Today, Carole Arsenault of Boston Baby Nurses shares 6 car safety tips for parents and caregivers in honor of September's National Child Passenger Safety Month:

In March 2011, the American Academy of Pediatrics published its latest car seat recommendations, which specify that children under the age of two years remain rear-facing in their car seats unless the child's height and weight exceed the car seat manufacturer's rear-facing specifications. According to Dennis Durbin, MD, FAAP (lead author of the new policy), "a rear-facing child safety seat does a better job of supporting the head, neck and spine of infants and toddlers in a crash, because it distributes the force of the collision over the entire body."
Note that this contrasts the prior and longstanding car seat recommendation advising rear-facing positioning only until babies are one-year-old or 20 lbs. I advise all parents to abide by the new policy and also consider the following child passenger safety tips:

1. Never, under any circumstance, leave your child unattended in a vehicle.

2. To avoid forgetting that your child is in the car (yes, it can happen!), always put your important belongings, such as cell phone and purse/wallet on the floor of the back seat and make a habit of checking for your personal items before locking up -- whether or not your child is typically with you in the car.

3. Never place a car seat in the front passenger seat -- rear-facing or not -- just so you can see your baby. The airbag poses a serious risk. Always make sure the car seat is installed properly, ideally using a LATCH system, rear-facing in the back seat.

4. Do not try to place a pacifier in your baby's mouth, physically soothe, or provide snacks to your baby while driving. Calming with your voice or even loud music may help.

5. Pull over and stop the car to check on your baby if you have any cause for concern while driving.

6. Thoroughly review passenger safety information with your child's caregiver and/or confirm transport safety policies with the day care facility your child attends.

Parents should contact their pediatrician if they have any questions regarding car safety or visit their local fire station if they are unsure about car seat installation.

Editor's Note: I have posted previously in event roundups about car seat installation safety events and will continue to include them as I hear about them.

Image credit: FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Whether or not extreme couponing is your thing, grocery budgeting is top of mind for most families. As part of Momversation and Ragú®'s Mom's the Word on Dinner Program, I recently chatted with Daphne Brogdon and Caroline Murphy about tips for feeding families on a budget. I've embedded the video below for your viewing pleasure (it's just over two minutes long) and would love to hear your clever tips for scoring at the grocery store, either below in the comments or over at the Ragú® Sauce Facebook page.
http://player.deca.tv/player.swf?embedCode=9zYnNzMjoo1MzPJ17wvQIGkFGWsKjoNv&version=2

Note: This video was produced in partnership with Ragú® and Momversation's Mom's the Word on Dinner Program. You can find out more about the program and join in on the conversation at the Ragú® Sauce Facebook page.

Image credit: Carlos Porto / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I love when creativity meshes with doing good, and this weekend the Life is good Festival will feature an impressive lineup of musical talent in Canton as a fundraiser to help kids in need. In addition to a steady stream of musical performances (which includes a dedicated kids stage), families can enjoy games, activities, crafts, and food. Meanwhile, how cool is this? The kind folks at Life is good are offering one of you awesome readers a Life is good Festival package*! Here's how to enter to win:

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THIS CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED
Congrats to winner Bethan!
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Rules:

Simply e-mail contests@bostonmamas.com (with "Life is good Festival" in the subject) to enter to win.

One entry permitted per person; local entrants welcome to enter.

Entry period closes at midnight EST, Wednesday, September 21, 2011.

*One lucky winner (drawn using Random.org) will receive a Life is good Festival package including a family four pack of tickets (2 adults/2 children) to the Life is good Festival on Sunday, September 25, 2011, a copy of the new Laurie Berkner DVD, and a case of Chobani Champions Greek yogurt for kids.. Sweet!

I'd been wanting it for about six months. And last week was a long week. So when Beloved and I finished dinner early on our postponed Saturday date night and he suggested that maybe I should just go get that tattoo, I took him up on it.

The tattoo artist tried to upsell me to something with banners and hearts and what she referred to as "timeless gangster script" and I looked at her like do you see me standing right here in front of you?

Then she said they were all mentioning how much I look like Kate Gosselin. I could just see it -- three twentysomethings in the back laughing at how Kate Gosselin had just shown up to get her ink done.

It made me feel a bit old. A bit twee.

But I got it, anyway.

Presently I'm sitting in the world's funniest hotel in San Mateo, California, where I just had a day of business meetings yesterday and am preparing for another one today. Me and my new tattoo, which is reminding me to stop worrying about what might happen in the future. My tattoo that is telling me to live in the present.

I'm 37 years old, and I guess at this point I can stencil whatever I want on my appendages. The time, it seems, is just now, whenever now is, and that's something I've been fighting to keep in mind for the past few years. Something I came perilously close to forgetting this week when two family members had unexpected health scares and forced me to cling to the present in ways I haven't in a while.

After the twenty-four-year-old tattoo artist finished my tiny revelation, I texted the babysitter to tell her I was coming home early to show her my new tattoo.

On Sunday morning I woke up, having forgotten about the whole thing, and was honestly shocked when I saw my arm. It was like waking up at your grandma's house when you were expecting to see your own bedroom. I admit I freaked out for a minute, then I read the damn thing and reminded myself it's here now, I'm me now, there is only now. There is no worrying about the future or ruminating on the past -- if I'm to be present, there is only now.

See? It's working.

I hope you're all enjoying the fall weather and finding your rhythm with back to school routines and such. Among other things, this weekend was notable in that Violet had her first nibble of solid food -- it was both lovely that Laurel fed Violet her first non-mama snack and I also couldn't help but feel a little weepy about it all! Anyway, I'm wishing you all a wonderful Monday; here are some fun event ideas for this week, engaging for those who love music, textiles, star gazing, nature, food, museums, and local celebrations.

Image credit: vitasamb2001 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Like many moms, my daily life is packed -- both with work projects and a seemingly endless stream of household minutia. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about how to increase my happiness factor by shifting the weight off the minutia (I even have a draft post titled "How to Do Less"), so it was bizarrely well timed when TaskRabbit contacted me about being the Boston spokeswoman for their Do More. Live More. Be More. campaign. I was psyched for a couple of reasons. First, I've happily used TaskRabbit before. Second, the campaign is all about encouraging people to do more of what they love and less of what they don't.
As part of the campaign, over the next month I will experiment with letting go of my inner control freak and outsourcing via TaskRabbit. Below I share some of the overarching things I need help with and will update you later on how things are going. Meanwhile, TaskRabbit is asking folks a simple question: "What would you promise yourself if you had more time to do the things you want to do?" Simply share your promise (up to October 14) and you'll be entered to win cool prizes -- including a luxury vacation (yeah, uh, I suspect you could use one of those right about now!)

Probably not uncommonly, I want to outsource so I can have less minutia monkeys on my back and more time both with my family and on my own. More specifically, I really want to be present in the moment, not multitasking.

Purging. For me, purging -- whether it's kid stuff or old electronics -- makes me feel lighter both in physical and emotional space. I would love some help with finding new homes for our unwanted items as it's a task that sits at the bottom of my to-do list casting a hairy nagging eyeball at me.

Pickups. In addition to random errand pickups, I would love help with our weekly CSA pickup. The timing is not great for us and invariably makes for a harried end of day.

Event planning. I'm co-hosting a fantastic event October 4 (we're almost sold out -- you should get a ticket if you're thinking of coming!). I'm super excited about it but it also involves a lot of work. I'm hoping to outsource some of the tasks leading up to the event.

Household. We have a bunch of random household projects that need to get done.

Travel. I have several trips upcoming and I would love help with the planning -- whether it's researching details or procuring items needed for the trips.

Virtual assistant. This will be the hardest for me (that old control freak thing) but lately, I've been feeling completely swamped work-wise (I started a new business venture last month, and still need to find my rhythm balancing everything). I have always thought of TaskRabbit as an errand provider but in looking at the site, I see it's not uncommon to ask for clerical help. So I'm hoping to try out TaskRabbit for some virtual assistant type tasks. Fingers crossed.

That's what's on my mind so far. Do you have similar minutia monkeys on your back? What other tasks have been nagging at you?

You all might think I'm crazy. Yesterday in a fit of passion I wrote about the Piedmont Hills cheerleaders on BlogHer:

Please. Not all cheerleaders are queen bees and queen bees will be queen bees regardless of what they are wearing. No saggy butt ever stopped a queen bee. Plus, Piedmont Hills Pep could just wear running tights under their uniforms if they wanted to be more covered and less saggy-butted. That is not the issue here! The issue is why have cheerleaders wear uniforms to school in the first place? Feeding into the cheerleader stereotype completely begs the question of why they are the one brand of athlete that wears a uniform to school.

Read the rest over there -- would love to hear from you. Back to normal I hope on Monday! Have a great weekend.

I know I shouldn't be so typically New England and obsess about weather, but 60s for this weekend -- welcome, fall! It'll be the perfect weather to enjoy any (or all, if you're feeling crazy ambitious) of these 17 fun weekend picks:

1. Rock it, South Boston.

2. It's been a looooong time since I've seen a movie in a theatre. This film festival could rectify that situation.
3. Artistry in the South End abounds.

4. Love, peace, and soul at the Oak Street Fair.

5. I love that this landscape watercolor workshop series is open to kids 9 and up.

6. The apples have arrived.

7. Laurel and I had so much fun building a fairy house the other week; head northward for fairy house building inspiration.

8. Fall fun in Quincy.

9. The weather will be utterly perfect for ponies, agile dogs, and other farm fun.

10. C'mon, a dog parade? How cute is that?

11. I loved the block parties my street held when I was a kid. Gloucester will be hosting a big block party this weekend.

12. Show your Arlington pride.

13. Oh to have an endless summer.

14. Apparently, Peabody = international mecca!

15. Assembly Square makes a bid for cool new hub in Somerville.

16. I dated a Serb back in the day. He would totally dig this.

17. A celebration of Greek culture north of town.

Image credit: South Boston Street Festival

This week has really just drained me. I've had three family health scares, an extremely time-consuming and stressful parental extracurricular activity and a few unexpected curveballs in other arenas. I've sat here staring at this screen for a few minutes now, and I don't want to write about anything that has happened this week. I feel like there are a few brewing good posts about current events, but honestly with getting so behind with aforementioned dramas, I don't have time to write anything good.

Yet, I feel compelled to record something this week, and perhaps that something is this: I'm tired.

Yet another thing: I'm in love with my whole family. Having people's health threatened made my already-squishy heart explode with love, and I felt it gushing out with such volume it threatened to drown me. All this week I've looked at my daughter and thanked God the challenges the world threw at us this week were manageable, everyone turned out to be okay after various doctor visits, scares were mitigated, and life is very close to returning to normal, except the new normal for me, is even more grateful than I was before.