More coolness from recent weeks…
Get a green start to your Earth Day
This year for Earth Day, instead of confusing my four year-old son with talk of his "carbon footprint," I plan to mark the day by sharing the four age-appropriate "Green Start" board books from Innovative Kids. The adorable soy-based ink illustrations seem to pop off...
The Swedish Invasion – Polarn O. Pyret hits the states and parents everywhere rejoice
For more than 30 years, Swedish kids have been lucky enough to frolic around their IKEA furniture in the iconic stripey clothes from Polarn O. Pyret. And now we've just learned that they're primed for a massive US takeover in 2010, but lucky us, we can start ordering...
Even ye olde fashioned dolls are going organic
Someone gave my son an old-fashioned yo-yo. (As soon as I figure out who it was, I'm going to hurt them. Or at least ask them to spackle the new dents in my walls.) But a yo-yo doll has nothing to do with yo-yos -- it's actually a classic quilter's doll made out of...
Video game rentals for the Wii junkies among us (ahem)
When we finally joined this century and got a Wii, the kids received a pile of games over the holidays from family. And do you suppose that the most expensive games--the ones the kids begged for for months--are the ones that they play the most? Of course not.No...
Baby blankets that are soft on the eyes, skin and wallet
We're not usually big pastel gals around here, but looking at the Cover Me baby blankets spotted at Little Milk Junkie you can see why we made an exception.These super soft, cuddly, knit cotton stroller blankets are made in the US by two moms, and come in sweet...
The most charming necklaces for Mother’s Day
I'm not one to wear a lot of jewelry -- -heck, I don't even own an engagement ring -- but I still love unique, sentimental items, which is why the one-of-a-kind custom charm necklaces from Heart & Stone Jewelry would totally make my Mother's Day.The cool thing...
The awesome Omni Kids Suite, a.k.a a room of their own
My girls have reached the age where they'd prefer not to share a hotel room with us when traveling -- and to be honest, we'd prefer not to share with them either. So when we heard about the family friendly Omni Kids Suites available on a recent trip to Los Angeles, we...
The Mother of all Easter Mothers
The last thing we ever thought we'd be featuring on these pages is a a Virgin Mary softie, or an eco-friendly one at that, created by hand from eco-fi felt made completely from recycled water bottles. But the way we see it, some pewter statue of dubious origin just...
Basics for those of us without yachts
I love Egg by Susan Lazar baby clothes as much as the next regular person -- which is to say that I adore the designs and the commitment to eco-friendly fibers, but those adorable designer baby onesies and jumpsuits in premium organic cotton are pretty well out of my...
Get on track with Mommytrack’d (for free)
I'm unlikely to buy any sort of paper planner, because I'd probably lose it, for one thing, but also because I prefer lists and diagrams and other things scribbled on the backs of napkins. (What?) I like organization in front of me when I need it, ready to be tossed...
Collages have just been elevated to a whole new level
As the veteran of countless "fancy collages" made for me by my children out of magazine pages and Elmer's glue, I'll confess that I never knew something as delicate and lovely as Linda Solovic's creations were possible under the "collage" moniker. Yet her Etsy shop is...
Zutano goes big for the littlest people in our lives
I've always loved the durable, comfy, mix-and-match style of Zutano, ever since I was first pregnant and my BFF tipped me off about this mom-and-pop run boutique brand for kids. And now they've launched a new Itzy Bitzy boutique online with an extended line of clothes...
Clean Freak Confessions – Ours and hopefully, yours
Most of our sponsors are kind enough to run banner ads here which help support us so we can keep doing that thang we do. But sometimes we have a sponsor like Hoover who does something really cool like develop a site as fun as Clean Freak Confessions. Essentially, it's...
Happily getting Dizzy
Listening to Molly, Jay and J.P. of Lunch Money sing about the stuff of childhood makes me nostalgic for the days when spinning around in a circle didn't leave me feeling queasy. In fact, their new kids' music album, Dizzy, is an ode to all kinds of things kids love,...
Natural baby products – The more the merrier
When my local supermarket carries twenty different baby skin care lines, it's clear there's a lot to choose from out there. I can't keep track of what should or should not go on my baby's skin and who is or who isn't using the most environmentally-friendly...
3-D t-shirts? Now we really have seen it all
It's getting tougher and tougher to rock our worlds with kids tee shirts, but when we got a load of the kids tees from San Francisco based Invisible Stripes, we realized that nope, we haven't seen it all. Not by a longshot. First of all, the new spring toddler tees...
Take me out to the ball game
Even since having my son a couple of years ago, I've noticed the boys' room decor options are getting way better. Even if you like the more traditional themes, like sports, you're not stuck with some uninspired wall border of soccer balls or ugly football lamps.Take...
Here they come to save the birthday!
I can't tell you how many times I've walked aimlessly around the toy store aisles trying to find just the right birthday gift for one of my son's friends. And just when I think I've found the perfect one -- the price tag indicates otherwise.Fortunately two...
Plastic gets slightly less un-fantastic
No matter how conscious we may be about the earth-unfriendliness of bottled water (how does 150 million pounds of plastic waste each year grab you?), we've all had that situation where we simply had to buy a bottle of water. For me, it always seems to happen at the...
Calling Cool Mom Picks Readers – Can you spare two minutes?
As you might remember, once a year we ask you, our fine, beautiful readers, to tell us a little more about yourselves so that we can keep telling you about the products, services, and other picks that matter to you and your families. It also helps ensure that we have...
Introducing the 100% natural convertible crib. Thanks Q Collection.
So it's not as though Q Collection Junior offering truly eco-conscious nursery items is new (it's a whole year old), but we do love their new 3-in-1 convertible Luna Crib which helps you get more for your money as you do more for the planet. The crib is constructed of...