A British mum in our toddler play class recently told me about a new-to-me-company from across the pond called, Next.  I was admiring the cute cotton dress her daughter was wearing with a dinosaur print that was darling but not overly girl when she shared that Next is reasonably priced and ships to the US and Canada for a minimal amount (or quickly for free if you hit a certain amount)!
The toddler girls, boys and baby clothes are adorable and have a nice selection of classic looking items that I love.  I especially enjoy discovering new places to look for my boys clothes.  And I'm going to snag a few dresses for my nieces! These are some of the cute things they have this spring...

eating out and travel can be stressful and require a lot more planning, but it's still possible!

• Find a support system from other parents of children with allergies.  Join an online group in your area (there are many on Facebook or your allergist can usually recommend some) or seek out the other parents at school who understand.  Forge friendships and share your concerns and your best practices.  I can’t tell you how much it has helped me to find solace in other parents who have walked the road ahead of me.
• Find an allergist that you trust and that speaks your language.  We visited a few allergists before finding one that we really liked.  And don’t be afraid to ask questions!   
• Support allergy awareness and be an advocate for the cause. As my son gets older, it has been helpful to participate in things like the FARE campaign, Teal Pumpkin Project, at halloween and also provide allergy safe snacks at some of his play dates.  I find that many other Mom’s have NO intention of being hurtful, they simply don’t know or understand allergies.
• Be prepared that there will likely be awkward conversations in order to be your child’s advocate.  I’ve had to ask friends to refrain from certain foods or directly discuss actions I wasn’t comfortable with and it can be hard.  But ultimately it is my responsibility to keep my son safe while he is little.  Take solace in knowing that you might feel like you're fumbling along, but we all are.  
• Make peace with your epi-pen.  We have yet to use ours, but initially, I viewed the eli-pen with as much fear as I did the allergic reaction.  I had a lot of anxiety about using it and how hard it would be for my son.  But I now try to take comfort in knowing that I have something life-saving at my finger tips.  While you don't want to have it be the default action, having to use the epi-pen is NOT a failure. Once I made that paradigm shift, I took a lot of pressure off myself.

Happy Friday!  These days, James Robert is getting more and more opinionated about what he wants to wear.  If he could, he would likely wear his fireman costume everyday.  But a close second would be anything with a dinosaur on it.  He has just discovered dinosaurs and is constantly rawring!  He also received a wonderful set of dino flashcards for his birthday that he loves to flip through too.

Therefore, when I discovered Fresh Pressed Prints and learned about their new collection featuring dinosaurs, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to collaborate and share Brooke's collection with you here.

always rrrawring!

Brooke is the mother to three boys and started creating clothing for her little ones when she became tired of the repetitive designs she was seeing in stores.  Fresh Pressed Prints is a collection of clothing to spark creativity and curiosity which I love!

Each design is printed using water-based ink and the quality is wonderful.  The shirts are also  100% organic cotton, 100% sweatshop free, Fair Trade Certified, and GOTS certified! 

But what I love most of all is that the shirts are made with the love of boys in mind-- so often when you go shopping for boys clothing, they get a very small section compared with girls.  It's a treat to see a collection that is lovingly designed with little guys in mind!

I hope you'll check out Fresh Pressed Prints on Instagram or Facebook and follow along if you have a little boy in your life that loves to have fun, get dirty and explore!

Is anyone else excited that it's February?!  We've been enjoying some Valentine's Day toddler activities around here lately that I hope you'll like too. I find it fun to incorporate seasonal and holiday themed activities into our play routine.  It helps keeps things new and interesting for both James Robert and myself plus it feels festive.  I love that the toddler stage provides more understanding around what we're doing-- but we're definitely still in the stage that activities need to be quick and easy!

Here are 5 activities for you and your toddler to enjoy that are perfect for Valentines' Day (plus don't miss our play dough recipe at the end of the post):


1) Banner from felt cutouts.  We went to the dollar store and bought felt heart cutouts and then strung them on ribbon we have at home.  It helped him practice his fine motor skills and he was tickled with the result that he were able to display. This could easily be made from felt you have at home already if you do have some.