Easter 2016

Happy Easter! We had a laid back holiday this year. Since Madison had to work an overnight, we decided to celebrate on Saturday instead of Sunday. We made a special call to the Easter Bunny and he came and dropped off baskets on Saturday morning for the girls. We spent the day playing with new toys, baking brownies, having an Easter egg hunt in the living room and painting. I only took a few photos of the girls because I'm trying to be in the moment more. Although truthfully I did record the entire Easter egg hunt to sent to the grandparents.

Hope you had a lovely holiday!

Emery Jane

Emery Jane is here! She was born December 2nd at 6:35pm. I am very late at posting this birth announcement (since she's three months old now) because "two kids."

She is the most perfect baby. So sweet and cuddly, hardly cries, and has just started smiling and laughing a lot. Someday I'll share her birth story here, but it is the least dramatic story ever. Really it could not have been easier, or faster.

Nora loves her. We are so lucky that she has bonded with her so quickly. She has been so great about sharing our time with the new baby.

Speaking of Nora, she is going to be THREE next month! Where has the time gone? I have tons of photos to post from the last few months that I have taken off from blogging. For now, enjoy these few tiny newborn photos.

 

 

The Picnic Quilt

I finished a quilt! I'm calling this one the picnic quilt because that's what it reminds me of with the gingham patchwork and dandelion print backing. This quilt was intended to be sold in my Etsy shop, but I love it too much and it now belongs to baby #2. That keeps happening for some reason....

If you're interested in this quilt I did put up a made to order option in my Etsy shop. Nora told me she wants a purple quilt for her birthday and Madison had the idea to remake this quilt in shades of purple, so that might be in our future. My "to quilt" list just keeps getting longer. I'm glad to finally have this one checked off the list!

Pregnancy Update: I'm Exhausted But Enjoying This

I am currently 32 weeks pregnant with Baby #2. Since we passed the halfway point, I thought it might be nice to record an update of how things are going. This pregnancy is much different than my first. Nora was a surprise but this baby was mostly planned. I say mostly because we knew we wanted our kids close in age, but I don't think Madison or I were expecting to get pregnant so quickly. 

Overall, I feel a lot better than I did last time. Of course, there is still the general aches and pains, but they aren't as bad as I remember them being last time. I have more energy and can come home from work and be awake the whole evening without falling asleep on the couch. Now that might be partly due to the fact that I still need to take care of Nora, so who's to say I wouldn't be napping more if she wasn't constantly asking for milk or crayons. 

When I got pregnant with Nora, I was fresh out of college and living on my own with my boyfriend for the first time without roommates, so I was still pretty immature at that point. There's no denying that I took full advantage of pregnancy and ate horribly. That contributed to my weight gain and hypertension, which eventually lead to me being induced early to make sure Nora was healthy. This time I'm trying to prevent that by eating healthier, or trying to at least. I did buy myself a jar of cookie butter at Trader Joe's this weekend so I'm not going too crazy. At this point I have gained less weight than when I was 32 weeks pregnant with Nora which has alleviated a lot of stress. 

Speaking of stress, I feel a lot less of it. I've done this before so I know what we're getting ourselves into. We still have a lot of Nora's baby things, so we aren't starting from scratch. Nora is already sleeping in her big girl bed so there is a crib ready and waiting to be filled with a sleepy newborn. 

At my last visit my doctor asked how this pregnancy was compared to my last one. I told him it was going better than the last and he was surprised by that. Apparently a lot of women feel that their second pregnancy is more difficult, especially because they are taking care of another child at that point. I suppose I should consider myself lucky. That's not to say that it has been a piece of cake. My back is killing me and I have heartburn almost every night, but I feel like I can enjoy this pregnancy more and just can't wait to have a new little baby to snuggle. 

All in all, I feel really good. I know things are going to be difficult once the baby comes and we readjust to life as a family of four, but I cannot wait for that day to come. I know we're up to the challenge. 

Shop Love: Ellie Baby

Via

Now that I have your attention with that adorable baby, I have a new Etsy shop to send some love to. The image above is from Ellie Baby, a baby accessory shop I recently discovered, and am currently loving. 

When Nora was still using pacifiers, we would always struggle with keeping them clean because she would use them for a little while and then spit them on the floor. I wanted to avoid that situation with baby #2 and have been looking for some cute pacifier clips so that her pacifier is always clean and within reach. Etsy is my go-to site for cute baby products, and when I found this shop, they had the perfect item for me: braided leather pacifier clips. These are considerably less bulky than your traditional fabric pacifier clip, plus they are a lot cute. I decided to order a light pink one for our new little lady, and added a tiny leather bow headband to my order as well.

Pacifier Clip // Headband

How cute is this set?! I'm obsessed. The quality of the products is great, and they are just beyond adorable. I ordered the pacifier clip because it seems very useful, the fact that it is also so precious and matches this bow is a major bonus.

I reached out to the shop owner, Rachel, with a special request and she was very quick to respond and super helpful. She shipped the products out to me quickly and they arrived only 2 days after I received my shipping notification. The baby may not be here yet but I am still antsy to get all of her things put away, so fast shipping is always a plus. The packaging is super cute as well, and Rachel included a hand written note on the packing slip. Little touches like that are why I love ordering from small shops. You get a personal experience that you can't get from shopping at big box stores. I love that I can interact with the person who made the product I am going to use. 

This type of pacifier clip works with any pacifier, as long as it has a hole for the end to loop through. Nora was particular to the Philips Avent pacifiers, so I picked up a few for the new baby. Hopefully she likes them too! The bow is on a headband made of very soft and stretchy nylon. There is also an option to have it attached to an alligator clip, which is perfect for older girls. 

Via

The headbands obviously look super cute on. I'm planning on using the one I got in some of our newborn photos. I think it'll be the perfect accessory to add some personality without being overwhelming.

If you're in the market for cute baby accessories, go check out Ellie Baby on Etsy. I'm so pleased with my experience and can't wait to order again. I have my eye on the gold leather bow headband next. Let me know what your favorite item is!

A Day at the Farm

Hello! It's been a while since I updated this space. Life has been crazy over here. In case you're wondering, yes I am still pregnant. We're currently at 32 weeks, and counting down the time until baby #2 gets here. I'll post a more in-depth pregnancy update soon because I think the differences between my first pregnancy and this one are really interesting.

In current news, we went to a farm today! There is a small family farm that Madison and I drive by everyday on our way to work today and we decided to take Nora today. There was a hayride, a corn maze (which we decided not to attempt), pick your own pumpkins and some farm animals to look at, as well as a farm stand. It was just the perfect amount of fall activities and Nora had a great time. Here's some photos from our day.

We came home with the tiniest pumpkin for Nora, some apple cider and a blueberry pie. Once we were settled at home we made lunch and Nora looked at Madison and I and said "family dinner" in her sweet little voice. It was so nice to hear her say that because I always tell her how much I love it when we all sit down and eat together. Today just such a nice, simple family day. I love days like today.