SH and I were very excited to welcome miss Audrey Leigh into the world in the wee hours of Tuesday morning (March 26)! She weighed a petite 6lbs. 10oz., and had a very quick entry into the world. (Weeks of those darn fake labor contractions made me think I wasn’t in the early stages of labor Monday evening!) We’re very thankful that God has blessed us with this precious girl and that she had a safe delivery and both she and I are doing well. SH and I have been spending a lot of time cuddling with her, marveling over her tiny toes and fingers, and learning something new hourly about parenthood. We’re just eating up every moment of these early days! I feel like I can’t remember what life was like before she arrived–motherhood is proving to be very agreeable (though not without it’s challenges and hiccups!).
Sorry to keep this so short, but I have a cute little girl to go cuddle with… Be back in a few weeks! ♥ ♥ ♥
April 1, 2013 ·
190 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary
· tags: baby diary
sweater: hand-me-down | tank top: NEX | jeans: Motherhood Maternity | belt: thrifted | necklace: vintage (really a bracelet!) | scarf: vintage | shoes: Blowfish
My tongue-in-cheek nod to pin up poses! lol. Hey–got to have fun and a little laugh at myself since I am starting to feel more like Humpty Dumpty these days and less like my old self. hehe! I wore this over the weekend, right as they were predicting snow for the region. Something warm and cozy to curl up under a blanket with, but also presentable enough to go out (which I had to do). Lots of knits these days–which is weird considering how much I used to eschew knits and elastic! I have changed my tune quite a bit. hehe!
I really love how easy this scarf ‘do is; I think it’s going to become one of the ones I work on getting down to second nature over the coming weeks so I can use it to cover up when I haven’t been able to wash my hair for days once Miss Blueberry arrives! It’s better than a ponytail every day, which often just gives me a headache since my hair is so long and thick…
The baby shower my sister is sweetly throwing for me is coming up soon! I am getting so excited… Partly because this means the baby’s arrival is drawing closer, and my sister chose an Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter tea party theme for the event! I’ll be sure to take loads of pictures to share with y’all! (Especially as a lot of the decorations are very DIY-friendly.)
January 31, 2013 ·
38 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary
· tags: 2013 outfit, baby diary, maternity style, outfit
maternity skirt: Target | cardigan: thrifted and refashioned | maternity top: NEX | shoes: Madden Girl | belt: thrifted | bracelet: vintage | scarf: H&M
Somehow I slipped into the third trimester without realizing it… Mostly because my official departure point from the second to third happened about a week before Christmas, so I was preoccupied with gift wrapping and cookie baking! Then New Year’s came along, as well as a make-up Christmas with my inlaws. Now we’re nearly done with January and this little lady doesn’t have much longer before she arrives (we’re well into the single digits of weeks left!), and both SH and I are starting to realize that time is ticking to get some baby things done!
The bump is also getting bigger in leaps and bounds. My handy little pregnancy tracking application for my phone tells me she’s almost 4lbs. now (my OB confirmed that she is measuring right on track), which I can believe by the jarring movements she makes at all times of day (and night). They are no longer little “flutters”–they’re full on eruptions of a baby in an ever-shrinking space. I swear I wake up some mornings and it seems like she’s grown!
Stylewise, I feel like my options are also shrinking my leaps and bounds! While I may be able to fit into a handful of pre-pregnancy separates, that’s mostly relegated to modern-cut jeans and cardigans. Even some of my formerly loose button up shirts are getting a bit tight across my belly! lol. I admit: I have had zero inclination to sew maternity clothes. I admire gals who whip up gorgeous outfits! I think though, this being my first pregnancy and not being able to anticipate how my figure would change, it scared me off a bit from devoting a lot of time to sewing clothes. Maybe the next one I’ll do better? So I have a fairly limited wardrobe at the moment of odd Target and thrift stores finds, and a few things people have given me that work. Next up: stealing SH’s button down shirts to wear over my jeans! hehe! One thing I’ve found is that integrating “vintage style” into a pregnancy wardrobe is a bit of a challenge. I can’t just pull a 1950s shirtwaist dress out of my closet and call it done. Now I have to actually plan things out a bit more, and rely heavily on the overall effect of makeup, hair and accessories. It’s a fun challenge though!
Spot the new background? I decided to move things up to the nursery for picture taking! We get some lovely, soft morning light in that room, and I don’t get the weird shadows I did in the living room. Everything is very much a work in progress right now; we just got the crib put together last week and finalized the furniture placement while SH was off on Monday (it was a Federal holiday here in the US). So now it’s time for me to work some magic with artwork, sew a few things from vintage sheets, and generally add a little dash of whimsy to the space.
I hope you all are having a lovely January thus far! I know I’ve been terribly absent here; there have been a few things afoot that have taken me away from blogging. These past months have not been how I envisioned my blogging would go. And yet, I’ve been learning to give myself a little more grace and realizing that perhaps the way I did things for years just isn’t working quite as well anymore. I’ll figure it out one of these days! 
The photo-bombing dog, who decided he didn’t want to be part of the photoshoot after all! He also just celebrated his first birthday earlier in the month. Yet, you would never know it by the way he acts…
January 23, 2013 ·
55 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary,outfits + wardrobe
· tags: 2013 outfit, baby diary, maternity style, outfit
This week has just been topsy-turvy for lack of a better phrase! So I’m going to save the Christmas decorations post until next week (I may also show y’all what I’m baking this year since all the cookie baking will commence then!), and instead show you a little evidence that I’ve been sewing. I’ve actually been working on a few things, but kitchen curtains and Boppy covers aren’t as cute… lol.
After I announced I was expecting, the lovely
Portia sent me a fun package full of adorable vintage patterns (thank you again, Portia!). This particular one stood out to me as something I could make immediately (I’ve been holding off on a lot of clothing items, as I’m waiting to see what size Miss Blueberry is to better grade patterns to fit her as needed). What baby (or mama?!) wouldn’t love a little plush elephant? I used some grey cotton velveteen I thrifted, and managed to whip it up in about two evenings.
I also made a little party hat for the elephant out of felt (every elephant needs one, don’t you know?), which can be easily removed before we give Miss Blueberry the elephant to play with. I forgot how much I love making little plush animals! I think I might make one of
these or
these (out of some soft chenille…) for her next.
December 14, 2012 ·
31 lovely thoughts
posted in baby diary
· tags: 2012 sewing, baby diary, sewing
I was going to share some knits I had finished for me as well as the baby things I’ve been working on, but realized that the post would be enormous if condensed altogether! So this one will be just the adorable baby stuff, and the “grown up knits” will follow in a couple weeks. Needless to say, since discovering the baby’s gender and starting to knit miniature things for her, it’s gotten addictive. While I haven’t had time to devote to large scale sewing projects because of various things, I’ve needed something to keep my fingers occupied and that is transportable. It’s kept me happily employed and feeling useful in those odd, otherwise blank moments that one finds at times (mostly at doctor’s appointments, these days!).
So what have my knitting needles been occupied with? A cute little baby turban that I found a pattern for–she needs some retro style in her wardrobe from an early age! I want to knit another out of some thicker yarn too (probably in red…), as this particular fiber (a silk blend, I believe–it was leftover from an older project) is a bit loose. But it’ll be good for warmer weather. [
pattern |
similar crochet version ]
How about some darling booties? I knit these literally days after we found out we were having a girl–using some lovely yarn odds and ends I had in the stash. The buttons are vintage mother of pearl. So cute! [
Ravelry project page |
pattern ]
A delightfully pink confection from a 1950s pattern booklet I thrifted years ago. The pom poms got me (can I have a grown up version, please?)! It’s the kind of thing I’m hoping that she’ll be big enough to wear as her “coming home” outfit as I adjusted the original sizing a bit to newborn sizing. As with sewing patterns, vintage knitting patterns sizing can be wildly off–thankfully I feel like I’ve got enough experience knitting (and sewing!) to adjust things as needed. [
Ravelry project page ]
Another “so sweet it makes my teeth hurt” cardigan! This one (the “Ladylike Cardigan” from Stephanie Japel’s
Mommy & Me Knits) I knit in a 6-month size, and used a yarn appropriate for summer or fall wear. I wanted something she could grow into, and had stuck in my mind that she
needed a yellow cardigan with duck buttons! [
Ravelry project page |
pattern ]
Finally, I have a green baby kimono I’ve been working on for weeks–it’s just a simple, sideways knit. There is not much to show right now, hence the lack of photos. Hopefully I’ll have it finished soon!
I do love how quickly baby knits come together: almost like instant gratification knitting! I’m just almost out of projects, once the green kimono is finished. Lucky for me, I found a fabulous local yarn store recently–so I guess I’ll have to make a stop there sometime to pick up yarn for another baby project! Just to decide what is appealing to me? I think this bunny hat may be a contender!
December 7, 2012 ·
50 lovely thoughts
posted in knitting
· tags: baby diary, knitting
