Everyday Beauty

The Vintage Millinery Flower Club

 
What is it we love so much about rumpled, faded old millinery flowers? Don't you think we should start a club? A sisterhood of vintage flower lovers.

 
Maybe it's the soft floppiness of the cotton blossoms.

 
Or the silky velvet and satin petals.

 
The palest pink buds, perhaps?

 
I'm loving this pretty pile of roses on the kitchen table.

 
And sometimes one all by itself is simply enough.

 
These pink roses are in Sofia's nursery. I figured I should initiate her into the Vintage Millinery Flower Club at an early age.

 
Some more favorites, on my dressing table.

I wish we had such a club. What fun we could have searching for, collecting, trading, displaying and creating with these lovely old blossoms!

Freedom

 
Yesterday was the day of our homtown parade, so we headed downtown to be a part of the festivities.

It was all about FREEDOM.....the freedom to be Captain America for a day:

 
The freedom to wear red patent leather baby shoes:

 
The freedom to wear way too many accessories, including a balloon parrot on your head, face paint, cheap necklaces and Silly Bands:

 
The freedom to decorate your bicycle however you want:

 
Of course, I'm being silly here. Our real freedoms are part of what makes our country so great! Let us never forget.

Wishing you and yours a Happy Independence Day!!!

Baptisms & Bomboniere

 
Last weekend, we headed to Ohio and had Sofia baptized, along with my baby nephew Max. It was a really beautiful day and such a happy event to share with all of our family.

 
Not too long ago, I found these vintage Baptism pins in the shape of little baby booties. Aren't they sweet? I gave the blue one to Max, and the pink one is in Sofia's nursery.

To add a little color to the tables at the brunch that followed, I made these simple bomboniere wrapped in pink and blue tulle.

 
Traditionally, they would be filled with Jordan almonds, but I recently cracked a tooth on one so I'm a little afraid of them at the moment....... I opted for ivory jellybeans instead!

This is the gown Sofia wore for her baptism. George and each of his brothers also wore it when they were baptized in Sicily. It's beautiful, with a wide lace hem and embroidered detailing.

 
It has a long robe {for lack of a better word} that goes over the gown and ties.

 
Sofia slept through the entire ceremony....

 
...and stayed asleep for all of the pictures that followed. Sam, however, was WIDE awake and, as you can see, he did not want any part of the pictures. And I'm not sure what Mario is doing with his mouth, but I think he's trying to show off his missing teeth. So, this is the best family portrait we could get!

 
But at least we're all together!

Lacey Bum & Tootsies

 
My blog posts are getting shorter by the minute, aren't they?

This is What's Right with the World

 
My man and I came downstairs early one morning to enjoy our morning coffee together before the rest of the gang awoke. A simple ritual that I highly recommend if you love coffee and you're lucky enough to live with someone who loves it as much as you do. Those first few peaceful sips are the best!

I took a sip. Heaven in a cup. He took a sip, looked at me and said,
"This is what's right with the world".

Absolutely.

...and if you're a coffee drinker,  you totally know where I'm coming from!

Flowers for Sofia

 
I've been having fun creating little hair accessories for Sofia lately. It's a quick and easy way to fit a bit of creative time into the daily routine.

 
I found these stretchy lace headbands on etsy and stuck a piece of adhesive Velcro onto each one.

 
Then I put the other side of the Velcro on the millinery flowers, so they can be mixed and matched. Of course, vintage flowers are a must {at least for now, while she's not yet trying to take them off her head in protest!}

Sleepyhead

 
In the past three weeks we have taken hundreds of pictures of Sofia. Thought I'd share some of my favorites sleepyhead pictures.

Big yawn. :)

 
A face only a mother could love. Oh, and I do love those newborn wrinkles and that wonderful baby chubbiness.

 
Content in Papa's arms {sleeping, of course}.

 
Still sleeping.....

 
It's all about the swaddle.

 

A favorite picture of mine.

 
I want to thank you all for all of your wonderful messages of heartfelt baby love. I read each one, and I appreciate them so much. Thank you for sharing in this very special time in our lives.

I received many emails and comments regarding my home birth. I will tell you, it was a wonderful experience, and I only wish I had birthed Mario and Sam at home as well. It was a decision that I kept mostly to myself, not wanting anyone's opinion or negative reactions to influence me in any way. I read many books, spent hours upon hours researching home births and midwifery on the Internet, spoke with other moms who had home births, and knew this was the right choice for me. It's not for everyone, but I am thankful that, as women, we have a choice. My midwives provided me with exceptional complete prenatal care and assisted Sofia's birth in such a gentle way. I can't say enough about how wonderful they were and how special the home birth was for me and for the whole family really. If you are considering a home birth and would like to talk to me about my personal experience, I would be more than happy to. Just send me an email.

Well, I'll sign off for now. My little one is squeaking and cooing, wanting to be fed. I typed this whole post with one hand, as she was in my other arm sleeping. So please forgive any typos!

Introducing Sofia

 
There's someone I'd like you to meet. She's awfully cute, I must say. Sofia Angelina was born at home on May 20, 2010. She weighs 9 lb., 2 oz. and is 19.5" long. As you can see, she has lots of hair and the chubbiest little cheeks in town. We are all in love with her......haven't stopped kissing and holding her since she was born! She and I are both doing fine, spending our days being lazy and cozy and very, very happy while my mom cooks and does 200 loads of laundry a day {I forgot how much laundry comes with a baby!} George beams everytime he looks at her. Mario wants to hold her all day long. Sam is not so sure.... but he's warming up to the idea of a baby in the house.

I'll be back soon with more pictures of our latest treasure....

Love this Grin, Love this Boy

 
I know I'm a little biased, but I think he's pretty cute, especially with the missing tooth. Makes me want to go and get his portrait taken, so I'll always have this moment frozen in time. He's such a love bug, always wanting me to snuggle with him and never turning down a hug. I know when he's a teenager and has all of his teeth {I hope!}, he will have more important things to do with his friends. I don't want to think about that yet though.

This is actually his 3rd lost tooth, and I have to share with you the Tooth Fairy conversation that we had. I was very excited to make him a  little tooth pillow and do the whole Tooth Fairy thing.....

Me: Honey, now you know there is a Tooth Fairy, right?

Him: Who's that?

Me: Well, when you lose a tooth, you put it under your pillow when you go to bed, and she will come while you're asleep, take your tooth and leave you some coins.

Him: {staring off in deep thought about this new knowledge.} Mama, I think I have enough coins in my piggy bank. I'm not selling my tooth to the Tooth Fairy. I want to keep it.

I laughed and laughed at this. I guess I had never thought about it that way. You leave the T.F. your tooth, and she leaves you some money. It's a sales transaction. And he would rather keep his precious tooth that he wiggled back and forth for days and pulled out himself. I still laugh at this. Obvioulsy, I was much more excited about the Tooth Fairy than he was!

So, he's got a small round tin with 3 teeth in it now. Carries it around like a prize, keeping it high on a shelf away from his little brother.

I wish he would stay 5 forever.

Flowers & Fluff....and I need to focus

 
As I was carrying this vase of Lily of the Valley up to our bedroom to set on my nightstand, I got side-tracked, made a pitstop at the Nursery-in-Progress and set the vase down on the dresser for a minute. I thought it made a pretty composition so I snapped some pictures.

 
The nursery is very much not finished at this point, but I am making a little progress. I'll share a few pictures soon. Right now it's a disaster area with piles of fluff and dresses and fabric everywhere.

 
You can barely walk through the room....but, hey, it looks pretty. And I have SO enjoyed decorating this tiny space for this tiny girl, yet to be born. {2 more weeks!}

 
This is a bracelet I made last year. I hooked it onto the lace around the vase for an easy little embellishment.

 
Can you tell my mind is all over the place? I start one thing, forget all about it and move on to something else entirely. Is that what they call Pregnancy Brain? Ah, well, as long as it all gets done eventually I suppose. Eventually being the key word.....

Focus, Andrea, focus.