MumsTheWurdUnique finds for hip parents and cool kids

ParentSphere is here.  ParentSphere is an all-around informational site geared toward the modern parent.  We have articles, blog posts, product reviews and giveaways.  Book mark us at: http://www.parentsphere.net

(Amy and her husband, Eric, are the owners of ParentSphere).  Now, you finally get a view from BOTH parents.

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Soon, very soon, there will be some cash up for grabs…to put toward your BlogHer registration.  Oh yeah, there’s a lot more where that came from.  Just you wait and see.

ParentSphere loves The Mums and The Mums love ParentSphere.  Double the fun.  Double the giveaways.

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Peace out.

With summer quickly approaching (temperature-wise in TX, we’re practically there already. UGH.), you may be looking for things to do with your children. Our friends Ann & Sarah have come up with a brilliant new website, What to Do, Poopsy-Woo?, where you can find all sorts of great ideas for games, crafts, learning, etc. Check them out, and tell them the Mums sent you!

I was recently invited to try out a membership at Care dot com, a website that connects you with qualified babysitters, nannies, pet sitters and more.

I’m pretty fortunate to have my family close by and some very wonderful friends who are generally available to watch my toddler. But in a crunch, Care dot com is there as a back-up and I find comfort in that.

I’ve spent some time clicking through the website and I find it very easy to navigate. I have set up my profile there and a brief description letting all know that I occasionally need someone to watch my little girl. I have pets too, so in the event my regular pet sitter is unavailable, I’m confident I can find someone reliable at Care dot com.

The other day, I was in need of a sitter for just a couple of hours in the morning. I logged into the site and posted a “job” for all care providers to see. I could have also used Care dot com’s search function to find someone who was available on specific days during certain hours. When you’re a member of Care dot com, you are able to view complete care provider profiles, contact information and perform background and reference checks. Within 24 hours of posting my job, I was contacted by several care providers. I was quite thrilled with the response. I hired a wonderful sitter to come and stay with my precious little girl and felt at ease the entire time I was away from home.

Care dot com was founded in 2006 by Sheila Lirio Marcelo. Sheila has a background that is very “care” focused and has enlisted a fabulous team of professionals who understand quite well what it’s like to need a reliable source of care giving, whether it’s for the elderly, a pet or some help with that stubborn math problem.

Care dot com is constantly growing and improving. Right now, the service can be found across the country in most major cities.

You can join Care dot com to offer services, such as babysitting or senior care aide.
Subscription information including rates (as low as $25/mo) can be found by clicking the button below to learn more.

I highly recommend Care dot com. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to turn to them. I believe this is a service where we can all “give back” a little and help Care dot com become an even bigger success than they already are.

If you haven’t checked out The Cradle, and you’re an expectant or new parent, you must go now and see! I have finally gotten around to personalizing my Cradle page and I can’t wait to have a little time to work more on it (right, what is this thing they call “personal time”?). I have started creating my own web page that I can share with family and friends (and I can choose to make it public or private!) and I’m really stoked about it. This site really is an incredible resource for us parents to be, even if we’re a bit “seasoned” already.

I spoke with The Cradle’s founder, Hilary Zalon, and she answered a few questions for us:

MTW: With so many pregnancy/baby sites out there, what makes The Cradle different?

The Cradle: There are a lot of sites out there, aren’t there? That is actually one of the reasons why I created The Cradle. It seems that an expectant or new mom needs to visit so many different places to gather the information she needs…not to mention the information she wants. The Cradle strives to deliver all of those different pieces (content, community, web pages, baby name search, etc.) in one place. So many things change in your life when you’re expecting a baby. The changes aren’t only physical – your entire lifestyle changes. Instead of feeling overwhelmed by it, we want to help expectant and new moms feel excited about it. Plus, we focus only on this life stage: pre-conception to baby’s first birthday. A lot of sites out there are covering pregnancy through…grade school. We wanted to really dig deep into this particular time in your life.

MTW: What demographic of pregnant/new parents are you attempting to reach?

The Cradle: The overall look and feel of our site might attract a savvy, modern audience, the urban, web-savvy shopper who might read The New York Times and Us Weekly.

MTW: What are your personal favorite features of this site?

The Cradle: Oh no - that’s like trying to ask a mother of 5 who her favorite child is! Okay, if I must choose, I’ll go with our web page feature, baby name search and Eco Cradle. What I love about our web pages is that aside from a journal, photo gallery, and the ability to poll your family and friends, you can also link directly to your gift registries. I was pregnant within a year of getting married, so I was hesitant to tell anyone that I had registered…again. But people were asking me (and asking my mother!) so I remember thinking, “wouldn’t it be nice to have a web page where they could find this information?” And some people might think that all baby name searches are the same, but I would beg to differ on that one. Not only are we working with fantastic material (we use the incredible Baby Name Bible for all of our name meanings and commentary), but the search itself just blows me away. You can type in any spelling of a name and it will find it for you in a matter of seconds. Even if you misspelled it accidentally. And the thematic lists offer great inspiration. It’s just an addicting feature. The Eco-Cradle is one of my favorite features because it proves that you don’t have to be crunchy to be green. Our experts provide tons of tips on how to go green when planning for a new baby, from how to have a green pregnancy to how to decorate an eco-friendly nursery.

Thanks, Hilary!

The Cradle, aka, the coolest new website for expectant and new parents, officially launched today! Go check it out, set up your account, read some great articles, make some announcements & even a website for yourself-whatever your heart desires. Enjoy The Cradle!

The Cradle is still in ‘beta’ – but they want to hear from Mums readers regarding ways to improve and be the greatest go-to site for new and expectant parents alike! They want to hear from us, people, so send us an email: themums at mumsthewurd dot com. We’ll compile your responses and get the ‘wurd’ out to the folks at The Cradle.

There’s a new pregnancy and new parent website in town…

The Cradle launched TODAY and it’s pretty darn sweet. One look around The Cradle, and you’ll be breathing a huge sigh of relief that you’ve stumbled upon this site.  Finally, a pregnancy and baby site with STYLE!

Need some help with the baby basics, like picking a name or a nursery theme? Never fear, click here! Want to learn more about being an “eco-parent“? Go shopping and find out about the most coveted items that the cool kids have. Want to know about etiquette when going over to new a new mom & dad’s house? Here’s an article (and everything they say is RIGHT ON!). There’s even a dad’s section with non-condescending articles (what?!?!)! Create your own Cradle page for free and make a pregnancy & beyond website of your very own for your family and friends to share, send an e-announcement, follow your daily pregnancy, and more.

If you’re an expectant parent, an already-a-parent parent, friend or family member to someone with a baby-basically, if you’re anyone, you need to go check out The Cradle right this minute. You will love it!