storksak diaper bags

www.storksak.net

i have diaper bag envy. don't get me wrong, i like mine, but i really like my friend jen's.

jen and her son came over the other day and she was carrying the cutest purse. i haven't carried a purse in a year, since i always need to be traveling with diapers, a bottle, snacks, an emergency clothes change, a baseball hat in case it's hot, a fuzzy hat in case it's cold, toys, extra socks and ten thousand other things my son may need but almost never does.

turns out she wasn't carrying a purse, either! storksak makes some of the best looking diaper bags i've ever seen. storksak bags aren't cheap, but at $150-$200 they fall in the "i can afford to buy this because i'll be using it every single day of my life" range. storksaks are well made, with a wipe-clean lining, padded changing mat, multiple pockets for keys, clothes and toys and thermo-insulated bottle pockets to keep bottles warm or cool for up to four hours. whew!

want to invest? storksak can provide you with a diaper bag so cute, you'll want to carry it around town even when you're by yourself! if that ever happens.

quiet loud by leslie patricelli

www.amazon.com

we've been doing a lot of reading in our house lately now that cole is transitioning from eating books to actually listening when i read them out loud.

i am absolutely in love with leslie particelli's board books. her illustrations are perfect, featuring a wide-eyed toddler who acts out each set of opposites throughout the book. the bright colors, clever drawings and clean lines will quickly engage your little one as you demonstrate things like "birds are quiet - airplanes are loud."

the favorite in our house? "fishies are quiet - doggies are loud," which shows a barking dog and a toddler putting his fingers in his ears.

apparently leslie patricelli could see in the windows of my house when she was illustrating this book, because in my house, doggies are very, very loud.

alphabet 'n numbers foam puzzle mat

www.rightstart.org

dear alphabet 'n numbers foam puzzle mat,

i owe you a serious apology. i'm so sorry i knocked you in that post i put up last week. i may have mentioned you weren't as cute as some other foam mats. i also may have said something about never wanting you in my house. i'll admit it out loud for everyone to hear: i was wrong.

forgive me, baby. i didn't realize how affordable you were. i didn't appreciate your a-z alphabet letters and 0-9 multicolored numbers. i didn't realize that you were so soft and squishy. you proved me wrong.

you're generously sized and cover up to 36 square feet. you fit perfectly in my living room, much to my simultaneous delight and chagrin. your bright colors are endearing. my husband likes you better than "that other one - why is it so expensive, anyway?" and my dog is oddly drawn to you.

so why don't you let me make it up to you and take you out to a nice dinner, alphabet'n numbers foam puzzle mat. you know i love you.

boobie tuesday! lansinoh breastmilk storage bags

www.lansinoh.com

what's in your freezer? ice cubes? vodka? lean cuisine mac n'cheese? how about breastmilk?

odds are these days it's the latter, with a high possibility of the second-to-latter. (i'll say a 50/50 chance for the ice cubes and 3% chance for the vodka, unless it's been in there for 1+ years.)

if you got the medela pump-in-style like me (which i recommend), you probably also gravitated towards the medela milk storage bags..... at first. but after a few tries, i discovered that the bag shape was weird and they didn't work for me the way i wanted them to. i got a sample of lansinoh's breastmilk storage bags for free when i bought their nursing pads, so i figured what the hell, i'd try them out.

the lansinoh storage bags are far superior to other brands. they're 100% Bisphenol-A (BPA) free, have a double zipper enclosure (think sturdy ziploc bags), they have an easy write-on tab for the date. they can be laid flat in your freezer for optimal storage and subsequent thawing.

in fact, we like lansinoh's breastmilk storage bags so much that we're awarding them with our little dictators seal of approval - something we reserve for products we feel stand out in their field. woo hoo!

lansinoh bags can be found at target, among other places, so store away!

monday mommysaver: lil' playzone with lights and sound

www.rightstart.com

remember before you had kids? it's tough, i know. but if you think very hard, you can remember what it was like to have a living room with freshly cut flowers instead of linking rings, squeaky things and pacifiers littering the floor. these were the times when my husband and i would go to visit our friends with kids and smugly look at each other thinking, "oh, our house will never look like this."

think again, sucker!

i am now the proud owner of a lil' playzone with lights and sound, sitting squarely in my living room and i. couldn't. be. happier.
no, seriously. this thing is AWESOME.

even though my mom thinks it looks like the ok corral, and my childless friends will think it's a plastic monstrosity, the lil' playzone is fantastic. the lil' playzone measures 46"x46" - big enough for your little dictator, you, and a weiner dog, should you have one. and at 23" tall, it's the perfect height for your child who's just learning to pull up and stand on his own.

the lil' playzone has one panel with built-in toys (no assembly required), including a play phone, a mirror, a little slidey door and buttons to push that light up and play music. the playard is so easy to assemble that it took less than five minutes to put the whole thing together. you now have somewhere to put your mobile child while you run into the kitchen and get their lunch ready. we couldn't even get cole out of it! every time we out him on the living room floor, he'd turn around and crawl right back into the playzone.

in fact, the playzone is such a big hit in my house that i'm breaking my own rule and including a picture of my little dictators having a blast with it. ta da!

happy mother's day!

no products today - just want to wish all you mommies a kick-ass mother's day.

moms are the hardest working people i know.

we take care of our children, our pets and our husbands (hmmm.... probably in that order) and put ourselves last.

we use silly voices and put on puppet shows and read out loud s-l-o-w-l-y and sing the alphabet song ten million times and chase children around the house and take thousands of pictures for posterity and do all of this with mashed banana in our hair.

we kiss babies and boo-boos (and husbands) and can drive (safely!) while simultaneously watching our child in the rearview mirror.

our living rooms now look like a babies r us warehouse sale, our floors are covered in blankets, our clothes are covered in spit-up and we still wouldn't have it any other way.

hope all you ladies have the wonderful mother's day you deserve.

happy mother's day!

right start!

www.rightstart.com

i've decided now that cole is crawling around all over the place that it's time for a Toy Run. you know the Toy Run, right? it's those times every few months when you're convinced that your child is bored with all their toys, even if it really means that you're bored with playing with the same toys over and over and over again.

in all honesty, there are times when your baby goes through developmental changes (starting from looking at things, to then grabbing things, to then throwing things, to then chasing your poor dog around the house, etc.) and they do need a few new toys to help keep themselves challenged and entertained.

but it's not a trip to dante's 7th circle of hell (a.k.a. babies r us) for us! nope - we're going to right start. right start has 33 stores nationwide (for my bay area mommies, there's a right start in palo alto, walnut creek and san francisco). right start is the largest national specialty retailer of juvenile products for infants and young children. they have a great selection of carefully tested and reviewed toys for newborns to toddlers.

and for you mommies who don't have a right start nearby, they have a fabulous, easy-to-navigate website for all your baby needs. they also have a great registry for your mommy-to-be friends! be sure to look for their eco-friendly line separated out on their website for your little environmentalist.

skwish classic

www.amazon.com

another toy from the files of "cole will eat all his friend oliver's toys."

i'd been eying manhattan toy's skiwsh classic for a while in different stores, but i really wasn't sure about it. don't get me wrong - it was cool looking, but i wasn't sure if cole would find it interesting. after all, it's just a series of colorful wooden beads and rods linked together by a stretchy rope system.

then i picked it up. the beads rattle around with a clankity-clank and the ropes allow baby to stretch and skwish the toy and it always bounces back to its original shape. oh, and my son? LOVED it! couldn't put it down. and suddenly i knew why every other baby seems to be dragging the skwish classic everywhere they go.

lamaze peek-a-boo soft book

www.timbuktoys.com

okay, so apparently it's not only book week, but peek-a-boo week as well.

we were over at cole's friend oliver's house yesterday and got a good look at all his toys. no, we didn't steal any (this time) but we did see some cool stuff! cool stuff like the lamaze peek-a-boo soft developmental book.

lamaze's peek a boo book is soft and easy for little hands to grab, with flaps to lift up to find daddy, kitty, puppy, octopus, spatula, etc. (i may have made up the last two.)

the pictures are adorable and tell the story of a family who loves to hide, with big flaps for your baby to help reveal and discover who's hiding. best of all, the fact that it's made of cloth makes it hard for baby to destroy, although i'm sure if you wait long enough, he'll find a way.

peek-a-who by nina laden

www.amazon.com

peek-a-who is cole's favorite book. my husband reads it to him every morning before he leaves for work. cole will actually stop what he's doing to listen to the words. and then he eats the book.

peek-a-who is a great little board book with rhyming words and cut-outs. each page begins "peek-a....." and then you and your little one can turn the page to discover that the cow pattern is really a cow (peek-a-moo), the animal patterns are a bunch of animals (peek-a-zoo) and the mirror is a baby (peek-a-you)!

the best part about peek-a-who and other board books is that they're easy for baby to grab, turn the pages, and, of course, nibble on. our peek-a-who is already quite "well-loved," and my son is only 9 months old. so it might be best to buy two copies for when they eat through the first one.

sassy linking letters

www.toysrus.com

ooooh, sassy linking letters.

a) you have the word "sassy" in your name, which automatically means i will love you.

b) you click together easily, forming long chains i can clip other toys onto.

c) you're just the right size for little hands to hold and you have raised surfaces that are perfect for chewing on.

d) if, like my son, you have no repeating letters in your first and last name, you can make your name into a long link....c-o-l-e.

e) you have "baby's first sounds" in different patterns - so letters like c, t and d are in - naturally - sassy patterns.

f) you are top-rack dishwasher safe, so after you get eaten, drooled on and generally dragged around town shoved in the bottom of the diaper bag, you can still emerge sparkly new.

pregnancy - awesome or UGHsome?

so i was in this great little store called ladybug ladybug in my neighborhood last week and making friends with the girl behind the counter, as i am wont to do. (check them out if you're in noe valley - they are super cute.)

the girl mentioned that a friend of hers was due any day now and was just really ready to have the baby. she said it would probably be the only baby, since her friend's pregnancy was awful.

"ugh, mine too," i overshared. "i felt like crap."

she said that her friend felt so guilty about not enjoying the pregnancy and that it seemed like this dirty little secret.

let me tell you something, i LOVE being a mom. but my pregnancy SUCKED. i was sick for almost six months, i put on a ridiculous amount of weight, i retained so much water i developed what my friend referred to as "flintstone feet" (you know, straight to the foot from the knee), i had greasy hair, i was exhasted and i wanted to barf every time i brushed my teeth.

BUT it was all worth it in the end.

moral of the story? you are not required to love your pregnancy. it's awesome if you do, but if you don't, you're still going to be an awesome mom. and you'll be surprised at how many people feel the same way.

boobie tuesday! lansinoh disposable nursing pads

www.lansinoh.com

hey there, husbands who happen to be reading this blog... go away. no, seriously. you don't want to hear this.

are they gone? good.

so you know by now that one of the many blessings of being a new mother is the miracle of being able to breastfeed your baby. and as an added bonus to this amazing, life-sustaining gift is the ability to leak and spray all over the place. woo! super powers!

out in public and your baby starts crying? leak. finally got a babysitter and out at a romantic dinner at your husband but start thinking about the baby? leak! arm yourself with nursing pads, but not any brand will do. we recommend lansinoh disposable nursing pads. other brands can be itchy, or too thick, or bend funny and are visible to everyone within a ten mile radius.

we found lansinoh disposable nursing pads to be the best on the market. they come individually wrapped in their own packages so you can stow a few in your diaper bag without fear of diaper cream cross-contamination. they come in boxes of 36 or 60, meaning you'll be covered for at least 3-4 days.

monday mommysaver: lamaze chime garden

www.amazon.com

another monday.....is anyone as tired as i am? so sleepy.... must find toy for baby to play with that doesn't play music that makes me want to throw said toy out the window.

got it! lamaze chime garden, my savior. the lamaze chime garden has five brightly colored flowers and three settings to keep your little one occupied.

one setting will play a song while the flowers light up, another plays gentle tones each time baby touches one of the flowers and a third plays snippets of "if you're happy and you know it," waiting for baby to bop a flower before continuing the tune. (fun for baby, not fun if you're my ocd sister, since the tune literally never ends.)

the different colors and textures invite baby to touch and explore and the jingly sounds will actually be music to your ears. the lamaze chime garden will also help encourage your little one to sit up to play. or, conversely, if you 're my son, it will encourage you to pick it up and gnaw gently on its base. whatever your pleasure, lamaze chime garden is a winner.

caden lane - bedding and more

www.cadenlaneco.com

i was so excited when i found out i was having a boy! i ran out and bought a pair of tiny baby vans sneakers immediately.

then the quest began to decorate the baby room.

i found a lot of cute girl bedding - and i mean a lot. there was hello kitty as far as the eye could see, pink polka dots and flowers everywhere, but nothing for a boy. i searched, literally, for months. i didn't want anything that had a sports logo on it or looked like the de rigueur navy-and-hunter-green-plaid college boy bedspread.

then i found it: caden lane bedding. caden lane makes upscale baby bedding and accessories. no, it's not cheap, but it's extremely well made, with beautiful bright colors and patterns for both boys and girls. everything is machine washable and the bedding has a lot of attention to detail.

caden lane also makes matching burp cloths, sassy bibs, diaper bags, loveys and blankets to fulfill your inner stepford wife. word to the wise: a little bit of internet searching (cough ebay cough) may yield a better price for this luxurious product.

travels with baby!

www.thetravelingbabyco.com
www.babysaway.com

spring is in the air! the weather's getting warm and your thoughts turn to vacation.

then you remember you have a baby and have three boatloads of baby crap to schlep with you wherever you go.

luckily, there are companies out there who want you to travel with your child! my friend danielle has thoughtfully test driven two of them for you.

the traveling baby company is based out of l.a. and has locations in colorado, new mexico, washington, washington d.c. and throughout california. they specialize in top-rated gear and will deliver you a crib with fresh, clean linens on it - you can even specify your child's gender for bedding. according to danielle, they were "AMAZING" and had "top-of-the-line stuff."

traveling baby company will deliver cribs, high chairs, toys and more straight to your door. they've even thoughtfully designed packages from basic (stroller, high chair, car seat, exersaucer) to deluxe (basket of toys, monitor, crib with linens and more).

baby's away, another option, has locations in 29 states from virginia to hawaii. they can loan you the basics and even beach equipment such as umbrellas, wagons and beach toys. danielle test drove them in hawaii and said they were "not sparkling clean, but just fine for what we needed." they do carry a large inventory which is safety checked, cleaned and sanitized.

baby's away will set up all equipment for you at your destination, too, making set up one less thing you'll have to worry about.

now all you have to figure out is exactly what imaginary disposable income you're going to use to take that vacation with baby....i wish you luck!

skip hop playspot: interlocking foam tiles

www.skiphop.com

now that cole is crawling, i realize all furniture in my house might as well be made of barbed wire. things i never realized were hazardous before i suddenly realize are Really! Dangerous! for Babies!

even our hardwood floor doesn't seem as innocuous as it did last week. baby trying to pull himself up on furniture = baby almost guaranteed to fall down and bonk his head on the ground.

i'd seen a few of these foam playmats around in stores and at friends' houses, but boy, were they ugly. nothing i'd want in my living room, that was for sure. then i discovered skip hop playspot - interlocking foam tiles.

skip hop playspot comes in three different colors to match your decor - brown & pink (shown), blue & gold and brights. easy to put together, attractive AND affordable? sign me up!

little giraffe blankets

www.littlegiraffe.com

a few years ago, long before i was even pregnant, one of my girlfriends was expecting and i went to her baby shower. i was determined to get her the Best Present Ever!

so i looked around and tucked away in a cute children's boutique i found a little giraffe blanket. it was the coziest thing i'd ever felt - made of snuggly chenille with a sumptuous satin trim. it came in beautiful soft colors and was coming home with me!

fast forward to my baby shower last year. i opened up one of the boxes and..... HOORAY! my friend katrina got me a little giraffe blanket! all was right in the world! and let me tell you, we used that blanket for everything. in the car, in the stroller, on our laps, to lay down on the floor, in a box, with a fox, you name it.

oh, and at my friend's shower? well, she got ten million blankets that day. but i knew mine was the best. (and i also at that moment decided against opening presents at my own shower so that no one would know they were the ten millionth blanket giver.)

infantino shop&dine deluxe savvy seat

www.amazon.com

ignore the long and complicated name..... infantino's shop&dine savvy seat is fantastic.

you're taking your little guy to whole foods for another organic produce run and he's finally big enough to sit in the shopping cart! woo hoo! no more fitting all your groceries in the bottom of the stroller! no more trying to reach things on the bottom shelf with a baby strapped to your stomach! but that shopping cart is gross and your little guy may be a wee bit too small to fit in the seat.

solution - infantino's shop&dine savvy seat. the savvy seat is a fabric seat cover with elasticized sides to fit snugly over any grocery cart or restaurant high chair. it's got hooks for toys, a built-in seat belt and two little toys that already come with it (a squeaky lion and a teething ring) - enough to keep your baby occupied. it also comes with a little tote that you can fold up and carry the seat in wherever you go so it's easy to bring the shop&dine seat to restaurants, grocery stores, or our favorite - target.

between the sassy pattern, the seat belt, the attached toys and the extra loops for you to clip your own toys onto we've found infantino's seat cover to be the best of the bunch. the fabric tote is big enough for you to be able to stuff the shop&dine seat into easily (really - who has time to fold things neatly when trying to get baby and groceries in the car?) but not so big that it's obtrusive.

caution: infantino's shop&dine savvy seat will protect your baby from germy grocery carts, but it will not protect you from having to keep your baby from trying to grab all the fuji apples within reach at the grocery store.

ergo baby carrier

www.ergobabycarrier.com/

if you live in san francisco, like me, you've undoubtedly seen parents everywhere you go with children strapped to their bodies.

is it a baby bjorn? no, not quite. it looks..... more complicated. and more comfortable. and it is both.

the ergo baby carrier was designed by moms frustrated by uncomfortable baby slings. the ergo carrier has an ergonomic design which benefits both parent and baby. for parents, most of the carrying weight is distributed over your hips and shoulders, and for babies, no more crotch-crushing carrying around.

the ergo even has a handy zip pocket for you to keep things in and a little removable hood to keep your baby's head from flopping around if they fall asleep during your outings. you can now carry your little one on your front, back, or side - in fact, you can take your baby anywhere! and so can your husband. just saying.