smitten with sophie

every so often a new children's product hits the market and i find myself feeling pangs of sadness and jealousy. sadness over the fact that my two sweet kiddos are already too old or too big to be able to use said snazzy new item. and as for the jealousy, i find myself envious of all those new mommies and babies who will never have to know life without said wonder. a little dramatic perhaps. but true.

with bug, it was the bumbo seat. he was well into toddlerhood when they arrived on the scene. their impossibly bright and cheerful colors made me crazy with longing... tangerine orange, lime green, aqua blue. the bumbo immediately became my standard baby shower gift. i was determined to share them with every new bundle of joy i met. at least i'm still generous when i'm jealous, right? well, lucky for me (in so many ways), bug's baby sister came along. she gave me the golden opportunity i was hoping for to add a bumbo to our own overflowing collection of baby gear.

and now, lulu is entering toddlerhood herself. a sweet little girl with plenty of opinions and personality to share with the world. and i adore her. but i've been jealous again recently... her name is sophie. technically, sophie is a teether toy. for all intents and purposes though, she is the most unbelievably adorable toy i've seen in ages for the zero to twelve months set.

sophie is a giraffe. she is made of soft rubber. she is the perfect size for little hands to grasp and maneuver. she's got plenty of appendages for gnawing. and she even squeaks. how cute is she?

after all those years of frozen, clear plastic duckies and rings... i think you may just agree that sophie is heaven. i'm smitten.

the only thing more adorable? these two handsome little guys, caught by their mommies loving on their own precious sophies. thank you, mommies (you know who you are), for sharing the sophie love with all of us!

jb with sophie...

z with sophie (in his bumbo no less!)...

have you ever seen so much pure joy captured in two sweet faces?

want to find sophie for a tiny someone you adore? she's available in our new shop. or you can check out her boutique on vulli's website.

what were your babies' favorite things to chew on when pushing through those first few pearly whites?

smitten: henry and henrietta

a generous friend gave us our very first angel dear blankie when i was pregnant with bug. an adorable, super soft yellow duckie. we knew it was cute, but we had no idea just how attached bug would become. by the time he was six months old, his blankie was second only to his nuk (pacifier) in terms of daily importance. a full fledged security object. heaven forbid the blankie was dirty and needed a bath. we had to get more. instead of going for a half dozen identical ducks, we opted for variety... a light blue elephant, a green froggie, a giraffe, and a lion.

contented with the new zoo we had created for our son, we entered a surprising, new stage of his development sometime close to his one year birthday. the need to name every stuffed object he owned.

were we really going to go down the path of giving every blankie a different name? and then what if raffi the giraffe was in the bath when bug wanted raffi?? no, no. we saw this coming. that would not be us. we would give all blankies the same name and thereby avoid (hopefully) the pitfall of playing favorites. we deemed them all 'henry'. it was a name i liked, and had considered naming our first-born, so i was glad to see it put to good use in our house.

bug still sleeps with half a dozen henries on any given night. and his zoo has expanded operations. it now has a pale brown dog, a dark brown monkey, one (or two) new froggies, and at least one additional elephant. all still (blessedly) named henry.

so, were does henrietta fit in? well, ladies and gentlemen, when bug was 2.5 years old, we had a daughter. and while bug absolutely adores his baby sister, there is no way on this green earth that he is going to share henries with her. sacred ground must be respected. and, so, little lulu has now started an equally well-loved and cared for zoo of her own. filled with pink piggies and giraffes, froggies, a pink lambie, a teddy bear and tiger.

the lines between henries and henriettas are well drawn in our home. unless bug decides a henry is too old and scratchy, in which case it is donated to sissy's zoo (he retains visitation rights, i presume).

to say we are smitten is an understatement. we are vitally attached to angel dear blankies. straightening the babies' beds will turn up no fewer than five of them, we carry them on adventures around the house, and (honestly) we simply cannot leave home without them.

bug (and his toes) crashing the photo op...

you can find our favorite blankies at: Angel Dear - Things to Cuddle With

what are your babes attached to? share it with us!

want help tracking down angel dear blankies in your neck of the woods? drop an email to luluandbug@gmail.com, i'd be happy to help.

tootsies

the hospital birth photo... we all have them: red-faced, nose scrunched, eyes closed, and fists ready for heavy-weight boxing. unflattering to say the least.

knowing how painful those pictures can look, my husband and i opted not to have the hospital's photography service take pictures of our newborns. we had already taken so many snapshots ourselves... we didn't imagine we needed to buy more (presumably bad) pictures from someone else.

it surprised me then, how tickled i was when the hospital gave us our babies' footprints. how those nurses managed to uncurl those tiny toes to make prints was beyond me. surely they had a tall stack of do-overs in the garbage bin? thanks to those nurses, we now have what i think are the most simple, sweet, and perfect image of our newborn babies in back and white.

those itty-bitty footprints still hang on the wall in our nursery, and i've been grateful for the visual reminder of just how far our little ones have come in their short years of life.















Tootsies Project

what you'll need: footprints, white cardstock, copier, and scissors

1. photocopy hospital footprint (or handprint, if you were lucky enough to get it) to white cardstock. keep the original in baby's book or memory box

2. cut cardstock to fit your chosen frame (mine is size 4x6 and came from a local Aaron Brothers Art & Framing shop)

3. display on a tabletop or wall