The 3 Different Stages of Baby Footwear!

Since Charlotte is becoming quite the confident walker, we decided it was time to have her first real baby shoes fitted. I'm quite the experienced shoe shopper if I may say so myself, but shopping for your baby is a completely different ball game. Especially if you only want the absolute best for your child. Apparently there is more to buying baby footwear than getting their feet measured and picking up some cute little shoes. Here's what we have learned about baby shoe shopping so far!

Stage one/The Prewalker
During the first few months of your babies life all you need is something that will keep those little footsies nice and warm. But when it's time for your baby to start standing and doing her (or his!) first little steps, it's time for some more serious footwear. The shoes that are ideal for this first stage have non-slip soft soles and elasticized ankles to make sure the shoes stay on. Since your baby will still be crawling alot during this stage, it can be fairly easy to lose a shoe. These shoes vary from simple booties to real full-blown shoes. An example:

Stage Two/The Confident Walker
The shoes that are ideal  for this stage have flexible thin soles that have curved edges to preferent tripping and falling over (very important!). These are already real shoes that are perfect for the first steps outside the house. During the previous stage you could still get away with a simple inexpensive bootie, but during this stage it's time to invest in a good quality leather shoe. Get them professionally fitted and expect to pay atleast 40 bucks for them. Opt for a shoe that has a removable sole. It's easier to take it out and place it on your babies foot to see if it still fits properly. Expect a shoe like this to last for an avarage of 3 months before you have to start shopping for the next size up. An example:

Stage three/The Running Arround Like a Pro Walker
When your baby really mastered this whole walking thing it's time to move on to the next stage. A normal good quality shoe with a regular light weight sole. It's very important that these shoes have a good decent footbed and offer enough stability. Since we're not at this stage yet, I can't show you what these look like, so I just photographed my own Uggs. I'm embarrased to say that these are the only shoes in the house with a normal flat sole. But you catch my drift! :) The not so good example:

I'm very satisfied with the shoes we picked out for Charlotte and the advice we were given. We tried her new shoes out in the woods today and eventhough the underground was pretty uneven, she had alot of stability! I know for a fact that I will not shop for baby shoes online anytime soon. I really recommend getting baby shoes at a real store. They can really help you determine the right size and the right kind of shoe for your little sprout. Remember that those little feet have to last a lifetime!

Kisses!

Dress for Less - Premium Outlet Shopping Haul!

Yes, we went shopping! I figured we deserved some retail therapy! I got some great deals, so I thought I'd share them with you. All items were purchased at the official factory outlet stores at a premium outlet centre. All for a fraction of the original price. If you love shopping just as much as I do, I dearly recommend checking out if there are any premium outlet centres in your area. Check http://www.premiumoutlets.com/ and http://www.mcarthurglen.com/ for a location near you. The closest one to my my home is actually a two hour drive away, but I still think It's worth to drive up there once or twice a year. Now you will find stuff that's from a previous season, but I don't mind personally. Alot of these brands carry basics that will never go out of style really. Besides, I have a one year old so I shop alot in advance anyway because she goes through sizes so quickly! She hardly ever wears clothes from this season's collection. But enough with the talking, here are our purchases! :)

For Charlotte

First item we got was this cute ralph lauren polodress for the summer! It's in a hot pink and I'll probably pair it with some yellow leggings, hot pink crocs and ofcourse some cute headband! It's a size 2-2t, and that is supposed to fit a 18 month old. I already had Charlotte try it on and it's still a bit long, but I'm sure it will fit perfectly once summer arrives! We got a great deal on this, it was 50% off!

Second item for Charlotte is this cute Tommy Hilfiger cardigan. It's a gorgeous pink and it has a gorgeous shiny silver thread woven into the fabric. I think this will look absolutely adorable paired with a some dark washed jeans and a navy t-shirt underneath. It's a size 2 years, so Charlotte won't be wearing it until next winter. And yet again, we got a great deal on this. It was also 50% off!

For Me

For myself I got this lovely soft pink wool cardigan by Guess. It has a lovely shiny thread and the buttons are to die for! So adorable! It's wool so it does feel a bit ticklish when on. I just have to get used to that I guess. Also a great deal, it was 70% off. 

The last item I got was this basic brown sweater by Tommy Hilfiger. I didn't really own sweaters to be honest, but I think this is going to be so cosy in and around the house and while playing with Charlotte. It's very basic so not difficult to pair at all, but I'll probably pair it with a some denim chino's, brown ballerina flats and my brown Burberry bag. I think this is going to be my go to outfit for the weekends! Oh, and I also got an amazing deal on this sweater, It was also 70% off!

And do you know how much I spend in total on all these items? Only 119,99! Haha! Love it! So, are you premium outlet shopping yet?

Kisses!

12 month update!

As I mentioned in my previous post, Charlotte is one year old! Unfortunetly things didn't really go as planned, but Charlotte is doing really well now! She got released from the hospital and we're working on her recovery at home. She is expected to make a full recovery! Yay! :) Here are some pictures from her would a have been party. Now it's not going to waste completely. We're planning a small celebration next weekend. We're actually celebrating her birthday on my original due date now. I thought that was cute!

I just love these personalized thank you gifts we had made for her! They are small bags of M&M with the text 'Charlotte 1 year!' and a picture of our little nugget. I used this service by M&M's for the hubby's 30th birthday, and I thought it would be a cute for this occasion as well! We also used these as a gift for the daycare personnel.

Since I don't believe in sweets for small children, we bought these educational sesamestreet booklets to give away to the kids. We wrapped them in a purple ribbon and a cute little purple name tag to match!

Weight and Height
Charlotte is such a big girl now. She weighs 18,5 pounds! I have no idea how tall she is though. They weren't able to measure her during the last check-up. She threw a tantrum and would not cooperate. She definitely has a mind of her own!

Clothing Sizes
Charlotte is still wearing her 9 to 12 month clothing and still wears a size 3 - 4 nappies. She already has plenty of clothes to get through the winter and spring so we started shopping for next summer and winter already. I'm begging the hubby to take us to the designer outlet soon for some serious retail therapy! I love those little designer clothes, but I don't like paying the full price for them since they grow out of them so fast at this age. So some outlet shopping would be just perfect for us! Hopefully I'll be able to do a haul soon!

Eating
Charlotte can eat just about anything. We don't have to chop things up anymore, she can handle big chunks just fine. Drinking is also getting a bit better. She can now drink on her own from a small cup, which definitely helps her fluid intake!

Development
Charlotte started walking! It started about a week before her first birthday, and she looks so big and grown up doing it! She's not a pro yet, but she's starting to become really good at balancing and making turns and stuff. I know walking before the first birthday may sound fast, but to us it took ages! Charlotte started standing and getting mobile so fast, that we were absolutely sure that she'd already be walking at around her 11th month, so having to wait for almost en entire month really seemed forever! She also learned alot of new words and she can point out several objects and name them. She also loves to clap her hands and climb the couch and she's really into mimicking what we do. She holds her phone to her ear and pretends to talk on the phone. So cute!

Kisses!

A not so happy first birthday!

 

Our little monkey turned one yesterday! Yay! I've been planning her party forever and planned on doing a grand blog post about it today. We organised a pink monkey themed birthday party for Charlotte and invited tons of friends and family to share this special day with us. I've been so busy with planning and decorating the last couple of weeks that I didn't even have time to blog! But unfortunetely things didn't turn out as planned. Charlotte was admitted to the hospital on her birthday with respiratory problems. Her oxygen levels were so low that she needed to be hooked up to a machine for some extra oxygen.  Medicine alone didn't relieve her enough. We had to cancel her party and have been in the hospital ever since. We hope she'll get released on Monday and that we can manage her problems at home. But for now, it's still very uncertain!

 I'll probably still post some pictures of what her birthday party would have looked like. It all looked so beautiful and I would hate to see it all go to waste.  Who knows, you might get some inspiration out of it! Now people told me that the first birthday is the most memorable one, and that I wouldn't forget this day very soon. Well, I can definitely say they were right! This was a birthday we're going to remember for the rest of our lives!

Kisses!

December favorites - gifts and gets!

First of all, happy new year everyone! I can't believe it's January already! Things have been so crazy during the holidays that I didn't even notice that I haven't blogged for two whole weeks! The holidays have been wonderful here, and I hope everyone has made some wonderful lasting memories over the last couple of weeks.

Not only was it the time to share with the people we care about, It's also the season of retail therapy. I'm not a crazy shopaholic, I only purchase items that I have given alot of thought and I know that we'll get a great use out of. But December is the month I let loose a little. I wanted to share some of our favorites gifts and gets. If you have any birthdays or parties coming up soon, there might be some useful ideas in this blogpost!

Mommy

I got a Sonic Clean face cleansing brush, a fragrance by Lacoste called Joy of Pink and the Christmas album 'Funny Looking Angels' by Smith&Burrows. The album is amazing, I'll probably still be listening to it in March! Really, buy it and thank me next year! :) The fragrance is really nice as well. It's fresh, flowery and girly and that's just right up my alley. The face cleansing brush wasn't my first choice initially. I was planning on getting a clarisonic, but decided I wasn't going to spend that kind of money on something I wasn't even sure I was going to use for a longer period of time. If this is really something I'll really end up loving I can always upgrade to a more expensive one. But in the meantime, this one seems to work just fine and I have been using it daily.

Daddy

Daddy actually brought up the fact that he's not a part of this blog at all, and he did have a point there. So I thought I'd share his gifts as well! Daddy got a Jack Daniel's giftset (I love the packaging!), a black leather Samsonite wallet, a Bruno Banani fragrange and Levi's boxers. All black and manly stuff! I think it's so difficult to shop for him (any man actually) but I think we've done okay this year. He seemed to like his presents! The Jack Daniel's didn't even make it to 2014! Haha!

Baby

Charlotte's presents are definitely color themed! She got a babywalker, a baby laptop (both by vtech baby) and a princess magic mirror book. I know there is alot of criticism out there about gender marketing, so alot of you will probably think we're doing something terribly wrong by getting her these items. But you know what? I absolutely loved pretty pink toys when I was little and I dont want to deny by daughter that. Besides, I think I turned out just fine. You can be a strong and independent woman and still like your pinks!

And last but not least, I got another car! Yay! But you probably already figured that one out from the picture on the top of this blogpost. Now this wasn't a Christmas gift, but I did buy it in the month December, so I thought I'd throw this one in anyway. I love it! It's a tiny beige Nissan Micra. I think it's a really cute car and since I'm always struggling with parking, the smaller the car the better!

Well, that was the end of 2013. I'm really excited to see what 2014 will bring! Take care!

Kisses!

Hot drinks for cold nights!

Eventhough I only have a miniscule role to play, I love being a part of the blogging community. How amazing is it that you get to connect with all these awsome and inspirational people from all over the world and be allowed to take a peek into their lives? It's really an endless ocean of information and inspiration that I just love to dive into. I have alot of different blogs on my readinglist and whenever I find a spare minute I love catching up on them. A little while ago I read a post about homemade chocolatemix here and I really fell in love with the idea. It was love at first sight but unfortunately the recipe was't really me. So I decided to throw in the stuff I like and make my own hot chocolatemix! I love how it turned out, I've already had 3 cups! :)

Here's what I used to make it. I used a high quality organic cacoa by Australian Homemade (but you can use any high quality brand) a low fat powdered milk, mini marshmallows, coffee creamer, chocolate fondue, ground cinnamon, jars, a bow and a tag (which you can find here).

Adding a tag comes in handy if you are planning to share your chocolate love with others.

I used mini marshmallows in different colors, which gives it such a playful look! I used glass jars so you can really see the sweet little pop of color it gives. So cute!

The recipe
8 tablespoons of low fat powdered milk
4 tablespoons of high-quality cocao
2 tablespoons of coffee creamer
2 tablespoons of chocolate fondue chips
1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons of mini marshmallows

I didn't add any sugar to the recipe because the marshmallows already add some sweetness to the drink and I didn't want to make it unnecessary unhealthy. But if you happen to have a sweet tooth, you can throw two teaspoons of sugar into the mixture! :) Mix all the ingredients together (except the mini marshmallows, you add those later) and you have your hot chocolatemix. You can chop up the chocolate chips, but I like the fact that it doesn't look like a perfect fine mixture. Its homemade and it's allowed to look the part! The chocolate fondue chips are made to melt easily, so it's not really necassary to chop them up anyway. Throw 3 tablespoons of mixture into a cup, poor hot water on it and stir well. This batch should be enough for about 5 cups. Finish it off by throwing a tablespoon of mini marshmallows on top. Voilá and enjoy!

Kisses!

What we're wearing this Christmas!

Yes, I know! I might be going a little bit Christmas crazy here. But I just can't help myself. I love Christmas! We decorated the Christmas tree, we planned our Christmas menu, so now it was time to pick out our Christmas outfits! I love them, but unfortunately we won't be color-coordinated this Christmas. I was so focused on Charlotte's outfit, that I paid no attention at all to the fact that I can´t wear red! It makes me look like something that crawled out of a vampire movie. But anyways, this is what we're wearing this Christmas!

Charlotte's outfit

Charlotte's is wearing a checked dress by Burberry, a red cardigan by H&M, a red headband by Claire's and red tights that I got from some local store. I bought all these items separately, but luckily it´s all practically the same shade of red. Phew!!

The red cardigan has a cute ruffle detail and has one big sparkly button. It does run a bit big though. I got Charlotte a size 6 to 9 months and it fits like a glove!

The headband isn't new. I bought this at Claire's a couple of months ago and I figured it would come in handy for Christmas, eventhough I had no idea what her Christmas outfit would look like. 

My outfit

My entire outfit is by Vila, as usual! It's a Danish brand I believe, so you can't get it everywhere. But for who's interested, you can purchase their clothing online at http://www.asos.com. My outfit consists of a simple pair of black pants, a black and white top and a flowy gray cardigan. The shoes, handbag and earrings I already owned. The black leather high-heeled booties are by a brand called Zign, the black and brown handbag is by Calvin Klein and I don't remember where the earrings are from. Sorry! It's quite casual for the holidays, but with a little baby running around putting on something fancy is really the last thing on my mind!

The top has a black and white baroque print. I thought that would be very suitable for the holidays for some reason. It's a very soft sheer fabric. Very comfortable! The gray cardigan has glittery thread at the ends which makes it a bit more festive. 

My charcoal earrings. They are definitely one of my favorites! They are a bit ruffed up because I have been wearing them for years, but I still love them. I probably should start looking for a pair of earrings to replace them with. Well, that's what we are wearing this Christmas. Do you have your Christmas outfit picked out yet?

Kisses!