When I gave birth to my son, I also became a single mother. His father had not been ready for the responsibility of becoming a parent and I knew that it was going to be completely up to me to make sure that every need of my baby was met, both as an infant, and as he grew into an adult.

One of the first things I did was make a decision that I was going to put a little bit of money away for him each month, so that he would be able to go to college. I started to compare child trust funds and decide which would be the best for us.

Though funds were extremely tight those first few years, I made sure that I put a little bit away for him each month. It is really surprising how much that little bit of money grew into quite a substantial amount. When he graduated high school, I had put away more than what he would need and it made me feel good that I had made the right decision as a parent.

When I became a mother for the first time, it was both wonderful and scary. It was the first time that I felt I had such an enormous responsibility and that I was responsible for this little person. She could not survive without me and I knew that my protection and love was what she needed most of all in her life.

I had always known that I wanted to be a mother and though the responsibility was tremendous, the feeling of contentment and joy that I got whenever I held her was beyond anything I could ever imagine. The first time she smiled at me, I thought I was going to melt and the first time I heard her laugh, I was in love.

I knew that having her was like letting my heart walk out of my body and I knew that I could not be there for her every second if every day. But those moments that I was with her were the ones that I savored most. It was wonderful and scary, but maybe, just a little bit more wonderful.

One of the biggest things that I am concerned about as a parent is the safety of my personal information.  You see, I am not the only one that uses my computer, and since I cannot monitor what sites my kids visit every moment of every day, I wanted to find something that would protect my computer from cyber thieves.

While at the computer store today, I was looking at some Anonymizer software.  It looked pretty neat, but after talking to the computer salesperson, I found that what I was looking for was some sort of privacy software.

We looked at a number of products on the shelf, but I was told that ParetoLogic Privacy Controls was the best product on the market and I should try it out.

So, I have it installed on my computer now, and the installation was a breeze.  I guess it will remain to be seen how well it works, but I feel better now, knowing that I have taken some precautions to ensure my privacy while online.

I have a five year old son who has been to more concerts already than I had been to by the time I was thirty. I have been to many now, but it has mostly been Sesame Street, the Backyardigans, the Wiggles and others in the same genre. In fact, I don’t remember the last time I was at an adult concert.

I don’t mind it so much and my son has a wonderful time. There is nothing that he likes better than live shows, so whenever an age appropriate one is coming to town, I jump at the chance to take him. To be completely honest, I might just enjoy them as much as he does.

I get up there and dance and sing along right with the kids. I know that he will grow way too fast and I will actually miss the days of going to kiddy concerts and getting away with it. One day he will be going to rock concerts and certainly will not want his mother to come along. So, I will cherish what I have while I have it.

I am working at becoming a real estate agent. I am presently stuck in a dead end job and I need to get out of it. I thought that selling real estate would give me many more options, and as I am a very hard worker, who puts in very long hours, it could potentially be very profitable for me.

I am looking into Greenville, SC real estate, as that is where my son lives with his mother. The market looks very good there and I think I could do very well. I know that living near my son is something that I need to do and it is one of the reasons I have been unhappy with my job lately.

He does not know that I am going for my license or that I am planning to live in Greenville to be closer to him, but I know he will be so glad to have me around more often. I also need this move for myself, as I feel that I am missing out on so much of his life. Yes, it will be a good day, when I can hand in my resignation.

I was recently looking into Asheville real estate because my daughter will be moving there in the summer.  I always knew that the day would come when she would leave us, but I still feel so unprepared and know that I will have a hard time letting go.

I thought that rather than her having to find a place to rent, I would look for real estate for sale in Asheville.  She plans to attend school there for the next four years at least, and we could always resell if she decided to go elsewhere at that point.

We found that Asheville Condos had suites that were the perfect size and location for her.  We have not closed the deal yet, but are pretty sure that we will be going with the condos.  She like it because it was roomy and we like that it was secure.

We are starting to pack and I can’t help but get nostalgic as we go through all of the things she had as a child.  I guess by summer I will have to finally be able to let her go, but it will be so hard.

I am a Cancer survivor.  I overcame the disease by eating an organic diet and staying away from as many chemicals and pollutants as possible.  At the time when I was diagnosed and decided to forgo the chemotherapy and fight it naturally, my son was ten months old.  I immediately looked into purchasing organic baby clothing for him.

I had never thought much about organic baby clothes, but a brush with death gets a person thinking about things differently.  I thought about the fact that if I was more careful with what I fed him and how we lived our lives, I may be able to prevent him from having to go through this one day.

I was excited to find that my organics supplier has recently received a shipment of organic baby bedding, including the mattress for his crib.  Going organic has been very costly, but I feel like a better mom and I feel like I’ve given him a better life.

I have been mulling over a number of ideas for my kids for Christmas.  There are many things that they need and many fun things that I could get, but my wife told me that this year we needed to be practical.  Some form of clothing would be appropriate, but a game would not.  I thought I could come up with something that was fun and practical, I just needed to think.

It took me some time, but eventually, I was able to come up with something.  The kids needed shoes, and my wife thought that Crocs would be the way to go.  But what I thought of is that they needed rubber boots as well - so maybe they sold closed in Croc shoes (at least that is what I hoped).

So, I took a look online and found my answer.  They made closed in All Terrain Crocs that would make my wife happy and myself happy too.  I didn’t mention it to her, but when spring comes, the kids and I are going to play in the puddles and the mud.  If there shoes "happen" to get dirty, we can just was them off easily, and go get them dirty - seems like a win-win situation for me.

Last night the family and I made a trip to the library like we do each week to find some books to read.  We usually get a bunch of story books for us to read to the kids, but this week, our son wanted to pick out one book by himself.  Considering he really can’t read yet, I was unsure of what to expect, but we happily let him try it out.

So we let him go look for a book.  About ten minutes had passed and he returned with a book about homemade dog food.  Strangely this was appropriate as we have a puppy at home.

After we returned home and put the kids to bed, I decided to take a look at what was in the book he brought home.  Inside there were recipes on how to make dog food and dog treats.  They looked pretty easy and we decided to let them try making some tomorrow - not only will the dog love it, but it will teach the kids cooking skills as well.  We’ll just have to make sure neither of the kids try to lick the spoon - I don’t want them eating dog food.

In some respects, it is easy to pick a doctor for an adult.  All you have to do is find a doctor in the yellow pages and usually that is about as hard as it gets.  Most doctors for adults give the same level of primary care compared to one another.

But when it comes to a child, things are a little different.  Sure you can pick a doctor that is a general practitioner, but what if your child has special needs?  A good example would be Asthma.  There may be some special considerations for kids that a general practitioner would not know about, but something a pediatrician would pick up on right away.

Another sign that you should choose a pediatrician is that whenever I take my son into Emergency at the hospital they put him in pediatrics.  You see, even the health care system feels that a pediatrician is a better choice for kids.

When thinking of a doctor for your child weigh your options:  either get a general practitioner that can handle most of the problems that may arise, or get an expert: get a pediatrician.