merry margaret

Margaret will be eight months old in a week's time. But since next week will be decked to the hectic (in the most wonderful of ways), I thought I'd take a moment now and list a few reasons 8-month-old Margaret makes us all kinds of merry.

JUST CHEEKY

These cheeks are kissed roughly 397 times a day. And if you saw these cheeks in person, you'd smooch them silly, too.

Little sweet cheeks herself.

PENSIVELY SPEAKING
Some of our best comedy material has been met with seriously stoic expressions. Maggie can giggle with the best of them, but when she decides it's time for a staring contest, it's on, baby.

Seriously.

TWIRL GIRL
Despite her somewhat stoic expression in this picture (see "pensively speaking"), girlfriend loves a tutu. I very much approve of said love.

It's tutu much.

TIP OF HER TONGUE

For about a month, Margaret's tongue was constantly hanging out the side of her mouth (Grandpa Hallstrom style). I like to think her Great Grandpa gave her a heavenly lesson before she made her way down to earth.

Miss you, Great Grandpa.

GO WITH THE FLOW

Margaret lets us place her anywhere and everywhere for our weekly Margaret by the Week photo shoots — even when it's against her better judgment. 

What about this is a good idea?

WHAT A DREAM

I don't deserve this dreamy baby (she's still rocking 12-hour nights). But I love that she takes after her parents in the odd-sleep department. Remember little sleepy Breezy and Adam?

She's like me. She's really, really like me.

JOY TO THE WORLD

We've got a crush on this munchkin. Is it terribly obvious?

No Margarets were harmed in the making of this picture.

thanks (a lot)

Where have I been? Oh, yes. Giving thanks.            

Here's a glimpse into our delicious day.

This little turkey takes my gratitude to a whole new level.

All the little Hallstrom turkeys.
(Please appreciate Ryan's hand under his chin. I'm in love.)

Did you know my mom is festive?
Just a bit.

I think it's super cute that my parents wanted to sit at the kids' table.
But that's what happens when you have super cute parents.

Margaret with her Auntie Kara.
We love her.

Margaret and her first pumpkin pie.
I think she's on to the fact that our food is WAY better than hers.

oh spooky day

Happy Halloween, everyone! 

Hope your day was as spooky cute as ours.

Notice the bow on my pumpkin? I must be obsessed with forehead bows because I SO didn't mean to make my pumpkin look like Margaret. (No, like, honest to goodness.) Also, please appreciate Adam's wicked cool eye-patch. My husband is so way talented, it's eerie.

 Maggie with her accidental pumpkin-sake.

 

She looks thrilled, doesn't she?

Boo to you and yours.

the half of it

Surprise! It's a party.

It's our daughter's half-birthday today. (And my 100th post!)

In Margaret's wee six months of lifedom, she has become a crawling, jabbering, bouncing baby girl. She giggles when I get her out of the crib in the morning, she loves a busy print, she observes everything she can get her eyes on, she cocks her head to the side when she really needs to concentrate, she looks so darn cute in jeans (no, like, so darn cute), she constantly sticks out her tongue, she blows raspberries in her spare time, and she thinks her dad is hilarious.

As for how much we love her? She doesn't even know the half of it.

As a blog party favor, please appreciate her brand new crawling skill in the video below. I've tried to entice her with toys to get the crawling on camera — and no go. But when I tried candy? It was crawl time, y'all.

And yes, that is me saying, "You're so advanced" at the end of the video. What do we call it, Hallstroms? Ah, yes. Humbly proud. :)

baby talk

What's Margaret thinking when we do our weekly photo shoots? 

I have an idea.

"So it's a hat this week? What will the bows think!"

"I suppose this is mildly amusing."

"Never mind. It's snore-ing! What is this, like, week 100?"

"I give up. And I'm not even wearing pants!"

"Fine. We'll do more. But I'm going to spit bubbles all the way through it."

"I'm running out of ideas here."

"This has got to be the winner. I look pensive and everything."

margaret by the week

 Week 20

Now that I'm 20 weeks in and haven't become Flaky McFlakerson, I'd like to introduce you to Margaret By The Week, an ambitious little project where I post a photo of Maggie every week during this first year of her life. Then, when we hit 365 glorious days, I'll have it made into a book.

You can find the link here. 

Aside from the motherhood points I'm trying to score with future adult Maggie, the bonus is that this little project has been surprisingly easy and super, super fun.

I mean, who wouldn't want to photograph that face?

stand and deliver

Sitting is so easy-peasy, Margaret thought she'd try standing. In the air. While sucking her fingers.

No big deal.

ground-breaking

Guess who's wanting to sit up? And guess who's succeeding? (Well, albeit for small periods of time.)

That's right. My Margaret. 

I'm kind of totally in love with her. Can you tell?

Yes, I realize she's in Halloween attire in September. 

We're just practicing for the spooky season (aka getting our money's worth).

baby boomers

In the last 14 months, we've had five babies born in the Stewart family — one for each of the married couples. (Not counting the recently wed Julie and Travis. Obvs.)

During said wedding weekend, we decided to put the babes together for a group photo, which led to A) sleeping/perplexed/happy/concerned little ones, and B) clapping/cooing/clamoring parents getting their fool on to entertain the wee ones and coax their little eyes toward the camera.

So wish we had THAT on camera.

In any case, from left to right, we have ...

At 14 months, William "the oh my soul he's so pretty" Davidson.

At 12 months, Kate "the happy walker, talker, waver" Stewart.

At 10 months, Brigham "the cute and cheery cerebral" Barton.

At 4 months, Margaret "the heart thief" Stewart.

At 3 weeks, Ruth "the red-headed teeny tiny sweetheart" Stewart.

happy wedding

My sister-in-law, Julie, married Mr. Travis Standley this past Saturday. Beautiful couple, beautiful day.

The weather threatened to rain on their parade, but Julie and Travis were all smiles — regardless of the dreaded droplets. 

Love that. Love them.

The happily hitched couple.

Love this sweet moment.

Braving the rain.

It is said that Chang Li Hua of China invented the umbrella.
We thank you, Chang Li Hua.
(Yeah, I Wikipediaed it.)

Heading for cover.

Such a gorgeous family (on the insides and the outsides).
And you can't really see her because of the umbrella handle (I take it all back, Chang Li Hua!), but Kelly is holding sweet 3-week-old Ruthie in her arms.

I realize Adam isn't smiling, but I love that you can see his splattered suit.

And the picture shows off Maggie's super cute ribbon shoes.
I'm kind of obsessed with them.

Beautiful bride.

Handsome brothers, sweet babes.
(And it seems Maggie loves her shoes, too.
She's totally making a grab for them.)

We tried SO hard to get a great pic of Maggie in her perfectly plum dress. 

But the shoot, of course, went mostly like this.

Purple portrait.

(Although my top looks super blue in this lighting. I swear it's "concord purple." 

The store I purchased it from said so.)

Don't you just love family? I just love family.

margaret is ...

... 4 months old.

... a roller from her back to her tummy. (Apparently, it's the harder of the two directions. Show-off.)

... a snuggle bug.

... sporting a sweet bald spot.

... a stander.

... still obsessed with her car seat.

... a smiling fool.

... crazy about her grandparents.

... a giggler like her mom. (Although unlike me, she makes you work for it.)

... a chubette.

... a sleeping machine.

... a TV-lover. (Don't judge.)

... a kicker. 

... a bow baby.

... one relaxed little napper. (See above.)

... a lover, not a hater.

... a mom fan.

... a dad fan.

... a heart stealer.

the nursery (phase 2)

Remember how Adam and I embarked on this nursery project eight months ago?

Remember how I never posted the delightful results?

And remember how I now have a 4-month-old that rolls?

I remember.

But behold! Here are pictures of Margaret's cozy little nursery. I'm so in love with the room (and its owner). BIG thanks to Adam and my mom for making it happen.

Disclaimer: I'm such an average photographer (and I use that photographer term loosely) that the lighting and coloring on these photos is in no way consistent. My apologies ...

The main attraction.
From her bird bedding to the custom-made drapes (thanks Mom, Erin and Kara!) to the butterfly mobile, I love traipsing in and out of here a million times a day.

Kara gave us this sweet, sweet dresser.
I adore the butterfly decals on both the dresser knob and the drapery rod.

View from the top.
I'm a big fan of the lamp, the booties, the "Fancy Nancy" books and the bookends.
Oh, and the "I am a child of God" plaque makes me happy.

LOVE this changing table. (So does Maggie.)
LOVE the baskets.
LOVE the beadboard.
LOVE the bouncer.

Maggie HAD to have a cute laundry hamper. Obvs.

Pictures of the wee one — with green polka dot frame mats!

 Picture of the Salt Lake Temple — where it all began.
(And with a purple polka dot frame mat!)

Where the magic happens —
11-hour sleep nights and the cutest, comfiest rocker recliner (in pistachio!).

 And the best part of it all?
These two.