SHE'S HERE!!!

My baby girl is finally here.  She is nine weeks now.  Wow how time flies. The days are passing by so fast that I miss days of the week.  All my time and energy goes to her.  We still haven't set a routine and don't believe we will for a few more weeks.  I am really living one day at a time, enjoying this precious gift God has given us.  I normally like to rush to the next thing but I am taking my sweet time with baby girl.  She will never be this age again and I will never be a new mom again.  Because I have this wonderful edition to my life I will post articles about baby stuff and parenthood.  If you're not at this point in your life feel free to skip post relating to baby girl/parenthood.  But hopefully you will be along for the ride of this wonderful journey.  Want more photos?  Follow me on Instagram @Teatodd2.

Much Love & Fashion Fun,
Tea Todd

 Baby Girl & Me at 2 weeks old.

DIY - BEFORE & AFTER

I haven't talked to much about my pregnancy but once the hubby & I get my blog more organized there will be a section dedicated to motherhood/parenthood.  If you didn't know already we are expecting the arrival of our first daughter in 6 weeks or less.  We've been scrambling around trying to get everything ready for her birthday.  This past weekend we shopped for two days looking for the perfect travel system (a stroller & carseat combo) and crib.  I found the perfect crib at Ikea a few weeks back and we went there to pick it up.  Well needless to say it's on back order. 

So we continued looking around and found a closet.  We didn't intend to purchase a closet for her but it made sense to do so since all her 0-12 month clothes have already over taken our personal closet.  The closet (STUVA) we liked cost over $250 (more than the crib).  So with a little imagination we got creative.  We decided to forgo the door panels and the matching drawers.  This saved us $145 right away.  We decided to build her closet with four pull out wire bins, one shelf, and two closet rods.  So for a $105 (+tax) our lil Contessa has her own personal closet space.  This will grow with her because we can always change the rods, the wire bins, and the shelf to accommodate what we need to store in it. 

After building this unit we loved it so much we think we will get a second one for the extra storage for when she starts accumulating a lot of toys.  We love Ikea.  I was going to make a curtain to cover the closet but for now we are leaving it to showcase how cute all her tiny clothes are.  If your a parent of just looking for tips on how to stretch your dollar Ikea is the place to go.  You can click here to see how our simple closet can look with the change of the doors.  Here are options that are more sophisticated.  Another idea is buying a large bookcase from a yard sale.  You can re paint it and take the shelves out to install rods, bins, etc to make it your own.  I hope this was helpful.

Much Love & Fashion Fun,
Tea Todd

P.S. We taken one night stand out to accommodate her closet space.  There is a lot more storage space than a two drawer night stand.

BLACK BARBIE

Now knowing that JuJu is a girl I'm starting to realize there will be many Barbie play dates in the future.  I loved Barbie growing up.  In the 80's there were only white Barbie & black Barbie.  I had both colors.  But black Barbie was just a painted version of the white Barbie.  At 5 years old I really did not notice the difference, but when I got older I caught on.  Now Barbie comes in all complexions and hair textures.  I am so happy about this.  There are many options for JuJu to chose from now that I didn't have back in the day.  These dolls are so beautiful that it will be hard for me to let her play with these dolls and not store them as collectors items.  I pulled some images off the web to showcase the many choices young girls have when it comes to Barbie now.  I believe having a doll that looks like you does build self esteem but it's also up to us as parents to build our child's self esteem first.  Whether if JuJu is light, dark, or anything in between, it starts with me and the hubby in telling her how smart, talented, and beautiful she is.  Having a doll that look like her will only add to her self esteem.  What do you think?  Is Barbie a self esteem booster?

Much Love & Fashion Fun,
Tea Todd


Here is an interesting article published back in 2009 about Black Barbie.

All images pulled from the web (google)