Fancy baby rooms

So I'm pregnant and expecting a little girl.  Yippeeeeeee!!! :)  As you can imagine we are super excited and are counting down :) So first order of business - the nursery!  I have so many ideas running through my mind! I've posted some pictures here of some rooms that just totally inspired me.

These are pictures from One Claire Day, I love this nursery!  It's so charming and warm.  Check out how the books are displayed in the cases on the floor!

I love the simplicity of this nursery from Daffodil Design.  I'm quite set on painting the walls of the new nursery grey, just not sure if I'll go with a light grey or a darker shade. I love the Dwell Studio bedding too.

This nursery via Chic and Cheap nursery is so cute.  Even though it's predominantly a baby pink color, it's done in a mature and modern way.

This nursery from Chic and Cheap Nursery is so funky.  Love the bright colors mixed in with the dark grey walls. And all the little touches make it so much fun!

This is blogger Joni of Lay Baby Lay daughter's nursery.  I love the eclectic style and the little touches that make it so personal.  For example, the pictures on top of the changing area are in the style of a family tree, with old pictures of both sets of grand parents etc.  

lmnop's 25 books to read before 5

I LOVE children's books.  I love the sweet and clever stories, the amazing illustrations and the bursts of color.  Since I'm always on the look out for new books for Y, I was happy to find this article in laugh make nurture organise play's latest newsletter.  The books are even broken down by age!

25 before 5:

- Dear Zoo

- Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See?

- Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes

- Hug

- Goodnight Moon

- Who's in the Garden?

- Banana!

- Peepo!

- Froggy Green

- Orange Pear Apple Bear

- The Foggy Foggy Forest

- Olivia

- How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

- Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!

- Elmer

- The Giving Tree

- Lost and Found

- Man on the Moon

- The Gruffalo

- The Lion and the Mouse

- Iggy Peck Architect

- Mr Chicken Goes to Paris

- Gorilla

- Daddy Lost His Head

- Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

You can read the full article here. 


Their magazine, site and blog are a must for all you parents out there, check it out here.


Image by Ian Macpherson for lmnop.

My little boy's room

I've decided to share some photos of Y's room just for fun.  I wanted to make his room boyish while avoiding the typical shades of blue.  I also wanted it to be fun and bright.  And finally, I want to keep the design elements simple enough so that we can make small changes as Y grows without spending a fortune.  I'm quite proud of this little corner in our home :)  

I ordered these personalized fabric wall stickers online from this super cool store: mooo.  They are super easy to remove and reapply too!

The FC Barcelona scarf is his father's doing!  I love this little rocking chair which I got from Just Kidding.

The contents on these shelves will keep changing I imagine.  Hopefully the book collection will keep growing, I LOVE children's books!  The small canvases on the top left shelf were made by some of my friends in my baby shower :)

I've decided to use the white cupboard space to showcase Y's nursery art pieces, he is so proud of them!

Beautiful Arabic wood blocks that work perfectly with the color theme! I got these from Dubai Babies.

I wanted to do something personal for his wall, so I decided to paint these pictures of Y (showing his signature hair) and his favorite dog.  These were so much fun to do and Y loves them.

 Meet "doggie".

This light fixture is from Ikea, just thought it worked perfectly with the rest of the room without looking too matchy matchy.

My latest mommy crush

I've just come across this website and wanted to share.  I have a mommy crush on all the women featured.  The Glow basically features a few very stylish (and successful designer) moms and their kids.  They invite you to take a peek into their lives, they honestly share their experiences, their tips, their favorite kiddie gadgets etc.  Helpful and stylish at the same time! Check out how cool their kids look!! 
If you're a mom, or if you're about to be, you must check this site out.  


http://www.theglow.com

All images are from The Glow. 

Sugar and spice for Posh

So Victoria Beckham is finally expecting a girl.  A dream come true for any fashion loving woman out there.  Don't get me wrong, I totally love my little guy, I can't imagine life without him.  But I do also wish I get a little girl someday... and if I ever do, I apologize in advance to my husband for the damage to our bank accounts!!  So, if I ever had a girl.... (oh p.s. I'm not pregnant!!)

Capri dress by TALC

Dress by Isabel Marant

Combishort Carlotta by Loppa

Aude TeaGirl & Hana by Soft Gallery

Top and Skirt by Trelise Cooper

Garden Romper by Baby Bean

Romper and Dress both by Nellystella

I could go on and on...

Images: TALC Boutique, Smallable, Petit Hood, Soft Gallery, Trelise Cooper, Baby Bean, Nellystella

Pretty Fancy Things in action

Just wanted to share some photos of the two Pretty Fancy Things sales I've had.  The first sale was on January 8th - an open house in Dubai.  The second sale was this last weekend at the Winter Family Fair in Dubai.  

Open house sale:

W.F.F. Sale:

Pretty Fancy Things

I recently started working on a little venture where I will be selling beautiful, unique handmade items for babies and kids.  


The idea popped up a few months ago when I started looking around Dubai for cool decor items for my son's room, and wasn't too impressed with what I found.  So I turned to the Internet and found all kinds of treasures.  I've also been well aware of the handmade "movement" happening in other parts of the world, where people are re-gaining appreciation for pieces made by hand and heart, usually with a story behind them, rather than a cookie cutter type machine.  Even bigger stores are starting to stock such items made by crafters from places in Central America or Asia, please note I said crafters, not sweat shops.  That's the other attractive aspect of buying handmade, you are helping sustain small communities or encouraging people to develop their crafts, you are helping stay at home moms make an income with their crafts, and in many cases you are also helping the environment.  


So I've decided to be a part of this movement, in a city where the more famous the brand or the more expensive the item the better. But I believe in every piece that I have sourced.  Every piece is unique, thoughtful and fun. I've chosen things that make me wish I was a kid again, things that have put a smile on my face.  Things that confirm to me I'm a wicked mom.  And I hope other parents will feel that way too. 


Here's the flyer for my first sale which will be an open house on January 8th.  I will be selling decor items, clothing, toys and accessories.  If you happen to be in the U.A.E. come check it out. I will post some pictures of the day soon.  I'm really excited about this, fingers crossed!

Nursery blues

Yesterday I thought I was super lucky. I thought I managed to get through the key milestone of Y starting nursery seamlessly.  It was his second day of nursery, and it was relatively painless.  He didn't cry when I left, but when I walked in to pick him up he cried a little while hugging me.  The day before he apparently only cried for 10 minutes then proceeded to be his usual Tasmanian devil self.  Today however, was the third day.  I was warned that it will get worse before it gets better, that he will throw proper fits when he realizes that this is a recurring event that he never agreed to.  When he starts to think that mommy is so evil, that she can cheerfully drop him off at a place with new big people who try a little too hard to make everything sound exciting, and a bunch of other unfortunate smaller people who are as lost as he is.  The third day is when he realizes that life as he knew it, is over.  


It wasn't all that easy on me either.  The first two days I was the calm, collected mom who gave a quick kiss and hug and walked away.  Today, he started crying as I was walking away and I felt awful!  It's so hard to keep walking knowing the little guy is tearfully looking at my back, wishing and praying I would turn around and rescue him, wishing I would be his hero.  I'm hoping I can still be his hero, maybe if I find a way to wipe this day from his memory? 

Dazed and confused

I've been keeping myself quite busy over the last couple of weeks, trying to find the perfect nursery for Y.  Sounds simple enough right?  WRONG!  Who knew there were so many things to consider?  It's quite scary. I feel like each factor may influence my kid for the rest of his life!!  Ok, I might be overreacting just a tad, but I do believe this will lay the foundation for his attitude towards learning, his discipline and help build his social skills. So actually, I was right... it IS the most important decision EVER! 


Luckily, Dubai offers a great choice.  But with that great choice comes confusion.  Which type of curriculum? How big or how small? What ratio of adult to child is OK? How cool are their play areas? (BTW some are awesome, I would imagine myself going nuts in those play areas while the headmistress is taking me on the tour). How flexible are their policies? What kind of events and extracurricular activities do they have? How structured are the days? What methods of discipline do they believe in? How much parent involvement do they encourage? How clean and safe is the place? Does my one year old even give a 'poo' about any of this? 


One thing that definitely helped was the ludicrous tuition of some of these places, which meant they were instantly out of the question.  Not only because we would have to forgo the kid's college savings just for his first year but because of the principal!  Why should we pay $10,000 a year for a child to spend 4 hours a day, 4 times a week playing with a bunch of toys?!!?  I'm not sure if nurseries in other cities are as insane or if this is yet another Dubai-ian extravagance. 


Anyway, that's what I've been up to, nursery shopping - and I'm totally lost.  I really hope I wont suffer like this with every decision to come.  Yikes.    

Some help for the high chair

Yousef is now 11 months old, and we're both now trying to move on from boring purees and mashed food.  In a way, it's a relief to know that I can now count him in for most of what I cook at home, but it's also been a bit confusing.  See I normally cook (adult food) 3 or 4 times a week, and it's not necessarily baby friendly.  Now I suddenly need to have fresh, healthy dishes prepared almost everyday.  Of course I will be freezing some portions or making one off sandwiches for the little one too...  So for the last couple of weeks, I've been trying to get creative with what I can make for Y, I've been asking friends, looking through my old recipes and checking out what's online.  That's when I found Weelicious.  This is a blog by a culinary school grad, used to be a model, mom of two.  It's super helpful!  I love it because the recipes are very simple and quick, and can be appreciated by the whole family.  So if you find yourself in my situation, not knowing what to feed your little one, or your partner even... check this site out.


Here are images of some of the recipes I can't wait to try.

Noodle Pancakes

Roast Vegetable Pasta Sauce

Deviled Egg "Chicks"

Yum!!

What I fancy this week

1. Pencey Weekend Dress - My husband makes fun of me sometimes for how much I love anything animal print.  I think if done right, it can be very sexy or playful.  And for some reason, the animal print pieces that I do have, have lasted season after season, the look always seems to come back into trend.

2.  I've been going through another home decorating phase, so I've been on the look out for cool accessories online.   I guess I would describe our home as being contemporary with arabic and tribal touches and a very earthy feel. Anyway, I saw this semi-antique Kilim rug and think it would be perfect for our kitchen, where I hope to also have lots of old fashioned bottles and baskets around.

3. How cool is this rocking horse by Casa Midy?  Made from alder, mahogany and leather, this is one toy that I don't mind having in the living room. Look at the cute tail!

4. Liyah off-shoulder asymmetrical dress by Gypsy05 - If you ignore the tambourine, this dress is super cute and perfect for the summer.  

5. Cucina Fresca: Italian Food, Simply Prepared by Viana Laplace & Evan Kleiman - I was hunting around for new cookbooks (I'm obsessed with cookbooks) and came across this one.  From what I've read, this book seems to have tonnes of very simple, straight forward recipes, many of which are salads or other summer friendly dishes.  Yum!

6. Colorblock dress by Mara Hoffman - This is really calling out to me.  Love the colors, love the cut... slick.

Images: Shopbop.com, Kilim.com, casamidy.com, Gypsy05.com, harpercollins.com, marahoffman.com

London calling

I've been away for the past 10 days, went to what in my humble opinion is the best city on earth - London. It's always been my favorite place, and living there for 2 years only made my attachment stronger.  But it was my first time to venture the fast paced side walks, public transport (remember I live in Dubai) and 7 hour flights with Yousef alone, so I was a little apprehensive to say the least. 


The flights were interesting.  Going there I took a day flight, and that was a disaster because all he wanted to do was crawl around the entire air craft and eat people's shoes.  And so by the last two hours all hell broke loose, and let's just say that when we finally landed, the flight attendant offered "to rush me out first".  Kill me now.  The flight coming back was a red eye, which was OK in the sense that he was sleeping or rather mellow most of the time, but then totally over exhausted and ready to kill me once we were back home.  You can't win.  And what made the flights even worse was that both ways, I happen to sit next to someone who has the calmest, most silent, well behaved baby - while mine was screaming, stealing the other's toys, playing drums on the table, being returned to me by random people who he went to visit etc. etc.


But I have to give the little dude some credit, when it came to my shopping sprees in London (which are quite intense and last all day), he was great.  He was either charming the sales people or clapping his hands and trying to sing or napping.  And I'll take well behaved while shopping rather than well behaved on a flight any day.




Image: weheartit

How did we ever manage?

I'm feeling rather down at the moment.  A very integral part of my life has gone astray today.  I feel disconnected, lonely and anxious.  Why?  My kid chewed my blackberry to its horrid death. And I can't even say that it was fast and painless.  Nope it was a lengthy and very soggy process. Poor thing.  And poor me!  Thing is, the incident happened while I was on an outing with Yousef, so I was left for much of the day worrying if something were to go wrong and I wouldn't be able to call anyone.  I was literally worrying, what if I get a flat tire?  What if I run out of gas?  As you can see, I'm not a fix it yourself kinda girl.  Dubai doesn't exactly have pay phones on every corner, maybe it does, I wouldn't know. On top of that I suddenly felt like I had something very important to say to about 5 people.  And I suddenly felt the need to follow up on a few admin type of things.  It was just awful.  I tried to get angry at the little one, but the look of happiness and satisfaction he had when I just surrendered the dead phone to him made it all worth it.

The best ideas are always the simplest

I'm a total genius.  Really.  


This week my son has learnt how to crawl (well sort of, it's what a friend of mine calls 'the wounded soldier').  The problem with this is that he is still very clumsy, so after a few 'steps' he collapses in some way or another.  This is not good when the floors of the house aren't carpeted!  He also loves to wonder into the areas that I try to barricade off, the little stubborn gremlin that he is.  It's been quite exhausting having to follow him around making sure he doesn't injure himself.  


Also, I like the look of our home.  It's still far from complete but I think it's got style if I do say so myself.   The idea of child-proofing it bothers me.  I don't mind filling in the electric sockets or putting dangerous products out of his reach, but I refuse to put padding on the table corners or any of that stuff.  


I have a better idea.  Instead of baby proofing the house, why not baby proof.. the baby?  Ahhhh... how you ask?  Very simple.  A mini helmet with a chin guard.  That's it.  I initially thought of creating an outfit out of bubble wrap, but I thought this will hinder his motor skill development, plus my husband would want to 'pop him' all day.  Then I thought of a helmet made out of diapers, but that might offend the little guy.  Seriously, a mini helmet like those hockey ones with a padded strap along the chin. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?  (if they have, can you please let me know where I can buy one of each color?)  That way, I can set him free to explore while I go about my business.  Of course I wont leave him unattended (in case my mother reads this), but I don't have to follow him around either.  See this is not just for selfish reasons.  The boy wants to feel independence.  He is finally mobile only to find his mother hovering over him the whole time.  This is the same reason we leave home to go to college!  


Pure genius.

Follow up to last post

Like any new mother, I really wish Yousef came with a detailed manual including a 'troubleshooting' section. Instead, I bought 50 different parenting books, subscribed to every possible baby related website and I often hound all the mothers I know with text messages asking random questions.  When Yousef got a fever a few days back, I made use of my resources.  But I got even more confused. The mothers said it was completely normal for a baby to get a fever while teething.  The books said that fevers are never related to teething.  Lovely.  


After two days of a relatively high fever and a rash that was spreading across his body, it was time to see the Doctor.  It turned out to be a viral infection called Roseola which is quite common and lasts a few days.  Phew!  I guess this time, the books were right (Doctor said the same thing), not to say that I don't value the advice and tips from the moms out there.  Which is why I'm writing this, to let the other moms out there know that a fever (over 38) has nothing to do with teething, so if this happens to your baby, please take him to see a doctor. 


According to the Doc, for the first couple of years, babies get on average 6-8 infections, each lasting usually about 2-3 weeks, so I'm now mentally preparing myself.

It dawned on me

I think I had an epiphany last night, actually very early this morning.  I woke up at around 3a.m. to the baby monitor about to fuse because of Yousef's (my 7 month old son) crying.   Immediate reaction - I was annoyed.  Thing is, he has been sleeping through the night since he was 2 months old (Thank you Gina Ford!)  So when I was rudely awakened all I could think of was Why is he doing this?  Why is he messing with our system?  After I realize that even if a spaceship landed right in our bedroom my husband wouldn't wake up, I got myself out of bed and stumbled into the shrimp's room, about to scare him back into passing out.


Then I noticed his screaming was unusually high pitched.  Then I noticed he had a fever.  Finally I noticed a tooth was ripping through his gums. And at that moment I realized, not everything is about me.  That's big.  I suddenly didn't care so much about my sleep and did everything I could to cheer poor Yousef up and calm him down (including waking my husband up ha ha).  So I think I learnt a valuable lesson.  


But one question... how long does this teething thing last anyway??

What I Fancy This Week

I love writing lists.  Lists of things to do, things to pack for a trip, movies to watch, etc.  Here's a list of things I would love to have or do this week, some more accessible than others, but hey a girl can dream!

Dress by Madison Marcus - I like shirt dresses, but sometimes find them a bit stiff. This one is made of silk so it has a nice flowy shape and the asymmetrical touches funk it up. The color is brilliant too.

Bikini by Mara Hoffman - When I DO lose the weight and look fabulous (positive thinking), I will buy this. Love the shape and the Egyptian Pharaoh inspired print - it's colorful without looking like a Hawaiian Tropic ad.

Taste of Dubai - One of the many things I loved in London was all the food events I got to check out. I got to taste lots of yummy treats that were prepared on the spot, buy some great products and I got to see Gordon Ramsey cook live (I fancy him by the way). So I was really happy to learn about this event, which apparently was very successful last year. I'll be there this March.

Go to Thailand.  Oh wait, I am doing that in 2 weeks.  YAY!

DwellStudio Travel Bag - Since we are traveling soon, I would love to have a fun travel bag for my son's essentials. 

Louis Vuitton Bag - Since we're talking bags, I don't mind having one myself.  Love this LV, its perfect for spring/summer and spot on trend. 

Vintage Chanel Signature Motif Necklace - this is an authentic piece which has some really cute pendants. How cute is the little Chanel bag!

Images: Madison Marcus, Mara Hoffman, Designchild, PhiPhi.Phuket.com, ilvoelv, shopbop