AA Gifts & Baskets Idea Blog

Archive for the ‘Baby’ Category

Check out free shipping cookie gifts at All About Gifts & Baskets.  For a limited time we’re offering free shipping on all of our iced cookie bouquets and baskets!

We have gifts for every occasion – new baby, get well, birthday, anniversary and more!

Our Iced Cookie Gifts are made from bakery-fresh butter creme cookies, which we hand decorate with royal icing. Our bouquets are arranged on sticks in beautiful bouquet for your recipient to enjoy. Cookies are individually sealed and shipped direct for maximum freshness. Each design is about 4-5″ in diameter.

Many of our cookie gifts can per personalized with your own message on one more more cookies.  Imagine their surprise when they open this delicious gift and it has their name right on the cookie!

This great deal won’t last, so send a gift today!

Just as there are books for every subject, there are also a fitting book gifts for every occasion!  At All About Gifts & Baskets we carry a large variety of book gifts for men, women, young and old!

Check out our selection of sympathy book gift baskets.  An appropriate book selection, like a Footprints In The Sand  flip book containing inspirational quotes for each day, is surrounded by items to help soothe the grieving soul.

If your favorite bookworm is celebrating a birthday, we have a birthday book gift for them!  Many of our baskets give you a choice of popular best sellers to include along with delicious snacks like butter toffee popcorn, cookies, pretzels and more!

It’s never to early to start Baby’s own library!  We carry a large variety of baby gift book baskets for the new arrival!  Many of our baskets also include other essentials for baby like toys and plush animals.  The parents will appreciate a gift that enhances “together” time!

Best of all, we carry a variety of book baskets that can cover any occasion – even no occasion!

Your doctor’s well-baby examination consists of many different parts, each designed to help her find certain information. You may have to watch closely to see her do each part of the exam because she probably has developed her own tricks and techniques. Some doctors like to have the baby on the examination table; others prefer that the parents hold the baby. Sometimes the doctor will be talking to you while examining your baby.

Here are some of the major areas your doctor will consider and what she looks for in each category:

 

• General Appearance: cleanliness, nutrition, alertness
• Skin: color, rashes. Bruises, swelling, condition of hair and nails
• Head: Shape, softness of the anterior fontanel [soft spot]
• Eyes: redness, good movement, light reflexes [checked with an instrument called an ophthalmoscope, looking for problems with the retina]
• Ears: irritation or infection of the ear canals or ear drums
• Nose: congestion, discharge
• Mouth: gums, tongue, throat, tonsils
• Neck: swelling of the thyroid or lymph nodes, mobility
• Heart: rate and rhythm, murmurs
• Lungs: breathing rate, abnormal noises, air exchange
• Abdomen: bowel sounds [normal stomach gurglings], enlarged organs or tenderness
• Genitals: In girls-normal appearance of external genitals, redness. In boys-penis [if circumcised, check that it has healed well; if not, check that foreskin is normal], both testicles are in scrotum
• Arms and Legs: normal movement and color, absence of swelling and discoloration
• Pulses: equal femoral pulse [same on both sides]
• Neurologic: tone, muscle movement and coordination, strength

Next, review your insurance policies.  For many people, life insurance is a kind of instant estate; its guaranteed financial protection for your family.

Term life insurance [temporary; bought for a specified period of time, or term] is often purchased by younger people who like the low initial premiums.  Remember that premiums for term insurance rise slowly through your thirties and more quickly thereafter.  For people in their sixties and beyond, term insurance rates may be out of reach.

Whole-life insurance [permanent; for your “whole life”] rates are about five times higher than for term insurance, but the premiums remain level from the date of issue.  Additionally, the whole-life policy acquires a cash value that increases over time.

You may want to look into newer types of life insurance that combine term and whole-life.  Such a policy typically will combine at least $10,000 of whole-life upon the head of the household with at least $50,000 of term insurance, all for a single premium.  Another innovative policy is adjustable life insurance, which allows the policy-holder to raise or lower the amount of insurance and vary the type of insurance between whole-life and term, as life’s circumstances change.

If you or your spouse is staying home or working part time, that person should also consider buying a term policy that would cover the daycare expenses that would result in case the stay-at-home parent dies.

What about your health insurance?  Many companies now offer membership in a health maintenance organization [HMO] as an option to the usual health insurance.  HMO s are corporations that contract with physicians and hospitals to deliver health care under a prepaid plan.  With these plans, employers can offer their workers enhanced benefits at prices comparable to traditional insurance.  Joining a HMO can make sense, particularly to a family whose members seem to be running to the doctor’s office every other week.  The costs of office visits, prescriptions, vaccinations, diagnostic tests, and hospitalization are often covered by an HMO plan.  Keep in mind that you have to use the HMO’s doctors and hospitals, so if you have a doctor that you particularly like, an HMO may not be for you.

A new wrinkle in employer-or insurance-plan-pondered health care is the Preferred Provider Organization [PPO].  As with an HMO, a PPO plan provides discount health care to members, offering co-payment arrangements and other incentives.  Typically, members contribute through payroll deductions.  As a PPO member, you can choose your physician and hospital from those included in the PPO group. Fees for services are covered one hundred percent.  If you wish, you can choose an outside [nonmember] physician or hospital, in which case you will be liable for a percentage of any fees.  Obviously, what makes PPOs appealing is that a member can select his or her caregivers. 

Check to see if you have adequate protection through work or Social Security in the event you become disabled.  If not, find out if you qualify for auto insurance that provides benefits for disability from traffic accidents, or for special private insurance programs that pay monthly loan or mortgage payments during a disability.  There are different definitions of what disabled means; an insurance agent should explain exactly what “disability” means in the policy.  The agent should also explain the policy’s “renewability,” or the conditions of extending the policy beyond its expiration date.

The whole point of insurance is to cover the “just in case” situations; you want to be sure your policies are appropriate for a family with young children. 

It is never to early to introduce books and reading to babies.

Reading aloud to your baby is a remarkable way of fostering brain development and important in the development of language skills.

Reading to your child is the most valuable thing you can do and babies benefit immensely. Not only does it help develop baby’s eye muscles through focusing on pictures but it helps to encourage language skills. Each and every baby learns by sight, sound and feeling. When a baby sees, hears or feels anything, brain connections form and eventually create a piece of knowledge.

Babies first learn words by association with objects and pictures, which help them to understand the world around them. Eventually these associations are developed into language skills, where they begin sounding out the word. Language skills then develop into a way of which a baby can communicate with their parents and others around them.

As your baby grows into a toddler there are many other benefits that reading provides, such as:

• Reading aloud helps your child to learn new words, associations and language skills.
• Reading aloud to children helps them to learn and understand about the world around them and events and situations that do occur in everyday life.
• Reading aloud to children helps them to develop their creativity and imagination.
• Reading aloud to children helps them to learn about values and moral concepts, such as honesty, sharing and teaches them right from wrong.
• Reading aloud to children is calming and soothing and is a fantastic way to bond with your child.

The benefits of reading to your baby and child are endless!

Establish a daily routine and read to your child. Life can never be too busy to set aside some reading time to your child and the rewards your child will reap are infinite!

Introduce the new baby in your life with a world of words and pictures with a wonderful baby book basket. The new baby will be delighted and the joy derived from books will provide countless hours of learning and pleasure.

Start reading to your baby today!

Sometimes choosing a gift for a new baby is one of the most difficult tasks that one can face. This is especially true with so many people buying gifts, and you want to choose something that is different. After all, everyone brings sheets, comforters, blankets, and the usual types of clothing for newborns, so what can you do that is different? There surely has to be something different that you can do. Even if it includes the same items, you can find a different way to package it.  

One gift giving idea that has become popular over the past few years is the diaper cake. For those who are familiar with this gift concept, you make a cake, often for a baby shower, using disposal diapers as the basis for the cake. Some people use the diapers with characters, but it works better if you use just plain, white Pampers or Huggies diapers. The diapers are to hold the cake together, but you can also roll and fold some little shirts, kimonos, sleepers, bibs, and other items to add to the variety of the cake. Small toys such as rattles and small stuff animals made specifically for newborns can be taped to the diapers as well.  Another gift idea that has also been used is using the bassinette as a carrier of gifts.

This can be a real bassinette that you buy for the mother-to-be or that you rent as part of your baby shower theme, but rather than having just the bassinette, you line the entire inside with various baby items such as clothing, bedding, toys, lotions, diapers, baby formula, baby food, bibs, and any other small items that you would like to include. If you choose, you can cover it with a nice colorful blanket or quilt, and add a toy to the top for decorating.   Personalized gifts are always nice to have as well, but these will have to wait until after the birth of the baby. Even if the parents have chosen names and been told they are having a girl or boy, it is always best to wait. In some cases, the position of the baby may cause the doctor to see a difference in the baby’s gender, so to avoid giving girl’s gifts to a boy, and vice versa, wait until after the baby is born to give personalized gifts.

There are several gifts from which you can choose, but one of the most popular is the personalized picture frame that the new parents can use for baby’s hospital photograph.  You may certainly come up with some ideas of your own; these are just some samples of things that you can do if you are fresh out of ideas. Gift giving for the new baby should come from your heart and your creative inner soul. If you have a great idea for a baby gift, share it with someone so that they, too, can give a gift that is different from the others the baby receives.