Hattie {11 months}

Unfortunately this has been a super busy month for our family, so Hattie has been lugged around for back to school shopping, PTA events, several school meetings, school lunches and doctors appointments.  Momma found out she has mono this month, so it's been interesting to say the least.  We've been tired.  All of us.  Hattie is such a trooper, and she's been a good sport through what's likely been the busiest month of her little life.  She is such a good baby!

Hattie loves her brothers.  She has started to growl and grunt at them when they talk to her.  It's her funny little personality coming out and is cracks us up.  Rhett tries to wrestle with her and it's so funny. We really have to keep a close eye on him when he plays with her.  He doesn't always realize how delicate she is.  Speaking of delicate..we've got such a little bean pole on our hands.  I'd say she's tiny, but she's not, really.  She's tall, but she's skinny.  She's got skinny little legs and she's shaped so similar to Rhett.  Smaller than he was at this age, but very much the same.

Hattie LOVES to eat.  She eats anything we will feed her these days and she still loves the grain cereal we give her.  She still eats quite a bit of the liquid baby foods, along with table and finger foods.  She's gotten quite good at sucking the baby food right out the package (so convenient) when we are on the go!  Third child style.

Our girl still wears a size 3 diaper, and wears anything from 6 month tops to 12 month dresses.  She recently outgrew a size 2 shoe, so we are on the hunt for some size 3's.  I'll be digging through the boys things to find their mini converse asap.  I think she's around 17 lbs, but not certain.

Here are some pictures from this month..

Busted on the stairs!

More stairs!

Football makes for tired sisters. 

Cooking in her kitchen.

We even snuggle balls at our house.

Kid conversations are the best. 

Decor wish list

I've had a few things on my wish list for my house for some time now.  Many of them are small things, some patterns I want to incorporate, some larger items that I haven't found the right deal on. You know, just stuff that's not really important, but i'll get to it when I do. Here's my wish list..

1. Horizontal wide Striped curtain panels.

I've lusted after these bad boys going on 2 years now.  I REFUSE to pay $200 for them, so I'm holding out until Target catches on to the demand for these, and they charge $34.95 each.  I did order some for $50 per panel from West Elm, but they were not up to my expectation upon receipt.  The color was all wrong for my space. I've thought of a million ways to make them myself, but they all involve way more time and energy than I'm willing to donate to my office window treatment.  My window is also super high, so whoever comes out with my fantasy cheap version had better make them at least 108"h.

I love these from Crate and Barrel, but of course they do not come as long as I need them.  

2. Greek Key Pattern

I love the idea of my house having design elements from all over the world.  For a long time we had an asian ming coffee table and a couple of moroccan poufs in my living room.  I love to mix and match and have no real rhyme or reason to things.  I think fabric is a great way to do this. I love ikat patterns because they make me think of India, and it adds so much personality to a space.  For a while I've been trying to decide where I can add the Greek key pattern to my decor.  I'm thinking possibly edging on a curtain or a few neutral throw pillows somewhere.  Or at this point maybe I'll throw out the idea of #1 above and do this for curtains instead. I don't want to overdue it, I just want it incorporated somewhere.  I love that it's a classic, yet it's bold and makes a statement. I'm not trying to decorate with super trendy patterns that will need to be replaced in 6 months..ahem..my chevron office curtains.  No, I'm looking for more mature and lasting design selections these days. 

I found this great pillow on Etsy

3.  Cowhide rug

Oh how I've longed for thee.  I've been looking for the perfect hide for THREE years.  It doesn't exist, so I'm going to the fair to pick one up next month.  Decision made!  Something like this..

4. Kilim Rug

So, I love the authentic antique Turkish kilim rugs, and I would love to have one.  I love the patterns and colors and I have the perfect place for one.  However, they cost a million dolla bills, and used rugs skeeve me out, so maybe a new one is the way to go?  I have been happy to see places like Pottery Barn and Urban outfitters are coming out with some options to get the look for less.  I still prefer the worn and faded look of the antiques.  

Pinterest

5. Lamps 

In NYC I was introduced to a beautiful pair of Christopher Spitzmiller gourd lamps that had me at hello.  Since then, I've been eyeing lamps all over the place.  I need more lamps.  My bedroom lamps could easily be replaced for something a little more like these guys..

Christopher Sptizmiller Gourd Lamps 

Christopher Spitzmiller via Pinterest 

Christopher Spitzmiller via Pinterest 

I'll be checking out estate sales for some vintage lamp twins very soon! 

6. Brass

See lamps above.  I'm loving a lot of the brass fixtures I'm seeing in design these days.  I'd like to start easing brass in and mixing it with all of the assortment of metals in my house.  We have such a mix, and I'm totally comfortable with it now (haven't always been).  Copper, brushed nickel, oil rubbed bronze..I don't discriminate when it comes to accessories and fixtures these days.  If I like it, I will do my best to make it work.  

Magpie Fields 

7. Port hole mirror(s)  

I would love to have one big one, but if that doesn't pan out, I also like sets of three smaller ones in different sizes. My cousin in NY had a beautiful set of thick wood porthole mirrors and they were stunning! 

Pinterest 

Ebay

They don't even have to be convex, but that adds to the vintage feel for sure.  I saw a wall gallery that had a confederate eagle convex mirror like one my friend Aja was selling at a local flea market.  I fell in love with the gallery wall, but could do without the eagle for sure.  I see these puppies all over design mags these days, but they've been around forever.  Many of them I've come across were made in the 40's.  I just saw some in Ballard, but again, I prefer the nostalgia of the oldies. 

8. Rattan/Bamboo

Have you seen the comeback this business has made?  I don't love it all, but I do love a few things that I would put in my house.  I'm eyeing a couple of night stands that could work. Serena and Lilly has a few great options for smaller pieces that I like..   

This chair reminds me of the time I spent on the coast in Italy with my sister in college.  Every little outdoor eatery had some version of these.  I'll take 6! 

9. Foxed mirrors 

I saw these pics via House Beautiful a while ago, and I just love them.  I've always loved mirrors, but I love the added character to these beauties.  I also love that they are added to these spaces as art and another layer of dimension.  They still add light and depth, but don't serve as a conventional mirror.  Beautiful. 

So there you have it!  That's what I'm eyeing when I hit a flea market, estate sale and the internet these days.  Little things that make our home collected and unique. 

Sarah 

NYC and a 10 month old

Hattie turned 10 months old in New York City last month!  She was the best little traveler and loved taking in all of the sights via the bjorn and stroller.

Love that smile!!

I put a bow on her stat after she was called "handsome" in this onesie.

During month 10 it seems that our baby girl got so much bigger.  She just seems more mature to me, and she understands more.  She eats pretty much anything we give her, but she STILL only has her 2 bottom teeth! This makes eating a little more difficult, as I'm not trying to administer the heimlich with every meal.  Rhett was late with teeth also, and he had several very scary choking episodes, so we'll just stick to ground up spoon-fed foods and table foods like brown rice, puffs and melts for now.  I have been giving her a few soft cheeses lately. Hattie loves havarti! She can't shovel it into her mouth fast enough.  Thankfully she's now on board with avocados too!

This past month Hattie's voice became a little raspy.  She's also had a constant clear running nose.  I'm not sure if this is tooth related or allergies (my vote is the teeth), but I hope she gets her sweet little voice back. Dallas likes her rasp.

Hattie is all over the place, and her favorite escape is to the stairs.  She can climb all of the way to the top, so I have to hustle if the gate is down and she's been out of sight for more than 30 seconds.  She laughs and thinks it hilarious when I catch her in the act.

I was super stressed about traveling to IL with all three kids on my own last month.  I just wasn't quite sure how we would pull it off.  Thankfully it was an awesome experience and all three kids were wonderful for the entire 10 hours!  Hattie especially surprised me with her good humor and attitude.  I expected a lot of crying and stopping, and I was so wrong.

This baby cakes loves the water!  Loves it.  She gets so excited to get in that she kicks and squeals and makes tight fists and straight limbs.  She splashes and chokes on water and the whole bit.  I love it.  She  gets mad because I won't let go of her and she tries with wiggle out of my arms.  I started putting her in a floaty seat, but she was drinking too much water in that thing.

She also makes the funniest noises.  She's doing it to be funny, too.  It does crack me up.  She will make a silly noise and then proudly look from face to face to see who thinks she's funny.  Her little personality is really coming out this month.  I just love it to pieces.  It's so fun to see who she is.

We are still just cruising over here.  No solo steps yet.  Looks like Rhett is the winner of walking the earliest at our house.  I think Hattie still has a few months to go.  Maybe by a year?  I'm in no hurry..I love carrying her around everywhere.  I do.

Here are some pictures from our adventure to NYC.  We really had the best trip ever, and we loved the city. Given the right circumstances, I definitely think I could live there.   We had the pleasure of staying at my cousin's apartment, and it was so cool to experience life as a New Yorker would.  We stayed on the Upper East Side, and it was an easy commute to anywhere in the city.  We really did it all. We took full advantage of public transportation (cabs, subway, train, city busses), and we felt like we had it all down by the end of our trip.  We ate pizza, italian, vendor hotdogs and pretzels, the best burger we have ever had (Shake Shack), and shopped for groceries at a little upper east side neighborhood grocer.

Did you know that New Yorkers LOVE love babies?!  I have never had so many people compliment a child and talk to her.  It was super sweet and surprising to me.  I loved that about the city!

First train ride for these two!

911 Memorial --Ground Zero

Rockefeller Plaza

Little Italy

Amityville train station

Napping through the city

Times Square

Leaving for our last Day in the City

Top of the Rock

1st plane ride

How most of our pics turned out ;)

Empire State Building in the background 

The Boathouse restaurant in Central Park 

View of the Park

Little Italy 

Ready for another subway or train!  

Here's what we saw..

Empire State Building
Times Square
Waldorf Astoria
Top of the Rock
Rockefeller Plaza
Radio City Music Hall
Chrysler Building
Madison Square Garden
Guggenheim Museum
The Met
NYC Library
China Town
Little Italy
Ground Zero (super emotional)
Wall Street
Statue of Liberty
Tribeca
Central park (took a nice long run in the park)
Took a train from Union Station to Long Island

It was a fun and busy month with this sweet girl.  I love that we got to take a special trip with just the three of us.  The boys were living it up with my mom in IL. They would not have been amused by all of the looking at buildings we did in NYC :).

On this trip we also spent a day in KC with friends, a day in Chicago with different friends, 5 days in IL with my family, a couple of days in MO with my dad and a day at my sister's new house in MO.  It was a busy month! Hattie had a lot of City, State and traveling firsts. She was such a joy to venture with!