Since I’m just crabby at home with an overdue child, I asked the fine mommas over at Rookie Moms to write a guest review for me. Thanks, ladies!
Like many new toilet trainees, my son is mastering the art of #2 a few months after he mastered #1. Even though my rational mind tells me that more patience is required, my eager-to-stop-cleaning-poopy-pull-ups mind has determined that MORE BRIBING is the answer. I believe, however, that I’ve hit the jackpot in terms of bribery.
I purchased blik wall decals for both of my kids rooms, and they are totally adorable. Julian’s bedroom is not quite done, though. And that is because the set of stickers I bought for him is made up of 99 red balloons and we apply one balloon every time he successfully, er, makes a deposit in the toilet. He is thrilled with his balloon wall and shows it to everyone who comes to our house. All eight apple red balloons, each one representing a victory in the life of a preschooler.
The balloon set comes in seven different candy colors and comes with grey strings. They look totally adorable on his sky blue walls, and I am convinced that the rate at which he “earns” them is bound to accelerate.
Ooh! Serena and Lily are having a SALE.
Furniture and bedding. Neat!
Happy Thursday!
The fine folks over at Serena and Lily are offering $250.00 off any of their cribs or dressers to GHM readers. S&L has just rolled out a new partnership with super fancy pants crib designers David Netto and Morigeau Lepine. Serena & Lily custom furniture is not sold in retail stores, so check out the new stuff online.
I’m also charmed by their market sling. Has anyone tried one? It’s so damn cute. I wonder if it works well.
To redeem the coupon code, just enter CRIB250 at checkout. Valid until 9/1/08, while supplies last.
Thanks, Serena & Lily!
Sy loves looking through “mazagines” and catalogs with me, especially after she’s collected them herself from the mail. PB Teen is one of her favorites. Makes sense since she already acts like a teenager half the time.
Yesterday she was leafing through it on the sofa and zeroed in on these animal and leaf motif pillows. She pointed excitedly at the squirrel pillow and said “I wish we had one of these in OUR house!” (Remind me to never have a Toys R Us catalog near her.)
They are pretty cute, aren’t they? Cotton canvas, pick stitch, 16” square pillow covers for $25.00. No pillow included, but at least they throw us a small bone and have free shipping.
This just in from the office of Gearhead I don’t feel like talking about sippy cups today Mom:
I’m always trolling magazines and websites for interesting things to do with kids’ rooms. Sy’s is a mishmash of purple and green, hand-me-down furniture and a splash of Ikea. It is a bedroom that will most assuredly never be featured in a magazine, but she sure likes it.
Anyway, I like the mini guide Domino published in their June/July issue on twin beds. Their focus was not kids, of course, but how to maximize space in a guest room. If only we had a guest room, I assure you the top priority would be chic space-maximization. Regardless, they had some pretty nifty beds that would be just peachy in your perfectly decorated child’s room from some great sources.
I’m making the (thankfully small) list of gear that we still need for the next babe. Ohdeedoh’s conversation about bumpers reminded me that I want to try out a mesh bumper like this one from Breathable Baby.
Has anyone used one before?
One of my favorite magazines is Coastal Living. Nothing to do with kids, kid gear, or how I am failing as a parent. Just ridiculously lovely homes and towns surrounded by the ocean. It’s a far cry from my 80+ year old crumbling manse and I invite the distracting daydream.
One of the best recurring features is their Currents section, dedicated to great shopping finds that reflect the energy of water and seaside living. This month they featured a teardrop mobile by Wallter. I went to the site and realized I’d seen some of their wall decor before, notably the circles design.
In my continuing quest for cool orange sheets, my friend Anne sent me a link to Kate Quinn Organics (they have persimmon sheets!). What a lovely line and such yummy colors. Thanks, Anne!
If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn’t have bought a crib which promised to turn into the headboard of a full-sized bed. That seemed like a great feature at the time, and oh-so-thrifty! Maybe that kind of crib is a good idea if you are having an only child; you can transition your child out of the crib as you transition the crib into a bed. Otherwise, just about the time you’re moving one child out of crib, you’re probably thinking about or having another. And then you need your crib again. After the second kid (or more)? You’re more likely to give the crib away as part of your acknowledgment that THERE WILL BE NO MORE. I don’t think our crib will ever be a bed.
When our now-four-year-old was ready to move out of her crib, a friend lent us a sweet toddler bed. And pretty soon the crib was occupied by our second daughter. Now our youngest is two, and just like other transitions (e.g., potty training), we’re just not as excited to move her out of the crib as we were with the first (Ha! Back then we had NO IDEA how many sleepless nights of toddler wandering we were in for!). But it has to happen, alas, and we knew we had to prepare. And despite the fact that we’re pretty sure our little petite four-year-old could stay in the toddler bed till she moved off to college and extra-long-sized sheets, we feel we owed it to her to offer a bigger, more exciting bed.
We have a small house with two small bedrooms. It made sense for us to look at bunk beds. But it didn’t make sense to add two MORE beds to our menagerie when we already have ONE toddler bed for ONE child (and one giveaway crib--wait! Will there be NO MORE? Stay tuned...). Enter the Ikea KURA reversible bed.
I’m off for a few days for my cousin’s shower. She picked out the “All Creatures Great and Small” crib bedding from Land of Nod. I love the argyle patterned bumper. I love just about everything in that catalog. Maybe I ought to put “win lottery” on list of things to do this weekend.
Have a great weekend!
The thing that annoys me the most about Ikea is their website. I feel like they hide half the products and the other half are available to look at, but only a quarter of those are available to purchase online. Luckily, their totally rad Mala easel is amongst the glorified few available for online purchase.
The Mala easel is like a Kenmore appliance: it’s efficient, lacks most bells and whistle, and abslutely does its job. It has a chalkboard on one side and white board on the other, and it even folds flat when not in use. You can also buy the Mala paper roll separately that you can pull over the white board side for painting or drawing.
Sy’s grandmother gave her a completely joyful bedding set from kukunest for Christmas. I have been meaning to review it ever since. How is it almost April?
Kukunest was created by two moms who “believe that (a child’s) living environment should be a reflection of their boundless creativity.” You can say that again, sisters. I am totally enamored with their vibrant colors and playful patterns. Check out the Intergalactic pattern if your kiddo is a space buff, or perhaps bright lanterns with an Asian theme is more your speed.
I am also a huge fan of all things Oko-Tex, a textile certification standard developed in Europe during the 1990s.
Nifty and Totally Cool Mom-Powered Company Alert
I don’t know about you, but in my spare time I never get much done. Perhaps I’ll daydream about having an organized life, a full time job (other than parenting), or really get something done - like brush my teeth. I sure as hell don’t go in my garage and start sawing things. But then, I can’t cut in a straight line so it’s probably better for me and all of my (gratefully) attached digits that I leave that to people who actually have talent, like Kiersten over at Mod Mom Furniture. Talking to Kiersten makes me marvel at how much a mom can get done in a day. With power tools, even!
I should file this review under: things I am totally bummed that Sy won’t use anymore. Phil & Ted are known for their widely popular (and astronomically expensive) double stroller, but they also make one of my favorite products around, the metoo chair. Coming in at around $50.00, it aint exactly cheap either, but I think it’s worth the money.
Between all the houses Sy plays in and pees in, we’ve tried out about six little training type potties. We have two potty seats that fit over the big toilet (to be reviewed tomorrow) and two stand alone potties, both made by Baby Bjorn. One I like, the other one, not so much.
I do not like the Baby Bjorn Little Potty, I do not like it, Sam I am. It seems way too small for a kiddo to sit comfortably on. The kids always look all hunched and scrunched up, and their bottoms never look like they fit on the seat. Lots of time pee comes spraying out the front when one of the boys in our crew sits on it. If you potty train your little one at say, nine months, it’d probably fit them just fine. Maybe it’d be good on the road in emergencies, but I find this one to be messy, too small, and not worth the ten bucks. Clearly, I bought this one first. I keep it around for days when we have lots of kids playing here, but otherwise, it’s been banished to the bathroom closet.
The Baby Bjorn Potty Chair, however, is a much better mousetrap.
