It actually hurts my heart to say that tonight The Office will air for the final time. After nine seasons, the cameras on Dunder Mifflin will shut off and the series so many have loved (including me!) will retire to the rerun hall of fame forevermore. But instead of dwelling on the sad, there have been so MANY lovable moments over the course of the series to make us smile — especially the hilarious, off-the-cuff parenting and pregnancy, Jim and Pam, Michael and Dwight moments from the entire cast.

From Michael’s outrageous baby shower planning to the adorable arrival of baby Halpert, here are nine of our favorite moments. May they live on forever!

1. Baby Astrid

2. Why Stanley Doesn’t Like Pregnant Women

3. Pam’s Water Breaking

4. Dwight Plays ‘Shrute or Consequences’

5. Dwight’s Watermelon Water Breaks

6. Pam and Angela Are Pregnant!

7. Dunder Mifflin Reacts to Pam’s Pregnancy

8. Dwight Dishes on Pam’s Pregnancy

9. Baby Halpert — Every Step of the Way!

What was your favorite moment from The Office?

Plus, more from The Bump:

20 Moments That Make You Realize You’re a Mom

“Holy Crap! I’m a Mom!”

Reactions to Positive Pregnancy Tests

I don’t condone lying. Honesty is always the best policy, right?  Weeeell, I may have been fudging a few things lately… um… to our pediatrician. I know, I know, I’m a terrible mom. Or so I thought — until I talked to other moms who admitted to telling a few little white lies to their pediatricians too. Then I thought, why? Why did I feel that I couldn’t be honest with the one person I’ve elected to care for our child’s medical needs?

I’m as familiar with the conventional wisdom as the next momma when it comes to baby care. I did have the standard nine months to prepare, after all. On top of that, I got all the little baggies full of pamphlets, brochures, samples and free magazine subscriptions from the moment my pee stick said “Yay!” Each little piece of propaganda fit together in an all-encompassing guide on how to take care of an infant. I plowed through them all. I could have recited proper sleep schedules, feeding schedules and techniques by age and rank. The problem? Baby’s don’t always go by the book.

At our very first appointment, our pediatrician used a lot of the phrase, “He should be [...]” and “He needs to be [...].” By the time we left, I felt certain I had all the instructions I needed to put this little guy together… er …wait. He was already assembled — I’d already spent nine months doing that. So wait, how long should his nap intervals be?  Black and tar-like. Yeah, that was it. No, that’s poo color. What was the nap thing?  ”Hon! Where’d you put those napping instructions?” The point is, I left feeling like I had a set of instructions that had to be followed precisely or the world would surely self-destruct.

Fast forward:  Our son, despite our best efforts (honestly!) to have him sleep in the bassinet beside our bed, would not sleep. He just wouldn’t. I’m not talking normal-newborn-waking-up-in-the-night stuff. I’m talking would. not. sleep. After a week or so, we decided to try co-sleeping. It was fabulous (and has been ever since). It was a personal choice, made with careful consideration, and it worked for our family.

What does this have to do with lies and deceit?

Enter lie #1:

Doc: “How is he sleeping?”
Me: “Great!  I can’t complain at all.”
Doc: “Sleeping through the night? On his back?”
Me: “Yep.” (All true so far!)
Doc: “Where does he sleep?”
Me: [oh, $%#@] ”In his bassinet next to the bed.”
Doc: “Good, good.”

I knew what the pediatrician wanted to hear, so I just blurted it out like I was playing Catch Phrase after too many glasses of wine. I felt like I had a giant neon “liar” sign blinking from my forehead, but he moved on to feeding.

Doc: “How often is he nursing?”
Me: [damn, this test is hard!] “Uh, every hour and a half maybe?”
Doc: “Ok, mom you’re spoiling him.  He should be eating every 3-4 hours at three months. He’s a snacker.”
Me: “Oh.”

Here’s the thing: By month three, I’d stopped tracking and charting every last feeding, poo color, and nap time down to the second. We’d already had a routine that felt natural and everyone was happy. Besides, I didn’t think you could really “spoil” a 3-month old. At our 6-month appointment, my husband and I were both there. Thankfully the feeding intervals didn’t come up that time, because I was prepared to lie again. Then, the questions started flying before I realized… I’d forgotten to brief my husband on my little ruse.

Doc: “Where is he sleeping.”
Husband: “In bed with us.”
Me: [Noooooooo!]

There may have been a nervous laugh or two as I sheepishly concurred (red-faced and pit-stained by now) with what my husband had so easily disclosed: the truth. And guess what? The world did not self-destruct. Our pediatrician did not bite me. But I still left questioning my position on co-sleeping, feeding times, and a lot of other things. Then I realized, our way was working just fine. I was getting all in a tither over things that didn’t really need fixing. Medically, our son was actually ahead of the game. The doc had even complimented his advanced motor skills. It was the expectation that was killing me — expectations set by by all the “should be’s” and “need to be’s”. I didn’t want to be scolded or judged, so I lied.

Should I have told the truth from the beginning? Probably. Are expectations placed upon new parents sometimes such that we feel the need to fib? Definitely.

Are you guilty of telling white lies to your doctor?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Baby Milestones: What Baby Will Do When

Infant Development

10 Weird But Totally Normal Things About Your Newborn

There is nothing like the first moment you see your child: whether you’re dreaming of that day, planning for it or thinking back on it, those first moments together are indescribable, beautiful, emotional and incredibly powerful. New mama Holly Madison is letting the world in on her first meeting with her daughter, baby Rainbow, in a new video.

In between pushes, Holly looks to her nurses for support, saying she’s scared — and it’s really beautiful. I think all moms, whether they’re first-timers or seasoned veterans, can relate to Holly at that moment. There’s so much emotion, so much fear, so much excitement that it’s hard to prepare for what comes next, or how you’ll react when you first meet your daughter (or son!). I also love that Holly says she going to cry when she hears baby crying — it’s just so sweet! I’ll admit, I cried too… it was just that adorable!

Take a look for yourself:

How would you describe your first moments with baby?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Craziest Things Tired Moms Did

New Mom Confessions

Best (and Worst) Things About Having a Newborn

Did you all have a happy Mother’s Day? Mine was pretty good: pancakes and handmade cards and sticky hugs, followed by all the usual sibling squabbles, house-trashing and running out of milk and patience. Life with little ones isn’t exactly a day at the spa, you know? But I didn’t think much of it until I went on Facebook.

As I clicked through update after update about breakfast in bed, bouquets of roses, mimosas, picnics and doting families, I started to feel worse and worse. My husband’s homemade pancakes paled in comparison to brunch at a fancy restaurant. (Partly because we were out of maple syrup… again.) And why were her kids smiling and wearing matching outfits while mine wouldn’t even agree to be photographed together? And how did she get away with leaving the kids at home to spend a whole weekend with girlfriends when MY husband couldn’t even grasp the concept of letting me sleep in? (Hint for dads: You have to close the bedroom door when you get up and lock the kids out! Otherwise, they are dive-bombing us in our beds the minute your back is turned.)

This Facebook-induced angst is a real thing, something many moms I know suffer from. Here’s my two cents on how to handle it if social media is sending you into Negative Nelly territory. Remember:

What you see is not the whole story. Most people use social media to portray a carefully chosen image of their lives. You’re seeing the highlights, not the blooper reel. Maybe that adorable color-coordinated family photo was preceded by tantrums and threats. Maybe that mom made brunch reservations herself rather than rely on her husband to read her mind. (Hmmm… now there’s a thought.)

Sometimes people have an agenda. I wonder about those couples who post flowery love notes to each other in public forums. Are they really that happy and perfect, or are they trying to prove something? I can’t help but think of a couple I knew like that… who are now divorced.

“No one can make you feel inferior without your permission.” Good point, Eleanor Roosevelt. Did looking at other people’s supposedly fun, fabulous Mother’s Days have to make me feel worse about mine? Did I need to compare their lives to my own? Did I need to be on Facebook at all when I had a rare day at home with my whole family when I (supposedly) didn’t even have to do any housework? No, I did not. I could close my laptop, cuddle up with my imperfect, non-color-coordinated children, and enjoy the moment for what it was. And then give myself a break for getting irritated when the moment passed and they asked me what was for dinner. (Asked ME. On Mother’s Day!)

So that’s exactly what I did. We ordered in, by the way. And I left the dishes for my husband. Maybe I should thank him on Facebook.

Does social media ever make you feel bad about your life?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Plus, more from The Bump:

7 Secrets All Mamas Need to Survive the Mommy Bullies

Here’s to Having it All: Balance Your Mom Life and Career

The Truth About Mommy Wars

Could supplementing formula for baby boost breastfeeding rates among new moms? According to the latest study, researchers say yes!

The small study, published in the journal Pediatrics suggests that giving newborns a little bit of formula actually helps boost breastfeeding rates because the formula “primer” may help give new moms the assurance they need to pursue breastfeeding. Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, followed 40 infant babies who had lost at least 5% of their birth weight by the time they were 36 hours old.

Though the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) notes that weight loss in an infant’s first days is typical (because they are becoming accustomed to feedings), the lead author Dr. Valerie Flaherman chose to focus the study on babies who’d lost 5% of their birth weight shortly after birth because further studies suggest that infants who lose 5% of their weight within 36 hours of life are much more likely to continue to lose weight.

During the course of the study, Flaherman and her team of researchers assigned half of the babies to receive two teaspoons of formula after each breastfeeding. These babies received formula via a syringe babies would not be confused transitioning from breast to bottle. Mothers were asked to discontinue the formula supplementation once their milk supply appeared, which generally took two to five days postbirth. The other half of mothers exclusively breastfed their babies (unless the doctor ordered formula).

Here’s what they found:

At one-week old, 10% of the formula group was still using formula in some way as part of their feeding strategy for baby, this was compared to 47% of the group originally assigned to breastfeed but who added formula. But at three-months old, 79% of the formula group was exclusively breastfeeding, which was 42% more than the moms who who were originally instructed to exclusively breastfeed baby. Of the findings Flaherman believes that introducing a small amount of formula early on (then withdrawing it) helped mothers feel secure that their babies weren’t hungry and losing weight in their first days of life. It’s likely, Flaherman suspects, that this gave them the confidence to go on exclusively breastfeeding baby.

“Using that little bit of formula earlier really seems to have had a big effect on whether babies are getting formula at one week,” Flaherman noted. “We wanted to try to find an early intervention we could do with these babies and moms to help them continue breast-feeding. I was surprised the effect was this big.”

Generally in the U.S. most mothers begin by breastfeeding, but only 40% of moms are still breastfeeding at six months and only 20% of moms make it to one year — a milestone that the AAP recommends moms reach.

Though Flaherman and her team are amazed by the effect of the study, not everyone shares their surprise. Dr. Kathleen Marinelli, chair-elect of the U.S. Breastfeeding committee, noted that, “This study goes against everything that’s been published for several years now from very reliable clinicians and researchers about the potential hazards of supplementing exclusively breast-feeding babies with formula. They’re flying in the face of years of research here and doing so rather glibly, stating that this is the new way to look at things.”

But Flaherman is the first to admit that the study’s results are not necessarily true (or applicable) for all babies. She said, “This isn’t something we think all people should do. It is just a potential took for moms to consider using if they think it  might be helpful.” She plans to now find a way to help more mothers breastfeed for as long as possible.

Of the work that’s left to be done, she said, “It’s kind of crazy that only 20% of people reach the recommended duration of breast-feeding. Different approaches to supporting breast-feeding may work better for different people.”

Did you exclusively breastfeed, or were there times you supplemented with formula?

Plus, more from The Bump:

A Smart Start to Breastfeeding

Top 10 Breastfeeding Tips for New Moms

This sponsored post was written by Deirdre Bell of Boba Inc. Boba designs products whose innovative features and intelligent design remove obstacles and make babywearing easy and fun.

Babywearing keeps baby close, warm, protected, and attached. At the same time, it gives you the freedom to live your life without leaving your baby behind. As babywearing experts at Boba Family, we understand that carriers need to be designed with a baby’s unique physiological needs in mind. Here’s our advice for how to select a great carrier you and baby will love!

Avoid forward-facing carriers

Baby carriers that hold a baby facing outward may be popular, but they’re not friendly to tiny bodies. Front-facing carriers force babies’ spines into a hollow-back or hyperextended position. This causes the infant to absorb the impact of each of his parent’s steps. Plus, the International Hip Dysplasia Institute warns that baby carriers that suspend children by the pelvis with no hip support increases the risk of hip deformity or dislocation.

Support baby as he grows

Look for a baby carrier that mimics the way a mother would hold her child at different stages of development. For a newborn, that means a carrier that holds baby close, in his natural, curled-up position (with knees and hips bent like a frog). As the baby grows, he’ll need something with a wide seat to take the weight off his spine and distribute it ergonomically. Then when your baby grows into a toddler, he will need some leg support to keep his long legs from dangling.

Here are a few of the baby-friendly features that make Boba unique.

1. Age-appropriate conversions included. Babies’ needs change as they grow. The Boba 3G Baby Carrier easily converts to a newborn carrier without an insert. Once baby is a toddler, attach the included foot rests to keep her knees and hips supported.
2. Breastfeeding-friendly design. Side straps allow you to easily pull your baby closer or create a bit more space. These quick and easy adjustments allow for spontaneous, no-fuss nursing while babywearing.
3. Parent-friendly adjustments. Babywearing needs to be comfortable for you, too! That’s why Boba 3G has adjustable chest, back, and side straps that create the perfect fit for parents of all shapes and sizes
4. Head protection. The Boba Carrier 3G comes with a removable, adjustable sleeping hood to support baby’s head. It also shields your child’s delicate head from the sun.

When you decide to buy a baby carrier, you’re creating closeness while opening the door to family adventures. Have fun!

The Huggies TweetPee, a little sensor created by Ogilvy Brazil, attaches to baby’s diaper and syncs to an app on your iPhone. Every time baby goes number 1 (and, okay fine, number two), the app will tweet directly at you, letting you know what’s up with baby’s derriere. The device knows to detect pee because of the heightened humidity level in baby’s diaper. What’s more is that the app actually keeps track of the number of diapers you go throw and even lets you know when you’re running low.

Curious to see more? Watch the video:

So moms, tell us: would you ever use an app to help you change baby’s diaper?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Wacky Baby Products That Actually Work

10 Fashionable But Totally Functional Baby Products

The Bump Best of Baby Awards

A shocking new study completed by Swedish researchers and published in the journal Pediatrics found that parents who pick up a dropped pacifier and suck it clean may be helping their infants become better germ fighters.

Crazy, right? We didn’t believe it at first either! But you can’t ignore the research. Here’s what they found:

Researchers in Sweden studied 184 infants at the age of four months old. Scientists collected saliva samples from each infant to determine which times of bacteria resided in baby’s guts. At six months old, parents were asked to report on whether their infants used pacifiers and how moms and dads cleaned them. At ages 18 and 36 months old, researchers checked back in with parents to see if the babies had developed allergies and when their first symptoms appeared.

By 18 months old, 25% of babies whose parents did not clean baby’s pacifier with their own saliva had eczema, 15% had developed some type of food allergy and 5% had been diagnosed with asthma. Compared to babies whose parents did suck baby’s pacifier clean, these infants were one-third less likely to develop eczema. At the age of 3 years old, these children were still less likely to develop eczema than their peers.

Beyond just cleaning off baby’s pacifier, researchers also looked for correlations between how a mother delivered baby and her tendency to suck the pacifiers clean. Moms who gave birth vaginally tended to favor the cleaning practice more than C-section moms. In a previous study, researchers concluded that vaginally-delivered babies are already exposed to more maternal bacteria as they traveled through the birth canal.

From the current study, researchers found that infants whose parents used their tongues to clean off baby’s binky were more likely to have different strands of bacteria, with more helpful bacteria in their intestines, than babies whose parents did not use their tongue to clean off baby’s bink. “Parental sucking of their infant’s pacifier is associated with a reduced risk of allergy development and an altered oral flora in their child,” researchers noted.

One of the main concerns of the study was whether or not parents who chose to sanitize baby’s binky with their own saliva were passing on more germs and harmful infections to their little ones, but it turns out that it was just the opposite. Researchers found that all of the babies involved in the study developed an average of one and a half colds in the first six months of life.
What do you think, mom and dad? How should you clean baby’s pacifier?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Top 10 Health Benefits of Breastfeeding

What’s Normal Baby Poop?

All Your New Mom Questions Answered!

Proud parents Kara DioGuardi and her husband, Mike McCuddy, welcomed a son Greyson James Carroll via a gestational surrogate in early January of this year. The new family-of-three even took off on a cross-country road trip from California (where baby boy Greyson was delivered) to the family’s home in Maine to settle down and enjoy baby’s firsts at home. At the time, Kara was open about her four year struggle with fertility, admitting that after undergoing three separate rounds of IVF treatments, the couple decided to look into surrogacy. On the first try, it worked!

But now, mom is coming forward and sharing how even more of her personal story. Two years ago, Kara learned that she was a carrier for the BRCA2 gene mutation, a mutation that is linked to hereditary ovarian and breast cancer.

In December of last year, Kara underwent surgery to remove her uterus, ovaries and fallopian tubes, a move which, according to her doctors, greatly reduces the risk of developing these cancers in the future. Kara says she opted for the surgery because her grandmother had breast cancer and her mother passed away from ovarian cancer.

In an exclusive, heartfelt and brave interview with People, Kara opens up about how her cancer gene changed her path to parenting.

Kara shares that  it was by chance while she was in New York that she heard a journalist talking about people in her own family who had been diagnosed with breast and ovarian cancer. The journalist, Stacey Sager, shared that she had a genetic test done. It was the testing that got Kara listening. After returning to L.A. and undergoing her won genetic testing, Kara realized just how lucky she was to have answers — before it was too late. She says that the finding she had the BRCA2 gene mutation made her “think about my own mortality a lot earlier. It stopped me dead in my tracks and made me prioritize my health. I had to think about it in conjunction with the fact that I was trying to have a baby. I knew I was at an increased risk for cancer and it’s bringing me back to seeing what my mother went through and how hard that was on me at a young age and how I don’t want to put my child in the same predicament if there’s some way I can stop that from happening. It made me approach it like it was something I had to deal with right away so I could figure out what my options were.”

After realizing she was carrying the genetic mutation, Kara said, “I started trying to get pregnant at 38. I did a lot of things: I had surgery for endometriosis. I had polyps removed. When I was on Idol I actually got pregnant, then miscarried. We tried IVF.”  Her doctor told her that the surgery could reduce her chances of getting cancer by a significant amount. At first, Kara wasn’t going to have the surgery right away. She recalls that she and her husband wanted to do one more round of IVF to see if she could get pregnant. When she didn’t, she realized that to go on like this — to keep trying and trying and trying — was only pushing her luck. She admits knowing she had the BRCA2 gene and putting chemicals into her body was only prolonging what would eventually need to happen. She said the choice to have the surgery was a “calculated risk.”

Kara recalls hiring an adoption attorney before ever considering a surrogate. “Then… I knew this woman, a friend and on a whim I asked somebody to bring [gestational surrogacy] up and get her thoughts on it and she seemed open to it. She came over with her husband, talked it through and we negotiated it together,” she said of opening the door to gestational surrogacy. She went on to say, “Over the course of three years, [my husband and I] had done seven embryo transfers. The eighth one was transferred into our surrogate and it took!”

Of her decision to have the surgery and use a surrogate, Kara says she has “absolutely no regrets! I felt it was my obligation to do something about it, kind of to honor my mother in that way. What would a mother want for her daughter?” she said, “To take the test and take it seriously. And live — live the life she couldn’t live.”

Were you touched by Kara’s journey to conception?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Remission and Getting Pregnant?

Ovarian Stimulation for IVF May Increase the Risk for Ovarian Tumors

Cervical Cancer During Pregnancy?

So, you’re a breastfeeding working mom. You’ve returned to the grind, found your rhythm and you’re finally  starting to feel like you’re getting the swing of this… And then just like that, boom — you’re confronted with your first business trip! Mine came right at my baby’s four month mark. While I was looking forward to the opportunity and education the trip provided, I was woeful over having to be separated from my little one and I thought that maintaining my exclusive breastfeeding relationship with my baby would prove difficult, if not impossible.

Well, as I write this from 20,000 feet in the air, returning from my first trip, let me tell you: it’s possible. However, it required some planning, research, support and minor injuries (more on that later!). Here’s what you need to know to make it work for you on a business trip, a girls trip, or any time you’re away from baby:

Think Supply.

– As soon as you know about your trip, start calculating what your baby usually takes in one day and add up the number of days you’ll be gone to figure out how much you’ll need to reserve (add 20% to account for any hunger spikes and spills!)

– “Pump and store” as much as you can until you meet that number.

–In my case, relying on a reserve wasn’t possible. I had a series of events prior to my travel that used my entire emergency stash. Shipping milk home was a necessity to make sure my little one had enough. Yes, that left a lot up to chance, but my lack of extra supply meant that I didn’t have a choice.

Pump and Run.

– Speaking of supply, make sure you keep yours while you are away, Pump often. Drink extra water (flying is a dehydrator), wear scarves and jackets for comfort and camouflage and pump just as much if not more often than you do at home. The logistics of traveling with pumping supplies wasn’t very difficult. TSA agents did not question my breast pumping supplies and were very cooperative.

– I did thorough planning in advance for pumping locations. A series of Google searches gave me potential pumping stations in the airports I’d be in. I found that one airport had a wonderful pumping room. As for the rest of my pumping locations, all were not entirely desirable but suitable. Airport bathrooms and airplane bathrooms had to do.

Shipping 101

– For my trip, I was fortunate to be staying at a full service hotel. I called ahead to the concierge and they were able to help secure the materials I needed: an in-room refrigerator, a Styrofoam cooler, dry ice, packing tape and a shipping carton. When I arrived to the hotel and picked up my necessities, the concierge sweetly commented “I always love these requests… it’s so inspiring to see women who are ‘doing it all’.” Isn’t that wonderful? You’re not the first person to ask a hotel employee for breastfeeding help and you might inspire someone in the process!

– Once you’re ready to prepare the shipment, take note, that dry ice is NO JOKE. Although I handled it while it was covered in two plastic bags, I still managed to get a fairly large dry ice burn. Painful and unsightly, it was a lesson learned. Handling ice = wear gloves. I packed the milk in plastic storage bags, used newspaper to fill the extra space in the cooler, and packaged the cooler in a cardboard box. Mark the carton “perishable” tape it securely and you’re off. My shipment arrived before 9:30 am the next morning. I did this each night I was away.

Travel La Leche Style.

– On the day of my return, I carried the remainder of my milk in the soft side cooler home with me. I read somewhere that TSA agents might make you pour it out (the horror!), taste it (really?) or give you a hard time. Luckily, none of that happened.

– Large planes have some type of refrigerator that you can use to refrigerate your cooler. Smaller planes were able to provide me with extra ice to surround my cooler.

And there you are. While I do feel that I just completed my own personal “Amazing Race”, I am proud that I got through it and I hope that my experience helps any other “first timer.”

Have you ever traveled while breastfeeding? How did you make it work?

Plus, more from The Bump:

Top 10 Breastfeeding Problems Solved

How Breastfeeding Changes as Baby Gets Older

Top 10 Breastfeeding Tips for New Moms