Books for Dads

This was the scene this morning: before she even got out of her crib miss bossypants pointed to book after book that needed to be in her crib... like now.



Yep, we love books around here. They're a big playtime favourite and we read every day as part of the go-to-sleep ritual. Dad takes care of bath/bed time in this house so books are a natural go-to when it comes to gift giving. Here are a few "dad themed" books and a few of our recent favs too...




1) My Dad Is Big And Strong, BUT...: A Bedtime Story
2) Daddy Hugs
3) Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow?
4) My Dad Thinks He's Funny (Sara, I totally thought of you when I found this)
5) Best Word Book Ever
6) Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me


Alice may or may not have picked one of these up for Mike... (I'm really great at surprises, aren't I?)

Enjoy your father's day weekend!
Christine


*contains amazon affiliate links.

Alice: Monthly ('ish) Photo Collage

As with many projects since becoming a mom, I really dropped the ball on Alice's monthly photos. I think the last one I posted was at 9 months... 9 months ago. woops.

I actually just read back on all my monthly photo posts and I'm pretty sure this had to be the most inconsistent project ever, haha. A true testament to how stuff gets done around here ;) This post is also a pretty great representation of how fun/challenging these photo shoots were (just in case you're thinking of ever doing them).

And if you do decide to do them, don't stress. The outtakes actually ended up being some of my favourite shots, whatever you get will be all worth it in the end.

Here we are now at 18 months old, please tell me how my baby is suddenly the one doting over a baby??



As you can imagine, laying down these days is nearly impossible. Getting her to stay still for more than a second is nearly impossible. Here's a look at how big (and how fast) the little munchkin has grown.



There was no way we could manage these photos every month past 12 months, I thought 18 months would be a good marker. It's amazing how much has changed.

My baby is a toddler.

Wow.

Christine

p.s. anyone find that machine to slow time yet???

Gold Desk Ikea Hack

I'm going a little gold crazy over here. First with the polka dot walls and now with a can of gold spray paint. This room is a bit of a transition space - for now it'll serve as the office and play area for Alice but eventually, once another kid comes along, Alice will move over from her nursery. So, with that in mind, I really did not want to invest much in a desk. I wanted something small, sleek and of course, gold! Enter IKEA and a can of spray paint from the Home Depot...



Yep, the perfect desk and it cost a whopping $54 plus spray paint. I purchased the 'vika moliden' legs ($20 each) and the 'vika amon' table top in a beautiful, glossy white. The table top is sadly being discontinued but the good news is it cost a whopping $14! Run, don't walk, to your nearest store!

I did some research and ended up choosing the Rustoleum Metallic Gloss gold spray paint. I'm so happy with the way it turned out and the shade of gold was perfect with the gold dots.



I kind of want to spray paint everything I own now...

Sources:
legs: IKEA, vika moliden
table top: IKEA, vika amon (discontinued, my store still has stock. similar here)
gold spray paint: rustoleum metallic gloss gold, the Home Depot

gold polka dot decals: urban walls
paint: para paints, coconut sugar

I still have a few more big pieces to get in place and then decorating! I'm working at "mom pace" over here so bear with me.

Christine

Five Years

Every year I look back on our wedding photos and find a new fav and every year I find more and more reasons to love this guy.



Happy Anniversary to the best husband and daddy us girls could ask for!

Love you too,
Christine

p.s in honour of five years and the traditional 'wood' gift, Mike will be getting one of these (hope he doesn't see this before I give it to him ;)

p.p.s. Amazing photo by pink sugar photography (Andrea, I can't tell you how happy it makes me that you have captured such great memories for our family - love ya and your work!)

Gold Polka Dot Walls

Eeek! I am so excited about this and couldn't wait another minute to show you the walls in my office/play/craft/everything room.

Have I told you about this room yet? Well, it started off as the "office" aka the room where everything goes to die. It was bad. Really bad and in need of some much needed organization. I've still got lots of work to do and decorating to tackle but take a look at my pretty new walls! Holy cow, do these make me happy!!



It's amazing what a can of paint and some shiny decals can do to a room. Para Paints so generously provided the paint for the room and after days (weeks) of contemplating a white paint colour I finally decided on 'Coconut Sugar'. It's a beautiful, creamy but not yellow-y white that is so soft and yummy. Yes, yummy.

I was really worried about picking a white paint - too harsh, too warm, too cool... but I am thrilled with how this turned out. It's a perfect compliment to the gold polka dot decals from Urban Walls. I basically decided to redecorate this room just so I could use these decals. Love them (thank you, Danielle!)

Huge props to my husband who planned out the grid for these dots... that's a whole lot of math going on right there and left to my own devices things would have been looking slightly more random (ok, a lot more random). Just one of the many reasons I married this guy ;)

Hopefully I'll have some more room updates for you soon, me and gold spray paint have become very well acquainted lately. Check out my instagram for some sneak peaks!

Sources:
Gold Polka Dot Decals: Urban Walls
Paint: Para Paints, 'Coconut Sugar'

Christine

Alice Was Here

Sometimes things get messy...



Correction: most of the time things get messy. Am I right?

A few snippets from instagram - #alicewashere. This hashtag cracks me up every time I look at the whole set. I'm still working on my tornado management skills, please tell me I'm not the only one?

Just keepin' it real...

Christine

find me on instagram. username: justbellablog

Big / Little Style: Mint, Leopard & Coral

Call me crazy but leopard print is in close running with denim as my favourite neutral. I cannot get enough, I swear it goes with everything! I've paired it with mint and coral, two of my fav colours this spring - they're sweet, pretty and make me want to go out for ice cream! Mint chocolate chip, perhaps?





BIG STYLE:
(I didn't realize this at the time but this whole outfit is j.crew!! haha, woops!)
top: j.crew factory
shoes: j.crew factory (similar here, here and here)
jeans: j.crew (I got these on clearance for $15!! similar here and here)
bracelets: stella & dot, eden bangle and christina link bracelet.
earrings: stella & dot, fiona earrings
nail polish: orly 'terracotta'

LITTLE STYLE:
t-shirt: old navy
shorts: old navy
cardigan: joe fresh
shoes: old navy (I love these shoes, they are so light, durable and they stay on her feet!)

And some mint for the little man in your life here, here and here.

Christine

See more big / little style posts here.


*post contains some affiliate links