I went to pickup a stroller organizer for my upcoming trip (more on that later!) and I ran into some other things that I wasn’t planning on getting but I just had to get. I’m so impressed with them that I decided to share 
Lets start with the winter accessories. I know, I know, it’s way too soon to be talking about winter! But last winter my daughter was freezing cold (and crying) every time the day care took her outside and I felt so bad I almost kept her home (well I actually did a few times..). I had her bundled in a very warm hat, scarf, mitts, snowpants, and boots but nothing helped. So today I thought I hit gold when I ran into a children’s soft fleece balaclava and neck warmer (velcro attachments at the back) that fits nice and snug around the neck, both made by Gagou Tagou. Very decently priced, at $8 and $7 respectively, I snatched up a pair for both my son and daughter. They’re available now at the Safety Superstore in blue, grey, pink and purple. They have sizes for 12- 24 months and 2-3 year olds. One of the staff said they sold out of them pretty quickly last year so don’t wait too long if you’re thinking of getting them. When it gets super cold I will be putting that balaclava on my daughter with her hat on top, neck warmer underneath, and scarf wrapped around her face!
Here are pics of my son and daughter with their balaclavas on so you can see how they fit. My son is laughing because he’s trying to steal my camera from me (and put a nice fingerprint on my lens again)!
And this is the neck warmer:
On to the lunch boxes. Skip Hop makes incredibly cute animal backpacks and lunch boxes for kids at a decent price- $25 and 16 respectively at the Safety Superstore. (No, I’m not getting any sort of commission for mentioning them, and in fact I’m not a fan of how unhelpful the staff can be, but they do have a very good variety in baby/ kid products!). The lunch boxes are insulated and have a mesh pocket inside. They’re very handy because they have a nice short strap that clips on and off easily so I can attach/ hang it from any of my strollers. Just make sure you test out the zipper because the first one I got was faulty. Here’s a pic of the frog lunch box I got:
Lastly, I feel the need to mention a product I’ve been using on my carpet to remove stains. When I had my first child, I used some stinky toxic product to clean a stain on the carpet and it didn’t even work and stank up my daughter’s bedroom for hours. After that I searched high and low for an organic cleaner that worked well. I’ve been using BabyGanics Stain Remover for a few years now and it’s an excellent product. Just today I used it to clean up my son’s puke (gross- sorry!) that included raspberries, among other things. It removed it without a trace! (Just make sure you spray a bit on a wet cloth instead of directly to the carpet or your carpet will foam up too easily.) The stain remover is “naturally non-toxic”. I got it at Babies R Us for under $10, but keep in mind they don’t always have it in stock, and it’s not available online. Update February 1, 2012: I’ve started using baking soda because I ran out of the stain remover and so far it’s just as good. Just sprinkle some on a cloth, wet it, and wipe away!
