can't live without... 12 - 15 months old

I sent a few of my previous "can't live without" posts to a soon-to-be mama friend today and thought I had better get a new list up here! Little S is now 15 months old. OMG. She's hilarious, precious and becomes the unofficial greeter ANYWHERE we go. This. Child. So social. It's amazing. The cutest thing ever.

Here she is in some snail pants I made this weekend.

She's my buddy now and so so much fun. I realize when I have a break from her, like right now, how much I enjoy her company! She's the best.

Ok, enough gushing over my kid. On to the list! Here and here are my two previous lists, for ages 0-6 months (and new mamas!) and 7-10 months. This list will cover 12-15 months and is very focused on eating. My little one is such an eater! We also like to eat out, so these things help make that possible.

First up, the Oxo bib. We use this almost everyday. That tells you how much we have been eating out this summer ;) I keep it in the diaper bag/backpack (more on that later) and use it mostly when we eat out or are away from home. The bottom trough catches so much food! We wind up wasting less and making quite a bit less of a mess at the restaurant. Highly recommend it. It comes in blue and pink, too.

Next up, while we are on the Oxo brand kick, the snack cup. This thing is brilliant. We put puffs or other cereal in here and Sienna can snack without making a huge mess. She carries it around herself now and it provides WHOLE MINUTES of peace in the car, at the dinner table while we are waiting for our food to come, at the grocery store. It's wonderful. I've realized the most important thing I can do as a parent right now is to always remember snacks. Seriously. It saves all of us. Get this. (It comes with a lid not pictured here, but that makes it even more spill proof when you throw it into your purse).

Speaking of your purse, this is mine now. I adore this. It's the Kanken Laptop backpack. This is our new diaper bag. I realized how annoying a shoulder bag became when my little one kept getting heavier and heavier. This thing is brilliant and not only frees up my arms to carry Sienna, but has a top snap-handle that can clip to the stroller AND has a back padded pocket where I can put my laptop. It is my new favorite way to travel through the airport. Laptop and all of little one's essentials all together. It's a heavy duty waxed canvas that will last forever, too. They make 3 different sizes to accomodate different laptops. They also make regular and mini-backpacks for kiddos. I will be getting Sienna one when she gets older. Leave it to the Swedes to make the perfect product.

Next up, the Boon Catch Plate. This plate is wonderful. It sticks really well to the highchair and the little spill catcher rolls quite a bit of food back onto the plate. It's pretty much Sienna's only dish right now. Wash and repeat. Every meal. Love this.

This is the Green Sprouts Aqua Bottle. This is a great bottle for water, fits very nicely in the side pocket of the Kanken backpack and is easy for little S to use. She was able to drink from this before any other cup, so we've loved it. The top flips over to enclose the straw, when not in use and we haven't had any spill problems with this one. 

My last item is not a product, but rather a class. We started Music Together classes in the spring semester and I wouldn't know what to do without them! They are weekly 45 min music classes you attend with your child(ren) and they couldn't be more fabulous. They invite ages 0-5 to participate with a parent or guardian attending as well. They are SO fun and educational. The focus is music for the whole 45 minutes. You get a CD of songs along with your class...you learn the songs and sing and dance along during the classes. The instructors lead class and encourage goofiness...parent participation in goofiness is a must! Sienna can sing and do hand motions to many of the songs already. It's amazing. BUT, the best part of this class is the magic of the songs. I can put these on any time that Sienna is fussy or unhappy and she immediately lights up. She claps and calms down. I can sing one of the songs she knows when she's trying to have a little fit and her focus switches. It's so wonderful. You can order some of the music on iTunes, but the classes are the real draw and are worth every penny. They offer them all around the country. It is priceless time with your little one.

Whew. I cannot believe I'm posting about my 15 month old. I know every parent is always amazed at how fast it goes, but wow. It does. I almost have a walker over here and I know life will change with that milestone quite a bit! Maybe our summer of eating out will be our last season of eating out for a while. Who knows, but I hope you find some of these things to be helpful for you and your kiddos or as gifts to a mama-to-be. (I just sent the bib, snack cup and plate to a preggo friend earlier this week!) If you have any items to share, please do! Happy end of summer friends. xo

can't live without...7-10 months

Yay! Another 'need for baby' list. I, too, thought "Oh, I won't overload my house with baby things" when I was pregnant. I still subscribe to that sentiment, but some things just make life easier = more time to actually spend with your baby = win win. Here are some of those things for us.

Baby Brezza (or similar) Baby Food Maker

This. Thing. It's amazing. Babies, at least mine, start eating a ton of food around this time! Wow. Sienna started slowly around 6 months, but now, at almost 10 months old, she's quite the eater! It may seem a little spendy to buy this, but trust me, it's worth it. You can steam and pureè the food all in one setting. It's very easy to clean, dishwasher safe, and doesn't take up much counter space. I do have a regular sized food processor, but it's SO overkill for baby food. I leave this out and use it daily to cook sweet potatoes, peas, carrots, apples, and a bunch of other fruits and veggies. I even made myself some quick cilantro pesto today for lunch! LOVE. Note: I purchased mine gently used on eBay. Through a mishap, they forgot my order and sent a new one to make up for it! Check out eBay!

Amazon Prime (for diapers, formula, dog food, etc.)

I do love buying local, but now is not the time to worry about killing myself to get to every mom and pop shop for all of our every day items. I'm sure most of you already have Prime, or at least order from Amazon, but 2-day shipping is WORTH IT. We get diapers, dog food, formula and many of my really good quality supplements/vitamins from Amazon. They come right to your door. It's given me so much more time to focus on cooking for Sienna, cleaning the house a bit better, writing a blog...Taking babies in and out of car seats to go to 5 different stores on a regular basis is just not worth it to me right now. Be sure to buy local produce though and support your farmers, then it balances out ;)

Boon Silicone Feeder

I mentioned the Munchkin Mesh Feeder in my previous post, what to get moms and babies 0-6 months postpartum.  I still love that thing, mostly now for putting frozen fruit in for Sienna to chew on when she's teething. The mesh feeder is pretty annoying to clean, though. We got this Boon feeder recently in our Citrus Lane box and I love it. It's so easy to clean and Sienna loves eating any kind of food from it: avocados, applesauce, blended fruits and veggies, etc. Fabulous.

Play Yard/ Foam Tiles/Safe Play Area 

So. I really wanted to be the Montessori mom, letting my child roam freely throughout our house exploring, learning and developing. All very fine and good...until you have to go to the bathroom, change the laundry in the icky-floored basement, have 2 seconds to yourself...imagine that! I love having a little setup in our living room where I know Sienna is safe to play when I'm out of the room for a minute. The foam tiles add a nice floor to her area, since we have wood floors. This gives her quite a bit more room to crawl than the traditional play pen. Judge if you will. Mama's happy and baby's safe.

I can't find them on Costco's website, but we got our 2' gray foam floor tiles for $12.99 in the store, half the price of some I ordered from Amazon.com.

Portable High Chair

We love our Inglesina. It travels well and is great for restaurants. We also took ours on vacation and it was wonderful to have. It takes up SO much less space than other high chairs and folds away into it's own little attached bag. Sienna is quite petite and fits so much better in this than the giant wooden chairs at most restaurants. The cover is washable and the seat is padded, making it more comfortable for her to sit in a for (a bit) longer. I also got this gently used on eBay. 2 thumbs up.

Someone to keep your baby!

We have been traveling a lot for the past 3 months, but now that the holidays are long past and we are back from our latest trip, I'm SO glad we found a sweet gal who is going to do some nannying for us. It's time, mamas. I'm ready to start doing more design work again and it's almost impossible to squeeze that plus housework plus cooking ALL into a couple of nap times...doable, definitely, but not easy.

What's also not easy at this point is taking Sienna to ANY appointments anymore. She's crawling these days, super social and does NOT want to hang out in that baby carrier while I'm seeing the doctor, chiropractor, etc. Rachel is only going to come here and there to stay with her, but I cannot tell you how freeing it is to think I might actually have time next week to go work at a coffee shop for a bit! Holy! I'm so excited. I know it's not always affordable, but even if you do it once a month, give yourself some time! Seriously. It's amazing. She was referred by a friend, so ask around to your friends who have kids just starting preschool. They may have just let go of a fabulous nanny!

Have any things to add to the list? I'd love to hear them! I can't believe little S is almost 10 months old. 1 year will be here in a flash. xo

Gift Ideas - What To Get New Moms, 0-6 months

The holidays are upon us! I thought I would write down some of my favorite mom and baby items before my mom-brain fuzzes everything up and I forget what they are. I know there are a ton of these lists, but this is the stuff that I really really found good/awesome/helpful/amazing.

There are SO many babies due next year in my circle of friends and family and I thought you might be dealing with the same. It would be great to give some of these as Christmas gifts for parents to have later when baby arrives! I'm giving away all of my secrets when it comes to buying for mom and baby, but I like to think I will dissuade some of you from buying things like this.

Birth/Postpartum 

Baby

Woombie

This thing is amazing. We didn't sleep a night without it after the first couple of weeks. It makes swaddling a non-issue and keeps baby snug without being too hot. This one with convertible sleeves looks perfect (wish we had known to get this version!) because at some point they will want their arms free. 

Stay-With-Me Socks

They actually stay on. There are little velcro strips on the back that go around the heel. Amazing. And you can velcro them together for washings. They thought of everything.

Como Tomo Bottle
This was the first bottle we used with Sienna and it worked great. Someone gave us this one and I love it. It has a very natural shape and is easy to clean.

Mama

Haircut!
A gift certificate to her favorite salon. Yes. Do it. At around 1 month postpartum it is amazing to get your hair done. Trust me. (This picture is me when S was 3 months. Yes, I got my hair done then, too.)

Best Leggings Ever
If you're close enough to the mom-to-be to buy her leggings, these from American Apparel are the best, for pregnancy and after. And really just for anybody. I'm on my 4th pair of these. They are just the right thickness (not too thick, not too thin) and they hold in the belly. They are perfect. And it's SO nice to have a better alternative to yoga pants.

A fun new pair of shoes for walking
Mama won't feel like it right at first, but soon she will be ready to get out with baby and hit the sidewalk/park/trail, etc. In my opinion, shoes always help you feel better/cooler/less blobby. I suggest a gift certificate to Zappos.com or something, because then she won't have to leave the house to order them, but, I'm also all about buying local when you can, so a GC to a cool shoe store nearby would also be good. If you know her size, buy something fun that coordinates with the time of year she will be out and about. For me, bright sneakers were in order for the early summertime here in Portland, but if S had been born around now, some great Tretorn rain boots would have been great!

2 - 4 months

Baby

Footed PJ's

These are great at any age, but having plenty for the transition out of the swaddle is essential. When babies are tiny most of them love being swaddled or wrapped up most of the time. When they get a little bigger and start playing on a play mat, etc. it's so nice to have plenty of footed PJs. You don't have to keep up with socks and you can let them stay in them all day long around (or out of) the house :)

Carter's makes GREAT footed PJs in a variety of fabrics, patterns, and designs. This is our favorite pair right now.

Thigh-high socks
So, because they won't always be in footie pj's, here are some socks that work. Sienna's little legs weren't fat enough until around 3-4+ months to hold these up, but they are amazing socks that stay on and, with a onesie, don't require pants if it's warm enough. They make diaper changing a breeze and come in super cute patterns. Rock-a-thigh.com is where you can purchase them (not a great website) and they also have a store locator to find somewhere locally that stocks them. I just ordered these in River for Sienna :)

Mama

Gift certificate to a workshop, store, or 1 day class, something to foster/encourage one of her hobbies

Mamas get lost in the diaper changing, feeding, laundry, house cleaning, going back to work, grocery shopping...and they don't get much time for their hobbies. Give her a reason to get back to something she loves to do. Buy a pass to a postpartum yoga class, send her to the local knit shop with a gift certificate, coordinate a special/quick book club meeting at a time that is convenient for her, whatever it is you can do to give her a little special time to be creative, active or engaged in something other than folding tiny baby laundry. It's so true that a happy mama makes everybody else happy.

4 - 6 months

Baby

Munchkin Mesh Teether

We just started using one of these and it's great. Not only can baby feed herself with this, but when you put frozen or cold fruits/veggies in it it helps with teething pain. It's shown here with a little food mill, a great alternative if you don't want to invest in one of these, but I can definitely vouch for the awesomeness of the baby food maker.

Sleep Sacks
These are so wonderful when baby isn't in the swaddle/Woombie, etc. anymore. It's still unsafe to put them to sleep with a blanket, but these take care of the need for an extra layer. Be sure to consider time of year and the size baby will be when you purchase one of these. 

Aiden & Anais Muslin Sleeping Bag

This one is great for warmer weather.

Skip Hop Airflow

A version in a bit heavier fabric is great for cooler climates. And this one is super cute :) Halo also makes a variety of sleep sacks, some even have velcro swaddle panels for when you are transitioning out of the swaddle.

Stable Floor Seat (Bumbo or otherwise)

When S was super little, I worried that I had gotten sucked into buying another needless item, but by the time she was around 5 months old, she started LOVING her seat. We have one made by Mama and Papas with a tray. Bumbo, of course, makes a great seat as well. These seats help them develop important stomach muscles for being able to sit up on their own. We keep ours in the kitchen and Sienna loves to play with Mattie and watch me make dinner from hers. It's also great to feed her in because it's all wipeable. Perfect.

Mama

Clothing store gift cards

Unless they are an exercise fanatic, your mama may still be feeling a little blobby 4-6 months postpartum. It is a hard time for fashion, people. It's seriously rough. So, provide the mama in your life a gift card to her favorite store, better one that has reasonable prices because she probably hopefully won't be in this size for too long. I know I keep saying gift certificates, but in these cases they really are thoughtful and welcomed. Even better, babysit for her, too, so she can go try a few things on without baby crying and she will come home feeling refreshed and like a hottie again! Have her check out the fabulous blog Ain't No Mom Jeans for wonderful mama fashion inspiration, provided by the amazing Shana. LOVE her.

House cleaning services

These are nice for ANY time after having a kid and early-on is wonderful, but depending on what time of year baby is born, it might be great to think of saving this gift for later (ie. we are in the holiday season right now and it'd be amazing to have someone clean the house before or after we are gone. Coming back to a clean house is SO nice, but packing and planning seem to take up most of mama's time when baby is sleeping!) You might also think about giving this for a time when the weather is bad. Once rainy season hits here in Portland it's mud/leaf/rain craziness and it sure would be nice to have someone else do the floors for once. :)

Again, these things were very very helpful to Sienna and I and were not gimmicky items. I hope you find this list unique and that it helps you provide essentials to your friends and family! Happy giving! xo

sewing for baby - 5 easy nursery projects

If you've been following the blog recently, you'll notice this knitter has been bitten by the sewing bug. I thought I would pull together one post in which I gather all of the easy, cute projects I've made recently.

Here are the reasons why sewing for the nursery has been so rewarding:

1. Cute nursery items are expensive! And you need a lot of them (ie. multiple crib sheets, changing pad covers, etc.) Though I've spent some $ on cute fabrics, I've saved us quite a bit and some of my fabrics have been from thrifted items, even more savings!

2. I'm picky about designs, patterns, fabrics, colors. Most of the affordable nursery items just aren't gonna cut it for this mom who makes her living as a graphic designer (and who repainted the living room of our rental house the first week we moved in because I couldn't stand the color :)

3. Sewing allows me to sit for a bit, get up and iron or cut, and sit back down. Knitting requires sitting for long periods which has not been comfortable in these last few weeks (I'll be 36 weeks on Sunday!)

Thanks to the plethora of great tutorials out there, via Pinterest of course, I have managed to find wonderful instructions to guide me through making many of these useful projects. Trust me, I am not an expert seamstress in any way, but just powering through some of these things (and not being too particular that every detail is perfect) has allowed me to create so many custom nursery items in just a few weeks.

For these first projects, many of my fabrics came from Hawthorne Threads. Such lovely fabrics!

Boppy Cover

Tutorial here

Wet Bag

Tutorial here
Combined it with this GREAT zipper pouch tutorial 

Changing Pad Cover

Tutorial here

Crib Sheet (for mine I used a thrifted twin sized sheet)

Tutorial here
And I zig zagged the corners as suggested here

Simple Zipper Pouch (I used the leftover squares from my changing pad for this bag! I plan to use this for my phone and other small things inside the diaper bag)

Tutorial here (same one as above)

And here are a couple of things I've made, not using online tutorials:

Swaddle Blanket (Found this AMAZING vintage fabric remnant at the thrift store)

For this project I just pieced together the remnants to create an (almost) 42" square. I was a little shy, but mostly plan to use this as a light blanket and to wrap our Baby Bird in for her newborn pictures. 

Kimono Tops (I used vintage pillow cases for these)

This pattern is from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. Beware, there are errors in early editions. Also, the instructions are a little tricky when it comes to sewing on the ties and the binding.

There you have it! Whew. I didn't realize I had made so many things in the last few weeks. I hope you'll try some! These are all quick projects and would be SUCH nice baby shower gifts, if you don't have a little one of your own. Happy Sewing ♥

new items in the Etsy shop!

So, in addition to quite a few knitting patterns, I've now added a few handmade goods to my Etsy shop. Perfect for gifts for a variety of occasions, these pincushions and cocktail napkins will add a nice little vintage touch to any home :) Check out the shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/redribbonfoxknits

Goodwill strikes again... my awesome find

Goodwill strikes again... my awesome find
Originally uploaded by elletrain

Yay! A new coat for $6! It's from Sears, back in the 70's. Love this. I've been looking for one for a while. I didn't find much else at Goodwill today, but this was an awesome purchase. I also bought a couple of books at the bookstore today for Christmas gifts. When all else fails, buy books. You know some people are very difficult to buy for and I feel like it should almost be required to send out a Christmas wish list to all of your family so they know what to get you. In fact, I will send one out to my family right now! I think it will include:

-gift certificate to purlsoho.com OR knit-purl.com, or to Bliss Yarns, my local yarn shop
-anything from the home section of Anthropologie (esp. if there's a bird on it)
-a list of some of my favorite sellers on etsy.com (including matteart, sarahearn, and chezsucrechez)

...and maybe a gift card to Goodwill...hahahaha!

Help your family out...send them a wishlist!