At the end of the year (err yeah… and a few weeks later too) I love reading year-in-reviews and best-of lists – do you too? That’s why today we’re talking about our favorite new discoveries for 2022. Series that we enjoyed watching, favorite products and gifts that we were happy about – and above all some things that were simply practical and have already been recommended several times.
You can guess which of these parts caused the most excitement (and a tip: most fans of it also “released” in 2022 :D).
Our product favorites 2022
air fryer Sven gave me an Airfryer for my birthday. I never would have thought that we would actually use it that often – but it really is so practical! I find everything frozen tastier prepared in it than from the oven, oven vegetables of all kinds work great… and it’s really super fast! I also find it really good for quickly reheating leftovers. For example, leftover fries are also really crispy and delicious. {This is our model* – but bigger would sometimes be even more practical!}
Pumpkin Spice Autumn was all about pumpkin and pumpkin spice – the typical spices for an American pumpkin pie. I baked Pumpkin Spice cinnamon rolls, which were just so delicious and juicy… and Pumpkin Spice Latte was also often and happily made. I was particularly happy to have infected several friends with it. Unfortunately, Sven doesn’t eat cinnamon, so we couldn’t share this passion. I really liked the spice mixture and the pumpkin spice agave syrup from dm Bio – and Spice your Pumpkin Pie* from foodist & Marry Kotter.
solar fairy lights The chain of lights* hangs over our balcony railing and I’m happy every evening when it comes on! Now in the darker season sometimes not at all or not for so long… but it will definitely be sunnier again soon.
Beautiful labels. I had fun personalizing and embellishing my self-sewn things with labels – and I was particularly enthusiastic about the Selflove Collection from notietzpad with LaleLoup!
The water saving things from Ikea (ÅBÄCKEN – atomizer nozzle for mixer tap*).
Because we really use significantly less water when rinsing. In fact, it dribbles along so comfortably that we sometimes prefer to fill a pot with water to boil in the bathroom…
muslin blanket Another great purchase for the summer! With the blanket from Cherry Picking I survived the super warm nights well. I don’t like to sleep without blankets that much… it’s also wonderful and we’ve even used it as a baby blanket. Also a nice gift idea!
Fake Salmon. I like to try my way through the world of vegetarian and vegan substitute products – and we always have some of them in the fridge. A new love is this vegan smoked lax from Aldi… I think it’s really delicious!
The wipeable picnic blanket I bought it straight away for my dearest mom friend. So compact! (I think it was this one* – there are some similar offers)
And speaking of blankets: we love ours XL quilt by nicenicenice {here – unfortunately not available at the moment} simply so much! Nice and big and such a wonderfully happy pattern. We also used it as a background for Jonas’ monthly pictures.
kids stuff
teething tubes Who knows? The baby is keeping you up at night, and you’re scrolling your phone and clicking on an ad that some social media algorithm is throwing at you. Some time later you are happy about a package and don’t even remember what you actually ordered…
I haven’t found myself in that situation very often this year… and one of the best purchases is this teething tube! I sometimes had the feeling that Jonas couldn’t get to the areas that hurt him with our other teething rings. The thing really calmed him down a lot – and I’ve seen how well it goes down with other babies too! I have this version of Storkbaby, which I think is relatively expensive in hindsight. But there are also much cheaper offers – take a look here*, for example! (cleaning brush is important)
Bike trailer for 2 Do we need a sibling stroller? Is Oskar just always running now? What if he can’t anymore? Before Jonas was born, we kept asking these questions. We are so glad we chose the bike trailer! With buggies, 15kg is often the limit, we can load this one with up to 60kg – so it should be with us for quite a while. In fact, we mainly use it as a stroller, so far we have only rarely used it on our bikes and without Jonas. Oskar doesn’t normally take a nap anymore, but some days he still needs it… And he falls asleep in it quite reliably! It’s really cool to be able to slide the two guys in it together. Now they even sometimes both fall asleep next to each other and that’s just too cute! We also love the space in the “trunk” and it allows us tours that go a bit beyond Oskar’s radius.
Of course, I don’t want to hide the negative points either: Unfortunately, he doesn’t fit in our car and Jonas isn’t always the biggest fan either (which unfortunately sometimes applies to all kinds of prams and means of transport except our arms).
We have the Kidgoo2 from Qeridoo*.
stamp color Handprints and footprints are such a nice reminder – and always a nice gift for relatives. We are super satisfied with the stamp ink from KindaCute*.
high chair tray We also bought a used Stokke Tripp Trapp* high chair for Jonas. That always worked great for Oskar, he’s still sitting on it now and I’m sure we’ll both be using it for a long time. At our dining table in Wiesbaden, Oskar always sat at one end and we simply put his plate on the table. We now have a new dining table and it’s probably a slightly different height – at least it didn’t work that way. Therefore, after some deliberation, we decided to buy Jonas the right tray for the high chair (i.e. a Stokke Tray*) and it works so much better!
Pretty stopper socks We already had most of the baby clothes there, but we still had a few additions. We urgently needed suitable socks for Jonas (at the same age or with the same shoe size, Oskar was more likely to be walking barefoot) and decided on these colorful stopper socks*. We were so happy with it that I just ordered it in the next size up.
series
severity. This series has kept me busy for a really long time – I still have so many questions and really hope that I won’t be disappointed with a possible next season. Severance is the name of a procedure that separates memory in work and private life. “Innie” and “Outie” share a body, but otherwise don’t know anything about each other. Until Mark suddenly gets a visit from a former colleague and starts to question everything…
How exciting it can suddenly be to watch people walking down some office corridors and talking! (AppleTV+)
heartstopper – is based on a graphic novel, implemented with so much heart and has a great cast (Joe Locke, Kit Connor and Olivia Coleman). The series follows two high school students, Charlie and Nick, as they unexpectedly become friends and get to know each other better… An incredibly sweet high school romance! (netflix)
Otherwise we watched quite a lot of reality series… My favorite is RuPaul’s Drag Race, which I always watch with my sister – I can only recommend it, especially the latest Canada and UK seasons! With Sven then always The Circle and Love is Blind. To switch off (and often fall asleep) also quite nice.
New discoveries in the wardrobe
muslin blouses – I wore it all the time in the summer, so easy to combine and so beautifully light. (I have some from hedi and from Queenssize – but unfortunately they are no longer available at the moment)
I also wore the little heart dress c/o Paprika quite often – and also the one with the abstract pattern c/o Zizzi (Basja*). In terms of the self-sewn parts, this jumper in pink (pattern: Ms. Svenja from Studio Schnittreif, fabric c/o stoffe.de) turned out to be a real miracle of combination. i love the color! Since then it can also be seen in a lot of outfit diaries…
