Family Photo's & Outfits

It's that time of year again, and everyone is thinking about family photo's (if they haven't had them done already). I love updating our family photos every fall (you can find a look at our past one's here: 2011, 2012, 2014) and it's one tradition I plan to continue, for as long as possible.

This year we had Shana of Art and Soul Photography take our photos. We lucked out with an absolutely beautiful sunny day for our first photos as a family of four.

I am really happy with outfits I picked out for everyone. I wanted us to coordinate without being too matchy-matchy, and I didn't want to go out and spend a ton on new clothes either. I decided to go with cream and gold for us girls and brown and red for the boys with dark jeans.

I started by choosing my dress (It's a lace H&M dress from about 4 years ago, that I had altered a couple of years ago). Then I went through Halle's closet and found the gold sequin shirt (it's a Joe Fresh shirt that I bought second hand) and the adorable skirt she got as a gift. Brett already had every piece of his outfit in his closet, so then I just had to pay a visit to my favourite second hand kids store to find Nolan's outfit.

Once again, I am so thrilled with our photos (as I have been every year), and I'm glad we found Shana! She also did Nolan's newborn photos for us, and we can't wait to see her again for his 6 month and 1 year photos.

Do you get family photos done yearly? Have you had any done this year? I would love to hear how you pick outfits for your family photos!

12 Months of Halle

I'm a day late posting Halle's one year photo, but we spent all day yesterday playing (inside because of the rain), cuddling and then going out to dinner, shopping at Toys R' Us and getting her, her very first personal cone of chocolate gelato. I think that baby girl had a good first birthday. Anyway... One year - it's gone by so quickly. More quickly than I ever imagined...

 

And now, here she is...

Does this seem like a funny choice for her one year photo? I don't know, I just thought it really accurately captured what's happening these days. I had a tough time getting a photo of her, and then realized that's okay. We have plenty of other photos of her during this stage, and these monthly photos I intended for photos of her development. I mean, her face hasn't changed all that much in the past month or two... but her ability to motor around on her own sure had blossomed. Here's what she is up too...

- Clearly, she is walking. She motors around here pretty good, walking halfway across a room before she'll go to her bum or her hands and knees. Her confidence is growing and I know it won't be long now before she prefers walking over crawling.

- She has four teeth, and it looks pretty cute! The gummy smiles were cute... but I'm enjoying these teeth smiles just as much! 

- Her hair is incredibly long now! Yesterday I even managed to get her hair into two tiny pigtails (if you follow me on Instagram at firsttimefancyblog, you may have seen them!)

- As far as food goes, the days are hit and miss. Somedays she will want to try whatever we have, other days not so much. We're still not getting too many veggies into her, but she loves her fruit, grains, meat and dairy - so the majority of the major food groups are getting into her every day. 

- She is very vocal. Blabbering a lot, and I'm pretty sure we're getting "dat!" and pointing... asking us what "that" is. So we do our best to tell her what everything is that she looks at and points at, and sometimes we are rewarded with her attempt at repeating us.

What an incredible (and sometimes trying) year it has been! I know that this next year will bring even more challenges in taking her photo, but she is such an inquisitive little girl, that I am okay with that. I can't wait to explore more and see the world through her eyes!

11 Months of Halle

Another weekend of not much going on on the decorating front. B was away with some friends from his softball team on a white water rafting trip. Halle and I just kept it low key at home running some errands and hanging out with a new friend. However, this past Saturday, Halle turned 11 months old. Yup... baby girl is one month away from a year. So hard to believe how quickly time is flying by. She really is changing and growing so quickly...

What's she up to these days? Maybe, what isn't she up to is a better question...


- Tooth 3 and 4 are on their way... FINALLY. We'd been teased for a while seeing white spots and then they would disappear, or a day of lots of drool and chewing and then nothing. Well, yesterday I noticed a white spot for sure on her top gum and today it looks like that tooth is finally starting to break through. We may have four teeth soon!


- Last week she started blowing kisses and it's so sweet! She just kind of holds the heel of her hand to her chin and flaps her hand over her mouth. She's still working on her aim though... she sometimes get's a finger in the eye.


- After close to 11 months, she is finally clear of her cradle cap. Poor baby had it forever and one day last week after her bath it all decided it was time to go. I felt almost like it was the last of her "baby-ness" leaving her... but seriously - good riddance!


- PICKY EATER ALERT! Suddenly she wants nothing! Well almost nothing. Most of what we give her ends up on the floor so at meal time we are stuck trying numerous thing before we have a winner. For example, last night we went through pasta and pea's before she ate some chicken... and oranges. Seriously. This morning we went through pears and grapes before she settled on some toast (and even some of that ended up on the floor). I'm getting close to my breaking point... I need to be sure she's eating healthy food and getting the nutrients that she needs - any suggestions for picky eaters?


- Despite not being a very good eater she is VERY good at using baby sign language to tell us "More" and "All Done"... that always makes me happy (until she then throws what we produce on the floor)


- She's been a furniture cruiser for a while and it's been fun to watch her confidence grow with time. She got really good at moving around and even transitioning from one piece of furniture to another (or to us). Then, early last week she started doing this thing where she would hold onto furniture with one hand and stick out her foot and kind of tap it around the floor, as if testing out walking. On Thursday, I took her to a kid friendly cafe that has a big play area for kids. After seeing a couple other kids running around, she held onto my hand and was walking around the play area - I was floored! When we got home she kept practicing holding one of my hands with one of hers and the next thing I knew she was standing in the kitchen balancing herself and took two small shaky steps forward, all on her own... no assistance. Yup, there were some proud Mama tears shed and a few phone calls and text messages sent to let people know.


For good measure, I had to throw in this gem from our little photo shoot on Saturday...

These are the types of photo's I need to look at when I'm trying to feed her and she is looking me in the face and defiantly throwing food on the floor... and then crying for more which also ends up on the floor and she won't eat anything. (HELP!) Hope you all had a good weekend... and hopefully I'll have some more exciting stuff to share with you soon...

10 Months of Halle

Has it really been ten months since this tiny woman came into our lives?...

She has such a personality these days and is clearly the light of both of our lives. Her smile just melts my heart and I cannot get enough of her giggles. And yes, for anyone observant enough to notice, she is still in the exact same 3-6 month onesie she was wearing for her five month photo. She is one tiny lady indeed!


- She's an adventurous baby and these days is climbing on and standing up on everything
- She's too sweet. She smiles, says "Hi" and waves all of the time... and I still get all of the kisses. Avoiding her Daddy's kisses seems to have become a game with her these days.
- She's becoming less and less interested in the puree's that I am making her and when we eat dinner now points at whatever is on our plates. Time for me to start making some healthy meals that she can enjoy as well.
- We're still waiting on tooth #3! No visible signs of it, but baby girl has had a slight fever and been a little fussy the past two days, so I'm wondering if it's a sign of things to come maybe? 
- She just continues to get better at sleeping. She naps in her crib on her own (FINALLY!) and  will normally sleep through the nights (until about 5:30 or 6:30am).
- She's pointing at everything, more likely because she wants it, as opposed to she wants to know what it is - but we tell her what it is, and sometimes if we are lucky we will get rewarded with a small attempt at some sound. 


It's hard to believe how quickly these 10 months have gone, and before we know it she will be a year old. Thankfully, I am moving into planning her birthday party back in Toronto (B's Mom has taken care of a party for her in Boston), and I can't wait for it. I'm thankful I will have quite a bit of time back at my parents place this summer to work on more plans. Won't be much longer now...

9 Months of Halle

A little bit late with today's post (especially for my east coast readers!). Halle's teething and wanting her Mama, so not much time for anything aside from some cuddles and playing!


Yesterday Halle turned 9 months old... WOW! It was also her very first photo that was not taken in her Toronto nursery....

She's really becoming quite the big girl. Here's what's new...
- She has one little chomper now, and her second one is breaking through. We should have tooth #2 any day now!
- She's crawling up a storm and getting into everything. While we were packing for the move, this little girl would crawl right up to suitcases and boxes and start pulling out whatever she could. What a handful she is already!
- From the moment she could get herself to sitting on her own (from tummy to sitting), she was pulling herself to her knees. Then, last Tuesday while I was packing up the kitchen with both my Mom and B's Mom, she pulled herself to standing her nursery (where she was hanging out with B). Now she's pulling herself to her feet all the time (as this photo would indicate), and on everything.
- She's trying so hard to talk, and we have now resigned ourselves to the fact that her first word will be "Pup" or "Puppy". The dogs are the light of her life and she cheers up the instant she see's them. She regularly exclaim's "UP!", and has been practicing "P's"... I wouldn't be surprised if one of the above words escaped her mouth at any moment. 
- She dances to upbeat music all the time! B bought her a new toy over the weekend that plays 40 different tunes, and the more upbeat songs always make her bounce up and down on her bum... I love watching her "dance" 


I feel as if I could be telling you all that she's walking by this time next month! This little one is fearless... and has some bruises to show it. I'm already learning, that as a Mom you can't protect them from everything... and I know that will just get more difficult. 


House photos coming soon, I promise! We've been putting together some new pieces so I can't wait to see everything in it's place - it's slowly starting to feel more like home around here!

8 Months of Halle

This little girl just keeps growing - in so many ways!

Where has my tiny baby gone? Those days are long behind us. I mean... she flew Toronto to Vancouver with me ALONE yesterday and was SO GOOD! She SLEPT through the take off and napped two additional times on the plane. The people sitting around us loved her, and she showered them with smiles and waves. We had a few small melt downs, but they were all short lived and she made the whole thing pretty painless for me. Seriously.. you'd never guess she has a tooth breaking through! So what's new with her these days...

- We are seriously on the verge of crawling. As of yesterday, she started trying to crawl across the bed at our hotel. Not long now. At least we can keep all of this in mind as we look for rentals this weekend!

- As previously mentioned, she is finally getting a tooth! I noticed last Friday that she seemed to be "chewing" a lot, so I stuck my finger in her mouth to discover her bottom left tooth is coming in. It hasn't affected her mood at all - still smiling and playing all day and sleeping at night. We're feeling pretty blessed!

- Her smiles and giggles light up our days! She thinks her Dada is the funniest man alive and I love the way she lights up around him! B actually came out to BC a few days ahead of us, and when she saw him at the airport she started smiling and bouncing. Clearly her Daddy lights up her life, just as much as he lights up mine!

- It won't be long before she starts standing as well. When we play in her nursery, she usually leans over and puts her hands on my knee or on Babar and pulls herself to her knees. She's bound and determined to be standing... but it also means she's really getting into things these days.

- We're in a bit of a "stranger danger" time. She's pretty clingy to the two of us... especially me these days. She did okay when my parents watched her the other weekend, but she still just wants her Mama and Dada most of the time. 

- She's not very big! If you'r observant, you'll notice she is wearing the same onesie she was wearing in her 5 month photo. Baby girl is still in 3-6 months... and even has a few 0-3 month pieces that remain in rotation. She may just be around 16lbs... but then again - neither of us are very big, so it's not really a huge surprise.

It's crazy how quickly time is going... our baby girl is getting so big... and this will be her last photo in that nursery that I so lovingly put together last year. Her 9 month photo will be in our new place - so sad, but exciting at the same time. You'll notice I left an open suitcase in the background of her photo - I figured it was fitting as far as what was happening at this time in her life, so why not keep it real? (OH, and for those of you who are interested, Nicole at Bittersweet Photography just posted a look at Halle's 7 Month photo shoot we did with her - you can see the photos here)

Seven Months of Halle

I'm a little late on posting this, but of course, better late than never, right? My little girl is now seven months old... SEVEN MONTHS! Dear life... please slow down. Just for a little while. I'm so enjoying this age...

- The other week she started just sticking her tongue out at us, and she thinks it's the best thing ever. She finds it hilarious when we stick our tongue back out at her... and boy does her smile melt my heart.
- She used to hate rolling onto her belly... but it's suddenly become her favourite thing to do. She barrell rolls all over the place these days. I already feel like I have a hard time keeping an eye on her... just wait till she starts crawling, huh?
- Speaking of crawling, little girl is working on getting from sitting to her belly, and trying to push herself forward with her feet. This is usually done to grab a toy that she has tossed out of reach... or to  try and get her tiny hands on my cell phone or kobo. She's a tech junkie already people!

This little girl is growing and changing so quickly, I can't believe it. I must say, the last two weeks I was not blogging were so great for focusing on my little munchkin. We've enjoyed plenty of games and cuddles, and I'm so very thankful for those moments... time just won't slow down...

Six Months of Halle

I can hardly believe that half a year has already passed since our sweet little girl joined us. In the same breath, it seems as if I have known and loved her my entire life. What would I do without her? (Okay, maybe I would sleep more, enjoy some hot showers and still get to read every single magazine that lands in my mailbox... but it's okay, I have her). Here is my little bundle of sweet celebrating six months of wonderful...

What is our Halle up to these days?...

- See the blurry little hand? Halle has been twisting and turning that wrist non-stop, as if she is wavin. She "waves" at everything! Mommy & Daddy, the puppies, her toys.... nothing at all. She just loves waving that little hand around, trying to figure it all out

- Babbling started the other week. Lots of "Ah-ma-ma-mum-mumum" and "AH-bla-bla-bla-bla". AND, sometimes, she just loves to open and close her mouth as if she were babbling... but with no noise coming out.

- Thankfully, after a few long nights last week while she was sick, we are back to 5+ hours of sleep each night... and all 3 of us are loving it!

- She is the happiest little girl - full of smiles and giggles for us, and I cherish each of those moments! Her little giggle is the best sound in the entire world!

I also need to thank ALL of you who voted for Halle in Bittersweet Photography's "Pic of the Month" contest! We found out this morning that we tied for second place! Which means we get $100 to use towards another session with Nicole this year! I can't wait! What should we use it for? Halle's one year photo's? Family Christmas Card photo's? I'm torn!! 

Five Months of Halle

It's so hard to believe that my little girl is five months old already...

As you can tell, she's up to a lot of new things already!
- Our little girl is fantastic at sitting on her own. We're still working on the balance, but she was sitting real well all by herself for this photo shoot (Grandma was off to the side to catch her if she started to go and was unable to balance herself).
- We're getting a lot more sleep around these parts. Some nights 5 hours stretches... but a lot of 6, 7 and even 8 hour nights as well. Thank you little munchkin. Mommy and Daddy are loving it. 
- She's grabbing everything... and I mean all of it! Toys, Mommy's hair, Mommy's face, Mommy's clothes.... the dog's ears. 
- She loves her dogs. She can be in the middle of a crying fit and if that Harley walks into the room, it's big smiles instantly. They are the light of her life... not Mommy and Daddy.
- She's working hard at trying to crawl during tummy time. I imagine it wont' be too long before we have a mobile little girl - exciting, scary and sad all at the same time. 
- She's "exploring textures". She reaches out to things and then opens and closes her hands - scratching and feeling things. Those tiny nails on many surfaces can be quite a sound though...


Thankfully B purchased a fantastic video camera as a Christmas gift and we're already recording as much as we can. I savour these moments of her transitioning from a baby to an infant... she's growing far too quickly.

Another Christmas Weekend!

Happy Monday! We had a fabulous weekend, and hope that you all did too. Friday when B arrived home from work we headed down the street to grab dinner, and Halle was an absolute doll through the whole thing! Afterwards, we headed over to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. We only left with one small stocking stuffer for Halle, but again, she was a perfect angel.


Saturday morning involved some gift wrapping and then Halle and I headed out to do some more shopping, while B did his thing in our bathroom. Our shopping trip wasn't too long, due to all of the crowds, but we managed to cross three more gifts off of our list. When we arrived back home, we were greeted with this sight...

That would be our bathroom... a view I am not accustomed to from our kitchen doorway. B was repairing the floor joists, and found the drywall wasn't attached very well to the damaged joists, and had started to sag - so out it all came. The fun never seems to end over here! He called it a day around 4:30 and the two of us got ready to head for a night out, while Halle spent the evening hanging out with my parents.


Sunday was just a fabulous family filled day. We spent the day at my parents, where my brother and I managed to sneak out to do some shopping - then we decorated the tree and watched a bunch of Christmas movies, before having a family dinner...

{The ornament we gave my parents last Christmas to tell them we were pregnant}

{Someone was loving all of the pretty lights and ornaments!}

I am just loving these holiday weekends with family... even if it leaves me with a ton of house work to accomplish come Monday morning! Which means... I better get to it!

What did you cherish this past weekend?

The Tree - 2011

Growing up, my family tree was always decorated with tons of colourful sparkling lights and ornaments collected and saved for ages. Even today, my parents still trim their tree with those vintage lights and ornaments, and I love being there every year to help adorn the branches of the real tree my father, brother, B and myself venture out to cut down. However, growing up with this sentimental mish mash of ornaments and lights has always had me craving a beautifully planned out tree, and since I was about 18, I've been collecting my own ornaments in blues, whites and silvers - that now make up the tree that stands in our living room.

I love me a real tree, and I'm glad I can still get my fill when we visit my parents. (We also have plans to incorporate a real tree into our Christmas traditions starting next year). For now, we're happy with our Home Depot purchased artificial tree... and a Yankee candle that smells of balsam. 

Some of my favourite ornaments? The tin Victorian tinsel that we purchased at the One of A Kind Show a few years back. It adds that extra sparkle to our tree every year...

Our tin snowflakes. We actually bought these at RONA on boxing day a few years back. They were ridiculously inexpensive, with it being the day after Christmas, and we got them for less than a dollar each!

These white porcelain ornaments I grabbed at The Bay last December, the week before Christmas. They were already marked down and I knew they would be the perfect addition to our tree... so I grabbed four.

The one ornament that makes it onto our tree each year, without being white, blue or silver - is the Jameson bauble that we bought on our trip to Dublin in 2009. It was our first trip overseas together, so it's a special memory for us. 

And new to our tree this year - this sweet baby's first Christmas ornament gifted to us by my parents! I've put them front and center, and they look so sweet. 

Even our tree skirt matches well. This blue suede skirt, with white fur trim came home with us from Massachusetts after our Thanksgiving trip there in 2009... and I still adore it!

I'm linking up our sparkly blue tree today with Megan over at Honey We're Home for the Holiday Blog Link party.

How do you decorate your tree? Do you keep it the same year after year like we do - or do you like to switch it up and try something new?

Sending Good Tidings

We're getting close people! Only 19 more days to the big day, and still a lot to be done. My goals for this week are getting some wrapping done (maybe even a bit more shopping), and to get our Christmas cards in the mail, since they'll be sent all over Canada and the United States (and one goes to Scotland). Have you got your cards ready to go? If you're running behind and don't have time to order cards, here's what we did to save some time and money.


I used my version of My Memories, to create two different cards for this season...

It was so easy to do, by just using some backgrounds and cute little images that come with the program. Once I was done designing them, we had them printed on heavy card stock and used the back for writing a message. I loved creating our own cards, and if you'd like to do the same, you can buy your very own version of MyMemories to do the same.

Just visit MyMemories.com and use the code STMMMS43778 to get $10 off your purchase of MyMemories v3, plus a $10 credit to use at the MyMemories online store. Once you

purchase it, you can download it right away and get those cards started right away!

Have you got your cards out yet? Do you send photo cards or just regular Christmas cards?

A Festive Little Weekend

Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a great weekend! We packed ours with as many festive activities as we could. Here's what we got up to...


1. On Friday night, I had to do some prep for my baking that needed to be done on Saturday. In particular - I had to crush up whole Oreos, and doing it by hand seemed to work best. Halle wanted to help...

2. Then, up went the tree. We were able to get as far as getting it set up and the lights on, and just a few ornaments, before a certain baby needed to get to bed. She must've been exhausted from crushing all of those Oreo's, and helping Daddy with the lights for the tree...

3. On Saturday morning, I made some delicious baked french toast for breakfast, and we got a few more ornaments on the tree before bundling up and heading out to the Etobicoke Lakeshore Santa Clause Parade. We ended up leaving before Santa arrived since it was pretty cold and someone was ready for a nap...

4. When we got home, we finished decorating our tree! I love it! (I will share pictures on Thursday...promise!)


5. The afternoon was dedicated to whipping up some delicious Peppermint Cream Bites. It was kind of frustrating, and I suggest that if you plan to tackle this recipe - follow your instincts. You'll definitely need more than 2 tbps of butter to make the cookie crust stick!


6. Sunday, Halle and I headed out to my hometown and to a cookie exchange hosted by my cousin. So many yummy cookies to eat and bring home - what's better than that?

7. While we were off sampling cookies with family and friends, B and my Dad were back on the home front working away on our bathroom! I can't wait to share more updates with you soon.


8. And I saved this till last since it wasn't actually over the weekend. On Tuesday evening (after Halle's appointment for the first of her four month shots), we took her to see Santa, and this was the result...

BIG SMILES - and we love it! I think she could just understand what the photographer was saying... who was raving about what a beautiful baby she was. Yup - we're totally in trouble.

Did you get up to any fun and festive things this weekend?

Happy Thanksgiving - Round 2!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends! Today we are south of the border celebrating this fantastic holiday surrounded by all of B's family. Halle's first Thanksgiving (we don't make a big huge deal of Canadian Thanksgiving back at home). I'm looking forward to taking in the Macy's Parade, watching football, eating turkey.... and MAYBE, if I'm lucky, having my usual post-turkey nap on the couch.

{via design dump}

I hope that all of those celebrating today are surrounded by the one's they love the most, and are showing their gratitude for all of the fantastic things we are blessed with! 

Four Months of Halle

So it's happened - my little girl is four months old already. There may still be some nights where we get less sleep, but there are also now a good number where she will sleep 7 or 8 hours! So it's all worth it... especially for all the smiles and giggles we get now, and each new milestone we reach. Here she is...

What's she up to these days?...

- Someone is in L-O-V-E with her feet. Just the other week she started stuffing her toes in her mouth... while Daddy was changing her diaper. Needless to say, diaper changes are becoming more challenging by the day!

- Just this past Monday she started blowing raspberries! She's been loving having us do it for quite some time now, and on Monday morning, I was changing her diaper (seems to be prime time for her to show us her new skills) and she just started blowing raspberries at me.

- She's on oatmeal cereal now, and has been since the day after her 3 month birthday. She's definitely starting to fill out and is a girl who knows what she likes. It's all about Heinz! She does not like Gerber cereal one bit.

- Her playmat is the place to be. She loves reaching and grabbing for everything and turns herself in circles constantly. It's one of the few places I can set her down during the day in order to accomplish things...

I think what's blowing my mind even more than her being four months old is that I almost have five months of maternity leave behind me! Time sure is flying...