Design Your Own Bag Slideshow of previously designed bags

All time Favorite Child Video

I can't post it on here, but this video is REALLY worth watching. The child's voice is the most adorable I've ever heard (save the voices of my children!) and the content is really hilarious. Here it is: Charlie bit my finger again!

Baby Laughing

Has the time for videos of laughing babies passed? I became addicted to these when I first saw the video of the quintuplets cracking up on America's Funniest Home videos. (You can see that here, but I'm assuming we've ALL seen it already.) We've made several of them ourselves, particularly because our girls tend to laugh like old men with emphysema (that's probably not a very humorous comparison, particularly given Amy Winehouse's recent condition). However, I just can't help commenting on this particularly funny laughing baby. His joy at the situation is aboslutely contagious! Check out his laugh:

Our Favorite Bags

Now that we've had our daily dose of depth, and one of hilarity, I can return to the original purpose of tonight's blogging, which was to describe which bags my sister and I carry. As I mentioned previously, we've become very knowledgeable concerning each and every detail of each and every bag, so we know which ones are best :) It's ridiculous really, how many diaper bags we have between the two of us (three of us if you count my mom. She's one of those super grandmas that has a nursery with a crib in her home and keeps her bathroom well stocked with three different sizes of diapers and wipes for our visits, so she also carries a, or maybe a few, diaper bags!). Here's the scoop:

We love our Baby Kaed bags. My mother (being the one who can afford the nicest of the nice) loves the leather collection, and especially appreciates the fact that her diaper bag does not resemble a diaper bag. (particularly because it may look strange for a fifty-something year old woman with no babies to be toting around a diaper bag) The woman loves her Jaipur in Brown. She travels with it, even when the babies are not around. It's big, it's beautiful, and it even smells good.

My favorite is my City Mom in Orange. I'm a big fan of bright colors, but not quite brave enough to go with patterns, yet. (What if I wear stripes one day, can I carry a bag with flowers? Those kind of decisions make me nervous) The color is perfect for the summer (I actually have the black for the winter as well...) and the functionality of this bag is unbelievable. The thing is loaded with pockets, inside and out, and some of them are even lined to keep bottles cold. I can reach down while driving, and feel my way through the bag. I know which pocket holds my lotion, which one has my gum, my chapstick, my cell phone... There is a place for everything (can you tell I'm a container store addict?) It even has a pacifier holder! My girls know right where to go to find their bodgies (that's what they are called in our house.) The bag came with an excellent changing pad, good enough to cushion my daughter's heads if they so happen to get changed on a hard floor. (not that I would ever change my daughter's diapers on the floor, I'm a better mom than that! ;) )

My sister is also a fan of the city mom, but she goes for the tan. That, she asked me to clarify, is her winter bag. She is far bolder than me with patterns, so her summer bag is the Hoohobbers Tote in Retro Circles. I have to admit, every time I see her carrying it I am jealous of how much she can carry in it, and I decide that I would like a Hoohobbers. I also LOVE that they can be personalized. (Though my initials are ABC, so I'm not sure how cute that would look. And if I had one of my daughter's names put on it, which would I use? More on personalization choices later...)

So, these are the bags we currently carry. We have just recently started selling JP Lizzy Bags, and Handmade Bags, so my wish list is rapidly growing. I will post my wish list tomorrow. In the mean time, however, I am exhausted from allowing my emotions to run the gamut while doing blog related research. I'm going to bed, goodnight!

Something humorous

Alright, in order to lighten the mood after the heaviness of the last post, I have to mention something to lift my spirits. Before I was caught up in the life of Andrea, I read an article that literally had tears rolling down my face. It's called The 26 Most Disturbing Kid Movies EVER. Sounded interesting enough. I read the article, and watched a lifetime full of favorite movies destroyed before my eyes. However, the author of the article did it in such a hilarious, clever fashion, I found myself cracking up and nodding in agreement. Although I disagree with his assessment of Chronicles of Narnia (I will always love that movie), I had to submit to his idea of The Never Ending story, a childhood favorite of mine. Here's what he had to say as he explained why kids should not watch this movie:

"I'm not talking about the crazy big turtle here. I'm also not referring to the crappy band Atreyu that exists because of this movie. No, the scary thing about this movie is The Nothing. You know, the thing consuming all of Fantasia. And what is The Nothing? A giant lizard? A sentient radioactive cloud? No, worse. The Nothing is nothing. It is oblivion — the great unknown; the cold and lifeless void beyond our realm of understanding. Hey kiddies, wrap your little heads around that meaty chunk of existential crisis. Thank you, Neverending Story; you are more depressing than reading No Exit. Oh, and that princess? Some say cute, I say creepy."

Never thought of it that way. Touche

Read the full article Here.

Blogging

I just started a blog post to reveal which bags my sister and I use from our site, since we seem to get asked that a lot (we do in fact, get to know every detail of every bag, so knowing which ones we use is pretty worthwhile.) I got halfway through the blog when I decided I should first do some researching on blogging in general, to get to know the "right" way to do it. (I've come to the conclusion that there probably isn't a right way). During my research, I came across one of the most powerful and painful things I've ever read, and it stopped me from completing my original blog. I felt as though it were so powerful, I wanted to include it here instead of talking about which bags are the best. I just spent nearly an hour reading this blog, from a woman who was struggling with breast cancer. The blog begins: "If you are reading this, it means I have passed." Ouch.

This woman, nicknamed 'Punk Rock Mommy,' chronicled her struggle with breast cancer through the last few years on her blog, and passed away on July 4th of this year. Her husband has done a few follow up posts describing what he is now experiencing. I want to say again that this blog is outrageously powerful. Andrea goes through her last moments with each of her children, and describes how she is trying to take advantage of every moment. It really made me think about my days, and how I let Emma lie in her bed a little longer today so I could finish my cup of coffee in quiet peace... I don't think I'll do that tomorrow. I think I'll take advantage of each moment with her. In a couple of weeks, I'll probably crave the quiet moments again, and allow her the extra rest time, but for the next few days, I'll allow the shock of this blog, and particularly this post, resonate with me, and I'll savor my time with my girls a little bit more. Enjoy reading the blog here if you wish.

Welcome!

Welcome to the new and improved Shopping Boutique! If you've been to our boutique before, you'll see that we've completely redone the look and feel and changed our product lines. We are making an effort to have the e-boutique better reflect our values. Jesi and I (Ashley) sat down a few months ago to discuss where we wanted to take our online boutique, and why we were doing it. We were previously carrying vendors that had their bags made all over the world. Although there is something appealing about the WalMart world, where you can have inexpensively made products at your fingertips, we felt like we were sacrificing diaper bag quality which in turn affected our ability to provide the excellent customer service that we pride ourselves in.

In the ensuing weeks, we searched far and wide for who we believed were the best of the best bag designers and seamstresses. We looked particularly for women who were stay at home moms, and were trying to help household finances with their craft, designing and sewing diaper bags. We also chose to carry some specific designer labels, but chose carefully. Baby Kaed and JP Lizzy are companies owned by work at home moms (and JP Lizzy is right near us here in Colorado!). Fleurville is passionate about preserving the environment, and offers many "green" products. Hoohobbers is another small family owned company that is committed to great customer service.

We are so excited to bring you these new lines of diaper bags, products that you can know are being made with care, not made in bulk. You can be sure that if you contact us, you will not be sent to a "customer service representative" overseas. You will talk to me or my sister :) You can literally picture the women making these bags, staying up late after their kids have gone to bed, cutting fabrics while watching favorite movies (thanks for the description, Wendy!). Each bag has been made individually, with great attention to quality and never quantity.

We hope you enjoy our bags, and we will continue to look for seamstresses and designers we believe you will enjoy. Please let us know what you think!