1. Go to the playground. I know you’ve probably been there all summer, but this time, pay close attention to where your little ones are developmentally. Take pictures. Watch what their favorite things are, what they need help with, what they are able to do, and what is challenging. It is amazing what a difference a season makes, and how this experience will change by spring.

2. Go on a horse-drawn wagon ride out onto a pumpkin patch. Adams Farm in Cumberland offers walk-in weekend hay rides, a petting zoo, the opportunity to stuff a scarecrow, and gorgeous mums.

3. Join a mom’s group, dad’s group, or playgroup. Bellani is an awesome resource for connecting with other families, and other groups in your community can be found on meetup. You’ll be thankful for a group of people to connect with on cold winter days when you’re stuck inside and in need of a little interaction for both your child and yourself.

4. Enjoy the Fall Festivals at The Farmer's Daughter perfect for toddlers, and their adults, check the website for all the great things to do in South Kingstown.

5. Go on a hike. Fall is the perfect time of year to take up hiking, and Rhode Island has several beautiful locations for getting lost in nature. We love admiring the foliage by walking down to Rome Point in search of seals, Frye Nature Preserve in East Greenwich, and Trustom Pond in South Kingstown. There’s a great list of places to explore at the RI Families in Nature site.

6. Make pumpkin pie from a real pumpkin. The kids get a real kick out of it, and it’s not nearly as hard as you might think…

7. Bundle up and take a walk around Water Fire. It’s not a terribly stroller friendly event, but babies in carriers, in my experience, do quite well. The October 1st lighting is this year’s special “Flames of Hope” event sponsored by the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation and is a remarkably uplifting night.

8. Visit the Roger Williams Park zoo’s Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular. Try to get there early as a crowd forms and it can be a bit daunting when accompanied by little ones, but the experience is amazing.

9. Go to the Farmer’s Market and make a meal completely out of locally harvested ingredients.

10. Rake up a pile of leaves and let your kids jump in it just for fun. Then, take pictures.

11. Spend a day at PPlimoth Plantation immersing yourself in the culture of the settlers in the 17th century. We spent an entire day, sun up to sun down, and enjoyed every minute last year. The kids LOVED the characters in dress and really let their imaginations take over when we told them that we had been brought back in time.

12. If you can, take a trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire and you will be captivated by some gorgeous foliage scenery. Even if you just go for the day, it’s a really worthwhile trip fall trip. This one’s even better when coupled with a night’s stay in a hotel with a pool.

13. Have fun at the Bellani Halloween Trunk or Treat where there will be Trick or Treating, pumpkin decorating and fun on  October 16th

14. You must visit the corn pit (think sandbox filled with corn kernels), kids zipline, giant mountain slide, pedal-powered go-karts, ecology house and corn maze at Clark Farms in Matunuck, Rhode Island. It is a beautiful spot, right on route 1 in Kelly's neck of the woods.

Any number of reasons can cause a decrease in a nursing mother’s milk supply. Some common reasons for a reduction in milk supply include stress, illness or separation from baby. To support mother’s who are struggling with maintaining a healthy milk supply, Bellani  carries the Motherlove line of breastfeeding products.

Motherlove, who’s tag line is “Nurturing Life”, creates each of their products with certified organic herbs. They take into consideration that every mom is unique and may be sensitive to certain ingredients. Their products never contain dairy, shellfish, fish, egg, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat or gluten. They care deeply about the kind of product they provide to moms who are nourishing the next generation and manufacture their products in an FDA registered, GMP certified facility and are regularly tested for bacteria and heavy metals to ensure purity and quality. It’s a company who really cares about moms, babies and the environment.

We carry many Motherlove products designed to increase and enrich milk supply, these two are the most commonly requested.

• Motherlove More Milk Plus Capsules: Motherlove’s best-selling herbal lactation formula in an alcohol-free liquid form


• Motherlove More Milk Special Blend: a variation on the best-selling formula with goat’s rue, created at the request of lactation consultants, can stimulate mammary tissue & increase breast milk for women who did not increase in breast size during pregnancy, have had previous breast surgeries and adoptive mothers
How do you pick the right formula for you – capsule or liquid? This is how the folks at Motherlove explain it:

Both should be equally effective. Liquid extracts are more quickly absorbed through the mucus membranes in the mouth than the capsules, which take about 1/2 hour to digest and enter the system. The extracts cost less, but many women prefer the vegetarian capsules for convenience and ease of use.

Whatever product you choose, we know you and your baby will love it. Motherlove is trusted by medical professionals and moms to make sure growing babies stay well-nourished. If you’ve found yourself with a decrease in milk supply, Motherlove is just the thing to successfully continuing to breastfeed.

Having a baby can be one of the happiest, most exciting, and joyous times of your life. Bringing a new baby home also has the unique ability to simultaneously be the most stress-inducing, isolating, and overwhelming experience you can put yourself through. It’s easy to see why so many women end up suffering from postpartum depression. There are so many demands put on a new mother. SO many things change, all at once and the expectation is that, in the end, you figure it out. You learn how to be the caretaker for this precious new person who needs you for everything. You learn to live on three hours’ sleep. You learn how to make dinners one-handed, to combine folding laundry with playing peek-a-boo, and to fit in diapers and bath times, nap times and doctors appointments into your already crowded schedule. In the end, you figure it out. It becomes your routine. In the end, it’s wonderful. But all along this road to wonderful, it’s exhausting.

This week, I had the pleasure of visiting with a friend who just welcomed twin baby boys into her family. After a three week stay in the NICU, these sweet, tiny bundles had just come home and were keeping their mama up at all hours of the night, leaving her feeling depleted. The demands of nursing and caring for infant twins along with keeping her two and a half year old entertained ALL DAY LONG was proving to be an exhausting chore. Her husband was unable to take off much time from work, leaving her doing double duty at home. I read her facebook posts that shed some light on the tired, lonely state that she was in and knew that I should lend a hand and a little love. So, after dropping off my big kids at school on Thursday, I headed to the grocery store with my little girls and purchased enough food to make about 15 nights’ worth of dinners. Then, I breezed into the new family’s home and turned the kitchen into a batch cooking extravaganza, (think…Kelly Guertin style.) When I was through prepping meals, I took her excited 2 1/2 year old with me to pick up Madelyn from school and to the playground. I was able to bring her home a few hours later to a more relaxed mama who had gotten a bit of sleep, a few minutes to read a book, and a new outlook that everything was going to be okay. Driving away, I felt accomplished–like I had given them a leg up on the next few weeks. The ladies in my mom’s group had done meal deliveries and taken my older kids on special dates when Lily was born, and that outpouring of support was invaluable in helping our family adjust. I was happy to be able to pay it forward.

I think if you can get through that first month, the month when everything is so strikingly new and different, motherhood is an incredible gift to be cherished. The hardest part is getting to that place where everything becomes like second nature. The perception is that, after delivering a baby, this motherhood switch is flipped and you will just know what comes next. I can distinctly remember my husband handing me our first born child every time he cried, saying “Oh, looks like he wants his mommy…” until I tearfully screamed back, “Do you REALLY think that I know how to do this any better than you do? Maybe he’s crying because he’s a baby and babies CRY!”…Then, we were able to sit down and have a candid conversation about how this was new and scary for us both, but that we were going to get through it together. Not my finest moment, but we eventually did get it, we figured it out, and we were able to balance the responsibilities of parenthood in such a way that most things in our house work like clockwork these days.

It’s hard to know how to help someone in those early days. There are so many rules, spoken and unspoken, that govern the time that new parents are spending under their roof with their brand new baby. How long to stay, what to bring, when to visit, who is welcome. It’s also hard to ask for help, as if admitting that you are unable to do it all is some reflection on how you are handling your parental responsibilities. Somewhere in the middle, there’s a place where the needs of a new mom and the support of friends and well wishers can meet. I find that food is always welcome, as is the care of older children who may be in need of a little extra attention. How do you help the new mothers in your life as they adjust to new motherhood? Did you have your own guidelines and rules of engagement when you brought your new baby home?

~Colleen~

Does your child have too many stuffed animals? Not sure what to do with them all. At first glance of this bag, we thought "where has this been"? Boon has taken stuffed animals to a new level.

The Animal Bag is an oversized, plush bag that's covered with large, zippered windows made out of transparent, durable mesh (so durable, mine are over four years old and in pristine shape). Children can fill the bag with stuffed animals of all sizes, and then use the Animal Bag as a soft seat.

In addition to solving the stuffed animal storage dilemma, the Animal Bag is earth-friendly because - unlike most beanbag chairs - it does not require any foam fillers.

Best part, the whole thing is machine washable!

Through our art classes, your child will:

1. develop their decision making abilities.


2. work on their physical coordination.


3. strengthen hand muscles essential for writing.


4. heighten their aesthetic awareness and sensitivity.


5. discover a new avenue of communication.


6. learn about a variety of classic artists and examine their work.


7. flex their creative thinking muscles.


8. discover household items can be turned into art.


9. practice using their sense of touch as they handle and create with a variety of art materials.


10. learn to appreciate and praise the efforts of their peers.


11. learn to follow directions from an adult.


12. gain confidence in their self-expression.


13. discover art comes in many different shapes and sizes and is not confined to a sheet of paper.

If your child’s taken an art class at Bellani, what is your favorite thing your child learned in class?

Celebrate Earth Day, by joining the North American and International cloth diaper community to set the Guinness world record for the most cloth diapers changed simultaneously!

Check in begins at 10:30, and you must arrive by 10:45 to participate.

After the change we will have a Make Your Own Wipes Solution Station, Make your own Natural Baby Powder, you can Tie-Dye wipes or prefolds, and a Diaper Derby!

Because attendance is crucial in making this event Guinness worthy. Registration is limited, counted and must be done over the phone, 401-822-9900.