A little insight into 3 Girls and Us

Thanks for the intro Andy. I thought I'd post a little bit about 3 Girls and Us and how it all started. Might bring a little smile to your face ;o)

So...make no mistake...I'm a dad. I've got 3 girls. Hey, in my household, I'm over-run with female hormones. At the last count it's 14:1 on the girls:guys ratio. (You really want the full run-down? Oh, ok then...3 kids, my wife, the two cats and eight fish).

I work full time. And to make an extra crust (hey, you'd have to with that many women to support!!!) I started a T-shirt store. Well, 'we' started a T-shirt store my wife would say. We're both creative (I'm most proud of my recent 1st Prize in the Pencil Drawing category at our local village fair!!) and thought it would both be a good outlet for our creative juices and might help pay for a few things...the ballet lessons, the jazz lessons, the piano lessons, the shoes...

And now I can't sleep at night. I'm hooked on T-shirts. Everywhere I go I see them...and every time I spot someone with a groovy one I just HAVE to get a close-up look (I'm gonna get arrested one of these days!). We brainstorm ideas on a regular basis. Usually when we're driving in the car, kids in the back seat. That's when "Super Pooper" was born - we were talking about Super Heros after watching the Incredibles at the cinema. Other designs come from the wonderful experience that is being a parent...like our "can you smell something" baby T-shirt.

How would I sum up our clothes? Cute, cheeky, cool, groovy clothes for babies, kids, mums and dads. (We try not to leave the parents out...but have to admit, the kids get most of the attention - just like real life - so you'll find stacks of designs in our store for young ones).

And then there's the store's name. Well, that was simple - it had to be about us as a family since our clothes are all about that. so it had to be "3 Girls and Us". Brilliant. Simple. Unique.

But...

...now my wife might be pregnant. Oh boy! Hey, if only it really is a boy!! Some male company for me! Someone to kick a ball round with. Someone to fly kites with. (Hey, that gives me a great idea for a T-shirt...)

And as for the store name? Well, maybe we'll have to change it. "3 Girls and Us...and our Boy!"

New team members

The Baby Cafe team welcomes two new members from 3 girls and us and My Mommy Says - two great stores at Cafepress.

Andy's intro - IVF Babies

It all began with an idea for a website for parents of IVF Babies. This is a subject dear to my heart as I have suffered from both primary and secondary infertility and our second son was conceived via IVF. Infertility can be isolating and I found a lot of support through online support groups whilst dealing with infertility and going through the IVF program. However, once I fell pregnant and had my son there didn't seem to be anywhere that addressed issues that came up and it seemed inappropriate to go back to the infertility boards (for obvious reasons). And so IVF Babies was born (it's a work in progress). As part of the website I launched my first Cafepress basic store with the logo design. One store quickly became two and three and before too long I had my very own premium store called the IVF Babies Online Store.

Since opening the store I have diversified and added designs for all babies and kids. This is the My Pretty Little One collection (which also has its own website . Some of these designs are inspired by my kids (I have 2 boys - one is 6.5 and the other is just about to turn one) - in fact my 6 year old "designed" one himself (the "blast off design"). Other designs are inspired by things that I've seen or heard or by seeing a cool font and thinking "what can I do with this?".

Finally, I also have another website called Two Bubs for twin themed clothing. Many IVF babies are in fact twins or even triplets and quads. My best friend has identical twins conceived via IVF. She was the inspiration for starting this website and she was always complaining about not being able to find reasonably priced twin wear - but now she has no reason to complain LOL. The Good Cop/Bad Cop designs are from her.

My store started off as a little hobby but has soon grown to be a passion. I'm always adding new designs and tweaking with the layout. I'm just about to return to work part-time after a year's maternity leave. My littlest has just started daycare twice a week and is thriving with all the new people and toys. He is a little dynamo and can almost walk. My oldest is in the final term of Kindergarten (we live in Australia where the school year runs from Feb-Dec). So this year has been a big one for us!

Welcome to Baby Cafe

Welcome to the Baby Cafe!

Here you'll be able to find out about what's hot for tots from the eyes of some baby store owners - many of whom are also parents so we have the perfect road-testers!

Find out about new designs, read about the inspiration behind them, learn a little from our storeowners and maybe be inspired to be a designer yourself.