I wish baby slings had been available when my children were babies. Everyone I know now who uses one thinks they’re wonderful. Our daughter has one that she uses with our grandson. The great thing about using them with a newborn is that the baby is cradled up next to the mother (or daddy) and feels the warmth of her body.  The mother then has her hands free to do some things that require two hands such as typing or doing things around the house. Another neat thing about the slings is that they can be used for newborns all the way up to toddlers.   They come in all different kinds of fabric patterns so anyone should be able to find a color and pattern that they like.   If you know of someone that has a baby, tell them about baby slings. Or maybe you have a baby, maybe you’re expecting a baby, or maybe you need a baby shower gift.  A baby sling would make a great gift!

I was waiting at an intersection not long ago and I noticed this billboard.  It had a fuzzy aerial view of a town.  Then it had an arrow pointing to a certain spot with the words, “You are here.  Do you know where your family is?”  My first reaction was, “Well, yeah, I know where my family is.”  But then I noticed in small print down at the very bottom of the billboard it said, “Have a Plan.  Go to READY.GOV”  Then I realized the point of the billboard was that in case of an emergency (such as a terrorist attack, etc.), you need to know where your family is in case things get crazy.  With the sixth anniversary of 9-11 just days away, I think it is good to have a plan.  When I taught first grade, we had a fire drill every few weeks.  We never had to use it for the real thing, but we were ready just in case.  So this is what I call “fire drill time.”  If something did happen, we would be in panic mode which is not an easy time to be thinking clearly.  That’s why it’s so important to think about things like this when our minds are clear.  I hope we never have to use our plans, but if we do then we’ll already have our plan in place.

This is so weird about the flipflops from Wal-Mart burning people.  I think it’s “allergic contact dermatitis” instead of chemical burns.  But in any case, it seems like to me that there’s something wrong with the materials used to make the flipflops if several people are having problems with them.   Go to the links below to read more info.  (I plan to write another post later about my experience with another brand of flipflops. )

http://www.snopes.com/info/inthenews.asp

http://www.consumerist.com/consumer/health/at-least-nine-cases-of-walmart-flipflops-burning-customers-heres-the-latest-295327.php