introducing carter belle...

Better late than never, right? As I mentioned in my last post, life has been much crazier with two little people in it. Carter was born in July and we had a friend Michael Curtis take photos of her. I do not always get around to sending a Christmas card every year, but I want to make a birth announcement a priority (no judgement if you did not do a birth announcement...I know postpartum life is crazy...). With lots of our friends and family being far-flung, I really wanted to send a card to stay connected and to announce our sweet Carter. 

We decided to go with this sweet announcement...

I decided to go for the lined envelopes because it makes the mail feel extra special. And just because I am a little obsessive when it comes to crafts...I decided to embellish the envelopes with washi tape that matched the color scheme of announcements. 

I have loved washi tape for several years now...I used to think it was called happy tape actually because I bought it from a site called 'happy tape', but know most people are familiar with washi tape and you can even buy it at target or staples.  I ordered online, but it was pretty easy to find a few tapes that matched our color scheme. 

I decided to vary the way I embellished the envelopes for my own entertainment. Some I embellished on the front of the envelope. 

Some I embellished on the backs. I guess you'd call that a back, right? I created the triangle or flags simply by cutting the washi tape, but I think the triangles are my favorite...

Of course, there's always just the easy torn washi tape, which looks fun and saves a lot of time! 

Do you have any fun ways to embellish envelopes with washi tape? 

Carter Belle, consider yourself officially announced. ;)

fall is here, people.

photo credit / michael curtis

life lately has been crazy. the fall is always crazy for philip's schedule, but adding another baby to mix has made it feel a little crazier. still good, but a little nutso. my patience starts to run thin with judah especially at the end of the day as we have never been able to get him to sleep well. my to do list often feels like i can't possibly get through it all and i generally don't. i am spending way more time on laundry than i ever have and coffee is one of my most faithful bffs.

i'm so not ready to part with summer. having a baby in the middle of the summer sort of changed how the summer felt. we also weren't here for the first time in seven years. i was looking forward to the break, but it's also like our little adventure we go on every summer and i hope we'll get to continue.

i've been sampling fall beers. i'm not much of a beer person, but so far i like this one.

jude took a liking to baking this summer. mainly he likes the results, but this has been my favorite recipe we have made this fall. we first tried the full fat version because it got such good reviews, but will try the healthier one soon.

i'm really liking this swaddle that i borrowed from a friend. it make sense to have room for the babies' arms to come up since both of my children used to fight the traditional swaddle.

i'm so glad to finally have some energy back to put into my little shop. during the pregnancy i thought one delightful button might be toast because of my lack of desire and energy, but its still kicking. enjoying making this new fun item lately..

we will eventually switch to cloth diapers, but right now i am loving these diapers. i love what they are made of and i can't handle the cute patterns. the price actually does seem reasonable too and the customer service is excellent.

also, did you read this? i still love starbucks, but am hoping they will start to have organic milk and clean up their ingredients. i'm hooked on this lady's blog.

that's all for now folks. happy monday!

random monday thoughts

I have been noticing how I sometimes will blog something in my mind or have a thought I want to get out, but the transition from mind to computer to hitting publish is incredibly far. I had an unspoken goal in my mind to at least blog once a week. I love reading blogs and getting a little glimpse into other people's lives, but is it just me or does it feel like instagram is somewhat replacing blogs? It could never truly replace blogs in the way that Instagram can only share so much information, but I am wondering if in our society now (and maybe especially for moms of little kids?) that its easier to take a picture and share a thought on instagram rather than having to get it all the way to a formulated thought in a blog post.

I am clearly not an expert in either venue of social media, but I was already noticing this in myself and one of my favorite bloggers, Ashley Ann, mentioned that someone called her an "instagrammer" and not a "blogger." I do love instagram and how you can cover up your pasty skin and make everything look beautiful, but I also love blogs and love hearing what other people are thinking a doing. So let's keep blogging, kapeesh? With that said here goes nothing...

Life with two kids has been challenging, but fun for the most part. My to-do list and laundry often feel never ending, but then sometimes when I get a free second, I can't remember what I need to do. Some days parenting makes me feel bi-polar because I will go from a state of love and euphoria to all of a sudden incredibly frustrated with life and my children. (I do not think I am actually bipolar.......right??)

Carter is a dream. I cannot believe how easy and sweet she is. Jude is speaking and able to articulate himself so much more. It makes life with him generally a lot more fun as he can communicate his funny thoughts. He also has moments of stubbornness that make me want to pull my hair out. One of my favorite Jude-ism right now is "What's called this?" instead of "What's this called?". He says this potentially 1,000 times in a day. He also can be really sweet to her and I caught him entertaining her the other day.

Their "shared nursery" which I will eventually share in photos on here is really just Judah's room and it happens to have a crib in it. The most Carter does in the room is occasionally have her diaper changed or lays in the crib while I am doing something with Jude. And lately, her crib as become a boat or is it a plane? We got a video monitor for Carter, but it's really been nice to check up on Judah during "quiet time."

Photos of the nursery probably will not realistically happen until I can find a spare moment where mr. crazy has not dumped all his toys in his sisters bed, but you know, maybe those are the real nursery photos anyways instead of the perfectly organized bookshelves.

These thoughts have been really random, but I guess that's how my mind is working lately. It probably has always worked this way, but I'll just pretend like it is the exhaustion of a newborn and a toddler.

september goals

As much as I have tried to avoid it, summer is coming to a close. I know Labor Day sort of closes out summer, but I am pretty sure summer technically ends a ways in September. So don't push pumpkins on me yet, people! (even if there is a 6-pack of pumkinhead beer in our fridge already!!) After having a baby and the start of a new season, I feel excited for some change so here are a few goals for September...

• Exercise 3-4 times a week. The baby weight has not just fallen off like last time while I ate whatever my heart desired. I have started running...slowly...everything hurts, but for the first time in a long time I have the desire to work out. 
• Meal plan for the week. Meal planning for the month was a little to difficult for me...I may try it again, but for now weekly meal planning of healthy meals would be a small victory. 
• Weekly date night with Philip...as the fall picks up and now the craziness of having two kids is in full effect, our nights are generally packed so this feels a little more important. 
• Continue reading through my Bible in a year plan....reading has all together become a lot more difficult. 
• Take at least one photo a week of Jude + Carter. This shouldn't be too difficult, but I want to remember to preserve these memories of them little and cute and sometimes I forget to take pictures even though its so easy with the iPhone. 
• Sell or giveaway clothes I have not worn in over 2 years. One thing I did read was Hayley Morgan's ebook, The No Brainer Wardrobe. I am feeling inspired to finally simplify my closet and hopefully invest in some clothes that I feel good about.  
• New fall products online....soon!

xo! here goes nothing!