We love businesses that are homegrown by mommies just like us. We especially love it when they are huge success stories. BLiNG-iTON! is one such business. Based out of Santa Maria, CA, BLiNG-iTON! specializes in glitter and sequin sports headbands…and recently outfitted the College World Series Players! My 10 year old niece (a very style conscious young lady) has a few of these and LOVES to coordinate them with her outfits for school. Who wouldn’t! They come in a variety of fun colors and designs and retail for less than $10 each. The perfect hair accessory…

Check out BLiNG-iTON! headbands for your little fashionistas here!

A is for Adobo…B is for Burrito…C is for Ceviche.

I just returned from a Babes & Babies Shopping Event here in San Francisco where I found two important things. The first thing I found was that I really need to remember to wear breast pads if I am going to spend the afternoon in a room full of babies (can you say very wet shirt AND jacket?!?). The second thing I found was a super cool product:  ABCs of Cuisine t-shirts by Lala Lu (a local Mommy-owned company). These 100% Certified Organic Cotton baby t-shirts feature fabulous designs with culturally inclusive designs for culturally rich lifesytles. Love the message. Love, love, love the t-shirts. I bought my little Gioia the “G is for Gyoza” t-shirt pictured below and can’t wait for her to grow into it.

To purchase an ABCs of Cuisine t-shirt, click here.

Lala Lu is created by Luz who has applied her same signature designs onto baby t-shirts, which reflect the multi cultural and earth conscious residents of the Bay Area.. Luz is proud to call the Bay Area home, a place she considers to be the epicenter of cultural blending and multi cultural pride where people are free to BE.

Finally, a way to avoid kiddie plumber’s butt! Check out Dapper Snappers, mom-invented (of course!). Choose your color(s) and turn hand-me-downs and just-a-little-too-big pants into a perfect fit. Slide the ends through any pair of pants with back belt loops and snap to fit. Presto! I wonder if I can use these to get into my pre-pregnancy jeans?

As an added bonus, if you order the Breast Cancer Dapper Snapper, $5 from each purchase will be donated to the Susan G  Komen Foundation. Now you can support breast cancer education & research AND your kid’s pants at the same time!

I don’t know about your house, but in ours World Cup mania has reached a fevered pitch. My husband is a freak over soccer and is working fast and furious to brainwash, ‘er rather show the benefits and strong points, of soccer to our little girl.  Having played soccer myself, WAY back in the day, I too have a love of the sport – and I must say it ranks way higher than traditional American sports for me.  Why you ask, why would you prefer soccer to football?  Aside from the fact that it is fast paced, requires incredible physical ability and finesse (think Ronaldo and David Beckham). read more »

Animal faces are cute.  And even cuter when sported by your lil’ one.  Tyler Trends has created a fun line of kids shirts that feature all the favs – ladybug, monkey, panda, giraffe , kitty, dog and lion to name a few.  Check them out here.

When you have these adorable Pixie Hats from Hoot Organic.  My lovely neighbor graciously gave my little girl one of these to welcome her to the ‘hood and I immediately fell in love with it!  So adorable!  They also carry an Aviator Style and Kitty Style – both ridiculously cute. Hoot Organic is a Seattle based company that uses  Certified Organic and Environmentally Sustainable materials such as Bamboo, recycled water bottle and vintage fabrics. Not only do they use environmentally friendly fabrics, but all labels are organic cotton and hang tags are recycled paper.  Just think of all the cute pics of my lil’ pixie…

Ok… so these are for kids, and are brilliant if you ask this mom. But I can’t help thinking, where were the adult version of these during my third trimester? How many hours total did I spend sweating and trying to lean over my impossibly large midsection trying to get socks on? There’s a market out here for this, someone. I say jump on it!

Seriously though – EZ SOX are super-cute and super-fun learning socks for children. They are touted as helping build the confidence our little ones need as they learn to dress themselves. I love these little socks and think they are a great teaching tool. At $4.99 each (with discounts if you buy multiple) they are easy on the pocketbook too.

Shop EZ SOX now