Gift Guide Part #2: Your Chatty Toddler Who Cooks You Pretend Sausages and Eggs Every Morning.

(Symbolically) adopt an animal, $50 to $250, to support the WWF's global efforts to protect these lovely wild animals and their habitats.

PB&J candy bar, $4.25.

Along a Long Road, $11.55. Toby and I are both in love with this beautiful book.

Taxi leg warmers, $12 each.

Toy plane, $20, along with a luggage cart! (This airplane box set is rad, too.)

Adorable clothes, made in Brooklyn, $32 and up. (Here's their holiday sale.)

Mini Book of Names & Faces, a bedtime story about his peeps. $29.99.

Spaghetti twirling fork for funny dinners, $9.54.

His first assignment, $1.

Leaning Tower of Pisa blocks, $40.49. (Or the entire Coliseum)


Musical sounds puzzle, $11. (There's an animal sounds puzzle, too.)

Kazoobie Wazoo Kazoo! Extra loud! $7.98. (This trumpet kazoo is cool, too.)

P.S. More gifts for kids, and the 2012 gift guide so far...

(Pisa blocks via Abbey)

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Motherhood Mondays: What are your favorite baby names?

Want to hear the top 100 baby names of 2012?
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New little darlings

My friend's son's nursery is filled with these baby animal photographs, and apparently her little boy says "good night" to each one every evening. How cute is that? Today photographer Sharon Montrose just launched two new little darlings—a baby camel and a baby zebra. What little faces...
And this video broke my heart...(P.S. Here's their holiday sale.)

(Animal wallpaper by Anthropologie)

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Do or Don't: Kids sharing a bedroom

While househunting in Brooklyn, we've been seeing both two- and three-bedroom places. Needless to say, the two-bedroom spots are much more affordable. But since we're hoping to have two children, if we get a two-bedroom apartment, they'd have to share a room.

What do you think? My sister and I shared a room for a while, and I liked it; but Alex shared a room with his much older brother for a decade and was always dying for his own space. Should each child have a room to call their own, or is it fun to share? Did you share a room growing up? I'd be so grateful for any advice...

P.S. Smart way to divide a room, and nursery in a closet.

(Photo by Meghan McEwan)

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Motherhood Mondays: Do your eyes light up when you see your child?

Whenever I see or call my mom, she always acts ecstatic. Even though I'm usually regaling her with something super boring ("I’m ordering Mexican for dinner tonight,” "I’m kind of sleepy today,” “Did you see that it snowed?”), she’s always thrilled to hear every detail. And although I’m 33 years old, it feels reassuring to have someone who is so reliably happy that I exist.

Learning from my mother, now that I have a child of my own, I try to never hide how happy I am to see Toby. Even when I'm buried in emails or writing a post, I always look up with a huge grin and eyes twinkling when Toby walks in the door. Even when I'm sick, busy, tired or stressed, I want him to always know, 100%, that I'm glad he's there.

Author Toni Morrison shared a similar sentiment on Oprah years ago: "When my children used to walk in the room...I looked at them to see if they had buckled their trousers or if their hair was combed or if their socks were up. You think your affection and your deep love is on display because you're caring for them. It's not. When they see you, they see the critical face." Does your face light up when your child comes into the room? she asked. Because they notice.

Toby, for one, has definitely noticed. He'll sometimes even come through the door and announce, "Ta da!!!" It makes my heart sing that he believes he's worthy of such fanfare.

What about you? Have you ever thought about this? Maybe every mother does! It's one of those little things that feels really important.

P.S. The first time my eyes lit up.

(I wrote a shortened version of this post for SFGirlbyBay; thanks, Victoria)

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Our holiday cards

Will you be sending out holiday cards this year? Last year, we chose a photo of all of us, but this year we went with a photo of Toby playing guitar, partly because he looked cute and partly because we didn't have a decent family photo:)

We of course turned to Pinhole Press for their lovely, simple designs. We ended up choosing one of the new Ultrathick Pinstripe Cards, which have a cool pinstripe on the sides of each card. And I like how the back simply says "Merry!" They have tons of other great cards, too.

Plus, a bonus for all readers: Pinhole Press is offering 10% off everything with the code CUPOFJO for the rest of the year. Happy holidays!
P.S. Personalized memory game, and photo notepads.

(Photos by Alpha Smoot for Cup of Jo; styling by Kendra Smoot)

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Danish bedding

Have you heard of the Copenhagen-based brand By Nord? Their bedding (for kids and adults), stockings and tea towels are seriously rad. Wouldn't the duvet be awesome for a guest room? I can imagine relatives calling quick dibs on who gets to sleep there.

You can find them here and here. (And here's the kids bedding in action!)

(Via Swissmiss)

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Toby's new sweater

My grandmother Milly lives in England, so we aren't able to see her nearly as often as we'd like. But she just sent Toby a dinosaur sweater that she knit herself. How sweet is that? It makes me nostalgic every time Toby wears it.
Here's a photo of Milly from our trip to Cornwall last year. (By the way, how little has she changed in four years...or forty-six years?!!) Amazing to think that she's Toby's great-grandmother!
And, just for fun, a recent photo of Milly and another of her great-grandchildren doing the Sunday crossword. (The 2006 calendar apparently has not been changed:)

P.S. Breastfeeding across the ocean.

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Why do kids cover their eyes when hiding?

You know how children often cover their eyes when they want to hide? Well, Cambridge researchers wanted to discover why, and here's an amazing quote from their findings...

"In both studies so far, when the children thought they were invisible by virtue of their eyes being covered, they nonetheless agreed that their head and their body were visible. They seemed to be making a distinction between their 'self' that was hidden, and their body, which was still visible. Taken together with the fact that it was the concealment of the eyes that seemed to be the crucial factor for feeling hidden, the researchers wondered if their invisibility beliefs were based around the idea that there must be eye contact between two people—a meeting of gazes—for them to see each other (or at least, to see their 'selves')."

How sweet is that? Children are fascinating.
(Via Kottke)

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Motherhood Mondays: DIY teepee for a child

How inviting is this lace teepee? Since lots of readers loved the teepee in Abbey's apartment, we figured we'd share an easy way to make one yourself. Wouldn't it be a fun place to cuddle up, take a nap and read books? Here are the instructions...
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Motherhood Mondays: 20 surprising parenting tips

Hope everyone is staying safe and dry! Over the past few years, I've heard some amazing (and surprising) parenting tips from friends that I've found really valuable, so I'd love to share them here (and hear yours!)...
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10 favorite wallpapers

Our Brooklyn apartment hunt is slowing down (since apparently most people don't list their apartments before the holidays), but I've still been daydreaming about decorating! Wouldn't it be lovely to wallpaper just one wall in a bedroom or living room? Here are ten beautiful ones...

1. Paris. 2. Forest 3. Blue feathers 4. London gents 5. Grey waves 6. Sailboats 7. Bookcase 8. Owls 9. Morning in Manhattan 10. Animals

Aren't these pretty? Which do you like best?

(Top photo features wallpaper by Josef Frank from Lisa Grue's home. Graphic design elements by Rachel for Cup of Jo)

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Motherhood Mondays: Would you try hypnobirth?

I've heard fascinating rumors about hypnobirth (are you in a trance? I wondered), so I asked three readers to share their experiences, and it blew my mind...
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Soccer soundtrack

Toby spent most of his soccer practice air drumming. We may be discovering his passion:)

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Motherhood Mondays: Sleep training (it's tough!)

By the time Toby was six months old, we were all pretty stressed...
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Playing guitar with Toby

Inspired by this banjo-playing mama, I’ve been trying to learn how to play guitar. But, funnily enough, Toby couldn't care less. Even when I just strum the strings, he's totally psyched. Here we are, singing about horses! We sound terrible! We love it!

Man, I adore that little guy.

(Leftover photo by Sarina Cass from this shoot; Toby's wearing Honest diapers)

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Toby's first soccer practice

I can't help posting:) My heart bursts.

P.S. Cute quote from Rose on Facebook: "I love toddlers in shorts and socks. They have about 3/4 of an inch of leg showing."

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Motherhood Mondays: Bookcase dollhouse

Toby likes playing with wooden figures, so I know he'd love a dollhouse. The dollhouses on amazon are expensive, so I was PSYCHED to come across this tutorial for making a dollhouse out of any old bookcase. I love how they use wrapping paper for wallpaper. Thumbs up!

P.S. Make your own racetrack.

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Motherhood Mondays: What's the best age gap between siblings?

I've noticed something interesting about people...
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Motherhood Mondays: Flying Henry

Photographer Rachel Hulin saw her husband lifting up their baby Henry one day and wondered what it would look like if her husband were cropped out. The result? Henry appeared to be flying!

Hulin created a series of these adorable images, and now she's publishing a 40-page book, Flying Henry, in April 2013. How cute is that? (Wouldn't it be cool to write a story to go along with the photos?)

(Thanks, Scott)

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