Our Weekend..

On Friday, our daycare held a little pow-wow for the families in each class to hang out and get to know each other and spend more time with the teachers too. It was a potluck so I picked up some fresh-baked cookies from Tiff's Treats. If you've never had them and you're in Houston, Austin or Dallas, I encourage you to order some, post haste! You will thank me. Plus, they deliver still-warm cookies right to your door...so they basically win at life.

It was fun to spend time with the other moms and dads and our babies. We don't always run into each other since everyone has different drop-off and pickup times so it was nice to get to know everyone better. All of the babies got these little hats too! Harper wore it for approximately 2.5 seconds the next morning. Then she wanted to eat it.

In other news, Houston, we have cold weather!  It was cold and rainy Saturday so we scrapped our plans to go on a nice long stroller ride and just enjoy some relaxing time at home (I also had grand plans to put the tree up, before Thanksgiving, and I'm judging myself, so no worries if you are too).

Kevin got me the new iPad mini as an early Christmas present so we ventured out to find a case for it, since I'm prone to dropping things. I had been using my iPhone more than ever when I started exclusively pumping, since there's not much else to do for those 25-30 minutes, and my optometrist told me it made my vision worse to look at such a small screen and recommended getting a larger screen if I was going to use it so much. I love useful gifts :)

I ended up finding this Kate Spade case at Nordstrom:

I like how sweet the graphic is and the pink is a really cute shade too (KS seriously has the best pinks when it comes to handbags and accessories). Also, I can totally see Harper using this case one day because it could basically be for a child, let's be honest.

I ended up returning that shirt I bought at Madewell last week as well as the gray blazer from Zara. The gathered shoulders just looked a little ridiculous on me when I tried it on at home. The only other items I picked up were a pair of black, pointed-toe heels from Nordstrom (I realized I didn't have any simple black pumps anymore since my Kate Spade pumps as well as my Zara ones were both destroyed).  I also got a few pairs of underwear from Gilly Hicks. Listen, I know I'm way too old to shop there, and truth be told it's so dark in there that without my glasses on, it's a miracle I even made it through the maze of rooms to the cash register area all the way in the back, but their underwear is cute and I like the way it fits...and it's cheap- 7 pairs for $26.50.

Okay so the shoes---hard to see the bow, but they are Halogen brand and so darn comfortable. I would say they fit pretty true to size...though that's a tough assertion to make in my current state. My feet grew about a half size after pregnancy and since most shoes don't come in a 10.5, I was buying 11's and using an insert to make them smaller. Fortunately, these pretties did come in a 10.5 and they're perfect. I would venture to say they might even be a teeny bit on the bigger side, but the 10's felt snug and I didn't want to chance buying heels I would dread wearing. These Steven by Steve Madden bow heels also come in black (I have them in nude patent) and are on sale for $75 down from about $150. Both styles are lovely so it really comes down to preference. I will say the Halogens have a slightly shorter heel, so they feel a bit more comfortable on.

We grabbed some Mexican food for lunch and then when we got home I couldn't resist snapping some shots (okay, maybe like 100) of Harper in her cute little outfit. 

Harper is now sitting on her own (!!!!!!!) A few weeks ago, Kristen posted a photo of her baby girl Ellie sitting and since our babies were born a few days apart, I was texting her asking when she had started to do that, thinking that babies somehow get into a sitting position on their own (oh how wrong I was). She told me to have Harper sit using her hands in front of her to form a little tripod. We did that for about a week or so and she started to get better and better at sitting up straighter, not using her hands all the time and sitting unsupported for longer periods of time. She also stopped throwing herself backwards like she did in the beginning (we always supervised and had a pillow behind her---we still supervise because though she can sit on her own for a long time I worry she will throw herself back at some point thinking there's always something soft there). It's amazing how they can go from just learning a skill to acting like it's no big deal and doing it so well in the matter of a week or two.

Saturday night after Harper was sound asleep, I ran to Target to browse and pick up some Christmas stuff. I like to go at night by myself so I can take my time looking around and taking in the Christmas awesomeness.

I also tried a few things on but nothing was something I couldn't part without and I'm saving myself for J.Crew's Black Friday sale (which I hope is good). Here's what I wore that night:

vest- j.crew (on sale!) | jeans- gap (on sale!) | flats- gap (similar) | sweater- gap (similar) | bag- kate spade | necklace- t+j designs, c/o

Today we stayed in for the most part, save a quick grocery store run.  In the morning Harper hung out on her new playmat while I decorated her very own christmas tree. It's from Target and the best $8 I ever spent! I will snap a shot of it in her nursery soon. I even got tiny LED lights for it!

I haven't had our cleaning ladies at the house in a month, I don't know what the heck is wrong with me. I always intend to text them on Monday and they usually come on Friday but I always forget and then they are all booked up. When I first went back to work, we intended to have them come every two weeks, but they have never come that often :( every 3-4 weeks is more like it, and I'm just doing some maintenance cleaning on the important stuff in between. 

So I cleaned my entire second floor and vacuumed the stairs during Harper's nap this afternoon and even had the time to do this:

Garland, c/o Project Paper on etsy- This garland is just precious! It feels very festive with the metallics and I love the way it brings a little holiday cheer to the kitchen. I may move it to Harper's bookshelf one day too...

I've also added this burlap print with gold polka dots to my kitchen:

Megan from Hello Newlywed Life sent it my way to celebrate the opening of her Etsy shop DolceAve! These prints are so fun and perfect for the holidays---mine is in an IKEA Ribba frame (comes with the mat).

Before I go, I wanted to mention that I was honored to have Harper's nursery included in an article on SheKnows.com about stylish girl rooms!  Go check it out here if you're interested...

Wishing you a great week---time for me to wrap up because I've nodded off a few times while writing this...which I'm just now realizing may be apparent if you're reading it...hopefully I managed to sound somewhat coherent.