We design personalized baby gifts, big sister shirts, and big brother shirts because we just love the impact children have on our lives and want their special presence in families to be commemorated and celebrated. So in honor of National Sibling Day we’ve decided to highlight some of our posts over the years that celebrate sibs.
Big Sister Shirts and Sister Sayings and Big Brother Shirts and Brother Sayings
3 Reasons Being a Big Sister Rocks and 3 Reasons Being a Big Brother Rocks
Beautiful Sibling Photography
Super Sibling Love
Middle Name Inspiration
When you design personalized baby gifts for a living, you know a thing or two about names. But no matter how popular or uncommon a name is, we’re always fascinated by why parents chose that name. Middle names are usually even more interesting, maybe because parents feel they have a little more leeway to be creative or have an ability to pay homage to a relative whether they’re a fan of the name or not. Regardless, we thought Babble’s recent post on middle name inspiration (here) was a good source for ideas and have two ideas ourselves too, which we’ve shown with big sister shirts and big brother shirts.
Music – Names from your favorite song make a great choice because it’ll put a smile on your face whenever you hear that song. The middle names on these big brother shirts and big sister shirts were inspired by The Beatles, Rick Springfield, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton. (Shown: Playful Doodles Big Brother T shirt; Patterned Delight Big Sister Tshirt; Love to Sketch Big Brother T shirt; Merry Menagerie Big Sister Tshirt)
Literary Characters – Whether it’s from a current bestseller or a childhood favorite, literary characters can become like a beloved friend, so choosing that name for your child’s middle name will allow that friendship to stay with you. The middle names on these big brother shirts and big sister shirts were inspired by The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Madeline, Gone With the Wind, and Little Women. (Shown: Stamped Style Big Brother T shirt; Tweet Tweet Big Sister Tshirt; Playful Owls Big Brother T shirt; Flower Power Big Sister Tshirt)
What inspired your child’s middle name?
Links We Love
Between gearing up for Easter and keeping the kids occupied during Spring Break, not to mention designing personalized baby gifts for a living, we’ve spent more time online looking up fun ideas, as well as parenting resources, than we care to admit. So you don’t have to spend hours roaming the interwebs, we’ve got some great links here to check out.
PopSugar – 11 Kid-Friendly Jelly Bean Recipes for Easter
The Daily Meal – 3 Cool Carrot Centerpieces for Easter
Huffington Post – Two Words For The Mom Who Sent Her Kid To School With No Socks Today
Well Rounded NY – Pregnancy Vitals: Belly Buttons
PL in Real Life
Special milestones deserve special attention and our personalized baby gifts are a great way to commemorate those moments. That’s why we’re always so excited to feature a customer and their little one with our personalized onesies, big sister shirts, big brother shirts, or 1st birthday shirts in our In Real Life series.
This In Real Life features Christy filling us in on her son Jaylen’s first birthday.
What was Jaylen’s favorite thing about his birthday/turning one?!
Jaylen loved his birthday party! He’s such a social guy and he loved interacting with all the guests at his party. He also loves food so I think he had fun eating and playing with his smash cake too. 🙂
Did you throw a birthday party? What was it like?
Jaylen is 1/4 Korean and the first birthday is a big deal in Korean culture so we had a big party for him at a nature center nearby. We had a traditional Korean first birthday table that my mother-in-law put together with rice cakes and other food (some of it was fake though). We also had several objects representing future career’s Jaylen could have–like a tambourine (musician), stethoscope (doctor), paintbrush (artist), children’s Bible book (ministry), mini basketball (athlete), apple (teacher), rope (symbolizes long life) and a marker (writer). Guests voted for which career they thought Jaylen would choose. We then placed all the items in front of Jaylen and he picked the children’s Bible book for a career in ministry! Then we drew a name from the people who said Jaylen would pick the book and his Uncle Pearson, who happens to be a youth pastor, got the prize (how fitting!). We also used the free Petite Lemon birthday poster as part of the decor. I plan on using it every year!
What are a few of his milestones or personality traits that you love at his age?
Now Jaylen is 15 months old and he is so much fun! He’s starting to say more words (although my husband and I are probably the only ones who understand him most of the time). He recently started saying “mama” with it actually referring to me and I love it. 🙂 He has such an easy-going personality and he’s always smiling (he’s been like this since he was an infant). Lately he starts laughing if he sees us laughing. It’s one of those throw-your-head back and laugh out loud kind of laughs and it’s hilarious when he does it. Since it started getting warmer he also LOVES going outside and is content to just walk around the neighborhood.
What are a few things that you love about having a boy?
I love seeing him bond with his daddy over things that aren’t necessarily my favorite. For instance, my husband took Jaylen for a ride in his car and let him hear the engine rev. Afterwards, Jaylen kept saying “vroom, vroom.” We rolled the windows down and Jaylen laughed and had a huge smile on his face as the wind blew through his hair. He’s already sharing a love for cars with Daddy! I also love that Jaylen is such a momma’s boy right now. His face lights up when he sees me and I love being his favorite person.
Describe motherhood in one word?
Transforming. Motherhood has changed me in so many ways. Since becoming a mom, I realized even more fully what it means to love. Motherhood is one of the most challenging things I’ve ever experienced, yet it’s also one of the most rewarding. My life will never be the same and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Thanks Christy for sharing your story and Jaylen’s big day with us. We’re so glad he loved wearing one of our 1st birthday shirts on his special day.
Does your little one have one of our personalized growth charts, big sister shirts, big brother shirts, 1st birthday shirts? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please email us at buzz (at) petitelemon (dot) com and let us know which of our personalized baby gifts your kiddo has and they may be featured in an upcoming Petite Lemon In Real Life post.
Spring Break Ideas + DIY Crayons
If the weather isn’t ideal for being outside over spring break, having plenty of arts & crafts and games to keep the kids busy is very important! We work from home designing personalized baby gifts so we know how crucial it is to keep them occupied and absorbed in something fun and productive so you can get things done too. That’s why we’re offering a few ideas, plus a DIY to create crayons in fun shapes that can work for two projects – shape the crayons, then use them!
If you have chalk and a chalkboard, whether it’s a large portable one, on an easel, or an entire wall, you have a range of options for art, math games, puzzles, word games or multiple rounds of hangman (for the older kiddos), etc. Click here for ideas from Ehow.com
Gather up a mix of crayons, colored pencils, and washable markers and let kids get creative mixing mediums. If they’re not feeling particularly inspired, consider giving them a list of items from around the house to draw, family pictures to re-create, or self-portraits so they stay focused.
Sewing is a great way to work on hand-eye coordination and depending on their skill level, they can create a tooth fairy pillow or small throw pillow; stitch along dotted lines to spell their name; or even darn their own socks!
To create some fun shaped crayons, our Creative Director Hillary, who designs the best personalized growth charts, big sister shirts, big brother shirts, 1st birthday shirts, and more, also came up with this DIY here.
And if the weather is nice where you are, here are some additional ideas to get them outside and active, which we’ve highlighted with a few of our big brother shirts and big sister shirts.
Links We Love
Between inspiration for designing our line of personalized baby gifts and looking for helpful ideas and resources for our blog posts, we spend a lot of time scouring the web. Here are some of the links that gave us great ideas, a laugh, and even made us tear up a little last week.
Babble – 9 Horrifying Photos of Stuff My Kids Destroyed
PopSugar Moms – 9 Stylish Ways to Reuse Your Crib
CNN – Chris Evans, Chris Pratt Meet “True Superheroes” in Hospital Visit
PopSugar – 10 Nursery Decorating Ideas You Can Afford
Style Me Pretty – Baby Shower Ideas
Links We Love
While we’re designing personalized baby gifts, we’re always on the hunt for inspiration and we get a lot of it while browsing online. We like to share what moves us as parents and professionals through our blog, as well as social media, but if you’ve missed anything, check out these Links We Love.
Babble – What Parents Could Buy with $150,000 Oscars Swag Bag
Parents Magazine – 17 Habits of Very Happy Moms
New York Magazine – Dolce & Gabbana Celebrate Moms on the Runway
Parents Magazine – 5 Ways to Prep for Daylight Savings Time
ModernMom – Non-Alcoholic St. Patrick’s Day Drinks
Petite Lemon in Real Life: Whitney & Miliana
Like our personalized baby gifts, the In Real Life series captures a moment in a wee one’s life, whether it’s their welcome into a family, a birthday, or a special milestone that deserves to be commemorated with a personalized growth chart, big sister tshirt, big brother t shirt, birthday tee or onesie, etc.
Today, we have our friend Whitney and her baby girl Miliana.
How old is Miliana?
-Miliana is 6 months old on March 18! 🙂 And I cannot believe that!
What are some fun changes you’ve noticed as of late with your baby girl?
-Lately she enjoys sitting up on her own and playing with her new blocks; she is very proud of the new view she has on life! She gives big smiles and can charm just about anyone with those blue eyes! She also smiles and giggles when we sing and dance with her (yes, we are those crazy parents)!
What did you enjoy most about decorating your nursery?
-When decorating her nursery, I loved finding a combination of old pieces and some new ones to use in her space. My mom and I had been collecting globes for a while and it was fun to put them to use. I hope the globes will give Miliana a desire to travel and experience the beauty all over the world. I love decorating with my mom and I am thankful she helped me create a room that will grow with Mili. The nursery has little treasures from important people in Miliana’s life and it is a great reminder of how much she is loved!
Anything you enjoyed most about being pregnant?
-While I was pregnant, I enjoyed knowing that she was always along for the ride and already becoming a part of how we do life. It was just the beginning of adventures with my little sidekick. The whole process is such a miracle!
Whitney, we know you have a very close relationship with your sisters — what is that like now that you are a mom? How are they enjoying being Aunts?
-My sisters mean the world to me, and thankfully that hasn’t changed since becoming a mom. I now have this pride and joy that I get to share with them! They really are the best aunts! Miliana is a lucky girl to have them in her life! From the moment they found out she was coming, they have been excited, supportive, loving and giving of their time (and gifts) to the tiny babe. Miliana is now just one of the girls!
Describe motherhood in 1 word:
-Motherhood is BALANCE.
Balance in enjoying every moment of each day, yet dreaming and preparing for her future. Balance in having information and knowledge, yet trusting my gut. Balance between mom guilt and pure mom joy. Balance in sacrificing myself for her, yet not losing myself. Balance in staying grounded when my love for her is so out of this world!
(Here’s the little blue-eyed beauty herself in one of our personalized onesies, the Happy Hearts design)
Thank you so much for sharing Whitney, we loved having you and Miliana be a part of our In Real Life series!
Does your little one have one of our personalized growth charts, big sister shirts, big brother shirts, 1st birthday shirts? If so, we’d love to hear from you! Please email us at buzz (at) petitelemon (dot) com and let us know which of our personalized baby gifts your kiddo has and they may be featured in an upcoming Petite Lemon In Real Life post.
Celebrate Siblings
National Sibling Day may be happening next month, April 10th to be exact, but at Petite Lemon, we think every day is a great day to celebrate siblings. That’s why we’ve created a fantastic collection of big sister shirts and big brother shirts with little sibling personalized onesies and tees to match. We know how much kiddos love wearing a big sister tshirt or big brother t shirt and showing off their role in their family.
Other ways to help your little ones celebrate having siblings? We’ve got a few ideas here:
Fill out a sibling interview sheet so they get to know each other’s favorite things. You can download one here.
Plan a special outing together. Whether it’s a day at the park or an outing for ice cream, having a child plan an activity for their sibling will give them a sense of responsibility to plan something they’ll both enjoy and get them excited to share a fun day together.
Have them create special Sibling Day cards and make it a yearly thing they look forward to like a birthday or do it on a monthly basis so they regularly show each other how they feel. And a few hours creating art is never a bad way to spend a day!
Sign siblings up for a class or team sport that will allow them to bond (and not compete against each other!).
Check out these other sibling related blog posts:
How do you help your wee ones celebrate their relationship?
Links We Love
As both parents and designers of personalized baby gifts, we’re always looking for new ideas, resources, inspirations, etc. to make us better at what we do personally and professionally. The internet gives us a lot of opportunity to grow and learn, and get a much needed laugh at times too.
Sometimes we find stories that we incorporate into our blogs or share links to them on our Facebook page, but we know how busy life can be, so we thought we’d take a page from some of our favorite resources like PopSugar and Lonny and put together all of the links to stories we loved in the last week in one place. Peruse at your leisure, or more than likely, squeeze in a few during naptime!
SheKnows.com – 9 Baby Trends for 2015
PopSugar Moms – Why You’re a Dang Good Mother
PopSugar Home – 2015 Nursery Décor Trends
