New baby? Happy Mother’s Day! Spending quality time with your new baby is one of the best things you can do for both yourself and the baby. In fact, it’s one of the most important things you can do. New research is showing that a strong mother-baby bond may help ward off disease, strengthen immunities and increase a child's IQ.

The creation of a bond between mother and child starts from birth, so there’s no such thing as getting too early a start.

Here are some ways you can create that bond:

Spend plenty of time with them so you can get to know their likes and dislikes. These preferences are formed very early on, and the better you know your child, the stronger your bond will be. It works the other way too, so now is the perfect time to hum your favorite Beatles song.

Reach out and make contact. A baby’s senses are limited at first, so touch is one of the most important ways they gather information. It becomes almost an early form of language. In a very real sense, when you hold them or bathe them, you’re talking to them.

Start the day with a smile. Facial recognition is one of the first things a baby learns, long before they can process other objects. So even if it is three o’clock in the morning, greet them with a smile.

Remember that bonding is a process. As your baby grows, that bond will continue to get stronger.

Now that spring has come, you may have noticed your supermarket produce section looks a little more cheerful. The plums are bigger, the broccoli’s fresher and the cucumbers seem a lot less shriveled. Warmer weather means an abundance of food choices that were hard to come by during the winter months, are once again available to you.

Here are a few tasty ways to enjoy them.

Sweet and Sour chicken is a classic any time of year, but give it a spring twist with this sweet and sour chicken bowl.

Or take the traditional lasagna in a new direction with these alfredo roll-ups.

After months of dull brown, spring is the time to celebrate the return of green hills and trees, and what better way than an all-green salad?

You don’t have to give up your Vegan ways just because spring is here. If you’re looking for a vegetarian main dish or just a scrumptious side try these broccoli-cheddar rice cakes.

So what would you like to drink with this tasty smorgasbord of spring? In keeping with the warm summer season, how about some grilled pineapple lemonade?

And finally, what about dessert? Well, fruit is best when it’s in season, so take advantage of the season with some strawberry pie.

If you’re looking to put a little spring in your diet as well as your step, give these recipes a try today.

We all know we should exercise. From the health classes we take in school to the constant barrage of ads that come at us from all sides, the benefits of exercise are spelled out in glowing detail. 

So why don’t we exercise more? One reason is because it’s boring. Admit it. It is. Here are some ways to make exercise fun.

It’s more fun with two.Running on the treadmill or doing stomach crunches is a lot more entertaining when you have someone to talk to, and if that other person can push you and motivate you, so much the better. 

Games, anyone?That’s right, turn it into a game. Make your own challenges. Can you bike 3 miles before the 5 o’clock news is finished? How about 30 sit-ups during a commercial break?  The possibilities are endless. Consider fun alternatives such as Wii Sport and Wii Fit games.

Variety.It’s the spice of life, right? Why shouldn’t it spice up your workout? Vary your routine from day to day. Try some new things or add some variations to the old standbys.

Take up a sport.Pick up a racquet and play tennis, join a fencing club or a weekend baseball league. If you’re going to be bothered with a sport, you might as well become good at it, and now you have the opportunity to have some fun and get some exercise at the same time.

Who says exercise can’t be fun and healthy at the same time? Try these tips to get the best of both worlds.

 “Intellectual growth should commence at birth and cease only at death.”

~  Albert Einstein

It’s hard to argue with a genius. A lifetime of learning has many benefits. It can help keep your mind sharp as the years creep in. It can improve your mental awareness and quality of life, and even potentially stave off the onset of Alzheimer’s according to some research. So if a lifetime of learning sounds like just the ticket for you, here are some resources to help you along the way.

With the rapidly changing pace of our world, lifetime learning isn’t always a choice- sometimes it’s a survival skill. You never know what you might need. Here’s a list of some useful new skills that may help you overcome some of life’s challenges (or at the very least help you in that round of Final Jeopardy.)

If you don’t have the time or the funds to pay for formal classes, all is not lost. There are some great online learning resources available for little or no cost at Open Culture and Lynda. There are also plenty of other choices if these two don’t work for you. Plenty of colleges and universities offer free online courses too.

Learning means engaging with your world, and more learning can also help you obtain better outcomes when you do. There are organizations like Toastmasters International that can teach you how to better present yourself and achieve more.

The world is out there.  Live it, love it and take the opportunity to learn from it. 

April 15th. Tax Day. Judgment Day. The big deadline.

Maybe you have it circled on your calendar. Maybe it’s an annoying afterthought that won’t go away no matter how much you want it to. Regardless of how you feel about it, one truth is certain: April 15th is coming whether you like it or not.

There are some good reasons not to put off filing your taxes:

• If you’re due a refund, why let Uncle Sam keep your money any longer than necessary?
• If you owe the IRS, putting off filing simply increases your stress and worry, and may lead to you missing the deadline and having to pay a penalty.
• If there’s something missing or if you forgot to include a calculation or schedule, you may not have time to include it.
• If there are items on this year’s forms that you don’t understand, you’ll have little or no time to do research or to seek help. 
• If you need professional tax advice, help may be scarce. Tax professionals are often booked solid during the last days leading up to April 15th.
• By rushing things at the last minute, you might miss out on important tax breaks or credits.

Tax laws change each year— sometimes incrementally, sometimes drastically. You’re far better served to get a jump on it early. In the end, you’ll get a better quality return and save yourself a lot of headaches and antacid pills.

“Don’t let the perfect become the enemy of the good.”   ~ Voltaire

Why would we want to fight perfectionism? Isn’t perfect what we’re after? We want to do our best work, put our best foot forward. If we’re going to be responsible for something— a project, a report, a business— why should we settle for anything less than perfect?

The basic answer to this question is simple: nothing is going to be perfect, no matter how hard we try. One of the things we need to keep in mind as we work for perfection is the law of diminishing returns. The closer we come to getting it perfect, the harder it is to make any headway. What gains we make come at an increasingly high cost of time, effort and missed opportunities elsewhere.

A better way of looking at things is to do a cost-benefit analysis. How much time and work is it going to take to produce a professional product? What do I gain by putting in the effort to improve it? Ask yourself: is this a difference that’s actually going to make a difference? 

Is a pursuit of perfection always a good thing? Not everyone agrees. In fact, there is an entire branch of Japanese philosophy called Wabi Sabi that teaches us to embrace our imperfections and the imperfections of the world around us.

So do your best, but don’t become so obsessed with perfection that you lose sight of your overall goals.