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. (more…)

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:

(more…)

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.

(more…)

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):

(more…)

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:

(more…)

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:

(more…)

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:

(more…)

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.

(more…)

I’ve found some wonderful handmade baby clothes on Etsy, in simple naïve shapes that aren’t common with big brands. Often, the prices on Etsy are much less than I expect for the quality, with the plus of feeling like I’m supporting another mom’s work. Today I’m into the cotton/linen pants at Little Seedlings shop on Etsy ($24 a pair), especially the go-with-everything beige:

PS: If you’re wondering about linen, it washes great, wears like iron, and gets super soft pretty quick - no careful handling required. I’m always looking for baby clothes with linen in them!

Welcome to our blog! Little Capucine is our daughter, and this blog is dedicated to the products and inspiration we put together for life with her.

When we first started assembling the basics, we were dismayed to realize that most purchases required a lot of research on consumer sites and parent boards before we could single in on the product to buy, and then we had to find a place selling the actual product we’d chosen. All our shopping was online because our little beach town doesn’t have stores that sell baby products (honestly). It was a lot of very dull internet hours - but the upside is that we could share what we winnowed out of the wide world of baby products in a blog!

The searching was lengthy mostly because our preference is for natural products, and as few of them as possible. We’re (slowly) fixing up our tiny storage-less bungalow, and along the way we’ve had to learn the ecology of living with less, especially when we’re shuttling belongings from one ‘construction zone’ to the next as projects are completed! Our pending baby increased our sensitivity to chemicals in clothes, food and furniture a lot, so ‘healthy’ became a top criteria. (Formaldehyde in baby mattresses? What? How can that be good?)

About the store: You’ll notice a link to our store in the header. Some of the products we find are on Amazon, so like a lot of bloggers, we put together an Amazon storefront with the good stuff we found there. We get a few cents when you purchase products there, and you don’t have to wade through all the random stuff on the full Amazon site. We don’t blog about anything we’re not genuinely into, and we’ll always point out when a link is to our store. This is not a pay-for-posting blog! If you enjoy this blog, buying from the store helps us pay for running it, and you get a big thanks from us for the support!

Hope you enjoy our finds and get inspired to find the best for your own little ones!

- Mama and Papa Capucine