Oh Hanna Andersson!

Ok, so these posts are getting a little shopping heavy, but I keep getting the BEST catalogs in the mail!

I just received the Hanna Andersson catalog in the mail, and again, I want to order the entire thing. Front to back. Every outfit.

It's all SO darn cute!

I love that the girls (and the boys) clothing is classic and covered and appropriate and all that good stuff.

Here are some favorites:

Yes, these are adult pajamas, and yes, you bet I want them for me AND Mr. Pit!

Classic pajamas for Little Pit...too cute!

Sweater dress...I die...perfect colors, perfect pattern, and SO cute in that teeny tiny size!

I can just imagine her at the playground in this, or in preschool...A.DORABLE!

If this doesn't scream Christmas in Sweden I don't know what does.

That's all I have for now, Little Pit only took a 2 hour nap today instead of 3, so we have an extra long afternoon ahead of us, yay!

Hope everyone stays warm and dry this weekend, we're supposed to get snow tomorrow!!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

18 Months

Today Little Pit is exactly 18 months old.

I can't tell you how quickly the past year and a half is gone. The last time I looked around I was setting up her nursery in the middle of a huge snow storm and then all of a sudden it was Spring and them BAM! she was here! April 27th was and will always be a day full of amazing memories.

A little status report, as of Tuesday's 18 month check up, she was 24 lbs 10 oz, 57th percentile, and 31" tall. Also, amazingly, 57th percentile. Her head is still huge, like her Dad, 18 3/4", 80th percentile.

She is walking, running, climbing, sliding, pulling, tugging, pushing, rocking, opening and closing everything and falling a lot, though I am told no more or less than any other toddler, hence the name TODDLER. This makes me feel better because I went through a phase where I felt like she was just really clumsy and the house was a death trap...but now I know she's a toddler and we've done everything we can to baby proof.

She's a bit slow with the words to come out, but her comprehension is through the roof. We can ask her to bring us certain stuffed animals or puzzles or our shoes or her hat and she gets it right every time. So, we know there is nothing wrong with her brain, she's just slow to form words and though the pediatrician is a bit worried, I know she'll come around and be speaking in sentences soon enough. Plus, anyone who knows me in real life knows that I don't stop talking very often, so she could feel like she can't get in a word edge wise. We'll see, I have a feeling we won't be worrying about this for long.

She's also going through some pretty serious separation anxiety, and I'm told that this is Round 2 and could last for as long as a year...yikes! I thought it was only when we left her with a sitter, but I left her with Mr. Pit for the evening on Tuesday so I could take a photography class, and apparently Mr. Pit got the short end of her fuse and she cried for me for an hour. SUPER yikes. Here's to hoping she gets over this quickly :)

Otherwise, she is a funny, sweet, daring, loving, smart, athletic little nugget that I am madly in love with.

Here's a little preview of her in her Halloween costume at The Little Gym. She'll wear it again for Gymboree tomorrow and then again Monday for actual Halloween.

ROAR!!

Hope everyone is having a great day!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

2 months to go...

Today is October 25th, which means we're 2 months from Christmas, yahoo!

My Christmas list is a bit long, and a bit fancy, but that's what lists are for right? So you can fantasize about what you want...I have what I need, believe me!

Here are a few fun things I wouldn't mind under the tree...

This Eryn dress in Chorus Girl. I have loved this dress since I saw the preview for it in the summer. Plus, at $198 it's a downright bargain for a Lilly. Do I need it? Absolutely not, but it's so pretty!

An Erin Condren Life Planner. I love calendars and regularly use the one on the fridge as well as synching up my online Google calendar with Mr. Pits. This however is SO cute and I feel like I could stuff everything into it, including invitations and check up cards that are currently taking over the fridge.

Ok, so this isn't for me, but how cute would this be for Little Pit? It's actually on sale in the latest "Great Big Toy Book" from ToysRUs...and I'm hoping Mr. Pit will let me splurge on it for her. She would have a blast in there.

I'm not eligible for an upgrade from Verizon until August of next year, but that doesn't keep me from wanting an iPhone like none other. I was impatient and bought a Droid and I loathe it...so I'm counting down the days to my 20 month anniversary and I can upgrade!

That's it for now. I could list a whole lot more clothes and shoes and silly stuff, but you've all seen my Boden post, so you know I have that covered. Honestly, at this point I want Little Pit to start talking (the pediatrician was a wee-bit concerned this morning that at 18 months she only has about 4 words) and to continue to be healthy. The child has a crazy tendency to fall down, I mean FALL down every day, so I wish her to be more stable and balanced and we can all rest a bit easier. I want Mr. Pit to continue to be happy in his position at work (he's been there 18 months and is SOO happy which is so awesome) and I wish that our house and cars stay well so we don't have to drop our savings on repairs. (2011 was a notoriously bad year for both our cars). I want a snowy winter so we can play outside, but not so snowy or icy that we can't get to where we want to go.

Am I asking too much? Hope not!

Hope everyone is having a great day, Little Pit is 2 1/2 hours into her afternoon nap and shows no signs of waking soon, yahoo!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Chicago

Mr. Pit and I got back yesterday afternoon after a whirlwind adventure in Chicago, and it was a blast.

With Little Pit safely ensconced at my parents house for the weekend, Mr. Pit and I hopped a Southwest flight to get out to Chicago mid-afternoon on Friday. We checked into our suite at the W-City Center, and it was awesome. All of the W's lobbies are cool, but this one was amazing. They had these HUGE 20 foot tall lamps in the middle, and I definitely didn't feel like I was cool enough to be staying in such a swank hotel!

A few hours of rest later, we headed over to The Aviary and again, felt WAY not cool enough to be going into this bar. We actually got to sit downstairs in what they call 'The Office' and we enjoyed super cool cocktails and managed to get a tour of their ice room at the end of our visit. They have one person whose entire job it is to make ice. ALL.NIGHT.LONG. He can make ice spheres, ice coatings on the inside of the glass, ice infused with the liquor inside...I can't even explain. SOOO cool. Check out the website, it is definitely worth a look if you like cool cocktails. One of the drinks even comes with a sling shot that you have to use to break open your cocktail filled ice ball!

Then we were off to Blackbird , which is the first Michelin rated restaurant I've ever eaten in. TOTALLY delicious. The menu was a bit overwhelming at first, but I ordered the duck, and a fun basil infused cocktail and I was totally blown away by how great everything tasted.

I also have to say that the service at both the Aviary and Blackbird were phenomenal. A LOT of Philly restaurants should take note of how they do things in the midwest. They were helpful, friendly and always there without ever hovering.

After dinner we went straight back to the hotel and my friend N and I went up to bed while the boys stayed up WAY too late drinking at the hotel bar. The next morning was an early one though, so I was glad I went to sleep when I did.

The next morning Mr. Pit and I went to breakfast at Lou Mitchell's which we were told was a Chicago breakfast institution. I have to agree with all the feedback we got and the line was definitely worth the wait. The best part is that they give you Milkduds on your way out of the restaurant. A place where I can eat and then they give me my favorite candy as dessert, sign me up!

After breakfast we headed down to the lobby to get in the car for the trip down to South Bend. Having never been to a large college football game (and since my Alma Mater had a whopping 3400 students TOTAL), this was the most amazing part of the weekend. The tailgaiting setups for home games at Notre Dame are just amazing. Everyone has custom made flags that they put on these HUGE flagpoles near their car and they fill up parking lot after parking lot of cars and cars and cars and people eat and drink and hang out ALL day. I know I sound like a complete idiot when I explain it, but seriously, I've never seen anything like it. I know all the girls from the South are probably saying...well DUH, that's how the SEC does it...but you have to understand...outside of the NFL, the largest football game I have been to was Princeton/Penn, and that doesn't get 1/1oth the people that Notre Dame gets at EVERY home game!

Anyways, the tailgating was awesome, walking around campus (even in rival USC gear) was really fun and everyone was incredibly friendly. The game was great (yay Trojans!) and we didn't even get yelled at even though we were flies in the milk (the ONLY two people in our section wearing Red in a sea of Green and Gold).

Then less than 12 hours later we were back at Midway to get on our flight home to see Little Pit. She had a great time at my parents house and though exhausted, my parents said they had a wonderful time watching her.

All in all a GREAT weekend!

A new fav...

Last night I had the pleasure of meeting Kearsley Lloyd, who is the brains and creativity behind Tipsy Skipper or, my new favorite brand.

The flats are SO cute and the little "Captain Morgan" Bags are to die for. She also makes Flip Flops in kid sizes AND adult sizes so Little Pit and I might have to get a Mother/Daughter matching pair :)

Kearsley couldn't have been nicer last night and I had the best time learning about how she came to having her own company and how she talked her way into an internship at Lilly. If she lived around here I swear we'd be good friends :)

Check out her website, they have super cute things, perfect for the holidays or any occasion.

Hope everyone's having a great day :)

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Shipley Shops

Tonight is one of my FAVORITE nights of the year...it's the Shipley Shops Preview Party!!

Shipley Shops is the annual fundraiser for Shipley and it features food, drink and all the best vendors around. As Shipley is my Alma Mater (as well as my Mom's, my Grandmother's and both of my brother's) I am always happy to support my school, and the vendors each year get better and better!

Last year I got a fabulous bag for myself (Thanks to my Mom who bought it for me as an early Christmas gift) and a ton of cute stuff for Little Pit. There was a vendor there who sold a whole bunch of stuff from the Macbeth Collection and I went a bit bananas. I love all their stuff.

Anyways, that's what we're doing tonight, can't wait! The babysitter is coming at 6:15 and I can guarantee Little Pit will NOT be thrilled about that (she's been super clingy lately, I've been told this is phase 2 of separation anxiety? Oy) But, we'll get through because we always do.

Hope everyone has a lovely night!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Lust List

You all know I have certain weaknesses. Tasty Cake Cupcakes, Lilly, Scout Bags...and Boden.

I just went to the Boden Warehouse sale last weekend and wasn't impressed. It was SO crowded and by the time I got to the tables, the crazy women that just scoop up whatever is on the table in front of them had been there first and there was little to nothing.

However, I got my catalog in the mail today, and I have earmarked almost every other page. The winter collection is absolutely perfect.

Here are a few of my favs :)

Long Applique Cardigan $188

Favorite Crew Neck Cardigan $78

Stripy Jumper $98

Jasmine Dress (Limited Edition) $218

Ribbon Trimmed Coat (Limited Edition) $398

Fair Isle Cardigan $88

Kate Dress $188

Embellished Collar Top $114

British Tweed Blazer $224

Rainy Day Mac $174

Hamptons Tee $38

Lamby Pullover $78

Colour Block Cuff Top $98

I can't find this sweater to save my life on the website again...but it's cute, right?

Colour Block Tunic $89

So, there's my online virtual shopping spree at Boden for you. I only dropped a few grand right? Ha, Mr. Pit would have me by the ears if I did all that shopping in real life!

Hope everyone is having a great day. Little Pit and I had a great morning at the Philadelphia Zoo and she's still napping and it's 3:40, yahoo!

xoxo Mrs. Pit

Every two weeks

Or so, right? That's how often I've been keeping up with this thing? Sorry about that.

The trip to OBX was great except for a few things that I'll air out here and then I can stop talking about it.

Remember how I was all excited about the hot tub and heated pool? Yeah, they didn't work. We got all kinds of apologies and this and that, but they never got either working in the time we were there. This made me one SAD Momma. The neighbors were nice enough to let us use theirs, but it wasn't the same. We are getting money back from the company, but in all honesty, I don't want money, I wanted to sit in a hot tub!

Secondly, both Little Pit and I got horrible colds while we were down there, and 10 days later we are still suffering through. I haven't been able to smell or taste in 4 days and for someone that LOVES food, this is awful. I almost cried talking to my doctor. He gave me a Z Pack thinking that I might have a sinus infection, but otherwise it's a virus and we have to let it works its course. I have also tried every freaking decongestant known to man and NOTHING works. NOTHING. Zyrtec, Claritin, Benadryl, Sudafed, Advil Cold and Sinus...nothing. None of them stop my head congestion, my coughing, my runny nose or any of it. Blah.

HOWEVER, the trip was awesome. Little Pit had an awesome time on the beach, as witnessed by the below photos. What you don't see is me absolutely freaking out when she ran, yes RAN into the ocean and cried when we tried to pull her out. She wasn't afraid of ANYTHING. Not the waves, or the cold water...nothing. I am glad she's not afraid of much, but on the other hand, having her barrel into the ocean was terrifying! When do they learn cause and effect? Soon I hope!

Here are some pictures from the week. Our professional photos should be available soon, I am hoping next week but I think that's pushing it. I absolutely LOVED our photographer and she was a great sport to get 3 families with 3 kids in under 2 hours.

This week was pretty uneventful, Little Pit and I were just trying to recover each day and she's gotten better and I've just stayed the same or gotten worse. This morning I left her with Mr. Pit so that I could go to the Boden warehouse sale. Unfortunately, it was a mad house but I did get a pair of pants that I love and a pair of shoes that I plan to wear in Chicago next weekend.

Ok, so here are some pictures from the trip. I'll post the professional ones when they come in too. Our photographer was Kirsten Lewis and if you're ever in the Outer Banks I would recommend her!

Driving on the beach up to our house. We were only a mile and a half from the VA border, 9 miles from the closest road and 15 miles from town.

RUNNING into the water. We went through about 4 outfits a day not including bathing suits because she would just take off for the water.

She loved the sand that had been driven over. She was fairly obsessed with the tire tracks. I was obsessed with making sure she didn't get run over, even though there was very little traffic on our part of the beach since we were so far up.

The buckets and shovels were the favorite toys of the week. SO simple and SO entertaining. This bucket was a gift from my friend P for Little Pit's birthday. It's so cute with her name on it. LOVE.

This is what we found outside our door every day. You aren't supposed to get within 50 feet of the wild horses, but when they come up to your front step you can't really help it!

This one was my favorite, just a baby. He was so cute and would lay in the sun to warm himself. Adorable.

They purposely fence in the yards so that you can't park your car and ruin the landscape for the horses.

It took the baby a little while to work up the courage to step over the fence.

Our baby completely passed out on the way home last Sunday. Vacation is tiring!

We have some pretty great outlets near us and my friend P and I took the kids yesterday so they could run around a bit and we could shop. This toy was a big hit, as was the ride on pony. We didn't even have to put money in the toys, they just wanted to sit in them!

Anyways, that's our last two weeks in pictures. Next weekend Little Pit is spending the weekend with her Grandparents (my parents) and Mr. Pit and I are going to Chicago with friends for some fun and the USC/Notre Dame game in South Bend on Saturday night. Not that I want to leave Little Pit, but it certainly will be nice to have a kid free weekend (and a king size bed at the W!)