half-a steppin' out {3.27.11}

Despite a bit of a stuffy nose {perhaps teething}, we were super busy this weekend and of course, Itsy looked adorable all weekend! I forgot to take a picture on both Saturday and Sunday but remembered last night right before it was time to put Itsy in her jammies. Daddy was doing something, so I could only snap a quick pic of Itsy, who was not the most willing subject.

Who says you can't wear stripes and polka dots?

Itsy:

Dress - Target {Geniune Kids from Oshkosh}
Baby Legs - Etsy {Posh Pipsqueak}
Shoes - Converse

steppin' out {3.20.11}

This week's Steppin' Out edition finds us bundled up! Saturday, we stayed in all afternoon, but Sunday we were out and about.

Itsy:
Entire outfit, including jacket - Target {Geniune Kids from Oshkosh}
Shoes: Converse

Me:
Jeans - Gap Skinny Jeans
Shirt - Target
Jacket - J.Crew {purchased in 2000 at a San Francisco thrift store for $20}
Scarf - Anthropologie
Boots - DSW {Diba}

Here's a closer look at Itsy. I love, love this jacket! I also loved the little sweat shirt she was wearing, but it's hard to see it in this picture.

A couple cute pics from our lunch play date. Itsy loves spending time with older kiddos. She's mesmerized by them and tries to keep up with them, usually stumbling along the way. She's a tough little monkey!


Another older boy crush...

There was a more graphic kissing picture, but it may not be appropriate for the world wide web...

steppin' out {3.13.11}

So, it's been well over a year since my last update. Not only is Itsy a girl, but Itsy was born and just turned 1!!! I'm not convinced I'll have time to do regular blog updates like I did pre-baby, but I can certainly make time for this new weekly feature.

For the record, we are still going to call our girl, "Itsy" on my blog. Though on Facebook, she's all over my updates, I feel most comfortable keeping her name private to the blog world masses {not that I actually think my little blog is read by many}.

For my {few} blog readers, mostly my girlfriends, I thought I'd participate in the weekly feature, Steppin' Out Saturday {or Sunday, as in today's edition}. My friend, Nanette, has been doing this feature for a while now and I have found myself looking forward to it! I love to see what she and her baby girl are wearing. And really, I thought I would do this to document Itsy. She has the cutest clothes and I love creating her outfits.

Here we go!

Since Itsy is only 1, it's hard to get her to follow directions - i.e., "Itsy, smile!" If I was looking at the camera, then she wasn't and visa verse. She really just wants to explore, not stand still for a picture. She has way more important things to do!


And here's this cute pic, which really shows how cute her little skinny jeans are with the flowers on the waistband. She started running away and we didn't pull down her shirt, which was perfect to get a picture of the flowers.

Itsy:
Pants - Target {Genuine Kids from Oshkosh}
Shirt - Target {Cherokee}
Shoes: Converse

Me:
Jacket - H&M
Pants - {super old} Lucky Jeans
Hat - Target
Shoes - {super old} Payless
Accessories - probably F21

Thanks, Nanette for the inspiration! Maybe next weekend I'll actually do my hair and not wear a weekend hat!

itsy is a...

Girl!! We're having a baby girl! While we of course would have been thrilled with a baby boy, we are really excited for baby girl Tucker! Though I say I can't wait to dress her in the cutest clothes, I'm more excited to see my sweet and sensitive hubby be a daddy to our little girl! He is going to be the best daddy to our little girl!

To make the announcement, we had a little "gender revealing" party on Sunday with some family and friends. The idea is that we would have a really yummy cake {thank you, Torrance Bakery} and the inside would either be pink or blue and that's how we would reveal the gender.

Each person that came had to make a guess and we gave them either a pink ribbon or a blue ribbon with a plastic pacifier on it. All along, I thought Itsy was a girl and Rob thought Itsy was a boy {actually, he thought Itsy was a boy because I'm such a prissy girl that having a boy would help get me a little dirty}.

Auntie Kristi

Rob thought it would be fun to play a quick game.


We started off playing an egg and spoon race with pink and blue dyed eggs...



But everybody was too good {except me, I was the first one out}. So then it turned into an egg toss {don't worry, I had hard boiled the eggs the night before so there wouldn't be an egg yolky mess at the park}.



People even got physical to catch the eggs!


Little Hunter even wanted to play!


In the end, there were 6 finalists, including 3 grandparents.


But the final two were my dad and brother. They were too good and caught every egg {all those years of playing catch finally paid off}! So Rob thought they should try to throw their egg into a trash can. Turns out they suck at making a basket. Obviously, the rules were very loose. We planned to have just one winner, so my dad let my brother win the Starbucks gift card.


The game pay-off was cutting the cake!



This moment was SO fun! It was like cutting our wedding cake all over again!



Thankfully, there was lots of cake leftover...Itsy will enjoy this cake all week!


One happy grandma!


Itsy even got a cool Beatles gift from her Auntie Melanie! I'm already seeing her in this shirt paired with a denim skirt, funky tights and some cool pink Vans or Converse {my poor hubby}.


After the park party, we continued the celebration with some friends at El Torito.


We had such a wonderful day and feel so blessed that our friends and family came out to celebrate! It was so fun to keep this secret from them for a couple weeks {that's the evil in me}, but I'm loving now being able to share this exciting news with everyone! Bring on the skirts, flower accessories, and dresses!!!

week 15

Week 15 brought on a couple of very strong cravings...orange juice and hot dogs. Oddly, didn't love either prior to pregnancy. Thankfully, I rarely rely on the Zofran anymore. Only occasionally will I take one, and even then, the nausea isn't like it was during my first trimester. Even more odd, when I am nauseous, a hot dog sounds good. Pregnancy couldn't be weirder, but it really is an amazing experience!


We have our week 16 appointment tomorrow. While I'm of course excited to hear our baby's heartbeat, it's the next appointment we are excited for - when we find out the gender!!!

Off to find a hot dog...

{early} birthday celebration

I have the very best girlfriends a girl could ask for! To celebrate my birthday {which actually isn't until the 10th}, my girlfriends planned a very special day of brunch and Legally Blonde the Musical. Melanie, Kristi, Jolene, Aylan, Emily, and my awesome MIL Marie joined in on the fun!

We started off the morning at Grub. And grub we did! Delicious food and perfect ambiance for catching up and giggling like little girls.

Auntie Leeney and I {this pic really shows my growing belly}

Mel & Kristi, the planners

The girls were so extremely generous with their {unexpected} gifts, too. I couldn't believe that they all brought gift bags with goodies for me! Spoiled I tell ya!

I really enjoyed brunch, but I was so excited to get to the Pantages. After Rob and I saw Legally Blonde on Broadway in NYC a couple of years ago, I was instantly excited to see the show again. When I found out it was coming to LA, I was ecstatic!

In NYC

The Pantages

The show didn't disappoint! I'm even thinking about seeing it again in Orange County. Maybe my SIL Laura will want to go with me since she couldn't make it Sunday {hint, hint, Laura :)}...

Mel, Emily, Kristi, me, Jolene, Aylan, Marie

Seriously, I really am one lucky girl with wonderful friends who willingly indulge in my guilty pleasures!

hunter's baby shower

Back in June I threw a baby shower for Hunter, Emily and Joe's precious baby boy. I had lots of help executing the big event and it turned out fabulously, if I do say so myself! Here are some pics:

The invite. It took hours to assemble these suckers, but I think it was worth every hour!

The entrance. This was a last minute addition, but it matched the balloon on the invite. I may have been the only one who noticed...

Proud parents

Proud grandparents

Proud auntie and uncle

Hot uncle :) {soon-to-be hot daddy!}

Rob's mom and dad getting some Hunter love {getting practice, too}

The food spread {which included gluten-free items for Joe}

The dessert spread {it was a cupcake bar with lots of topping options, with a handful of gluten-free cupcakes, too}

"Hunter Hugs" - this was an area for people to take a picture with Hunter and then scrapbook the picture. Many people did scrapbook their picture, others just took a pic and I'll scrapbook for them. We printed 2 pictures - one for the guest and the other for the album. Mommy and daddy will always remember this special day!
Mel, one of my besties came to celebrate!

One the way out, everyone took with them some monkey bread {aka: banana bread}. To make a long story short, Rob and I were up nearly all night making this bread, as the recipe sucked! Thank God for my husband! This is a pic of the bread on our counter, I guess we didn't get a cute pic of the actual set-up.

I had so much fun putting everything together. I absolutely loved coordinating all the details - playing with paper is one of my favorite things to do. More than anything, I loved being able to honor Emily and Joe with a wonderful baby shower. They deserved to have the best shower to celebrate their perfect little guy.

I'm just happy we planned to have the shower when we did. If it would have been even two weeks later, I would have been sick and pregnant, and without the knowledge of Zofran in my life.