According to The Albany Democrat Herald, an Oregon father who used a stun gun (you heard right: a stun gun, folks) on his 18-month old toddler received a prison sentence of only 46 months. I’m not sure what part of that is more outrageous, the stun gun part or the 46 month prison sentence.

The father monster, Rian James Wittman of Albany, Oregon was convicted, via a plea bargain, of two counts of Assault III.

According to the prosecutor of the case,

Wittman blames the child’s mother for the injuries, Dinsmore said. But Wittman has reportedly said that he “wanted his child to be tough … to be the toughest cage fighter ever.”

At what point do we step up and pass tougher laws on those who perpetuate crimes against children? 46 months…I’m still just baffled over that….

You can read the entire article here.

Infants like high contrasts, experts tell us, because that’s what they’re developing eyes can see. It’s not until reach about 4 months of age that all the colors in the spectrum become visible. So it’s no wonder that our newborn kidlets ignore that adorable Winnie-the-Pooh mobile in soft pastels and continue to scream like banshees.

Enter the Sheep Mobile from Sparkability, a company up in Portland, Maine. The black and white sheep are about as high contrast as you can get and easily seen by little eyes.

Made in Denmark, this mobile would be an artistic addition to any nursery! Let’s just hope it doesn’t inspire your kidlet to become the black sheep of the family.

For a good read on babies and how their eyesight develops, check out this iParenting article.

Most of us have been led to believe that drinking more water will hydrate your skin from the inside out, thus reducing fine lines and wrinkles. Turns out, that’s not quite true. According to dermatologist Dr. Benabio,

No study has ever shown regular water has any impact on your skin and no controlled study has ever shown that any type of drinking water has an effect on your skin.

You can read his entire article here.

While there’s no doubt that water provides many internal benefits for our bodies, if you’re chugging down water by the liter to get rid of those crow’s feet, you may well drown first.

For more good skin tips straight from a dermatologist’s mouth, visit Dr. Benabio’s site, The Derm Blog.

First time parents often buy every baby product on the market, if for no other reason than inexperience (we know we did!). I’d be afraid to go back and tally up the money wasted on products that turned out to be absolutely worthless…I could probably afford that new car by now. *sigh*

By the time your second child comes into the world, you’ve wised up to all that marketing hype — you know what works and what doesn’t, especially when it comes to getting babies to sleep. After wasting our time with items like Lavender Baby Wash (”Guaranteed to Calm Your Baby and Ease Them to Sleep” — yeah, right…it might put you to sleep if you chugged the entire bottle), we stumbled upon one of the very few items that we will be using again with our second child: Miracle Blanket.

This swaddling blanket truly lives up to it’s name. From the first time we used it (closely following directions, of course), it calmed kidlet and induced sleep within moments. Hmmmm….swaddle in a Miracle Blanket and it results in sleep…it was difficult not to abuse our new-found power.

How is the Miracle Blanket different from swaddling in any other blanket?

Since the regular blanket purchased for your baby is usually a plain square or rectangle, they are not designed to really hold your baby’s limbs close to their body. This means that if the parent can remember the tricky maneuvers to help a regular blanket work, a couple of movements from baby bring the regular blanket undone. The Miracle Blanket is designed to hold the arms and feet separately and pull them close to the body. This provides an easy method of swaddling a baby.

If you’d like a happy baby and some of the precious sleep that goes with a happy baby, your Penguin Moms highly recommend giving this a try. Sleep….it’s a miracle.

Whether you’ve decided to go with cloth diapers (applause and admiration from the Penguin Moms who turned out to be too lazy/cowardly/downright exhausted to follow your lead) or you’ve just reached the stage where the overnight diaper alone ain’t cutting it, a nice terry diaper cover can be indispensable.

So why not enjoy a laugh at your child’s expense while you’re at it? These cotton terry diaper covers are absorbent and washer/dryer friendly. Appropriately embroidered on the bum with your choice of “Poo Poo” or “Stinky.” Guaranteed to get a laugh from someone (probably you). But don’t feel bad - they’ll be getting even with you in oh, about 15 years.

Baby Nest currently has these on sale (while supplies last) - 50% off!