By way of a link featured in Deb Shinder’s WXPNews, here’s an amazing video of bottlenose dolphins at Sea World Orlando creating & skillfully manipulating delicate vortexes of air (a.k.a. "bubble rings") underwater:


Be sure to read Mystery of the Silver Rings by Don White, creator of Earthtrust’s Project Delphis, to learn much more about these incredible bubble rings.
 

Labels: dolphins

Blogtipping is a chance to give a nod to some noteworthy fellow bloggers — after all, everyone likes a little pat on the back, right?   And you never know, this could be the tipping point for some lesser-known gem of a website to become an overnight sensation.   May’s installation is a grab-bag of assorted blogs that don’t have anything else in common other than, well, we think they’re worth checking out:

Blue Skunk Blog is a recent discovery but I’ve been enjoying keeping up with Doug, both on the blog & via email.   Doug Johnson, who is the Director of Media & Technology for the Mankato (MN) public school system, uses this as a sounding board for education- and technology-related topics among other things.   What’s not to like:

1. Some great reading material about kids & technology.
2. Be sure to check out Doug’s free e-book.
3. Nice, clean site layout makes everything easy to find!

• Tip: I’d like to see a page aggregating some of the reference material links that’re peppered throughout some of your posts — like the Alliance for Childhood’s Tech Tonic.

Simple Green World by Jeneflower is a brand new blog that Jen has spun off from her Three Sons and a Princess adoption blog.   Dede & I like this one because:

1. Practical eco-friendly tips drawn from personal experiences.
2. Jen’s "Living Mindfully" attitude is inspiring & infectious!
3. Posts target the bigger picture — not just being greener, but also increasing the health of your family, decreasing expenses, reducing waste, & just being a better overall person.

• Tip: I’d like to see a few more images & photos!

4 Reasons Why from brothers Mark & Sean Evans is a fun blog that I recently added to my Google Reader subscription list because:

1. Each post features a short list of 4 (sometimes 5) items to support an idea or argument.
2. I like the controversial angle that these guys take on topics.
3. Very clean site design makes it easy to navigate & discover lots of interesting stuff.

• Tip: Guys, your "About Us" page could use just a little more info and maybe include a photo so we know what you look like?

Now it’s your turn!   Post a comment to share one of your favorite blogs!
 

Labels: Blogtipping

Shut down, switch off, unplug, disconnect, go offline, go analog, jack out — No matter how you say it, sometimes it’s really a good thing to get away from technology for awhile.

Shutdown Day is a non-profit Canadian organization founded by Dennis Bystrov & Ashutosh Rajekar to help raise awareness of the increasingly excessive use of digital media (TV, computers, game consoles, cell phones, MP3 players, etc.) and how technology can interfere with real world social interaction.

The idea of this global experiment is simple — just turn off your PC on Saturday, May 3rd, for the entire day and involve yourself in some other activity:   go outdoors, play sports, get together with friends & family — whatever, the point isn’t to reject our wired culture, but just to take a brief technology vacation and re-engage with the real world.

Maybe this also serves as a good opportunity to reflect & consider:   Are we too wired?   What do you think — can you survive for 24 hours without computers, email, & Internet?   Are you willing to take a technology vacation for just one day?   Do you think there’d be any benefit to doing so?

Note:   (I first mentioned Int’l Shutdown Day quite a bit earlier last year.   Dennis & Ashutosh explained that the annual event was shifted from its original March 24th date to May 3rd for the sake of warmer weather and a tree-planting event that’s to be held in Quebec.)
 

Labels: technology

Baking For the Birthday Boy

Liam is turning the big "2" tomorrow so in preparation for the occasion, Dede got all domesticated today and baked not only a coupla dozen cupcakes for his daycare class, but also a big cake, complete with artful writing & sprinkles, for a little family gathering that we had today.

Yes, that’s right Brad D. & Glenda, we’re not total sticks in the mud — we do let Liam have sweets from time to time.   And even though he’ll be turning 2 years old tomorrow, this’ll be the first time he’s ever had a birthday party, so this certainly qualifies as a sweets-worthy occasion!

Watch our Russian Adoption Journal blog for highlights & photos of the big event!

Have Birthdays Jumped the Shark?

And on the topic of birthdays, Dede & I have been noticing that there’s a definite trend towards increasingly extravagant children’s birthday parties.   Renting a traveling petting zoo, reserving private time at a water park, a block party complete with a DJ spinning kids’ music...   These soirees costing hundreds of dollars or more are arranged by ordinary, otherwise well-meaning, mere mortals like us or you — not whackadoo celebrities in LA-LA-Land for whom money is no object.

University of Minnesota social science professor William Doherty has founded an online campaign called Birthdays Without Pressure to shed a little light on the excesses that seem to have overtaken today’s birthday parties & offer resources to help combat the intense pressure that some parents say they’re under to ramp up for these behemoth birthday bashes for their kids.   The website offers some great ideas for low-key, low-cost, low-stress birthdays that’re still fun for all involved.

Do you think childrens’ birthday parties are beginning to become excessive?   Have you encountered a birthday bash that seemed over-the-top?
 

Labels: opinion, parenting

You’ve no doubt seen the acronym "RSS" or the now-familiar little orange icon on some of your favorite websites, but do you know what it is?   Do you know what RSS feeds can do for you?

As I mentioned in my Lose Weight With RSS article a few months ago, an RSS feed reader allows you subscribe to, organize, & easily keep up with websites that feature regularly-updated content.   And you don’t have to remember all of those individual web address URLs.

Daniel Scocco over at DailyBlogTips has declared May 1st to be RSS Awareness Day in an attempt to help more people become familiar with RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed reading & its benefits.   Head over to RSSDay.org to learn more!

By the way, Google Reader is still my reader of choice and one of the features that I really like about it is the ability to share favorite blog posts with others.
 

Labels: blogs, software

Liam got in on the Earth Day action in his spiffy new "Save My Planet" t-shirt.



By the way, can you guess what film & TV actor Eddie Albert has to do with Earth Day?   Ben over at Environmental Graffiti notes that, due to the actor’s extraordinary work with environmental causes & groups, when International Earth Day was being organized in the early 70s, it was decided that the holiday must be held on April 22nd — Eddie Albert’s birthday.   Puts a whole new spin on Green Acres, doesn’t it?
 

Labels: environment, holiday

In honor of Earth Day, here’s a great commercial from the Discovery Channel.   As if you didn’t already have enough reasons to love this network — what with great shows like Mythbusters, Cash Cab, Dirty Jobs, & Survivorman, just to name a few — this inspiring ad titled "The World Is Just Awesome" will even give manly men a few warm fuzzies.   Boom de yada!

Labels: environment, tv

To encourage more people to switch to reusable products & recycle more, H-E-B Grocery stores in Texas are celebrating Earth Day (Tuesday, April 22nd) by giving out coupons for a free reusable shopping bag when you drop at least 5 plastic shopping bags into the recycling bins located at the front of their stores.

While I’m not 100% sure, these look to be H-E-B-branded versions of the 1 Bag at a Time reusable bags that Dede wrote about last year.   They’re made of non-woven polypropylene from yogurt cups, syrup bottles, straws, medicine bottles, etc. — typically one of the least recyclable plastics.   These shopping bags are sturdy, water resistant, allergy-free, & shaped like the paper sacks that used to be popular at grocery stores so they have a flat bottom to make ’em easy to fill & unload.

By the way, have you ever wondered about those little numbers with the arrows around them on the bottom of plastic containers?   They’re called Plastic Packaging Resin Codes and they indicate the type of plastic that an item is made from.   These codes are designed to help consumers know how to recycle various plastic products & packages.

So, mark your calendar to remember to drop by for a free bag next Tuesday, April 22nd so you can do your part to help H-E-B save the world!
 

Labels: environment, shopping

Hot on the heels of my first venture as a guest blogger over at NeonScent — well, hey, it only took 8 months — I’ve had another guest blog article published!   This time, I’m deeply honored that highly-esteemed professional blogger & author Darren Rowse chose to post an article of mine on his renowned ProBlogger, one of the foremost sites for blogging techniques, advice, & skill-building.

So, pop over to ProBlogger to check out Geoblogging - How to Geotag Your Blog for a look at a relatively new way to place your blog or website on the map — literally!

Now that I’ve had another tiny taste of fame, it makes me wonder what’s next... maybe the cover of the Rolling Stone?
 

Labels: blogs

I read a post on Melissa’s Sarcomical blog about an article by Neil Kramer who decided to seek immortality by coining his own deli specialty, a.k.a. "The Neilochka."   I wondered, could it be that designing a signature sandwich really is the recipe for fame & fortune?   Well heck, I can do that!

Anyone who’s tried ’em can attest that our Tuna Wraps are awesome — although I was a bit off the mark when I made this for Karen P. last month.   (I was experimenting with chipotle mayo and got a little carried away!)   So here’s the high protein, high fiber, kick-butt wrap that laughs heartily at other, lesser excuses for sammiches:

  2Dolphins Tuna Wrap

   1 pkg Albacore tuna (in the pouch, not canned!)
   2-3 dollops of real mayo
   2 spoonfuls of dill relish
   1 finely chopped celery stick
   Several liberal pinches of finely chopped
       parsley and/or chives (green onion)
   Coupla sprinkles of red pepper flakes
   Splash (or two) of Tabasco sauce

Serve with shredded sharp Cheddar cheese and
shredded Romaine or Green Leaf lettuce on a 10"
Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortilla.

So, what would be the ingredients of your signature sandwich and what would you call it?
 

Labels: food

What with April bringing a close to tax season and lots of people getting those handy rebate checks in, "personal finances" seemed like a really suitable topic for this month’s Blogtipping post.   The Internet is peppered with all kinds of great sites with terrific information about personal finances — far more than I could mention here — but here are 3 blogs I frequent that really have something special to offer:

Generation X Finance by Jeremy Vohwinkle has articles that’re geared towards "Generation X" but I keep coming back because:

1. While the topics may be geared towards those in their late 20s - 30s, the great info here is applicable to anyone.
2. Very practical packing tips!
3. Clean site design!

• Tip: Hey Jeremy, maybe you need a snazzy logo for your site?

Dumb Little Man from Jay White isn’t strictly a blog about money matters but it’s definitely worth a look because:

1. Tons of useful articles on healthy living, personal development, organization, & finances.
2. Easy-to-navigate site design!
3. DLM Blender scoops up great posts from around the Web.

• Tip: I’d like to see just a few more images in the posts.

Wise Bread is a fantastic group blog for personal finance & frugal living tips.   There’s lots to like about this community-driven site:

1. Tons of practical & applicable tips for living large on a small budget.
2. You'll definitely want to subscribe via email or RSS feed to keep up with the very frequent updates.
3. Very active forum provides a place to interact with others amd get even more info on making every penny count.

• Tip: This is one of my never-miss mainstay blogs — I can’t think of anything that’s missing.

As a bonus, SNL offers a revolutionary debt & money-management program.   Chris Parnell teaches Steve Martin & Amy Poehler the secret to financial success.   Stop whatever you’re doing right now and go watch this hilarious video at Consumerist.com:

      Don’t Buy Stuff You Can’t Afford

Now it’s your turn!   What are some of the personal finance blogs or sites that you frequent?   Post a comment and share the wealth!
 

Labels: Blogtipping

Longtime readers may recall my older article Speed Is Skin Deep, Too in which I mentioned "Gray’s Paradox," a theory published in 1936 that contended that dolphins were physiologically incapable of producing sufficient power to achieve the speeds mariners had observed.   Researchers have long since disproved this, discovering key flaws in Gray’s calculations.   Then a couple of years ago, Japanese scientists discovered that the way in which water flows over the dolphin’s rubbery & continually shedding skin significantly reduces the vortices that would otherwise create too strong a drag on the tail.

But now, as reported in the March 2008 New Scientist article "Dolphins swim so fast it hurts," findings from a pair of researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have discovered that the main limiting factor of a dolphin’s maximum speed is neither physical ability nor friction-causing turbulence.   What’s holding dolphins back from even more impressive speeds?

Pain.

As dolphins propel themselves through the water, there’s a continual formation of microscopic bubbles around the tail, a phenomenon known as "cavitation."   These bubbles form as a result of the pressure difference created by the movement of the tail fins or flukes.   As the bubbles collapse, they produce a shockwave.   This same condition produces the foamy wash that streams behind boats & ships and is known to deteriorate the metal on propellers.

The Israeli scientists revealed that, to dolphins and other fast-moving aquatic mammals, cavitation is painful since they have nerve endings in their flukes.   According to their calculations, this begins to happen when dolphins swim at speeds greater than 22 miles per hour.   So shorter bursts are tolerable, but to sustain that speed becomes too painful for the animal to endure.

Dolphins can cheat around this problem by swimming deeper in the water rather than at the surface because cavitation decreases as pressure increases.   With measurements being so much more difficult in deeper waters, the theoretical top speed of dolphins is once again anybody’s guess.
 

Labels: dolphins

Capping off the coverage of March as National Peanut Month, it seemed only fitting to mention Project Peanut Butter, a non-profit organization created by Dr. Mark Manary which has done extensive field trials in Malawi from 2001-2007 on fighting severe malnutrition using Plumpy’nut.

Plumpy’nut, Nutriset’s amazing Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF) product, is based on a fortified peanut paste and offers an incredible 95% recovery rate for severely malnourished children.   Project Peanut Butter operates the first local Plumpy’nut production facility in Africa and distributes this therapeutic food to malnourished Malawian children in more than 20 nutritional rehabilitation centers.   Last year, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition, the World Health Organization, & UNICEF issued a joint statement that recognized Project Peanut Butter’s treatment protocols, in conjunction with Plumpy’nut, as the most effective method by which to treat severely malnourished children globally.

It’s estimated that half of all child deaths worldwide are caused by malnutrition.   In fact, Joe Stirt’s recent Memo to Nick Negroponte notes that only 3% of the world’s 20 million malnourished children have access to ready-to-use food.   While Joe’s post unintentionally connects with one of my main concerns about MIT’s zealous One Laptop Per Child project (that being, do starving children really need a $100 laptop?), I believe his main point is that the cost of providing critically-needed nourishment for 3rd world children is practically trivial.

Yup, just $15 (a tax-deductable donation) allows Project Peanut Butter to offer a Plumpy’nut-based 4-week nutritional recovery protocol to bring a critically-malnourished child back from the brink.

$15 worth of peanut paste to save a child’s life?   Peanut power, indeed!
 

Labels: food

I just realized that no coverage of National Peanut Month could be anywhere near complete without mentioning Peanut Butter Jelly Time.

It’s beyond me how dancing fruit became synonymous with the Buckwheat Boyz’s crazy song about PB&J, but once you’ve seen this silly little video, you’re gonna have that lodged in your brain permanently!

Check out the Peanut Butter Jelly Time video!
 

Labels: food, humor

Keeping the ball rolling on my coverage of National Peanut Month, I thought it might be fun to toss out a few unexpected or downright wacky uses for peanut butter that I’ve come across recently.

If you thought slathering an apple wedge or celery stick with peanut butter for an afternoon snack was living on the edge, well, just hold on for some really far-out ideas:

• Let a tablespoon of peanut butter slowly dissolve in your mouth to cure hiccups!


• Having trouble getting your pet to take some medication?   Most cats & dogs love the taste of peanut butter, so hide the pill in peanut butter and you should have no trouble getting them to swallow it!


• Remove stubborn wax stains on your car’s rubber or non-painted plastic surfaces by applying a little creamy peanut butter to the stain with a soft toothbrush.   Peanut butter’s oils dissolve the wax and it’s just sticky & abrasive enough to lift the stain.


• Likewise, gently rub peanut butter in a circular motion on road tar or tree sap that’s gotten on your car then wash with sudsy water to rinse off any residue.


• Create a cheap & simple outdoor bird feeder by spreading peanut butter into the nooks & crannies of a pine cone, then coating with birdseed.


• To get chewing gum out of hair, clothing, or carpet, scrape up what you can, rub with an ice cube to stiffen, then rub a small glob of creamy peanut butter into the gum and wipe up the whole mess with a clean cloth.


• Make Chocolate & Peanut Butter Playdough for your kids to play with!


• You can even shave with creamy peanut butter!   Reportedly, former senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona once did this while on a camping trip.

Labels: food

Early last year, I had been nosing around the virtual neighborhood and was pleasantly surprised to find that there were quite a few more Permian Basin area bloggers than I had imagined.   Well, recently I’ve been noticing once again that the ranks of Midland-Odessa area bloggers has continued to grow.   Several of the newer area weblogs have quickly made their way into my Google Reader subscription list and I keep up with them regularly.   Here are just a few:

  Ricë Freeman-Zachery’s "Notes From the Voodoo Cafe"

  Snooty Primadona’s Rants, Raves, & Ramblings

  Bob Westbrook’s "Ran with the Devil, Walked with Angels"

  Blonde Mafia

Of course, that’s just a small sampling.   You can select the "Favorite Sites" tab above to check out the ever-growing list of Permian Basin blog sites.
 

Rob’s sister was in town for a couple of weeks following their Mom’s funeral and it gave Liam a chance to get to know his Aunt Ruby.   She showered Liam with kisses & gifts and they enjoyed several mealtimes together.   Ruby agreed that it’s probably no coincidence that Liam Matthew’s initials could just as easily stand for "Ladies Man," because he’s quite good at working the ladies.

Here’s a family photo taken the night before she headed back home to Oregon:


 

Continuing with the celebration of Nat’l Peanut Month, I thought I’d offer up some interesting peanut info.   If any of this helps settle a bar bet, well, ya owe me a brew...

Historically Nuts

The peanut is a South American legume with an ancient history.   Peanut shells have been found in archaeological digs that date back to 2500 BC but it’s likely that they were being consumed even before then.   Interestingly, none of the 4 main varieties of peanut (Peruvian, Spanish, Valencia, & Virginia) prevalent in the U.S. came here directly.   Instead, the peanut took the slow boat, migrating either through Africa or the Orient to North America as a result of Spanish and/or Portuguese traders.

Historically, the largest grower of peanuts in the world had been India, but China began dominating production in the 1990s.   By 2000, China was yielding almost 40% of the world crop, and India almost 25%, with the U.S. in 3rd place with only 6% of worldwide peanut production.

Peanut Trivia

• About 2/3rds of the worldwide peanut crop is processed for oil and peanut oil accounts for 8% of the worlds edible oil production.


• There are about 1,218 peanuts in a 28-ounce jar of peanut butter.


• An average of 2,860 pounds of peanuts are harvested from each acre of peanut plants and an acre of peanuts will make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.


• Roasted peanuts were first sold at a P.T. Barnum circus in the late-1800s.


• The term "peanut gallery" was popularized in the late 19th century because those in the cheapest, uppermost seats in a theater could throw peanuts at people in the more expensive seats below.


• Alabama, Florida, New Mexico, & South Carolina all contribute, but the predominant peanut-growers in the U.S. are Georgia & Texas.


• The official state crop of Georgia is the peanut and that state produces almost ½ of the total U.S. peanut crop.


• About ½ of all of the peanuts grown in the U.S. for food use ends up in a jar of peanut butter.


• On average, Americans each eat 3 lbs of peanut butter per year.   That’s about 700 million pounds, or enough to coat the floor of the Grand Canyon!


• Peanut butter’s high protein content draws moisture from your mouth.   That’s why it sticks to the roof of your mouth.


• On May 15, 1963, U.S. astronaut Gordon "Gordo" Cooper ate bite-sized peanut butter sandwiches during the last Mercury space flight mission.

 

Labels: food

National Peanut Month is upon us!   What began as National Peanut Week in 1941, expanded to a month-long celebration in 1974.   And it’s probably no coincidence that March is also National Nutrition Month because the lowly peanut is quite the nutritional powerhouse!

While peanuts aren’t actually nuts — they’re legumes, related to peas, lentils, chickpeas & other beans — they’re loaded with healthful goodness, with almost 8 grams of protein per serving and feature lots of dietary fiber, vitamin E, niacin, folate, & manganese.   They’re also a good source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats and two high-powered antioxidants: p-Coumaric acid & resveratrol, the highly-touted component found in red grapes & wine.   In fact, peanuts pack in more antioxidants than either apples or carrots!

And you can easily get your fill of those healthful morsels by indulging often in what Lindsey Knerl calls The Poor Man’s Protein or what chef & writer Florence Fabricant refers to as "The pâté of childhood."
Yup, good ol’ peanut butter!

So, grab up a PBJ and lift a cheer for National Peanut Month!
 

Labels: food, health

March marks the 1st anniversary of Blogtipping here on 2Dolphins.   I’ve enjoyed being able to offer a little tip o’ the hat each month to a few fellow bloggers.   If you know of a blogger who deserves a little extra attention, be sure to post a comment!

Still cruising along on the parental theme, this month’s Blogtipping highlights 3 blogs I’ve discovered recently that’re for dads.   Many of us dads don’t have the advantage of the instinctive parenting know-how that most of our wives seem to have, so we can use all the help we can get!

Dad Balance Digest by Derek Semmler is a resource for , & discussions for Dads who’re struggling to find a healthy balance between career & family.   Derek offers:

1. Practical tips & advice for making the most of your "family time."
2. Relatable & funny stories to help drive home key points or ideas.
3. Easy to navigate site & RSS feed makes it easy to keep up with the latest posts.

• Tip: I enjoyed the interviews with well-known bloggers like Darren Rowse & Leo Babauta.   I’d like to see more of these!

MetroDad is less about offering advise or pointers but more about sharing stories from the battlefield that is fatherhood:

1. MD seems to be from that cusp between the "Baby Boomers" and "Generation X," so his stories are very relatable.
2. MD’s anecdotes are hilarious!
3. Add the blog’s feed to your RSS reader and you can stay up-to-date easily.

• Tip: I believe MD is working on some design changes that’ll bring a fresh look to the site.

noodad from Gregory Ng & Mike Schneider is a blog for new dads who’re looking for a little guidance — or just other dads to sympathize with.   With a site logo that’s a baby bottle morphing into a beer bottle, what more do ya need?   It’s worth a look because:

1. Practical advice & tips for us newbie dads.
2. Great product reviews!
3. Hot celebrity mom polls!

• Tip: Hey guys, please add a category on your sidebar for product reviews to make ’em a bit easier to find those articles!

As a bonus, I’ve just got to mention DadLabs again.   The videoblogs that these crazy dads from Austin crank out are not just insightful & informative, but they’re also freakin’ hilarious!
 

Labels: Blogtipping, parenting

Trey sent us a photo this week of his son Zach that just begged to be blogged.   You may recall that Zach was quite expressive even before he was born.   Well, now he’s using his outspoken attitude & incredible sense of style to help promote our 2Dolphins website.



After this, I’m sure you’ll all be craving our cool swag, so be sure to cruise on over to the 2Dolphins Marketplace to get your very own, limited-edition, high-quality gear featuring our custom site logo and/or graphics!

Silly Legal Disclaimer:
We reserve the right to only sell our awesome products to those interested in purchasing the stuff.   The content on the CafePress 2Dolphins Marketplace, including our snappy captions & clever product descriptions, is provided on an "as is" basis without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to the stuff actually looking cool, having limited availability, or being constructed of high-quality materials.   The purchaser fully assumes the risk of appearing uncool while wearing our stuff — although we think you’ll be totally stylin’.
 

Labels: humor

I’ve read that seldom does happiness come so pure as to not be also tempered by a measure of sorrow.

And so it was last month, that Dede & I finally completed our adoption of our son Liam from Russia only then to lose my mother to a sudden illness barely 2 weeks later.   The sadness of our loss has certainly felt much sharper than the joy of becoming parents, but Liam has been an anchor for me during this bleak time.   Naturally, he’s too young to have any concept of what has occurred, but somehow just having him to hold onto has made Mom’s slipping away a bit more bearable.



By the way, the outpouring of support from all of you has been incredible.   We’re truly grateful for all of the food, cards, plants & flowers, comforting thoughts, and prayers that have been showered upon us.

Although it was surely for the worst of all reasons, I did appreciate the opportunity to visit with family who I hadn’t seen in quite some time.   Having Uncle Truitte, Aunt Carlene, Aunt Gladys, & my cousin Kathy here gave Rich, Ruby, & me a chance to go through stacks & stacks of old photos to identify people we could never have guessed otherwise.   And we relived some great old memories and shared lots of wonderful old stories about Mom & the whole Tolbert clan.

Among some of the other forgotten nuggets we found was this old photo of us O’Daniel boys:


 

I discovered Erika Jurney’s Momsational earlier this week and just had to share this.   The site features contests, coupons, & other free stuff for Moms.   Typically, all you have to do to enter the giveaways is simply leave a comment on the contest post.   And you can subscribe via RSS feed or have the frequent updates delivered right to your email inbox!
 

Labels: parenting

As prospective new parents, Dede & I tried to do whatever we could to prepare for this new role.   We took classes, read books, subscribed to magazines, and along the way, we also discovered a number of great blogs & web sites that offer loads of parenting innovations, insights, & inspiration.   Since February 1st was our official Gotcha Day, it seemed only appropriate to use this month’s Blogtipping post to showcase parenting blogs...

(Giving credit where it’s rightfully due, "Blogtipping" was coined by Easton Ellsworth over at Business BlogWire as an opportunity to say three nice things — and offer one suggestion for improvement — to three well-deserving fellow bloggers.)

ParentHacks from Asha Dornfest is one of Dede’s favorite blogs that offers, in their own words, "parenting tips from the real experts: actual parents."   I love the fun Swiss Army knife-inspired logo, but what really keeps us coming back is:

1. The wealth of tips, tricks, & techniques that every parent — seasoned pros & newbies, alike — can use.
2. Frequent updates means there’s always something fresh & new to discover!
3. RSS subscription option makes keeping up-to-date with the site a breeze!

• Tip: I can’t think of a single suggestions for improving this blog, so just get over there & check it out!

FamilyHack from Michael Davis & (naturally) his family features some great parenting tips.   I’ve refered to Michael’s blog before, but it’s worth mentioning again because of:

1. Great articles with very practical & applicable pointers.
2. Great travel tips from someone who’s obviously been there & back!
3. Great videos with parenting tips & tricks.

• Tip: What’s not to like?   I’m hoping that the Davis family has even more opportunities to add great content in ’08.

Healthy Children by Dr. Steven Parker on the WebMD site is a recent discovery but I’m finding that I really like his take on pediatric health issues & child-raising topics because:

1. He doesn’t just go along with established notions without first doing some in-depth review.
2. His posts cover a broad range, so there’s a wealth of info in the archives.
3. You can subscribbe to the weekly articles via RSS feed.

• Tip: The search feature on Dr. Parker’s blog is a little clunky and sometimes doesn’s seem very effective.

Now it’s your turn! &nbps; Is there a parenting or family-related blog site that you love?   Post a comment and share it with us!
 

Labels: Blogtipping, parenting

Sensing that we’ll need all the help we can get as first-time parents, Candy K. thoughtfully sent us a link that outlines some key safe baby handling tips.

Warning:   The illustrations on this linked page are milk-snorting-thru-your-nose hilarious so click with caution!

          Dos and Don’ts With Babies
 

Labels: humor, parenting