So Lila gets an invitation to a schoolmate’s birthday sleepover and before she can tumble off the bus good, she’s shoving the little glossy card in my hand: “Can I go, please, please, puh-leeze, Mommy?”

All that begging and you’d think I don’t let her go anywhere.

And er, um, you’d be right.

Yes, I raise my hand and readily admit that I’m a play date blocker. Like, on the highest levels. If I don’t know your mama, I haven’t been to your house for any significant length of time, I haven’t a clue who all lives there, and your kid’s home-training is a little questionable? Nope—my kid’s not coming over.

When I brought my preemie son home from the hospital, he was too small for a carrier. Finding it easier to be hands-free when picking up and dropping off my older child from preschool, I popped the baby into a sling. One day – a particularly hot one – a well-meaning stranger wondered if I was suffocating my baby. I thanked her for her concern and assured her he was fine, but internally I freaked – and checked my son’s breathing all the way home. I figured I was overreacting, but I never used the sling again.

Now I’m wondering if that nosy stranger was onto something. The Consumer Product Safety Commission is preparing a warning about small babies and slings. Although no details have yet been released, there have been rumblings that so-called bag slings, which cradle baby in a curved position, present a suffocation hazard. There have also been complaints of babies falling out of slings.

We’ll post the warning here once it’s released. In the mean time, do you use slings? Have you ever worried about their safety?

Plus: Stay on top of all the latest potentially hazardous products with our constantly updated recalls page.

Well it's our final week so I will sign off with Financial Planning 101. This has been quite an experience. It took me on a journey VERY different than what I expected, and from Leah's last blog, it appears very different from what she expected as well. But I think everyone involved learned alot! And for me, that's what life is all about -- lifelong learning!

Financial Planning 101

I'm baking a cake right now. It's one of my spontaneous cravings I decided to cave in to.

Actually it wasn't that spontaneous. It's my sister's 13th birthday. But she lives four states away. Just talking to her about her birthday made me want cake. So I bought some cake mix on the way home from work. I need to get my sugar fix out of me though before my gestational diabetes test on Monday!

Cravings are just one of the things I'm trying to get used to. Along with cankles... These aren't pretty. Some people ask what cankles are. If you haven't seen Shallow Hal, it's when your calves eat your ankles. My husband thinks it's gross but I took a picture. I thought it was funny. Here I am with skinny legs and fat cankles:

"I didn't know I was pregnant" stories are always shocking, (although, apparently one in almost 2,500 women share the experience,) but this one is a real doozie. Kelly Bottom went into the bathroom thinking her stomach was just hurting but ended up (surprise!) delivering a baby on the floor. Then she realized that she had to pick up her other son from school, so she fetched him (new baby in tow), and then went to the hospital, where Baby Bottom needed an incubator and some blood work, but now, five days later, appears to be completely healthy. (Kelly is fine, too.)

Asked why she didn't call 911, Bottom said, "I just wouldn't -- I guess I just wanted to do it by myself, I don't know."

Read our "I Didn't Even Know I Was Pregnant!" story here.