Apr 12

“Preparing for a new baby in the home” by Katie Moore

Preparing to Bring Baby Home from the Hospital

Preparing for a new baby’s arrival can be both exciting and bring some nerves. By knowing what to expect and how to prepare, moms can enjoy their baby’s first days.

Prepare a Space for Baby

While some moms designate an entire room for the baby’s nursery, others simply clear a space in an occupied room. There is no right or wrong choice. All that matters is that baby has a place to sleep that is clean and safe. If the baby will be sleeping in a nursery, there are several items that are helpful in making the transition to his new home easier.

Sleeping Space

A crib or bassinet is the standard sleeping space choice for most new babies. Although some moms choose to sleep with their babies, it is recommended by professionals that infants sleep alone as a safety precaution. There are many products that allow infants to safely sleep alongside their mothers in an adult bed, providing the comfort of sleeping together without sacrificing safety.

Babies in cribs should be provided with a clean crib sheet that fits snugly onto the mattress. There is no need for a top sheet. Avoid bumpers, comforters, heavy blankets and pillows in baby’s crib. Stuffed animals should be removed from baby’s bed during sleep time.

Get Ready for the Hospital

Exercise and Diet

It’s important for pregnant women to maintain a healthy diet and exercise routine throughout pregnancy. Women may find it difficult to keep up the routine they started their pregnancy within the last few weeks before they’re due; discomfort and exhaustion are common with a baby almost to full term. Having smaller meals throughout the day will help with staying adequately fed without feeling too full. Taking walks and stretching are great exercises to continue to stay active without over exerting.

Classes

There are a multitude of classes offered for women to take to prepare them for delivery and post-delivery. Yoga and meditation classes are available to help women prepare physically and mentally for labor. Breastfeeding classes will teach expecting mothers breastfeeding techniques as well as ways to stay healthy and keep their bodies healthy for better milk production. Childbirth classes offer information about what to expect during labor, delivery and post-labor. They’re great, whether it’s a woman’s first child or fifth since the classes teach about new medical options, for instance cord blood banking. Umbilical cord blood banking is where the umbilical cord blood is collected after delivery and stored for the family as a potential future medical resource.

Get Ready to Feed Baby

Whether baby will be breastfed or bottle fed, there should be adequate arrangements made for feedings.

Breastfed Babies

Moms who are planning to breastfeed should prepare for baby’s arrival by having the right tools at her disposal. Breastfeeding moms find nursing pillows helpful in getting baby in the right position for nursing. Nursing bra pads help absorb leaking milk, and a hospital-grade breast pump will extract milk when baby is not nursing. Moms who are having difficulty nursing will find that nipple shields often help with latching problems. It is helpful to gather these items before baby comes home, as it may be difficult to get around after the birth.

Bottle-fed Babies

Bottle-fed babies will need a stock of bottles to make feeding easy. However, moms should avoid buying too many bottles before the baby is born, as babies may have a preference for a certain type of bottle and nipple. Most moms find that six to eight bottles is sufficient for the first weeks of baby’s life.

Stocking up on Diapers

Most moms decide prior to the birth of the baby whether they will use cloth or disposable diapers. Newborns use up to 10 diapers a day, so it is helpful to be prepared with plenty of diapers on hand before the baby is born.

Cloth Diapering

Moms who use cloth diapers find it helpful to order a few diapers prior to the birth of the baby. A month’s supply of diaper liners, pins, and diaper covers are necessary as well. If a diaper service will be used, they can start delivering diapers before the baby is born. Moms who will wash their own diapers find a supply of special detergent and a diaper pail helpful to have on hand.

Disposable Diapering

While it’s helpful to stock up on disposable diapers, avoid buying too many. Many moms are unsure of what size their babies will wear, and many moms get stuck with too many diapers of one size. A small supply of newborn diapers is usually sufficient to prepare for baby.

Preparing for a new baby in the home doesn’t have to be stressful. By considering baby’s basic needs, moms-to-be will be confident that they have all of the necessary resources in place to make baby’s transition home a smooth one.

“This article was written by Katie Moore. Katie is an active writer within the blogging community who discusses maternity, motherhood, prenatal health, childbirth and other topics within this niche. If you have any questions or would like to connect with Katie please contact by visiting her blog, Moore From Katie or her twitter @moorekm26.”

Jul 13

Secrets to getting a mortgage with so-so credit…

Secrets to getting a mortgage with so-so credit

By Les Christie July 5, 2011: 2:40 PM ET CNN

Get a mortgage despite strict underwriting

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Getting a mortgage can be tough these days — even people with near-perfect credit have been rejected for loans. But for some lucky borrowers, things aren’t as bad as the doom-and-gloom crowd says.

At a recent press conference, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said lending standards for mortgages have tightened so considerably that “the bottom third of people who might have qualified for a prime mortgage in terms of, say, FICO scores a few years ago — cannot qualify today.”

Indeed, roughly one-in-four mortgage applicants was denied in 2010, up from about 18% in 2003, according to data from the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council. And those are just the ones that apply — many discouraged potential borrowers don’t even bother to apply anymore.

Yet, there is money to lend. Bob Ryan, the acting commissioner for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, recently said that mortgage money “is flowing, it’s stable, it’s tightened from the boom years, but it’s there.”

And many of those potential home buyers sitting on the sidelines may just have a shot at it — as long as they take a few crucial steps.

“The belief is that you can’t get a mortgage at all — but you can,” Keith Gumbinger, of the mortgage information provider HSH Associates.

What you need for traditional mortgages

Most of the major mortgage underwriters have only returned to the more prudent standards of the days before the housing bubble. Now, according to Tuck Bradford, a branch manager with lender Mortgage Master, borrowers usually must meet four criteria in order to get a mortgage backed by Fannie Mae (FNMA, Fortune 500) or Freddie Mac (FMCC,Fortune 500), the two government-run mortgage giants:

The ability to make a 20% down payment, plus closing costs.
A good credit score. Borrowers usually need a minimum credit score of 620.
Enough income to afford payments. The general rule of thumb: no more than 28% of your gross income should go toward housing costs.
A loan-to-value ratio of 80%. Lenders want the home value to far exceed the mortgage balance because if a borrower defaults, the bank sells the home to recoup the loss.

In today’s market, however, even having all four of these factors in place doesn’t always guarantee that you will get a loan.

http://money.cnn.com/.element/ssi/video/5.1/players/story.player.html?p=0&d=86555841

Steve Habetz, a loan officer in Westport, Conn. had a client who was seeking to refinance but he had a single blemish scarring an otherwise spotless credit report. The client had a couple million dollars in assets, high income, ample home equity — and a strong credit score of 700.

“This guy was a Boy Scout when it came to paying debts,” said Habetz. “He had never been late.”

Yet, Habetz couldn’t get him a mortgage. The problem: an investment property the client had owned and tried to unload but couldn’t (thanks to the housing bust). He eventually resorted to a short sale — a deal in which the proceeds of the sale are insufficient to pay the amount owed on the mortgage and the bank agrees to forgive the losses.

Not only did the short sale lop 100 points or so off his credit score, but it also resulted in an automatic rejection of his refinance application.

“It’s maddening,” said Habetz. “Other than that one detail, he’s very low risk. Because he had the short sale, he’s out of the box for two years.”

Increase your odds of landing a loan

But, for every client like Habertz’s who gets rejected, there are those who have been much luckier at landing mortgage loans. And typically, they have turned to the Federal Housing Administration for help.

“The FHA is just about as free and easy as it was in the go-go days,” said Gumbinger.

Squatter Nation: 5 years without a mortgage payment

Standards for these loans, insured by the FHA and issued by regular mortgage lenders, are flexible and aimed at making mortgage borrowing easier, especially for working-class Americans.

For years, the FHA had no minimum credit score requirement at all. Now though, it requires a minimum of 580 to qualify for a 3.5%-down loan and 500 for a 10%-down mortgage.

In practice, however, some banks will impose higher standards, according to Scott Sheldon, a loan officer with First California Mortgage in Sonoma County, Calif.

“We FHA lenders have to protect ourselves and we’ve been going with a 640 minimum for a 3.5% mortgage,” he said.

How one high-risk borrower got lucky

Sheldon had one client who seemed like an impossible case. The client was buying a home in Healdsburg, California, the heart of Sonoma’s wine country. His credit score was just over 600, he was paying alimony and child support and he only had enough money for a small down payment. And there was one additional tiny problem: He had just emerged from bankruptcy in April 2009.

In other ways, he was low-risk borrower. He grossed $10,000 a month, ample enough to satisfy debt-to-income guidelines on the $315,000 home he was buying, and he was able to document a stable work history.

The client knew he had to raise his credit score above the 600 level in order to improve his chances. So he paid a credit repair service, Lexington Law, about $500 to find and correct errors in his records. That helped boost his score above 640.

How foreclosure impacts your credit score

The client got the loan and closed on a home a couple weeks ago. The bankruptcy made it tough — but not impossible.

As Melanie Roussell, a spokeswoman for the FHA explained, the agency is willing to overlook a blemish on a credit report — even a big one — if other factors are favorable.

In today’s unforgiving housing market, that’s music to a borrower’s ears.

Jul 12

How competitive should your kids be?

As a coach of 7 & 8 year old boys, I found this article interesting as I have two very competitive boys who play on the same team. I am also competitive and always am questioning my calls as I always want to win. So what is your opinion on this article? Leave your comments below.

In youth sports, when does competition begin?

By: Bob Frantz | Special To The Examiner | 06/26/11 10:38 PM

The Little League World Series is an international youth baseball competition that pits teams of 11- and 12-year-olds against each other in Williamsport, Pa., annually.

‘You don’t move your guys around?” the assistant coach asked, poking his head around the visitor’s dugout fence.
“I’ll come and talk to you when I’m done talking to my team,” the visiting manager said. “Now get out of my dugout.”

Just like that, it was on.

“What’s your problem?” the manager asked, stepping over the third-base line to answer the assistant’s original question.

“Why don’t you move your guys around?” the coach said. “We’re moving our guys into different spots. This isn’t the World Series, you know.”

“Listen, you coach your team and let me coach mine,” the manager said. “And you shouldn’t even be over here. If your manager’s got a problem, tell him to come and talk to me.”

It was Little League baseball for 7- and 8-year-olds, and it was becoming intense by the fourth inning. It turned even more intense when the managers finally did come together.

Nose-to-nose intense.

With the kids on both teams likely more focused on the impending postgame concession-stand treats than the final score, the grown-ups were playing out a scene repeated hundreds of times a season on Little League fields across the country: They were debating whether or not winning matters.

The visiting team in this particular exchange was undefeated at 11-0, and beating teams rather badly all season. That’s not to say they tried to run up the score on anyone, because they didn’t.

Quite the contrary, in fact.

In each victory, when the score was even remotely lopsided, runners moved station to station, one base at a time — even on balls hit to the outfield fence and then thrown all over the yard before making it back to the infield.

Nobody was permitted to take extra bases, despite the kids’ natural desire to leg out doubles and triples on big hits.

So what was the problem?

The problem, according to the home team assistant, was that the visitors wouldn’t rotate their slick-fielding infielders to the outfield.

In youth baseball at this age, rare are the balls that actually make it to the outfield, which means offensive success usually comes from ground balls in the infield that find holes — or are booted by young kids still learning to catch and throw.

This particular team’s infielders were the exact same age as the rest of the league, but these kids could catch and throw.

Very, very well.

The argument from the undefeated manager was simple: The opponent was probably the second-best team in the league and he wanted to put his best against theirs, see what happens. When the win was secure, then he would move kids around, as he’d done all season.

“But why wait?” the home team said. “Why not let your other kids play infield once in a while?”

Translated, the home manager was asking, “Why don’t you let your smaller, less coordinated outfielders play the infield for a while, so we can get some hits and get back in the game.”

That’s another way of repeating the question at hand: Should winning matter in youth sports?

Should every kid rotate every position on the field at age 7 and 8, just to give the other side a better chance to win? Or should more-capable kids play longer in the most-difficult positions?

At what age should kids be allowed to play their best, at their best positions, and play to win? Is 9 the magic number? Maybe 10?

Let’s hear what you have to say, parents. At what age does the scoreboard matter in youth sports? At what age should a scorebook be kept? Send your responses to the email below, and I’ll publish a sampling of the best responses in a future column.

Until then, have some great games this week, and may the best team win.

Or not.

Full Article: Click Here

Bob Frantz is a freelance journalist and regular contributor to The Examiner. Email him at bfrantz@sfexaminer.com.

Jul 5

Fooducate – eat a bit better

If you have either an iPhone or Android phone you can start using this awesome new app.

Here is how it works: When you are shopping you can pull out your phone and scan the barcode on a product and the app will tell you one of two things –

1. It will find the product in its database and give the product a grade based on its ingredients, and give you alternative products so you can find something a bit better for you.

2. The app will ask you to add the product into the database for review so that others will be able to find it in the future! It is awesome! You can be apart of helping people live healthier lives!

Download it to day and get Fooducated!

Fooducate – eat a bit better.

Jun 7