Beautiful fashion and knitwear from Omibia

Last year at the ShopUp, a sweet lady came up to me, presenting me her beautiful business card and telling me about the brand she was setting up, a collection of luxury children’s fashion and knitwear called Omibia. She told me she hoped that next year she could join us for the ShopUp, and I told her I most certainly hoped so too! And now I’m so happy to say that indeed Omibia (and that sweet lady called Mercedes) will be there, with their first beautiful collection.

Omibia aims to create beautiful baby and children’s clothing of the highest quality and style, but without compromising the manufacturing process, which is respectful to the people, places and the natural processes involved. All items are made entirely from certified organic and natural fibres, like luxuriant baby alpacas, or soft cottons. I personally love the beautiful colours, patterns and detailing of the knitwear collection — Mercedes kindly sent us some samples to test over the year, and the quality of those knits is truly amazing and the fit is superb.

I can’t wait to meet Mercedes again in London next month, and this time with a collection worthy to be discovered!

xxx Esther

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Christmas Book Advent Calendar (Updated)

I wrote my first post for Babyccino on 29th November 2009 (I can’t believe it – almost 6 years ago!) and it was about an idea that I had to wrap up 24 Christmas themed books to create a Christmas Book Advent Calendar. Well the idea is still going strong in our house and as I get the books out this year and dust them off ready for wrapping – I thought I’d do a little updated post on it.

We do a couple of different advent calendar ideas in our house but the book idea is still my favourite and has become a tradition that the children (and I) really look forward to. Unwrapping a Christmas story every evening before going to bed has such a cosiness about it – perfect for the time of year, when evenings are dark and cold. Reading the story – whether just fun or poignant – gives me the opportunity to slow down, even if just for a few minutes and snuggle up with my kids to soak in the magical atmosphere of Advent. I treasure those moments and I’m sure my children do to.

I thought I’d share with you some pictures from the past years – they are all pretty bad quality I’m afraid, as we always read at night-time and I very rarely have my proper camera to hand, so they are just grainy phone-snaps but looking at them I can’t wait to wrap the books up again.

Over the years, as the kids get older, we’ve added to the Christmas book collection so now I get to choose from a bigger pile – I thought to share our list with you – even if 24 advent books is a bit extreme, you may enjoy one or two of these stories over the festive period:

• Bear Stays Up for Christmas (Karma Wilson & Jane Chapman). If you know the book “Bear Snores On” then you will recognize the characters in this book. I’ve always thought that maybe those clever advertising people who came up with that lovely John Lewis ad (with the bear and hare) may have read this book at some point ….
• The Fir Tree (Hans Christian Andersen, illustrated by Sanna Annukka). This is a longer story – so needs a while to read it (maybe could be done over 2 nights?) – I always wrap it as one of the earlier days so we have more time to finish it the day after if necessary. It is a lovely classic fairy-tale, which is exquisitely illustrated (an heirloom book).
• Snow (Roy McKie & P.D. Eastman). This appears to be out of print so currently very expensive on Amazon marketplace (but prices always change). It is not a Christmas story specifically but snow and sledging always feels seasonal. This is a good book if you have a child who is just learning to read as it is a first reader book so a good one for some subtle practise!
• Petunia’s Christmas (Roger Duvoisin). I’m sorry another out of print one (but much cheaper at the moment on Amazon!) – I collect Duvoisin books as I love his illustrations and story-telling and this is a wonderful story of the silly little goose that we already know.
• ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (Clement C. Moore). We have 3 versions of this book – my favourite is my version I had as a child, which stays at my parent’s house and is out of print unfortunately. The version I usually wrap up is illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. I like this book to be really old fashioned and her illustrations are just perfect in my minds eye. However we do often give a small hardback version by paper-cut artist Niroot Puttapipat, which is also very special. Of course it is entirely up to you but this one is always our book to open on the 24th!!!
• Mog’s Christmas (Judith Kerr). Quite a few of our ‘favourite’ characters pop up in our advent books and Mog is no exception – I particularly like her grumpy attitude to it all – we all know someone who is a pretty grumpy about Christmas don’t we?!
• A Christmas Story (Brian Wildsmith). You may remember that Brian Wildsmith’s Easter Story crept up in my Easter book recommendations http://ift.tt/1EYTB9w. The story of Jesus’s birth is also told through the eyes of a donkey, which reminds us of the humility of Jesus being born in a stable with animals and simple people present but he uses bright colour and gold print to remind us just how special the story is.
• Letters from Father Christmas (J. R. R. Tolkien). I have a different version of this book, which I couldn’t find on Amazon – with pull-out letters, it is quite special but actually quite fiddly to read so I’m sure this one is a bit more practical. Not only are these letters (that Tolkien wrote to his own children in the guise of Father Christmas) super magical they show what a truly awesome dad he must have been. So imaginative, so funny and inspiring in creating this fictional dialogue that I’m sure his children found quite magical.
• Little Rabbit’s Christmas (Harry Horse). One for the little ones (having said that I think my 8-year-old still quite enjoys these stories). A story which shows the ‘other’ side of Christmas – the meltdowns, spoiled behaviour, selfishness that we have certainly seen in our own children when the excitement of Christmas finally reaches a peak and explodes. But of course … with lessons learned and happy endings!
• Lyle at Christmas (Bernard Waber). Out of print and available super cheap at the time of going to print. We love all the Lyle stories – surreal and gentle as they are. If you don’t know them I’m sure you’d love them. In this one Lyle and his family look to help Mr. Grumps, who is suffering from the holiday ‘blahs’.
• My Wonderful Christmas Tree (Dahlov Ipcar). I wrote about another Dahlov Ipcar book, I Love Animals, earlier in the year. I really love her illustrations and this Christmassy book is no exception. This is a counting book with different animals hiding in a Christmas tree and there are some quite unusual ones in there!
• I Spy Christmas (Walter Wick & Jean Marzollo). Another chance for a second hand bargain here (hardcover was £2.81 (inc. postage) when going to print. These books do feel a little dated – they remind me of when I was a kid – the objects and styling is a bit ’80s but I like a hint of nostalgia and, more importantly they are fun – I have written about many ‘looking’ books and I think particularly young children love to solve the riddles and find the objects in the Christmassy photos.
• The Empty Stocking (Richard Curtis & Rebecca Cobb). This book really answers the question – “what if I haven’t been good this year?” Uh oh!
• The Little Fir Tree (Margaret Wise Brown & Jim Lamarche). The story of a father who makes his little boy’s Christmas special with the help of a little Fir Tree – a very sweet story about Christmas traditions and making sure we remember the vulnerable, the forgotten and the disadvantaged at Christmas time.
• Paddington and the Christmas Surprise (Michael Bond & R.W. Alley). We love Paddington (books not movie, sorry!) and this one is always in our Advent line-up. Of course Paddington gets into a tricky situation but ends up saving the day and Marmalade is featured!
• One Thousand Christmas Beards (Roger Duvoisin). Another out-of-print, another Roger Duvoisin. As usual he takes a different angle on Christmas – in the story Santa is angry with all the Santa impersonators that he sees during the festive season – it’s a great story to help you answer the inevitable questions that arise when you see Santa in every Shopping Mall!
• The Little Reindeer (Michael Foreman). I really like this story – a relatively new addition to our collection. The story of a reindeer that gets lost from Santa’s crew and the boy that befriends him – quite magical.
• The Christmas Wish (Lori Evert & Per Breiehagen). I love everything about this book. The photography, the story, the fashion (I’d love to dress my little girl like Anja in this story!!!)
• The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey (Susan Wojciechowski & P.J. Lynch). An old-fashioned story of love …
• Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree (Robert Barry). Ha! Ha! Last Christmas our tree didn’t quite fit into our living room and my husband had to cut about 30cm from the top and my eldest boy said – “Oh it’s just like Mr Willowby’s tree”, and that’s how the story starts …
• The Twelve Days of Christmas (Jane Ray). Courtney bought this book for us a couple of Christmas’s ago and it is a really lovely version … I save it until quite near Christmas so we can all read it, then sing it together!
• Madeline’s Christmas (Ludwig Bemelmans). I do love Madeline books, although often a little bit ‘odd’ – this one manages to weave (excuse the pun) a magic-carpet seller into a Christmassy story.
• A Calf for Christmas (Astrid Lindgren & Marit Tornqvist). We have two Lindgren books in our German Advent collection but this is the only English one we have. It is a story that works for older children as well as the littles. A classic fable and beautifully illustrated so you get a cosy impression of Sweden at Christmas time.
• Christmas Poems (Chosen by Gaby Morgan and illustrated by Axel Scheffler). If this one gets wrapped it is often in the first days of Christmas – as it can’t be all read in one night but it is nice to dip into through the Christmas days – we sometimes leave this one out in a Book basket that we keep beside the advent calendar for all the opened books so the kids can look through them during the days.
• Father Christmas & The Donkey (Elizabeth Clark & Jan Ormerod). Another great bargain at the moment! And another story of a donkey!!! This donkey works so hard to help Father Christmas and Father Christmas rewards him with the best present he could wish for.
• Christmas Day in the Morning (Pearl s. Buck & Mark Buehner). Warning – tear-jerker! I even noticed a tear in my husband’s eye last year. I always save this one for the last days of the calendar!
• The Christmas Angels (Elsa Wenz-Vietor). We have this one in German (see German suggestions) – it is so gorgeously illustrated – this is how Christmas angels should look!
• Christmas in the Noisy Village (Astrid Lindgren & Ilon Wikland). In German, the Noisy Village is called Bullerbue and we love the stories throughout the year from them. (There is a great TV series as well in German – which if you are German you will surely know already!!!). It is such a charming story of 3 families that make up a village in Sweden and the 7 children that occupy it with their stories of idyllic countryside playing and mischief-making.

I hope that this long-list has maybe given you some ideas for Christmas stories for this year!

Also, here are some of our Advent books in German for my husband to read, I thought I’d share our favourites for any German Speaking readers:

• Weihnachten im Stall (Astrid Lindgren & Lars Klinting)
• Wie Weihnachtelt Man? (Lorenz Pauli & Kathrin Schaerer)
• Weihnachten Nach Mass (Birdie Black & Rosalind Beardshaw)
• Die Leihgabe (Wolfdietrich Schnurre & Klaus Ensikat)
• Weihnachtern in Bullerbue (Astrid Lindgren & Ilon Wikland)
• Anton & das Weihnachtsgeschenk (Ole Koennecke)
• Die Weihnachtsengelein (Elsa Wenz-Vietor)

Mo x

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Sweet baby Orla (in cosy knits from Nieva)

Remember I posted about our new Babyccino baby? Team member Helen gave birth to Orla 3 months ago, and she’s just the most adorable baby. Helen brought her over the other day (we Babyccino girls tend to work with our babies in tow), and I had so much fun with that little lady. And, I’m proud to say that I had a first — Orla was laughing out loud, a milestone! (I’m not sure if she thought I was so hilarious or my glasses were, but I don’t care — she laughed and it was absolutely delightful. And contagious too!)

Also — how beautiful are those socks and blanket/scarf from Finish brand Nieva? Nieva is a new children’s brand from Finland, producing high quality and warm — yet lightweight — knitwear. Designer Aino, a mum of two little boys herself, aims to combine timeless and practical Nordic design with the best natural materials she can source. She works with small workshops in Finland, Portugal and Bolivia, with people who work in an honest and dedicated manner and who love what they do.

The Nieva collection is perfect to layer, and often have clever touches — the baby blanket above becomes a scarf when baby gets bigger, and this sweet alpaca striped vest is double-sided knit and can be reversed for a different look. The detailing is really beautiful, and the knits are ever so soft and strong. A special gift!

xxx Esther

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Walking in the face of danger

I am shocked that, for the second time this year, I am sitting in front of my computer to write a post about a violent tragedy that has hit my beloved city right in the heart. Our home is, for the second time in 10 months, right next to the site of inhumane violence. We were very lucky this time as the girls and I were sitting in a plane flying to Dublin for a weekend with friends and family. But we are back now and the air is still thick with the horror of Friday’s events.

The main reason the atmosphere is so different than during the attacks on Charlie Hebdo is that this time we, here in Paris, feel like we have been targeted for being us and for living our normal lives, so the fear is palpable.  We love sitting on lively terraces, enjoying an apero and laughing. We love live music and eating in restaurants. We love talking, arguing, drinking and celebrating life and our city. This is what the terrorists so callously honed in on and they hit us right in the heart of our being.

We have all done a lot of soul searching this weekend and the impulse to flee or lock ourselves and our family into our houses is overwhelming, but we cannot do it as that would let the terror win.

I remember seeing the above photo a long time ago and it has always stuck with me. A  beautiful, made up woman in Sarajevo walking through a dangerous, sniper haunted neighbourhood passed armed guards, refusing to cower in the face of danger. I am not comparing Paris to the Sarajevo of that time, but I love her spirit and I believe Parisians will do the same thing. We will continue sitting at the tables of our beloved cafés, we will continue populating our streets and taking advantage of the beauty of our city. Because a couple of cruel individuals will not scare the inhabitants of this city and threaten that lifestyle and the liberty we hold so dear.

I want to ensure that my children do not live in fear and are not afraid of walking our neighbourhood streets, and the only way I can do this is by leading by example. Hopefully I can pass this message on to them.

Emilie

Top image was created by @jean_jullien on Instagram. 

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Journalling

We gave the kids journals for their birthdays last spring in anticipation of our big journey ahead. I had hoped they would write in them regularly (daily even!) to document the things they see and do each day. The kids were enthusiastic about the idea and they excitedly packed them into their backpacks at the start of our trip.

But… when the time came to write their first journal entry, all three kids stared up at us with a blank stare, followed by questions and complaints: what should I write? I don’t know what to write about!  How much do I have to write?

We suggested they write about their day and all the things they saw and learned. And yet, they still sat there looking down at a blank sheet of paper. We soon realised that perhaps it would be easier for them if we asked a few specific questions for them to answer, and this method has worked really well over the past couple months. We start each day with the date, place and weather. We then ask 3 to 4 specific questions (tailored for each child).

Here’s a list of some of the questions we generally ask:

• What did you do yesterday?
• What new words did you learn?
• What new foods did you try?
• What was the most interesting thing you saw?
• What was the most fun?
• What was the highlight of your day?
• How did it make you feel?

We then ask them to draw something they saw, ate or did. I’m loving their drawings just as much as what they choose to write – it’s such a fun visual way to capture a memory. It is already so much fun to look back at all their journal entries from the past couple months and I’m so excited for all the pages yet to be filled! It’s going to be such a special thing for them to keep and look back on for the rest of their lives.

Courtney xx

p.s. I picked up the boys’ journals (featured in the first photo) from Elias & Grace in London — they’re from a brand called Roger la Borde.

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A few days in Rio de Janeiro

Last spring when we sat down to plan our year of travel we decided to favour small towns over cities and to spend about three weeks in each destination. We thought this would keep the pace a bit slower and allow us to really get to know each place beyond the usual touristy way. One thing we couldn’t manage to avoid, however, was flying into cities or brief stays in between available flights. So when the option came up to stay in Rio for a few days before flying down to Uruguay, we took it, and we’re so happy we did.

Rio is one of the most stunning cities I’ve ever seen. Verdant green mountains jut out of tropical blue seas in every direction and skyscrapers meet lush rain forests beyond them. Rio may have its share of big city problems, but beauty is not one of them. I’m so glad the kids got to experience it too, especially after seeing shots of Rio during last year’s World Cup, and also knowing it will be the host city for next summer’s Olympic games.

We stayed three days and managed to squeeze in many highlights. Here is a recap from our time with the Cariocas.

TO STAY:

• We were invited by i-escape to test out their Ipanema Penthouse and report back on the property as well as kid-friendly things to do in the area — a task I was excited to accept. The apartment was really spacious, in a nice building and in a perfect location, just blocks from the beach and metro. I would not, however, recommend it for families with young children. The roof terrace has some worrisome hazards and the décor is more adult than family. If you are traveling with kids there are many other Rio properties on the i-escape site and I always appreciate their stylish selection and honest assessments of their properties.

TO DO:

• Take the Corcovado Train up to see the famous Cristo Redentor statue. You can see the statue from all sorts of different angles around the city (we first spotted it from the airplane and you should have seen how excited the kids were!), but to see it up close is really breathtaking. And the train ride up through lush tropical trees is fun for the kids too.
• We signed up for a walking food tour with Eat Rio, and it was the highlight of our visit. We spent the day walking around Rio’s centre, trying new foods and juices (Suco de Cupuaçú!), perusing the food markets and dropping into some its most traditional restaurants. We ate crazy fruits we’ve never heard of before (one took a hammer to open), we ate a traditional Amazonian soup called Tacacá, and finished off with a big meal of ‘Carne seca com abobora e feijão de corda’. We can’t recommend this enough for food lovers.
• We took a taxi over to the Lapa neighbourhood to start our food tour, and the Escadaria Selarón was one of the first sites we visited on the tour. We loved hearing the story of the Chilean artist, Jorge Selarón, and how he covered the 250 stairs in colourful tiles collected from more than 60 countries. It was such a site to see!
• We also loved seeing all the street art and graffiti in the Lapa neighbourhood. It was nice to have our food tour guide food explain the background on some of the graffiti artists and their work.
• On Sundays, there is an amazing ‘Feira Hippie‘ (or hippie market) just one block from the apartment. There were so many great stalls and handmade products. (We bought lots of bracelets for the kids and for their friends back in London.)
• The beach! We never had a perfectly sunny day, but we still made sure to experience the famous Rio beaches with all the action and bikini-clad Brazilians (the kids still talk about the shots of the crowded beaches they saw during the World Cup last year and it was fun to experience it in person).

TO EAT:

• Juice bars! There are many different juice bars scattered around the city offering delicious juices from a choice of tropical fruits (many fruits we had never even heard of before). Did you know you can drink cacao juice? It’s made from the white pulp surrounding the individual cocoa beans inside the cacao pod. So cool!
• We ate breakfast at Cafeína, a charming cafe with delicious breakfast treats and coffee.
• On our second day we ate breakfast at Terzetto Café, which was just one block from our apartment and served good food with lots of Brazilian specialities.
• We ate feijoada on Sunday at Bar do Beto, which was super family-friendly. We aren’t feijoada experts, but we thought the food was good and the staff was super nice.
• Our kids were tired in the evenings after exploring the city, so one night we ordered sushi to be delivered to our apartment. Locals had recommended the iFood app for food delivery, and it worked perfectly! Sushi is very popular in Brazil, due to the large Japanese Brazilian population (we were told that Brazil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan!).

Because of rainy weather, we didn’t get to do everything we had hoped to do, but it was still a jam-packed few days. Please feel free to leave additional tips and recommendations in the comments section below. It’s always helpful for people who are looking for inspiration for future travels. Thank you!
Courtney xx

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There’s a Bear on my Chair, by Ross Collins

There’s a Bear on my Chair has very clearly become a favourite of Florence’s. She’s carried it everywhere this past week and I love it when I hear her shout, “Mama there’s a bear on my chair”, when she’s playing in her bedroom.

Ross Collins has created such an amusing story about a bear who sits unobstrusively on a mouse’s chair taking no notice at all when the mouse asks politely for him to move. After a few frustrating verbal exchanges between the mouse and the bear, and some humorous facial expressions from the mouse (which Florence loves to copy as I read) it soon becomes a story teaching the basics of ‘what goes around, comes around’.

Paired with bright colourful pages and joyful illustrations it’s a story with very clear rhyming couplets (which work really well). It’s also the sophisticated words that Ross Collins has used which makes me love it the most; words such as ‘lair’ and ‘utmost’ and when Florence asked to change into her ‘leisurewear’ this evening I nearly fell off my own chair!

This is one of those books that you will hope your child asks for at bedtime. There’s a Bear on my Chair has Florence (and I) hooked and it is no surprise that it has recently been shortlisted for a British Book Design and Production Award. I’ll keep my fingers crossed when the awards are presented later this month.

There’s a Bear on my Chair is available in all good bookstores and also online from amazon (US) and amazon (UK).

Vanessa xx

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