Our week in photos

On Wednesday's mommy-and-Landry day we treated Uncle Bradley
 to fancy hot dogs and chili mac  at a new place in town 

Another swing session at our neighborhood park.  This is her favorite activity!

A friend asked Landry to model a new baby line launching in town.  

The string bean got to keep this cute dress after her sweet little session 

We visited Peaches (she's due in three weeks!) at her new home.  It's gorgeous!

Made a Moroccan feast for the boys on Oscar night in my new tangine

Photo shoots and play dates

Playing around with the peanut at home

Valentine's Day with my sweetie

Swinging with Henry

Loving on her V-Day bear from Mimi and Papa

Not loving her bows so much these days...

Baby Henry!

Mesmerized by the Perot Museum

Family play date at the Perot

This past week was a total blast with the bambino.

On Thursday, DallasChild took over our house for a photo shoot.  A while back the magazine asked to do a story on our nest and take a photo of me and the little birdie.  I was hesitant to agree (I'm by no means finished with our interiors) but I thought it would be a fun memory for Landry to look back on as well as be a big bonus for the flea (they agreed to run the story in the April issue to be timely with my April 13th market).

Valentine's Day evening Michael and I took advantage of the "manny" (Michael's new nickname for Bradley) and went out to dinner for a little date.  It was a lovely evening and a full circle moment as we realized the last time we had been to the restaurant was two days prior to delivering Landry.  What a difference a year makes!

This weekend was jam packed with activities and fun.  Friday night we had a little neighborhood crawl with a couple and their 20 month old daughter Eloise.  I was introduced to this darling couple several months ago by a friend.  They live one street behind us so we finally got a date on paper for the husbands to meet.  We started at their place for drinks and apps and then scooted down the alley to have dinner and dessert at our casa.

We had a ball ending the evening about five hours after putting back our first glass of bubbly at their place.  The girls bonded big time; at one point we had an impromptu dance party at our house to their daughter's favorite Flo Rida song!  Landry giggled like crazy.

Towards the end of the evening (luckily Eloise has rock star hours like Landry) we put the girls in our big bed in front of a movie.  When I went to check on them at one point Eloise had Landry's binkie in her mouth and Landry somehow had one of E's shoes and sippy cup!  They are clearly fast friends and will have a ball tearing it up at Bradfield Elementary one day...

Saturday I took Landry to the park and ran in to our friends Nic and Miles and their little guy Henry.  The kiddos had a blast swinging side by side.  Ironically that night, Nic and Miles came over for dinner along with two other couples.

With the house sparkly clean and full of fresh flowers from the photo shoot, I had organized a dinner party.  We hired a sitter to hang with Landry upstairs since Michael and I would have our hands full hosting.  Our friends Natalie and Camden shared the sitter and brought their three month old son over.  Landry loved having a play date -- so much so that we found her upright in her crib watching over the little guy in his car seat on the floor in her room when the party was over at 11:30 p.m.!

Yesterday we met Kyle and Lindsey and their gang for brunch and then hit the new Perot Museum of Nature & Science.  We put our new membership to use and loved it.  Landry slept the first 30 minutes or so but woke up just in time to enjoy the dinosaur and wild animal portion.  She was wide eyed as Michael carried her around the huge stuffed animals.

This morning I addressed all of her birthday invites.  I can't believe she will be one in a few weeks.  My mom is flying out for the party.  We can't wait to see her!

 

Hello, 11 months!

Standing like a big girl with Cristina

Crawled out of her lamb chair (while strapped in!) for daddy's iPhone

Showing off her muscles

Thanks for the cute headband, Mama!

Stretching those stems on a walk around the neighborhood

Swinging with Leila

Leila's first swing session.  She's hooked!

Landry can't get enough of the swing

Having fun with Bradley after dinner

First high chair experience.
Luckily it went much smoother than expected!

Brunch play date with Audrey and Millie!

Hanging poolside with mommy for lunch

Exploring nature in the backyard on Sunday

Punky Brewster has nothing on the peanut

Neiman Marcus takes over the cabana for a product shot

Punky waiting for Uncle Jon to snuggle post shoot

Thanks for the flowers, Jon!

It's hard to believe Landry will be 11 months tomorrow!

This week has been another big one in the changes department.  Last night, she graduated to her big girl room upstairs.

For the past 11 months she has been in a crib in our bedroom.  Her room is on the second floor and at the complete opposite end of the house as our master.  Clearly, we are lazy.  We also grew to really love her so close to us at night.  And, while she's been teething, we weren't completely confident she'd make it through the night without one of us having to schlep upstairs in our skivvies and soothe her.

But, last night we finally took the plunge and she survived (us, too).  Not only that, she thrived.  Instead of her normal 7 a.m. or so wake up call, she slept in until 8:15 a.m.  So, another big girl item to add to the growing list these days...

She's really starting to lock her legs straight and stand with assistance.  She's also a total chatter box (last week at Sonny Bryan's for lunch she held a conversation with an 18 month old boy for a good five minutes going back and forth).  Now that we're in the big girl car seat we are using a high chair at restaurants.  Her first try was a total success other than the fact she thinks it's funny to drop her pacifier on the floor.

On the friend front, Wednesday was a mommy and me day so we invited Ari and Leila over to lounge poolside and enjoy our crazy spring/summer weather.  We took the girls to the park down the street and put them back to back in the bucket swing.  They loved it!

Friday she woke up with a slight fever so we laid low at home most of the day.  Michael snagged killer seats to the Stars/Ducks game but I opted to stay home with Landry since she was under the weather and the boys made it a guy's night.

Saturday I had an all-day client install and Michael was left to babysit.  He did great (not one call from him all day!).  Since Landry was feeling better we hired a sitter to enjoy a date night afterwards.  We hit our favorite Mexican restaurant and caught up over Mexican martinis.  We had another Troy Aikman sighting (with the Cowboys head coach, no less) while there.  I felt so bad Bradley wasn't with us!  He is itching to see his childhood sports crush and Michael and I have had two run-ins in two months!

Sunday we had brunch at our friend Joslyn's house.  Her two girls -- they're six and nine -- treated Landry like a little doll.  They played with her, read stories to her, even fed her a bottle.  At one point they even strolled her into the dining room in a mini grocery cart.  It was so cute to watch them all together!  Landry was pooped when we got home (maybe that's part of the reason she slept so well last night).

Afterwards Jon popped by to visit with his new beau.  We all caught up in the cabana over a little champagne.  It was the perfect afternoon!  Jon also scouted the house for a few photo ops for a Neiman Marcus shoot he held at our house today.  I came home this afternoon to see him and his crew taking over the cabana to shoot a group of glass vases for the May catalog.  They turned a little alcove of the outdoor space into a chic vignette full of crystal, peonies, and some hints of my Moroccan decor.  Best of all I got to keep all of the flowers from the shoot!

I also came home today to Punky Brewster.  Cristina was with Landry all day and got very creative in the wardrobe department.  She dressed her in a long sleeve tee, vest, tights, skirt, leggings, socks, and boots.  Yes, everything was pink (I'm assuming that was her style meter), but nothing matched.  It was a sight to see!

Tonight I ordered Landry's first birthday invites.  I hemmed and hawed over how to celebrate -- a big bash, a major theme, family vacay -- and decided to keep it simple with a small gathering at the house.  Were only going to invite dear friends and family and make it about what matters, Landry.  Of course there will be a cake (I'm sure some balloons, too) but we're keeping it really low key and sweet.

For her birthday, I bought her a membership to the new Perot Museum of Nature and Science. They have really fun exhibits and activities (even for little ones her age) and I thought we could get a lot of mileage out of it over the next year.  Paula and I also signed the kiddos up for a spring camp there once a week where they do little art projects alongside us.  We're putting our membership to use for the first time this weekend with Kyle and Lindsey and their gang.  Should be lots of fun!

Picture this

Style According to… Brittany

PARK CITIES  

Well hello sunshine! It’s been weeks, but the sun finally came out for our photo shoot with Brittany Cobb.

We’ve photographed Brittany once before in our studio for D Moms. She’s incredibly cool, eclectic, and, in this sometimes superficial fashion world, a bona fide breathe of fresh air. She’s the genius behind The Dallas Flea and this California native is really shaking things up in Big D. We just love her!

The perfect denim ⋆ J Brand

Color I’m loyal to ⋆ Green, army and emerald especially

Guilty pleasure ⋆ Vintage Chanel, Moroccan rugs, lemondrop martinis

New mommy splurge ⋆ Nespresso Pixie and Chanel Biarritz tote I use as a diaper bag

Loving right now ⋆ Black leather shorts circa 1980 that I scored for $10 at the Paris flea

Unexpected joy ⋆ I knew I would love motherhood, but there are so many joyous little things nobody can prepare you for: my daughter’s laugh, weekend snuggles in bed, preferring to stay home on a Saturday night

Favorite grape ⋆ I don’t discriminate, although I’m more of a Tito’s girl
Best vintage ⋆ Rapid City, Jarma, Alex & Afton Vintedge, Dolly Pythons there are too many sources for me to count! Half of my wardrobe is vintage. If I’m in Austin, I can’t leave without combing Feathers.
 I love… ⋆ Iced lattes, vintage cowboy boots, Southern California (my hometown), white hydrangea, Capri Blue’s Volcano candle

Fashion staples ⋆ High-waisted jeans, roomy blouses, hats, Cartier Tank watch, black leather jacket, fur vets, vintage cowboy boots

Fashionable quote to live by ⋆ Fashions fade, style is eternal — YSL
My look in a word ⋆ Bohemian

So, a couple weeks ago my friends Scot and Kristi asked me to pose for their website StyleSheet.  They are this incredibly cool married couple that take some of the best pictures in town.

We connected several months ago because our daughters are just a few weeks apart.  We both live in the Park Cities and our girls will eventually go to school together.

I'm not a big fan of photo shoots but couldn't resist this one.  Not only did they want to tout the flea, but they told me I could wear anything my heart desires, bring the baby, and we'd make a fun afternoon of it by the little lake between our homes.

I have to say, we had a ball.  Kristi and I chatted about drool to future ballet classes with the girls while she shot away in the sunshine.    

They asked me a few questions about my style and I answered as quickly and honestly as I could.  (Disclaimer: I totally forgot to add The Bachelor and Balboa bars to my guilty pleasure list).

The piece turned out really cute.  I love being a mom but refuse to dress like one (at least at 30 years old).  Hopefully Landry will appreciate that one day!

Bye, bye baby stage

Rocking her new PJ's.  No more footies at this size :(

Last week Landry transformed from baby to little girl.

It started with our Babies 'R Us raid.  We needed to get her a new car seat because her string bean legs were completely dangling over the edge (sometimes she'd even push against the seat while in the car and try to rock back). So, we bid adieu to her baby car seat for the big boy that fits up to a six year old or something.

Then, we decided to hit the clothing department for some new jammies because her 12 month styles were getting a little snug.  The only option was 18 month old jammies, so we snagged a few thinking she'd have to work her way into them in the next few months but at least her legs could stretch straight. Oh, no.  They fit her just right.  Eighteen month old jammies are this ten month old's size.  Geez!

Then, there's school (or mommy's day out as it's known for the 18-24 month old set).  A few weeks ago Paula told me that we really needed to start thinking about school programs for the fall because several had started the enrollment process.  Thank goodness I have Paula because I have no clue about these things.  I think a program a couple days a week will be good for Landry so she gets to socialize with other kids and get out of the house.

We divided the research (there are several dozen options in a ten mile radius alone!).  She found one school and was really excited about it until learning tuition was a minimum of $13,000 a year per child (remember she has twins).

So, I started surfing the Internet stat figuring there had to be other options.  I found this cute day school in the Park Cities that sounded nice.  It has art class for the kids and provides snacks.  And, it goes from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (however many days a week you choose to send your child) so you can get a full day's work in instead of several other programs that only go from nine to noon or so.  Just as important, the tuition is a fraction of the cost of most schools and there are only up to ten kids per "class."

So Thursday Paula and I visited the school to check things out.  First positive sign: I saw my dear friend's two-year old daughter playing politely in one of the rooms.  (I called her immediately after and got glowing reviews).  We liked the owner and loved the 18-month old teacher.  The facility was clean and cute and had a pretty swanky outdoor play area.  We lingered for nearly an hour and even sat in on the class our kiddos would be in in the fall.  We were both so excited to think how far our babies will come in the next six months (walking, saying words, coordinating letters and objects, giving hugs).

We walked away feeling really good about the option and swore to do more research before deciding.  However, this weekend Michael and I had dinner with Paula and her husband and I told her I think I'm done looking and going with the school.  She said she thought it through and decided the same.  We both realized we really liked the option, got great feedback from friends, and don't want to get more confused.  So, I signed Landry up today and the three amigos will be in the same class starting in September.  We're thrilled!

But to my point, this has been a huge week!  New car seat, check.  New school, check.  And then...

Landry got her first tooth!  Saturday I was sitting in the back seat of the car with her while Michael and my brother were up front.  She was nibbling on my finger until she bit down hard and it hurt like heck.  I opened her little mouth and sure enough, there was a tiny little white spot on her bottom gum.  Her bottom, middle, right tooth broke surface and is on it's way in.

There were no signs!  Yes, she's been very drooly but she's been that way since 12 weeks.  She didn't cry, didn't wake up in the middle of the night, nada.  We are so lucky because I've heard this time can be very tough.  Hopefully when the others arrive it will go just as smoothly.

In addition to all of these major changes in our sweet girl, she's learned to maneuver out of the Bumbo, flip a book page while I read to her, and say mama.  Her hair is really starting to grow and flip at the ends (she even has little blond curls that wrap around her ears when it gets a little messy).  She's getting really squirmy (trying to change her diaper is now a major workout) and can get on all fours but doesn't crawl.  She is still a giggle machine and eating more and more big girl foods.  Avocados are her absolute favorite.  She ate a whole one yesterday while we prepared appetizers for the Super Bowl.

She's covered as many achievements and milestones in one week as she did in ten months!