Two Months

Baby Update

I can't believe my baby girl is two months old! She's growing and changing so quickly and we have had so much fun watching her discover and learn new things every day! She's starting to look a little less bald and she's going to have her daddy's hair colour, along with some more of his traits that are starting to become more visible. Although, I do have to say she still looks a lot like a mini-me! 

 TWO MONTHS

10 lbs 10 oz and 22 1/2"

• Smiles all the time
• Can roll over
• Can't get enough of tummy time
• Enjoys car & stroller rides
• Loves funny sounds
• Is sleeping for 5-7 hours at night
• Loves to airplane w/ Daddy
• Is 'talking' all the time

First Trimester Wrap Up!

Baby is the size of a peach!

Baby has vocal cords, teeth and even little finger prints! The first trimester is notorious for being extremely hard and pretty much the most miserable time of pregnancy, fortunately I had no such experience! I didn't have any morning sickness or even nausea, in fact most of my first trimester I didn't even know I was pregnant! 

Symptoms: Headaches, extreme fatigue, crazy realistic dreams and an occasional bloody nose! Other than that I felt perfectly normal, it was really hard to believe I had a baby growing inside me!

Cravings: Soup- Any kind. Any time.  And sandwiches, I think I mostly just craved the bread which I normally don't eat but since finding out I'm pregnant I'm all about the carbs!

Weight Gain: I gained 11 pounds in the first trimester which was very alarming to me considering that's already half of the suggested weight gain for the whole pregnancy! But truth be told I think most of the weight went straight to my chest I went from an A to a D! Which made all my fitted tops impossible to wear from the get go!!

Maternity Clothes:  None yet, but I did have to buy a new bra. I also bought some cute maternity dresses from Target that I'm excited to get to wear but so far my jeans all fit and flowy, stretchy tops I already own

Baby is a. . . :  Not sure yet, but I am dying to know! The boy and I both thought it was a boy in the beginning (he being the oldest of five boys and his whole extended blood-related family is literally all men- so it just seemed like it was inevitable!) but now we both have strong feelings of a girl- so we shall see! 

Baby is Due. . . : Our given due date is October 20th, but if baby is a bit late they might be born on their Uncle Gage's birthday!

Spreading the News: We told our parents first, then let our close friends know. I had to tell my boss because eventually it would mean I would be leaving to stay home with my own baby. Soon after we announced it to our family and friends that had been invited to our reception which would now be cancelled, because the timing wasn't great and we figured there were many more things we could put the money towards for the baby over food and dancing. Then finally, announced to everyone on Facebook! 

Do Strangers notice: Not yet! Although within the same week I got comments from two servers at different restaurants, the first one said "She sure knows how to eat!" and the second one said, "You need to eat more and fatten up!" They both were funny considering our new news. 

Baby Buys: The only thing we have bought so far is the cutest stuffed giraffe and a turquoise polka dot bow that could used either be for a bow tie or a hair bow! 

Preparing for Baby: We're looking to move when our lease is up at the end of July we will need an extra bedroom now for baby! 

1/3 of the Way Done!

DIY Ring Box

A Special Little Touch for Your Big Day. . .

The boy's youngest brother was our ring bearer and I wanted him to have something special and fun to hold our rings in down the aisle! 

I picked up a tiny wooden box at Michaels, they had a few to choose from that were on clearance for $1.99! I chose one with a cutout on the top because I already had an idea of what I wanted to do with it. I had a very light brown paint that I did one coat on the whole box, so it was like a light stain. I was going for a vintage look to match with our overall look. 

There are so many things you could do with it, I considered painting the whole box one of our wedding accent colours, you could mode podge a continuing pattern through out your wedding or do several coats to give the box a dark finish. Just make it yours!

I painted the indented space on top of the box with our accent colour yellow. After everything dried I used a scrap of lace from my wedding dress and glued it on the top. I used our other wedding colour, coral, and filled the box with a scrap of textured fabrics leaving two little holes where the rings would go!



It was the perfect little touch to our big day and Jack, the boy's youngest brother looked absolutely adorable carrying it!

DIY Fabric Flower Bouquet

Keep Your Wedding Flowers Forever

For those of you who don't know me I am both ridiculously sentimental and crafty, so going any other route with my bridal bouquet just wasn't an option. I made my own out of fabric flowers, which given my past career (and forever hobby as a designer) it only seemed appropriate. It also meant I got to include tons of vintage brooches that were my grandmothers to boot AND it would preserve perfectly forever so it can serve as the ultimate keepsake from our wedding day! 

You don't have to be crafty to make your own, it was a lot of fun to play around with until I got it how I liked it. Here's a list of supplies that I used but the options are endless!

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• Hot Glue Gun
• Glue Sticks
• Fabrics in colours and many options of your choice
• Twine or ribbon of choice
• a button or bead to match your theme
• A wiffle ball (I got mine at the dollar store)
• A triangular structure- I used a party blower (again from the dollar store)
• Faux greenery (Dollar Store)

EXTRAS TO ADD

• jewels or beads
• feathers
• brooches, pins or buttons
• pearls or ribbon
• you could even use fake flowers to make it easier!

STEP BY STEP:

1. I stuffed the party blower with scraps of fabric until it was full so it would feel stiff to the touch and not flimsy. 
2. Hot glue the rim of the party blower and stick on the wiffle ball. Let Dry to be secure.
3. Starting from the bottom or wherever you want your ribbon/twine to show (I did mine 1/3 of the way up) hot glue gun a circle for the first wrap. Let dry. Pull taught each time you wrap it around the cone and secure with a dot or line of glue every couple of wraps. Push down the ribbon/twine each time to insure there won't be spacing or gaping later!
4. If you choose to have faux greenery- I think it's great to break up the flowers and make it look more natural. hot glue the bottoms and place them through the wiffle ball and glued securely to the top of the cone or the bottom of the wiffle ball depending on how yours is set on. This is why I loved using wiffle balls for the inside because I prefer smaller bouquets so it was a great size to start with and the holes helped with spacing and securing flowers later!
5. Next if you've chosen to make your own fabric flowers get started! There are tons of different ways to do it. Here are several great tutorials for different kinds of flowers from Skip to My Lou to help you get started. When in doubt cut out several round shapes from one or two similar fabrics and put a dot of glue in the center of the circle and glue it to another circle. Do this to several circle all being glued to the same bottom layer until it's as full as you like! Experiment and have fun with it. Different fabrics will give you different looks too! Not feeling so crafty? Forego the fabric and you can buy a variety of fake flowers you like instead and skip this step all together!                          
6. Here is an optional step. Break out all your trimmings and details! I put something special in the middle of each one of my flowers. I alternated between vintage buttons, my grandmother's brooches, rhinestones and pearls! It gave it that extra something meaningful and a little bling never hurt anyone either!
7. Next is the placement of everything! Play around with it a little until you get it just how you want it! Then stick the "stems" into the wiffle ball holes or glue the flat bottom flower to the sides filling in the gaps as you go! Don't be afraid to rearrange it, I took mine apart a couple different times until I got it just the way I wanted!
8. If you didn't use your ribbon/thread for the entirety of the handle now's the time to fill in the remaining part with whichever trimming you choose. I picked a thick cream ribbon that had been from my Grandmother's sewing things. It was the perfect vintage and bridal touch I was looking for! For the bridesmaid flower bouquets I just did the twine all the way through.
9. Now, that it's almost complete you need to stop up that party blower bottom, you're not going to be blowing on your bouquet so no one even needs to know it's there! For my bridesmaids I picked the perfect sized rhinestones to finish off the bottom with a sparkle, and for my own I used a pearl!
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. You can finish them off anyway you like! I added pearl bracelets to my bridesmaids bouquets so they could keep them afterward and a touch of yellow with a ribbon. On my own I glued on white feather plums and draped a strand of my mother's pearls to add to the vintage vibe!

I had a lot of fun making these and they are so easy to personalize and make special in a lot of different ways from recreating your favourite flower, using touches of your bridesmaids favourite colour or like me using pieces from family members to incorporate! 

8 Days and Counting!

100 Happy Days

Sounds silly, but really think about it. With all of life's stresses (BIG and small) it's easy to get bogged down and forget to appreciate the little things or the tiny special moments we usually take for granted. I found this floating around on Facebook and decided to check it out. It's a worldwide movement challenging people to be happy for 100 days. Check it out Here. 

With the boy and I's most recent conversation of how we always do a million things at once, and with some upcoming job changes (again), a move, buying a new car and oh yeah, you know we're getting married in a month! It's needless to say, we have a lot going on. And that tends to be our standard these days. Sometimes it's hard to not loose the little tender moments in the giant shuffle of everyday mayhem. 

I think this is a genius idea. To simply remind ourselves to take a moment to breath each day in and actually enjoy it, not just wake up and go through the motions. I will be starting my 100 day challenge tomorrow, if you care to join me sign up on their site or just do it all on your own! I will be posting my #100HappyDays on my Instagram if you want to check out what makes me smile in the next 100 days! 

100 Reasons to Smile!

12 Months of Christmas

Paying it Forward

This Christmas at the dinner table as we were all talking about how thankful we were to all be together as a family and enjoying the holiday, my mother came up with a challenge for everyone. I'm calling it twelve months of Christmas. The surge in charity donations and volunteers in the months surrounding Thanksgiving and Christmas is astounding, which is wonderful, but what about the rest of the year?

It seems the world is cheerful and comes together but once a year, and the remaining days people are often left to fend for themselves. We all have so much to be thankful for and are not in 'need' of anything, and I think many people in the same situation take that for granted. I'm not talking about who has the latest video game, the most expensive designer purse or who has gone on the most exotic vacation. I'm talking a roof over your head (no matter how big or small), food in your belly and being surrounded by ones you love. Some people are not so lucky. We may not be able to change their fortune or their situations but you have the power to change their mood, their view and even their day. Just letting someone know that they aren't alone or that someone cares about them may be the biggest change of all. 

My mom challenged us to pay it forward this year. 

Twelve good deeds. Twelve touched lives, big or small.  That's only once a month.

I want to start a ripple effect. Here. Today. 

I challenge you to do the 12 months of Christmas with me! 

You don't even have to celebrate Christmas to be able to join in! Blog about it, Instagram it #12xChallenge, Tweet it, Facebook it, Share it with your friends, or do it in secret. If everyone did twelve selfless things this year and touched twelve new lives we can create a ripple effect by paying it forward. Post links to your blogs, pictures or pages. I'd love to hear some things you've done to pay it forward or ideas you plan on doing in the near future. 

Pay It Forward.