parenting

Many a mom puts off creating their child's baby book, as assembling an album of baby's first year often takes a backseat to parenting. But a start-up called Blinkbuggy aims to simplify the process, helping moms and dads put together the traditional piece of memorabilia online, TechCrunch reports.

Google ad sales manager Emma Weisberg says she recognized the need for a virtual baby book because so many baby photos are captured by mobile phones and shared by family and friends via email, Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube. Thus, she designed Blinkbuggy to allow parents to record all of their memories — photos, emails, notes, artwork, milestones, etc. — with one cloud-based service. Parents can categorize items for multiple children, as well as control privacy settings, depending on what content they want to make public and share with friends and family.

If all that sounds like a great way to organize and preserve memories of your child, then stay tuned. Weisberg says the ability to print albums and use a mobile app is in the works.

I got my tubes tied when I was 33 years old, right after the birth of my daughter. She was my third child, and even though I wasn't entirely sure that I was "done" with the whole baby-making thing, I knew that my husband and I couldn't handle any more.

I became pregnant the first time while I was on birth control. I did not know that antibiotics and birth control didn't like each other, and I unwittingly asked them to play nicely. They didn't; the antibiotics won, and I found myself in an ER in the middle of the night, writhing from the sharp pain of a kidney infection, and thinking that surely I was hallucinating when the nurse told me that I was six weeks along.

Keep reading.

The role birth order plays in shaping children's personalities and IQs has been debated and researched for years. But do the stereotypes hold water?

"They say that children's behavior and development depends . . . a big percent on what role they play in families," Brenda says, asking other Circle of Moms members, "Where is your child at?" Another member named Charlie P. has a similar question. "Birth order and personality: Where do you fit in? Do you think this is an accurate description of you or your children?"

As you parent, Circle of Moms members say it's worth considering your children's birth order, and subsequently how you work through some of the less desirable traits. Read on.

Would you let your child poop in the potty in a restaurant?

That's just what one Manhattan woman did at an outdoor restaurant, allowing the boy to do "No. 2" right next to the table while others were dining nearby, Today reports.

Even if you needed to keep your child on a strict schedule, Today show hosts Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb suggest moms choose less offensive options, like taking the potty to the bathroom and having the child use it there.

After all, Gifford says, "Children on a potty are adorable, but . . . "

"Not what happens after, which is the wiping portion," Kotb concludes.