friday I’m in love.

Welcome back Friday!

{one} donorschoose.org

If you watch Jimmy Fallon or Steven Colbert, you have probably already heard of the #BestSchoolDay DonorsChoose.org campaign. Donorschoose.org is this awesome organization that allows you to choose a classroom project to fund (submitted by teachers) and 100% of the proceeds goes to fund that project. Just in Seattle, there are 56 projects that are looking for funding. We will definitely be choosing a few projects this year to fund when we make our charitable donations for the year. There are projects all over the country, in every school district, that need funding, so go check it out! And if you are a teacher, you can start a project campaign too!

{two} Article: Baby tech gear is sold on fear, not practicality.

I am going to get up onto my Mama soapbox for a minute, so if you disagree, no hard feelings. Parenting is this amazing thing because it allows you to do exactly what you want, but sometimes there are hard decisions to make. This article about baby tech gear on The Verge really resonated with me (& it was a bonus that it supported what mine & Aaron’s thoughts are, for the most part, about all of the baby tech). Technology has done amazing things to our world and allows us to be so connected and receive so much data about, well, everything! But, I draw the line at over tech-ifying our babies and children. Yes we use a webcam in Eloise’s room, but that’s pretty much where we stopped. Any anxieties that I had or have just won’t be lessened by a “smart” sock/mat/onesie/etc. While I appreciate that some (many) parents find comfort in these devices, it saddens me that the marketing for these products is based on fear! Parenting is scary enough, let’s now dwell on all of the terrible and horrible possibilities. {off my soapbox}

{three} Baby Name Popularity.

Finding the right baby name can be super stressful. Honestly, I feel like we won’t be able to come up with a name as good as Eloise for any future child, (Sorry second kid!) so it is something that I think about quite a bit! This name game, if you will, over on Time magazine’s site is pretty fun though as it will tell you what your name would be if you were named today (based on the popularity of your name when you were born)!

So for me: