Mamakaze! Attacking Life at Full Throttle

Everyone needs something a little extravagant — even babies. After purchasing for our first two precious children the finest in high chairs, strollers, cribs and clothes, we were worried that there would be nothing special left for the impending Babykaze. Of course, Mamakaze’s fears were groundless.

Fur has been big in the ’00s, and while we’re not a big fan of real animal hide, we love the luxe look of a faux fox or a counterfeit chinchilla. And who better to swathe in the warmth and luxury of faux fur than our bouncing new baby, due at the turn of the year?

We absolutely adore Brooks Pond’s faux mink carrier cover, which slides right over our regular soft baby carrier. Once the bundle’s in the Bjorn, we can cover those sweet little arms and legs in softest imitation mink, lined in super-snuggly ultrasuede. Presto! Baby’s riding in style while being protected from the elements.

If there’s one thing Mamakaze loves more than function, it’s fashion, and this carrier cover happens to embody both! There’s also a significantly cheaper but equally adorable faux-pony version for the budget-conscious mama.

Mamakaze found this glam, gorgeous gear online at our favorite splurge site, PoshTots.com.

Ideally, Totakaze would eat every meal at home. But Mamakaze often finds ourself out and about during lunchtime, feeding our wee one bananas and cheddar bunnies from our emergency diaper-bag stash. If playgroup wound down a bit later than usual, we used to be able to mollify our dear daughter with the smallest of snacks. As Totakaze’s appetite grows along with her ever-changing toddler body, however, we’ve discovered that we need an actual lunch bag for days when we’re going to be feeding her on the go.

But why settle for something that looks as if it should be carrying Papakaze’s CD collection rather than our little one’s chicken, peas and apples? Since Mamakaze is the one doing the shuttling, we reason, we ought to be able to carry whatever ridiculous girlie purselike lunch bag we like! And we’ve managed to find several fashionable insulated lunch totes that will be perfect for a day about town. (In fact, we’d take these bags with us even if we were leaving Totakaze behind!)

Our particular favorite is a cute orange neoprene tote (left) with separate sections for food and drink and an outer pocket for napkins — or, in Totakaze’s case, Wet Ones. It’s bright and modern and comes in a variety of fun colors, and the acrylic handles give it a sleek, stylish aesthetic. We found it at Target (online only) for $15.

Wherein itinerant infants are imperceptibly imprisoned
Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Most of the time, Totakaze is free to wander the house. But on certain occasions — say the cat has thrown up and Mamakaze needs to clean it without the “help” of the wee one’s tiny hands — we need somewhere safe to stow our little one.

For such occasions, we couldn’t make do without our Superyard, a play yard that is indeed quite super. It has extra-high walls to keep tykes from scaling the sides, and encloses a generous 18 square feet of play area (or 34 square feet with the optional two-panel extension).

Unlike her playpen, which lasted only until Totakaze started crawling, the ample dimensions of the Superyard let our wee one feel as if she still has free roam of all the land. With several dozen toys in her play yard, Totakaze could last for hours (not that we’d do that to her!).

The panels are, quite literally, a snap to assemble and the Superyard can be set up indoors or outside. This summer, Totakaze played on the beach but remained safe from dogs, scary seagulls and her own lust for danger thanks to the Superyard, which fits easily in the back of Mamakaze’s small SUV.

This roomy, durable play yard is available online for $75.

Daddies love babies, but they sure do hate diapers. (Unlike us mamas, who relish our every opportunity to get elbow-deep in poop!) And one thing they hate even more than diapers is the dreaded diaper bag. Even the most unisex of totes is treated as an affront to Papakaze’s masculinity.

We suspect that men simply have an innate distaste for carrying anything with a strap unless that bag has a rubber-to-fabric ratio of 1:1 and contains something containing several thousand dollars’ worth of microchippy goodness.

But the days of daddies shirking diaper duty with spurious claims that bags of any kind are some sort of testosterone Kryptonite are over. Thanks to Dad Gear, taking baby out no longer requires the toting of a purse-like object. Guys can play it close to the vest with, well, a vest. A diaper vest, to be exact.

Interior pockets stash diapers while maintaining a dad’s sleek silhouette, while travel wipes are easily accessible via a front zipper pocket. Extra pockets allow Papakaze to stash his stuff even when he’s wearing those sweatpants we hate, and deep side pockets are perfect for extra bottles. Even the changing pad is not forgotten; there’s a thin pad cleverly concealed in a pocket in the back of the diaper vest.

With diapering supplies concealed in such a clever, Bondlike gadget, that’s one less excuse for daddies come bottom-changing time. We think it’s a great gift for dads and dads-to-be. (And a great gift for the mama, too!)

Mamakaze found the Dad Gear diaper vest for $80 at Uncommon Goods.

There are few things that evoke the richness of autumn more than the color, texture and aroma of new leather. Now, it would be very naughty of Mamakaze to splurge on a pair of knee-high, butter-soft leather boots when we have a babe in arms and one on the way, wouldn’t it? However, we can’t think of a more responsible way of indulging our love of leather than to purchase a diaper bag, which will doubtless get much more use than even the most versatile pair of riding boots.

This fall, we’re loving the rich, buttery browns and the roomy, casual style of the latest leather diaper bags. Not only will they go perfectly with those boots that we are not, we repeat not going to buy, but these bags are versatile enough to tote with jeans and a T-shirt or carry while wearing a tweedy and autumnal suit.

Right now, we particularly adore the Suzy bag by Hammitt. Schlepped on the famous shoulders of Angelina Jolie, it’s no wonder this diaper bag is getting so much attention: It’s got storage to spare, and its stylish yet superlong straps make it a breeze to carry. We found this Italian leather beauty online for $595.

Of course, variety being the spice of life, Mamakaze has taken it upon ourself to amass an assortment of our very favorite leather diaper bags for fall. All of which are much, much more justifiable purchases than lovely leather boots.

Wherein cheddary crackers leave a good taste in mama’s mouth
Friday, September 08, 2006

For all the shopping we do, sometimes Mamakaze is at a loss as to what to buy for our wee ones. It’s not clothing that gives us such trouble; neither is it furniture, toys or handy gadgets for the bath or kitchen. The place where we draw a blank is in the snack aisle of the grocery store.

Totakaze may get the occasional bite of french fry or spoonful of sorbet, but we consider ourself a healthy-snack household. While bananas, cheese and grape quarters make for great snacks at home, it seems as if the only travel-worthy options are sugary puffs or processed crackers. Cheerios worked for a long time, but we realized they were wearing thin when, at playgroup outings, our wee began begging her friends’ mamas for their (yummier) snacks.

Luckily, a number of Mamakaze’s friends are health-conscious mamas just like us. We soon discovered their snacking secret: Annie’s Homegrown Bunnies. These robustly-flavored rodents are much like the goldfish we remember munching during our own formative years; however, they’re made with organic wheat flour. While they’re still very much a snack food rather than a staple, we like knowing that these baked crackers are made with real cheese and have zero trans fat. Better still, we didn’t see a single unfamiliar science-lab-type ingredient on Totakaze’s box of Cheddar Bunnies!

The best part of all? Despite the wholesome ingredients, our little one loves the cheesy taste of these bunnies so much that she’ll do (or stop doing) anything to get her hands on more of this snack food!

Ensuring travel-friendly snacking goodness for months to come, Mamakaze found Cheddar Bunnies for $24 a case online.

It had to happen sometime, and this week was the week. Our little Kidakaze has entered kindergarten — and with it, a whole new world. In this strange world of big-kid school, everything seems to be celebrated with cupcakes. Whether they’re for a Halloween haunted house, a Christmas party or to mark a birthday, delectable miniature cakes are all the rage with the primary-school set.

Mamakaze is no slouch in the cupcake-creation department, but we can’t say that our baked goods are always camera-ready when they arrive at our destination. The braking and swerving required in our city’s stop-and-go traffic manages to make a mess of even the most Martha-worthy icing job.

This year, however, we have some tools on our side. Instead of letting our cupcakes slide around in the bottom of a cake carrier, Mamakaze has found some nifty new solutions. The Cup-A-Cake (below, left) cradles cupcakes individually and keeps the wee pastries fresh and free of smears. Or simply flip the bottom of Tupperware’s rectangular Cake Taker (below, right) and voila! There are 18 holders especially designed to corral your cupcakes.

Once we arrive at our destination with all our little cakes intact (joy!), we like to proudly display our handiwork with a pretty cupcake stand. Mamakaze loves the Cupcakes ‘N’ More dessert stand (above), whose towering design and silver finish are the perfect complement to our undamaged confections (Wilton Cupcakes ‘N’ More dessert stand, $30).

Wherein we bag us some hotties (diaper carry-alls, that is)
Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Mamakaze has a particular weakness for accessories. Before we had children, our big thing was shoes. With the birth of our first, we fell in love with diaper bags (not that we have forgotten you, dearest darling shoes!).

It seems we can’t go more than a month or so without hitting the diaper bag aisle in search of something new to pique our fancy. And of course, we wouldn’t dream of failing to pass on our fave finds!

Dark colors and sophisticated silhouettes are a running theme in this fall’s fashions, which means one thing to carry-all connoisseurs like Mamakaze — it’s time to break out bright bags with just a bit of an edge.

While we can’t promise that they’ll keep you any warmer, we love this season’s quilted styles; we’re also digging playful patterns, especially the uber-hot animal-prints such as JP Lizzy’s chic twist on giraffe skin at left (lime giraffe diaper tote, JP Lizzy, $94).

Raspberry and lime aren’t just for summertime anymore, mamas. As anyone who’s been pregnant knows, sorbet is delicious all year ’round! With a bit of black detail here and a tad of quilting there, these hot colors are welcome to stick around long after the ice-cream stands close.

Before we began our latest collaborative work with Papakaze, Mamakaze received a visit each and every month from a certain aunt. (We’re sure you know the aunt of whom we speak, so we won’t bother to name her.) During these visits, we are burdened with the responsibility of carrying about two million bajillion sanitary products in our trusty diaper bag.

Now whether one’s pool toys and Barbie beds are conveyed in a purse or diaper bag, there are always the nagging issues of: one, transporting said products into the bathroom; and two, keeping the daily detritus from contaminating or squashing these most personal items. With a diaper bag, there’s the added joy keeping our little one from retrieving a tampon and attempting to unwrap and devour it (we’re not sure why these items are so attractive to babies; they just are!). Luckily, Organize.com has a solution for just about everything these days.

We found an attractive pink tampon case for $2.99 at Organize.com ($3.99 for the longer variety). The minuscule case discreetly camouflages our personal-hygeine products during trips to the bathroom or discovery by Totakaze, and also prevents the contents of our very heavy diaper bag from crushing our little cotton friends.

If only everything else involving our monthly visit were so fun and easy!

Wherein Italian fabulosity meets antibacterial practicality
Friday, July 28, 2006

Oh, dear heavens! Mamakaze has just spent 10 minutes fanning ourself after our latest perusal of Poshtots.com uncovered what must surely be the most wondrous diaper bag ever made. Or at least, the most simultaneously stylish and sensible one!

In addition to the changing pad and all the requisite pockets and compartments, this fashionable tote by Christi Beca features built-in antibacterial agents — not a bad idea considering we often find ourself with nowhere to put our bag but on the floor. It’s also mildew- and UV-resistant, but no one will ever guess that from looking at this stylish metallic bag with its sleek Italian hardware. Which, by the way, snaps shut easily with a convenient magnetic closure — a Mamakaze must for stuffed-to-the-brim baby bags!

The cargo diaper bag is available from PoshTots in a selection of eight hues, from baby-blue to bold bronze. Mamakaze particularly adores the striking Kelly green bag, which can go from summer to autumn and looks so gorgeous we wouldn’t think twice of taking it out sans baby!

We’re not the only one who loves these super-stylish bags, though. Celebrity mamas Angelina Jolie, Katie Holmes and Gwyneth Paltrow are also proud owners of Beca Bags. Perfect for mamas on the go, this bag is one-part utilitarian command center, one part hip fashion statement! Of course, busy celebs aren’t the only people who need funky, functional bags. Even regular, everyday mamas are not immune to the lure of mildew protection and gleaming Italian clasps.