Do you have a limited play space? We sure do. To keep the mess at bay, we've come up with a simple solution that is both tidy and cheap - a bucket-based toy rotation.

Hang a nice looking shelf somewhere high enough that your child cannot reach it. Find some containers (we use one recycled bucket and one bucket that came with a toy set). Then communicate with your partner that the rule is that only one bucket can be off the shelf at any given time, and stick to it.

The benefits of this system are clear once you've gotten used to it. You never have a huge horrible mess of toys, because half of them are always put away. Forgotten toys in one bucket are far more exciting when they are reunited with their pint-sized owner days later - almost as if they are brand new. Teaching the art of pointing to what you want, a very important baby skill, is easy when the buckets are two different shapes, colors, or sizes.

Perhaps most importantly, your child (and you) is encouraged to learn to pick up one mess before another one is created. If you really stick to the one bucket at a time rule, soon your kid will start to help you pack up the old bucket with the desire to get to the new one. A good lesson to instill early! - Leigh G.

It's no secret: Figuring out life with a new baby can be tough. Our job here at Polliwogged is to support new moms like you as you figure a few things out, offering tips, hacks, activities, and product picks and pans as you share your own impressions and tips with us and each other.

But new moms, whether for the first time or fifth, don't just need support in taking care of their babies; they also need support in taking care of themselves. It is so easy for a mother's own needs to get pushed to the background. One of mine is for some camaraderie from other moms, whether online or in person. In the internet world, there are lots of places to look, from blogs like ours to groups on social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter. Right now, I am hoping to tap into your collective wisdom.

Ever since the birth of my third in early October, trying to balance the needs of three children has taken all of my time. This means trouble for any work I would like to do around my home, or (gasp), any time I would like to spend on myself. I am fully prepared to admit it - there are many days when I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water.

So I'm asking: How do you do it?

How do you find the time to pay attention to your kids with all of the love and devotion they deserve and not stay up all night trying to simply keep the house from being condemned?

How do you find time to take time for yourself, whether taking a bath or reading a book or running your own business?

Share a tip, an idea, a source of personal inspiration, or a sanity saver in the comments below. Your thoughts won't just help me, but all those other moms I know are in the same boat.

Thanks in advance for taking a moment to give a mom a hand! - Sara I.

Two things used to get lost in the fray of laundry around here: baby socks and re-usable breast pads (the kind to help contain leaking mom-milk). These tiny cloth objects stick to the insides of pants, flannel sheets, fleece jackets, you name it.

My husband loves to tell the story of how he was in a graduate seminar shortly after our son was born when he looked down to see a clean, fluffy breast pad sneaking its way out of his pant leg onto the floor. It had apparently been in there all day, slowly working its way towards his socks.

You can defeat the sock loss gremlin, and the devious creatures that make breast pads show up in embarrassing places, with the kind of plastic mesh bag that you buy potatoes or onions in. Just keep a plastic mesh bag attached to the side of your laundry bin (I use a wooden clothespin to clip it on) so that you can place wet milk pads and dirty socks directly into it. At laundry time, tie it shut with a knot and toss it in. Make sure the bag is big enough for your sock and milk pad load to float around freely, or they might not dry completely. You might think this will make your laundry process more complicated, but it actually saves you time when it is really quick to find all the socks and pads once they are clean.
- Leigh G.