Super cute organic baby clothes

I've had babies on the brain lately and no it's not because I'm pregnant! I'm going to be an auntie at the end of May and I'm super excited about showering the new little one with super sweet baby things. My sister loves all things organic and natural so of course I've been keeping my eyes open for the perfect gifts for her. Here are few cute ones that caught my eye today on Etsy.

1 || Organic floral baby leggings from Little Lotus Organics
2 || Organic Tiger Bamboo Fleece Bandana Drool Bib from Maui Bird Co.
3 || Organic Triangle Leggings from Em and Ana
4 || Red giraffe harem pants from Little Lotus Organics
5 || Panda Bear Leggings from Maui Bird Co.
6 || Gray Mushroom Organic Handmade Baby Shoes from Growing Up Wild
7 || Organic Baby Slouchy Hat from Scarlett Baby CA

A Sunshine Tea & Baby Shower

This past weekend my sister Kaitlynn and I threw a baby shower for our sister Stacey in a gorgeous condo party room in mid-town Toronto. She's due at the end of May and we're so excited to meet Baby Sunshine. You may notice that I don't have a ton of photos (we were still getting ready when people arrived!) but you can get an idea of what everything looked like.

We decided to have a tea party type shower after watching the Russian tea party episode on Downton Abbey (please tell me you watch this show!). Kaite and I worked hard making a bunch of cute decorations, but when we got to the party room we decided not to use half of it. As I mentioned, the room was so gorgeous. I could have moved in right then and there! We decided to keep the decor minimal with yellow tulips, food, tea and tea cups of course! 

Kaite has a ton of tea and she thought it would be nice to put them in little glass containers and guests could help themselves. We also made a lot of food like delish vegan brownies from Oh She Glows and chocolate chip cookie bars. We also bought a few cakes from the patisserie at Loblaws (have you seen these new patisseries?) - I love the little yellow one!

In terms of games, we wanted something fun and not cheesy especially because it was a co-ed shower so we opted for baby shower bingo and a 'Who's My Mama' game from Creative Union Design. There was also a pool table in the room which helped keep things fun!

Overall the shower was a great success. Stacey was able to see many friends and family and she received some pretty wonderful and thoughtful gifts. Best of all Stacey and Carlo had big smiles on their faces the whole afternoon which is the best gift of all in my books.

leo's first year: photobook

My best friend C had a great idea after her first-born turned a year old: make a photobook of all the pics and milestones of her daughter's first year. I love the idea, especially because no one seems to print photos anymore! Well I do print some of them and then they stay in the envelope until I find a frame or somewhere to put them.

Anyway, I'm a bit of a Grouponer (just a bit, I'm not crazy about it or anything. So what if I got a Groupon for a night out for 6 to go bowling - I thought it would be fun!). Well Photobook has deals all the time for photobooks (duh), so I snagged one to make a book for little guy. Basically the deal was $35 I think for a book worth $115 - pretty good deal if you ask me!

(NOTE: If you're going to do this, just keep note of the timing of when you get the Groupon. The deals typically last a year - so that means you have a year to make your book. That also means you don't want to be buying your book when you're 8 months pregnant because you're going to have to finish the book before your mini-me is a year old - defeats the purpose!)

When it was time (and I wasn't propping my eyes open with toothpicks anymore) I went through all my photos on the computer and made a folder for the photobook. I then downloaded the program from the site and spent about 3 months procrastinating working on the book. It actually takes some thought as to where you want the photos to go. There are cheesy backgrounds you can use. I started off with a white background, but Mark talked me into doing black and I like it much better.

After adding my photos and playing around with the layout, I came up with an over all look that the hubs and are pretty happy with. It helps that I used some photos from family photo shoot care of our amazingly talented friend Jennifer Kirk. It looks so professional (well her pics do ;)).

Here are more shots of the inside of the book - I know it's likely weird to look at pictures of pictures but it's fun at the same time right?

Ahh that last pic is so sweet - one of my favourites...

So there you have it! My book of Leo's first year. I'll likely do one for the new babes too but have to wait until she gets here!

(fyi - I didn't work with Photobook for this post - it's all me! Oh and my crazy Groupon habit)

long weekend in pictures

Wasn't this weekend fabulous!? The weather was perfect in every way and I really don't want it to end... here is our weekend in pictures during these amazing four days:

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1. fabric for the baby from fabricland || 2. love letter on the kiddie slide at the park || 3. trying to catch leo before he runs off || 4. dining al fresco all weekend || 5. clock project for the baby's room [ran out of sticks!] || 6. 29 weeks! || 7. leo's makeshift water table || 8. painting the garage! || 9. reading with my little guy in the back yard || 10. tractors! || 11. Q & A for Margarita at the TIFF Bell Lightbox [my friend's sister produced it and my sister was the line producer] || 12. my sister and leo at Sunnyside Park for my other sister's birthday picnic brunch. || 13. breakfast at Cora's [not my most favourite breakfast place, but it's kid-friendly and leo practically ate his whole breakfast! This is unheard of] || 14. veggies in the driveway [it's the only place that gets enough sun]. || 15. the flower box I made - hope the plants get bigger!

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Hope you had a great weekend!
Steph

20 weeks (ish)

Here's the bump at 20 weeks (& 6 days!)... so far this baby is a bit different from Leo but not too much! I didn't really have any cravings with Leo, but I did have a huge aversion to swiss chard and salmon. I don't seem to have those this time around. I do have a somewhat bigger than normal sweet tooth right now. I could eat a chocolate chip cookie every day I think....

I'm also feeling more in shape than I was last time thanks to the Belly Bootcamp I've been attending since I was pregnant with Leo (I can still do at least one push up from my toes!) & BodyFlow at GoodLife, although things are stretching and tweaking a bit more because you know as my midwife says: "the apartment has been lived in before..."

Right now I'm LOVING my Old Navy maternity skinny jeans (why they don't have maternity in Canada is beyond me!). I basically wear them everyday if I'm not wearing my black leggings. When the weather gets a bit warmer (it's pretty warm now, but I live at the lake so it's cooler down here than the rest of the city!) I have some dresses I picked up at Target on my trip to Florida that I'll likely live in.

Still working on the names list! I know we have some time, but I just want my hubby to agree with at least one name I come up with! I've started just sending him names randomly to try to get him used to the ones I like... We'll see!

Oh ya and I chopped my hair off - I think there was about 5 inches on the floor by the end. I love chopping it in the spring!

Happy Friday!

swing of things

I'm getting into the swing of things... I think. I do know that I'm excited to get back to the gym. I'm feeling the urge to sweat. I'm one of those weird people that actually likes going to the gym. I signed up for baby and me yoga and will be heading to baby and me bootcamp soon too.

I'm also starting to think about sewing again. Not sure when I'll get the time to do it but I'm feeling the urge to do that too. I'm not sure what type of projects I'll start working on but I can tell you that I just LOVE this scarf from Anna Marie Horner.


It seems a lot of other people do too because the project package isn't available right now. I'll keep my eye out for it and get it as soon as it gets restocked. I'm also thinking of what kinds of things I want to stock in my etsy shop. I'll probably focus on some baby things now that I have one but we'll see what the New Year brings.

Happy New Year!

he's here!

Leo Joseph Enzo Fazio was born at 4:07 am on Nov. 22 - 8lbs 6oz! He's so sweet I'll write more when I have more than one hand :).

waiting and stuff

So I'm 40 weeks pregnant today which means this baby should be coming any time. I'm not exactly sure when he'll come, but I'm thinking he'll come Thursday for some reason. Until then, Mark and I needed something to do, so we decided to go to Goodwill to see what kind of frames they had. We need to add some oomph to our bedroom and I want to do some type of framed vignette. We scored about 10 frames and Mark got right to work spray painting some of them white and black.


I also found some artichoke vase thingies that Mark is painting white. I think I'm going to put them on the hall side table. Aren't they cute?


While Mark spray paints, I'm making beef stew for dinner. Might as well do something while I wait!

The Nursery!

We finished the nursery! Read more about it here!

the list

So I'm just shy of five weeks before I bring this baby into the world (providing he comes when he's supposed to!) and I have a bit of a list that I want to get through before he comes... (not all baby related.... more nesting related...). I thought it would be helpful for me to put the list here so I can get through it with you...

Work
Write my task list for whomever they get to take over for me...
Organize my emails
Finish up any outstanding projects - Done Work!

Baby's Room
Paint glider (we put it in the room tonight and decided it was fine as is!
Get new foam cushion for glider & ottoman and make cover for each
Hang pictures - done!
Get mattress cover
Get diaper pail/laundry basket
Add shelving & baskets for books/toys

Kitchen
Make and freeze meals - working on it!
Stock up on pantry items

Home Office
Clean and organize - so good to get it clean!
Make cushions for shelf/bench
Make/get a bulletin board

Mudroom
Make bench & cushions
Add framing around window
Add hooks for coats etc
Get baskets for under bench
Make roman blind

Bathroom/Linen Closet
Get baskets for baby stuff

Other
Clean my car
Put baby seat in truck
Pack for delivery day
Wash all floors

Ok I'm sure there's more which kind of stresses me out. The thing is I'm not really a list person so I'm not sure if this helps me... regardless, I do know that most of this isn't really important and the most important part is that the baby is healthy and has a place to sleep... the other stuff will get done when it's done! :)

update: I showed my husband this post and his response was: "We're not going into hibernation for 2 years you know..."

What I've been up to lately

Howdy!

I'm going to be honest -- I haven't felt much like blogging over here lately. I have my reasons -- one of them is pretty exciting the other is kind of boring.

I'll start with the Boring One: I've been busy at work. It's starting to kind of slow down a bit again but I've been traveling which makes me tired.

And for the Pretty Exciting reason and one that also has been making me tired -- I'm pregnant! That's right, I've got an extra being hanging out with me for the next six or so months (and then life).

Should be interesting, so I decided to start a mommy blog -- because why not? I'll just put stuff there that I like, buy or make for this little peanut. If you're interested you can find it here. If not, that's cool too. I know mommy blogs aren't for everyone.

Have a great Monday y'all!
-lealou