Getting Back in the Swing of Things!

To say that we have been busy around our house may be more than an understatement. Our family activities left me little time to devote to HappyLittleMonkey and blogging, however, the dust is starting to settle and I'm looking forward to blogging about our adventures and updating the shops!

Since my last post in August, there have been quite a few changes in our little world, including that we

Found out we were pregnant with baby #3, 

Started both kids in new schools (kindergarten and preschool), 

Decided to make an offer on a new house, 

Celebrated our son's fourth birthday (which was a monumental birthday to him!), 

Announced that our pumpkin patch is growing, 

Closed on the new house on Halloween and then... 

...went Trick-or-Treating, 

Began a few renovations at the new house and moved in,

Welcomed our families to the new house for Thanksgiving (two weeks after we moved in), 

Learned baby #3 is a Girl, 

and Celebrated Christmas!

We also lost a dear friend to cancer, showing us all too closely how precious life is and teaching us to focus on what is truly important.

As we look forward to 2013, we are thankful for the opportunities it will bring as we welcome our second daughter, transform our new house into a home, and even more importantly, concentrate on spending more time with those we love and celebrating the life we get to live.

HappyLittleMonkey has a sibling!

HappyLittleMonkey has been growing and the time has come for a sibling, a sibling store to be exact!

Please help me welcome

Monkey See, Monkey Do by HappyLittleMonkey to Etsy

(that’s MonkeySeeMonkeyDoHLM for short)

Over the last year and a half, the kids are really growing up and not only imitating us, but also each other. The number of times I have referred to our world as “it’s all monkey see, monkey do around here” was enough to make me consider changing the shop name a few times. However, as I continued making the blankets, burp cloths, blanket purses and other great products I started with, the ‘growing up’ products were also adding up

and HappyLittleMonkey was getting more and more crowded and harder to shop. (I mean look at my babies, they are getting sooo big!)

About two months ago, I started to dream up new ways to make it easier for people to shop with HappyLittleMonkey. The best option was to stay on Etsy and add a sibling store. The support and community on Etsy is just wonderful, and I didn’t want to leave. After that decision, it took about two seconds to decide on the name, so MonkeySeeMonkeyDoHLM was born.

MonkeySeeMonkeyDoHLM begins with a focus on appliqued and monogrammed shirts and accessories for birthdays, holidays, and days ending in ‘y;’ hair clippies; kids’ tablecloths- custom and ready to ship; blanket capes; and felt tea and cookie sets. These items will be completely transitioning out of HappyLittleMonkey in the coming months to allow me to make shopping for baby gifts easier.

Shirts are fully customizable and I am trying hard to make sure that I have lots of options for boys, as well as girls, and even items that coordinate. (It can be so hard to coordinate a boy and a girl without spending a small fortune!)

Choosing gifts from HappyLittleMonkey or MonkeySeeMonkeyDoHLM will actually be easier with better separation of baby gifts and bigger kid gifts. HappyLittleMonkey will still offer personalization and appliqued options, and generally have options from birth to baby’s first birthday. After that, the little one transitions to Monkey See, Monkey Do by HappyLittleMonkey.

MonkeySeeMonkeyDoHLM will provide the same customer service and strive to help you choose the perfect gift to self or gift to someone else.

I want to help you make gift giving fun, personal, and special. So, let me know what events you have coming up and we can pick something from the shop, or create something for the next special event in your life.

Each store will even feature links to the other shop, just in case you want to swing between stores. My contact information, blog address, Facebook address, and Twitter account will all remain the same.

I so appreciate your support and encouragement! It means so much and has really helped my shop to grow.

Thank you for continuing to think of me and for sharing my stores with others!

Hope you have a great weekend!

HappyLittleMonkey items- Swaddling Blanket and Burp Cloth Sets; Monogrammed Organic Cotton Bibs