when i had my first baby, i was fortunate enough that she took to breastfeeding right away, very easily, and continued until about 2 weeks before her first birthday when she self-weaned. after worrying that breastfeeding wouldn’t work for me and hearing all the struggles of other mamas, i was so relieved when my daughter literally taught herself to breastfeed within an hour of being delivered by c-section. in the months ahead, the actual act of breastfeeding was easy for us. what wasn’t easy was clogged milk ducts, threatened mastitis, and being limited to certain wardrobe pieces because most clothes aren’t very nursing friendly. with our second baby on the way, i am prepping my body and my closet for breastfeeding again and was happy to find a really beautiful shop of nursing friendly clothes for the modern mom.
i collaborated with milk made market and they sent me their beth dress, a nursing friendly dress that easily pulls down because of the stretchy fabric. it’s so nice to find a dress that i don’t have to completely take off to nurse in! what’s even better, this dress looks really cute with a bump! i originally wanted this dress for nursing, but loved that i could also rock it with a bump beforehand. because don’t we all love to get the most out of our clothes!?
if you look at the items in milk made market’s shop, you will be relieved to see that they create so many fashionable items that are also easy to nurse in. we can say goodbye to wearing tank tops only, or loose fitting tops and hello to really cute outfits that allow us to nurse easily instead of struggling in and out of! definitely go check out their shop, their beautiful products are so refreshing and encouraging to breastfeeding mamas!
Nursing Friendly Clothes For The Modern Mom
.jpg "Nursing Friendly Clothes For The Modern Mom | Bethadilly Photography")
shortly after finding out we were expecting, i began to think of ways to make this time special for my daughter. she is going to become a big sister! and with that, comes a lot of excitement and a bit of change. my husband and i knew from day one that we wanted to have our children close together. all this to say, our children are going to be very close in age and, with that, they will never know life without the other one. something we really wanted. even though our daughter will be really young when the baby arrives, it is important to realize that change is change, no matter the age. and amongst all the change, i want her to feel special and so loved. in an effort to do that, one thing we will be doing is having a big sister basket just for her that the baby is going to bring her when we come home from the hospital.
i teamed up with a variety of amazing shops that sell a variety of children items to put together a big sister basket that my daughter will absolutely adore. i made sure to not only fill it with some of her favorite things, but to also fill it with some new toys (ahem, distractions) that will keep her busy while mama is breastfeeding around the clock. i just love the idea that she has a little basket of things that are new and special for her and only her. she got a quick peek at the basket today, as i was photographing it. but being that she is 17 months, she is like a little goldfish and will quickly forget about it and be surprised once again once the baby brings it to her in a few short months. for now, it is tucked away awaiting labor day!
below you will find a sneak peek at her big sister basket, filled with all of our favorite things sent to us by some of our favorite shops that i collaborated with! at the very bottom of this post, you will find a source list of every shop that contributed to make this basket possible. be sure to go check out their beautiful shops!
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A Big Sister Basket : Gift Ideas for Older Siblings Once Baby Arrives
Big Sister Basket Source List
knee high socks + hair bows courtesy of CammiandCo
leather mary janes in cashew courtesy of Mon Petit Shoes
ABC & number flashcard set courtesy of Blossom and Pear
Belle the dog knit doll courtesy of Bla Bla Kids
white xylophone courtesy of Little Cottonwood
wool necklace courtesy of The Whimsical Woolies
flutter bloomers courtesy of The Little Spoons
mini ring sling courtesy of Hope Carried
board book from Amazon
basket from Amazon
we have a little love for plain cheerios at our house. they really are the perfect, no mess snack and you can really eat them anywhere. and sometimes, when the light is right and we have a new bonnet, that means have a little cheerio photoshoot in the afternoon. june isle clothier sent us this adorable juniper bonnet for baby no. 2, but i just had to try it on my first because she loves wearing little bonnets. and ohmygosh, she looked so darn sweet in it. i swear, everything about these photos give me all the feels. from the dimpled hands, to those little lips, to that bonnet and the little curls that peek out from underneath it. gah! this might be one of my favorite photo series of her. and now, this little bonnet is tucked away for our little winter baby to be.
at 16 months, she loves to put things in jar…especially food. i put her cheerios in a little mason jar and she loves eating a couple and then plopping them in the jar. and when she isn’t munching on her cheerios or plopping them in the jar, she is sharing some with mama. she loves, loves, loves to share her snack with others. unless it is blueberries, of course. those are too good to share and i can’t blame her. this age is proving to be my favorite, as she follows simple directions so easily and loves sitting like a big girl at her little table.
Cheerios, Cheerios, Cheerios
.jpg "Cheerios, Cheerios, Cheerios | Bethadilly Photography")
this weekend marked the beginning of september, which meant two things: autumn decor was put up (unapologetically) around the house and the husband and i ordered warm pumpkin spice lattes two days in a row! it also meant autumn apple picking with some of our new great friends and all our sweet kiddos. but did i mention pumpkin spice lattes? i think i even purchased a fall scarf over the weekend too.
now that our little one is 16.5 months, she has officially decided to go from two naps a day, to one. which is actually really lovely because we can venture further away from home on the weekends without hurrying home for a nap. this weekend we traveled great country farms to enjoy all things apple picking, wagon rides, a picnic lunch, fun with friends, and apple cider donuts.
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with the goal to make an apple pie with our apples, we set off to find the perfect batch of apples. (and mama wanted the most photographable ones, because…photos). the night before, we read amelia bedelia’s first apple pie (which is darling!) to prepare for apple day and to also refer to the apple pie recipe in the back of the book! we have an almost walker on our hands who loves to be on her feet, but tightly holding a hand (per her request). while the apples were too high for her to pick, mama picked a bunch and she loved picking them up out of the box and plopping them back in. she was almost a little apple inspector…carefully looking at each one and determining if mama did a good enough job for the pie.
Autumn Apple Picking : Our First Fall Weekend
needless to say, our day of autumn apple picking was very memorable. my husband and i are passionate about creating experiences for our family, instead of focusing on things so this was a perfect first annual autumn apple picking adventure. we definitely want to make a tradition out of it and cannot wait until pumpkin season starts so we take her to search for the perfect pumpkin…with pumpkin spice lattes. this was truly the perfect kickoff to fall.
Shop Baby’s Outfit
mary janes : mon petit shoes
jeans : burt’s bees baby
bow : harper kate & co.
top : target
well the original plan was to surprise our little girl with this rifle paper co. inspired play kitchen for christmas but, she accidentally saw it and became obsessed with it. and it was just so cute to see her play with it that my husband smiled and said, “random christmas wednesday!” and we all cheered hooray! so needless to say, we have to start from the beginning for a new christmas idea this year. but don’t you worry, i have plenty more ideas.
if you know me, you know that i am utterly obsessed with every product rifle paper co. makes and i am all about classic wooden toys for our kids because…well first, they are pretty and second, they are timeless. also, they are super durable…so i guess that it three reasons. luckily, my husband totally understands my want for simple classic toys for our kids and he totally supports me spending a little extra for quality and pretty toys since they will last forever and still look nice years from now. plus, i love the idea that my children can give their toys to their children and the toys will still be in style. because is wooden ever really going to go out of style? i, for one, would be surprised.
but back to the kitchen, i can’t take all the credit. i was totally inspired by christine of ‘this haus of ours’ and followed her directions for creating this dream kitchen for our little girl. i initially wasn’t a huge fan of having toys in our common areas of our home because i didn’t want “the mess,” but because this kitchen looks so classic and perfect, it fits in flawlessly with our home decor and looks great in our dining room. because, let’s be real…kids want to play where their parents are so it was equally important to me to have toys available to our daughter in our common area but for our home to not look like a kid zone. you know what i mean? and to be honest, her kitchen is prettier than mine.
below you will find all of the resources i used to make this new play kitchen for our daughter, including where i bought the accessories and a special story about the tea towel that hangs on the kitchen. enjoy!
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Rifle Paper Co. Inspired Play Kitchen : A Classic Wooden Play Kitchen
so, the tea towels. i knew i wanted this kitchen to be very classic and soft. i looked forever for the perfect tea towels and couldn’t find anything that i loved. until…i called my mama. i knew she had so many beautiful tea towels that we used when i was growing up and i wanted to know if she still had them. she did! and when she heard that they were going to be used for her granddaughter’s kitchen, she was over the moon. how special is that!? even more special, these tea towels were made by my grandma (her mother-in-law) and given to her at her bridal shower. she made her a set of six, i believe. i really liked the two of the kittens, one sweeping and one with a ball of yarn.
the tea towels were originally HUGE! think, half the size of a bath towel, so with my mama’s encouragement, i cut them down, resewed them and then added a little pom pom trim to the bottom of each to give them an even more antique and girly feel. they were a labor of love, as i am not much of a sewer, but my husband said, even though i felt they were imperfectly sewed, that our daughter would love that her mama put so much love into them. plus, i love that she has a little heirloom piece in her place kitchen and that i can tell her the story behind them one day.
Rifle Paper Co. Inspired Play Kitchen
Wooden Play Kitchen : IKEA
(all parts washed with TSP first. sink spray painted white + fixtures spray painted gold)
Wallpaper Backsplash : Rifle Paper Co. Wrapping Paper
Pots + Pans + Wooden Utensils : Plan Toys on Amazon
Wooden Eggs : Amazon
Wooden Play Food : Land of Nod
Wooden Baguette : Etsy
Egg Carton : Target (similar one found here)
Vintage Tea Tin : Local Home Store (similar one found here)
Small Wooden Bowls : Local Home Store (similar set found here)
.jpg "Rifle Paper Co. Inspired Play Kitchen : A Classic Wooden Play Kitchen | Bethadilly Photography")