Meet Kimberly Naranjo (pictured right) of Evolve Studio. Mother of two, business owner, artist, photographer and founder of a non-profit. Kimberly’s specialty is ‘lifestyle phography’: photos taken in her clients’ homes and other spaces where they spend their quality time. Her goal is to “capture and make the ordinary beautiful” by finding those times people want to remember and “make what seems ordinary into beautiful art.” Read the rest »

The Operation Shower Mother’s Day celebration is officially underway as 50 Marine Corps and Navy moms-to-be received thousands of dollars worth of gifts this weekend as a part of an effort to shower 100 expectant moms between now and Mother’s Day. On Friday, fifty people gathered on a beautiful California afternoon overlooking the Desert Palms Golf Course to celebrate 20 very special moms to be at Twentynine Palms whose husbands are deployed overseas. The festivities continued the following day in San Diego where 30 moms-to-be whose husbands are aboard the USS Nimitz opened presents, won raffle items and talked babies. Read the rest »

100th Anniversary of Mother’s Day Prompts Baby Showers for 100 Military Moms

Raleigh, NC - One hundred new moms and moms-to-be from four branches of the military will be showered with gifts between now and Mother’s Day as a part of the latest efforts of Operation Shower. Operation Shower has teamed up with Wal-Mart to host baby showers at four bases: USS Nimitz (California), Twentynine Palms (California), Scott AFB (Illinois) and Ft. Bragg (North Carolina). Moms will receive donated items from Wal-Mart, its suppliers and other companies in a “Shower in a Box”. Read the rest »

Last year, Clever Parents teamed up with Lena Morrissey of Lena’s Notebook to create a non-profit organization called Operation Shower. Through Operation Shower, we organize and host baby showers for expectant and new moms whose husbands are deployed overseas. To date, we have showered more than 100 deserving women from different branches of the military with tens of thousands of dollars worth of baby and mom gear. Read the rest »

Q. What should I do about my 5-yr-old lying? He’s a bright boy. Sometimes the lies he tells now are imaginative, but more frequently it’s just denying that he did something by saying it was the ghost who lives with us. How can I get him to accept the consequences when he won’t admit he’s done it? Sometimes I try just saying “Oh look! The shampoo’s spilled all over the floor! Here, you take this towel and I’ll take this one and let’s clean it up.” He shrugs me off like he was a teenager! (He’s 5.)

Other times I ignore the lie coming out of his mouth and go on based on what I can see: He says he put his books away, but they’re still out, so we don’t leave for the park. I don’t think I give the impression that I believe his lies. I just don’t want to have to deal with it.

You’ve done a good bit of experimenting with your responses, and that’s smart. It helps when we parents can notice a difficulty, and instead of stomping on it hard, we try this, and try that, and watch what seems to help and what doesn’t. Experimentation is the sign of a good learner! I think I may be able to add a bit of perspective, and a suggestion or two. Read the rest »

The first thing you should do in the morning before getting out of bed is to stretch.
I love to do the following cross over back stretch which helps release tension in the lower spine accumulated through the weird positions we put ourselves in through our sleep. Also, if your family is anything like mine, we always end up having two kids in our bed and me sandwiched between them.

Perform the stretch every day and hold for 30 seconds. This will ease any awkward kinks that sleep can bring and place the spine in better alignment. Read the rest »

Q. What can I do to help my timid little girl gain confidence?

Does the answer, “Wrestling!” come to mind? Many of the confident, capable, courageous girls I know have families in which vigorous physical play is a tradition. It’s an unsung activity that is far more important to children’s development than we’ve guessed.

What advantage does wrestling and horseplay give our daughters? There are many reasons why it’s great for girls. (It’s wonderful for boys for the same reasons, but let’s focus here on girls, as they are socialized not to participate in this kind of play.) Read the rest »