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See our Shipping Cutoff FAQ here

As I write this, the main shopping season has just begun so there is plenty of time, even for Canadian shipping and other international holiday season orders. We do our part ot get you gifts there on time – every item in our system is guaranteed to be actually in stock and ready to ship within 1 business day. Please do your part to try and place the order before the very last minute! That said, the link above includes this year’s cuttoff dates for the various shipping services.

Email Gift Certificates are delivered instantly. These emails include your gift message and will never expire.

If you use Google Checkout to pay for your order, they give you $20 off $200.

The link to Google Checkout is on the “view cart” page – after shopping, click their “Google Checkout $20 off” image rather than using our standard “checkout” button. That redirects you to a Google login and checkout process where the discount is applied automatically if it’s your first time using them.

PS- some customers report trouble clicking on the google link or getting to google but not combining this with the free shipping over $100 offer – we will honor that as well, just call or email if it didn’t work automatically and we will refund any unwanted charges.

My neighborhood newsletter includes safety information fomr police due to recent local events.

See here

Heads up to this line “CELL PHONES MUST USE THIS EMERGENCY NUMBER FOR BERKELEY POLICE: 981-5911. Enter this number into your cell phone now. FOR LAND LINES REPORT EMERGENCIES AT 911.

The Baby Carrier Industry Association has a nice page up with basic safety tips for using baby slings, especially the extra attention that should be paid when carrying a preemie, newborn, or a baby who is ill or has other special needs.

The main thing to know is that – sling or no sling – an infant is safest when a caring adult is close by and keeping them in sight. Good sling positions good baby close enough to kiss, and with their face visible – that is, don’t let the sling or your body or a blanket or anything else obstruct the view of your infant’s face, especially of course their nose and mouth.

Other common-sense reminders include reading the product instructions carefully, and keeping the sling snug enough that baby’s position does not shift around after you put them in.  If they start off in a good spot, “visible and kissable”  but slide downward when you move around, that is not good! Read more from the official baby carrier industry group at this link

You also might be interested in the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) in their campaign to educate parents on safe baby carriers (link) and their work with the BCIA to spread good information. See this press release about the BCIA’s agreement with the CPSC on this need, and see how BCIA works with Health Canada to this same shared goal.

San Fransisco paper’s online “Mommy Files”  has this article today on good parenting practices and how to find the good stuff among the chaos of different views. Why do parenting tools have to go in an out of style? And why so much conflicting research?

Anyway, here’s the link.

Here’s a cool find from the NY Times about sugars found in breastmilk that protect the infant digestive system

Breast Milk Sugars Give Infants a Protective Coat

A large part of human milk cannot be digested by babies and seems to have a purpose quite different from infant nutrition — that of influencing the composition of the bacteria in the infant’s gut.

The details of this three-way relationship between mother, child and gut microbes are being worked out by three researchers at the University of California, Davis — Bruce German, Carlito Lebrilla and David Mills. They and colleagues have found that a particular strain of bacterium, a subspecies of Bifidobacterium longum, possesses a special suite of genes that enable it to thrive on the indigestible component of milk.

This subspecies is commonly found in the feces of breast-fed infants. It coats the lining of the infant’s intestine, protecting it from noxious bacteria.

I love the Berkeleyside blog for local news – hearing about things too “local” to get coverage in the regional papers and blogs. Here’s an example, a story where the US Secretary of education visits a BUSD middle school and this example about that certain kind of spider that can be found absolutely everywhere over here in the early fall.

I found a good resource here – 100 things parents can do instead of yelling or spanking.

We all need these sort of tools – as you scan the list are there any that stand out as things you want to add to your repertoire?

Read it at the codenamemama blog

A local California writer has released survey results on the theme of “who clips the kids’ nails”  about the division of labor between parents in different types of families.  She was looking at how the little tasks are split – this isn’t a stay-home versus work-outside sort of study, it was more about who plans the birthday parties, who washes hair, who buys new shoes when the old ones get too small.  The link below is part 1 of her article, if you like it, don’t skip over parts 2, 3, and 4!

http://www.workingmomsbreak.com/2010/07/14/who-clips-the-nails-part-i-survey-results/

I really apreicte this post – the mom writing talks about the things to say and nt say, to do and not do, when somebody you know is raising a child with a disability and yoou want to show your support while making sure you’re not being insensitive.

“As the mom of a four-year old girl who is physically disabled, I get asked a lot of questions about special needs kids.  People want to do the right thing, and most people are well-meaning.  So over time I’ve put together a kind of mental list of Do’s and Dont’s.  The usual caveats apply –  I’m just one mom, and everyone has their own feelings and own style.”

Read the article here