Blog Posts by Charlene Prince Birkeland, Shine staff

Since there's no such thing (yet) as family-class seating on airplanes, moms and dads -- and grandparents and everyone else about to board a plane with a tot -- are always looking for ways to make traveling with kids easier. Only it's not just surviving a long flight flight that's cause for a freak-out. It's the hour and change you spend waiting in a crowded airport terminal for your flight. And the post-flight baggage claim debacle. We're talking end-to-end family travel goodness, people.

What you need is something that keeps little ones captivated and busy before and after they get on the plane. Please, let me be the one to introduce you to The Trunki, which could just about be the coolest travel item for kids that I've seen. (I mean, besides Benadryl. I'm just sayin'.)

The Trunki is a ride-on suitcase.

Kids can pack it up with five gallons worth of all their precious treasures to help them stay busy through the flight. It has a little saddle so they can sit on it and mosey down

Suri rocks the $100K birthday partyTom Cruise and Katie Holmes clearly misread the memo saying that $10,000 is the new norm for excessive kid's birthday parties. They somehow added an extra digit and spent
$100,000 to celebrate the second birthday of daughter Suri. They must feel so silly.

NY Daily News reports they had some pretty amazing birthday cakes (note the plural), $45,000 in food (catered from Wolfgang Puck no less) and decorated with $17,000 worth of fresh flowers. And 1,000 butterflies flew around her. It sounds like a movie set.

Now if you'll excuse me I'll be checking out ways to throw pretty cool birthday parties without dropping more than a single Benjamin.

Related:

Mariah Carey says hellz to the naw on having babies

(Photo Credit: Toby Canham/Getty Images)

Photo Credit: www.20minutos.esI just ended a school fundraiser for my son in kindergarten. We sold cookie dough and had a jog-a-thon.

Some moms in Spain? Erin in Love and Sex sent me a story about a group who decided to create a semi-nude calendar and even posed for it. Only it's not selling. And they have 5,000 copies left and still $16,000 to the printer.

The seven thirty-something moms from the tiny village of Serradilla del Arroyo were trying to raise funs for its one grade school, which has one teacher and seven students, 7-11 years old. The moms wanted to use the money to help build a rec center for the kids. And now instead of raising money, they're stuck in debt.

You just know their hearts were in the right place. Maybe the really did think they could follow in the footsteps of the Calendar Girls story, where moms in Britain posed semi-nude and their calendar was a huge hit...leading to a movie.

Old-fashioned bake sales are starting to look really good.

And to see more photos from the calendar, click

Down with BPA!We're all reading about the chemical, Bisphenol-A (BPA), which is very common in baby bottles, children's toys and other plastic items. Canada is the first country to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles. Retailers Toys R' Us, CVS and Wal-Mart are also pulling baby bottles that contain BPA from their shelves. And last week, the National Toxicology Program asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to re-consider its position that BPA is safe.

All this information can be a little overwhelming when the bottom line is that as parents, we just want to know which baby bottles are safe for our kids to use.

I've pulled together a list of companies selling baby bottles and sippy cups that are touted as BPA free. I'm not endorsing these products. You should definitely check them out decide what product makes you most comfortable.

• Adiri -- The Natural Nurser Ultimate Bottle
• Born Free Bottles -- All BPA free.
• Avent -- While the popular Airflex bottle still contains

Photo Credit: Hannah J. SimpsonMy kids are not into playing with stuffed animals or dolls but can I just share how much I wish they were still at that stage? Because I am fully digging these cute knitted rock star figures of The White Stripes, Slash and the ever-so-cool German band Kraftwerk (shown on the cards to your left).

Chances are high that your little ones won't even care that they're playing with Slash. And you can only hope they don't notice the cigarette hanging from his lips or that he's sporting a tat just like in real life. But wouldn't it be fun if these freakishly sweet knitted masterpieces infiltrated doll houses across the globe?

One can dream.

The knitted figures are handmade by Hannah J. Simpson and sold on Etsy. She takes requests for custom orders on th figures and says "the weirder the better." For kicks, check out her blog to see her other wacky creations. And if you really want to add a little rock star glam to your kid's room, you should also see Valerie's post about frame-worthy rock

Following in the footsteps of Wal-Mart, Toys R' Us is phasing out baby bottles and meal-related items that contain Bisphenol-A (BPA). The company said via email that they're taking action "in light of growing consumer concerns on this topic," referring to last week's news that the National Toxicology Program asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to re-consider its position that BPA is safe.

Toys R' Us won't release a list of the bottles that they will stop selling but did say that the bottles and meal-related products will be off their shelves by 2008.

Wal-Mart has already pulled BPA-products from their stores in Canada after the country became the first to ban the use of BPA in baby bottles. (Canada gets a big WOOT! for this monumental step!). The company hopes to have its stores free of BPA-baby bottles by 2009.

Now we all just have to hope that the U.S. FDA and other countries will follow suit and ban BPA in children's toys and bottles too.


And if you want to read

I know it's National Turn-off Week. But since it's also Earth Day, I feel completely okay tell you that you should let your kids watch this new animated show, Gorilla in the Greenhouse. It follows a group of young kids as they try to save the world from eco-catastrophes. KJ, the green gorilla, is buddies with the crew and is able to predict the future by painting on rocks. All to a funky 70s-inspired vibe. Simple, wholesome goodness with a smart, green message.

The first episode airs today and you don't even have to turn on your television. Just click here to check it out first...then share it with your kids.

There's a new book that hasn't even hit stores yet but it's buzzing up the Internet. It's called My Beautiful Mommy, which elicits the awww factor until you see the cover: a glowing, bodacious mamasita with stars and glitter floating around her because it turns out that she's just had some boob work done. This book is to help her child cope with her new, ahem, transformation.

So yes, it's a comical and yes, we should really question what it means when someone feels there's a market for this type of book. And holy shizz, would I love to be a fly on the wall watching a mom reading this to her little boy, followed by that little boy telling his kindergarten class all about mommy's new ta-tas.

Moms are having plastic surgery. Nothin' wrong with it (unless you go too far). And this book? I haven't read it and I don't plan on picking it up at my local library anytime soon. (And would they even carry it?)

Here's my question: If you have children, is it worth waiting to have your little nip