Olive Ruth | 4 Months

Weight: 16lb (est)

Length: 22 inches long (est)

Likes: You are all about your hands.  If we don't have them swaddled down, they are in your mouth.  You are learning that those things can do something, and you control them!  You can get your paci out of your mouth, but can't quite figure out how to get it back in. 

You love your brother.  If you get fussy, we just put you in your bumbo and let you watch him run around.  You think that he's really funny...and you are right!

You also love baths.  You would stay in the water as long as we let you. We are pretty sure that you are going to be a little fish.  I see swim lessons in your future as soon as possible!!

Dislikes:  Still not a crazy fan of tummy time.  You will tolerate it a little bit longer, but not much.

Your biggest dislike right now is losing your paci.  Especially at night.  It's becoming a huge frustration for you and your mama.  We would appreciate it if you would either learn to keep it in your mouth, or not care when it falls out at night.  Please and thank you. :)

Milestones:

We know that you can sleep through the night, but you still choose not to quite often.  We think it has to do with you coming unswaddled and losing your paci.  But there is no consistency and no matter what we do, every night is different.  But you are sleeping through the night every couple of nights, so we will take what we can get!

You now eat 6oz every 3 hours during the day. We only feed you at night if absolutely necessary.  

You found your voice for sure.  You scream like a cat and it's the cutest little voice ever.  You like to be heard, and that means screaming over your brother.  Which is really loud.  I didn't think that any kid could be louder than Ellis, but you are already giving him a run for his money.

Still not rolling yet.  You've gotten really close a few times, but just haven't completely rolled without assistance yet.  You'll get it :)

Firsts:

You've started grabbing at things.  You will reach towards toys and your pacifier.  Oh and you have pretty good aim for mom's hair.   You don't quite know what to do with said things once you get them in your hand, but you're working on figuring it out!

You wore TOMs for the first time.  And real jeans.  I know, sounds silly, but it's actually pretty monumental around here :) 

Fun Fact:

You are quite the little chunker.  We say that with all the love in the world.  Your cheeks are pretty amazing and seem to somehow get bigger and bigger.  You are barely 4 months, but you are wearing mostly 9 month onesies and 6 month pants.  It's pretty hilarious.  And amazingly adorable.  

Happy 4 months Miss O!

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You can check out Ellis' 4 month post here!

Fifty Two Pages | Feb 17 - Feb 23

It's Monday...which means it's time for #fiftytwopages!

It's a project on being intentional.  It's a project on making memories and keeping them alive.

It's your memories in Fifty Two Pages.

If you are new, click here for full details! :)

Here's my collage for the week!

We had a warmer week along with a couple sick days.  Olive turned 4 months and fell asleep in her bumbo. 

Join up with the fifty two pages community by sharing your collage on IG/Twitter with tag #fiftytwopages!  

Snow, Snow, Snow and Ice.

Around here there's nothing but snow.  Well, besides that huge ice storm we just had...but mostly snow. More snow than I can remember in a long time.

Most moments I'm very very over it. My soul longs for sun. But I had a moment of strength this weekend when Bryan asked me to come out and take some pictures of Ellis playing in the snow.

And I was newly inspired after reading this Shultz Photo School article on 3 simple tips for shooting pics of your kids in the snow.

(side note:  A lot of you have asked what camera I use and if I can share any tips on how I take pictures of my kids. I owe all my photo taking abilities to my good friend and photographer, Kyle Shultz. I worked as a graphic designer for him for 5 years and stole all the camera knowledge I could. And he's now bottling all of that goodness online and sharing it over at Shultzphotoschool.com. If you haven't heard of Shultz Photo School, go check it out now!) 

So, I grabbed my camera and my boots and got out in the cold.  I'm no pro like Kyle, but I definitely came away with some keepers!

 

Okay, sure. The pictures might be cute. But Spring... you are welcome anytime now.

Fifty Two Pages | Feb 10 - Feb 16 + 3 Easy ways to add the date!

It's Monday...which means it's time for #fiftytwopages!

It's a project on being intentional.  It's a project on making memories and keeping them alive.

It's your memories in Fifty Two Pages.

If you are new, click here for full details! :)

By far the number one question I get asked is, "How do you add the date to your collage?"

There are many ways.  But I'll highlight three :)

And they can all be done on your phone, with two (free!) apps:  

------->Pic Stitch - Big Blue Clip, LLC

-------> Typic – Fonts and Filters for Instagram

Date Option # 1 // over your photos:

• create your collage in Pic Stitch
• save collage to you camera roll
• open collage in Typic
• scroll to the right to the font page, select your font and type your date. You are able to use your finger to move the font to the best place on your collage.
• scroll to the next page to adjust the color and opacity of your text
• scroll to the last page and save your collage to your camera roll

My opinion:  This option is the simplest, but you risk losing parts of your images by covering them with text. It can take the focus away from your pictures.

Date Option # 2 // around your photos:

• create your collage in Pic Stitch
• save collage to you camera roll
• open collage in Typic
• scroll to the right to the font page, select your font and type your date.
• scroll to the next page and you will see "frame" options.  Select the white dot.  This will add a border around your photos.
• now you can use your finger to move your date anywhere on the white border.  You may need to go back to the previous font page and decrease the size of your font to make it fit in the border.
• scroll to the next page to adjust the color and opacity of your text
• scroll to the last page and save your collage to your camera roll

My opinion:  This option is what I use.  I love that it doesn't take away from the pictures. The downside is that you are very limited on what fonts will fit in the border.  I like to use one the same font every week, so this doesn't bother me, but if you like to change things up this option may not be for you :)

Date Option # 3 // inside your photos:

• create your collage in Pic Stitch
• leave one of your photo slots empty...this will be where your date will go, so be intentional
• save collage to you camera roll
• open collage in Typic
• scroll to the right to the font page, select your font and type your date
• use your finger to move the date over the empty white box.  You may need to format your text to fit accordingly.  In the example below, I had to use the "return" button to put my dates on different lines when typing it or else it would not have fit in the box.
• scroll to the next page to adjust the color and opacity of your text
• scroll to the last page and save your collage to your camera roll

My opinion:  This option is the trickiest.  There can be a lot of trial and error to get it exactly how you want it.  It also takes away an extra slot for a photo. But if you have the patience and eye for it, this option allows you to keep both the date and the pictures as the focus.  You also can format the font in many different ways so if you like to switch things up each week, this may be the option for you! 

A couple things to think about:

• Remember that the ultimate goal of creating these collages is so that at the end of the year you will have 52 pages to print in a book.  So, think about that when you are creating your collages.  As much as I appreciate the advertisement, do you really want #fiftytwopages written on every single page of your book? ;)  Also, in 5 years, would you rather look back at your book and see "Week 7" or "February 10 - February 16".  No right/wrong answer, just something to think about :)
• On the same hand, think about paying that .99 to take off any advertisements that some free apps may stamp on your collages...I promise it's worth it! (...or if you really don't have the .99,  the 2 apps that I recommend do not stamp your photos and are free!)
• Always, always, always save your collages to your camera roll before posting them to Instagram.  I'd hate for you to get to the end of the year and not have the full resolution files to use for your book.  Posting them straight to IG from your apps may not save a copy of the full file, so just make sure to do it yourself.

If you have any questions, just comment below and I'd love to answer them! :) 

And lastly, here's my #fiftytwopages collage for the week!

If you haven't already, go ahead and make your collage and share it on IG with the #fiftytwopages community!  Can't wait to see your page :) 

Hi, I'm Kendahl, and I'm a terrible gift giver.

I'm no Valentine's Day expert.  I'm not much of a gift giver.  If you ask my husband, he'd say (with love and a big hug...) that I'm a terrible gift giver.

Bryan had a birthday last month.  I really thought this would be the year.  The year that I didn't give him an awful birthday present.  I planned ahead and started collecting ideas in a note on my phone.  He had to work that day, so I figured I would leave him to his day, and then plan a nice dinner and have a gift waiting.  I had a great idea.  He always talks about how he gets his best ideas in the shower.  He even tried to buy some kids shower crayons to write on the walls once, but they didn't quite do.  I found it.  A waterproof notepad.  It could hang on the wall in the shower, he could write and then when he left the shower, tear off the page and take it with him to remember!

Perfect. 

Small (because I was on a tight budget)...but thoughtful and planned ahead.  And paired with a nice dinner out without the kids, it was sure to be a hit.   

Fast forward to the day of his birthday.  To make a long story short I forgot to find a sitter, his gift arrived at 8 pm, and well...the aqua notes were lame...like extremely lame.  (I should have known...)

So, this Valentine's Day is a redeeming one for me.

I can't spoil any surprises, but I didn't forget.  Gifts are (almost) wrapped, and dinner is already in the crockpot. 

It's nice to hear that you are loved, but empty words don't make good gifts.  I can have the best intentions, but if I wait until the day before to order on Amazon, I'm going to end up with late, awful, aqua notes.  (It's going to take a loooong time to live that one down...)

As the adage goes, "actions speak louder than words..."

So go, be with your valentine today.  

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And here's my gift to you!  All orders placed today will receive this Valentine's Day print FREE.  

(No code necessary.)  Go shop now! ----------->

Fifty Two Pages | Feb 3 - Feb 9

It's Monday...which means it's time for #fiftytwopages!

It's a project on being intentional.  It's a project on making memories and keeping them alive.

It's your memories in Fifty Two Pages.

If you are new, click here for full details! :)

I take way too many pictures.

And this is yet another reason why I created #fiftytwopages.  It makes be cut down and simplify.

I love that I can only pick a handful each week.  Just my absolute favorites.

So, here's my favorite pictures of the week :)

Will you join us?  Have you shared your photo on Instagram?  

Tag #fiftytwopages to join the community and get your book started TODAY! ;)

When I decided to stop fitting them in...

Ellis is at this adorable age where he has learned to "take you" places. Instead of just whining about what he wants without having the words to tell you, he now grabs your finger, with his insanely cute little hand, and directs you to where he wants you to go. This started out very practical. When I wasn't sure what he wanted, I would say "show me" and he would. Then it turned into a way for him to get what he wants. All day long he's "taking me" to the stairs (you know, so he can go up and get his paci from his bedroom). Or "taking me" to the box of animal crackers in the kitchen. He thinks just because he can take me there means he gets what is at the destination. Not so much, kid. :)

I was having one of those mornings. As soon as I finished changing one diaper, the other needed changed. As I was feeding one kid the other was screaming for food. I apparently then turned on the wrong cartoon because someone was not pleased. Oh, and all this happened while my to-do list for work and home was staring me in the face. 

Not enough time in the day. 

Just a whirlwind. Not bad, just hectic. I finally got the right cartoon on (crisis averted), Ellis fed, Olive changed, and sat down to feed her. Then it happened...  "Lego, Legoooo LEGO!" (let's go) he screamed. Over and over. Pulling at my hand. After explaining I was feeding sis, he just got worse. My Lassie radar kicked in, thinking maybe something really was wrong and so I put O down and followed. 

He lead me to the dining room, pointed at the ceiling and laughed.  Then ran away.  

"Seriously Ellis, I don't have time for this..."

I stopped and in the foolishness of the moment was kicked in the gut.

I don't have time for this?

For this.

For my son?  He's learning, exploring, and developing the cutest little personality...and I apparently don't have time. I hate that I said it, but I'm also so glad that I did. 

Because then I was able to hear my ugliness loud and clear. 

In that moment I realized what I had been doing...trying to fit them into my schedule. Feeding and changing all those diapers that morning was a nuisance because I saw those things as getting in my way. I have gotten busier with my shop and blog and graphic design work and somehow in the mess of it all I treated my kids as the add-on. 

How fast can I feed and get Ellis down for a nap so that I can blog?  

If I swaddle Olive up tight she might sleep for another 20 minutes so that I can finish this design even though I know she's hungry...

I'm not perfect. And I never will be. But at that moment I decided to start being intentional.  I decided to stop fitting my kids into my life

... And remember that they are my life.  

Ellis didn't get it. He wasn't hurt by my words. But I was. I was broken. And so I apologized and asked him to forgive mama. He just looked at me and laughed. And then ran away to watch his cartoon.  

I took that as a yes.

100 days | Olive Ruth

As I was updating my weekly photo folder with last wednesday's bath picture, I realized that the photo was taken on the 100th day of her life.

It's true what they say, once they are here you can't imagine life without.  I think she's a keeper.

100 days.  Crazy.

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Have you seen our new prints?  Check out the BE Print Shop!

Also, there's still time to enter the BE Print Shop Giveaway for you chance to win this set of three "Little One" prints and a pair of my favorite earrings from The Poppy Chain! 

Click here to enter the giveaway!!

Fifty Two Pages | Jan 27 - Feb 2

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Note: Apparently when I was prepping my posts for this week I was a day off on the calendar.  When this post didn't go up this morning I got to investigating and found I was off on everything.  

I would apologize, but it actually works to your favor. 

Because the BUY1GET1 coupon code for the BE Print Shop is still working through TONIGHT at midnight.  Ooops. :)  So, if you missed it over the weekend, today is your lucky day!

Again, all prints are still buy one get one free with code "BUY1GET1" through the end of the day!

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It's Monday...which means it's time for #fiftytwopages!

It's a project on being intentional.  It's a project on making memories and keeping them alive.

It's your memories in Fifty Two Pages.

If you are new, click here for full details! :)

I've had a lot of questions lately about how I add the date and which collage apps I use.  

I try and keep all the most asked questions in the "FiftyTwoPages FAQs" menu button at the top of the blog! :)  If you check that out and still can't figure something out, please don't hesitate to email me!

Here's my collage for the week:

Fifty Two Pages | Jan 27 - Feb 2

What did your week look like?  I'd love to see your collage!  

The #fiftytwopages tag works on FB and Twitter, but most seem to be linking up on Instagram.  Share your collage and use the #fiftytwopages tag to share your collage with the rest of the #fiftytwopages community!  There are so many great collages out this week already!

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Also, apparently when I was prepping my posts for this week I was a day off on the calendar.  When this post didn't go up this morning I got to investigating and I was off on everything.  

I would apologize, BUT it actually works to your favor.  Why you ask?

Well, because the BUY1GET1 coupon code for the BE Print Shop is still working through TONIGHT at midnight.  Ooops. :)  So, if you missed it over the weekend, this is your lucky day!

Again, all prints are still buy one get one free with code "BUY1GET1" through the end of the day!