Yearly Archives: 2024
What I Wore: Florida Beach Vacation
We closed out summer with a week long trip to Saint Augustine, Florida. It was our first big family trip with the baby. He absolutely loved the beach. He loved moving sand around with a shovel, splashing in the water, and of course he loved his beach snacks.
We planned to have a mix of beach days and days to go into town. The second half of the week included high tide and rain, so we piled our beach days into the first half of our trip and did a couple day trips into town during the second half. We did get rained out one day, but we still managed to get some shopping done.
For my swimsuits, I look for higher necklines which I find to be a better option when chasing a toddler around. He’s starting to walk but still likes us to hold his hands, so I bend over a lot and like the added protection of a higher neckline. All my swimsuits are also full coverage bottoms.
For our tourist days, I only brought one dress and lots of shorts outfit options. I thought the shorts would work better with the rain and possible wind. I’m working on a full post of what I packed for both baby and I on this trip, so stay tuned for that in the coming weeks!
What to Wear on a Florida Beach Vacation
blue swim top | high waist swim bottoms | white wrap skirt | sunglasses
baby outfit: long sleeve swim shirt | dinosaur swim shorts
leaf tankini top | black bikini bottoms | sandals | purple beach bag | sunglasses
green one piece swimsuit | white tie waist skirt | sunglasses
black dress (also available here) | sandals | sunglasses
collared blouse | black denim shorts | sandals | diaper bag backpack | sunglasses
Baby Boy Nursery Room Tour
We loved creating a special place to bring our baby boy home too. Lots of thought and planning went into creating our baby boy nursery room, and I’m so excited to finally be sharing a nursery tour! As soon as we found out we were having a baby boy, I started thinking of how I wanted to decorate and hitting up pinterest to find images to match my ideas.
Our bedrooms are a decent size which allows this room to be both a baby nursery room and an office space. When we were decorating, we kept in mind that one of us would also be working in this room during the day. Blue and gray are the primary colors throughout our house, so it was pretty easy for us to carry that into this room and have it feel cohesive with the rest of the house while also being special for the baby.
ROOM DECOR
crib | dresser | chair | circle rug | elephant mat | sheets | changing pad | changing pad cover | book shelves | white rolling cart | similar laundry and toy bins | book bins | diaper pail
The first task on our list was to pick out baby furniture. I did not want white as I felt that might look dirty over time. With our natural wood color floors, I thought a dark wood would be the best fit. We sourced all of our baby furniture from a local Houston store, Baby and Kid’s 1st Furniture. I highly recommend them for all your big baby item needs! We also purchased a car seat from them, and they installed it for FREE!
We loved the dark brown shade of the crib and dresser. I felt it had the slightest gray/cool undertone which would work perfectly with the blue and gray decor we planned to add. We also picked out a Kiwi Glider rocking chair for the room. This chair is amazing! It swivels, rocks, reclines, and charges your phone. We have also both slept in this chair can can confirm it is comfy.
I created a little book area around the chair by adding both bookshelves to the wall and a book bin next to the chair. A rolling cart serves as a little side table. I love the three trays on it. Right now, we use it to store our sound machine, blankets, and more books. It also was a spot for breastfeeding equipment, spare pacifiers, and a place to set a bottle.
We used our decor to add in lots of blue touches included our light blue circle rug. I wanted a solid rug and this was the closest that I could find to our wall color. It’s also washable which we’ve done a few times and it’s held up well. Other blue decorative but also functional items are the blue sheets, blue blankets, and blue and white toy and laundry bins.
We added the diaper changing station option to our dresser and it’s been the perfect spot for it. I store diapers and clothes in the top few drawers and have perfect access to them for diaper changes and getting ready in the morning. Another blue touch, is our super soft mat cover. These white liner pads are a must with a boy! They catch any leaks that may occur during diaper changes so you don’t have to wash the cover as much.
My favorite part of this room is the blue statement wall. Since this is also an office space, I didn’t wait to paint the whole room a color. I have friends with these types of walls and have always loved them. I sourced a few ideas from Pinterest and we had a professional do the install and painting. They did an amazing job and even had the idea to frame the little window on the wall.
I didn’t want an overpowering them to our room which is why I mainly went with a color theme of blue and gray. I’m a fan of elephants, so they did make their way into the room here and there. I really wanted to be able to change out decor to match our baby’s favorite things as he grows.
The diaper changing station setup is key as baby grows and a diaper change starts resembling wrestling a small alligator, lol. I keep a few toy options from stuffed animals, teethers, and toys that make noise plus some spare pacifiers. The little bear was my husband’s when he was a kid. We also keep necessities like wipes, lotion, and diaper rash cream.
My husband purchased the artwork when he was a kid. He lived in London for a short time and purchased them while out shopping with family. I love including items from his childhood in this space. We also used the extra bookshelf has a nightlight and stuffed toy shelf. We just turn it upside down. This also gives us a place to hang out clothes for the day if needed.
Last note on our baby boy room, I highly recommend this diaper pail. We tested some out in the store, and we thought this was the easiest to open and throw away a diaper while also holding a baby. I think it also holds in odor really well.
I hope you enjoyed this little Baby Boy Nursery Tour! I loved sharing this space with ya’ll! Please save the below pin to Pinterest so you can refer back for inspiration if needed!
ROOM DECOR
crib | dresser | chair | circle rug | elephant mat | sheets | changing pad | changing pad cover | book shelves | white rolling cart | similar laundry and toy bins | book bins | diaper pail
12 Summer Outfits
It was the summer of dresses and basics. I’ve rounded up 12 summer outfits that I wore in July and August. We start with dresses for both work and play transition into outfits featuring denim both shorts and pants, and end our roundup with some beat the heat workout outfits. Fingers crossed we start seeing cooler weather here soon. I’m ready to start working on those layered fall outfits for you!
dress | similar sandals | gold bangle
black dress | similar sandals | bracelets
black dress | similar sandals | necklace
tank top | denim dress | white sneakers
striped tank top | white denim shorts | white sneakers
purple oversized tee | black denim shorts | white sneakers
feminine details blouse | similar jeans | similar white slides
blue tank top | light wash jeans | white sneakers
purple tank top | biker shorts | similar black sneakers
white tank top | similar leggings (another similar option) | similar sneakers
green oversized tee | black biker shorts | black sneakers
Baseball Rookie of the Year First Birthday Party
It’s hard to believe my little baby is already one! That first year went by so fast and now he’s already taking his first steps. We decided early on the Baseball Rookie of the Year theme for his first birthday party. My husband is a big baseball fan. Since Stephen was born at the beginning of a HOT summer, they spent lots of time watching my husband’s favorite team, the Texas Rangers, play baseball and win a World Series.
Since all party planning starts on Pinterest, I started pinning ideas and planning our Baseball Rookie of the Year First Birthday Party several months in advance. Our party was in June, so it was a little bit of a hot day. We opted to have both indoor and outdoor areas for our party guests to enjoy.
PARTY DECOR
high chair banner | family custom jerseys | ONE sign | concessions sign | pendant banner | ice cream baseball hats | popcorn boxes | baseballs | monthly photo banner
VENDORS
CAKE: Boy Mom Bakes | BACKDROP & BALLOONS: Cheers to Hou | BOUNCE HOUSE: Tiny Moon Event Rentals
Almost all of the food at our baseball birthday party was game day themed. We tried to think of what you would find at a baseball park concessions stand. Hot dogs and burgers were our main items with sides of nachos, potato salad, popcorn and chips. For something sweet, we had ice cream that we served in these cute little baseball hats (also a party favor), watermelon, baseball cookies, and of course, this beautiful cake.
Boy Mom Bakes created this amazing baseball themed birthday cake for us. Not only is it beautiful, but it tastes so good! We had purchased a little baseball glove to put on top of the cake, but game time decision, we decided we liked the cake without it.
As guests walked in, they were greeted with Stephen’s first birthday photos. We took these ourselves at a local baseball park and did a DIY cake smash (details further in this post). The ONE sign was such a good and affordable find. The quality was so much better than I expected for the price.
Cheers to Hou really took my party decor up several notches with their balloons and backdrop. I sent them a few inspiration pictures, and they delivered above and beyond my expectations! I love how she transformed the fireplace which is a focal point when guests arrived through the front door.
I added a monthly photo banner underneath it to display all of Stephen’s monthly photos. It also served as the perfect gathering spot for gifts.
Cheers to Hou also created this backdrop for us. It served as the perfect background for family photos and baby’s first birthday cake. The high chair banner was an Etsy find and fit our baseball theme perfectly. I loved the addition of the baseball ribbon on it.
No party is complete without a few activities for the kids. Our kid guest list included a variety of ages, so I wanted something that would work for that. Tiny Moon Event Rentals delivered with this dual ball pit and bounce house, the Luna. They even added red balls to match our theme. The bigger kids loved jumping in the bounce portion, and the littles loved playing in the ball pit. We also put out a corn hole game for the bigger kids and adults to play.
Big League Chew was the perfect party favor for our rookie of the year party! All of our signs were printed at Staples. I definitely plan to use them again. I thought the quality and service were great. I was able to print everything for next day pick up.
A couple weeks before his first birthday party, we did an DIY cake smash photo session at home. I used decorations from the party like the one sign and high chair banner along with some baseballs and my husband’s glove and bat. I bought a red sheet to lay on the floor. The cake is from Walmart and was the perfect cake for these photos! You could also scrape off the sprinkles pretty easily and add your own decorations.
We had a wonderful time at our son’s Rookie of the Year first birthday party. I’m so thankful for the family and friends that came out to celebrate with us. And of course, our amazing party vendors who helped bring my party vision to life.
PARTY DECOR
high chair banner | family custom jerseys | ONE sign | concessions sign | pendant banner | ice cream baseball hats | popcorn boxes | baseballs | monthly photo banner
VENDORS
CAKE: Boy Mom Bakes | BACKDROP & BALLOONS: Cheers to Hou | BOUNCE HOUSE: Tiny Moon Event Rentals