Favorite Things Friday: for less than $10

Hannah's birthday party seriously depleted my fundings, so I thought a little bit of cheap-but-awesome was quite fitting for this week.

Enjoy!

Anchor Necklace- $5.80 (Forever 21)

Colorful Vases- $2.99 (Ikea)

 

Printed Rosette Baby Dress- $9.99 (Old Navy)

 

Guy Meets Gal-veston Nail Polish- $5.30 (OPI Texas Collection)



Sunglasses- $5.80 (Forever 21)

 Have a great weekend!

XOXO

A Poem for Hannah

"this is the birth day of life and of love and wings"

I've always loved the poems of e.e. cummings. My creative writing professors in college would scoff when I pronounced my devotion, citing an overuse of sentimentality and lack of concrete images. Still, I would smuggle a collection of his poems out to the courtyard to sit in the shade of a big, leafy tree and memorize lines like, "I like my body when it is with your body," "nobody, not even the rain, has such small hands," and "life is not a paragraph and death i think is no parenthesis."

During the first few weeks of Hannah's life when I held her and my eyes would travel over every curve and line in her face (memorizing all of her, and each space between) my heart would sing this poem, written by my favorite poet.

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any--lifted from the no
of all nothing--human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

I whispered these words to her in the dim of morning as she fell asleep in my arms with her tiny hand clutching my finger and her face nuzzled in close to my body. In the completely raw moments of new maternal admiration, when my own words could not be found, these words spoke for me.

That was a year ago now and so very much has changed. But not these words. And not what they mean to me.

XOXO

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Hannah's Easter Outfit

We didn't go all out for Easter this year since it was the day after Hannah's party. We spent most of the day relaxing at home and only went out to my parent's house for a yummy brunch.

This is what Hannah wore:

Dress: Ralph Lauren

Shoes: Target

Bow: Target

XOXO

[linking up with the paper mama]

Video: Hannah's first cupcake

I didn't bother editing this video, so it is a little long. The best parts are all in the beginning.


Untitled from wendy davitt on Vimeo.

XOXO

Happy Birthday Hannah!

Well, it is official. My little bitty baby girl is now a one year old. We celebrated her first birthday this Saturday with a small party at our house with our family and close friends. All of the stress I felt last week was so worth it in the end, because everything was perfect! Everyone had such a great time and Hannah really enjoyed all of the attention she was getting.

Here's a few pictures of my baby's special day, starting with the decorations...

This was before I put out all of the food. We had chips with salsa and guacamole, a fruit and veggie tray, and pizza from a local place near our house. 

I found this darling plate set at Target. Hannah's room is filled with butterflies, so I thought of her as soon as I saw it.

Some of Hannah's presents. Our friends and family totally spoiled her.

I made these! Okay, so the cake was from a box. But the icing was homemade and fantastic.

When our guests arrived we played a picture slide show on the TV.

This plastic mat came in handy later when Hannah threw big globs of pink icing onto the floor.

Our front porch (we live in an apartment).

I didn't get too many photos of the actual party because Wytmer was taking them and I think the settings on my camera were off. He told me they were all blurry but I just brushed it off because we were having so much fun. Ah well, I still got some shots of my little cutie pie.

Guests at the party were my two besties, Amanda (pictured) and Betsy, my dad and step-mom, Wytmer's mom and great aunt (pictured), best friend Matt (pictured) and his girlfriend Jules.

Hannah stole Matt's cell phone and didn't want to give it back.

Hannah opened her own presents. She also managed to eat a few chunks of tissue paper before I could dig them out of her mouth.

Time for cake! We stripped Hannah down to her diaper and birthday girl bib and let her go at it. She mushed the icing in her hands for awhile until I put some in her mouth. Hannah likes cake.

Washing it all down with some water.

It was such a wonderful day and everything turned out better than I had even hoped. It was so lovely to have our friends and family with us to celebrate our little girl's first year.

I have a video to share with you as well, but I will save that for tomorrow. It's of Hannah watching us sing Happy Birthday and then her attacking her cupcake. Super cute!

XOXO

Favorite Things Friday: Top Baby Items for the First Year

Hello again, friends. I'm back, as promised, with my extra special Favorite Things. I've been putting this list together in my mind since Hannah was born, and here it finally is! All of the things that I loved and couldn't live without for Hannah's first year.

Before we begin, I just want to mention that this list is very personalized to my experience. I think we all have our ideas of baby must-haves and while one mama may have used their pack n' play, bouncer, or swing everyday another mama might have found those items useless (I would fall into the second category). Still, I always think it's fun to see what other people swear by.

So, in no particular order, here is my top baby items for the first year:

Nourish Baby Organics Lavender Wash. I actually just started using this a few days ago (after it was featured on Dear Baby), but it has been instant love! This stuff is amazing. It is completely natural and gentle and leaves Hannah sweet smelling and soft. Plus, the lavender scent helps her calm down before bed time.

Footie Pajamas. I have a crazy addiction to duckie feet pjs. Hannah has almost identical pairs in every size. There isn't much of a reason for this, but I couldn't write this list without acknowledging my obsession. I will say, however, that zipper pjs are way better than snaps, and grippers on the feet are a major bonus.

Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Soothe and Glow Seahorse. This thing. Oh my goodness. Hannah goes to bed awake and falls asleep on her own because of this miraculous little thing. I don't know how or why, but I don't question the magic. It's wonderful. And? I listened to it play every night for months while I was rocking Hannah to sleep and I never wanted to hurl it across the room (like other annoying baby music-y things).

 

Boppy. Yes, we loved it, too. Who wouldn't? We used this pillow at least once a day, every day, for the entire year. Breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, rocking, tummy time, lounging, this pillow was the most used baby item in our home.

Evenflo BPA-Free Bottles. I'm going to share a little secret here, and it might anger some people. But you don't have to spend 20 dollars for a bottle. I know, I was shocked too. A 3-pack of these cost less than 4 dollars and they work just as well as all the fancy ones I tried in the beginning. Seriously, they even fit onto my breast pump attachment and never leaked.

Moby Wrap. I loved wearing Hannah in my Moby when she was a newborn. I loved the closeness and the security. For the first four months of her life Hannah took all of her naps in our Moby because she wouldn't sleep any other way (and I also had a hard time putting her down). Wearing her let me still get to have that closeness while getting things done. Now that Hannah is bigger I have put the wrap away, but whenever I see it I am filled with happy memories of feeling Hannah's chest rise and fall against mine while she slept.

Munchkin Duck Bathtub. Transitioning Hannah from her infant bathtub was a bit of a challenge at first. She wanted to stand in the tub and kept slipping all over the place. This inflatable tub fixed that problem and made Hannah enjoy bathtime again. It was great in the beginning when she didn't feel so secure in the big scary tub, and now it's still great because it keeps her in one place. Extra bonus: It has a heat sensor at the bottom so you know if the water is too hot and it quacks when you squeeze the beak.



On the Night You Were Born by Nancy Tillman. This is Hannah's nightly bedtime story. We've been reading it since she was 6 months old so now the pages are all chewed and the binding is missing. Every time I pull it out Hannah smiles and bounces with excitement. When I first started reading this story I couldn't get past the first page without tearing up. I have my tolerance built up now, but the story is still so touching. Oh, and lately Hannah has been stopping me to kiss all the animals in the book. Cutest thing ever.

And that's it! Do you share any must-have favorites with my list? I'd love to hear what everyone else loved for their littles. Leave a comment if you'd like to share!

In other news, tomorrow is Hannah's birthday (!!!) and I still have quite a bit left to wrap up. Hopefully I will be back Sunday with some photos of the party, and then back to my regular blogging after that.

Have a great weekend!

XOXO

This Week

I literally have two minutes to write this, but I thought I would let everyone know that I might be M.I.A. this week with all the craziness of planning Hannah's birthday. Every spare minute I have will be spent rushing around between work and home just trying to get everything done in time. Stressful? Um, yeah. So my blogging will have to take a backseat for a little while.

And I know I missed my Favorite Things post yesterday. I promise to make up for it with an extra special list, hopefully this Friday. I'm actually thinking about moving it over to Friday permanently. Favorite Things Friday? I think it has a nice ring to it.

Hope everyone has a fantastic week!

XOXO

Weekday Recap {4.16.10}

Monday: Hannah and I took a walk after dinner. She was being a little peeping tom and checking out the neighbor's dogs. Also, she's still really into hugging her toys. Now two at a time.

Tuesday: I got a new phone and Hannah was really mad at me because I didn't let her chew on it. This made picture taking quite difficult. But playing in the blinds always makes everything better.

Wednesday: My order from see kai run came in! These lovely fisherman sandals are a little big for Hannahright now, but will hopefully get lots of use this summer.

Thursday: I put on makeup during my conference period instead of grading tests. This is why I'm always scrambling before grades are due.



Friday: One of my students came into class with this taped to her shirt. If you can't read it, basically it says that she is participating in a day of silence as a way to speak out for GLBT rights. I was pretty proud of her and asked to take a picture of it. She got quite a bit of crap from other students who didn't like it, but she did a great job keeping her vow of silence.

Hope everyone had a fantastic week!

If you want to join in the weekday recapin' fun, head over to A Good Life to get the linky code!

XOXO

MY BABY IS WALKING!

Okay, sorry for yelling at you in my title. But seriously, guys???? MY BABY IS WALKING!

She took 6 steps unassisted last night before I could get out my Flip Cam. Luckily she did it again, and I got a few wobbly steps in this video:


Hannah WALKING! from wendy davitt on Vimeo.

My baby is growing up!

XOXO

Wordless{ish} Wednesday: Hannah's first baseball game

This past Sunday we went to see the Astros game with our friends Betsy and Cody. It was Hannah's first baseball game.

I had to put a bow in her hair so people wouldn't call her a boy (but it still happened).

She was really excited, can't you tell?

Happy Wednesday!

XOXO

[linking up with the paper mama]

Favorite Things: for little feet {part two}

I surprisingly had a lot of find finding these charming little shoes for baby boys this week! I was a little nervous at first because every shoe I found was a velcro athletic shoe, but a little deeper searching uncovered some real gems! Hope you guys enjoy!

Kids Benten Red Thatch from Keep

Baby Retro Basketball Shoe from Zara

Baby Jute Plimsoll from Zara

Payton from JolieBerry

Baby Penny Loafer in white from Lou's Shoes

Go here to check out part one (baby shoes for little girls).

XOXO

Weekday Recap {4.09.11}

Monday I went to the bathroom and when I came back Hannah had turned on the TV. She's starting to figure out that the remote works with the TV and loves pressing buttons to see what happens. Of course, that got boring so she spent some quality time in her favorite basket.

Tuesday I tried watching my dvr'd episode of Bethenny Ever After, but it recorded Pregnant in Heels instead. I think this is one fo my new favorite shows. This girl? Crazy.

Wednesday Hannah played with her new push toy that we got to help her learn to walk. We've also started taking walks after dinner around our apartment complex and Hannah will walk all over the place as long as I hold one hand. We live around a lot of little old ladies, so Hannah is building up her fan club really quickly. Also, she's big on hugging lately. Poor Tigger was squeezed within an inch of his life for an entire episode of yo gabba gabba.

Thursday my bananas were well on their way to becoming banana bread. And see that awesome tower in the second picture? Hannah has a personal vendetta against any tower that I build. As soon as she sees it she speed crawls over and knocks it down.

Friday I forgot to take my pictures, but I did get this one from Hannah's sitter with the caption "look what I did with my bib!" What a goofy girl I have.

As always, check out a good life to get the linky code!

XOXO