Selected Articles By Suzanne Schlosberg

I'm a slob and a serial plant Killer. But in the likeability department, I've always considered myself to be pretty top-notch. My mom and dad like me. My dry-cleaning guy likes me (he gives me Tootsie Rolls). My fourth-grade teacher, Miss Thompson, liked me a lot — enough to award me the class citizenship trophy. My husband likes me, except when I leave dirty, wet sponges in the sink or forget to water the ficus. But am I as likeable as a could be? This, apparently, is no small matter. Being liked is nothing less than the secret to leading a charmed, happy, and profitable life, according to Tim Sanders, former staff-leadership coach at Yahoo! . . .

Until they were 11 months old, my twin boys were so nonchalant whenever I'd leave the room that they seemed like a couple of teenagers. As I'd head off to work, the boys would glance my way, then resume chewing on their barnyard animals or playing with their babysitter. They seemed to be thinking, "Eh, catch you later, Mom — whatever." I figured: Phew! We dodged all the separation anxiety drama that had stressed out so many of my friends. (Hey, maybe we'd get lucky and bypass the terrible twos, too!)

"I'm completely embarrassed to know you. Seriously. If you ever admit this to anyone we meet on the trail... I can't even believe you." This is my husband, Paul, talking. To me. We are 6 days and 102 miles into the John Muir Trail, a 218-mile High Sierra trek considered by many to be America's most spectacular distance hike - considered by Paul to be "exactly what heaven would be like." Alongside a sparkling stream, surrounded by foxtail pines, glaciated mountains in the distance, I have just confessed to perhaps the most disgraceful behavior ever exhibited by a JMT backpacker. No, I have not been shampooing my hair in a lake or peeing within 100 feet of a water source. What I have been doing, since the day our trip began, is singing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall."

Your baby's been fed, her diaper is dry, and she seems well rested. So what's with the sudden whimpering? Although her insta-tears may seem baffling, keep in mind that babies always cry for a reason. "It's an infant's way of asking for help," says Charlotte Cowan, M.D., a pediatrician in Boston. "And it's your job to discover what she needs." As you search for clues to her crankiness, it's important to stay calm and reassure her. "In a nurturing voice, say, 'I don't know what's wrong, but I'm going to find out and make you feel better,'" suggests Prachi Shah, M.D., a developmental and behavioral pediatrician at Texas Children's Hospital, in Houston. To make that task easier, we've compiled the top things your child may be trying to tell you, along with strategies for bringing back her smile.

By the time I got pregnant — after undergoing nearly every fertility treatment known to womankind — I knew most of what there is to know about conception. But once the dipstick turned blue, it dawned on me: I was clueless. For all I knew about getting pregnant, I knew zip about being pregnant. I had no idea what to be concerned about and which common pregnancy worries to dismiss as overblown. Turns out, most women get these two categories confused: They fret endlessly about dangers that don’t exist, doctors say, while ignoring issues that may well affect their pregnancies and the health of their babies.

Life as an in vitro fertization (IVF) patient means you're pretty much in a constant state of suspense: How well am I responding to the drugs? How many follicles are there? How many eggs? How many of them fertilized? If you've gotten as far as the embroyo transfer, you can add a new question: How good are my embryos? This is the time when the lab specialists at your fertility clinic evaluate your fledgling offspring to decide which one(s) should be plucked from the Petri dish and transferred into your womb.

Last night your toddler was running a slight temperature and actually asked to go to bed — not her usual MO. By morning she's fever-free, scarfing down her scrambled eggs and chasing the dog around the backyard. You're conflicted: Should you keep her home from daycare — upending your finely tuned schedule — or send her off as usual?

If the only fish to cross your lips on a regular basis is the crunchy cheddar kind, it's time to find Nemo — and eat him. Not only is seafood a nutrient-packed source of protein; it's one of the richest sources of omega-3 fatty acids, the super-healthy polyunsaturated fat inked to fewer cases of heart disease, depression, stroke, and possibly even Alzheimer's and nonmelanoma skin cancer. On top of all that, seafood is slim on calories and artery-clogging saturated fat, and it's as easy to prepare as a pck of Ramen noodles.

The debate rages on about which diets are best and how much exercise is optimal, but there's one issue that health experts firmly agree on: As a nation, we're way too fat. Two out of every three American adults are walking around — well, more like sitting around — with enough fat to compromise their health. Not only is the obesity epidemic costing us billions in health care and lost productivity, new research suggests it may be shortening America's life spans. Scary stuff, to be sure. You may wonder: What does all this mean to me? Is my own health at risk? How do I know if I'm too fat? To help answer these qustions, here are the latest fat facts; some of the information may surprise you.

Time is a great healer. Unfortunately, it deals derrieres a low blow. Adding more miles to your walking or running routine won't help lift a drooping backside, but an exercise that targets the glutes, like the lunge, will. Lunges will also help sculpt your legs, tone your torso, and improve your balance. "The lunge works nearly every muscle in the middle and lower body," says Mark Verstegen, a trainer in Tempe, Arizona, and the author of Core Performance Essentials.