More coolness from recent weeks…
Soft books for babies go green
Since I've become a parent, my delight with Peter Rabbit has been replaced with a desire to give him a time out for eating Farmer Brown's veggies and disobeying his mama. He's figuring out how to win we me over again though, by going green with his new eco-friendly...
Shake, rattle and bark
I make no apologies about dissuading people from giving stuffed animals as baby gifts because the damn things just seem to spawn and multiply overnight. But I could easily make an exception when it comes to the gorgeous plush baby rattles that are a result of an...
Threadless + Childhood = BFFs
I have a giant soft spot in my heart for Threadless, already--my kids and I all wear the community-centered shop's artist designed shirts--but now there's one more reason to love them. Threadless Kids has recently teamed up with Babycenter to create the Threadless...
B Designs’ gorgeous letterpress birth announcements for twins just look expensive
I had three kids in under four years, but it's the parents who have twins who earn my respect for living with double the chaos. Maybe that's why I love B Designs' minimalist letterpress twins birth announcement which conveys the joy over the new arrivals without any...
Three cheers for custom pennants!
I used to love the show Happy Days--remember Arnold's and all the sports pennants hanging all over the walls? (You do remember Happy Days, right? I can't be that old.) I guess that's why I loved these personalized felt pennants from Kristine Kaye which made me feel so...
What’s the baby going to look like?
So you're pregnant, and every blurry black-and-white ultrasound photo of baby is up on the fridge, and you spend many a quiet moment imagining what your baby might look like. Will she have your eyes? His chin? That funny little dimple you get in the corner of your...
Backpacks and lunch boxes and monograms oh my.
So okay, we've been fawning over Dante Beatrix way too much lately. First it was their fabulous eco-backpacks made out of 100% recycled bottles which now come in little kid sizes. Then it was their adorable wheelie bags for kids. Next up it was their super cute BPA...
Back to school discount codes? Yep, we’ve got them.
Back to school shopping is rarely cheap (we know, we know) which is why we've made an effort to secure you mamas exclusive discounts on our back to school shopping guide. For starters:Our premier sponsor, Moxie Kids is offering $10 off orders of their fabulous kids'...
Invisibelt goes girly
We totally dug the Invisibelt when it first came out (seriously - half of our writers bought one and they all rave about it) because it lies flat and gets rid of that lumpy bumpy crazy stuff that goes on under your untucked shirt. And now, behold! For there is a an...
When is a stuffed animal not just a stuffed animal?
The only thing more impressive to us than an adorable handmade stuffed animal is one with an awesome do-gooding backstory. Like the one behind Kathy Chereck's "critters" at the shop Ashley Petite.When Kathy Chereck lost her grandson, Nicholas, to a rare medical...
Through the drinking glass
With my oldest daughter's recent transition from sippy cups to regular cups, I'm having to scrounge around for our collection of BPA-free IKEA plastic cups that tend to end up in our bath tub as play toys instead of filled with milk on our dinner table.So that's why...
Green: A great color for every baby
There's so much advice for new moms to wade through, and after being pregnant and told you can't eat spicy tuna rolls or a good brie for ten months, it would be easy to throw up your hands by the time you get around to choosing the safest, most earth-friendly fabric...
Cloth napkins for kids that don’t look like cloth napkins for kids
One of biggest and easiest green changes I made in our house was that I started using cloth napkins instead of paper. But it's amazing how hard it is to find cute cloth napkins for the kids, let alone ones that aren't so big they might as well have a whole table...
The post feminist princess crown
Despite the fact that we have managed to stay fairly clear of the princess movies, princess dress-up clothes, and princess storybooks around my place, my girls are still enamored of the whole princess thing. I give up! But if I do give up I want them to play Princess...
Baby steals – As in amazing deals, not stealing babies
We make no bones about loving cool stuff here at Cool Mom Picks, and while we'd love to sport every single thing we feature, we haven't yet won the lottery. So when we happen upon sites that let us snag the designer stuff at ridiculously cheap prices, we can't help...
An apple a day keeps the rat’s nest away
Oh happy day; it's taken four whole years and my daughter is at last allowing me to stick hair clips in her crazy hair - and not pulling them out four seconds later. In fact she seems to like them. (And I say this hesitantly knowing I'm probably jinxing it.) So I hit...
String dolls give you magical powers! Like the power not to buy a new backpack for school this year.
These days, not everyone wants (or needs) to spend money on a brand new backpack or lunchbox for the kids each school year. So I like the idea of finding those fun little doodads that help liven up backpacks and make them feel new again.If you're looking for a...
Music for families more into Natalie Merchant than Hannah Montana
There is no shortage of princess stuff around my two-daughter household, but that doesn't mean their CD collection needs to full of sickly sweet commercial voices. In fact, I'm thrilled that they love listening to Mary Kaye's Music Box, because her voice is so...
Bathtime products that take care of the worrying and the styling
It seems like every week there is a new list of chemicals that I should make sure are not in my family's bath products, and frankly it gets hard for me to keep track.But Original Sprout has got worried moms covered. They have a fabulous line of organic styling...
Big yellow school bus
Of all the things my homeschooled kids miss about not going "back to school" in the traditional sense, it's not having a daily ride on a school bus that ranks at the top. And now that they've caught site of this handmade Painted School Bus & Children toy at Ten...
A bib of a different stripe
As we mentioned in our back to school shopping guide (you have been to our back to school shopping guide, right?) stripes are huge for this fall. But they're not only for the school aged among us. At Australia's trendy Moppit clothing, I spotted the awesome striped...