Mom in the City

1. Recommended by a MitC member, (see Special Offers) the site 1 800 Diapers. http://www.1800diapers.com/, is great.  Discounted prices, FREE fast shipping and a large selection of baby products, (not to mention the convenience of shopping from home) makes this site worth a visit. It's best if you want to buy large (like a month's or more) supply of items...that's what I did.

2. Dr. Seuss' THE CAT IN THE HAT - This classic celebrates its 50th anniversary this March.  Buy any Dr. Seuss book! For every proof of purchase received between January 9, 2007, and May 1, 2007, Random House Children's Books will donate one book to First Book (http://www.firstbook.org/site/c.lwKYJ8NVJvF/b.674095/k.CC09/Home.htm).  For more information, visit http://www.seussville.com/CITH_50th/.

3. Garden in a Bag:  The first day of Spring is 3/21. Enjoy an urban version of planting with your kids with the easy to grow version -- the plants grow right in the leak-proof bag! I did one with my 2 year old son and he was so excited when the plants blossomed a few days later.  You can find the bags at http://store01.prostores.com/servlet/pottingshedcreations/StoreFront  and
http://www.wishingfish.com/gardenbag.html

4. Gift baskets.  My doctor's practice (West Care Medical) has done such an excellent job of taking care of me during both pregnancies, labor and deliveries that I have been looking for a small way to say "thank you".  I'm not a big flowers person, so I don't especially like sending them (unless I know that the recipient really likes flowers.)  Anyway, I found a great, reasonable gift basket site from where I can choose a variety of themed baskets, www.winecountrygiftbaskets.com

5. Pizza Parties.  This year is the first time that my son really "gets" the meaning of a birthday party.  As such, he has his list of things that he wants: a pizza party, the Doodlebops and a cake being the top 3.  Although I can't get the Doodlebops to perform at his party, I think that we can accommodate the other two wishes.  Since I have a new baby at home, I didn't want to do an in-house make your own pizza party.  I narrowed the choices down to three: Two Boots Pizza (http://www.twoboots.com/HTML/Main_HTML/RestaurantKidParty.html) and Uno Chicago Grill (http://www.unos.com/index.html) - they both have pizza making parties...for Unos you just need to call the location and ask for the details; and Chuck E. Cheese's http://www.chuckecheese.com/main/index.php?content=content/party.swf - they now have a city location (in Harlem)...I had taken my son and a friend there a few weeks ago and they loved it. (After getting input from attendees, we have decided to do the party at Uno Chicago Grill in March.)

6. Crockpots (http://www.crockpot.com/).  My mom and my aunt-in-law have been singing the praises of throwing things in these pots in the morning and having a tasty meal at the end of the day.  Now that I'm trying to figure out new time-saving techniques, I'm eager to use my newest gift.  (The site also has great, simple recipes!)
 
7. Companies giving back to the community.  I made Hamburger Helper for the first time at my son's request a couple of weeks ago.  The lasagna flavor was actually pretty good for an occasional meal.  What impressed me even more was their Hometown Helper program, http://www.myhometownhelper.com/, where they are giving away up to $15,000 a month to fund projects in hometowns across America.