stroll with on a lovely afternoon? Need reassurance that you're not the worst mother in the world because you bumped babies head into the door frame? Looking for baby food recipes or a eco-laundry detergent recommendation? Check, check, and check. Need a babysitter? We've got a babysitting circle going on, too! My most recent creation within the group has been a Mommy & Me Class Co-op.

A lot of us are stay at home moms on tight budgets. We love the classes such as Music Together and Gymboree and Piano Masters, but just can't justify paying $30 per class for our infants. Months ago, a few of us were chatting about how we should go spy on these classes, and teach them amongst our group for free. That idea took hold and came to fruition just a few weeks ago as the Bay Ridge Baby Mama's Mommy & Me Class Co-op. I really had no basis of how it would work, but somehow, it's been working!

The basic principal is that 1) it is free for all members, and 2) you have to take turns teaching. We started with 3 groups, each having a different regular day/time to meet. Each group has a leader who comes up with the schedule for their own group. To join a group, you have to agree that you will teach/lead/host the meeting in rotation with other members. When it's your turn, you can do whatever you want! You can lead the group on a strollercise-esque walk, you can do a Spanish Immersion class, you can read, dance, sign, sing, whatever you want! If you're hosting in a space that can accommodate more people, you can invite members from the other co-op groups. If you're hosting in a space that is very tight and can't accommodate even all of your own co-op members (which is OK if it's not happening regularly), then it would be the first X number of moms to RSVP only.

So far, we've been having a blast!! A couple weeks ago, the mom in charge of leading that week had her professional dance instructor come in and teach us a choreographed dance to "Say Hey (I Love YOU)!" while WEARING OUR BABIES!!! It was hilarious, fun, a nice workout, and did I mention HILARIOUS??? Check out some of these photos:

Should this be a baby wearing commercial or what? haha!! Anyway, this co-op is rocking our mama socks off. I highly recommend starting one of your own!!

My lil' guy is almost 8 months and is still considered a baby on all accounts, but still, I can't help but sometimes feel a wee bit sad that he's not an itty bitty baby anymore!

This morning, he was army crawling around and playing on the floor and I saw him for the very first time go from laying down to sitting up, all by himself with no assistance from person or object! I clapped my hands and he grinned at me with his big gap-toothed smile. Then I got down on the floor to play with him. I started tapping two bowls together, then he picked up two bowls and mimicked my clapping. It's amazing how quickly he's learning and growing into a real kid who plays and interacts and is so much darned fun (most of the time).

But... this afternoon I met up with a group of my mommy friends and one of them had her 1 month old with her. We all oohed and aahed over the teeny tiny leg dangling from her carrier. When she got him out later, he was just so friggin' adorable I nearly lost it! It brought back such a powerful whirlwind of memories and emotions!

Remember when Kenzo was so teeny and stayed all scrunched up most of the time, and then would streeeeeeeetch out so far and make this funny wrinkly forehead like an old man!

And he would make these teeny tiny grunts and sneezes, man he sneezed ALL THE TIME! haha! His explosive poo's triggered his startle reflex and he would flail all 4 limbs way out and make the funniest scared face!

Sure now he's fun to play with and makes cute squeals and babbles and is nice and plump and has total head control (working on the body control) and I'm not scared of breaking him every second, so there's that! But man, those teeny tiny babies... I can see why some moms just keep having them! ^_^ As for me, I can wait a few years! I'll just get my kicks from drooling over my mommy friends' new babies!

All you hear these days are the dangers of BPA and phthalates and all that jazz, so I do the best I can when picking out toys and gear for my little one. If you've been following my blog, you'll know my little guy has only had 2 bottles in his whole 8 months so far. I introduced the sippy cup to him about a month ago and he's JUST now started to figure how to get water out of it! But it's plastic, and I'm not all that comfortable with plastic so I was on the lookout for a non-leaching stainless steel sippy.

That's when I came across the Safe Sippy2 by Kid Basix!

Beyond it being non-leaching stainless steel and BPA/phthalate free, it's convertible - no need to buy a different water bottle once your baby becomes a big kid! There are different valves that let you use it as a sippy cup or as a straw cup. All the parts can be a wee bit intimidating (and washing them is super fun, though technically everything is dishwasher safe), but it's not so tough to figure out (with a brief glance at the diagram on the instructions!).

So, I washed and assembled the cup with the sippy valve adapter, filled it up with water from the Brita, and tested it myself. Tipped it over, shook it around - not a drip leaked out - Check! Then I took a swig - only slight suction required - easy to drink - Check! Next, I handed it over to the baby for the real test.

Easy for itty bitty baby hands to hold and maneuver - Check! Unfortunately, Kenzo has only used one sippy cup before, which had a soft sippy nub. It took him a month, but he finally learned that he just had to bite it a little to get the water to come out - no sucking required. So that's probably what he was attempting to do with the Safe Sippy2, only this one has a hard sippy nub and he just couldn't figure out how to drink from it! Look at him examining this thing, "Man! What is the deal here? Where's my milk? Or Water? Something!!? ANYTHING!?!?!"

He finally gave up on sustenance and decided to use it as a teether instead. "Yep, that'll do!" :)

It took Kenzo a good month of just playing around with his other sippy cup before he figured out how to get anything from it, and I figure it'll be the same with this one! So I'll give it to him at meal times and he'll get it eventually! But no rush, because this cup will be grow with him through the years! Once he's done with the no-drip sippy part, I'll switch the adapter to the straw part!

If you're using a plastic sippy, you might not like that you can't easily see how much liquid is left inside. With stainless steel there is no way around this, but it's a small price to pay for being way healthier. With experience, you'll be able to gauge how much is in there simply by picking it up and giving it a little shake. Until then, you can quickly unscrew the top, peek inside, and screw it back on. Takes all of 3 seconds.

I have to add that I love the statement on the box warning that giving drinks other than water at non-mealtimes and in bed can lead to childhood tooth decay. Go Kid Basix!

If you can't wait to get your hands on this cup, you can order one on Diapers.com for $15.99 - there are several fun colors to choose from! If it's your first order, get 20% off with discount code "MINYMOE" :)

You can check out the other Kid Basix products, including the Safe Starter (for babies - with a proper baby bottle nipple), Safe Sippy (like the Safe Sippy2 but doesn't convert), and Safe Sporter!

Disclaimer: Although I did receive this product free of charge, I was not compensated in any other way to do this product review. All thoughts and opinions are my own and completely unbiased.

Thank you to Lauren of mama{love} for this great post and review! You can check out her profile at the end of the post :) ~Heather

I had heard about diaper samplers, but never actually tried one, so I was super excited to receive a Size 3 sampler from Miny Moe in the mail this month. We have always been a Pampers family, for both my son and my daughter. Besides the occasional pee-through overnight, we had no complaints, but I was looking forward to seeing what else was out there. The Miny Moe package included 6 individually-wrapped samples of 5 different brands of diapers: Pampers, Huggies, Luvs, The Honest Company, Target "Up & Up", & Walmart "Parent's Choice" in my daughter's size: 3. A score card was also included to rate each brand's price, softness, fit/absorbency, design and eco-friendliness, which I thought made the whole process so fun.

Each day I tried a different brand on my product tester, Harper, 14 months. At the end of each day, I put our rankings on the card and in the end we actually decided to stay with our original choice, Pampers Cruisers. Across the board they were the best for us in all of the categories minus eco-friendliness and cuteness/design. I loved the look of The Honest Company diapers - cute anchors over cartoon characters are a great complement to any baby outfit, but any mom knows function wins over fashion.

Why it's a mama{love}:

1. When you're a first-time mom you usually buy the diapers other moms or experts tell you to buy. The sampler lets you decide for yourself. Every baby's needs are different based on their gender, size, activity level, etc. Why not try some on first? 

2. The Miny Moe sampler saves moms money in the long run. The largest expense beyond childcare is disposable diapering. Testing the product prior to investing in mass quantities avoids spending money on the wrong brand. You may find that the Target brand does just as good of a job as Pampers, but saves you a good amount per diaper. 

3. It's fun! Use your baby as a "product tester" and track your observations with the scorecard.

4. If you like the sampler idea, Miny Moe also offers nursing pad samplers for breastfeeding moms. Choosing the best nursing pad for you can be just as essential as choosing the best diaper for your baby.

5. The sampler is a great shower gift for expectant moms, especially the NB/Size 1 combo sampler. Moms will get enough clothes. This is a unique gift that they can really use to educate themselves.

About the guest poster:  Lauren Deneroff is the founder of mama{love}, a maternity consulting and baby planning firm in New York City. mama{love} offers services to expectant and new moms such as new parent coaching, registry guidance, nursery design and preparation, baby gear education, and organizational services.

I'm a breastfeeding mom, and have come to find myself surrounded by breastfeeding (and non-breastfeeding) moms day in and day out for the past several months They are my friends, they are my customers, they are me!! So when I heard about The Bump & Boppy's campaign, Public Display of Breastfeeding (PDB) Day on August 15, I was pretty excited. Unfortunately, I only found out about it the day before! They had events going on around the nation in select cities, where the first so many moms would win door prizes. The only one around here was on the Upper East Side, and that 1.5+ hour journey was totally not happening for us. So, I took to Facebook! With the weather set to be gorgeous, my Bay Ridge Baby Mamas group and I planned a small picnic and even alerted the press (check out our article the Home Reporter)! Miny Moe even donated some nursing pad and diaper samplers to the mamas :)

We're not lactivists, or at least we didn't see ourselves as such. We're just a group of moms who want to be able to feed our babies whenever, however, and wherever we need to without being glared at and made to feel uncomfortable.

I remember being at a family dinner in Manhattan when my little one was only 6 weeks old. I wasn't yet comfortable feeding him in public, so I nursed him in the bathroom. We were huddled in the corner for a good half hour, and missed most of the dinner. It was really sad, and at the time I thought that's what life was like as a nursing mom! Thankfully my son and I both got a LOT more comfortable with nursing and have no problem doing it anywhere these days. On a plane, in Herald Square, in the park, restaurant, bar, you name it!

If you get on Twitter and search #Breastfeeding, you'll see tons tons TONS of hate going on. Lots of "This lady is #breastfeeding her baby in the restaurant - gross!! could you NOT??". I just don't understand how people can get so heated and offended by breastfeeding. I really can't. Can you explain it to me? I know that breasts are sexualized and culture says they should be covered. But feeding your baby is natural, and necessary! It's not especially convenient to pump just so that you can give your baby a bottle while you're out of the house. Personally, I'm quite modest and always use a nursing cover. But covers are tricky. When my baby was very little, it was soooooo hard to use the cover because I couldn't see what I was doing very well and was scared I would drop him while getting everything situated. And then he would fuss and not latch on and oh my gosh - HARD!! Now that he's 8 months he's grabbing at the cover and trying to flash my ta-ta's at every moment. It's a struggle! For many moms, the cover is just not worth the hassle. With nursing tops these days, you really don't see much more than you would on any given beach or in a MTV music video. Am I right??

So to the breastfeeding haters out there, get over it. You feel awkward? Don't look! Moms should be able to feed and nourish and comfort their children however and wherever they need to, whether by breast or bottle, it shouldn't matter. You want us to go feed our babies in the bathroom so as not to offend you? You know what? You're so offended?? Whey don't YOU take YOUR meal to the bathroom, huh?? Go on then.

To all the breastfeeding moms out there, whether you feed in private, with a cover, or letting your boobs run free, #ISUPPORTYOU! To moms who formula feed, whether you had to or you chose to, #ISUPPORTYOU, too! Motherhood is hard enough without all the judgement and criticism and hate.

OK, stepping off my lactivist soap box for now...

Kenzo is 7.5 months and has 4 teeth already. Early? Perhaps. Cute? Definitely! But teeth are not as simple as they sound. With teeth come trouble...

1) Teething
For Kenzo it hasn't been so bad, thank goodness. He's never been inconsolable or needed Tylenol. He just gets has a few days and nights where he is extra needy, wakes up throughout the night in search of comfort (i.e. boobs!), and is cranky throughout the day - meaning he needs constant distraction and stimulation. If you let him ponder on what's going on in his mouth for more than a few seconds he'll start to fuss and then wail.

2) Biting
Babies get used to breastfeeding and are quite comfortable in using their mouths and tongue to get milk. But then all of a sudden there are teeth getting in the way! The bottom teeth must be scraping the underside of his tongue when feeding, and I've felt those teeth, they are like serrated knives!! And now the top teeth... there is nothing coming between those and my nipple. We had our first "CHOMP" situation today and WOWZA!! I screamed, he screamed, we all screamed for (not ice cream). He cried so hard, poor guy! He still can't produce tears, but he did manage to squeeze one out! It's not just the nipples that have to worry about being bitten though. Anything he can get his little mouth on - your shoulder, your finger, the table... I'm looking into getting a teething guard for the crib soon. Not that it was ever safe for him to gnaw on electrical cords, but now it's even more of a hazard so I can't even let him approach them.

3) Grinding
This is something I had no idea would happen. He is grinding his teeth!!! He makes a funny little Popeye face which is hilarious, sorry I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet! But the sound.... ohhhhhhhhhh the sound! Like nails on a chalk board!! On the bright side, maybe he's making those razor blade teeth a little smoother?

4) Brushing
Did you know you have to start brushing your baby's teeth? I sure didn't. Not sure when I thought that was supposed to start, maybe around 2 years old? Anyway, I'm not using a tooth brush but just a washcloth after he eats solid food. I just kinda rub it around for a few seconds on the top and bottom. He was fine with this at first but now he tries to escape my efforts. Ah, what fun.

5) Worries
Of course worries. What part of parenting comes without worries? For me, I worry about the spacing of his top teeth - aren't they like REALLY FAR APART??? Like, you could fit 2 more teeth between them!! I know baby teeth are supposed to be spread out, but come on, is this normal:

...has been e-mailed! Check your in-boxes and your junk mail boxes for a message from [email protected]!

The winner will have until 9AM EST Thursday (8/15) to reply or another winner will be selected.

Thank you to everyone who entered! Keep following my blog for great product reviews and giveaways, and of course photos and stories of my adorable lil' baby ^_^ LOL

For those not yet in the know, Miny Moe has multibrand diaper and nursing pad samplers, letting new moms (and dads) try out all the top brands in one go to find which works best for their family. In regard to diapers, each baby has a different shape and sensitivities. What works great on one baby will leak or blowout or cause diaper rash on another, so you really don't know what's going to work til you've tried it! Whats more? Perhaps you have one brand of diaper you like and have been using since birth, but are intrigued by cheaper or greener brands. Miny Moe Samplers are a great way to try out other brands before investing in the economy packs at the store or the online subscription services!

I finally got to try one on my lil' guy and who knew I could be so excited about a box of diapers? hahaha!! We tried the size 3 sampler. Here's our diapers fresh out of Miny Moe packaging (each brand's pack of 5 diapers comes individually sealed and labeled) and ready to go on the changing table! Interesting to see them all stacked up together - such varying lengths! I totally went for it, feeling them (some super soft, others very stiff), and smelling them (some wreak of chemicals, some smell yummy, and some have no smell).

As we worked our way through the sampler, which includes 5 diapers from 6 brands (Pampers Cruisers, Huggies Little Movers, Honest, Luvs, Target Up & Up, and Walmart Parent's Choice), I tried to really test out their strength and absorbancy letting diaper changes go much fewer and farther between than usual. I was pretty impressed with how much they all actually held, of course some were better than others...

As you can see the Parent's Choice diaper had a major leak on my lil' guy, but that's not to say it's a terrible diaper and wouldn't work on your baby. It was probably a mixture of not fitting my man's legs well and possibly not great absorbancy and probably he was sitting/laying at a bad angle at the time of expulsion, haha!! FYI in case you're like me and don't have a Walmart near you, they ship diapers for $0.97, so don't let that be a factor in your decision!

I kept track on the handy dandy score card, which pre-scores the diapers in the categories of eco-friendliness and price, and lets you score on the other categories of softness/irritation, fit/absorbancy, and cuteness/design. I personally felt price was the #1 consideration, so I doubled those points before tallying up my scores. You can see Pampers, Luvs, and Target all scored equally high for us, so then I went back and compared how they rated in each category. Softness didn't really matter to me, so I went with Target as the winner based on their bargain pricing. Just for fun I went ahead and ranked them: #1 Target, #2 Luvs, #3 Pampers, #4 Huggies, #5 Honest, #6 Walmart. I was really surprised that Huggies did as well as they did. They were horrendous on my little guy as a newborn - seriously there was poo EVERYWHERE we laid him down! They just didn't seal around his skinny little legs! But now the size 3  did great. Just goes to show you, as your baby grows and changes, his best diaper brand might also change! They're always keeping us on our toes...

Keep in mind this is just how they worked on MY baby and with my own personal preferences in mind! Your baby might be longer and leaner, or shorter and chubbier, so diapers will fit him or her differently. Also, you might think some categories are more important than others. For example, if you feel eco-friendliness is more important and you would double or triple that score, whereas for me it was all about a diaper that is cheap and doesn't leak. Period. Softness and cuteness is just a bonus.

And finally, here's my lil' guy modeling all of the brands, how cute is he?! haha I'm a bit biased...

Go ahead, you know you want to give Miny Moe Diaper Samplers a go!! They have size Newborn, Size 1, and Size 3 available in packs of 5 of each brand (30ct), 1 of each brand (6ct), a NB/Size 1 combo sampler (36ct), and also you can make your own custom pack!! 10 diapers in any combo of brands! Don't forget, they also have nursing pad samplers (7 brands, 4 washable and 3 disposable)!

Miny Moe Diaper & Nursing Pad Samplers make great baby shower gifts - totally unique and super helpful for new moms and dads!!

Tried the sampler before? How'd it go?? Do you have a favorite brand? A least favorite and a hilarious tale of diaper blowouts to share?? Please comment below!

You can buy a Miny Moe Sampler here today, or you can enter to win one in my $1500 value Mother Of All Giveaways ending May 26, 2014!! Enter here!!