I love having a little girl. While I would've been happy with a baby of either sex, part of me feels like I was destined for a daughter. I grew up in a female-centric household, and before my sweet mother died (and before I was pregnant), I told her the name of my daughter, should I ever have one. Her eyes filled with tears, as she loved it; and lo and behold, years later, I had one. Seems like it was meant to be.

But also, having a girl, like having a boy, comes with a specific set of challenges. We live in a society where women are supposed to be "pretty", thin, "good", demure; and we're bombarded with unrealistic images of airbrushed celebs and reality TV centered around women arguing with one another.

As parents, we'll never be able to shelter our daughters from these things. But we can try our damnedest to instill good values and healthy self-images, so they don't take over.

Here are 5 things I'll never do in front of my daughter.

Bunty Rowe, 26, and Kyle Aldridge, 30, are sisters, both of whom have babies and both of whom are nursing. Yesterday they went on British television to reveal that they are nursing one another's babies. "It's normal," they assure detractors and, sure enough, they are correct that, historically, wet nursing was very "normal," indeed?

But is it safe?

As a nursing mom, the thought of anyone else nursing my son (who I nursed for three years) or my daughter (who I nursed for one) made me sick, but now? I am not sure whether it's the hormones or the time passing, but I have had a change of heart. Wet nursing is a beautiful gift to give a child and something more people should be taking advantage of.

How much does Shakira love breastfeeding? So much she wants to nurse her son until he goes off to college! Just kidding. Sort of. The former Voice judge did recently say that, but naturally, it was in jest. But Shakira is in love with nursing her 4-month-old son, Milan. "Breastfeeding has been one of the best experiences of my life," she said. "I love it! I can’t stop!" She then joked: "I think I’m going to breastfeed him until he goes to college! I’m hooked!" 

If there's one thing my dad did well as a parent, it was taking tons of photos of my mom and me. In fact, he took a lot of pictures of my mom with all three of her children together.

Now that I'm a parent, and pretty much the family photographer, I can probably count the number of photos I have of me with my four kids on my two hands. And I can't tell you how much this bothers me, especially since my favorite photos from my childhood are the ones taken with my mother.

So here's how I'm changing that, and how you can too.

Last year, little 1-year-old Eisa Hayat was making a pilgrimage with his family to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. But a devastating car crash killed both his parents, a set of grandparents, and an aunt, all at once. Only the baby survived, but just barely. He was rescued after he'd already been put in a body bag and was on his way to the morgue.

The family's taxi driver had fallen asleep at the wheel and crashed into a concrete bridge. Eisa's grandfather covered Eisa's body with his own, but rescuers still assumed the baby couldn't have survived the crash. They sent him off to cold storage in a body bag -- but someone noticed the bag moving. He had revived! Eisa was rushed to the hospital where he soon recovered. But he is an orphan now. Will he be alone? Hardly.

So, apparently wet nurses are on the rise. For those of you unaware of what a wet nurse does, here's a quick job description: They're a person who breastfeeds your baby. Obviously, wet nurses, like anything related to breastfeeding and parenting, are controversial. And every person, depending on their experiences, varies on how they feel about them. But as for me? I could never do it.

When my wife and I got the call that a birth mother had picked us to be parents, five words almost knocked us for an even bigger loop. “Bring whatever outfits you’ve purchased,” our caseworker told us. My wife and I looked at each other. Outfits? The adoption agency had been very clear about not buying anything while waiting to be placed. After all, no one knows how long the wait will be.

So when we got the call, we had nothing. No outfits, no crib, no bassinet. No bottles, no wipes, no diapers, no toys. That’s a huge disadvantage people who plan to adopt have versus people who plan to “get pregnant.” There are no baby showers to load you up with necessities ahead of time, one of several major differences with taking in a child you didn't give birth to.

I didn't realize I was bucking a trend when I decided to get pregnant in my early 20s. My husband and I just felt like it was time for us. We'd been married for several years; we'd already purchased our home; and we were ready for that next big step.

But this week an article from Early Mama blogger Michelle Horton, titled, "Are 20-something unwed moms the new teen moms?" has been making its rounds of the blogosphere, and even though I'm a married mom, I couldn't help but nod along. The article acknowledged something I've been feeling for years now, ever since my daughter was born. Starting a family in your 20s just isn't DONE these days.