Merry Christmas, Modern Baby!

To get even your littlest family members involved in the Christmas celebrations, try some of our tips for celebrating the holiday with your modern baby.

If you want to be really creative with your baby's festive Christmas clothes, don't dress him up in a Santa suit. Instead, try one of the cute holiday onesies from Trend Lab, like the "Reindeer in Training" or "Santa's Helper" pajama and bib combos.

It's too late this year for an advent calendar, but the perfect time to get one on sale for next year. The advent calendar by KidKraft is made to last for generations of use. It is designed to become a family tradition! Each of the 24 doors holds a piece of the Christmas nativity. Your children will delight in opening the tiny wooden doors of their advent calendar each morning, to uncover a miniature nativity ornament for the scene above.

For more ideas on celebrating Christmas with your modern baby, check out our earlier posts on baking 3d sugar cookies and decorating with life size reindeer. We wish you and your family a very merry Christmas!

Take-a-long Stroller Toys from Tiny Love

It only took one trip to the mall during the holiday season to realize that we need some new stroller toys to distract the little ones from the Christmas shopping madness (frankly, we could use a stroller and some mindless entertainment after a long day at the mall too!). That's why we were so thrilled to find these new stroller toys from Tiny Love. They are interactive with bold, vibrant colors. They'll keep your baby happy for hours.


The Peel 'n Seek stroller toy is a perfect example of everything that a great stroller toy should be: it's durable, it's engaging, and it improves your baby's development by teaching object permanance, and motor skills with different hand grasps.

The Buzzy Bee Boppy Stroller Set of three very unique activity toys for baby's stroller bar will foster learning and enjoyment over several consecutive developmental stages. The toys may be rearranged to create a new set of toys each time. The Buzzy Bee set will develop your baby's sense of sight, touch and hearing all at the same time, while perfecting the coordination between them.

Modern Christmas Fun: Bake 3D Sugar Cookies!

How do you make Christmas sugar cookies for modern kids? You make them 3D! While it may sound like a project of Michelangelo-proportions, baking 3D cookies is really as easy as the standard two-dimensional variety, so long as you have some handy 3D cookie cutters like these from Nordicware.

Your kids will have a wonderful time helping to bake and decorate a display of holiday cookies including reindeer, Christmas trees, snowmen, angels and stars. We love using the set from Nordicware to make a forrest of 3D Christmas tree and reindeer cookies to accompany gingerbread houses.

Enjoy our favorite sugar cookie recipe for baking 3D Christmas cookies.

3D Christmas Cookie Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with 3D cookie cutters. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Royal Icing
Makes 2 1/3 cups

Ingredients:
1 box confectioners' sugar (1 pound)
5 tablespoons meringue powder, or 2 large egg whites

Directions:
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup water. For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details. Mix until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle.

Fabulous Footmuffs!

Winter is upon us in full force and it's time to bundle baby up in a cozy footmuff. We're not ashamed to say that we look forward to seeing babies all bundled up in our fabulous footmuffs year-round. There's nothing cuter (except baby peapod costumes).

When you're headed out for winter errands or taking a tour of your neighborhood's Christmas light displays, make sure your baby is cozy and warm in a snuggly footmuff, like the Brooks Pond Perennial Stroller Blanket, or the Stokke Stroller Sleeping Bag. Any of the amazing options on our sites will keep your little ones cozy and warm even in the most blustery winter weather.

To pick the best footmuff for your stroller, we recommend that you look for features like no-slip backing or stroller suspenders to hold the footmuff in place, water resistant exterior fabric, washable material, and water-resistant internal boot pockets (like the one shown on the left from Brooks Pond) that won't get soiled with mud and salt from your toddler's shoes.

New 2008 Dwell Baby Bedding

The new Dwell Studio baby bedding collections have just been released for pre-ordering this week, and we couldn't be more excited by the new fabrics and toys that they've added to their already amazing collection. From the adorable Paper Dolls Icon knit baby blanket to the magnetic stuffed animals, the new releases from Dwell Studio do not disappoint.

The magnetic animals are made with the same gorgeous Dwell prints and soft corduroys, and feature fun magnets in their feet and noses (image left). These magnetic animals can climb the refrigerator or any other metal surface, and they make a great little luxury gift for expecting parents.

We also love the new diaper bags and matching luggage, in all the latest Dwell prints, like their new urban Transportation fabric (shown on the right on the Dwell travel case). The vintage travel icons look fabulously modern and chic on this convenient baby tote, and matching bottle holders, weekenders, and diaper totes can be purchased for a complete matching luggage collection in any of the fresh new Dwell fabrics (my personal favorite is still the rose cowgirl print).