clothing

first birthday prep (or how to plan a frat party with babies)

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in less than two months, s will be celebrating her first (and most badass?!) birthday. it’s equal parts exciting and depressing for us to plan. exciting because our baby is almost almost almost officially a toddler and we get to celebrate the wonderful ways she’s changed our lives over the past year. depressing because, as cool as we make this party, she won’t remember it.

so there will be booze.

obviously. because otherwise it’s just a silly afternoon where a bunch of parents wish they’d smuggled in their flasks of whiskey while their respective babies crawl and scream and cry and poop all over each other. just like every other day, really. just kidding. mostly. in all seriousness, i really want this party to be laid back and fun for kids and adults alike. so there will be beer. and tequila. if you know me, you know that one of my mantras in life is this: EVERYTHING is better with tequila. so there will be beer with tequila (desperados, anyone?!), cupcakes with tequila (for the grownups only, no need to call the authorities!), and, since i’m a little old fashioned, tequila with tequila.

**note: i am not an alcoholic. in fact, after approximately two drinks these days i am done for the night. so obviously most of this is a joke and does not affect the parenting of our beautiful child, who i’m sure will enjoy tequila just as much as me when she’s all grown up. and not before then. i’m sure she’ll be as innocent as a flower until her 21st birthday (please just let me live with this delusion for awhile).

and there will be cake.

we’re still ironing out details for this aspect of the party, but i found a fantastic local bakery two little cats that’s happy to provide a smash cake for s’s photo shoot (surprise! oops) as well as cupcakes for the party. i thought two smash cakes might be a bit extravagant (read: paul thought) so we will have to settle for adorable photos of s smashing a cupcake into her face during the party. on the menu for the cupcakes: raspberry and lime flavored with lime green sugar sprinklings and fresh raspberries on top. yum. as for the smash cake, i’m hoping it’s going to look like this fabulous cake above!

there will be decorations.

Source: hapykoi.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest


Source: indulgy.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest



i toyed with the idea of having a very hungry caterpillar theme for this party, but decided instead to go with bright colors and more basic decorations. i especially love the ideas from 100 layer cake!

and there will be presents.

Source: amazon.co.uk via Kaitlin on Pinterest





Source: amazon.co.uk via Kaitlin on Pinterest

since march is fairly close to christmas, and since my house already seems to be a toy factory, we’re planning on keeping gifts pretty minimal this year. what i would love for her to get, however, is a few musical instruments. she shakes and bashes all of her toys already and really enjoys rhyme time and music of all kinds, so i think she will really appreciate a few things like these.

and there will be s.

Source: rstyle.me via Kaitlin on Pinterest

everyone who knows me knows that i love a little bit of baby style. in fact, i’m kind of obsessed with pinning gorgeous dresses/tops/jeans/shoes/anything to my baby d board on pinterest. and i have absolutely no restraint when it comes to baby clothes. we had BETTER have a girl the next time around, otherwise there are going to be many lonely, depressed articles of clothes that haven’t been worn in s’s nursery. so here is my inspiration for baby birthday style. (ok, so it’s more than inspiration. i bought it today but shhhhhh! don’t tell paul! ps. i want EVERYTHING from the beatrix potter range at baby gap right now. check it out here.)

i’ll keep you updated as the plans progress!

christmas baby swag

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after a week of coughs, stuffy noses, a trip to the doctor for (ugh) an inhaler, and lots of rest, s is feeling pretty good right now. she’s moving all over the shop and leaving me with zero time to do anything other than wince at her less than graceful falls to the floor from her permanent position of standing. so, since the presents are FINALLY wrapped (thank you to amazon for allowing me to send most of my gifts and forego the relative present wrapping fiasco that normally ensues but NOT to my mother who has decided s needs not one but 12 days of presents, all of which i have to wrap myself!!! ;)) and the pepperkaker dough is chilling in the fridge, it’s time to let you know what our spoiled little angel is getting for christmas. and no, it’s not ruining anything because a. she’s too young to read this and b. she’ll probably be more excited by the wrapping paper than anything else.

the best of the best:

usborne touchy feely nativity book

this book was actually a pre-christmas gift (ie. spur of the moment purchase) by us for s, mostly because it was half price and i can’t resist a good deal. but seriously, she is absolutely obsessed with this book. there are tons of different fabrics to feel inside the book and she spends tons of time every night before bed flipping back and forth between the pages and kissing the baby jesus. p is beside himself with pride at his little catholic baby (he wishes!). i love that it’s so interactive and tells the real story of christmas.

elc sensory discovery balls

this is officially a santa gift, and his elves whispered to me that s was getting these awesome discovery balls in her stocking this year. she doesn’t really play with balls yet and i’m all about her having toys that are appropriate to her developmental stage, whatever that is right now.

wheelybug bee

this is the BIG gift from s’s gram and poppa. personally, i want one for myself. i know she’s not really ready to ride on anything yet, but a lot of her christmas wishlist included 1+ toys so that they can grow with her. i can see the dents in the walls already. LOVE it.

hape eco my second book

during one of my many walks around the floors of john lewis i saw this adorable wooden book. s likes a good book and she will be able to happily chew away at this while learning numbers (i know, a little early!) and hopefully turning the pages a little more easily.

run dmc top

this is my favorite personal purchase. i seriously can’t wait for her to wear it. every day. that’s all.

bickiepegs doidy cup

we’ve been working on drinking out of a cup lately, and have just stopped giving a bottle at night, since apparently it’s bad for babies’ teeth to suck on bottles after one year, although i can’t really see much difference between bottles and sippy cups. s loves to ‘drink’ out of my cup but usually spills water all over herself in the process. this cup is designed for tiny hands (seriously, the handles are so small and cute) and is tilted so babies can see exactly what is in the cup without having their heads straight over the top of the cup, which usually leads to spillage. we’ll see how it goes.

little jellycat pet’s tails

this gift is from aunt kelsey (sorry, the amazon package came the other day and i just had to see what it was! don’t worry, it’s all re wrapped now) and is pretty much the cutest thing ever. s can also meow like a cat, so she will love it.

manhattan toy lanky cats: ziggie

continuing the cat theme, this toy is another of gram and poppa’s twelve days of christmas gifts. it looks exactly like our cat jet. the eyes are a little creepy, though!

this is only a very small percentage of s’s gifts for her first christmas. luckily we were very restrained with our purchases this year, since friends and family (and santa) didn’t hold back. we know that this time of year isn’t about the things we have or give to each other and try to spend most of our time celebrating the real holiday and giving to people who don’t have as much as we do, too. but who doesn’t love a bit of swag? 😉

if i don’t get the time to post again, merry christmas! holiday pictures and updates to follow soon.

retail therapy

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remember those few weeks were i was all, yeahhh my baby sleeps through the night and it’s awesome and being a mom is so easy? yeah, they’re over. s has returned to getting up at 10, and 2, and 6 most nights. yay for never sleeping through multiple sleep cycles! anyway, today i got up and was feeling generally pretty crap about things and not looking forward to a day of eat, play, sleep, repeat all by ourselves.

so we went shopping.

and this is what we bought! (i know that sometimes window shopping is *almost* as good as the real thing, so i’ll let you peek at my purchases…also, when did retail therapy become all about my baby and not about me at all? the only thing i bought myself was an iced tea.)

my first taggies book – who do you see?

frill swimsuit – john lewis baby

spot sleeping bag – john lewis baby

tunic and legging set – next

chevron dress – next

yellow fishermans hat – next

i seriously need to find a money tree.

the summer according to pinterest.

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i’d been thinking about writing up a sort of summer to-do list, or a bucket list, but hadn’t got the motivation to do it until the fabulous e tells tales suggested a blog link up. now i’m not nearly creative (or energetic, these days) enough to come up with lots of ideas off the cuff, so for this bucket list i will defer to the other lover in my life. yes, i mean pinterest. my sweet evening affairs with this website leave me feeling encouraged, excited and jealous of other people’s lives. but i have actually DIYed my way through a few of the things on my pinboards over the last few months, including making an adorable hand and footprint salt dough keepsake for p for father’s day (like this one here).

now onto this summer:

1. get my hair did.

a few years ago i went crazy and had my hair highlighted completely. i think it was an accident. but i LOVE the full head of highlights look, and want my hair this short again. if i was a millionaire i’d get a brazilian blow dry so it would be kind of straight right after blow drying, but for now i will have to dream. plus, then i’d miss my curls. also, i will allow someone to babysit s so this can happen…i got my hair cut when she was three weeks old, but it consisted of literally handing off the baby to p after he returned from his own appointment, running to the hairdressers, and getting a few inches chopped off. i want an afternoon of styling. maybe with a mani/pedi.

2. organize my life.

this site has about 139847165 ideas for baby/home organization. none of which i accomplished before s was born. now our house isn’t exactly a hoarder’s home, but it could be cleaner. and more organized. so i will do at least one of these things on this list.

3. fly to the states!

Source: youtube.com via Kaitlin on Pinterest

the tips and tricks from mama natural‘s video blog are going to come in handy when p, s and i all hop on a plane in august to see my family. i’m only freaking out about the trip a little, and most moms who’ve traveled with babies and toddlers say that the earlier you fly (in terms of baby’s age), the easier the trip will be. i just know i’m going to have to kill some bitches with kindness, though, as they give me the black look of death for bringing an infant on board an airplane. it’s ok, i will leave nappy bags full of s’s stinkiest poop underneath their seats.

4. (re)learn to knit.

can you get any more adorable than this? i’m sure it’s super easy and would take about five seconds to do. plus, if you know me, you know that flip flops/sandals/any kind of shoe that doesn’t require socks is the best kind of footwear. s isn’t going to be small enough for this to be cute for that long! my grandmother, who’s in her mid 80s and only has partial vision, is the most amazing artist when it comes to knitting and crochet. she’s tried to teach me how to knit half a dozen times (bless her), so one day i’d like to make her proud by actually learning something.

5. get my craft on.

this super cute shag rug will be perfect for the kitchen. it will also solve my problem of having far too many items of clothes. every time we get a charity bag through the letterbox, i fill it up and return it with tons of my junk. it seems to regenerate almost immediately, and makes me a little sad. now is the time to simplify my life ever so slightly and focus on what’s really important rather than getting sucked into the material things of life. (if you’re super duper brave, you could be like my friend awayathomemom and live out of an RV with your family. so cool!) there are approximately a million more craft ideas i have yet to try out on my pinterest boards…check them out.

6. go swimming with s!

luckily this one involves shopping for bathing suits. also, i mostly want to do this because of the photography session. p gets in the bath with s at the moment (TMI? sorry) and keeps saying, can i dunk her? can i dunk her? and so far i’ve said no because i’m scared she’ll drown and we’ll be the idiots that tried to make their own baby swim. so i’m going to let the professionals help! s loves bath time now and i think she will enjoy the pool, too. plus, i need to get back in the water!

7. bake some sexy cakes.

those of you who have already perused my pinterest boards probably have gathered that my bff and i have half-joked about starting up a cupcake business. no, not like two broke girls, i hate that show. more like ace of cakes meets starbucks flavors meets english charm. it’s mostly a pipe dream, but if i ever win the lottery i will quit whatever semi-fulfilling job i have and open a cupcake shop. so to prepare myself i must get back in the kitchen and start baking. plus, p once told me that my gift for having our first child would be a kitchenaid mixer. i’m still waiting! (i’m sure it’s in the post. not.)

8. get picnicking.

after the disaster that was our last picnic-style outing (yes, i am a wussy mama) i am afraid i may instill the same neuroses in my daughter. so you heard it here first, everyone…i vow to spend more time outdoors with my family. i will lather up my baby with bug spray and sun screen (after six months, i think…before then i will keep her under a mosquito net and hide her from every ray of sun possible) and eat smores with my family. this i solemnly swear.

9. have a date night with p (and without s…sorry baby!)

my parents came to visit when s was five weeks old (they live across the ocean in the states) and tried to get us to go out to see the hunger games. i wasn’t ready to leave the baby and hadn’t tried pumping yet, and figured the logistics of organizing feeds around movie times would be too difficult…ok i was terrified of leaving s for more than five minutes. my mom told me that i’d be ready soon. a few weeks after she left, i sent her a text saying, you were right! i want a babysitter now! so p and i are already talking about date night ideas for our trip to the states. three weeks with my parents, grandparents, sisters, and aunt nearby = lots and lots and lots of babysitters! sorry, guys! s is lovely, i promise! and hopefully she’ll go the *&$@ to sleep for you.

10. lose the baby flab.

ok, so i know this photo doesn’t really coincide with the step. but having a positive body image and feeling good about myself includes losing my baby flab. i know that i’m beautiful, but i also want to feel healthy and sexy instead of lazy and glued to the sofa. even though i love me some big bang theory. so this summer i plan to find an evening zumba class, or vow to get up three times a week at six and walk/run (ok so i can’t run…yet. positive thinking!!!) to feel better about myself and to be a positive role model for s.

so that’s the list, for the most part! i’m sure our summer will consist of much more than this (and you’ll all hear about the lot, of course) but i’ll update you as these items get checked off! happy summer! ❤