Life Lately | Holiday Season
It's been a couple months since my last 'Life Lately' post and we've only celebrated Thanksgiving, Harlow's first birthday, Christmas, New Years, and moved into our new house since then! So here's a huge post on what our last two months looked like, I'm going to work backwards starting with our first snow storm of the year!
One thing I love about Asheville is getting to enjoy all four seasons, and if it's going to be winter, it might as well snow! We got about 6.5 inches at our house -- perfect, fluffy powder to play in!
We bundled up Harlow in her cozy pants and top, and new puffer coat. I got all three pieces from the Gap which I'll link below. The coat is nice and warm, and also compresses well under her car seat harness. I've had problems getting some of her other coats to fit right under the harness so I'm very happy that this works so well!
Harlow's Coat | Top| Pants | Mittens
My favorite thing about snow is going sledding! We have a couple decent hills in our yard and surrounding property that we took Harlow down. She LOVED it!
We took her on a solo run and that ended with a face full of snow. #momfail
(Don't worry: she was barely moving; she just lost her balance sitting up in the sled! She shook it off like a champ and got right back to it!)
Some wintery scenes from the neighborhood.
Warm huggies and snuggies after our outdoor adventure.
Fur Pom Beanie | Coat (similar)
We moved in to the new house over new year's weekend and we're so, so happy! There's still some outstanding projects - there's no faucet in the master bathroom, for instance - but for the most part we're finished and getting settled. I'm OBSESSED with how Harlow's bath tub turned out.
I'm planning a full post on our newly renovated house but I'm waiting until we finish up those last few projects and get the boxes under control. I'll be sharing details on the selections we made, where to find them, etc.
I know a lot of you have asked about the tile in Harlow's tub and I'll go ahead and tell you that it's beveled gold Carrara marble subway tile. I found it locally here in Asheville at WNC Tile and they were wonderful to work with!
We prioritized Harlow's room and bathroom because we wanted to make the transition as smooth as possible for her. She's been AMAZING! We got her room all decorated with her toys, books, Anywhere Chair. and Chloe her Cuddle + Kind doll. Do you know about Cuddle + Kind? Each doll sold provides 10 meals to children in need sooo...yeah, they're amazing. Chloe is so soft and Harlow loves playing with her!
Her boyfriend, Eli, sent her these framed photos of their dates as his housewarming gift to his girl. Mama swoons...daddy sweats. That hand-holding though...have you ever seen anything cuter?!
Moving is such a process even when you don't have a baby and a business to run! I've only gotten properly dressed like three times in two weeks. Fortunately I can rely on cute tees to dress up my yoga pants mom style.
This tee from Zara just sold out but I linked to a similar style. Sometimes I'm reluctant to buy everyday tees and tops but considering I live in them most days working from home I consider them good investments.
Also, these leggings aren't cheap (they're lulu) but I bought them when I was pregnant, wore them ALL nine months, and they still fit like a glove today! They look amazing after maybe a thousand washes - who knows, I've lived in them for a year and a half! Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.
Before the move I was packing like a mad woman and dressing the part in these distressed overalls. I think a knit sweater under denim overalls is so snuggly and cute! When I went out, I added a chunky boyfriend sweater and a wide-brim wool hat to style the look.
We allowed ourselves a break from packing and moving to enjoy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family. Living here in Asheville, it's so cool for me to celebrate Christmas with my daughter in the house I lived in growing up.
We looked at all the decorations and ornaments I used to hang on the tree when I was little, especially the ones from Disney that were my favorites.
Mike read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve before we put Harlow to bed. We want to make that a tradition in our family! Clearly we're excited about it -- just look at Mike and I's faces while Harlow is all like what's the big deal? Is the Big Bad Wolf in this one?
Christmas morning we let Harlow lead the way. It was so fun watching her rip the wrapping paper, see her new goodies, and pick her favorites. The winning gift by a landslide was the Melissa & Doug Band-In-A-Box, particularly the maracas.
Super cute moment: when my parents gave each other the exact same gift at the exact same time.
My moms cranberry percolator punch is something I look forward to EVERY year! Equally important to making the punch is serving it in my grandmother's Christmas tree glasses.
Christmas ham ;)
Okay...rewinding to mid-December, we celebrated Harlow's first birthday with a garden themed party. Bees, butterflies, flowers...pure precious. I asked some of my colleagues at Engaged to make it a Pinterest-worthy party and it turned out SO beautifully. I'm going to do a dedicated post on the party and all the delightful details in the near future but here's a sneak peek at one of the pics Catrina snapped during the festivities!
I was pretty emotional on her first birthday reflecting on the past year of our lives. How much she's grown...how much I've grown. How far we've come in what is in the grand scheme of things a speck of sand in the hourglass. I wrote Harlow a letter on her birthday to help me process all my feels -- you can read it here if you'd like.
In my sentimental mood we had to read all the lovey-dovey mommy-baby books like On The Night You Were Born. Nancy Tillman's works are so lovely.
For Thanksgiving this year, we flew north to Chicago to celebrate at Aunt Debbie's - aka Granty's - house. I wrung my hands over flying with Harlow for the first time all for nothing -- she was amazing! She's such a social butterfly and so into exploring new things, I think she enjoyed being in a new place surrounded by so many new "friends."
Aunt Debbie did us a solid and borrowed a bunch of baby gear from her friends so we didn't have to lug it to and/or around two airports. Since we didn't need to take our stroller, we brought the Ergo Baby instead and it was definitely the right call. It made escalators easy and eliminated the need to gate check a big stroller, much less take it through security.
My travel outfit is the same one I wore in this recent OOTD post. I made the entire look from this OOTD post my travel outfit because it looks good and fits so comfortably. A slightly oversized sweater is one of the best things about dressing for cold weather, is it not? It functions kinda like a sweatshirt but lets everyone know you tried.
Here's where I need to tell you about Aunt Debbie. She is the ULTIMATE hostess. Going to her house is like stepping into the pages of a magazine. And that doesn't even begin to tell the story of how Granty throws down for Thanksgiving. It's not just her knack for decorating, but the level of detail she goes to in order to make her family and friends feel loved. I want to take lessons from her.
Thanksgiving decor goals. Seriously, that chandelier tho!
Granty and her daughter, Jordan, always plan lots of fun activities for all of us. This year, they piggybacked off of Chicago's nickname "The Windy City" and took us indoor skydiving! It was SO MUCH FUN!!!
On our way home, we stopped for ice cream and let Harlow try her first cone. Then her and daddy had to take a nap to sleep off the fun and the sugar.
Granty gets all the girls matching pajamas to wear on Thanksgiving night. She even made Harlow a pair of pajama pants to match ours!
We left on Saturday to avoid busy Sunday airport situations. Once again, Harlow was a total travel pro! We stopped to have sushi in a James Beard Award-winning restaurant in the Atlanta airport (I know, go figure). It was delicious though and Harlow loved playing peek-a-boo with the passersby.
Okay! If you made it to the end thanks for sticking with me the whole way through my two-month trip down memory lane! I'll try to do these posts more frequently going forward!
xxBrooke