Etsy Props

I'm just about done with Captured. for the season!

It's all been completely unexpected, a lot of fun and also overwhelming at times.

I have a few newborn shoots through the winter and I'll pick back up in the spring with new priorities, packages and prices. 

I've had the honor of capturing these sweet mamas.

  

And soon I will be capturing their sweet squishy babes.

So excited!!

I'm really looking forward to it and also really nervous at the same time. 

I'm on the hunt for some baby props.

Not really looking to spend a lot of money, so if any of my awesome readers has an etsy shop, or knows someone who has one, and if you're looking for some advertisements/publicity/photos in exchange for an item please send me an email {thesmellylife@gmail.com}. 

Hoping to have Adalyn's details up soon!

365 Days.

Absolutely unbelievable.

It's completely crazy that this was 365 days ago.

Every detail still seems so vivid. 

I don't know how it went so fast, but I do know that it was the greatest 365 of my life. 

Filled with so many memories.

So much love.

So much joy.

So much thankfulness. 

Overwhelming in all the right ways. 

Overflowing in all the right ways. 

A complete blessing. 
Our miracle. 

A celebration then and a celebration now. 

So thankful for this precious life, 

for the Lord for choosing us to be blessed with this sweet girl.

I still can't believe I get to call her mine. 

Happy Birthday, Adalyn Faith!

These have been the best 365 days and we look forward to the next.

We love to watch you grow, to develop a silly personality and see you turn into the person God so uniquely created you to be! 

Shutterfly Giveaway: Everyone's a winner!!

Surprise, Surprise I said I'd post the winner on the the 15th. 

And it's now the 19th....

I did choose the winner on the 15th, I've just been so busy with this

and this

Yes, my little baby is {almost} one!!!!!

So I haven't had time to post the winner. 

The good news is I have a new Shutterfly Freebie for everyone!

First the winner of the $50 credit is 

Which was Kiley!!

Kiley, I don't have your info so send me an email so I can get the promo to you! 

Congratulations!!

Shutterfly is now offering a new type of card to purchase. 

Treat is Shutterfly’s exciting new greeting card brand that 

makes it easy for people to create and send one-of-a-kind greeting cards. Treat cards are perfect for holidays, birthdays, congrats, thank yous and every occasion in between. It’s crazy fun. It’s super easy. And it’s totally personal.

So use this promo {TREATBLOGR) for a FREE card today or tomorrow! A thank-you, Thanksgiving or just because- whatever you choose! I can't wait to make some personalized thank-yous for Adalyn's party! 

*This is a sponsored post, but I really do love Shutterfly!*

Shutterfly Giveaway!!

I love Shutterfly.

I've had pictures printed, cards printed and photobooks made through them.

They almost always have some kind of sale which makes this overthetop photo-taking mama very happy!

Shutterfly is also so good to bloggers- two years ago they offered a special deal and we were able to send out our first Christmas card!

I can tell you that this year it will be filled with our new baby. 

And that fur baby?

I'm not sure she is going to make the cut this time around. 

We will see...

And now they are offering one of you a 

$50 credit!!

There are so many cute Photo Christmas Cards to choose from!!

Here are just a few of my favs from just the 1st page:

I'll probably end up doing one of the cards with multiple pictures because I am so indecisive and it's too hard for me to pick just one!

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner!

Leave a comment {if you don't have a blog leave an email so I can contact you if you win!} letting me know one of your favorites- if you can pick just one- and you'll be entered into the giveaway! 

They have great deals on other holiday products too, so be sure to check them out!


I'm ending this giveaway on a very special day...
November 15th. 

Which just so happens to be my birthday ;)

I'll close it at 4:00PM EST. 
And announce the winner that night. 
A gift for you on my birthday.
Yes, it's a free gift...
but it's the thought that counts, right??

Although I really do love shutterfly and these Christmas cards this is a sponsored post and I'm thankful for the opportunity and promos they offer!

I admit it.

I am no longer in denial.

I have a toddler. 

Not only was this picture confirmation for me,

a few hours at later at the grocery store there was a little boy, who was about 2.5-3, 

talking to Adalyn and saying "Hi, baby!"

And the mom laughed and said

 "He's calling her a baby..."

Sigh.

Okay, I get it. 

I have a toddler. 

By the Calendar.

Can we pause time so I can at least fill out my calendar for July?!?

This has been like this for almost 5 months now.

A reminder of how fast time has gone by.

If only time would go by as slow as my procrastination calendar.

It would be so wonderful.

How is it that my baby is now less than a month away from turning one?!

Sunday she turned 11 months.

I went to my friend's wedding on Saturday and she looked so big compared to my old roomie's baby.

When did she get so big?!

She is the youngest in our group of friends we have here in NH- seeing her next to a 6 week old put it into a new perspective of how she's really not a baby anymore.

So as time continues to fly by, I continue to keep busy.

I'm getting things together for the big first birthday.

My little photography business has been much busier than I ever expected!

And I recently started selling Scentsy too!

And of course, I'm always busy capturing pictures of my sweet girl too!

And precious moments with her friends

So as badly as I want time to stand still.

As badly as I wish time really did line up with my calendar.

It doesn't. 

Booo.

So I continue to find the balance of being busy and enjoying each moment because it goes way too fast. 

That's Pin-tastic: Livingroom Storage

Linking with ILYMTC for

{formerly known as Project Pinterest}

I've been wanting a storage area in the living room for a bunch of Adalyn's toys.

Thankfully her bedroom right now is big enough that most of her toys are in her room and we spend a lot of time in there, but we do  spend time in the living room and it's nice to have toys down there too.

But it's not so nice when you have to see all of them.

So here's my project for the week:

I found this DIY dresser to storage unit for the living room and I knew I had to give it a try.

It took a little while for me to find the perfect dresser {and by "a little while" I mean I'm so impatient and when I get something in my head I need to do it n.o.w. so I didn't search high and low for the perfect dresser, but it took a couple days}.
 I found one that would work perfectly on craigslist for $15.

Originally I was planning on using a dresser I already had, but after further inspection it wasn't real wood, it had runners for the drawers and no bottom area for me to put the baskets on.
 Could I have made it work? 
Of course. 
But it would have been a lot of extra work and to be honest, I was lucky enough if I finished this project. 
To be really really honest, I'm lucky enough if I can even get the laundry washed, folded and put away...within a week of doing it. But that's beside the point...

So I found this perfect dresser. 
It was real wood. 
It was a simple style. 
I liked that it had "legs" to give it a not quite dresser feel. 
It was pretty old. 
And dirty. 
And smelled. 
But it was $15. 
And it was just was I needed.

So I put on the official painting attire

Gathered up the key ingredients for a makeover

Gave it a quick cleaning, took out the drawers and the hardware and primed it. 

Impatiently waited for that to dry and sprayed on my first coat.

Followed by an extremely sore/numb finger and wrist. 

Impatiently waited for coat number 2.

Impatiently waited to bring it into the house. 

Smudged a few spots. 

Retouched the smudged spots. 

Impatiently waited some more. 

Went out to buy baskets to kill some time while they dried and obviously it was needed to complete the look anyways, so it was a win-win. 

Found the perfect baskets. 

Retouched a few more spots.

Impatiently waited and may or may not have brought it into the house with a few not 100% dry spots. 

Mr. B sawed off the the middle wood piece so the baskets could lie flat. 

This was something I could've done, but why would I go through all of that when my wrist is now limp and I have a wonderful, talented husband to help me out??
 Oh yeah and that fact that I'm almost positive it would've taken me hours to saw through the glue and little nails.
 Possibly days. 

Now, this project isn't 100% complete. 
But complete enough that if I don't blog about it now, I never will. 

I still need to buy hardware, I bought some but Mr. B wasn't a fan. So for now it is what it is. And knowing how I am with projects I will be surprised if I manage to get new hardware on there before Christmas.
 Or ever. 

Seriously.

I also didn't get to finish decorating like I wanted {like I have "pinned"}, but for now it's what I have and it will do. 

I love how it turned out. 
It's just what I wanted. 
I really wanted a place to decorate that Adalyn couldn't reach and also to have a place to put a bunch of the little toys and this allows for both! 
The baskets make for easy clean ups too! 

And if you're wondering if that's a Scentsy warmer in the center....why yes it is! 

Thanks for asking!

I am now a consultant! I became one because I love their products and when my house smells delicious and I wanted others to know about it too. 

If you're interested, check out my website or leave a comment.

Anyways back to the project. 
Here it is in a nutshell:

I'm excited to have a faux mantel.
It's the little things in life...

Guess What??

I got to photograph the cutest boy making the cutest pregnancy announcement.

 We tried to get him to hold the sign like a few pictures that had been posted on Pinterest.

But...

A. An 18 month old is going to what they want to do. End of discussion. 

B. There should be warnings on Pinterest that say "Poses in real life are much more difficult to achieve than they appear".

So it was onto Plan B. I brought some chalk and thought he would like to draw with it.

Photographer: 1

Baby: .5

Then I just add the text through ipiccy.

{better than picnik, similar to picmonkey. I prefer making collages with ipiccy though}

After many chalkboard failures with Adalyn, I've learned that it's easiest to use a blank chalkboard and just add text later.

You don't have to worry about your handwriting or it smudging

and

you have a much higher percentage of getting a good pose. 

Trust me. 

Here are some other fun ones from the shoot: 

She also wanted to have a little guessing game after her announcement on facebook so there's this cute one, too:

Again, the perk to adding text later!

Congrats to the O. Family!! 

Other pictures can be seen at 

Captured.photography

on facebook!

Adalyn's Pantry

Adalyn doesn't really have her own pantry, 
but her food does take up a good amount of space. 

I always like to see what other babies eat so I thought it would be fun to do a post on Adalyn's staples. 

So fun, right?

Okay, so maybe that wasn't the right word to use...

Yesterday I went grocery shopping so it was the perfect time since the last couple days I've been too lazy to go shopping and she's been eating corn pops, ritz bits and peanut butter and crackers because everything she loves was "in stock".

Breakfast

She starts off with some dry cereal and then usually has a yogurt and a fruit. I buy a mix of Yobaby and Gerber yogurt. I like how the the Gerber yogurt doesn't have to be refrigerated {which is a little weird too}, but it's great for on-the-go too.

Easy on-the-go snacks that she loves:

These are all clean and mess free so they're perfect!

 Sometimes the little strawberries can get stuck on her clothes, but other than that these are our go-to snacks. 

Lunch

 is usually a variety of some sorts. 

She's not a huge veggie fan so I like to get the fruit and veggie mixes and she loves those. 

I also love the GoGo Squeez apple sauce. I prefer to buy the jumbo pack at Target though. 

Some nuggets with a little ranch and ketchup.

Or

Peanut butter and crackers. 

Sometimes a hot dog, rotisserie chicken or grilled cheese.

Side "dishes" with lunch
She loves any kind of cheese, raisins, pirates booty {she really loves Jax (cheese doodles) but these are yummy, cleaner and a healthier option,} and mini rice quakes. 

I tried to be healthier and reduce the consumption of cheese puffs, but surprisingly she wasn't a fan of Veggie Sticks.
Can't say I blame her...

Dinner

 is usually whatever we are having
or

I prefer the Gerber graduates pasta dinners, but our grocery store doesn't have those so if I go there I usually get these Steamies and they are good enough. 
She loves the pasta stars and chicken and also the mac and cheese. {She also loved the Annie's mac and cheese, but I've only made that a few times}. 

The ravioli's are great and easy too- she loves those!

And dinner is usually finished off with a few animal crackers. 

Of course, all this food is mismatched throughout the day, but for the most part it's pretty consistent. 

This girl loves to eat just like her mama.


We haven't started juice yet, because she is still loving her water. 
And of course it never fails that she chokes on it because she drinks it too fast....

What do you're kids eat?

Anything they love we should know about??