Welcome back to Tea Collection, returning in sponsorship this month.

Quality clothing, soft textiles, global design inspiration and charitable give-back programs make Tea one of my favorite sites for kids’ clothing.  And having to find quick get-dressed solutions for kindergarten mornings this year makes me appreciate Tea all the more.  Lainey loves the style and comfort of their clothes and I love the fact that they come out of the dryer wrinkle free.

Check Tea’s site on March 3 for their new arrivals, part of the South African inspired Cape Town Surf Collection.  A fun collection of Spring Party Styles (girls party dresses and boys best look) for the holidays will also be available with this collection. 

My current favorite Girl and Boy looks from Tea for spring and summer: (the girls accessories are so dreamy this season–kerchiefs, scarfs, fabric covered bead necklaces, oh my!)

Girls Outfit: Peppercorn Head Scarf, Brush Flower Tab Shoulder Tee, Sunset Stripe Twirl Skort, Peppercorn Loveable Necklace, Saltwater Sandals
Boys Outfit: Zebra Tee, Chester Stripe Hoodie,  French Terry Cargo Shorts, Vans Authentic Checkboard Kicks

And some sweet new baby clothes from their site, highlighting my most sought after quality in baby clothes–super soft stretchy cotton.  Plus, I’m a sucker for kimono wrap styles for baby.

Top, from L to R: Ardmore Kimono Baby Outfit, Mini Stripe Footie, Soweto Kimono Romper, Mini Stripe One Piece
Bottom, from L to R: Ardmore Flutter Sleeve Romper, Kimono Baby Outfit, Elephant Jammies

Shop for your little citizen of the world here.

I feel like I’m supposed to slide into these next blog posts with big transitions that address the gap of life-with-two-kids to life-with-three-kids. 

What’s it like? 
Is it different? 
How many times have you had a breakdown? 

To which I would respond:

Hard to tell yet–newborn loving fog. 
Kind of. 
Three–all of which went something like Oh my God, I’m a hungry ravenous beast, why aren’t there any $@#&ing groceries in our fridge?  Food breakdowns are the worst.

I will say that in thirteen days, I’ve learned the following:  Boys pee a lot.  Feet can substitute as hands when you need to pick things up and your arms are full.  After a nine month hiatus, beer maintains its charm.  Middle children will eventually let you know that they need extra loving.  In letting you know this, middle children may or may not incorporate ransacking drawers, ransacking closets, ransacking pantries and/or ransacking purses.  Okay, not “and/or. ” Just and.

However, in thirteen days, I’ve also remembered that I love the newborn stage very very much.  Like the Queen of the Andes plant, its blooms are divine yet fleeting–froggy legs, curled toes, sleep squeaks, milky skin, flour sack cuddles and that wonderful newborn quality that can only be described as smooshiness. 

Add “last baby” to that sweetness, and you have what my sister refers to as frosting.  Last babies are frosting.  Mind you, my sister also coined the last baby phrase “Just give it to her” which, as I understand, resolves all whining, fits, fights and problems.  Baby wants something?  Just give it to him.  Who had the crayon first?  Just give it to him.  When the baby’s crying, reflexively reply “Just give it to him” and all becomes well.  Always.  This is brilliant.  Too good of a secret to give away in the books, you know.

There’s only one fox up in this town.

Life does not lend itself to smooth transitions.  You just jump in and swim.  It works for both the big hard challenges as well as the monumental celebrations in life.  Which is why I cut my hospital bracelets off and folded up the birth certificate and slipped the hospital cradle ID card into the memory box, sighing a big “Now that was beautiful” before picking up where we left off.  Life’s pretty much the same with a little more laundry, a little less sleep and a lot more love.

My three favorite adding-another-baby saviors in terms of how not to go crazy, how not to feel guilty, how not to snap at your husband “I’d like to see you push out a giant head” and how not to run to the shower to hide with a bottle of wine:

A)  Pick two rooms.  I’ve told myself my main responsibility for quality control in our home right now is the living room and the shared baby room.  Brett took the kitchen.  These three rooms cannot fall apart right now.  It is our job to keep them clean, welcoming, happy, maintained.  Just these rooms. Everything else–don’t worry about.  It’s helped a lot.  And strangely, the other rooms have managed to keep up.  Some sort of brain trick, I think.

B)  Verbally validate.  A wise reader shared this advice way back when Nella was a newborn.  Sometimes all it takes is a little verbal validation to remind your kids that their voice is heard, that their presence is noted.  When you’re tending to your older kids and the baby signals their need for you, say out loud “Just a minute Baby, I’m with your sisters right now.”  Wait even just thirty seconds before going to get the baby.  Your older kids hear that statement and know that they come first sometimes too.  Everyone has their turn.

C)  Pick up the baby.  No matter what I have to get done or how messy the house is, when I want to hold him, I pick him up.  I hold him, I wear him, I smell him, I kiss him, I cup his head in my hands and rub his velvety hair.  Suddenly, everything feels fine.  Because it is.

I may not know a lot about a lot of things, but I know how to savor a baby.

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And in jumping in and picking up where we left off…we had a party.

Let me explain this party thing for a minute. I may love a good party, but I have to be honest–most of our parties are only parties because we add the word “party” to what would otherwise be considered a completely normal event.

Take the Oscars, for example.

My hot red carpet date this year.

We watched them in our pajamas. And that’s pretty much it. Laundry still sat on couches, dishes still laid in the sink, and we scrounged through the refrigerator looking for “party food” because we had nothing else planned.  But we called it a party.  The Eighth Annual Pajama Glama Oscar Party, to be exact.  And maybe we tweaked a few details like adding costume jewelry to our pajamas and serving our strawberries in pretty fancy dishes. 

To the kids though?  It was a magical memory.  A very special party indeed–even if they only got to stay up for the red carpet walk.

Lainey tracked her favorite dresses in a notebook as they made their debut on TV. I checked her list to find “Black Sparkaly Dress, Red Pretty Dress, Dress with Sparkaly Jakit.”

Oh this boy, this boy.  Bradley Cooper’s got nuthin’ on him.

You don’t have to go an extra mile to create imaginative memories for kids–an inch is all it takes.  A lunch becomes a picnic when you add a blanket.  A nail painting session becomes a spa night when you throw some cucumber slices in the mix.  Dinner becomes a dinner party when everyone wears a hat.  Cooking becomes a “cooking show” when you describe every step while you stir (and do it in a British accent!).  A living room dance becomes a Carnegie Hall performance when you shine a flashlight on the dancer.  Grocery shopping becomes an adventure when you stop to talk to the lobsters.  And life becomes Enjoying the Small Things when you dare to take a different perspective.  By golly, have fun.  And I promise I’ll never say “by golly” again.

So we’ll call this two-kids-to-three-kids thing Having Fun.

Because truly, it is.

Much love, friends.

Fun sponsor to introduce today–one I think a lot of you will love as I know there are many camera toting friends out there.  Introducing One Willow Boutique, a collection of beautiful editing presets, fairly priced, for photographers who use Lightroom (that’s all I use!).  Presets are a great way to speed up your editing workflow and subtly (or more dramatically for those who like some major “POW”) transform your images to highlight your subjects.

Jessica is the designer and photographer behind One Willow Boutique as well as the mother of six.  In an effort to speed up her editing process and utilize Lightroom, Jessica began developing Lightroom presets for her images and was soon being asked about her editing techniques.  She created One Willow Boutique in response and one preset collection soon grew to five. 

One Willow Boutique currently offers five preset collections for Lightroom 2 and 3 and three collections for Lightroom 4 as well as adjustment brush packages.  Presets are available both in RAW and JPEG formats and each collection offers something unique from soft, warm vintage editing to bright and boldly contrasted.  Check out her galleries of before and after images–quite beautiful.

There is a wealth of information on Jessica’s site re: how to use these presets as well as in depth tutorials.

More behind the business with this talented mama:

1.) In both your photography and editing presets, I love the warmth and softness in the images. What is your ultimate goal in creating preset collections? Do you have a certain look or feeling of images that you aim to convey when creating your presets?

Thank you! Each One Willow Preset collection is creatively designed and fine tuned to provide beautiful and effective photo enhancements in Lightroom. I’ve designed them to help streamline photo editing with lovely, unique finishes. The presets provide a wide range of edits; some subtle, some simple and some a bit more dramatic, but all are fully adjustable to suite various images and photography styles.
Each preset collection is designed with a specific inspiration and feeling behind it. I aim to keep One Willow Presets consistent with what they are known for: versatile, subtle and effective but also creative with various photography editing styles.

2.) Do you have a favorite preset collection or particular preset(s)?

My favorite collection seems to rotate with the mood and lighting of the season. Each collection brings with it a different inspiration. For example, the Fairytale Collection was inspired by warm summer evening with lots of sunlight; the presets in this collection work wonderfully on summer-y images while the Timeless Collection was designed with rich tones to enhance the colors of the fall and winter. The Beautiful Things Collection was inspired by lifestyle images and Retro Candy is perfect for creative retro toned images. All the collections are unique, and I love rotating between them depending on the style of edit I am aiming for. The most versatile collection is the Palette Collection; it is a workflow Collection and I find myself using that one quite often right now.

3.) I’m a big Lightroom user and love when I find good Lightroom presets. What do you feel is the main benefit of LR editing?

The huge benefit of editing in Lightroom (and the very reason I began designing presets) is the amount of time I save on editing. We are a busy family of eight and I am a Wife and Mom first so I strive to save as much time in my editing workflow as possible. And after arriving home in January from adopting our sixth child, I appreciate this more than ever! I do my best to get the best photo I can in camera and get super excited when I can import in to Lightroom, click on a preset or two, and finish an edit. Batch processing using presets is also an incredible benefit too!

4.) Favorite part of your job/creative process?

My favorite part of photography is capturing life inspired moments. I love seeing and capturing the small details of everyday life but I also love capturing the emotion and inner beauty of a person through portraiture. I enjoy having a balance of both in my portfolio. My creative process starts with the image and then moves to the computer where I do my best to enhance each image with processing. I know so many photographers (and busy Mamas and Papas) who share this same love, and I am thrilled that I can share a bit of creativity with them through Lightroom Presets

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Check out One Willow Boutique as well as Jessica’s beautiful photo blog to find some photo inspiration and tools to enhance your images.  Use Code ENJOYSMALL for 15% off your order.