My latest creation courtesy of Strauss:It's supposed to be Dora the Explorer. can't you tell?
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Parental dilemmas

My eldest daughter, AKA the Princess, is such a sweet, caring, gentle kid. She is truly a princess, and even though she think she's really tough, she's a buttercup compared to other kids. She doesn't look frail or small or gentle - she's tall for her age, she's strong - VERY strong from years of gymnastics (I mean her stomach is like IRON - she is ALL muscle). But really - she just doesn't know what to do when somebody picks on her. I had to help her out recently with this kid, 4 years younger than her and half her size, She just did not know how to handle him. And I am constantly faced with this dilemma. I mean, I'm a big believer in standing up for yourself, NOT letting people climb all over you, saying everything that needs to be said. But how do I get across to the kids the fact that I love how they are so sweet and loving, but they do need to get angry once in a while? I tell them - if someone picks on you, calls you names or curses - I, your mother, give you my express permission to say the same things back to them. If someone hits you, I permit you to hit them back. DON'T turn the other cheek - get even! On the playground, only you can stand up fopr yourself. I know it sounds harsh - but I don't want them feeling like they don't know how to handle things - I want to feel easy that they can defend themselves.

The Tsunami told me a little while ago that she wants her baby brother to "hatch" already.

So what does that make me - the chicken?

New York in the Winter

The Princess signed wistfully over her egg salad and crackers dinner last night and said "I wish we could go back to New York..."

And I so understand her. NY is magical when its snowing, and even though it was totally freezing most of the time, we had such a fabulous vacation.

It was a real bonding experience - just the two of us, and she was truly adorable.

my latest obsession

No, I am not talking about any intellectual obsession, not the last book I read, or the Israeli political situation (IS there a situation?), or any worthy cause. My latest obsessions are completely controlled by my hormone-infused, gray-cell decimated, all-things-baby overloaded brain.

So today I'm going to be talking about cribs. Or bassinets. Or moses baskets (which is really gruesome when you think about it - I mean why was moses in the basket in the first place?).
Ok, no more sidetracking. Today we're going to display some of the more gorgeous, designer, modern, trendy cribs out there on the market.
BTW, this all started really early this morning, and IT WAS ALL Y's FAULT! I mean, if he hadn't told me to look up some obscure dutch designer who designed a beautiful crib (which Y diplomatically told me I could either buy for a few hundred euro or he could build it himself Ha Ha), I wouldn't have spent the last 3 hours looking up all these objet d'arts.
So here is the starting point for this whole debacle:

The cool thing about this Malofancon Barchetta one is it rocks in all directions. How cool is that? On the con side, doesn't it look a bit like Noah's Ark?

But then I went on to bigger (price wise) and better (I think) things:

The Leander hanging cradle from Denmark which has won design prizes and I have secretly coveted since even before the Tsunami.

Next up:


The knoppa cradle from sweden. why is it that all the cool cribs come from Scandinavia? I can think of several geopolitical, cultural and anthropological answers to that question but I'll leave that to a more serious minded post and carry on with my delve into the minutae of cribs and cradles.

Ha! Finally a non scandinavian crib. This one actually comes from New Zealand based Cariboo. Hmmm, I was under the impression they just let the babies there grow up with the sheep. No, seriously now, New Zealand design has progressed amazingly. At the Milan Salone last year we saw some exceptional examples of kiwi design, and this is a good representative - clean lines, functional, organic (duh!).

This little Japanese gem is so many things. Similar to the stokke crib (which I am not going to talk about here since it's too well known...), it's a regular crib that can turn into a rocker and also a bed for toddlers.
The (can't quite pronounce it) Phidibus crib from Germany based Philio.

And finally, the Eclipse cradle which is still in prototyping phases - but it isn't it unique?


And, I know, I know I'll end up hiring a crib from one of the regular places (which is what most people I know in Israel do), since why spend so much money and energy on something that you will only use for probably less than six months?

But they are to-drool for. And I am.

ebay finds

baby stuff

I have now officially spent the last three hours obsessively looking at all the designer baby gear out here on the web, including strollers

and more strollers

and, oh, a few more strollers

and some outlandish rockers and highseats

which I would absolutely LOVE to own.

Expect at the price tag of couple of hundred $$$ for the rocker, I guess maybe not.

Oh, did I forget to mention I'M PREGNANT?

Ok. So last night the girls were in this really cute mood and havig fun with each other instead of tearing their heads off which is their usual modus operandi. They were soooo adorable I just had no choice but to take a few (ahem), hundred (cough) photos of them play wrestling. I really had no choice. Especially with The Tsunami saying over and over "mommy, now like this

now like this

Except I had just shown her a fashion video (NOT a real fashion show, or maybe semi real - it was the funny Barbie fashion show from Bryant Park), so maybe she was already practicing.

Who knows with this kid? She's miles ahead of us.

Why?

Oh my god.
Do I really REALLY want to write a blog?
I've been thinking about it for a while, so I guess I have to give it a shot.