Monday, November 9, 2015

emma grace's baby dedication

last month, bub-hub and i were given the opportunity to dedicate our baby girl at our church.  it's always one of my favorite sunday's at church and i was super excited to get to participate 

eg was quite the little ham. if only i could get away with running up and down the aisles and rolling around on the floor. good thing she's a cutie.

we are so fortunate to have such a strong and supportive family. and i was just so excited that they were able to share this moment with us! we can't wait to the amazing things the Lord has planned for our little one!


"But now, O Jacob, listen to the Lord who created you.
O Israel, the one who formed you says,
Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine."
Isaiah 43:1


Friday, October 16, 2015

a breakfast picnic | lone star eggs

the weather has finally cooled down, which means breakfast picnics, lunch picnics, snack picnics, oh, and of course, dinner picnics.  let's be honest, it's just way easier to clean up when you can hose down your patio.

we took our breakfast out on the patio, and eg consumed them in the messiest way possible, as only a toddler (i'm still in denial...) can.  i've mentioned before that eating a variety of foods isn't really EG's favorite thing.  she has her staples, but i've been trying to find ways to introduce new foods before we burn out on the three foods in her current rotation.  i've been trying to sneak extra veggies in with her scramblies, and so far, she doesn't really seem to notice. #sneakysneaky

i love making breakfast tacos. it's something that's easy to prep ahead of time, and you can mix in different things, which keeps it from being old.  plus, i love me a good fresh tortillas, so any excuse to heat those up is a winner in my book! 

all you need for texas breakfast tacos are scrambled lone star eggs, fresh tortillas and any combination of mix ins! :) a few of my favorites are breakfast sausage, salsa, spinach, bell peppers and avocados.


I've been having so much fun working with lonestar eggs. :) I can't think of a better fit for a texas breakfast than texas eggs from texas chickens! :)

onesie: the little goose shop
sunshine bow: punky punkin creations

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

emma grace: fifteen month

emma grace is fifteen months old.
she's walking, waves hello, touches her nose and pats her tummy.
we love bubble guppies, yogurt in any form, and our jelly shoes.
baby girl loves her veggie pouches, but only when she can hold them herself.
she especially loves eating off the floor, and doesn't really understand why every meal or snack can't be a picnic. worst mom ever. but sometimes (most of the time...) i give in.
she has the sweetest smile, the most expressive face, and the best giggle.
i just love her snuggles even if they only last 2 seconds.
she's walking, running-ish, falling, and rolling around like a mad woman.
i have a feeling she thinks if she stops moving, she might not ever be able to move again.

we have survived (knock on wood...) our first round of major sickies. two weeks of a tummy bug, fever and tears and snuggles and runny noses, but we made it, and we found our smiles again.

oh how i love this baby girl!

Monday, October 5, 2015

my why | rodan + fields

today, i'm so excited to share my newest little project, Rodan + Fields! I joined on as a consultant just over 3 months ago, and it's just been amazing. I'm just so inspired by the stories of success and change and i'm just so excited to share my "why" with you guys!  
emma grace has a bad patch of eczema under her chin. between her sweet chubby cheeks, scrunchy neck, and 100* summer days, it was almost impossible to keep the area from flaring up.  one morning, it had flared up so terribly, i just felt completely helpless.  i was trying to avoid the super expensive prescription steroid cream my dr had suggested, but all of the other lotions and creams i had found were just not cutting it.

i called my sweet friend Erica, who is one of my dearest mama-mentors, and asked if she had any recommendation for eczema or dry skin, and she offered to run over her SOOTHE regimen.  she said she used it on her babies, especially in the winter, and it healed their rough patches so quickly, and thought it would be a great match for emma grace!

we started using the SOOTHE regimen on emma grace and within just a few days, noticed a drastic difference in her skin, and within a week, her eczema was hardly noticeable! we use steps 1-3 on her every other day, and use step 4, the sunscreen and moisturizer, every day, sometimes twice a day!


the best part was that i knew the products were safe for her baby skin.   we tried SO many different lotions, creams & ointments, practically everything on the baby skin care shelf, and nothing made a long term difference. plus, SOOTHE smells so wonderful, and let's be real, most of that stuff just smells like a medicine cabinet.

i started using the UNBLEMISHED regimen and as if i needed any more convincing, i was hooked. i've never felt more confident in my own skin.  the UNBLEMISHED line has been recognized as the #1 selling acne line, and i'm just obsessed.

my goals for my rodan + fields business keep changing, but the more i learn about the company and the products, the more excited i become. to be completely candid, my first goal way to pay for my product and get a discount. i'm a target girl, and the thought of investing in big girl skincare was really overwhelming. but once i knew how SOOTHE could help baby girl, i just had to get it, and becoming a consultant was the right fit for me.  

if you're interested in learning more about the products, or the business opportunity, i'd be more than happy to share all of the information I have! i just feel so excited about being a part of something that's making such a difference in so many lives, and i'd just love to share that with you as well!!

https://sgchastain.myrandf.com
https://sgchastain.myrandf.biz

Saturday, September 5, 2015

breakfast for the babe | lone star eggs

breakfast is serious business in this house. especially on saturdays. 

i love breakfast. i love the waffles, bub-hub loves the scrambled eggs.  he loves coming up with different seasoning combinations for them...lately, we're loving the julios! 


scrambled eggs are also a great finger food for us to give to emma grace. relatively un-messy, easy for her to pick up and feed herself, which is prefect for little miss independent!

right now, her favorite foods are black beans & crackers, solid carb choices. knowing that she's starting off her morning with great protein from her scramblies makes my mama-heart happy!  

we love making trips to our local farmers market, but lets be honest, i'm not really ever going to make it there in time to beat the first (on-top-of-it) shoppers who claim the milk & eggs.  luckily, we can still shop local on a more realistic timeline! i just love that i can find lonestar eggs at walmart! they are texas eggs from texas chickens! perfect for my growing texas babe! :)



Saturday, August 29, 2015

happy birthday emmers! | cake and presents

cake is definitely the highlight of any birthday. at least any birthday i've been a part of!

we chose pink velvet for her baby bundt cakes. 
selfishly, i wanted to try and avoid a giant mess with a bunch of icing [we already messed with that during her smash cake shoot...] but let's be real. it's not a real birthday cake if you don't have icing on top! 

home girl also has quite the love for her crackers.  i would never think twice about having to choose between cake or crackers, but she just couldn't leave her first love behind! :)





emma grace had so much fun opening her gifts!  she loved crawling and climbing on all the bags and pulling the paper out. but she also loved the goodies.  maybe next year will be our "cardboard box" birthday celebration.

from the very beginning, bub-hub and i decided we wanted emma grace's birthday celebration to be a giant thank you party for our friends and family.  we are so beyond blessed with love and support, and i can't even begin to imagine how different our first year as parents would have been without them.




was it a little unncecssary. sure. but it was fun, and we got to share the day with our friends and family, so in my book, that makes it all more than worth it!

Friday, July 31, 2015

happy birthday emmers! // snacks & sweet treats

confession:
snacks are my most part of a party.
menu planning and tasting is my favorite.
i've also realized that bite sized snacks are best. 
no one wants to admit they ate 3 bundtinis, but the beauty of a bundtini is that you get to eat three. 
and as much as i love icing, i don't mind not fighting the "how am i going to get this whole bite in my mouth without getting icing up my nose" battle. #sweetworldproblem
the perfect bite sized indulgence.
fruit salad is also an easy go to for me. well, my version of fruit salad anyway.
i usually just pick up a few of my whatever is in-season favorites and toss them in a bowl!
i LOVE when i remember to sprinkle some vanilla pudding mix over it....making it extra sweet.
but i'll be honest. i usually forget. 
can we also just take a minute to talk about how ridiculous watermelon is to cut.
i'm pretty proud of myself for finishing the task with both my thumbs still attached.
it was pretty close though.
and of course.
paper straws for days.

all photos by sarah carpenter.
all calligraphy by katy richards.
paper straws // twigs & twirls

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

happy birthday emmers! / decorations and paper goods

i'm so excited to start sharing photos from emma grace's party!

from the beginning, my purpose for the party was to have a thank-you-so-much-we-couldn't-have-survived-without-you-celebration for our friends and family.  yes, we love EG and birthdays, but the only reason she made it to her first birthday was because we have such a fantastic support system.

so here is the first installment of our baby girl's celebration! :)

first off, my favorite part....the invitation!

i know most people are probably ok with a text or email invitations, but paper is my love language.  i love printed photos, and handwritten notes, and snail mail, and most of all, invitations!
designing emma grace's party invitation was definitely the most fun, but emotionally involved, project i've worked on to date.  i knew i wanted her party to be full of flowers and sunshine, and after finding some watering cans at ikea, i found my inspiration.

i filled the house with flowers and pictures, and more flowers and more pictures.
i'm officially obsessed with silk flowers.  i know they don't smell the same, or look the same, but when you're planning a party on a budget, for a baby, they are the most wonderful thing. i found the garland at michaels, and the stem flowers at the dollar tree. besides being incredibly budget friendly, it allowed me to set up days in advance, saving me last minute morning of stress.
the downside to having a million photos of baby girl is that i have a million favorites of baby girl. when it came time to picking a few of my favorites, i printed a hundred. i found a pack of brightly colored yardstick and matted them the best i could.  pretty sure they will be hanging on the walls of my dining room until her high school graduation. #babyshrine
oh, and balloons will always and forever be appearing at any event i plan for the rest of my life. or if it's a wednesday.

all photos by sarah carpenter.

Thursday, July 9, 2015

emma grace // one year old

it's time for a little game we like to call, "what is she thinking??"
emma grace is the smiliest, most expressive human on the planet. 
i swear she smiles 1000 times a day. maybe more.
and every now and again, if you're lucky, she'll even flash her scrunchy-scowl face, which is equally fantastic. :)

we finished off the year 17 lbs strong, 25 inches tall.
she loves blackbeans and blueberries.
she's a crawling and climbing machine.
still hates snoozing, but snuggles like a champ.
she's working on her pageant wave and is an expert clapper.
little miss independent loves feeding herself and always has crackers in each hand.
she has 4 little toothies, the best snarley grin, and a giggle that makes my heart explode.
i'm not gonna lie,
i'm kinda loving that she's so small.
it makes it a little easier to pretend she's growing up.
a little bit about the photo shoot:
as i mentioned in the cake smash post, i really wanted to keep everything simple.
we laid out one of the quilts my mama made for emma grace, prayed for sunshine, and baby girl did the rest. oh, and my new favorite decoration, balloons! the rag bunting is made from scraps left over from the quilt, which is also her nursery fabric.

the deets:
one piece - baby gap (not listed online)
floral headband - little winter shop



all photos by sarah carpenter photography. 

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

a lesson in unnecessary traditions

this mom thing is really opening my eyes to a new world of fun and unnecessary traditions.  the cake smash has to be at the top of the list. it's for sure one of my favorite unnecessaries to date. :)

i tried to keep it simple. i found a few inspiration photos on pinterest and realized that simple is the way to go.  plus, i didn't want to spend a lot of time and money on anything that was going to be covered in yogurt and couldn't be washed.
i'm not a health nut by any means, but i am trying to make wise-ish decisions about what foods to introduce to baby girl.  i found this cake and thought it would be a safe bet.  the yogurt icing is amazing and i want to eat it by the gallon. while it's definitely not as amazing as my favorite cream cheese indulgence, it definitely hit the spot.
this cake definitely made me think i could give up sugar.
at least until i made my next fro-yo run. oops.

and can i just say, i was expecting her floral headband to last about 2.5 seconds.
but homegirl surprised me and kept it on for almost 7 minutes, which is basically an eternity!
if i was teaching a baby preparation course, i would definitely add "how to clean up your baby after they try and feed themselves anything" to the agenda. luckily, between dad and gran, they got the job done.  and we only had to soak her in the tub for a few hours to dissolve the dried yogurt from all her nooks and crannies. #babyrollproblems #myfavoriteproblem

the deets:
chambray tank - baby gap
bloomers - jcrew baby
floral headband - little winter shop



all photos by sarah carpenter photography. 

Thursday, June 4, 2015

nursing in style // the shirt dress

shirt dresses are such a fantastic thing to have in your closet.  they can be dressed up or down, and re-styled in so many ways just by changing your shoes, jewelry or adding a cardigan.

here are three different styles that are definitely closet staples: denim, bright, and black


a girlfriend pointed out that the only downside to full button down style is her sweet babe learned how to pop the buttons. #thingsonlyamamawouldthinkabout


personally, i prefer the styles that come with a cinced waist, but it's so easy to add a belt to the  straight styles, it's hard to complain.  

this is also a fun way to change things up, add a gold belt one day and a red belt the next.  and as i've mentioned a million times before, i'm the cardigans biggest fan.  

why it works // the buttons in the front make nursing really easy to maneuver under your nursing cover, and the lose style of the skirt is forgiving and easy to move in.  i prefer to wear a pair of shorts underneath, mostly because baby movements don't always allow time to channel lady like movements. #honestandtrue 


Saturday, May 16, 2015

emma grace // a ten month update

oh sweet baby girl,

you're first little teeth made their appearance in a big way this month. i never knew a gummy, toothy grin could be so cute!

you're such a wiggle worm.  gone are the days where you stay anywhere for longer than one second.

you're starting to scoot a bit, and i have a feeling, you're going to be a crawling machine any day now.   i love watching your determination as you scoot over to grab your toys, or the little eeleaf that blew in from the back yard.

you're such the social butterfly.  you love going to walks and riding in the grocery cart. you've got a lot to say and can't wait to tell everyone you see.

you're my favorite baby girl. always and forever!


Wednesday, April 22, 2015

polka dotted peplum // nursing in style

i'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing, but i have a strong love for polka dots.  i try to keep my addiction as "mature" as possible. i avoid lime green sometimes and try and pair them with other items that won't embarrass bub-hub, or my children in the future. :)

i have had this shirt for a few years. i actually wore it in my engagement photos. #totesadorbs and now, it's back again.

i have a pretty defined waist, so this style works for me.  i really don't need any extra help in the hip-department, so i like that this peplum lays flat. 



why this works // this is a wrap style shirt, the pattern and peplum make it a little more fun than your standard wrap shirt.  this style makes it really easy to maneuver without having to lift up your entire shirt. and of course, my favorite nursing tanks, always and forever. and the stretchy shorts. winner winner. 

j-crew factory // sheer pink jacquard shorts, polka dot wrap shirt (from a past season)
target // white nursing tank
bohemian market // necklace, similar here

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

tassels and elastic waist bands // nursing in style

introducing: the outfit i'm going to be wearing anytime i need to look put together this summer. 

honestly though, this entire outfit is so comfy, i'd wear it even when i'm staying in.
ehhhhh,,,maybe,,,but yoga pants are pretty unbeatable. 

i know i've said it before, but i can't get enough of these elastic waist band shorts. i love being able to look cute while still getting my fro-yo fix. these shorts are from j-crew factory and come in poppy (dark-red-pink-ish) and black as well.  i'm hoping to add those to my collection. :)

i'm also obsessed with this tassel necklace.  sweet brittany is the most stylish mama i know, and I'm just obsessed with her little shop! it's so light weight, i can wear it all day and forget it's there.  it's also a built in entertainment piece.  #winnerwinner who ever thought that would be on my list of jewelry criteria?


oh, and fabulous sandals are a must. these vintage beauties were inherited from my sweet nana.  i'm incredibly thankful to have had a nana with fabulous taste.  that inheritance may or may not have also included a large collection of colorful keds.  #tswifthasnothingonnana

why this works // these shorts provide a flattering tailored fit while still being comfortable.  they also allow for "wiggle-room", which is perfect for mamas who are feeling a little less-than-confident with their new post-baby-bodies.

(un)fortunately, i wore out and stretched out my sandals last summer when i was pregs, so this year, i'm on the hunt for a few new pairs. any suggestions for must haves?





p.s. let's be insta-friends! // @sarahgracechastain

p.s.s: do you have an outfit idea?  email me at sarahgracechastain[at]gmail.com

logs & lace // white and gray tassel necklace 
j-crew factory // chambray button down, sheer pink jacquard shorts 
target // white nursing tank
michael kors // vintage, leather sandals 


Saturday, April 11, 2015

emma grace // a nine month update



dear sweet baby girl,

oh how i wish i could freeze time.  each and every day is so much more fun than then last.

you give the sweetest and slobberiest kisses.  you're reaching out for your people and trying to climb up mamas legs.  i never knew a little leg hug could melt my heart so fast.

you're loving sweet potatoes, squash, black  beans, bananas and avocados.  you're a big fan of puffs and i can't confirm it, but i'm pretty sure you have a little contest going to see how many you can get in your mouth at one time.  so far, the record sits at 5.

we welcomed our first two teeth! it was a little rough, but you handled it like a champ!

you also discovered that your cute little cough brings attention.  it's pretty hilarious to see you fake cough and then follow up with a giggle.  it's amazing what you can get away with when you're a teeny-tiny-cutie-patootie.

you've discovered your toesies.  when you're laying down, in your carseat, or sitting in your stroller, you're always making a grab for your toes.

you're a little roley-poley.  one morning, the monitor woke me up at 3 am to find you rolling around, grabbing your toes, playing with your toys and having a little party in your crib.  it took all of my self control to let you play on your own and not run into your room to join in on the fun.

you're the sweetest, snuggliest, smiliest baby there ever was. and i'm so glad i get to call you mine.



love always,
your mama

Wednesday, April 8, 2015

lilac is the new black // nursing in style

you might be catching on, but i have a few faithfuls in my closet: cardigans, camisoles, toothpick jeans and kendras.   #winnerwinner

j-crew factory (yes, the outlet!) toothpick jeans are my go to because i have midget legs, and they are the only jeans i can buy at ankle length without having to hem. #honestandlazy  they look great with a shirt, tunics, or dressed up with heels.  when your budget is stretched and your fun-money-funds are a little scarce, it's important to find key pieces that fit well and make you feel fantastic in all scenarios. 


why this works // button downs are an obvious go to for nursing, but the flat front is super slimming and flows well.  these camisoles are lined, which is fantastic for avoiding extra layers in warm weather.  you could also pair with shorts and sandals or tucked into a maxi!

jcrew factory // camisole, jeans (similar), cardigan
target // shoes (from way too long ago)

what do you think mamas?