I haven’t had the pleasure of hosting a party for children yet, and secretly I hope my own kids grow up preferring other celebratory activities on their birthdays because really, it doesn’t matter that the partygoers are only three feet tall, it’s still a PARTY and I would rather drink paint than throw one. 

I do, however, like to check out invitations. I love invitations, even when they aren’t addressed to me, and I particularly like creative ones with a personal touch. Check out some of these cute ideas for unique birthday party invites:
Read the rest of this entry

It’s been a month since my baby had his first birthday, and it’s time to call the winners of the Best Birthday Present for a One-Year-Old competition.

First prize goes to the Fisher-Price Baby Gymtastics Bounce and Spin Zebra.  My parents gave this to Henry, and he lovvvvvvves it.  So do his 3-year-old siblings:  the twins are a little big for it, but can still play on it.  It spins
Read the rest of this entry

I have never enjoyed what you might call an austere minimalist design theme in my living areas, mainly because I am a packrat and kind of messy and I’m not very good at picking up as I go. My husband is even worse than I am (I mean, at least I don’t take off my socks and just . . . leave them on the living room floor, for the love of god), but even the two of us combined have NOTHING on the impact a kid has on a household’s decor. Toys, clothes, furniture, balls — and that’s just the toddler! The baby gear takes up even more space, and I sometimes suspect everything is multiplying in the dead of night like Tribbles.

So I’m always on the lookout for good storage solutions for kids’ stuff. Currently we have two major places I’m keeping toys: one is a big tote I have in the family room (it looks a little bit like this, only wider and without the fake croc detailing), the other is a wonderful wooden toy chest in the toddler’s room that doubles as a bench (sort of like this). However, even though I try and pare down and rotate the toys on an ongoing basis, it’s clear to me I need MORE places to cram all the children’s accouterments — especially during that glorious time of night when they have gone to bed and the adults can spend a minute or two de-cluttering before settling in front of So You Think You Can Dance.
Read the rest of this entry

The other day I was giving the kids a bath and I realized I’d forgotten their kid-specific gentle no-tears infant-and-toddler-safe liquid soap in the other bathroom. So I washed them both with my Philosophy “Cinnamon Roll” bubble bath, and while I don’t recommend this course of action (it surely isn’t meant for 8-week-old babies), they smelled SO GOOD afterwards. Such a nice change from the Sour Milk/Hint O’ Poo combo they had going on beforehand.

I don’t normally share my own spendy bath items with the children (I mean, for one, they totally don’t appreciate the fine sensation of a quality bodywash), but I definitely tend to bogart their own hygiene-related products for household use. It’s nice to know all that money you’re dumping into the bottomless Kid Stuff Bucket can go to more than one purpose, you know?

Here’s a brief list of some products and their various uses, feel free to add your own in the comments section:

Read the rest of this entry

My 2-year-old has never been particularly interested in music, unless you count his current interest in telling me to turn the radio OFF, Mommy, it’s TOO LOUD. (Note: it is NOT too loud, kid, I save the eardrum-bleeding stuff for when you’re not around.)

I do have a number of playlists on my iPod dedicated to kids’ tunes, though, just in case he stops being such a wet blanket about music sometime soon. Some of my favorites:

Read the rest of this entry

On my last post Sarah posted a comment asking whether the Dyson vacuum was worth the expense, and I thought HEY I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO THAT QUESTION.

Sometimes I think in all caps, I don’t know why.

In the hopes of pooling our collective smarty-pantsedness, today’s post will focus on three insanely expensive products—your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to weigh in on whether or not you think they’re worth the cost. Bonus points if you have actual experience with the product, but totally uninformed opinions are welcome too. I mean, this IS the internet.

Read the rest of this entry

You’ve probably heard of the chemical known as Bisphenol A, which lurks in various water bottles and beverage can liners and other products we regularly put in or near our food-holes. There doesn’t seem to be conclusive proof that this stuff is bad for us, but there’s certainly some worrying information out there.

To be honest, I haven’t spent a whole lot of time stressing over this issue because, I don’t know, I’ve got a finite amount of headspace to devote to the various subjects that freak me right the hell OUT. But I have started thinking about it lately, as I re-evaluated the bottles I’ve been using with my newborn. I used plastic bottles with Riley — I’d never even heard of BPA at that point — and I just figured I’d use the same ones with Dylan, but after warming a bottle for the fiftieth time the other day it occurred to me that I could make a fairly simple consumer choice to eliminate one more kid-related worry. Specifically, the nagging question of whether or not I was POISONING MY BABY with his bottle.

As I consider some of the plastics we use on a regular basis in our house, I’m thinking it wouldn’t hurt to upgrade to a safer alternative. Especially for the things we run through the dishwasher over and over, etc. Here are some of the kid-friendly, non-BPA products I’ve been looking at:

Read the rest of this entry

We had to do some major preparations house-wise to make room for a second child, but I really didn’t have to buy much — unlike the first time around, when I spent months on end pouring an endless stream of money into Amazon’s baby section. I was so paranoid I was going to forget some crucial item that would make the difference between a contented baby and a colicky nonstop screamer, as if clicking the Buy button was some kind of MAGIC WAND.

I kept pretty much everything we used from when Riley was a baby, with the exception of a few utterly useless items that I gave away. If you don’t mind veering from our normal blog M.O. of finding things that DON’T suck, here’s a rundown of baby gear I never did understand:

Read the rest of this entry

I recently wrote a post over at ParentDish about how capricious my kid’s approach to toys is — he’ll fall madly in love with one object and lust over it for a day or two, then abandon it altogether in favor of some other beguiling wonder.

I really try not to fall into the trap of buying too much crap for him, because if he’s not doling out equal attention to all of his stuff why should our house be jam-packed with it, you know? One two year old should not need the entire contents of a Toys R Us to make it through the afternoon, and yet it’s obvious I don’t always follow my own best intentions because toys, toys, TOYS. We have so very many of them, and the majority are things he doesn’t actively play with — he just hauls them out of the box every now and then in order to throw them around.

The best piece of advice I’ve ever received when it comes to dealing with Kid Crap Everywhere is to cycle through toys, and we have gotten pretty good about doing this. If you put about half of your kid’s playthings away somewhere long enough for the child to forget about them, you can bring them back out on some rainy day, and lo! The squeals of delight and wonder! This keeps the clutter to a minimum, and also gives you the opportunity to sneakily get rid of that battery-powered dancing Bob the Builder that Grandma gave him.

There are a few toys I always keep out, though, because for whatever reason they have staying power that the others don’t. The stuff I’ve found that he’s consistently interested in:

Read the rest of this entry

I feel like a broken record lately, because all I can talk about/think about is the upcoming addition to our family who is scheduled to make his arrival on Feb 4. Yes, I’m finally getting a manny, his name is Alejandro and he’s moving here from Ecuador where he’s been wrapping up his studies in deep tissue massage and skincare regimens as well as early child development, and—

Oh, not really. My husband won’t let me have a manny, because he’s a GREAT BIG WHINER.

No, I’m talking about the baby who’s currently ensconced in my belly, methodically reducing my internal organs to mush with his various well-aimed kicks. According to various “medical theories”, he’s going to actually be on the outside of my body soon? And I’ll have to, like, take care of him and stuff? While simultaneously parenting a 2-year-old and doing freelance jobs and not allowing the house to collapse under the weight of its own filth?

The whole idea is kind of blowing my mind and making all other achievements seem wussy in comparison. Oh, you climbed Everest? Whatever dude, at least you had Sherpas.

Anyway, I thought we could talk about some must-have baby items today. Not that I don’t have a metric crapload of baby stuff already, but maybe I’m missing some critical product that will ensure Baby #2’s comfort, angelic behavior, and tendency to sleep through the night starting at 6 weeks of age.

The theme here is not necessities—not diapers, clothes, etc—but extra luxuries that you’d recommend to any new parent. Hey, ho. Let’s go!

Read the rest of this entry