Light Iris blog

Light Iris app for Facebook

2009-02-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Last month the Light Iris app launched on Facebook to small group of friends and family. The goal was simple, see if this thing works. Fortunately, mostly everything did, and I'm pretty happy about that. More importantly maybe, I saw many opportunities for improvement and to make things easier useres. With that in mind, there are a number of changes being made behind the scenes. We hope to introduce those things in about a month's time from now. In the meantime, feel free to try it out and keep using it. All data will be retained. As more developments occur, I'll share them.

Discover the Preventable causes of the Major Chronic Diseases

2009-01-14T10:16:00.002-05:00

Scientists are recruiting 100,000 mothers-to-be to track the development of their children from conception to age 21. The goal is to discover the preventable causes of the major chronic diseases that affect American children today. Complete story on MSNBC.

The Girl Effect

2008-12-08T15:51:00.002-05:00

The Girl Effect looks like a worthwhile cause and gets a solid rating at charity navigator

Check it out: http://www.girleffect.org

Test breast milk for alcohol, Protect your baby from SIDS, and Help the little one to learn to walk

2008-10-06T16:16:00.001-05:00

Julie from Upspring Baby demonstrates how to test breast milk for alcohol, protect your baby from SIDS, and help the little one to learn to walk without ruining dad's back. Plus the mompreneur story behind this cool company.
http://blip.tv/file/1326713

Moms always like their kids and other myths

2008-09-25T10:18:00.004-05:00

Surprisingly good piece produced by the Today Show on motherhood myths: Moms always like their kids and other myths

The new mom sanity-saver that fits in the diaper bag

2008-08-13T16:09:00.003-05:00

Heather & Whitney make it easier, but certainly not easy, to be a new mom with their new book. They wrote it exclusively for first-time mothers and included 250 things to help. And they should know! They are (were) first time moms and the geniuses behind the blog, Rookie Moms.

on Facebook....soon

2008-07-17T21:34:00.002-05:00

Little Leisure Time for Moms

2008-05-29T11:06:00.001-05:00

Married women with preschoolers and full-time jobs have less free time than anyone else who is married. They have only 2.70 hours of leisure time a day. The men in their lives have 30% more leisure time than their wives - 3.5 hours.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Fair Trade Flowers

2008-05-27T16:38:00.004-05:00

This from Iconoculture

"The flower industry is, like many others, highly commoditized and globalized, and there’s a good chance that your daughter’s prom corsage was grown in the developing world — in Ecuador, say, or Colombia. You might not be surprised to learn that the flower industry has for many years made use of cheap labor, most often mothers with no healthcare. So it was a happy surprise to learn that this spring, in time for Mother’s Day, TransFair USA added flowers to its Fair Trade certification, ensuring that the growers and cutters have healthcare, paid vacation, childcare and protective equipment.

Fair-trade flowers are now widely available at retailers like Sam’s Club, Whole Foods and 1-800-FLOWERS. So even if your bouquets arrive from half a world away, at least you can be sure that the globalized economy begins to meet the new triple bottom line of profits, planet and people."

Pregnancy Awareness Month

2008-05-13T21:00:00.002-05:00

New. Interesting. Might be worth checking out.

They say that they, "aims to empower pregnant women with information, 'how to' ideas and inspiration to incorporate PAM’s four key initiatives – education, exercise, nutrition & wellness and nurture – into their life routines and to show women how easy it can be to make healthy changes in their lives for themselves and their children."

http://www.pregnancyawarenessmonth.com

Hope it catches on.

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

Thanks for be there for us.

Twittering about Mom Bloggers

2008-05-08T13:47:00.003-05:00

The NBC Today show featured mom bloggers.
Poorly produced, but the moms were great.
Here's the twitter buzz on it throughout the day.

Number of Mothers Online

2008-05-06T15:20:00.000-05:00

Sometimes the obvious needs to be stated and eMarketer's How Many Moms Are Online? was the reminded.

ComScore Media Metrix, estimates there are 30 million moms between the ages of 25 and 54 with one or more children at home. Mothers represent 44% of all adult females who go online.

As a parent it is practically a requirement to have Internet access. Pew and the US Department of Commerce both report that 87% of households consisting of a married couple with children under the age of 18 have Internet access. Among non-family households, it drops down to only 58.5%.

Moms are online and in a big way.

First-born kids really do have it tougher

2008-05-05T14:03:00.000-05:00

I knew it!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24397323
Sincerely,
A First-Born

OpMom.com Mother’s Day Giveaway

2008-04-29T13:10:00.002-05:00

Carrie Pacini of OpMom.com just told me about their Mother's Day giveaway.
Looks good! Easy entry and nice prizes

http://opmomblog.com/2008/04/26/opmomcom-mothers-day-giveaway/

1 GRAND PRIZE:
(1) $250 Zappos.com Gift Card
(14) Books from the Hachette Book Group
(1) Set of Eco-tool Brushes
(1) Thymes Sweet Leaf Baby Collection

1 FIRST PRIZE:
(1) $100 Lands’ End Gift Card
(1) $50 Earth Mama Angel Baby Gift Card
(14) Books from the Hachette Book Group

8 SECOND PRIZES:
(14) Books from the Hachette Book Group

The Business of Being Born

2008-04-23T09:29:00.003-05:00

Netflix'd “The Business of Being Born” documentary produced by Ricki Lake last evening.

Articulate experts. Biased presentation. Makes one think – in the end that's what a documentary is meant to do.

Good thing for all expecting parents to check out.

http://www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com

New Moms Generate Buzz

2008-04-23T09:21:00.001-05:00

According to Babycenter, today's pregnant women and new moms engage in one-third more word of mouth conversations per day than the total public. They have an average of 109 word of mouth conversations per week about products, services and brands, most of which are positive and considered highly credible by other moms.

http://www.babycenter.com/prkit.htm?id=5231305

Babycenter's best and worst things about being a mom today

2008-04-09T10:22:00.000-05:00

Babycenter asked more than 2,400 mothers what modern motherhood is really like. Long & insightful article with supporting data found here. The best and worst things about being a mom today

Or did I fall for an April Fools gag?

2008-04-01T10:12:00.000-05:00

Think I did.

More confused than teens?

2008-04-01T08:45:00.003-05:00

Not sure what to make of this. Should we be encouraged to see teens adopting these attitudes and behavior. Or be disappointed in parents? Is this real or is there a flaw in the research?

Hot Teen Trend: Hanging With Mom & Dad

Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms

2008-03-25T08:07:00.000-05:00

Becoming a mother is one of the most, if not THE most, powerful thing a woman can experience. There are many levels to it, and the connected emotions can rise and surprise. There are great joys and new bonds that were previously impossible to imagine. There are also great challenges that are rarely discussed publicly. Trisha Ashworth and Amy Nobile reveal mothers' guilty confessions they hadn't told anyone else in their new book, “Dirty Little Secrets from Otherwise Perfect Moms.” The Today Show web site has a short feature, Regular moms dish their ‘dirty little secrets.’

Meanest mom

2008-01-09T11:31:00.001-05:00

Enjoy this story - a strong mom sending a strong message.

'Meanest mom on planet' sells son's car

Top 10 Light Iris search terms from September 1 - October 31, 2007

2007-11-09T15:47:00.000-05:00

early signs
developing family rituals
nursing bra
birth announcements
pregnany
washing baby clothes
sleep
infant gifted
dvd
spotting during pregnancy

Onslaught

2007-10-04T07:49:00.000-05:00

One of the great things about video is that it can tell a true meaningful story in less than a minute. About 32 hours after it was first posted in the U.K., the video generated more than 100,000 views on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaH4y6ZjSfE

Top 10

2007-08-27T15:11:00.000-05:00

The Top 10 Light Iris search terms....

developing family rituals
washing baby clothes
nursing bra
birth announcements
early signs of pregnancy
teething
breastfeeding
halloween crafts
fertility calculator
premature baby