When you don’t feel well, you have lower energy, and it’s hard to be productive. Therefore, it’s important to take good care of your health, to get regular check-ups, and to investigate chronic conditions you’ve resigned yourself to. Given how quickly medical science advances, it’s a good idea to check into the possibility of new treatments on a regular basis.

Follow these tips, and you may end up feeling better than you have in years.

1. Practice good self care. Line up your routine checkups, screenings, and exams, especially if you’re over 40 or suffer from a chronic condition. When did you last have a physical? Schedule future reminders in your calendar and stick to them.

2. Take care of your teeth. Good dental hygiene can add years to your life. Periodontal bacterial by-products resulting from poor dental care can enter the bloodstream and travel to major organs, setting off other problems.

3. Treat your cold. Instead of toughing it out and showing up for work anyway when you’re sick with a cold, stay home and treat your symptoms; otherwise, you’re likely to infect other people. Ask your doctor what he recommends in treating symptoms.

4. Disinfect your environment. A weakened immune system due to an infection can leave you listless and susceptible to opportunistic illnesses. Decrease your likelihood of illness by keeping your work area clean. Wipe it down with disinfectants on a regular basis, and don’t eat at your desk.

5. Have more sex. Spending quality time between the sheets can lower your stress and improve your immune system. Orgasms may also relieve headaches and menstrual symptoms, and people with a good sex life also seem better able to ward off colds and depression.

6. Laugh! Laughter really can be the best medicine. Laughing can build levels of the antibody IgA, one of the body’s first line of defense against germs. If you get sick a lot, maybe you’re just not laughing enough.

7. Don’t give up on fighting chronic pain. Consistent physical pain can really sap your energy. Instead of just putting up with it, check with your doctor to see what your options are. Don’t take “you’ll have to live with it” as an answer.

8. Clean the air. If you don’t have allergies, but you’re sneezing a lot, your nose is running, and your eyes are watering, call an air duct cleaning company and have them do a thorough cleaning to remove any contaminants in your HVAC system.

Learn to take personal responsibility for taking care of any health problems you suffer. Don’t wait for something to feel “wrong” before you get it checked out. Identify the wellness issues that are affecting your energy and causing you to feel poorly, and address those issues aggressively.

It may seem a tad paradoxical, but you can’t be productive if you don’t know how to relax. Leisure activities and relaxation like reading, talking, playing games, and other non-gadget pastimes can reduce your stress levels and increase your energy.

1. Step off the merry-go-round. If you’ve recently undergone a particularly busy spell, you may be addicted to going full-throttle. When your mind’s sick and tired of working, but your body can’t stop, you need to slam on the brakes.

2. Understand that rest isn’t a bad thing. You don’t feel guilty about going to the bathroom, so why feel guilty about resting? While too much rest can cut into your productivity, an occasional break is necessary to top up your energy reserves.

3. Set aside some “me” time. Pamper yourself occasionally; it’s okay to think about yourself and do something simply for the pleasure of it. It’s not about being selfish; it’s about self-care and energy replenishment.

4. Don’t feel guilty when you play. When you’re playing, don’t dwell on what you could be doing instead. Be present in your play and enjoy yourself. After all, if you wait until all your work is done before you play, you’ll never play.

5. Don’t be a workaholic. If you’re a workaholic, get help. Too much work can literally make you sick. You’re likely to burn out, which can lead to depression, excessive physical and emotional stress, and a shortage of physical energy.

6. Learn to unwind. If you find yourself unable to relax after a stressful day, try progressive relaxation for 30 minutes. It quiets your mind, and it’s particularly helpful if you suffer from insomnia.

7. Take regular vacations. Stress and leisure are inversely proportional: the less leisure time you build into your overall life, the more stress you’ll experience — and that translates into less energy. Take all the vacation time you’re due.

8. Don’t jam up vacations with work. Work and play are meant to be separate, so make sure they stay that way. A working vacation isn’t a vacation — it’s work. The quality of a vacation isn’t measured by the output, so leave your cell phone, Blackberry, and laptop at home.

Learn to take it easy to you can become more productive than ever. This might sound like something Zen, but the truth is that even seemingly quiet, relaxing uses of free time are energy-builders — not energy drains.

Boston Mamas: Let Them Eat Cake! Thanks to Cherrybrook Kitchen baking mixes, kids and adults with allergies can happily indulge in treat time.

Classy Mommy: Interview with Dr. Bob Sears author of the Vaccine Book
Classy Mommy had a chance to do a Q&A chat with Dr. Bob Sears, author of The Vaccine Book. Read all about it here!

Healthy Bump: Bummis The Bummis complete diapering kit is a perfect start for new moms.

MomFinds: Win a Deluxe Learning Kit for Your Little Reader Teach your baby to read with over $120 worth of books, word cards and interactive DVDs from Your Baby Can Read.

Moms Buzz: Keep Your Husband in Style! Men’s Trend for Spring 2008 Fashion is also hot for men this Spring 2008. There is always something trendy for all men’s style. This Spring season, men’s trend is characterized by…find out!

One Chic Mama: Tangerine Dream With bold colors hot this season, citrus spiked hues add a dash of warmth and a burst of color.

The Nest Baby: Bump Contest Don’t forget to submit your belly pic to the bump contest! Then, browse and vote for your faves — winner gets a trip to Jamaica!

We Covet: Life Saver We Covet
The brilliant Shemergency Survival Kit has just about old thing you might need in a pinch

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Family Dollar, today announced a voluntary recall of 250,000 FUN ‘N SAFE Magnetic Dart Boards. Small magnets at the ends of the darts can detach from the darts. Young children can swallow or aspirate the magnets. “If more than one magnet is swallowed, the magnets can attract each other and cause intestinal perforations or blockages, which can be fatal.”

“The magnetic dart board is about 15 inches wide with a black, white, green, and red bulls eye checkered design and was sold with six 4-inch long magnetic darts. The darts magnetically adhere to the dart board when thrown. “Made in China” is embossed on the back of the board.”

The dart boards were sold exclusively at Family Dollar stores nationwide for about $5 from January 2001 through January 2008.

Consumers should immediately take the recalled toys away from children and return the board and all of the darts to a Family Dollar store for a refund.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, contact Family Dollar at (800) 547-0359 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. PT Monday through Friday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.familydollar.com

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with Trek Bicycle Corp, today announced a voluntary recall of nearly 50,000 Trek MT220 Girls Bicycles.

The frame of the bicycle can break during use, resulting in the rider losing control and suffering injuries. To date, 13 incidents of frames breaking have been reported including four minor injuries.

“This recall involves Trek girls’ bicycles model MT220 and model years 2005 (light metallic blue), 2006 (metallic silver and metallic purple or pink and pearl white), and 2007 (pink and white pearl or metallic purple). The model name is printed on the frame of the bicycle. Model year 2008 bicycles re not included in this recall.”

The bicycles were sold at authorized Trek dealers nationwide from April 2004 through June 2007 for about $300.

Consumers should take the recalled bicycle away from children immediately and return it to a Trek dealer for a free replacement MT220 girl’s bicycle or a $100 discount on a different size Trek bicycle.

Consumer Contact: For additional information, consumers can contact Trek at (800) 373-4594 between 8 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. CT Monday through Friday and between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. CT Saturday, or visit the firm’s Web site at www.trekbikes.com

I sold my first business as a mom last month. I know I promised details but the two weeks it took to go from “Mine” to “Theirs” were hard as hell challenging.

This is what you need to know if you’re planning on selling your business. I wish I’d known this in hindsight!

• Be clear on what is included with the sale: Photos, articles, business email archive; what is the new owner entitled to?
• Decide pre-sale how much time you are willing to spend with the new owner to get them acclimated. Put it in the contract.
• Make sure you know where all of your business documents are! That business license is going to need to come out of the filing cabinet!

Selling a business is an emotional process for most entrepreneurs. Make the process less difficult by being prepared.

Another hard part of selling your business is seeing the new owner do things a little differently from how you did. The solution to this? Get over it! It’s not your baby anymore.

What’s next on my agenda? I founded NACEM- the North American Council of Entrepreneur Moms last month. It’s important for moms to be advocates, no one knows our issues better than we do.

Our children are born with by and large the healthiest skin we ever see. They are born with a fatty padding, which gives it a smooth, soft appearance. It has no damage from the sunlight. However, as children play outside, often spending most of the summer out of doors, there is often massive exposure to the sun, which will have long term consequences.

The care of their skin is almost entirely in the hands of their parents. Regular protection against the sun should begin now.

Mainstream products for babies and young children are usually highly fragranced, which can cause irritation. Moreover, baby products almost always have a pretty yellow or pink tint, which comes from coloring agents, which is also problematic for children’s sensitive skin. If baby products were really gentler than adults’ products, than they would be free of chemical fragrance and coloring agents. So that is where we as parents, as advocates for our children, need to choose fragrance-free and color-free products.

Bubble Baths – Many bubble bath products for young children are based on detergents that destroy beneficial bacteria and harm the baby’s acid mantle. Bubble baths are also the leading cause of vaginitis and urinary tract infections in infants. This problem has become so common that the FDA has ruled that these products must carry warning labels advising parents against excess bathing.

Lotions and Oils – Massaging lotions and oils into your baby’s skin can relieve irritation. But what you use should be free of petrochemicals, which are irritants. Also, healing herbs such as Aloe have a good record of safe use in cosmetics.

Powders – Most powders contain tiny particles that irritate the skin and many contain fragrance, a leading cause of irritation and allergy. Many baby powders also contain talc. Studies have linked talc to cancer.

Shampoos – A mild shampoo is best. It is best if they do not contain synthetic fragrances, artificial colors, or highly allergic and irritating preservatives. The gentlest preservatives may include vitamins A, C, and E.

Sunscreen – Once your baby is 6 months old, you should get in the habit of using sunscreen on your child year round, even on overcast days. During the day, if the child’s skin is going to be exposed to the sun, a sunscreen is essential. Choose hypoallergenic, PABA-free sunscreen, that has a SPF of 15 or higher and blocks both UVA and UVB rays. Formulations that contain titanium oxide and zinc oxide are best because of their reduced risk of irritation.

Key Ingredients
Some key ingredients to look for include the following:

Vitamin A (Retinyl Palmitate) - a skin normalizer that helps to keep skin soft. It readily penetrates into the epidermis and dermis, and is an antioxidant. It is a skin moisturizer and increases the skin’s elasticity. It also helps prevent roughness due to UV exposure.

Vitamin E (Tocopheryl Acetate) is an antioxidant with skin moisturizing properties. It plays a crucial role in protecting the skin from free radical damage. It helps to soften skin. It is absorbed into all layers of the epidermis and then goes into various tissues in the dermis. It improves the moisturizing and elastic properties of the skin.

Aloe penetrates the skin and delivers moisture directly to the tissues; it is considered a true moisturizer. It forms a barrier on the skin’s surface, which prevents moisture loss due to evaporation. It has anti-inflammatory, soothing and healing properties.

Orange Oil and Orange Blossom Oil have anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, making them excellent for use on sensitive and delicate skin. Both have soothing and calming abilities when used in skin care.

Cedarwood Oil is calming and has the ability to release tension and ease anxiety. It helps to relieve itching so it could be helpful in easing the symptoms of common childhood eczema.

Other Beneficial Ingredients: Decyl Glycoside, Oat Extract, and Shea Butter

Resources: www.arbonne.com

http://skin-care.health-cares.net/baby-skin-care.php

Dear Henry,

I have to let some of this adoration that I feel for you out of my system. I fear that if I don’t I will burst open tomorrow, or maybe even tonight, in my sleep. I wish I could pause time to preserve this phase of innocent wonder that you are running through on squishy, square feet. When I watch you dunk your chubby fists in your yogurt cup to get those last, hard-to reach bites, or dump your bowl of fried rice over your head, or christen your toothbrush in the toilet, or pick your “boogies nose,” or come out of the closet with my underwear on your head, I wonder if I’ll ever be able to teach you all the things you need to learn to function as a “normal” member of society. And then I look around, and I realize that I don’t want you to blend too seemlessly in with the “norm.” I realize that what I should be concerned about is whether or not I am learning all of the sterling little lessons that you have to teach me in this utterly guileless phase of your existence.

Sometimes when I get really upset with daddy, forgiveness comes more quickly when I think back to the stories that Nana has told me about him when he was a little boy. It’s really hard to stay mad when I imagine him wearing his sister’s red polka-dot dress or excitedly doning his cowboy boots for first-grade. I don’t know what your adolescent years will be like, but I want to give permanence to a few of the endearing things that you do right now just in case I need a pleasant reminder from our past to endear you to me when you’re seventeen. And maybe these silly and soft memories might peel back your rebelious regalia at some point, and remind you of the fact that you are, at your core, good, sensitive, and kind. And that you are tethered up so tightly in your mama’s heartstrings that strangulation is always an imminent threat. So let me try to tell you, Henry, how and why you are so lovable…so dear.

It is the way you ask for me, very frankly, from your crib when you’re ready to get up, “Hey mama! Me ho-joo! OK?” And when you or I sneeze, how you say, “Besh-oo Henry. Besh-oo Mama,” a little confused about who gets the blessing, the sneezer or the blesser, you just bless both of us. It is the way you announce and claim all of your bodily functions, “TOOTIE!” “Bewp!” “Go Poo Poo!” (though I do hope you’ll stop that at some point in the near future,) and even warn me of dad’s, “Daddy tootie!” Daddy Bewp!” It makes me smile when I hear you congratulate yourself on a structure well-built with your Mega-blocks, “Goo-job Bud!” you declare satisfactorily as you snap those last pieces together. A masterpiece every time! It is the armful of stories you bring me every night, and the way you ask me to, “weed it, books.” And your stubborn insistence to eat everything with a fork–sandwiches, grapes, yogurt, cheese slices. No matter the food, you “Need it, byew (blue) fowk!” It is the way you greet every day with smiles and enthusiasm, pointing out the little pillow that’s been in your crib every night for the past year, the one that you pointed out yesterday morning and the morning before, and the one before…like you’d never seen such a nice, soft, wonderfully, snuggly little “pee-yow” before. And how you do the same thing when you “heow dat bowdie!!” (hear that birdie) and “see dat fowows!!” (see that flowers) and feel the “Shu-shine” and “heow dat Aew-pane” (hear that airplane) — how you notice them all with the same inquisitive wonder and delight that you did the first time you ever saw a birdie, an airplane, a flower. It’s the way you stroke my hair at night and, “shhhh mama,” when we snuggle before bed. And the way you love your blankie–like I loved mine, and ask for it three times as soon as you’re buckled into your car-seat, “mangee, mangee, ma-a-a-a-ngee!” And the way you run out of your room, with it clenched in your fist exclaiming, “found it, mangee!” like it had been buried in a pile of rubble for a decade, but was, in reality, only in the other room for a few minutes. It is the lovely way you give this world the benefit of the doubt, greeting every store clerk, customer, pedestrian and passer-by with a contagious smile and genuinely exuberant, “HIIIIIIIII!” I hate to imagine the day when someone will break the trust that you so willingly give and that one broken promise at a time, lenses of skepticism will form in front of your honest little eyes and you will be forced to observe the world from an appropriately “safe” distance with your guard up. I wish you could maintain the perfectly innocent and optimistic filter through which you sift your experience. The other day I was walking into the bathroom with a “product” that moms need during a certain week of every month, and when you heard the wrapper crinkle in my hand, your eyes went ablaze with excitement and you squealed, “Pop-a-cle!!” Oh Henry, I wish it were a popsicle, I really do. I wish everything in life were as innocent and sweet and good as it is to you now.

These last few weeks have been hard with daddy gone so much. The stress of nearly-single parenthood has stratched me so thin in some moments that you’ve seen my really unflattering spots–up close. I feel like I should apologize for those moments and grovel for your forgiveness, but I don’t even have to. You don’t make me do that like adults do when we offend each other. You’re ready to “nuggow” with me in the instant that I stop scolding–no grudge, no silent treatment, not a hint of resentment or a memory of the miff. Perhaps I can teach you about numbers and colors, but you have taught me about love that is too big to count and life that is more vivid than rainbows.

It’s all these things and a hundred hundreds more, Henry, that make you so dear to me…that bring real live tears to my eyes when I come to terms with the fact that this delightful little stage will end. And now that I’ve put all these tender feelings out in the ether, I only feel nearer to bursting than I did before. But I’ve learned something about this near-to-bursting sensation, and that is that I’ll never actually burst, but that my heart has this wonderfully elastic quality that allows me to love and adore beyond my wildest imaginations of what I ever thought possible before there was you.

Love you forever…

Mama

In March 2005, Christine Steendahl was a stay-at-home mom of three and her family was feeling the pressure from a tight budget. Wanting to stay home with her children, Christine decided she needed to get creative. After brainstorming various ideas to bring in extra income, Christine had her lightbulb moment when she was preparing her weekly menu like she does every week. “Menu planning is a very helpful thing, but it takes time,” says Christine. “Why not share my menus with other busy moms to make their lives easier?” So Christine researched what was currently available on the market and found various menu planning websites, but none that were focused primarily on simple recipes for families. And Dine Without Whine was born.

Dine Without Whine is an online meal planning service for families. For $4.95 a month, subscribers receive an email with the main dish recipes for every night of the week, suggested side dishes, brunch menus for the weekends, and a couple of desserts to use during the week anytime. Recipes are family friendly and come with a grocery list categorized by aisle.

Clever Parents caught up with Christine to find out some of her family’s favorite meals, food staples to keep in the house and an upcoming service for vegetarians.

Clever Parents: What are some of your family’s favorite meals?
Christine Steendahl: We enjoy many things, some standard things such as Spaghetti or Baked Chicken Breasts, and we also enjoy trying new kid-friendly recipes. Here is one of our latest favorites:

Hot Taco Salad
Makes 8 servings

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 envelope taco seasoning mix
• 1/2 16-ounce bag tortilla chips (or Nacho Doritos)
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 medium tomato chopped
• 1/2 head lettuce chopped

Sauce

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• 1 pound Velveeta cheese

Directions:

• Brown hamburger, drain, add taco seasoning mix and set aside.
• Crush chips into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Spread hamburger mixture over chips.
• Layer onion, tomato and lettuce on top of hamburger.
• In a large saucepan melt butter. Stir in flour and stir continuously until smooth. Stir in milk. Bring to a boil – stirring constantly and boil one minute. Add Velveeta Cheese and stir until melted. Pour sauce over casserole.
• Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until bubbly.

Clever Parents: What food staples do you recommend families keep on hand?
Christine Steendahl: This is going to vary from family to family and what your favorites are. I encourage members to shop the sales and stock up on the basics your family frequently uses. I often will stock up on certain items such as ground beef, chicken breasts, pork chops, oatmeal etc. when they go on sale. Our menus include a grocery list each week that includes everything needed to create the menu recipes including the basics such as flour, spices etc. All members need to do is print the shopping list and then cross off anything they already have on hand. It is quick and easy.

As for vegetarian families, Christine says she has had several requests and is working on a 12 week menu that will be available as a one time purchase option in the near future. (The menus can then be rotated every three months.)

What does Christine find most remarkable about how families respond to her service? “It has been the biggest blessing to hear how we have helped families come back around the dinner table and re-discover the pleasure of the dinner hour.”

Look for a regular column from Christine coming soon on Clever Parents. Visit Dine Without Whine (www.dinewithoutwhine.com) to learn more about the service and to sign up.

Thank You for Helping Make Operation Shower a Success

Imagine being pregnant while your spouse is deployed in Iraq or Afghanistan. Operation Shower is a non-profit organization that supports our troops and their families by providing baby showers to moms and moms-to-be whose husbands are deployed overseas defending America’s interests. Founded by the owners of Clever Parents and Lena’s Notebook, Operation Shower throws baby showers around the country for these deserving women. On Saturday, December 8th, 2007, 50 Army spouses will be showered with gifts in Fort Hood, Texas.

Operation Shower would like to thank the following generous organizations for providing gifts for all 50 of the women being honored at the upcoming shower at Fort Hood. Thank you for making Operation Shower a success!

Baby Gear

• EuroTotes by lillebaby Traveling just got easier with the lillébaby EuroTote™! Ideal for parents on the go, the EuroTote does far more than any single function baby carrier or bunting bag on the market. www.lillebabyusa.com

Bath & Body

• Love Me Baby Me gift sets. The Love Me Baby Me natural baby skincare line includes five pure, safe and gentle skincare products: Bubbly Wash, Smoothy Shampoo, Creamy Cream, Hair Putty and Butt Balm. www.lovemebabyme.com
• Tiny Truffles Little Twig’s Baby Basics gift pack will help get your favorite new family off to a great start with fun, all-natural infant bathing essentials-including a plush caterpillar washcloth, refreshing extra mild baby powder, and organic lavender baby wash & bodymilk. www.tinytruffles.com
• JOHNSON’S® – An assortment of bath and skincare products. www.johnsonsbaby.com
• Trimfoot Co Make bath time even more fun with a bath gift set from Trimfoot Co. Adorable hooded towel, slippers, bath mit and brush arranged in an adorable basket with cloth liner. www.trimfootco.com

Clothing & Shoes

• Vincent Shoes The hip Vincent™ collection of children’s shoes are fun, fashionable and functional. The Vincent shoe brand is 100% focused on children’s shoes, including sneakers, dress shoes, dress-up shoes, prewalkers, baby booties, boots, slippers, high tops and sandals. www.vincentshoestore.us
• Baby Legs Baby Legs leg warmers are great for crawling over all surfaces. www.babylegs.net
• Baby Ears Hats from Karen Alexis. Sweet hats with little ears to keep baby’s heads warm. www.karenalexis.com
• The Stowers Swaddler This unique swaddling baby blanket makes swaddling easy to do and easier to maintain. The blanket’s design is based on techniques used in maternity by nurses, midwives and other professionals. www.uniquenotecards.com
• My Rockstar Baby Is your baby reporting for ACTIVE DOODIE? Then this is the perfect little onesie! www.myrockstarbaby.com
• Tiny Sprouts Show off your little sprout’s style with adorable, personalized onesies embroidered with the words of your choice. www.tinysprouts.com
• Baby Once Baby Once offers stylish apparel and accessories for newborns, infants and babies. For Operation Shower, Baby Once provided an assortment of baby items including blankets, diaper covers, baby legs, baby socks and more. www.babyonce.com

Decor

• Wee Gallery Cheer up baby’s room with three new collections of Wee Gallery animals now available as gallery-wrapped canvas prints. www.weegallery.com
• Kirby Ink Show your support of our soldiers with patriotic artwork from Kirby Ink. www.kirbyink.com

For The Moms & Dads

• Miss Elaine Miss Elaine specializes in fashionable sleepwear, robes and loungewear to suit the lifestyles of today’s woman. Whether it’s cozy robes or comfy pajamas, Miss Elaine’s products are designed with carefree fabrics detailed with feminine lace trim and beautiful embroidery. www.misselaine.com
• Sand Dune Publishing Between You and Me Keepsake Journals for Mom and Dad. Each hardcover, spiral-bound book contains 35 – 45 fun-to-ask and fun-to-answer questions. You get them back with handwritten responses you’ll cherish forever. www.sanddunebooks.com
• TRG Group Soren® has added to an elite collection of totes designed to meet the needs of a wide array of consumers. Soren® totes range from high fashion totes to everyday shopping totes. www.trgcorporate.com
• St. Martin’s Press Army Wives: The Unwritten Code of Military Marriage by Tanya Biank. www.stmartins.com
• Tobi Woods Designs Beautiful and artistic journals, magnets and notecards from Tobi Wood Designs www.tobiwooddesigns.com
• Hollyberry Baking Company Individually packed homemade cookies. www.hollyberrybaking.com
• Cornerstork Baby Gifts Cute and practical “About to Hatch” egg timers work fabulously anywhere. The egg-shaped timer twists at the bottom to countdown any interval of time from one minute to 60 minutes. www.cornerstorkbabygifts.com
• Safer Mom Inc Auto safety magnets from Safer Mom alert and remind drivers that there are children on board. www.safermom.com

Books & Multimedia

• Carol Kaplan-Lyss’s Lollipop Tree CDs (a collection of popular American folksongs) and Minnie Macaroni CDs (a homespun collection of simple songs and stories for young children) and cassettes of each. Sold exclusively on-line at Lena’s Notebook: http://notebook.myshopify.com/
• Cedar Valley Publishing Let’s Get Ready for Kindergarten by Stacy Kannenberg www.cedarvalleypublishing.com
  
• Giddio Billy Brown and the Mystery Package CDs www.giddio.com
• Blue Orchid Press Blue Orchid Breastfeeding and Newborn guides for your personal health. www.blueorchidpress.com

Many thanks to these generous companies and to the numerous other companies and individuals who contributed to the Fort Hood shower. If you are interested in donating items to an upcoming Operation Shower event, please visit www.operationshower.org