by Whitney
If you already know the answer to this analogy, then pardon my ignorance, but for the rest of you, the answer is: Crazy 8. I just learned this.
Yes, Gymboree has launched a cheaper, hipper brand and my husband just told me about it as he unpacked some clothing for our kids he had bought online from Crazy 8. Hello? How does he know about a new kids brand before I do? Oh, because he is the master of e-commerce?
Anyhow, shipping is currently free and they have some 2-for deals like 2 tshirts for $12.
Note to Heather whose daycare does not allow onesies on babies: Many long-sleeved t shirts for Milo like the one pictured here which is $4.99.
And, for the fancy pants moms among you, did you know that Janie and Jack is the Banana Republic of the Gymboree family? Well, I didn’t until just now. Call me slow.
by Heather
To compensate for my pro-carryout post, I want to admit that I cook at home a fair bit. I have a few links, tips and tricks to share:
- I really like the The Best 30-minute Recipe (even though it’s more like best 90 minute recipe with a toddler and a baby around) so we try to work those in as often as practical. Once every week or two.
- I’m also a huge fan of the scramble, but how many times can I write about that? Besides, that really works best if you commit to it one week (5 dinners) at a time.
- Eggs!!! I confess I wish I could cook scrambled eggs every night so I’m working on perfecting my frittata so I can do just that and have it be a little fancier. Throw in some bagged spinach and a chopped vegetable (tomato, mushroom, peas?!), and add panko breadcrumbs before cooking in the oven for a few minutes. Mine are Ugly, but they taste fine and Holden doesn’t care.
- 101 meals ready in 10 minutes or less from the NY Times shared by our friend Sunny. Some of these look super simple and some kind of weird so let me know what you think.
- Creamy garlic shrimp fettucine in under 20 minutes from Karen’s aunt Julie — Get the frozen big ones and keep them on-hand for a fast dinner but do not peel your own; it’s icky and time consuming. I’m trying this recipe next week.
And these tips are not fast fast, but help you get dinner on the table quick if you plan ahead a bit:
- Crock Pot night — especially good when all you have to do is chuck stuff in the pot and come home to a meal. I made some shlock last week requiring about 16 hours of prep plus two overnights. I took some logical (to me) short cuts and the resultant chili was inedible. Oops.
- Double your recipe. Freeze half then serve your family. Schedule (and label) the leftover so you don’t forget about it.
by moms
We have a friend. She’s cool — you’d like her. She has a funny food blog and a funny design blog and an awesome business for mail-order-subscription tee shirts from famous and up-and-coming designers.
>> mailboxtees.com:: t-shirts in your mailbox
>> offthemeathook.com:: lifestyles of the carnivorous & fabulous
>> blog.mailboxtees.com:: design+art+shopping
Karen’s not a mom but a really cool auntie and when she stumbles upon quirky products or fun activities for little kids and babies, she shares them with us.
And we totally forgot to tell you that we invited her to write a few guest posts for us before posting one of them. Oops!
Heather asked her to do this as a favor to us and to keep our posts fresh and tasty, so go buy a year’s worth of shirts. Thanks.
by Whitney
Fooey sale alert! Friends, this stuff is totally cute and at reasonable prices you don’t typically see at indie boutiques. In fact, the homepage promises that nothing’s over fifteen dollars. This awesome octopus-playing-instruments tshirt is ten bucks. As a mom of a boy, I am so over the truck-train-sports-themed-dog appliqued clothing. Bring on the creative screenprinted baby clothes!
This faux argyle t-shirt brought to my attention by My Mom Shops. Girl stuff at fooey includes tank dresses and peasant-style tunics with hand-drawn style animals.
by Whitney
Sometimes Heather and I worry that we are making assumptions about our readers’ lifestyles that aren’t true. We assume everyone lives in a place like we live, where you can walk to a dry cleaner, corner markets, and to some pretty great destinations if you are willing to push a stroller for 15 or 20 minutes.
I’m guessing she thinks my location is better than hers (we live 1.6 miles apart), but this morning as my family and I had breakfast in Heather’s ‘hood, we were saying that they scored a pretty great location. And, according to WalkScore.com, her house is actually more walkable than ours.
Check out the site. It might make you appreciate some close by businesses you never thought to frequent. That’s how I’m feeling right now.
Ok, I’m supposed to be honest. How I’m really feeling right now is guilty because I told Ryan not to go running until Scarlett wakes up so he can give her a bottle so that I can feel like she takes a bottle and go somewhere without her. But oddly, she decided to take her longest nap of the week — two and a half hours. I can’t win. He could have gone on a thirty minute run 5 times already.
by Heather
You may already be an activist.
What do you do when you can only finish half your sandwich? If you’re among the many that put it gently back in its paper bag and place it on top of a garbage can hoping that the someone hungry and needy will know to pick it up before it blows away or gets trashed… then this replate movement is for you.
From the site, you can download logos to make something groovy.
Or you can get free stickers to place on said paper bag.
Send a SASE to:
Replate.org
513 Valencia St. Suite 11
San Francisco, CA 94110
Neat idea? Or nasty one?
[As seen on Daily Candy]
by Heather
How can I put this delicately? Sometimes when you’re pregnant and you have to pee all the time, you just can’t make it home. Or sometimes, after you’ve recently given birth…
Enter MizPee, a funny little web service for when you gotta go on the go.
Want to try MizPee?
Send as a text message your city and state (e.g. “Berkeley, CA”) to the following number: 415-350-2290.
Results include cleanliness ratings, whether purchase is necessary, and if there are diaper changing facilities. Yay!
If only this service could help me when I just sneeze or cough unexpectedly too. Sorry, was that indelicate?
[as seen on Daily Candy SF]
by Heather
Now daddies can share their secrets with each other — and, anonymously, with us too. Check out TrueDadConfessions.com. Shocking and hard to turn away from.
by moms
Light Iris is a recently launched search engine for new moms. Before it launched, when all we could see was the blog of the founder, we were intrigued because he is a man wearing a pregnancy belly in order to gain empathy for pregnant women. He has kids already, so he and Whitney were in the same sisterhood of being pregnant while caring for someone else. Now, with the search function available to the public, our attention has turned to the utility of the site.
We were both immediately irritated when typing in LightIris.com because there is a flash intro. Here’s hoping this is not a long term design decision for Light Iris. The last thing we want to do when searching is wait for a branding message to flash and dance around. This is why Google is so popular. No. Frills. Search engines need flash intros like a fish needs a bicycle. And speaking of Google, the Light Iris engine IS Google, but the search results are limited to parenting sites. Here’s where the value lies, according to its founder.
You can all guess what kind of results you might get if your Google search includes the word “nipples”. On Light Iris, however, the results will be relevant only to parenting-related sites that mention nipples, hopefully closer to what you are looking for than a site dedicated to Lindsay Lohan’s nipples.
For us, it is hard to see the true value of this, because we typically use multiple words in searches so that they are not ambivalent. Would someone really search on “sleep” when what they want is “sleep training”? Would you search on “nipples” if you want to learn about “cracked nipples” or “Avent nipples”? If so, Light Iris might be the best place to start. Click on the pink lettering below.
Heather called Light Iris “too much special sauce and not enough meat.” When she searched for “cracked nipples” and “sleep training” on both Google and Light Iris, the Google results were faster (no flash intro) and more were listed on a single page. So, it kinda depends on how focused you want it to be vs. how much digging you want to do.
Try it for yourself and let us know.
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We’re just two people. Well, two and a half people. See what other Parent Bloggers think of Light Iris.
by moms
I’m struggling with this myself. Is it possible to earn a little money from home while I’m being mom at the same time?
Holden has childcare in our home weekdays until 2pm. Milo has me for childcare 24/7. And that childcare costs $$ so I’m looking around for little extra sompn-sompn (something something, is that better?).
This fantastic list of 94 Ways to work from home with little ones compiled by Wendy from emomsathome.com is a good reference for now and the future.
Suggestions include productivity tips for working smarter and activities to keep kids busy with minimal intervention. Unfortunately, my guys are a little small to expect to get much of anything done. Luckily, Milo has me up a few times each night, so I can work Asian business hours. 
