Giveaway! The Very Hungry Caterpillar

*GIVEAWAY CLOSED*

Hooray for Queens Mama's first giveway!

One randomly-selected reader will win a board book copy of Eric Carle's classic THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR. All you have to do is post a memory of your favorite childhood book in the comments section below by May 23.

Reading THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR is one of my most vivid memories of nursery school. Much better than my one other vivid memory of forgetting my show and tell and having to sit in the coat rack as punishment!

I mean, what was there not to love about a book that was so colorful and so fun in its design that you didn't even realize it was teaching you to count? What a very talented and deviously-educational man Carle is!

More than 40 years after its publication, THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR has been translated into over 47 languages and brings back such happy memories for so many of us that we must share it with our little ones. I'm so happy I can give this book away to one reader to pass along to a special child.

Good luck and stay tuned for more giveways!

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Book Review: Baby Touch and Feel Animals

DK's Baby Touch and Feel ANIMALS was the first book Andrew ever received. My husband picked it up when we first found out we were expecting because of the bunnies on the cover. Of course, they don't look like our (increasingly evil) bunny, Cricket, but we've come to develop a soft spot for anything with a cotton tail and huge ears.

 








Exhibit A: Cricket before she grew into a electrical cord/clothing/wall-eating machine. 

Where was I? Ah yes...

After initally awwwing over the book, I placed it on Andrew's shelf and forgot about it. I've been relying on books with rhymes and more text for the baby's bedtime routine (namely Dr. Suess), so ANIMALS literally got shelved. Andrew didn't really even begin reaching for objects until 3 months anyway, so a touchy-feely book was of no interest to him.

Today, however, I spied it sitting there and decided to give it a go. And what a hit it was! The mix of furry and shiny pictures of baby animals got him touching and "talking" up a storm. I should have expected this of my genius little guy, who thinks that sunlight on our fake leather couch is the coolest thing ever. :)

So, thumbs up to DK's ANIMALS! At $5.99 it does seem a bit expensive for a little board book with, like, 10 words in it, but it probably costs close to that amount of money to produce all the fun effects. 

DK also makes a bunch more Baby Touch and Feel books, which I'm tempted to buy to keep Andrew occupied and, of course, learning. Among my favorites:



Too cute! And a great gift idea.

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Cord Blood Banking - Public or Private?

My husband and I thought long and hard about whether or not to store Andrew's cord blood in a private bank like CBR or Viacord. We just couldn't afford the high collection and storage fees, but it seemed that private banking was SO important--shouldn't we try to find the money somehow?

We finally decided to bank publicly. In the end, it seemed to us that private cord blood banking was really just a money-making endeavor... and it looks like the reporters at ABC's World News have come to the same conclusion!

Last week the program uncovered a lot of decieptful practices at the private banks including claiming erroneously to be able to cure many diseases with a child's own cord blood, paying doctors for collecting from their patients (against American Medical Association guidelines), and employing parents (essentially actors) to encourage other parents to privately bank.

Click HERE to check out World News' multi-part investigation.

What these private banks aren't telling most patients is that a child cannot use his own cord blood to treat many diseases as that disease is in his DNA, making his own blood unusable. And, what's more, if you donate to a public program such as the National Cord Blood Program, as we did, you can retrieve your donated cord blood for free if it hasn't been used already!

Finally, World News reports that "the likelihood of matching cord blood for most children in a public bank is greater than 90 percent." So, unless you already have a child with a disease who needs a siblings cord blood--and of course, a match isn't guaranteed--the investigation cites public banking as the best option for the majority of families.

I say, put those thousands of dollars you save on cord blood banking into a college savings account for your little one. Maybe if enough of us say no to private banking, these companies will stop preying on the fear and uncertainty of new parents.

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Happy Mother's Day!

I hope all you mamas out there had a wonderful Mother's Day! We had a great one with my mom, dad, and brothers, eating Belgian waffles with strawberries and cool whip for breakfast and tender, barbecued steak for dinner. Delicious!

My husband and dad also finished planting a vegetable garden and it looks great. I'll be sure to post some pictures soon. I really can't wait to taste our crops and save some money on produce this year! How lucky are we that my parents are letting us city folk try our hand at gardening on their land? They're the best!

<3

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