By Sasha Emmons for Parenting.com

"What's that on her head?"

It was my daughter Chloe's second day on Earth, and already the mom anxiety had kicked in over what looked like a bruise just above her forehead. "That's just a hemangioma birthmark. It might get a little bigger, but it will go away by the time she's 2," the pediatrician told me. Google gave me more details: A hemangioma, often called a strawberry, is a benign blood-vessel tumor. One in 10 babies (usually girls) will develop one.

My husband, Justin, and I tried to laugh it off as we fell madly in love with our Baby Gorbachev. But as Chloe grew, the hemangioma showed no signs of shrinking. In fact, it had ballooned to the diameter of a golf ball, and was puffed ominously full of blood. People who knew Chloe saw a spunky, smiley, and beautiful kid; strangers just stared at that thing on her head. The pediatrician brushed off my concerns, saying it was just a cosmetic issue. But I couldn't help the nagging feeling

Read More »from Why My Toddler Had Plastic Surgery

© Brian HagiwaraBy Brian Braiker

You would be hard pressed to find parents who didn't believe in the importance of giving their kids a financial education.

We couldn't.

A recent survey that Parenting conducted with Citi Community Development found that parents overwhelmingly believe in the importance of talking about household budgets, savings and financial goals-but not many are actually doing it on an ongoing basis.

Ninety percent of the 1,026 parents surveyed agreed that teaching their kids the financial facts of life was an important parental task, and yet nearly half of them (48 percent) admit to not talking about money and finances with their kids on a regular basis.

The reason? Parents report feeling that their children aren't quite old enough yet: 79 percent of those surveyed agreed with the statement that "my children are too young to understand money concepts."

Plus: Money Saving Tips for Mom

Still, 52 percent of parents in the Parenting/Citi survey reported

Read More »from Only Half of Parents Regularly Talk to Kids About Money

Ecard ...

"Well Jenny, cough again, but harder this time," said Dr. Pollen from her cushy position directly underneath me and looking up into my nether regions. How did the doctor get such a view, you ask? I was on a special type of birthing chair (one that was probably used in the Salem Witch Trials). Not only was there barely any seat to hold me up, I was hoisted about 6ft in the air, so that the doctor's assistants (people with weird fetishes who pay to be called doctor's assistants, as I like to call them) were looking my vajajay dead in the eye, ahem, the labia. The doctor then sat on her stool and literally rolled underneath me as if she was checking out my chassis. Which makes sense because she did mention the need for a tune up.

MORE HUMOR FROM THE SUBURBAN JUNGLE: HOLY CRAP, MY EYELIDS DON'T MATCH ANYMORE AND OTHER AGING REVELATIONS

Why would one sit on such a chair without being dared or paid? Because apparently I have all kinds of prolapse (that's stuff caving in and

Read More »from What's a Little Peeing in Your Pants Between Friends?

Courtesy of Parenting.comBy Janelle Hanchett

A couple weeks ago, we were leaving one of those insane, horrible giant trampoline bouncy places and my 11-year-old daughter says to me "I don't think I'm very physical. You know, like Rocket [her brother]. He seems to be really good at sports and flipping and I'm not."

What came out my mouth surprised me: "No, you're kind of not."

Plus: The Parenting Truth I'm Not Willing to Accept

Okay let me back up. As you may have surmised, this child has been with me for approximately 11.5 years, not counting the time she was in my belly, so I've had ample time to observe her engaging in physical acts: jumping, climbing, running, organized sports.

And the kid is just like me: two left feet. If anybody was ever NOT a "natural" athlete, that person is me.

But even knowing these facts, and relating perfectly to the sentiment my daughter was expressing, my first instinct was to snow her with some BS: "Oh, no, honey. You're good at sports! You just have to keep

Read More »from Why I Told My Daughter She Sucks at Sports

Photo: ThinkstockBy Amy Shearn

The Art of Beautiful Ws
Whenever I have to actually write something by hand, I feel obligated to make some self-deprecating aside about the results, which resemble hieroglyphics after many millennia of erosion. But our mothers, who grew up in pre-typing-everything times, really know how to write fancy cursive Fs and Gs and Ws, and as a result there is a bit of everyday elegance infused into even their shopping lists.

RELATED: 25 Ways to Pamper Mom

Making Banana Bread Without a Recipe
You used to make fun of your mother for rescuing mushy, overripe bananas from a trash-can fate, but listen, guess where all that delicious banana bread came from? We know how to cook the holiday favorites we helped our mothers make, and probably a cultural biggest hit--hello, noodle kugel! But what about the everyday, unglamorous, using-the-leftovers standbys? We're all capable of transforming rotisserie-chicken guts into a delicious soup, but when do you get that special ability

Read More »from 8 Life Skills Mom Forgot to Teach Me

Spring is here and that means that soon there will be a rainbow of flowers blooming everywhere you go. If you love the colors of spring, perhaps you should consider one of these colorful baby names. Colorful names are gaining popularity so any of these options would be great for a first or middle name! By Becka Robinson

MORE ON DISNEY BABY

Looking for the perfect baby name? Try these 15 clever tips!

Year-round style: 22 ways to add a pop of color to your kids' wardrobe!

10 beautiful baby names from lovable children's classics

Read More »from 10 "Colorful" Baby Names You Could Pluck from a Crayon Box

weaning motherFor the first time last night, I didn't feel the need to linger over my sleepy, smiling baby as I reluctantly put him down in his crib. I didn't hold him in my arms a little longer; I didn't read an extra story; I didn't have trouble tearing myself away from his crib and his adorable, happy face.

Instead, I couldn't get out of his nursery room fast enough. I couldn't even stay in there long enough to put him down in his crib; to say goodnight to his humidifier and his ceramic pig; to give his lovey hugs; to blow kisses from the side of his crib and then the doorway. Nope, instead I called for the husband and tapped out. I said, "you do it; you put him in down; I can't." I rarely utter the words "I can't" with my son, because I'm happy to do absolutely anything for him, no matter what state I'm in. But not yesterday. Yesterday my 15 1/2 month old son spent 95% of his waking hours attached to my boob. The other 5% of the time he was screaming at me because I covertly attempted to

Read More »from "I'm Not a 24-7 Milk Bar": Why I'm Sick of Breastfeeding My Toddler

Dane Weller is hoping is late mother's wedding band turns up. Photo: KCTVFollowing the death of his mother earlier this month, a Kansas man is not only dealing with grief, but with anger about the fact that his mom's wedding ring went missing from her finger.

More on Shine: Husband and Wife Die 16 Hours Apart, After 76 Years Together. That's True Love.

“It’s unsettling, to say the least,” Dane Weller told Yahoo! Shine when reached at home in Overland Park, where he now lives with just his father, Don. 

Weller, who had become particularly close with his late mother, Vicki, and moved back in with his parents after a spinal cord injury left him temporarily paralyzed several years ago, had made a promise to her shortly before she died: He would honor her request to make sure his niece, Vicki’s first-born granddaughter Jenni, 34, received the gold wedding band upon her death.

More on Yahoo!: Family Reunited with Stolen 1938 Heirloom Telegram

“That was the last thing she said to me—‘I would like Jenni to have the ring’,” Dane said. “That was the only thing she askedRead More »from Son's Quest to Find Late Mother's Wedding Ring