Hey, it's Mother's Day. Just because you're not a mommy yet doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of yourself like one. I can tell you from past experience, how you treat yourself while you're pregnant will very much impact how you take care of yourself (or don't) when you're a mom. And, take it from me, it's important to do both. It will make you a happier person and probably a better mom to do so.

MSN offers several keen suggestions for moms to be to make it through the day and keep on track. even if you're not a mom to be, and are already a mom (or not!) I think there is something in this list of suggestions that would benefit us all. So, if you have time after your Mother's Day brunch, check out these tips and see which ones you might like to give a whirl.

I myself am partial to the one regarding taking naps at lunch. I don't know how well this would fly at my office or anyone else's, but if you have the ability, I say go for it. Sleep during pregnancy is of the utmost importance. After you become a mom, it's downright essential. And it seems none of us parents ever gets enough. Heaven forbid those of us without TiVo stay up late enough to watch the latest episode of Lost!

Don't have your mother's day gift quite yet? Naughty, naughty child! Well, if you're like me and forever trying to pick out the perfect gift yet always feel like you're coming up short, why not try a different approach?

MSN's astrology website offers gift suggestions for mom based on her astrological--or zodiac--sign. If you can remember your mother's birthday, you're in luck. Suggestions run from the usual, such as brunch for the Taurus mom or hanging out with the family for the Cancer mom, to the very, er, unusual--such as skydiving for an Aries mom!

I don't know enough about the different personality traits to say whether or not the suggestions are accurate. It did seem to me, though, that the traits discussed for each sign were the kinds of things we'd like to see in any mom, regardless of her birthday. So, for ideas when you're stumped, for perhaps something different or something traditional you hadn't considered, or just to have fun, why not see what works for a mom based on her astrological sign? Still stuck? Well, maybe you should consult your magic eight ball. That always works for me!

Moms are great. Dads are too, for sure, but this week, and this month, we're talking mamas. And you know what? Mamas work hard. I knew when I first got pregnant that being a mom would change my life, be unlike anything I'd ever done, and be very, very hard. Rewarding, yes, above all that heaven could offer, but HARD. So, I'm going to be totally honest with you when I say that not all moms go in for cards, candy and maybe some flowers.

It's not that we think we deserve the world for doing what millions of women have done before us. No, it's that life is more complicated now than it ever was. We work full-time, we're fitness frenzied, we're suffering through war and a housing crisis and a terrible economy. We're expected to keep a perfect house, perfect children, have the perfect body and be able to do it all in a day while working full-time. Oh, and we're supposed to be happy about it! So, without further ado, here's a short list of the kinds of things moms would really love for Mother's Day:

1. Quiet. Also known as "peace and quiet." Moms love it and can't seem to get enough of it. Muzzle the dog, send the kids off to a play date and lock yourself into your office (or a Starbucks with wi fi) and let mom bask in silence. After all, silence is golden, and it's a lot cheaper than jewelry. And she'll get more use out of it.

Oteha Valley Primary School in New Zealand is the latest to jump on the banning-birthday-cakes bandwagon. There are a lot of reasons why this makes sense -- it interrupts learning, gets kids wired, and and puts pressure on families to bring treats who may not actually be able to afford it -- but Oteha Valley adds a new twist to the discussion.

The school has a large number of students born in early fall, potentially leading to as many as four cakes a week showing up in classrooms. I'm sure even the most liberal, cake-loving parent will agree that that might be a bit much. Although, with that much sugar, the kids might not need any sleep until the end of the school year.

At the school where my wife teaches, the financial burden is a very real problem, so they have completely nixed birthday cakes. At my son Jared's school, however, which has a more affluent student body, cakes and such are still allowed. What do your kids' schools say? What's your take on all this?

One of my son's kindergarten friends recently had a birthday party with a unique request: No gifts, please.

Instead of adding to an already massive menagerie of stuffed animals and plethora of plasticized playthings, attendees were asked to simply to include a list of their favorite books or movies inside a birthday card to give the birthday girl and her mother some new treasures to search for in the library and video store.

Changing the focus of the party from the accumulation of unnecessary goods to a special time spent with friends (with cake and games!) made it a less harried affair for everyone involved. The birthday girl wasn't inundated with junk and parents of attendees didn't have to aimlessly wander the aisles of Target looking for a gift for a child they don't even know that well. If you're looking for a way to simplify and de-clutter your household, a present-free party might be a great way to keep the playroom inventory from creeping up.

Coming up with a list of books for the birthday girl was enjoyable too. Our picks are in the gallery.

I've been asked by several people what the heck is going on with with parents and birthday parties nowadays and I can honestly say I HAVE NO IDEA. These are a sampling of some recent birthday party dilemmas:

• What is the proper way to tell someone that only the child's name that was written on the invitation is the one invited to the party, it does not include their older and younger siblings so they should not be dropped off at the party too?
• How does one politely inform parents that it is an afternoon (or morning) party and not an all-day-childcare center?
• What criteria do you use to decide whether to drop off your kid and leave a party, or to stay and offer help, or to just quietly hide nearby? (Recent scenarios discussed: roller skating rink party that included12 kids and 2 supervising adults,party at a home with 20 kids ages 5 and under and 3 adults, Chuck E Cheese party with 8 kids and 1 adult, lakeside party of 14 kids with 2 adults)
• Your child is mailed an invitation for a birthday party but he does not recognize the name of the birthday kid on the invitation. The name is not in past school yearbooks and there is no return address on the envelope to provide a clue. The RSVP line contains only a cellphone number. What do you do?

When I was a kid, birthday parties involved cake and pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey at a classmate's house. Her mother knew my mine, the party lasted a couple hours and then we went home. There were no goodie bags, the only siblings involved were those of the birthday kid, and none of this was applicable. Have you experienced any birthday party bizarreness, either as a guest or a host?

Even though she was only turning seven years old, young Amber Birdsall wanted just one thing for her birthday -- a man. Of course, it wasn't just any man she was after, it was her stepfather, a United States Army soldier stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The problem was, well, that he was stationed in Cuba while she was at home in Michigan.

Nonetheless, when Amber told her mom what she wanted, her mom told her stepdad and he got started on the paperwork. When the big day came, Amber and her nine-year-old sister Kathy, unwrapped a huge refrigerator box which they assumed contained a pair of bicycles. Not so -- inside was their dad, home on leave.

Her parents hadn't expected the time off to be approved since he was scheduled to come home for good in June. When he arrived in Michigan, he went straight to the bowling alley where Amber's birthday party was being held. There, employees kept him hidden until it was time for the big unveiling. Afterwards, Amber, who hadn't seen her dad in nearly a year, told a local newspaper that "this is way better than bikes." I would have to agree. Happy birthday Amber!

Recently, we attended a birthday party of a little boy who turned eight years old. It was held in a clubhouse at a neighborhood playground and the boy's parents had planned a few games, including musical chairs. That didn't go over so well. The problem with musical chairs is that the focus, really, is on getting kids "out". It's really a rather negative game.

Well, The first kid out started to cry, as did the next, and the next, and then Jared and pretty soon a whole bunch of kids were crying, including the birthday boy who wasn't out, but was upset because all his friends were crying. Well, we got through it, but Rachel and I resolved that we wouldn't be playing musical chairs at Jared's or Sara's birthday parties.

I'm not a big fan of competitive games anyway. My idea was to have all the kids sit in a circle and toss a balloon or beach ball up in the air and see how long everyone can keep it up in the air. That way, they all work together towards a common goal which is not really a win/lose sort of thing but more of a keep-it-going type game. Everyone works as a team and if the ball hits the ground, everyone has a laugh and they all try again.

I don't think one game will be enough, though, so I'm hoping someone will have suggestions for more games that don't involve winners and losers -- I don't want anyone at Jared's or Sara's parties to feel like a loser. So, anyone have any suggestions? What games have you played at your kids' birthday parties?

I have a friend who was born on Leap Day. I'd guess she turned ten or eleven yesterday. She is about the coolest person I know -- in fact, her nickname is "too cool". She and her husband own a whole stable full of motorcycles, are building their own house, and have started a winery. Pretty darn cool, if you ask me.

There's a family in Wisconsin, however, where such coolness seems to run in the family. Julie Austin became a teenager yesterday -- she was born February 29, 1956, making her thirteen years old -- but spent the day at the hospital awaiting the birth of her granddaughter. Sure enough, Adilyne Rejoyce showed up at 3:23am, weighing 7 pounds, 15 ounces.

Now, grandmother and granddaughter will get to celebrate their birthdays together, albeit only once every four years or so. Who knows, maybe they'll end up getting matching Harleys and ride across Australia or something. With that much coolness in one family, you'll never know what can happen.

Now that you're a parent and all, with precious tiny babies to become overjoyed by and whose birthdays you'll celebrate with aplomb, do you even bother with your own birthday? As an adult, did you ever?

When I was a kid I had the best birthdays. My mom was the absolute best in the world when it came to birthdays, birthday cakes and birthday parties. Some of my fondest memories from childhood are from my birthdays. We went to a roller rink one year. Several years we did sleepovers. My mother always made a homemade cake with homemade icing.

Now I basically do jack for my birthday. And it stinks. It's not that I don't want to do anything at all, just that I don't usually feel the need to do anything special. Plus, what can compare with the way mom did it? When I was younger and single I used to go out with my girlfriends for my birthday. Later I would go out with my boyfriend, who is now my husband. Then, at one point, we stopped going out at all. And by going out I mean OUT--as in all night, drinks, dinner, dancing, the whole thing. Now we might go out to dinner if we're lucky. Last year, as I was ready to pop (my birthday is 3/5, Mr. Pickles' is 3/31) and didn't feel like I needed to do anything for myself anyway. All eyes were on the prize, you know?

This year, depending on how things go--meaning, whether or not I might be baking another bun in my oven--I may or may not want to celebrate. I find out on 3/3. My birthday is 3/5. Until then I ordered myself a bunch of crap from Sephora. I love beauty products and do normally do this sort of thing for myself every year. Now if only I had somewhere to do to wear all that stuff! What about you? Do you celebrate your birthday now that you're a parent or do you focus more on the kids?

Let's be clear: Emily Post I am not. My wedding invitations broke at least three etiquette rules, and I've forgotten to reply to more than one invitation because they got lost at the bottom of the mail pile. However, I take gratitude seriously, and always keep a supply of thank you cards on hand. Nothing says "Thank you very much" like a hand-written note.

Imagine my surprise when the following situation arose at a preschool birthday party I attended with my daughter. We were at a party venue where much of the planning is packaged for the parents. As the little girl was opening her gifts, I noticed that one of the teenage employees was writing down a list of guest names and which gift they'd brought. I assumed that this list was for the parents, who would then use it for thank you notes.

Instead, just as we were leaving, the girl's mother handed me a 2x3 inch sheet of photocopy paper with a so-called thank you note: "Dear _______, Thank you for the ________. Your friend, _________."

The employee had filled in the blanks.

I was horrified. I honestly would rather have had the little girl say thank you to my daughter and give her a hug. It would have been more genuine than this well-intentioned but poorly executed gesture.

Therefore, in this circumstance, I find myself in agreement with Emily. According to the Emily Post website: it's acceptable simply to thank someone in person if the gift is opened in front of him or her. For all others, a hand-written note is the way to go. You can read their other tips for thank you notes from children here and even download printable thank you cards.

What are your thoughts on this breach of birthday party etiquette? What other ways have you and your children used to say "thank you"?

So Mr. Pickles is fast approaching his one year mile marker. At the end of January I will have two months to put together something, if anything, to celebrate the day he joined us and made my life the happy place it is today. As he nears toddlerdom, I consider all I've read about having parties for children.

Most of it is bad publicity. The parents go too far--overboard is a word I read frequently--and they spend too much. The parties end up being more about the parents and how much money they have than about the kids, that kind of thing. So much of what I read is so negative that it makes me wonder why I want to have a party at all.

When I was a kid my mom threw parties for me. We weren't ridiculously rich and my mother was responsible with our money, so my parties featured items like homemade cakes (tasty!) of muppet characters and skating at the local roller rink. They were fun and surrounded by friends and pizza and that was pretty much it.

In the modern world that would probably be seen as totally lame. Still, I don't want to do just let the day go by. Sure, we could celebrate Mr. Pickles' #1 with just me and daddy (and the dogs and kitty) in what will hopefully be our new apartment. We could go out to a nice dinner somewhere or take him to a museum or the park if it's warm enough. We could buy him clothes and toys when we should really be putting more money into his college fund.

But I want to share. I want to share my son with the world--well, with our friends, anyway, who've been so loving and fun and supportive throughout my pregnancy and Mr. Pickles' life. I want to share the joy that Mr. P. has brought our family, and extend that family to include all our pals.

For my birthday, I got a gift certificate for Amazon.com. I immediately went to the site and picked out half a dozen or so CD's from my wishlist and ordered them. They included some Dixieland Jazz, an album of Zydeco, some folk music, a bit of Vivaldi, and so on. I don't mind getting gift certificates or gift cards because it means I can have the fun of picking out exactly what I want.

Rachel likes getting gift cards too, but for a different reason. They allow her to buy stuff for the kids. I'm not sure I've ever seen her use a gift card or gift certificate on herself, although she claims that she needs pants and, had she gotten one, would have used it on herself this time. I know she has a couple of Amazon certificates sitting around that she hasn't used.

So it makes me wonder -- am I the jerk for not using my gift cards on my kids or is she the odd one out for using her gifts for the kids? Do all of you use gifts meant for you on your kids? Should I have concentrated on buying music that the kids like, rather than what I like? (Although, in my defense, they both seem to like Zydeco and Jared is crazy about Yo-Yo Ma, so they'll enjoy everything I bought.) Still... What do you do with your gift cards?

If you're going to the trouble of making cupcakes for a party, you might as well do 'em up right.

Paper Orchid offers cupcake wrappers with laser cut edges in 25 amazingly exquisite designs. So whether you need palm trees for a bon voyage party, brontasauri for a dinosaur birthday bash, or an elegant filigree for a wedding shower or reception, you're guaranteed to find a wrapper that will make Martha Stewart jadeite green with envy.

My favorite is the tiara wrapper. I think I'd be a much more cheerful person in the morning if every day started out with a muffin encased in a paper tiara.

via Mightyjunior

This past weekend, Jared attended the birthday party of one of his classmates. When we received the invitation, I was intrigued by the note asking that, instead of gifts for the birthday girl, guests bring a toy to take to the firehouse. So we picked up a toy big rig full of matchbox-type cars and Jared and I went to the party.

We arrived at the party and deposited the truck with the other toys by the fireplace. The kids ran around and played for a while while the girl's parents, a young professional couple, watched calmly. There were a few party type activities next, including a Curious George-themed version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey and a piñata.

Then it was time to go to the firehouse. We gathered up the toys we had brought and followed the kids outside. We went down the street to the firehouse where a firefighter was waiting for us. The kids all gave him the toys and then lined up in front of the fire truck for a picture. After that, we went back to the house for cake.

I asked the mother where they got the idea for donating the toys and she said that her parents had always made a big deal about donating toys during the holidays and she had enjoyed it, so they wanted to do the same thing. Since her daughter's birthday is in December, they decided to combine the two. She said they did it last year and the kids really got into it.

Based on the response this year, I think it's a great idea. What do you think? More importantly, perhaps, what would your kids think?