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!

Ever get tired of reading the same old children’s book over and over and over again to your child?  Come on - admit it!!  You can recite the story of “Green Eggs and Ham” in your sleep (actually you do and that is why you are so tired in the morning).  As much as I love reading to my daughters, I was so excited to see this new idea from Eeboo.  Every box is filled with picture cards - without any words - and as you flip through them, your child (with your help sometimes) creates a story to go along with the pictures and actions on the cards.  Ingenious, right?  So every time you take out these cards, a new story gets created.  Love it!  They’re only $10 at www.eeboo.com.  Check them out!

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.

How have I not stumbled upon these workbooks earlier?  I have felt like the slacker mom on many occasions when I hear of mom-friends doing lots of arts and crafts with their kids – even using scissors!  I will admit it publicly – I avoided crafts because it sounded like a lot of time and effort on my part.  Lucky for me, these Kumon workbooks were recommended to me (by a very studious and attentive mom-friend of a very intelligent little boy).  I was instantly drawn to them!  The colors, layout, and simplicity of the workbooks make me want to sit down with my almost 3 year old, and PLAY!  Of course, this gave me my excuse to go out and buy her some kid-friendly scissors (aka: don’t cut very well) and some glue sticks – and here we go, some quality mom and daughter time, AND she’s practicing necessary skills she needs for kindergarten (2 yrs away) – and no, I am not obsessing about what she needs to know before going into kindergarten…
My daughter’s favorite workbook is “Let’s Cut Paper” where she practices cutting in a straight line, a curvy line, through a maze, etc.  My recommendation: start the scissor practice sooner rather than later… it’s not as easy as we adults make it look.  Other books we are having fun with are “Let’s Color“, which helps with color recognition and staying in the lines, “Let’s Sticker and Paste“, and “Let’s Fold“.

OH, did I forget to mention that these are THE BEST distractions to bring to a restaurant or on a long plane flight?   Hours of entertainment – trust me!

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.

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.

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.

I have two little girls, so I’m a total sucker when it comes to cute baby clothes. I’m always on the look out for hip and stylish stuff. Clothes for little girls are just so freakin cute that I just can’t help myself! I recently was turned on to a site called Divas and Drooligans a super stylish boutique with lots great stuff for boys and girls, from newborns through toddlers. I really like things that are unique and you can’t just find anywhere. I couple of my favorite items are the Kung-Fu Bambini Peach Parfait Lounge Set and the Bumble Bags Jessica Messenger Backpack. They have lots of other things too - boys clothes, shoes, accessories, playthings. Check them out!

I wasn’t really sure where to put this one. It’s really more for parents than it is for kids. But then again, there are probably more parents than kids reading this so I guess it’s appropriate. Whatever the case, I just had to share this. I saw it for the first time this morning when a co-worker turned me on to the website of Jason Freeny, an artist/illustrator from New York. This particular piece is called “Anatomie Gummi Bär”, and as you can see, it’s an incredible illustration of the anatomy of a Gummy Bear. Ok, I know that the bears are really just “gummy” all the way through. But considering that this is coming out of his imagination just makes it that much more impressive. This small image doesn’t do it justice. Go to MoistProduction.com to see larger versions of this and his other work. He also has created “Pneumatic Anatomica” (anatomy of a balloon dog), “Immaculate Confection” (the brith of a gummy bear), and many other great pieces. They’re available for purchase as prints on his website. Check them out. Very cool stuff!

I’m guessing that most of you have probably heard of these things by now. I actually had no idea they existed, but apparently, they’re the must-have toys of the moment. Yeah, they really are ugly. But strangely, they’re soooo freaking cute too. As an added bonus, there are dozens of different Ugly Dolls, so if your kid makes you feel really guilty you’ll end up buying all of them. Fantastic! This is a picture of “Ox”, but there are also dolls like “Chuckanucka”, “Wedgehead”, and “Peaco” too. They’re about $20 at most stores, or you can buy them directly from their website too. Take a look at www.uglydolls.com.

Ok, we know the folks at ActivePlaythings.com. But they have such cool stuff that we’d write about their products anyways. Definitely, our favorite items have to be their kids animal chairs. Here’s a picture of Pat the Puppy, but there’s also Larry the Lion, Peter the Panda, and Freddy the Frog. They’re all super cute and our kids love them!

They’re only $19.49 at ActivePlaythings.com