I know, I know, I know… after 2 kids and baby showers of my own, and a gazillion friends’ baby showers, I know you are supposed to order off a registry.  I mean, we moms need so much stuff for a new baby, and another blanket or stuffed animal is definitely going to be returned to the store for the necessities like bottles, diapers, etc.  However (and this is where I break my rule and make a recommendation), I was recently at a baby shower where the mom to be received one of the cutest and most creative baby baskets that I have ever seen.  It was a “Rockabye Baby” Rocking Horse with Plush Toy and Layette Set by One Source Gift Baskets. This wasn’t just any baby basket, but a REAL toy rocking horse. It comes with a reusable blue storage caddy sprinkled with brown and white dots and white rocking horses. Inside the caddy is a plush, rocking-horse rattle and an endearing layette in white with blue trim receiving blanket, bodysuit, bib and booties, each featuring adorable, blue, embroidered rocking-horse detail. Who would want to return this gift???!!!

The website has many other cute options too - one of my favorites being the
Bath Time Baby - Satin Edged Duckling Blanket w/ Embroidery & Baby Necessities because my 20 month  old LOVES any and all duckies.  Sorry sweet Daughter, you have enough duckies already!

Last Christmas I was trying to do the “green thing” and buy all my girlfriends cute reusable grocery bags. In my search, I found really stylish ones by Envirosax. I bought a 5 pack with the intention of gifting them all, and ended up keeping 3 because they are so great (really roomy, waterproof, and fold nice and small). Now, Envirosax has produced a “kids” series of bags. The cartoonish characters on the bags are so cute and funky looking (dinosaurs, pigs, and dogs to name a few). Envirosax is doing their part to get kids interested in using reusable bags. The end result in my house - I want to carry around those cute things!  Order them direct from their website for $8.50.

Love the original Robeez shoes, but want a more “grown-up” look for your little cutie? You must see the Robeez Mini Shoez (no, I didn’t spell it wrong) collection. They have a flexible sole that is still as soft as you want everything on your baby to be, while also having a water repellent, non slip sole (especially good for beginner walkers). Robeez puts out such cute designs. I got the Dressy Mary Jane in Navy with pink accents for my daughter. Like all Robeez shoes, the construction on it must have gotten a lot of MOM input. The elasticized heel makes sure it doesn’t slip when they crawl or walk, and an ample sized velcro strap fits even my “Flinstone footed” girl.

If you are looking for a First Boot for baby, check out the Robeez Mini Boots - on my wish list for the upcoming colder weather!

After I had my first little girl, I wanted to adorn her with a beautiful bracelet. Not just any bracelet, but one I made myself.  A hundred dollars later, I stumbled through making my first piece of jewelry.  No more than a week later, our little princess has torn off her sparkly bracelet and hid it somewhere never to be found again.  Two attempts later, I gave up.  She is now a very big 3 year old, and I sure wish I would have known about Bumble Bells earlier.  These beautifully made anklets not only “dress up” your little one, but they are functional as well!  What new mom doesn’t start thinking the worst and hovering outside baby’s room when it gets too quiet or they haven’t stirred in awhile?  Better yet, as baby grows, and starts exploring and wandering, what mom wouldn’t want to have a homing device of sorts on their child?  Bumble Bells are silver anklets that grow with your child and jingle every time they move.  Rest easy moms - help is here.

If you’re like me and have accumulated tons of maternity clothes and kids stuff, you most likely have a little circle of friends and family to hand things down to. And on the flip side, there’s a good chance that much of what you have was probably handed down to you from others in your network. But how about those moms out there who don’t have the fancy friends passing along the hip maternity jeans, but can’t stand the thought of paying full price for new ones? Or maybe you have a super cute and barely used diaper bag that cost a bit too much, and you’d like to recoup a few dollars? For everyone looking to reach out to other moms and buy and sell your maternity and kids stuff, here is the answer: LaBump.com.

Now that I’ve seen the site, I can’t believe that something like this didn’t exist before. It’s the perfect solution to finding moms and moms-to-be who want your stuff. You’ve all heard of Craigslist, right?  Of course you have, it’s one of the most popular web sites around.  The concept here is pretty much the same.  It’s free classified ads organized by cities around the country.  The cool thing is that La Bump is completely  dedicated to maternity clothes and kids clothes, gear, furniture, and toys.  No longer do you have to search through the tons of irrelevant stuff on Craigslist to find a cool diaper bag, the latest jogging stroller, or cute baby clothes.  You’ll find all that stuff, plus a lot more, on this site.

Right now, most of the listings come from just a handful of states.  Texas in particular, is well represented.  But I have a feeling that it won’t be too long before word spreads and you’ll find tons of stuff posted from every major city. In fact, if you have some baby stuff that you’ve been looking to sell, why not post it on La Bump right now?  Did I mention it’s free?! 

I’ve come to accept that my kids’ rooms will always be a work in progress.  As they currently exist, their rooms are totally adorable and cute and provide all the functionality that toddlers rooms should.  Nonetheless, I am always looking for the next little bit of decor that’s going to take them to the next level of cute-ness.  Here’s my latest find: Animal Lamps from Uncommon Goods.  Don’t you just love them?

They’re pretty versatile and will pretty much go with any decorating style.  Even if you’re the ultra-modern minimalist parent with a nursery that reflects your tastes, these lamps are clean and simple and will fit right in.  At the same time, they’ll add some warmth and whimsy.  And of course, if you have a more typical kids room with lots of over-sized toys and decorations in bright primary colors, these lamps will work for you too.

At $20 each, they’re actually pretty reasonable.  Check them out at Uncommon Goods.

I have to admit that I didn’t give Halloween much thought as a child-less adult. Just another day on the calendar as far as I was concerned. But now that we have two little girls, my interest has definitely been rekindled. Our oldest is almost three years old and has already been doing the dress up thing for a while. She loves it! So, Halloween is really just the absolute best day for her. Our 18 month old is pretty much oblivious, but as parents, there is no way we can pass up the opportunity to dress her up in something cute.

So, with October just a month away, it’s not too early to start thinking about halloween costumes. We’ve had a few conversations with the girls. Well, the 18 month doesn’t talk yet, so there’s not much conversation going on; but the older one definitely has some opinions. She already fancies herself a princess, so we’ll probably go with something along those lines. But even after deciding on the princess theme, there are a million variations out there. The best thing you can do is get online and browse the costume stores with your kid. Let them pick it out, so they can get exactly what they want.

After looking at pretty much every costume store on the web, I’ve come to the conclusion that buycostumes.com has to be the best one out there. They have soooooo many options to choose from. I searched for “princess” under the kids category and I got 70 results! I searched for “baby costumes” and I got more results than I could count. Lots of cute stuff. Seriously, whatever you are looking for, I’m sure they have it. And if you don’t know exactly what you want, just browse for a few minutes and you’ll definitely find something that will catch your eye.

Here’s a pretty hip solution to finding work space for junior without cluttering up your living space.  Pulled apart, you have a stylish desk and chair combo.  Nice modern lines!  But when company is on their way over and you need to clean things up, just push the pieces together and they become a perfectly nested cube.  You could even use it as an extra end table and nobody would suspect a thing.  Sneaky.

It’s called the Klick Desk from a company called P’kolino. If you’re a fan of modern design, then you should check out their website. They have a full range of products and they do a great job of balancing between keeping things fun for the kids and aesthetically pleasing for the adults.  You can order the Klick Desk directly from them for $198.85.

I’m not really sure when kids develop a sense of style or when they start to prefer certain types of aesthetics.  From what I’ve seen, if it rolls, squeaks, flashes, talks, or is brightly colored… kids will dig it.  So, when I saw this doll stroller and thought about how good looking it was, I wondered if its style would be unnoticed by a toddler.  After all, why spend a bunch of money on this cool looking stroller if your kid would be just as happy with a cardboard box?

Then I caught myself and came to this conclusion: kids are influenced by their surroundings and the choices that their parents make.   Generally speaking, parents that are active have kids that are active, parents that are nice to people have kids that are nice to people, parents that are stylish have kids that are stylish, etc.  So, if you want your kid to have a cool and hip sense of aesthetics you have to help shape that.  And who doesn’t want that?

So, don’t think of this stroller as just some toy.  Think of it as an investment in the future of your child being a much admired trend setting individual :)  Available at Modern Nursery for $280.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you have no doubt heard by now that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are the parents to newly born twins.  Hurray for them!  The thought of having brand new twins in addition to four other little ones might strike terror in to the minds of most sane individuals.  But keep in mind that this is Brangelina.  They probably have a nanny for each kid and they each have their own personal assistants.  Heck, their assistants probably have assistants.  I’m not knocking them.  I’m sure they are wonderful parents.  I’d love to be adopted by them!  All I’m saying is that their parenting experiences are probably a little different than most of ours.

I’m anxious to see what kinds of baby stuff they’re using.  I’m sure everything will be the latest, greatest, and coolest gear available.  Bugaboo doesn’t make a double stroller (yet).  But I can’t help but think that just maybe Bugaboo was waiting for an event as monumental as the birth of the Jolie-Pitt twins to unveil their latest product.  It might just be the crazy conspiracy theorist in me.  But think about it, what better way to promote your goods than to put it in the hands of the ultimate celebrity family?  We’ll see in the next few weeks.

One of the things that I find so appealing about some of the baby stuff out there is that they allow me to live vicariously through my toddler.  I like to think of myself as a cool and hip individual, but the reality is that sometimes the parent in me doesn’t let me be as crazy with the fashions as I once was.  Leopard print shoes and a Ramones t-shirt tend to stand out a bit in the local play group.  On the other hand, I can put my kid in the same outfit and it’s totally adorable!

For instance, take these leopard print Vans.  My kid is going to look so freakin cute in these things!  And of course, her fashion sense is a direct reflection of mine, so I’ll look very cool.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?

I found these at a store called Psycho Baby.  If you haven’t been there yet, you really should check them out.  They describe themselves as “your one-stop shop for cool, crazy kids’ stuff” and they really do have some great products.  Of course they have the toddler-sized Ramones tee, in addition to a wide range of other hip rocker style clothes. But they also carry cool shoes, toys, books, and music. And speaking of music, they carry the Rockabye Baby collection of CDs.  Yep, the music of your favorite bands like The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, U2, and Nine Inch Nails, performed as kid-friendly lullabies.  Good stuff.  Check them out.

Even for tasks as ordinary and un-glamorous as changing diapers, I still want to have cute gear. What? You don’t think that changing pads and diaper carriers can be cute? Well, check out the offerings at TushyGear. They carry some adorable changing pads and blankets that you just have to take a look at.

Sometimes you just don’t want to lug around a full blown diaper bag. The changing pads at TushyGear are the perfect solution for carrying just a couple diapers and wipes without having to resort to sticking them in a zip lock bag. They’re hand sewn in the U.S. and come in a variety of attractive prints. Honestly, I have a feeling that these have the potential to be the next must-have celebrity baby accessory.

I’m a big fan of the small boutique-type online stores. Sure, I buy stuff at the big box mega stores. But whenever I can, I try to support the mom and pop places. It just seems like you’re more likely to find something genuinely different and unique. And because many of these places produce their own products and in smaller quantities, you are definitely getting something that will stand out from the rest of the mommy crowd. Check out TushyGear and I think you’ll be pleased.

We all want our kids to grow up to be super smart and solve the world’s problems, don’t we? Of course we do. Well, kids don’t just become smart on their own. It’s our job to stimulate those little brains and get them moving down the path of intellectual superiority. One of the activities that my kids really love is doing puzzles. I can see the gears turning in their heads as they’re thinking about how the pieces fit together. And there is a fantastic sense of accomplishment when they get them completed.

I’m always looking for new and interesting puzzles to challenge my kids, and I found probably the best selection around at Educational Toys Planet. My kids are a bit younger, so the over-sized floor puzzles are great for them. But they also have a fantastic selection of math puzzles and jigsaw puzzles for the older kids. They have some really unique products - puzzle crafts, map puzzles, first puzzles. There’s definitely something for everyone. So, if you’re looking for a great way to spend time with your kids and to get their minds working, pick up a puzzle or two.

Whether it’s a horse, zebra, or cow, kids love their rocking toys. And like me, you probably want to give your kids all the playthings that will make them happy. But maybe you’re one of those parents who can’t bear the thought of bringing another large, brightly colored, cartoon-themed, toy in to the house. This is the answer. The Olga Rocker is probably the most stylish kids rocker that I’ve ever seen. With its clean and modern lines and natural colors, this is sure to blend in with your swanky adult decor. And as long as it rocks, your kids will love it! So really, it’s the best of both worlds - fun for the kids and nice piece of furniture. I found the Olga Rocker at Modern Tots, a very cool shop with a wide range of hip and modern products. It’s a bit on the pricey side at $280. But well worth it if aesthetics are important to you.

At first glance, the Stokke Xplory is a weird looking stroller. If you’re used to the traditional image of what a stroller should look like, this is nowhere near it. But if you like modern attention-getting style, then this is the ride for your little one.  Still not sure if it’s really for you?  Consider that this is the stroller of choice for Madonna, Courtney Cox-Arquette, Heidi Klum, Tori Spelling, and other famous moms.  You do want to have the same stroller as the celebrities, don’t you?  Of course.  Besides making you really cool, it’s actually a very well designed and functional stroller too.  One of the neatest features is the ability to raise and lower the seat height, so you can bring baby right up near you.  You can get all the details at the Stokke website and you can find it for purchase at several of your higher end baby stores for about $1000.  Yes, for about a $1000.