11 months ~ keeping us on our toes!

As I assemble the boys 1st birthday invitations for our family celebration I honestly can't believe that Christian and Caleb are less than one month shy of 1. While I'm excited and have been having so much fun watching them grow and develop unique personalities, I do get a bit choked up wondering where the time went?

The boys are the perfect combination of sweet and mischievous all wrapped into one, which definitely keeps us on our toes. Christian and Caleb love giving hugs and kisses to everyone including their big sister....but when they spot an opportunity to climb or get into trouble they will absolutely take it.  The boys are not only crawling, but crawling faster than Scott and I can catch them!  The minute I open up a non safe kid zone such as a bathroom, closet or garage door they are off to see what is inside.  Then when I move one boy out, the opposite brother crawls back in, it truly is a funny cycle that has Kyleigh in giggles watching the entire experience!   Additionally, they both know how to climb up into Kyleigh's toddler bed, but think they can dive headfirst out of it.....so supervision in her room is a must.

Caleb and Christian's 11 month shoot went a little crazier than the last as they are truly on the move.  The only pics I was able to capture of the two of them together was in Caleb's crib. From what I'm remembering ironically enough Kyleigh was the same way....looking at her pics below we had her in her bed as well @ 11 months. 

As I finish editing this post I came across an article in the Huffington Post that I can relate to oh so well.  A mom of twin girls and a toddler boy talks about the 12 lessons her twins taught her in 12 months….she has inspired me to write my own lessons next month!  

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5143521

Fun times all around, see you next month as the mommy of (gasp) twin 1 year olds!

Pre-School Party Time!

This year I'm really ahead of the game for Kyleigh's Easter School party.  We both went to Michael's about a month ago and found these cute and practical water bottles.  Her school has a no sugar/sweet/preservative policy so we are always looking for ways to be creative and to find things her friends can have fun with!  

I used the bunny name tags I illustrated for Kyleigh last year and made a happy easter text graphic to cut out on my silhouette.  While the boys were sleeping this past Saturday, Kyleigh could hardly wait to assemble that she pulled me out of bed at 6am to finish!  My job was to tie the ribbon, Kyleigh took care of the rest, picked out the ribbon color, paper color and taped on the easter bunny message!  

Hope she has fun at her party tomorrow, off to bed tonight…...

If I could only time-stamp this photo you would see she is all smiles at 6am this past Saturday!

Frozen....& 6!

Frozen has taken over, and how fitting for Kennidie my cute niece to ring in Chicago springtime with a wintery party…..hopefully Kennidie can bring back summer!

Happy birthday my sweet goddaughter.

Choo-choo growth chart

Just getting back in the swing of things from a nice vacation and first up is a custom growth chart I made for sweet Charlie inspired by his train bedding from pottery barn.  I'm excited to expand on growth chart designs for boys!

Angie, can't wait to come over to see how it looks in his room!  Will have to have a playmate soon:-)

Potter Barn Bedding

10 months!

Nine months came and went so fast as 10 snuck up on us so quickly!  I had to go into Kyleigh's old things to find white onesies as forgot to purchase 2 for Christian and Caleb in time for their photoshoot!

The boys are even more mobile than ever lately.  In most cases they travel the house together and other times in complete opposite directions. Either way they definitely keep us on our toes. I think it is safe to say their favorite place is Kyleigh's room (the bathroom would be before that, but we keep that door closed as they keep trying to climb into the bathtub).  

Some new fun surprises this month…..we are really noticing the boys engaging with each other, they speak their own language to each other and laugh a lot, almost like they are telling jokes.  After lights out at night they have chats with each other from their cribs.  Now that they are able to pull themselves up and stand so they can actually see each other.  Lots of fun ahead of us all!

…. Caleb is off….

….and Christian got into Kyleigh's markers

Our 3 cuties playing together, such a special moment captured.

Until next month…...

Wedding Boarding Pass

First wedding invitation of the year!  Congratulations to Jamie and Tor hope you are having an amazing time celebrating your marriage at sea!

I was so excited when Jamie reached out to me, not only was I able to reconnect with a high school friend from my past but we were able to collaborate on a unique boarding pass invitation from afar.  Jamie was in Norway during the development process but we never skipped a beat as she was so easy to work with and very decisive:)

Also, thank you Jamie for sharing the wonderful feedback from your guests.  Sounds like the invites were a hit and one guest asked if they could verbally respond as they wanted to save the invitation in tact:-)  Again hope you are having an amazing time and thank you so much for asking me to help design such a unique invite!

Haley's 5th Birthday!

Happy 5th birthday Haley!  We loved your rainbow theme party and hope you loves the invitations as much as we did. Kyleigh still insists on keeping the invite in her room as this is definitely one of her favorites!

Also loved that we were able to incorporate a picture of you from your family photo session, such a cutie!

Monkeying around with Reese

Happy Birthday Reese....it's been so fun to see you grow!  I can't believe you are already one (and now by the time I post it almost half-way to 2)!  Love the idea of the monkey invitation and the accompanying banner to make the party so special (banner post).

Family Tree Growth Chart

A really sweet new mommy reached out to me all the way from New Jersey asking for a growth chart to give her mother for Christmas.  We concepted together and decided a family tree in neutral colors would match best!

Each bird represents a family member and a heart carving on the tree showcases the date the O'Holla family was established!

9 months, where did the time go?

Happy 9 months to our boys....and we are also celebrating 3 months in our new house....oh and happy valentine's day everyone!

The boys are continuing to grow right before our eyes. They have almost closed the 2 lbs and 2 inch gap on height as they are 1" apart now....but for the first time weight is now a 3 pound swing!

They are rolling, scooting around and army crawling like crazy, getting into just about everything.

Christian:

This month he is turning into a mommys boy for sure. The minute I walk into the door from work and he spots me I am not allowed to leave his side. He is consistently saying mama and loves open mouth kisses. More teeth are coming in on the top...6 in total!  He is rolling and spinning around quickly in a circle on his belly which has us all in hysterics. Also he has perfected his army crawl and it will likely be days before a full on crawl. He can pick himself up from sitting to standing, loves clapping and hi fives.  His favorites include his brother, big sister and Mickey Mouse!  We are still working on sleeping through the night but leading up to his 9 month bday we had 3 successful nights...better than 0:). Christian is holding his own bottle and always disappearing to kyleighs room to get into her bouncy ball collection!

Caleb:

Caleb is still such a sweet and chill baby and you can see he may have his daddy's funny personality. He teases with me, I ask him to say mommy and he laughs and says daddy. He is rolling around like crazy and gets excited and does the cutest arm and leg duo kick. He also loves open mouth kisses. Caleb has baby talk conversations with us and his siblings and sings himself to sleep. He is our cuddlier and loves his blanket.  They are both holding the bottle on their own and love all kinds of baby food!  6 teeth and counting as well and such a good sleeper:).  Caleb definitely has a great connection with Kyleigh and is always smiling. 

Big sister kyleigh is so sweet to her brothers. She has grown so much this month as well at just one month shy if 3 1/2. I just love this picture it shows her love for babies this stroller was they gift they gave kyleigh the day they came home from the hospital.

A quick update on the boys as 9 months comes to a close. Caleb is full on crawling and is getting quick. He cut another bottom tooth upping his count to 7!  Learned how to play keep away from Christian as Christian is always going after Caleb's things. Caleb he's his hand out and spins in a circle until Christian gives up. 

Christian is climbing and pulling himself up onto everything in addition to opening any and every drawer. He sometimes crawls on his knees but has found an army crawl gets him places faster. Also he loves and wants anything his brother has. Christian can have 1 ball but wants 2 so he goes after Caleb's. 

All in all we are having a blast and definitely keeping busy!!!

Until next month!

Gearing up for valentine's day!

As I'm packing items for a quick day trip to Detroit for work....ugh 4:10am wake-up call tomorrow.  Want to be sure that Kyleigh is all set for her pre-school valentine's day party!

Outfit set out - check (with strict instructions that daddy needs to send me a picture)
Classroom favors - check
Homemade valentine's day box - check

I'm starting to find that last year was a bit easier to be a little more creative as I hand crafted the favors (check out the post from 2013: favors) and even hand created the valentines day box (link to 2013 post: cardbox)

Off to bed and Detroit tomorrow.....can't wait to get back home and hear all about the special day....daddy's in charge!

snoooooow!

Girls will be girls, playing in the snow is oh so much fun!