Yoga Baby

If any of you other moms out there are as attached to Yoga as I am, you'll appreciate this extraneous bit of gear known as the Oshi Mat. Totally unnecessary for anyone but a Yoga-loving, germ-obsessing baby mama! I started doing Yoga when I was 16 (at just about the same time that Sushi made it's grand debut on the hipster scenes - Yoga became the ultimate modern-girl workout) when I was schooling abroad in Toronto. My friend and I (hi Leah!!) would hit the gym at the local mall and morph our bodies into the most random of positions... I fell in love. I used to do gymnastics, so my back really seemed to crave all the core-strengthening goodness resulting from 30 minutes of Yoga.

When I found out I was pregnant with Freida, I signed right up to a prenatal Yoga class that was held at a studio down my block. It was fantastic, and I felt like I was indulging in something so luxurious and selfish during those special (though at times, difficult) 9 glorious months of carrying a baby. Once Freida was born I continued with my daily Yoga at home, and when she was a few months old we started attending a Mommy & Me Yoga class at the same studio. Freida became quite the little Yogi and seems to have retained all of her baby flexibility (probably more due to genes than yoga, but anyway!). The only thing that bothered me was the germ-infested studio floors, and bacteria-laden mats... I eventually just bought a second mat for Freida and marked it so i knew which side went down onto the floor, but I wish I would've been introduced to the Oshi Mat back then!

Lightweight, water repellent and moisture-free to stave off bacteria, Oshi Mats are made of eco-friendly, non-toxic, recyclable foam, and they 100% PVC and latex free.Definitely a product created for the unfortunately overtly OCD moms (like me!), but a smart concept either way.

The best part is: you can snag one on sale today over at Gilt!

To endless (and germ-less!) downward dog-ing!!

Also, you can check out this previously posted link to a great Yoga for Kids DVD.

Crayon Love!

We will be making the voyage back to the Golden State this evening - with a little girl who is slightly under the weather in tow. Unfortunately it seems Freida contracted the tummy bug that was going around this neck of the woods this week... She has been sleeping off this little bout of stomach virus all day yesterday, and today as well. Not keeping much food down, but being hungry at the same doesn't can't possibly make for a pleasant mile-high toddler traveler. I was looking into changing our flight, but she doesn't have fever and I think she would love to be home in her own bed for the duration of this gnarly virus (one of my cousins had it the night after the wedding, and he said it was 24 hours flat, so here's to hoping!). Anyways, I've been gathering up my stuff from around the house, and attempting to pack back up without leaving a trail of forlorn randoms behind. I'll make a trip out to Bagel Country in a few hours to get some good grub for the dinnertime flight, and I guess I'll stop into the Hallmark shoppe next door to scavenge some cute stickers and color-ins for Freida. I happened upon one of the most adorable Etsy shops this week, and I'm wishing I had some of these to help me out in the entertainment department at 30,000 feet!

(I blogged about these famous (and overpriced) Crayon Rings a while ago, but these are actually attainable! Plus, they happen to be even cuter to boot!)

By LilDoodlers on Etsy from $10

These would make for a super-cute addition to a kids Purim basket. Sweet!

And these alphabet crayons would be such a cute party loot-bag stuffer - in each kids initial.

Superbowl Sunday Snow-down!

Here's how our pre-game Superbowl Sunday went this year:

The boys decided to take the pigskin outdoors from some snowy superbowl fun! Freida and I watched from our cabin perch:

Afterwards Freida was taken for her first winter joy ride:

All afternoon I had to contend with texts from my brother-in-law (we left him the key to our apartment so he could hold the annual Superbowl shin-dig - even though we weren't there to partake)."How do you get guacamole out of the cowhide rug?", was not exactly the most exciting text to get! But, thankfully he was just messing around (I think...).

Then, since the guys got to screen the big game while the ladies attended to dinners, baths, and bedtimes - these beer margaritas would've made for a nice rewarding wind-down (I'll keep 'em bookmarked for next years Superbowl party), but until then - hot chocolate, s'mores, and a crackling fireplace sufficed.

Best Superbowl Sunday by far!!

Jet Pack

Happy (belated) Monday everyone! (This image from here had me totally smitten while packing...!)

We're out (and cold!) in Chicago, but it's warm and toastie in this Skokie fortress with all the siblings and cousins filling up these large empty modern spaces of my childhood home! Packing for this weather was so very far from an easy feat. There was just no way to keep to a packing method or system - much too much gear, layers, cold-weather-accessories to keep it light... Left me feeling very out of control! :)

Our flight here was lovely - JetBlue always manages to keep it pleasant! Freida and I inhaled one too many bags of the complimentary Terra Sweet Potato Chips (apparently they moved up and on from the blue tubers), and Manasseh enjoyed the (all kosher!) contents of their ShapeUp box. While those super-cool seat-back TV's are highly convenient (and we enjoyed plenty of Food Network, ESPN, HGTV, and TVland; Freida is still feasting on Yo Gabba Gabba, so we made sure to download a few new episodes on iTunes (and print out a few Gabbaland themed coloring sheets, as well). Also, I make sure I got at least the bare minimum of these in-flight favorites!

Now that we are finally here and settled in, it looks as though the weather will be shacking us up for quite some time.... I'm quoting the news-folk here, "potentially the biggest storm this country has ever seen."!! While we will be trekking out to the wedding on Wednesday night (someway, somehow!), we most definitely will not be getting out much before then. Tonight we stocked up with the makings for s'mores, grilled sandwiches, soups, plenty of Netflix and magazines, and, of course, hot cocoa. And I'm being real thankful my mother kept all the great retro toys we played with as kids - the basement is grandchild-grand-central!

P.S. If you've ever been delayed while flying JetBlue and found yourself wondering why.... :)

Cool Runnings

If you haven't noticed, I'm super stoked about our trip to Chicago next week, and I've got winter on the brain! With my childhood in Canada and the Mid-west, I really had my fair share of snow sledding experiments (in 4th grade I even broke my leg while doing some casual hill-side sledding at a friend's in Wisconsin), and test-running all sorts of sleds downhill. Funny how some things never change; apparently I'm still in the 4th grade - on the lookout for the hippest most ergonomic sled of the season! And it looks like I've found it... The Zipfy Mini Luge is one of the cutest compact sleds I've ever seen. It promises top-notch safety, easy-as-pie maneuvering, and the most thrilling downhill ride! The small-scale production is the factor that truly steals my heart (at only 3.5 pounds and 13"L x 21"W x 16"H!!), not to mention me being a sucker for all those bright color options!

Zipfy Mini Luge, $35.00

And if you think the Zipfy is cute, check out it's little brother - Zipfy Junior (ages 3-5)!

Zipfy Junior, $29.99

New York Magazine wrote about the debut of the Zipfy in 2008 and was quoted having said, "Where the average plastic saucer lumbers down a city-park hillsides like a minibus, [Zipfy] handles more like a Porsche...”.