babies!!!

all information has been changed to protect privacy

I'm helping throw a baby shower for a friend at the end of the month, and was up till the wee hours of the night playing with fonts & backdrops for the shower invitations. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Should be pretty cute when we pull everything together. Maybe I'll post a DIY later.

Credit:
Gold Backdrop: druidka & Allemaxx
Blue & Pink: tuhinat & Allemaxx
Blue & Cream: CillitBang & Allemaxx
Fonts: Return to Sender, Simplicity, Jennifer Lynn

let them eat...

Dirt apparently. Or at least while daddy is baby sitting.

Last night, Justin was in meetings, and I was getting the little guy for bed. He was getting a little crazy, so I made his bottle and gave it to him while I finished picking up a few things. As I'm putting his books away, I feel a little hand on my leg, and I look down, and he is pushing his bottle into my face.

Now I realize some may not see this for the big deal that it is, so let me just tell you. To this little guy, bottles are nigh unto sacred. The Holy Grail of possessions. "Drop everything you are holding the moment you see one come in sight" special. So the fact that he was sharing it with me, must mean he thinks I'm pretty special too. Or that I look hungry. Either way, this kid melts my heart. Every Day.

rite of passage...

is there anything more wonderful than watching your little one experience something new? the squeals of joy that are the only way he can express his excitement.

and when something is truly, entirely delightful, the only adequate way to express himself is to run in circles, beating his stomach.

truly, is there anything better? I say there is not.

the cutest surprise...

So Justin's cousin & our good friends Jeff & Emilee are expecting, and we couldn't be more thrilled and excited for them!

We snapped these pictures last weekend for them to use when they broke the news, and I can't get over how adorable they are. It was amazing to be a part their excitement, and such a fun shoot to do & edit!

Can't wait to meet the little one next year!

-xo

Heather

prepare for an onslaught...

of pictures & cuteness. This guy turned 11 months last Sunday, so we snapped a few pics. I can't believe that he is almost a year old. He said "da-da" for the first time this week, and took his first steps on Saturday. It's been really exciting and heart jerking all at the same time. It's all going too too too fast. I know it's a cliche, but seriously, too fast little guy. I just love you.

Top: Old Navy | Shorts: via eBay | Shoes: via eBay | Bow Tie: Etsy

rock-a-bye baby

I love watching my little guy sleep. I love watching him awake too, but there is something extraordinarily beautiful about seeing him sleeping peacefully. In my mind, I'm cheering him on, saying "Grow baby grow. Grow big and strong and sound of mind. You'll need to, to survive in this big crazy world of yours".

Even after I put him down, I'll usually sneak into his bedroom a couple time a night, and always right before I crawl into bed, so the last thing I see is his sweet peaceful face.

And that moment, when I know he is safe and completely at peace, those are the sweetest moments. The sweetest moments, when all is right with the world.

snuggles of the best kind...

When you have a baby, you know it is going to be a lot of work. You expect it. Everybody tells you, "its a lot of work, it's hard", so you know the hardness is coming. But you don't. You just don't know. If we really knew how much work it was going to be, no one would ever have children. The difference is, when it's your beautiful little one, it doesn't matter.

Not as much anyway. Because in all sincerity, serious sleep deprivation kind of always matters.

today.

Today my baby is five weeks. Five beautiful weeks of sweet baby squishyness and sweet baby smell. Five weeks of poopy diapers, no sleep, head aches, and sweet baby cries.

Five of the hardest and most emotionally draining weeks of my life.

But that doesn't even matter. It is funny how many things seem to not even matter anymore. Showering, cooking, clean clothes, eating, doing pretty much anything that requires the use of your hands.

This guy is the tops. And that is pretty much all that matters.

eBay baby.

So you all know how much I love finding great deals online, and eBay has often been a really amazing go to for me to finding really nice stuff for less. (Last month I scored a brand new pair of chucks for under $25 for my birthday!)

So, as we've been looking for baby things, and slowly building up our supplies, I have been so happy with some of the great stuff for baby I've been able to find!

I have found that with eBay, because there is SO MUCH there, I've developed a couple of rules or tips that can be very helpful as you try to navigate the ocean of  listings, not only for baby stuff, but for anything you are wanting to find.

1. Know what you are looking for.
   
   Are you looking for clothing, toys, gift cards, bath supplies... know what you want. Don't just go to eBay and type in baby unless you are wanting to pull all your hair out.
   
2. If you are looking for something very specific, don't limit yourself by just looking in the obvious category. 
   
   eBay has categories for everything. You can look for toys, chew toys, bath toys, stuffed animals... the list is almost endless. But, if you are looking for something extremely specific, for example a Sophie The Giraffe Natural Teething Toy (which I've heard are amazing, but because junior hopefully won't have teeth right away, I still haven't been able to justify), I would avoid looking in a specific category, and instead just do a generic search for "Sophie Giraffe" in all baby stuff. If you want to get picky about price and condition after you have done that be my guest. You can drill down on that stuff on the left hand side of the page. 
   
   By NOT specifying a category, you are able to search for any listings that meet that search term among all the baby listings on eBay. This is advantageous because while most people might look for that item under the "teething" or whatever category, someone may put up a listing under "toys" or something else. Catching my drift?
   
   A quick search for a Sophie actually turned up decent results. You can get a brand new one here for under $19 with free shipping. Pretty good when they are usually at least $25 at most retailer stores.
   
   
   
3. Know when to narrow.
   
   Knowing when is a good time to narrow your search criteria is an important skill to develop if you want to find good deals on eBay. When I search, two of the main things I narrow by are price and size. Whether I'm buying for me or my baby, I usually have a pretty narrow threshold for what I am willing to spend, and as I've mentioned in previous posts, it is important to know what will fit, for you or for someone else.
   
   It is pretty straightforward to narrow by price and and size. Once you have created your basic search, there are about a billion things you can narrow by on the left hand side of the page. And the beauty about narrowing is that you can choose more than one category when you are doing it. So when I was looking for baby clothes, I was able to look through listing for a baby fitting in sizes newborn-12 months. Pretty nifty no? 

Here are some of my favorite things I've scored for our little one:

Left: Gap Onesie, $3 - The tags were still attached, but there was a teenie tiny hole I patched.
Center: Cowboy Shirt, $10 - This actually came from Kate Quinn Organics. Though pricey, their stuff is amazing and all organic cotton, but if you subscribe to their email list, you'll get notifications for when they have $10 sales!
Right: Chambray Shirt, $3 - Its Chambray, need I say more?
Shoes: all were under $7 total. And those sweet little boots in the middle? $3.50 baby. Love. 

These two were sort of for Justin. I got the Kenneth Cole one on the right for $12 total, and the Gap one on the left for $15 (I always calculate shipping into the price of an item). 

This little guy is actually my favorite. A creepy but cute hand made teddy - $12. Seriously guys. You have no idea how much I love squeezing this thing. It's borderline indecent. 

Hopefully these tips help. eBay can be a bit daunting when you first begin, and a bit addicting once you've scored your first great deals.

What would you most like to score a great deal on? What is most daunting when you're buying on a platform like eBay? I've been doing it for a while, so sometimes I forget what it is like to be new at the thing. :)

-Heather