summer feet

We are keeping happy and busy so far this summer.

Since I can't seem to put together a cohesive blog post lately, you can follow me on twitter @HartandSew now for updates 140 characters or less. I think I can handle that.

Hope you're having a fun summer too! Enjoy it to the fullest!

See you tomorrow for LVS...

he's the best

on the road again

This past weekend we snuck away on another little family road trip to spend more time in the sun and the water. This summer is starting out nicely, I think.

Today we are unpacking, doing laundry, and cleaning up my newly thrifted  mid-century headboard (you can catch a glimpse in the second pic). Can't pass up a good find even if we are hours from home and have to stuff it in the car!

I'll be back tomorrow with a Little Vintage Style post, some more pictures of our trip later in the week, and I will hopefully get around to taking Lark's three month pictures soon too! How has your summer been going? Gone on any fun trips? 

xo 

home again

We're back! We definitely enjoyed our weekend with the girls... so much so that I am having a hard time adjusting back to non-vacation mode and really wishing I were sitting poolside instead of inside riding out some dreary weather. But, on a happy note we get to go back again with Husband this coming weekend, so I guess life's not so bad! :)

The trip's highlights were swimming and soaking up some sunshine at the pool, seeing The Little Mermaid (LM loved it and almost made it to the end without falling asleep), and a little new and vintage shopping (the two belts were my favorite finds)!  And, of course spending time with family.

Hope you had a fun weekend too! 

our weekend

Two sheets, a bazillion clothespins, and one glansa lamp made this little girl's day.

Our weekend turned out to be a rainy and a sick one. LM got a tummy bug, passed it on to Lark, and then I got hit last night. Fortunately, it was only a 24 hour bug and I am already feeling lots better and so are the girls. It skipped Husband but that was no surprise - he has the strongest immune system, I swear he has only been sick twice since I've known him!  

So, in between the many loads of laundry and resting we needed something to amuse a two-year old - I think that is the definition of a fort.

My favorite part about it? Catching LM playing pretend inside with her doll and stuffed animals. I love hearing the funny conversations she makes them have with each other, even if it makes me realize my baby girl is not such a baby anymore...

tell me what you think...

Hello friends! How was your weekend? The theme of mine unexpectedly turned out to be 'how many strange places can you breastfeed in public.' My list includes in a pirate ship, and while running across a waiting room to grab LM as she made a bolt for the parking lot (I'm not going to lie, that one was a little awkward, but Lark was a champ and never skipped a beat (or suck)). Is this TMI? We were car shopping all day long with two small children and not enough snacks (for one of them at least), so needless to say it was super fun.

This picture was taken before we left to document the first time I actually dressed Lark in 'grown up' clothes for the day (thanks to my SIL for all the cute hand-me-downs!). Looking at it makes me laugh because by the time we got home my hair was much more frazzled, I had spit up down my front, she was stripped back down to her 'baby' onesie, and we were all ready to collapse in a heap on the floor. But I'll be driving a minivan this week... so, worth it?

In unrelated news, I have a question for you...

Have you ever changed your blog name/online identity?

All weekend long I have been going back and forth, and back and forth about whether I should take the plunge and change my blog name as well as open a new etsy shop (still selling children's vintage clothing). Let's face it, the name makes no sense when it comes to my shop. I was one of the many who didn't realize their etsy username would end up being their shop name when signing up. I started this blog at the same time, so I just called it hart+sew as well.

At first it wasn't a big deal because I actually did sew clothes and sell them, but it didn't take long for me to realize that I enjoyed sewing for my own kids, not other people's kids. I fell into selling vintage children's clothing instead, and I'm not sure why I just didn't open up a new shop. Now almost 500 sales, and many kind mentions on blogs later I feel a little stuck.

So, rather than torture my poor Husband more (he has already been listening to me debate this for days), I thought I would put it out there and ask you... Is it too late? Is it never too late? Does it even matter? Am I crazy (because thinking about this is starting to make me feel like I am)?

Your input would be much appreciated, and thank you in advance!

bunny

Hope you had a nice Easter weekend! We certainly did, but the only pictures I have to show for it are of LM dancing in the kitchen with only her undies on - we like to celebrate with class. Since one of my goals as a mother is to never let any of my children end up with naked pictures of themselves on the internet I won't be posting them... but it was pretty stinking cute.

Since I didn't get any pictures of us dressed up on actual Easter day (glad I at least have these), I tried to make up for the lack of documentation by sticking bunny ears on the girls this morning. LM wasn't very interested, but little Larkie had no choice...

...at first she wasn't into it either, but with enough baby talk I finally managed to eek out some little smiles!

Some of the highlights from our weekend:

- dying Easter eggs and then promptly eating them

- chatting with old friends

- having dinner with new friends

- unexpectedly running into my sister and her family at Costco

- impromptu hot dog dinner with family at Costco

- attending church services

xo

 

bowled over

This weekend we took LM bowling for the first time. I loved her tiny bowling shoes and she loved picking out which color ball to throw down the lane.

In the end, even though I got the only strike of the game (pat on back), I got beat out by a two-year-old! I'm serious. I'm not even going to show you the picture Husband took of the scoreboard (although I will tell you that he only beat her by 4 points, ha ha). 

Cute Lark was our sleepy cheerleader on the sidelines - she didn't even know we left the house.

Random fact about me: I was in bowling club in high school and our team was called the Ditsy Chicks (no comment). It was a lot of fun, although I think I was the worst one on the team - it always takes me a game or two to get warmed up before I'm any good (this time was no different).

We ended our game with an impromptu dance party, then commiserated/laughed about our mediocre bowling skills over yummy cupcakes. How was your weekend?

introducing...

Lark Hart

born Friday, March 11th at 11:07 pm after 24 hours of  natural labor

weighing 7 lbs 11 oz. and 19 1/2 in. long

Right after she was born instead of screaming at the top of her lungs she started making soft crying sounds just like a little bird. It was so sweet and funny that we immediately nicknamed her our little Lark, or Larkie. So, that is the nickname I will call her on the blog.

So far she is a dream baby and the only difficult thing I am dealing with is my blessing of having more than enough milk supply! I'll write my birth story when I get a chance. I used the hypnobirthing method and had an incredible pain-free experience that I still almost can't believe... 

Thank you for all your well wishes! We are so happy she is part of our family now. Hope to get things back to normal here soon, but right now cuddle time is my number one priority :)

p.s. so far it looks like she inherited her daddy's dimples... I am crossing my fingers!

she is here

Our first picture as a family of four

I am a very happy momma of two. We are getting settled at home now. I'll write more later, but I wanted to let you know she is here!!!

three of harts

Here are our family pictures we took the same day as the baby bump pictures I posted earlier. I really wanted to capture our family of three before we became a family of four (even if that meant posing with a big belly) because we had never officially taken family pictures before! I always meant to, but somehow it never happened...

I'm so happy we have these to look back on now. They will remind me of this bittersweet time and the feelings I have of being sad that my one-on-one time with the Little Miss will be ending and excited that we'll be adding another sweet girl into our lives.

I haven't been sure that the Little Miss really understood what was happening until today. After her nap she told me that when baby sister is born she wants to give her a hat and then she gave my belly a hug and told the baby that she loves her. I realized then that she does know her sister will be here soon and probably has known for sometime now...

...because if I am being honest with myself, it has felt like baby girl has been a part of our family for awhile now. So maybe these really are the first official family of four pictures we've taken. Either way, I love my little family!

All photos by Bri

valentine's party

Yesterday we had a cousin's Valentine's Day party! It was a lot of fun, so much so that I ended up exhausted and napping on the couch by the end, ha! The day started with the Little Miss wanting a dog nose, so I drew a little heart shaped nose and whiskers on her. By the time the party started it had rubbed off a bit but that is what is on her face in case you are wondering :)

We started out by playing heart tic tac toe. This was a last minute addition and it turned out to be great because all of the kids, even the little ones, could play. The prizes were pencils, erasers, and little note pads. I just used some precut felt hearts I had on hand, but it would be perfect to use X's and O's of course!

Then we had a Valentine exchange. The Little Miss gave out watercolor hearts. I used watercolor pencils and wrote little sayings and drew pictures on some heart templates, then let her paint with watercolors over the top and cut them out. It was super easy, she had fun making them, and I like how bright and happy they turned out.

For lunch we had heart-shaped sandwiches with strawberry milkshakes and of course red velvet cake for a special treat! Then I gave the kids my camera remote to take pictures and they went a little crazy - like about 200 pictures crazy, these are just a handful...

We hope you have a super sweet Valentine's Weekend!

xoxo

our eventful weekend

There are various piles of stuff all over my house and I can't help but think they are all deadlines staring me down. 'Four weeks and counting to clean me up, wash me, iron me, organize me, or donate me before baby comes.' So to fool myself help myself feel more productive, instead of washing and ironing this pile of vintage dresses like I need to...

...I hung them up so they can't stare at me anymore.
But aren't they pretty?

Happily the nursery was painted this weekend, so now that I can organize the baby stuff in there the number of piles laying around should start decreasing dramatically - and the fun decorating part can begin, yay!

And, other than painting the nursery and moving to-do piles from one place to another, our eventful weekend included the Little Miss taking a tumble down the stairs which resulted in her first ever shiner (see below). But the most exciting part for me was that...drum roll please... she is now potty trained! I've made the attempt several times before now but she never really wanted to keep it up, so I decided to just wait until she was ready and this time is was a breeze. Best feeling ever to have that hurtle over and done with before the new baby comes - one less major 'deadline' staring me down!

Hope you had a nice eventful weekend too :)

(although free of black eyes of course)