Happy Holidays!

The mamas of Mothersville wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas, a happy holiday, and a wonderful New Year. We will be closed for the holiday season as of this Sunday the 23rd, and will open our doors January 2.

Kate Quinn

I know, feast or famine, right? I'd be exhausted from all this posting if I wasn't so excited about our latest and greatest offering. We are proud to be carrying Kate Quinn Organics, a simply gorgeous line of infant sleep saques, kimonos and dresses. Happy to be aiding the environment but tired of the same ole beige, inventive parent Kate Quinn dreamed up a line of brightly colored baby clothes of the softest cotton that gives parents an extremely appealing option of going green. Other folks will be plain green with envy.

Yes I went there.

She's Got (Baby) Legs

You've asked. We've ordered. The Baby Legs are here! Insanely cute and equally as practical, Baby Legs come one size fit all, so they can warm the legs of your newborn and work nicely as tights with your preschooler's winter dress. And I'm not kidding about the practical. Please see the photo of Harlow modeling her argyle baby leg that she wore alongside her leg cast.




We've got stripes and skulls, Union Jacks and polka dots, argyles and holiday prints. They might possibly be the world's most perfectly punnerific stocking stuffer ever.

Wooden Toys!

The elves have been busy getting us ready for the holidays, and by elves I mean two incredibly talented, particularly dreamy local dads who have handcrafted wooden toys exclusively for Mothersville. Made with love not in China but in Memphis, a wooden truck or classic car is the perfect gift for the discriminating baby who prefers lead in their zeppelin, not their toys.

The Business of Being Born

Trillium WomanCare and Mothersville are bringing Rikki Lake's new documentary movie "The Business of Being Born" to the First Congregational Church on Thursday November 1st.

Doors will open at 6:00pm and the film will begin at 6:30pm. A panel of
childbirth professionals will be on hand for a question/answer/discussion session after the movie. Light refreshments will be served (and are welcome).

This will be a special benefit screening, meaning that all profits from the film viewing will be donated to the March of Dimes.

You can read about the film at www.thebusinessofbeingborn.com

Mummiesville

That's right. For one magical afternoon (and a lifetime spent in the hell reserved for terrible punners) Mothersville will become Mummiesville! Time to trot out your little angel's inner devil and make creative with baby's first costume. There will be treats and tricks and Mothersville's first costume contest! Photographers will be on hand to capture the fun and to document our last hurrah in the old space before we get our big makeover. The spooky starts at 11:00 (it's like the playgroup, only scarier) so be sure to stop in for some Halloweenish fun!

Soapcicles!

You've been invited...to baby's first birthday.

Hooray for scoring a ticket out of the house and into an afternoon (or for your really daring parenting types) an evening of fun!

The downside? What on earth do you buy for a child who would soon as wear wrapping paper than appreciate the gift inside?

Confronted with this quandry, SAHM Debbie Chialtas came up with a solution. A clever crafter, Debbie whipped up some homemade soap while pregnant with her first child. More than pleased with the results, she hit upon her now famous soapcicle - adorable, popcicle-shaped glycerin soaps that make bathtime all the more enjoyable. Mothersville is pleased to offer the nostalgia-trip inducing Bomb Blaster, the Neapolitan and a wide assortment of "flavors" that are just ridiculously cute. For those Halloween babes, the candy corn soapcicle has arrived just in time!

Uno Momono Mas

What's that, up in the air? It's a breastfeeding cover! It's a wearable burp cloth! It's ...

MOMONO!



Taking new-mom couture to the next level, the Momono is a kimono-style top that can be worn from the hospital room to the board room ... well, at least until you leave for the office. Throw it on in the morning to protect your clothes from splattered milk, applesauce, mashed banana, etc. Working mothers arrive at work without spit-up on the shoulder. Stay-at-home-moms leave it on to keep their clothes clean while feeling more sexy and glamorous doing the mommy thing at home. Side-tie construction makes for easy breastfeeding. Made in the USA out of breathable, washable cotton, with a roomy pocket for all those necessities, the Momono makes a unique gift for a baby shower, a new mom, or absolutely anyone who wants something special to wear at home.

You Can't Handle The Cute!

There are so many adorable new things at the store these days that it's probably better to let the pictures do the talking.

Baby Bonkies: putting the aw in swaddlers ...


MamaLove Nursing Gowns and PJs ...


Knit Cowboy Booties and Mary Janes ...


Kate Muth lino-cut cards ...


Rockabye Baby CDs: instrumental renditions of The Beatles, Rolling Stones, U2, Bjork, Beach Boys and, of course, Metallica ...

Not Our Gripe

Many of you have heard about the Gripe Water recall, so I wanted to clarify that Mothersville does not carry the apple-flavored product named in this warning. None of the Baby's Bliss Gripe Water sold or carried at Mothersville is affected by this recall. Thanks to all of you who have been alert to this issue.

The Big News

Well, it's been just about 40 weeks since I made the initial announcement about the uncertain future of Mothersville. Since then, not a week has gone by that I haven't been asked what was going to happen to the store. I was told, over and over again, that Mothersville simply couldn't close. I was overwhelmed by the reaction of our customers, from the playgroup regulars to one-time buyers, who repeatedly told me how important the store had been during their own early mothering experiences.

Out of all these mamas, one stepped forward and offered her time, ideas and resources to keep Mothersville going. It is with colossal delight that I announce that Melissa Sweazy will be partnering up as the new co-owner of Mothersville. A Memphis native graciously returned to us by the City of Angels, Melissa brings a Southerner's wit and charm curled up around a left coast artistic sensibility, and best of all, a deep and true desire to help out the new mamas of Memphis. She, babygirl Harlow and husband Caleb are fairly new to the Memphis parenting scene, but are eagerly throwing themselves at the mercy of Midtown. She is jumping right in and splitting time from here on in, so please be sure to stop by and say hello to her. And thank you, thank you, thank you.

Introducing ...

Abraham Dallas Cline
Born at home Jun 26, 2007
8lbs, 21", achingly cute



Click the pic for more, including the back labor badge of honor.

Maternity Leave Hours

Thanks to a very generous and thoughtful fleet of volunteer mamas, Mothersville will continue to operate while I am recuperating from birth and enjoying the first weeks of my little one's life. We will, however, be open for limited hours to better accommodate our devoted helpers. From June 12 - July 28, Mothersville hours will be as follows:

Tuesday-Friday: 10am - 3pm
Saturday: 12pm-5pm

All groups will continue to meet at their regular times, and I hope all our regular moms will continue to come out. The days can get long, especially when you're trying to help a customer and chase a toddler at the same time.

Shopping Cart Broken

Although our webhosting service didn't bother to mention it, apparently the shopping cart feature used on Mothersville.com is no longer functional, even though things still appear normal from the shopper's perspective. I'm not able to update, remove or add any items to the store, nor can I access payment information for sales, so if you are outside Memphis and would like to order anything you see on the store, please feel free to call us at 901-272-0081. I'll be transitioning to a new shopping service as soon as possible.

Rocking And Romping

Mothersville will be closing at 2pm on Saturday, April 28 so that I can haul my child and fetus to the first Rock 'n' Romp show of the season.



If you'd like to join us, head to www.memphisrocknromp.blogspot.com or email memphisrocknromp@gmail.com to get the details. (It seems a little secret clubby to get in, but that's just because the shows are in someone's backyard, so they need to keep a handle on the number of people planning to come. Plus it makes us old people feel sort of cool and exclusive again.)

All new! All here!

Ever have one of those, um, seasons? We've been keeping so busy around here with new spring/summer products coming in that it's been hard to take the time to let y'all know about them. But here we are, spring officially underway, so I wanted to take a moment to present some of the cool new stuff you'll find at the store these days.

FOCOLOCO!

We're so pleased to be partnering with this small, family-run, eco-conscious, and super cool clothing company. They design and screen their own fun, whimsical and cheeky designs onto organically grown, 100% sweatshop-free onesies, t-shirts and hats. They even hand-dye all garments themselves, using dyes with the lowest possible environmental impact. What more could you ask for? Oh, right, a reasonable price. They got that, too!

ADVOCACY TEES!

Back by popular demand, we have brought in Little Showoffs' "still breastfeeding" tees in both mom and baby/toddler sizes. Shirts for the little ones are undyed organic cotton, and the mama tees are in a flattering pale pink, both printed on sweatshop-free togs from American Apparel.

SKIP HOP!

We love these diaper bags both for their adult-friendly color schemes as well as their parent-friendly functionality. Built like messenger bags but featuring all the essentials, like a well-stuffed changing pad and super-handy built-in stroller clips, these bags will be useful long after your diapering days are done. In designs ranging from camouflage to bubble-gum dots, there's a Skip Hop bag to meet every mood.

SWIMMIS!

From our trusted friends at Bummis comes the all-new Swimmi swim diaper. Never scramble around looking for disposable swim diapers again! These adorable, reusable swimpants are made with the same well fitting design as the original Bummis, but with interior mesh for easy cleanups and a coated nylon inner layer to make sure your little one is the only thing floating in the neighborhood pool.

And that's not all! We have a whole slew of new Hotslings pouches in the sling zone, plus a constantly changing selection of this season's Robeez. We've also got a thorough collection of Glamourmom Nursing Tanks in both their regular and new longer lengths as well as an extremely versatile knee-length nursing dress, perfect for all summer occasions. Plus new cotton diaper covers from Green Earth Textiles. And probably at least three other things I'm forgetting right now, thanks to an ever-increasing case of pregnancy brain. So just come in and take a look!

Sweet (And Discreet)

Now that I've come to accept that not every mother loses every trace of modesty in the delivery room, I've finally bowed to the numerous requests to carry breastfeeding shawls. I couldn't resist the cute fabrics and easy use of the itsi bitsi breastfeeding shawl, especially since the same company also makes adorable bibs and burpcloths in hip, non-infantile patterns. We've got all three products in stock now, as well as gift sets that combine them all together in one perfectly coordinated package.

Looking Ahead

We'll be closed today from about 2pm-4:30pm so that I can go see my OB and, more importantly, the elfin sonographer who will hopefully bear some concrete information about the gender of my spawn. The one still inside my belly, I mean. Miss M couldn't be girlier if we wrapped her in tulle and taped pink bunnies to her head.

Speaking of Miss M, the timing of my appointment threatened to overlap with her school pick-up, so we decided to just get her early and let her come along for the visit. Which originally was really just part of my secret ploy to get her father to cave in to my demand that we find out the baby's sex, but the more I think about it, the more I think it's a really cool chance for her to see and connect with her little sibling. She's old enough that she may even remember it years from now, but even if she doesn't, we'll still have that moment as a three-person family, looking in to the future.