We Have a Picky One...

Something happened last week. Aside from Nate turning 1 I mean. He also became a picky eater. One day he ate everything I offered, and with gusto. The next he was pursing his lips and turning his head, a big fat "no thank you mama" from a pre-talker. Nice. What's a girl to do with a newly picky eater? I have no experience with this, my sister and I ate everything, including raw garlic (ahem, Erica).

But, Nate had decided he will eat bread and fruit, and some dairy products but only a bit. Awesome. Vegetables? Nope. The lentil soup he used to snarf down as quickly as I could shovel it in? No. Ditto for the spaghetti and meat sauce he used to love. sad. I love to cook and he will no longer eat what I prepare (except for the bread which I make).

Thank goodness for those pouches of organic babyfood. Brands like HappyBaby, Ella's Kitchen, Plum Organics and Sprout. They know how to hide the veggies in a way that even this picky eater will eat them. Broccoli? No problem as long as it's hidden in pears from Happy Baby. When mommy makes it he combs it off his tongue with his fingers. Really, he does that.

So, lucky for me Plum Organics pouches are on sale at Diapers.com, buy one get one free. It's a really good deal for good organic food in pouches that are made without all those scary materials (BPA, Phalates, etc). Use code PLUMGIFT.

Wait, Hanukkah Already?

For years I felt like all the holidays snuck up on me. In California, without real weather changes the High Holidays in the Fall were the worst, meaning a few days beforehand I would slap my forehead and realize we didn't have dinner plans. That was of course before we started going to Greg's aunt and uncle's place every year. Hanukkah isn't a big deal, it's not a religious holiday, and the gift-giving is pretty much for kids (and Nate was born on the last day of the holiday). The only real ritual is lighting the menorah (and eating fried food, yum) and usually I would forget until the day it started and have to run around looking for candles.

Now that we have Nate things are a little different. I plan ahead more, look at the calendar, think about what we are going to do. But I was still shocked to go to Target yesterday to find that almost all the hanukkah decorations were already sold out, and at Michael's they were already on the sale rack. We have more than 10 days people, what do you expect?????

If you are like me and haven't been preparing already, then there are still some things at Target, some very cute menorahs actually. They have subdued traditional ones and wacky ones for the kids (sports theme, ballet theme, etc) and in the store I saw a very nice looking Noah's Ark menorah, although I think it was wood so not sure how that works out with candles. So, if you are putting this off get over there now to get what you need. I probably should have bought my candles yesterday but oops, totally forgot even as I was standing there looking at the display....

Sweet Gift Sets

Time is flying by, sweet baby Nate will be 1 on Friday! I can't believe it. It's also December, almost time for Hanukkah, Christmas...lots of gift giving. I got an email from Splendid about their gift sets which look really lovely, like this scarf set -

You can wear them separately or all together. A nice cozy gift.
They also have adorable sets for kids and babies, like this girls legging set -

and adorable baby rompers -

So much fun!

Rest for the weary bather (or their knees anyway)

I had a few clients a couple of years ago who all complained the knees of their jeans were fading, thinning and then ripping. As adult women who were long past the stage of thinking ripped jeans were cool they were dismayed that this was happening. Since I saw it in a few women all at once I realized it had to be from kneeling while they bathed their kids every night.

In Berkeley I also had to kneel to bathe Nate and it sucks. Mainly because I have bad knees anyway so this didn't really help the situation. Here I'm lucky that our bathtub has a wide enough side that I can sit on it comfortably.

But I did see these bath time kneeling mats that look amazing, I mean what a great idea. No regular bath or tub mat is thick enough to help, but these look really thick and plush, like a tumbling mat almost. These look like a great way to save your jeans, and your knees! Giggle has a couple of options, check them out -

This one is shaped like a whale, how cute!

Here is the top view of it -

That would make me happy I think, and you can hang it up from that loop if  you don't want to keep it on the floor all the time. I share my bathroom with Nate (it's the only bathtub) so I would rather have things that make me smile.


This one folds up so it's more compact for storage or carrying between bathrooms I suppose as well -

Either way, you can't lose. Find them both here -

A Zany Hat that just might stay on!

I have posted hats for kids and babies, it feels like lots of them, but most of them are no match for our little one who will rip it off if it isn't crazy glued to him. My sister suggested a balaklava but I hadn't looked for one and then I saw these from Hanna Andersson -

The Zippity Zany hat from Hanna Andersson, this is what it looks like on a kid -

And the mittens look like they'd be easier to get on, and with that string through our little man's coat, they won't get lost even if he rips them off his hands.



And then there is this too - Save Up to 50% OFF Select Items at Hanna's More the Merrier Sale! Nov 14 - Dec 18

25% off at Gap, Banana, Old Navy and Athleta, 20% at piperlime

Enough said.

Gap and Bloomingdales Friends and Family Sales

now would be a great time to buy those winter baby accessories you've been putting off, and maybe a couple things for yourself also...Even if you wouldn't normally buy Gap jeans, if you are still waiting to lose the baby weight, it's always a good idea to have at least one pair of jeans that fits you well on the way down, Gap is great for that - particularly at 30% off!

Also, Bloomingdales friends and family sale is till going on through the weekend, get 20% off with code HAPPY.

Happy Shopping!

Your Little Shark

I have to admit, I don't check toddler clothes so much, we just aren't there yet. But a friend sent me a link to these fleece shark mittens and I LOVE them -

There is also a matching hat -

So fun!

Fugly or not?

I need waterproof, warm winter boots. They need to be tall, after last years snowmageddon I’m not taking any chances. I just can’t bring myself to get uggs, these Sorels look so warm and waterproof, but are they better than uggs?

Am I being blinded by the warmth? Does it really matter?

baby shoes in an unlikely place...

Somehow I totally missed that Piperlime sells baby shoes. They have a printable size chart so you don't have to worry about that, and look at these great shoes -

Boots for winter weather -

Now that Nate is starting to walk a bit I'll be looking at all of these options...

Jewel Tone Cords For less

For some reason, while business at the Gap tanks, I'm loving their stuff. Granted, most of the time what I love is for babies, this time I found something for us moms- lightweight stretch cords that give J Brand a run for their money. They come in pretty colors like aubergine and navy as well as a basic grey or black, and in skinny and bootcut styles -

I LOVE that I don't have to spend a ton of money to hop on this trend (jewel toned cords) and look great - you don't have to sacrifice fit and quality here. Plus, Gap is offering 30% off today, and 25% off tomorrow, use code GAPLINE!

Outerwear #1 - babies

I started posting outerwear for women on my other blog, and thought it was time to start for the wee ones. So far I like these things from the gap -

The fleece hat and mitten set looks warm, the hat has a lot of coverage so it may actually stay on -

This one is just so cute with the antlers, there are other animals as well -

This looks so cute and cozy -

This puffer coat is just so cute, and comes in other colors like navy and pink -

I love this snow suit with detachable mittens and booties that have treads on them -

For 48 hours you can get 30% off everything from Banana, Gap and Old Navy (except the puffer coats and snow suits unfortunately, but those are $10 off) - use code 48HOURS!

We Have Arrived (and maternity top sale!)

Well, we made it to Chicago. That's an accomplishment because we DROVE from Berkeley, with the baby of course. It was fun - we stopped to see sites like lake Tahoe, Arches National Park and Moab, Utah, Denver, Mt. Rushmore and the surrounding sites and finally the Mississippi river. Nate was a real trooper, in fact we think he loved it because he got to sleep with us every night - we didn't even bother setting up the pack n' play since we figured he would end up in our bed eventually anyway. Now we are trying to re-transition him to sleeping on his own...but our apartment isn't ready yet and we are camping out at my parents so we aren't doing such a great job at instituting a real schedule for him. Oh well.

In the meantime, I'm trying to get back to blogging, tweeting and working so, how about this great sale at Isabella Oliver where they are offering 25% off ruched tops like this tank perfect for layering all year -

Use code RUCHERAMA25 to get the discount.