We are in the middle of the spring thaw, and snow, and thaw again. Then soon we’ll have spring rain, and storms, and all of that weather means one thing that toddlers love. Puddles.

I’m encouraging my daycare baby, who is a wobbly try away from her first steps, to get walking so she can splash in puddles. My toddler loves the rain, and he loves his rainboots, and he loves that he can put on his own rain boots (rainboot shopping tip – get the ones with the little handles on the sides for ease of toddler use) and he loves, loves, loves splashing in puddles.

Another puddle tip. On puddle outings, bring a spare pair of pants, and a spare pair of socks. Despite the rainboots, any enthusiastic toddler can splash enough water to get inside the boots.

And enthusiastic toddlers in a slippy puddle are at risk of falling over… so the spare pants are likely to come in handy.

Muddy puddles add another dimension of toddler joy to puddles. Once my son walked into a muddle puddle and squelched and splashed about happily. Then his boots got stuck, and he pulled his feet out walked out without them, squish squish squish. He thought it was hilarious. And since we weren’t on the way to anywhere that we needed to be presentable, so did I.

Splashing in puddles with your kids is fun, it’s great to be outside after the winter. I love that kids love puddles. Puddles are free. Puddles are one of the ultimate simple pleasures.

My poor son is so sick.  He’s got a double ear infection, a sinus infection, an eye infection, and his asthma is acting up.  Today, I spent some time waiting at the doctor’s office and then waiting at the pharmacy for his prescriptions.  Usually, I drop them off and leave.  I was glad I stayed today.

The technician told me that the medicine the doctor ordered for my son was pretty bad tasting.  My son doesn’t like to take medicine to begin with, so I was anticipating a bunch of difficulty actually getting his medication into his system.

Then, she mentioned to me that for the month of February, Walgreen’s will flavor your child’s medication for free.  Usually, flavoring costs $2.99 extra per prescription.  There are many flavors to choose from including bubble gum, watermelon, grape and cherry.  Incredibly, they actually have a chart which recommends flavors for different kinds of medicine!

One of my son’s prescriptions was for Augmentin.  According to the technician, grape, bubble gum and cherry flavorings would work very well.  I chose cherry for my son.

Incredibly, it worked.  He is actually taking his medication with a minimal amount of fuss!  I admit, I’d always wondered if flavoring medication was worth the extra $2.99.  If you have a child like my son, it might be worth your while to spend the extra money.  At any rate, you might consider trying the flavoring option this month while it is free.

Have you ever tried the flavoring option?  Do you think it’s a waste of money or a great idea?

Get crafty with these free printable iron-ons for your baby! Choose from two different iron-ons, “Breastfed and Lovin It” or “I’m the Cutest Baby at Babies Online” in sizes that work for babies of all ages. You’ll find printable PDF files for both designs and easy to follow instructions, all free!

Be a Babies Online star!

Send us a photo of your baby wearing your creation and we’ll consider featuring you in our gallery!

We even have a way for our not-so-crafty friends to share in the fun. Check out our Baby Gear Store for pre-made t-shirts, totebags, and more!

You’ll find this freebie and over 100 more on our Free Stuff for Parents page.

Enjoy!

Shannon @Babiesonline

During the winter months, it seems that children pick up more viruses and other “bugs”.  My children tend to get ill quite frequently at this time of year.  Mostly, they get viruses which eventually pass.  At times, they’ve gotten ear and throat infections, or developed bronchitis.

While I’m glad that we have health insurance at this time, I know that many people don’t have that luxury.  I know other people who have insurance, but have large co-pays or deductibles to meet before insurance reimburses their expenses.   This can really take a huge chunk out of your budget.

I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Wegman’s is filling antibiotic prescriptions during the months of January, February and March for FREE! All you need to do is present the prescription from your child’s doctor and your shopper’s card at the pharmacy.

Sometimes children do get sick, despite our best efforts to prevent an illness.  Sometimes, they have an infection which requires them to take anti-biotic.  If your child gets sick and is prescribed an anti-biotic for the illness, you may want to consider filling the prescription at Wegman’s.

My brother is moving across the country and decided not to move anything he couldn’t fit into his pick-up truck. He just gave away most of the things he isn’t taking—a big screen TV, a couch, a bed, a stereo receiver, etc. I was a little surprised at his decision, but after chatting for a while I discovered that he belongs to a group called Freecycle, dedicated to the starvation of landfills.

This coincides with an article I read last month in Sunset magazine about a group of friends that decided not to buy anything new for a year except food and healthcare items. It seems like I’ve been bombarded with this message lately, and maybe I need to soothe my conscience.

Whether or not you have enough money to buy everything you want, there is a growing number of people who don’t want to buy everything they want. In a strange way, this makes sense.

I hate throwing stuff away when it’s useful. But I am not a packrat. I’m not going to keep it around just in case I want it next year, nor am I the type to keep it around till next summer’s garage sale. So it goes into the trash most of the time. Sometimes with things like baby clothes I can give them away (but my only friend with a girl right now lives across the country). And sometimes I donate stuff if it’s too good to trash. I’ve tried selling a few things online, but it rarely seems worth the money and effort. And my local “used” mom/baby shop doesn’t pay enough to make it worth selling ($5 for a garbage sack full of excellent condition clothes and a clean booster seat?!)

But since my brother told me about freecycle.org, I can hardly wait to have something to give away. You post a message about what you have, and someone local who needs it comes and gets it. Or you can send a message looking for an item you want. There are few rules: nothing for sale, trade or barter—just free!

So my brother got rid of his things in San Francisco. Then when he sets up his home in Columbus, OH, he’ll just ask for what he needs there. What an idea!

Since babies go through a LOT of stuff in their first year, it seems like a fantastic way to get a lot of use out of something that isn’t worn out. Unless you have a lot of children, swings, bouncers, boppies, exercises and other things just don’t get used up. If you don’t have a friend who can use them, and you aren’t planning on having another little one in the next couple of years, why not give it away? Or maybe you need a highchair? You can find a local freecycle group online. Have fun!

Like many parents, I’ve been concerned about recent news stories that tell about chemicals like melamine in baby formula and chemicals like BPA, which leech from plastic in baby bottles.

I was extremely frustrated when I learned that some breast pumps actually have parts which contain BPA too.  For example, the cups, bottles and storage containers that come with the Nursing Necessity breast pump line  may contain BPA.  I say “may” because Playtex has committed to phase out BPA from it’s products by the end of 2008.

I’ve been researching the subject and I found out that Playtex is offering free samples of BPA free bottles.  The free offer is good only while supplies last, so hurry and get your sample!

Although Playtex has agreed to stop using BPA in their products by the end of this year,  many of their products were already BPA free.   Playtex products that are BPA free should have a green icon that appears on the product declaring that it’s BPA free.

I appreciate the fact that this company has taken steps to remove this chemical from their products and also that they make it easy for a mom to find safe products.  There is no guess work at all: simply look for the BPA free icon.

It’s common in some circles to pass along clothing that your children have outgrown. We’ve gotten and passed along a lot of clothing over the years and it’s helped our budget considerably. I’m sure that the clothes we’ve passed on have helped other families too. When someone offers you their child’s outgrown clothing to use, it’s always a good idea to clarify what they mean by “use”.

I just assumed that the rules were the same for everyone: you get a bag of clothing, use what you can and pass the rest along. Once your child outgrows the clothing, you take what is still in useable condition and pass it along again. I assumed too that all moms would understand that some outfits would get very worn, ripped or stained and that they would need to be discarded. I learned that my assumptions were not correct all the time.

When I was a single mom, I had lots of offers of help. Several people from church had offered to let me “borrow” their children’s outgrown clothing. I didn’t really fixate on the borrow word—I was struggling financially and I was glad for the clothes. Turns out it was an important thing to consider. Borrowing clothes means that the person giving you the clothing expects you to return the clothes to them when your child is done with them. It sounds easy enough, but the real world is very rarely easy.

I had several women offer to let me borrow clothing that particular year. I took them all up on their offers. However, none of them wanted the clothing marked and when my daughter outgrew the clothes, I had trouble remembering who had allowed me to borrow what piece of clothing. There were some pieces that were stained permanently and I wasn’t able to get the stains out.

One of the moms was very upset when she saw that her daughter’s favorite shirt which she wanted back now had a juice stain on the collar. Because of this experience, I found that I was following the children around making sure they didn’t get dirty. I was obsessing over stains and dirt too! I was also worrying about keeping the different borrowed clothes separate to not confuse who gave me what. I didn’t do such a great job despite my efforts either.

After a particularly stressful day, I decided that the free borrowed clothes were costing me too much in emotional energy. I returned them to their owners and thanked them for their kindness. After that, I declined offers to “borrow” clothing for free: the free clothes just “cost” me too much! I would have been better off just buying second hand clothes.

Every year around this time, many people take their infants and young children to visit Santa. Some years, we’ve taken the children to the mall to visit with Santa; some years we’ve had Santa visit our house.

This year, I found that Bass Pro Shop will take your child’s photo with Santa absolutely free! The best part about getting your child’s photo taken here is that you don’t have to wait to see Santa either! If the lines are long, you can ask for an appointment with Santa. The store personnel will give you a time to return with your child so you can bypass the long lines. That’s wonderful.

The store we visited also had coloring pages for the kids, free crafts, and free snacks. The best part was that there was only one other family in line and our wait time was very short.

The store has also set up a virtual Wonderland where your relatives and friends can use a special code to log onto the site and view your child’s photo. If they like the photos, they can purchase a portrait package online. In our case, we live far away from all of the relatives. I’m going to be sending the site information to all of them so they can see how much our son has grown since we visited last year.

Will you take your child to visit Santa this year? Do you take your child to the same place every year, or do you look for photo specials?

October 19-25th, 2008 is National Infertility Awareness week.

To increase awareness, and also in an effort to help many couples realize their dreams of becoming parents, The New Hope Center for Reproductive Medicine in Virginia Beach, Virginia is giving ? free consult sessions. If you are struggling with issues surrounding infertility, this may be a great time to research your local medical options and see if your clinic may be offering any such programs. If you live near The New Hope Center, make a call today to schedule the consult.

According to the statistics I saw, about 10% of US couples struggle with infertility issues. That amounts to about 1 in 10 couples or about 1.6 million people. Doctors basically use the term infertile to describe couples who have tried unsuccessfully for about a year to conceive or to describe those who are unable to carry a pregnancy to term due to miscarriage.

Doctor?s also stress that it?s important to remember that infertility does not mean sterility?in other words, there is hope. Of the millions of couples that seek help each year, over 50% of those couples eventually are able to conceive and birth a child.

If you are struggling with infertility issues, know that you are not alone and that there is hope. Check with your local resources to see if they are participating in National Infertility Awareness Week. Ask if they are offering free consults. Taking that first step may be hard, but you can do it!

My son is now almost 18 months old, and I am beginning to think about potty training. He isn’t really showing signs of being ready to begin the process yet, but I’ve decided to do some research on potty training boys.

My four previous children are girls and with DH away a lot traveling with his job, well, I’ve decided that I might need a little bit of assistance with this whole experience. Is it true that boys are more difficult to potty train the girls? I’ll let you know as soon as I do.

The real reason for this post was to encourage everyone to check out the PULL-UPS website which I just discovered. The disclaimers: I don’t really get to spend a lot of time on the internet just checking out sites, and when I do get the time, I like to make it count. I assume this is the case for most parents with young children. Because of these things, I felt it was important to share a quality site which is actually worth your time to sit down and explore.

On the website, you can find videos about potty training tips which are actually quite good. A real bonus is a free DVD on potty training which includes tips, songs and games designed to help your child breeze through the potty training experience. Even if you have a young infant, I’d suggest going online to get your free copy while supplies last. Eventually, you will be potty training your child!

One of the interesting things for me at least was a journal on the site started by Melissa Joan Hart to detail her potty training experiences with her son, Mason. My gosh I remember watching her show on Nickelodeon when I was a teenager. I guess I’m dating myself now, aren’t I?

The bottom line is that when you get a few moments to yourself while your baby is napping – check out the videos and get your free DVD. You may think that potty training is light years away, but the reality is that before you know it, your son or daughter will be ready to transition into big pants.

Through a dark dark hall, down a dark dark stair, in a dark dark basement, at the back of a dark dark room, is a dark dark door. And behind the dark dark door, is a dark dark cupboard. And in the dark dark cupboard is things that squeak and swing and bounce and play music – all my son’s outgrown baby items.

With an odd name and a great idea, Freepeats is a website for parents to give away unwanted baby and kid items, and maternity clothes, to other parents. The idea is very similar to the popular freecycle.org but is just for babies, kids, and mothers-to-be. The person who wants the item comes to pick it up, so you can get gently used stuff for the price of gas, and get rid of stuff without going to the thrift store or dump.

Freepeats operates in several US cities, (Cleveland, Nashville, Seattle, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Los Angeles, New York City, Atlanta, DC, Philly, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Dallas and Detroit) and if your town isn’t on the list yet, you can sign up to be notified when they do start a site in your area.

I’m in the process of clearing out the dark dark cupboard, and while I was pulling out my son’s old swing and bouncer I remembered a mom friend telling me about Freepeats. So I thought I’d pass the world along to Babies Online readers, and now I’m off to list the stuff on my local Freepeats.

Are you an internet savvy mom?

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Below is list of freebies and samples that I thought Babies Online Members might enjoy. Have a look and feel free to share your comments on any other freebies that you may be aware of.

• Free Coffee – by mail from Dunkin’ Donuts
• Free Issue – Today’s Health & Wellness Magazine
• Free Recipe Book – from Eating Well Magazine
• Free DVD – Unlock The Mysteries of the Bible
• Sample Tampons – From Playtex Gentle Glide
• Free Subscription – 1 Full year of PC Magazine
• Free Frozen Yogurt – Mom’s get a Free cup or cone on Mother’s Day

As always, Babies Online has an impressive list of freebies for you to choose from as well. Click here to see these exclusive offers.

Below is list of freebies and samples that I thought Babies Online Members might enjoy. Have a look and feel free to share your comments on any other freebies that you may be aware of.

• Free Kotex Samples – Ultra thin, Ultra compact.
• Dove Deodorant – Green Tea and Cooling Cucumber scent
• Free Underjams – For bedwetting children
• Free Skin Cancer Screening – From Olay
• Free “The Magic School Bus” – Books by Scholastic
• Free Tips for Eco-Living – Live a greener life

Below is list of freebies and samples that I thought Babies Online Members might enjoy. Have a look and feel free to share your comments on any other freebies that you may be aware of.

• Free KFC Snacker everyday for 10 days – Be in the first 1000 each day to answer a question to win (the answer is the dollar)
• Free Pedometer from Bayer – Join the Bayer e-newsletter to receive the gift.
• Free Horton Hears a Who – Help your children Go Green from Energy Star
• Free Mom’s Kit by Johnson & Johnson – Automated Call System – Call 1-866-565-2229 and press #1
• Dove Cream Oil Body Lotion – Click for a Free Sample

Boost your iron and calcium intake with this multi-vitamin supplement.

Sign-up now and you will receive 2 full weeks worth of Multi-Complete Liquid Softgel Vitamins from Nature Made.

There is also a Vitmain Advisor on the website that you can use to determine which vitamins are best for you. Have a look!

Take a short quiz from Earthbound Farm Organics and they will send you this reusable tote bag for free.

Do your part to reduce the landfill issues of today by not using disposable bags, try this reusable tote bag instead.

Join the Melting Pot’s Club Fondue Club and you will receive, among other benefits, free fondue for occasions like birthdays and anniversaries.

Go to The Melting Pot’s Website for details.

Fill out a short form to receive a free “Guide to Heart and Brain Health for African-Americans” and as an additional bonus, you will get a free pedometer to go with it!

Start on the track to a healthier lifestyle today.

Fill out a short family oriented survey (5 questions) and receive a Free Child’s Dish Set!

Dish set includes:

• bowl and lid
• juice cup
• fork
• spoon

From Sprout and Mott?s for Tots!