Lovely Lake Life

This past weekend I packed up the car, grabbed the babe and dog and headed to the lake. Matt was out of town for meetings the first part of the weekend so this was my first time getting everything together for a trip, solo. Three attempts at packing the car, two curse words and one bruise later we were ready. I have been going to Seneca lake since I was a baby but this was Parker's first 'real' lake vacation where she could nap on the shore, interpret her own version of skipping rocks and play in the shallow water. She loved spending time with my parents and was constantly dragging them from the cottage, to the tent, to the lake, back to the cottage, repeat.

She was a natural lake girl with sunscreen in her hair and tiny rocks stuck to her chub legs and I was slightly obsessed with her tiny blonde pony sticking through her baseball cap. Her first morning there was a little chilly so I threw on a jacket over her pajamas and we walked down to the shore as she pointed saying things like 'waaaaaaaaaater' and 'baby yogaaaaa!'. She could barely contain herself and before we knew it she was knee deep and doing a face dive into the water. From then on she was skeptical of the water to say the least but still had so much fun. The cottage that my parent's were staying in has the best walking road so as you can imagine there was a sunset walk each night after dinner and we ended the weekend celebrating my younger brother's 24th birthday.

We always love watching Parker experience new things, but watching her embrace one of my favorite things with such open arms really warmed my heart. We are looking forward to more laid back vacations just like this for many years to come.

Expecting Mama & Newborn Love List

One of my life long friends is expecting her first baby at the end of October and we couldn't be more excited over here! It's been so fun to watch her switch into mama mode when she talks about ultrasounds and first kicks. Not to mention, Parker can't wait to have a new buddy to join her wolf pack! Whenever I am out running errands or shopping online, I am constantly keeping my eyes open for anything that her or her babe might need love. As you can imagine looking at all the impossibly cute baby items has really kick started some serious baby fever on my end. So much that I can't help but create imaginary carts online packed with what I would pick up if we were expecting again. Here are a few of my absolute fave items for expecting moms and newborns!

1. Never Grow Up Print | 2. Bkr Glass Water Bottle | 3. House of Mia Newborn Bundle | 4. Striped pants | 

5. Heart Onesie | 6. Mustella Triple Action Cream | 7. Jersey Knit Booties

Summer, Don't Leave Us

It's already happening. Maybe it was the way the dark and rainy weather made me feel like I needed to throw on yoga pants and the biggest sweater I own. Or maybe it was the lasagna rolls on our plates (a repeat in our house come September), but I couldn't help but think that it felt like fall. I was thankfully reminded this afternoon that we have a few months left of sweet summer when I stepped out into the 80 degree heat. We still have some summer bucket list items to cross off our lists including letting Parker get down and dirty with a sprinkle overdosed ice cream cone. Not to mention I am completely obsessed with Parker's summer wardrobe so I'm not rushing to pack away her tiny clothes for winter storage quite yet. If you follow me on Instagram, you've probably seen a few of these gems but here are some of our fav get ups thus far.

A mini military coat? We'll take 10.

I swear this child smiles. I now understand why people say it's so hard to photograph toddlers! xx

Parker's 21 Month Update

It seems like forever since the last post! Looking back through the older posts, I am blown away with how much time has passed and how much our little girl has grown. So much has happened between then and now that it's hard to pick up where we left off, but it's sweet to be back none the less.

Parker is now 21 months and I swear, learning something new each minute. I work during the day so I can't wait to hang out with her when we get home to see what new she's learned at school. She can count to 10 (we're working on 11), and can recite her ABCs up through 's'. She loves to sing songs and dance. Sometimes Matt and I put on music in the kitchen and try to teach her some of our awesome moves. Her favorite move is rolling her fist over the other. One of our favorite things to do is have her mock our facial expressions. She is so spot on sometimes that it leaves me speechless (case in point, the last picture of this post). Her go-to food is definitely hummus. Over Father's Day we had our entire family over and put out a bunch of appetizers, one of them being hummus. Parker manned the hummus station the entire time and eventually ended up scooping it with her hands into her mouth over and over. No chips for this chick! Which leads me to her next favorite. Parker also loves anything that involves her new stool that we found at Ikea. She could spend hours brushing her 'teeess' or washing her hands. 

I know each parent says this, but with each passing day she gets so much more fun and smart that it's hard for me to miss her baby days. Not so say I don't have my moments, but I just love this age. Happy weekend, friends!

Starting the Week Off Right

I love each day of  the weekend but there is something so je ne sais quoi about Sundays. After all the errands are run, cleaning is finished, drinks are drunk and friends are seen, we are left with Sunday. I typically use those 24 hours, which ironically seem more like 15 minutes, soaking up all the roll-y goodness of Parker. We take the time to enjoy eating her food...yes, we. I steal a bite or two whenever we sit at the table, and it's not my fault. Tyler Florence is setting the bar pretty high with his fancy purees that we've been picking up at our local Wegmans. So much that I can already see the look Parker will shoot me when I try to attempt to feed her my own creation. Better luck next time, ma.

When we're not going bite for bite in the dining room, we lay on her faux fur rug and read her Pigeon books, push her cow around, and nosh on her other toys in hopes that it maybe, just maybe, it will turn into the Plum-Berry-Brown Rice-Quinoa baby food that she loves so much.

When she gets bored with that, we find wherever Matt is in (or outside) of the house and interject ourselves in whatever he's doing. Yesterday it was cleaning out the DVD case. Obviously a HUGE opportunity for fun there. It was so cute seeing her sit in the sea of disheveled DVDs, 'helping' daddy. After a job well done, we went for a walk and ended with some online shopping where I picked her up the cutest espadrilles for spring! She is starting to show interest in standing more and more so I figured that's as good as an excuse as any.

Life Lately

It's been a while since my last post! Now that the warmer weather has finally settled in, we've been taking full advantage of the sun and Parker seems to be growing just as fast as our lawn grass. Here's a peak into her hectic schedule as of late.

She attended her first casual Kentucky Derby/2nd birthday party. Turns out she and her derby horse were knocked out before we even left the house. We're still working on her 'life of the party' skills.

Baby girl is no longer a stranger to the swing! I was a bit skeptical when placing her in the harness since  it seemed a little big to fit her, but it did the job. When I pushed her I'm pretty sure I heard her coo, 'higher'!

There's always enough time for a nap or two.

I love love love shopping for babies in the spring and summer months! I decided that if I could get away with it, I'd be on a bloomer and onesie dress code kick for the rest of the season. It's my favorite look on our little girl.

My very first Mother's Day as an officially mama came and went so quickly! We celebrated last year when I was pregnant with Parker but I was totally looking forward to this year when I could actually spend it playing with her. I was spoiled with some sweet surprises from Matt and Parker I'm not exaggerating when I say that I cried for at least two hours over Parker's 'painting'. It's probably the greatest  gift I've ever received and I carried it around with me for two days like a little kid. I guess this means it's time to make the DIY art frame that I've been obsessing over on Pinterest!

Soooo sweet, right?

We staged our weekly mama-baby photo shoot and mastered some hamstring stretches.

Yes, my friends - we've accomplished a lot. I almost forgot to add kissing to Parker's list of why she's awesome. She dives at your face at full speed, mouth open and pulls your hair so you can tell that she means it. It is the best thing and it makes my heart melt. Which reminds me, Matt is off to Indiana for the night so this means comfies and cheese pesto pizza is on the agenda for tonight and I am not mad at it. Here's to busy days being amazing days!

Vacay Photo Overload

As promised, here are some of my favorite pictures from our mini getaway to Florida!

It took me a while to get the lighting right and settings adjusted on my camera once we arrived. I really haven't used it in a couple months so getting back in to the swing of things caused the first few pictures to be a little sub par however, I couldn't not share this first picture with you. She rocks that backwards chambray top like it was on correctly, don't you think? Go me.

I had decided that I wasn't going to bed on our first night until I got Parker out to the beach! Her reaction to seeing the ocean for the first time is something I have looked forward to for months. Of course I never thought that she would love the taste of sand as much as she did, but I guess that is all part of the experience. She was exhausted earlier than usual and desperately looked like she needed a bath.

...been there.

Which brings us to another first. Sink bath times. Princess Sweaty Head was LOVING it.

The next day we were back out on the beach so Parker could get her sand fix and mama could get an adorable photo opp of this bathing beauty. Matt took over with the camera and I was thoroughly impressed. I always give him a hard time about his photos, but must be he's been picking up some tips!

When I said Parker loves, sand... I mean she really loves it. I think she at least got a good five little hand fulls before we finally picked her up and realized that there was no stopping her. Something similar to my relationship with m&ms.

We also discovered that she is petrified of the waves. She likes to stay shore bound but once the tide rolls in and its suddenly all around her, she just couldn't handle.

My pretty-pudgy-sand face-puckered lip love bug!

I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was spent with tons of friends and family. I used today to clean a couple of rooms throughout the house and we couldn't resist a walk since it was so beautiful out. I walked her to the park where she had her first experience on a swing. No swing face here! She couldn't get enough. We also gave her a sippy cup for the first time today. She mainly just swings it around and squawks at it but hopefully down the road she'll get the hang of it.

Here's to Sunday fun day!x