From the Blogosphere

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From the Blogosphere

MomLogic has an honest post by a SAHD (stay-at-home-dad) about family finances.

Thinking of starting up a company?  FastCompany tells us why Austin is the place to do it!

Bust out the REO Speedwagon and read this fascinating post about 7 Insane Ways Music Affects the Body on Cracked.

MSNBC and Entertainment Weekly discuss the 50 Worst Decisions in TV History.

Enjoying the Small Things had one of the most touching and beautiful blog posts I have ever read.  It is well worth taking a few minutes out of your day to read Nella Cordelia:  A Birth Story.

For a moment of unbelievable cuteness, watch actor Brian Cox attempt to teach Hamlet’s soliloquy to a two-year-old on Boing Boing.

The Atlantic had a thought-provoking piece this week titled How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America.

Before your next job interview, check this comic from The Oatmeal to make sure you’re not one of The 10 Types of Crappy Interviewees.

If you’re breastfeeding, check out the Nine Things Your Nipples Wish You Knew About Them from Mama’s Herb Garden.

UpSpring Retailers

• Mom4Life is giving away a KiddieKangaroo Car Seat Accessory on her blog this month.  Mom4Life is a mom-owned business which features more than 900 mom-invented products!
• Pickles & Ice Cream in Nashville, Tennessee is now carrying UpSpring Baby’s Shrinkx Hips belt.
• Don’t forget to check out our “Retailers That Rock” blog post this week, featuring Song Pardue of Pickles & Ice Cream.

UpSpring Mentioned

• Miami Munchkins featured Shrinkx Hips on their blog this week.
• The Austin-American Statesman also featured Shrinkx Hips in their Style Matters section this week.

Twitter:  @UpSpring_Baby #FollowFriday

#FF @BirthBabiesBlog for being one of the most engaging mommy bloggers on Twitter.

#FF @CozyCoach – She’s a baby planner and personal coach with great personal interaction on Twitter.

#FF @ATXFoodNews – For her Twitter disturbing and fascinating description of the bacon latte she had this week.

#FF @glamology – For taking the time to recommend some green, healthy facial moisturizers to me.

#FF @modernhippiemag – For featuring me as a guest blogger this week.

#FF @supermomcentral for being friendly AND interesting. (something not everyone on Twitter can manage)

#FF @Blacktating & @SineadHoben – Two of our Top Ten Best Breastfeeding Bloggers.

From the Blogosphere

There are a million blog posts about how to be a good blogger, but this one from Dragos Roua entitled The 7 Traits of Highly Successful Bloggers is a stand out.

This photo was randomly tweeted by someone this week (I neglected to note who it was) and I have fallen in love with this intense, determined little bird.  He is going places!

An inspiring story from Treehugger about a Guatemalan village building a schoolhouse out of plastic bottles.  Talk about recycling!

I realize it might be uncouth to make fun of someone’s wedding cakes, but the Bridal Buzz has put together such a fantastic list of the 20 Most Ugly Wedding Cakes (along with hilarious commentary) it simply can’t be helped.

It’s All About the Hat has compiled a nifty list of the Top Ten Cool Things About Breastfeeding.

Web Worker Daily has blogged about the 10 Golden Rules of Social Media, which can really be applied to offline relationships, too.

Ladies’ Home Journal has a touching story of a central Texas woman who has triplets thanks to her friend.

Sexy People is a blog that is dedicated to nothing but showing the horrors of professional portraiture.  Proceed with caution.

Justin Kownacki succinctly articulates the question that social media professionals around the world are faced with every moment of every work day:  What is the ROI of Everything?

UpSpring Featured

DADWAGON wrote a witty (and very complimentary) post about Milkscreen:  A Breathalyzer for Breastmilk.

The Work at Home Woman listed @Amanda_Upspring as one of the 20 Most Responsive Women on Twitter.  What an honor (and what great company to be in!)

Real Moms Real Views is giving away a Shrinkx Hips belt this week on their blog!  Go enter!

UpSpring Retailers

One of our awesome online retailers, Dainty Baby, featured Shrinkx Hips in a blog post.

Mom4Life is giving away a darling Goober Baby Tote Bag on her blog.  And she’s offering customers 10% off the
FreeHand™ Asian Style Baby Carrier by TogetherBe.  Don’t forget, all prices at Mom4Life include shipping and handling costs!

Twitter: @UpSpring_Baby #FollowFriday (#FF)

@MsJaszy who shares the RT love better’n anybody! (She’s also @modernhippiemag)

@TaigaCompany for being an excellent and engaging source of eco living news and information.

@Holly_Hanna for including me in her excellent list of the 20 Most Responsive Women on Twitter.

@tessasdad for his generous RT’s this week.

@PickledJenny because she shares my Vespa love!

@ChooseSpun for being an amazing, talented (and adorable) entrepreneur mom!  Check out her new site!

@ChairmanCorti for mentioning me on #wickedwednesday even though I have no idea what that is.

@DadWagon for the awesome blog post he did about Milkscreen.

@theEcoDiva for allowing me to guest post on her blog this week.

@agiveawaydaily for spreading the word about the ShrinkxHips giveaway this week.

@GreenKiddie for being the best online kids shop in the UK.

From the Blogosphere

This week, Treehugger featured a post about Scandinavian babies left out in sub zero temperatures. And they LIKE it.

If you’ve spent any amount of time on the internets you will appreciate this breakdown of Internet Argument Techniques from the comedic minds at Cracked.

Forbes lists the 20 Best Marketing and Social Media Blogs By Women.

Jonathan Fields has created a moment by moment recap of a Typical Blogger’s Morning.

ThetaMom encourages moms and bloggers to speak out about defective products and shares her story of success in getting a product pulled from shelves.

Do you, or does someone you know, play Farmville on Facebook?  Then you must see this hilarious parody commercial that literally had me in tears from laughing so hard.  From All Facebook.

The Motherwear Breastfeeding blog features a story from this week about a formula company that will begin manufacturing a human breast milk product.

Slashfood tells us that a Texas woman found a tooth in her Milky Way bar.  I am not even sure how I would respond to that.

From The Best of Craigslist, we have a job posting for a Nemesis.  British accent preferred.

Momlogic has a list of 15 Painfully Obvious, Totally Useless Studies that have produced completely predictable findings.

UpSpring Featured

This week, UpSpring Baby was featured on Lil Sugar in a piece about Post Pregnancy Garments To Help Your Body Bounce Back.  What an honor to be included in this group!

UpSpring Retailers

Get the adorable Downtime On-The-Go Organic Sleepy Hat by Zoe b Organic for only $15.29 this week at Mom4Life.  Price includes shipping!

Twitter:  #UpSpringBaby #FollowFriday (#FF)

@MsJaszy For using Twitter exactly the way it should be used.  She’s got it!

@Holly_Hanna: Austin Work at Home Mom, Blogger, Woman Entrepreneur.  What’s not to love?

@BirthBabiesBlog for taking her blogging to the next level this week!  Congrats on the new gig!

@bethggwaz for commiserating with me on allergies.

@TheDadList for bringing the testosterone.

@texeyes for the excellent Blips and Pho recommendation.

@tessasdad for proving that Stay At Home Dads are cool guys.

@SeeryusMama for being our 500th Facebook Follower

@mom4lifecom for being such an inspiration!  I have no idea how she does it all!

@papercakes for being my new favorite blog this week

@greedygrechen: One of my favorite fashion bloggers-and a shopping guru-just moved to my home town #ATX.

@Hippymom for featuring my guest post this week.

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From the Blogosphere

The Meanest Mom gets schooled about what it means to really be needy during a recent shopping trip at Target.

Problogger has 30 Bloggers to Watch in 2010.  (Why am I not on that list?)

Geekweek writes a scathing response to the trivialization of the women of twitter that Vanity Fair had in a recent issue.

Social Media Explorer had a fascinating piece about measuring engagement with social media. The comments are as good as the post itself.

Growing Your Baby reports on the proposed Taiwanese bill to protect breastfeeding in public places.

Babyrambles has painstakingly created a series of graphs that demonstrate how she spends her time as a mom.

Speaking of graphs, I also found this most excellent flowchart entitled, The Procrastination Loop.

Upspring Featured

TradeMe featured Milkscreen on their New Zeland based site.

Mommy Loves Giveaways also featured Milkscreen and is giving away a box to one lucky reader.

DadLabs interviewed one of our founders, Julie Jumonville in a video about our newest product Shrinkx Hips.

Mamaista has featured Shrinkx Hips on her popular site, too!

Quote of the Week

Found at The Motherwear Breastfeeding Blog:

“I was hormonal from pregnancy – a month and a half from birth. So I was ultra-sensitive and not as confident as I usually am.” It’s not just lack of sleep either, she says. “As a mother, your body is not your own. Here I am – breastfeeding, breastfeeding, (then acting with] George, breastfeeding, breastfeeding, George… so it was a very emotional experience.” - Actress Vera Farmiga on her work on the new film Up In The Air.

News from UpSpring Retailers:

Mom4Life is offering her customers 10% off their order through January 10th, with the code: 2010 at checkout.  She’s also giving away two Ritzy Bitzy bottle bibs to a lucky reader.

#FollowFriday / #FF

For their contributions to our blog post Breastfeeding:  The Reality this week:
@Keonismama
@Mami2Mommy
@Letstalkbabies
@Hippymom
@dirty_snowflake
@morenita2ya26

Favorite Austin, Texas (#atx) Tweeps this week:
@ATXFoodNews
@BearyCuteParty
@givingcity

Favorite MomTV (#momtv) Hosts this week:
@LisaJohnson
@TalkingwithTami
@RealLifeSarah

Our “Best of the Best” Upspring Momerati (#Upspring_Momerati):
@thePOSHpreneur
@daddyclay
@DadLabs
@Mamaista
@mom4lifecom
@5minutesformom
@3KidsandUs
@ScaryMommy