CAKE PARTY

We found out what we're having and it's a..... GIRL! We are so excited to have another little princess in this house! I just know she and Olive are going to be the best of friends. Olive hugs and pats my baby bump all the time and just today said "Baby" for the first time while we were sitting on the couch together. Whenever we see a baby out in public or in a magazine or even on Instagram Olive lets out the cutest little squeal (it's actually the same squeal she makes when she sees a cute puppy haha) so I'm pretty sure when she meets her little sister she will be over the moon!

OUR FIRST CHRISTMAS TREE

Isaac and I are so excited to start some Christmas traditions with Olive this year! Last Friday we decided to bundle up, take a day trip to the mountains and find our Christmas tree. I think we chose the coldest day of the year. Seriously. We don't own clothing meant for how cold it was. When we got to the tree farm I think it was 29 degrees. If you live somewhere where that is not cold at all (I'm looking at you, Canadian friends!) just laugh and call me a cold weather wimp!

Isaac is obsessed with the smell of Christmas trees - he was like a kid in a candy store climbing through all the trees looking for the perfect one. When we got home he was like, "Babe, smell my shirt! Smell my shirt! It smells like Christmas trees!!!" Haha I need to get him a Christmas tree candle or something. =)

We decorated our tree the next day with all of our ten ornaments (lol! Christmas newbies!) and had the best family time playing Christmas music, drinking apple cider and snacking on peppermint bark and clementines. I made sure to buy a bunch of "kid-friendly" (read, unbreakable) ornaments so Olive could help too and it puts the biggest smile on my face watching her giggle and squeal when she is able to hang an ornament on a branch all by herself =) I am loving this festive season!

BABY, IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

Isaac and I took Olive to the Charlotte Christmas Village at Romare Bearden Park to kick off the holiday season. It was sooooo cold out and we were not dressed warmly enough! The Christmas Village is famous for their "Gluhwein," a mulled, spiced wine (non-alcoholic in this case) served warm in Germany and other European countries around the holidays. It was yummy and hot and we spent pretty much the whole time sipping on it trying to stay warm while we walked from booth to booth.

I bought this pair of faux leather leggings for my pregnancy with Olive but only got a chance to wear them once before it got too hot out. This time around I am going to be wearing them like crazy because they are so comfortable and they go with everything! I've linked the maternity ones I have from Asos (super affordable) and a few other non-maternity pairs that I wish I could wear but I'll save for next winter ;-)

xo Christine

AUTUMN IN FREEDOM PARK

We got bundled up last weekend to take advantage of a chilly, autumn morning at Freedom Park. We are seriously going to miss living 2 minutes from this gorgeous place! When we left the house it was crisp and cool and it felt so good to put on a coat (it's November after all!) and really feel the change of seasons. I joke with Isaac all the time that I would be fine living in a place where it's sunny and warm year round, but days like this one make me realize how much I love a little break from the heat. I'm still undecided on winter though...

With Olive growing so fast and the baby inside me changing every week, I find myself wanting to capture our little family as often as possible to hold onto this time before it changes again. I'm a little old fashioned in that I like to have hard copies of my favorite photos. I like to flip through our wedding album and feel the thickness of the pages. I loved putting together Olive's memory book and I've been looking for a similar way to record some of our family's favorite adventures. I'm obsessed with these lay flat albums from Artifact Uprising. (Soooo pretty!) Or for a less expensive option, these books from Blurb are beautiful. Mosaic has an app to create an album straight from your phone that looks super easy to use. Just a few options I thought I'd share with you guys as we head towards the end of the year. =)

Thanks for reading! xo Christine

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!

Thank you all for your sweet comments on my Instagram post! Isaac and I are over the moon and so excited to watch our little family grow. Olive hasn't really grasped the idea that there is a baby in mommy's tummy but maybe she'll figure it out once the bump gets bigger. =)
My due date is April 15 and I just reached 14 weeks last Saturday! I can't believe how fast everything is going. Having a toddler to chase after and entertain all day definitely changes things! This pregnancy has been completely the opposite of my first. I had practically zero morning sickness with Olive and this time it's been non stop nausea and a lot of barf bags! Maybe it's a boy?

20 QUESTIONS WITH OLIVIA JANE

Are you familiar with Vogue's 73 Questions series? I am guilty of binge watching dozens of them in one sitting. I think it's fascinating getting to know so much about someone in such a short time. Olive's personality is really starting to come out and while she can't voice many opinions yet, we are still able to pick up on a lot of her likes and dislikes. I thought it would be fun to put together a short set of questions to share a few things about my little toddler. Hope you enjoy and get a couple laughs! =)

ACAI BOWLS + THE GREEN

Acai bowls. Yum! Olive and I tried them a couple weeks ago and we are hooked! I randomly found out there is an acai bowl food truck in Charlotte (what!) so Isaac hunted it down for us and we ordered 3 bowls of acai topped with all the things! O couldn't get enough and was literally licking the bottom of the bowl trying to get the last of it out. She started eating with a spoon but ended up just going in with her hands and made the biggest mess trying to feed herself. Strangers were laughing as they walked by and saw Olive doing her little happy dance covered in purple smoothie!

We had originally planned to eat our breakfast at a different park uptown but when we realized how close The Green was to the acai truck we decided to go there instead. It's the most perfect little green space in the middle of the city! It has a fun little splash pad with giant fish fountains - Olive looked soooo tiny next to those big fish! We had so much fun hanging out in the sunshine and meeting other parents with little kids. At one point Isaac and I were talking with another couple and I looked over and saw Olive just running around in the fountains having a blast and it made me feel SO good! Sometimes she can be so shy and clingy around other people but seeing her so happy and playing with the other babies at the splash pad took all those worries and doubts away. I love my baby girl so much! This was another perfect day. Hope you're all having an amazing summer!

BEDTIME STORIES

Olive is usually in bed when Isaac gets home from work, so it's a special treat when he gets home early enough to do bath time and read stories with us. Sometimes O loves her baths and plays and 'sings' until I take her out. And sometimes she cries and refuses to sit in the water and just wants to get out and be held. Unfortunately, this was one of the fussy times, so you'll notice bath time sort of got skipped over in the photos here! After we got her dried off and in her jammies she was a little angel and sooooo cuddly. =)

WEEKEND VIBES

There's nothing like a great weekend to recharge your batteries and get you set for the next 5 days! One of our favorite things to do is get out and take a walk in the morning before it gets too hot. We love to explore pretty neighborhoods and side streets just a few blocks from where we live. It's so fun drooling over all the pretty houses (and landscaping!) and talking about what we want for our future home.

After we got nice and sweaty from our walk we headed to Whole Foods to refuel - I love their fresh juices and Olive loves their fruit! We went ahead and did our grocery shopping too, so it was not only a fun, active morning but we were also crossing things off our to-do list. SUCH a good feeling! How did you spend your weekend?

Thanks for reading! xoxo Christine

A BREAKFAST PICNIC

Another name for this post could be "OLIVE EATS ALL THE BERRIES". Seriously. This girl can put away the fruit! Last year we had a breakfast picnic for my birthday and I've been wanting to do it again ever since. With the temps being in the upper nineties lately, a picnic at noon just doesn't sound that appealing. A breakfast picnic is a great way to get out and do something before it gets too hot and BONUS you beat the crowds at the park if you get out early enough!

For our breakfast I brought a couple bags of organic peaches (peaches are on the Dirty Dozen list so I always try to buy organic!), coconut yogurt with berries, a big jar of granola and a couple glasses of juice. It was the perfect spread for a beautiful summer morning. Olive made quick work of the peaches and berries and had the best time walking (running) around and digging in the dirt. When it was time to go she was so covered in dirt and twigs we had to strip her down to her diaper before we got in the car. She had an early bath and a really good nap when we got home!

It's a brand new month and that always gets me so excited to set goals and accomplish things. I've got a couple creative projects in the works that I'm so excited to share with you all! Hope you have a beautiful week!

xx Christine

SKINNY DIP FALLS

I've always wanted to hike to a waterfall and go swimming and last week that's just what we did! Skinny Dip Falls (the name is deceiving, clothing is not optional!) are tucked away at mile marker 417 off the Blue Ridge Parkway. There aren't any signs so it's easy to miss! The falls were a quick 15-20 minute hike from the road - everything was damp and lush and the trail was kept up nicely.

The falls were so pretty and the water was crystal clear and (refreshingly) ice cold. Olive didn't mind the cold at all and had so much fun standing in the shallow areas finding pebbles to put in her mouth. We took a zillion pictures because everywhere we looked it was just so beautiful! I'm putting Skinny Dip Falls on my list of favorite places in NC.

A DATE WITH THE ASTRO-TURF

Another successful family date night! We are on a roll, you guys! I really hope we can keep this up. It's so much fun getting out and doing stuff and having fun and laughing together.

SPLASH PADS & 10 THINGS TO DO THIS SUMMER

Isaac and I are trying to do a little more with our summer evenings, so once a week we're planning to take Olive somewhere new and exciting for a family date night. It means being more active, getting out and seeing more of our beautiful city, spending time as a family and trying new things! Last week we picked up lemonades and headed to the splash pad at Latta Park. We loved it! Latta Park is a 31-acre urban park in the gorgeous Dilworth neighborhood. It has tennis, volleyball and basketball courts, a covered picnic shelter, playgrounds, walking trails AND (what we went for) a splash pad! It's super family-friendly and I think we'll be spending a lot of time there this summer. =)

A DATE WITH THE BUTTERFLIES

Yesterday we took Olive to the Charlotte Nature Museum to see the butterflies! It was amazing! I loved standing still and just watching all the butterflies float around me - they look like CGI the way they flap their wings in almost slow motion. My day was made when one of them decided to come sit on my hand. I most definitely got a selfie with it =) Olive was a little distracted though...this girl loves getting her hands in the dirt. I wish the butterflies had been more of an attraction for her but she was honestly more interested in digging holes in the garden beds. Next time we'll just take her to Lowes. Lol. We tried something new this time and had Isaac take the pictures using my Canon instead of me snapping pics on my iPhone and I'm so impressed with his skills! Didn't he do a great job? Now if I can just talk him into doing this for me every week....lol.

Have a great week, friends! xoxo Christine 

OLIVE TURNS ONE

My baby is ONE! We had so much fun celebrating her birthday with her aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents this weekend! I know it's normal to focus on the birthday as the big day, but I really want this birthday (and every birthday) to be about the 365 days that came before it and all the little moments that made up Olive's first year.

BIRTH STORY: OLIVIA JANE

If you follow me on Instagram you know Olive's birthday was yesterday! How is my baby ONE already?! I feel like she's lived an entire lifetime in just a year - she went from helpless infant to fearless toddler. What will the next year bring?!
In the spirit of celebrating Olive's birthday all weekend I thought I'd throw together a little sketch of her birth story...

BABY FLAMINGO

This month has flown by! Can you believe it's almost June?! Last weekend we stayed with Isaac's mom at a beautiful resort in Myrtle Beach that overlooks a 500-acre natural wildlife preserve. The view from our room was breathtaking! It was peaceful and serene and just the kind of vacation we needed.

When we took Olive to the beach last year she was too tiny to do anything but nap so we were really excited to take her back now that she's a little older. She did soooo good! I always knew she'd be a water baby! Isaac and I brought beach chairs with us but didn't even use them - we spent the whole time playing in the tidal pools with O while she banged shells together and dug in the sand. We call our baby "Olive Lionheart" around the house sometimes because she is such a fearless and determined little girl and she certainly lived up to that nickname at the beach when she waded into the ocean waist deep with Isaac! She makes me such a proud mommy! Now that I know how much she enjoys the water I'm excited to start bringing her to the pool!

Hope you all are enjoying your holiday weekend! xoxo Christine

ROAD TRIP TO CHARLESTON

Our anniversary was last week (3 years - yay!) and we planned a fun little day trip to Charleston to celebrate BUT Olive woke up with a fever so we decided to wait a week and go on Mother's Day instead.

Isn't it funny how we can plan as much as we want but if God doesn't want us doing something it's just not going to happen? It couldn't have been more clear to us that we weren't meant to go to Charleston last weekend. Last Saturday night Isaac ran out to Whole Foods to pick up our lunch for the trip and the power went out in the whole store while he was there and they had to kick everyone out! Olive's fever started at 3am the next morning, I woke up with a really bad migraine and the weather in Charleston was cloudy and overcast with a chance of rain. Do you think MAYBE we weren't supposed to go last weekend?! I felt so good about our decision to stay home and wait a week. In the end we had a happy baby and beautiful weather!

Charleston is a short 3ish hour drive from Charlotte and one of the most beautiful cities you can visit on the east coast! We could have easily spent 3 or 4 days exploring! We picnicked at the Battery as soon as we arrived and then spent the next few hours exploring and shopping. Olive did great the whole time which was such a relief to Isaac and I because we really had no idea what to expect. She ended up taking a short nap in the car on the way, another one in the stroller while we were sight seeing and then one more on the way home! I think I'll do a little post on road tripping with a baby because there were a few things that made it easier (and a few things I would change!) that I want to remember for next time.

My first Mother's Day was amazing and I felt so loved and spoiled! Isaac brought home dozens and dozens of roses all week long and had the sweetest card ready with a note from himself AND one from Olive that I will treasure forever! He and Olive make me the happiest wife and mama ever! I hope you all had a beautiful Mother's Day! xoxo Christine

DADDY'S GIRL

Hi guys! If you're on Insta you've probably seen everyone posting bubble pictures like crazy! Seriously every time I check my feed someone else has posted one. Can't blame them because blowing bubbles is soooo much fun and a quintessential spring/summer activity! I bought some to blow with Olive but I think I'm enjoying them more. I used to blow bubbles with the little boys I nannied for all the time and have some great memories of seeing which of us could blow the biggest bubble before it burst and running around the yard trying to pop them before they floated too high. Good clean fun. =)

I got the bubbles out yesterday while we were killing some time before O's nap and I couldn't resist snapping some pics. This girl is crazy about her daddy and I love watching the two of them together! Isaac thinks she favors me, but you should see the way she lights up when he walks in the door after work! He can get her giggling so hard! When I bring her into our room in the mornings she'll crawl right over to Isaac and pat his head until he rolls over and plays with her. And if you know Olive, you know she's just like her daddy: fearless and strong willed. It's going to be fun raising this little firecracker!

Have a great week! xoxo Christine

PARK HANGS + WEDDING SELFIES

Sundays with Isaac and Olive are my favorite and I look forward to them all week long! Yesterday was one of those days where I felt like I was living something out of a movie and I just didn't want it to end. We picnicked in the sunshine with a big bag of mangos and just talked about how amazing life is right now and how excited we are about the next 5 years. 

But the highlight of our day was my baby sister's wedding! She got married at The Old Mecklenburg Brewery right down the road from where we live. It was so much fun getting to dress up and feel all pretty with my siblings. I love each of them so much and love how close we all are. We took some silly selfies which I'm shamelessly sharing here on my blog because this space is a representation of me and I hope I will always be light hearted and fun loving. =)

I almost never curl my hair but I decided super last minute (literally 10 minutes before we were supposed to leave) that I wanted to and Isaac was so sweet to watch Olive while I did. I ended up loving my hair this way and think I'll do it more often. It helps add a little texture to my hair too which means it lasts longer between washings. Win win. 

It seems like every event we have been going to the last couple weeks has been right smack in the middle of Olive's late afternoon nap (she still takes 2-3 naps a day) and she's having meltdowns whenever we are out at night with her. She used to get sleepy and fall asleep while we held her but she won't do that anymore and she just gets so fussy and cranky until we take her home and put her to bed. Thankfully we made it through the wedding ceremony but by the time pictures were done and cocktail hour was wrapping up she was so overtired. I had used up every toy in my purse trying to keep her happy so we had to go home and put her to bed. I felt bad missing my sister's reception but this is just where we are at in life right now. I wouldn't trade being this baby's mommy for anything in the world! There are ups and downs but we just try to make the best decisions for our little family. Next time I think we'll get a babysitter so Olive can go to bed on time and we can enjoy some dinner and dancing. =) 

Have a great week! xoxo Christine 

I LOVE JUICE BAR + BLACKHAWK GARDEN CENTER

Most afternoons I make a smoothie and take Olive to the park to play, but I was feeling a little bit lazy and just felt like walking around so we ran down to I Love Juice Bar at Park Road Shopping Center and got their Mint to Be smoothie - soooo yummy! It has mint, pineapple, mango, coconut milk and apple juice. I need to get some mint growing on the patio again so I can try making it at home. It was the perfect pick me up for a lazy afternoon!

We walked through Blackhawk's Garden Center and drooled over all the gorgeous plants they have. I cannot wait till we have a home and a yard to fill with plants! For now our little patio herb garden will have to do. =)

Hope you're having a beautiful day! xoxo Christine

NINE MONTHS

My Olive baby is 9 months old this week!! I think she's getting cuter every month.

I thought this would be a fun little opportunity to look back at some bump pics since now Olive has been outside of me as long she was inside. =) I made her a little flower crown to match mine and had planned a cute photo shoot for us this week but she came down with a cold so we stayed home. It doesn't get much cuter than babies in diapers anyway.

Olive has started doing the sweetest thing where she'll climb up and bury her head in my collarbone with her little hands wrapped so tight around my neck - my heart melts into a puddle on the floor and I want 100 babies. She is standing all the time now, but hasn't taken her first step yet. Isaac and I think it will be sometime this month! She whistles while she plays (so funny, I'm trying to catch it on video) and we keep waiting for her first word. She still loves her mesh feeder and eats an entire banana every morning for breakfast! She climbs the stairs, the tables, the chairs, the couch... I caught her trying to climb up the side of her crib so I guess that means it's time to lower the mattress. Last week she did a chin up hanging onto the soap dish. She. is. so. strong.

The word "lionhearted" means brave and determined - I can't think of a better way to describe my baby girl! She takes after Isaac a lot with her personality, but I think she may have gotten a little of my creativity... we'll see as she gets older. One thing is for sure: this girl will do big things! Happy 9 months to my little adventurer! xoxo Christine

*Maternity photos by HappyAsHumans Photography 

LEMONADE SMOOTHIES & A PARK DATE

If you follow me on Instagram you know we go to the park a LOT! The past couple weeks I've started making a smoothie before we head out so Olive has a snack if she gets hungry. Smoothies are so easy to whip up in a hurry and O can drink them through a straw without making a mess. (yay!)
This pink lemonade smoothie has been our go-to recipe lately. Olive absolutely loves smoothies of any kind and she drinks this one up in second! I like to add a scoop of probiotics (I have this one) to hers to get all that good bacteria growing and give her little immune system a boost.

Hope you're all enjoying this gorgeous spring weather! I'm hoping for a pretty day next weekend so we can take some new family pictures. I feel like every time I get around to printing pictures and updating our photos Olive has already changed so much that I want to get new pics done. Can't keep up with how fast this one is growing! She is sooooo close to taking her first step!

Happy spring, friends! xoxo Christine