It's as if the two of us had a baby...

#YouAreaGoodMama.

Fabulous blog post I came across. Read it here. To my cousin, who is raising 3 children all born in different decades, working a million hours, traveling for said work, volunteering, and running a household-you are a good mama. To my lifelong girl in Boca, raising a son in a crazy South Florida world, without her best friend-you are a good mama. To my own Mama, working every day to support herself and be a strong woman for her grandbaby-and daughter-who needs her so much-you are a good mama.

And to myself, who is still trying to figure it all out and probably will be forever-you are a good mama. Gabe is really, really good at telling me this-often and with meaning. I need to learn to believe him.

Jenny's Etsy Faves.

1. i can never have enough twine, and this one's gilded. 2. we always play who has the next birthday in the family, don't you? 3. so chic, so sloane. 4. pillow of my buddy.

the big first birthday: #slOaNEstock2013

laying in bed late one night, when all of those glorious ideas pop into everyone's head, i realized that sloane contained the word O N E. adorbs. of course, the first birthday is monumental for any new mom. i've dreamed of this day since marrying gabe yet am dreading the actual fact that her first year with me is coming to an end. anyhoo-i have been planning for quite some time and now am in total over-the-top list making, craft explosion mode. i think this is the only party where i can get away without a major theme for her, so we're doing a hint of BALLOONS with a splash of stripes, layers of colors, and basically anything that's making the rounds with my blogger friends. we officially kicked off the downward spiral into jenny is a crazy person land with a super fun-you guessed it-PHOTO SHOOT! i ordered balloons with her logo (#imean) from here. they were super easy to work with and look totally crisp. although she could have rocked a good outfit, i also love her in just a diap and headband like we do each month. i chose a metallic gold bow from that awfully weird bowtique place at scottsdale & shea on a turquoise band that i had.

gabe is such a good sport. we blew up about 25 balloons, added some bunting from A Felt Affair, filled sloane's crib up, and dropped her in.

and then, she was 10 months.

as they say, the days are long and the years are short. my first beautiful daughter sloane marie is now ten months old. holy blink of an eye! she crawls around faster than her dachsund brother harvey can run away from her. sloane pulls up on everything. she says mama & dada, and babbles all day. her personality is pretty laid back. her favorite things to tote around are little bottles of lotion & makeup and mini catalogs that come in the mail. at least half of her toys are gator-oriented. we have so much fun playing dress-up. she's a good sport with the headband addiction i have formed.

sloane laughs and laughs. she absolutely loves the pool and can stay in for hours-doused in her sun bum sunscreen, of course. we listen to a lot of the classic musicians (read: fleetwood mac, dave matthews, jay z). mama is strict with her feeding and nap schedule, and she thrives off of it. speaking of meals-sloane eats pretty much what we eat. she totally feeds herself finger foods and interacts with us at the family table. she's a social butterfly, flying from musicology class, swim lessons, shopbopping with mama and playdates all throughout the week. sloane turns the page when we read, giggling at the funny voices and colorful pictures. sundays with daddy are her favorite; she is wrapped around his finger for sure. sloane gets so excited when she hears the facetime ringtone because she knows her papa is caling. overall, sloane is thriving. we are so forever grateful for the opportunity to raise her. i simultaneously want to freeze this age forever and also have her be sixteen so i can tell her how important she is-to me, Gabe and the world at large.

most of all, she has changed her mama. you're welcome, cara lakin.