Blog Posts by The_Stir

baby handThis may be one of the most disturbing adoption stories I've read in a long time. A man named Terry Achane was away from home on duty as a soldier in the United States Army when his wife gave birth to their daughter and then promptly put the baby up for adoption, allegedly doing so without ever telling Terry it was happening. It goes against everything adoption is meant to do and then some ...

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Now Jared and Kristi Frei, the people who brought little Leah home and thought she was legally their daughter, are in a fight against a dad who just wants his little girl back.

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I can't help thinking of little Leah (or as her biological father had named her before her birth, Teleah) here. Adoption is supposed to be about the kids and what is in their best interests, and this case has done

christmas stockingChristmas stockings are lots of things -- cute, sentimental, necessary -- but stylish usually isn't one of those things. Most of the time, at least. I went on an Internet quest recently to find my daughter a stocking for her very first Christmas, and it turns out -- there actually are a fair amount of non-cheesy, chic, stylish stockings out there. Who knew?

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If you're in need of a stocking this year -- or, hey, even if you're not -- here are 6 super stylish Christmas stockings for your super-stylish self. Happy shopping, friends.

Image via Cherished Vintage

Free People Christmas Stocking, $68
Free People Christmas Stocking, $68

Anthropologie Loomed & Loomed Stocking, $48

Cherished Vintage Stockings, $25

Plum Cushion Stocking, $90

DIY Martha Stewart Stocking

Personalized Stocking, $29.95

thongRemember the corset? The ones from way back when women essentially gave themselves 24-hour agita? We were really repressed (and pressed in) back then. Not cool. You know what else isn't cool? Thongs. Why anyone would want to wear something all up in your butt cheeks is beyond me. One wrong wiggle, and that string can get all up in your lady parts.

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I could see if you want to be all sexy pants and wear them for the five seconds before your lover rips them off, but an all-day affair with your butt munching a piece of fabric? No thanks. Still, I know some women who prefer the thong and it's baffling why.

The number one reason, though, seems to be panty lines. PANTY LINES? Why care about panty lines? You can't see them unless you have a mirror, so just pretend anything back there isn't an issue. Besides, I heard from one guy one time that panty lines are sexy because he feels he can envision the shape of the woman's

baby criesBeing a new mom is a fairly terrifying endeavor. The day you come home from the hospital with your newborn, you are immediately plunged into an unknown world with a strange and demanding creature you have no idea how to care for.

Good times.

This is where experts like Amy Spangler, president of BabyGooroo.com and former President of the International Lactation Consultant Association (ILCA), comes in. What new mom doesn't need expert advice, after all? When it seems like your baby is crying for no reason, sometimes it's helpful to hear professional reassurance that, yes, there is a reason and, yes, there is a solution. Spangler spoke exclusively with The Stir to help us decipher the 10 most common reasons babies are in distress and how you can help them. And yourself.

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According to Spangler, there aren't really 50 different cries. "Many would argue that babies have a single cry that varies in intensity and pitch

It's no secret that only a few women out there gain the actual recommended amount during their pregnancy. I know my body decided to become a food hoarder and place every single calorie right onto my burgeoning belly (and butt, and hips and really, everywhere).

It didn't help that I have the approximate dimensions of a Daddy Long Legs spider, which meant I looked somewhat like a Weeble while pregnant.

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And after I popped out my babies, all of that belly turned from lump of baby to squishy, stretchy skin. I considered fashioning a scarf from the extra skin, but decided that instead, I needed to tighten up all that loose skin.

Here's what I learned about tightening loose skin after major weight loss (read: pregnancy).

1. Get rid of those pesky baby pounds. The older you get, the harder it is to lose weight, and the less elastic our skin becomes. So pack up baby and go for a walk every day.

time to work outWorking out for me is like brushing my teeth. On the days where it doesn't happen, I feel vaguely gross, weird, and out of sorts. I run five miles every day and on the days I don't I am in in a terrible mood and I usually complain bitterly about it. Of course, it's not always easy to find the time.

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Right now our family is in the process of moving to the New York City area, which is 300 miles from where we live now, so my husband and I are living apart, I am working full time, commuting them to school an hour each way and living in a small apartment. It's not all that easy to squeeze a workout in, especially with the kids. But I do. Always.

How do I do it? Well here are my 10 tips to find the time to work out:

1.) Make it happen: The number one thing I have to say is you need to prioritize exercise as highly as any other personal care thing. Maybe even higher. I will skip a shower before I skip a run. I have

hot toddyHere it comes, you guys. Cold Season. I can see it now, hovering at the horizon like the hideous beast that it is. But you know what? I'm not afraid of you, Cold Season! I've got my weapons of mass sniffles destruction, and I'm not afraid to use them. I've got: Tasty foods and drinks for colds.

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Besides chicken noodle soup, that is.

Yes, there is life beyond chicken noodle soup, love it though we do. There's a lot of other foods and drinks that can help knock out a cold. And, if I may be so bold, I think some of these are even more powerful than chicken noodle soup. Of course, there's no cure for the common cold. These are more about soothing and helping to shorten your illness. But here are a few of my favorites -- with recipes.

1. Hot and sour soup. Hot and soothing is good, but if you can add some spice to it, that's even better. (And by the way, all that salt is also helpful.) Chinese hot

5-second ruleThere you are eating that delicious cookie that you've been waiting for all day. It's the last one, and you've earned it. Then just as you're about to bite into its ooey gooey goodness, you drop it on to the floor. What do you do?

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If you're like me, you shout (either internally or out loud if you're feeling particularly defensive) "5-Second Rule!" and eat it anyway. I've heard before about all of the germs, and blah, blah, blah, but I typically choose the cookie anyway. A new video from Michael Stevens of Vsauce circulating on the web, however, is making that harder than ever for me to do. It's just so ... graphic.

It's clearly a hot topic as more than 1.4 million people have viewed the video in the few days since he uploaded it. It's not that he's found anything new, but rather he's just taken a lot of scientific data and put it together into one pretty unappetizing argument.

He presents some interesting