{Hannah Lou: 3 months old}

 My little Hannah Louise has hit some milestones this month! 

This little girl is not a fan of the tummy time, but she can hold her toys, suck her thumb, and even sit up in her Bumbo seat! Oh dear, my little girl is growing up so fast!

+goals+

{source}

I know posts have been scarce around these parts, but when you have an adorable 3 month old daughter, and you ask yourself, "daughter or blog?", daughter always wins! I'm back now and ready to take on the new year! 

1. Learn more about blog design and html.

2. Do my morning "booty call" daily. If you don't know what that is, check out Tone it up!

3. Finish my super secret, super awesome, super cute surprise, that I can't tell you about yet!

4. Train for a run a half marathon! Ah! I might regret writing this one down!

5. Get to my goal weight and then get preggers alllll over again...oh boy

{our birth story, part 2}

So, this is the easy part. Now we get to relax and enjoy our baby girl!

On our way to postpartum we ran into a group of excited crazy people! Ok, it was our parents, brother and best friends. :) Gathered in the hall, we had Hannah's first introduction to her family and friends :) When people love you so much they just can't wait to meet you, Hannah Lou!

On our first night in the hospital we had a bit of a scare when Hannah spit up amniotic fluid. She started choking, so the nurse flipped her over and started swatting her on the back HARD! Poor little baby threw up all over the floor, then turned blue and was rushed over to the nursery to have her tummy pumped. I was, needless to say..freaked out, but Nicolai went with her and all was well after that. Obviously, it was impossible for us to sleep after that, so the nurse took her back to the nursery for a few hours so we could rest and know someone was watching her.

Upon arriving home we were greeted by signs, streamers, balloons, flowers, food and gifts! It was a pretty great way to come back to the "real world"

{We are pretty much the happiest parents you could imagine!}

{Happy New Year from the Pedersens!}

{I never got around to sending Christmas cards so here is our New Years card!}

Happy New Years!

Love, The Pedersens

{a peek into Christmas 2011}

 {Pedersen Family Christmas 2011}

 {printable paper bows!}

 {baby lou in her new Christmas bow!}

{me and my girl}

{sweet treats}

 {treats for the neighbors}

 {Hannah with her first Christmas present! A hooded owl blanket!}

 {Christmas breakfast..donut muffins}

{and a little Christmas nap!}

<3

{just us three}

{our adorable Christmas gift from Savannah of Savannah Smiles! Thanks my friend!}

{holiday spiced vanilla chai mix+diy gifts}

Homemade Vanilla Chai mix

mix together:

1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
1 cup powdered non-dairy creamer
1 cup powdered vanilla creamer
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened instant tea (like Nestea)
2 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp allspice

From here its pretty simple :) Mix together in a big bowl and blend it up! If you blend it, it is a much finer powder and mixes much easier. Plus it looks prettier! Otherwise the dry milk is in big funky chunks. Then pour into cute jars and decorate with your up cycled gift tags or other creative wrapping! If you aren't into chai try out, my good ol stand by, spiced orange tea!

I'm sure I'm not the only one on a tight budget this Christmas, so here are some other great inexpensive gift ideas!

diy infused sugars

homemade vanilla extract

pressed botanical prints

homemade bookplates

diy heating pad

homemade hot chocolate and marshmellows

chocolate dipped espresso shortbread

Happy gifting!

{make do: diy infant bow headbands}

The other day I was goofing around with felt and made a bow for my holiday wreath and thought, "Hmm this would make a super cute baby headband for Hannah Lou!"

All you need is a pair of old nylons, felt, fabric scissors, and hot glue. 

First cut out 3 pieces of felt. Just estimate the size based on how large you want your bow. Just make sure the two longest pieces are the same width. then cut on little piece to wrap around the middle of your bow.

Take you longest piece and cut V shaped notches out of each end.

Take your middle piece and hot glue each end to the middle of the strip making a figure eight shape.

Then cut notches out of each side of your two longest pieces. Try to make your cuts even on each side. I pretty much eye balled this whole thing, so really just do your best.

Glue your middle piece onto your long piece. Try to line up your notches.

Then take your nylons and cut a wide piece to use as your headband. Stretch the loop out before you glue it to your bow.

Lastly, hot glue your small piece of felt around the bow with the headband tucked neatly inside!

Make sure to pinch the bow tight. Its easiest if you glue one end and then pull it tightly around and trim the felt to the right length and glue. And your done!

upcycled gift tags! thanks Anthro!

Anthro catalog+craft paper+scissors+glue+hole punch=the funkiest gift tags!

{life savers!...no, not the candy}

Now that I am officially a new mom I feel like I have a good understanding of what a nursing mom wants and needs in those first few weeks. Between my friends, family and husband, I have been SPOILED! Here are the some things I have found most helpful and necessary these last few months! Keep these in mind when you have a friend with a new baby! :)

cute diaper bag- Timi and Leslie "Dawn" and "Charlie" are my favorites. I know I already shared these but I am soo in love with them!

Glamourmom nursing tank with compression band. The compression makes you feel more put together!  You have quite the jiggle belly for awhile. Plus it is a nursing tank!

the moby wrap- I can just throw this thing on and walk down stairs for a coffee. We live right on a "main street" of sorts and have a Peets and Starbucks right downstairs!

fresh flowers- these particular ones are from Caroline :) They had the cutest yarn poms in the bouquet!

Spiru-tein protein powder for a quick breakfast. Yum! I'm sharing some of my recipes soon!

<3