Colouring Sunday

Its colouring sunday time, go under the sea to discover the world down there!

Just Added

We're not only adding these two beautiful pieces by Bonnie Baby to our LatteMama shop but also to LatteBaby's closet. So soft, so comfortable and so very LatteMama.

LatteMama sees no colour

Now that I’ve been spending some time in Sweden, I’m a better judge of what true Swedish clothes are. Genderless is the term that is often used to describe Swedish fashion. White, brown, green, yellow, the so-called neutral colures are meant to empower children. Let them know that it’s ok to wear red if you’re a boy, and it’s adored when a girl wears blue. Because I am from Sweden I’ve never cared about colour when it came to dressing my son, majority of his clothes are red, some shirts are pink and it’s not until recent gender confusion (people referring him to she and her) that I’v decided to put a little bit of blue in his closet. I’ve recently noticed that the clothes at LatteMama differ greatly from brand to brand when it comes to colour, and associating them with gender. No Added Sugar and Bonnie Baby our popular British brands, tend to put girls in a certain colour and boys in a different one. It’s not always pink for girls, but it’s always opposing colours for the two. Are No Added Sugar boys like LatteBaby always mistaken for girls and need the blue to make a statement to the works?

Last week I couldn’t find any pyjamas for LatteBaby. I saw my nieces old dress and at the time I put it on him I thought I was desperate to keep him warm and I would never put him in a dress. Truth be told he wore that dress for three days. I didn’t care. I didn’t see it as confusing, nor did I find it embarrassing. It’s just a dress, on a boy who isn’t 2 yet, and who doesn’t understand the difference between wearing a dress and going without trousers. My brothers didn’t see it the way I did. One insisted I’d take it off him immediately. But why does it matter? He didn’t go out in it, nobody except for the family saw a boy in a dress and I wasn’t making a statement by letting him wear it. It truly didn’t make me think twice about the situation, except for trying to understand why it was such a problem.

There is a couple in Sweden that caused great frenzy as they’ve hidden their childs gender from everyone including their child. They want it to now “matter”. Wouldn’t it be better to tell the child it’s gender and then add that it doesn’t matter instead of depriving it of one of the greatest categorisations in the world? Doesn’t it matter more if they feel the need to hide it? What do I know? I’m just a mum who puts her son in a dress cause there’s nothing else to wear.

Coming to LatteMama

We're so excited to announce that super brand Mini Rodini and their insanely fashionable clothes will be coming toLatteMama. Our friendship starts with the SS2012 collection and we can't see it ending there! Here's a preview and make sure you tune in in february to buy these, and more jungle in the eighties inspired clothes for your LatteBabies!

Outfit of the week

I don't know about you, but this season has brought many new babies to my world. Friends, family and acquaintances seem all to have had them. Instead of getting too broody, I got every one of them my favourite pieces for newborns from LatteMama. If you have a new baby to buy a gift for, these are my top 3! Don't forget to go on the website and get them for 15% off now, and for a week ahead!

Colour me in Sunday!

Monday Mama #6

If you haven't read her blog before it is truly our pleasure to introduce you to Anna, the author behind Thoughts of a London mum. Anna speaks of the difficulties of being a career women and transitioning not only to be coming a mum, but a mum balancing work and two young children. Anna explains how she started reading blogs to get support, and now she's the one who supports through Thoughts of a London mum.

Name: Anna Sulzmann

Blogname: Thoughts of a London Mum

Website: http://londonmum.wordpress.com

Twitter name:@londonmumblog

Location: London, UK

Keeping it brief: I moved to London 7 years ago after living in Milan for 6 years. Originally from Northern Ireland, I studied History and Italian at Manchester University and then headed to Italy on a graduate training scheme. I have worked in the internet industry for 12 years now and currently work for eBay Europe. I met my American husband through work and we have two children, aged 2 1/2 and 5 months. I am currently on maternity leave but will be heading back to work part time in February.

Why I blog and how it started: My husband still thinks it is pretty funny that I blog as I was always a bit sceptical about people who did. I wasn't sure why on earth people would be interested in what I had to say. However, sitting up at 3am feeding my first son I wanted to exercise my brain and reading other mums' blogs was informative and helped me feel like I wasn't alone! I wrote my first post in September 2009.

My nicknames for the LatteBabies: In my blog my son is called Munchkin and my daughter is called Cupcake. At home my son also gets "The Boy" and both of them get "Pumpkin" and "Sweet pea".

One thing I know I shouldn't let my children do but allow anyways: I let my son play with the iPad a little more than he probably should. However, trying to breastfeed a baby and deal with a toddler sometimes means that you have to resort to desperate measures. I kid myself into feeling better by saying that he uses educational apps but really he plays an awful lot of "Angry Birds" and he rocks at it!

The things I'm happy to say my child got from me: Both kids seems to have inherited my wavy hair which I think is cool! I hope my son agrees with me later in life. In terms of personality, it is a little early to say with my girl but my son seems to have a fairly dramatic side which *may* come from me. I am happy that they both got my husband's amazing eyelashes and his love of music.

I'm a LatteMama because: It makes me smile to think that I am someone who could be called that now that I have read the definition. I have my good days and my bad days. The bad days involve no make up, clothes covered in baby sick and comfy trousers. The good days involve the full works especially if my husband and I are going on an all too rare date.

How motherhood has changed me and my style: Motherhood has made me more confident in myself as a person and as a woman. I feel more sure of who I am and what I stand for which is something that I have found unexpected. I laugh a lot more too. In terms of style, most days I dress in what I can find that is clean! However, I don't want to feel like I am losing my touch with who I was before I was a mum so I try to make an effort to look glam if I can.

The one piece of advice I'd give to new mums is: Go with your instincts. You know your baby better than anyone. Oh and don't get too worried about percentile charts!

My future projects and goals are: I am really happy in my current job and am looking forward to going back in the new year. At some point though I'd like to start focusing on the coaching part of it as I love having a team and encouraging peopleto meet their full potential. A move to California would be a nice thing to do as well for our family in the future. I crave the sunshine!

The one thing I'd choose from www.latte-mama.com little ones would be...

it is difficult to choose but I'd pick the ship polo for my son, he would look super cool in that. For my little girl, I love the Polly Dress.