anZel/Arden

Archive for December, 2005

Re: Saving for your kids’ college?

A friend responded to my college saving question. His suggestions is I-Bonds.

It seems like a pretty good vehicle and it’s appprently now paying 6.75%. It allows you to have tax deferred investment. With the Education Bond Program, you can even spend the money on educational related expenses, either for yourself or your kids, without paying any penalties or taxes.

However, the problem is that it has a fairly low income limit:

Tax Year 2005 Income Limits:
For single taxpayers, the tax exclusion begins to be reduced with a $61,200 modified adjusted gross income and is eliminated for adjusted gross incomes of $76,200 and above. For married taxpayers filing jointly, the tax exclusion begins to be reduced with an $91,850 modified adjusted gross income and is eliminated for adjusted gross incomes of $121,850 and above. Married couples must file jointly to be eligible for the exclusion.

Tax Year 2006 Income Limits:
For single taxpayers, the tax exclusion begins to be reduced with a $63,100 modified adjusted gross income and is eliminated for adjusted gross incomes of $78,100 and above. For married taxpayers filing jointly, the tax exclusion begins to be reduced with an $94,700 modified adjusted gross income and is eliminated for adjusted gross incomes of $124,700 and above. Married couples must file jointly to be eligible for the exclusion.

Saving for your kids’ college?

A recent email I sent to a bunch of my parent friends.

Hey all…

you guys seem to be responsible parents so I figure I ask a silly question.

as you know, we will have anZel sometime in Apr, and we would like to start thinking bout the college saving for him. I know I know…it’s 18 years away and I fully expect anZel to get full scholarship from Harvard so that we don’t have to pay a penny. however, just in case my plan to train him to be a genius fails, I like to have a plan C. (Plan B is for anZel to work and save his own college fund, but just in case that fails too)

I checked out the obvious choices like educational IRA and 529, etc. It appears no matter how I calculate it, to get a kid to a U like UC Berkeley, it will cost $215,000 ($25,000/year today with 6% increase year-over-year, 18 years from now).

(kewl ajax calculator: http://sfc.529calculators.com/sfc/csc.htm)

To save enough, with a 6% return on investment, we would have to save ~$500/month!!!

Is that for real!?!?

What do you think? What are you doing? any tips you can share?

Happy Holidays

Talk to the baby everyday

According to many researches, babies develop their hearing relatively early:

“Auditory sense is present in the infant 24 weeks before birth [14 weeks after conception]. This involves brain functioning and memory patterns.” M. Clemens, “5th International Congress Psychosomatic,” OB & GYN, Rome: Medical Tribune, Mar. 22, 1978, p. 7

Recent technology allowed a tiny microphone to be placed by the fetus’s head and “We heard almost everything, from people talking 12 feet away, to a door opening in the room, to a cart going down the hall with the door closed. The clarity was incredible. It was easy to tell who was talking.”

The results showed the fetus hears everything we do, only 10 decibels less. Their earliest response to sound was at 26 weeks. Is Noise an Intrauterine Threat, Phelan & Satt, by R. McGuire, Med. Tribune, Nov. 30, 1989

I’ve heard (not sure from where) that if you talk to the baby every day, the baby will recognize the voice of the parents after he’s born.

Not sure how true that is, but given that I started talking to the baby/fetus almost every day already, I might as well continue. It doesn’t hurt anything I don’t think.

Harvard Girl Liu Yiting

Started reading this book a couple of days ago. It’s very similar to the Carl Walter books about early child education. In fact, the mother of Liu Yiting was inspired by the The education of Karl Witte.

The Karl Witte book is an out-of-print book, even on Amazon! And the used ones are like $174!!

The ones (there appear to be multiple Carl Witte books in Chinese, partly because I think the Chinese publishers are trying to make $$ so coming out with multiple pretty-much-the-same books) that I’ve read are all Chinese versions.

If you have the opportunity to read this original book, definitely do so. It’s very much worth it!

80% of the first time moms use epidural

We attended a pain medication class today at Kaiser. One of the interesting facts they mentioned during the class today is that, 80% of the first time moms last month (November) at this Kaiser hospital used epidural!!

That seems like a huge number to me. I would have thought more moms are opting out due to the myths out there.

In search of strollers: Peg-Perego Aria

We had another field trip to check out more strollers today. This time we went to Baby Super, a baby and kids superstore in San Jose. They have quite a selection of baby stuff, including a lot of strollers.

This time we checked out a Peg-Perego Aria stroller.

The one we saw had the same color as the picture shown above. It is the lightest of all the strollers we have seen. This one weighs in at 10lbs. The basket in the bottom is quite big and was very easy to reach from the back.

Beeber, my wife, liked the harness straps on the Aria better than the Mosaic LX as they are a bit wider and thicker. The straps are probably not as easy to twist.

We moved it around for a bit and it seems fairly easy to manuever. However, according to MANY of the Amazon reviews, this is is not true. Almost every single review mentions how difficult it is to move around.

The canopy is similar to the Mosaic LX that we looked at. It only comes out enough to cover the top and doesn’t offer much protection from the elements.

The opening and closing of the stroller was somewhat awkward I felt. It definitely required two hands to operate. I had a difficult time getting it open most of the time. The good thing about the collapsed position is that the handle bar can be pushed down. When pushed down, the stroller takes up less space in the trunk and it can also stand on its own. I can see the self-standing feature being quite useful when you are trying to juggle many things.

Also, the seat of the Aria is about 1-2 inches wider compared to the Mosaic LX as well. My mother-in-law thinks that will make the baby more comfortable.

The thing I really don’t like about this stroller is that it feels FLIMSY. As I was pushing it around, manuevering around corners, I can feel the stroller shaking. It just doesn’t feel really safe.

The other thing I don’t like about it is the padding on the seat. The padding is probably the thinest of all strollers I’ve seen and you can feel the plastic base.

The price for the Aria is ~$199. With a infant seat, it would run $350-$400.

Overall, we liked the lightweightness of the Aria. But with all the other shortcomings, this is probably not going to be our choice for now.

In search of strollers: Graco Mosaic LX, Graco Quattro Deluxe, Peg-Perego Pliko P3

We went over to Babies R Us and checked out some strollers today. Spent most of the time checking out three of them:

• Graco Mosaic LX
• Peg-Perego Pliko P3
• Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe

There were several considerations we had in mind when looking at the strollers. First is weight. The stroller cannot be too heavy or beeber (my wife) or my mother-in-law would have a difficult time opening and closing it.

Second is safety. It must have enough padding and 5 point harness. The straps shouldn’t be easily twisted and should be fairly easy to put on.

Third is price. I don’t mind spending for the baby but if obviously price is always in everyone’s mind when buying all these baby equipment. If two strollers have similar features and are both safe, why not buy the cheaper one? (I am usually not one to spend $$ on just a brand.)

Graco Mosaic LX

The first one we checked out is the Mosaic LX that I saw earlier in the week. I really liked the looked of it so I figure I should spend a bit of time seeing how it works. The one we saw at Babies R Us is the lotus color like the following image.

The Mosaic weigh about 19lbs and it was very easy to maneuver. I was able to open it with one hand, but required two hands to close it. When it’s closed, it’s very compact and shouldn’t take up more than a 1/3 of my trunk space. The padding was fairly good, but not as good as the Peg-Perego Pliko P3 stroller that we saw. The Mosaic LX can handle the baby up to 40lbs.

The one thing we weren’t 100% happy with was the canopy. It only comes out enough to cover the top of the stroller.

We were hoping that it would come down some more to protect the baby from the wind blowing directly at the baby. This Amazon image seems to indicate that there might be accessories that you can get to cover the stroller. In this image it seems like some type of rain protection.

The seat back can be adjusted using a lever and strap system, which seems a bit cheap, but fairly easy to use nonetheless.

The Mosaic LX is also available in a Travel System format.

We aren’t sure whether we really need the infant seat or not yet since we plan to get a convertible (see my research on In search of car seats). But even with the combo, the cost is around $190. Without the infant seat, it’s about $130.

Peg-Perego Pliko P3

The second one we looked at is the Peg-Perego Pliko P3.

This one is even lighter than the Mosaic LX. It weighs about 15 lbs and can handle the baby up to 45lbs. The Pliko has the most padding and probably will be the most comfortable for the baby. The canopy also comes all the way down to cover the baby. The seat back can also be adjusted to three different positions using a lever. The handle bar can also be adjusted as well, even though that wasn’t really our main concern.

The Pliko P3 seems more difficult to open and close compare to the Mosaic LX. I have to use both hands (plus a foot sometimes) to open and close it. I also didn’t like the fact that when closed, the inside of the baby seat is outward facing. This means if there’s rain or something falling or spilling, it will get into the seat where the baby will be sitting/sleeping.

The one thing we didn’t like about the Pliko P3 is the basket. You cannot put things in it or pull stuff out from the back. There’s two aluminum bars blocking it from the back. You can only reach it from the front. And even then it’s still pretty difficult to use.

The other thing we didn’t like was the price. It will cost me $290!! If we were to get an infant seat that goes with the stroller, that will most likely cost me another $200. I guess that’s the cost of a brand name made in Italy.

Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe

The third one we looked at is the Graco Quattro Tour Deluxe.

This is a full-size stroller, compared to the lightweight stroller like the Mosaic LX. We probably spent the least amount of time exploring this one because of the weight. It weights much heavier (I didn’t even look at the weight number) than the other two. I had hard time opening and closing it. There’s just no way for Beeber and her mom to move that thing around.

We pretty much stopped looking at this after that.

Conclusion

So so far given the 3 criteria I have setup, the Graco Mosaic LX is definitely the winner.

We will have to probably do something about the canopy though. Probably will have to make or buy something that covers the stroller.

Still more strollers to see yet, so no decisions have been made.

Stay tuned…

Keeping the baby up during the day

Beeber heard from a coworker that in order to ensure the baby’s asleep at night, she will tap on her stomach to try to wake the baby up during the day. The coworker can feel the baby waking up and stretches after tapping. She will keep the baby up for like 6 or so hours and at night the baby will be sound asleep through the night. Also, after the baby’s born, she will sleep through the night as well.

There’s quite a few articles out there, such as Newborn sleep and My baby is up all night and sleeps all day, that talks about newborn infants being night owls.

During the later part of pregnancy, each baby develops her own sleep/wakefulness rhythm. You can get a good idea of what this rhythm is by the baby’s activity patterns. Some babies will tend to be fairly quiet during the day — lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking motion as Mom moves about her daily activities. These same babies often begin doing gymnastics in Mom’s belly about the time things get quiet at night. Other babies tend to be active while Mom is active during the day and to be quieter at night. Whatever your baby’s pattern before birth, it is likely that she will continue the same rhythm in the period shortly after birth.

However, I can’t find anything that talks about waking up the baby during pregnancy. Has anyone heard anything or had experience regarding this?

Don’t put your child in the car seat with bulky coats

Someone on the pregnancy.org forums gave this great tip!

someone mentioned easy to adjust harnesses which makes it easy to adjust them when the baby is wearing a bulky coat… please take your baby’s bulky coats off in the car. In a crash, the coat will compress and your baby could fly out of the seat and coat.

Some more discussions here, here and here.

Car-safety.org has this:

Q57: Can my child wear a winter coat in their carseat?

Generally, no. For safety, the harness straps must remain tight on the child’s shoulders regardless of any clothing. You can put a blanket over the child, OUTSIDE the harness straps or put your child’s coat on backwards after they are in the seat. For infants in cold weather, an aftermarket “cozy” that zips over the infant carrier rather than fitting under the child is another solution.