Small Style #4

Here we are on another Thursday already!

this was us last Monday, just spending a little quiet day at home.

Isla is finally fitting into some of her shorts,
but mostly just because her cloth diapers are holding them up, that girl has a teeny tiny waist!

showing off those 2 teeth!


spending some time with Olivia



isn't it nice that while Isla refuses to breastfeed, she still likes to use the nursing pillow?

shirt-Petit Lem, thrifted
shorts-Cherokee, same ones as last week
diaper-thirsties cover, bummis insert

and as always we are linking up with the lovely Morgan of Mama Loves Papa

Small Style #3

It's Thursday!
Here's miss Isla on a little picnic stop.
we were on walk and she didn't seem to be too happy about being in the stroller, so we stopped and had some cereal, some puffed kamuts and a rice cracker.

after our little snack we rested

and then we had a bit more of a snack

it's been nice here in Ottawa this past week, not too humid, cool enough in the shade.
Isla and I have gone on a few walks. I'm trying to become a walkin' momma.

shirt-Carter's, thrifted
shorts-Cherokee
shoes-Robeez
bib-Bumkins

And you can find us linked up over here at Mama Loves Papa :)

wee ways of life

One of my favourite things about motherhood is the fact that I get the privilege of helping Isla set herself up for a long life of health and success.

With all the decisions that I make for her, I find myself asking, ‘is this establishing a good habit or a bad habit? Is this setting my daughter up for success or failure’?

For example, we have started brushing Isla’s teeth. She only has 2 and I have read that it is ok to use a cloth on them for now, but I figure, why not get her used to having her teeth brushed? Thom or I spend some time brushing her teeth and then we give her a turn to do her own toothbrushing. And let me say, she loves her little toothbrush! I also try to have her in the bathroom with me while I am brushing my teeth in the morning.

This is just one example of all the things that I see as setting Isla up for success. As a child, I hated brushing my teeth, I would run the tap for the amount of time I was supposed to be brushing my teeth, but not really brush them, and I definitely paid for it later in cavities. Boo to the hoo. I am hoping to help Isla avoid some of these things.

I am going to do a little blog series called: ‘wee ways of life’ detailing the healthy routines and habits that we are starting our little Isla on. She may only be 7 months old, but I feel like if we can start early we can help her to learn to make her own healthy choices in the future.

While making healthy decisions for Isla is an obvious choice for me, I never expected that it would change my own bad habits. Because I do see myself as Isla’s number one influence, I think that I need to be on board with my own healthy lifestyle. I have not always been the healthiest. I love the McDonald’s drive thru (a fairly secret shame of mine!) and my transportation rule has pretty much been ‘why walk when you can drive’. I would start up the car for a 5 block trip. I can’t expect Isla to simply make different choices because I tell her she should, not only is that impractical to explain that to a baby, it can probably go without saying that the better lesson is 'do as I do', and not 'do as I say'.

With that said, we are changing things around here for the better. Some have been quick changes, and some have been a bit more gradual.

So, along with the 'wee ways of life' series, I will also be starting another series called: ‘healthy me!’ about how my life is changing as well.

I’d love any healthy parenting tips or advice that anyone out there has to contribute.

What kinds of habits you have started with your kids?

Small Style #2

it's Thursday!!

as you can see we are pretty happy about it

yay! here we are back with the second edition of small style.

I really should have gotten some pictures on Sunday, but I forgot. This wasn't the best week for me remembering to take photos of wee Isla.

so here she is on Tuesday. ok, so maybe it doesn't look like she is wearing very much. I'm not sure what happened.
Earlier in the day she was wearing this:and these:

and a pair of cute slip on shoes that I can't find. I think that they are in the stroller, which is in the car.

but somehow the day ended in this
but the best part is that Isla is wearing a cloth diaper! We are finally using our cloth diapers. phew. it's been a long time coming, but more on that later!

shirt: George from Walmart
overalls: Osh Kosh from our lovely local consignment shop Boomerang kids
socks: Gagou Tagou
missing shoes: JoeFresh
diaper: cover-Thirsties, insert-Bummis prefold

and we're linking up here with Mama Loves Papa!

Happy Thursday!

Small Style #1

well, hello there!

I'm introducing a new regular feature around here. I'm actually jumping on board with Mama Loves Papa who I found via So Fawned (aren't blog connections fabulous? i originally found the Fawn via Jillian of The Noisy Plume. Jillian and I were besties back in high school, and now Desiree lives only a few hours down the highway from me. crazy world huh?)

oh! anyway, so the new feature is this. Small Style. I absolutely love getting miss Isla dressed for the day, so it will be fun to document it this way :)





t-shirt: Gerber
skirt & legging: Gap
flower bobby pin: H&M (this is really just one of mine)

I'm linking up here with Mama Loves Papa

Happy Thursday!

7 months in!

Isla has now reached the 7 month mark!

the 6-7 month time period has been a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for this momma.

Around 6 months Isla was not as interested in nursing, and by about 6 and 1/2 months she decided to completely wean herself from breast milk. this was not a peaceful protest, this was a 'show me that boob and I will freak out on you' kind of protest. Needless to say, I was pretty sad about it. I was really enjoying our nursing moments, and was certainly planning on breastfeeding until Isla was at least a year old.

This month Isla also went from a non-crawler to a belly-crawler to a full-blown-get-around-on-her-own-on-hands-and-knees-crawler. She also learned to sit all on her own.

But this was not quite enough for our little go getter. Isla seemed to decide that these accomplishments were a bit too easy for someone who was about to turn 7 months. About 2 days before that 7 month milestone she started to pull herself up on pretty much anything she can get a hold of; a chair, a basket, her bumbo, her besty Jillian or the cat.

Where did my baby go? my tiny little baby has turned into, what her dad calls, a teeny houdini!!

This week we have also been working through some temper trouble. I'm hoping that it is mostly a little tooth that is trying to poke through, but we have been starting with saying 'no temper please' and if it really gets out of control a little bit of crib time never hurt anyone :)