Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Musical Toys

I don't know about your kids, but mine love to make a racket :) You may want to buy yourself some earplugs if you go the musical toy route, but they're sure to entertain!

Confetti Recorder ($9.79) | Wooden Egg Shaker ($6.49) | Noisemaker ($6.99) | Wooden Bird Whistle ($5.50) | Tambourine Drum ($32) | Painted Animal Clapper ($20) | Magical Sound Flute ($13.29) | Wooden Slide Whistle ($3.95) | Train Whistle ($6) | Five-String Banjo ($84.99) | Mini Maracas Wooden Rattles Set ($40) | Double Maracas ($9.78) | Red Soprano Ukulele ($49) | Whistle ($9.95) | Kazoo ($3.95) | Melody Mix Toy ($105)

Bell Wristlet ($5.48) | Oval Xylophone ($17.67) | Eco Musical Instrument Set ($36) | Voice Recorder ($48) | Striped Bongo Drum ($60) | Band-in-a-Box ($25.69) | Meowsic Keyboard ($28.99) | Cork Drum ($86) | Big Sound Workshop ($36)

Don't forget to take advantage of the discount codes from these lovely shops and to enter our giveaways - one for the babe in your life and another to feather your little one's nest. And if you haven't seen enough musical toys here are my picks from last year.

2013 Holiday Gift Guides:

• For Your Little Artist
• For the Babes
• Make Believe

Featured:

Bella Luna Toys

Bella Luna Toys has been offering families the highest quality wooden toys, Waldorf dolls, art supplies, and natural crafts online since 2001. Owner Sarah Baldwin is a former Waldorf teacher and author who chooses each item offered at Bella Luna Toys with care for its quality and play value.

Waldorf toys are designed to nourish a young child's senses and to inspire imaginative and creative play and are constructed from all-natural materials like wood, cotton, and wool. You will find nothing plastic or battery-operated at Bella Luna Toys!

Little Choux

Little Choux is an online boutique offering a handpicked assortment of children's toys, decor and gear. Pronounced "shoo", the name is a French term of endearment meaning "little darlings".  Our products are hand picked from designer collections all over the world.  We delight in finding designs that are unique, beautifully made and functional that can be enjoyed by our own children as well as yours.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Isn't this banner just perfect? It's from one of my favorite Etsy shops - Steph Loves Ben, and they have beautiful Christmas-y versions as well!

I'm so thankful to be able to spend the day with my family, gathering together, football in the background for the men folk, kids running wildly around the house playing with my aunts toys while we all stuff ourselves silly with delicious homemade food. Probably about the same thing all of the rest of you are doing, but still special nonetheless :)

And to show my appreciation for you all (because I'm so, SO thankful for all of you lovely folks) I've got a list of fabulous discount codes from some of my favorite shops for your post-turkey perusing pleasure. Hope you have a lovely holiday and thank you for visiting my little corner of the internet - you're the best! xo, Lauren

• Sunday in Color - 10% off with discount code "ALOVELYLARK" through 12/25
• Twig Creative - 20% off with discount code "TWIG13" 
• Shak-Shuka - 15% off anything in the "Wear" and "Play" sections with discount code "LARK" through 12/10
• Amy Brearly & Family - 10% off with discount code "LovelyLark10" through 12/25
• Bella Luna Toys - $5 off of your first order with discount code "BELLA5" + free shipping on orders over $99 through 12/31
• Little Choux - 20% off with discount code "LOVELYL20" through 12/25
• With Her Animal Poetry - 10% off with discount code "XMAS098723" on orders over $15   
• Kiriki Press - Free shipping over $50 with discount code "OVER50US"
• Darling Clementine - 15% off with discount code "LOVELYLARK"
• Pukaca - 20% off with discount code "PUKACA20"
• Riley Construction - Free domestic shipping with discount code "BLACKFRIDAY" through 12/8
• Juniper Wilde - 20% off with discount code "20PERCENT" 
• CodrutaM - 20% off with discount code "LovelyLark" 
• BHB Kid Style - 10% off with discount code "JUST-OPENED" through 12/31
• Mikodesign - 15% off with discount code"alovelylarkholiday"
• Egg-A-Go-Go - 15% off with discount code "AUTUMN" through 11/30

Holiday Giveaway No. 2: Decorate

For our second giveaway I'm thrilled to offer some lovely items to feather your little one's nest:

1. Starry Sky Print + Shipping (or $25 credit) from Amy Brearly
2. $25 Credit to Bella Luna Toys
3. Pouf + Shipping from Zid Zid Kids
4. Medium iKhaya Birdhouse Hook + Shipping from Looodus

This giveaway is open internationally (woohoo!) You can enter via the Rafflecopter here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Make Believe

Three Little Pigs Puppet Set ($45) | Melissa & Doug Marionettes ($19.88) | Magnetic Wooden Puppet Theater ($78) | Finger Puppet Set ($35) | Storybook Puppets ($40) | Red Riding Hood Finger Puppets ($4) | Bear Paper Puppet ($8) | Tabletop Theater ($145) | Fairytale Shadow Puppets ($18.95) | Puppet Theater, Market & Lemonade Stand in One ($179)

Don't forget to enter the baby giveaway and stay tuned for a new giveaway later today! And in case you missed them, here are my favorite gifts for little artists and my favorite gifts for the babes in your life! xo, Lauren

Featured:

Zid Zid Kids

Zid Zid Kids’ ambition is to design with an unlimited imagination while blending the magic of play with the beauty of the handmade into every product and project they take on.

Based in Tangier, Morocco, Zid Zid Kids’ design work has received international recognition and numerous accolades from top trade fairs, publications, leading boutiques, and are loved by families worldwide.

In 2010, Zid Zid Kids was presented with The American Global Entrepreneurship Award from President Barack Obama. 

With Her Animal Poetry

With Her Animal Poetry was started by Furze Chan, a designer from Hong Kong.

There are greeting cards, paper puppets and soft toys.

PUKACA

PUKACA was founded in 2005 by industrial designer Isabel Vaz and designer Nuno Dias.
We have a team that is committed to design and manufacturing unique creations that are made thinking about and for children. Functionality and fun, allying innovative design with handmade Portuguese handicrafts, our mission is to make your days colorful ones.

Handmade Love

Seriously in love with these handmade heart pillows from Sukan - I want one of each! xo, Lauren

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: For the Babes

To follow our baby giveaway from yesterday, here are a few of my favorite lovely things for the baby in your life:

Leather Moccasins ($60) | Natural Squish Toy ($13.29) | Teething Rings ($15) | Ergobaby Carrier ($195) | Animal Friends Rattles ($12) | Onesie Gift Set ($25) | Wooden Hedgehog Shaker ($9.95) | Leather Blucher ($35.90) | Knit Bird Rattle ($24) | Bow Headband ($14) | Organic Clouds Baby Blanket ($42) | Stripe Baby Wrap ($65) | Wooden Fox Teether ($12) | Knotted Headbands Set | Swaddle Blankets Set ($34.95)

Initial Embroidery Hoop ($36) | Wooden Fish Rattle ($22) | Fox Terrycloth Bath Mitts ($22) | Pirate Rattle Set ($98) | Baby Swing ($183) | Classic Wooden Bead Toy ($15) | Minnetonka Moccasin Booties ($19.95) | Knit Dog Musicbox ($32) | Wooden Stacking Toy ($40) | Striped Booties ($16.95) | Crochet Fox Ball ($34.95) | Organic Clouds Blanket ($48) | Knit Crown ($42) | Hello Onesie ($18) | Yay Shirt

Don't forget to enter the giveaway and in case you missed it, here are my favorite gifts for little artists! xo, Lauren

P.S. My favorite baby gifts from 2012  and my baby wish lists.

Featured: 

Little Hip Squeaks

Little Hip Squeaks believes that kids are fun, and their clothes should be, too! Our aesthetic is for of bright colors and bold prints, with modern babies, tots and kiddos in mind. 

Juniper Wilde

Juniper Wilde began in 2010 when Owner and Designer Nicole VandenToorn gave birth to her first son. She was unable to find organic, eco-frientdy nursery decor that fit her own rustic/modern aesthetic. Being a trained designer it seemed only natural for her to take on the project herself. That's where is all began and from there a passion was born, soon to be followed by an Etsy shop! Nicole designs all of the fabrics for her collection and they are used exclusively for Juniper Wilde. All of the products are organic and the inks used in the printing process are non-toxic and eco-friendly, which makes Juniper Wilde items perfect for snuggling the style-savvy littles in our lives.

Egg-A-Go-Go 

The whole Egg-A-Go-Go product line is painted, designed and printed by Sarah in Boston. From tiny watercolor paintings on clay to screenprinted clothing and from clever cards to cute postcard sets, Sarah hopes to make things that make people happy and to bring appreciation to small and often-overlooked wonders.

Busy Bonnie Bee

Busy Bonnie Bee grew like a magic mushroom out of my crafts and crafty works that had started to accumulate over the years. As my kids were born and grew, I enjoyed dressing them in this and that, and I'm still tickled when they wear my clothes or when someone compliments their clothing and it's something I've made. My philosophy of creating clothes and toys is to have fun and love what I am making.

Koukku

I am a 34 years old, and I am very proud to say that I was the first one to bring crochet nursing items to Etsy. It was a fantastic creative process five years ago. My hobby and Etsy customers literally saved my life in 2011. I had to spend two weeks in the hospital and deliver my second daughter after six months of pregnancy. She didn't make it. I almost lost my life too. It was my Etsy shop that helped me to survive. I received orders and lovely feedback every day, so I just kept crocheting and my husband was my personal postman. And we made it. Day by day, our first daughter kept us busy as well and we are okay now.

I am working on an art deco collection for women and girls and hope to launch in 2014.

Holiday Giveaway No. 1: For the Babes

For our first giveaway, I thought I'd start "at the beginning", so here's a fun pack of prizes for the baby (or mama-to-be) in your life:

1. $50 Credit to Little Hip Squeaks
2. Any single item + shipping from Koukku
3. Any onesie + shipping from egg-a-go-go
4. Night Sky Carrier + shipping from Ergobaby

This one is open to U.S. residents only (due to shipping restrictions of some of the participants), but don't worry I will have some international giveaways in the days to come too, so don't fret! You can enter via the Rafflecopter here. Good luck! xo, Lauren  a Rafflecopter giveaway

Holiday Gift Guide 2013: Little Artist

After a lot of Etsy browsing, Pinterest perusing, and general internet trawling, we're kicking off our holiday gift guides today! I have a ton of fun ideas for your little ones coming up over the next couple of weeks, as well as some gift ideas for grown ups later on too. And to make things extra fun, I've got a slew of great giveaways straight from some of my favorite shops that are featured on the gift guides this year.

To start things off, here's one of my favorites (probably no surprise being that I am an art teacher by day) - gifts for your little artist! Of course you can't go wrong with tried and true Crayola products, but if you want something a little extra special for your little artist, this is the list for you:

Color-Me Elephant Mask ($8) | Gem Crayon ($7.99) | Dino Stamp Set ($24.95) | Solid Tape Set ($6.99) | Watercolor Paint Set ($29) | Color Me Elephant Cushion ($16.99) | Natural Finger Paint Set ($29.99) | Playon Crayon Set ($12.90) | Crazy Crayons ($3.99) | Finger Printing Bugs Set ($10.05) | Natural Beeswax Crayons ($11.66) | Colored Pencils ($7.99) | Stencil Set ($28)

Animal Crayons Set ($8.99) | Shark Pencil Pouch | Charley Harper Birds Painting Kit ($12.99) | Triangular Jumbo Crayons Set ($7.93) | Tabletop Chalkboard ($35) | Eco Modeling Dough ($18.28) | Funny Face Stamp Set ($20) | Whale Crayon and Pencil Holder ($19) | Reclaimed Branch Colored Pencils ($12) | Crayon Rocks Set ($29.95) |

Stay tuned for a fun giveaway later today, and more in the days to come! xo, Lauren

Featured:

Wee Gallery

Graphic designer Surya Sajnani and teacher Dave Pinto are well-versed in visual stimuli. Wee Gallery creates bold, illustrative art, on mobiles, blankets, decals, and more - to awaken the imaginations of newborns, toddlers and kids. The secret ingredient to this creative prowess? Two pint-sized muses: Siddu and Anya.

In Surya's words "Wee Gallery makes clever things for babies and kids. From art cards and wall graphics which are designed to appeal to the visual strengths of babies, to activity sets for older kids, each of our products is designed to engage thoughtfully."

Sunday in Color

Sunday in Color is an online shop dedicated to colorful children decoration and toys. Find unique gifts for your little ones!

Romp:

Romp features heirloom quality and unique children's toys. The e-boutique's founder, actress Kellie Martin, has curated a developmentally conscious selection with pieces encouraging creative and imaginative play. Perfect for the holidays when all the family is around and you can play together.

Happy Friday!

Ahoy! I'm thrilled to have reached the end of what seemed like a very VERY long week. Lucy has the sniffles and has been sneezing her paci out of her crib almost every hour on the hour, and I'm a bit of a zombie at this point. On a happier note, lots of fun things happening around here -
I'm currently prepping for a big holiday giveaway and gift guides to go up next week, getting ready for a family Christmas photo shoot, we've got a play to go to, breakfast with Santa, and a birthday party this weekend, and Lucy is sitting up on her own and army crawling a bit, so needless to say we've got a lot going on here at the H-Haus!

Here are some links that I'm loving on for your weekend enjoyment:

Have you seen Joanna's fabulous apartment makeover?! Emily Henderson can seriously do no wrong.

I'm using these lovely photos as inspiration for our family Christmas photos we're having taken at the end of the month, and collecting more on my Winter Wonderland Pinterest board.

Such a refreshing post from Nicole.

This kind of makes me sad - Thanksgiving dinner in a tent in front of Best Buy?! But I'm glad to hear some big retailers are letting their employees enjoy their Thanksgiving holiday.

The difference between parents and everyone else (made me cry I laughed so hard)!

A pretty print from one of our sponsors.

Me elsewhere - Thanksgiving ideas for kids and pretty DIY Advent Calendars (you can check out all of my posts for Apartment Therapy here)

Lucy will be wearing these adorable boots and this pretty little bow for our family photos, I'd love to get this hat for Violet (but I'm not sure she would keep it on), and either this dress or this one for myself.

If my washer and dryer weren't absolutely ancient I would totally do this!

A Thanksgiving garland and Thanksgiving table.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend! xo, Lauren

Help Me Choose

I had a gift card to Saks (yippee!), and I decided to buy this pretty dress for Violet for Christmas. Now I'm hung up on the accessories - which tights would you choose?

1. Gold
2. Polka Dot
3. Bow
4. Tartan
5. Stripe

And aren't these pom shoes adorable?! I haven't bought them yet, but I'm considering them. Thanks for your help! xo, Lauren

P.S. Violet's picture with Santa from last year.

Favorite Parenting Links Lately

Love when mamas keep it real.

If  you're a parent, I think we've all been here.

It can be so hard to find a balance between keeping things consistent for your kids and having adventures. Love that Jen decided to go on one with her kiddos.

Tell a friend, "You are a good mama."

Not waiting for "someday".

P.S. Favorite parenting links from October and you can find me on Instagram here.

Plan Toys on Zulily

Can you tell I'm getting a lot of Christmas shopping done? Sorry for all of the toy shopping posts, but it's that time of year, and I love a sale! xo, Lauren

P.S. Here's my invite link to Zulily if you need one!

Lots of Goodies on Gilt

Washing Machine . Fire Station . Magnetic Cubes . Fergus Frog . Vehicle Set . Green Dollhouse 

If you're shopping for Christmas gifts, there are lots of goodies on Gilt right now! If you need an invite code you can click here for mine. xo, Lauren

A Thanksgiving Kids' Table (Plus Free Printables!)

If you're looking to make something a little special for the kiddos this Thanksgiving, here's a fun and simple set up for you...

1. Kraft paper makes a fun table cloth and bonus: the kids can color on it! Fill a jar, bag, or pouch with crayons and trust me, they'll figure it out :)
2. Kids can write what they're thankful for on paper pennants and pin or tape them onto a mini tree. This one's from a season or two ago, but here's a similar one, or if you fill a vase with pebbles and use a few branches from your yard it would work just as well. 

3. These wood-veneered leaves give the table that special Fall feel. You could write kids' names on them and use them as place settings if you'd like.

4. Free printable place mats to add a fun dose of color. (download below!)

5. Wrap your plastic or wooden cutlery with washi tape to make them fun and festive.

6. Add a colorful garland in the background to add that party feel! 

And here are the printable place mats for you:

Click here to download the red placemat printable.
Click here to download the white placemat printable.

P.S. Don't forget to download our friendly paper dress up turkey to keep the little ones entertained!

Melissa & Doug on Zulily

Stocking up on our Melissa & Doug today. I love this time of year - so many great deals on toys! If you need an invite to Zulily, here ya go!  xo, Lauren

A Euro-Inspired Kid's Room

I love European children's spaces - the way they seamlessly combine both modern and vintage pieces, pair playfulness with sophistication, and warm up clean white spaces with colorful accents and warm wood tones. Check out twenty of my favorite pieces to get the look in your own little one's room over at my ideabook on Houzz.com.

P.S. A woosdy camp-inspired nursery and a colorful, happy kids' room.

Fun Fall Idea: Make a Leaf Turkey

We've been collecting a lot of leaves on our walks lately - the colors are so beautiful right now, it's the perfect time to create a fun Fall craft. There are so many choices, from pressing leaves between wax paper to making a garland or a leaf crown. With Thanksgiving coming up, we decided to make a turkey!

You'll need a variety of leaves - colors, shapes, and sizes, as well as scissors, paper, a black marker, and glue. Use your longer leaves for the turkey's tail feathers. On top of those glue your largest leaves. Finally, create the turkey's body and head with smaller leaves. For the head and beak you may have to trim a couple of smaller leaves with your scissors. Lastly, use stems for the legs and feet and draw dots for eyes with your marker. Glue it all down and press with books so that your leaves don't curl up as they dry (be careful that no glue is sticking out, as you don't want to glue your project to your books!) And voila!

If your kiddo is too little for this version of a turkey, maybe try this idea instead - use leaves for the tail feathers only and pre-cut paper shapes for the body and head. Happy leaf hunting! xo, Lauren

Christmas Forest Advent Calendar - Free Printable

We are trying to keep things fun and cheap here at the H-Haus this holiday season, so I decided to make our own advent calendar in lieu of buying a lot of decorations. It'll be a great display on a TV stand, console, or mantel and a fun activity for Violet (and someday for Lucy too!) I actually got the idea from some old paper party hats we had, but they weren't the right colors, so I decided to trace them and make my own version. Then we printed them out, decorated the "trees", and folded and taped everything together and voila! Cheap (and inexpensive) Christmas fun!

I've included the files for you all as a free printable as well, just download, print, decorate, and assemble - it's pretty self-explanatory but if you have any q's I'm happy to help! We used dot stickers (left over from our raid-your-craft-stash gift wrap last year) and a gold paint pen to decorate our trees, but you could leave them plain too and they'd look just as pretty. To put them together I used packing tape because it's a lot stronger than regular tape and easier to work with than glue. I printed some on a thick textured paper which looked really pretty - almost like watercolor, but I ran out and printed the rest on regular printer paper and that worked just fine as well. You can hide little gifts under each cone and in the packages, then lift up the cone on the appropriate day - easy peasy :) Downloads available after the jump!

Baby Lit Board Books

Just a PSA - Baby Lit board books are on sale at Zulily! xo, Lauren

Wooden Puzzle Maps

I came across this wooden puzzle map of the U.S. at The Land of Nod and I was seriously in love, but not with the price tag ($69). Since Violet's really into puzzles, and this would be a great way to help her understand where she lives in the world, I decided to look around and see if I could find something similar for less money, and I did. Turns out Etsy has a lot of great options, some higher and some lower in price. They would all make awesome gifts...

Favorite Holiday Cards 2013

We'll most likely be going with our usual holiday photo cards from Minted this year (it just seems expected when you have kids - all of the relatives want to see a cute picture)! But if I was going for a traditional card, I'd definitely choose one of these lovelies...

Clockwise from top left: Sir Rudolph, Reindeer, Letterpress Trees, Thumpety Thump Thump, Let it Snow, Secret Decoder Tree, Joy, Season's Greetings, O Christmas Tree, Deck the Halls

Halloween 2013

I'm a little sad now that Halloween is over - even with all of the exciting holidays coming up, it's one of the few that we really celebrate at our own home with our friends and family. This year we had a pumpkin carving party with a few friends a few days before the big night - the Mister got to try out some really fun carving tools that were sent to us by Häagen-Dazs (you could attach the "pumpkin gutter" to your drill - craziness! I'll never use a wooden spoon again) along with some yummy munchies and various other paraphernalia. Violet chose the face - she wanted the "nice" classic jack o'lantern. I love having a kid to choose the face now, because I am sooo indecisive and could never choose what to carve on my pumpkin. Luckily HD also sent us a really cool fake remote-control candle, because Kev decided to to go Tim the Tool Man and clean Sharpie off of our jack o'lantern using kerosene. Yeah...sometimes fake is good. ;)

For most family events, we either go to my sister-in-law's or one of our parents' houses because our house is teeny tiny, but for trick or treating we have the best neighborhood! So we had all of our family over this year for Halloween night and it was a blast. We had a chili bar set up with a white chicken chili that I make (and amazingly that Kevin actually likes! Normally he's the cook in the family.) I wanted to get some pictures of it, but trying to get ready for a bunch of people to come over with two little ones, photos just didn't happen - at least not good ones. Maybe next year :) Most of us went trick-or-treating while my mom and dad hung back and gave out candy. Then we all came back home to check out the kids' loot, steal some of their chocolate, and watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and Garfield Halloween. It was a great night full of family and fun and food (and candy candy candy!) and I hope the tradition continues for many years to come. I feel like if and when we ever do move we need to find a neighborhood that is just as wonderful as our current one, if only for trick-or-treating purposes! 

And speaking of trick-or-treat, Violet had an amazing time - she ran from house to house trying to keep up with her older cousins, and although she had a few tumbles in the dark on our uneven old sidewalks with her not-so-practical-for-running shoes on, she was a trooper. She totally "got it" this year, saying "Twick or Tweet!" and "Sank you!" with so much enthusiasm at every house - it killed me. I was kind of sad when I had to go back a little early to feed Lucy and put her to sleep - holidays with kids are seriously so amazing. It's like being a kid all over again! Lucy was such an awesome big bad wolf - she's been making these hilarious faces lately, and it was just perfect for her costume, although Violet made it clear that she was a nice wolf. She said, "She's not weally going to eat me - it's just pwetend." Followed by, "And Daddy's not actually going to kill baby Luce with his axe (he was the woodsman), because then we wouldn't have a baby sistuh anymore, and I love my baby sistuh!" You wonder what goes through their little minds sometimes lol.

I have my mother-in-law to thank for Violet's adorable cape - she took some $1 red fabric I found at the Salvation Army and made it into something beautiful. Lucy's costume was a hot-glue-gun and felt special thrown together on the day of by yours truly :) Nothing like a little procrastination to get your glue gun going! 

Hope your Halloween was truly lovely! xo, Lauren

I have been chosen by Häagen-Dazs as an ambassador for their Moment for Me campaign. It's all about celebrating those little moments that you take for yourself, or even doing something you love with your loved ones - whether it's a hot cup of tea while your little ones are napping, carving pumpkins, or having a big bowl of homemade chili with your family. So I'll be sharing those types of moments here on A Lovely Lark as well as on my Instagram feed with the tag #HDmoment. We'd love for you to join in too - just tag your photos on social media and your moment may be shared by Häagen-Dazs!

Lucy Vivian - Six Months

So many fun things happening this month little one! Where do I begin? You love getting up into crawling position and rocking back and forth on your hands and knees, and you're even crawling backwards a bit! I can leave the room and when I come back in, you're almost always in a completely different spot than where I left you :) You've gotten better at falling asleep on your own (sometimes without any crying!), and the night waking has gotten less for the most part. Some nights you even sleep through the night (few and far between, but I'll take whatever I can get!) You absolutely adore your big sister - she never fails to make you smile, and you've been making the funniest sounds and cutest faces. You make me laugh every single day with your antics.

We've also started on solids! We're doing a combination of purees and actual real person food. Your favorite purees so far are carrots, prunes, and mangoes, and your arch nemesis seems to be pureed peas. I don't blame you - they look pretty disgusting. As far as real person food, you seem to like most everything I give you. So far you've sampled apples, asparagus, carrots, potatoes, avocado, green beans, chicken, and pork. You're also sitting up on your own, although mama keeps a close watch because you're still pretty wobbly!

Our biggest issue this month has been the dreaded numero dos - I guess all of that new food we're putting into your belly is causing some issues! While we're still nursing like champs, mama has started supplementing before bedtime with a small bottle of formula, because you always seem so unsatisfied when I try to put you down. It seems to be doing the trick - after a few extra ounces your tummy is nice and full and you go right to sleep. You're still our happy, smiley, curious girl and we love you to pieces! Happy half birthday baby! xo, Mommy, Daddy, and Violet

And here are months one through six...