Grandma and Me New Year's Outfits

 Happy New Year everyone!  I am back from a two week holiday break, and I am so glad I took two weeks off instead of just one, because I got so sick the day after New Years that I needed another week to recover.  All my goals of writing next weeks blog posts went down the drain because the only thing I could do was lay on the couch, binge watch Netflix, and cough up a lung or two.  But the plus side is, I caught up on a lot of t.v. shows I've been wanting to see!

I am thankful at least that the illness waited until after the holidays were over to arrive.  We did have a wonderful ten or more days with family and friends.  Our house was filled with love and laughter and I am so grateful to God for giving me such a wonderful nuclear family and close, lifelong friends.

I know I normally do my "Grandma and Me" fashion posts the first Monday of every month, but because of the holiday break, I'm breaking my own schedule.  I wanted to show you Alethea's and my New Year's outfits.  Alethea wore her darling outfit on New Years Day for our annual New Years Day party, and I wore my outfit to church on New Year's Eve day.

I have to first explain why my cat Jackson is in the photos.  We had always planned on doing the photo shoot in my bedroom because of the colors and the natural light.  When we walked into the room we saw Jackson on the bed and thought "Oh, he'll wake up and leave on his own because he is afraid of Alethea".  Well, Jackson must have been terribly tired, because he stayed through the entire photo shoot!  We thought it was just awesome, because his grey coloring matched everything and we do consider him part of the family, so why not be in the pictures?  And the "Love" pillow being in the background was just the icing on the cake.  So no, Jackson wasn't planned.  It was just a wonderful coincidence that he was in the right place at the right time.

At one point Jackson did wake up from his nap a bit and Alethea and him just stared at each other.  This was actually the first visit where Alethea recognized Jackson as something other than a stuffed animal.  Just look at the expression on Alethea's face!  She doesn't know quite what to make of this furry creature.

 For our New Year's Day Outfits Alethea and I both dressed in black and gold.  I wore an old metallic gold sweater from JCPenny (last shown HERE and HERE) with black pants and black wedges.  Alethea wore a coordinating tunic and leggings outfit with a metallic geo-print border from Macy's.  To accessorize, she added a pretty off-white and gold metallic headband, also from Macy's.

Because my metallic gold sweater is already an attention grabber with the shimmer and pretty neckline, I only accessorized with a simple gold and black bracelet and my usual rings.

I just love these baby headbands, they add so much to an outfit.  And I am so grateful that Alethea leaves them on all day and doesn't try to take them off like a lot of babies do.  Isn't this just the cutest picture? I just love her smile!  She is such a smiley, good-natured baby now.  She smiles at everyone.

 We got a new DSLR for Christmas, but with all the activity of the holidays and my illness, I have yet to figure out how to use it.  However, we were very impressed with these photos just shooting in the Automatic or Portrait mode, indoors, with no special lighting.

My dress pants are also old, they are by Worthington.  I'm not a fan of buying new clothes just for the holidays.  I have four holiday sweaters and I wear them every single year.  I just try to vary how I style them so I change it up a little.  

I just love how Alethea's beautiful big blue eyes pop in every picture.  Such a cutie!

I'm still so sick as I write this.  It's been hard not to get depressed about it.  I had so many goals of writing blog posts in advance, taking down the Christmas decorations, and perhaps starting the process of re-decorating my daughter's old room or planning our spring vacation.  Instead, I could barely manage to sit up.  I hate it when the spirit is willing but the body is weak.  I want to keep rolling like the Energizer Bunny, but I can't.  But, I can feel myself slowly gettin better and hopefully next week I can at least muster up the energy to take the Christmas decorations down.

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, and you are feeling well and staying warm in these frigid temperatures!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

Two Month Old Baby Photo Shoot

On our fall vacation to Missouri, we started with a stop in Chicago to visit the kids for Labour Day weekend.  I took Alethea's Two Month Old pictures while I was there, and we did another "Grandma & Me" Photo Shoot....which I will show you next week Monday!

Ashley wanted to include herself and Jason in these pictures, so after coordinating the outfits, off we went to the Naperville River Walk.

This picture isn't perfect because Jason is slouching making Ashley appear larger, but I LOVE Alethea's big yawn.  She was so impressed with being the subject of the photo session wasn't she? :)

And here she was so impressed she just felt fast asleep.  Isn't she hysterical?  What a doll!  I just love her so much!

We used the same frame we did in the One Month Old Photo Shoot, but this time with the number "2".  We will keep this theme going for all her monthly photos.  I cut the numbers out with my Cricut Expression Machine out of card stock colors that will coordinate with Alethea's outfits.  This time we used two different colors of number "2"s layering one slightly off set of the other to create a shadow.

I also took a few pictures of just Mom and Baby too.

There's that adorable yawn again!  Such a sweetie!

 After our photo shoot we went for a walk along the river, but Alethea was not content in the stroller so dad had to hold her.  This is how she likes to be held.  Jason walked the entire river walk carrying Alethea like this.  She was so perfectly content, sleeping soundly the entire time.  Jason must have very strong arms, because I certainly couldn't hold her like this.

We had stopped walking briefly and I turned around and saw the light from the setting sun hitting Alethea so beautifully.  I said to Jason "Don't move!"  and snapped these beautiful shots.

Be sure to come back on Monday to link up your "Grandma and Me" post!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

One Month Old Baby Photo Shoot

I went to Illinois to spend some time with my new grand baby and take her one month old photos.   I had huge plans of multiple outfits, locations, props, blankets etc., but unfortunately Alethea was not in the mood for any of it.  She suffers from colic and would not stop crying for a minute to take a decent picture.   The only way we could photograph her at all was if we put her in a bouncer and my daughter Ashley put her hand underneath the blanket and bounced it while I shot pictures as fast as I could.

So, these are the only photos we got:

Ashley dressed Alethea up in her favorite tutu and a big pink bow.

  I made the number 1 with my cricket machine and Ashley placed it on top of pink card stock in a gold frame.

Alethea can make the funniest expressions sometimes.

This expression makes me wonder what in the world is she thinking? LOL!

I just love baby feet...don't you?

You may have seen this picture on Instagram.  I was trying to get her to stop crying so we could take her picture and Ashley snapped this picture.  I just love it!

So many of you have left comments about how to help Alethea with her colic.  We appreciate them all!  She is doing a little better, but still won't sleep in her crib so mom can get some rest.

Hopefully when I return in a few weeks for her Two Month Old Baby Pictures, she'll be more cooperative.

Have a Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!