B:kids shop!
Yesterday I was reading one of my favourite children’s blogs, B:kids. B:kids is written by fellow Dutch lady Irene Hoofs, who is based in Kuala Lumpur and has truly amazing style!
And here’s the good news – Irene just opened another shop (she already has a very cute bookshop) B:kids shop, in which she sells wonderful baby booties, some of them hand-knitted by herself!
If I ever have another baby, I would seriously love these super cute orange booties for him/her!
xxx Esther
Rosie’s walk
One of the ever-popular books in our house is the classic board book ’Rosie’s Walk’ – first printed in 1971. With a minimum of words and a maximum of detail in the beautiful pictures, Pat Hutchins describes how Rosie the hen goes for a stroll around the farmyard.
Rosie is so relaxed and unaware of the world around her, that she doesn’t notice that a fox is trying to catch her… But every time the fox is ready to pounce upon her, he gets caught into come sort of trap that Rosie unintentionally led him into!
The text is extremely simple and minimal. There are just 32 words, only describing Rosie’s walk, but never mentioning the nasty fox. The illustrations (in typical cool ’70s colours yellow, orange and green) are thus truly essential to the book. In fact, this book is also extremely suitable for non-English speakers, as the pictures mostly tell the story! (more…)
I had to fire the nanny!
Back in June when I had to return to work after my 7 month maternity leave we agreed that we would find a nanny for our daughter. We thought she was too young for nursery school and we feared all the illnesses that children get the first year they spend in community. We looked at a few nannies (too few probably) and then settled for the cousin of the girl who works full time for our neighbour. She had no experience with kids but she was young and cheerful (too cheerful probably) and of Hispanic origin. We thought she would be a better match than other nationalities, both for language and culture.
From the very beginning I tried to build a relationship with her that was based on trust, not strictly a work relationship. I thought that since she would be taking care of my daughter she would become part of our family life.
I helped her when she was flat hunting and offered her our flat for two weeks if the search wasn’t successful. After the summer vacation I was home a lot during the day because my older son was starting a new school; those days I would cook lunch for all of us and she would sit with us as part of our family.
In her job specs it was clearly stated that she didn’t have to do house-chores, this was to avoid conflicts with childcare. If the baby was sleeping, she could rest. In hindsight I should have been more demanding and kept her more busy. Everything went smoothly until last Friday when I unexpectedly returned home just 45 minutes after I left because I had forgotten my mobile phone. (more…)
Anthousa
Every year for Christmas I receive a beautiful bottle of Anthousa home fragrance in my stocking. The concoction consists of a simple, elegant bottle of fragrance and a set of sticks to dip inside. It works like a candle, creating mood and ambiance, but it’s better because the smell lasts all day long everyday without needing to be lit.
I just love them. They’re pretty yet simple, and offer some of the most unique scents from across the world. (Anthousa also makes beautiful candles, if you still prefer those!)
While I was in Seattle visiting family last month I had the great pleasure of meeting the owner/creater, Maria. She is the kind of girl you are immediately drawn to – smart, funny, stylish, beautiful, well traveled, etc. It’s really no wonder Anthousa is so successful and has been a favorite of mine for years!
And the exciting news for me…. they are now sold here in the UK at SpaceNK!
-Courtney
Fun Daddy
I am not trying to complain… I am really happy that my husband is involved with our kids and that they have a great relationship, but sometimes I wish they thought I was as much fun as he was!
Why are Dads always the fun ones while Moms are the fun police? Is it because women are actually innately more organised and naturally get burdened with the task of being the disciplinarian?
I have to say that most of the time my head is so full with trying to plan what kind of dinner to cook or remembering to organise a playdate with my new friend’s little girl etc. that it does not come to my mind to stick a newspaper on my head and pretend to be a giant duck. I actually think that even if I was not acting as my 2-year-old’s PA, making sure that her social calendar rivaled Paris Hilton’s, it would still not occur to me to stick a paper on my head and pretend to be a feathered beast!
I also do not have the patience to sit on the floor and draw for hours on end; I can do about 10 mins and then my mind wonders off and I start thinking of the wash I need to hang up, how I’ve been planning to hang up some new paintings, and how my desk really needs a tidy up. I also get this urge to quickly, just quickly, check my email and see what is going on in the world outside our 4 walls. (more…)
Pippi!
A couple of weeks ago I bought my children a DVD of one of my childhood favourites: Pippi Longstocking.
Who doesn’t know Pippi (full name Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Mackrelmint Ephraimsdaughter Longstocking), the mischievous little girl with two braids in her bright red hair (sticking out 90° from her head), whose dad is the King of Kurrekurredutt Isle and whose mum lives in heaven?
She is immensely rich (she pays for everything in gold), incredibly strong, lives by herself in a huge house (Villa Villekulla) together with her monkey Mr. Nilsson and her horse Little Old Man. She gets in all sorts of trouble and experiences great adventures with her neighbours and best friends, Tommy and Annika.
Originally Astrid Lindgren (the writer) told the stories of Pippi Longstocking to her little girl Karin, but they proved to be such a success that before long the first Pippi Longstocking book was out in print – in 1945!!! (more…)
Toy photo album
My daughter is at the stage where she gets excited when she recognizes a familiar face, so pictures of family members make her really happy… she even waves and claps at them! Unfortunately I’m not very good at printing our photos; I do it very systematically but with a severe delay! The little one is nearly 10 months old and I only have prints of the pictures that a photographer took in the hospital!
Luckily husbands’ offices are mostly endowed with decent colour printers, so I ask my husband to print relatively recent shots and stick them in the Manhattan Toy Whoozit photo album. This way she has her own book/album that she can carry around, bite and chew without ruining the family collection. But what I think is also nice is that it’s so easy to change the photos and make it different each time. Just keep more than one picture in each sleeve and rotate them. Mind you, do this rotation out of your baby’s sight….
-Michela
Petersham Nurseries
Take the train from central London to Richmond Station and follow the high street through town toward the river. Turn left and walk along the river past the cafés and kayak sheds. Cross the pasture filled with buttercups and cowpies, and venture toward Petersham Nurseries. Set within this lovely garden center is a restaurant that will impress on many levels with delicious food and beautiful decor.
Award-winning head chef, Skye Gyngell, uses the highest quality ingredients in respect of the season, and with support of small farmers and producers across England. The food is amazing, and don’t even get me started about the desserts…
Petersham Nurseries Restaurant is one of my favorite restaurants in London. It’s a beautiful setting (a garden – it doesn’t get prettier than that!), and it just has a very special feeling to it. It’s also the experience of heading to Richmond for the day, which is a lovely little village. (more…)
4 Quarters make a whole
The name of this cake is un Quatre Quart, literally translated into 4 Quarters. It is a recipe that my grandmother always made to eat with coffee after a 7 or 8 course family meal. I reckon you cannot get a higher recommendation for a cake, than one that still gets finished off to the last crumb by an audience that has been eating solidly for about 4 hours!
I recently found this recipe in one of her old recipe books and I love it; it is so simple. You weigh your eggs and add to them the same weight in sugar, flour and butter. For example: you have 3 eggs and their total weight is 200g, so you add 200 grams of sugar, 200 grams of flour and 200 grams of butter. It could not be simpler.
And here is the way to put it all together: (more…)
Don’t let your sky turn grey…
When I worked in New York a long time ago, my office was literally around the corner from the MoMA. Every now and then, on a rare lunch break, I quickly walked into the museum store to have an inspirational browse through the fabulous designer products (although most often there was no such luxury as a lunch break; in NY everybody seems to always work, and never to need food at all!).
One of my favourite products in the MoMA store was this Sky Umbrella by Tibor Kalman. At the time I didn’t buy it, because the sky in NY is most of the time blue already, and anyway I thought I’d better spend my hard-earned money on a cocktail or two after work.
But now, here in Amsterdam, where the sky is grey more often than it is blue, the rain season seems to be never-ending and after-work cocktails are out of the question because there are a couple of hungry children anxiously waiting for their dinner, I can’t think of a better investment for my money than this fantastic umbrella!
xxx Esther
Bugaboo Bee
I really wish this post was about my new stroller and about how much I like it, but unfortunately we already own three pushchairs (a Bugaboo Cameleon, a Maclaren Quest and an in-line double Graco) and there is no chance I can convince my husband we really need another one.
But, if I was going to buy a new single stroller I would definitely go for the Bee, the latest addition to the Bugaboo family. I’m not saying that it is the best pushchair for everybody, but from what I have seen it would be pretty good for city living. It’s cool, it’s compact, it’s light and extremely maneuverable (it really does turn on a penny!).
I had a look at it a few times in a shop and I made my 3-year-old son sit on it, and he declared it very comfortable. It does not have the big rear wheels of the Cameleon but on the other hand it is much more convenient to fold so it is more suitable for somebody that uses a car on a daily basis. It is just one piece (no bassinet) but you can get a few accessories that make it suitable for a newborn (in the winter too).
I have not heard much about quality and durability but it seems that over the years the Bugaboo products have shown a pretty good record.
Plus, I do not know how popular the Bee is in your area, but it would definitely stand out from the crowd in Milan!
-Michela
Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales
In keeping with the trend of introducing my boys to fairy tales and nursery rhymes, I picked up this beautiful hardback book last week. There were many different options for Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale books, but this one was by far the most beautiful. Lisbeth Zwerger is an award-winning illustrator famous for her depictions of popular fairy tales. Her style is unmistakable – ink wash drawings enhanced with watercolors of beautiful, muted shades of brown and blue. It has been said that there is no one better at illustrating the stories of Hans Christian Andersen than Lisbeth Zwerger.
Andersen’s Fairy Tales by Lisbeth Zwerger
I just love buying books for my kids that I know will be passed down for generations. This book is one of them! It’s available at Amazon US and UK
-Courtney
Kookoo Cookie!
Check us out out on Cookie Magazine’s cool travel blog Going Places! Courtney wrote a very nice article about five things to do with kids when it rains in London (which HARDLY ever happens of course)!!
xxx Esther
From rags to riches
This is one for the craft lovers amongst us. Right at the foot of the Butte de Montmartre, the hill on which the Sacree Coeur is perched upon, is an area inhabited by material and haberdashery shops. Down every little alleyway you find shops selling everything from thick brocade, flimsy chiffon, bold prints, delicate prints, zips, ribbons, thread… in short everything you could ever imagine.
The two main shops are the Marche St Pierre (according to their website the biggest fabric department shop in the world) and Reine, but on top of that there are a multitude of little shops, most of them selling coupons (samples) at insanely low prices. You have to shift through a lot of junk to find the gems, but as a bargain hunter, I actually get a kick out of it. (more…)
A cool competition!
Yesterday afternoon my daughter spent an hour or so sketching her favourite things, and we are entering her design in this supercool competition by Pink Lining and Mother & Baby. If she wins, her design will be featured on the lining of a limited edition Yummy Mummy bag next summer AND she will be featured in a Spring issue of ‘Mother&Baby’ and ‘Pregnancy & Birth’ magazines!
Of course I shouldn’t have told you about this competition, as it will limit my daughter’s chances to win, but since all the profits from these bags will be going to a leading children’s cancer charity, I thought I’d be nice 
.
The competition is open to anyone aged between 1 and 4 worldwide. Entry to be submitted before October 31st. Good luck!
xxx Esther
Stripes
I love stripes! I love them for my kids (e.g. Petit Bateau), but I also love them for myself! All too often when I choose a t-shirt or even tights (or many other things) if I just followed my impulse I would buy stripes. But then I think about the number one “rule” about horizontal stripes: they do not make you look slimmer…
Apparently this is all wrong, and some scientists have done tests and experiments to prove it: vertical stripes make you look fatter than horizontal ones.
Yet it does not say that stripes (at any angle) are slimming… so if what you need is to look your thinnest, the only safe thing to do is to just wear black!
-Michela
Multi-pot!
Being ‘home’ with my mom for the past few weeks, I’ve learned a few new tips for the kitchen. Her new number one must-have kitchen utensil? The Norpro Multi Pot
The thick, stainless steel tri-ply bottom protects the elements from burning, and allows for perfect heat conduction. The built in measuring table means you can use it to measure out the liquid, and the spout makes for mess-free pouring. Brilliant!
-Courtney
The airport stole my baby’s dinner
This article in the Guardian by Zoe Williams made me giggle. I reckon this has happened to most of us! Isn’t it the most annoying thing to have gotten all the food ready for your baby for your holiday travels only to have it all confiscated at the airport? The funny thing is: it so depends on the security guard and what kind of day he/she is having. Sometimes I have been let through without being questioned at all!
- Emilie
Baby signing
When I was pregnant with my first child, a good friend (who mastered in child psychology) told me that I just HAD to use sign language with my baby. At the time I had never heard of baby signing, and to be honest my first thoughts were in the line of ‘ridiculous’.
But after giving birth to a baby it seems that your whole perception of the world changes… Suddenly you find that breastfeeding in public is completely acceptable, kids in restaurants are amusing and the colour pink is not so bad after all. So you start reading about baby signing too. It was already very established in the US, but still pretty unknown in the UK. I bought Joseph Garcia’s Complete Guide to Babysigning
Petit by Sofie Schnoor
At the Bubble trade show in London last month I discovered this darling little Danish brand with the most adorable shoes. Cute shoes for boys, girls and babies in a very simple, understated style.
Petit by Sofie Schnoor was launched in 2007 after Sophie Schnoor’s six year success designing women’s clothes and shoes (she is one of Denmark’s best-known shoe designers). Inspired by her two children, Sofie Schnoor launched her Petit range for kids because she longed for simple, good-quality basics in soft colors.
I love her new range of ‘indoor’ shoes, which includes beautiful slippers and leather baby shoes. They also make leather boots for both boys and girls, and the cutest knitted hats. Perfect for the winter (not that I’m in any rush…)!
-Courtney
