picking pumpkins

well it's finally starting to feel like fall here in Houston, TX.  took long enough ;) and even though it's that awkward fall weather where you can wear sweaters for the beginning of the day and then need to change into a t-shirt & shorts come 12:00pm, I don't mind.  hey at least it's below 85 outside!
in honor of the "cooler"'weather i took the kiddos to the pumpkin patch and let them both pick out there own little pumpkin.  now these kids are obsessed with pumpkins so seeing their faces light up at the sight of it all was adorable and so special!

 also, how cute are their little outfits?! these are from a small Etsy shop that's run by a fabulous mama who we met through our local Hike it Baby group.  she is so talented and these clothes are seriously so soft & comfy feeling!  be sure to check out her shop Little Wild Sprouts   and you can also use code: KLING4LWS1 for a 15% discount on your order! :)

I just love that in the end, Peter picked a bigger pumpkin than Zo...  she didn't want to have to carry anything that was heavier than the teeny tiny one she chose.  Meanwhile, Peter wanted a bigger one but finally accepted defeat after failing to lift the monster size ones and went with one that was small but still bigger than his sister's. 

happy fall y'all!  baby sister is coming on the 31st so this might be our last little post for a while!  wishing you all a wonderful rest of your week and happy Halloween! 

-A 

learning to slow down

leotard: Alice & Ames  

these past few days Zo has tried my patience like none other.  the main cause of it is most likely due to lack of sleep on both our parts.  for some reason she's been waking up around 1-2am and not going back to sleep till almost 5am. then she's up for the day usually by 7:30am and still refuses to take a nap during the day.  i literally do not know how she functions on so little sleep.  also, why do kids not understand how amazing naps are?!?  moving on-- her little 3 year old attitude has been out in full force lately and half the time i have no clue how to respond, cause it can be so stinkin' cute & funny but also super annoying when i have to repeat myself 1,000 times to get her to do one simple task.  one of her new favorite phrases is "no mom!  you DON'T say that word!"  what word is she talking about?  i have no clue, i think she just means i shouldn't be telling her what to do/reprimanding her.  the other phrase is, while referring to me telling her she can't do something:  "but mom!  it's not a big deal or anything!"  sigh...  it's a daily battle trying to decide how to react to these situations and i know they are only going to get worse as she gets older.

but on the other hand it's like she flips a switch and can suddenly be the sweetest little thing!  sharing with peter, comforting him when he gets hurt while saying "aww cute little guy, it's okay honey."  she'll run up to us at random times just to give a kiss and say "i love you, mommy kitty cat."  (also not sure why she calls me that haha) she's obsessed with her little sister and she's not even born yet!  she'll run up to my stomach, wrap her arms around it and say "i love you baby!  hope you're feeling good!"  i'm praying that her obsession is just as strong once baby girl is finally here.

long story short-- toddlers are confusing and make little to no sense but are also fascinating & adorable to watch and learn from.  as hard as it is i really need to take my own advice as it comes from her secondhand: "mom, just calm down and slow down."

i tell you what, i feel like i owe my parents spa gift cards for life after going through just this short amount of confusing parenthood.

happy almost weekend everyone!

-a

s m a l l v i c t o r i e s

currently 28 weeks pregnant and feeling all kinds of tired & huge but here's a random little list of small victories/moments that make me smile.  also it helps me procrastinate all the packing i should be doing for our beach trip tomorrow...

•this little gem of zo reading her brother his favorite book

•she is also obsessed with feeling baby kick and move.  at first it seemed to scare her but now she loves it and asks all the time if baby is awake.

•took both kids by myself on a mini vacay/road trip to Waco & Fort Worth to visit family a few weeks ago.   zo had been begging and begging to get to see her cousins for weeks so i finally gave in and made the drive.  getting to see family is always good for everyone, and zo was not ready to come home but eventually she got over having to return to her endless amount of toys and only peter to play with.  she's got a rough life.

•being up for hours in the middle of the night with PB and still somehow managing to make it through the next day, thank you caffeine.

•when it's raining cats & dogs outside but you have to go to target (with both kids) and you realize your rain boots perfectly hide your super cute compression socks #glamourspregnancy
can it just be rainy every day?  no wait--that would just induce cabin fever and that's never a good thing with two littles...

dress: loft similar , similar short sleeve || rain boots: similar

•making it out of target without O N E impulse buy!  i made the mistake of telling this one to greg, his response-- "wait, so every time you go to target you end up coming home with something that wasn't on your list?!"  umm no.  that almost never happens... nope, never.  moving on!

•grocery shopping, *que the music* allll by myselfffff!

•this Instagram post where i raved all about our trip to Costco. *spoiler alert* we were in there for less than an hour and left, again, with no impulse buys!

•poor greg was so hoping zo would be his rock climbing child but this girl has the upper body strength of a newborn bird. peter, on the other hand pulls our solid wooden dining chairs out while zo is sitting in one every time she's done eating so she can get down.  sometimes he does this with one arm...  pretty sure that's daddy's futer climbing partner.

•getting allll the laundry done in one day.  i'm talking towels, bed linens, kids clothes & our clothes all washed, dried and folded in  O N E day!  yup, was feeling pretty accomplished that day. 

•counting down the hours  till we leave for our little beach getaway.  still avoiding that packing though...

•currently praying away the snot & cough that peter came down with.  please please feel better by sunday and please please let no one else get sick!

•have a happy weekend everyone! 

-A

a peter rabbit nursery

Our Little Peter bunny has had a rough week, especially sleep-wise.  it's all due to some hardcore teething & i'm assuming, an intense growth spurt (at least I'm hoping that's what it is) and the poor kid is just a mess 85% of the day. he was so tired this week he's fallen asleep on the floor drinking his milk before 6pm four different times!  he barely even woke up when i changed his diaper and transferred him to his bed.  our kids are notoriously bad sleepers and this has NEVER happened for him, he usually has to fall asleep in his crib, noise machine on & holding my hand while sing to him over and over again.  

but two nights ago the stars aligned, the heavens parted and PB slept straight through the night!!!  the only time i woke up was to go to the bathroom #pregnancyproblems but the rest of the night was pure bliss.  well, excluding the toddler who comes in every night and takes up the entire bed... and after getting such a good night of rest you'd think PB would be nothing but sunshine & a smiles the entire day but nooo, he was ready to take a nap by 10:30am, and that was pushing it, he wanted to go down around 9! #growthspurt much?! i just had to keep reminding myself all day to be thankful for the uninterrupted sleep i got that night and the beauty that is caffeine. Annnnd then there was last night where i didn't end up getting into bed till 3am thanks to the little man... reminding myself over and over how great that previous night was and wishing there was a way to store up on sleep for later ;)  

so while we wait for this odd little phase to pass, i thought it might be a good time to share this little bunny's room now that it's (mostly) done!

nightstand: i just used an empty white crate i had and stood it up vertically!  this one is pretty similar and i'm loving the rustic finish on it || lamp: similar || yarn wall tapestry: this one was handmade by yours truly but you can find some gorgeous & totally unique ones here on Etsy

oh yeah, the baby in that picture fram is totally not Peter... note to self-- order baby pictures. 

Crib: IKEA || rug: Target || hamper/basket:HomeGoods  

shelf: homegoods Similar || book: amazon

given his name, he's obviously gonna be gifted plenty of Peter Rabbit inspired items and we are not complaining one bit!  we call him "Peter rabbit" & "Peter bunny" all the time so the theme fits :) 

 

wreath: Magnolia Market  || Peter Rabbit bunny: Amazon   

Peter just adores those little bunnies.  When it's time for bed we'll say-- "go find your bunnies and bring them to bed." He gets so excited collecting them from wherever they are laying around the house and waddles away into his room where he lays on the floor cuddling/hugging them :) 

oh, and fun fact-- that blanket behind the bunnies was Greg's baby blanket. 

changing table: IKEA   

string lights: target 

mirror: target similar  || rocking chair: similar

his "throwing a fit" position.   

wood block sign: Amazon  

so much truth on that little sign... and how cute are those elephant booties my sis crocheted for him?! :)

hope you all have a wonderful & relaxing weekend! 

-A 

a Secret Garden Birthday party

on may 22nd our little Zo turned 3 years old. now to most people this wouldn't seem very old but to my husband and I it seems more like she turned 13.  and I'm not just referring to the attitude, heaven knows she's got one though, the term "threenager" is no joke...  anyways, her turning three was just one more reminder of how quickly time really does go by.  it seems like just a few months ago she was hardly talking and now she carries on full conversations every second of the day.  No really, the talking never. stops.  and even though it's sometimes tiring answering the same question over and over again (and again and again) it's also fascinating to listen to her learn to put correct words together and have conversations with just about anything and everything.  Her little imagination is expanding every day and I love seeing her use it so often and seeing the creativity that comes with it.  I don't think a meal goes by without one of her utensils turning into a friend that talks to her hand while the hand answers back about whatever kind of food it got on itself.   and even though I know I should be correcting her for playing with her food at the table, it's seriously hilarious to watch and I'd be lying if I said I don't usually answer the questions her fork asks me all the time...

she's three now so obviously she has to start practicing her makeup haha 

Okay, on to the birthday party!

As I mentioned in my last post, Zo is obsessed with all things garden related so the theme of her party was decided pretty quickly once I started looking at Pinterest with her and she got excited over every "Secret Garden" birthday Pin she saw. and since it was a toddler party we decided to make it a brunch theme and the timing worked out perfectly for everyone!  not to mention, how fun is brunch food especially when donuts are involved?! and so--with help from my awesome husband, my awesome mom & equally awesome siblings, the party turned out almost as perfect & beautiful as the birthday girl herself.
thank you so much to everyone that came and helped us celebrate this little lady!  She had the absolute best birthday and talks about her party all the time  :)

this floral garland made the perfect backdrop for the food table and to be honest, it's still hanging up... we just can't bring ourselves to take it down, every time the sun shines through the window it looks so pretty! eventually it'll come down, but for now--we're gonna keep it up, in the spirit of birthdays ;) 

Donuts & chick-fil-a are basically a guaranteed hit with all ages

it took my sisters and I the longest time to decide where to hang these paper fans & pom-poms but once we finally tried them in the entryway we fell in love with the way they turned out!  p.s. don't mind Greg hard at work back there ;)

favors!  sticking with the garden theme, I picked up some small tin buckets and filled them with vegetable/fruit seed packets, bubbles & lollipops

the necessities for the adults ;) 

one of my favorite family photos!  I love this little clan of mine. 

like I said, who can resist donuts? 

Peter was a big fan of the cupcakes as well 

this bouquet arrangement set (link below) turned out to be one of her favorites gifts!  she uses it every day and it's perfect for expanding both her imagination and fine motor skills.  

bouquet arrangement set

 

my sister is graduating with a nursing degree(!) so naturally she had to gift zo with a medical kit.  and not just any kind, a pediatric nurses kit!  zo absolutely loves it and uses it on all of her animals or whoever is willing to be her patient.

this girl partied hard and was so worn out she passed out on the floor in the corner of the couch shortly after bath time. i think it's safe to say she had the perfect birthday :) 

buy the rainboots

shopping for flowers.  as soon as she saw these she got so excited and yelled "tulips mommy!"

it's all clouds, rain & storms here these past couple of days.  but i honesty don't mind too much, it's been clearing up by late afternoon so we still manage to get out and enjoy the rest of the day.  Our rain boots are in constant rotation and zo couldn't be happier about that given all of the puddle splashing she's been able to do.  i think every toddler ( okay adults too) needs a pair of rain boots just for the sake of getting to splash in puddles.  Seriously- it's free (excluding the purchase of said rain boots), it tires them out and it's adorable to watch.  try to ignore how messy they get, just remember all of the mud and dirt will wash off, but the memories won't.  days like this make it so easy to give in to negativity, anger and impatience (raising my hand cause I am so guilty of this!).  that's when i watch the weather like a hawk, waiting for the clouds to part so we can throw on our boots and get to splashing all those feelings away.  so in the midst of any gloom or funk you might be in, i just want to encourage you to do the hard thing and try to find the brightness and light in your life that's being overcast or hidden by the clouds, metaphorically & physically.  and if you're in need of a stress reliever i highly recommend buying the rain boots and doing some hardcore puddle jumping, cause getting messy & dirty isn't just fun for kids ;)

and now-- some photos from this past week to add some sunshine to your day!

one of her fave puddles to date!

watercolor painting is one of our new go-to indoor activities that happens multiple times a day.  it 

keeps zo entertained for quite a while and i forgot how therapeutic it can be.  you'll never guess which side is mine ;)

look at those wrangler baby jeans!  this kid is growing up waaaay top fast, i can't believe he'll be a year old in a month!

like I said, adults need rain boots too.  These super cute lace up ones are from target!

I don't know where she gets her Starbucks addiction from... 

home goods was killing me with their beautiful pastel spring inspired displays all over the store, how gorgeous are those floral plates?! 

like I said, splashing in puddles is therapeutic....

I told you, the rain boots are on serious repeat over here.  also--is it okay that i'm ridiculously jealous of her natural highlights?... 

i mean, i had to get her the tulips after i saw how excited she was to see them! :) 

happy tuesday all!  hope you have a wonderful start to the new week, here's to making the best of it!

~Amy