Very exciting news, one year in the making and our book has finally arrived! Itsabelly is the first and only baby planner business certified green by Co-op America and we're proud of it! Itsabelly's Guide to Going Green with Baby is here, yay! The price is $17.95 and wholesale orders are available for those of you wanting to order for your on-line boutique or store front. Please contact us at: info@itsa-belly.com or call us on our toll free phone # at 877-280-9540 for more information.
Our guide will make a perfect holiday gift for your pregnant sister or friend. It is also a great gift for new parents. Order your copy now - it is the first of its kind complete green baby registry guide and we're so thrilled to share such valuable knowledge with you. We're spreading the news on how to choose non-toxic products for your baby and you while protecting mother earth!
Advanced praise from Christopher Gavigan of Healthy Child Healthy World and content provided by Alicia Voorhies of The Soft Landing as well as many great green advocates makes this book a must-have for parents everywhere!
By Farhana Kassam, Owner, Itsabelly Vancouver
I was skimming through one of the dozen or so
mommy-newsletters I subscribe to by email this week when I noticed a “mommy”
conference mentioned in one of the sidebars. As a mom-in-training (a permanent
state in my mind), any thing that might help me gain a little more insight into
my daughter and how to make her life better is always something I welcome. I clicked
on the link and found, to my surprise, that the conference was happening in
Downtown Vancouver, a 10 minute walk from my home! That never happens!
Everything is always in suburbia – ok interest peaked, so what was it all
about?
It turns out the conference is being hosted by a company
called BabyPurity.com, an on-line resource for parents that specializes in
advice and recommendations of natural choices for children’s healthcare.
With all the crazy drugs and ointments out there, I for one was already
interested in seeing more about what this event would hold as far as ways
around all the “western” medical solutions to children’s
ailments. As much as I believe that there is a place for western medicine, I prefer
to do my own research to see if there is a more natural solution to care for my
child when possible. The list of speakers seemed promising with experts on
child health and safety as well as Nutrition experts, but what really caught my
attention was the list of sponsors. That was really all the credibility I
thought this event needed to get me to show up! With partners like Earth’s
Best and Seventh Generation, in addition to local companies I know and totally
respect like Crocodile Baby, I signed up to attend immediately!
The event is being held this Saturday October 25th
at the Sheraton Wall Centre Hotel in beautiful downtown Vancouver
By Farhana Kassam, Owner, Itsabelly Vancouver
Vancouver, one of the “greenest” cities in North America boasts snow-capped mountains, ocean views, incredible landscapes, and a highly diversified, driven and active population. This amazing city is the newest home for Itsabelly Baby Concierge - we now have a home in two wonderful Canadian cities! Our Baby Planners offer services such as baby registry completion, pre and post natal fitness, nursery décor, baby showers and “going green with baby”.
Having moved to around from city to city and country to country all my life, I have become something of a research pro. When we moved to Vancouver a little less than two years ago, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter Jayden. The prospect of being pregnant in a new city with no clue where to go to find help or answers to questions was a challenge that caught me totally off-guard. Not one to let a challenge get the best of me, it turned out to be a great way to learn about this amazing city and make some wonderful friends!
Being pregnant and parenting in Vancouver has opened my eyes to so many earth friendly, baby friendly alternatives to the mainstream options I always assumed I would use. I have become a resource for friends and family who want to know what options they have for pre and post natal care as well as for the products they use for their children. I have enlisted the consulting services of a native Vancouverite, Priya Singh who will focus her energies on finding ways to bring new and expecting parents and Itsabelly Baby Concierge together!
Itsabelly’s focus on protecting families from an unhealthy environment and preserving the planet made it a tremendous fit for the new and expecting families looking for baby planning services in the Lower Mainland Area. If you or someone you know would benefit from the services offered by Itsabelly Baby Concierge, please contact our Vancouver office!
By LeVon Harris-Itsabelly Chicago
The Windy City is home to some of the best in the world. Michael Jordan, The Oprah Show, The Magnificent Mile, The Sears Tower, The Chicago Bulls (circa the Jordan years), deep dish pizza, and now Itsabelly Baby Concierge! Launched in September 2008, Itsabelly Chicago has arrived under the direction of LeVon Harris and Amber McDuffie with the help of Eliana Eissler in one of the most baby friendly cities in America.
We are bringing baby planning to the windy city by being the first premier baby planning and concierge service in the area! It doesn’t hurt to be in coordination with Itsabelly’s founder Melissa Moog, an expert in the niche industry and President and Founder of the National Baby Planners Association. As a premier service, we are providing quality, personalized baby planning and consulting services, specializing in going green with baby, registry assistance and fulfillment, nursery design and set-up, bed rest support, baby shower planning, and more!
Our mission is the make our client’s pregnancy and first 12 months of life with baby, as stress free as possible. We’ll do the labor so our clients can enjoy the physical and emotional journey and leave the details to us. We want to help overwhelmed, and sometimes busy Chicago parents by being the go-to source for preparing and planning for a new baby. As mamas ourselves, we take a personalized approach to guiding parents through the maze of everything baby! If you are in Chicago or know anyone in the area expecting, we’d love to help with your belly, baby and beyond!
Itsabelly and The National Baby Planner Association (NBPA) wanted to share our fave picks from ABC Kids Expo in Vegas, 2008. We chose products that we thought were truly innovative, provided a great value and benefit to new parents and also had a true "green" philosophy in mind. We were able to personally talk to some of the company founders so we definitely got the inside scoop! Please note there were thousands of products in this 75,000 sq foot space at the show so we're giving you just a glimpse but a great glimpse!!
Scandinavian Child distributes the Micralite (and many other great products like Cariboo) - this stroller has an easy folding design, can fully recline or move to sit a child upright and can be stored upright! You can also convert it to a newborn system with a bassinet - so cool! It is a lightweight stroller at 18 lbs and it fits children up to 40 lbs. When I pushed this stroller around it was truly a smooth ride. The first photo is of Brenda Berg (founder of Scandinavian Child) who was kind enough to walk us through the product line.
Itsabelly LOVES this kitchen gadget - This compact countertop appliance multitasks as a steamer, blender,
warmer and defroster to prepare fresh, healthy meals for baby. It
starts by steam cooking vegetables, fruits, meat and fish in less than
15 minutes, preserving their vitamins and flavors, then purees or
blends them to the desired consistency. You can also use it to quickly
reheat or defrost precooked foods.. It won the JPMA award at ABC Kids Expo. The only thing it can't do is feed your baby! Scandinavian Child will be distributing this product soon. Babycook is currently sold at Williams Sonoma.
Baby Planet has created a great bassinet which also converts into a child chair, truly innovative. You get two products in one! It also has soothing vibration and music to help calm your little one. The company has a great recycling program - genuinely eco-friendly to boot! Eden Bassinet also won a JPMA award at the ABC Kids Expo.
Think Baby Bottles
Kevin Brodwick (founder) at Think Baby really knows what he's talking about when it comes to creating non-toxic feeding gear. He used to work at a laboratory funded by The National Institute of Health so his passion for research shows in his products! Think Baby's products are BPA-free, phthalate and lead free! Think Baby bottles have a patented venting system and they offer soft nipples for easy transition from breast to bottle as needed. Think Baby also makes BPA-free Sport Water Bottles for adults!
Special Mentions
Here is a fave list from baby planner Shannon Choe of Premier Baby Concierge who also attended the ABC Kids Expo with The National Baby Planner Association (NBPA):
Upspring Baby - Creator of Milkscreen (a home test for alcohol in breast milk)
My Little Seat - A convenient way to have baby sit with you at the table when you don't have a high chair around.
Itsabelly visited the ABC tradeshow in Vegas from September 8th-10th and it was a blast! This tradeshow is the primary event for the juvenile products industry and the one must-see event if you're involved in the baby industry.
We didn't get to see everyone we wanted to in the limited time we had but we enjoyed the wonderful connections we made. With the soon-to-be release of our Green Baby Guide book we focused on spreading the word about our launch. Our time was also spent finding out what new green baby products were being featured. Above you'll see our picture with Pete Myers, founder of Baby Planet next to his award winning Eden Convertible Bassinet which turns into a baby seat, very cool!
From Boon, Think Baby, Under the Nile, Sage Creek Naturals to our favorite eco friendly company Baby Planet the floor was buzzing with the hottest baby products on the market! You definitely need a week to see everything - it was HUGE!! We spent some quality time with the founders and designers of companies like Scandinavian Child who distributes the Cariboo, Lillebaby and the Beaba line just to name a few. We loved the Beaba Babyfood Maker and will do an in depth review later of this product amongst others!
There was a little bit of celebrity mixed in with our trip as well. We met with the beautiful Allison Sweeney
from Days of Our Lives and Host of The Biggest Loser. She was promoting Thermos products and their Hydrationforall.com. THE major highlight was connecting with Christopher Gavigan of Healthy Child, Healthy World (see us with him in the 2nd pic above - left to right is Kevin (founder of Think Baby), Jil, Christopher, Alicia and myself)! Christopher was so down to earth and was really interested in Itsabelly's green focus on providing the best for baby. His book Healthy Child Healthy World is in the top seller list on Amazon and not to mention Meryl Streep wrote the forward for his book - exciting stuff! Special thanks to Alicia over at The Soft Landing (our fave non-toxic feeding store) for being our fabulous cheerleader!
We'll share more in upcoming posts. Can't wait to tell you more detail about which products and companies made our fave list!
By Rishma Lalani - Itsabelly Canada
Toronto is home to over 2.5 million residents, Canada’s largest financial centre, Yonge Street (the longest street in the world), more 7,000 restaurants & cafes, and now I’m excited to announce that Toronto is also home to Itsabelly Baby Concierge! After months of collaboration with Melissa Moog, founder of Itsabelly, we now offer quality baby planning services to expecting parents in the GTA. Services available include (but not limited to) baby registry, nursery design and childcare placement.
As I approach my daughter Siyana’s milestone 1st birthday I am looking back at the incredible journey I have experienced and know that I could not have gotten to this point on my own. I am thankful for the friends and family in my life and also thankful for the new people I meet everyday in stores, on walks, and at playgroups. Sharing experiences and information with other moms and parents-to-be has been invaluable for me and I hope to provide a service for expecting parents to support them through this exciting time in their lives as well.
So, if you know anyone in Toronto or have connections to this great city send them Itsabelly's way for baby planning services and consultation. We look forward to offering our assistance to Canadian families.
