Even if you think your child is laid-back and afraid of nothing... the first haircut can be a scary situation.

As a baby, my son was always an inch away from an emergency room visit because of his fearlessness. The vaccuum? No problem. Strange dogs? Let him at 'em. New babysitter? He'd grab a book and want to cuddle right away. Bees? Mmmm, those looked like a tasty treat to him! He really was afraid of very little.

And then came the day I dreaded. Those cute little wisps of baby hair had to go, according to his Daddy. I had protested long enough and finally gave in. As you can see from the picture, it was a horrifying experience from start to finish. I was so surprised to see that something I figured he would take in stride was so harrowing to him. Hindsight (which is always 20/20, right?) has me thinking that I wish I'd prepared more and just done the job at home. It took a good long while before my son was ready to go back to the barber. So, save yourself some money and time and possibly avoid the trauma and tears by cutting your child's hair at home. This video will show you how.

^{Photo (c) Darrin Brown}

It's easy to go a little nuts when you're pregnant and walking the aisles of your favorite baby stores. Everything looks so enticing and you're just so ready for your baby to be here. It's easy to forget that for the first few months, your baby needs little more beyond feeding, clothing, diapering and bathing supplies. Heather Corley breaks it down like this:

• You need this stuff
• You don't need this stuff (at least not yet)

I did get one thing on the "don't need" list that I didn't think I'd use until later — an umbrella stroller. I didn't use it for my son, though. I used it to cart things around and for grocery shopping. I wore him in a sling a lot and found that the shopping cart was often in the way. And when you're already carrying a baby, you don't want to be carrying anything else that you don't have to. I'd throw my purse and the diaper bag in it and hook a couple of bags over the handles for the groceries.

It was just easier than lugging the giant stroller and trying to set that up (I'm not very mechanically inclined or coordinated) and then handles were at just the right height that they didn't interfere with the sling. You gotta do what works for you, you know? I know lots of moms that would be lost without their big strollers, but we used ours maybe twice.

I was surprised this year as there weren't many movers and shakers. The most movement any given name saw was a leap up or down of 10 spots or so. One exception, however, was the girl's name Addison. It debuted last year on the top 100 at #27. It kept climbing this year making spot #11. I've attributed this to the popularity of the Grey's Anatomy character with the same name. (And am I the only one that wishes she would just stay on Grey's and they would give up on that dreadful spin-off for her?)

Names that are new to the list this year are Brady and Cooper for boys and Sophie for girls. Making a comeback on the girl's list this year include Gracie, Molly and Bailey (which dropped off the list in 2004). Out this year are Alejandro and Devin on the boy's side and Rebecca, Jayla, Natalia and Jenna on the girl's side. Interestingly, the name Jenna was on the rise until 2000 when a certain President with a daughter named Jenna was elected. The popularity of that name has declined since. Hmmm... I wonder if the recent popularity of Barack Obama will make his children's names rise in popularity as well. Currently Natasha is #387 (though she goes by Sasha which is #350) and Malia is #403. We shall see...

This is also the first year I've ever seen the Social Security administration get involved in trend spotting. Usually, they just release the stats and leave the analysis up to us nerdy types who like to sit and go over and over the list with our fine-toothed combs. This year, however, brought commentary about celebrity influence and a trend they noticed about parents naming their boys things that rhyme with the word maiden. They've managed to find 34 examples of this in the top 1,000 names. This brings me to a trend I've been noticing for some years: girl names that contain some form of lynn in them. Why lynn? I scanned the list and found a whopping 70 examples in the top 1,000. Anyone care to guess why this trend exists?

Here's the full list of the 100 most popular baby names with meanings and polls so that you can weigh in on the names you love, hate or just say "Meh" about.

Summer is upon us, and that means making plans for keeping your family busy and happy. 30 Days of Summer Fun can help. This 30-day newsletter is packed with fun ideas for projects, crafts, food and outings and comes directly to you via e-mail. In addition, you'll find tips on how to make your summer safe and keep your children healthy all season long. Don't want it in your inbox? No problem, you can also view each day online.

Here in Texas it's heating up quickly. Yesterday it was over 90 degrees. The pools are starting to warm up, Memorial Day is coming and people are going to be heading to the lakes and beaches to start the summer off right. If you've got little ones, Heather Corley's got a great list of gear from safety products and swimwear to fun toys.

If you're anything like mom Paula Murphy, you want to protect your baby's eyes just like you would your own. But you've probably had it up to here with hard plastic shades that fall off with every turn of the head.

Murphy came up with a solution to that problem and has combined comfort (for your child) and convenience (for you) in these GooGoo Shades by ParkerG.

^{Photo © ParkerG}

Urban Sling by Combi Photo © PriceGrabber

Not looking to spend a fortune on a diaper bag? The bags I've chosen here are not hard on your pocket book, but they're not the ginormous, primary colored duffel bags you'd expect to see at these prices, either.

Some bags can even be had for next to nothing if you're willing to scour places like Craig's List or FreeCycle. For frugal moms, keeping tabs on those two places will end up saving you more than just a few bucks on a diaper bag. You can find free (or nearly free) diapers, clothing, furniture and more.

Have you found an inexpensive yet gorgeous bag you just love? Leave a comment and share your bag-finding tips with other moms.

If you're a blogger, we'd like to invite you to submit a blog entry for our All About Parenting Blog Carnival, hosted by the Parenting Guides at About.com. The theme for this month's carnival is "Road Trips." If your submission is chosen, we'll publish a link to it on the Baby Products blog. Find out more about how to participate in this blog carnival from Heather Corley.

And thanks to the many who participated in the Kids and Play Carnival that is live right now over at Christy Matte's site. It was an amazing success and there are lots of great entries for kids of all ages.

If you're a mom who Twitters, Wendy Piersall has put together a great list of other moms you can follow. Be sure to leave a comment and add your own Twitter name. It's a really fun way to get to know other moms (and dads, too) and see that you're not alone in this journey of parenthood. It's also nice to have some adults to talk to without having to stay plugged in like when you're using a chat room. You give it as much time as you want.

If you don't Twitter, but you've always wanted to start a blog, think of Twitter like a mini-blog. And it's easy to keep updated — you can update right on your Twitter page, send text messages, use third party tools like Twhirl or send an Instant Message through programs like AIM. Quick, simple and no complicated HTML or set up. If you already have a parenting blog, you can add Twitter into a side bar. Moms can also incorporate Twitter into their Facebook pages instead of using the Facebook status updater.

More:

• Sign up for Twitter
• Follow Me on Twitter
• Twitter Instead of Blogging
• Fun Twitter Mashups
• Family Computing Guide Christy Matte's Thoughts on Twitter

A reader has asked about some potty training issues with her son. He doesn't ever indicate that he needs to go, and I believe part of the problem is that he doesn't go on his own. He's taken and put on the potty to go and this has been their practice for nearly a year. She's also inquired about what her son should wear for night training -- underwear or a diaper?

I've given her my answer and shared what forum members have said about the subject, but if you have some helpful experience or advice to share, please leave a comment below.