Last week we posted that 4 out of 5 women in Australia drink during pregnancy. Someone may want to call them up and let them know about a new study out this week.
According to a study, done in Denmark, drinking during pregnancy hurts the fertility of the male fetus. Sons born to Mothers who drank during pregnancy have lower sperm counts.
This new study found when moms drank four to five alcoholic beverages per week during their pregnancy, their sons later had sperm concentrations of about 25 million per milliliter, which was about 32 percent lower compared with offspring of expectant mothers who did not drink alcohol during their pregnancy, according to lead study author Dr. Cecilia Ramlau-Hansen.
In conclusion, drinking Mothers can expect no grandchildren and very unhappy daughter-in-laws.
Our own David Israel wrote a great little piece on 8 countries with fascinating baby naming laws over at mental_floss. Turns out that Germany, Sweden, Japan, Denmark, Iceland, New Zealand, China, and Norway all have some sort of baby naming restrictions on the books.
My favorite is Sweden where you can't name your kid Elvis, but it's OK to name him Lego. Seriously Lego? And, what do they have against the King?
“First names shall not be approved if they can cause offense or can be supposed to cause discomfort for the one using it, or names which for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name.”
I personally don't have a problem with people giving their kids crazy names. I pretty much view it as a given right and possibly an American tradition. The only thing more patriotic then naming your kid Apple would be to give her the middle name Pie.
Truth be told, my oldest is basically named after my husband's favorite cookie. My son is named after my favorite college pizza place. Even the baby is named after the state that grows my husband's favorite fruit. Sure my kids names may appear normal, but are they really?
Be sure to check out David's full article and let me know what you think about baby naming laws: Link
A simple blood test may soon be able to tell a woman when she is likely to go into menopause. Some imagine that this research could lead to knowing precisely when a woman's biological clock's alarm will chime. That information could certainly play a huge role in deciding when to start or expand a family.
Since this research, however, is currently in its infancy it is too early to tell whether they will be able to extrapolate fertility from a menopause predictor.
“There’s a difference between ovarian reserve from a fertility point of view and ovarian function from simply getting a period and making estrogen,” Dr. Goldstein points out. “The much more important issue for fertility is ovarian reserve, not necessarily whether you’re going to go through menopause at 50 or 53.”
The possibility of having an accurate fertility predictor makes me wonder:
Would you want to know when you were going to lose fertility?
Would you change the spacing between your children?
The big summer travel season is upon us. If you are fortunate enough to be able to head out with your kids on vacation this year you really should check out Ping the Panda Zoobie. He makes a great little travel companion.
This little guy can be played with as a stuffed animal.
You can unhook him and use him as a pillow.
Or you can unzip him, pull his guts out and use him as a super cozy blanket. The blanket does completely unzip from the little guy for easy washing.
Yep, it's a plush toy, pillow, and blanket rolled into one. This kid size Zoobie has a pretty decent sized blanket. I would venture to say it's comparable in size to any in-flight blanket you might purchase, but a whole lot softer.
This great little item is now available at the Neatoshop. More styles and Baby Zoobie are also available.
The Zoobie collection is just one of the new kids lines being carried by the Neatoshop. Be sure to check back regularly as we are in the process of expanding the Neatoshop's kid and baby line.
Having 100 % of your graduating class headed to college is an amazing feat for any school. What's even more amazing is that this is Urban Prep High School's first graduating class and all 107 of its graduates are headed to college.
Urban Prep High School in Chicago is a charter school success story. This all boys school has strict rules and an even stricter dress code. You won't find sneakers or bling here. The boys wear uniforms with jackets and ties. The school hours are long. There are Saturday classes, double the dose of English lessons, and mandatory reading. Summer school is also available.
The majority of the graduating class come from gang infested neighborhoods, grew up with single mothers, and live in poverty . Clearly the odds are stacked against them.
What's really unique about this school is not just that the students are held accountable, but the Teachers are as well. Every staff member has a school assigned cell phone so that students and parents can reach them at anytime. The teacher's and staff's responsibility over these kids does not end when they exit the schools doors.
Every student has at least one mentor -- maybe a coach or a teacher among a predominantly young faculty. About 60 percent of teachers at the Englewood campus (Urban Prep has another school and plans to open a third this fall) are black men. They serve as confidantes and role models to students, many of whom have no fathers in their lives.
Sharon Cohen of the Associated Press has more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_THE_100_PERCENTERS_ABRIDGED?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2010-06-28-00-01-06
This is proof that sometimes it is best to think outside the box when it comes to education.
Yotaro is a robotic baby simulator designed by a team at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The baby has warm water running through it's silicone face that allow the baby's skin to feel warm and have a runny nose. The baby also responds to touch and expresses a series of emotions. Some of you may have seen this guy around the web last year, but he seems to be back again. Even though not its original purpose, the robot is now being suggested as a way to pull at Japanese heart strings and encourage them to get down to the business of having children. Japan currently has an extremely low birth rate.
Yotaro project members think a mindset change on children in Japan won't come from money, but some contact with a baby -- even a robotic one. Project member Madoka Hirai said she started noticing baby clothes and pictured what life with a child could be like -- something she had never thought about before Yotaro.
Do you think a robot baby would make a woman want to have kids? I'm not convinced. At the same time I wouldn't pass up a chance to play with this little guy.
Hopefully by now you have seen Neatorama's very first GTFO submission. I discovered it last night as we were getting the kids to bed. If you haven't seen it you need to stop reading this and go watch the video. It's fabulous.
Anyway, the baby was asleep, our son seemed to be asleep, and our oldest was super close to being asleep. The house was, dare I say it, peaceful.
Alex was still sitting in one of the kids rooms when I clicked play on the video submission. I guess the volume must have been a little high on my computer. The next thing I know is the house is filled with bagpipe music (Star Wars theme). My 2 1/2-year old son is screaming, "What's that noise." My husband and my daughter come trampling out into the kitchen and the baby is screaming. So much for a quiet evening. It took us another 35 minutes to get everyone asleep again. I still say it was worth all the trouble. The day had been a little stressful and the video certainly gave me a good laugh.
So, in honor of our first GTFO submission I present to you these simple steps for turning your NeatoBambino into a cool Neatoramanaut.
First you need to get yourself a children's bagpipe. They are available for sale all over the web, but I found this one on Amazon.
Designed as a practice tool for young children, with the look of a full size Highland bagpipe for added motivation! Offers a fully functioning chanter to help the young piper learn breath control and finger patterns, scales, and ornamentation. Three non-functioning "dummy" drones are designed to give the young student an overall feel of handling the pipes. More intersting to practice on than a standard practice chanter, this kid's pipe set is perfect to keep the child student interested and motivated in thier studies. A Best Buy!
The clip above shows how the kids bagpipe works. I'm not sure it will give you the full range of notes you need to play Star Wars, but you have to start somewhere.
If you are unsure what type of unicycle to get the Unicyclist Community has an online forum to answer questions. They can suggest the best options for you and your budding Neatoramanaut. They seem to suggest 12" to 16" unicycles for kids under the age of 7-years old. Of course this will depend on the size of your kid.
Finally, you need to get down to studying Star wars music. I'm pretty sure the easiest way is to head down to local video store and rent the movies. Now if you are a hardcore Neatoramanaut you probably can skip this step and just hum the music to your kids until they get the melody down.
You have probably seen, and you might even own, a toy piano. Now what about a toy harp?
The Schoenhut Piano Company famous for their baby grand pianos also makes kid sized harps. I can't say I ever thought about getting the kids one of these before.
At 27 inches high, this beautifully constructed, lightweight instrument is an excellent choice for a child's first harp. The design of its curved sides and spacious box, along with a range of 15 notes (from C to C), permits playing a wide variety of music in haunting, melodic tones. Fully tunable by way of zither pins and a zither pin wrench (included).
This is awesome. I want to see one in person so I can try to play my own haunting melody.
They come in two different colors, but I was partial to the pink.
Video of 2010 Prom via No Worries Now Foundation: Link
Fred Scarf, a 20-year old college student, started the No Worries Now Foundation back in 2006 as a way to honor the best friend he lost to cancer. The foundation throws free proms for high school students suffering from a life threatening illness.
Since 2007, more than 400 teens living with life-threatening illnesses have attended No Worries Now proms. The event has been held only in California, but Scarf aims to expand to multiple states as soon as next year.
A study done at Yale University, and published in Pediatrics, found that young kids prefer the taste of snacks endorsed by cartoon characters.
The group of 4-to6-year olds were given graham crackers, gummy fruit snacks, and carrots. The same food was given to them with and without a popular cartoon characters on the packaging. The children were asked to tell the researchers which food item tasted better.
Children significantly preferred the taste of foods that hadpopular cartoon characters on the packaging, compared with thesame foods without characters. The majority of children selectedthe food sample with a licensed character on it for their snack,but the effects were weaker for carrots than for gummy fruitsnacks and graham crackers.
Suntech Enterprises Baby Walkers are being recalled. The product was sold in California, Illinois, New York, and Texas from January 2007 through December 2009. The walkers do not have sufficient stair-fall protection.
New research suggests that nearly four out of five Australia women drink during their pregnancy. The high rate of drinking is blamed on confusing medical guidelines that keep changing.
Women and health practitioners were confused by official guidelines, which changed in 2001 from recommending zero alcohol intake to a low intake, and then back to no alcohol again in 2009.
A Washington woman who was forced to put her baby boy up for adoption 43 years ago has been reunited with her son.
Patti Langdon had been looking for her son for more than 30 years. She placed an ad wishing her son a happy 43rd birthday. Todd Smith, her son, just happened to come across the ad while surfing the internet.
Curious about how many people were born at Tacoma General Hospital the same day he was in 1967, Smith did a basic Internet search Saturday. He found the two-month-old ad in the paper, addressed to “Baby Boy Langdon.”
Joyce Chen of The News Tribune has more: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/06/22/1236215/love-and-curiosity-prevail-after.html
A North Carolina Mother found a stray bullet next to her sleeping 3-monthold baby. The shocked parents also found a hole in the ceiling above the crib where the bullet came through. They didn't hear the shot and have no idea where the bullet came from. Police are currently investigating the incident.
A group of 16 California 7-th graders, from Evergreen Middle School, were participating in The Mars Student Imaging Program when they made a rare find. They spotted a pit crater in one of the pictures they commissioned. Pit craters are basically a skylight on the roof of a cave.
"This pit is certainly new to us," Cushing told the students. "And it is only the second one known to be associated with Pavonis Mons."
