Who's The Smart One, Here?Raise your hand if you just knew that being a dog mommy was exactly like your friend being a real live baby mommy. I mean, really. She thinks just because you have the option of leaving your dog locked inside your house without fear of prison time and/or the death and destruction of your dog/child that it's not the same thing. But you always knew it was, didn't you?

The Hungarian Academy of Sciences wants you to know that your instincts were right. Your dog reacts to you the same way a baby does to his mommy. Now don't you feel superior to those human breeders?

When it comes to celebrities and baby names, you just never know where they're going to go. Often it's to bizarre and unseemly places, but sometimes they surprise us with a good one as Robert Downey Jr. and wife Susan did today.

According to People, their son arrived Tuesday morning weighing 7 pounds, 5 ounces, and everyone is healthy and happy. Such great news to hear for the couple, and even better is the fact that they shared the name right away instead of making us wait and wonder. Not everyone likes it though. In fact, many are already putting him in the weird celebrity baby name club. But I think it works. See what you think ... 

Now that my babies are 6 months old, I'm starting to see their little personalities coming through more and more. Before, I would take every angry cry or easy giggle as some hint of their future selves, but only now is it really starting to feel legit.

That being said, how much can you really tell about your child at this early age? I mean, one day, I've decided that "Herman" is lazy and loud like Mommy because he's not so into rolling, but loves just babbling away. Then, the next day, he's rolling left and right and flipping over and my whole "lazy" theory flies out the window. Point being, young babies change and grow and learn so quickly, can you really assign personality traits already?

Yes, I think so. 

If you think you've heard daycare nightmares before, wait until you hear this one. An 8-month-old baby girl was found with a mouse in her mouth at a New Jersey daycare. Yes, a real mouse was IN her mouth. I'll give you a minute to absorb that ... or go gag.

According to ABC, the baby's grandmother, who works at the facility, found her granddaughter, Alanah Barba, there with the mouse, which was "most likely a dead mouse," and alerted her daughter. I'm not certain how no one knows if the mouse was really dead or not (what did they do with it after pulling it out?), but the baby's mother has since pulled her daughter out of the preschool. She also says her daughter has been sick since, and that someone should have been supervising her daughter more adequately.

It's cold, flu, and just plain snot season, and if you have a baby, you really notice all that phlegm. You could hide your baby under an antibacterial rock for the duration, or you could take her out and let her get all of those germs at once.

As someone who went from germ-a-phobe to laissez-faire, I've done a bit of both during my reign of parenting. So I've made up my own rules as I've trudged through these viral times. And if you were being honest, you would say you've done the same. Case in point: You beg off a play date because the mom you just met says her baby threw up the night before. Yet, when your incredibly fun college roommate comes to town with a raging case of strep throat -- you're all over an extended visit.

We all have our own threshold when it comes to exposing our kids to the elements. If you need some help sorting yours out, perhaps you should use my set of very important questions to ask yourself before exposing your baby to unwanted germs.

Babies are fascinating to watch, especially when they're exposed to new things. Parents spend most of that first year introducing their wee ones to new sights and sensations and marveling at their reactions to them. First bites of food, the first time they hear music, and the first time they feel something cold like ice are always memorable moments. Some, however, are more memorable than others ...  like the one in the following video.

In it, the dad found out quickly that the motorboat sound makes his little newborn daughter Charlotte stop crying . Upon hearing it, she stops the fussing ... then looks like her brain is absolutely blown by the craziest thing she's ever heard.

Dangerously CuteYou know it the moment it strikes you: Your cuddling instinct kicks in, you yearn to pet a peach fuzzed head, and you start to fantasize about throwing your birth control in the trash. You've got baby fever, sister.

Most of the time this ailment pops up when a friend or family member presents you with an adorable infant, freshly hatched. Or perhaps you see a new mom or dad at the store and they don't seem exhausted and stressed out at all. Sometimes these new families look so good, they make you forget all of the pain of the early days of baby-raising.

BUT THAT'S ALL A FARCE! Don't forget lady, you said you were stopping at two. Or one, or five; whatever you said, you are DONE. Just in case the baby fever is taking hold to the point of you making an entirely irrational decision, do these five things immediately. You'll thank me later.

Having children is expensive, especially if you live in a city (I do) and have to consider the costs of private school, housing, and a generally higher cost of living. If one child is expensive, it stands to reason that two would cost even more, right? Of course.

Writer Laura Vanderkam actually wrote in USA Today that the math on that is simply off and that even though more than one child is expensive in total, the per child costs actually go down significantly with each child. This is so true that Vanderkam says, "The third kid is cheap." Wahoo!

For someone who is contemplating a third child, the article does give me pause. The arguments make good sense (and cents). Babysitters don't charge three times as much for three kids; housing costs and electricity costs don't double. But school is the rub. And when you live in a city, it will always be true.