Last week I was at the MAGIC Kids Trade Show in Las Vegas, NV for our Bumble Bells. Learned 1.2 billion things. There were over 70 countries in attendance. Thousands of exhibitors. A bit overwhelming for a first-timer, but much fun if you’re the least bit social.

Apparently they expect 140,000 attendees to show to the Convention Center every year. Rumor has it they had 2/3rds drop off and only 40,000 or so showed up. From what I witnessed, booths for brands like Robeez, Chinese Laundry and Ed Hardy were all alive and kicking. Favorite new clothing line for children? Kicky Pants.

We did not videotape the show but last year, Mercedes Gonzales of Global Purchasing Group, did. She brings us through an entire week of her 30th year in a row at several of MAGIC’s fashion shows.

If you’ve been reading my Twitters all week last week: yes, my feet still hurt.

Introducing new guest author, the Senior Dadvisor.  Figured we needed the voice of a supportive husband and father–and fortunately, we found someone practically helpful and brilliantly supportive.  

The ideal role for any good husband and daddy in his wife’s momtrepreneur ventures is that of senior advisor — or senior dadvisor, if you will. The senior dadvisor’s roles are multitudinous. You need to be ready with business advice, logistical support, and, perhaps most importantly, moral support. 

Practically, this means long conversations about clients and expenditures, trips to Kinkos to pick up copy jobs that likely felled several acres of trees, and the development of skills such as cooking a three-course meal in ten minutes or less.

As a general matter, though, perhaps the most significant responsibility the Senior Dadvisor has is the assumption of entertainment responsibilities when Mom is taken up with a pressing business matter and cannot mind the little ones in the house.

Ideally, this means going to the park, building a three-story chateau out of legos, or going to the children’s museum for some education and adventure. Realistically, though, you will find yourself on many occasions shuffling through stacks of DVDs, wondering what would be the ideal show for your child to watch. Sometimes, that’s the only thing that will help your little ones make the transition from wild child to chilled-out toddler. 

For this purpose, I recommend any DVD produced by The Wiggles, that famed Australian four-piece in the colorful shirts. The Wiggles are great, primarily because they will neither hype your child up, nor slow your child down. They provide just the right amount of stimulation. They are fun: they dance, they sing, and they do not bounce around the room like hyenas on speed. The result is that your child will be entertained but also soothed. And that is an exceedingly rare combination. 

-From the desk of the Senior Dadvisor 

You took time off? So what?  Get back in the game.

Perhaps you were a high-profile business woman in your last life. Or you were a busy sales rep, an accountant, or a physician who was up to her ears in meetings, calls and e-mails. Then you had your baby, and you decided to take time off. Your workplace carried on without you there–even though you were indispensable and they promised they would not go on. As you nurtured and grew your new human being at home, your industry was likely growing at such a rapid pace that if you decided to return, you’d have no idea what language your associates were even speaking.

This fantasy that most moms share is, fortunately, just that. There is no secret code developed in your former workplace that precludes you from returning. You do not lose vast quantities of valuable information from Mommy Brain trauma, and in fact some moms become twice as productive postpartum.  I took a mere two weeks off (it’s a bit harder to accept maternity leave when your boss is yourself).  In those short 14 days, I honestly believed that I was going to need forty weeks just to catch-up, and often thought that my clients and peers would catch me in Mommy Brain delirium and would move on without me.  Not so!  It was clearly my (well-hidden) delirium that let me think I had become a laughing stock, when in reality I jumped right back on that wagon and have worked successfully to this day.

If you’ve taken several months off, or even several years, I say to you:  get back into business.  Fear may be holding you back, but diving right in is all the jumpstart you need to get going again.  You were a star before, you will be a star again.  And while you may think that working will be twice as hard now that you have a baby, it just might be.  But how will you know until you try it?

Which one is The One?  You just know.

Which house is The Dream Home?  You just feel it.

So which business idea is The Big Idea?  The one that will put you on the cover of “Fast Company,” send your kids to private college, transcend you to career nirvana?

About 45 times a day I think, “Someone should invent this.”  Lately I’ve thought that Someone should be me. Problem is, I just don’t have a gut feeling about which idea to run with.  I suspect it’s because I can’t believe any of my ideas are good enough.  But then I get to thinking about The Snuggie — if that can make millions… I mean, it’s a backwards robe, for crying out loud.

I bet if I buckled down and actually drafted a business plan, I’d see that I have good ideas that shouldn’t be dismissed. So I’m starting today. If you need me, I’ll be furiously typing at my computer, wearing my Snuggie.

-Michele Golden, The Reluctant Momtrepreneur

So many momtrepreneurs seem to live in Baltimore!  Or at least, their local news station is taking notice of them (big kudos to WBAL TV!).

Staci Berner of Baltimore, MD, had her very own lightbulb moment and turned it into a company called Shapeez and a product called The Unbelievabra.  This self-taught seamstress eradicates back bulges and muffin tops, discusses time management with company and kids, and proves true that, in her words, “If it’s something that you believe in, it’s not gonna fail.”