Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! This year Halloween has been really fun - Violet is old enough to watch two of my favorite movies - Garfield Halloween and The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. She definitely liked Garfield more because of the 'scary parts!' In fact we had to watch the scary parts four times! We carved our pumpkin way too early and it kind of disintegrated, but we sure had fun doing it :) And we've been practicing our 'Trick or Treat!' so that we get lots of candy, candy, candy, candy. Wish us luck! xo, Lauren

P.S. Violet's first Halloween (she was a witch!) + Violet's first trick-or-treat

Baby Wish List No. 003

When Violet was an infant, the Moby wrap was one of my best friends. She loved it, and I was able to have her snuggled close to me and still get things done around the house. We never quite got the hang of nursing in it, but she slept in it, went on walks in it, and just hung out. For the new bambino, I'd love to continue to use the Moby but have other 'baby wearing' options as well. The Sakura Bloom ring sling has always interested me - it's gorgeous and seems like it would be great for warmer weather. Sometimes the Moby wrap would get a little hot for both of us. And the Ergo carrier seems like it would be a great option that both Kevin and I could use.

On the downside they are both fairly expensive and I don't have a store nearby that I could visit to try one out ahead of time. Does anyone have experience with either of these carriers? Or did you use another carrier that you liked with your baby? I'd love to hear about your experience! You were all so helpful with the Lifefactory bottles - I loved reading all of your comments! xo, Lauren

Baby Wish List posts are generously sponsored by the online baby registry, BabyList - put anything on your baby registry from any store. It's as easy to use as Pinterest, because making your baby registry should be fun!

Handmade Holiday Garlands

 I'm loving these simple handmade garlands - what a beautiful, chic way to decorate for the holidays!

Give Thanks Garland . Merry Christmas Garland

Baby Wish List No. 002

Although I'm planning to breastfeed again with this new baby, we do want to try to give him or her at least one bottle per day. We tried it the last time around, but Violet was a challenging infant and I eventually gave up on pumping daily. This time I'm hoping to power through so that Kevin can have some bonding time, and I can get away on my own every now and then without having to worry. Although I took about ten months off of work after I had Violet, there were a couple of workshops that I had to attend and I was so incredibly stressed the whole time worrying about if she would eat or not while I was gone!

Last time around we used Dr. Brown's, which worked just fine, but I've always been a little freaked out about heating and reusing plastic. (I won't even heat my own food in plastic containers). This time I'd love to give these glass bottles by Lifefactory a try. I've heard that they are fairly difficult to break due to their silicone sleeve. Not to mention they are so pretty! They're a little pricier - one bottle is almost as much as an entire set of Dr. Brown's, but we won't need many, at least at the beginning. Have any of you used glass bottles? What was your experience?

Happy weekend! xo, Lauren

Baby Wish List posts are generously sponsored by the online baby registry, BabyList - put anything on your baby registry from any store. It's as easy to use as Pinterest, because making your baby registry should be fun!

Supermom: Erin Loechner

Today's Supermom is Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind and its smaller but equally lovely namesake, Design for Minikind! Her daughter, sweet little 'Bee' is seriously adorable and I have so appreciated her candid and honest posts about the difficulties of caring for a newborn. Read on to find out more about Erin...

Imomzi

I wanted to take a moment to introduce you to another of our newest sponsors: imomzi. Imomzi is an Etsy shop specializing in crochet beanies, hats, mittens, and booties for little ones. Shop owner Imge started her shop after deciding to stay home with her two little girls - like a lot of moms (hello, this mom!) she wanted to find a way to support her family without missing a moment of time with them. You can check out more of her cozy hats and accessories here. Thanks Imge for sharing your talents with us and for sponsoring A Lovely Lark!

Fall on the Farm

We took Violet to a local farm for a little Fall fun this past weekend and she had a blast! She's into doing everything herself lately (or at least helping out), from eating apples to toting pumpkins. It's so much fun to watch her be independent and learn to do new things, but sometimes I look at her and think, where did my baby go?! I'm not sure when it happened exactly, but at some point she went from the little baby riding in the wagon to the little girl pulling it along behind...

How does it happen so fast???

xo, Lauren

P.S. More fall fun here and here.
P.P.S. For those of you who've asked, Violet's dress is from Old Navy and her boots are by Carter's Kids (I got them over on MyHabit for $21!)

The Loveliest Little Clothing

Have you seen the Fall clothing over at H&M kids? There is so much that I would love to get for Violet! It's too bad you can't order online - my cart would be full for sure. These are my favorites:

Top row: tops . sweater . cap

Bottom row: bodysuit . gloves . tights

And then there's the infant clothing...

Top row: dress . shoes . bib overalls . shorts

Bottom row: suspender pants . cardigans - patterned/white . top . tights

And then...there's this play tent:

Oh H&M, why do you do this to me? 

Bungalow Kids

I'd like to take a minute to introduce you to one of our newest sponsors: Bungalow Kids. Bungalow Kids is an online retailer for children's furniture and decor and I couldn't believe that I hadn't heard of them before! They have a great selection of products, some handmade by Etsy artisans, some from mass market vendors to create a unique mix of styles that could easily fit into any type of decor. Here are a few of my favorites from their site:

Clockwise from top left: baby wire chair . love print . chevron rug . little auggie sheets . pretty in pink duvet . modern kids' table . elephant seat . dip dyed storage bin . birdie pillow . paper star lantern

Dining Room Update

We have been slowly updating the dining room, and I haven't taken any photos of it for a while, so I figured it was time. Back when we wallpapered the living room accent wall, its twin in the dining room got wallpapered as well. We also replaced our dust-collecting console with Violet's new play kitchen and added a few new accessories. All-in-all nothing ground breaking, but it does give the space a whole new look and feel:

One thing I'm still not sold on are the chairs. They were simple and inexpensive, but I was never really in LOVE with them and if I could I would probably replace them with mismatched or more modern white chairs. Just something lighter and with a little more character. Of course, being in baby budget mode means I can only dream, but for now these will have to do! If anyone wants to swap four black chairs for four white ones, give me a ring :) xo, Lauren

P.S. You can see more of our home here.

Make Your Nursey Sparkle

Do you remember my dream nursery from over on 6th Street Design School? Well Rachel Bergstrom of Etsy shop whirlwind has offered a TEN PERCENT discount on her glitter marquee letters for A Lovely Lark readers! Just enter the code ALOVELYLARK10 at checkout.

The offer is good through October 31st, so if you're interested hurry on over to her shop. Thanks Rachel! Have a lovely weekend everyone. xo, Lauren

Three Things

Just wanted to pop in to share a few things I'm excited about...

One: Violet slept through the night - hooray! We're trying out a reward chart to see if it helps her keep it going. More on that later.

Two - I think I felt the baby move for the first time yesterday. So much earlier than my pregnancy with Violet, but this time around I guess I know what it feels like :) Just those little flutters are making me feel so much more connected with this baby.

And Three: I wanted to thank West Elm for featuring Violet's room on their blog, Front & Main! Check it out here.

Happy Friday all! xo, Lauren

Baby Wish List No. 001

Although we're currently pinching our pennies like crazy people so that I can stay home for a bit with Violet and the new babe, I can't help but dream about a few things on my baby wish list. In reality, babies don't need much but a warm place to sleep, a full belly, and lots of diapers love, but there are so many beautiful things out there that make me want to reach for my pocketbook.

As therapy (perhaps?), I thought I'd channel them through the blog in the hope of saving my wallet.

Starting with my favorite birth announcement from Brooke Schwab. Aren't these just the sweetest way to share your new little love with the rest of the world?!

via Brooke Schwab Photography

Baby Wish List posts are generously sponsored by the online baby registry, BabyList - put anything on your baby registry from any store. It's as easy to use as Pinterest, because making your baby registry should be fun!

Modern Geometry

One of my favorite current trends is the use of geometry in modern design. There's something about those chevron patterns, triangles and prisms that just get me every time. In stark white or fresh and fun colors, I think everyone should have a little bit of geometry in their homes! You can check out these fun finds and more over at my latest ideabook on Houzz.com. xo, Lauren

Small Space Play

With the H-Haus being pretty teeny tiny, we try to come up with clever solutions for sharing space with Violet and her toys. Her things pretty much all have to be incorporated into our general decor and can't take up much square footage. I'm always excited when I come up with clever solutions and have been sharing them over on Apartment Therapy Family - check out my post here. If you have any ideas to add that you've come across I'd love to hear about them! xo, Lauren

Gap Organics

If we have another girl, of course I'll be pretty set as far as baby clothes are concerned, but I may have to pick up a piece or two from Gap's Organics Collection. It would be perfect for a little boy or a little girl, so I really can't go wrong, right?

Nursery Brights

Guest posting today over on 6th Street Design School - check it out here!

Pumpkin Fun

Since I'm low in the energy department these days, I wanted to keep our pumpkins fairly simple this year. Kevin carved a traditional pumpkin, but Violet and I experimented with a few other mediums:

For Violet's pumpkin I taped off a letter 'V' and let her go to town with paint. Then we just peeled off the tape and, voila! Pretty pumpkin.

I went super simple with mine and just cut some small triangles out of some rolls of washi tape that I had laying around the house. Took me about five minutes total :)

And the mini one that Violet picked out looked super cute on our little jadeite cake stand with a glass cloche on top. (She keeps asking me to get out her 'trapped' pumpkin though lol) So there you go - three simple and fun pumpkin projects - my favorite kind! xo, Lauren

Stow Away

We forgot to tell you that we brought a little something extra back with us from Australia...

Reason number two for my lack of regular posting lately! I'm 13 weeks right now and I've seriously been doing nothing but sleeping (when Violet lets me) for the past few months. Here's a close up of our little bean:

Kevin's been a gem taking care of Violet and running out to get me whatever strange food my crazy pregnant self desires. That's a new one for me - I definitely had nausea with the last pregnancy, but not the cravings as much. So far I've gone through a rice phase, a fish phase, a spaghetti phase, and a cheese phase. Totally random!

I can tell I'm turning a corner and am starting to feel more energetic and less nausea. Yay for the second trimester! Thanks for sticking with me during this exciting time for our little family. xo, Lauren

We Heart Fall

We had the best time picking out our pumpkins. Violet was super excited to choose her own and probably would have left with every single pumpkin and gourd in sight if we had let her. (Not to mention the giant mum!) We decorated them last night and they turned out pretty nice if I do say so myself :) I didn't get to take pictures of them yet, but I'll post them sometime this week.

I think the thing I love most about Fall is that a lot of family traditions start to come into play - carving pumpkins, Halloween, Fall festivals, Thanksgiving, and of course the Christmas holidays. It's so much fun to start our own traditions with Violet and see her excitement at every little thing. Being a parent is seriously the best! xo, Lauren

Bedtime Blues

If you've noticed that I haven't been able to blog as much lately, you're right. A lot of factors are involved, but one of the big ones would be our new bedtime 'routine' here at the H-Haus. I usually do the majority of my blogging after Violet goes to bed. The problem is that since we switched Violet from her crib to a big girl bed our night time world has been turned upside down.