I was having a conversation about pets with my children yesterday. We were debating who would have to pick up the poo if we got a dog. Of course I drew the short straw, and was complaining about it.
Connie said "well lets get a cat then, because they don't do poo"
Frankie and I cracked up "yes they do!!" we said.
Indignant, she replied "well, I've never seen one do it".

Cute.
Am wondering if there's an idea in breeding non-pooing cats. I'd buy one.

Here's a little preview of some of the new styles from SS10, coming in the first week of February...
You like? Email me what you think, what you would like to see more of, less of... shop@ohbabylondon.com

Yesterday, walking up Brick Lane, I found this old record player being sold on the footpath for £15. I couldn't walk past it, I had to have it.
So now the kids have it in their bedroom, and are totally in their element. With a big stack of old singles from the 70's and 80's we played musical statues, and they were still dancing around this morning before school. Nice thing about it is at £15 it's fine for them to be the DJs - and they're loving being in control. They're discovering all this old music for themselves, finding music they love.
Let the musical education begin....

This year I am going to concentrate on being kind myself rather than pushing myself. After a two month break I started running again today. And rather than my usual go, go, go, faster, faster, faster attitude I took it at a friendly pace, and had this eureka moment. Yes, note to self; this year will be about achieving calm and being kind to myself. It's so easy to load on the pressure, to make expectations of ourselves so high we can never achieve them. So this year I'm going to celebrate small victories and take life at that friendly pace.

I came across this today, it lives on the site of the old Glasgow Maternity Hospital. Cute, huh?
Have always been a lover of super sizing, am going to find pics and share. Here's one of my faves....

All together now.... ahhhhhh!
Here's our first pic of former Oh Baby Londoner Daniele's new baby Matteo, born on 30th December. He's "the most gorgeous boy in the world"....

Our congratulations go out to Daniele and Daddy Gunther, and we can't wait to meet the little guy.

He has great taste already, I see he chose an Oh Baby London "You are all dinosaurs" tee for this momentous pic. Go Matteo.

Yes folks, this is for real.

'Morning Chicness' designer vomit bags for you ladies unlucky enough to get morning sickness... bad!
At first I laughed. "Can you believe this!?" I said.

I was very lucky to have had little to no morning sickness whatsoever when pregnant with Frankie and Connie. A touch of nausea maybe, but not one vomit.

When I read how founder Tara Ramos "had a severe form of morning sickness, called Hyperemesis Gravidarum, which caused her to vomit up to a dozen times per day for seven months." I stopped laughing. Man, a dozen times a day? I can totally imagine how sick(ha ha) I would get of a plastic shopping bag, and yeah, who can get their hold of the number of airline vomit bags that sort of sickness would require.

A dozen times a day? No wonder she came up with Morning Chicness - the girl can have whatever she wants I say after going through that.

So if any of you are reading this going "Yes! this will make my morning sickness filled life one iota better", then go for it.
They come in six designs, in packs of 10, 20 or if it's real bad 50.

It's so nice when we get feedback from you, it's important to us to know that we made you happy, and anything you think we could do to keep making our service better and better.
Here's a couple of comments we received yesterday:

"Thanks for sending that out. Really appreciate the excellent level of personal service you've given. I'm looking forward to checking out the sale as soon as I can get near a computer."
Nisha

"I just had to email you to say " Oh my god" that was super fast service!! Thank you so much, it has brightened my day to receive the parcel this morning. I really didn't think for one minute it would be here until after New year, so a huge Thank you.
And my son Finley is also over the moon with his cool new tops, so thank you from him too!!"
Natasha

"I just wanted to thank you very much for the 'Don't Hate me' t-shirt. It arrived today and I'm absolutely delighted with it. Thank you so much for all your help and supper efficient service I very much appreciated it."
Jackie

I took Frankie and Connie to see The Gruffalo at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury Ave today (thanks to some Lastminute.com £7.50 tickets)
I wasn't that keen on it myself, don't get me wrong, I love The Gruffalo, it's just that after reading it 1587 times, it just lost it's spark. So I was unprepared for how totally fantastic the stage production is. Great acting, hilarious and damn good music. What more could we ask? Good seats? Got them too.

Go and see it. I mean like, really, go see it.

The Oh Baby London January sale has just started - look for bargains up to 50% on every page...

The oh-so-lovely folks at Anorak magazine have chosen the Biker playsuit for their last minute Christmas shopping list. We like you, Anorak... we like you a lot.

They say: "For the budding biker, the coolest playsuit you will ever find, comes with all the right zips in all the right places!"

We say, yeah!

Planet Awesome Kid, the cool NYC blog about all things NYC kid street style-like started by ex model agent Julia Samersova has this to say about the new Oh Baby London Biker Playsuit:

"I. Just. Fell. Out. Of. My. Chair.

This rarely happens, but I am in shock and awe over this Oh Baby London Biker Playsuit.

It is a limited edition item and only 200 have been produced, so you better hurry!

Made from ultra-soft, thick and snuggly 100% cotton jersey, brushed on the inside for extra comfort.

To say that we love it, is putting it mildly. We are head over heels for this BIKER."

I love New York, have been a few times, in fact it was the first real big city I visited as a teenager from little ol' New Zealand. I fell in love with it then, and after several visits have begun to wonder if it is my spiritual home. Have always had a deep desire to live there, but alas, alack have never quite made that happen. I love that it's like a villagey London, London with a smile on. Yes, I heart NY. Bigtime.

Check out Planet Awesome Kid - it's awesome, kid...

Frankie has been planning "the band" for the last 8 months. It finally started this month on the day heralded on our kitchen calendar, and it rocked. Not the least the band tshirts I hand made with applique lightening bolts (pink for girls of course). It was a bit of a freeform jam session, everyone finding their own rythym. And was it loud? Yes. Was it a beautiful thing? Yes indeed.

Make sure you order by 21st December if you want your UK orders delivered before Christmas! And use the code 'MERRY' in the discount code box at checkout to get 25% off all orders until midnight 21st December...

We had our Oh Baby London Christmas lunch today at the new(ish) and lovely Pizza East in the Tea Building on the corner of Shoreditch High Street. Part of the Shoreditch House, so as you can imagine it's great food, great interior and, surprisingly, good value for money. Best pizza in East London I reckon.

Anyhow, on leaving I stumbled across a brand new shop just across Shoreditch High Street called Maiden.

It says: "A carefully edited selection of fun, affordable design products and books", and that's exactly what it was. I was looking for stuff for the kids Christmas stockings and came away with a chinese gold cat with waving hand and some drumstick pencils and two gold star brooches that came in a little green box with 'For a Little Star" on the top. Cute, cool, economical. I like it. There were loads of things I could have bought in there, and the service was tip top.

Print this out and you get 10% off in the store.
Well worth a visit.

When your Daddy's a real live Policeman, the 'Been Inside for 9 Months' playsuit makes your first picture a cracker.

"Just thought you might like to see a pic of my baby Gorgeous George, aged 4 months, modelling one of your lovely playsuits. So many people comment on it - it has extra comedy value as his Daddy is a police officer :-)"

All of us at Oh Baby London HQ L.O.V.E. this, thanks Elli, what a brilliant shot...

Check out this week's Grazia magazine (as I always do). Am happy to say we feature in their Xmas Gift Guide. The 'You are all Dinosaurs' sold out pretty much immediately, but never fear, the latest version of this Oh Baby London classic has just landed...

Having just got my little lovelies off to sleep, here I am spending my quiet 'me' time with a glass of wine, Ugly Betty (an episode ahead on E4) on my laptop in Club Penguin playing the 'Astro whatever' game to earn Frankie points to buy a Puffle for his penguin. Are you with me? If you have a kid approaching six you soon will.

And I don't do computer games. Ever. Until now.

Trendhunter.com featured our Biker Playsuit today. This playsuit rocks like no other.

#1 in Trends - With 9+ million monthly views, TrendHunter.com is the world's largest, most popular trend community. Fueled by a global network of 30,000 members, Trend Hunter and Trend Hunter TV feature 58,000 micro-trends and cutting edge ideas.

Check out trendhunter.com here...

This looks great, I'll be schlepping up to Stokie to check it out. I know the lovely peeps behind Rude, they are amazing illustrators/ideas people and I'm sure they'll be making this Chritmas pop up shop an event not to be missed. Was trying to find a good Santa's grotto on the internet last night, and this might just be the ticket:

"Illustration collective 'Rude' and retro furniture emporium 'The Cobbled Yard' have joined forces to create a magical Christmas Market in Stoke Newington.
Due to a lack of Santa's Grottos in London, we have created our own contemporary wonderland where the children can meet Father Christmas, whilst their parents can buy Christmas trees, shop for gifts, have a mulled wine and a mince pie, and listen to Christmas Carols.
Alongside antiques and furniture, we are selling designer interior wares and soft furnishings with a new collection of Rude limited edition screen prints and original artwork.

We are situated just off Stoke Newington Church St in the Ballroom, 1 Bouverie Mews, Stoke Newington, N16 OAJ

The beauty of a Rude Pop Up shop is you don't have to fight your way into town to get the best stuff - if you live in N16 it's all on your doorstep...

Brands include Joseph Joseph, Pantone, Thomas Paul, Rude, Maria Holmer Dahlgren and many more. This year cakes will be on sale from the lovely ladies at 'Pop Tarts' and Hurricane coffee will be on sale too.

Hope to see you there
Love Rude"

www.thisisapopupshop.com

This 2 minute comedy sketch is chock full of bad baby language - no! cringe! bad!
But Will Ferrell can do no wrong for me at the moment. I just love him... sorry.

Here's a snippet of an article about Doula's from The Independent today that I am sure you'll be interested in reading.

My favourite bit is the picture of baby Luella wearing Oh Baby London's "Been Inside for 9 Months" Playsuit! Rather excellent choice I thought...



Michelle Campbell and her daughter Luella Clarke, who was born with the assistance of a doula

The mother of all rows breaks out over doulas
Author: By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor

In the latest example, an anaesthetist from Worthing Hospital has penned an invective in the esteemed British Medical Journal (BMJ) against the rise of the "doula", the female supporters who assist women through childbirth and whose popularity is growing rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic.

Around 1,000 doulas ? the word comes from the Greek meaning "woman servant" ? are thought to be practising in Britain, a three-fold rise in six years. They charge from £400 to £900 for a care package, which includes antenatal visits, labour, postnatal visits and being on call. The idea was imported from the US where there are more than 100,000 doulas who provide support to expectant mothers to challenge the technological tyranny of the medical establishment.

I have heavily, heavily edited - it's a good article so why not view full article here

I make no apologies, Barbie is loved in our house... terrible role model that she is accused of being, I just love the girl. When I was little, my sisters and I weren't allowed Barbie dolls, we had Daisy, a more girl next door version. Sure she did the job, and I loved her too - but I always wanted the real deal. So when my daughter developed the same desperate need for all things Barbie, what could I do but give in...

Now here's a Barbie for the big girls. Christian Louboutin has designed a series of fantabulous Barbie dolls - not for little girls. No way, no how.

You can get 'em from net-a-porter (of course!) and this is what they have to say:
"The master of fabulous footwear, Christian Louboutin has joined forces with Barbie to create a glamorous line of limited edition dolls. Launching in December 2009 as part of a dedicated Barbie collector's set, Cat-burglar Barbie looks ultra-fashion forward in a sleek hooded black cat-suit and has the choice of four of Louboutin's statement red-soled heels to wear. The first in a series of three, she comes complete with a chic collectable calendar which follows the duo's fashion-filled travels."

Our latest mini model Sophia works the Biker Playsuit the way nature intended.
Go girl.

I knew all the words to Bohemian raphsody as a kid (still do) and love love love it. Is it a guilty pleasure? Hell, there ain't nothing guilty about it. I also love the muppets, always have - except Fozzy Bear, he always got on my nerves. Anyhow it is a joy to behold their version of this epic song.

Went to the opening of the Art Barter event last night - a cool idea where the likes of you and me can offer up whatever we've got or can do for a piece o'art. You'll be able to do it on their website soon so check it out. My friend reckoned no one would really want a year's supply of baby clothes, and after a couple of the Absolut Vodka cocktails on offer I didn't feel like offering that or anything else either.
Held at The Rag Factory just off Brick Lane - a cracking venue with the kudos of having been Tracey Emin and Gary Hume's old studio and where Woody Allen filmed a bit of his latest movie - it was a fun party. Not one to mix drinks I certainly regretted the two cocktails I had last night when I woke up this morning, but it did give me an excuse to wear my latest pair of heels...

Yowser!...

Here's the Art Barter blurb:
"The Platform For Exchange Between Artists And The Public.
Curators Lauren Jones and Alix Janta are organising a show featuring work
from 50 London based established and emerging artists. The list includes
Tracey Emin, Gavin Turk, Mat Collishaw, Gary Hume, Abigail Lane, Polly
Morgan, Boo Saville, Abigail Fallis and Paul Fryer. The event will open its doors
from the 27th of November to the 29th of November and will be held at the
Rag Factory in east London, the former studio of Tracey Emin and Gary
Hume.

The Art Barter event revolves around the idea that artwork will be acquired by
individuals through alternative means to money. Artists have always been
familiar with the use of barter. From Picasso exchanging sketches for his
meals, to hotels (such as The Chelsea Hotel in NY) accepting art as payment
for rent and select YBA’s having tabs at restaurants such as The Ivy in
exchange for pieces of their work to adorn the restaurant walls.

There is a catch at Art Barter where you will not know which artwork belongs
to which artist until after the show’s end."

Here's our latest super fantastic style - The Biker Playsuit.
A strictly limited edition, only 200 made, and up until Christmas it comes packaged in our signature Oh Baby London tin lunchbox packaging.
What could be more fantastic for baby's first photo on Santas knee? Perfectamundo.
The Biker Playsuit comes in 0-3m/3-6m/6-12m and 12-18m.
It zips from shoulder to ankle, with a gorgeous YKK rounded tooth brass zip.
It really is so cool I could cry.
Thick, ultra-soft 100% cotton jersey, brushed on the inside for extra snuggliness.
It's a dream.

It comes in on 10 December to Oh Baby London HQ and we'll send them out to you straight away, so pre-order it now to be one of the first to get it.

Here it is closed, looks great...


and here it is in the tin lunchbox packaging...

Yes we can all relax. Finally some lovely science types have had some news published in The Guardian today that a bit of dirt is good for kids. Persil have been telling us that in their marketing campaign for the last few years and today it became news.

I've always followed the relaxed bathtime routine, skip one here, one there, when my kids were babies I thought they were simply to clean to have a bath every day. I mean it's not like they work up a sweat . Not really. Not at all. Natural oils and all that.

And now they're bigger, every night is just not humanly possible. I am not a creature of habit when it comes to cleanliness (blame my mother... I do) and I actually find something vaguely depressing, a feeling of endless drudgery about a never ending routine.
I totally believe kids need routine, and we sure live by that, but skipping a bit of bathtime here and there just feels ok. And as for general grubbiness - am I bovvered? No, not really. And now I've read this article, not at all.

Here's a snippet:
"For parents too stretched to make sure their offspring are perfectly turned out at all times, it may just be the scientific cover they've been waiting for.

They will now be able to answer the disapproving tuts of their more fastidious friends by pointing to research which gives biological backing to the old adage that the more germs a child is exposed to during early childhood, the better their immune system in later life

Researchers from the School of Medicine at the University of California found that being too clean could impair the skin's ability to heal. The San Diego-based team discovered that normal bacteria that live on the skin trigger a pathway that helps prevent inflammation when we get hurt."

Read the whole enchilada at the Guardian Online, by clicking here.

For I am a Lazy Blogger.
I read the Sunday Times Style magazine religiously every Sunday. It ain't gospel, but alongside a steaming cup of (now decaf) coffee, it is one of my many pleasures in life.
So I was truly shamed to see on the "Going Down" list "lazy bloggers - if you're not updating daily we're blogging off".
I promise to change my ways from this day forward.

Cross my heart.

or "Pirate and the Carrot and the Bean" as it is in my house.

Gotta laugh.