If you’re trying for a baby, you need to make sure your reproductive system is as healthy as possible. A Fertility diet isn’t about about losing weight or gaining weight but eating sensibly and eating the right foods to help your fertility. However, if you’re  overweight and are trying for a baby, by losing weight may help you to conceive.

Many fertility experts agree that what you eat is linked to fertility – certainly the healthier you are the better your chances of becoming pregnant and a well-nourished woman creates a better placenta for the baby. As well as a good diet, taking a daily supplement of 400mcg of folic acid is also very important to you and your baby’s health.

And don’t think that this is just about you – your man can join in too because what he eats and drinks can affect the health of his sperm.

-Already a top-rated series seen in more than 150 countries worldwide, hit animated pre-school show “The Hive” is finally landing in the U.S. on the Disney Junior channel.  A fun and friendly kids TV series in beautiful CGI animation, “The Hive” follows the fortunes of Buzzbee and friends in their fun-packed adventures in the Hive.  Every day brings something new for the little bee as he explores the world around him with best friends Barnabee, Jasper the wasp, Debee and his sister, Rubee.

Whether they’re on a treasure hunt or camping out under the stars, building a den or training Grandpa and Grandma Bee’s pet flea, Jump, to do tricks, there’s always something to learn and share. With a host of other colorful characters including Mama and Papa Bee, Mr Millipede, Miss Ladybird and Postman Spider, the Hive is a place kids and their parents want to keep coming back to visit.

Meet Buzzbee and the Characters of The Hive:
·        Buzzbee – Buzzbee is a fizzing little bag of fun constantly delighted to discover new and marvelous things about the world around him.  Unphased and not afraid to ask, Buzzbee is open-minded and adventurous but tends to rush headlong into situations without thinking things through.  He is in the pre-school class of Honeydew School.
·        Rubee – Rubee, Buzzbee’s big sister, is confident, determined and single-minded but thinks she knows more than she actually does.  She likes to be the boss but can laugh at herself too.
·        Barnabee – Barnabee is Buzzbee’s loyal best friend and the more cautious and sensible of the two.  He’s a bit of a worrier and quite shy.
·        Jasper – Jasper is another of Buzzbee’s school friends who is a loveable renegade that isn’t truly bad but a bit misguided and insecure so he overcompensates with bravado.  He is a hard nut with a squishy interior.

The show made its debut on October 8th and can be seen at 1:00 p.m. est daily.

I’m hosting a baby shower. What kind of food should I serve?

That depends on when the party is being held and whether it has a theme. The easiest way to serve food at a shower is to set up a buffet or a bunch of small plates and bowls of appetizers, vegetables and dip, or cookies and sweets around the room in which the shower’s being held.

Serving finger foods lets guests nibble and try different things throughout the party and may encourage them to mingle: Put the chips on one side of the room and the cherry tomatoes on another and people will be circulating before you know it. The more complicated and expensive option of a sit-down meal can be very nice if you’ve got the time and money.

What you serve can range from celery sticks and mini-quiches to dishes of M&Ms and chocolate truffles. Snacks and vegetables often work best in the afternoon; desserts are great for evening parties. Everyone has a crowd-pleasing, easy-to-make favorite — we want to hear yours! Add your suggestions in the comment box at the bottom of the page; we may feature your ideas on the site in a future article.
What about drinks?

Serve one of our fun and fabulous (and delicious) virgin drinks in solidarity with the guest of honor, or offer a variety of simpler non-alcoholic beverages — water, juice, punch, iced tea, lemonade, or even milk (served in baby bottles with enlarged holes, perhaps?).

Of course, it’s also fine to put alcoholic drinks on your menu — anything from margaritas to white wine — if the mom-to-be doesn’t mind and if alcohol makes sense considering the time and / or theme of the party. Just make sure to have something non-alcoholic on hand for your guest of honor.

Every Autumn, horse chestnut trees drop their conkers. For years conkers have been used for conker fights, but how do you get a winning conker?

What is Conkers?

The game of conkers is ages old. Using the dark brown horse chestnuts, not to be confused with the smaller chesnut, you can have hours of fun trying to smash apart your opponent’s conker.

The game of conkers, also called conker fighting, involves trying to smash your opponent’s conker which is suspended at the end of a piece of string.

How to remove spiky conkers shells

The first thing you will need to play conkers is a conker! Conkers are encased in a green shell that has spikes on the outside. When the horse chestnut ripens and falls from the horse chestnut tree, the outer casing often breaks open when it hits the ground. You can then prise the conker shell off with your fingers.

If the conker shell hasn’t come off, then there is a trick to opening them without hurting your fingers on the spikes. All you have to do is put the conker on the ground and gently roll it with your foot. By applying the right amount of pressure, the shell breaks open as you roll it.
Getting your conkers ready for conker fights

To play conkers, you will need to attach your conker to a piece of string or shoe lace. Make a small hole all the way through your conker with a meat skewer, bradawl or drill. The smaller the hole is, the stronger your conker will be as a bigger hole weakens conkers too much and makes them prone to being broken when hit. The hole does need to be big enough to fit your piece of string through though. If you choose a thin round shoe lace or piece of string, this will be best for your conkers. The string should be between 30cm and 50cm long.
How to play conkers

Conker fighting is great fun between two players. As long as you play fair, you will have a great time. Hopefully your opponent won’t hit your knuckles with their conker either!

The aim of conker fights

The general idea is that one of the conker players holds his conker still in the air by dangling it on the string. The other conker player then has to swing his conker overarm whilst still holding the end of the string so that the conker hits the opponent’s conker. The aim is to smash your opponent’s conker off the string.
Who goes first in conkers?

You usually toss a coin to see who decides to go first. The winner of the toss can choose to hit or receive first.
Conkers Game play

Conkers players take it in turn to try to hit the other conker. There are several outcomes of a swing. You can hit the conker and smash it off the string. You can miss the conker. You can miss the conker and get the strings tangled. You can hit the conker with no damage. You can hit the conker and break your own conker. Both conkers could get damaged.
Winning conkers

To win a game of conkers, you have to smash your opponent’s conker completely off the string whilst keeping your conker on the string. A partial break does not count. Also, if you knock your opponent’s conker off the string without breaking it, then they are allowed to put it back on the string.
Scoring and rating a conker

Scoring is done by counting how many conkers your conker has broken. The winning conker also gains the rating of the losing conker. So if you both have “none-ers” because they have won none, then the winning conker becomes a “one-er.” If you have a conker that has beaten four others, and then beats a two-er, then it also takes on the score of the losing conker and becomes a six-er.
Making Unbeatable Conkers

Everyone who has played conkers will know that you will most likely win if your conker is tougher than the other conker. Technically, if you make the conker harder, it also makes it more brittle. What you have to do is to make your conker tough. You also have to try to make your method undetectable, so this rules out coating it in an epoxy resin!
Pickling conkers in vinegar

Pickling conkers in vinegar is said to make them rock hard. This can however cause the inside to slowly rot.
Baking conkers

Baking conkers in the oven at a very low heat is one of the best ways to make a winning conker. You need to leave it in the oven long enough to makie it tough without making the outside wrinkly.
Using old conkers

The best way to get a winning conker that is unbeatable is to use conkers saved from last year. So, start collecting next years winning conkers now!
Varninshing conkers

Applying clear varnish to conkers can give them a hard shell, but this can be detectable.
Hand cream on outside of conkers

One method that does seem to make a winning conker is to coat the outside of your conker with hand cream. This makes the outside more resistance to impact. I would bake the conker in the oven first to make the inside tougher, and then coat the outside of the conker with hand cream to make the conker shell more flexible to the impacts.

The Government in Scotland has set out a major spending initiative on infertility treatment in a bid to reduce waiting times for IFV to less than 12 months by 2015.

The £12 million investment will attempt to improve IVF treatment across the whole Scotland’s NHS boards and was announced during a speech by the Finance Secretary John Swinney at Holyrood.

Michael Matheson, The minister for public health in Scotland, said: “There is a great demand for fertility treatment and we know it can be very upsetting for patients to have to wait for treatment, especially when the amount of time couples wait for treatment can vary across the country.”

The investment will be staggered between now and 2015. In the first year, 2012/13, £2 million will be spent. In 2013/14, this will rise to £4 million and in the final year spending will increase to £6 million.

Mr Matheson says that the rise in spending will help the Government to achieve its commitment to achieve 12-month waiting times for IVF services. He says that it is key that eligible patients can expect an equal level of access to the treatment.