Today, a random roundup of some of my latest discoveries:
+I am obsessed with the entire outfit shown above, all from Nanos (another lovely Spanish clothing company), but I especially like the look of those knee-high socks with the Mary Janes. Super traditional and SO cute. But, I’ve been having a tough time finding those kinds of socks in the U.S. — they seem abundant abroad, and many of them are made by the Barcelona-based company Condor, but it seems a little too much even for a clotheshorse like myself to pay that much for baby socks.. I mean, those pom-pommed ones are TOO SCRUMPTIOUS, but I’m not about to ship those over the Atlantic. I managed to track down a handful of Condor socks on Amazon — these “triple roll” ones actually are knee-highs and come in so many colors (I’m drawn to the pale pink or the navy), and these are the exact socks Princess Charlotte wore to a birthday party earlier this year. Any other sock recs from my traditional mamas?
+I will soon be in a New Yorker carrying mini in her Lille Baby carrier quite a bit, and I’ve already found it a little cumbersome to wear her AND tote around my diaper bag, so have been looking into backpack alternatives. (Thoughts?) People go nuts over the Fawn Design diaper backpack/bag, but I’m concerned it will look enormous on my petite frame and, OK, I’ll say it, I’m much more a fan of wearing a bag I love and just converting it into a diaper bag. Gucci’s having a moment…?!?!?! Will I look like a tourist in it?! Pls discuss.
+GUYS. The Tot started carrying select pieces from one my favorite Spanish baby clothing brands, La Coqueta! YAY! This is huge because we won’t need to pay $30 in shipping anymore, or wait a few weeks for clothes to arrive! This will be in mini’s wardrobe once I finally get settled in NYC and have an address I can use. (P.S. More of my favorite special occasion baby wear.)
+OK, I know I’ve already thrown 12398238 potential holiday outfits your way, but THIS CORDUROY JUMPER WITH THE PLAID POCKETS IS TOO EPIC. It reminds me of something I might have worn in the early 80s and therefore I need it for mini.
+One of you (thank you, Lara!!!) wrote to recommend a shape sorter for mini at this age — I pretty much died when I saw this one. It seems that it may be a little advanced for mini for now, but it’s too good to pass up. The details! Like, those two little safari people?! The stripes on the front of the truck?!?! GET OUT. I love when toys are well-made like this. (And it’s so much prettier than bulky plastic.)
+Lara also mentioned the toy company Janod, which I’d not heard of — how adorable is this fishing game set?! This train set is also sweet.
+I’ve heard great things about the jammies from the company MilkBarn. These are adorable. (More of my favorite minimagpie sleepwear.)
+Super cute Ralph Lauren sweater on sale for 50% off!
+We’re a ways out, but all the toddlers in Manhattan zip around on little scooters. When the time comes, I’ll be orderering mini one of these in a fun color like red or orange. Read the reviews! People love this brand!
+A pair of classic pink Keds?! Such a sweet throwback to my youth.
+I will never stop buying mini books. These from Xavier Deneux are beautiful and innovative — read about their unique cutouts and raised letters! — so I just got mini this. (BTW, for a stretch, I was renting board books from our local library every two weeks or so, which was a nice way to avoid overspending on books and to diversify our collection, but our library had a tiny kids section and about 1/3 of the board books were Spanish and the other 1/3 were in Polish!!! (We live in Ukrainian Village, which is an up-and-coming Chicago neighborhood with a dense population of Eastern Europeans.) So, we managed to rent every single book in English that seemed age appropriate within the span of two months. Also, and I’m trying really hard not to be this mom, but some of the books were kind of gross — markings, stains, etc. — and I couldn’t help but imagine all the little paws and gums that had been all over them in the past. I mean, what can you do? There are germs everywhere. But there was an annoying little overconcerned mom voice in my head that maybe wanted to sterilize them in some way…)
I love children’s books — I work in publishing, so hopefully that’s not TOO weird, given that I don’t have toddlers in my life at the moment, ha! — and can definitely make some recommendations. Maybe I’ll email you? To start, I love this one: https://www.amazon.com/Hippopposites-Janik-Coat/dp/1419701517
I also have a question for you. One of my friends just gave birth and when I go to meet her daughter, I’d love to bring her a special outfit, as I’ve done for my other friends. Many of my friends with infants have similar taste to me (and you, I think, based on what I can see from your recommendations) — but this friend is a bit trendier and less traditional in her tastes. Can you think of any great sources for an outfit for her daughter? I haven’t REALLY started looking, but would appreciate any advice you have!
Added that book to my basket! AND, yes — for the trendier babe, I shared a few of my favorite “hipsta” brands here:
https://magpiebyjenshoop.com/2017/02/23/minimagpie-the-hipsta-baby-edition/
I’m also very pro on Monica + Andy, a great sleepwear/cotton separates line based in Chicago. They have very cute/hipsta prints:
https://monicaandandy.com/
xoxo
Such good recs — thank you! I actually ended up ordering a little ensemble from Winter Water Factory, based out of Brooklyn — do you know them? They have really fun prints on organic cotton clothes, and they’re based in Brooklyn, so semi-local for you! https://www.winterwaterfactory.com/
Annnd I clearly have Brooklyn on the brain, because I wrote that twice! Ha! Saturday-morning brain.
These diaper backpacks are amazing! http://minabaie.com/
They popped up on my instagram feed, which usually makes me suspicious, but I’m obsessed.
Had not heard about MinaBaie! Thanks for sending — tell me more! What do you like about them!?
My son has the M & D shape sorter, and while he does love it for the truck and the animals, it’s not very functional as an actual shape sorter. Most of the animals can fit through any of the holes. So strange. We ended up with the clunky plastic Fisher Price one for actually learning how the shapes fit.
OOO good to know. Thanks for the tip. That’s such a bummer!
hello, have you tried panache.co.uk for the socks./? they have a huge range of Condor.!
Thank you for the tip!!!
Loozieloo has a big selection of Condor! They periodically have coupon codes if you subscribe to their email list. https://loozieloo.com/collections/condor
So I had a Fawn Designs backpack and ended up selling it to another mom. It was super cute, but it was HEAVY and all of the pockets were super tight and hard to put things in (if you tried to get a Comotomo into the side pocket for example…practically impossible because the “leather” doesn’t have much give). I am also a Goyard gal and usually just cram that into the stroller basket. Whenever I’m really schlepping, I use a Fjallraven backpack because it’s durable, lightweight, and neutral enough (https://www.fjallraven.us/products/kanken-backpack). I use the Babyzen Yoyo a lot now that my son is bigger, and it has a handy pocket on the back of the seat (the entire seatback is a pocket, basically) and I manage to fit a lot of stuff in there and then just toss a pouch of essentials into the little basket. Then I’ll just use a crossbody for me and avoid the big bag entirely. As they get bigger, you really don’t need to bring as much stuff, so consider that!
OMG!!! Thanks for the Loozie Loo rec! I love those tall pom socks! Thank you 🙂
And, good to know about Fawn Design! I think I’ll make do with something else…the Fjallraven is a good idea. I have a small one for mini already!
xoxo