Spendy Babies!

In reading a recent article (Million Dollar Babies, by Pamela Paul), I was struck--shocked, really--by this advice: "Most financial advisers urge parents to set aside a minimum of $1,000 per child a month" for college savings.

Have you all gotten back up in your chairs yet?

And yet, when I zipped over to the College Board's handy tuition savings calculator, I was astounded to see that, in order to pay for basic in-state tuition at a state school for a kid starting college in 15 years, I should be saving over $400 a month right now. For #2, starting college in 17 years, I should be saving $400 a month. That's $800 a month I should be saving right now for college.

I don't know if I should be laughing or crying right now...

Wherefore art thou, 2008?

It's April already! I can't believe it! Where is 2008 going? Well, that's a good question on a larger, deeper level, but what I really mean is, where is the time flying? Seriously. I have so many ideas for new posts, so many drafts waiting to be posted...and here it is, weeks without anything new. Sigh. If anyone is reading, my apologies! I'll try to get some of my posts out there over the next couple days.

New York, New York!

A recent family trip to New York city (thank you, work-sponsored conference!) leaves me with a few quick tips to share. At teh outset I was so nervous about taking the whole family--I was sure that no one would sleep, we'd be thrown out of restaurants for rowdy behavior, we'd all be exhausted the whole time...I could not have been more wrong. It was a dream trip in pretty much every way, although I think probably 90% of the success is due to where we stayed--never underestimate the importance of a good night's sleep for keeping everyone happy!

Where to Stay:
We stayed in the Beacon Hotel (Broadway & 75th, Upper West Side) for a little over $1,000 (including all room taxes & fees) for 3 nights in a one-bedroom suite. With two double beds in the bedroom and a pull-out sofa bed in the living room, plus a nice travel crib from the hotel (free!), we were able to fit my husband and I, our 3 year old, our 18 month old, and my parents, easily. We were in easy walking distance of several playgrounds, Central Park, the Natural History Museum, and other sights. The staff was helpful and nice, but the best part was tucking the kids into bed, leaving gramma and grampa in the living room, and mommy and daddy taking off to have coffee and dessert in a near-by coffee shop. Alone! An actual date! We did this twice, equaling more dates in one week than we'd had in the entire previous year. The room also had a kitchen with an apartment-sized stove (oven and range top), microwave, sink, and refrigerator. All this for $280-300 a night! (Different rates on different nights). I was amazed.

Across the street from the hotel was a large market, with the upstairs serving food all day. We had a reasonable breakfast there one day, and were able to pick up snacks, sugar, etc. when we needed something. Next door was a diner-type place; we had two breakfasts there and they were great with the kids.

Gear You Need:
We took two, cheapo umbrella strollers. With 4 and sometimes 5 adults, we figured we could more easily take turns pushing than want to mess around with a double stroller. Even our $10 consignment sale strollers held up fine over lots of walking on uneven terrain, except at the very end when one of the wheels came off (but we were traversing the cobblestones down around the bull statue at Wall Street, so I think that was pushing our luck!)

We borrowed a hotel crib and took our pack-n-play (we drove up and had enough room in our van for it) and although our 3 year old has a toddler bed at home, he slept just fine in the crib.

Happy travels!

Did you know that 2008 is a Leap Year? I'm sure you did. I'm sure you are much more aware of these things than I am...on whom it only just dawned that, hey, this Friday is the 29th of February!!

From www.dc-baby.com comes a fun activity for kids at the National Geographic Museum (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/museum/)

"How fun is this? To mark Leap Day 2008, the NGS in DC will host a FREE event for kids of all ages:

Celebrate Leap Day at the National Geographic Museum exhibit "Frogs! A Chorus of Colors" this Friday, February 29. The exhibition features more than 150 live frogs from 15 species, each in custom environments that match their natural habitats.

Show-and-tell presentations at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. with the exhibit's frog handler will allow Leap Day visitors the chance to get up close and personal with the frogs. In between presentations, the museum will screen National Geographic Explorer's "The Last Frog," which delves into the worldwide mystery of why the frog population is declining. Visitors can also conduct a virtual frog dissection using one of the exhibit's many interactives, or win a prize in a special leaping contest."

For more info: www.nationalgeographic.com/museum/exhibitions/chorusofcolors.html

Mystery Flu!

Last week my family was struck with a mystery flu. My husband came home from work, went straight to bed with a fever and terrible, uncontrollable shivers, and didn't get out of bed for 3 days. The rest of us soon followed, although, having had the flu shot, we didn't have it quite so bad.

Evidently, we aren't the only ones to be struck hard! Washington Post flu article ( and here too).

How did everyone else fare in avoiding the epidemic?