About Cafe Cynthia

Photo by  RAZmom88

It's hard enough raising one teen -- but three?! Welcome to RAZmom88's wild and wonderful life. Check back every Thursday to find out what drama or joy she encountered this week.

A Choice

Zack, 15, made the choice not to try out for the JV basketball team and instead focus on indoor track. I was a little disappointed because I wanted him to do three sports this year and indoor track is not considered a school sport.

He made the decision so that he could be ready for track season this spring with the hope of making it to state. Last year he was the only underclassman to earn a Varsity letter in track. He also does weight training two nights a week. He explained to me how much pressure he is under to keep his grades up and do so many school activities. He is only going to focus on the ones he is best at.

Photo by harleysgirl111

You're busy today -- getting baby ready to go to dinner, or getting yourself ready while baby is napping. You probably only have a minute. But that's all it will take to answer this question before you fly out the door.

Tell me why you're thankful for your baby today!

And have a Happy, food-filled, and festive Thanksgiving Day!

Photo by Cafe Cynthia

Time is flying by way too fast. So, so fast. Flashback six years ago from tomorrow. Me sitting at my aunt's dinner table trying to soothe a screaming infant (he was always colicky) in one hand while trying to shovel stuffing and mashed potatoes into my mouth with the other. Yes, I soon became a master at cutting food with my fork with that one.

Thanksgiving dinners are different now, much more sane. My son and his little cousins all sit at the "kiddie table" by themselves now, since there's never enough room for all of us at the table at any of my relatives' houses. There's much more fooling around than eating going on over there, but at least mommy gets to overeat in peace, and for that I am SO thankful!

Other reasons I'm thankful for my big, beautiful, boisterous big kid:

Photo by jcelis

A weekly post to help us get to know some of our CafeMom cuties ...

Who: Eisley Elia, 5 months old, daughter of jcelis. Before Eisley's birth, I suffered an amniotic fluid embolism after having my water broken during labor. Her heart rate dropped quickly immediately afterward, so I was rushed to the OR in order for them to deliver her via emergency C-section. Luckily, she came out a completely healthy and beautiful 7 pound 7 ounce baby.

She usually goes down at about 10 p.m. and isn't up until around 9 a.m. on average. Then, an hour after waking up, she'll go down for an hour or more nap and sometimes she'll take a half-hour nap before bed.

Photo by Cafe Cynthia

My daughter is 4 going on 5 in another two weeks! So, we are leaving Toddler Land for good. I'm trying to decide how I feel about that. On the one hand, I'm sad because my little girl is getting so grown up.

On the other, I'm excited about kindergarten and sleepovers and everything the next stage of growth and development will bring. The other day we went shopping together, and my daughter helped me pick out a shirt. No whining to go to the toy aisle -- she was actually thrilled to be looking at clothes, even more than I was.

Stork Craft crib recall.

In the largest crib recall in U.S. history, Stork Craft is recalling 2.1 million dropside cribs in the U.S. and Canada.

This is the second major recall for the company in a year. In January, Stork Craft recalled 500,000 cribs because of a defective mattress support that caused the mattress to collapse and cause a gap where baby could get stuck.

The recent recall follows 110 incidents where the drop-side rail became detached. Four of the children suffocated and died. Other children fell from the crib and got bumps, bruises and concussions.

The cribs involved in these incidents had plastic drop-side hardware that had broken, missing, or deformed claws, connectors, tracks, or flexible tab stops; loose or missing metal spring clips; stripped screws; and/or drop-sides installed upside-down.

Here are the other important details, spread the word ...

For all the baby mamas who wish they had the time and know-how to use cloth diapers, grow and make their own infant food, and other eco-friendly efforts that are good for baby and for the earth, the e-commerce site Sprout Baby is a nice alternative.

My tykes are out of diapers (wiping pretend sweat from forehead and miming "phew") but I would have totally liked to have tried the Nature BabyCare diapers, made with a special green technology and natural based so they break down a little better than conventional nappies. $12 for a 44 to 22 count box (depending on size).

Going green does cost more, that's a fact. So here's your chance to try these diapers, or organic baby food, or stainless steel bottles, or any number of earth friendly baby gear from Sprout Baby. Two moms can enter today for a chance to win a $50 gift certificate from the site.

To enter the contest, just tell me ...

Photo by 920Wendy

CafeMom TheTravelMama (aka Colleen Lanin) is an expert at traveling with kids, but only because she's had her share of past fiascoes to learn from along the way. Colleen is a travel writer and founder of the Travel Mamas blog, the resource for everything and anything related to traveling with children.

Today the mom of 20 month year old Leo and 4 year old Karissa shares three of her own biggest traveling disasters and how she learned to prevent them the next time she hit the road:

Fiasco #1: Kids Tend to Throw Up

You never know when motion sickness or the stomach flu may strike. During a road trip to an amusement park, my preschooler, Karissa, woke 20 minutes before our destination and announced from the backseat, "I'm gonna throw up!" I whipped around from the passenger seat and frantically searched for any type of vessel. I grabbed a box of Kleenex, ripped the tissue from it, and thrust it beneath her chin, narrowly evading a smelly disaster.