DIY Cup Noodles Halloween Costume

How yummy is my little cup noodles? :) Here are the steps to make your own DIY cup noodles costume. See steps for the onesie and the process photos below. Feel free to comment with any questions! Happy DIY-ing!

Materials: 

~White onesie

~White beanie (you can see here, ours has gray stripes)

~red, yellow and white fabric paint/paintbrush

~yellow yarn

~paper/markers to draw carrots and peas

~chopsticks optional

~hot glue gun

~skewer

~cardboard (to put inside the onesie while you are painting)

Cup Noodles Onesie
Step 1: Put the cardboard into the onesie so that the paint doesn't seep through to the back when you paint the front.
Step 2: Sketch the words onto the onesie with pencil. 
Step 3: Paint Cup noodles on the onesie with white paint.
Step 4: Paint the japanese words. The japanese words i used was "cute noodles"
Step 5: If you would like, you can sew on a fabric (old tshirt or pillowcase cut up) on the inside of the onesie because the paint makes it a little hard.
Step 6: Bake the onesie to set the paint (I did not do this therefore, the paint ran when i put it in the wash).









Cup Noodles Hat
Step 1: Wet skewer under water.
Step 2: Wrap the yarn around and around the wet skewer.
Step 3: Wet the yarn.
Step 4: Microwave the skewer/yarn
Step 5: Unravel yarn and wha-la, you have some curly noodles
Step 6: Repeat until you have the desired amount of noodles for the beanie. I think I did 7 skewers.
Step 7: Hot glue the noodles to the hat
Step 8: Draw peas and carrots
Step 9: Hot glue peas and carrots to hat.

Lavender and aqua bunny theme baby shower

Theme: Lavender/aqua/grey bunny theme

Occasion: Baby Girl Baby Shower

Styled by: Ruby, Heidee, Leslie, Charmy, Rosa & Alice
Calligraphy and Dream Art by: thealicelineart
Location: Mary Lane Cafe, Pasadena, California

Photography: thealicelinephotography

Hi everyone! Wanted to share a bunny themed baby shower my friends and I put together for our dear friend Betty over the weekend. We handmade most of the items in the photo including: the bunny banner, pom pom mobile, pom pom wands for the table, watercolor wash place cards, menu, and dream art and the cake decorations, a 1-10 fruits book for the baby and games (not pictured). We loved the way it turned out and wanted to share the photos with you. 

Mary Lane Cafe baked the triple berry cake. We decorated with lavender roses, white hydrangeas, white roses and other little flowers (lavender flowers from a florist and the other flowers from Trader Joes. The bunny ears are made out of a total of 8 lavender/magenta pipe cleaners: two pipe cleaners twisted together for each side, so easy and pretty!

Pom pom mobile - materials used - yarn, light aqua, teal, dark purple, lavender tulle, sewing wood ring wrapped in ribbon and braided yarn to hang the mobile. There are lots of pom pom tutorials out there and we wrapped these around 75-100 times around our iphones, vertically and horizontally to create different sizes.

For the party favors, our friend Leslie put together two different little bags with decaffeinated teas utilizing ingredients like chia seeds, goji berries, dates in one satchet and a blend of ginseng, red dates and goji berries in the other satchet. All baby bump friendly. 

The bunny banner was made of cardstock and embossed with green/teal glitter recollections and magenta ranger embossing powder and written using the ranger embossing pen and the darice tool for drying. 

dream art lettered in ecoline watercolor accented with 3 types of glitter and embossing powder for the word sea.

Calligraphy menu written with gouache ink with hunt101 nib on watercolor wash canson paper

watercolor wash placecards lettered with gouache ink and hunt101 nib

A few friends flew down from San Francisco just to celebrate our mama-to-be. :)

Florals and vintage tea cups to decorate the table, along with bunny folded napkins. 

Our pretty mama-to-be at 33 weeks with her cute baby bump. 

Rose lemonade was the refreshing beverage of the day. 

Our papa-to-be drove 4 hours to stop by for a surprise visit. :)

Concentrating hard on the mama and baby animal game. Much harder than anyone imagined!

Dear Daughter - Letter to first born prior to sibling being born - by Jenny Studenroth (littleknotheads)

Hi all,
Happy Monday.

Wanted to share a blog post by littleknotheads I read recently that brought tears to my eyes. So many words reverberated with me, especially when I think back to being pregnant with my second child. This is a letter from the mama to her first born daughter before her second daughter was born.

Here are a few excepts:

"As you climb up into my lap these days, barely able to fit on the disappointing amount of thigh space the baby bump leaves you, I am achingly aware that our time is running out. Your dad and I are so excited to be growing a family and giving you the sibling you so need and deserve, but the transition won’t be easy. Especially for you. . . . It’s hard to believe in mere weeks, you’ll be the big sister."

I remember the last few months of pregnancy and thinking, we are now going to have to split our time and our precious daughter will not have our full 100% attention anymore. I felt so sad about this and definitely tried to make the most of our time together - mommy and daughter ice cream dates and art projects and going on whatever weekend adventures we could. We even did Disneyland again a few days before Emerson was born. :)

"I want you to know how special this time has been with just us two. We’ve taken adventures together that I will remember all my life. I doubt much of these couple years will surface in your own memories as you grow, but that’s why I take so many pictures. And I will remind you over the years."

I am guilty of taking too many pictures, but I can't say enough about taking more videos. Your little ones change so much, particularly their little voices. I want to always remember what my 1.5 year old melody sounded like, vs 2, vs. 2.5 years. I enjoy going back to these videos so much and it brings me so much joy to be able to relive these adorable moments. I also love looking back to Melody at Emerson's age currently to hear what she sounded like and oftentimes, they said things almost exactly the same. Makes your heart melt for sure. 

"Your sibling(s) will look up to you for your strength and fearlessness, and I will always look back on our first two-plus years as such an intensely joyful learning experience."

For us, it is your sibling, not siblings ;), but I know that Emerson will always look up to his big sister for her strength, character and guidance. She is such an amazing, awesome and caring big sister. 

Please go and read Jenny's whole letter here. It's a good one. 
Cheers,

~Alice

How to select a pediatrician for your new baby

As a first time parent, 4 years ago, we did extensive research on selecting a pediatrician for our baby.

We were provided a list of pediatricians from my ob/gyn. From there, I called each office and asked some basic questions.

1) Is there someone who can answer your medical questions 24/7 via phone or email? And is this service free of charge? And is there a limit on how many times you can call? Our pediatrician office fields calls after hours and if it's urgent and you need a call back immediately, they will get back to you within 1 hour. If it is less urgent, they will call you back within a few hours. At any time of day. For no additional charge. I can't tell you how helpful this was in the first year for both my babies. We had questions about fevers, coughs, rashes, hives, uti's, etc.

2) Is there a separate sick baby entrance from the well baby entrance? This is important because kids you don't want to take your child to the pediatricians office only to have them fall ill from another child in the waiting room.

3) Do they accept your insurance? Are they accepting new patients?

4) Is there parking? Do you validate?

5) Do they offer same day appointments if your child is ill? Do they offer weekend appointments? If not, is there an urgent care nearby they would recommend? We have found that seeing our own pediatrician or a pediatrician in the same practice/office has been more valuable than going to urgent care. The last few times at urgent care, we saw a medical assistant, which I felt wasn't as helpful or as insightful as our own pediatrician's office.

6) Where did the pediatrician go to school and where did they do their training? Is the pediatrician a parent? How long has the pediatrician been practicing? How many pediatricians are in the office?

7) How far is the office from where you live?

8) Are they affiliated with the hospital you are delivering at? If not, you can alway still see this pediatrician and see the attending pediatrician at the hospital when you deliver. What hospital are they affiliated with?

9) If the phone call is to your satisfaction and all of your criteria is checked off, then schedule an in person interview and see how you feel when you meet the pediatrician in person. Do you prefer someone that is more warm and fuzzy, or someone that is to the point?

10) Are the office staff nice and helpful?

Hope this helps! Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!

the ultimate baby items guide from a mama of 2: Part 1 - Strollers and Car seats

Hi everyone!
It's been almost 5 years since I've posted on my blog. Since then I've been busy learning to be a mama of two, one 4 year old girl and one 1.5 year old boy. I've decided to refocus my blogging efforts on my new realm of expertise - being a mama. Over the next few weeks, I will be posting my ultimate baby items guide, now that I am a mama of 2.

I am often asked to provide recommendations on my favorite baby products. Since I am the type to do extensive research and exhaust all options, I have listed here, my ultimate list of my favorite baby items. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
This is an extremely long list so i will be doing this in parts. Part 1 is stroller and car seats

Some general notes.
Baby bargains is a great resource – good safety ratings and reviews.

 Reference for safety of baby toiletries/sunscreen etc. ewg.org

 Register at Amazon, Target, PB kids. They give you a completion discount
so if you do want to purchase something you didn’t get, at least you get a
discount.

 Albee baby is tax free for those of us in California (located in NY). This is where we bought our stroller, car seats and other bigger items.

~Strollers~
Uppababy cruz stroller: for everyday stroller (disneyland too)
Melody is 4 and still loves to sit in it. Things we love about it besides how pretty it looks for a stroller - it's easy to fold up, has a huge basket, offers a smooth ride, has an adapter for a chicco carseat.

Uppababy vista - this is a larger stroller and offers a double stroller option. Those who want to have kids close in age often choose this one over the cruz.

Stroller accessories:
Stroller caddy for drinks – this fits great on the uppababy cruz. it's less expensive than the uppababy one. the caddy can hold two drinks although you might want to stuff some towels at the bottom because the drink pockets are very deep. it's very hard to steer stroller while holding drinks with no cupholder.

adapter for a chicco carseat - we used our uppababy cruz with the adapter for the carseat from the beginning. that way we saved money and didn't have to invest in another stroller.

piggyback skateboard - If you have a second baby, our toddler daughter loves to stand on the piggyback skateboard.

mommy hook - to hang your purse, milk bag, shopping bags, anything really. a good strong hook.

Lightweight Stroller:
Uppababy Gluxe Umbrella Stroller (lighter weight) –  – this is perfect for travelling and
side trips. It lays down pretty flat so when we took Melody to Taiwan (she was under 2), she napped very well in the stroller. It’s also lightweight and has a decent size basket for a lightweight
stroller.

Babyzen yoyo stroller - another lightweight option - haven't tried it but have heard great things.

Double strollers:
We just bought the Zoe double stroller today! So we haven't received it yet, but I will update once we start using it. We will be travelling abroad soon. This one is 16 pounds and looks rather easy to travel with and hopefully comfortable.

We have also looked at the uppababy glink but we haven't tested it out. Will need to report back on this one.

Uppababy vista also offers a double stroller option for an infant and a toddler.

~Car seat~
chicco keyfit 30 not convertible. You will get a convertible later. this is rated high for safety (baby bargains book) and it’s adaptable for the cruz stroller.
Go to local firestation and have them check your installation. Middle seat in the back is safest.

uppababy mesa - a lot of people like this car seat. I already had the chicco keyfit but otherwise I would likley have gone with this one.

~Convertible car seat~

Chicco nextfit we like. Straps are a bit easier to adjust. We also have maxi cosi 85 but we like the nextfit and the peg perego more.

We also have the peg perego viaggio – my 4 year old can now buckle herself in this carseat, so i like it much more. the straps, once you set it, are generally pretty easy to adjust and they don't get to twisted.

Alright, going to sleep while my babies sleep.

Let me know if there is any topics you would like me to post about first.

Will post more soon.
Cheers,
~Alice