can you handle the cuteness?

I am so excited.

ADORABLE new photos of babies in Night Owl hats and cocoons are here!!! OH my goodness. I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited about the adorable-ness of all of these. So this post is just dedicated to looking at precious babies. If you didn't already have baby fever, you might now. ENJOY!

A gigantonormous {new word...think it will catch on?} thanks to Allie at A Walk in the Park Photography and Jill at JC-Originals Photography for sharing their talents and photos with me! If you're looking for a photographer, I recommend both of these ladies highly!

ok, who's gonna step up?

Someone needs to have a baby....

So we can take some newborn photos in this fun cocoon!!

George tried to help me out, but it's just not the same.

So I've seen newborn photos in these adorable cocoons, and the other day I became a bit obsessed with wanting to learn to make them. The pink/brown one was my first one, and I'm excited to try different colors. I'm also going to work on the "stork pouch" style cocoon, which somehow hangs with the baby in it. Not sure what you hang it on? But looks fun to me! Here's a pic I found on etsy. See, I'm not completely crazy. These do exist.

I've also been adding new hats to the shop, and my favorite so far is this lion:

George is the best model.

{I wonder if it creeps people out that I use a stuffed monkey as a model? I think it's less creepy than the people who use baby dolls. It freaks me out a bit to originally think I'm seeing a real baby, only to realize it's not. But, I digress...}

So that's what I've been up to lately. I also created a facebook page for Night Owl. You know, for all the fans. {haha - I'm clearly joking, but I thought it would be fun to be able to post updates about new stuff, and maybe give the blog readers a break from me posting about every little thing I make.}

So if you like it, click below and and LIKE it!

{You won't get annoying emails or anything, but when I post stuff it will show up in your news feed.}

night owl yarn designs

Hooray - the Etsy shop is up!

I'm still adding things, but I have several hats listed. Check it out at www.etsy.com/shop/nightowlyarndesigns, use the code NIGHTOWLWEEK for 10% off your order any time between now and next Thursday (March 3).

a little crafty

I am embracing my crafty side these days - and I like it! We {um, ok...really just me, since Will is one} made some valentines with our leftover birthday party candy for a playdate on Monday, and they are so fun! I got the idea from Lullaby Lubbock again, and these were super easy! You just print out the design on colorful paper and cut out, then staple {or you can sew if you have a sewing machine} and fill with candy. Then you tear them in half to get to the candy. I love how colorful they turned out!

We also made valentines for Mimi & Duke and Nana. This was Will's first experience with legit fingerpaint, and we were sooo careful not to make a mess. We did one hand at a time, washed off in between, and I moved the papers out of his reach as soon as we were done. Didn't spill a drop. Painting success, right? So as I was cleaning up some other stuff in the kitchen, I noticed that Will was being super quiet on his playmat. If you have a baby, you know what this means. So I looked over to see him playing with the paper plate full of paint. SHOOT! I was concentrating so hard on getting the valentines out of his reach that I forgot about the plate full of paint! Luckily I caught him before things got too out of hand, but let's just say I'm glad I used washable paint.

I also got my craft on yesterday to make some notecards for a friend. I've never done these before, but I like how they turned out. Might be making more soon!

And after all the inside activities, we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and swing in the backyard. Look at Will's adorable SuperWill shirt made by Megan. Check out JoJa Q Boutique to see more fabulous stuff!

Having fun, I think!

And, if you were wondering if Will is getting his top teeth yet, clearly the answer is NOPE!

coming soon...

So instead of cleaning house, doing laundry, or preparing the million things I need to do before Will's birthday party, I spent tonight designing a logo for my etsy shop. True, you don't need a logo to start a shop, but as a girl with marketing in my heart, I want one. Probably won't get the shop up till after Will's birthday, but here's a preview:

hootie hoot!!

Just a couple of footnotes to this photo:

1. OWL HATS!
2. I did not intend to make one for myself, but as always, the first one I made ended up way too big somehow. So now I have one, and I definitely wore it this evening to change the cat's litter box. Glamorous life here, folks.
3. Will is only wearing the pink-bordered hat with girly braids because I haven't made him a more gender-appropriate version yet. But it's on the list. Blue...no braids...you know, a manly owl.
4. When I searched on google images for pics of "baby owl hat," this was not really what I was expecting. But there it was:

crochet day

Soooo.....we all know that I can't leave well enough alone. Today I added to the hat craze by learning to crochet. I really just wanted to make bear ears for a brown hat I made yesterday. And I knew that those are really cute when crocheted. {is that how you spell that? totally not how you say it...} So anyway, went online to figure it out, and I learned 3 crochet stitches. Fun! So I made a hat. And I learned a few things:

1. I like to crochet.
2. There are so many things to learn! I ended up making a hat using just one kind of stitch, but there are lots!
3. Starting is sort of hard, because there's nothing to hold onto. I had lots of false starts that ended up with knotted balls of yarn.
4. When they suggest the size of crochet hook and thickness of yarn, it's not so much a suggestion, unless you want your hat to fit your baby like this:

Haha - oops! So my pattern called for normal skinny yarn {probably there is a technical term for that}, but since I'm new, I thought it would be easier to see what I was doing if I used fat yarn. And I do love fat yarn hats. No biggie, except that it made my "baby" sized hat into a big girl hat! It did seem big while I was chugging along with the crocheting, but hey, I'm new. So I kept going. And now I have a new hat!

There are some wonky spots, but not bad for a first attempt.

Crocheting....I'm in!

And don't worry - I did eventually get around to those bear ears. Definitely took less time than the hat I decided to start with! ;)

New hat = photo shoot time!

Will's favorite new expression. I love it.

And here are a few hats I've made recently:

Little hat, big flower...

or little flower!

Trying to make something similar to one of Will's newborn pics:

This is what I was going for.

{look closely...I think it's actually crochet!! Might have to try again!}

And a Texas Rangers hat:

Go Rangers!

{too bad baseball season isn't exactly hat wearing season in Texas...}

Stripes

And a teeny one with a knotted top. Looks like a little bell to me.

Thanks for bearing with me on all the hat posts...I just get excited! Who knew this was going to turn into a baby blog AND a hat blog?! Just think of how clean my house could be if I didn't spend all of my free time making hats...

fun friday

What do you bring to a playdate with 2 Cowboys fans and a girly girl?

Probably these:

On Friday, we got to play with Parker, baby Cole, and Madison, so I made some hats for them! I got to try a few new things on the hats, and after several versions of the Cowboys hat, I ended up deciding that I like doing outlines of designs rather than filling them in when I put logos on the hats. I feel like it looks cleaner and the design shows better.

So here are the Cowboys hats:

My hat model was a busy body that day.

And here's a pink & yellow flower hat for Miss Madison:

The flower can come off in case it starts to look too "Blossom"

Will didn't mind this at first...

And then he realized I had put him in another girly hat!

We had such a blast at our playdate. The kids had fun playing, and the mommas got to catch up, hold babies, and eat pizza. What could be better?

I love Baby Cole! He is such a sweet little guy.

Madison tried to put the moves on Parker. :)

And we tried to get some pictures of all four...

Very tricky to get 4 kids to look at the camera!

{I did get a couple of better ones but I snapped them before I fixed the settings on my camera, so they're blurry. Shoot! I am hoping Megan got a better one.}

After the playdate, we got to hang out with Brent, Tilly, and Carter on their way back through Dallas. It was great to see them again, plus we got to celebrate Mema's birthday. Very fun!

Carter + Will

Carter and his Aunt Kathy

Brent, Carter, Will, me

the birthday girl

Mema with Brent and Carter

Will and Mema

Mema with 2 of her grandkids and 2 of her great-grandkids.

What a special day!!