Stokke Scoot Stroller Giveaway

Every day, almost since birth, Ingrid and Travis take a little daddy daughter morning walk. It allows me to get some uninterrupted work done but also is a great bonding time for them. When she was a newborn he used a carrier for these morning walks but now that she's getting bigger and more interested in taking in the world around her our new Stokke Scoot stroller has been perfect. I love that it can face in or out and it's super light and compact, great for city dwellers with limited apartment space or as the perfect traveling companion for all the globetrotting families out there. Not to mention how modern and stylish it looks! It's probably my new favorite baby equipment. Which is why I'm so excited, that thanks to Stokke, I get to give one away to one lucky reader! This is by far the best giveaway I've ever had so you don't want to miss out on it. Instructions are below, I will be picking the winner at random on February 23rd, one week from today. Good luck! Also make sure to check out the my Stokke travel inspired Pinterest board.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. You must be at least 18 years old to enter.

DIY Felt Nursery Garland

I love a DIY that can do double duty and this fun and easy felt garland does exactly that. I originally created it for this years xmas tree but when I was taking down the tree and packing everything away I thought it would be such a shame to not see this pretty handmade garland again until next December. That's when I thought it would go perfectly above the crib in my daughters nursery, and voilà problem solved! To see the full DIY head on over to ebay where I've been guest blogging for the last couple months.

My Birth Story

Those of you who follow me on instagram are probably already aware that my husband and I welcomed our sweet, baby girl, Ingrid Madeline Smith, into the world 3 months ago today. I have been meaning to share her birth story here for awhile, but it has taken me some time to come around to it, partly because even though it was one of the best days of my life it was also really intense and there were parts of it I kind of wanted to block out. So, I needed a little time and distance to be able to revisit it.

I also want to mention that I am usually pretty private and don’t often share super personal aspects of my life here on the blog. But, I found reading other bloggers’ birth stories during my pregnancy very encouraging so, I knew I wanted to do the same.

*warning for those who may be uncomfortable hearing about some of the intimate details of childbirth, if you think that may bother you, you probably want to skip this post.

My Baby Shower

I know it's been forever since my last post. This pregnancy has really thrown me, it's ended up being a lot harder than I ever expected, so the blog ended up being a last priority. I'm almost done now, only a few more weeks to go which is both super exciting and terrifying, but I'll be happy to not be pregnant anymore and finally be able to meet this little girl.

Until then I thought I would share a few photos from my baby shower. Crystal, my dear friend and boss at Rue Magazine threw it for me and it was the most beautiful baby shower I've ever been to, I couldn't believe it was mine. To see more images and get Crystal's tips for hosting such an amazing event check out the full post at Rue Daily. (photos by Edyta Szyszlo)

Baby on Board

After a long absence here on the blog, today I can finally share some HUGE news that I've been keeping secret - I’m pregnant!! 

We are ecstatic!! And looking forward to adding a little munchkin to our family, but to be honest, the pregnancy has been a bit of a nightmare so far. I’ve never been so ill in my life and was really unprepared for how difficult this has been. We found out we were pregnant about 7 weeks ago and around 6 weeks ago I started getting really ill. Within 2 weeks I had lost almost 10 pounds and ended up in the emergency room for an IV for severe dehydration. I’ll spare you all the gory details but what this has meant is I’ve spent about 6 weeks in bed barely able to eat anything and just trying to feel well enough to sit up and answer a few emails. I’ve had to take a huge step back from a lot of my responsibilities, including blogging, which is why you haven’t seen much of me here. Also with my design and art direction work, where I ended up turning away jobs, which has been really hard for me. I want to particularly thank everyone on the Rue team and all the extra hands that helped me with the last issue. The amount of extra help and support they have given me in the last several weeks has been amazing and very much appreciated.

I’m about to enter my 2nd trimester and from everything I’ve heard I will hopefully start feeling better soon. Until that happens I just hope you can all be patient with me. These first 12 weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions and hormonal changes :) It’s hard to explain how I can feel so terrible but also so happy at the same time. I’m sure those of you who have been pregnant can relate. Which is one of the reasons I’m so excited to be able to announce my news - I can finally get advice from other moms! One thing that has been so hard for me emotionally is feeling like I’m dealing with it alone and not being able to reach out to other mothers and ask them, did you go through this? what did you do? will I ever feel better?

I know I will eventually feel better and I know the light at the end of this tunnel will be one of the most amazing new chapters in my life, but for now I would appreciate your support and encouragement. My presence here will probably still be somewhat sporadic but I plan on being back soon.

Sincerely Maia