ziploc zip'n steam bags

www.ziploc.com/steamerbags

so you, too, have ventured into the world of making your own baby food. time to spend all your money at whole foods on organic produce, bring said produce home to rinse, steam, chop and puree and then serve to your little dictator.

rather than dragging every last pan out of the cupboard to cook and subsequently clean, try using ziploc zip'n steam bags instead.

ziploc zip'n steam bags are easy to use with no cleanup whatsoever. simply chop the veggies, fruit, or other baby-friendly produce, toss them in the bag and then throw the bag in the microwave for a few minutes. voilà!

when you're done, no pots or pans to scrub, just throw away they empty bag and you're done! now you have at least one thing that will make your life as a parent easier.

boobie tuesday! soothies gel pads

www.soothies.com

if you're not a mom, i have a secret for you: breastfeeding is hard. i know - it seems easy, doesn't it? and it is.... eventually. but at first it is tough. it's not as intuitive as you think it'll be, the lactation consultants in the hospital are all totally humorless and it hurts like, well, like a mother.

enter soothies gel pads. soothies are cooling gel pads you can slap directly on your poor, sore breasts for instant relief. cooling gel on one side and fabric on the other, soothies are totally safe for brand new and nursing moms. you can find them in most local drugstores and use them for up to three weeks of soothing support.

i'm about to give away one of my tricks of the trade and tell you about my New Mom Survival Kit. when one of my good friends has a baby, i take her a bag of things i really needed during my first few days at home. in that bag? a dozen bagels, a package of newborn sized pampers swaddlers and a set of soothies gel pads.

monday mommysaver: symphony in motion mobile

www.toysrus.com
tiny love's symphony in motion mobile is great. cole loooooved his mobile starting at almost 2 months. he would have entire conversations with it. the mobile was the first "toy" he really liked... and still does.

your little baby will be fascinated by the bright colors, circular motion and jingly music. the symphony in motion mobile has three cute but bug-eyed little animals on it, prompting us to dub them "stupid cow," "stupid donkey" and "stupid mystery animal," since we can't figure out what the heck the third one's supposed to be.

the mobile is useful at first to buy you 15 minutes to throw some clothes on or pull endless laundry out of the dryer. later, it will serve a different purpose altogether.

for example, thanks to the mobile we just discovered that cole can pull himself up on the side of the crib.....where he also apparently learned how to turn the mobile on and off once he's standing.five minutes after we put him to bed and closed the door, we heard the jaunty tunes of beethoven keeping our child from sleeping. au revoir, mobile. we had a good 9 month run.

offi my pet lamp dachshund

www.designpublic.com

i may have mentioned that i have a dachshund. she was the first child, and now is slightly resentful but fortunately mostly tolerant that there's an actual human baby in the house.

naturally, to make her feel more at home, we put a million dachshund-related items in cole's bedroom. or to satisfy our own dachshund obsession. either way.

but the truth is we did need some additional lighting for his room, and the minute i saw offi's my pet lamp dachshund, i knew it had to come home.

the dachshund lamp comes in six different colors, is made of non-toxic, odorless plastic and it stays cool to the touch in case your little one decides to pet it. woof!

it's binkie time! bunnies by the bay

www.bunniesbythebay.com

among the many fabulous baby gifts we got at our baby shower (thanks, friends and family!) was a little binkie.

"huh," i thought. "well, it's cute, even if i don't know what the hell i'm going to do with it exactly."

little did i know that this would turn out to be the best baby shower present ever.

bunnies by the bay is a great company that makes snuggly and sweet baby gifts, like soft fuzzy hats, flurffy stuffed animals (we like ittybit the bunny in our house) and most importantly, these binkies.

one of the things i gleaned from the ten thousand sleep classes i took was that having a "lovey" (a little something for your baby to snuggle with and associate with sleepytime) is a great bedtime cue. so we tried this binkie and it stuck! bunnies by the bay binkies are just the right size and softness for your baby to bring to bed every night.

word to the wise: buy two, since one will always inevitably be either a) in the hamper, b) confiscated by the dog or c) nowhere to be found. (probably due to "b," i'm guessing.)

new mom necessity: bouncy seat!

www.babiesrus.com

when i was pregnant, i remember asking my friends with kids, "do i really need to get a [fill in the blank]?" and believe me, there was a long long list of baby products and new mom items to fill in the blank.

one of these things was the bouncy seat. did i need one? was it necessary? did i need a bouncy seat and a swing? which kind should i get?

answers: yes, definitely yes, you won't believe me but yes, and fisher-price rainforest bouncer.

my friend lisa used to refer to the bouncer as the "magic seat," and after having a baby, i can understand why. although the first and second times i put cole in the bouncer he hated it, it has been a godsend. need to take a shower? put the bouncer in the bathroom. need to wash dishes? put the bouncer in the kitchen. need 10 seconds to yourself/baby is grumpy and you can't do anything to help? put the baby in the bouncer.

cole ended up liking the bouncy seat so much that we continued to put him in it long after he'd outgrown it. we finally gave up once his entire foot started hanging off the edge and he could practically walk out of it. ah, good times.

sophie the giraffe!

www.amazon.com

have you seen 4-, 5- and 6-month-olds everywhere you go clutching a tiny squeaky giraffe? i have. i couldn't figure out what this weird giraffe cult was and why everyone seemed to be in it but me. then i met sophie.

sophie has been around since 1961 and is a favorite of new moms and tiny babies. she's the cutest teether you'll ever see, with a soft plastic head and bendy legs for teething babies to nibble and drool on. she also has a squeaker that you can use to inadvertently drive your dog crazy.

over 600,000 sophies are sold each year in france, so sophie must be doing something right. (or the french - they did invent french fries.) join the cult of sophie! you know you want to.

baby cubes

www.babycubes.com

yes! my kitchen is a disaster, pureed peaches are flying everywhere, my husband is sneakily eating the organic plums i'm trying to save for my child but i am making my own baby food. woot! now..... where does it go?

baby cubes are the best. they're individual plastic cubes with lids attached, perfect for homemade baby food. they come with their own little tray to pop in the freezer and can hold up to 70ml of food.

baby cubes are dishwasher, freezer and microwave safe, so no more transferring food from the ice cube tray to a separate microwave safe bowl and back into another plastic baby-proof bowl. best of all, they're the perfect portion size, so you can carry them around wherever you need to go!

oh, and did i mention that they're free of phthalates or bisphenol a (bpa)? just one more reason to love baby cubes.

new dictator alert!

congrats to matt & katrina on their baby boy!

declan john was born on april 22 in san francisco, weighing in at 7lb 2 oz and 19 inches long.

congrats to the whole family on their newest addition! (and our new neighbor!)

door signs - tree by kerri lee

www.treebykerrilee.com/

tree by kerri lee makes beautiful handmade baby goods for your little one. she has gorgeous vintage-inspired wall art, picture frames and handmade blocks. but our favorites are the little doorknob signs.

my mom got this one for us to replace the frilly frou frou "baby is sleeping" lace covered, ruffle-edged door sign someone thoughtfully got us at our baby shower. it was very sweet, and we appreciate the thought, and promise i wrote the nicest thank-you note in the whole wide world, but sorry, sign - you now live in the closet. tree's doorknob signs come in sheep, bunny, puppy, elephant, monkey and bear.

we now have this sweet, handmade "asleep/awake" sign at the entry to cole's room. and you can bet that i flip it over to "asleep" every time he goes down for bed in the hope that the power of suggestion will lead to a very, very long nap.

skip hop bottle dryer

www.skiphop.com

it's hard pretending you're still a hipster when you have baby bottles, nipples and sippy cups drying all over your kitchen counter.

at least with the skip hop drying rack, you can look slightly cooler than you might otherwise.

the skip hop drying rack has a modern design and comes with a bottle brush that actually works, meaning room for lots of bottles that are shiny and clean.

because you and i know that you're not just a mom, you're a decorating master. and it's nice to know that you're enhancing the look of your kitchen when you're not washing those millions and millions and millions of baby bottles.

bright start carrier toy bar

www.toysrus.com
my friend jen was having a hard time trying to get her son oliver to sleep at night.

one day, she and oliver came over to play and commiserate and saw cole's bright start carrier toy bar. cole was obsessed with it. he kept spinning the little bees around like a madman. i told jen that it's great to keep cole entertained in the car, since it just velcros right onto the car seat. jen noticed that oliver thought it was pretty cool, too.

that night when she got home and put oliver to bed, she gently laid him down in his crib and whispered, "ollie, if you sleep through the night tonight, i swear i'll get you that toy that cole has."

he fell asleep and didn't wake up until 6am.

jen immediately went to target and bought ollie a bright start carrier toy bar of his very own.

this is a true story.

boobie tuesday! i hate my breastpump: medela quick clean micro-steam bags

http://store.babycenter.com

another entry from the files of "i hate my breastpump." so you're finally done using the damn thing, but are you really finished? no! because now you have to disassemble it, clean it, put the milk away, and be irrationally mad that your husband can't for once just breastfeed the baby for you.

if your husband were really fantastic, he'd offer to clean everything for you. but i'll still give him 3 gold stars (out of five, not ten - don't worry) if he gets you the medela quick clean micro-steam bags.

these great little plastic bags help save you from having to scrub all the parts when you're done. just give 'em a quick rinse and pop 'em in the bag with a little water. then stick the whole thing in the microwave for as little as 2 minutes and..... done! breastpump parts are clean and sterilized and you barely had to do a thing.

each box has 5 bags good for 20 uses each and can also be used to sterilize the bottle that you accidentally dropped on the floor and your dog may have licked. i'm just saying.

3 marthas hooded towels

www.onceuponatimebaby.com

i swore i would never incorporate a bath into cole's bedtime routine. i didn't want the hassle of wrestling a cute but dripping wet baby into bed every single night.

well, i totally lost that battle.

we got a few baby towels as gifts, but one stands out above the rest: 3 marthas hooded baby towel. yes, you do really need a towel with a hood. this towel has a nice fuzzy hood, but the best part about it is its size. most baby towels are teeny and not absorbent with a weenie little hood sewn on as an afterthought.

3 marthas is a generously "real-sized" towel with a nice fluffy texture. it's the best to snuggle wet babies in, especially as they get bigger. now if only i could find a hooded towel for myself.

monday mommysaver: learn & groove musical table

www.toysrus.com

ah, another monday. and another case of "holy crap i've got you all to myself for five days and daddy's already thrown 30 electronic toys at you before he's left the house and now i have nothing left to give you to play with."

keep this one hidden for your own use until daddy leaves: the leapfrog learn & groove musical table. cole is crazy about this thing.

it has 15 different musical activities and over 40 different tunes, including the alphabet song and musical renditions of "if you're happy and you know it." want the keys and drums to make instrument sounds? done. change the setting and the same instruments will teach numbers and colors, along with "up/down" and "open/close."

the table comes with legs, but if your guy's on the littler side like mine, you can just leave the legs off and let the table sit on the blanket that now covers the floor of your living room.

have i mentioned that the learn & groove table is bilingual? this way if you get really bored of hearing the same things over and over again (cole's favorite is the little door that says "open/close") you can at least switch it up and hear "abierto/cerrado" over and over again.

"what to expect the first year"

www.amazon.com

i was so excited when i found out i was pregnant. i couldn't wait to start reading about pregnancy and looking online to find out what my baby was doing. so i dragged my husband to my first doctor's appointment and breathlessly asked my doctor what books i should be reading.

"there really aren't that many great books," she said.

"oh," i said. "well, what about websites?"

"yeah," she replied, "...stay away from the internet."

which is the best piece of pregnancy advice i've ever gotten. seriously.

how does this tie in? everyone i know had been given "what to expect when you're expecting" and EVERY SINGLE ONE of those people told me to never, ever, ever read it. (it's too alarmist, it gives you too many things to worry about, etc. etc. etc....)

on the flip side, however, "what to expect the first year" is a great book. yes, some of the timelines seem to enforce nervous parenting (the helpful "your baby should be doing this, your baby might be doing this" guidelines will make you crazy) but overall, there's lots of useful information about baby's developmental changes, sleep habits, how to bathe your child, introducing a bottle, immunizations, games to play with baby and FAQ's for every month covering just about anything you can think of and far far far too many to list here.

cushy straps

www.kiddopotamus.com

the strap covers that come with your baby's carseat usually suck. they're thin and don't do a thing to help keep your little guy's head from flopping around when you're on the go. they also don't look particularly tasty for your teething child to gnaw on.

cushystraps rule. they're animal-shaped strap covers for your carseat or stroller that keep your baby's head in place, especially when your little one falls asleep. they're soft and cuddly and, as is my rule, super cute. if you're having a baby, you are guaranteed to get these from me as part of your shower gift, i love them so much.

cushystraps come in blue kitties, pink bunnies and cream bears (that frankly look more like cream otters - sorry, bears). they attach easily to your child's mode of transportation and are machine washable. now put them on and take pictures of your baby's new pimped out ride.

latitude enfant stuffed friends

www.oompa.com

confession: i am a grown up and i still have stuffed animals. which is why i will have to fight my son for possession of julien the dog from latitude enfant.

i love you, julien. you are soft and snuggly and look like you've been hand knit. you are a dog wearing a sweater, which automatically makes you awesome. you are just the right size for my son to snuggle you and my dog wants to eat you. but i won't let her, julien. don't worry.

i wish i could adopt all your friends, too. they are equally cute and snuggly and have sassy european names like lucien the rabbit and hugo the hedgehog.

maybe we'll bring them home anyway. we don't have to tell anyone - it'll be our little secret. at least until my husband goes to find my son in his crib and discovers him buried in a comfy mound of latitude enfant stuffed animals.

play not spray!

www.playnotspray.org

did you know san francisco will be aerially sprayed for the light brown apple moth with an untested bio-pesticide starting august 1st? and that the spray could be repeated every 30-90 days for the next few years?

i don't know about you, but i really don't feel like taking my son to the park in a hamster ball.

so what can you do about this? play not spray!

1. get informed! visit playnotspray.org and stopthespray.org for more information.

2. meet other concerned moms at a pacific heights community meeting!

thursday, april 24, 6:15pm
town school for boys, 2750 jackson St. (at scott)

3. join the "play-in" at sf city hall!

you can bring your little ones to a peaceful protest with state sen. migden
monday, april 28th, 10:00am
polk street steps of sf city hall

got questions? visit play not spray at playnotspray.org for more answers!

munchkin stay-put suction bowls

www.munchkin.com

if you're starting solids, like me, you know it can be a fun but very, very, very messy experience. and if your son, like mine, managed to pick up his bowl of cereal, spill it all over the place and bop himself in the head all in one fell swoop, you'll appreciate these bowls.

munchkin's stay-put suction bowl will literally stick to the tray of your high chair, theoretically protecting you and your little one from flying sweet potatoes. they also come with handy-dandy lids to store any remaining treats from lunch. believe me, there's no guarantee that you'll emerge unscathed, but these will help you come close.