Spring break! Time for new lunch supplies!

The kids are home this week, and we are taking the time to have fun, relax, and enjoy each others company without the hustle of the school schedule.  In cleaning out my school lunch supplies, I realized it's time to update some of our delivery systems. Here are some great products we use to get food safely, economically, and earth friendly, to our kids lunch tables.   Spring cleaning feels good!

LunchSkins/Sandwich Size

CamelBak Kids Bottle

Bento Mealtime Kit

Goodbyn Lunchbox

ZOO PACK BACKPACK

This one's for the men!

I'm not sure what to make of this trailer that shares the name of one of the most popular pregnancy books ever!  This seems like an effort to get guys to come to this movie, however, I find some of it really funny. Uppababy and BOB strollers score huge in product placement.  No Judgie!

We love Naturepedic mattresses for baby!

Give your baby the best, safest, and most comfortable place to sleep.  Their own crib!

Naturepedic products eliminate hazardous chemicals found in conventional mattresses while offering a more natural and non-toxic alternative for parents. In addition, Naturepedic does not sacrifice critical features and benefits such as waterproofing and a hypoallergenic design. With so many “organic/natural/eco” options available (cotton batting, soybean foam, coconut husks, natural latex/rubber, wool, etc.), it can be difficult to differentiate among the various offerings. 

Naturepedic was founded by a quarter century environmental engineer familiar with hazardous chemicals. Through in-depth research, Naturepedic has identified and selected the most natural and non-toxic materials that make sense on a practical level. All Naturepedic products follow these principles and priorities: 

Priority #1: No harmful chemicals. 

Priority #2: No allergenic materials. 

Priority #3: Natural, organic and renewable materials wherever possible. 

Priority #4: Practical design (e.g. easy-to-clean waterproof cover). 

Priority #5: Third party independent testing and verification. 

Naturepedic has become the standard for safe and healthy organic baby and children's mattresses and is used by over 150 hospitals across the U.S. 

Naturepedic products offer a much needed solution to the chemical and safety issues, as well as the quality and comfort concerns, of today's discerning parents. 

Read more: http://www.naturepedic.com/education/index.php#ixzz1oYHh3Iy9

My daughter has a crush on a boy and it's killing me.

I don't want her to like boys. I want her to like crayons and spinning around until she falls to the ground in hysterical laughter. I want her to like Barbie, but to keep her distance from Ken. I want her to like reading in bed, creating dance routines with friends, painting her nails, and listenting to her favorite music.

I want her to like harassing her brother with her cunning. I want her to like going to the movies, eating popsicles no matter what the temperature. I want my daughter to like going to school, learning, and hanging out with her girlfriends .

However, that is precisely where the trouble began. The group of girls has planted the seed that has grown into a full on crush. Love letters, maps on how to deliver the love letters, and directions for all the girls to paticipate in said delivery of the letters, have all transpired during the girls "hanging out."  This Valentine's day the "crush" sent her a flower at school. Home run, slam dunk, game over...

There is nothing I can do. It's time to get over it and move on, or move away.

World record paper airplane!

I admit it. This post is a bit geeky, but you have to understand that I have spent countless hours making and flying paper airplanes with my son.  I have the paper cuts to prove it.

They have an app for your baby!

Everyone wants a piece of the new parent, especially their wallet. App stores are part of that money rush. There’s mobile software that can help parents name their babies, soothe their babies, entertain their babies and speak to their babies in sign language.

The newest baby app of note on the market comes from WebMD Baby.  What's great is it's free, and is arguably more practical and useful than many of the others combined.

WebMD Baby is available only on Apple devices, at least until the company releases an Android version later this year. It provides a strong complement to — if not a total replacement for — Baby Connect ($5 on Android andApple), the best mobile assistant for new parents.

Unlike Baby Connect, WebMD Baby comes packed with information. The app takes advantage of its parent company’s trove of medically related content to offer parents guidance on what to expect from their child’s physical and emotional development, as well as health-related counsel when things go wrong.

At the app’s core are roughly 400 articles, 600 tips and 70 videos. I think the price is right for the App craving, information starved, new parent. 

Look mommy I can fly!

I came across this photo series today from photographer Rachel Hulin.  It really caught my eye!  Flying babies!  Exhausted and bored on an assignment, photographer Rachel Hulin, Henry’s mother, thought it would be fun to make her baby fly. So Henry flew. “The photo was sort of magical in an unexpected way and I wanted to make more,” Hulin said. She posted the photograph on Facebook and soon there was a flurry of comments. “Some people like the cute ones, some people like the spooky ones,” she said. “It’s an interesting litmus test.”

Hovering above a bed in a hotel, through a barn and into a shower, the flying baby photographs transcend cute and slip into the surreal. “I felt like the pictures could show the world that babies inhabit that is all their own,” Hulin said.

While she wouldn’t divulge the exact details of how Henry flies, Hulin did admit that it was more subtraction than addition. “I wanted the flights to feel genuine,” she said. “These are places we are really in everyday, it’s not a cut-and-paste job on random interiors and landscapes.”

Speaking to some of the unusual body positions of her flying offspring, Hulin said, “I never throw him, and I never move him into a place in the frame that he wasn’t in to begin with. I like Henry to fly the way he feels like it, I never pose him in a specific way. Sometimes he’s graceful and sometimes he’s a little hunchback. I think telling you more would ruin it.”

Real Baby is your only Colorado store for Bloom Baby furniture and gear!

Real Baby is your only store in Colorado for Bloom Baby furniture!  We love their contemporary baby furniture and gear. The European designs with precision engineering combine superior styling and comfort to fit your lifestyle!  Here are just a few of our favorites.  Find them today at Real Baby!

  

  

safety and environmental sustainability have always been priorities in the bloom creative process

every bloom product exceeds all applicable safety standards and regulations.  we proactively minimize the use of harmful chemicals and processes in our products and manufacturing, our products are certified compliant with 2009 USA CPSIA requirements

all bloom products are independently tested and certified to be lead free, phthalate free, PVC free, heavy metal free, and AZO dye free

we do not use polycarbonate in food access areas of products and use higher quality FDA-approved food-contact grade plastics on food contact surfaces

bloom wooden products are free of wood PCP and other toxic wood preservatives, fiberboard (MDF) free, use formaldehyde-free adhesive, low voc finishes and originate from certified sustainable beech and birch wood forests

bloom prohibits the use of wood from intact natural forests, high conservation value forests, protected areas, and high value tropical wood species

bloom promotes a paperless workplace

Just check the Bugaboo at the gate! So funny!

Science Can Be Fun!

The New Foonf Is Coming!

We Love the new Jonathan Adler Bags from Skip Hop!

Skip Hop is thrilled to team up with world-renowned designer Jonathan Adler to bring new parents his iconic prints on their signature diaper bags and must have accessories!  Form, function, and style all wrapped up in Jonathan's signature patterns.  We have the whole collection HERE at Real Baby! 

Occupy Lego!

I don't generally get political on this blog, but having just spent hundreds of dollars on lego sets for Christmas, really made me find this video interesting.  I may have to pick these up for my son for next Christmas!

Meet me at the playground?

Eric Vance took these photographs labeled "environmental justice."  They were taken in 2007. For the EPA. During the Bush Administration. So I can only assume they are meant to promote nuclear power plants as safe enough to put a playground next to, or maybe Vance is a big Simpsons fan?  The third photo's playground looks extremely close, and oh so inviting!  

Hand Made! One of our Favorite Things!

Our good friend Chris Gregori designed and printed this poster for Real Baby.  It's great for your nursery decor, or just to get your kids excited about their abc's.  We love it!  We were excited to see it featured  here...

What's in a Name? Ask Google!

A parenting pop culture site recently did a survey and found that 64% of potential parents ran their baby name choices through Google.  We are all guilty of searching ourselves, well at least I am, and most parents want original names, names that don't mean the wrong thing, or lead there child to later abuse on the playground!  Read more in the NY Times article HERE. 

Interesting take on life as we know it

Love This! Dancing to start labor!

The Way to Run

I am relatively new to the sport of running.  I have always found my exercise through the art of chasing balls. Basketball, football, baseball, volleyball, tennis, and even squash.  The ball, and the game, take your mind off the fact that you are running and moving and pushing yourself to exhaustion.  

The art of running  has no distraction. It's you, and your body and your mind, pounding down whatever surface you choose for the day.  There are no interactions to take your mind off what you are feeling.  No one calling a foul, no comradery or  trash talking to motivate you. It is a singular sport.  Even if you choose to run with others, you spend most of your time processing and evaluating your own personal pace, gate, and state of well being.  

It has taken time, but I have learned to enjoy running.  I'm not saying I love it, and practice it as a passion, as some of my friends do.  I'm saying that I finally understand the attraction. You can't escape yourself when you run. Music helps, but there is a mind body connection that can not be excused.  Pain, freedom, elation, free thinking, sadness, and sense of accomplishment are only a fraction of the emotions you feel.  

I asked a friend once what she thought about when she ran: She quietly replied, "everything."   Then quickly followed that statement with, "I also constantly think about turning around, or calling someone to pick me up!"  The art of the run, I think it's time to lace up.

For all you parents who run to stay in shape, or stay sane, or to get your kids out of the house with you : Here is a fascinating article I read this morning on running:  The Once and Future Way to Run