During pregnancy it is likely for your appetite to wax and wane. You may find yourself overeating, or under eating on any given day. While this can be the “norm” during pregnancy, it isn’t necessarily good for you or your baby.

During the first trimester, especially if you are dealing with morning sickness, you might find that you don’t have any appetite and can go hours without eating. You might find that unless you force yourself to eat, you could go all day and it wouldn’t bother you. This is not healthy as your body needs food for energy to help your baby grow.

The opposite can be true in early pregnancy as well. If you are one of the lucky ones, feeling fantastic and enjoying the pregnancy glow with very little or no morning sickness, you might find that your appetite is huge, or at least, that it is bigger. You may find yourself wanting to eat everything in sight. It is important to watch how much food you eat, especially the amount of sweets as you do not want to gain an unhealthy amount of weight during your pregnancy.

A pregnant woman should eat extra calories during her pregnancy, but contrary to popular belief, she should not “eat for 2” or double the amount of calories that she normally takes in. A woman only needs an extra 300-500 calories a day to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, and most experts say these extra calories aren’t needed until after the first trimester.

As the second trimester begins you may find that your appetite comes back (if you lost it during the first), and that you are more interested in food again. Use this time to eat healthy and gain back any weight you have lost. If you had a large increase in appetite during the first trimester you may find that it normalizes and stabilizes during these 13 weeks.

As you enter the third trimester when your baby will do most of its growing, you are likely to feel an increase in your appetite. Your baby will put on the majority of his weight during these last 13 weeks and your body will need more food to feed your baby. Try to make sure you are making healthy choices, and try to stay away from desserts and sweets as much as possible.

As the end of your pregnancy nears, you may once again see a decrease in your appetite. The baby has gotten so big he is probably pushing on your stomach and not giving it as much room to expand. You may find that you are getting fuller faster, and that certain foods once again do not appeal to you. If this happens try to eat smaller, healthy meals as a way to get the calories and nutrients to your baby, while not making yourself fill up so much that you want to skip meals.

With so many options for themes, schemes, colors, coordinating fabrics and other items, deciding how to decorate your baby’s room can become a little overwhelming. So instead of going with the more common room themes, why not think outside the box and save yourself some time and energy from stressing over all the choices by deciding to create a completely customized room that reflects your own unique style. You can still keep it cute but also personalize it by decorating with pictures that you took yourself!

Taking Time to Smell the Flowers
The great thing about decorating your baby’s room with pictures is, not only will be it be an extra special reflection of your own creativity, but it can still keep with a theme of your choice. Say for instance, you want to design a little girl’s room in a garden theme with pretty flowers, butterflies and birds. All you’d need to do is grab your camera and step outside! And even if you don’t have a garden of your own, one of your neighbors may. And you can bet they wouldn’t mind obliging you by sharing the beauty of their own flowers and allowing you to snap a few shots of their landscape. You can also take a walk down to your local park or botanical garden.

Look up at the trees, down at the grass, and all around because what you may see as the same old ever day surroundings, will actually make for some beautiful pictures that can be framed, collaged, and used to decorate your baby’s room. And if you feel really ambitious, add a pretty color on the walls and maybe even think about painting a picket fence and garden gate. Hang some pretty curtains and you’ve created your very own indoor garden for your precious new daughter.

Animals, Animals Everywhere
Photos of animals are a great idea for boys or girls and provide you with a variety of choices as well. If you have pets at home, snap some pictures of them together, separately and with your baby’s brothers, sisters or cousins. They’ll make for adorable, personalized additions to decorate your baby’s room.

If you’re thinking about a jungle or forest theme, go down to the local zoo and take a slew of pictures of the lions, monkeys, exotic birds and bears. Then with just a little coordination, paint on the walls, and matching curtains you can easily create a fantastic animal theme with very little effort and expense.

Ideas for Customizing Your Pictures
One of the greatest things about this digital age we’re living in is that technology is always evolving, providing us with more and more ways to get creative. If you’ve got a digital camera that came with a docking station, it probably offers you the ability to print borderless photos which can help to create pictures that actually look like artwork. Or if you’re not comfortable using your printer’s software photo options, there are a lot of developers that can print those borderless pics for you, or scale them up or down to any size you want – choose from prints, posters or even wallscapes.

Whichever theme, photos or options you choose, the pride and satisfaction that comes from decorating your baby’s room with photos that you took yourself of family, friends, pets and more is the perfect way to personalize the space and create a place of happiness and abounding love for your little bundle of joy. So have fun, get creative and remember – the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.

by Elizabeth Pantley, Author of Kid Cooperation and Perfect Parenting

Question:
My child’s bedroom looks like it’s been put through a blender! I can’t see the carpet, and to walk through the room I have to dodge clothes, toys, and last week’s snack wrappers. My child doesn’t care, but I do. When I yell and threaten we sometimes end up with one day of cleanliness, but in no time at all, the disaster magically reappears. What can I do?

Think about it:
Every time you walk by the bedroom, the mess annoys you. You grumble and mumble until finally you reach the boiling point, and explode in anger. When you finally put your foot down, you discover that you and your child have vastly different definitions of “clean.” While you envision an immaculate and orderly room, your child may be perfectly happy as long as she can find her way to the bed without a road map. You obviously have conflicting goals. Try to find a long-term solution that works for both of you.

Organize:
When the bedroom has reached the point of a national disaster, the mess is overwhelming for your child. At this point, you may have to grit your teeth and help with the initial cleanup. Use plenty of boxes, baskets, or tubs to sort your child’s clothes and belongings. Label each container clearly (socks, books, school work, etc.). What happens next is most important. Initiate a daily cleanup time to prevent the buildup of another mess. Inspect every day after cleanup time. At that point use “Grandma’s Rule”: “As soon as your room is clean you may go out to play.” This rule is also known as the “When/Then” approach, “When you have cleaned your bedroom, then you may turn on the computer.”

Contract:
Sit down with your child and develop a bedroom-cleaning contract. Work together to define what constitutes a “clean room” in very specific terms: clothes in dresser and closet (either hanging or folded), books in bookcase, stuffed animals on top bunk, etc. You might even consider allowing a “messy corner” where she can toss things temporarily. Just make sure the corner is clearly sectioned off, such as a section of the closet. Once you’ve agreed on the terms for a “clean room,” choose a specific day of the week for cleaning. One schedule that works well for many families is to require a clean room Saturday prior to any activities or play time. Include a specific plan for what will happen if the room is not clean by the scheduled time. Write up the contract and have everyone sign the agreement. Post it and follow though.

Get serious:
If you’ve reached the end of your rope, and you’re really brave, pick a time when your child is away from home to do a more-than-thorough cleaning. Using baskets and shelves, neatly arrange the necessities and most favorite toys. Pack 90% of the stuff that litters the floor into small boxes. Store the boxes in the garage or attic. Display your child’s beautifully clean room and let her know she can earn back one box at a time at the end of each week that the room is kept clean. You can expect an outburst of hysterics, but stick to your guns. (If a school supply or a favorite toy is boxed by mistake, it would be okay to rescue it.)

Beautify:
Invest a weekend to clean and rearrange the bedroom. If possible, hang new curtains or cover the bed with a new bedspread. Pull a dresser out of the attic, or search a second-hand store for a new piece of furniture for her room. Let your child paint it however she’d like. Allow her to customize the walls with pictures or posters. Often, a fresh, new outlook like this will encourage a child to keep her “new” room neat and clean.

Transfer responsibility:
If your child is age ten or older, and a basically responsible kid, it’s okay to turn her bedroom over to her as practice for her first apartment experience. (Take a security deposit, if you feel you must.) Outline the basic rules, such as: how often the bed linens must be changed, how often the floor must be vacuumed, and what type of food is allowed in the room. Once the basic rules are agreed to, give your child the responsibility to care for her room, her way. You can pile any of her laundry or stray belongings by her door each day. Let her know that as long as the basic rules are followed, she’ll be in charge of her own room. (And if you can’t stand looking at the clutter, shut the door.)

Copyright Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, 2003)

About the author:
Elizabeth Pantley is the author of several books, including Gentle Baby Care : No-cry, No-fuss, No-worry — Essential Tips for Raising Your Baby, The No-Cry Sleep Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Baby Sleep Through the Night, Kid Cooperation (with an introduction by William Sears, MD), Perfect Parenting, as well as her latest The No-Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers and is also president of Better Beginnings, Inc. She is a popular speaker on family issues, and her newsletter, Parent Tips, is seen in schools nationwide. She appears as a regular radio show guest, and has been quoted in Parents, Parenting, Redbook, Good Housekeeping, American Baby, Working Mother, and Woman’s Day magazines. Visit Elizabeth’s web site http://www.pantley.com/elizabeth.

By Rebecca Johnson

There are many great options available when it comes to decorating a baby boy’s room. Whether you choose to use a theme or to just keep it neutral, you can create a great room for your new baby boy.

If it’s a theme you are interested in, here are some popular ones for a baby boy nursery:

Noah’s Ark – is a cute and popular nursery theme for a baby boy’s room. Animals in pairs and arks can be used to accessorize the room.