Costume Round-Up for Your Little Princess

This year will be Hallen's first Halloween. We don't do many decorations, because it's not really our thing. However, I do LOVE to see little people coming to my door dressed in something that their imagination created. It makes my heart happy! So, I'm just guessing that everyone else's heart also does the happy dance when miniature heroes and princesses ring your doorbell and ask for candy (in the trick-or-treat fashion, of course).

I've been looking at so many things that she could be for Halloween. I want it to be something creative, because I know one day that she'll get to choose, and I probably won't like it as much as something I would choose. But for now, her fashion choice is my fashion choice (she told me she likes my style, so no worries)! While she's young and has no opinion on what to wear, I don't have to dress her in the most popular princess costume or the latest and greatest cartoon character. I can dress her in an adorable, one of a kind (maybe matching her father and I) costume. In the midst of looking for creative ideas, all I know is that I want her (I need her) to wear a big tutu as part of her outfit! And the bigger the better. I am originally from the south, so I need the dramatic effect. She'll only be able to get away wearing a gigantic tutu for so long!

If this is your first Halloween with your scrumptious little peanut, I know you want all the adoring looks for her! So, all of you moms out there who are wondering what to dress your cute mini me in that is creative and adds a little drama (good drama), here are my top picks.

Black Cat

A black kitten is always a great classic, but a tutu on your little kitty is such a sweet new take!

Giraffe

 Little ones around one year old love animals and learning new animal noises, so why not dress them as their favorite animal...and add a tutu! I can imagine that Hallen would love dressing as a giant Sophie or a cute puppy!

A superhero

It's so adorable seeing mini Spiderman and mini Batman arriving at my door with their padded costumes making these teeny little boys look like they had a couple protein shakes before they came. What would be cuter than a tutu-wearing accomplice?  It'd be a sight for sore eyes! Pick whatever superhero you loved as a child...and add a tutu!

Candy corn

Candy corn should be the national symbol for Halloween, in my humble opinion. That's the first thing that always pops into my mind! It's everywhere. If it's one of your Halloween addictions, this is definitely the costume for your little princess. It'll be the sweetest thing your neighbors will see all night (no pun intended)!

Cabbage Patch Doll hair from Yumbaby

You're right...there isn't a tutu on either of these sweet dolls pictured above, but what a great costume! A Cabbage Patch Doll is brilliant when you have a little girl. You don't have to spend too much money to make them look like too different since your princess already comes with her own soft cheeks and big eyes! 

Unicorn (Romper from Belle Threads)

And last but not least, a unicorn. Such a magical little costume. Imagination is key here. Some bright colors, some tulle, and something reminiscent of a horn on her head.

Four Months Young & Loving Life

Just finished up with our four month shots, and Hallen was a trooper. She's still sleeping them off three hours later. I think I'll just let her sleep as long as possible, because our two month shots were no walk in the park. And yes, I said "our." I never truly knew the meaning of "it hurts me more than you," until those two month shots.  She cried, I cried. She screamed, I held my scream in so I wouldn't frighten her. She needed to be cuddled all day long, so that's what we did. I'm hoping this time around she won't hurt quite so much. {ie: I hope she's not in so much pain, so I don't bawl all day long.} I've got the Tylenol ready for her, though...and the vino for moi!

 


I feel like these four months have flown by! Every day there is something new I watch her do, and we celebrate it all. There are definitely more good days than bad (I actually think her two month shots were the only bad day we've had), but I know those tough days are going to come. Having your heart outside of your body is some emotionally tough stuff, though! Just imagining heart break she'll go through one day or perhaps a broken arm just makes me want to take the blow for her to keep her in an innocent bubble. In my logical mind I know she needs to endure these tough things, though, so she can have her own faith and her own story. She needs to understand what true compassion is, what true love and hurt is, and most importantly what it mean to have a relationship with our Father. This is truly intimidating as a parent! One day, I need to sit down and just write thank you cards to all the moms and grandmothers and fathers and grandfathers who have raised children. Love has never been more apparent (hmm...parent is even in the word apparent...interesting).

I'm now 11.5 lbs and 23.5 inches long! A tiny and happy little peanut!

Hallen has truly always been a pretty chill baby. Since she came out of the womb she's wanted to sleep and stare at someone more than anything else. She's content. She's a lover of the present moment (something I'm learning from her how to do myself). Since about eight weeks she was sleeping through the night, and now at four months she sleeps 12-13 hours at night. The worst thing this beautiful babe does is drool buckets...and I mean buckets! I've joked about strapping one to her chin so we don't have to use ugly bibs or change her outfit when her whole shirt looks like she fell in the tub! We have created a little jingle using her name and whenever we sing it her eyes light up. She knows it's playtime or lovey time.

Hallen Amélie. Hallen Amélie. Hallen Amélie is a  {insert word}  baby! 

I know it'll only last so long, but it really is an amazing feeling to be the coolest person in her life right now. I mean...I figure this is the top of the "cool chain" for me, right? I was never cool in middle school or high school. But now that I have a baby, everything I do, makes her laugh and wiggle with glee! Pretty soon it'll be embarrassing and I'll be back at the bottom of the "cool chain", but seeing her tiny body squirm in excitement to see me or hear my voice brings tears of joy to my eyes (and I secretly give myself a high five for being the cool mom).

At four months, she also loves to interact with other people. She's never had a problem with anyone in the past, but now she can "chit chat" with them and giggle at them. She takes in all the different features of everyone who holds her. She especially loves watching your eyes and lips. As a mom, I adore watching her watch you. So, if you're holding her and see me staring at you, I'm not being creepy. I promise! I hope she stays open to being held and loved on by others.

 

Happy four months to this little peanut of a miracle. I guess you could even say that she's our
"mustard seed of faith" the Lord gave us to not give up hope; to keep the faith. She's a constant reminder of His everlasting, never failing, forever merciful, perfect love. My prayer is that this little girl has that type of faith one day.

“You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” Matthew 17:20

The Big Gender Reveal

Since we found out that we were pregnant, we knew I knew that I wanted to get to know who ever was growing inside of me before he or she was born. Kevin on the other hand wanted it to be a surprise at first. I finally got him to come around (hey, this little one is growing inside of me, right) and join the good side.

After many people praying for us for over a year to be able to have children, we wanted the village who would raise this peanut to find out who they'd be raising at the same time as us! We had a gender reveal party.

The theme was bow or beau. My sister-in-law helped out tremendously. She made all the food for the girl's side of the table and I made everything for a little boy (since I thought that's what we were going to have for weeks and weeks). I also made little clips for everyone to wear on their clothes.
 I started out with stickers, since I couldn't find anything pre-made that I liked or cost effective for a budget! I found these at Target and knew I could do something with them.

Bow and "Beau" stickers

Next, I cut all those little funny squiggles out and hot glued them on to tiny little clothespins from the baby shower aisle at Party City. Pretty simple. The husband even helped me cut out a few of those hard to cut mustachios.

There's a bit of white on some of them, but I was pretty satisfied.

Modeling how to wear these clips!

So, all the guests that came picked up their little clothespin and then added a name to our baby name board...just incase we needed help from those clowns...

Not everyone added an idea, but we got some input

Unfortunately, I was too engrossed in the party to actually take pictures of the food. My sister-in-law took some, though. The spread was gorgeous. For the boy's side I made items that went along with the theme "slugs, snails, and puppy dog tails." There was dirt pudding, pigs in a blanket disguised as slugs with little antennas made of pretzels, veggie dip dyed blue, meatballs, a blue punch with frozen yogurt in it, and other miscellaneous things. The girl's side was themed "sugar, spice, and everything nice." Kelly did such a great job dipping pretzels, marshmallows and strawberries in white chocolate and then in pink sprinkles. There was also a pink punch, cookies, fruit, donuts, and milk in old fashioned milk bottles. Coordinating balloons on either side of the food were placed at the table as well. We also used leftover stickers for our Natty Boh (still in the bow/beau them...and hey, we live in Baltimore) beer.

One of my favorite decorations! Simple, but super cute

After mingling for a while, it was time to bite those tempting cupcakes sitting on their own table away from everything else. They were the "sacred food" that no one could touch until we said so! Felt a bit empowered by that idea....Actually, they were on a different table so no child would accidentally pick up a delicious looking cupcake and eat it :) 

Our cupcakes from Harris Teeter

We had no idea what we were having, remember. We dropped an envelope off at Harris Teeter entrusting them with this!

We all bit into them at the same time. 3-2-1...

It's a girl!!!!!!

Both Kevin and I were in complete shock! We both cried tears of joy. Tears of a new adventure. Tears of God's grace. Tears of a new story beginning. And again, my mom screamed (just like when she found out we were pregnant). It was such an amazing moment to have our support system around us while we were doing this. Not that it mattered if it were a bow or a beau, but really to tell everyone how much we love and thank them for their fervent prayers. To show them that God answered their prayers and ours. We have such a faithful community and a faithful God. Having children seems like such a given in this world, but it's not! And it should be celebrated, whether you struggled to conceive like us or had no problem at all. I'm still in awe of what God has given us. It's brought so much joy.