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.

ON GOOD LEGS AND BAD SKIN

Here's how the gene pool went for me: I inherited good legs and bad skin.

I usually convince myself that it's a pretty good trade off, since long and lean legs are a little harder to come by than new makeup, but, I'm also in my 30s now and I still break out occasionally (thank you, postpartum hormones) and I'm also starting to get wrinkles early. So, there you go. Good legs and bad skin. We all have our things.

To help my skin a little I'm trying out a few ideas, like the common sense skin care regime (drinking more water, finding my sunscreen, taking vitamins) but I wanted a little more backup without the Botox and have a few discoveries to share.

SKINCARE

My general rule here is less is more. I use a very basic cleanser and hardly anything else on my face. When I want backup for a beakout or wrinkles, Derma-E has an Anti-Wrinkle line I like and Spot Treatment, and I like that it's available at Whole Foods, which I generally use as a benchmark for more "natural-ish" products.

MAKEUP

Esmi is a line from Australia that I recently discovered and am loving. It's SPF, mineral based, and has excellent coverage and staying power. I like flat brushes for mineral based makeup application, and this one is vegan and works great. I wear color II-III in the winter and III-IV in the summer. If you're similar in skin tone to me and debating between the two I'd recommend III-IV.

TOOLS

First, at home microdermabrasion with ReVit. There's plenty of science and technology behind micoderm, but it's basically just sloughing away the outermost layer of the skin so that new skin beneath is generated faster to promote healing. I like this one because it uses diamond exfoliation as opposed to aluminum oxide crystals (technical terms, just do your research there) and overall I prefer this method to a chemical exfoliate.

Second, red light and heat therapy with FaceFx. Red Light Therapy aids in elastin and collagen production, similar to blue light therapy for seasonal depression. This little device feels kind of light saber, Star Wars-esque, in that it's this wand with light and heat on your face. It's pleasant and spa-like, and it seems like my fine lines have improved. Both this and the microderm tool can be used together and while pregnant and/or nursing.

COLLAGEN

I consider myself generally well versed in supplements and natural health, but this was a new one for me. When I'm unsure on a health product I check with Wellness Mama, a podcast and blog I discovered when pregnant. She has this and this to say about collagen and since my hair/skin/nails have taken a toll post-baby, I was game. She recommends grass-fed varieties like Vital Proteins. The way I take it is I mix Collagen Peptides or Marine Collagen Sticks in my latte each morning. I love that it has no taste and gives a protein boost to slow caffeine absorption. If I make a green smoothie I'll add Collagen Beauty Greens since this one can only be mixed with cold liquids. If I was just choosing one product I'd go with the classic Collagen Peptides for the hot/cold mixability option.

While these things all can be fun to try, with any beauty product I share I also want to mention that I know that real beauty is more than just skin deep. Surface level beauty can only take us so far. I value kindness, strength, and compassion more than any wrinkle-fighter out there.

Shared in partnership with Derma-E, Esmi, SkinFx and Vital Proteins. Cheers to real beauty.