Moms (and a Dad) Who Mean Business: The Baby Gift Edition

Everywhere I go, it seems there are Spring chickens hatching. In case you find yourself waiting for or welcoming babies these days as well, I wanted to share some unique gift ideas. If you know of other great mom- or dad-owned businesses, please share in the comments!

 

Julie Cole
Mother of six, ages 2 – 12
Mabel’s Labels
http://www.mabelslabels.com

Amy’s intro:
Though I’d always heard great things about Mabel’s Labels in the world of chatty moms, I got to try them out when a tweet turned conversation turned samples on my front porch (talk about great social marketing!). They’re the perfect gift for the mom going back to work who will have to label everything for daycare.

How long have you been in business?
Mabel’s Labels will be 9 years old this March.

What inspired you to start your business?
There were two sources of inspiration: a product idea that kept nagging away, and also wanting to leave the traditional workforce in hopes of establishing a better work/life balance.

This week’s mom “high”:
Walking into the bathroom to find the 2-year old wiping the bum of the 5-year old.

This week’s mom “low”:
Several kiddos vomiting at once…while my spouse was away!

 

Julie Evans
Mother of Sam and Pete; Grandmother of Grace (18 months) and Sweet Baby Girl ? (due in May)
“Belles of the Ball” Surprise Balls
www.hotflashesfun.com

Amy’s intro:
If you ask Lenny, everyone I meet is somehow my cousin. And since Julie is my dad’s cousin’s sister-in-law, you can add her to the list. We were gifted Baby Belles when Little and Pink were born and they’re a blast. What I love is that there’s a traditional gift—a silver rattle—in a totally un-traditional presentation. Unwinding the ball is lots of fun for a new (attention-starved) big brother or sister.

How long have you been in business?
Since 2005

What inspired you to start your business?
My sister Shannon and I started Hot Flashes as a vehicle for the creative surges we’ve had all our lives. While we’re at the age where we’re feeling the heat more than we’d like, we chose the name because to us it meant GOOD IDEAS!

Growing up in a large family—7 girls, no boys!—with a mother who might be the original Martha Stewart, there was no end to imaginative projects and just plain good fun in our house. SURPRISE BALLS were a special treat! We loved unwinding them to discover their hidden treasures.

Since there’s just nothing better that a good surprise, Shannon and I decided to keep the tradition alive (and take it to another level) with our “Belles of the Ball” Surprise Balls. We’ve had the most fun selling fun!

This week’s mom “high”:
I’ve had the great gift of being the mom of two wonderful boys and now, the grandmother of the most adorable little girl. This week’s high came when my daughter-in-law let my granddaughter “call” me to say it was “no-ing” (snowing), and my younger son and his wife sent me pictures of their beautiful nursery all ready for our newest little sweetie—whom we’ll get to meet in May.

This week’s mom “low”:
It’s funny, I can think of “lows”. (Like the time a young, single guy chastised me in the grocery store for giving in to my 5- and 2-year olds and buying Honey Nut Cheerios…it was 5:00 in the afternoon and we were all tired, hungry and fussy—and totally out of everything or I never would have gone at that hour! I remember looking at him and thinking he was lucky I didn’t have a gun!) But mostly I remember the highs these days. I know when you’re in the middle of it, especially in those first years, it can seem so hard and never ending—and it is—but from where I am now, I can tell you it’s way too short. So my unsolicited advice is to laugh at the lows, celebrate the highs, and try to treasure every minute. Children are such delightful people!

 

Joshua Levitt, ND
Father of Eldest, nine. Middilist, eight. Littlest, five.
Baby Barbells: The Dad’s Guide to Fitness and Fathering
www.babybarbells.com

Amy’s intro:
I also met Joshua on Twitter thanks to our Bruin roots. I loved the concept of his book and wanted to support him, so I bought it. It’s really fun—full of creative ideas and thoughtful suggestions about how to be involved with your new baby. A great gift for the dad-to-be.

How long have you been published?
I have been a father for nine years, a naturopathic physician for 10 years, but only recently added author to my resume. Baby Barbells came out just before Father’s Day 2011.

What inspired you to write your book?
One day when my oldest daughter was about six months old, I came home from work after a long day seeing patients. My wife handed me this fussy baby and said “it’s your turn”. The usual tricks weren’t working so I laid down, dog tired, flat on my back and perched the cranky baby on my chest. Baby up, baby down, baby up, baby down, like a bench press. She started to giggle, she started to coo, she was loving it…and was feeling the burn in my triceps. Just like that, Baby Barbells was born.

This week’s dad “high”:
I am on a weeklong vacation in Costa Rica with my wife without my kids.

This week’s dad “low”:
I am on a weeklong vacation in Costa Rica with my wife without my kids.

Anything else you’d like to add?
I can’t believe I just did an interview from a hammock in Costa Rica. I could get used to this…

 

Tammy Gerber (mom) & Louise DeDera (grandma)
Mother of Emily (5) & Peter (2); Clare (12) & Sophie (10)
B Is My Blanket by TamiLou Designs
www.tamiloudesigns.com

Amy’s intro:
Tammy and I met back in a mother’s group when Big and Emily were born. She gave me her sweet gift pack when Pink was born and people are constantly asking where I got my wonderful blanket. It’s one of our favorites and the book is a sweet accompaniment.

How long have you been in business?
3 years

What inspired you to start your business?
[Tammy] B Is My Blanket is inspired by my daughter and Louise’s grandchildren. For two years, I watched the unconditional love develop between my daughter and her special blanket she calls “B”. Louise’s writing insights come from her years as a mom, grandma and elementary school teacher.

This week’s mom “high”:
[Tammy] Riding the coin-operated duck at the local car wash. My kids enjoyed inserting the quarters and I enjoyed riding the duck like I was 5 years old again. We laughed ourselves silly!

This week’s mom “low”:
[Tammy] Watching my sweet 2-year-old boy shake the cinnamon spice container all over the kitchen floor. Time to get out the broom and dustpan—AGAIN!

 

Tiffany Ard
Mother of Graham (6) and Nicolaus (9)
Nerdy Baby, LLC
www.NerdyBaby.net

Amy’s intro:
I have a confession to make. I’m a big ol’ nerd. Well, I was when my brain still worked. One of my friends who knew—and loved—me at the height of my nerdom gave me the Nerdy Baby Flash Cards when Pink was born. I was hoping they were the inspired idea of a mom—and they were! So I stalked her for this post. I couldn’t help but think my Silicon Valley peeps would l-o-v-e these.

How long have you been in business?
About 5 years

What inspired you to start your business?
I started out making things that made me laugh. I love science and since I had a newborn who never ever let me put him down, babies were on my mind. So with Graham on my lap I sketched out the Nerdy Baby ABCs, and made them into a set of flashcards just for fun. Threw them up on etsy and hey! Other people liked them.

This week’s mom “high”:
In the midst of running a business, we also homeschool and it can get really crazy trying to pack everything into each week. Some weeks their schooling is pretty informal and I start to freak out that we aren’t doing enough, they aren’t learning enough, and I’m ruining their lives by trying to do so much and oh my god I’m the worst non-crack-addicted mother ever. But then! Then my kids start these amazing conversations with us and I realize that we must be doing okay. This week, we were on our way to go have photos taken of some new products, and we were stuck waiting for a train. The train was covered in graffiti, which they know is illegal. But one of the pictures caught their eye—I didn’t see it, but they both thought it was really exciting. A cat wearing a big Chinese hat apparently?

Totally unprompted, they got into this huge discussion about art, starting with the artist’s decision to paint on a train instead of a wall, so more people would see it all over the country. Then they got into illegal vs. wrong/right and are there degrees of illegal? Are there degrees of breaking the law? Are there times when it’s okay to break the law? What’s worse, painting on public property or private property? Is it worse to have 1000 people a tiny bit mad at you or 1 person SUPER mad at you?

Then! they wandered into a conversation about what makes the difference between graffiti that they consider art and graffiti that’s just plain vandalism. The younger asked “What’s ‘vandalism’?”

Before I could answer, the older kiddo defined it, gave examples, and then went into a history lesson about the origin of the word vandalism. Then! THEN he got all excited and pointed out that in ancient Rome, writing messages on the sides of buildings was common and wasn’t considered vandalism. Only actual, literal Vandals destroying everything would have been vandalism… so our conversation connected back perfectly to ancient Roman law, and isn’t it funny how laws are different in different places and times?

Writing this all out makes me sound crazy, I know, but that 30-minute drive reminded me of exactly why we homeschool and how much I freaking adore it.

This week’s mom “low”:
We had one day this week that was way, way unbalanced. Kids arguing, laundry out of control, house a wreck, muddy dog running around, and a Nerdy Baby urgent to-do list that kept expanding. The day bumped along until I started working on dinner and realized I had forgotten to do the math lesson I had promised the kids. Um, or any school work at all. Oh guilt guilt guilt! So I hollered at them to come into the kitchen and bring calculators. While I cooked, I stepped over and around them and gave them the lamest math lesson you can imagine. I really hope they look back and interpret those kinds of memories as “mom was so dedicated that she even taught us while she cooked” instead of “our education was led by an over-committed scatterbrain.”

Anything else you’d like to add?
Please buy all of our things! We make everything in the USA, we ship all over the world, we work hard to make the world a cuter, nerdier place, and we would love to grow to the point where I can hire an assistant so I will stop losing track of basic parenting responsibilities.

 

AND…don’t forget these amazing baby gifts/products that I highlighted in previous posts:

The bib I can’t live without—seriously, Pink practically knows how to put it on herself these days—courtesy of Amy at Moxie Bibs.

New moms can learn a thing or two from the original Rookie Moms, Whitney and Heather. Check out their Rookie Moms Handbook, and keep an eye out for their great new book, Stuff Every Mom Should Know, which is being released later this month. (I’ve been lucky enough to be given a sneak-peek copy and it makes everyday mom tasks simpler. What’s not to love?)

For the hip and stylish mom (whose baby is sure to be just as fashion forward), there’s no end to the goodness at Flying Peas, thanks to Terra.

If you’re doing a collection for a group gift, consider giving a portrait package from a talented newborn photographer like Jenny Lee. Or maybe a 6-month subscription to Citrus Lane.