More coolness from recent weeks…
Big brands doing cool things – Skip Hop’s new baby toys at Toys R Us
We love finding cool gifts and gear from small, up and coming designers, so we especially love when the humongo chains get smart and help turn them into big, up and coming designers. That's why we were excited to discover mom and pop founded Skip*hop has created a...
The sweetest announcements. Literally.
Out of consideration for my post-baby figure, I rarely bake any more. It's just one of the sacrifices I make in the name of vanity. But at holiday time, my no-bake resolution goes out the window (and takes my willpower right along with it). Send me a recipe for...
The It Sling: This Year’s It Bag.
According to all the magazines and certain recent ad campaigns of over-the-counter pain remedies, babies are the new hot accessory. Carry yours everywhere and you're sure to be in the in crowd this year. Or so we hear. So if you're slinging your tot along to some...
Pinnington Bags – A celeb fave that we can get behind
A few years ago, this handbag fanatic would have fallen over had someone told me I'd be hoarding diaper bags, but considering how amazing they've all gotten, you might understand my obsession. And since finding the Bohemian inspired Pinnington Bags, I'm thinking...
Peace on earth. I mean it. Now.
I totally dare you to buy this New Year's Card by Robyn Miller Design, customize it with your own message, sign it with a beautiful heartfelt note -- and upload a photo of your crying, screaming, tantrum-throwing baby. Or maybe your kids hitting each other?I'm...
The immaculate confection
Recently I wanted to make cookies for my girls but I was too tired to start from scratch. I grabbed a thing of that refrigerated cookie dough that I remember eating raw in my college days and figured it would be fine in a pinch. Oh man, was it horrible. Beyond...
Merino Kids Baby Sleep Sack – Hold the Blankets
My husband used to go into my wriggly toddler son's room every night at least twice to cover him up. But thanks to the Merino Kids baby sleep sack, we're all getting way more sleep now.This super comfy striped sack is made using a 100% merino inner layer and then soft...
Cool Mom Picks loves Brazil!
We just wanted to give a huge thanks to Época, Brazil's popular weekly magazine, for naming Cool Mom Picks among their top 20 international blogs! We are beyond honored to be in such esteemed company as the Huffington Post, Boing Boing, Post Secret, Perez Hilton,...
Baby Safe Cap – Save your brain cells for more important things
Considering I can barely keep track of my cell phone, let alone a baby bottle cap, just guess how many bottle caps I've lost.Okay don't hurt yourself with all that math. Thank goodness for Baby Safe Caps, which simply fit onto your...
A Fairy for all Seasons
It's always nice cracking open some children's books to get your kids into the spirit of the holidays, but not every parent is looking to do it through biblical tales or the Santa story. A cool alternative: Positive Spin Press offers three fairy tales--literally--from...
The coolest ABC magnets in the preschool
I still remember seeing a colorful print called Lea's Alphabets on this site even back before I was writing here. What made that alphabet artwork pop for me was Gregoire Ganter's amazing photographs of street signs and images from cities all around the world. I...
Yellow Pages, now more green than yellow
I think it's been at least five years since I used an actual telephone book. With a wi-fi broadband connection to the all-knowing Internet, those old books are now only useful to me as makeshift booster seats and yet they continue to show up on my doorstep, year after...
Rock-a-bye birdies, made of bamboo
I can't stop staring at this bamboo mobile by Petit Collage, available at Branch Home, and I'm just looking at a picture. In real life, those laser-cut bamboo birds each have a different pattern cut into their middles, so as they twirl around on the hanging thread I'm...
Get your felt on
The more I realize how totally impractical it is to wear anything remotely nice around my sticky-fingered kids, the more I'm started to appreciate the value of accessories that aren't all that valuable.UK shop Lupin Handmade, whose amazing felt mobiles we found...
Dipping a toe into the scarf craze of 2008
Since scarves are The Thing these days, I've been keeping a more focused eye on the NYC street vendors to see if any of their knockoffs are jumping out at me. Nope, not yet. Mostly, the same old fake Burberry and pashminas from 2000. So I was happy to stumble onto the...
Holiday baby gifts for baby that are actually more appealing than the wrapping paper
Oh I just can't wait for all those obligatory stuffed animals that my baby will get over the holidays because really, what else do you give a newborn for Christmas? So here's a suggestion: An adorable duck rattle baby toy from Estella NYC.Hand crocheted by...
Silhouette cards – Make sure they get your good side.
Every year, our families bug us about our holiday cards because we only send pictures of the kids. I guess my husband and I never figured that anyone would actually want to see our mugs too. Besides, it's pretty hard getting a candid family shot that doesn't look like...
Good news for the immature among us (ahem)
While I submit that no one in their right mind gives a kid a harmonica--even with a how-to book--I got the chance to poke around the Klutz site recently and there are definitely some cool new options from one of my favorite childhood mainstays. My favorite is easily...
Yak yak yak
Merino wool? Old hat. Soy cotton? So last week. The new hot luxury fabric of the day it would seem is hand-combed yak hair. Heavenly soft like cashmere, thick and yummy in every way.Sound appealing? Then check out Shokay (Tibetan for yak), a socially conscious company...
Scrub-a-dub-dub, Zoo Zuds in the tub
I love the idea of all-natural soaps, but often I don't actually love the actual all-natural soap. Sometimes they just seem... I don't know. Fussy. Slimy. And weird-smelling.So you have to believe me when I tell you that hand-made Zoo Zuds, currently on sale at Bitsy...
Berry beautiful holiday cards
These days you can spread "good will on earth" while being kind to it as well. But let's be honest, not all eco-friendly cards are created equal. The Winter Berry Holiday Cards we spotted from the new line of eco-friendly cards available at Red Stamp are just...