The Monday Giddyup

My weekend in review, via Instagram:

My tiny Pilgrim.

What a turkey.

Speaking of turkeys...

Nora's 1st Thanksgiving dinner...the usual.  Tablecloth from IKEA, it's perfect.

The Goose.

The festive goose.

My friend Megan gifted me with 3 bunny ornaments (one is me, one is Henry, and one is Nora.)  I love them on the tree!  They are from Anthropologie (where everything ships for free today, no minimum!)



Cute Mara Mi holiday stuff at Target (can't find it online).

Sweet baby.

I think this makes me the Large Fry, but I also received suggestions that perhaps my Milkshake brings all the boys to the yard or that I am the ketchup to her fries.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Funny Girls

I love Mindy Kaling - her book, while a little random, was hilarious, and made me really want to be her best friend.  The opening scene from last week's episode of her show "The Mindy Project" was SO funny.  See this post from one of my favorite blogs, A Cup of Jo, to read more about Mindy (including an awesome quote) and find the link to watch last week's episode.

Source

And while we're on the topic of funny girls, this one is 19 weeks old today (on the 19th! Does that make it her golden birthday or something?):

This kid is the bomb.com.  What do you all think of that bow?  I don't feel the need to put a bow on her head so that people can tell she's a girl...I don't really care if people think she's a boy.  In fact, it might be good for her.  I was mistaken for a boy once in 7th grade (yes, that is late in the game).  Being 6 feet tall and 12 years old with a really bad boy haircut was clearly a winning combo.  It wasn't fun at the time, but I like to think of it as good character building.  Anyway, this really isn't about where my self-esteem comes from...are you a bow fan?  Does this just look like I'm trying too hard?  Do we all think NJ will be bald til she's 2 like I was?  This baby's got a lot to look forward to.

The Best Baptism Gifts

Not only did Nora have a great ceremony and party for her baptism, she also got some special gifts.  She got some super cute new clothes and her first Bible.  She was also gifted with these lovely items:

On the left from Grhonda and Grandbob (Uncle Sam got a "Godfather" tee to match) and on the right from Aunt Jayne and Uncle Dac.

An ADORABLE quilt made from this fabric by a new friend of mine, from Tia Mia.

A tiny little cross necklace from Grhonda and Grandbob.

The first charm for her charm bracelet from Uncle Sam (the other side shows a Baptism).

...And this GORGEOUS print from Jayne and Dac and pillow that I love so much, embroidered by my awesome Aunt Carolyn!

 

We are lucky ducks.  And here are a few recent pics of my little duck:

She started rolling over (constantly) last week and this was taken one morning when I went in to get her out of bed -she was SO PROUD of herself for rolling over in her crib.

This is her special, handknit sweater from a great friend of mine (thank you Chris!)  It is so sweet and cozy on her.

Typical NJ.

Baptized Baby

Back to reality after Superstorm Sandy hit DC the past couple days - we are so thankful to be safe and warm.  Sending goodness up to those areas hit harder.

Before we came home to Sandy on Sunday, we had a WONDERFUL weekend in Indiana to celebrate Nora's baptism.  We are a lucky little family, to be so loved.  Grhonda and Grandbob hosted a fun and delicious brunch for us and the whole family before the ceremony.  Here are some highlights of that party:


I ordered a glitter garland from "The Flair Exchange" - LOVE IT.  I plan to use it at all of Nora's parties.

Cake from Joy Ann's bakery in Richmond, IN - our favorite!  I love that it said "Bless Her Little Heart" - something we actually say all the time.



My mom had framed tons of pictures of Nora and used them all over the place.  She also took pink and orange ribbon and pinned it into the top and bottom of white pumpkins for centerpieces.  She made it look really easy, and it turned out so cute for a Fall party!



I bought this beautiful garland at Paper Source - you can make it say whatever you want!  I also plan to use this again and again.

Party favors from Nora - smiley face cookies (again from Joy Ann's).

 

I used this little bow punch on the tags for the cookies and a little program at the church.  I also plan to use it on the Thank you cards I send out (later this week...?)

And the baby of honor:

This gown has been passed down in my family for over 60 years - my Dad was baptized in it, I was baptized in it, and now Nora was too.  The Chuck Taylors are new - but her Godfather, Uncle Sam wore Chucks when he was baptized (in this gown) too!

She wore this dress from Zara Baby when she wasn't in her gown - it was SO CUTE on her!

The ceremony was perfect.  My great uncle, Father John (who also married Henry and I) performed the baptism, Aunt Jayne read "On the Night You Were Born", and then  Aunt Jayne, Godmother Tia Mia and Godfather Uncle Sam led everyone in singing "Tell Me Why."  We are so thankful to everyone who was there to help make it such a special family gathering!

Day by Day

As I mentioned long ago, I had some great plans to take amazing monthly or weekly photos to document our sweet little babe.  Turns out that especially in those first couple months, arranging Nora in some hilarious costume on a little customized set and then taking a great photo weren't feasible for me.  I was sad that I had already "missed" the first couple months when I realized that I had taken about a million photos, many that I loved...maybe I could bring them all together after the fact to document the growing NJ.  I was able to figure out which photos I had taken on Mondays (by going through emails and texts I had sent out with pics), and I just put a little label on each of them with the "Labelbox" app on my iphone (side note: I think the iphone is my #1 most important baby item.  I use it daily to take photos and video of Nora and then share them with family and friends.  It takes awesome pics and it's almost always with me.)

I don't LOVE the Labelbox app - I think there's probably something cuter out there.  I could also do something better looking with photoshop, if I knew how to use photoshop (oh well).  So this will do for now, and I can always go back and re-do, now that I know which photos are from which week.  I have saved 2 photos labeled from each week like this:

And then I've put every 4 weeks together in little blocks (using the Foto Frame app on my phone - sorry, can't find a link to Foto Frame) to make it easier to see her grow:

As you can see, she is sleeping in most of my pics of her from the first 4 weeks of her life.  She's turned into quite the little ham.  I love the Foto Frame app, and also recently got the "PicFrame" app, which also seems great!  I plan to use these for something special for her first birthday.  I can't believe she's 15 weeks old!  She's the best.

#1 Dad

Saw this on Look Linger Love last week:

This Dad (Dave Engledow) has created some awesome (and hilarious) images with his daughter and Photoshop.  "World's Best Father" indeed!

Sunbeams

To buy on Etsy.

Good thoughts were clearly shining out of Nora yesterday:

Three months old!  This onesie was a gift from Grhonda (our mom, Nora's Grandma) - she got it on our big trip to Asheville last spring at Malaprops.  Isn't it cute?!  And the Babylegs legwarmers are awesome - no need to remove them for a diaper change :).

May good thoughts shine out of your face all day.