MERRY CHRISTMAS! 2015

We had a great Christmas and hope you did too!

card design: CKFireboots on Etsy

photography: Ivy and Tweed 

xoxo

-Brittney

Harper Monaé || 17 months

17 months. 

Nope. I don't believe it.

This must have been the quickest month of all time. I'll blame it on the holidays :)

And I'm late on this post - like 5 days late (little miss turned on the 13th of the month) but again I'll blame it on the holidays. because once again, busy season!

This month has been so full of changes for Harper girl (like her sleep - but in a good way!) and her personality is shining through more and more every darn day. and I absolutely love it! She's like my little best friend and her and I seem to really get each other. Sometimes that's great and sometimes that's not so great.. we're both a tad stubborn and know what we want ;)

E A T

Still going strong in this department! As you can tell by her messy face, chubby cheeks, and if you saw her legs - her inner thigh rolls :) Her chubbiness is still my absolute favorite. And it is still mindblowing that she even became chubby in the first place, since she was born as a string bean! My milk must've been straight sweet cream ;)

S L E E P

We've drawn the lucky card in this hot topic too! Of course we've had our tough times of no sleep with a baby, but all in all she is a dang good sleeper. Especially now!

Ever since we got back home from Thanksgiving in Idaho, Harper has been sleeping s o  m u c h  more! For the last few months, her usual (at night) was 8pm-7:30am. Straight through the night. No wake ups. Which was of course fabulous.

Well for about 5 days (after our Thanksgiving trip) she slept 8pm-11:30/12noon (yes! into the next day!) I attributed it to less sleep when traveling and expected her to go back to the norm after a day or two. But really... that lasted about 5 days! and now, ever since then, we're on a 8pm-8:30/9am schedule. I'm not complaining! Soaking in the days while they're here :) Oh, and she s t i l l takes her 1-4pm nap. I'm going to say growth spurt!

P L A Y
Play. Play. Play.
All the live long day.
That's the name of the game around here. Every waking minute Harper is constantly on the go playing. and it is oh so fun for me. I love this stage!
She sings. and dances. and plays pretend with her toys. and gets into my kitchen cupboards. and teases the dog. and colors. and plays in my clothes. and runs around the house owning the place.
It's too good and it's too fun :) But by nap time, I'm feeling ready for one too!

P H O T O  D U M P

Oh my precious girl. Life with you is more than I ever, ever could've imagined. You bring the light into my world and teach me to be a better me. You are such a gift from God. I've had you in my life for 17 months now and somehow it keeps getting better. I can only imagine where our life will be in the years to come. I pray we will always be close to each other. You have the sweetest spirit and are full of energy. You make this life happier every day. I feel beyond blessed that I get to spend each and every day with you. I love you, sweet Harper Monaé.

xoxo

-Brittney

'TIS THE {busy} SEASON

And that it is! SO busy!!

errands.

parties. 

shopping. 

schedules to follow.

party planning.

house decorating.

gift wrapping.

I could keep on going.. but I won't bore you with that - you get the jist!

With all that to say, lately I've been trying to take time to intentionally put a piece of my energy solely into my little family. And so glad I have. I don't want this season to fly by and me hardly remember it because I was too busy. With Harper being able to show her excitement this year, I want to enjoy it right there with her and soak up every bit of it.

Though the blog has been a bit neglected, I must say it has so been worth it.
I mean look at these 'cheeks' I've been spending my days with :)

Tomorrow we are leaving for a quick family get-away for the weekend and we couldn't be more excited!

This is usually the time of year when the last thing we can think about is going out of town. But I am so glad we are! Just thinking about the memories we are going to make with our little Harper gives me that Christmas morning feeling!

When we get back though, it's holiday crunch time! We are nearly two weeks away from Christmas :)

xoxo

-Brittney

IDAHO THANKSGIVING 2015

We had such a great Thanksgiving with family, friends, and all the delicious food you could imagine! Just what Thanksgiving should be.

We started the weekend with a 13.5 hour (normally 12 hour) road trip to Pocatello, ID. Ugh!

This time of year is not in our favor when driving. Although I LOVE the snow, traveling in it is

a bit unpleasant. But we made it safe and sound!

We had a fun few days seeing our loved ones who we miss so much. 

As you can see, Harper and little miss Sutton (who is shockingly a month older than Harper) were the cutest being reunited!

It still amazes me that my best friend, Brittney :) and I had our baby girls just one month apart!

A lunch date with Rachel and baby Alice to our favorite spot was a must!

Though we froze our buns off (no joke - it was 20 degrees out), it was so fun taking Harper to the Christmas lights parade downtown!

This little is a trooper and did such a good job traveling long distance in the car!!

We now have the Christmas decorations out and the tree is up. We are ready for the best time of the year!
Cheers!

xoxo

-Brittney

HAPPY THANKSGIVING WEEK

Thanksgiving week!

It's here and it came so so fast! (kinda like I expected).

We've had a busy last week with celebrating Brandon's 31st birthday (nearly all weekend long - of course!), Christmas card pictures with the fabulous Candice, and then hosting Friendsgiving at our house. So much. But yet so fun!
A few pictures from the last week :)

31 balloons with 31 reasons we love him.

Birthday dinner at The Hub with just the three of us.

We had a family birthday dinner the night before at our favorite restaurant, The Table.

One of the two tables for Friendsgiving :)

And here we are, just t w o days away from Thanksgiving!
We are so excited for the great food, family/friend time, and a little bit of relaxation. But first {tomorrow}, we will be making our 12 hour drive to Pocatello, Idaho! Wish us luck for a long day of traveling with a 16 month old. She has always done great traveling before (she's been on many road trips/flights), but she is of course more active than ever and we are praying she will stay entertained! Once we arrive all will be good :) Pocatello shows snow in the forecast and I am so so excited for it! That's one of the things I miss most about home, snowy winters! There is nothing more magical and breathtaking than the city covered in perfect white snow.

Thanksgiving throwback to last year with our little {4 month old} Harper :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

xoxo

-Brittney

Christmas FOLLOWS Thanksgiving

I've always been 'that' person.

I've had a rule.  No celebrating Christmas until AFTER Thanksgiving. No Christmas music. No Christmas decorations. No Christmas festivities. (I'm sounding a lot like scrooge...) Until that Friday after. Because we need to honor Thanksgiving and not blow right on past it to get to the Christmas holiday! And as soon as Thanksgiving passes, it is 100% Christmas season! Cheers! Right??!

...Well all that being said. I've felt that way until...now. And now my foot is in my mouth.
Having a child who is excited about all things.. I now get it. Her joy and the way she lights up makes for me to wish this time of year would never come to an end.
Bring on Christmas and let's embrace it all as 'the holiday season' :)

A couple weekends ago I was getting the itch to put up our tree and Christmas decorations (but I didn't).
Since we are hosting Friendsgiving this year it was imperative that I leave the fall decor up just a little bit longer :) BUT come Monday (Friendsgiving is this Sunday) fall is coming down and Santa's workshop will be taking place over here before we book it to Idaho for Thanksgiving!

And on that note... g i f t s. I would like to just burry my head in the sand on this one. I haven't bought one single Christmas gift. Nope. Not one. And we're looking at only five more weeks 'til Christmas Eve! With lots of festivities and major 'to-do lists' crammed on in there as well.
So this is another reason as to why I'm jumping on the 'start celebrating Christmas before Thanksgiving is over' bandwagon! I'm just running out of time :)

I can't be the only one right?! I know so many feel so strongly about how the holidays are celebrated.
Christmas FOLLOWS Thanksgiving. It's just the HOLIDAY SEASON!

One of the highest priorities on my list right now... To find new family stockings for us! I never got one for Harper last year so it's time we all upgrade :) These ones are really speaking to me. #christmashearteyes

Happy Holidays!!

xoxo

-Brittney

Harper Monaé || 16 months

As I sit here and write this I feel like I just wrote the 15 month update! Sounds cliche... but truly, time f l i e s and what a thief it is! It down right amazes me as to how many, many changes there have been in another short 30 days. Who would've known that all of those parents who warned "cherish it all, because time flies" well.. that they knew what they were talking about. And although I make an effort to cherish it all, it still flies by!

Last month we were having fiesty, frustrated, mad-at-mom moments that were becoming too frequent for me to be ok with. Wellll... I should check myself before I complain so quickly, because that really only last about 10ish days. And wasn't ever a whole day. Little miss is now back to being my sweet, loving, funny toddler. toddler?! It is still so hard for me to get used to using that word! And as much as I miss her being my little baby, these toddler days are really so much fun!

I love seeing her personality grow and grow. 

Watching her as she understands nearly everything I tell her. (it's if she chooses to listen) ;)

Getting so good at feeding herself.

Having preferences and making choices.

Running around the kitchen/living room yelling + babbling.

Being soooo excited to watch her cartoons. or 'bubba' (bubble) as she calls it. Which became short for Bubble Guppies, and that is now the word she uses for any sort of cartoon :)

Jumping and dancing to music (particularly to the 'hot-dog' song) Thank you Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Cuddling + caring for her 'bae-bee' (baby).

The way she brings a book to me to read and sits herself in my lap.

And my absolute favorite... all of the many kisses she gives everyday. The puckering up is the sweetest thing, I keep giving/getting kisses until I've pushed her past her limit :) and she's clear in letting me know that we are d o n e.

E A T

No changes here from last month!

She's still liking nearly everything and is such a good eater. 

If there is ever a food that she happens to not have much of a liking for (like potatoes), I continue offering it to her in the future because it can take up to 10-15 times for a new food to be accepted. I swear one of these days she will like potatoes! 

I recently make her some fruit popsicles for some variety and she LOVED them!

S L E E P

Again, thankful she is so good in this department!

We are officially condensed down to one nap a day and it is going great! She first has her milk then goes down so easily and will nap about 12:30-3:30/4ish. Sometimes I don't know what to do with myself! But don't you worry, I surely find things to do :)

And bedtime sleep is also for the win. Down by 8 and up about 7:30. With not a single wake up in the night. 

Bless you, my sweet girl!

P L A Y

All day every day!

During every awake hour, it is nonstop playing. With some meals and snacks in there too :)

If we aren't at home playing in the house or outside, we are at swim lessons, toddler gym, or on a play date with friends. 

Coloring is Harper's latest activity. I bought some color crayons and a couple coloring books and she is in love! I make sure to have all of the 'reading' books around her put away because I have this feeling that having a coloring book now means that she can color in her books. I know... I'm sure it will eventually happen...

Baby girl, though you aren't really a 'baby' any longer, to me you still are. You bring your daddy and I so much joy. You light up our worlds and make waking up every day worth it. When I think about how much I love you, it brings me so many emotions filled with tears of joy. You are always learning so much and it amazes us at what you prove to know.
I love you my sweet girl!! Happy 16 months!

xoxo

-Brittney

LIFE LATELY

Not a whole lot of 'big-fun-exciting outings' lately.

But I'm alright with that, because I know in the next couple of weeks as holidays and events draw near, it's gonna get a heck of a lot busier! So we're going to just soak up these go-with-the-flow days while they last :)

Between Brandon's (31st) birthday, family pictures, hosting friendsgiving (one of my favorite things!), and going to Idaho for thanksgiving, life is going to get busy real quick! And that's all before December (which is only 22 days away!) and not even touching on any Christmas festivities!
Whew I'm feeling busy just talking about it!
With Brandon's schedule being so busy and really kinda all over the place. (life of a realtor). Harper and I take advantage of the moments when he has some down time. Even if it's just an early Tuesday afternoon walk down the street to the playground :) It all counts and those are sometimes my favorites. And she is currently in a daddy stage and wants him to come join us in everything we do.
Daddy-Daughter pics - my fave! #allllthehearteyes

After-dinner cleanup :) It's usually better for us all (easier cleanup) if she eats dinner in the nude.
And I love the excuse to get a peak of those thigh rolls that are still hanging on :)

This little mover LOVES to play. Toddler gym has been a huge hit with her after swim lessons at the Y on Mondays + Wednesdays :) And I can't complain because afterwards she is w i p e d and naps so hard.
naptime = me time :)

She would stay out playing in the yard all the live long day if I let her. Running around with the 'dog-dog' :)

Brandon and I snuck in a much needed date on Friday night to one of our favorite restaurants The Table!
Cheers to good food + wine + the most handsome date!

Saturday brought a girl's day for Angela + I with some Stella and Dot followed by some Christmas decor shopping. 'Tis the Season!

Harper had the afternoon with 'da-da' and then later joined us for pizza and ice cream :)

...and that's life!
Here's to another week and I'm already sensing my 'to-do' list getting longgger!

xoxo

-Brittney