by Grace Sloop

Looking for baby birth announcement ideas?

One way to introduce your new bundle of joy would be to simply call up those you care about, but you can’t exactly fit a call in your baby scrapbook; that is, unless you burn a recording of it on a CD and stick it in there!

But there are obviously easier ways.  For example, there are a number of computer-generated birth announcement templates available with most office software packages.  Simply select one you like, fill in the blanks, print, enclose a photo of your new little one and voila!  It’s all over but the trip to the post office.

Or you can easily make one without any sort of template too.  Birth announcements usually mostly include the baby’s name, weight, height, length, day and time of birth, wrapping up with the proud parents’ and siblings’ names-in that order.

But perhaps you want to be a little more creative with your birth announcements. So how about turning a photo of your new little star into a playbill or a movie poster?  Or even the front cover of a magazine?  “The Smith Family Proudly Presents Amanda Marie! - Also Staring Brenda and Bob Smith as Mom and Dad, Jacob and Mindy Smith as Big Brother and Sister and, back by popular demand…diapers, late night feedings, and no sleep!”  It’s tough to beat that for a good laugh all around.

But if that’s not quite your style, you could wrap chocolate cigars or bunnies in handwritten notes and tie them with pink or blue ribbons to hand out to the folks at work.  Or have novelty candies made up at your local party supply store with your new addition’s name on them.  You can also get these online.  Just search for “party supplies” in your search engine.

Of course, nothing says you care like the personal touch.  So if you’ve got even an ounce of inspiration and a bit of time on your hands, then dust off those scrapbooking skills and roll up your sleeves to pen your very own homemade baby birth announcement.  It’s almost sure to hold a special spot on Grandma and Grandpa’s mantle for years to come, and craft stores carry a wide variety of specialty embossers, stamps, papers, and other products that will let only your creativity be the limit to what you cook up.

Speaking of which, do you have older children?  They are great at unleashing their creativity and giving their imaginations free reign to conjure up something special.  So include them in the process however you can from start to finish, like letting them draw and color (on acid-free paper ideally).  You can even let them raid your button box and your ribbon drawer for embellishments.

Whatever you decide to do, whether it’s printing up a glossy photo card at your local photo lab, breaking out the markers, crayons and more for an elaborate homemade card, or even redesigning your MySpace page to mark the occasion, I’m sure your baby birth announcement idea will be a smash hit with those you love.

Click here for more baby birth announcement ideas.

New Parent Syndrome is a post from: Advice4Parenting.com a Parenting Blog

I’m not sure if anybody has ever put a name to the feelings that most new parents have. I’d like to call it the “new parent syndrome.” Let me describe the situation and the symptoms, and you can decide for yourself if you are really suffering from new parent syndrome.

There’s a new baby in the house that is six months old or younger. The baby, it seems, has needs that are constant and unrelenting 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and holidays. There is NO relief for Mommy or Daddy. Does that pretty much sum up the situation?

The parents feel tired…make that exhausted. There doesn’t seem to be any part of the people they were who survived this parenthood thing, and both parents are likely wondering if they can survive another 18 years (at least) of this. The two parents haven’t had a moment alone since the baby was born. Something has got to give!

Exactly! Something has got to give. It’s time to hire a babysitter and take an evening off. It’s time to look into “mother’s day out” programs at local churches and civic centers. It’s way past time to get this parenthood thing into perspective.

Parenting is, without one doubt, the most important job that either parent will ever have in their lives, but it’s not the only job. The objective of parenting is to work yourself right out of a job. The idea is to raise this tiny little unique human being to be a self-sufficient, self-supporting individual who doesn’t “need” you to take care of him. Start by taking a few hours off. Give yourselves a break.

It does get better, and it does get easier. You’re just suffering from new parent syndrome.

There is a great deal of real but not particularly scientific evidence that birth order has a great influence on who we turn out to be as adults. If you understand how birth order affects a child, you will be better able to understand and effectively parent your own children. You might even understand yourself a bit better.

Now, it’s important to note that people don’t just neatly fit into categories of any kind, and they don’t all fit neatly into birth order categories. The following observations are based on generalities and not specifics, but still, they might be helpful.

First Children:
Typical first children in a family assume responsibility. They are rulekeepers/enforcers and they are organized, as well as driven, bossy, approval-seeking, self-critical high-achievers. There’s a mixture of good and bad if I ever saw one!

Way back in 1874, Francis Galton studied and published a report about the lives of 180 eminent scientists of the day. He discovered that 48% of them were first children. During the 20th century there were more first-born children who were Nobel Prize winners, composers, presidents of countries, astronauts, and prominent personalities. First-born children usually score higher on standardized IQ tests than middle children or youngest children in the birth order.

Middle Children:
My mother said that middle children had “middle child-itis.”  She was a middle child, and she always said her mother said, “You two older kids do this and you two younger kids do that,” and she was caught both ways. Middle kids are usually adaptable. They make great friends and spouses.

Youngest Children:
The “baby-of-the-family” is inventive and often more aggressive. Children who are the last born in a family are very often irresponsible and rebellious. They more often feel “picked on” and inadequate. But last-borns are also more creative. They are risk-takers. They usually have a great sense of humor and have outgoing personalities.

The important thing to remember is that infants are individuals — completely unique individuals. They do not all develop at the same rate. They don’t achieve certain “milestones” at the same rate. That doesn’t mean that there is anything “wrong” with them. It simply means that they haven’t read the same child development book that their mommy has and they are intent on doing things, reaching milestones, at their own individual pace.

There are four basic areas of development: physical, intellectual, social, and emotional. Remember that babies develop at their own rates, and the milestones listed below are in no particular order.

Physical development between birth and six months of age includes:

• Developing his own eating/sleeping/waking schedule.
• Growing very quickly and doubling his birth weight quickly.
• Gains control of eye movement and can focus on single objects.
• Gains the ability to hold his head up, roll over without help, pull himself into a sitting position, and sit alone for a moment.
• Learns to grasp objects.

Intellectual development between birth and six months of age includes:

• Begins learning through his five senses.
• Begins to vocalize by cooing and babbling in syllables.

Social development between birth and six months of age includes:

• Can distinguish his main caregiver (mother) from other people in his world and may indicate a distinct preference for her.

• Imitates movements
• Studies faces
• Smiles
• Laughs out loud
• Smiles at himself in a mirror

Emotional development between birth and six months of age includes:

• Showing excitement
• Showing pleasure
• Develops different cries to signify hunger, physical discomfort, and boredom
• Showing fear when confronted with strange objects, people, or situations

Babies develop physically, intellectually, socially, and emotionally at different rates. Some infants will speed ahead in one area and lag behind in others.

They are amazing little miracles! Here he is, this brand new, completely unique little human being. The newborn has been curled up in the womb for months and the space seems to have gotten smaller and smaller as he has gotten larger and larger. It is natural for the newborn to remain in a very curled-up position for a while and to prefer being wrapped securely. He’ll straighten those arms and legs out soon enough.

Newborns have reflexes. One of the first reflexes that you’ll see is the “Moro,” or startle reflex. In response to a loud noise, he will arch his back, extend and stiffen his arms and legs, and cry. He can have this startle reaction even when he’s asleep, but it goes away within a few months.

You newborn has other natural reflexes. The Babinski reflex is when the baby’s big toe bends back and the other toes fan out when the sole of his foot is firmly stroked. The step reflex is another newborn reflex. When the baby is held in an upright position and his feet touch the floor, he will have a reflexive stepping motion. The tongue-thrust reflex is when he pushes his tongue out when something is placed on it.

Newborns and those who care for them are ruled by the baby’s needs for nourishment and sleep. While he was in the womb, the baby was constantly nourished. He was never hungry. After birth, the constant food source has been eliminated, and the baby is hungry. A newborn needs to be fed every two or three hours around the clock. The good news is that in about a month, the baby will need to be fed less often; and by the time the baby has been in this world for about three months, he will likely have developed an eating and sleeping routine that those who care for him will really appreciate.