I never could have imagined how much work was required when shopping for the right stroller. It was almost as tedious as buying a new car - researching brands and models, reading product reviews, checking prices online and haggling with salesman for free floor mats (OK, well maybe not the last one.)

Anyway, there’s a [pretty] accurate article from MSNBC on tips to consider when buying a new stroller. You can read the article and get more detail on the tips here: 10 Tips: How to buy the right stroller

But here’s a sneak peak:

1. Be Decisive: If you strongly suspect that a family member or close friend wants to buy a baby stroller for you as a gift, register for the one you really want.

2. Kick the Tires: Visit stores in person and try opening, folding and carrying different models with one hand. Make sure the stroller feels sturdy, not flimsy.

3. Remember the small details: If more than one person will be pushing the stroller, adjustable handles are an important feature to have.

4. Newborns have special needs: A newborn baby needs a stroller that lets him or her lie down or that works in concert with a car seat.

5. Just detach the car seat and go: Consider a full travel system that fits a car seat into a stroller.
Read more about The keys to buying the right stroller

With the kids going back to school, it made me realize that my little boy was due for his next round of immunizations. (Download the Immunization schedule here (PDF) | right click and save as)

The chart above (and available for download) shows the latest vaccine recommendations from the American Academy of Pediatrics and other medical groups, along with the ages (or age ranges) for when each shot or series of shots is to be given. For example, according to the chart the polio vaccine is to be given four times — at 2 months, 4 months, 6 to 18 months and 4 to 6 years. Yellow indicates that children in certain high-risk groups may benefit from additional vaccinations.

Its important to keep your kids up to date with their immunizations, and although its difficult for me to find time during the week to take my son to the pediatrician (unless its an emergency,) they’re pretty good at playing “catch-up” with his shots so that he’s not missing anything vital. If your child has missed any shots, check with your doctor about getting them back on track. Depending on what they’ve missed, they probably have a “catch-up” schedule that they can follow.

AAP - Catch Up Schedule (download PDF | right click and save as)

Immunization Schedule: 7-18 years old (download PDF | right click and save as)

With gas prices being so high, and the ever daunting task of trying to make a dollar stretch into oblivion, I really found it as no surprise when I read this story about how “stay-at-home moms” are staying home more than ever. You can read the story here

But it made me think if I had been (subconsciously) doing this myself. After all, It does seem as if I’m making (or attempting to) fewer trips out during the day, and the trips that I do make become day long adventure to get things done so that I don’t have to venture out later in the week. But at what cost? Don’t get me wrong – I love spending time with my son, but there are some days that I just need to get out of the house! I honestly can’t expect my 2 year old to sit and play quietly the entire afternoon, nor do I want to be stuck inside all day, so it benefits both of us to get some fresh air or take a ride somewhere.

This being in addition to working two or three days a week, but that not really “me” time, now is it? And since my son has decided to start throwing anything he gets his little hands on, going out to dinner with my husband has become a distant memory. Although the last time I checked, a family of four can eat at McDonalds for about $20, which in my mind is certainly worth the cost of my sanity at least once a week.

But it can’t just be me right? I’m sure there’s plenty of other mothers out there feeling the same “daily issues” that I’ve been seeing otherwise there wouldn’t have been an article out there. Or at least that’s what I’m going to continue to tell myself!

Has anyone realized that there were more babies born in the United States last year (2007) than ever before?

About 4,315,000 children were born in 2007, which is about 15,000 more births than at the peak of the baby boom in 1957. Although during that time, the “baby boom” was influenced by a fewer number of woman having more than one baby. So why the drastic increase? Well, as far as I’m concerned, there are two reasons:

The first being the overall increase in population. Each year the U.S. population grows, and in turn its only natural that the number of newborns increase as well. You gotta love science!

But secondly, and in my (humble) opinion, the REAL root of this growth: plain, good old fashioned boredom. I’ll explain – the rapid (and disappointing) increase in the number of reality shows, the writer strike in Hollywood, the mindless movie plots being released every week has left us nothing to do with our spare time. (Although there are a handful of exceptions, such as Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog. If you haven’t seen it, watch it!)

Not to mention the economic factors that come into play. With everyone trying to save money, fewer people are going out for entertainment (movies, dinner, etc.) so we stay in and get comfortable, and with that leads to, eh hem, other “entertaining” things.

So if we really want to point the finger, lets aim it towards Hollywood…or the economy…or Deal or No Deal – that Howie Mandel has got to answer to someone!

Given my work schedule and the obvious benefits of interaction with other children, I felt it was time to put my son in daycare. But I had no idea that it would be so painful…for me!

Now I’ve gone round and round in discussions with friends and family members who tell me that putting your [first] child in the care of someone else is always hard, and that the first few weeks will be hard on both me and my child, but mostly on me. And I think their right – just bringing him into the building starts the water works and I can still hear him crying as I leave. I know that he is just getting used to me not being there with him and adjusting to being around new people and other children in a new environment, but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m having a hard time adjusting to leaving him there crying because I know he’s upset.

All of this gets me thinking of at-home nannies or services like Nannies for Hire. I’ve heard good things about these services, and a friend of mine recently used Nannies for Hire to find someone to come to her house and watch her two little girls three days a week and says it was a great find. But I don’t want my child to miss out the interacting with other children his own age and in turn develop the social skills needed in the future.

So I suppose right now it’s just a waiting game – will my son be the one to adjust and start making a swarm of baby friends or will mommy be the one to break first? Well since I’ve decided that I will give this whole “daycare thing” 6 weeks to work itself out, I guess we’ll all find out in the new couple of weeks…

I found an interesting article today with tips that are sure to create a lot of fun for your kids as well extra noise and headaches for you. MSN, Family & Parenting has an article about household objects that can be great toys (noise makers) for your little one. This makes a lot sense, as I’ve noticed babies usually ignore their bright and colorful toys and go after things we parents wouldn’t consider toys at all.

Baby bottle caps & straws seem to keep our baby occupied for several minutes. The straws aren’t so bad but the noisy bottle cap hitting and spinning on the floor can get to you. I sometimes ask myself, “why do I keep buying toys”? If my kid can be entertained by empty shoe boxes, cardboard boxes, wooden spoons, and other regular everyday items then Fisher-Price is going to start losing some business.

A few of the household items featured can also provide some fun educational benefits. With the different sounds, shapes, textures, etc. your child is sure to pickup a thing or two.

“Providing a variety of shapes and sizes will encourage your child to invent new ways to balance and build that a set of traditional square blocks might not. Plus, it gives him a chance to understand size relationships.“

Read the full article here: Terrific Toys from Around the House

As much as we love to hear ourselves talk here - we’re interested in hearing some of your own parenting stories (both good and bad), parenting tips or anything else you feel like sharing!

You can simply comment on something you’ve heard or read or if you’re feeling really ambitious (and a bit crazy,) you can go here and become a FEATURED AUTHOR for the Parents Overnight Blog. You’re posts will be shown on the front page and shared with all of our great readers.

So what are you waiting for?!

I can’t tell you how excited I am that I can finally stop paying $25 every few days on a can of formula! It’s like this stuff is a drug that my little boy has been addicted to since birth. I would almost be more comfortable buying it from a guy in a dark alley every week, seeing that it wold justify the feeling of “feeding an addict!”

But it’s over now - or is it? Whats the next progressive step? I’ve heard a lot of people say that once they’ve moved away from breast milk or formula they start giving the children regular milk. Which at about $4, sounds like a sweet idea to me. But do I give him whole milk, low-fat, organic or soy?

According to a (newly) revised guideline issued by the American Academy of Pediatrics, it’s better “…that some babies as young as 12 months of age should be given reduced-fat (2 percent) milk instead of whole milk.”

“Specifically, for children between 12 months and 2 years who are at higher-than-normal risk of becoming overweight, or have a family history of high cholesterol, obesity, or heart disease.”

All of this has got me thinking, when we were growing up we were given regular whole milk and we grew up big and strong (with the exception of my sister who grew a tale and rabbit ears - but I hardly blame the milk.) So is this recommendation just another attempt to point the finger at the declining health status of the kids in our country or is this something we our parents just weren’t aware of years ago and we’re now learning the benefit of?

Which would really be a shame for my “rabbit-esque” sister, but that’s life folks!

For those of you “cool” enough (and by cool I mean unfortunate) to hang around some of the contributors for Parents Overnight, it’s probably very apparent that most of us are extremely sarcastic and borderline crazy at times. As if our children didn’t cause enough problems for us, I honestly feel that someday we act just as silly. So when someone mentioned that they read a few posts from Fiddledeedee and ended up laughing out loud - I felt that I needed to check it out.

And now that I have, let me be the first to tell you…it’s hilarious! Not because DeeDee is trying to be funny in the “stand-up” comedy sense, but because we so often forget that people (and kids) are just weird and not at their best all the time, and she seems to remind people of that with each one of her posts.

DeeDee has a very realistic, yet sarcastic outlook on the day to day happenings involving her, “Fiddledaddy” and her 3 kids. The best part is that by reading one post you automatically see that everything shes writing is being told exactly as she sees it - for better or for worse. Which adds a level of authenticity to her posts that I thought was great!

If you’re tired of reading stories of how “every child is a little angel” and how “children can do no wrong” then check out Fiddledeedee. It will give you a dose of reality and a few laughs in the process.

While we like to think of Parents Overnight as a complete resource for new and expectant parents, there is still no replacing the value of life experience. So when one the people here at PON bring up another blog and/or site that they find useful, humorous or simply just enjoy reading - we always take a look.

We came across the blog entitled SINCERELY ANNA, and everyone here immediately loved the open tone of the stories and posts being shared. I don’t want to give away the entire back story (you can go to the blog and read that for yourself) but the idea behind the site is Anna’s story of adopting two children, the process from start to finish and the day to day life of being a mom of two beautiful children.

One of the most compelling pieces on the site is the entry in which Anna describes how the birth parents chose them to be the new parents of their unborn baby. Truly a great entry!

The writing style is very open and honest, to the point where you feel as if you were to sit down and speak with Anna in person, the tone and emotion in her voice would be identical to that in each of her posts.

So, after you’ve read the FANTASTIC stuff here at Parents Overnight, hop on over to Sincerely Anna and check it out - it’s certainly found some new fans over here!

**UPDATE** How silly can we be? In all the excitement of reviewing this site we forgot to mention all of the great readers that visit and comment on Anna’s site. Which as far as I’m concerned only adds to the value of each post. (Sorry Jim, blame my forgetful nature on a teething baby and lack of sleep )