Once we can scrape enough money together, my husband and I have agreed to open and vigorously contribute to retirement IRAs for both our kids. Not a college fund or savings account, but retirement accounts.

We reached this decision after looking at our own meager retirement savings and thought about how much more robust it would be if our own parents had started them when we were babies. Even just a little something every month.

Needless to say, with an estimated 60 years of compounding on our side, we'd be living a completely different lifestyle right now, not having scrimp and save every step of the way and not wondering if we're going to have to work till 80 to pull it off.

Some moms in Current Events & Hot Topics were talking about how great it would be if the Aspire Act, in which the government would give every newborn a $500 savings account, passed.

Some moms. Not all think this is a great idea at all.

If you're a pumping mom, you know what I'm talking about. Sometimes, if you want to get out and have some "me" time or, eh em, go to work, you have to pump.

When I was breastfeeding, I had to pump in bathrooms (awful!), offices (my boss's!), and storage closets (yes, that was our lactation room at work). The worst pumping experience was when I tried to do an overnight with my friend who lives more than an hour away and my pump broke. Boy, was that a long drive home.

"Back to work," actress Alyson Hannigan, star of How I Met Your Mother, tweeted a few days ago.

"I have even MORE respect for all the working Moms out there, it's hard (& I have it EASY!)." And then she added, "Dad's too. :)."

 

No matter what you do, you feel guilty. You're a mother after all. But here's great news for working moms who feel guilty about the diminished amount of time they get to spend with their babies.

Need to make a little cash while you're on unpaid maternity leave? Here are some ideas.

In 2009, is it still safe to say that, after baby, women will become the stay-at-home parents? Does society still believe that if one parent is going to be giving up the career, it's going to be the woman?

Talitha over on Momlogic asks this very good question: Staying home after baby: Why me?! 

The other day, President Obama appointed Kathleen Sebelius as his new Secretary of Health and Human Services. Sebelius is currently the Governor of Kansas, and she's about to become a very busy woman—as you probably already know, Obama has big plans for our country's health care system. But there are some things you might not know about Kathleen Sebelius that may interest you.

When I was pregnant I had a job really liked and made a decent salary. I took three months maternity leave, but after just a few months with my baby, I knew I didn't want to leave her that soon. I was lucky because my husband made enough to pay the rent for a while. My friend B., on the other hand, ended her maternity leave sooner than she planned because she was itching to get out of the house and do something other than "change diapers all day."

For the past 40 years, women have been waiting to have babies. Probably in part, to get their careers going. And it seems like more and more women are waiting even longer than ever—there are lots of first-time moms in their late thirties and early forties, and even some in their fifties and sixties. But despite that, the trend is now for women to have their first baby when they're a lot younger.

Jessica Alba is starting work on a new film An Invisible Sign of my Own, and she will be bringing 4-month-old daughter Honor along. Alba says being away from her baby is tough and she doesn't want to miss out on any mommy moments. She told people.com, "I love my daughter and she's going to be with me every day on the set."

Do you wish you could bring your baby to work outside of the home?

(For more pictures of Jessica Alba and her cute baby, check out babyrazzi.com.)