Archive for March 2010
Spring is one of our favorite times of the year. This isn’t really a statement too high in shock value, I know. Who doesn’t like spring? Not only does it put the last five months of frigid weather in the past but it also gives us tons to look forward to.
One of the things we enjoy at our house (or outside our house, as it were) is gardening. Being surrounded by all these Easter-y type things…basket grass, fluffy bunnies, flower bulbs…just reminds me that it’s time to start planning our garden. And trust me, my daughter reminds me every day that it’s almost time to plant flowers and watch them grow.
Something else that reminds me of the wonder of spring is this lovely flutter sleeve dress. Designer Nellystella really chose the perfect springtime shade of lush grass green. And you can almost imagine a happy springtime breeze fluttering the sleeves in a whimsical way. In 100% cotton, the girls dress has a classic comfort feel for wearing alone on a warm day or with a light sweater for when the temps get a little chilly. And as you know, it’s hip to be square, so this clean box collar is just what any trendy girl would want.
My daughter was certainly born with a green thumb. But the rest of her fingers are usually a nice dirty mud brown when it comes to helping me plant. So I keep this girls dress in the closet when looking at flowers (not planting them) is on the day’s agenda.
April showers bring May flowers, but they also bring soggy kids. And I don’t want that. Especially with Easter right around the corner. After all, this certainly is a time when I want to keep my little daughter nice and clean, prime and proper. It’s hard enough to keep her bonnet on and her little white tights clean (smudgy chocolate bunny hands are a mom’s worst Easter nightmare). Anything I can do to make her look nice for longer than 10 minutes is welcomed. One photo, is it too much to ask?
With how temperamental the weather is this time of year, this gorgeous raincoat from Italian designer Album di Familglia is just the answer for all my friends out there who have trouble keeping their kids clean and shiny in wet weather. The dark green complements any and every outfit color. But the exciting part is actually the fact that this color hides any rogue mud puddle splashes. If this is the case, all bets are off with the white tights though.
More important than the color is the fit. Completely waterproof, this fashionable baby and kids coat weighs next to nothing so there won’t be any battles wrestling them into a heavy garment. Easy on, easy off snaps keep your kid dry with a nice hood.
With this coat, you will have it (and them) covered. They’ll stay dry and photogenic. For at least 10 minutes. Now if there is anything in the market that will help me keep my daughter’s bonnet on and her white tights free from chocolate bunny fingers, please let me know.
You had one just like this romper and when a warm lingering breeze comes by and you close your eyes and stand perfectly still you can see it now: your favorite dress. It was 1978 and it was your mother’s surprise 36th birthday party. The rest of the events of that year are a bit of a blur to you now, but that party and that dress still remain with you to this very day. It was a white party dress with ruffled sleeves and hem. The fabric was a gorgeous eyelet that made quite the impression on you. How you twirled and twirled feeling that the day was made just for your mother, for twirling and for that dress.
“Happy birthday!” you sang to your mama, as she hugged you and said you looked like an angel. So how could you not fall in love with Claesen’s Eyelet Baby Girl’s Short Romper? It’s a modern interpretation of your party dress – made with a vintage eye.
Claesen’s romper manages to do white in an unstuffy and completely girlie way. Their Eyelet Baby Girls’ Short Romper is definitely white done right. Made in Holland, the romper features a ruffled neckline and sleeves and leg snap closures for easy changing. The delicate all-over eyelet will have everyone with their eyes on your baby girl.
A vision of springtime loveliness, you’ll love seeing your little angel twirling in it.
Here’s the third in our 10-part series of articles from Sabra Krock, on how to best capture images of your child.
Posed photos may have their time and place, but candid shots that capture your child unselfconsciously at play are often the ones you’ll treasure the most. I love taking pictures of my child looking directly into the camera, but I always look for opportunities to photograph him unwittingly. Either way, I almost never ask my subjects to say cheese. Be patient and wait for genuine smiles. Instead, try talking and engaging with your subject from behind the lens or sitting down with your camera during playtime. After a while, babies and children – and even adults — will forget the camera and return to whatever they’re doing. You will capture some precious moments that encapsulate the spirit of your child and your family.
This is a photo of Max and his slightly older friend Bea playing in the afternoon. I love the sweet innocence of this scene.
This is a shot of my husband and Max looking out at the first snowfall of the winter. I had to race to get my camera before the moment was lost.
And here is Max reading with his great aunt. Sometimes the view from behind tells the story!
This is the third installment in a weekly series of posts by Manhattan photographer Sabra Krock on how to take better photographs of your child. Come back next Monday for Tip #4: Don’t Forget Yourself.
If you didn’t get a chance to read the previous posts by Sabra just click here:
Tip #1: Turn Your Flash Off and Use Natural Light
You have your entire extended family coming over next week and you have a big Sunday meal to prepare. Table cloth? Check! New flatware? Check! New everything? Check, check, check! Your mother is bringing over her famous ham and will expect your lamb, side dishes and desserts to be up to par. Oh, the pressure. “Make sure you use real butter,” she adds. And on top of everything else, she expects everyone to be dressed up. Everyone.
While you love seeing your little peanut in onesies and cozy pajamas, you know you better dress him to the nines or else. Yet somehow the idea of pouring him into a teeny suit makes you giggle. A tie? Really? Show your family how much style you have and how fashion-forward you are by introducing them to our family with Album di Famiglia’s Baby and Kids’ Elastic Waist Jeans. Who says jeans are just for play dates and Casual Fridays? Album di Famiglia’s jeans are as stylish as they are well made.
This modern day classic features incredibly soft denim, a roomy silhouette (there’s nothing skinny about these babies) and great detailing.
Add a white shirt and sweater and your piccolo bambino will be the picture of laidback glamour. So while your apple pie may only be so-so, relax. Your baby boy will so, so cool. And don’t forget to use real butter.
When somebunny loves you, it’s just no good unless they love you…all the way!” Somebunny loves you, it’s true. This sentiment is reaffirmed in every song, every movie, every book we read and every commercial we see. And even if you haven’t found a special somebunny yet, they are out there just around the corner.
Wait, did I just write some bunny? Well, I guess it is official. I have spring on the brain and apparently, my case of spring fever is bad! It’s nothing, however, that the Fauna Bunny Pico Baby Pillow can’t cure. This gorgeous pillow will hop into your heart and home just in time to celebrate all things spring.
Designed by Ross Menuez and made with organic cotton and natural cotton stuffing (perfectly fitting for Mr. Cottontail), this charming and whimsical fellow will have you and your little one running a spring fever in no time. Bunny Pico offers all the cuteness of a pet rabbit, without all of the mess and allergies. It’s perfect for the nursery, bedroom, living room, play room or for all of them. Bunnies do tend to multiply, you know. And the gorgeously vibrant hue is reminiscent of all the great things spring has to offer: tulips, lazy pink sunsets, and little kisses on tiny rosy cheeks.
It’s just one more reason to love spring. Don’t you want some bunny to love?
It’s the crack of dawn and the roosters are starting to rustle. You want to stay in your bed for five more minutes, just five more minutes. You know that is not going to happen as Pa is already out in the prairie working the land, and today it is definitely your day to milk the cows. Wait…what? Pa who? Snap out of it! The only cow you’re coming into contact with this morning is that container of half and half you are splashing into your coffee.
At night, you may dream of farms and prairies (although sometimes they tend to be more like nightmares) but during the day you live in a concrete jungle where everything is fast-paced and moving. And this morning, you have to move quickly and decide what to wear but that is a different enigma all together. One thing for certain, you know what your baby girl is going to wear. That gorgeous girls Prairie Dress by Kit + Lil is one easy decision you will make today.
Kit + Lil’s breezy 100% cotton girls Prairie Dress features a lush color palette of pinks, mauves and fuschias coming together in a springy flower and leaf pattern with a hush of eyelet trim. There’s no mistaking this dress means spring and everything that comes with it: walks in the park, ice cream in the backyard and slowing down to stop and smell the roses. Pa would want you to.
I’ve always selected gifts for my friends’ kids carefully. Not only do I want the child to like it, of course, but I also want the parents to like it. Or not like it. Depends on whether I like or dislike the parents, I guess. The noisier and more annoying the toy I choose is to the parents, the noisier and more annoying the parents are to me. I know. I’m childish. I once bought a horrible toy dinosaur that made loud screeches for the son of a man who I consider one of the biggest loudmouths I’ve ever met. The kid loved it. The father, not so much.
This red tambourine would definitely be for one of my best friends’ kids. The sweet jingles that come out of this little instrument created by French children toymaker Vilac are music to my ears (and with a silly little price, to my wallet, as well). Listening to it really brings a smile to my face.
There are a ton of musical instruments on the market for small children, but a tambourine is perfect for even the tiniest of enthusiasts. Very rarely do you find a toy that’s both musical and educational, no matter the child’s age. Little grasping hands are able to participate in singalongs with random jingles, while older ones can learn to keep a beat along with fellow music makers.
So I guess my secret’s out. The quieter the toy, the more I like you. The louder the toy, the more I like your child. Unless of course it’s a tambourine. Then I like you both.
Here’s the second in our 10-part series of articles from Sabra Krock, on how to best capture images of your child.
Point-and-shoot cameras can be a slippery slope. They make picture-taking a fully automated process, but the automatic settings don’t always allow you go make the most out of a shoot. Getting to know a few things about your camera will enable you to get more creative with your shots. Here are some tips for things to research in your camera manual:
1. Learn how to turn the flash off your camera. I’ve said it already and I’ll say it again. Natural, available light is far superior to flashbulb light, so make use of it as often as you can. (If you missed my post last week, which was all about shooting with natural light, click here.)
2. Learn whether your camera will allow you to manually change its aperture setting. The wider the aperture (or said otherwise, the lower the f-number), or the size of the opening in the lens, the shallower the depth of field will be in your image. You have probably noticed and admired professional photos that have a softly blurred background and focus only on the primary subject. You can achieve this technique too by experimenting with your aperture setting.
3. Learn how to change the shutter speed of your camera. A fast shutter speed (1/250th of a second) will freeze even the fastest-moving child, while a slow shutter speed may create some pleasing motion blur that gives you visual clues about how the subject moving. Play around and see what happens!
4. Learn how to adjust the ISO of your camera (the sensitivity of your camera to light). You can often bump up the ISO of your camera to compensate for low-light conditions and avoid using a flash even in dim light.
Now for an example:
I captured this image late in the day when the sun had faded. But because I bumped up the ISO (ISO 2500) of the camera and widened the aperture (f 2.0), I was able to get a well-exposed and tack-sharp image anyway. Notice how the depth of field is relatively shallow due to the aperture setting. This has a very pleasing effect of focusing attention on the sharp areas of the photograph.
This is the second installment in a weekly series of posts by Manhattan photographer Sabra Krock on how to take better photographs of your child. Come back next Monday for Tip #3: Get Candid.
If you didn’t get a chance to read the first posting by Sabra just click here:
Tip #1: Turn Your Flash Off and Use Natural Light
You sing her that lullaby every night and don’t stop until her gorgeous eyes are just…about…closed. You’ve sung “Mary Had a Little Lamb” so many times, you can just as easily sing it backwards as you can forwards. That song is now ingrained in your very fiber so much so that you are starting to resent it. How much longer will you have to sing about Mary and that darn lamb? Sure it is currently on your baby’s Top Ten, but really. And come to think of it, who does that Mary think she is anyway with her school tag-a-long companions and her white fleece and all. Bah!
Well, show that Mary that she doesn’t have the enterprise on lambs. Show her what is what by dressing up your baby girl in Coral and Tusk’s organic cotton baby onesie featuring an adorable embroidered lamb. This baby soft cotton onesie is the perfect compliment for your little lamb.
And we think that in a pinch, a cute onesie is the quintessential summer outfit (it is just around the corner, you know). An easy infant classic that will have your little girl ready to go in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. Stock up on a few and you’ll be good to go. This onesie is so cute, you’ll instantly want to flock to it.
Now get back to singing that lullaby.
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