Happy Mother’s Day Everyone! This day holds so much more meaning to me now that I am a mom. I almost hate saying that, because I wish that I had known what my own Mother had sacrificed for me while growing up and totally spoiled her each Mother’s Day because she deserves to be spoiled!!! I guess that’s just how it goes though huh? We can never truly understand anyone until we “semi” walk in their shoes. Well I am going to take this opportunity to publicly thank my mother for raising me into the strong female I am today. Your love, sacrifice, and unwavering support has not gone unnoticed or unappreciated (well maybe I didn’t appreciate you as much as I should have when I was a teenager. But I’m sure I have that coming back to me ten fold with Molly. Ha!). I love you mom!
That said, I want more than anything to raise Molly the way my mother raised me. To be resilient, strong, kind, loving, and brave! That’s why when I saw this shirt, I felt compelled to get it. I feel proud wearing it next to my daughter. We ARE the females of the future! She is the future. And I am going to do everything in my power to give her the best future possible. So today on my first Mother’s Day I am making 3 promises to Molly…
A Supportive and Loving Home
I want more than anything for Kevin and I to set a good example for Molly. Not just in the way we treat her and the love we give her, but in the way we treat each other. I want to put my phone down more often and be present in her life. I want to eat dinner as a family and turn the TV off so we can spend quality time together. I never want her to have to worry about her home life, because life is hard in general and I always want home to be a safe place for her to come to. A place she can count on.
Recycle
We only have one planet and I promise to do my part to take care of it for little Molly. In fact, Kevin and I just bought a second car for our family (Kevin didn’t have one) and we got a hybrid! We really want to reduce waste and emissions and improve our planet. And we recycle almost EVERYTHING. You would be surprised how much you can actually recycle. If you are unsure what to recycle, check this website out! And my policy is that if I think it can be recycled then it goes in the recycling bin! Even if I’m not sure. So please recycle! Plant a tree! Make this planet better for our children and our children’s children!
Let Go
I honestly just teared up writing the words “let go” above. As Molly’s mom I always want to protect her. I want to hover over her until she’s grown and make sure nothing bad ever happens to her, but I must resist that urge! The other day I recorded myself on Insta Story reading a book to Molly called “If I Could Keep You Little” and many of you ask me about it. I love this book and I choke up every night when I read it to Molly because it has such a great message. It basically says that if I could keep her little, then I would kiss every scrape, read her stories every night, and hold her hand everywhere. But then I would miss her learning from her mistakes, reading on her own, and finding her place in the world! Man, I’m crying my eyes out typing this! Ha! So today Molly, I promise to love you and care for you, but more importantly give you the tools to learn to care for and love yourself!
I love you Molly Sullivan Manno! Your spirit guides mine. Your laugh gives me life. What I know you’ll do with your future, gives me hope. You’ve given me the greatest love my heart with ever know.
Ok now that I’m sobbing all over my keyboard, I will wrap up and say HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY! All of us moms out there work really hard and deserve to be recognized today! Luv you guys!!!!
And I’ll share a few words about mine and Molly’s outfits below just because I love them! And her pants are supposed to help her crawl. Scroll to learn more!
1. BLACK HAT | 2. EARRINGS | 3. T-SHIRT | 4. JEANS | 5. CHUCKS
6. POLKA DOT BOW | 7. ONESIE | 8. “CRAWLING” PANTS | 9. FLESHLY PICKED SHOES
Ok I had to make the outfit write up on this post separate just cause I needed to mentally separate myself from the blog post above. Mainly so I will stop crying. Ha! I already explained why I love this shirt so much. You can get it HERE. But if it sells out there, you can also get it HERE.
My grey wash jeans are new and I LOOOOVE them! They are by a company called Mott & Bow and they are legit the most comfortable pair of jeans I’ve ever owned. They aren’t cheap, but they aren’t $200 jeans either. They are so worth the little investment because good quality jeans like this LAST!
I thought my feather earrings really made this look fun and gave it a little bit of edge. Plus they just make me seem cooler than I am. Ha! The black hat adds that fun edge too. It’s pretty much a requirement to wear hats when you have short hair. I forgot how much I loved wearing them!
Ok I have to tell you guys about Molly’s pants. I’ve mentioned to you guys before that Molly isn’t crawling. She’s 10 months so she’s definitely delayed in that department. But she LOVES cruising with her walker or while holding my hand. I honestly think she’ll walk within a month! But when I took her to PT the physical therapist urged us to at least do exercises to encourage her to crawl (like the wheelbarrow). So we do the exercises every day, but I also bought these pants with little rubber padding on the knees to give her better traction for crawling. We just got them so I don’t have any results to give, but I’m hoping they help her!
But since she loves to walk/cruise (especially when we are out and about) she has to wear shoes. I’ve read the soft bottom shoes are best for development so their little feet can feel the ground. We LOVE these Freshly Picked Moccasins. We have multiple pairs. She loves wearing them too. Is it just me or are some baby shoes impossible to get on their feet? Not these! The go on so easily. They are a MUST for babies starting to walk in my opinion. All other details on our outfits below!
Oh and it you are like me and always wanting to know where to get the cutest outfits for your kiddos, Like to Know It just launched #LTKFamily! You can follow them HERE. All of your favorite fashion bloggers will be sharing family friendly outfits and favortire products there! xoxo
Happy Mother’s Day to you! Molly is so lusky to have you. It’s true that we really all have to learn to ‘let go’ sometimes. Enjoy your day!
Ali,
Today, Molly and You are both BABIES.
Happy Mother’s Day to the most BEAUTIFUL FEMALES OF THE FUTURE!
❤️❤️❤️❤️
Try robeez shoes too- super easy to slip on! Love your blog so much and fashion recs- have bought a lot of stuff! And you’re so cute and so is Ms. molly! A happy first Mother’s Day!
Aww your blog made me cry. My daughter is a couple weeks younger then molly and I felt every word. As I stare at my baby monitor now it chokes me up. I have followed your blog since I became pregnant because you were also pregnant and I loved the style you rocked during your pregnancy, not many fashion bloggers catered to a preggo mama. Happy first Mother’s Day Ali, I hope it was an amazing day! I love your blog mainly because I love the way you actually connect and feel with your audience so thanks for being so real. Thanks!
Hi Ali,
I really like your blog and your honesty about raising Molly. I have a 6 month old son and dang it, being a mother is the hardest and most beautiful thing I’ve done in my life. You can tell how much you love your little girl and she’s lucky to have you although she doesn’t know it yet ?
As for recycling, I think it’s so wonderful that you’re on it! I’m also obsessed with recycling and reducing my environmental footprint. Another really big contributor to emissions is fashion. The cost on the planet is huge for buying new all the time. I want to raise awareness on this important issue. I think the fashion industry is easy to overlook because who doesn’t want to look good! But I encourage buying more second hand stuff rather than constantly buying new. Even if you give it to a second hand store after your done with it the majority of clothing ends up in a landfill. They say fashion is the second dirtiest industry in the world next to the oil industry. Please take fashion into consideration when trying to lesson your impact on the environment for our children. Of course we all need clothes and want to look good/in style but unfortunately the cost to our environment is huge.
Sorry for the rant, as you can see I’m passionate about the environment too. Unfortunately it involves sacrifice.. but well worth it to try to preserve our planet for our children.
All the best to you and your family ?
Happy Mother’s Day Ali!
My daughter never crawled. Well, she tried to, but she dragged one leg behind her. However, she started standing by herself at 9 months old and then walked a month later. She’s not delayed she’s advanced! She went on to do gymnastics and was the gold medal winner for our state in her age group! I think she skipped crawling because we have hardwood floors and she didn’t like how hard they were on her knees. Any way, I hope this helps (she’s 17 now). You seem to be doing a great job raising Molly.
P.S. I bought the feather earrings!
If “If I Could Keep You Little” gets you (I love that book), try “The Wonderful Things You Will Be” when she gets older. The message is beautiful and I love the illustrations. Sample line: “When I look at you and you look at me, I wonder what wonderful things you will be.” I’ve been reading it to my 3.5 year old daughter for awhile now and I still tear up sometimes. I need to read “If I Could Keep You Little” to my 16-month-old son but I’m pretty sure I’ll lose it!
Awww Ali. Love this. What a great message on your first Mother’s Day! Hope yours was great?❤️
Happy Mothers Day Ali! I have a little boy who was born on June 28th last year so just about a week older than Molly. We are headed to Europe in a few weeks so I’d love to hear how your trip to Miami went and if you have any tips for travelling with a baby!
Happy Mothers Day! I was wondering if you wrote or are thinking of writing a post on introducing Molly to solid foods. I have a 10.5 month old who we are trying to get to eat more solids but I get nervous since she’s choked a few times on puffs/cheerios. I’ve seen posts and videos of Molly eating such a variety of solids – what’s your secret?!
Curious what exercises were suggested to you. My 11-month-old doesn’t seem to have any interest in crawling.
You should totally do the “Rocking Motherhood Challenge” We focus way too much on too many negatives, and sometimes the Mom guilt takes over. Anyways its a great way to focus on the positives! Your doing an amazing job and Molly is just so precious. Time really does fly too much when you have a little one and you want to enjoy the precious moments!
Hey Ali, Do you still have your baby registry? Or could you do a TBT of the brands you went with?
Thanks!