This past week Gwen has started doing that full-on baby laugh that’s so cute you basically die.
I was squeaking a toy at Georgie and Gwen was totally into it. Be sure to watch to the end for the exciting conclusion where Georgie knocks Taylor’s phone onto the floor!
It’s back! Here are some of the pictures Sym’s posted to her Instagram this week.
sleepy Dougal; a new phone case; Gwen’s bottles; Cinnamon bun before & after; painting at school; her Valentine’s Day outfit; little cherry hand pies for her class party; a popsicle
Now that everyone has opened their gifts I can finally post what I was up half the night working on!
I’ve been toying around with the idea of making cards to sell in my shop, and last night I took the first step by attempting to make Valentine’s cards for Taylor and Sym.
I actually don’t hate the results! It’s not perfect but it’s a pretty good start I think. I made a long card like this because I found a bunch of legal size envelopes in pretty colours at the dollar store (in addition to the pink I have cream, pale yellow and lavender).
I didn’t have any Valentine-y wrapping paper so I just used plain white tissue paper and decorated the packages with stickers. I didn’t wrap Gwen’s gift because. Well. She’s a baby, and anyway I would be the one unwrapping it.
Sym declined to get a picture taken with her face in it, but she didn’t mind me taking a quick shot of her outfit. The pink jeans & heart-print cardigan were her gift.
I bought Taylor a navy & white striped sweater, and appliquéd a heart inside the collar. You know. For love. AND MUSHINESS.
That is the best picture I could get of the two of them. EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY IS SO DIFFICULT TO PHOTOGRAPH.
Of course, the star of the day is Gwen in the heart-patch leggings I DIYed for her at 1:45am!
They are super cute and UNBELIEVABLY easy to make, I want to put hearts on all her things now. And maybe some of my things…
As a bonus, when I was trying to take a picture of her she actually rolled over for the first time!
Only halfway, but she’s very pleased with her new skill. OMG UPDATE, as I was proofreading this post she woke up and rolled the whole way over!!!!
She was so mad about her arm being stuck! I didn’t want to interrupt her ~process~ though so I let her figure it out on her own.
So proud of my little roly-poly! Georgie makes it look so easy, the smug pup.
I wasn’t left out of the gift-getting; Taylor brought me home pink, red and white tulips (my favourite spring flower) and a GIANT cream-filled chocolate cupcake.
Seriously it was the size of a softball. I ate the whole thing while typing up this post and I feel a little ill now tbh. He also wanted to get me some framed pics of Gwen but he couldn’t find any frames that would satisfy my pickiness. Instead I just got prints & we have to go frame shopping, haha.
I hope you all have a lovely day, whether you are celebrating or not ♡ I’m actually writing this post at 1:45am after finishing my last minute Valentine gifts, cards (the image in the post is actually a preview of them!) and crafts, and now I’m going to bed. There will be a real post later today.
These mini hand pies (lol that sounds silly) are really easy to make, which is great because I have to make a boatload for Sym’s class party tomorrow.
I used these instructions from Eat My Shortbread, but substituted canned cherry pie filling for Nutella and used a toothpick to poke hearts in the tops.
In hindsight I should have used a bigger cookie cutter to make the crusts, because these pies only held one cherry each! u live u lern, igss
I’ve mentioned here before my concerns about Symphony’s feelings amidst this whole baby thing. Becoming a big sister after eleven years of being an only child has to be a big change, and one I didn’t have experience with- I’m the fifth of seven kids. I tried looking for resources on how to help her deal with the change, but they don’t really seem to exist. Almost everything I found on introducing a new baby to your existing kids is geared towards toddlers, and the ones for older children are for kindergarteners. Tweens have feelings too though, and I’ve been concerned. I often ask Sym how she feels about having a little sister, how things are, if she likes the baby, if she feels left out. I think I ask her these things so much that what she probably feels is annoyed.
Last night though, I got my answer. Gwen was sleeping so I left Sym in charge of the baby monitor and went out to run a couple of errands (groceries, post office, buying bags and bags of candy). I told her if Gwen was fussy she could wake Taylor up, but that she probably wouldn’t need too. When I got home, Sym came running out of her room, asked “Do you wanna see something cute?” and told me to follow her. When I got to her room this is what I saw:
(sorry for the poor quality, like the rest of our basement apartment, Sym’s room is very low light)
Gwen had woken up, but instead of fetching Taylor, Sym moved Gwen’s swing into her bedroom for a sister hang out! She asked me if Gwen could stay in her room, to which I of course said yes. Later I went to check on them again and I found Sym had brought Gwen up into her bed. They were cuddled together watching cartoons on Netflix and holding hands.
I swear, my heart LITERALLY melted out of my body when I saw them together. I’m happy that Sym loves her little sister so much, and I’m excited to watch their sister bond develop. I know they are far apart in age (when Gwen is the age Sym is now, Sym will be TWENTY-TWO. The mind boggles) but I hope they can still be close.
Everybody does links posts like these and I never do so I thought I’d give it a try! Everything I link to is guaranteed to be awesome.
Kate’s post on Valentine’s Day is literally the greatest post ever written on the subject and if you haven’t read it already you should, right now.
I love everything Sara M. Lyons does and her latest piece is no exception.
These bunny slippers are the cutest & make me wish I knew how to knit.
I’m in love with Stevie’s art blog.
Can’t stop won’t stop trying out photo editing apps for my android phone! This week’s pick: Shape’d
New advertiser love: Mika and Kristen. (if you’d like to advertise on Unicorn Parade email me for information.)
Gwen has become quite the Chatty Cathy recently, and last night Taylor captured this video of her babbling away.
We all know babies love to look at themselves, so I put the video on for her and also recorded her watching it.
This is actually the second time we watched it and I wish I’d recorded the first because she was laughing like crazy, but it’s still pretty cute seeing her reaction to herself!
Little floor sleeper.
In the backyard.
This afternoon Taylor and I took Gwen out to run a few errands- I needed some craft supplies & picture frames, and Gwen recently grew out of 90% of her pajamas. Taylor and I also picked up a some clothes for ourselves, and we had lunch at Cafe Crepe, where they gave us a private room because the main dining area was so busy there was nowhere for our stroller.
On Saturday I made a new pair of shoes for Gwen, in this AMAZING gold leather. I’m seriously considering making more to sell, although with all my banner orders I could probably only do one pair of shoes a week. It would be a good excuse to buy more leather though; the seller I bought the gold from has some in black & white polka dot that’s calling my name…
Finally, in case you missed it, Unicorn Parade made it into the final round for the Homies! Thank you so much to everyone who voted for me in the nomination round, and please vote for me again in this round!
Sunday, February 3rd
Graphic tee & footie pants from H&M
Monday, February 4th
Striped kerchief, tank onesie and cat-print pants from H&M; socks from Old Navy
Baby giraffe suit, a gift from my sister.
Thursday, February 7th
Striped footie pajamas, H&M
Friday, February 8th
Polka dot onesie, Old Navy; polka dot leggings & alpaca booties, H&M.