This “Little Chef” metal play oven is $55 and looks like the oven door would make a nice satisfying bang when closed:

Take that, wicked witch! At Salvage One.

I just added this tiny, sweet mirror to my Etsy favorites for a girl’s room:

For $35 at Pamela Angus’ Etsy shop. Adorable!

This Danish mid-century orange elephant is awesome:

And it’s only $26 at 26OliveStreet on Etsy, right here. I love baby rooms with orange, along with a whole lot of other people, and this would be the perfect mirror for a room like that.

I saw this Haba Expedition wagon advertised on a French blog today. I was intrigued, I thought it looked like it had better suspension than the Radio Flyer we dream about (do you remember those teeth-jarring downhill wagon rides like I do?):

It folds up to put in your car like a stroller, and has a canopy:

My first thought was Ooooh, which changed to Oh when I saw the price tag… $690. Yeah.

Tonight I was investigating a travel mattress I saw at Babyccino Blog, and I stumbled across a lovely Moses basket woven in England from willow fronds. It vaulted right into my top-five bassinet list, from back when I was searching for one, right next to that Leander swinging canvas cradle:

It’s about $206, converted from pounds, at the British site Natural Mat (who also manufactures it). Natural Mat ships overseas and there is a six week lead time.

To me, there is something about a Moses basket waiting empty for a baby that evokes exactly the delicate, amorphous last days of waiting for the baby when you can almost see them there, wrapped up safe and sound inside. To me, the way it captures all the hope and anticipation and fragility of waiting make it the sweetest piece of furniture there is, which no doubt is why bassinets still catch my eye these days.

(If you’re waiting for your first baby, I feel like I should share my tip, here - leave yourself freedom to figure out how the sleep thing works, then order the beautiful nest. I’m sure there is a Feng Shui rule somewhere about how empty, expensive baby nests drag down the chi of a household!)

We found a great organic cotton jacket in brown flannel with a fleece interior by Speesees…it even has ears:

But sadly (sad! sad!), it’s too small to snap down the front on Little Capucine, and the next size up is far too big! Back it goes, sniff…so if you’re baby isn’t in the inbetween, go for this little jacket for us, would you? ($46 at Speesees.) It’s really, really cute and soft - a teeny bit stiff, washing could soften it up.

Our hunt came to a happy end yesterday… Read the rest of this entry »

Where we live by the ocean, it gets chilly, but never icy. What I want in a baby jacket is something warm but flexible - not a puffy immobilizing thing to turn a baby into a bibendum, a Michelin Man. Something to keep out the wind better than a sweater while we’re at the park.

I’ve found some options, with difficulty, but not what I’m looking for. Actually, I did find what I want - twice! - but they aren’t available. So I’m mad and don’t want the other options yet!

First, a jacket by Airdeje for the French grocery chain Monoprix:

The second, by mystery brand Olive (I can’t find out a thing, it’s a terrible name for Googling) at Yoox, in size zero only:

This one at Nonchalant Kids is also great, but the color is exactly like the safety orange hunters wear so…no:

This one at Gymboree is pretty cute - the squares vaguely remind me of a robe, but really it’s the red that makes me feel like we’d be sick of it the day after Christmas:

These ones at Pottery Barn kids are a little too Eddie Bauer barn-coat for my taste, like I need to have horses around as well:

The newsboy-esque Etsy option I found at Brooke Bryan looked a little bit stiff, but mostly I thought it might not be quite warm enough:

This vintage infant jacket (on Etsy at Vintagejane) was very precious, but short sleeved and too tiny:

And that was everything! When I’m done pouting, I’ll probably go for the Gymboree version. If it isn’t already next summer by then!

These are supposedly necklaces, but actually I think they are just the cutest thing ever to give a special kid:

I think a lot of games would be played with pocket-size buddies like these, their expressions are so lifelike.

$35 each at Motley Mutton.

In honor of Halloween, generally my favorite of all holidays!

Vintage-y Halloween decorations with the glass glitter I’m so into:

A hysterical do-it-yourself gnome costume for walking little people:

Happy trick-or-treating, everyone!

A quick roundup of stuff I’m liking this week - can you tell there has been a lot of work hours around our place lately? This time of year is always so nuts for work, everybody wanting everything done before the holiday dead time…but, anyway, enough on that!

Vintage red flower chandelier for $89 at Uptown Country Home - there was an identical brass one in a design magazine spread I saw recently, but this red is awesome if your nursery has it as an anchoring color:

Three-foot distressed wood angel wings by Cody Foster, $80 at Miss Duffy:

This large wooden puzzle of France from French toymaker Vilac, $26 at Oompa:

The steel schoolhouse art/bulletin board, on sale for $80 in our store! Yes, I know - and you can probably get free shipping, too!:

This small chandelier with glass-glitter stars by Wendy Addison for $18:

This small toadstool chalkboard at Fred Flare for $32:

Et voila!

I saw a rather cryptic post during my read at Print & Pattern - this cell phone shot of some farm animals caught my eye, I love it:

There were no details in the post, but in the comments someone identified it as being by Lisa Jones. So I wandered off and found her website, but this isn’t listed there (although there are a lot of other cute designs!).

This would be the greatest poster for the nursery wall, does anybody in the UK know anything more about it or the artist? I toiled through the ’stockists’ links, but had no luck. It reminds me of children’s book illustrations, I would love to know more!

Little Capucine loved the caterpillar clutching toy that came with her mobile so much, we went looking for some similiar toys and found the Ibedoo rattle by Sigikid. It looked great - small size for easy grasping, interesting ears, cute face, a rattle inside, and cotton:

Pros: Cotton, a good rattle, ears!

Cons: Not narrow enough for easy grasping, only the tail tip is narrow.

Overall: This toy is a great example of why reviewing toys is so tricky. We were really ‘meh’ on this one for weeks…and then little Capucine became obsessed with it, it’s her absolute favorite toy. Those thin floppy little cotton antennae are good for many long minutes of sucking, chewing, and inspecting. The tags, the friendly face, the rattle - she loves it.

Tragically, this caterpillar abandoned ship at the Champs de Mars during a photo with the Eiffel tower. So now we have to buy another one. It’s in our store - probably should be at the top of the toy list at this point! - and you can get it right here.

We survived being sick. Even though we just did an Etsy post, I had a few Etsy-browsing moments over the weekend to space out and let my brain recover. I’ll have new project notes for you soon, but look what I came across!

So, I love the classic-ness of smocking on babies, if it is a little bit modern. Which I never really see. So look at this:

My gosh, these took my breath away. Such tiny stitches and generous amounts of fabric, and really great colors…

Read the rest of this entry »

Being sick with a baby is a special kind of hell.

Bonnie Jones “Hanging Handkerchiefs” for sale here.

We’ll be back on line soon!

- Mama & Papa Capucine

I’ve posted before about how much I love pilot caps for babies. I turned up this one - or rather, variation of one - yesterday while I was searching for a sun hat, and I can’t get over how adorable it would be on a little baby head I know:

Sigh. Etsy is so enticing. This isn’t the kind of hat I’m looking for at all, but I love it so. It looks perfect for Spring, but who knows if it would fit by then. (Fit seems to be the key issue with everything baby related, unfortunately.)

PS. Just a reminder, if you need the snug ruffled kind of pilot cap rather than this springy one, we still have that awesome organic one in our store…which keeps this blog going, incidentally. Just in case you’re thinking some cuteness doesn’t sound like such a bad idea!

In a classic example of the internet curse - finding what you’re not looking for - I started a hunt for a sun hat with a chin strap this morning and found this chair by La Maison de Lena instead:

My thoughts were that someone really understood kids when they designed this chair, followed by: why have I never seen it before? And then, how much is €285.00 in dollars these days? Never mind, I haven’t space in Little Capucine’s 12 x 12 quarters anyway, but what a lovely, lovely chair…maybe you’ve got a way to make it happen?

For years, I would see the word ‘bunting’ in British novels and think ‘crepe paper’, or maybe a baby wrapper of some sort. And then, thanks to the internet, I finally learned that bunting was essentially those awesome Tibetan prayer flags, only looking like they were made by Cath Kidston and without the praying. (OK, to be totally type-A about it, bunting is actually the fabric the flags are made out of. And also a teeny little bird.)

I really love these, for their happy aura and the DIY possibilities. I’ve been seeing a lot of bunting lately, so here is what I’ve saved up…

I bet these are what the original British ones looked like:

Read the rest of this entry »

I bought a Beco Butterfly carrier in July (at The Portable Baby), and I feel like it deserves a review. Here’s what it looks like (from the Beco website; our photos of mine are below):

I should say up front, I’ve got mixed feelings about it. I’m hesitant to write up ‘cons’ because this product is truly a mix, and the ‘cons’ list always makes it sound like it is a dud. It would be accurate to say this carrier may work perfectly for you, and you will need to try it for a week to know. There ain’t no other way…as I’ve now learned.

Here’s Little Capucine, asleep (her arm should be above that strap but she tucks it under sometimes):

Read the rest of this entry »

When we were looking for a cosleeper, the first (and basically only) option we found was the Arm’s Reach cosleeper. Arm’s Reach is essentially the only player in the cosleeper market as far as I could tell, and all of my mama friends had one and recommended them. But as it turned out, none of their models worked for our european-style Ikea bed, which has no box spring and is only thirteen inches off the ground.

We weren’t too bummed about that, because looks-wise the Arm’s Reach is a very utilitarian-looking metal/plastic/nylon structure in the same vein as a Pack ‘n Play - you’ve probably seen one already, they are everywhere:

Say what you will for functionality, this is not one of those droolworthy baby items.

And then I happened to spot an ad in the back of a Mothering magazine for a wooden cosleeper called The Baby Bunk. Read the rest of this entry »

This morning, reading a post on Ohdeedoh (I’m such an Apartment Therapy fan, seriously) about traveling with kids reminded me about our recent trip. We took our little Capucine to France in June for a month, and among the many memorable moments were, unsurprisingly, a few lessons on air travel with an infant. There are a lot of ‘what to take’ lists around, and I read at least ten sites on the subject ahead of time. But of course, there is always something to be learned. I emailed these thoughts to some other mamas originally, and they liked it so much, I’m posting it again here. (Note that these tips are most appropriate for international flights. It would be a little overkill to worry about all this for a four-hour flight. Except the one about the nose-rinsing, boy don’t skip that one.)

I’ll put in links for products I used for this list, too. It was all one small backpack, no big deal. Here ya go!

- We booked the aisle and window seats in a three-seat row, on the hope that nobody would want to be in a seat between two parents and a baby. (The Air France lady was the one who told us to do it.) That worked perfectly, we had an extra seat to pile stuff in both ways. Barring that, go for a bulkhead seat.

- We reserved a bassinet, many airlines have them on long flights. Request one when you make reservations and then call to reserve or confirm again 48 hours before the flight, because there are usually more babies than bassinets. That is a tip from a flight attendent, too.

Here’s what the Air France bassinets are like:

Read the rest of this entry »

In our quest for grabbable toys, we tried out this mouse pair from toy super power Haba:

Pros: Cute fuzzy faces. Cotton. Tail is easily grabbable and makes the mouse fling around in an entertaining way. Rattle (in the pink one) is great.

Read the rest of this entry »

Boys don’t have many fun clothes here in the US - I can’t count the moms who’ve told me they didn’t care if they had a boy or girl, but shopping for a girl would be way more fun. And it is true. Dinosaurs/baseball/cowboy…yawn. So let’s even the score a little:

Fabulous, beautifully detailed linen boy’s shirt ($65 at Bronwen Handcrafted):

Read the rest of this entry »

Today I followed a few links and ended up at a UK children’s site called Urchin. And I got all excited, there were so many products I hadn’t seen before. Everything really well-chosen and not pricey (if you live in the UK, anyway).

There were so many things I wanted to blog about, but this one was my ‘most favorite’:

Read the rest of this entry »

This teeny little butterfly by Sevi is a rattle with crinkly wings and an elastic band for slipping it over a baby’s wrist. It’s intended to move with the baby as they wave their arms around, so they discover their own hands:

Read the rest of this entry »

There is almost nothing cuter than a baby in a pilot cap. We ended up with one that came in a gift set, and the first time we tried it on Little Capucine, we could hear grandmother’s hearts melting everywhere. Guaranteed Cutest. Thing. Ever.

After we got the first one, I got addicted and started hunting up some more on Etsy. There are some really precious ones there this week.

Hand-knitted silk in several sizes (described as ‘waldorf style’, which I don’t understand - anybody else know?). $34.50 for the big-kid size at Shelley Caskey’s Etsy shop:

Read the rest of this entry »

With a tiny house, we know if we have more than one baby, they’ll be sharing space for sure. I always have an eye out for examples of appealing shared rooms and stash them in case I need them some day.

A two-child room with interesting colors and baroque beds. I like the indoor/outdoor rug idea (and the $5000 Serge Mouille light!):

Read the rest of this entry »

I recently discovered the Lucky Wang children’s clothing brand - owned by the same mom who runs Nonchalant Mom - and I especially love their little jackets. These two are on sale, and I want both. I’m trying to resist, but wouldn’t the red one look great just hanging on a wall? Little Capucine doesn’t really wear jackets much yet so I’m trying to resist temptation, but if you get either one - send photos!

The fleece-lined cotton Shanghai Rose jacket, on sale for $36:

Read the rest of this entry »

I think these sweet doves are a nice twist on hanging a guardian angel overhead, and a little extra serenity in a child’s room is always a good thing in my book ($20 at Bitters Co.).

We bought this white dress by the Dutch children’s clothing company Imps & Elfs on an impulse, not knowing anything about the brand and sizing or quality. We found it on sale, but even so I bought it a size too large so it will fit for a long, long time, because it still wasn’t cheap! We didn’t have anything girley for Little Capucine when she arrived, not knowing if it was a boy or girl, so I lost my head a little when I saw it at Nonchalant Mom:

Now that we have it, she’s wearing it all the time (over pants and a onesie, it’s very summer-weight on it’s own). This is our review; we’re giving it a thumbs-up. The quality is excellent, and the details are lovely.

Read the rest of this entry »

This photo, from last season’s Zara Home kid collection (not available in the US), is one of the inspiration images I go back to a lot. (Click on it to see the full-size version.) It helps me remember my goal of creating a serene space for Little Capucine. My guiding words are ’serene’ and ‘happy’ - the happy part is easy, with all the color out there for kids. The ’serene’ part is the challenging one, so pictures like this are a big help! I like the colors in this room mostly - white, flax-grey, and wood. I try to stick with those myself, but color is so tempting!

A wardrobe and a room this size sure would be nice to have, too - it’s hard to get this bare feeling in a little room. I noticed they are using the same wardrobe and chair as props this season, so I guess the stylists at Zara loved them too!