Happy Holidays!

These holidays we have been super busy. On Christmas eve we arrived in Toronto Canada to visit tylers family. We have been spending the last week enjoying family, relaxing and a white christmas (almost). While Christmas itself was warm and not so snowing, the days after provided lots of snow. Jude loved watching it fall and was not to sure what to make of it on the ground. I hope everyong had an enjoyable Christmas week!

very very busy

These last few weeks we have been VERY busy. We have completed 2 holiday markets, one of which was 2 days long. I came down with a horrible cold for which i could take no medication due to breastfeeding, which turned into a sinus infection that has lasted forever. I have had a few doula interviews that resulted in my having a doula client every month from now till April with lots of scheduled prenatal and interviews coming up. I also gave my notice as a counselor, last week will be last week. With all of the busyness we took some family time this weekend to get our house ready for the holiday.

Picking out our Christmas tree

Pretty exciting

Jude had a traumatizing encounter with Santa

With lots of things going on and even more things to catch up on, it was nice to take some time to do one of my favorite things, setting up the christmas tree. This year we got a small tree and put it up on a table. Now that Jude is moving around we figured it was safer.

9 months

My son is now 9 months old. He has officially been out as long as he was in (a few weeks longer then he was in actually) and I can hardly believe it. 9 months ago was hands down the most amazing moment of my life as I meet my son for the first time. 9 months before that Jude was just a tiny little guy and I was confused and wondering why I was so tired and why I was craving cheeseburgers SO badly. This month has brought with it tons of change. A few new tricks that Jude has picked up:

-Pulling himself up into the standing position

-walking with help from mom and dad

-blowing spit bubbles on purpose

-commando crawling

-eating bites of mom and dads food

-fake crying to get attention

Each new change is so exciting to watch. Even now after all this time with him both in belly and in home, I am still constantly blown away that i have a son and that my son is so amazing.

Printable Love

I am love with free printables. There are so many beautiful prints out there in the Internet world that are free to use and can give ones house or office and instant lift. I am the kind of person who loves free things, no matter what they are. I hoard the free band aid packets the hospital gives out as a promotional item, I take hand fulls of matchbooks even though I do not smoke and don't really have any use for them, I love getting things for free. It is even more rewarding when I can use the things that I collect for free. Here are a few of the free printable items I have been loving lately:

From the Blog eatdrinkchick here are some adorable cup sleeves.

Source: eatdrinkchic.com via Sara on Pinterest

From the same blog, here are some super cute Christmas tags

Source: eatdrinkchic.com via Sara on Pinterest

'like' armommy on Facebook and you get lovely monthly prints. Here is Novembers.

Source: armommy.com via Sara on Pinterest

I printed off these thankful cards from jones design company and took a big branch into work so that my clients can work on a 'thankful tree'. Starting tomorrow she is having a week of free printable giveaways in honor of the upcoming holiday season!

Source: jonesdesigncompany.com via Kassie on Pinterest

There is a small glimpse into my current free printable obsession.

ruffled flower tutorial

I have been making lots of these ruffled rose/poppy flowers for some hats for our shop lately and thought I would do a littl tutorial. They are super easy to make and look cute on just about anything.

Supplies :

Polyester material

scissors

candle

button or beads

needle and thread

Step 1: Free hand cut out circles of polyester material. Vary the sizes to create different size petals.

Step 2: Hold raw edge of circle of candle flame. After a few seconds you will se the edges seal and start to curl a little. Continue around entire petal and your other peices

Step 3: Place your petals on top of eachother by size and secure with buttons or beads using your needle and thread.

Step 4: Apply to whatever you choose. It looks cute on a pin that you can stick on any sweater or headband you want. We have been putting them on some top knot baby hats!

Its super easy to whip up a bunch of these in one sitting. Each flower takes about 5 min. to make. I think they make the perfect affordable, cute and easy christmas gift for a friend. Happy crafting.

Wedensday wishes

Happy wedensday! Ok, its actually thursday, but I didnt get around to writing anything yesterday so I am going to pretend that I am on top of things and did not spend all of nap time knitting in my yoga pants while watching old tv shows.

I am so happy it is November. A new month that brings with it the holiday season, family meals, big sweaters, lots of food, christmas music and time off with my husband. Last week my sister came for a visit and it was oh so good. She and my mom made some amazing crafts, we went shopping, worked on finally finishing the baby's nursery and even did a girls day out. This week has not been quite as relaxing. With lots on the horizon, here are a few things i am wishing for this week:

I am hoping to one day not be this person anymore:

Source: thingswealldo.tumblr.com via Kim on Pinterest

To make some local mom friends who I can stroll through the park with (with our babies or course)

Source: thatkindofwoman.tumblr.com via Sara on Pinterest

to get some work done on our new display for markets and fairs

Source: linenforsummertweedforwinter.tumblr.com via Kate on Pinterest

and finally to kill it in my interview this sunday

Source: facebook.com via Sara on Pinterest

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!!! My husband doesn't get home till late so we dressed the baby out and went to the pumpkin patch along Jude's auntie em on Sunday.

all ready to go

Baby Giraffe eating high up leaves

Overwhelming love

One of the few pictures of Jude looking up. High was pretty into the straw.

Hope your weekend was full of tasty treats and fun costumes.

8 months

My baby is 8 months old this week. It seems like every day now more unique personality comes. He is happy and curious.

Everything he sees goes right in the mouth. He was particularly pleased with this handful of dirt.

He has always been fascinated with watching the leaves blow in the wind.

In case you cant tell, he is teething some more. We have started putting bibs on him throughout the day to save ourselves multiple outfit changes due to excessive drooling

Happy 8 months Jude!

fall shop

We are gearing up for the holidays out our shop. We have been buying supplies and scheming ideas. We are in the process of making baby winter booties, Santa clause beards for pacifiers, some new wraps and both Christmas and fall hats. We are so excited not only to have new fall/holiday items on our etsy shop but also to be preparing for another queen bee market. The market will be at the Del mar Hilton on November 18th-19th. If you come to the market you will also get entry in the Mindy Gledhill show right after the Friday night market! Here are a few of the things that we have completed so far:

Fall acorn hat

Baby Wrap

Holiday green - soon to have an option for a holiday aplique

Wednsday Wishes!

This last week I have felt a bit overwhelmed. A little over emotional. When Tyler comes home at night i can hardly keep from weeping, both out of happiness to see him and relief to have help with the baby.

I have always been the kind of person that NEEDS to eat fairly often or I turn into an emotional/grumpy wreck. One of challenges I face being a mom is that I often get so busy taking care of the baby that I forget to take care of myself, even forget to eat. This is ironic since 'what are you doing to take care of YOU?' is one of my most used statements as a counselor. When i lead groups i am constantly reminding clients about the importance of self care and 'me' time. Now if only I could get through to myself with this message. In an effort to practice better self care, here are a few things that I am wishing for this week (Some obtainable, some not) :

To spend some quality time with husband and celebrate his birthday!!!

I would love to have a hammock like this in our nursery! Who wouldn't?

Source: houzz.com via Sara on Pinterest

To sleep in (a mom can dream right?)

Source: brunchatsaks.blogspot.com via Haley on Pinterest

To see more of this

And Less of this

To go to the farmers market and/or trader Joe's. To eat 3 meals a day and snacks made with fresh, healthy food

Source: fuckyeahfitspo.tumblr.com via Sara on Pinterest

I'm hoping to fulfil some of my wishes (like celebrating birthdays and eating enough food) and keep dreaming of those that can yet be fulfilled.

Autumn

Autumn! Its finally here. The last few days we have been cuddled up inside watching the rain and drinking warm tea and it has been wonderful. I have to admit, I think I am a little Autumn crazy. I wanted to make the house feel 'fally' without spending much/any money so I have been trying to do some crafts using materials I already had around the house.

Before I got started on the decorations, I made up some pumpkin spice syrup to make this lovely looking coffee drink from foodpulwords. It was as good as it looks!

Source: foodpluswords.com via Sara on Pinterest

I move the electric fireplace (don't judge, it makes me happy) to the living room where I could stare out at the rain and pretend we had a real fire burning.

And I made this wreath using a wreath we had lying around and a few squares of felt turned into flowers using this tutorial from jonesdesigncompany. What I really wanted to make was one of those cute yarn wrapped wreathes I have been seeing eveywhere, but since the foam wreath cost a min. of 5 dollars I decided to go with this free route instead. I put all the flowers on pin backs first so if after I'm done with the wreath I can use them to spruce up a sweater or headband!

Even the baby was getting in the fall spirit with his cute little acorn pants!

This is the look i get when I am doing something confusing to him.

I even bought stuff to make pumpkin pie tonight. What I really wanted was to buy chestnuts for roasting but i couldnt find them anywhere. Hope your enjoying fall as much as we are!

bargain hunting

A few times a year the retirement community where my grandmother lives has a community wide yard sale. We have gone once a year for the past several years and always found great deals. I have always gone with my mom and it has been fun to spend time with both my mom and my gradmother as we drive around looking for deals. This year was especially fruitful, here is what I found:

Total purchase included set of 4 pyrex bowls-$2, set of 7 milk glass bowls 50cents, china bowl-50 cents, glass urn-$2, vintage table runner-50cents, vintage typewriter with orig. manual-$3, set of 2 milk glass soup bowls-50 cents, and (not pictured) 2 gold chains at a dollar a piece! Total spent = $11.00

the case on the typewriter is not in great condition, but with a little help i think this could be super cute, and for only $3!!!

who does nott love pyrex mixing bowls?-$2 for the whole set

perfect size for serving baby food!

As if all of these great deals weren't enough, the two small gold chains i bought, the ones not pictured that i bought for a total of $2, I took them to a jewelery store and sold them for $80.00!!! Needless to say I was pretty excited about the whole experience. Not only did I get a handful of fun vintage finds, but I ended the day with more money than I started with! If only all my shopping trips went this well.

Update

For the first time since Jude was born I forgot to take his monthly photos! At first each month was so exciting and he felt so old. Now I guess its all beginning to blend in a little more. Here are a few 7 month shots:

A new 7 month milestone for us is first teeth! He has cute his two bottom teeth. This has means we have had to make several adjustments including not putting our fingers in his mouth to let him chew on, and brushing his teeth.

He thought he could do it by himself

Please ignore the mess on the counter

Unfortunately this month his night waking has resurfaced. Any one have any tricks up their sleeves for getting a baby to sleep well through the night? Even waking only 1-2 would be wonderful. We tried the cry it out method one night, for 10 min, it did not go well for us.

We are also excited to have been accepted into the Queen Bee market for a 2ND time! The marked it in Del Mar the weekend before thanksgiving. We are busy and excited preparing our normal shop items as well as some fun Christmas and fall themed baby hats and boots. Once we are done with them I will share a few photos.

Our shop is also doing pretty well. We are getting a ton of views on our items and have now sold a decent number of items. We are hoping that with the holidays coming up and all the new supplies we have that things will pick up even more!