Product Watch: Rock-a-My-Baby on a Door Top

We love ingenuity around here at Gigi’s Crib and this new crib by Swedish company Mawok has definitely met our high standards!  It seems babies would naturally embrace this bed… smooth rocking motion to remind them of momma’s belly, soft padded mattress and the added convenience of hooking up right next to your bed for nightly feedings and cuddling. Ahh…who could ask for more?

Here is the product description from the company:

“Soft hammock

A soft and enfolding hammock is a prerequisite for the baby to lie safely when Mawok smoothly rocks up and down, and in addition we know that babies like sleeping snugly. Furthermore, although no known cure for SIDS exists so far, pediatricians recommend back sleeping, and in Mawok babies lie safely on their back, the SIDS recommended position. The mattress is made out of styrofoam, measuring 29 x 78 cm, with a cotton canvas cover (washable at 60 degrees Centigrades).

Suspension

Two new modes of suspension are offered, one permanent which is attached to the wall and one mobile which is simply hung over a door. The mobile solution is a safe and neat solution which is easy to suspend in new places, a solution unique to Mawok. The hammock is easily and quickly alternated between the two modes of suspension. This means that your baby always sleeps in its ”own” bed, day and night and even if the place changes.”

My only concern would be what if someone opens the door and you have the baby hooked up on the inside? It’s not very idiot proof and I am not sure if this will get approved in the US. No pun intended, but I can just see how this can go wrong if unattended or if attached to unsafe locations.

I wish they would come up with one of these for adults! And it even comes with a mosquito net so you can hang your baby from a tree for a good nap in the park.

What do you think about this product?

If you own one, what can you tell us about it?

Peekaru? Who? Baby Carrier or Baby Cover? What is it?

For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how this thing worked!!! I hated anything resembling a baby carrier when my daughter was born and when I saw this, I was really intrigued. It seems like other baby carriers on the market were more tortuous than breast feeding. Did I mention my daughter was born at 10lbs 02 oz and measured 21 inches long with a 15 inch head circumference?

Yeah, I thought you would sympathize.

Anyway, so my sister is 38 weeks pregnant now, and I am looking for a good baby carrier for her so I can inflict some additional pain on her innocent ignorance of what’s coming next ….. (insert evil laughter here), and came across this Peekaru baby carrier/cover.

At first I thought it was the carrier itself not just a sweater to go over it.

Then I thought it was some kind of Sigourney Weaver/Alien joke.

Then I thought, it actually looked promising. I thought it was like a big sweatshirt with a huge pocket where you stick the baby. (You know like a kangaroo type of thing.)

Then I realized, it couldn’t possibly be sturdy enough to support the baby’s weight so there had to be some other contraption underneath where the baby would sit.

Indeed there is.  And let me tell you…for those of us who HAVE attempted to insert an infant into one of these contraptions —- HAHAHAH (evil laugh again), Good Luck to all you chickies out there!

It does seem like a good idea though for keeping baby warm if you are the outdoorsy type and like hiking, running, shopping or have a sadomasochistic streak in ya! Guuurrr….Me? I prefer something called a stroller. You know, it’s got wheels and you can push it around. You should check it out. I save the S&M for the bedroom.

I wish I had one of these to test out so I can give you a play by play review….maybe I’ll get one for my unsuspecting sister as a new baby gift?!? HAHAHA! (pure evil)

If anyone wants to send me the Peekaru to a full review, please contact us here.

Blocking the bar : Breastfeeding Covers

 So with three toddlers to chase, and a baby to feed this all is going to add up to disaster. I can just see myself trying to push a cart at Target, feeding the baby, and screaming at the other three to PAY ATTENTION. Then I will probably have Max and Ty lifting the blanket I am desperately trying to cover my “girly bits “with. I am thinking using just a little blanket to cover myself is soooo not going to work.  I just ordered a  Peanut Shell Breastfeeding Cover and I think it is pretty rad. I feel all hippie chic pregnant. It is defintely great to have it attached so that I have an extra hand free and don’t have to try to move around to keep the blanket up. Been there, done that with the twins and it did NOT work out. I flashed more people breastfeeding than a stripper at a peep show (and I didn’t get a buck out of it!)  I LOVE LOVE LOVE their hippie dippie slings (Baby Bjorn STINKS!!). The patterns are so damn cute, and not queer.  Oh my God Kate Hudon is sooo going to want to be ME.

Bring in the Bird: Stork Baby Shower

I am telling you all right now,  if I make it to 30 weeks  I will be so thrilled I will be  throwing myself my own baby shower!!

So I have been looking at baby shower themes (you know so I can mercilessly drop hints  to family and friends) Listen, I don’t CARE if this is my 9th kid…I am having a damn shower if my ass is big enough to waddle into one at 30+ weeks.  If I make it, this will be the first time I have ever gone to term so it will be really exciting.

I am thinking I like the idea of a stork. I know it is a little cheesy but I think if it is done really simply, that it could be very classic and Hollywood chic. I have a LOT to do for this party for myself . From the baby shower favors to the decorations to the menu and baby gifts themes and baby gift baskets, I have so much to think about and plan. Cause you know my Type A personality could not stand it if I have a shower and it is anything less than so perfect.

So here is a unique idea on how to create a stork baby shower cake I found :

The ingredients you will need:

Two 9-inch round cakes and one 13by9 ich cake, cooled.  Prepare the cakes from packaged mixes.
Three 16 ounce cans white forsting.
Yellow and red food coloring
1 Large marshmallow
1 Blue M&M
Fabric baby sling

Carefully remove the cakes from the pans. Wrap each cake in plastic wrap and freeze the cakes for 1 hour to  make for easier cutting and fewer crumbs. Remove the plastic wrap from the cakes. Cut the cakes in two circles, and other shapes to create the body parts of the stork. and place the pieces on a cake board that measures at least 32 by 22 inches. Mix yellow and red food coloring into 2 cups of frosting and use the orange frosting to color the stork’s beak, legs and feet. Decorate the rest of the stork’s body with white frosting. To make the eye, cut the marshmallow in half and nestle the M&M into the top of one half. Set the eye in place on the stork’s head. Complete the cake by positioning a fabric baby sling from the stork’s beak.

This recipe makes 24 servings.

Now of course I will need to multiply it by 4 because…hello?!…this baby is the most important one in the world and at LEAST 100 people will come to my shower.  But seriously  let’s pretend for one minute 1. I can bake, 2. I would actually bake something instead of getting it catered, and 3. Ultimately select a stork theme – pretty cute right!?

Tags: Stork+Baby+Shower+Theme+Cake+Idea, baby+shower+favors, baby+gifts, baby+gift+baskets

Saving Memories with Baby Keepsakes (Daughter-in-laws beware)

Saving Memories with Baby Keepsakes

No matter how sentimental you are, or aren’t you will regret it if at some point you don’t have little tokens from this babyhood that passes in a blink. Trust me, I am about as unsentimental as they come. My wedding photographer was mortified I only had two pictures of my husband and I to put in our wedding video, even though we had been together for 2 years. I guess I am just not that kind of sentimental freak with the camera but EVEN I have memory boxes for my children.  If nothing else I have them just to show my sons when my daughter-in-laws tell them what a horrible mother I was/am. (See I may not be sentimental but I am strategic!)

So, I have sold you but you are not sure how you will preserve the early moments of your pregnancy and your baby’s birth, as well as the first few precious years of their life?  If you are lacking ideas on how to go about saving the right moments or looking for great keepsake baby gifts, here are some suggestions.

Starting with the pregnancy months, there are some important moments you might want to keep special.  Starting with the moment when it all began, (no, not that moment!) the positive pregnancy test.  You can either clean and save it or better yet take a great photo of it for your baby scrapbook.  The next memory to come is your first ultrasound image.  There are many holders and frames that will accommodate your coming addition or additions.  It’s great to keep them up early on in the pregnancy to remind all in the household that your new arrival is coming.

As the due date approaches, it will be a good time to start putting together some baby keepsake pieces.  You may not have the energy or brainpower to plan these things later.  One of the first memories after you baby’s birth to save is your baby’s hospital bracelet.  There are really nice shadow box id bracelet baby picture frames that can save both first picture and bracelet.  Having a baby’s memory box is also a way of saving precious items.  Baby’s first cap, outfit home, first rattle, first tooth and curl set, and birth certificate holder are just a few of the items that can be kept and stored in the box. I found if I kept the box in an easy to reach location it helped a lot. If I had to climb up a ladder or dig through piles of stuff to get to it, I would just throw stuff away or loose it before it made it to the box.

If your religion is an important part of your life, make a keepsake out of baby’s first cross, bible, christening or baptism outfit.

Great baby gift ideas for gift givers can choose to buy that special gift of memories buy getting items like baby scrapbooks, first piggy banks, monogram baby blanket, first teddy bear. I have to say I am huge convert on the piggy bank idea. I used to be unsure if that was a great gift but I have to say my daughter LOVES having her own little place to keep money, it is not a peice of junk that just sits on a counter – it has purpose, and eventually it will teach her the concept of money. Fun little tip : If you receive more than one piggy bank don’t be quick to regift! As my daughter gets older we are teaching her the important of having one bank for saving money, one bank for spending money, and a third little bank for money to give to charity (or as she calls it “poor children”).

I often imagine myself on the eve of my son or daughter’s wedding pulling out these boxes and sobbing as I look at their little shoes or bibs or belly button (Just kidding: EW do NOT save that!).  But seriously, even if you are not the sentimental type, make the effort to save these little treasures, in the long run (like 6 months later when your baby is totally different) I am sure you will be happy you did.

Baby Showers: (Not so much of a) Suprise!!

It seems like pretty much everyday I am opening up the mailbox to find a pale colored invitation announcing yet ANOTHER baby shower. It used to be that from that moment forward ever single time I talked to the Honoree, I would feel like I had to watch everything I said. Panic would ensue everytime their baby was brought up, I would break into a small sweat as I left that person, terrified of saying something stupid like “See you next weekend”. In fact, I would find myself almost avoiding the topic of baby, baby items, etc. with that person just out of fear of being the ass that ruined the suprise. And frankly, I never really enjoyed that kind of pressure, but now something even worse has happened – now it doesn’t matter because the “suprise” has been eliminated. Okay, okay since most of us registered for a shower it is not like we don’t know we are going to get one, and 99% of the time, we are not suprised anyway, but isn’t there something to be said for pretending.?!

I know we were all going through the motions – right up through the shower when you would get asked 100 times – “Did you know!?” and you would swear up and down you had NO IDEA because your mother ALWAYS insisted three months in advance you would have tea at the nicest resturant in town, but isn’t there something to be said for it all? I mean are we sooo jaded that we are above the cheesy, “pretend-to-be-suprised so our mothers/friends feel like they did a good job routine”? Nothing was more depressing than asking my friend what she wanted for her shower, when I would see her that weekend, or the fact that one of my friends MADE HER OWN INVITATIONS AND SENT THEM OUT even though it was technically her mom that was hosting. It was like knowing the name and gender of my friends’ babies before they are boring.  So few things in life are a suprise, I would like to veto all non-suprise baby showers. With this in mind,  going forward, I am going to continue to act as if their shower is a suprise. Literally, if they bring it up I am going to say things like “what shower?” or “Your pregnant?!” – Hey they may not end up being suprised but at least they will be confused. And afterall aren’t those at least close enough??

Great Baby Gift Ideas

So now that my friends are striving hard to see who can populate the Earth with more of their spawn, I am in desperate need of NUMEROUS great baby gifts.

In the beginning we were so in awe of the fact that one of us was pregnant, that ANY gift would do. (Although I DID get some funny looks when I gave the mom-to-be a martini set but hey, these were my pre-baby days;  A time when i thought someone facing a small, stressful little person would certainly need a drink more than a wipe warmer.) But now that we are sooo over the smallness of the little shoes, or the fact that one of us is mature enough to have PLANNED to have a baby, I need to step it up.

Mostly, I think as we have become a little bit more um….seasoned (read:opinionated, demanding, etc.) about baby gifts, I feel a different sense of pressure to get something a little special or different.

Here are a couple of ideas of what I am trying to do for my NINE MILLION upcoming baby showers:

Memory Related Gifts

Memories last forever – One of the best gifts you can give a family with a new baby or a baby on the way is a gift that will help them preserve the memory of this special time for the rest of their lives.  Gifts such as Keepsake boxes, baby handprint/footprint picture frames, or birth certificate holders will certainly be a gift of a lifetime.

Customized Baby Gift Baskets

Baby gift baskets – Most baby gift baskets are theme oriented and can be personalized with the new baby’s name to create a thoughtful gift with low effort.   Frogs, strawberries, all-stars, and princesses are just a few of the many themes that you can by baskets around.  You can also shop by need.  For example you can by baskets for bathtime, mealtime, or sleepytime.  Baskets make great baby shower gifts too, because there are many starter set types of baskets to help the new parents get on their feet.

Fashion Statement – If you are going to go the clothing route, try to find some statement pieces that will make them remember that this was a gift given with care.  Instead of the normal boring clothes why not get a bit more clever like a little onsie with a “Dinner is on me!” slogan, or a tie-dyed one for your hippy friends.  Clothing can be fun you just have to want to hunt down the perfect pieces.

The almighty dollar 

Honestly at this point sometimes I think weither they should be buying pink or blue, GREEN is the best gift. Afterall how ARE they going to afford Harvard when their kid gets in because of all that Mozart they have been listening to in utero?  A card with a check or cash inside will definitely be appreciated by your friends and family.  But we give gifts in part to reflect the amount of interest we have in the people we buy them for.  Perhaps filling out the check in the car before going to the party was convenient, but does it show the love and care you have for the person you are giving it to?  If not, then consider financial gifts like savings bonds and stocks as great alternatives.  They might not remember the check in the envelope you gave them, but they will always know who gave them the Apple stock that’s been growing in value since he was a little boy.

Now if you are also (like me) HOSTING eight out of the nine million showers you are going to, be on the look out for my blog about  baby shower favors ,  and centerpieces article on the horizon.

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