GIVEAWAY ! “FALL IN LOVE with joyababy”

We are giving away a cozy, LUX joyababy Blanket in your choice of print PLUS a pair of chic, cozy signature brown baby booties (hand knit with love) for ONE LUCKY WINNER! To enter, tell us something you love about joyababy, the collection, a blog post, a link we have shared, etc here on our blog, twitter or fb fan page!

WINNER ANNOUNCED ON MONDAY, SEPT 13 at Noon CST!

our summer sale is here. you do not want to miss it!

for a limited time only, items are 50% off! think of all the stylish gifts you can give and receive at an incredibly low price. tell your friends and family!

and the bgreen 2-1 reversible bib above is perfect for all sorts of messy meals in addition to being eco-friendly, machine washable, reversible and stylish!

now go shop!

this weekend ahead i plan to:

get started on a new slipcover for the baby’s nursery. luckily the chair already has one on it and i am using that as a pattern. i found this link and image above about how to estimate for fabric, which is helpful. i have some good solid experience dating back to college dorm days. since then i have made a few slipcovers and reupholstered a few chairs. something about the clean white lines of the sofa in the image above, with that fun pleat is what i’m leaning towards. my design ideas for the baby 3’s nursery keep evolving.

my youngest has severe food allergies and just recently went through a couple of food challenges with success! so with the additions of corn and tomato to his diet- i am so excited to make for him his FIRST pizza ever! cornmeal crust, homemade sauce and soy cheese. i hope it turns out.

what else?

visit with my sister, brother in law and niece who are visiting the city, welcome in the third trimester with hopefully some new remedy for heartburn (suggestions anyone?), spend some time looking at the design board for the next collection of joyababy, help a friend who is throwing a bachelorette party with some creative details, relax and enjoy another summer weekend before they are over.

what fun do you have planned for the weekend ahead?

i recently contributed to the great Classic Play e-magazine’s Food Issue, from the design house at EllieBellieKids. it was just released yesterday (it’s free and fabulous, so check it out).  in the issue, i contributed my post on making homemade cookies for my youngest son who has severe food allergies. there are so many great articles and ideas in this issue (and all their previous issues) that it had me thinking of my own food history with my family of four, soon to be five.

i decided to share with you here some of my favorite tools for cooking for baby and child. the obvious first choice for baby’s nutrition is breast milk, which i was successful at with both of my children for their first year. when the time came for adding solids, i was interested in making my own baby food. i love to cook and with my mom’s encouragement i blended up some purees. i did offer my baby some foods from a jar at first (out of convenience), and with a pursed lip and a selective palate, he refused. have you ever compared a jar of baby peas to fresh pureed peas? just visually you will be amazed. vibrant green color and a natural sweetness made my baby open wide for more. so with his cue, i continued on making a variety of homemade preparations.

i used my own blender mostly (which worked just fine) and started with simple recipes like the ones found here. i also picked up a copy of The Baby Bistro Cookbook. at the time i was working outside the home, and would make time on sundays to cook for my baby. i would steam and puree in bulk and transfer to ice cube trays for the freezer. after frozen, i would pop them out into storage and label them with contents and date. these worked well for my nanny or myself to prepare a meal on the spot. i was also able to puree up bits of our dinners (like salmon and lentils or chicken curry and rice) and serve him these meals alongside our own.

when my second son was born with severe food allergies, i was glad that i already knew how to mix up my own baby food. however, in some ways i could not be as creative with meals for him when it was time to try solids.  it was a more than stressful time.  i just focused on making him pure ingredient recipes. four years later, i have had to prepare a separate meal for him every single day made from minimal pure ingredients.

yes…i survived all that cooking! it WAS enjoyable  (the baby food preparation part) and my boys are healthy and GREAT eaters today-thankfully. and i have to add, it is much more affordable!

in a time where our culture has been so saturated with unhealthy food options and instant meals, i think its time to start a new tradition within our home, at our table and for our  family. something fresh, something organic, something real.

my favorites for mealtime:

the joyababy 2-1 reversible bib was designed in more recent times, because i couldn’t find a bib that was soft (not plastic), washable AND actually collected the crumbs and drippings from meals. the joyababy bib does just that- with its scoop shaped crumb catcher on both sides! and it looks super stylish at the dinner table of course. the cotton canvas side works great for dry meals and flip bib pocket inside out, turn bib over for messier meals (quick-drying nylon side).

next, i would choose a compact high chair with thoughtful design like the one pictured above. this is mostly because i live in a vintage house, circa 1904, in the city with limited space. i love traditional baby utensils and dishes, like the ones my mom used when i was young. curved baby spoons, real dishware and flatware. these are great for at use at home. and when you are out with baby, there are a variety of great, eco-friendly travel options.

bon appetit bebe!

baby photo: my own, kitchen photo: from beach bungalow 8

ok so i designed the joyababy clutch (obviously) a few years ago when i was spending sleepless nights awake with my newborn son. you can read all about my design discovery here. and yet still to this day, when i see fresh clutches arrive from our manufacturer without the contents for changing baby, i am amazed that it all fits in there. part of the reason is that my baby is four years old and the last time he was in diapers was 2 years ago! i do carry a clutch daily with other toddler necessities like: epi-pen, hand wipes, sunblock, etc. (highly recommend)

this past week i received emails from happy happy customers and it was music to my ears! it made me also recall one of the first comments we received from a dad, who was gifted a joyababy clutch from a joyababy customer. she shared this with us. (see above)

so i decided last week, to get out some baby essentials and pack a joyababy clutch up. three newborn eco-friendly diapers and a small wipe pack that you can refill from your nursery supply. (reduce, reuse, recycle!)

i took some casual photos of the process and voila, it is here to share with you! so the verdict? IT REALLY DOES DEFY THE LAW OF PHYSICS, at least as we moms and dads know it! and you know what else… it’s so stylish that NO ONE, i mean no one will know what you have packed in there. and that my friends was my point many sleepless nights ago.. to actually function how we need it to, but look really really good while doing it!

above: a straw beach tote from j.crew, vintage pat the bunny book “at the beach“, nautical beach ball, stylish and sweet swimsuit and sandals from flora & henri, joyababy diaper clutch in french polynesian blue, adorable tunic and diaper cover by bobo choses, wave print board shorts and lobster flipflops from j.crew and eco-friendly beach boat set by sprig!

great places to shop: florahenri.com, moolka.com, jcrew.com, joyababy.com, tadashop.com and sprigtoys.com

i was a sleepless mom of two young boys under the age of three. i was starting to sew baby items at my kitchen table for family and friends. and i had just launched a simple website showcasing my collection. i *thought* about the idea of sending samples to press. i even went as far as typing out the letters to the editors on letterhead. but i decided that maybe it wasn’t the right time. so the letters took up a permanent spot on my dining room table.

a few weeks after that, i was awakened by my husband looking frantic and saying “SOMETHING is going on with your website! it’s so slow … you have like several thousand hits this morning and it’s only 7:30am. right now there are like 200 people looking at your website!!”

huh? i thought to myself, i didn’t send any letters out. they are still on the dining room table. i remember thinking maybe my husband did not look at the stats right. i went to my laptop… and as i was logging on to check the stats myself, my new emails popped up. i clicked on my weekly daily candy email, which i so loved and read as the bible of weekly fashion must haves (at the time there was only one kids version, once a week).  in shock and with my heart racing, this is what i read with my husband standing next to me and my children playing at my feet:

here is link on the daily candy website

one of the letters on the dining room table was addressed to the daily candy editor, never sent. it has been three years this month and i still think about that day: the irony, the connection, the excitement. i kept that letter to the editor and still look at it often. it is a great reminder to me of  what you ask for or tell yourself you want, often time finds you before you pursue it.

and yes, i am currently telling the universe what i would like to happen next! stay tuned.

my inspiration: the rich colors of magenta pink & peacock blue, a beautiful shawl from my last trip to india, a fashion inspired font and a lotus flower symbolizing our openness to beauty and love.

get creative: the valentine postcard i designed is essentially a blank canvas. ideas that i include here are a photo of yourself to your special someone, a photo of the new baby or the children, a picture drawn for grandma from the little ones, trimmed edges with pinking shears or printed on a color card stock like gray.

hope you enjoy. xo

valentine by joyababy (magenta) free download

valentine by joyababy  (peacock) free download