RITZY BABY {product review}

Finally! After three months of waiting our Ritzy Baby carseat cover has arrived! The second I laid my eyes on the package, I was thrilled - it felt like Christmas all over again. (even though the package was supposed to be on the books to ship November 18th, it for some reason had been pushed back & was delivered a couple days after the new year) I had been looking at Ritzy Baby products online for months now, even saw the cotton candy print from a customer who had purchased it in a boutique in Texas. I was hesitant about spending $99 on a carseat cover when you could purchase a new seat entirely for that price. Though, I've learned, you only live once - you will always make more money so I treated myself (and Ripsi of course!) to a designer carseat cover.

The construction of the product is solid. The sew lines appear straight, & there isn't any loose strings - even though it's a small company, it isn't poorly put together. The material is of good quality, & the fact that it is reversible to just pink allows alternate looks for different occasions. The creator/president, Bridgette, offers great customer service. She is willing to go out of her way to help construct the product you are looking for. (since the cotton candy print was nowhere to be found, she offered to custom make it for me since she had all the fabrics still available.)



The product is absolutely gorgeous. I feel great carrying it on my arm, & love the compliments we receive from strangers.

However, with ever product review, there is complaints. I stressed wanted the car seat before my daughter was born, or at least by her due date. It did not arrive, & two weeks after I contacted the customer service to see where the status was on it. On December 1st I was told it would ship within one week. It didn't come until a month later. When I opened the box I was immediately disappointed, the product was beautiful but it WASN'T the exact product ordered. It was the same overall print, however the reverse side wasn't a pinky minky material & the ruffle was satin not pink polka dot.


This is the original cotton candy fabric, which is what I stressed I wanted.
I understand it was a custom order, but if they didn't have the exact fabrics it would have been nice to know before spending $99 on it.

So overall, is Ritzy Baby worth the money? Yes. It's a beautiful car seat cover & draws plenty of good attention to us. Is it worth the hassle? probably not. The website is NOT up to date, there is items listed that are out of stock that they cannot make, but you can add to your cart & purchase. Which will cause a lot of headache to the buyer. Not to mention, if you are going to spend that kind of money on something you expect to get what you originally asked for, not a similar version of it.

GOODBYE TO YOU. {new years}

2010 was a year filled with the HIGHEST of highs, as well as the LOWEST of lows. This year was completely bi-polar for my entire family, & will be one that can never be forgotten. It was filled with tears of both sadness & happiness. A year that will go down in the books as one of the most memorable.

In the early part of 2010 First Avenue was a total loss in an electrical fire, as the end of the year approached we were blessed with the birth of Aripsemae. In between there was car accidents, multiple surgeries, learning we had a niece, & handfuls of festivals that kept our hearts filled. The bad was outweighed by the good, & in turn, taught us amazing values and lessons that'll stick with us for the rest of our lives. I wouldn't have skipped over this year, because in the end, a heart was mended by the most beautiful things.



I headed into 2011 a different person, a better person. I can't wait to experience everything life has to throw at me the next twelve months. I hope that despite what the past has dealt you - that you focus on making this next year something to remember, because you aren't guaranteed what you have today, tomorrow.

CHRISTMAS 2010

This year the gifts fluttered in - it seemed as if every day there was a shiny new present to open (and still some to come! We still have huge bag of presents to dig into from Aunt Leane) On Wednesday evening we got together with my niece & her mother Michelle, Thursday Kait stopped by for a visit, Christmas eve Daycen indulged in presents from my parents & uncle Luke, Christmas morning Santa Clause delivered plenty of gifts, & that night we got together with Andy's family. It sure was busy holiday season this year (and I wasn't even working my retail jobs!), but it sure was fun. We enjoyed every moment of it, & everyone who was there to share it with us.

Here's a little peek into exactly what filled our hearts with joy this season.

NEW DOESN'T MEAN FORGETTING

I meant to post this, & our Christmas adventures awhile ago but my ENTIRE family has been sick since the eve of. We are finally starting to get ourselves shaken off, & ready for the end of the year festivities.



New house. New baby sister. New fireplace. New stockings. New everything.

This year was the first of many Christmas' to come. It was the first time our new home got to feel the love our family radiates. A house, that sat empty & cold for nearly a year was graced with it's own Christmas present - a family. A family with a past that has taught them that every second counts, every moment is to be cherished, nothing is to be taken for granted. I honestly believe if these walls could talk they'd thank us over & over again for choosing them, but it's a mutual thing. We are as grateful for this house, as it maybe to have a family that loves every creak & crack.

I can speak for my entire family - we LOVE this house. After two months it has already won our hearts over. Even though we are starting new Christmas traditions, there is no way I will ever forget the happiness that we've felt in the past. The memories will stick in my mind forever, but for my sons sake, I needed visual reminders. So, we covered our mantel full of the greatest winter memories that we've created together as a family. Each year, more pictures will be added to the wall - some put into a folder til next year for their chance to shine through the holiday season.



I also wanted to point out Baby sister's stocking. I searched all over for a cute girly stocking like her brother's. I'll be honest with you - after four websites, I was done. After searching TJ Maxx in two cities, I was done. It was WAY too time-consuming so I decided to put my non-existent sewing skills to work to create a stocking for her... Ruffles & Rosettes. You can't go wrong with that combination, right?





I hope this year, everyone made memories worthy of wallpapering the walls with. I know we did.

PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS {all those sweet things}

Traditions mean everything to me. The things I look back on in my childhood are the same things I want to introduce year after year into my children's lives. It doesn't matter how little or big these traditions are. It doesn't matter how silly or practical they are. No matter what, I want to give them everything I was given as a child, & more.

I can't remember a Christmas where my mother didn't bring out the cookie dough & all those fun cookie cutters (I swear, we had everything from Rudolph to the little elves in Santa's workshop) No matter how busy things got around the holidays, she always made sure we got covered head-to-toe in flour & were able to create a sugary treat of our own. My absolute favorite part was the actually cutting out of the cookies - choosing which cutter to use, & how many of that cookie I wanted to make. I wasn't actually a fan of the decorating (I will stress to you, after ALL these years, I'm STILL not a fan of icing & sprinkling those things!)



This year was the first year I tried to introduce my son into this tradition. As I rolled out the dough I thought to myself, "these cookies are going to look like blobs! but man, I can't wait to show everyone his masterpieces!" When everything was ready for the cutting I brought Daycen over to the table & started to show him what to do... to my surprise, he looked at me like I had lost my mind, turned & resumed playing with his cars on the floor. I'll be completely honest with you, I was SHOCKED! The kid who loves to mix the cupcake batter & watch me pour it into the little tins wanted nothing to do with the cookie making process. Hm, My little baker turned out to not be such a big baker after all.



It doesn't bother me though. I continued cutting out the cookies with my mother, all the while explaining my every choice in cookie cutter to my daughter who sat in her bouncer on the kitchen floor. She seemed rather interested. Than again, she's only a few weeks old, so pretty much everything is interesting. So, this is a tradition that I don't yet share with my children, but I know as they grow older they'll become much more interested in the process. Perhabs because it's something they'll do with their mother that they'll cherish their whole lives, or maybe it'll be for the sugary outcome. Either way, I look forward to spending each Christmas making cookies with them.



I may however, might not enjoy the sugar high they receive from eating those cookies.

PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS {the christmas tree}

For the past five years our Christmas tree has been elegantly filled with glass ornaments ranging in a bronze, gold, & champagne color palette. We've added peach colored hollies & owls over the years. This year, however, our son turned two. With this new age, we feared the sound of shattered glass would be an every day occurrence if we didn't invest in some kid-friendly ornaments.

When I was a child, we had a tree filled with different characters (we are talking M&Ms, Turtles, Smurfs, you name it - we had it!) & handmade ornaments that my brother & I had crafted in school. As much as I would have loved to give my children a tree like this, it is unrealistic. My childhood ornaments are safely packed away under the stairs at my parents house, surrounded by boxes of other random goodies - in other words, it would take me at least six months to find them! These types of ornaments range from $5-$20 something a piece, so purchasing enough to fill the tree would max out anyone's credit card. (and probably a divorce for spending $500 on ornaments!)So, this year, there isn't any fancy star wars ornaments, nor any my little pony ones. However, we upped our color palette to brights & made sure they were all shatter-proof. We've decided to buy some fun ornaments at the after Christmas sales so that by Kindergarten our tree is as festive as the rest.




I wasn't quite sure if our $15 pack of shatter-proof balls from Target were going to be a hit, but Daycen sure seemed to not mind that we skimped on the ornaments. It was all Oohs & Ahhs. Even though he didn't quite understand the concept of hanging the ornaments on the tree, he sure didn't mind unpacking them & handing them to me as I put them on the branches. So, this year, our tree also looked very clean & put together. I'd have to say, I'm very impressed with what you can do with very little money.



And what's Christmas Tree decorating without a little fooling around?!

We hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. Only 5 days left to go.

INTRODUCTING ARIPSEMAE ANN {my daughter is here}

While you were celebrating Thanksgiving with your family, we were also enjoying ours with the newest addition to our family. The evening before, at 11:11pm to be exact, baby sister entered the world. Her arrival weight was eight pounds, eleven ounces & she was twenty-one inches long. I'll be completely honest with you, the hospital experience this time around was a lot more enjoyable than it was when Daycen was born. I had ZERO issues with the epidural. I had ZERO issues with the delivery. My daughter had ZERO issues in general. We are sincerely blessed that things went so well.



Over the past few weeks we've heard a lot of feedback about our daughters name; most of which has been positive. Even though we kept the name a secret til her birth, she was named the moment we found out we had a princess on the way. Aripsemae, Ah-rips-ah-may, was formed from the name Hripsime which was one of the first Armenian Church Saints. We felt that the H was too harsh, so we chose to softened it up with an A. Her middle name is the same as my mother's middle name, Ann. Her grandmother, a strong woman who helped bring her into this world. I hope someday I can raise her to be an amazing woman as my mother had raised me.


Now, that everything has settled; our new house is purchased & baby sister has arrived this blog will be updated regularly again. So, I hope you all stick around to be apart of our lives. To help convince you to stay, here is a couple more pictures from the hospital...