We’d love for your family to join us for a FREE event this Saturday, October 1st from 10AM to 2PM.  We are joining Philly Parent Circle to Celebrate Play at  Smith Memorial Playground in Fairmount Park.  In addition to the 40 foot giant wooden slide and incredible play-space that Smith is known for, we have invited some of your favorite local businesses to showcase their offerings to your families and bring you a taste of all the amazing resources our neighborhoods have to offer.

Each local business joining us Oct. 1st has planned their own activity to share! Grab your “Passport to Play” and visit each one.  You’ll touch and learn about live animals from our friends at Riverbend Environmental Education Center, do an art project with Palette Kids, learn a little French, Spanish, and Mandarin from our friends at Lango Philly, decorate cupcakes with Brendenbeck’s Bakery, enjoy a DjembeJam session with Learn Listen Play, and rock out to a musical performance to Mama Mac.  Please click here for a complete list of all the fun!

We are excited to offer mini-photography sessions by the very talented Stephanie Glover. Such great timing to knock holiday photos of your to – do list and at such a great location.  Painless!

There will be Fingerprinting and safety information by Trooper Danea Durham, as well as car seat safety info presented by the PA Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Maggiano’s of King of Prussia and of Philadelphia are providing lunch for FREE and asking that families make donations instead, to Smith Playground.  We’ll also have a lemonade stand run by the PPC kids, with 100% of the proceeds with go to Alex’s Lemonade Stand.  Come out and support them as they give back to our community too.

We can’t wait to see you there!  Pre-register here.  The first 200 people to register will receive a free goody bag!

In the event of rain, this event will be held one week later on October 8th, 2011.

The Team Abby Foundation (www.teamabby.com) was founded by Carrie Higgins, whose daughter spent the first two months of her life in the NICU at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia. The Team Abby mission is to provide comfort and support for other families facing extended ICN (Intensive Care Nursery) stays at Jefferson.  They are donating 100 Care Bags to Jefferson Hospital to families who are “facing the unknowns of NICU life.”  We are so glad to have connected with Carrie and to help her spread the word about Team Abby!  Here is Carrie’s story:

Like many expectant moms, I spent my last few weeks of pregnancy running around buying last minute items, finishing the nursery, washing newborn baby clothes, and packing my hospital bag {boy, I wish I’d known about Premier Baby Concierge back then!}   I thought I was ready.  However, my routine induction became an emergency c-section and my sweet baby girl ended up spending the next 50 days in the NICU.  Sitting by her hospital crib, I knew I had to do something for other long-term NICU families who suddenly found themselves in that situation– heartbroken, scared, and without basic comfort items to help ease the difficulty of NICU life for parents that often never expected to be there.

That’s the moment the Team Abby Foundation was born, named both for my daughter and the army of friends and family who surrounded us with love and support.  Our goal is to donate 100 Care Bags each year to the Jefferson Hospital Intensive Care Nursery filled with items to provide comfort and care to long-term NICU families.  These bags are filled with basic necessities such as hand sanitizer and tissues as well as comfort items like a reusable water bottle, blankets for swaddling, and books to read to the babies.  We hope to add gift cards to local eateries and parking passes as well, since we spent over $2000 on this aspect of NICU life while Abby was there.  That’s quite a burden for most families.

Team Abby is extremely thankful to have gotten donations from friends, prior NICU families, and most recently a hundred beautiful muslin swaddling blankets from Aden + Anais. These gifts allow us to comfort these ill babies and their heartbroken families, and we are thrilled to be packing our first round of bags for delivery in the next few weeks.  As for Ms. Abby, the girl who was not supposed to make it past her first week of life, she’ll be there too– running around and chatting away like the normal two-year-old that she is.  And for that, we are beyond grateful!

If you would like additional information about Team Abby, hear more about Abby’s story, and/or donate to help make these bags possible please visit our site at www.teamabby.com. Thank you, Shannon, for posting about Team Abby and for helping arrange the amazing donation of the Aden + Anais swaddle blankets!

~ Carrie Higgins, Team Abby Foundation

Abby today, healthy and strong!

Sounds nutty… and brilliant, right?  It is!  Premier Sitter Services hosts Sitter Events bringing a room full of parents and experienced, available sitters together to meet via mini speed interviews.  One night; 4 minute interviews. 

Forget job postings and emails back and forth, interviewing people in your home and taking up lots of valuable time.  Come to one Event and meet up to 20 sitters.  Leave with a Sitter Directory with contact info, availability and work experience of each sitter you just met.  No background checks are done before the Events; PSS brings everyone to the Event, but parents are responsible for interviewing and screening sitters, and then paying them directly.

When we introduced these Sitter Events last Spring, we had awesome response.  Moms and sitters were thrilled to meet great people and lots of matches were made! 

Our first Event of the season is May 20th At Paoli Design Center.  Cupcakes Gourmet is providing the yummy snacks and we're bringing the coffee!  Channel 6 will be there to cover the action and we want you, too!  The first 10 parents to register for each event get 50% off the registration fee, making it just $50!

For more details on this fun and efficient way to meet your next sitter, visit www.premiersitterservices.com.

Here's Shannon discussing mom and baby tips with "10! Show" host Lori Wilson and guest, David Gregory of "Meet the Press."

It can be challenging for new and "veteran" moms alike to find time to focus on getting and staying healthy.  We all know moms are great multi-taskers, and fitness is no exception!  Moms can make the most of opportunities to incorporate fitness into their everyday lifestyle and/or find ways to include their children in their workout. 

Here are some amazing fitness products and classes to get your body in shape:

Reebok Easy Tone sneakers: With "balance pods" (strategically placed air pockets that create a natural instability for you to overcome) designed by a former NASA engineer, these sneakers help tone your legs and butt while on the go. $100-125

Strollometer:  Walk around the block, the park or the mall and keep track of your distance, speed, the temperature, etc. with this great stroller accessory.  This 8 function computer pedometer attaches to any stroller.  $39.99

Love Handles:  Turn any stroller into an elliptical trainer with this accessory. $99.99

BOB Stroller Strides Fitness Stroller:  The name in fitness strollers, BOB partnered with the country's largest mom and baby exercise program and produced the Stroller Strides Revolution.   It's a dream to maneuver with a front wheel may be fixed or swivel, which makes it extremely versatile.  It's even Graco and Peg Perego infant car seat compatible, so depending on your lifestyle, this stroller could be your only stroller.  $399

Chicks and Chickens Lullaby exercise DVD: A dance and sway workout to do at home with baby in your arms or in a baby carrier. $29.99

Swaptree.com:  Free website to join to trade DVD's, CD's, books and video games.  There are no fees to join or to trade.  Just create a login, list what you have to trade and what you'd love to find and let the computer do the rest!  Just pay shipping (usually about $2.50). 

Local fitness resources:

Belly Pilates:  The only pre- and post-natal Certified Master Pilates specialist in our area, Kelly McBride is the woman to connect with for 1:1 training, mat and reformer classes, mom and baby classes to repair your body and get your core in shape!  

One Fit Mama:  With multiple locations locally, OFM offers both stroller-based cardio and strength training workouts, as well as prenatal and mom and baby yoga classes.  Spend time with baby while getting a complete strengthening work-out for both your mind and body.

PBC Fitness Tips:

• Talk to your doctor before starting a new fitness
  program.  Not everyone can handle the same fitness regime and you should
  get the "ok" before involving baby in your workouts. 
• If nursing, doctors recommend that you don't "diet" in the
  traditional sense.  You should be taking in extra calories because you
  actually burn calories when nursing. Remember, whatever food and
  nutrients you get, baby gets.
• Set realistic goals for a post-baby body.  It took nine
  months to
  gain the weight, it will take time to lose it.  Remember, the main goal
  is to get healthy and repair any physical changes, such as diastisis,
  that come with the pregnancy and child birth.

Check out www.premiersitterservices.com to see our schedule of upcoming Speed Sitter Interview Events where you can meet experienced college-age sitters looking for PT or occasional babysitting jobs speed-dating style! 

Local businesses:  Interested in hosting an Event?  Please contact us!  shannon@premiersitterservices.com