Everleigh Goes Western

Saturday we were bored, so we piled the girl into the car and went thrifting. We stumbled on a few neat thrift stores (and one really strange one), and of course by the time we located said thrift stores, Everleigh had fallen asleep in the car. So Scott and I took turns looking in the stores while the other sat outside with little Evie (trust me, this kid does MUCH better if you go ahead and let her sleep).

I found a few cool steals--a sweet yellow onesie for Ev, some neat vintage fabric for $2 (do hear a craft project calling?), and this adorable little boys western shirt. I just couldn't pass it up. When I washed it up and tried it on her, I was blown away by her cuteness ;) and also her resemblance to her dad when he was little. He said, "it's like looking at myself, but little and a girl"...well said, honey.

 My take was that she basically looked like a little art-school chic and really just needed some fashion glasses and a bike with a  basket to complete the look. Work it, girl. PS: she also discovered through Grandma that she LOVES suckers.

Famous Frowns

I just had to show you guys this--Scott's baby picture with that oh-so-serious face I've come to know and love on Miss E.

She is her Daddy's daughter for sure ;)

Photo by Tina of In His Image

Scotti rocking that frown

Everleigh's Fall Photoshoot with Tina of In His Image

I went to high school with Tina McGarrah Norman of In His Image, and while we've been Facebook friends for awhile, I was a little out of the loop. So when she approached me about doing a Fall shoot with Everleigh, I said "Let's do it".

Tina was a joy to work with, and since she has two little ones of her own, she is a baby whisperer/photographer extraordinaire. And while Everleigh wouldn't give us any smiles or sit still for more than 1/2 a second because, well, she is EVERLEIGH, I really felt like Tina captured Ev's personality in a big way. Scott joked that when Everleigh decides to launch her dramatic acting career, she'll already have her portfolio ready to go ;)

Tina has been doing professional photography for just one year, but her use of natural light and eye for capturing a moment has already taken her far. Overall, she most enjoys when people let their guard down and have fun with sessions, so their personalities can really shine through. Tina is currently booking for 2012, so check her out. 

Here are some of my favorites from our shoot:

Mommy and Evie

Hey look! A ramp!

This one cracks me up because her pose seems so New York or something. She frowns while giving us a Britney Spears. Who is this kid anyways?

She lightened up a little here to play...but wanted to run with the stick. 

Checking out the leaves!

Grinning and playing with the horse Daddy carved out of a solid block of wood

Wait--is that a smile?

Rocking the jeggings and Vans

The "why are you putting me through this with the hat" look

I'm so happy to have such sweet, fun photos of this stage in Everleigh's development! A HUGE thank you to Tina McGarrah Norman from In His Image Film and Photo. Pictures C/O In His Image. 

How We Chose Everleigh's Name

A sweet shower gift from my friend, Kim!

I thought I'd share the story about how we chose Everleigh's name, because I get asked about it a lot :)

My first "real job" out of college was working for a financial company in town (pre market crash!). Part of my job was to man the telephones and speak to investors, so on a daily basis I heard lots of unique names from all over the US. Being my planny-planerson self, I already knew a baby (or 2) was something I wanted in the future, and I often kicked around potential kids names. Anyways, while working there, I actually made this hypothetical list into a handwritten list I kept in my desk. Any time I heard a cool name I liked, I would add it to the list.

Well, one day I spoke to a man named Everly, and I loved the name so much, I immediately added it to my list. From then on it was my top boy's name. I was pretty certain if I had a boy, I would name him Everly, and if I had a girl, I would name her Tilly. On paper.

So when we found out we were having a girl, I told Scott about my Tilly name, to which he responded that there was no way he was naming a real person that. So I made a list of approximately 50 names I liked, which he narrowed down to about 8 in 30 seconds. Harper made the cut, but Everly was not even on there since that was our top boy name. After reviewing the names, Scott asked, "what about just sticking with Everly anyways?" To which I replied, "let's do it".

The next morning on the drive in to work, Scott said out of the blue "Everly Harper". And it was settled. Later we decided to change the spelling to make her gender a little more clear, since our baby book had Everly listed as a boy name, and the only other Everly I had ever met was also a man. So we landed on Everleigh Harper.

As my pregnancy progressed, I would often google the name "Everly", "Everleigh", "Everlee", etc. jusrt to see what was out there. Our baby book listed the (boy's name) Everly as meaning "singing", which we also thought was awesome since we're both musicians. However, I had a hard time finding this meaning anywhere else since....

At first my google searches pretty much came up empty handed. Which we thought was cool. We loved the name and that was all that mattered. We swore she'd be the only kid in her class with the name, but thought it was still mainstream enough to not be weird just for weird's sake. Then as we got closer to her birth, I started seeing more and more of the name popping up. Someone from the Twilight movie named their baby Everleigh. A popular baby blogger (whose blog I discovered through this googling process and now read faithfully) named her new baby Everly. Suddenly the name was everywhere.

When Everleigh was about 3 months old, we took her to a birthday party and she met her first Everlee face to face, a new baby girl that belonged to one of my sister's friends. So I guess it's blowing up a little. But I just wanted to share that we chose the name a long time ago, and picked it because we loved the meaning and the ring of it and all the images it conjured up for us. It had nothing to do with what was or was not popular, or what another blogger or friend named their kid. I truly did not even know baby blogs existed before these searches!

Plus after meeting this little girl, we KNEW she was an Everleigh if there ever was one.  That said, she may hate us when she has to write it out for Kindergarten.

Everleigh's Room! 2 Years in the Making

At long last we've put the finishing touches on Everleigh's room. And while it's possible we'll get bored with it or she will want a change in the future, I'm pretty happy with the way it came together. I originally created the concept for her room by picking out fabric. I wanted lots of yellow and green, with pink and aqua highlights and maybe some red just for fun.

I have to say I'm SO please with the way we were able to marry old and new, handmade and store-bought. In the end, the pieces we found from Target matched the other fabrics so well, it seemed planned (but was totally NOT).

I found the green "tree" fabric that covers the chair, and picked out the yellow from the curtains, and the white/yellow patterned fabric, as well as the hot pink that you see in her pillow and in small details throughout.

My Mom (who is amazing. Thank you!!!) sewed the cafe curtains with the little ric-rac, the chair cover on her rocker, the blanket on the chair back and Everleigh's pink pillow. She also made a beautiful crib skirt that didn't get much use, since Ev rejected her crib and opted for a big girl bed at 12 months.

An Emily Martin print I ordered while pregnant flanks the curtains, while 3 salvaged brown crates reveal the birds and whale Scott and I hand-sewed while pregnant with Little E.

 On top of the middle crate is a little leather hat Scott wore as a toddler in the 70's, and the Alice in Wonderland doll was handmade by Tory and her grandmother.

Fun and simple organization!

Everleigh's record player--just like one I had as a kid

The outfit I wore home from the hospital, along with my pink hospital bracelet framed by Scott

Wall decals from Target

Everleigh's big girl bed with a mix of Target quilt and pillow shams along with homemade pillows

Handmade "Everleigh" crafted by our 88 year old neighbor

Scott's old toy box

So there you have it :) Our old/new/vintage/handmade/store-bought blend. Thank you to all of you who made items for her room. What a beautiful gifts for her to have sweet early memories of! The most important thing of all? Everleigh LOVES it!

Hair Bow Revolt

I've never been one of those moms who insisted on having a gigantic bow on her baby girl's head from the second she entered the world. While I've certainly put a headband or two on Ev in my day, I've tried not to let the, "he's so cute" comments bother me. Yes. My daughter has short baby-hair. It's growing at its own pace. Someday it will probably be awesome. For right now, it's really really short.

I'm cool with Everleigh bare-heading it most of the time :) But there are occasions when I have the PERFECT little bow that would match her outfit just right. And you know what? She outright refuses to let me put the bow on her. Doesn't matter if it's a super lightweight clip or a soft baby-bow or a tiny clear rubber band to pull up her bangs. Her hair is off limits and bows are a no.

She actually thinks they're pretty and likes to look at them in the mirror as she pulls them out of her hair and then sets them back on top of her head.

Sigh. So I guess my girl will remain bow-less and continue getting the little boy comments for awhile longer. I do think it's funny she's chosen to take such a hard line on something at such a young age. Rebel without a cause. That's my girl.

Everleigh's First Art Lesson

Last week, Scott busted out the colored pencils and paper, and treated Everleigh to her first art lesson :)

She was really digging the blue, and didn't want to give it up. She would draw for awhile, then take it over to show me and give herself a round of applause.

We hung the two pieces up on the refrigerator, and the next day asked her, "where's Everleigh's art?" Wouldn't you know she was able to walk us over there and point. Genius I say, genius :)

The funniest part was her dead-serious stare as she worked. She was fully committed!

Here's a taste of her developing style (with a little help from Dad)

Everleigh in Blue

The Quiet Moments

These are some of my favorite times. When the sun sets while Everleigh sleeps and I can see the golden downtown skyline from my back deck. When I'm nursing Ev at night and she's all cuddly and sweet and warm. When I watch her sleeping and breathing and thank God she is mine. When she touches my arm as soft as she can with her little open hand and whispers "mama".

That's it. That's all that matters.

Everleigh's First Dip in her Little Pool

It FINALLY got hot enough today to let Everleigh try out her little hard-shell pool Grandma and Grandpa bought her. Oh, and it gave her a chance to rock out her little baby bikini and show off some of those little rolls we all love so much. Enjoy!