For some reason, there has been a mini baby boom over the past few years, and no less than five people I know are currently expecting.  That’s a lot of babies, which turns into a lot of baby showers to attend.  And because I love my friends, I will suck it up and grudgingly gladly play umpteen games of “Baby Bingo” and guessing how many diaper pins are in the jar.

Baby registries are highly popular, but sometimes new mothers don’t know what they need.  They think they know what they need, but they really don’t.  How do I know? Because I was one of them. 

So, that is where Glinda steps in to help to find you the best of the best.

Diaper Dekor Plus Diaper Disposal System

If the mom-to-be is using disposable diapers, this is the way to go. A bit more expensive than the Genie, it is a similar but improved version.  As an added bonus, you can operate it with one hand.

Petit Appetit Cookbook: Easy, Organic Recipes to Nurture Your Baby and Toddler

I like this book because it doesn’t stop at recipes for only babies, it continues with meals for toddlers. This greatly increases its versatility, and new moms need all the versatility they can get! 

Built NY Double Thirsty Tote

This neoprene holder allows you to strap on two feeding bottles, sippy cups, cans, or whatever onto pretty much anything, anywhere.  Also comes in black, pink, and blue.

(more…)

One of the very first gifts we received when our son was born was the Munchkin Magic Mozart Cube.  I am a big fan of classical music, so I was intrigued by this toy and wondered if my son would like it.

I shouldn’t have worried, he absolutely loved it.

Each side of the cube has a large button for six different instruments. When you press the button, that instrument begins to play one of five pre-selected Mozart songs.  The side also lights up in synchronization with the instrument, if my memory serves me correctly.   As you press different instruments, they join together to form a more orchestral effect, and you can add or delete instruments at will.

Babies are utterly fascinated with this toy, and older children are drawn to it as well.  I mean, who doesn’t like music?

I was reading some of the reviews on Amazon, and a person who is some sort of sound engineer criticized almost every aspect of this toy, from the supposedly lousy sound quality to wondering what the agenda was behind the selected musical pieces.  Is it suddenly a bad thing to expose your offspring to some of the less-recognizable Mozart tunes?  And yes, the quality isn’t exactly that of a Bose sound system, but it’s good enough.  So to crabby engineer person I say, relax, it’s a frickin toy!  No need to get all engineer-y and anal on us.   I might add that the negative review was in the minority, to say the least.

The toy is fairly heavy and well-constructed, but unfortunately it was unable to withstand the G-forces delivered by a three year old who threw it at our entertainment center, where it promptly hit one of the sharp corners (of course!) and died shortly thereafter.  The Munchkin was very unhappy the toy was broken, but it was a good lesson to learn about treating things we like with care rather than using them as projectiles.  At least, that is what I tried to tell myself.

I highly recommend this toy to anyone with a young child in their life.  Oh, and it just so happens to be on sale at Amazon!

I was out enjoying the fresh air a couple of days ago, and I noticed a mom carrying her newborn in a Bjorn.

But what really caught my eye were these fabulous faux fur baby booties by MiniMink.  Listen, that baby’s feet looked so cute dangling out of her carrier, I wanted to eat them.  And I am not normally an ooogie-ooogie type of person over babies.  Well, over my own, but not really anyone else’s.   So it’s saying a lot that I sort of started to drool.