UrbanBaby Picks

The Beastie Boys rocked your world in the 80s. The Bheestie Bag will do the same for you in 2010.

Having young kids ups the odds that at least one of your favorite electronic gadgets will suffer an untimely death due to water damage. H2O, no. Your cell phone tossed in the bath, a glass of water spilled on your iPod or BlackBerry. Water can equal a PDA DOA. But the Bheestie Bag could spare you from having to purchase a new device. Say your iPod is the victim of an accidental apple juice shower. Just toss it in the bag, seal the bag and wait 24-72 hours (checking every 24 hours). The Bheestie bag can’t salvage every soaked item, but at least it gives you a fighting chance. So how does Bheestie stack up against the simple bag-of-rice dry-out? Bheestie co-founder Karen Wildman says the beads are made of molecular sieve and are better and faster at pulling out moisture. Speed is key because of the risk of corrosion. Wildman says another problem is that rice can get gummy. Cat litter, another option, works better than rice, but it’s messy and not so portable. The Bheestie is best for typical moisture build-up such as a sweaty iPod or cell phone, or condensation in a digital camera. The Bheestie team is also working on a larger bag for a laptop computer.

Stay dry.

Bheestie Bag, $20 at bheestie.com.

With Valentine’s Day fast approaching and a rare night out with your DH, your maternity wardrobe requires an emergency infusion of hip, sexy pieces. After all, your pregnancy basics have been in heavy rotation and could use a break.

Time to pull in the big Gunn (as in Tim) or, rather, his Project Runway co-star, supermodel Heidi Klum. After almost seven seasons of Project Runway, years of red carpet action and miles of catwalk trekking for Victoria’s Secret, Klum knows fashion. And after having four kids, she knows maternity fashion. Next week, on February 12th, Klum launches two lines - Lavish and Loved. The first is for A Pea in the Pod and the second for Motherhood Maternity, both part of the same company. The two collections are heavy on the always-versatile black and gray, while Loved punches it up a notch on the color spectrum with some pops of cobalt blue. The LBD from Lavish (pictured upper right) is what you’d call a statement piece and is not likely to give you (or your DH!) maternity-wear fatigue as your pregnancy progresses. Klum notes that she experienced some fashion challenges during pregnancy and wanted to design maternity clothes that were practical and comfortable as well as stylish.

So on 2/14, be lavished and be loved … before the bambino arrives on the scene.

Available 2/12 in stores and online at apeainthepod.com and motherhood.com.

So typical. The cold/flu makes its way through your family. You pull a few all-nighters nursing various members of your brood, posting a play-by-play on Facebook and taking in a healthy dose of late-night TV (and the drama of rotating hosts). Then you get sick and there’s no one to mother you. So you can empathize when your BFF (cousin, old college roomie, etc.) is in a similar situation in need of some pampering.

Enter Spoonful of Comfort. It’s an online chicken soup biz. The point? To send your loved ones the gift of homemade chicken soup, the ultimate comfort food. Marti Bowes Wymer came up with the idea following the unexpected death of her mother in 2007. Wymer had just returned home to Florida after visiting her mom in Canada. A day later, her mother called to say she’d been diagnosed with lung cancer. With two young children in school, Wymer couldn’t just head North again. She wanted to do something, but, somehow, sending flowers or fruit seemed inappropriate. The lightbulb went off, the soup was on. Wymer’s mother passed away six weeks later, so she never had the opportunity to sample Wymer’s soup. In her mother’s honor, Wymer wants to help people reach out - to a grandchild with an ear infection, a kid in college who’s caught the flu- with some culinary TLC. The homemade soup is packaged with a gel pack and stored in a special insulated liner so it stays cold for 2-3 days.

And the taste? Never again will the canned stuff suffice. Bound to be a palate pleaser.

$32 per jar at spoonfulofcomfort.com.

Scenario: You grab dinner at 7pm. At 4am, you go into labor. Because it’s your first pregnancy, Junior probably won’t appear for at least 12 hours. And you’re prohibited from eating or drinking until your little bambino first bunks down in his hospital bassinet. Do the math; that’s 21 hours without so much as a snack or beverage. Oh, but you can suck on a wash cloth or ice chips.

This hypothetical could change thanks to a new review of studies indicating that the no-eating-or-drinking rules don’t appear to have any benefits for the majority of healthy women and their infants. Earlier this week, in a New York Times article entitled “Labor, a Snack or a Sip?” writer Roni Caryn Rabin reported on the conclusions of this review, which was published by the Cochrane Collaboration. The restrictions were originally intended to reduce the risk of Mendelson’s syndrome, a condition in which a patient’s stomach contents are aspirated into the lungs during general anesthesia. In rare cases, the syndrome is fatal. Rabin points out that these days general anesthesia is used infrequently on the maternity ward and cites an estimate from Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital) that “just 1 to 2 percent of women in labor are given general anesthesia.” (The concern is with emergency C-sections when the use of general anesthesia is sometimes necessary.)

In August, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released new guidelines permitting patients to drink clear liquids. However, it remains to be seen whether you’ll be allowed to knock back a few slices of pizza in between contractions. According to the Times piece, anesthesiologists aren’t convinced yet that it’s time for women to dine and deliver, criticizing the sample sizes of the studies analyzed for the Cochrane Collaboration review.

So, for now, be happy with the ice chips.

Every once in a while, we are jolted from the daily rhythms of parenthood and the quest to build a super child by something that gives us pause and perspective. The devastating earthquake in Haiti comes to mind. And, from time to time, Hollywood rolls out a film that inspires a sort of spiritual awakening, a realization about what’s truly important.

Extraordinary Measures is one such movie. Based on a true story, Extraordinary Measures is about John Crowley’s (Brendan Fraser) race to find a cure for a fatal genetic disorder called Pompe disease that has left two of his children attached to breathing tubes and in need of medical care costing a whopping $40,000 a month. The average lifespan of a child with Pompe is eight or nine years, a fact that is never far from the minds of Crowley and his wife, Aileen (Keri Russell). Their daughter Megan (aka “Megs” played by Meredith Droeger) has just celebrated her eighth birthday. Her health is quickly deteriorating but not her incredible spirit. The wheelchair-bound Megs proudly declares that she likes P.E. best and insists that her “special medicine,” the treatment her dad is so desperately seeking, be dark pink. After spending countless nights learning about the latest research on Pompe via the Internet and pouring over academic journals, Crowley pins his hopes on Dr. Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford), a University of Nebraska prof whose research appears to be the most promising. Ford’s quirky Stonehill is perennially moody and sorely lacks people skills (but, at 67, Indiana Jones can still rock a pair of jeans).

Extraordinary Measures gives us a unique look into the world of medical R&D, corporate stumbling blocks and all. To an outsider, the process resembles an exercise in frustration and futility. Except when it’s not and miracles are created. Although the film has some tearjerker moments, its focus is on harnessing the power of possibilities and cherishing the precious gift of life.

Extraordinary Measures was released by CBS Films, a division of the CBS Corporation, parent company of UrbanBaby.

Photo credit: CBS Films

Mid-January is just about the time when reality intervenes and we start to lose momentum with our New Year’s resolutions. Your enthusiasm to adopt a healthier lifestyle was at an all-time high on January 1st. But you (and your family) could use some assistance the other 364 days of the year to make good on your promises. Time for reinforcements. The following may help:

Rhythm for Life: The Prenatal Belly Dance Workout DVD is a great way to mix it up when it comes to your prenatal exercise regimen. Choreographer and mother of two Suzanne Caesar takes you through gentle stretching exercises to ease pregnancy discomfort zones and build core strength. She also leads you in “firm & sexy” movements to condition thighs and hips, meditation and the highlight - Latin belly dance fusion, a low-impact dance routine. If nothing else, the sensual dancing will remind you that, even pregnant, you’ve still got it! Available at marchofdimes.com.

Bean Appetit elevates food to a true art form … literally. It shows you and Junior how to make a keyboard sculpture sandwich out of bread, honey, chicken, apples and yogurt; a palm tree using chicken, spinach and pineapple; and a dragonfly from whole wheat pita, turkey and fruit. The point of the book is to have fun and celebrate food and nutrition - a departure from recent kids’ cookbooks which advocate “hiding” and blending in the healthy stuff. Hence, the emphasis on presentation (food sculptures). Bean Appetit also includes games (”Bean-go”), activities plus amusing convo topics to encourage family dinner discussion. A great way to develop healthy eating habits. Playing with food encouraged. Coming late February. Available for pre-order at amazon.com.

Warning: This book is for a highly organized and disciplined cook. The premise - cook once a month, create enough dinners for 30 days and save money. Choose from recipes for lime-grilled mahi-mahi, gnocchi with turkey ragu, Texas-style lasagna and much more. Mary Beth Lagerborg and Mimi Wilson’s book is divided into various cycles, with each cycle listing a menu chart, pantry list, shopping list and recipes. There are even gluten-free, summer and gourmet cycles. Available at amazon.com.

For the lowdown on many of the most popular diet programs, visit UB sister site moneywatch.com. Diet Plan Review: Best Ways to Lose 20 Pounds gives you the skinny on each diet and even breaks down what it will cost you per pound lost.

Having young kids means you’re caught in a sort of furniture purgatory. You don’t want your home to be like a museum with no place for your kids to hang and with everyone living in constant fear of marring your “showroom.” Nor do you want to regress back to dorm life with disposable furniture.

Enter Jenny’s Blocks. The creation of New-York-equity-trader-turned-interior-designer Jennifer Esposito, the blocks are furniture pieces-cum-playground components every bit worthy of a grown-up’s home. (Translation: They’re sophisticated enough to impress your single, still impossibly chic friends.) The foam blocks, light enough to move but dense enough to stay put, are C-shaped (rockers), half moons, circles and squares. An ottoman, which could easily double as a coffee table (pictured top right), is configured from piecing rockers and half moons together. Kids can use the various parts to build a train table, ball pit, tunnel, arm chair, rocking chair, fort or performance stage. Perfect developmental “toys” for the kind of open play child psychologists are always encouraging. In fact, Esposito has been consulting with a Manhattan preschool and a number of physical therapists about designing pieces for their facilities.

Regarding aesthetics, the sky’s the limit. Esposito can craft the blocks in a huge range of fabrics; think fuschia patent leather with matching faux fur, muted earth tone suedes, vintage florals or polka dots. She’s even got a couture line.

Sure to be a blockbuster.

Browse at jenniferespositodesign.com. Call 917-226-0800 for inquiries and orders.

Ghosts of gifts past. Flashback to your wedding and all the extraneous presents you received: the heart-shaped waffle maker, the butter curler, the nocturnal wildlife figurines that are perfect for … the garage. Admit it - you would’ve preferred cash.

Now that you’ve got a little bambino on the way, you have the opportunity, thanks to technology, to streamline the gifting process and tactfully tell well-wishers to show you the money. Online cash registries, all the rage in wedding world, are catching on for the stroller set. The newly-launched Deposit a Gift website enables you to collect cash for the stuff you really want, whether it’s, say, a top-of-the-line Bugaboo or a wipe warmer. Whatever your heart desires. You set up a web page for friends, family members and colleagues to peruse. Then they can give money (in increments you pre-select) toward either a specific item you list or a category/item suggested by the Deposit a Gift company (that you choose). There are even categories for college funds, swimming lessons, babysitting plus romantic dinners and weekend getaways.

The web page you create (a painless process) is also an easy way for you to share the latest pics of Junior, his baby announcement, etc. Deposit a Gift is free to join, and you decide whether to pick up the 7.5% service fee per order or pass the cost on to your gift buyers. Once there’s at least $200 in your account, you can take cash out in the form of a check, Visa gift card or direct deposit to your bank account.

So efficient. So 2010. So on the money.

Visit depositagift.com.

Having an urban baby means you’re not as likely to get sucked into a world drenched in pastels and overpopulated with little ducks just because you have a bambino. You still need to retain some sense of your pre-baby mod self. And what better person to help you achieve this goal than Bon Jovi drummer Tico Torres.

The newest offerings from Torres’ Rock Star Baby company are bottle and pacifier sets decked out in black, red and white images of a skull and crossbones. Choose from Pirate Baby (pictured), Tattoo Pirate Baby, and Heart & Wings. These design antidotes to the more mundane and hue-challenged light pink and blue also have all the right “frees” going for them; they’re free of BPA, lead, PVCs and phthalates. Torres founded Rock Star Baby at the beginning of the last decade after his friends starting having kids and he wasn’t able to find any hip baby presents. And then there was his drum tech, a new dad, who came in one day sporting a diaper bag with blue elephants. Torres recounts: “He goes, ‘Tico, can you make me a bag? This is so embarrassing to walk around with this.’” Torres, a father himself, says his products obviously aren’t just for rock stars. “Most people are hip in general.” Just think of our own preferred mode of dress for going out: the LBD. And the “LB” certainly doesn’t stand for “light blue!”

Let it rock.

Available at rockstarbaby.com. Check out the UK side of the Rock Star Baby site if you want to see what other RSB products will soon be coming stateside.

Tico Torres photo credit: www.scholtenstudio.com.

January 2010. Time to wipe the slate clean and move past last year’s scandals du jour: the Madoff fallout, Chris Brown, balloon boy, Blagojevich, Governor Sanford, financier Stanford, Carrie Prejean (the dethroned Miss California), the White House party crashers, Tiger Woods, etc. New year. New beginnings. Although you can’t do much to prevent the nation’s ethically-challenged from engaging in behavior that will inevitably lead to a new crop of scandals and headlines, you can whip your own brood into shape.

Now you’ve got an easy, entertaining way to do that in the form of the book E is for Ethics: How to Talk to Kids about Morals, Values, and What Matters Most. Author Ian James Corlett knows a thing or two about how to amuse kids. He’s created, written and/or developed numerous popular children’s television shows, including The Adventures of Paddington Bear. (Plus he’s the voice behind hundreds of cartoon characters.) Each short story in E is about one core value - perseverance, politeness, courage, to name a few. The main characters, Elliott and Lucy, are loosely based on Corlett’s own two kids. The stories are infused with modern touches (In one, the kids play with “Danish-made generic building blocks.”) and aren’t preachy. So refreshing.

Each chapter ends with questions about the characters’ behavior for you to discuss with Junior. Corlett notes, “My purpose in writing this book was not to be the arbiter of morals and good values. I don’t want to tell people what to do. I just want to open up the discussion.” The most important value? Corlett says it’s honesty. “If you learn how to be honest, most of the other qualities will flow fairly easily.” Words to live by. Here are some others culled from quotes Corlett weaves throughout the book:

“The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” -Nelson Mandela
[Side note: Go see Invictus.]

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.” -John Quincy Adams

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.” -Oscar Wilde

“The great gift of human beings is that we have the power of empathy.” -Meryl Streep

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“Happiness can exist only in acceptance.” -George Orwell.

Available at amazon.com.