My sister-in-law Jenny (not the Jenny injured by fireworks) is expecting her first baby and asked a question in the comments of this post: A Great New Site: Newbaby.com and I thought I’d turn it into its own post so that all the other great moms out there can help her out.

Here is her question:

I have a question for all the experienced mommies out there. I was talking to Kim yesterday and told her that I was in a little funk because Carlos and I registered for some baby things and I didn’t get my first choice bedding because it didn’t have a mobile that matched. I thought that a mobile just sort of went with every baby nursery and that it needed one. However, Jake never slept in his crib and Abby liked her mobile for about 2 weeks and now she likes the things that hang on the inside of the crib that she can press buttons and lights up n stuff. So my question to other moms..is a mobile really necessary?

So what do you think? Is a mobile really necessary? Please vote and explain your answer in a comment if you can!

 Loading ...

Have you ever had a question about something regarding your new baby and wished someone could show you how to do whatever it is you need help with?

Are you a first time expectant mom with about a billion questions?

Are you a mom of an infant, toddler or preschooler looking for parenting resources and information?

Do you like to interact with other moms?

Do you like the word FREE?

Newbaby.com does and is all that and much more.
Continue Reading……

Our family is expecting 2 new additions, 1 this coming fall and 1 this coming winter. We don’t have a huge family, even when combining my family and my in-laws. In fact, our 2 kids, and my 12 year old nephew have been the only kids. I’m sure they liked the attention lavished on them from all the adults, but I can’t wait for the Christmas gatherings in years to come!

Anyhow, with the 2 new impending arrivals, and our decision that 2 kids is enough for us, especially at the elderly age of 35, I’m very excited to meet these 2 new people. Aside from wondering if they are having a boy or a girl (or both…each…hehe….) I am intrigued by what they might name them. I think especially because we have decided not to have any more, so I will not get any further opportunities to brand a child with a name that will possibly shape their entire future.

Baby Zone, who have a COOL new website design, has a tool for baby names and I was checking out the names for baby boys the other day. Jacob was still #1 for last year in the top 100 baby names. Abigail was #8 for last year so we’ve managed to give both our children names that 16 other kids in their class will have. It’s better than naming them after a shoe or a fruit though….(although I personally think the name Apple is really cute).

So, I’m curious, where do your kids names rank, if at all, in the top 100 baby names?

Mom marketing is quickly becoming one of the most popular types of product marketing around. I am pretty sure we have blogging to thank for the vast numbers of companies that are targeting moms in their advertising. This is partly because moms, as always, have generally influenced purchasing decisions for their whole family, but also in major part to the “word of mouth” created by bloggers reviewing products.

You don’t have to be a blogger, however, to benefit from this. Not only are free paid survey companies (see our how-to series to learn how to participate: Free Paid Survey guide) offering more and higher paying surveys to moms, mom bloggers the web over are holding giveaways that are often as easy to enter as leaving a comment on a post.

If you are mom, don’t miss out on these opportunities to get paid for your valuable opinion or to just win free stuff by being in the right place at the right time. Not only do we all love free stuff, most of us are being hit hard by rising prices on gas and groceries. Every little bit helps!

I recently logged into a Mystery Shopping website that I am a member of, and discovered new resource for Mystery Shopping called JobSlinger. JobSlinger appears to be a mystery shopping jobs board that lists jobs not just from a single Mystery Shopping companies, but from multiple companies, giving you a one stop shop for all your mystery shopping. Registration is free, but before you register you can type in your zip code to see all the available jobs in your area.

If you do not know what mystery shopping is, in brief, it is an opportunity to essentially work from your home or your neighborhood reporting specific information on local businesses who sign up for the service. It often involves a purchase that you will either return or be reimbursed for and you also get a flat fee on top of it. I would bet you could average making at least $10/hr doing this for a couple hours a week even after you factor in gas.

From the site:

JobSlinger is for mystery shoppers, merchandisers, demonstrators and auditors!

---

Your FREE JobSlinger membership gives you access to more than any other jobsite on the web, including:

• Valid job listings from hundreds of the best companies via our partners: SASSIE, Volition, MSPA and DemoZilla. Thousands of new jobs posted every day!!!
• Current listings — as soon as it’s posted, you get to see it!
• All the listings on the site for all members!
• Membership is free — and it will always stay free!

Based upon my research and experience, SASSIE and Volition are 2 of the major Mystery Shopping Companies, and I imagine the others listed are up there as well.

What do you think, are you going to sign up? Have you ever done Mystery Shopping? Do you recommend it as a good work at home opportunity?

Infantreflux.org

This seems to be a good resource and community for parents of infants with reflux.