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getting into the motherhood

It's a show so simple in concept you wish you'd thought of it yourself.

Get moms to write in about their wackiest real life experiences and have funny girls Chelsea Handler, Jenny McCarthy, and Leah Remini act out a weekly favorite.

The result, InTheMotherhood.com is *BRILLIANT!*

The show/website's ability to harness corporate sponsorships through Suave and Sprint is destined to be a huge trend in on line media - somewhat akin to soap company sponsorships of daytime dramas way back before Erica Kane married her 12th husband (shameless All My Children humor). 

In The Motherhood has attracted more than 1000 stories posted each week, and the site has become one of the top mom themed destinations on the web. 

The wickedly funny show has gone through two "seasons" and has attracted more than 21 million views.  Webisodes are between 5 and 6 minutes in length and are viewable on suave.com, sprint.com and the Sprint Exclusive Entertainment (SEE) network, which allows mobile access to the content on select video-enabled Sprint phones.

Both Sprint and Suave have strong marketing efforts focused on moms.  

"In the Motherhood creates a unique platform to allow moms to share their stories with millions of other women. Our customers love the show, and our phones and services are the perfect fit to help mothers stay connected," said Anita Bajaj Newton, vice president, media and digital, Sprint in a recent press release.

“[Suave] is on a mission to help Mom remember the person she often forgets—herself, and to make herself and her beauty a priority again,” said Piyush Jain, Suave senior brand manager of her company's sponsorship of the show. 

MindShare Entertainment, a unit of the media services agency MindShare, developed the series about 20 months ago.  It’s a new world out there,” David Lang, the president of MindShare Entertainment, said. “It goes to show that great ideas and great creativity can come from anywhere.”

Mr. Lang said the online campaign was intended to reach busy mothers who use the Web to decompress and share stories. “The content is very honest and authentic for moms,” he said. “It’s not tied with a bow, it’s not saccharine sweet.” It shows grocery store tantrums, vacation mishaps, and other scenarios inspired by true stories submitted by Web users.

The show is now being developed for ABC, and I hope the broadcast version retains the edge and silliness of the net version, which strikes me as a vehicle more appropriate for HBO to sink their teeth into.  Certainly by making this into a network show it removes the interactivity that moms enjoy so much about the concept and transforms it into something else.  But lets wait and watch before kvetching!

For a taste, watch this episode below.  I have more episodes on my vodpod in the right hand column of this blog.

In The Motherhood Grocery Disaster - The funniest home videos are here

Orbit Baby is green

Our client Orbit Baby is featured on the Washington Post's Sprig.com today. 

The editors love the Orbit for a good number of reasons.  Here's one: 

They write, "Why  It's Good:  Orbit Baby's multitasking bassinet, complete with a sunshade extension (a.k.a. "paparazzi shield"), can be used as a Moses basket, on a stroller, or on a rocker. The rocker frame, which is included in the price, allows you to rotate the cradle a complete 360 degrees, so you can rock-a-bye baby to sleep any which way. The company also throws in a matching Cargo Pod, which snaps into the stroller attachment (available separately) for extra storage convenience. Other parent-friendly features include ergonomic carrier handles, a removable machine-washable mattress, and easy collapsibility."

To have a lot more to say, be sure to head over to Sprig.com, to read all about it.

Scout by Petunia is Heisted ... plus design loves DeNai

It's always the most authentic form of praise when a consumer goes out and picks a product from a sea of competing brands, purchases it with their own money, and then loves it enough to sing it's praises in print.

It's this kind of enthusiasm that guided Carrson at StyleHeist to blog about his new Scout Bag from Petunia the other day. 

Carrson writes, "...in the time between your beautiful baby becoming a pimply angst machine there is an awful lot of equipment to lug around and for the mothers there is a whole industry built around this need.

Dad, though, fares worse. Big spots, bright colours and butterflies are good for the ladies, but what about the style-conscious father who doesn’t want some day-glo tote bag putting a kink in his mack-daddy image?  Look no further than the Scout Journey Pack from the unusually titled Petunia Pickle Bottom." 

Be sure to read the entire post and enjoy the other cool entries on this style driven blog.

Another amazing blog that wrote about Petunia Pickle Bottom recently is SimplyGrove, which focuses on great interior design.  SimplyGrove is delighted with the shots of Petunia founder and head designer, DeNai Jones' new baby nursery.   

SimplyGrove writes, "This nursery designed for [DeNai's] son is the perfect balance of sophisticated and simple. The color pallet is so soft and natural."

The writers at MaternityandStyle were knocked out by the Rubicon Rucksack in Black from the Scout Collection this week as well.

Uber blogger Grace at DesignSponge wrote about DeNai's nursery with a full slate of images that got tons of great feedback and comments.

And Coochicoos made a great slideshow and published the link to DeNai's mood/idea board that served as inspiration for the design of her fabulous baby nursery.

Want to instantly feel better about yourself? Watch this show ...

If for some reason you feel as though your life isn't going as well as you had planned, or that your parenting skills aren't up to snuff, or if you don't have a child and all those pics of Marcia Cross and Angelina Jolie with their adorable babies are getting you down, watch The Baby Borrowers tonight on NBC.

The producers of this show were truly inspired when they created this slice of pop culture.  Watch as the kids demonstrate over and over again why people in their teens (at least the ones on this show) aren't mentally or emotionally equipped to care for babies.  Be careful - you may be so disturbed that you won't trust the baby sitter any longer.  Thankfully the parents watch every moment from remote cameras, but the teens will still make you cringe.  Watch this clip for a preview.   

some not so great baby gifts

Our friend Heather Maclean, author of The Baby Gizmo Buying Guide, appeared on the Early Show this morning to show some of the crazier baby items on the market.  Luckily non of our client's products were on the show with her, but I think you'll find this clip amusing.

Hand Picked Pumpkin offers the perfect Play Date

We are very intrigued with our client Hand Picked Pumpkin's take on play clothes, which as we all know are key to the ultimate play date.

The creations are designed by moms and dads themselves specifically with their own little pumpkin's favorite colors and themes in mind. 

This, coupled with the fact that the fabrics are specifically sourced to be super stretchy and always non-binding, makes these the ultimate play clothes. 

We imagine that the two below had a great conversation going about picking up those blocks and were trying to decide how to make best use of that water pail.  And we're sure they were enjoying the soft cotton and bright colors of those HPP clothes.

Brandon looks fantastic in his William Drawstring Pants that let him bend and stretch and toddle with ease.  Pants about $30, and William Long Sleeved Crew Tee about $28

William and his mom designed their adorable Hoodie together so he would always have something to keep him warm that matched everything in his wardrobe. For the outside shell he picked a striking Kiwi cotton interlock knit, with a coordinating Chocolate Brown for the reversible lining.  He then matched these colors with the Retro Mini Stripe for the hood and finished the look with a Retro Rodeo print pocket and accenting Kiwi snaps.  William's design was about $64 at www.handpickedpumpkin.com

Star Sighting: Nicole Richie and Joel Madden Orbit Los Angeles

Nicole Richie and Joel Madden ran some errands the other day - with their usual retinue of paparazzi in tow, who snapped pictures all along the way.

In this current series of shots the couple made great use of both the Orbit Bassinet Cradle and the Orbit Infant Car Seat.

As you can see, the Orbit system helps parents move around easily in almost any situation.   

Orbit Baby is the "Cadillac of Strollers" on Cliff Notes

There are baby daddies, then there's stay at home dads - and the author of the Cliff Notes Blog is definitely the latter.  He's also a big fan of our client Orbit Baby and wrote a fairly lengthy review of the system the other day.  We thought we'd share an excerpt here.  Cliff writes:

"Several months before Marley was born we went on the quest for the perfect stroller.

We have friends who have gone through 4 or 5 strollers in just a year or two. The hard thing is finding a stroller that will both grow with the baby through toddler years, and be built well enough to last that long. We tested out many strollers: Graco, Pan Perego, Bertini, Maclaren, even the Bugaboo that we get a discount on because of Ashley’s work…

In the end, only one was victorious… Orbit. Its like the Cadillac of strollers. I could write a real long story about the Orbit but I’ll try to be brief.

We picked [The Orbit] mainly for the undeniable convenience of the stroller system. It also looks great.

It’s super strong and lightweight. With this stroller the child sits up way higher than most other strollers, so its perfect for going out to dinner or anywhere for that matter, the kid is always at a convenient level and can always see stuff.

The seat sits on a base that rotates 360 degrees. This is what really sold us on it, the seat can face any direction! If you go to the zoo or something you can rotate the seat so the child can see without you having to always make the stroller face everything".

Our thoughts exactly!

Read the entire review and to check out Cliff's blog.

Brooke on the baby beat

Oh us Americans, we're so laid back when we appear for book signings. 

Here's our own Ivory Snow baby Brooke Shields just standing there and smiling as she appeared at Barnes & Noble in New York yesterday to promote her book Welcome to Your World Baby. 

No costumes or oddball sight gags.  Remarkable, the contrast between this image and an interesting children's book launch and bizarre photo opp recently that came out of the UK ... that one included a porn star and a large pink fish. 

Note: Brooke dressed her daughter Grier in our client Hand Picked Pumpkin's cute baby clothes when she was younger.

In Search of the perfect Uni-Sex Diaper Bag

What's in a diaper bag?  Bottles, snacks, wipes, hand sanitizer, diapers of course. 

And then, are there those mom and dad items too like lipstick and cell phones like you'd find in a purse or a briefcase? Or is the diaper bag just the province of baby? 

More and more parents are opting for the latter these days - as babies are cared for throughout the day alternately by mom/dad, grandma/ grand-pop, and even a babysitter or two thrown in for good measure - they seem to need a bag all their own as they make their way between all the caring parties. 

But when mom and dad need to trade off what style of bag do they choose?  Not too girly, because dad might feel that's not his style when it's his turn to tote his bundle of joy with him downtown.  And for mom - she may not cotton to sporting a Rambo looking bag covered in a camouflage print as she skips out for a little shoe shopping.

As Heather Millstein, author of The Coterie blog suggested recently, the Scout Bags from our client Petunia Pickle Bottom have just the right edge for dad, and aren't too masculine for mom.  Pictured above in the Scout Journey Pack in Heathered Olive Felt, and below in the Rubicon Rucksack in Buffalo Brown Leather, we too think it's just the thing.

Heather confesses that she'd also love to get a Petunia Cake bag for herself in Pistachio or Lemon Chiffon, but she realizes that her husband Matt might not love it as well when it's his turn to change diapers during church and other parts of town. 

Star Sighting: Cash Warren and Jessica Alba in Orbit

Trust Baby Chic 101 to turn up the first pics of Cash Warren and Jessica Alba with our client Orbit Baby's Infant System in tow.

We're hedging our bets that Honor Marie is inside, snuggled safely and comfortably under her Orbit Paparazzi Shield, which in this case is definitely doing the trick.

For more be sure to visit BabyChic101.

on our event blog

Be sure to check out the cute images from the Bethenny Bakes product launch on our event blog today. 

We're adding many more ideas, features, and news on our event log that specifically focus on kid's parties, baby showers, kid product launches, and other family oriented events... so stay tuned!

New Client: Hand Picked Pumpkin

We're super thrilled to welcome our new client Hand Picked Pumpkin on board!   The brand is a truly unique infant and kid's clothing collection.

We think of the line as authentic "baby couture" ... customers can choose from more than 35 fabrics to create anything from one piece to an entire wardrobe that's coordinated just the way they want them.

Not only is the name cute, but the clothes are super stylish and exceptionally functional.  Fabrics  are 100% cotton that easily stretches and flexes while children play and explore.

The collection is Eco Friendly:  Made right here in the USA by local seamstresses, the creation of Hand Picked Pumpkin clothes requires far less energy from start to finish than brands mass produced in other countries, and thereby leaves less of a carbon imprint.

Celeb fans of the super cute line include Angela Bassett, Brooke Shields, and Courtney Cox.

For a peek at the cute styles check out the slide show below: