hc and i had a love book personalized for our baby girl olive.
it is such a delightful book by paper hat press. they customize the story to your child’s favorite items! olive received the christmas mouse book from her aunties kim and thuy this past holiday {you can see it here}. it definitely was my favorite christmas gift for olive.
so, i as was surfing the web, i stumbled upon a valentine’s day themed book through pbk. of course, i couldn’t pass it up!
we received the final product the day before valentine’s day. how perfect! so, we were able to read olive’s book to her on this past wonderful vday.
[i was super, duper excited to see this package in the mail!]
[how sweet! isn’t it just adorbs?!]
[awwwwwwww]
[i love the illustrations]
[aaanndd we do love our pasta!]
how sweet is this book?!
sweeter than this cupcake ↓ i voraciously consumed from previous weeks!
this is so cute. i couldn’t pass it up. i was playing with olive, shaking her vera bradley bunny rattle {courtesy of aunt missy!}, when i captured this adorable photo of her!
i love the mustela cleansing cream for o. it smells wonderful, it’s tear free, and cleans her little body so gently!
not having a cute little hooded towel for your baby is impossible! i love the pbk ones…i also have the animal terry towels too! olive looks absolutely adorable after her bath in one. you just want to squeeze her, there’s so much cuteness!
i avoided clipping her nails for a long time. it made me nervous. those little, itty, bitty fingers and toes are so delicate! i finally succumb to it and trimmed her tootsies all nice. i love these safety 1st clippers because they are easy to use and snips a clean, quick line with a fussy baby.
oy vey…parents, get a swing! your baby will love it and it will help calm a crying/fussy baby. i must admit…it didn’t work with olive right away. she preferred her ‘daddy’ swing {hc plopped her into the carseat and had to swing it back and forth until olive fell asleep…yowza}. it’s a great distraction for olive and she can be content in it for a bit. if i rock her to sleep, i’ll place her in the swing to keep the motion going.
at first, i started using the avent milk storage bottles but it became cumbersome in the freezer {and too pricey to buy}. i do love storing milk in the bottles because it’s so easy to warm up and feed but when you’re storing mass quantities, you gotta find some other means! i love the lansinoh storage bags! they take up less space and are very convenient to store, archive, and tote around.
soooo, the blowout blockers. our baby girl pooped like it was a rocket coming out of her behind! not pretty! sometimes her number two’s would shoot straight up the back of her diapy, yes…new parents, it’s true. it scared the bajeezus out of me to travel with her with a possible accident like that waiting to happen {and it’s happened. you have to then clean her, the clothes, the carseat cover, the car seat…and so on}. the blowout blockers prevents a crazy mess from happening! total peace of mind with this product!
the aden and anais bibs were essential the second month. she started to spit up and throw up a bit more often. it also protected her clothes from major accidents {projectile vomit anyone?!}. these were good because she’s not drooling a lot {yet} and they are soft, comfortable, and pretty for her.
i found out during the second month, her eyes really latched onto objets! she really liked her carrot rattle. i would rattle it back and forth above her and she would be fixated on it. plus, it’s a stinkin’ cute toy!
since baby girl was born with a head full of awesome hair, having a brush came in handy right away! after her baths, her hair would be crazy mangled and this safety 1st brush is super gentle on her little noggin.
last but not least, i’m sure you’re wondering why i have the iron man movie listed? olive loves watching this action flick! she’s glued to the tube when it’s playing. so sad but true, i’ve probably seen this movie hundreds of times. no joke.
i was very excited to have plans with matt and ande. i absolutely love getting together with them. we are such a fun bunch, if i do say so myself!
we had planned to meet up on division street at prasino but this weather has been atrocious. it snowed the night before and during the day of our plans. after mucho texting with each other, matt suggested that they come over to our place instead. of course, i am not against that at all. it was a nice idea to be able to relax at our place without worrying if we were holding anyone up, since we gab non-stop.
i was all psyched to break out the stroller and traipse my way to the restaurant, since it was only a few blocks away. that meant i could get some exercise and get out but i was foiled by the weather again!
hc was actually working from home that day and took a lunch break when they came by. he met them at a local deli, rosie’s west town, and grabbed some bites to eat, while i stayed in with the babes. they came back and we sat down for some tasty food. ande was excited to see olive {she hadn’t yet met her!} and see her nursery!
i love the sandwiches at rosie’s!! it is so delicious. they have great soups, sandwiches, and desserts. it makes me happy to have such good, local businesses like that around us.
[matt and ande…some very good peeps. love them!]
[matching sweaters!]
[tiramisu and brownie desserts]
[the girls!]
[hc and i relaxing after our visitors. little o was napping :)]
after several hours of hanging out together and catching up on the latest news, it was sadly time for them to part. it was a really, really great visit in so many ways. mostly because of the wonderful news we heard from ande! we had good eats, they got to say hi to the baby, and we had such wonderful things to talk about!
thanks for coming our way for our lunch date! love you guys!
i ventured out to my sister’s house this past week to celebrate a little love with the nephews.
i hit the roads during rush hour {ugh}; it was congested but not so bad! i was constantly moving and it didn’t take that long to get there. i was, at first, hesitant to travel out there because it was suppose to snow during the late afternoon, which is a recipe for a driving disaster!
i brought over valentine’s day cupcakes and i set the boy’s presents on the console as i walk in. it was too cute, they kept asking who those presents were for. i told them it was for two boys named reagan and bennett, i asked them if they knew who these two boys were. bennett looked confused but reagan blurted out, “that’s us!”. i told them there are more little boys out there name reagan and bennett, which made them giggle. 🙂
[it’s fat free…yum]
[olive chillin’ while we ate our dinner]
after a healthy dinner of portillo’s, we exchanged presents! it was so fun! i gave the boys their gifts, and they gave olive her gift. thuy had brought the boys and olive presents too! there was a lot of exchanging and gifting going on, the boys screamed out, “is it christmas?!”. lol.
[the boys with their vday presents // s’mores // alien pom growth on r’s face]
kim, r n b, had gotten olive the cutest stuffed animal that came with the most adorable tutu and headband! we dressed her in it and we were just delighted on how darling she looked! it was so precious.
[r + b decorated olive in valentine’s day stickers! // baby’s first valentine // wooden animal blocks]
[love her first valentine’s day card]
thuy had bought olive awesome wooden toys and a lovely outfit {so cozy and cute}. i love wooden toys. i want to stay as close as possible to just buying wooden toys {quite a feat but i’ll try my best!} for olive.
[thuy’s stenciled clutch gift for me! // auntie kim and olive {look at her face and skinny legs!} // adorbs outfit from thuy]
it was a very sweet evening with the family. we had a blast celebrating valentine’s day together. it was filled with lots of love, giggles, and charming fun.
valentine is a sweet holiday ♥. either you love or hate it…and i have never hated it. it’s not just about being in a relationship with a significant other {i’m gonna say it, but a lot of single people run with this idea about v-day, which makes it such a bitter holiday for some!} but it’s about love. we always have people around us that we love, so why not celebrate it?? don’t fall into the idea that it’s only about couples! use this day to express to others how much they mean to you and how much you care about them!
i wanted to get festive but not expend too much energy into it, ya know…with a little one, it’s a bit difficult to have spare time or even spare hands! so, first things first, i bought baby girl her first valentine’s day book! it’s called, ‘olive, my love‘. how sweet is that?! i absolutely love this series…it all started years ago, here’s a short story:
christmas 2000 {yes, that long ago}. i was shopping at oakbrook one evening, as i set foot into the nordstrom there…i was instantly delighted by their holiday decor!! i was in love! the strung lights, the little dog reindeer…what was this?! i wanted it all! i thought their decor was so darling and whimsical! i then inquired an employee about it, i wanted to know where i could buy the lights and all the fun decorations they had out, and i wanted to know more about the ‘other reindeer’. she was so stinkin’ cute! so there it was, the beginning of my obsession around ‘olive the other reindeer’ and any other book with her cute little character in it. 🙂
i decided to make a fun garland for our windows. very easy and plenty festive. i purchased lace doilies and crochet shaped flowers. i then rummaged through my craft bins and found my red twine. i strung the doily hearts right side up and upside down, every 3-4 hearts, i placed a crocheted flower. i just repeated it until i achieved the length i desired.
voila! so easy peasy!
i also made a ‘kiss me’ banner out of construction paper. i just free-hand drew the words out with pencil and cut out all the lettering and the heart. i then affixed it all to my red and white twine.
next up: a fun, bright garland!
i then made a valentine garland out of scalloped circles to add to the festive ambience in our place. using my valentine construction paper, my trusty hole punch {um, for some reason it took a lot of energy to hole punch! my palms hurt!}, and twine. ta-da! a fun, bright garland to lighten our moods! love how it looks!
next up? cupcakes! moist, yummy, delicious, sweet cupcakes!
olive and i had an afternoon delight filled with yummy eats and a little shopping.
we met up with jodi and jett at southport grocery. i love going there!
we were a bit worried about the space inside, because it’s quite a small shop/eatery; but everything worked out though! we were able to squeeze ourselves in and enjoy our time there. i love spending time with jodi and jett. he is sooo stinkin’ adorable. like i’ve said before…i love his noggin’! his big head and big chubby cheeks are so cute!
jod and i caught up and enjoyed our time together. we got up to date with the latest news and oohed and ahh’d over our babies.
olive was quite, quite cute on our ride over to wrigleyville. she was wide awake on our way out and the whole car ride there. she was never like that before! she was so intrigued by her environment, just bug eyed and looking around. it was so cute. i couldn’t get enough of her adorable face all curious looking and gazing at everything. she was awake all the way to the restaurant, once we got inside and seated, that is when she started to drift. about 10 minutes into us being seated, she zonked out. too cute.
[jett looking cute and getting creative on the table paper. already an artist!]
[selfie fun]
[sleepy olive. what a little peanut.]
[excited to eat!]
[baked oatmeal and bacon! it was sooooo good. what a {somewhat} healthy, sweet treat to start the day with!]
after brunch, we strolled over to anthropologie to shop around. i had to get a few gifts and just absolutely love that store! they have the cutest, most whimsical house ware items. my most favorite, favorite candle is called volcano…i’ve been buying it for years. i loved it when they offered it the mercury container, so pretty and very festive for the holidays too!
i also fell in love with this matte lipstick! such a pretty color…it’s called geranium from albeit. a bright, poppy, coral pink. it’s goes on smoothly and lasts a really long time! it totally brightens up the face!
{albeit matte crayon}
jod was shopping with me but i felt so bad dragging her ’round and ’round in circles trying to figure out what to buy! we finally hugged and parted ways and i kept circling the store! i finally decided on a few items…a couple of gifts for others and a couple things for myself 😉
it was quite an enjoyable afternoon, being able to relax with friends and my little one!
typical of any new mom…i can’t get enough of her adorable face!! i could just stare at her f.o.r.e.v.e.r. those eyes, chubby cheeks, her cute little chin…
her soft skin, her clean breath, her rosy cheeks, her fluffy hair, her big pouty lips, her well groomed eyebrows, her tiny little toes, her funny expressions, i could go on and on. kids are so stinkin’ cute, especially your own! 🙂 it takes all of my self control to not squeeze her so hard! so instead, i just shriek “i love you soooooo much!!!”, she probably already thinks i’m a crazy mom. oh, olive…be still my heart ♥.
how sweet is this book?!
