While I love trundling around little boutiques on foot, sometimes one stop shopping is the way to go. Boston area mama Jeniphir Taylor-McIntire, a sales consultant for Natural Family Boutique, recently pointed me to her online store.

Natural Family Boutique offers eco-friendly products to support families from conception to weaning. The site offers Haba toys (my favorite toy line, period!) and apparel for babes, indulgent jewelry, spa, and home items for mamas, and lots of products for new parents (breastfeeding, baby care, and cloth diapering supplies, pregnancy, birth and postpartum products, books & CDs, slings). The site also offers resource material on breastfeeding, pregnancy and birth, nutrition, parenting, natural living, and activism.

Host a mama’s night out NFB party with Jenipher and get discounts and freebies along the way. Send Jenipher an email to find out more.

UPDATE 8/15/07: Sadly, Natural Family Boutique has closed its virtual doors. Please visit our category links to the left for more fabulous toy, gear, and pregnancy resources.

Food is a stressful topic for parents. When my babe started solids I was a mama obsessed. I made sure the babe had veggies before fruits, balanced food groups throughout the day, all organic produce, and plenty of variety. I exposed her to a new food every few days and filled an entire journal with her input/output details lest I suspected allergies (clearly, data collection has been a big part of my life…). I spent a lot of time in front of the stove and Cuisinart, steaming and pureeing food, and freezing the puree in covered ice cube trays. I occupied an entire section of the freezer with bags and bags of frozen food nuggets. Sometimes there was little to eat in the house other than frozen food nuggets.

I like to think that my reward for my obsession was a good eater, but I suspect that largely, we've been lucky. A mama asked me to include a post on picky eating; here are a few thoughts and resources:
Probably the most liberating piece of advice I read regarding feeding was this: So long as you put a nutritious, balanced meal in front of your babe, your job is done. You are not a short order cook! Once I stopped fretting over whether the babe actually ingested enough of this or enough of that my life was so much easier. And of course, the less I pushed certain items, the more willing she was to eat them. Click here for Dr. Sears’ tips for pleasing the picky eater, the original source of my culinary liberation.

Another online article, “Picky Eaters; Born or Made?” offers perspectives and suggestions, two of which I find very important. First, do not barter about food. Drawing connections between food and good/bad behavior can have detrimental long-term implications. Second, it’s okay to be sneaky. Whenever possible I hide minced vegetables under cheese (e.g., quesadillas) or in sauces (e.g., pizza, lasagna).

And of course, good eating is a mutually beneficial arrangement. At one point I realized that I was obsessing about the babe eating enough vegetables, but that we, the parents, were doing a pretty bad job remembering to eat our veggies. We started balancing and enjoying our meals better, the babe followed our lead, and I’m pretty sure that even if the babe doesn’t eat perfectly every single day we’ll be able to stave off scurvy.

I love optimization and organization. So I was thrilled to discover the Mothers Milkmate Storage Rack ($26.99 at Amazon). It optimizes because the bottles hook up directly to most breast pumps and can attach to a universal nipple and collar to feed the babe directly. The system organizes by featuring a space saving storage rack designed to allow ten five-ounce bottles to rotate so that the milk is used in a "first-in, first-out" basis (i.e., you pull the first bottle out, and the others roll in behind it).

The Kosher certified storage system includes a heavy-duty wire rack, 10 polypropylene plastic bottles, 10 plug and cap sets (to eliminate leaking), and freezer grade labels.

Is it too dramatic to say that the Baby Bjorn 1-2-3 Baby Sitter ($114 at Amazon) saved my life? Even on an indulgent day my typical shower routine takes 15 minutes tops. But for some reason, as a new mom I found it incredibly difficult to find the time to take a shower; impossible seeming actually, if my husband had already left for work and I was on my own during the day.

One day I realized that, by virtue of the spit up chunks in my hair, I was redefining the term “bad hair day.” So I set the babe up in the Bjorn bouncy chair right outside the shower, peeked out frequently while I lathered up, and emerged from the shower spit up free (even if only for a few minutes) and rejuvenated. A mere seven minutes in the shower left me with a massively improved frame of mind from which to embark on my day of baby adventures. After all, a happy mom makes for a happy baby. The Bjorn chair also served well when I tried bottles with the babe (if I held her, she was obviously confused by the lack of booby access), as well as when she started solid foods but was too little to sit up in a high chair.

The Baby Bjorn 1-2-3 Baby Sitter can be used up to 29 lbs and has a three-point fabric safety harness, three-position recline, and removable toy bar with solid (nontoxic paint) wood toys. It folds for storage and the seat padding is washable.

More on the great high chair debate. Another mama friend who favors modern designs is thrilled with her Ikea Antilop High Chair. For a mere $18.99, this chair will sit inoffensively amidst your décor and is so inexpensive that you can pick up an extra one to leave out on the deck.

The Antilop measures 22 7/8 inches wide, 24 3/8 inches deep, and 35 3/8 high with a seat height of 21 5/8 inches. You also can purchase a matching high chair tray for $5.

One of my mama friends is a firm believer that high chairs are a waste of money and space and I think she very well may be right. We splurged on the beautiful Svan high chair for its’ sleek, compact design but the infant table was a nuisance to clean, we have a distinct Svan-shaped wear spot on the hardwood floor, and most alarmingly, the base sometimes isn't stable enough when our toddler is in rambunctious mode at the table. I’m just not keen on being cast alongside Britney Spears in the mama’ing domain.

So what’s the alternative? The Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat will only set you back $22.99 (compared to $270 for the Svan chair + cushion...ouch). Fab mama friend and I are thinking that so long as you have a low priority dining chair with a nice sturdy base, you can forego the high chair in favor of a booster seat. Plus, the booster packs up easily for travel or restaurant visits.

The Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat has a removable feeding tray, 3-point harness and 3 height adjustments and is available at Amazon for $22.99 and $24.99 at Babies R Us.

One of my mama friends is a firm believer that high chairs are a waste of money and space and I think she very well may be right. We splurged on the beautiful Svan high chair for its’ sleek, compact design but the infant table was a nuisance to clean, we have a distinct Svan-shaped wear spot on the hardwood floor, and most alarmingly, the base sometimes isn't stable enough when our toddler is in rambunctious mode at the table. I’m just not keen on being cast alongside Britney Spears in the mama’ing domain.

So what’s the alternative? The Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat will only set you back $22.99 (compared to $270 for the Svan chair + cushion...ouch). Fab mama friend and I are thinking that so long as you have a low priority dining chair with a nice sturdy base, you can forego the high chair in favor of a booster seat. Plus, the booster packs up easily for travel or restaurant visits.

The Fisher-Price Healthy Care Booster Seat has a removable feeding tray, 3-point harness and 3 height adjustments and is available at Amazon for $22.99 and $24.99 at Babies R Us.

I am lucky to have a toddler who generally loves to eat, but getting the babe to ingest vegetables isn’t as easy as when she depended on my steady hand to get food to mouth.

Quesadillas are an easy way to pack a lot of nutrients into a small space for both babes and adults. The permutations are endless, but for this basic recipe you will need: flour tortillas, shredded cheese, refried beans, frozen spinach, avocado, and tomatoes or salsa.

Cook spinach according to package instructions. Press into a colander to get rid of as much water as possible. In a microwavable bowl, heat up refried beans. Mix in about 1/3 - 1/2 the package of spinach. Freeze the rest of the spinach for future use.

Place a flour tortilla on a fry pan or griddle over medium heat and sprinkle entire surface lightly with cheese. As the cheese melts, spread the bean mixture on one half of the tortilla. Dice or mash 1/3 to 1/2 of an avocado and spread over the beans. Once the cheese has melted, fold the tortilla in half and press with spatula (avoid overstuffing the quesadilla so it's easy for the babe to handle). Cool slightly before serving. Top with diced tomatoes or serve with mild salsa.

I am lucky to have a toddler who generally loves to eat, but getting the babe to ingest vegetables isn’t as easy as when she depended on my steady hand to get food to mouth.

Quesadillas are an easy way to pack a lot of nutrients into a small space for both babes and adults. The permutations are endless, but for this basic recipe you will need: flour tortillas, shredded cheese, refried beans, frozen spinach, avocado, and tomatoes or salsa.

Cook spinach according to package instructions. Press into a colander to get rid of as much water as possible. In a microwavable bowl, heat up refried beans. Mix in about 1/3 - 1/2 the package of spinach. Freeze the rest of the spinach for future use.

Place a flour tortilla on a fry pan or griddle over medium heat and sprinkle entire surface lightly with cheese. As the cheese melts, spread the bean mixture on one half of the tortilla. Dice or mash 1/3 to 1/2 of an avocado and spread over the beans. Once the cheese has melted, fold the tortilla in half and press with spatula (avoid overstuffing the quesadilla so it's easy for the babe to handle). Cool slightly before serving. Top with diced tomatoes or serve with mild salsa.