Pick up a Fuji Instax Instant Camera, and you can recreate the looks of wonder when kids watch their photos develop before their eyes.  Remember as a kid how much fun you had watching your picture develop from your dad’s Polaroid?  In this digital age, Photojojo describes Fuji’s Instax the best:

No USB cables, no memory cards, and no computer. Just a few basic chemical reactions that develop in the palm of your hand.

Fuji Instax Instant Camera and Film Pack |  $115 at Photojojo

Springtime always seems to energize baby shower plans, so here’s our selection of modern baby shower invitation designs to set the joyous mood for your event.

To see more designs, visit our favorite online custom stationery shops at Minted, Tiny Prints, and Paper Culture.

Visit our sponsors:

• Orbit Baby – a modern baby transportation system
• Boodalee – modern kids bedding
• Boon – hip baby products and toddler gear
• Card Store – stylish holiday photo cards and more
• Inspired Crib Bedding – contemporary baby crib bedding
• Spunky Sprout – toys + organics + gifts + modern designs
• Wallter – coat racks, mobiles, wall decor, and textiles
• Zutano – clothes as unique as your baby

Ahead of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, premiering on ABC this Friday, it’s worth watching his powerful 18-minute TED Prize presentation where he outlines the threat of unhealthy eating habits of America’s children.  For his work against childhood obesity, the TED Prize awarded him $100,000 towards his “One Wish to Save the World”.

“I wish for your help to create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.”

Sign Jamie’s petition to show how much you care about changing the unhealthy eating habits for your children.  Sadly, just over 13,000 people have signed Jamie’s petition, and I have to believe that any parent who watches Jamie’s TED video will understand the importance of his fight to change our children’s eating habits.

Given that First Lady Michele Obama is leading her Let’s Move cause to raise healthier kids, let’s hope that real results will be achieved.  After all, we pack our daughter’s school lunches because there’s no way we’ll let her eat what they’re serving at her school.

Visit our sponsors:

• Orbit Baby – a modern baby transportation system
• Boodalee – modern kids bedding
• Boon – hip baby products and toddler gear
• Card Store – stylish holiday photo cards and more
• Inspired Crib Bedding – contemporary baby crib bedding
• Spunky Sprout – toys + organics + gifts + modern designs
• Wallter – coat racks, mobiles, wall decor, and textiles
• Zutano – clothes as unique as your baby

Easier than going to Home Depot on the weekends, Patio Garden sets from Los Angeles-based design studio, Scout Regalia, will get your backyard garden set up quickly.  The kits are available in a fully assembled version ($185) or a DIY Patio Garden kit ($95) that includes all the brackets, drainage pad, and fasteners where you only need to provide the lumber.

For us, there’s no better teaching activity than growing an outdoor family garden with your kids, so with spring around the corner, it’s time to get started.

Visit our sponsors:

• Orbit Baby – a modern baby transportation system
• Boodalee – modern kids bedding
• Boon – hip baby products and toddler gear
• Card Store – stylish holiday photo cards and more
• Inspired Crib Bedding – contemporary baby crib bedding
• Spunky Sprout – toys + organics + gifts + modern designs
• Wallter – coat racks, mobiles, wall decor, and textiles
• Zutano – clothes as unique as your baby

Unleash the creativity in your child with the unlimited possibilities with the 74 shapes included in Miller Goodman’s Playshapes set.  See just some of the creative possibilities of these wooden blocks at their Flickr page.

Playshapes |  £75 at Miller Goodman

Zoomaderita Animal Puzzles are cut from Finnish birch, and their clean wooden shapes are designed to invite kids to paint and decorate to their heart’s content.  A quick search found only the Snakes puzzle available online via Kinuma – and be ready to pay in Euros.  Otherwise, inquiries can be made to MedioDesign, the creators of Zoomaderita.

via KidsModern

Order Your Holiday Cards Now from Tiny Prints

Visit our sponsors:

• Orbit Baby – a modern baby transportation system
• Boodalee – modern kids bedding
• Boon – hip baby products and toddler gear
• Card Store – stylish holiday photo cards and more
• Inspired Crib Bedding – contemporary baby crib bedding
• Spunky Sprout – toys + organics + gifts + modern designs
• Wallter – coat racks, mobiles, wall decor, and textiles
• Zutano – clothes as unique as your baby

Kids love their sauces, don’t they?  From ketchup to syrups to peanut butter to mayonnaise, these foods’ high calories add up fast.  After Allie Firestone sums up her day’s consumption of condiments, just imagine how these sugary sauces threaten your efforts to helping your family eat healthy.

The Truth is in the Calories

Not all savory and sweet additions are a bad choice, but the truth is that most of our average condiments pack huge amounts of high-fructose corn syrup, sugar, sodium, and oil. Think barbecued chicken is a healthy choice? Not exactly. Because the sauce is pretty much all sugar, this slathered dish is like a dessert and an entrée all wrapped up on one high-calorie plate. Added sugar and any chemical-sounding ingredients on an item’s label are sure signs that a condiment is inching an entrée toward the dessert category. Health-food stores usually have versions of ketchup, barbecue sauce, and all our other usual favorites sans these icky additions.

Whatever your condiment of choice—fries smothered in ketchup, salad drenched in dressing, toast soaked in butter—you won’t be dunking recklessly anymore if you read on.

Read more at Divine Caroline

image via Trinity

We love hearing from Baroque Babies, a blog written by two American mothers living in Ludwigsburg, Germany, whose experience of living and traveling with their families in Europe brings a fresh perspective on our lives here.

It offers so many open-ended play scenarios and …

Read more at Baroque Babies

ABC PAPER CUP from Sunhan Kwon on Vimeo.

Wonder why no one has thought of this concept before – ABC alphabet paper cups.  Designed by Korea-based designer Sunhan Kwon, and currently only available through online design stores in Korea.  Great idea, but darn it, can’t buy them in the US.

via The Dieline

Want to join our US Olympians to be the first parents to try out the newest Pampers diapers?  Only you and the babies of Team USA athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver will have the opportunity to try out the new Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max technology before they are available in stores this March.

Visit the Pampers site now to get a FREE sample pack of their Dry Max diapers, and help us put these new Pampers to the test.

Be a winner too!

Every parent who requests a sample pack of new Pampers Cruisers with Dry Max will also have the opportunity to WIN a year’s supply of diapers from Pampers.  If your sample includes a Team USA diaper (they will be randomly inserted in select sample packs), your baby will win a year’s supply of Pampers Cruisers Diapers with Dry Max.

Remember after you receive your diapers, come back and let us know what you think.