FATHER'S DAY GIFT GUIDE

Because guys can be THE hardest to shop for, some ideas to add to your tool kit. Pun totally intended.

Socks. (I know, seems boring, BUT not the plain white athletic kind, the fun kind.) If your husband/dad wears a suit to work, crazy socks can be a fun way to add some hidden flair to a traditional business "uniform" without being overly flashy. These are by Happy Socks, they have a large selection of creative prints and the quality has been great.

Ties. Another maybe seemingly "boring" gift, but since these are a part of Daniel's everyday wardrobe and he hates buying them, it's actually a useful and helpful thing for him. He likes the skinny ones by Dazi. They have unique prints with contrasting backings. That light chambray one is so versatile and works for all seasons.

Watch. One of my favorite men's accessories is a giant watch, this one is by The 5th. Love the matte black on black.

Tickets to a game or concert. Easy date idea and I always love gifting an "experience" over a thing. If you're local to the PNW, Chateau St. Michelle has an outdoor concert series in the summer (think outdoor music, picnic blankets and wine).

All things coffee. You can do coffee beans, a Chemex, an upgraded filter, a frother, lots of options here.

Sunglasses. Classicly cool.

Backpack.

Luggage.

BBQ or grilling tools.

Wireless earbuds. For working out, mowing the lawn, etc. These are by Sudio Sweden, I have the same style in a different color and love the wireless feature. Get 15% off with ALLIESEIDEL.

Cocktail tools and/or whiskey or their drink of choice.

Just some ideas to get you started. Have fun celebrating all the dads in your life!

Shared in partnership with most companies listed, some links are affiliate.

SPRING WARDROBE

This is the second edition in small shop baby clothes favorites (see the first one for 0-6 months here). Sharing lots of unique, mostly ethically made, clothes for babies:

We had an extra cold winter here in the PNW, so we went heavy on the knits. Petit Kolibri makes the softest knits I've ever felt, ethically made from baby alpaca wool (not from baby animals, just the name of it) by artisans in Africa, Latin America, and Colombia. Trey's been in these knit pants nonstop lately, as you might recognize from Instagram. Also loving these knit overalls, the bottoms can be unrolled to add room to grow, and this beautiful knit sweater, with beautiful buttons for easy on/off over large head sizes.

More ethically made knits by Blue Alma, handmade in NYC. I adore this romper, one of my very favorites. I layer it over a onesie and leggings in the winter and it can be worn solo in the summer. When I layer this sweater over it I get more compliments on his outfit than anything else he wears. Also: joggers! So cute, and can be layered over leggings during the winter months.

(A note on care: I try to stretch the wearings on all the knits as long as possible without washing them, and when I do I either hand wash them or place them in a mesh laundry bag on cold and the delicate cycle, and then lay flat to dry. And yes, these are on the pricier side of baby clothes, more like heirloom pieces.)

Babysoy makes my favorite PJs. What I want in baby PJs are three things: the softest organic cotton, covered feet, and zippers (because by the time bedtime rolls around the last thing I want to deal with is aligning a thousand snaps). I love the quality and warmth on these. He's also wearing a perfect late winter/early spring fleece hoodie with ears, and bamboo + organic cotton onesies in a fun print. These have snaps on the neck opening, which doesn't always happen with onesies and is a bonus for larger head sizes.

Also: Babysoy is hosting a weekly contest this month on Instagram for a $30 gift card to use on babysoyusa.com (the price of those great PJs!). Post a photo of your baby wearing Babysoy and tag #babysoysoft to be entered to win, a winner is chosen every Monday.

I looked for more of that bamboo fabric and found it in Shedo Lane. This romper zips all the way down to the end of the foot and has cute little bear ears on the hoodie. It's lightweight and super soft.

My favorite for special occasion outfits for babies is Bella Bliss. On Easter Trey wore this bubble  monogrammed (on Instagram here), which made all of my preppy baby dreams come true. He's pictured above in this romper (which will be his first birthday outfit, spoiler alert) and I have and adore this shortall for everything from playing to special occasions this summer. (Note: yes, he's eating ice cream here in one of his fancier outfits, but my rule here is, let the babies be babies. There's always stain remover and life is too short to worry about ruining the nice clothes.)

Outerwear: This genius rain coverall is called a Muddy Buddy. I first discovered it on my nephew, another Pacific Northwest baby who isn't deterred by playing outside in wet weather. It covers head to toe, and keeps clothes under clean and dry so kids can splash in all the puddles they want and not have to change their entire outfit afterwards. We also have a jacket similar to this.

Lastly in the name of high quality, ethically made basics: Colored Organics! Trey is living in their onesies (and these are a great price point for ethically made). Also enjoying: This cozy sweatshirt and joggers, and I love a good vest on boys for style and layering.

Shared in partnership with most companies listed, although I was not paid to endorse any item.

PACKING LIGHT

I'm convinced there are two kinds of packers in this world: people who pack Everything You Could Possibly Need and people who pack minimally, almost effortlessly, delicately accounting for all kinds of weather and occasions into three coordinating outfits and one easy to manage, well organized, carry on.

I am in the first camp, certainly.

Overpacking is one of my spiritual gifts. Minimal packing is my husband's.

Naturally, it's a joy to travel with me. Once we added a baby in the mix, our packing level went to an even higher, unfathomable level. The soundtrack to our trip prep started to sound something like this: "Hey! Got any extra room in your suitcase for more diapers/wipes/a hair dryer/my ice skates?"

If could pack the kitchen sink, I would.

Thankfully, people change, and I'm learning how to pack more efficiency and effectively. Travel-sized instead of Costco-sized bottles are a start, as well as limiting my shoe choices (still working on that one.) Also helpful: durable, well designed suitcases. Thule, who makes outdoor gear (and our favorite stroller) just released a line of luggage, built to withstand the elements just like their well loved roof racks and bike racks. The two sizes we have are the 30" and the 28". The 30" is ingeniously designed to zip into two bags, one rolling and one duffel, perfect for using alone or together, for separating baby items, or for overpackers like myself still learning how to pack light. My husband loves the laptop bag for work, and it's designed to hook onto the top of either suitcase.

When I pack lighter, I realize that I usually don't even miss whatever's not there. There is always, always a creative solution, and sometimes, having fewer choices can actually make it easier than having too many (capsule wardrobing taught me that).

I started to think about other things I carry with me (figuratively) that actually make my life more difficult or unnecessarily complicated.

Things like, first birthday party expectations. Somehow (maybe thanks to Pinterest and other forms of social media), this event is HYPED. Where did we get this idea that babies needed this extravagant first birthday party? If you want to go all out for it, great, but if you don't? Also fine. We all know this party is more for the parents than the baby anyways.

In June, we will be celebrating Trey's first birthday. But I'm choosing a small, simple party. Nothing fancy, no paper invites, no rented space, no caterer.

I'm taking this off my plate because it doesn't bring me joy to spend the time or the money in this way. I will celebrate the one year milestone in a way that works for us, not how someone else (or society or culture or social media) thinks I SHOULD be doing it.

These days I'm taking more and more off my plate, letting go of thing after thing, lowering my expectations, packing lighter. This "good enough" space of motherhood is so much better than striving for the unattainable perfection.

I'm trying to pack lighter this spring in all sorts of ways. It's a work in progress, but a great place to be.

Shared in partnership with Thule, the trusted outdoor gear brand. We're big fans of their durable designs.