now that em is getting bigger, i want to get a growth chart to hang in her room so that i can track + record her height. i don’t really want to get a decal since i want to be able to save it as a keepsake. here are a few that i’ve spotted and like. i absolutely love the wooden rulers, especially the center one, but i think they would be too cumbersome to store long term. have you seen any others that you love?

1 animals + numbers // 2 heirloom growth chart // 3 jumbo ruler // 4 zig zag // 5 personalized ruler

this is my favorite picture from em’s baptism. it was taken by kacey’s father. notice all the hands? mine is there. so is kacey’s. plus the priest’s. and little em’s, too. love.

adorable hand knit baby booties from etsy seller pleasantly plump knits.

As promised, here’s a peek at Emily’s birth announcements. It’s so cliché to say, but as a designer, designing for yourself can be so difficult! I must have gone through 10 versions. Twine. Folds. Multiple pictures. You name it. In the end, I scaled it all back and returned to what I do best. Simple + clean, and I really love how they turned out.

The picture is from her newborn shoot with Bloom Photography. I also should note that I did edit the photo of the announcement for privacy sake. Her full name is showcased on the announcements we sent out.

sweet children’s clothes from flora and henri. i especially love the romper.

every morning i check several baby deal sites and today they had these adorable ties on kid steals. so cute, right? i was tempted to buy a couple for gifts, but before i could get my credit card out they were all sold out! that’s the only downside to these sites. if you like something, snag it the second the sale starts or you could miss out.

i don’t know what my deal with stripes on babies is, but i love them! here’s some more from polarn o. pyret that i spotted.

hope you had a great weekend! ours was filled with out of town family, grilling and a make-your-own pizza party. we had such a good time.

if you’re a louisiana native like me, then i’m sure you’ll get a kick out of these onesies from storyville. locally designed + screenprinted and a whole lot of awesome!

after discovering their memory game set, i wanted to see what else plan toys offered for kids. lookie all that i found! lots of fun + vibrant wooden toys. once e gets a little older, i’ll definitely be investing in a few of these for her.

although e isn’t into toys just yet, much less a memory game, i think i’m going to order this plan toys animal memo set. it will be a while before we can play a game of memory with her, but until then, she can practice learning animal names and their sounds. plus the wooden pieces are visually beautiful. i love the graphics + colors.

via the higher nest

we hired mollie from bloom photography to come to our home to take pictures of e when she was a week old. this is one of my favorites. she’s so tiny + peaceful. i’m happy we took time during the oh-so-tiring newborn stage to take these. it’s hard to believe that tomorrow she will be eight weeks old. how fast they grow! cliche but oh so true.

ps - mollie was fantastic! she was so patient [especially when e decided she needed to nurse during the session even though she had just done so right before the shoot]. and she really took her time so that e wouldn’t wake up while she was positioning her. if you’re in or around austin, you should hire her. if not, i highly recommend finding a photographer that specializes in babies to photograph your newborn. i think it’s much different than photographing adults or even children.

remember the baby book i ordered? well, i’ve been meaning to do a follow-up on it. i really like it. it’s simple and void of lots of cutesy cutesy. each page is just simple type on nice + thick textured ecru paper. it’s exactly what i was looking for.

side note - it comes with an inking kit for doing hand and foot prints. it’s nontoxic and for some reason i confused that with non-messy. funny, right? ink and babies equals a big mess! if you’re taking prints of your newborn, i highly recommend doing it with a naked baby [well, with diaper]. that way, no clothes are ruined. also, keep baby wipes + alcohol wipes nearby for a quick[er] cleanup.