baby week - a bit more on sleep and your baby

I think that the decision is not hard to make when it comes to co-sleeping or not, even if you think that you won't at some point your little baby will end up in bed with you (unless you or your spouse are a terribly hard sleeper). It's just a nice way to live and I can't imagine it any other way. There are a few traps that you may find yourself getting into so watch out and think things through a bit so that you know the obstacles that may come up and so that you know how you want to answer them when they do. I would suggest Dr. Michel Cohens book "The New Basics" it's the most comprehensive book on parenting without being overwhelming (because having is a baby is overwhelming enough!). It is arranged by 'issue' in alphabetical order so yes, there is a chapter called "sleep"!

Dr. Michel Cohen is pretty funny in his book when he explains that "In observing family dynamics, I was puzzled as to why some babies would sleep through the night and others wouldn't. I learned that the parents who were a little less responsive to late-night fussing always had kids who were good sleepers, while the jumpy folks had kids who would wake up repeatedly at night until it became unbearable." I think that you will find that after a few nights there will be a rhythm between you and your husband and your baby and you will figure it out together. Make sure you get your spouse involved in the nighttime activities, it will bring him closer to the baby and although you may want to handle it all yourself it's good for him to do things too. Make some bottles so that he can feed the baby from time to time and if your baby wants nothing to do with a bottle just give it to your husband and let them figure it out, it will be frustrating at first but in the end its good for everyone. He will feel more involved and your baby will get the feel for a bottle which may come in handy from time to time!

When it comes time to move the baby into his/her crib or bed it's a good idea to create a rhythm, play for a bit at night, take a bath, sing songs, put your baby into her/his crib when she is still awake, say good night and voila! In the beginning it will never go like this but keep up the ritual, whatever it may be, and eventually they will get into the rhythm with you.

Good Luck and see you in the morning!

Halloween Costume Contest Winners !!

Well, when we started this contest we could have never guessed the reaction we received. Today we have completed pouring over the nearly 100 entries we received from around the country, and surprisingly, a few from overseas too! It was FANTASTIC to see so many pictures of so many children wearing some great costumes. What we noticed this year when we were trick-or-treating with our own kids was how many unique home made costumes were on display. That makes us feel better, because it's our opinion that the true Halloween spirit is best presented in something you took the effort to make yourself. This year, we were faced with the first year our own daughter finally realized that she could ask for her own outfit - and what did she choose to be..... you guessed it: a Feather Princess! As for our son, he decided he wanted to go all 'karate' this year and as such, we had ourselves a Ninja Warrior !!! Both costumes were not hard for me to create and the only real compromise was allowing our daughter to have a little pink purse she saw recently in a shop and our son to be able to have the plastic swords that he was way to excited to get his hands on. As you will all agree, there's no better thing than to watch them transform into their characters as they watch themselves in the mirror.... it's just SO FUNNY! Of course, with our son swinging his swords all around and pretending to jump out of trees, our little princess decided suddenly that she needed a sword too. Go figure! But, that's all part of the fun too - children changing their minds right up to the last minute. And, as some of your costumes showed us, that indecision wasn't just limited to our house.

Anyway, with so many wonderful costumes, it became one of the most difficult tasks of all to have to choose just one winner. We wanted to give a prize for all the entries but realized quickly if we did so we would be out of business. So, we came to this conclusion: We'd have our top 15 favorites and one of them would be our GRAND PRIZE WINNER. That way we could share with you a BIG winner and all the very close runner ups! For those of you who sent us your images, we thank you - believe me when I tell you it wasn't easy at all to even come up with a clear list of 15. 

the astronaut and the space alien

So, our GRAND PRIZE winner for this years Halloween Costume Contest goes to the 'Astronaut and the Space Alien' in Portland, Oregon. Otherwise known as 3 1/2 year old Pannonica ('PZ' for short) as the astronaut and her 15 month old sister Quinby as the googley-eyed space alien. Our decision was based on a mixture of uniqueness (it was our only astronaut) and knowledge of how difficult it is to create anything that complicated! Congrats guys and thank you Emily for sharing! 

In no exact order - we wanted to share with you our other top favorites. Really, we wish we could share with you every single

one of the entries we received... but it's just not possible. 

Wild Things: Christian and Micah (Thank You Nicole) 

Cat-ter-fly: 3 year old Stella mixes it up in Chicago (Thank You Bridgette) 

Peace Loving Hippy: Jane shares the LOVE in Rhode Island (Thank You Meredith)

Catapillar and Butterfly: Ada and Willem in NYC deliver some color! (Thank You Erin)

Scary Princess Ghost: Davis in NYC brings out the TERROR! (Thank You Heather and Rolyn)

Cupcake: How sweet is Olivia's costume in Felton, PA  (Thank You Tiersa)

Mermaid: Lucy is swimming in prettiness! (Thank You Becky)

Hello Kitty Ballerina: Mayu mixes it up the cuteness (Thank You Tatia and Scott)

Garden Gnome: 4 month old Cash lights up the garden! (Thank you Melissa)

MOST ORIGINAL COSTUME WINNER!!!

circus acrobats: Otis and Bee make a great performing duo! (Thank You Mimi)

The Prettiest Little Moth: Nora in CA flutters about! (Thank You Danielle)

Cheetah: Io in Washington DC sports the spots! (Thank You Alex)

Bloodhound and Bear: Penelope  and her pal Lily do it up just right in St Paul, MN! (Thank You Kelly)

Pixie Fairy, Deep Sea Diver, and Lowly Worm: Such Great Smiles - and a GOOD Sport in DAD! (Thank You Erika)

Thank you all again for making the Halloween Costume Contest such a HUGE success. There wasn't one single costume that didn't make us all ooh and ahh! 

baby week! first priority... sleep!

One of the most common questions was about sleep, not necessarily how to get more of it (I think that we all understand there is a few years or so of little or no sleep) but more about helping your baby sleep better.

I got more information from my family and friends than I found in any book. My sister came to visit a week into the arrival of our son and within one day with us she had popped a pacifier in his mouth and put him sleep on his stomach (aarrghh!)!! As a new mom I just about hit the roof! This was followed by "my most well adjusted daughter was the only one who used a pacifier" was my sisters reasoning and then came "all my kids slept on their stomach, they just sleep better that way". She also shared the fact that all three of her baby girls slept through the night as soon as they came home from the hospital! WHAT!!?? I thought as my son wanted to eat every two hours... how could this be!? Now that I am older and have thought about it a bit I have realized, she probably doesn't REMEMBER getting up in the night, every night (multiple times) because you loose part of your memory with child birth (this is not a FACT but I am sure that it's true!) just like you loose the memory of how difficult and painful childbirth is and all you remember is the absolute beauty and wonder of it all! I also know that her babies didn't sleep with her (it was a different time and that was not very common) and their rooms were down the hall and so she probably didn't hear them! What I am trying to say is that you get over it, in the way that you do and though it seems that you won't you will not even remember why or how you did it!

All of this said I would love to offer a bit of tips for the new parent on how to deal with a few things. I think that the most common comment was when you have been co-sleeping how do you get your baby into their own bed. I can say that I have a few don'ts (because I have done them!) first, don't sleep with them in their bed to get them to go to sleep, once they understand that this is their own bed you can do this but if you do this in the beginning you are in trouble and you will need to do it every night! Secondly, don't get caught up in tapes of music or sounds this just becomes habit forming and you will have a new problem later on. I think that the best way to warm your child up to their room is to spend time in the room and keep talking about the "big boy" bed or "big girl" bed, what child does not want to be "big". My husband is particularly good and talking any kid into this kind of thing but it really works. This is obviously if you are able to talk to your baby, when they are almost two years old or so.

Dr. Michel Cohen suggests that if you are trying to get your toddler out of your bed (I'm not laughing... we did this too!) you explain to them, honestly and fully how it goes, "you have your bed and they have their bed..." etc... there will be protesting and it will most likely not go smoothly but you will find your way through it, in your own language. Our solution is that we have a sippy cup of 'milk' (another topic) ready for them in our room in the morning and we all share the bed in the morning, for me, this makes getting up in the morning easier and more 'fun' (can I really call it that??...) AND I don't need a irritating alarm clock!

Good luck and remember, sleeping is one of the biggest issues and if you look at it in a practical way and take your time you will find all the answers. (and just a bit of a disclaimer... I do not recommend that you put your baby to sleep on their tummy)

new lucky fish!!

I know that you know, that I know that you all go CRAZY when new Lucky Fish arrives and this time is no exception, but honestly, this time I went CRAZY when I opened my box from Jann and found the most fun and exciting collection of t-shirts! As I have explained a few times before it's always quite a surprise when the Lucky Fish collection comes in and it's a bit hard to explain but Jann and I usually sit down and work out each t-shirt in color and print and silhouette so you can image it's quite complicated and from time to time I look at things and think.. "what was I thinking?" and then from time to time I get my boxes, open with trepidation and VIOLA! there is the best collection ever! and that is what happened this time!

It all went right, a bit of a "Lucky Fish" as they say in South Africa! This little collection of t-shirts has it all, great silhouettes, great colors, soft prints and bold ones, lot's of gold and silver foil! (love those!) and it all came together nicely! Jann and I sat around her kitchen table after her show and put this collection together, we had a few drinks, some laughs and it all shows in the outcome!


One of my favorite new pieces is the Throwover wrap - this is such a great peice for any and every day (and then can also be very cool at night!). The slub cotton is super soft and dense and I love that! It has perfect drape and looks great on any shape!


The t-shirts are perfectly sweet and in colors that are oh-so-nice! Soft pima cotton that really is the most comfortable to wear and perfect for layering in the wintertime and a show-off in the summertime.


I particularly love poplin shirts, I just can't get enough of them... so I was happy to see that Jann was printing on poplin shirts. We chose two that came out perfectly! I hope you love them as much as I do!


ps. my disclaimer--I am working on new photos but the white t-shirts were a bit hard to photograph, they are true white, not light blue as they look in some photos! (sorry about that!) If the t-shirt is white I wrote it in the description.

Visit Nonchalant Mom here and click on "adult" to see the new collection!

Halloween Costume Contest Update

I had no idea we had so many followers to our blog! Sometimes, I allow myself to think that the only people who might read it are my immediate family! BUT, what a pleasant surprise to see so many of you willing to share your kid's costumes and some beautiful and kind comments! The only problem is that we've now received so many that there is no possible way the voting is going to be anything near easy for us - the response has been a bit overwhelming! But, that's a good thing! Nonetheless, we will all be sitting down around the table soon at the showroom and voting. So, stay tuned. And, if you'd still like to enter the contest, we'd love to see your pics - we've extended the deadline until this Monday, when we'll go through all the photos you've sent in. Oh my gosh.... I just can't believe the response! There's a lot of pictures to go through, and many wonderful costumes! How FUN! 

Meantime, enjoy a couple of photos we stumbled on from another time, another place. We hope that everyone had a WONDERFUL AND SAFE Halloween! 

moomah!

Okay so I don't live in NYC so it took me awhile to hear about this one, but my friend Norma told me about it this summer and I finally got around to finding Moomah when I saw a piece on Tracey Stewart in good'ole Cookie Magazine (RIP)...


Moomah is a place that is kind of like going to your really creative friends house and having a playdate! You know that friend, ever an incredible project going on... Moomah is a friendly environment that fosters kids imagination and is overflowing with amazing ideas. One of my favorites is Gloga - or glow-in-the-dark yoga! Including classes for Mommy and me, 2-3 year old and also 4-7 year olds -- I love the idea and I can imagine kids just think this is great!


When Norma went to Moomah this Summer she made shadow boxes with her kids, they had 3-4 different kinds of boxes that kids could make, different sizes, things to put inside like grass, trees and branches, fabric, rocks and shells, etc. I thought this was a great idea so we made some shadow boxes for ourselves... you see if you just visit Moomah you will be inspired to do many of these things yourself!


Moomah also has great food and the best coffee...or so I've heard!
I will certainly be in to try and I can't wait to visit and find out what all the Moomah is all about!! ha!

Moomah, 161 Hudson Street
(between Laight and Hubert streets in Tribeca)
8am - 7pm
DIT table (do-it-together) open 9am - 5pm
visit the website here for more information

NEW robin mollicone necklaces!

I love it when people go crazy for things that I put up on nonchalant mom and Robins necklaces went fast... but I just got a new selection in of one of a kind pieces! Robin found some amazing antique Italian beads this time including some in Jet black and they are faceted! yes, I said FACETED they are so small that I can hardly believe it but the result is an amazing piece that I specially requested and she made just for us! (she told me about the beads and I just had to have them!).


Her new pieces are my favorites for this fall, the silver beads are perfectly simple and can be worn for day and at night (I love that in a piece of jewelry!). These beads are tiny, tiny, tiny.. about the size of the head of a needle (god, I actually think they are smaller!) she threads them one by one so each piece takes a few days to make.. it's crazy but the result is BEAUTIFUL! and I treasure her work.

So thank you Robin for working hard to bring us your amazing work!
(but get to work on the next thing and keep them coming!!)


click here to see Robin Mollicone necklaces on Nonchalant Mom

sugar, sugar, sugar....

Halloween is over and now the candy frenzy begins... This year it is especially important because of the threat of swine flu to be careful with the candy intake for you and your kids! Obviously everybody knows how bad candy is for you but there are so many levels to the 'badness'... most people are concerned with candy rotting away teeth, but that's only the beginning... Candy weakens your body and immune system and it is particularly alarming this year with the swine flu sweeping through schools and neighborhoods. So just be extra careful to watch the amount of candy being consumed.

I see lots of kids whose diet consists of white pasta, milk and bread... all of these 'foods' (if you can call them that..) are exactly what creates mucus in the lungs and sinuses add to this lovely meal processed sugar in the form of candy and you are in big trouble. I don't think that the 'scientifics' need to be explained here, it's all pretty clear, right? Be extra careful that you are eating a balanced diet and pile on the steamed or raw veggies at this time and you will help fight colds and flu and not add to the problem.

It's all pretty simple but sometimes you just need a 'nudge' or a reminder to keep on track. It starts to get crazy now with the candy at halloween, the cakes and cookies of Thanksgiving and then the final ZAP with Christmas and the Holidays! So think ahead and come up with ways to keep everyone healthy and happy without so many sweets this season... I know this is not easy but if you are a new family with young kids it's a good time to start some healthy holiday eating habits and they will never know the difference!

Here are some ideas to start you off but come up with your own and please share them with us here but adding your comments!

-bake your own cookies instead of buying them and then half the sugar in the recipe... exchange rasins for chocolate, apple juice for milk, or even experiment with alternative flours and see what you and your family like best.

-serve hard cheese or goat cheese and get your kids used to them, they have less milk and fats and you will be surprised at what your kids like!

-edamame makes a great snack and sometimes kids love to peel them out of the hull (if not your kids will love the ones out of the shell) remember to always buy organic when you are looking at Soy products.

-have carrot sticks cut and ready when kids come home from school, if they are 'dippers' use a bit of salad dressing mixed in with greek yogurt.

-use rice crackers (or also rice cakes) instead of regular wheat based or processed crackers (and try them with apple butter for a sweet snack)

-toasted nori seaweed - just prepare it by toasting it on your stove until it turns bright green. most kids love the taste and if you don't act like it's a crazy kind of food they don't know it's anyting different! so even if it's not normal for you keep up a good face and watch your kids eat it without a problem! (babies LOVE the stuff!!)

-if you don't have any allergies in your family nuts are great... just keep trying different nuts to see what your kids like, there is bound to be something they will love... my kids love pistachios! (of all the crazy things...??) - this one is not for babies as you have to be alert for alergies so talk to your pediatrician to see when your baby is ready for nuts.

-an apple a day keeps the doctor away... we take this saying to heart and we ALWAYS eat an apple a day especially now when they are at their juicy best!

But you get what I mean.. if you think about it it's easy to come up with wonderful snacks that have nothing to do with processed food and sugar.

Halloween Costume Contest

Halloween night is almost upon us. Our kids have finally made up their mind about what costume they want to wear. I'm having a lot of fun making my daughter's 'Peacock Princess' costume festooned with colorful feathers... and if I'm lucky it will turn out just as she described to me. Our son has decided he wants to go for a more mysterious costume this year and has opted to be a Ninja. There's lots of wrapping with black cloth and he's never tired of pulling down his scarf to hide everything but his eyes. Then he jumps around in karate poses. It's always exciting.

Don't forget to take a picture of your little one in their costume and send it to us to enter into the Halloween Costume Contest. Just to remind you, this year - we want to offer two prizes:

Best Halloween Costume: Win $80 in Nonchalant Kids Clothing !!! 

Most Original Costume: Win a Lucky Fish children's t-shirt !!!

We'll leave the contest open until 5 November 2009 to allow for your pictures. You can send your pictures to karim@nonchalantmom.com with your child's first name only and city. We will consider them all. Keep in mind we will share them with our other readers. All of us here at the office will make the final choice for winners of both categories. Once the decisions are made, we'll contact you via your original email to us. We can't wait to see them!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN from all of us at Nonchalant Mom. 

So, let's see those costumes! 

DREAM Transport

the Workcycle

My husband and I remind each other all the time about getting around on bikes - especially after my first visit to Amsterdam a few years ago. When we lived in NYC, even against the odds, we used to bike everywhere (not so wise with the kids though). It's a dream of ours then and now - particularly since the bike of choice around where we live is usually either an off-road type or a racing bike. Our area is not made for cruising into town for shopping..... and that makes me rather sad. Nonetheless, a girl can dream, right?

The Bakfiets Model (just LOVE that weather cover above)

So, my eyes brightened when our friend Rachel at Hand Made Charlotte spotted some bikes recently and shared them with us. I allowed myself several minutes to dream about cruising around town with one of these bikes and the kids.... groceries in tow! I'd be in the fresh autumn air, huffing and puffing to get to cruising speed! But, for now, that's where it stays - only a dream.

But, since I'm dreaming I'd like to tell you which one I've had my eye on for some time. I'd start with the Bakfiets version (though my kids are both pretty much beyond that one now) just because I've always thought it looked so nicely designed and efficient. Later (which would be right about now) I'd opt for the 3-seat Workcycle with the kids on back. Or, if I was feeling particularly daring (hoping the kids would help peddle this foot powered limousine) I'd definitely go for the multi tandem version of the Onderwater...... how FUN that would be with the kids out front. I can just imagine the nightmare that would create on our town's Main Street - you know what they say about us Rhode Island drivers.....hmmm. My husband and I, for the longest time, tried to think we could compromise by at least just getting the cool saddle bags for the back of our existing bikes.... but deep down we knew they wouldn't be put to use as much as we might hope. Either way, if you've got the kind of environment friendly enough for these beauties, and the spare cash to plop down for the privilege then I strongly suggest you go for it! 

the  Onderwater Tandem

Thanks to Rachel for brightening up my day. And, if any of you are already using these bikes, please let me know (with a pic too) so I can salivate at your good fortune for being able to do so! You know I'd be soooooo jealous. For more images and ideas, you can check out the bikes on Dutch Bike Seattle for a good start.

flu season is upon us..

I have a had a bit of a delay weighing in on this subject, because like everyone else I know we are all a bit confused about what to do and how to take precaution. And, as I heard on NPR yesterday you can never really predict what is going to happen with the flu, what you can be sure of is that whatever you DO predict it will be wrong... so let's start there!

In our community a crazy flu virus has ran through the school system and in one case wiped out an entire class. It varied from case to case from mild to severe but consisted of only a fever, no vomiting, no diarrhea, and very little sneezing. In adults it showed up as a fatigue that was really hard to shake and in the end needed about two days of good honest rest. So you can imagine that everyone is talkeing about whether or not to take the H1N1 vaccine -- this is a personal decision and you have to make that choice together with your pediatrician.

In talking to a few holistic doctors we have heard of some very good ideas that we are going to practice in our home and I wanted to pass them onto you. Because of the virus that is going around in our community you can be sure that we will be practicing all of the below helpful ideas.

1. Salt baths - just put a handful of salt in your kids bathtub at night, just use enough to make it just about as salty as the ocean. Let them take a nice long soak and try to get them to dunk their heads (so that their nose, ears and eyes get clean with the salt water). Just make sure their hair is dry when they get into bed.

2. Netti pot (best) or saline spray (at least) - it was suggest that these viruses nestle in the nasal passages and need to be flushed out twice a day. I can't picture my kids using a netti pot but maybe if they watch us do it they will give it a try... never hurts to try. In macrobiotics it is suggested to take a bowl of saltwater and one nasal at a time suck up the water into your sinuses and then blow it out -- it's freaky but when it's done it feels great and you can do this instead of the netti pot.

3. Gargle with warm salt water - this is easy and the kids get a kick out of making the sound! So make it fun and do it twice a day with brushing.

4. Work a vitamin C drink into the morning meal - some kids love energy-C

5. And this tip came from a reader and I thought that it made a lot of sense so I wanted to pass it onto you. Use essential oils. Most essential oils are both antiviral and antibacterial. Before going out into any crowded area, dilute an essential oil such as peppermint, tea tree oil, or lavender with a little bit of olive oil and massage the mixture all around the outside of your ears and down the sides of your throat. Also dab a little under your nose. If you use peppermint, be careful to dilute it or it will sting. I believe we contract most colds and flu through the ears when airborne bacteria land on them. The essential oils will provide a temporary barrier that I feel reduces that risk.

6. Cut out refined sugar - I know this is impossible for halloween but do your best to cut out sugar in your families diet. It will drain your energy and drain your immune system.

7. We use Astragalus for the kids instead of Echinecha because it's easier on the digestive system and we have had great results with it. But either is great for immune support especially if you catch it in the beginning so have it on-hand so that when you need it you can be ready.

8. My sister swears by homemade chicken soup! - you can't go wrong and make up your own recipe depending on what your family likes. At the very least it adds much needed liquids and a hearty dose of vegetables.

Good Luck with your cold and flu season and remember lots of exercise and good healthy eating is your best tool against illness. Meals should be full of lots of colors: beets, carrots, greens and turnips! Please don't be afraid to share your tips and information with us - send in your comment.

sweaters section on nonchalant mom

we created a section on nonchalant mom for "SWEATERS" this section will show all the sweaters on the website, I think that, especially for sweaters, you just want to see everything at once. I hope that this is helpful!

In this section you will find sweaters from:

KIDS
Milo' - amazing merino wool (but really soft!) sweaters from spain
Makié - the new tunic shape which we have for both kids and women!
Oeuf - alpaca sweaters all on sale!
nonchalant kids - the vest and new short sleeve sweater!

ADULT
nico nico - this seasons favorite poncho!
Makié - she made a super womens tunic! great shape and easy to wear

ACCESSORIES
wonderful accessories from Milo, Makié and benk for baby!

So take a look and I hope that you find the sweater that you are looking for to keep you warm this season!

click here to go straight to sweaters!

halloween costume contest!

Here we go again with the halloween costume contest!

I know that everyone is full of creativity with their costumes and last year we had a very tough time choosing a winner... there were so many wonderful entries! we hope to see the same this year so work your magic!

The lucky winner will receive $80 of your choice from the Nonchalant Kids collection! yahoo!!

We will announce the winner on November 5th so that everyone take take their photos on Halloween and send them into us!

please send your entries into: karim'at'nonchalantmom.com

Biodegradable shoes!?

On the green shoe front there hasn't been much news... organic cotton - check... naturally harvested latex - check... vegan shoes - check... now Simple shoes has come up with biodegradable shoes! I love the idea and then I went to look at the shoes and they looked great too!! (check!)


I carry Veja fair trade sneakers in my store and I love them! I don't think that there is much in the kids options for this kind of shoe so I am proud to have them on Nonchalant Mom. The adult ones are amazing as well! But the carbon footprint of importing them from Brazil is a killer... It's hard to wind everything into a tight little package, so we do our best!

Simple shoes has come up with a line for Spring 2010 called BIO-D, their first collection of biodegradable footwear -- outsoles and midsoles break down to dirt in a landfill environment in 20 years! I love that...what a great idea! the footwear is made with sustainable materials: hemp uppers, recycled car tire bottoms, organic cotton linings, recycled plastic bottles (PET) shoe laces and foot beds, and water-based glues. I think these are all good ideas AND they look terrific! so I have no need for new shoes and I will be waiting for Simple's new BIO-D line!

visit Treehugger for more information
visit simple shoes website