Kate Hudson has it all. She's an actress with a good track record in Hollywood, she has celebrity parentage, she was married to a rock star and had his baby, and her kid is as cool as she is. Not content to just enjoy that success, Kate has taken it upon herself to save the world, one beautiful tress at a time.

Hudson and long-time hairstylist, friend and probably co-conspirator in all things fabulous, David Babaii, have created a haircare line that promises to be kind to the environment as it cleans and beautifies your hair. The products will also be cruelty free. More than just putting her money where her mouth is, Kate also served as the test subject for all the ingredients in the products.

The line will be called David Babaii for WildAid and is set to be affordable as well as conscious. Ten percent of the profits will be donated to the WildAid animal conservation group. While on the surface a link to parenting might not seem apparent, I would go so far as to say that she is making the world a better place for her son.

We asked and you answered!

ParentDish readers are just filled with baby wisdom. And based on your comments, if only one tip should be stamped on our brains forever and ever, it should be to SWADDLE YOUR NEWBORN LIKE THERE'S NO TOMORROW.

Thank you for that pertinent information. (Personally, I'm in full agreement.)

However, swaddling devices weren't the only products mentioned. Take a gander at your ParentPicks Top Newborn Essentials.

%Gallery-24840%

To some women the thought of a "green" pregnancy conjures up images of nausea, vomiting and general discomfort. That's thankfully not what we're talking about here. As the green movement to save our environment continues to sweep the nation, check out these tips to see how you can make that bun, and your experience carrying it, as healthy and helpful to the environment your child will some day inherit.

In an article very humorously titled "What to inspect when you're expecting," writer Amy Linn Grist relays such ideas as using organic or all-natural shampoos and "prettying" products, and going organic whenever possible. True, organic can be more expensive, but I have to say from experience it's generally also a whole lot tastier. And when you're pregnant, taste counts for a lot! She also suggests shopping at second-hand and consignment stores for furnishings (and clothing). I've gotten a ton of cute, great baby clothes from such places for a fraction of the original cost. Kids outgrow clothes so quickly they hardly have time to mess them up!

The article also offers "five cent solutions" to the suggestions. Sure, it's easy to tell someone to only eat organic or to avoid Teflon, but how are regular folks supposed to be able to handle that--especially in this economy? Well, second-hand makes its appearance more than once. Reusing things, and taking care of what you have (so you can hopefully use it with the next baby, if there is one) is the easiest thing to do. Borrowing and swapping, as I do with a few pals, never hurts either. We're super-inclined to take care of the borrowed/swapped items since they belong to someone we know and love.

Maybe some of these tips are seemingly out of reach for your budget. Well, how about trying just one? Also consider the tip everyone can follow: Following the same rules we've all grown accustomed to hearing. Avoid cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and mega-caffeine (which, by the way, could save you enough money to get those organic products you've been eyeing!).

I envy those of you with a backyard. Really, I do. Some of you have cookouts, some of you have pools. Some of you engage in a random game of horse shoe or lawn bowling. For those of you with kids, though, have you thought about just how safe your backyard really is?

This list provides not only a list of things that are potential disasters waiting to happen right in the back of your house, but also quick fixes to make life easier, and safer, for everyone. Things as simple as knowing where to properly place your grill can make all the difference between safety and accident, not to mention charcoal that isn't fully extinguished.

And, did you know that more than 68,000 people are poisoned by plants every year? Some plants, if ingested, can be fatal to pets and small children. For a quick scan of the inventory in your backyard, and whether or not it poses any sort of health hazard, visit prevention.com/links. Then there is perhaps my biggest fear of all: The pool. Unfenced pools have led to so much sorrow over the years it's a wonder people still have them. According to the Home Safety Council, a quarter of the drownings in the United States each year occur near home. Pools can be a lot of fun, but only if taken care of and managed properly.

For more information on these and other helpful tips, including how to deal with pesticides, ladders and decks, check out the article. Then, check out your backyard and see if any of these tips apply to you!

I love shoes -- I can't really explain why, but I do. I have a girlfriend who says that women love shoes because no matter how much weight we lose or gain, our shoes always fit, and I suspect that's part of it. Great shoes can completely change your look, spiffing up even the most basic Mom Uniform.

But as moms, we often default to sturdy, practical shoes, without any character or sass; in other words, we spend a lot of time in running shoes, or worse, Crocs. This summer, toss those ugly shoes and put some pretty on your feet! MomLogic's Mary Alice Haney has eight cool suggestions for hott summer shoes, among them a gold ballet flat and a pair of embellished metallic sandals.

My favorite of her picks are the Cole Haan Nike Air line, which combine Cole Haan's chic styling with Nike Air technology for shoes that you will never want to take off. The animal print ballet flats pictured here go with everything from tailored trousers to casual shorts, and retail for $185.00. I know, I know, but I promise -- your feet will thank you.

Click on over to Mom Logic to see all of Mary Alice's picks!

Nursing can be tough on moms, potentially resulting in dry or cracked nipples. There are, luckily, products available to help ward off such problems, including various creams and lotions intended to soothe and protect breasts and nipples. One such product is Mommy's Bliss Nipple Cream -- or was, anyway, until the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning to consumers not to use the product.

According to the FDA, the cream contains chlorphenesin and phenoxyethanol, two chemicals that could be harmful to a breastfeeding baby. Chlorphenesin can cause respiratory depression in infants while phenoxyethanol can cause vomiting and diarrhea, possibly leading to dehydration. Both chemicals can depress the central nervous system.

"The FDA is particularly concerned that nursing infants are being unwittingly exposed by their mothers to this product with dangerous side effects," said Janet Woodcock, M.D., director, FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Additionally, these two ingredients may interact with one another to further compound and increase the risk of respiratory depression in nursing infants."

Never been through a pregnancy before? Or, feeling overwhelmed by what you know is about to happen with pregnancy number 2? Not sure what to do, or where to turn, and feeling stressed--which is what should not happen during pregnancy? Well, then perhaps a baby planner is just what you need.

Much like a wedding planner, who takes all your ideas, wishes and needs and makes them all happen without an ounce of stress to you on your other big day, a baby planner will take all the stress and fuss out of planning for a baby. While some parents regale in every bit of minutiae concerning the new love of their lives to be, some moms and dads just can't get it all done in a way that is both satisfactory and calming to them.

If you're in the latter category you may want to give Melissa Gould and Ellie Miller a call. Introduced to the web by PopSugar, Melissa and Ellie are both moms themselves who know from experience what it can be like to have to try and figure out EVERYTHING about child rearing in the nine (ten) months of pregnancy. They formed The Baby Planners. The business savvy gals also offer Grandparent packages, Adoption packages and Post-Partum packages. There's a fee attached, of course--$500 and up for the women's packages--but that fee may well be worth it to some.

Hey, it's Mother's Day. Just because you're not a mommy yet doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of yourself like one. I can tell you from past experience, how you treat yourself while you're pregnant will very much impact how you take care of yourself (or don't) when you're a mom. And, take it from me, it's important to do both. It will make you a happier person and probably a better mom to do so.

MSN offers several keen suggestions for moms to be to make it through the day and keep on track. even if you're not a mom to be, and are already a mom (or not!) I think there is something in this list of suggestions that would benefit us all. So, if you have time after your Mother's Day brunch, check out these tips and see which ones you might like to give a whirl.

I myself am partial to the one regarding taking naps at lunch. I don't know how well this would fly at my office or anyone else's, but if you have the ability, I say go for it. Sleep during pregnancy is of the utmost importance. After you become a mom, it's downright essential. And it seems none of us parents ever gets enough. Heaven forbid those of us without TiVo stay up late enough to watch the latest episode of Lost!

Don't have your mother's day gift quite yet? Naughty, naughty child! Well, if you're like me and forever trying to pick out the perfect gift yet always feel like you're coming up short, why not try a different approach?

MSN's astrology website offers gift suggestions for mom based on her astrological--or zodiac--sign. If you can remember your mother's birthday, you're in luck. Suggestions run from the usual, such as brunch for the Taurus mom or hanging out with the family for the Cancer mom, to the very, er, unusual--such as skydiving for an Aries mom!

I don't know enough about the different personality traits to say whether or not the suggestions are accurate. It did seem to me, though, that the traits discussed for each sign were the kinds of things we'd like to see in any mom, regardless of her birthday. So, for ideas when you're stumped, for perhaps something different or something traditional you hadn't considered, or just to have fun, why not see what works for a mom based on her astrological sign? Still stuck? Well, maybe you should consult your magic eight ball. That always works for me!

Now that I've found myself plum in the middle of my second pregnancy, I thought it might be interesting to really take a look at all those wives tales we're always being reminded of when we find ourselves in the family way. The first pregnancy for me I was totally freaked out and had no chance at being able to separate fact from fiction--between what I read online and in books and magazines, what I was told by friends and family--and, ok, let's face it, complete strangers who for some reason are more than willing to share their pregnancy/birth experiences--and what information I got from my OBGYNs, I was basically confused. TMI (too much information) took on a whole new meaning.

I wanted to believe what my doctors told me--but, hey, they're not always right. Prime example? Caffeine. My first pregnancy I was told I could have up to two cups of caffeinated beverages such as coffee a day with no problem. This was even though I'd heard otherwise. Now, in pregnancy two (electric boogaloo), we're all reading about how caffeine is a no no (again), especially in the first trimester. Guess what--the info I got from my OBGYNs was the same.

Then there are all the hair-brained things we read on the Internet. I told a friend of mine who was having a rough pregnancy to just STOP reading ANYTHING on the Internet as it was all terrifying her. It did me, too. Hey--you never know--there are many times when the sages of the Internet speak the truth, or at least a version of it. So, who and what to believe as we--and I, as I go through pregnancy two--navigate our way through pregnancy and impending parenthood? Hard to say. My goal with this min-series, called "Pregnancy fact or fiction" is to not necessarily answer the questions, but rather to explore them and the multiple answers we find when we go looking,

Some of the old wives tales I whip out may seem unconventional or downright crazy, but so is the science of having a baby. Just think how complicated conception can be, and, coupled with the lack of knowledge we still have after all these years about how women and pregnancy, it's easy to see where some of those strange ideas came from...especially when the results continued to support the theory, scientific or otherwise!

In the few years I've been writing at ParentDish, I've linked to Rebecca Woolf's blog on numerous occasions. Rebecca, otherwise known as the dynamic voice behind the blog Girl's Gone Child, has an indescribable talent for putting very complex topics into simple, provocative words. She's been one of my favorite bloggers since 2004, when I first discovered this medium.

So, I was excited but unsurprised to hear that Rebecca had landed a book deal, and delighted to learn that she would be embarking on a book tour that would stop in my own city. I marked the date on the calendar and placed a call in to the shy babysitter down the road.

On the night of Rebecca's pit stop in Vancouver, I received a call from a suddenly sickly babysitter. Though the book signing started at 7:30, smack in the middle of my son's bedtime, I looked at him and asked: "Wanna meet some pretty ladies at a book store?"
"Yes!" he cried, though the "s" was a "th", and then we were off.

He's been potty trained for several weeks, almost a month, and so I didn't think too much about the fact that he was wearing his hilarious old-man briefs and no diaper. I kept asking him on the way to the store: gotta go, Nolan? Tell me if you gotta go."

Although initially excited about our destination, a two-and-a-half year old's enthusiasm is a fickle thing, and by the time we got to the store, my son was manic and destructive with alternating glee, boredom, and a fierce determination to wet-willy an unsuspecting participant.

We had to leave before we got to hear Rebecca read. Nolan had an accident in the middle of the bookstore. Rebecca, adorned in chiffon and softness, presented us with some wet naps. And, cringing, I bought a few books and limped out of the bookstore. On the way home I sneaked glances at the book during red lights and when I got home, I put Nolan to bed and inhaled the whole book.

Even if I didn't really like Rebecca as a person and respect her immensely as a blogger, I would still have to say this: Rockabye is perhaps the best book on Mothering I've ever read. And it's certainly the best memoir. Alternating between streaming-eye touching and stomach-hurting funny, the book is one of the first honest books I've read about the bumpy journey from woman to Mother. I feel proud that Rebecca is one of the blogosphere's own, and the trip to meet her and try to support her reading was definitely worth the accident on the steps of the bookstore.

I used to have long hair. Long, long, long, hair. The kind that you dream about having when you're a little girl--the kind that makes you look and feel like a princess or like you should always and only be seen riding atop a racing stallion on the beach. I loved my hair.

And I hated it. Frankly, I didn't look that great with long hair. It took a long time to wash and I never bothered to do anything more than pile it on top of my head in a makeshift bun with a pony tail holder. Depending on what time of year it was, it was various shades of color from the sun and the elements. And it cost just as much to get it trimmed or styled as it would with a shorter 'do but didn't ever really look any different.

I'd grown it out nearly to my elbows for my wedding, where I naturally wore it back in some sort of bun (this time sans the pony tail holder). After that I cut it. I kept it mid-length and styled in a way that was both easy to manage and that grew out well. 'cuz it was expensive.

Then I had a baby. Whereas I had little time to get into the city for a cut before now I had essentially none. When I finally made it back in to see my guy, I had him cut it short. Really short. It was the same hairdo, just a lot shorter than normal. This way it would eventually grow out to the cut I'd always had but give me plenty of time in between cuts without looking too shabby.

It seems to be all the rage these days: talk of teens, and tweens, and their primping. When is it too soon? When is it too much? I remember getting my ears pierced at a relatively young age--I think I was in the second grade--but makeup? Well, even though my mother and grandmother generously indulged in that, I wasn't allowed until I was much, much older.

These days, as you can tell just by walking down the street, watching Nickelodeon--Miley Cyrus, anyone?--or hitting the local mall or salon, beauty is not just for adults anymore. And primping isn't just about beauty anymore, either--it's about pampering. I don't know when pampering ourselves became such a pursuit, but it is, at least with many of the women--and their daughters--I know.

A recent article in the New York Times probes this phenomenon. Girls want to be like their moms and the women they know. They want to go to salons, too. They want to get highlights and whatever else done to their hair as well as having their toes painted and their colors done. One girl's mother interviewed for the article commented that her daughter works hard and gets good grades. Her mother contends, because of that, she deserves a trip to the salon--to get her hair highlighted, to be pampered.

When children learn to draw, suddenly every blank piece of paper is a canvas, and every masterpiece is a work of art. It's hard to part with children's art, but it's impossible to save every piece, especially if your little artist is enthusiastic.

Mother's Day isn't too far around the corner. If you know a mom who adores her child's handiwork, then Scribble Couture may just be for her. At Scribble Couture, moms (or grandmas, aunts, and babysitters) can choose from one of four purse styles. Then, their favorite child-made artwork is uploaded and used to embellish the bag. The process is not an inexpensive one, and bags run from $119-$329.

It's kind of like those mugs we used to make in the 80s, you know...the ones where you drew a picture then slid it into the frame on the outside of the mug? Technology has changed the way we express ourselves, but the sentiment is still the same.

When I was pregnant my husband and I had this running joke that I could get as big as I liked so long as I didn't weigh more than he did by the end of the pregnancy. It was more a self-imposed rule that my husband used to make fun of.

I'd started out with a pretty low BMI--one that I worked hard for, mind you. So when the pounds started piling on, all in a very healthful way (well, except for those cupcakes in the third trimester) my husband would tease me that by the end of the whole thing I was going to be bigger than he was.

Well, I managed to pull it off an gained somewhere between 35-40 pounds (I think, it may have been less) so I did not ever weigh as much as my husband. But, what about moms who are as big, or are bigger, than their husbands?

LilSugar has taken note of some of the more famous couples wherein the wife or woman is bigger--taller, curvier, whatever--than her husband or man. JLo and Marc Anthony, Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban are all discussed.