This post originally appeared at Rebel Angel.
The baby booties in these photos are a gifted sample from a client at work.
We’re into the middle of autumn and it seems to have come very suddenly this year. I think it’s because we had a sunny holiday at the end of September in Italy (although it was pretty rainy!), which is when I normally start to get into my autumn groove, so I put it off until we were home. Well, it seems the leaves changed and began to fall while we were away, and suddenly it’s chilly, Halloween decor is lining the shelves and I’ve got pumpkins on the windowsill. More on the pumpkins another day; today we’re all about Emmy’s first pair of boots!
Back in September last year, Ben and I went on our honeymoon, part of which was in Lake Placid, NY. This was my ultimate basic fall destination – changing autumn leaves lining the shores of mountain lakes with nearby apple orchards and the scent of cinnamon in the air everywhere we went. I would go back again in a heartbeat. So anything that reminds me of this is a winner in my books, and dressing in fall styles is my number one way to do this – not just for me, but for Emmy too.
I’ve been saving up autumnal outfits in 6-9 months for Emmy since she was born – burgundy cord dungarees, mustard leggings, woolly jumpers, and a pair of Minnetonka moccasins bought in Lake Placid, but sadly these are, as yet, a little too big – we almost lost them in a pumpkin patch at the weekend when she was in the carrier and kicked them off!
Instead, we’ve got Emmy her first pair of autumn boots that are not only seasonally appropriate in style, but they’re also super cozy and warm for her little toes. These little booties from a new brand called Jacobs & Dalton are made out of sumptuously soft sheepskin and are a perfect match to Emmy’s autumnal wardrobe. Jacobs & Dalton are a new brand, launching at the beginning of November, who are very local to me – just a few miles down the road in beautiful North Yorkshire. I’ve been privy to a few samples of their baby booties as I’m working on some projects for them at work and I’m super impressed so far – it’s exciting to work on a local brand that offers such lovely products. We’ve also got a couple of other pairs in different shades: a cute baby blue and soft pale pink, both of which I’m sure will appear in more of Emmy’s outfits soon, but for now I’ve taken a few flatlays.
While out and about in the pushchair before now, I’ve just let Emmy hang out in bare feet in the warm weather, or just in her socks or tights when the sun’s not out. It’s only been in the past couple of weeks that I’ve noticed that, even when under the blankets I’ve been wrapping her in, her feet have felt a little chilly when we got home. Now she’s been wearing these out and about, her toes have been toasty and warm! We try to get out of the house for a walk at least once every day, so as we head into winter, this is only going to get more important. The only problem is keeping them on her feet as apparently they look really tasty to her!
Anyway, if you’re interested in the baby booties (which I think would make a fab baby shower gift!) or any of Jacobs & Dalton’s products (sheepskin rugs and fluffy slippers!), make sure to sign up on the siteto know more about their launch and to follow on Instagram or Facebook.
The rest of her outfit is one I spotted in F&F at Tesco while making up some time between baby sensory and Emmy’s afternoon nap recently – I couldn’t resist it! The striped bodysuit and mustard cord pinafore dress combination is something I’d never have been able to leave behind, plus it came with a pair of thick woolly tights. Even better, I have a mustard cord pinafore from Lucy & Yak too so we can match!
Then you can see her abandoned hand knitted mustard cardigan from great grandma here too. Emmy’s a very lucky girl as she has two great grandmas that love to spoil her with knitted goods – one of which seems to have something freshly knitted for her every time we see her! They’re coming in very handy now the weather is cooling down and we’re constantly getting compliments on them.
So I’ve been a bit short on blog posts around here lately – when Emmy was first born, I managed to get loads written while she slept. That was easy enough as she would sleep anywhere – in her baby box, her Moses basket, on her playmat, on me…even while I was typing. And that was how I got a lot done! Nowadays, it turns out that babies, once they’re out of the newborn stage, need attention, and a lot of it! Once she came out of what they call the “fourth trimester”, when she started being aware and wanting to do more stuff, I had to put the laptop down and pay her more attention. And it’s been a fun few months – very hard work at times, but incredibly rewarding. At 7 months, I’ve now got a little girl who interacts with me, plays back, is starting to crawl and even tries to talk to me. I spend 80% of the time when Emmy’s awake laying on the floor with her playing; the other 20% is spent feeding her, and she needs constant supervision while she’s attacking solid foods too.
Up until the past few weeks, Emmy only slept in three or four 30-40 minute bursts during the day time, and it would take a bit of time to get her down for these naps too – even once we had a schedule in place, I still needed to go through a little nap routine to get her to sleep. Plus we’d have to have at least one of these naps “on the go” – in the car or in the pushchair while walking. Before we started weaning her, I needed to fit my meals into this sleep time, as well as any tidying up and cleaning. This didn’t leave a lot of time for myself!
But Emmy’s sleep has suddenly changed and she’s taking two naps a day that are around 1.5 to 2 hours long usually. She eats her meals with me, and her naps are usually in her cot. Suddenly have time again! I’m always wary of her waking up, but I tend to get the stuff I need to do (cleaning and tidying) in the first half hour of her nap – that way if she wakes up, at least those things are done – then I can do things I want to do! It’s taken a little while to catch up on things that need doing before I’ve been able to start doing things like writing blog posts (hello!) and editing videos (hello!), but I’m so excited to finally have the opportunity to get back into doing this when I can. Hopefully it’ll continue this way for a bit and you’ll be able to see some more of Emmy’s and my autumn outfits!
