i was so excited to meet baby asher! my friend jodi was pregnant with her second child and had a scheduled c-section {prentice // northwestern // chicago}. so, i knew she was going to have her wonderful little baby on a weekend where i could see her! easy peasy!
we had a jammed packed day, the day i decided i would visit her and the new babes. we were already running around doing too much {what’s new?!} but i was determined to stop by. besides that, i had already told her i would. i am a women who stands by my words. it’s very rare i renege, very rare. sometimes it happens {it would have to be an extreme circumstance} and i will get very upset because i don’t like letting people down.
anyhoo, since we had olive and she couldn’t go upstairs to the room, hc just parked downstairs {olive was sleeping} and i ran upstairs to say hi. i vaguely remember where to go…i toured the place once when i was pregnant, i had visited jodi when she had jett, we attended a few prenatal classes there, and hell if i remember anything when i was in labor!
so, i checked in with the front desk and cruised on up…totes finding my way around. the memory is a powerful thing. i found her room and knocked on the door. her mom, ann {love this women}, opened up the door and i came inside. her mom was holding the precious asher. oh he was soooo tiny. you forget how tiny they are when they are born. although asher was two pounds heavier than jett!
i said hello to handsome jett, such a cutie! love that little face. i chitchatted with them for a bit and then matt arrived back, he had gone out to get food for them. it was so great to see all of them. i loved catching up and seeing the little baby. he is so precious and darling.
[adorable jett]
[little presh baby asher]
after a 15-20 minutes or so, i had to go since hc and olive were waiting downstairs. i am super excited that jodi will be off the next few months and now i can see her without going through the hassle of questions: when do you work or are you free, etc? woot woot!
oh children are such a blessing. i can’t wait to see these beautiful faces again soon!
matt’s mom, sheri, was in town and really wanted to see baby olive. of course we had to oblige! we always seize an opportunity to see matt and johann and bonus points that his mom is visiting!
it was a busy day ahead of us. we or rather, i tend to squeeze too much out of a day sometimes. i overbook or think we are super humans where we can be or do multiple things in a small period of time…forgetting that we have a child. hahaha! no, not really but still dragging olive everywhere is sometimes a drag. not in a annoying bad way but when it comes to scheduled naps and time in a car, those things can get wonky when you are always on the go!
anyhoo, we arrived at matt and johann’s in no time flat. they live in north center of chicago. it’s such a cute little neighborhoody area. as we were ringing their doorbell, johann flies by in his car! we waited for him to park and come let us in. he had run out to grab some last minute ingredients for our late lunch.
once inside, olive started exploring and slowly become comfortable in the new environment. she was curious about peanut. she knew there was a dog around but she wasn’t sure where he was! little peanut was in another room because johann was nervous that she would jump all over olive and knock her around. so we had to wait until matt came home to see if peanut would be nice with olive.
[the table setting]
[my babe…she loved throwing the dog’s ball around]
[our engagement gift to matt and johann]
[my energetic toddler]
johann was a cooking fool. everything smelled delicious and we couldn’t wait to eat! matt was still at work and his mom was downtown exploring, so we waited for the two of them to get home and eat.
while we hung out, we were served wine, cheese, and crackers to munch on. olive loved the crackers…she kept calling them chips! haha! we conversed with johann and enjoyed our time with him while he prepped the food. i love johann {and matt, of course!}. he is such a great guy, a fantastic husband to matt, and so, so sweet. truly a wonderful person inside and out. we are so blessed to have this fabulous couple in our lives. ya know how they say you should always surround yourself with good people? well we lucked out with these guys.
[the hubs]
[grilled zucchini]
well sheri and matt finally arrived home and it was time to eat! matt and johann finalized a few items of our meal and it was lunch time! we sat down to a lovely table setting and passed the dishes around and noshed away. it was a delicious meal! johann did such a fab job on every dish. i was stuffed and happy!
after dinner, matt and johann suggested that we go get ice cream. hells yes! i love margie’s ice cream! we decided to drive over there instead of walk {we didn’t want to walk with olive because we didn’t bring the stroller and it was a looooooong walk for a 22 month old}. it was such a beautiful, beautiful evening.
[sheri, johann, matt, and moi]
[pot roast, risotto, and grilled zucchini]
[in awe over her sparkle ring]
[curious over peanut…she was so sweet to him and gently pet him]
[yum!]
[my baby girl…so sweet]
[ice cream galore!]
while at margie’s, we definitely ate waaaayyyyyyy toooooo much ice cream. like too much. i was so stuffed i felt sick. yes. i ate so much ice cream, toffee bits, chocolate, whipped cream, and such while we were there. it was shameful.
after hanging out for a bit at margie’s, we decided it was time to go. it was a wonderful afternoon with matt, johann, and sheri! we were so thankful for the hospitality and squeezing in a chance to see them! it was a fabulous afternoon hanging out with them!
we love our playdates with brady and now brooklyn! i was excited to meet up with kim, i love hanging out with her. she has become such a great friend over the years and i love that our kids are so close in age.
we gathered ourselves up and headed out to her house. it was a gorgeous day. the sun was shining and the temp was perfect. we arrived right on ‘time’ and we were ready to play!
olive walked in all cautious as usual. she was intrigued by the dog and the new environment. i was happy to see kim, got a hug from bradybear, and scanned the room for miss brooklyn…there she was, all snuggled in her bouncy. oh, she’s a chunker!!! the baby rolls were ah-maze and she’s growing up so fast! slow it down brooklyn, slow it down!
[what’s the matter brooklyn??]
[warming up to each other]
[hi baby brooklyn]
of course, it took olive and brady a bit to warm up to each other. olive immediately took to the toys…brady hovered around, curious and concerned. it’s so fantastic to see them interact or lack thereof. olive totally minds her own business, she is quite content playing by herself and brady looked like he wanted to interact but didn’t quite step over that boundary, just yet.
slowly but surely they started to play together but brady being a boy, he was just a wee bit rough with olive {oh he’s a boy!}. poor olive, every time brady pushed her around, she wasn’t quite sure what to do!
kim had cooked us a delicious casserole for lunch! how lovely. we decided to ‘eat’ lunch but that is always a circus in itself. olive didn’t want to sit and eat, brady sat down for two seconds, and kim and i barely touched our lunch and wolfed down bits and pieces of it throughout the hour{s}. hahaha! #momlife #momproblems
of course, kim and i just blabbed and blabbed and blabbed on and on. our relationship has always been like that, we are quite the chatty cathies when we are together. we droned on and on from subject to another. it’s like we never have enough time to talk or when we decide it’s time to leave, we will gabbed about stuff for another hour! while we were hanging out, her hubby mikey came home to say hello! love the guy…he’s a sweetheart and quite the funny guy. it was great to spend some time catching up with him too! after a bit, he had to go {back to work!}.
[she loved the big bear]
[this was pretty much brooklyn in and out]
[mikey made a cameo appearance]
[olive loved sitting in the bucket]
[me and my babe]
[hugs goodbye]
hours and hours went by and before i knew it, it was getting past her nap time and getting too close to traffic time! we said our goodbyes for like an hour {haha!} and finally parted ways. olive gave brady and kim hugs and kisses goodbyes and we headed home. olive was out within minutes in the car and i was content that we had such a great day with kim and the kids. love her and her family! we can’t wait to see them again!
we absolutely love the moccs from my beautiful little shop. nailea creates the most amazing, soft, functional, yet pretty moccasins out there! the leather that she uses is so supple and buttery and the hidden elastic around the around the top line makes it so easy to slip the shoe on your babe and it s t a y s on your little’s feet!
we have always loved moccasins…baby olive received her first pair while she was still in mommy’s tummy! that is when the shoe obsession began…eep! i love buying her shoes. i love coordinating her outfits. nailea’s moccs are a perfect accessory every.single.time. olive always get so many compliments when she’s sporting a pair!
my little beautiful shop offers so many wonderful styles. she has your classic fringed moccs, which are probably the most popular. we have been a fan of her sandals, gladiators, and most recently i am loving her booties for fall! the booties have a higher ankle rise, they lace up, and look fabulous with leggings, leg warmers, and tights for the cooler weather!
she also specializes in unique styles such a ballet slippers with wrap around satin ribbons. those sandals are so romantic and perfect for your little dancer babe. my two favorite shoes to coordinate with most of olive’s outfits are her pink and gold moccs. the most versatile moccs in her closet. they are total opposites on how i want to impact olive’s outfit, one to add a punch of color or the other to add demure sparkle and shine to her ootd. those are my go to’s when in doubt.
to celebrate fall, my beautiful little shop and myself have partnered together to give away a pair of her gorgeous moccs {moccs of your choice!}! i am so excited to host this giveaway on my instagram account! please read the directions on how to enter the giveaway below! yay!
[pink moccs]
[black sequin moccs]
[gladiator lace up]
[romanos sandals]
[baby olive will be very disappointed if you don’t enter the giveaway!]
wow…she’s become such a cute, little, opinionated, sweet, bossy babe. hahaha! she’s definitely hit the almost terrible two’s. it’s not been so terrible but totally taxing on my sanity and patience. i completely understand that she is unaware of how to channel her emotions. i get that she doesn’t know right from wrong. i do my best to guide her and be as compassionate as possible. she’s a funny one. i get her by now, though. yes. no. yes. no. yes. no. i get all freudian on her. so, in the end i win! muwahahaha!
she still loves to eat. she’s got some chunky legs but her arms are so itty bitty! i only say ‘still’ because ya know how kids can be…they can get picky! so far, so good with miss olive but yes, she is still little. we usually start her morning with yogurt, fruit, and/or cereal. for lunch, we go in for an all beef hotdog, fruit, and cheese. she will get a snack in the afternoon and that will typically consist of annie’s cheddar bunnies, fruit, dried cranberries, applesauce, or horizon peanut butter sandwich crackers. for dinner, she will eat whatever we eat but we will add in fruit or veggies if we lack in those areas.
baby olive is a trooper sleeper. such a good, great, awesome sleeper. she has the occasional interrupted sleep {mostly her afternoon naps}, where she cries out for a minute or less but other than that, she’s pretty solid. she is a night owl. yes, baby girl looooooooves to stay up late. where most kids her age go to bed at 7 or 8 o’clock, olive is all milk drunk partying it up at night. she won’t hit the sack until 9-10 o’clock and sometimes she will lay in her crib and hum or talk to herself for another 45 minutes or so. but like clockwork, she will stir at 8 o’clock {give or take} every day. she will hum or talk to herself for a half hour or so before she starts to scream my name. “mom! mom! mom! mom!”, over and over again. even if i answer her she will keep screaming it until i go into her room. sometimes she will converse with me from across the hallway {and that is soooo adorbs!} but most of the time, she won’t stop until i make an appearance.
goofing off is her middle name. she loves to be so crazy {toddler life}. she loves to chase me, grab at my legs and say, “i got you! rawr!”. she loves to say that over and over as we chase each other and play ‘tag’. she loves to jump on the couch {bad habit we don’t stop! eep}. her current love? jumping everywhere. she doesn’t walk, she will jump, jump, jump to point a to point b. she loves it when we throw her in the air, she loves to play hide and seek, she loves to read and be read to. her favorite book of the moment is the little engine that could. she loves it when i read to her in the morning, that’s her routine.
words or phrases she says. “oh noooooooo, it’s sucks!” translated to, “oh nooooooo, it’s stuck!”. “i eat”. “peas” translated to “please”. “i bow, i boowwww, i bow!” translated to “i want my bow!”. “i want”. “phone”. “i wuvvv you” translated to “i love you”. “munny” translated to “bunny”. “i like it”. “mmmm, yummy”. “doggie”. “cat, meow”. “cookie”. “pop” translated to “lollipop”. “i sorry”. “pilwoah” translated to “pillow”. “book”. “bear”. “hat”. “elwafent” translated to “elephant”. “mouse”. “shoes”. “tv”. “i drink”. “back” translated to “put it back”. i could go on and on. her vocabulary grows by the day and everyday, we are teaching her new words to say and remember. she knows her name, she knows how old she is, she can count 1 – 10 guided and so forth. it’s so amazing to watch her grow and learn.
her snuggles are the best. i love that she is now so cuddly and sweet. she loves to sit in my lap, be in my arms when we are sitting on the couch watching a movie. she will lean her head on me. she loves to crawl into our bed and lay with us. she gives the best kisses and hugs. the kind of hugs where she will repeatedly tap you on your back, so stinkin’ cute. she will hold my hand, give me endless kisses, lean her face onto mine, put her arms around me…i love every second of it!
this girl loves her shoes. oh, and she had plenty of pairs to swap around! she is so good with putting on her shoes and taking them off. the other week, she put it on the wrong foot and said, “wrong foot!” and proceeded to take them off and put them on the right foot! such a smarty. if she sees her any of her shoes sitting around, she will always put them on. so far, she’s been great with letting me choose her clothes and shoes. i will be sad when the day comes and she won’t ‘let’ me dress her anymore!
well, that is oh baby olive in a nutshell. i could go on and on about all the wonderful changes and growth she has been through {typical mom talk, non?!} but i will give you the condensed version. hahaha!
she is the light of our lives. i pray every day that she will grow up to be a strong, loved, patient, kind, healthy, beautiful lady. olive, we love you so much and always want you to know how much we care, give, and do to make this world for you a better place.
most of the time, olive and i are just simply hanging out. one thing with this kiddo is that she definitely needs one on one attention. sometimes it’s really hard, sometimes it’s really easy…honestly, it just depends on what i have going on.
i, as usual, take on too much all the time. i never, naturally, can never sit still…so the more i do, the better it feels for me. i don’t mind alway being on the go and sitting still to relax is hard for me to do. the only time i ever just sat around was when i was pregnant. i had no energy or motivation to get up to do anything. it was such an anomaly. everyday i would sit on the couch and watch t.v. something i never, ever do!
well, trying to get stuff done with a kid {as any parent would understand and know} is such a feat! i do my best to accomplish stuff while olive is napping or late at night when she goes down to bed {this is where i lose sleep and it’s a tough thing to swallow. i believe good sleep = good health and i am losing this battle!}. it’s hard though, because i can’t get everything done within a few hours in a day.
that’s where i struggle. i am thankful for hc because we will share olive and take turns doting on her, depending on what each of us has on our agenda. when i am with her, she wants all my attention and i want to give it to her. there are little blimps within our day, when she will be totally focused on her toys {her play corner in the living room} and i will take advantage of that and scurry around, getting stuff done in the house.
what cracks me up are kids concept of time {or lack thereof}. olive might be by herself for 10 minutes and she will have a freak out {she probably thinks she had been alone for ages} and will come find me, nervous that she was alone. i always chuckle at this because it’s so cute.
i don’t like turning on the t.v., either, to distract her. she is now at an age where she completely zones in and becomes obsessed with the telly, so that is something we put on late at night, maybe right before bedtime so she can just chill out.
i do believe in quality time with her than quantity. like, when we are together…i try really hard not to have my cell phone or computer going. i want to give her my attention when we are together versus having my head buried in technology and social media. although, it’s hard at times when i’m on the computer {blogging, etc.} and hc is chilling with her, she will come over to have me come play with her {in which case, i can’t say no!}.
i’ve come to terms on what i can or cannot do around her. it was hard at first, because it was about finding my balance and managing my time. when i can do something, when i can’t, and when was i going to get something done! when she was a wee one, it was easy to do anything because she was stationary. now that she is mobile and interactive, the whole game plan has changed. i had to pick and choose my battles but honestly, i haven’t lost one yet. 😉
yes, peeps, the struggle is real. i’ve learned to run like a well oiled machine despite the obstacles and challenges i’ve faced at being a first time mom who’s a bit of an overachiever. hahaha! this baby girl keeps me on my toes! sometimes i want to lock myself in a closet {yes, and i want no one to find me} and sometimes i want to just sit still for a moment and not be bothered {all deep wishes here} but the joys of parenthood does not allow that. i love, love my time with olive, every second {well maybe not the tantrums} and i’ve come to terms on how to manage it. although there are days i want to rip my hair out.
in the end, the struggle, the madness, the craziness, the insanity, is overshadowed by the love, the giggles, the hugs, the kisses, and the amazing child named olive. oh how i love her so.
oh, sweet baby. yes, she was adorable, darling, and oh so tiny!!
beautiful brooklyn is an absolute doll. we were so elated to have finally met her. we arrived at their house, walked in, and we were greeted right away by bruster, kim, and brady. after hugs and hello, i immediately asked where the little babes was. kim directed me to the bouncy in the living room and i was in love. she was so tiny, fragile, and sweet.
i was a little nervous about holding her only because within the last six months, olive has been so crazy upset with me holding any of my friend’s baby! so, there i was, ready to hold the precious little bundle and side eyeing olive at the same time. i picked up little brooklyn in my arms and olive didn’t blink an eye. she continued on, i think she was more excited at all the toys in their house! sweet! i could finally hold a baby! hallelujah!
[she walked in like she owned the place]
[sweet little brooklyn]
[holding little brooklyn]
kim and i caught up on life’s latest happenings. i love hanging out with this gal. from the moment we met, we have always had something to gab about. seriously. we can talk and talk and talk. it must be my friend qualification, a prerequisite. hahaha! if you can blab from one subject to the next, you are destined to be my friend!
around noon, we prepared the kids lunch and ordered ours. olive and brady ate together and then kim and i had our lunch. i must say, these kids were cracking me up. it is so amusing to watch them together. brady and his wild ways and olive and her stoic actions. after an hour or so, they finally were meshing together! that is when all the cuteness ensued! it was so fun to see them in action and how they vibe off of one another. olive became more animated and loud and brady become a little bit more subdued and more open to olive. kim and i had the best time watching them interact.
after several hours of hanging out {we only parted ways because it was nap time for both our kids}, we packed ourselves up to go. i was sad to leave. we greatly enjoyed our time with them and their newest addition, beautiful brooklyn.
[beautiful mama and babe]
[such a silly girl! she loved the tent!]
[such a cute pic of them!]
[me, brooklyn, and kim]
[this was tooooooo cute. hugging and kissing each other goodbye]
we had the best time visiting the new family of four! congrats kim, mikey, and brady! brooklyn is so perfect and precious.
my friend andrea just had her baby girl, annabelle grace! we couldn’t wait to meet her! we had texted back and forth and finally agreed on a good time to meet {i was so excited to meet the precious bundle}. hc got off of work early that day and we made the trip on over to their place in chicago.
we walked in and there she was…so itty bitty on her play mat, on the floor. she was soooooo tiny. you totally forget how small newborns are! well, at least i did. she was so precious and small, so amazingly delicate! i was in love.
olive was interested but not as interested as i thought she would be. wherever we go, she always points out babies and seems to get excited about it. when she laid her eyes on annabelle, she was curious but still very cautious.
[annabelle grace]
[so precious!]
[semi-interested in the baby]
andrea’s mom has been staying over and she was making dinner for us all. i was so excited and grateful! we totally had plans on bringing dinner over for the new parents but andrea told me that her mom was cooking bi bim bop and i couldn’t have been more delighted! i love korean food. it’s sooooooo delicious. next to my mom’s cooking, andrea’s mom is a winner!
besides that, i love her mom. she is such a sweet lady. i love talking with her and she is so loving towards little miss olive. such a wonderful, lovely woman. i love hanging out with her!
[eating bi bim bop…seriously, mad good]
[this picture does this dish no justice…total tastebud explosion]
[i couldn’t get enough of this little one]
after dinner, we hung out, relaxed, and conversed about life’s plans. i had andrea open up a little gift for miss annabelle {clothes, naturally!} and i finally washed up my hands and asked to hold the little bebe. oh, she was so light, small, and adorable. i totally had forgotten how tiny, tiny and almost weightless newborns are. she is so precious and sweet.
as i stood there holding little miss annabelle, olive was not happy. she did not like it one bit. she started to freak out. first she was whimpering and tugging at me but then she had a full on freak out. she started screaming and crying and was just not having it with me and another baby in my arms! i tried to calm her down by picking her up {it worked!} but i can only hold a 1 1/2 year old and a newborn for so long!
it was too cute when ollie jumped off his chair and ran over to help me. he was so worried that i would drop his baby sister. the whole situation was nutty, funny, and bananas with olive having a fit. haha!
[little gifts for baby girl!]
[olive entertaining herself with annabelle’s play mat]
[holding his baby sister]
[this was seconds before olive’s meltdown. she was.not.happy. that i was holding another baby girl besides her. not happy]
[olive was ok with me holding her and the baby…she was having a fit. as you can see, ollie was worried i would drop his baby sister. don’t worry ollie, i was a pro]
[the fab couple]
soon after olive had her freak out moment, it was all downhill from there! olive was just not happy and her mood had totally changed. we stayed just a little bit longer but decided to say our goodbyes and head on home. i was super happy to have had a chance to hold their precious little baby girl. it was a perfect evening with a perfect little babe.
a typical day for me & olive starts with her getting me up. yup, i will sleep until i hear her shriek out loud. and yes, she does love to cry and yell in the morning. she will never just wake up and coo. or talk to herself {sometimes but rare} or lay around. nope. she will get up and scream and cry. so, i will get my sleepy self out of bed and sleep walk towards her room {sometimes i don’t think my eyes are open}. i will bust through her door and yell “good morning!!!” every time and usually i am greeted with a smile and her arm outstretched towards me. i beeline towards her nightlight and turn it off, then i walk on over to her and pick my little munchkin up and out of her crib and i will bring her into our room {she loves to tap our railing post in the hallway when i pass it every.time.}.
i nurse her and she typically rolls off my lap {and says “boom!”} and sits in bed with me or {lately} she will slide off the bed and go running for something to play with. now depending on how tired i am, i might lay in bed for a bit with her or while she plays around me or i will get up and get ready for the day. usually it’s the first part {oy…i am so tired of late} rather than the latter.
while i get ready for the day, she loves to sit on the toilet {cover} and watch me get ready. she likes to brush her teeth, or hair, and sit by my side and intently watch my every move. once i’m done, we will play together, read a book, take some photos, or she will play around the house while i get some things done {mostly cleaning, laundry, or organizing the place}.
about an hour or so after she nurses, that is when i will make her breakfast. sometimes it’s simple and easy – i will give her a yogurt pack {usually earth’s best} and wait for her to finish it. i will then slice up fruit {she’s on a roll with grapes lately} and crackers and let her eat it at her little play table. or i will make her a ham and cheese omelet. or she will eat cereal. it depends on what’s in the fridge or what we’re feeling in the moment.
after breakfast, our morning involves more playing and more cleaning. an hour or so after her ‘second’ breakfast, it’s time for another feeding and then her first nap. now, as of late, she has been very erratic with her sleeping schedule {i’m going to blame the molars} but she does go down pretty easy with her first nap. her second one is the more questionable one. she tends to sleep for an hour or two for her first nap. while she sleeps, i will blog, edit pictures, or do more chores around the house.
once she wakes up, i usually get her changed {ootd} and we will head out for the day. whether it’s to meet a friend for lunch, head to the mall, or head out to get some errands done, we try our best to get out. now that the weather is getting so much nicer, we might just go outside for a bit and play, or go for a walk.
lunch is usually around this time. if we meet friends for lunch, i will usually feed her then but if we are running out for errands, i will pack food on the go. sometimes it will be fruit, crackers, yogurt packs, or whatever is portable and easy. if we are at home, i will make her an organic hotdog, cheese slices, fruit, or a pasta with vegetables. i’ll just rummage through our fridge or cabinets to make something easy and healthy for her.
after our errands, lunch date, or playing together, i will then attempt for another nap. i’m pretty successful, even if she only sleeps for an hour or so. by this time, daddy is on his way home! yay!
so, this is a typical day for us in a nutshell! there are certain variables that will change but it is pretty much the same routine every time. i try my best to keep olive on a tight schedule; it’s important to me to maintain a consistent agenda to keep her on par with her sleep patterns. it really helps to keep her healthy and happy!
thanks for joining us for a day in the life of miss olive! not always exciting but always filled with love and laughter.
heyyyyy there, lovies. the weather has been faaaaaantastic around here as of late. we are getting quite excited about it! it was so unexpected. we were having such cold, cold temps around here and then all of a sudden *boom* it became warm! and when i say warm, that translates into 60 degree temps! wooo hooo! it’s a flippin’ heat wave!
so, olive and i had a day together where we didn’t have to do anything. we didn’t have to meet up with anyone. we didn’t have to be anywhere. we had the day to ourselves and it was wonderful. we relaxed in the morning. did our usual routine and then that afternoon, we decided that we were going to go the mall and hang out. hey, being a mall rat isn’t a bad thing! we looooove shopping!
our first stop was at victoria’s secret to say hi to some lovies. olive was not a happy camper. she has been afraid of strangers since she came out of the womb. so, naturally, if any of the employees got too close to her…she freaked out! poor thing. i wish she was more open to people she didn’t know, well at least to the people she didn’t know that i know, haha! i guess that is a good thing. she should be afraid of strangers! stranger = danger!
[visiting our friends at the mall]
[the look of fear – this is basically how she looked anywhere we went in the store]
[olive couldn’t get away fast enough]
after we said hello at the victoria’s secret store, we happily went to say hi to the land of nod workers. now, i had registered at this store for olive’s baby shower, so not only did i frequent their store for any events that they host, i shopped here non-stop while i was pregnant {and still do!}. plus, it’s a perfect place to take your kid because it’s magical toy wonderland. olive had a blast. she was in kiddie heaven. she didn’t know where to start. she roamed around, looking at al the fun stuff she could play with. it was too, too cute!
i think her favorite toys were the food/tea set and table. she pretended to eat the fake food and drink from the cups. i was fascinated. i loved watching her play. she is so sweet and lovely, it’s just pure entertainment for me. we spent quite awhile in the store. olive was having too much fun and i didn’t want to interrupt her glorious playtime!
[she had the best time at the land of nod]
[tea time]
[who needs a cup when you can drink from the pot?]
[she loved playing with the kitchen sets]
[tea time with her imaginary friends…she would pick up the chicken leg and pretend to eat it]
[she would pick up the duck and call it a doggie]
after the land of nod, we trekked out way towards the other end of the mall. i stopped by the gap to visit my dear friend, matt. love him! he’s one of my besties and such a great, great guy. olive only gave him a questionable look, but i think she was preoccupied by her snacks to worry too much. we stayed and chitchatted for a bit with matt before we took off to nordstroms.
we went to visit our favorite kid shoe salesperson at nordy’s, dee! she’s such a sweetheart and is so great with olive! we love getting a balloon from the store every time we visit. only just a few months ago did olive become very fascinated by balloons. they were just odd looking items to her before; then one day, she was mesmerized by them. she loves balloons. she loves to bounce them around. she loves to drag them around with her and it amazes her that they float!
[visiting matt]
well, there ya go lovies. me and my mini me had a wonderful day at the mall. it was so beautiful out, we had to get outside to enjoy it. we had a great time visiting our friends and shopping!
