Designing a nursery is a very important and fun aspect of planning for a baby. You want the room where your little one will sleep and play to be comfortable, cozy and safe. As parents, you want to enjoy the atmosphere while feeding or soothing your baby as well. You probably look through the entertainment and home decor magazines or at celebrity baby websites and think- those celebrity babies have got it made! Their wealthy parents fly in decorators and Feng Shui gurus to design nurseries that are creative and filled with joy and wonder.

But what about the cost conscious parents out there that are designing a nursery on a budget? Here are some cost effective ways to design a Feng Shui inspired nursery :

• Utilize mirrors in the nursery.  Your baby will find it pleasant to stare at himself and his surroundings. Mirrors also help to open up the energy flow. If there is a protruding wall or “poison arrow”, a mirror will help to open up that space and let the positive energy flow. Positive chi makes happy baby (*and mom and dad*)!
• Decorate the ceiling with painted clouds or glow in the dark stars so baby has something fun to stare at. You can even stamp shapes or paint stencils to make the room fun.
• Make sure there are pictures of family members and other familiar images framed around the room (you can even frame pages from children’s books).
• UNCLUTTER! There is nothing worse than a cluttered room where the energy cannot flow evenly. Creative energy flows best if it’s not tripping over tchotchkes.
• Wind chimes bring good fortune (and don’t [have to] cost a fortune).
• Do not put the crib on the same wall as the door.
• Greenery! Green plants stimulate positive energy.

Feng Shui is all about open, airy energy flow, symmetries or evenness throughout the room and following the Bagua. The Bagua is an ancient Asian map that was created from a turtle’s back. It is broken up into the earth’s elements (water, fire, grass, water, air), colors (red, pink, white, grey, black, blue, green, purple), body parts, people (children, grandparents, father, etc) and aspects of life (like travel, prosperity and creativity). The Bagua map will help you determine which parts of a room focus on a given subject or part of life. For example- the western part of a room is focused on creativity, children, metal and the color white. You might want put artwork created by a child in this part of the room that is placed in a white or metal frame - it’s that easy! When you walk into a room you would hold the red section of the Bagua out so it is directly in front of you facing south.

Decorating a nursery can be a fun and exciting task. You don’t have to spend an arm and a leg to achieve an inspirational, encouraging, soothing room with positive energy flow!

April 12, 2008 - Jodie Sweetin delivers baby girl Zoie, 8lbs, 7oz.

I had the pleasure of meeting Jodie Sweetin at the Boom Boom Room in LA this past January. It was pretty cool to have the chance to talk to someone that I grew up watching on TV. Yes, I was a huge fan of Full House, I still find myself watching the re-runs!! While she has been through some tough times in her life, she is more than thrilled to start the next chapter. Now Jodie is all grown up and will soon have a full house of her own (well not quite, but even with one infant crying I am sure it can seem like a full house!) Jodie is now married and had her first baby on Saturday via c-section, almost an entire week after her April 6th due date. You can find a detailed interview and amazing photos of Jodie and her husband Cody Herpin on Celebrity Baby Blog.

Here is a brief “free write” that Jodie wrote for Graco-

Wow! Being pregnant! I know everyone says it’s a life-changing experience, but until you feel that first kick or see the sonogram pictures, you have no idea what it truly means. Every day, I wake up and look at my belly and am amazed. There is a life waiting to be lived in me that I can’t possibly imagine! Only a small distance away from what I can see with my eyes is a little person who will forever change my life. How blessed are we as women to have this gift?! It is a power that I never dreamed I would feel. Of course, there are also those times I look down and think “Seven more weeks? How much bigger is this thing gonna get? And how is she getting out of here again? Ha! Impossible!” Or the moments of spontaneous hysterics over something like a sweet card from my husband or lost sock in the dryer. (I refuse to even try watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition!) But these brief moments of panic and upset are taken away when I walk into the nursery my husband and I painted pink. When I look at the crib we built and imagine the little person that’s going to fit in there. I can’t wait to wrap her up in a blanket and smell her little sweet smell. To love and protect something with all of my being as a person, as a woman, as a MOM! I just want to say to all the pregnant gals, sleepless moms and the husbands who we couldn’t live without, ROCK ON!! We are doing the most important work in the world!

I had the pleasure of attending a Baby Expo in San Antonio, TX in the beginning of March. If I heard it once, I heard it a million times- “Do they make that in adult sizes?” Yes, that was the question of the weekend. Parents seem to want the same soothing and comfy experiences that their offspring are getting. It makes sense right? There was a lot of other great feedback and funny remarks we heard at the event. I attented the event along with Kelley Maxfield, from our Direct Marketing department, and she had an interesting take on the event. Kelley is joining us as a guest blogger with her point of view. (what can I say- there weren’t any celebrities in San Antonio!). Now heeeeere’s Kelley!

Whether you like to admit it or not, you’ve probably seen an episode or two of Antiques Roadshow (oh yes, as far as guilty pleasures go, this show is right up there with Project Runway). Aside from anticipating the guests’ reactions from the value of their new found Kämmer & Reinhardt doll or glorified paper weight, the fun is in guessing what some of these unusual yard sale bargains and cherished heirlooms are and how they are used.

As expectant parents, the guests attending the 3rd annual Healthy Baby & Child Expo in San Antonio, Texas this month, applied that same curious enthusiasm towards discovering the world of baby gear. For some newcomers, our exhibit featuring the Touch Free™ Diaper Pail looked like a futuristic toilet with automatic-open lid just the right size for a potty training toddler (one guest even commented that this was a great idea for his own toilet – is it so hard to remember to put the toilet seat down!), and our imonitor™ digital video monitor could have been the perfect spy kit (no, Meet the Fockers fans, this is not intended for spying on the in-laws during those unexpected visits).

Good guesses, but here’s when the expert appraiser would step in, or in our case, a Graco representative. Did you know our sweetpeace™ Newborn Soothing Center has an MP3 connection to let you play Baby’s personal playlist or that our imonitor™ vibe monitor actually vibrates so you can hear and feel your baby’s call?  There’s even a vibrating mattress pad in some of our Pack ‘n Play® Playard’s (wish mine did that!). From understanding the basics to mastering the top-of-the line innovations in baby gear, there are a lot of choices and we can help.

Baby trade shows or expos are an excellent resource packed with educational seminars, health screenings, games, entertainment, beauty makeovers, maternity fashion shows, taste tests, giveaways (some say the size of the goody bag received at the admissions desk is a tell-tale sign of the amount of loot you’ll take home), and one of the few places to receive hands-on demonstrations and knowledgeable information from the actual people who make baby gear products (shout out to all Graco employees who have volunteered this past year). If there’s a show coming to your city, it’s worth the visit. Come see us April 12 & 13 at Baby Celebration L.A. at the Los Angeles Convention Center!

Every month we hope to share with you, a little peek inside the life of a celebrity parent or parent-to-be. We’ve asked them a bunch of questions and they’ve been kind enough to answer them (and then some!).

This month I am thrilled to introduce Angela Kinsey from NBC’s award winning show, “The Office.” (see the SAG award in Angela’s hand in the photo below?!!) We had the chance to meet Angela at an event in LA and the best part about meeting her is that she is nothing like her character on “The Office” (although they do share the same name).  Angela is a very sweet, southern woman who is funny, charming and a big bundle of adorable. (again, not like the Angela we’ve come to hate love on TV) Angela is expecting her first child on May 9th (which is my birthday!) and as you can imagine, she is very excited and a bit nervous as the days count down.  If you are as big of a fan of Angela (either one) as we are over here, you must check out The Office website where you can learn everything you want to know about her, including what she looked like as a child and even watch the video of when she told her costar, Jenna Fisher, that she was pregnant!

What is the most exciting thing for you about becoming a new mom?
I have always wanted to be a Mom and honestly the most exciting thing to me about all of this is meeting my little girl. I cannot wait for that moment when I first see her and hear her voice. I’m sure I’ll be crying my eyes out. Tears of joy.

As a mom, what is the one thing you’re most curious to find out about?
What she looks like! We have brunettes, blondes and redheads and tall, short and everything in between in our families and I can’t wait to see which characteristics she gets.

Is there a tradition in your family that you would like to hand down to your daughter? Or, is there a tradition you would like to start with your own family?
When I was little my Dad called me his little partner. I followed him around everywhere. I couldn’t say partner so I called him my “padna-padna.”  We still call each other that and I can’t wait to call my daughter my lil’ padna-padna.

Do you have a favorite memory from your own childhood?
We had some great family bar-b-ques at my Grandparent’s house every summer and now my folks are continuing the tradition. Homemade potato salad and big slices of watermelon. There was a lot of sitting on the back porch telling stories and bare feet running through the grass. Those are some of my favorite family memories.

What was your favorite children’s book that you would like to read to your child?
I loved horses and ponies growing up and had a bunch of books about them. One of my favorites was Black Beauty.

What is your favorite Graco product?
So far my favorite Graco product is the Travel Lite Crib! I can’t wait to set it up in my trailer on the set of The Office. I want her close by and it is going to be perfect for a working gal like myself.

Tune in tonight and every Thursday at 9/8c on NBC where you can see Angela in action.  New episodes start again on April 10th.  We will be waiting to see if they reveal her bump or not!

Every month we hope to share with you, a little peek inside the life of a celebrity parent or parent-to-be. We’ve asked them a bunch of questions and they’ve been kind enough to answer them (and then some!) Reading the answers, you clearly see that as parents we’re all very similar. When you take away their big screen personas, you’re left with mommies and daddies with hopes and dreams for their little ones. Their perspectives are fun and amazing to read but turns out not so different than ours.  We hope you enjoy our “interview” with Christie Lynn Smith  (who will be guest starring on BOSTON LEGAL TONIGHT!) and share in the excitement she clearly has for the upcoming birth of her daughter.

What is the most exciting thing for you about becoming a new mom?

I’m getting so excited about meeting my little girl who is coming in the next few weeks!! Her name is Abby Ryder. My due date is officially March 13th… but you never know! I can’t wait to see her little face and fingers and toes. I know everyone says how tired I will be the first few months, but I don’t think I will be because of all the nursing and getting up every two hours; it will be because I won’t be able to take my eyes off her! I think I’m going to just stare in awe at her all day long. We saw in an ultrasound, just yesterday, that she has my nose!

It is crazy now how much she is moving around. The other day I was eating cereal and my arm was resting on my tummy. (Yes, I have a little shelf now.) It actually comes in handy- I can rest the remote on it! Anyway, Abby slid her elbow or knee across my arm that was resting on my tummy and I jumped so high the milk from my spoon flew everywhere. I laughed so hard!! It’s so amazing, this miracle of a little being growing inside of me.

Is there a tradition in your family that you would like to hand down to your child? Or, is there a tradition you would like to start with your own family?

We can’t wait to take her to Hawaii when she’s about 8 months old. Her Daddy wants to teach her how to surf. I think we will have to wait till she can stand though.  We love the warm water, beautiful palm trees and pineapples!!

I can’t wait for Christmas this year. We can make my Aunt Shirley’s Sugar cookies! (the kind with the sprinkles and frosting- Yummy!) That will definitely be a tradition for us. 

Do you have a favorite memory from your own childhood?  

I remember waking up and getting a tape recorder from Santa, but it had Santa’s voice on it!! That was the best ever! Santa left me my own personal message on my very own tape recorder! WOW!

How have you been feeling lately?

I have to say when my body started “changing,” you know, not fitting into any of my clothes, I felt a little like a weeble wooble and kinda fat so I started to wear only leggings and stretchy pants. The best thing I did was finally break down and buy those maternity jeans with the big black waist band, which I said I would never do. I love them and they made me feel human again!! I wear them all the time!!! A must for pregnant women — get those jeans!!!!

With the writers strike and being pregnant, I didn’t work as much as usual, but I am guest starring on BOSTON LEGAL . Funny thing, I did the show when I was 3 months pregnant and nobody knew. Then three and a half months later they wanted to add more scenes when I was almost 7 months preggie. So if you watch the show and think she looks a little heavier in this scene, you are right, I AM! They had to hide my belly with a long trench coat and a purse over the belly, kinda funny!

What is your favorite GRACO product?

We are so excited to use the GRACO Sweetpeace. I can’t wait! I know she will love it! It is such a great idea. And we are installing our GRACO SnugRide Car Seat this Friday. We got the new 2008 Truffle. It’s beautiful! I love that these have the little foot cozy. But the most important thing is that I trust GRACO’S safety records and that by far outweighs anything else.

Well, I gotta go- we are putting up Abby’s drapes in her room and painting a tree with little birds on it!! My husband (actor John Fortson) painted a beautiful sky on the ceiling with clouds. It’s really neat!

All the best to all the mommies-to-be and mommies out there!!

Photo credits:
Headshot-Adrien Mckechnie
Pregnancy Photo- Hagit Baruch

Greetings from the East Coast!  Yes it’s true; I am back in Pennsylvania… Unfortunately I didn’t get “discovered” out in Hollywood so now I am back in the office and working hard on all of the follow up from the Boom Boom Room. What an amazing event. I am still running off momentum from the mind-blowing two days I spent at the Pre-Golden Globe gifting suite schmoozing the celebrities and trying my darndest to make some new A-lister friends. You already heard about Scott Baio making fun of me. I mean, come on, why??? I understand I look young- but 15?  I guess I will appreciate looking 8 years younger than I do- probably in about in 8 years!  If you think about it, I probably look young to any 46 year old.

Ali Landry also stopped by our suite (which we shared with 2 great women from Chic Papoose). She was so nice and appreciative. Ali was so excited about sweetpeace, she gushed over the product and she really couldn’t stop talking about it. She was looking forward to using it with her daughter Estela who is 7 months old but is just as excited to share it with her sister who is due very soon. Oh and I met  my favorite funny girl, Joely Fisher (she had her daughter in the Graco Mosaic designed by Cynthia Rowley which she picked up at last year’s Boom Boom Room). Her show on Fox “Till’ Death” is my absolute favorite! Joely was just as witty in person and very down to earth. It looked as though she and Carnie Wilson were buddies. They greeted each other with a BIG hug. And whenever Lola becomes a big sister, Carnie Wilson will definitely be using sweetpeace because she thinks sweetpeace is “GENUIS!” (I didn’t say it- she did) 

Another highlight from the Boom Boom Room for me personally was meeting Jodie Sweetin. I grew up watching Full House, so meeting “Stephanie Tanner” was so exciting for me. She and her husband were wearing customized “his and her” Converse Sneakers which I LOVED- how original (and cute)! She was so nice and very bubbly. Jodie already knew all about sweetpeace and was a HUGE fan! Make sure to check out Celebrity Baby Blog in the beginning of February, they will be posting a story on Jodie.

Other celebrities that stopped by are: •         Angela Kinsey
•         Catt Sadler
•         Chandra Wilson
•         Chris Noth
•         Christie Lynn Smith
•         Cole Hauser
•         Dave Kushner
•         Denise Richards
•         Evan Handler
•         Guiliana Rancic
•         Kevin Frasier
•         Kevin Weisman
•         Kim Porter
•         Leah Remini 
•         Louis Lombardi
•         Nicole Tubiola
•         Niecy Nash
•         Omorosa Manigault
•         Rena Sofer 
•         Roger Cross
•         Salli Richardson
•         Samantha Harris

As you know, I am in LA at the Boom Boom Room celebrity gifting suite. It has been absolutely amazing and I have much to share, but we will get to that later. As of right now I have some pretty exciting news – word on the street (or more precisely, word on Beverly Blvd where Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is located) is that Nicole Richie gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Harlow Winter Kate Madden. Harlow was born yesterday afternoon and weighed 6 lbs. 7 oz. Congratulations to the proud parents!! Oh, did I mention they have sweetpeace!?  

The rum0r mill is-a-going… apparently Christina Aguilera has checked into the same hospital and is in labor, however the popstar’s rep denies, stating that Aguilera is still preggers.  Other celebrity births to report on:

David Alan Grier welcomes Luisa Danbi
Courtney Thorne-Smith welcomes Jacob Emerson
Toni Collette welcomes Sage Florence
Stella McCartney & Alasdhair Willis welcome Beckett Robert Lee

Remember to check back for more celeb baby news and updates from Sarah Granger of the SV Mom Blog on how the Boom Boom Room is going!

PS- I can officially say that I have been made fun of by a celebrity. Scott Baio totally poked fun at how young I look . I guess he showed me “who’s in charge!”

So if you read my blog bio, you know me as “Erin McHugh, Marketing Coordinator;” (so formal, which I am not) however my friends refer to me as “Little E.” I may be vertically challenged, but I don’t know if “little” is the proper adjective to describe me, as I am kind of a big deal around here (probably why the nickname never caught on at the office)!! Well, maybe I am not as much of a big deal as I would like to be, but I am the resident Graco celebrity baby news blogger, which I think is HUGE!!

I mentioned in my bio how I spend my Saturday mornings, but I didn’t mention Sunday mornings. Well, I spend every Sunday morning and evening working. I know it sounds like a real drag, but it’s great. When I say work, I mean reading every celebrity rag mag on the shelves. Let me tell you- it’s fabulous. I can totally get out of doing the dishes from our big Sunday dinner because “I have work to do.” What my boyfriend doesn’t know is that I am in fact hiding away indulging in a little US Weekly or People! A job does not get any better than this!

So up until now I have read tons of magazines, watched a mass amount of entertainment news television shows, and of course followed every celebrity blog site I can find! I’ve kept track of celebrity pregnancies and births and most importantly, reported back to my co-workers on which celebs are using Graco products! It’s been a real hoot! But now I have to get my game face on because today, Graco hits the Boom Boom Room and I will be face to face with tinsel town’s finest!

I will be attending The Boom Boom Room’s Wonderland with fellow blogger Lindsay Lebresco and our colleague Jen Callaghan. The Boom Boom Room was intended to be a pre-Golden Globe gifting suite for celebrity parents and those who are expecting. I think we all know by now that the Globes have been canceled, but the Boom Boom Room must go on!!! I am super excited to have the opportunity to have one on one conversation’s with the amazing superstars whom I professionally stalk from afar. The latest attendee list has all us freaked out!! I will have to try my hardest to play it cool because it is likely that I may be completely star struck! Check back for more juice on who I met and how the event turned out. I will have some awesome pictures, I promise!!

In the meantime, look out for LIVE blogging (!) from our room where Sarah Granger from the Silicon Valley Moms Blog and is coming to give the play by play. Keep checking back to see if your favorite celeb stops by!