Oh, glorious Beyoncé. We don’t know what you’re going by these days (Sasha Fierce? Mrs. Carter? Queen B?), other than your soon-to-be latest title: Mom. We’ve been following you and hip-hop sweetheart Jay-Z—speculating, cheering, and, yes, shedding a tear or two—from the start. We smiled knowingly when we heard about the engagement and nodded, unsurprised, when we spotted you nest-shopping in the neighborhood (Scarsdale’s a good choice). And when, after a few more years of world-dominating success, you paused your hand on your barely-showing midsection, we freaked out like the rest of the world.
Luckily, when you and husband Jay (Shawn Carter, we know) welcome Baby Knowles-Carter (we heard it’s a girl—congrats!) into the world this month, we know just the place for your new family to escape the glare of the limelight: your Scarsdale digs, of course. Here, B (may we call you that?), our tips for keeping it real when baby makes three. (Hint: skip the reality show.)
We’ll start by saying how much we appreciate your gusto when it comes to providing the best for your little bundle of joy, even if a 2,200-square-foot nursery—fun fact: that’s equivalent to four average New York apartments—veers, some people have suggested, toward the extravagant side. After all, when you’re worth an estimated $750 million, nobody’s putting your baby—or her rose-colored, Swarovski-crystal-studded Baby Diamond Bathtub (which—we commend you—doubles as an oversized Champagne bucket)—in any kind of corner.
B, consider Bellini Baby and Teen Furniture on Central Avenue to furnish your baby’s room and perhaps Buy Buy Baby (a few blocks south) to stock up on Pampers. Westchester-based Green Babies is where many of your neighbors go for bedding, clothing, and accessories.
And while it’s beyond our grasp to imagine you running out to Balducci’s for soy milk, we can picture you and the hubby at Neiman’s in The Westchester, where you can purchase newborn-sized “Burberry to swim” (just like Mommy!). Or, head a few doors over to Tiffany & Co., where Jay can have a sweet lyric engraved onto a sterling silver spoon for Daddy’s little princess. Aww.
Kudos as well for trading in the Maybach for that car-seat friendlier, custom, $500,000 Mercedes-Benz van we’ve heard so much about. We know how hard it was for our parents to part with their two-seaters—and they didn’t even have a new $150,000 audio system to console them. Talk about bumping Baby Mozart. Or your “should’ve put a ring on it” song we all love. Whichever.
Inevitably, there will come a time when Jay’s stuck shooting yet another music video aboard yet another yacht in the South of France, while you, swathed in curve-hugging Armani couture, are obligated to walk yet another West Coast red carpet to accept yet another major entertainment award. We expect there will be a baby nurse and a live-in nanny. That’s not counting the au pair, the baby masseuse, and the personal hairstylist. Susan Tokayer, who’s been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, and Parents magazine, owns domestic placement agency Family Helpers in nearby Dobbs Ferry and is a veteran of providing just such “personalized solutions.” For everything else, there’s The Family Coach, Catherine Pearlman, a parenting professional with 14 years of experience.
Editors’ Note: As we went to press we learned that Beyoncé gave birth to a baby girl, Blue Ivy, on January 7. Congratulations!
