Saturday, May 24, 2008

To All My Jewish Friends


Better late than never right?

Weekend Air Travel?


While traveling by air in Europe and America I've been a little frustrated. In Europe children under two years sit on your lap with a seat belt extender wrapped around your seatbelt and the baby's waist (or whatever else you can wrangle). In the US they don't offer you that option and instead you simply hold your baby in your lap or buy an extra full fare seat AND bring a car seat -either not safe or not affordable. 

Some clever person has invented this little vest, Baby B'air, has saved my friend a lot of grief. It is soft, foldable, washable and metal free. As you can see from the photo Little Ms. M doesn't mind the vest at all and it gives her mum a piece of mind -and who can deny it that when it comes to turbulence.

Here is a little video from the company:

P.S. Happy Birthday to Little Ms. M -the model!

N.B. For an older child I've used this with great success -beats taking along the car seat!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Half Wrong?!


I thought I was pretty nutritionally savvy until I took the Washington Post's nutrition quiz (here). Take the quiz and let me know how you do. I'm avoiding giving away any of the answers but some were very surprising. Good luck!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

FREE baby stuff! The Good the Bad the Ugly


I
s it too good to be true?! There are a number of new and not so new sites out there that you can either barter, exchange or just get baby and kids (even maternity) stuff for free. Have any of you used the sites and had any good or bad experiences -let me know! Or, tell me which one is the best/worst!

Free sites:
Freepeats

Exchange sites:
Swap Baby Goods
Zwaggle

Happy non-shopping-shopping!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Welcome little babies! and a little advice

Sorry it has been a bit since I've posted but I've been really busy visiting and house hunting. However, I've been getting a lot of good news in my inbox of recent births and soon to be births -so Mazel Tov! Auguri and Congrats to all of you!!

For you mums my best advice for you is to sleep as much as you can and whenever you can -this is the time to lean on Daddy and anyone else. Also, you will notice that your hormones are doing you no favors right now with giving you the sweats and smellies. I can't help you with the sweating part other than to tell you to wear a lot of cotton. As for feeling smelly -I can help you there. Meet your new best friend: baking soda! Doctors advise new moms to stay away from soaps when baby is new so that they can learn your special smell and help with the bonding process. So the next best option is to use baking soda because it neutralizes odors and is a great all over scrub.


Advice number two is for the bambino. If you spent most of your time in bed wouldn't you think that the mattress would be the most important piece of furniture in your life? Don't skimp on baby's mattress and by that I mean go for organic. A lot of non organic mattresses take a long time to de-gas the carcinogenic toxins (ever notice the new car smell of things? well don't breath in too deep because it is cancer causing). Some European studies have even linked mattress toxins to the higher incidences of SIDS. What ever the case you don't want to worry about that so just get an organic mattress. Check out Ecobaby/ Pure Rest Organics 7550 Miramar Rd #220, San Diego, CA 92126 -they are having a sale!

If however you are unable to get an organic mattress at least get a wool mattress cover to put under the sheets. They are easily found in Europe and really help baby control heat loss and heat retention as well as being a buffer for possible mold, de-gassing and dust mites.

Big kisses to you and your babies!