I love Nest

I guess this is going to be the week of 'I love.......'

In my research to find the perfect mix of diaper bags to offer at Wonder!, one of my girlfriends recommended the line Nest.  I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before (tsk, tsk, me).

I absolutely love these bags - and am having a hard time narrowing down which ones I like for Wonder!  Maybe you can help.  Here are my favs - oh and don't freak out, I will be offering less expensive options!  

Mercer, $385

The Bleeker - a Vegan option, $150

Bleecker in Black

Grommet, $324

Elliott, $340

North South, also Vegan, $200

Pink Chicken New York

For my new job as the senior apparel buyer for Wonder! (more on that in a later post this week, promise), in a short time I have already come across some DARLING lines for babies and kids.  I am in LOVE with this one called Pink Chicken, which is definitely going to be in the Wonder! store and website come Fall.  

Allow me to introduce....

pink chicken is designed and owned by Stacey Fraser, a 15-year fashion veteran
(babyGap, Tommy Hilfiger, Old Navy, Ralph Lauren) and mother-of-two.
after the birth of her second daughter, this Virginia-native wanted to take some time off,
away from seventh avenue and raise her family. but stacey couldn't get designing out of her head,
and with two perfect muses available everyday… pink chicken was hatched!

You can find more info about Pink Chicken on their website, and shop online if you so desire (you will).  But, a few of my favorites from the current spring/summer collection that Miss Gemma would look adorable in:

Slaving Away........

A report on all things Tracy Anderson and my battle of the baby bulge.

To date:

• 6 very stubborn lbs lost.  (and by lost, I mean never to be found again hopefully)

• Many inches lost.

• Right ankle sprained.

• Therefore experiencing a bit of a plateau as I can't do cardio.

• Still totally motivated.

This helps:

Only about 12 or so lbs to get back to the infamous 'Wedding Weight.'

My son Griffin now refers to Tracy Anderson on a first name basis in our conversations.  Ex: "Mom, are you going to do your Tracy video now?" OR "Mom, I think we need to turn Tracy off."  Oh I wish, Griff, I wish.  ;-)

Will report back in another month or so..............and CONGRATS to my friend Marla of Stellebelle & Rubylou for losing all of HER babyweight asap - her little Ruby is only 19 weeks!  Whew.  I'm impressed.

Gemma is 9 months

Got some new pics done of Miss Gemma Grace - I can't believe she's 9 months old already.  It has FLOWN!  

This little lady's sweetness has changed me forever, much the way my little man did in his first year.  I know all Moms say this but I can't believe they're mine and I feel like the luckiest woman in the world to be blessed with these two.  

So without further ado......Gemma Grace.  Pictures by Ali Stone (Chicago-Madison based).

baby shoes that stay on.....yay!

We recently got Gemma Grace a pair of these darling Bobux baby shoes.  I love them for 2 reasons:

1.  They are SO CUTE!  So many choices, too.

2.  They stay on.  For real, I have not lost a baby shoe yet - but we have had many a scare - ex. recently going up and down every aisle in Michaels for a shoe that either Griffin pulled off Gemma, or it just fell off.  Ahhh!  Nothing more annoying.

Therefore, baby Bobux shoes from here on out! 

Gemma's Nursery....Finally!

It's a little embarrassing that it took me THIS long to get Gemma's nursery pictures up here on my blog, but....it did. I am a bit of a perfectionist and wanted to have it all 'done' before putting anything on here for longevity.

I do have to say that you'll probably not notice any shelving on the walls or anything - that was hard for me. I have some GREAT Pottery Barn crown molding shelves that I wanted to put up, but I lost some of the hardware in the move and PB won't give me new hardware unless I buy a whole new shelf. SO irritating. And the hardware mount is VERY specific to the shelf, so specific that I can't find it anywhere. And let me tell you, I've looked. Anyway, so there are no shelves, and there will not be until I decide to throw some money down the toilet and buy new ones for the hardware.

One other note - I am in no way, shape or form a photographer! I can barely use my Canon Powershot. So excuse weird angles and lighting....

Some specifics.....how cute is the 'Gemma' lettering (try to ignore the mobile - Gemma loves that thing, can't take it down)? I found it on Etsy of course. The shop is called DwellingOnline and it's adorable! I was able to send her pictures of the bedding, the rug, and give her a general idea of the room and she did the letters from that!


Some of you might remember this fabulous drum table I found at Serena & Lily - I love the uniqueness of it!

I searched for quite a while to find a bookcase for the room that was small enough for the space (it's a pretty small room). I loved this Land of Nod 'Bin There Done that Book Bin' because it isn't too deep - only about a foot - which provides more 'play' space in the room while housing Gemma's books neatly.

This is the cutest canvas art my Mom and I came across at Home Goods! What a find - it was $39.99 and incorporated all things girly and had that little bit of lavender that I had been trouble finding (everything is PINK!).

This is a small space that's between the door and the sliding closet doors of the room. I wasn't sure what to do with this space, but ended up getting some cute $12 flower wall hangups from Land of Nod, and put this cute (again) Land of Nod tutu on one hook, and MY old baptism dress on the other. The more I look at it, the more I like it. A little old, a little new, it's sweet.

This is obviously the changing table, but I wanted to show that if you have kids of the opposite sex, you CAN re-use things in the new nursery - all of the furniture in Gemma's nursery is Griffin's old stuff - even this artwork above the changing table. It's all Oopsy Daisy artwork that went great in his room too, even though his nursery was taupe, chocolate brown, and turquoise.

I must mention where I got the chandelier as it was quite the search. I didn't want to spend a lot of $$ on it, just on principle! Therefore after posting on Facebook about it and asking my friends, I found a GREAT deal at Home Depot. No kidding. My friend Erin Lopez of the blog Raw for a Reason (check it out!) told me to try there and she was right! The chandelier I got is the Hampton Bay Mini 3 light chandelier, and it was only $99. And no kidding, with a smile and maybe a little lip gloss, the guy gave it to me for $80. Can you believe it? Somehow I bargained at Home Depot and WON. ha!

Somewhat unrelated to the nursery, I HAD to show off Gemma's new shoes. Are they darling or what? I picked them up at BabyGap the other day - they are a total nod to my very own Marc Jacobs Mouse flats (of which I have two pair, but would own them all if I could!) so they were a MUST. If you MUST, here's the link.

Finally, here's Miss Gemma Grace herself, babylegs, Mel-Belles bow, excessive drool and all. :-) And for those of you worried about how she's sitting up and the crib hasn't been dropped yet - don't. We dropped it down last night - big girl already!

Hope you enjoyed my little tour of Gemma's nursery....I certainly had fun decorating it. And as we all know - it will never be 'done.' Let me know if you have any ideas to make it even more fabulous!

Never thought I would have these

No, I never thought I would have these, but I took the plunge. I have .....................Mommy calling cards! Aren't they cute?

Do any of you feel this way? Are you thinking - how cheesy is that? Or, is that really necessary? That is what I was thinking a couple of years ago when I found out such a thing existed. Are you ready for the 'BUT?'

But, my stylish friend Melanie of Style Scout had suggested these a while back, and I recently decided I needed some.

Here are my (and what my be YOUR reasons):

1. When you're at the park/preschool/mall and you meet another Mom with kids that you think might be someone you want to get to know, do you really have the hands/time to get out some paper or program her number into your phone?

2. If you do end up programming her into your phone, will you remember who she is a week later when you're scrolling through your phone? For example, you see Cara and think, "who the heck is Cara with a 312 area code?"

3. If you don't have the time and just decide not to exchange information and hope that you see each other again, it's Murphy's Law that you won't. Believe me, because I have done this too many times.

4. If you live in a new area (which I do) and don't know many people (which I don't), this is a great way to connect with other Mom's, set up playdates, and make friends for you and your kids!

5. So if you DO have Mommy Cards, reaching into your bag and handing one out is easy as pie. And the chances that whomever you hand it to will call you are much higher, since you gave them an adorable card that they won't soon forget!

I got my cards (at Melanie's suggestion) on Etsy, by Pixielimpress.

Here are some of my other favorite designs she features:

My sweet baby girl

I have to share some pictures we just received from Gemma's photo shoot in Kansas City recently. We had the same photographer take Griffin's pictures at 4 months, and they turned out beautifully so we HAD to do the same thing for Miss Gemma!

These were taken by Issac Alongi, he really does a fabulous job of capturing the moment - I love that all you need is a white background and a mostly naked baby!

And just for comparison's sake, here are Griffin's 4 month pictures by Issac.