Our life in doodles...

I'm sure many of you are following the blog A Beautiful Mess...
It's actually one of my favorite, so when I learned they were launching an amazing app to edit pictures (perfect for the Instagram addict I am!) I got pretty excited! Have you tried it yet? I'm totally in love with it!

So here's a little recap of our week through pictures I've edited with the app! :)
Enjoy!

A girlie version of my tooth monster...custom orders are always fun!

My pointy baby bump!

Livia just loves her birthday balloons!

Cookie dough love...

I've treated myself to some good homemade cookies

Sipping an amazing smoothie...her favorite! The recipe is from a friend's blog called Trois fois par jour (it's in French but it's worth taking a look at!)

Finally ordered some Salt Water sandals for Livia...and they fir perfectly! Cutest little feet EVER!!!

What I woke up to one morning...

A picture my boyfriend took this week...what's not to love?

Early morning bath...Lots of fun!

My little helper...

We had fun picking out the plants for our veggie patch!

WHEN did she get so tall?!?! and so grown up...?

She loves her uncle's birthday gift!

She asked for painted toes just like mine....

Montessori take 2

Last week, as I explained here, I figured out it would be nice to include some Montessori activities for Livia in our schedule, a few times a week! She had so much fun with the color sorting activity, I decided to search the web for some inspiration for additional activities.

I came across some memory game made especially for toddlers. I found a few made of wood, but thought it could be neat to make a prototype out of fabric. I used felt & cotton woven printed fabric to create this quick prototype (only 8 pieces) while Livia was napping last Sunday. Turned out to be a hit!

I shared some pictures on my Facebook page & Instagram account and the vibe was pretty good, so yesterday, I decided to create my very 1st Montessori inspired fabric memory game! This 1st model includes 14 pieces made with 7 different fabric. It's pretty neutral so I think both boys & girls will enjoy it!

I'll continue brainstorming some Montessori inspired ideas...and will keep you posted for sure! ;)

Have a lovely day!

PS: I have a brand new Instagram account totally dedicated to CUTIFULbaby! :)
I'll be sharing pictures of new items available for sale, so keep your eyes peeled!

Lately...

The last few months have been very busy & kind of ectic around here...at least, that's how I feel!
I'm already halfway through my pregnancy & things just seem to go faster than ever... Lately, I've had a hard time dealing with the fact that I wasn't able to keep up with my Etsy shops...I felt like I was letting things go, like I wasn't dedicating as much time as usual or as much as I would have wanted to to my little business! When you put so much hard work into something you love & you're proud of, it's kinda hard to accept that sometimes, IT'S ALRIGHT to take a little break, to slow things down a little...

It's alright if there are only a few items left in your shop even though you have hundreds of ideas fighting one another in your head...it's alright to take time for yourself, to relax in a hot bath after work or go to bed early if you feel like you need to instead of doing late night sewing like you were used to!

With our busy schedules ( and I'm sure many of you parents will understand exactly what I'm talking about!) it gets so easy to "spend" less time with our kiddos...I mean, I "spend" time with Livia, but running errands or being next to her in the living room while she plays by herself and I fold laundry is not what I call quality time...I've realized that I was often too busy with everything else that I didn't take as much time as I used to to simply sit down with her and actually play WITH her!

That being said, I decided that I wanted to start trying some Montessori activities with Livia on a weekly basis! Today, we tried out our 1st color sorting activity & it was a big hit!

She did this like a champ! Proud mama's moment!

More color sorting on the couch after dinner!

Montessori fun from Vanessa Giguere on Vimeo.

She had a lot of fun & I had fun too watching her play & learn all at once! In the end, all we needed was a few colored bowls with matching color items : fridge alphabet magnets, building blocks, crayons, plastic utensils...

 Margaux, a blogger friend, also recommended this amazing blog with plenty of ideas for Montessori activities! It's called How we Montessori and I'm pretty sure it will be a great source of inspiration in the upcoming weeks!

Wish you all a great Sunday!
Enjoy!

A day off work with my little bird

AM
7:00 - Woke up to see a little birdie standing by my bedroom door with her new stuffed bunny (she's   in the Easter spirit!)
7:15 - Shower time for both of us! Goodbye bed heads!
7:40 - We sat down to have breakfast (although Livia gave almost half of hers to the dog!)
9:00 - We left to run some errands. On our list:

• Stop by a cute chocolate shop to buy some Easter treats for the cousins
• Stop by my favorite eco-conscious shop for some natural teething drops (yes, Livia is teething again! :(  Molars!)
• Find some Spring accessories for Livia as the weather is starting to warm up...this little person is growing up so fast, her Fall accessories are not fitting her anymore...so we need jersey hats, little gloves & a pair of booties....(and I ended up finding some little Spring ankle boots for myself! ;)
• Final little stop at the grocery store because the fridge is pretty empty!

Let me tell you, running errands for  about 3-4 hours on your own with a toddler while being pregnant... it's quite a challenge! I was exhausted! And she was too apparently! ;)

She fell asleep about 5 minutes before we came back home! Typical!

12:30 - We finally came back home and ate lunch

PM
1:00 - My boyfriend comes back from work telling me we might have friends over for dinner...Okay....That wasn't planned....Better get moving & clean up the house a little! :\
2:00 - Nap time for the little one...
3:15 - She's still not sleeping & ripped off 3 pages of her favorite book?!?! What the...?!?!
4:00 - We made chocolate mousse

Sneaky girl...waiting for me to turn around to steal come chocolate!

Simple chocolate mousse, 3 ingredients: Chocolate, eggs & sugar

5:00 - The boys decided to make themselves killer burger...but I on the other hand had another craving...so I decided to make myself ( & Livia) a killer mac n' cheese ! :) (Thanks Jamie Oliver for all your awesome recipes!)
5:30 - The mac n' cheese is now in the oven so I can rest a little while the boys are entertaining the little one (which is really a good thing because she has SOOOOOOO much energy for someone who almost didn't nap!)
6:45 - Dinner was so good!

Jamie Oliver's killer mac n' cheese with a side of bruschetta

7:00 - Time to paint Livia's toes! Light pink...with extra glitter this time! She loves it!
7:30 - My little bird is getting pretty tired...Time to cuddle up in my bed to watch some cartoons while she drinks her milk and then, off to sleep.

It's now 8:00pm, the boys are watching a 3D movie, my baby's fast asleep and I just feel like making myself a latte and go to sleep early! This mama is really tired! Really! Tomorrow I need to dedicate as much time as possible to custom orders...so I better get a good night of sleep!

Hope you all had a great Friday!
What have you been up to?

Happy Valentine's Day!

I've been with my boyfriend for a bit more than 10 years now and we have never really been the type of person to celebrate Valentine's Day...I guess that now that we are parents, we will unconsciously celebrate it a bit more, making crafts & sweets for friends & loved ones!

This year, Valentine's Day took on an whole new meaning... I had my 1st ultrasound & it was a real blessing to witness this little peanut in action! Tonight, I'll be going to sleep happier than ever! :)

Tiny hands...Precious!

How was your Valentine's Day?

Have a great night you guys!
Keep in touch!

The reason why...

Yep people!
We have a bun in the oven! :)

This tiny little human growing in my belly is the reason why I haven't really been around these last few weeks...It's also the reason why I've been so extremely tired lately & developped a real addiction for naps...the reason why my sewing machine has been collecting dust...the reason why my Etsy shops have been slightly put on hold (there's not much stock left & I've been simply too busy sleeping whenever I could, I didn't take time to make more listings!)...the reason why I have sugar cravings at night...the reason why I've been drinking chocolate milk instead of coffee ( I know I'm allowed to have a cup of coffee per day...I had even bought some decaf but somehow, with this pregnancy, coffee is a real turn off! )

Hopefully, in a few weeks, the extreme tiredness from the 1st trimester will be long gone & my energy level will be back to normal! One thing's for sure, this new adventure will most probably get my creative juices flowing like crazy! ;)
2013 is going to be an AMAZING year!
Cheers everyone!

Keep in touch!

Saturday afternoon baking

Sooooooo happy I've had my 1st baking session with my little one this afternoon! I'm sure that in the years to come, Saturday (or Sunday) afternoon baking could become one of our traditions! :)

Let's get to work! (PS: excuse the mess in the background! haha!)

Yummy batter!

Wanna taste?!?!

"Nom nom" she said!

One of my Christmas gift: a Babycakes Cake Pop Machine

Freshly dipped in chocolate

The end result! I like to think I'm not too bad for a 1st timer! :)

Eve on a stick, Cake =Mess!

Even the dog wants some!

I know I haven't been around for about 2 weeks, but since this is my 1st 2013 post, I'd like to wish you all an amazing year filled with joy, laughter & love!

Keep in touch!

Craziest Christmas EVER!

How was your Christmas???
Ours turned out to be merry/ busy/ crazy & oh so fun!!!! We received our families yesterday night for an evening of fun & laughter! Seriously a Christmas to remember! Livia had sooooo much fun...& got totally spoiled! I was so busy running around the house, didn't took as many pictures as I would have liked...but here are a few!

Amazing chocolate bark...I'll definitely be making this recipe every year from now on! This is actually my only "food" picture...can't believe I was too busy to even take a picture of the feast...oh well!

I have NEVER seen so many gifts!!!

This particular gift was bigger than Livia...

...and she seems to be hoping it's for her!

My boyfriend gave me the coolest gift! A Wacom drawing tablet! I'll have to make some new designs for my CUTIFULmemories shop!

This little lady stayed up till' 11pm!!!

The morning after...it almost looks like we just moved in...empty boxes EVERYWHERE!

She's loving the play kitchen we got her...and all the felt food I made for her! Yay!

Didn't know you could make popcorn in a sink!

Gotta go back to cleaning up all the mess!
Enjoy the rest of the Holidays!
Talk to you soon!

A day in Livia's life..

Took so many pictures today (instagram being a new addiction of mine!)... I thought it would be fun to share some!

Here's what a day in Livia's life looks like!

I'm so tired from all the Christmas shopping...think I'm gonna sleep for 3 hours straight!

I just love lying on the floor with my dog!

"Reading" a book while Mama's cooking!

Sorting my blocks by color (Making Mama proud!)

Goofing around!...I'm a clown...I act silly!!! (most of the time!)

My mom's a paparazzi...or my biggest fan...or BOTH!

Eating yummy risotto! What a nice way to end the day! :)

Have a nice week you guys!
(I have a busy/ crazy week ahead of me so I'm assuming I won't be around for the next couple of days! :) )