“Twelve Days of [Your Child's Name Here]“

This is the way The Twelve Days of Jack worked:  In the 12 days leading up to Christmas day, we would dress him up in his Christmas socks or his Christmas bib or what have you.  Then we would upload that pic to Totspot which is a Facebook type of thing for babies. It’s fabulous–all your relatives and friends sign up to be your kiddo’s friend and then you upload your journal entry, picture or video ONCE and it sends out a link to everybody he’s friends with.  Each day SOMEONE gets to relish in the fact that their Christmas themed present was showcased AND your kiddo doesn’t have to endure the revolving dressing room door.  It’s definitely a WIN WIN.

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Got a tip to share with our users about how you use TotSpot? Let us know about it: we’re easily reached via email, Twitter, or Get Satisfaction.

Cooke Monster, Elmo and Abby Cadabby all now have profiles on TotSpot that you can connect with and explore. In the coming weeks, these profiles will be updated with more content and news from Sesame Street.

You can also spice up your own child’s profile with new Sesame Street inspired themes! Just click on “Appearance” in the update bar of your child’s profile to select a theme based on your favorite Sesame Street character (see screenshot below).

You know you’ve made it when you’re surrounded by Twitter, MySpace, and Facebook favicons. Thanks @jennyland for the inclusion on your artistically inspired homepage ;)

Jennyland gives us a sweet new social media icon (to go along with the child profile badges we just introduced) that you can use on your blogs / websites too:

It’s that simple. Our badges come in multiple shapes, sizes, and even types, including a Birthday Ticker (see mine below) and some insanely cool Pregnancy Trackers - one has a child’s room where the light dims/brightens based on closeness to due date, another shows your babies semi-scientific development.

Joel Stein asks poignantly, Why Does Facebook Hate Babies?

Facebook hates babies. I found this out last night when I logged on as Laszlo Stein, my three-month old son who has been faithfully posting adorable photos and angry commentary since his second-trimester sonogram, back when his listed interests were just kicking and drinking his own urine.

All I wanted was to avoid being one of those annoying parents who post photos of their kids on their own page. I wanted a place for the few family and friends who want to see his baby pictures. And now all the photos other people posted of Laszlo are gone, and I have to e-mail every damn photo to our parents and siblings.

Joel… it doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a place for Laszlo on TotSpot… give us a shot. You’ll <3 us and some of the sweet Facebook integrations we have in place and are working on.

Making TotSpot the “seamless” child profile of Facebook is a priority for us. If you have any ideas for how we could be doing this even better, don’t hesitate to let us know.

Why Does Facebook Hate Babies? - TIME.

It’s been tremendously exciting for us to watch TotSpot Groups blossom into a genuine community. While we try to keep making improvements to the product, the real work is being done by our incredibly passionate users.

We want to celebrate and shine our spotlight on those who’ve really taken it upon themselves to cultivate a community on TotSpot by featuring a Group of the Month along with a Q&A with the Group’s creator.

We’re excited to announce our first Group of the Month (June): Working Moms, created by Michelle Gillen. Working Moms was created on the day we launched TotSpot Groups and since then has become one of our most vibrant Groups thanks in no small part to the passion and energy of Michelle.

Michelle, mother of 5-month-old Maggie and 7-year-old Hailey, is a, self-described, fellow “computer geek.” By day, she’s responsible for keeping the Pennsylvania’s 140 state park offices connected to the internet as the network security administrator for Department of Conservation and Natural Resources for the State of Pennsylvania. She’s a quintessential, working mom. Our interview, is below:

TotSpot: The name of the group, “Working Moms,” is pretty self-explanatory. Beyond that, can you explain to a perspective group member why they should join?

Michelle: Being  a mom in general is a wonderful, amazing, scary, confusing experience!  Toss in working AND being a mom and that really makes a challenging task! Sometimes I feel like I’m running a non-stop marathon!  Many days I deal with a full range of emotions while being away from my kids.  With a new baby, I had other things to contemplate such as how to continue to breast feed and how to find someone I trusted to watch my newborn! I felt so alone at times and overwhelmed.
So that said, this group could be a place that we could discuss all of that and more!  Make new friendships.  Find others who have been where we are and have some sound, hard learned advice on how to get through it.  Or as I’ve just recently experienced, when the task gets daunting, share it and someone will give you the boost you’re needing to help you get going again!

TotSpot: How many kids do you have? How old? Are they on TotSpot?

Michelle: I have two daughters.  Maggie is 5 months old and my step-daughter Hailey is 7 years old.  I have both of them on totspot.  Working on getting Hailey’s page going!

Michelle: maternity leave, juggling responsibilities, dealing with separation anxiety/guilt/other feelings, breast feeding and pumping/expressing milk, day care options and how to find the right fit for your child.

Michelle: I’m a pretty open person.  I can’t think of any topics we would be avoiding at this point.

Michelle: Personally I don’t feel any.  But I can see how subconsciously a working mom would be jealous of moms who stay at home.  I think they are so lucky! We are in two different worlds.

Michelle: Finding time to get all of the “everyday chores” done.  I want to spend all of my time with my baby when I get home and on the weekends.  But, all of the other things still need done too! That juggling act is such a challenge.

Michelle: I’d definitely have to say that so far I’ve just really enjoyed talking to all of the women!  It has been so nice finding out what everyone else is experiencing and learning that I’m not alone!

Now, activity throughout TotSpot Groups is aggregated into a single stream - a refresh button is included to update the stream and at the bottom of page a “More” button introduces more posts “Twitter-style.”  In addition, discovering new content within your groups is easier - the number of new updates since last page load is displayed next to the group name.

To date, we’ve been blown away at the number and quality of both new groups formed and the content created. If you haven’t already, check out some our favorites: Working Moms, Dad’s Place, SAHMs, Mommies United, Parents of Preemies, and more. There is a great community blossoming and we’re just happy to do our best to assist in that effort.