Category: Newborns

One of the things I love best about writing for Smart Mom Picks is that I get to learn all about the latest trends in apparel. I’m especially blown away by the different organic materials that can be used to actually create the apparel.

Who knew, for example, that one could make children’s clothing out of bamboo? Read more…

I remember my first *really* nice diaper bag.

I didn’t have a cute or fun one with my first kiddo. I don’t even remember doing research on them. It could be that my husband refused to tote around anything remotely girly with our first, and I was relegated to a plain old black diaper bag. Yawn.

But then I discovered some really trendy diaper bag brands with my second, and I have to say that I enjoyed having a fun patterned bag. It had adorable green and pink stripes on it and was fully wipeable on the outside. Love. Read more…

Writing about that little bear up there is near and dear to my heart – and here’s why.

We received a bear, very similar to this one, as a baby shower gift when I was pregnant with our son. Our friends bought it at some boutique-y style store in our then-town. When it was safe to leave toys in the crib, we began leaving the bear in there with our son.

Quickly, our son became extremely attached to the bear. He would squeeze it, drag it, stick the end of the bear’s hat into his ear or use it to cover his eyes when he was on the verge of sleep.

This bear went everywhere with us. And when our son was about two, we began to get worried about bear getting damaged or, worse yet, lost. Read more…

The first thing that popped into my head when I saw this picture above was Michael Jackson’s kids. Remember how he used to make them wear those veils or blankets over their heads?

Weird.

There’s no Jackson kid behind this product, but I’m sure the King of Pop would have endorsed this. Read more…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: baby carriers always baffled me. Whether it was my baby Bjorn or a sling, I had a really hard time getting those darn things to fit me right and make my baby comfortable.

I think perhaps I am challenged by having too many options. I’ve heard so many moms rave about slings and other similar carriers that despite my own frustrations with them, I believe they are fantastic for most new moms. Read more…

I remember being a new mom and spending many hours agonizing over which shoes would be the absolute best developmentally for my little one’s feet.

Do you go with the famous name Stride-Rites? What about a pair of high quality sneakers? Are Robeez okay for a growing foot?

There were so many decisions. I laugh now, thinking about the angst it caused, especially when my kid was not even old enough to put weight on his foot. Heck, he couldn’t even roll over at that point, and I was stressed about his shoes! Read more…

The early stages of parenting are marked by new parents seeking to find order in the chaos.

Babies never do what the textbooks say they’re supposed to do. When my firstborn didn’t play by the rules, I decided to put my corporate skills to good use. I began logging all of the kid’s feedings in a spreadsheet to make some semblance of the details or find patterns in the behavior.

Nobody had told me that just when you think you have the kid’s routine figured out, they change it up again. But, while making the spreadsheet, I sure did feel totally and completely in control. Read more…

Was/is your kid a paci kid?

Seems to me that kids are either paci kids or not paci kids. I had one of each.

My second child wanted absolutely nothing to do with a paci after the first couple of months. My first? I had to pry that thing away from him on his 3rd birthday with promises of fabulous toys and prizes.

What I quickly learned about paci kids is that they have discriminating palates when it comes to their paci of choice. There was only ONE specific kind of paci that my son liked, and God help us if we tried to sneak in the wrong type in an emergency situation. Read more…

Sometimes I feel like I have to worry about every.single.thing. I buy for my kids and wonder whether or not it’s safe. It’s as if everywhere I look, another product or chemical has been deemed dangerous or toxic or cancer-causing.

One needs a chemistry degree these days to go shopping and be able to make sense of it all!

We love eco-friendly products at Smart Mom Picks, and the one I found today is really cool. Read more…

I have to chuckle when I’m hanging out on Facebook or Twitter and I see newer moms desperately seeking information on how to relieve their children’s teething pain and urges.

I remember that feeling of  ”Oh God. Is this wailing EVER going to stop?” I remember the incessant drool. I remember the teething toys.

I’m shuddering just thinking about it all.

I think of two quintessential items when I think about teething (aside from infant Tylenol and frozen washcloths, that is): teething rings and teething keys. Read more…

Do you remember what fun it was to pick out crib bedding for your little one? I’d spend hours poring over online sites trying to find the most unusual and beautiful themes and patterns for The Nursery Of My Dreams.

My son’s bedding ended up being a little on the cliche side – firefighters or something (it’s sad that I don’t really remember!). I got a bit more creative with my daughter’s – we did a tie-dyed theme in pink and yellow.

It still kind of excites me to find really unusual bedding themes for little ones – the kind that when friends walk in, they say, “Where did you FIND  this unusual bedding set?” Read more…

How much time do you think mothers of infants spend washing stuff?

Thinking back to my own first year as a mom, the number had to be staggering.

You wash clothes, burp cloths, blankets, bottles (and all of their associated parts), sippy cups, baby utensils, high chairs, toys, teething rings, butts…and if you’re into cloth diapering? Well, I imagine you double the time.

One of my least favorite things to wash were baby bibs.

All of the mushy baby food seemed to Read more…

Were you attached to a baby blanket growing up?

I was. I had a soft cotton blanket with a satin trim around the edges. I took my blankie everywhere. I made up songs about it. I rubbed the silky satin against my cheek when I needed comfort. My blanket was well-loved, indeed. Read more…

Here at Smart Mom Picks, we’re always on the lookout for unique items for you and your kids. The stuff we feature here is typically not your run-of-the-mill T-shirt, sippy cup or toy.

When I look for apparel items to feature here, my eyes tend to glaze over. The companies making children’s apparel seem endless. Many are just variations on the same theme.

I’m sure they’re out there, but I’ve never come across handpainted kids’ apparel before today. Read more…

There is a skill that every new mother must learn quickly.

It is the Art of The Schlepp.

You schlepp baby. Car carrier. Diaper bag. Toys. Binkies. Camera. Video camera. Not to mention all of your own stuff.

Schlepp, schlepp, schlepp. We do it for years. Most days as a new mom, I sort of felt like Quasimodo, my diaper bag being my own personal hump.

I hated that thing. Read more…

When my kids were babies, we lived in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. We didn’t really have a ton of use for blankets. I jump for joy thinking about how much money we saved on baby gear living in a hot climate. Of course, I think we made up for it in sunscreen.

Anyhow, from time to time the temps would dip into the chilly 40s or 50s and if we needed to head outside, we’d scour the house for the one or two blankets we had laying around.

I’d put a sweet blanket on top of my tiny babe and go out in the stroller. And for the next 30 minutes, I’d put that blanket back on the baby about 32 times. Read more…