july 2011, i had just received my reception dress and i was so excited!!! i really wanted a fun, flirty, romantic dress to wear later on in the night, during the reception. i wanted to feel just as lovely in my reception dress as i would feel throughout the day in my wedding gown.
it was from sarah seven. a designer i found through my hours of endless scouring of wedding blogs. i totally fell in love with her designs. i knew this was the dress that was going to make me feel beautiful and free. having her custom make my dress was based on a lot of trust. i basically sent in my measurements and she transformed it into this cotton candy confection of a dress. i was super, super happy with the final result. the only alteration i did to the dress was the lace trim on the bodice. it was way too low cut and i needed more coverage.
it turned out perfect and i absolutely loved wearing it during the reception. i didn’t have to fuss with wearing my heavy gown and the added bonus was i didn’t have to run around with my beautiful wedding dress on and have it get ruined while dancing, or anything that could further spoil your dress as the night wore on! with this reception dress, i was could float around, dance like a maniac, prance around like a princess, and end the night by riding off on tandem bike 😉
tashina flew in to visit her family and we were blessed to be able to meet her mom and dad! tashina’s parents actually live in st. louis, they drove up to o’hare to pick tashina up from the airport and explore a little bit around chicago.
tashina also flew in with olive’s baptism dress! we were so lucky to have her do so…she also did a ‘final’ fitting for miss olive. tashina wanted to make sure olive’s dress fit perfectly, and it did!
we hung out a bit at our house. hc walked them through our new home and our remodeling goals. after gleefully conversing amongst each other, we headed over to my parent’s house so they could meet my dad. unfortunately my mom and my sister, thuy, were at work and missed out on meeting everyone! boo.
as we were leaving, it started to rain – hard! the sky opened up and started pouring all over the earth. we all made it into our cars but not without getting soaked! then as we were pulling out of the driveway, gum ball size hail started to fall! oh my gosh! it was crazy! the hail pounded the cars and the pavement. bang, ping, bang. it was so loud. we were so afraid that the hail would dent all our cars!
we made it to my parent’s and ran inside the opened garage. we watched in awe over the hail plummeting to the ground. wow…what a change in weather. one moment is was warm and sunny and the next, it was dark and stormy! thank goodness all was well after that crazy hail storm and no damage was done.
we briefly hung out at my parent’s house, only because they had to hit the road for that long ride back to st. louis. not before we nabbed a few photos, and off they went! it was so wonderful meeting her parents. they are so sweet and kind. such great, lovely people!
[tashina and her sweet mom]
[visiting dad]
we were fortunate to get tashina back for a day, after her time in st. louis. she came back on wednesday night and we were able to briefly, again, say hi to tashina’s parents. they drove her back up here and had to do a quick turnaround to get back on the road home before dusk.
that evening, hc cooked dinner for us, we drank wine, and hung out for the rest of the night.
[olive is excited to be taking a picture]
the next day, tashina and i hung out with little miss olive. jane did take her for a walk in the morning for about an hour, during that time, tashina and i trekked our way to starbucks for some yummy coffee. we came back, and gabbed our morning away. while spending some time with olive, tashina snapped this cute little photo of her while she was playing on her mat. how adorbs.
we were so happy we were able to meet and meet up with everyone. it was definitely a fab time! thank you tashina for visiting and for giving olive such a beautiful gift! we love you and your family!
olive loves her hungry caterpillar toy. it’s easy to pick up and she loves to slobber all over it. that’s her thing lately, drool and slobber on everything! she likes the colors and it’s quite easy to pick up. it’s always the first thing she reaches for when her toys are lying around her.
i love these burp cloths. they are soft, made from organic cotton, and i absolutely love the prints. the fox print is my favorite. so chic. plus, they serve their purpose! they absorb her drool, spit, and tears quickly and it’s super soft on her delicate skin. they are from my favorite store, sprout, in wicker park.
ok, so sophie had to make another debut on her favorite things because olive absolutely loves her. loves, loves, loves her! sophie is her number one toy. she always reaches for her and she loves holding onto her. she will chew, spit, and gnaw on her for hours. seriously, this french giraffe is the best invention and import for babies! it totally grabs her attention and keeps her preoccupied for a long time!
olive loves anything crinkly. since she loves the feel and learn book so much, i got her the hungry caterpillar book as well. i love this sensory book because it’s beautiful. the colors and pages are so creative, artistic, interactive, and pretty. i love children’s products that are functional, modern, beautiful, and aesthetically appealing. surprisingly this book fulfills a lot of those requirements. plus, she loves the little strawberry that hangs on it…a great chew toy for her!
the fox plush toy represents the bear plush toy olive received from our dear friend bex. it was inside the best boxed gift ever from a little bundle, a cute little box b ordered for miss olive before she was born. inside was a cute, little toy bear. olive loves to play with it. it’s soft and chewable. it’s thin and light and she can pick it up, gnaw on it, and throw it around. i love the fox one too…she does need a fox toy 🙂
i love this little flutter romper. i love neutral colors and it’s actually shorts! so cute for summer. it’s a bit masculine and feminine at the same time. i love all these cute little clothes for her! ugh…she does grow through them so fast though! i feel like i buy and buy and she never has enough items?! hee.
i had a day off this past week and was excited to spend it all day with my little olive.
i had a doctor’s appointment downtown that morning, so i packed up olive’s things, got ourselves in the car and headed into awful traffic! i thought that making my appointment midmorning would be fine in avoiding traffic but since it was raining…it made for terrible traffic!
[ready for her outing // carters’s headband, little tots long sleeve onesie, gapkids pants, trumpette socks]
we finally got downtown and we scored a close parking spot! i put together the stroller and ran towards the office. i was already so late! i used to come to this place every month, multiple times a month, while pregnant with olive. so it was different coming back with a five month old…the babes that was in my belly for so long was now chillin’ by my side. so cool.
[hanging out downtown]
[on our way to wicker park]
after our appointment, olive and i went to wicker park to hang out. our old hood…*sigh*. it was a beautiful day out and perfect for a stroll around the neighborhood. we picked up some starbucks and we stopped into a few stores during our walk. on my agenda was to stop by sprout {a favorite store!} and pick up some organic cotton fox pajamas for little miss olive {they are so stinkin’ cute!}. our most favorite footie pj for olive had a fox on it {it was from carter’s} and hc loves to sing ‘what does the fox say?!’ to olive in her fox pj’s! alas, she outgrew them and needed a new one so we could continue our little song and dance with her that she loves!
[oooohhh, banh mi is open!]
[the pretty elementary school on division]
after our stroll around wicker park, we headed home but not without stopping a zillion places along the way!!! we had to go to target to exchange an item, we had to get stamps and drop off mail at the post office, we had to drop off donations, head to babies r us to do an exchange, and pick up some items at buybuybaby! oy! it was a long way before we got home but when we finally did, olive got to chill while i ran around putting things away we had purchased and cleaning things up!
i was finally able to relax a bit with the wee one and we had some quality time together. she’s so cute!
[i love, love this baby]
[capturing sweet moments]
[one photo at a time…she is so serious sometimes]
[since she was born…i love giving/getting baby kisses]
[muwah!]
i then prepped olive’s food {avocados!} and fed her. that is when hc came home! yay! all in all, it was a very busy, hectic day. olive was a trooper and was totally along for the ride the whole way. she was so chill the entire time i had her out {and that was a long time for my little babes}.
we had such a wonderful mommy/daughter day together!
what a wonderful, beautiful day it was! it was so exciting to have olive’s baptism finally here. i was filled with so much anticipation!
i was a bit nervous if olive would get fussy. she does get temperamental sometimes {duh…like her momma!} and can get cranky. we had a lot going on that morning too. getting olive up, feeding her, getting her dressed, getting grace ready, me and the hubs finalizing our outfits, packing up our stuff, getting out the door on time, and picking up some last minute items along the way!
[olive’s beautiful, handmade baptism dress by tashina // it’s made out of french chantilly lace, silk charmeuse, and silk chiffon]
well, hc sped his way to the city, he was nervous we were going to be late, {something he never really does} and we got there on time {phew!}. our party was already there waiting outside of the church, we quickly greeted them and scurried inside so we could get olive changed into her beautiful baptism gown.
[our beautiful moms]
[could they be any cuter??]
[peonies]
[grandpa and the boys]
we changed olive into her baptism gown in the brides room {how fitting!}, left our belongings there, and traipsed our way into the church. we met up with all our guests in the front two reserved pews. everyone oohh’d and ahh’d over how adorbs olive was!
[dressing her in the baptism gown in the bridal room]
[olive in her gorgeous dress]
[generations adoring each other]
[our pretty little girl]
[prim and proper]
mass began and we started out in the procession. up went the alter boys, the liturgical ministers, us, the godparents, and then father ken. we bowed before the alter and walked up to stand beside the font. father ken came up and asked us what name do we give her and what we were asking for of God’s church today. after that, we were dismissed and walked back to our pew to be seated.
[here we go! rite of passage]
then right after the homily, we were asked to come up again to go through the rites of baptism for olive. father ken anointed her with oil, referenced the white garment, lit the baptism candle, and recited the prayer over ears and mouth.
then came the dunking moment…i chose to have olive fully immersed into the holy water. to closely replicate and reference what john the batiste did, according to the bible. during the homily, we stripped olive down and draped her in a white towel. once fr. ken finished asking the questions to the parish and us {ya know…the do we reject satan, etc.}, he reached for olive and pulled her out from the towel and fully dunked her into the font three times…in the name of the father, the son, and the holy spirit.
[getting ready for the holy water]
[full immersion!]
olive was in good spirits! she came back safely into my arms and the cozy towel. fr. ken finished the rites, olive was announced as the newest member of the church, the parish applauded, and we were seated. it was awesome! it was such a wonderful, special moment…i was so happy to share it with our church, so excited fr. ken performed the rite, and so proud to have kim and terry as olive’s godparents.
after church, we walked our way to the restaurant. it was only two blocks away! it was such a beautiful day, i couldn’t have asked for better weather. the temperature was perfect and the sun was shining so brightly!
we rented out a private room at d.o.c wine bar. it was spectacular. it was such a large space, there were couches and chairs, and a fireplace. a perfect space for the kids to run around and hang out. they had set up long tables for everyone to sit and eat. the bartender was so accommodating and the food was absolutely delicious. the whole wait staff there was fantastic.
i had purchased a cake and had it redecorated to an all white buttercream frosting. i made fun toppers for olive’s cake and fashioned pretty, blooming peonies onto the top of the fluffy, yummy cake. i loved how it turned out…so whimsy and cute!
[baptism cake]
[love these kiddies]
[love these two!]
[noshing]
[family first // missy, aunt wendy, john, jane, and dick]
[my fair ladies]
[the ladies!]
after everyone downed their tasty libations, noshed on yummy eats, and filled their bellies with sweet treats…we slowly parted ways. it was such a great morning and afternoon. we had a truly wonderful time celebrating olive’s baptism with our friends and family.
we trekked our way home to get into comfy clothes and relax. after a bit, we headed on over to my parent’s for dinner and olive’s aunties showered her with more gifts! her first tiffany gifts…so spoiled! i am so thankful to everyone for all the generous gifts she received…olive is so blessed to be so loved!
[olive’s goodies]
[olive’s first tiffany gifts]
[cousin love // tiffany galore]
we seriously had the most delightful day. it was so perfect – olive’s custom made gown, the beautiful ceremony, the wonderful weather, the delicious brunch, and the best part? we were able to celebrate it with our loving friends and family. i am so thankful for both our families…we are truly, truly blessed.
