brunch and a park

Sunday morning we went to see Allison's new house. It is adorable and perfect and I always forget how much more space you can get living in the midwest. She has it decorated so cute, I should've taken some pictures. We decided to go for some brunch at Melt followed by treats (umm vegan donuts and cinnamon rolls??!) and coffee and Sidewinder. Oh and of course record shopping at Shake It. We had to wait in line at Melt for a bit but totally worth it. 

After I texted Annie to see if they were still in the area. She told me they were at Washington Park in the city. I had no idea where this was. I guess it recently opened. We all headed to meet up with her family. As soon as we turned the corner and saw the park, I said this does not look like Cincinnati! The park is beautiful. The first few pictures are (obviously) from my phone until I remembered we had our real camera with us. 

 Elinor and Honey

Paighton playing with Elinor

now for the real pictures

 Honey and Pumpkin were so sweet to Elinor and shared their toys. 

 look at that tiny perfect baby in the back! Congrats again Annie and Michael

 spray park

 Ashleigh took some pictures of the park while we all played

 sneaky shot of all of us

 how cute is Pumpkin's bathing suit?? 

 and her hat!

 making friends

 Annie dresses these girls so cute! 

All the girls 

our first week

I'm finally getting caught up on sleep and not so much in a daze. The last couple of days just blurred together but it has been amazing. We were so lucky to have my mom in town to help followed by Dave's mom. Today is the first day it is just me and Elinor. Dave went to run some errands and we took naps and she ate ALL morning. I'm still pretty sore but I've given in to motrin and tylenol which helps.

Yesterday we had our first outing, just to babies r us. I had to get a couple of things and since they have the mothers room I thought it would be a perfect place to test going out incase she needed to eat. Dave suggested taking the moby wrap instead of the stroller which was a really good idea. I just transferred her to the wrap from the backseat and she never made a peep. We even took the scenic route so we could show Dave's mom around a little.

Dave took pictures of her yesterday for her birth announcements. I thought of the idea of her in one of her cloth diapers under the tree. A couple of days before I had her Annie sent me a package of hair clips of Ellie. As soon as I saw the one she's wearing in the pic I knew it would be perfect for this. Thanks again Annie (open an Etsy shop!) I'll wait to share the real birth announcement picture until they are mailed out but here is a peek..

an award!

Jennifer from So I peed on a stick gave me this award! I love her blog and I wish she lived closer so we could have playdates when my little one comes! She handed out five awards to mamas with smaller blogs. It's an awesome way to find out about more mommy bloggers and link people to some of my favorites.

To keep this award going and pass it along to other new deserving blogs, the recipient must now recognize five other bloggers with less than 200 followers that have really stood out in the crowd.

The rules for the Liebster Award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love too!

And my special award winners are.....

Adding Members

Annie is an amazing woman who has 2 adorable daughters and is trying to adopt/foster more. I love reading about their adventures from the fun activites with the girls to their struggles with adoption. I have never met her before but I did go to elementary school with her husband! Maybe someday when I'm in Ohio we can finally meet.

Before I Was A Mom

Lauren is a Boston mama to a super cute toddler. She is a teacher and blogs about the balance of being a working mom and still being a laid back fun vegan family. After reading her blog it made me realize how easy it will be to raise our daughter vegan right along with us. 

A Lekker Life

Justine is actually in a way family. I babysit for them and we call them Dave's cousins. Her husband is Dave's dads girlfriends brother (you got all that?). She is an interior designer with a beautiful house and beautiful children.  Her little one also just started walking! 

You're the only thing I wouldn't change

I don't think I have ever met Stephanie but she is married to a friend I've known for a long time. They both are such sweet nice people and just welcomed their first baby boy and couple of days ago! Congrats guys! She's a very crafty lady and I can't wait to see what she has whipped up for this little guy. 

FINNtastic Life

Jenni hasn't updated her blog in awhile but maybe this will get her to a little! Her and Mike are such amazing parents and you can tell their life revolves around Finn. 

Check out all of these blogs and don't forget to check out Jennifer's too!