Our spring look book has arrived! It is such an incredible labor of love for me.  
 
I personally plan out each page, photograph the contents, and then Lindsay helps me write the text. Once the copy is ready, I begin creating all the graphics. Then i fuss with it until I finally hit my deadline and decide it's perfect enough to send to the printer. It's such an amazing feeling when the lookbook is finally live for everyone to enjoy. Check it out! 
 
 
 
In this season's lookbook you will see my son Andrew's nursery and some details on how we decorated his room. For years I walked by our little, empty guest room, wondering how I might decorate it once our baby dreams came true. As you can imagine, decorating his room was a huge joy for me. At the end of crafting, searching, scouting and playing... there was one last step. We went into little nest as a family and documented him as a newborn, so we could create a wall collection in a space I had saved just for memories of our family. 
 
Once the canvases went up, the room was complete. And my heart melts just a little bit more every time I look at how little he was just five short months ago. 
 
Then, something unexpected happened... This wall collection ended up being not only my favorite thing in the room, but Andrew's as well.  
 

Andrew laughing at photos of himself from laura novak on Vimeo.

 
 
When he is fussy, bored, cranky, tired... same reaction. Giggles!  
 
I now realize that the wall art you get at Little Nest is not just for you and how it makes you feel in your heart, but for your kids too! What a heartwarming thought! 
 
i would love to know how your kids respond to photos of themselves on the wall! What is their reaction? How do you plan to add more "pages" to their story as they grow?

If only I had been more specific. But would it really have made a difference? I too often assume that my intended message is obvious..........and then BAM! Foiled again by a 6 year old boy where MY obvious is subject to HIS gross misinterpretation.  
 
LIke when: 
~ I told him on a regular weekday morning to go get dressed, apparently I needed to have specified "IN YOUR SCHOOL CLOTHES" so I didn't later discover him all set and ready to go in his lacrosse helmet and pads with only 6 minutes to go until the bus arrived; 
 
~ and when I told him that we do not say bad words, I should have included that SPELLING them out instead was just as equally inappropriate (although I admit quite an impressive workaround on his part); 
 
~ and when I asked him to shower to smell better, I apparently should have qualified that Febreze is NOT a personal deodorant and legitimately getting clean requires more than simply standing NEXT to the water while chanting "ohmmm". I mean WHO gets out of a 20 minute shower with DRY HAIR?; 
 
~ and when we had a long talk about being a "leader" at school and "setting a good example for others by modelling positive behaviors", I did not mean that, during the class bathroom break the next day, he should teach all of the boys how to properly propel oneself into the air to scale the stall door and then swing back and forth (yep, that was a super fun teacher conversation - can you even imagine peeking in and seeing a half dozen boys hanging from stall doors?!); 
 
~ and when he asked if he could "knock up on the neighbor's door to see if the boys could play lacrosse", I should have said that if they weren't home, he shouldn't then invite himself in and ask for a snack and what they were having for dinner; 
 
~ and when I suggested he "pick up the clothes from his floor", I absolutely did not mean that the solution was to place them on each blade of his ceiling fan. Of course, he had a solid answer as to why he did that - I mean isn't it totally normal to turn the fan on, catch the flying clothes and THEN put everything away properly (in a rumpled ball)? 
 
~ and when I said make sure you REALLY wipe yourself clean, I certainly DID NOT mean for him to take an entire container of anti-bacterial Clorox lemon scented kitchen wipes and go to town on his derriere......resulting, of course, in an insanely clogged toilet. 
 
On the other hand, I am quite pleased that I never clarified something on my own behalf - when I am frustrated and take the lord's name in vain (totally busted), I am not actually saying "Cheez-its" (say that one in your head a few times and you'll get it). After 12 years of catholic school and a eucharistic minister of a father, I feel it is okay to admit that, although sacrilegious, I do SO find it hilarious watching him shake his head and mumble "cheez-its, cheez-its, cheez-its".

Now let me ask YOU for some advice as there is a current topic about which I am quite nervous asking HIM for clarification. He plays several sports this year that require the use of an athletic cup. So.....the "mom of the year" question is, do I REALLY want to make sure that he hasn't been tempted to drink out of it....or is it better that I just don't know? Oh dear god. 

Stay tuned for the next installment of "The Many Misadventures of Captain Chaos". I wouldn't trade this kid for the world. Plus, if he was somehow kidnapped, I am sure he would promptly be returned. 
 
Cheers my friends and I'll see you in the nest! 
Meg

I love books! I love reading them, sharing them, trading them, talking about them, seeing them on shelves, using them as display pieces and even hiding little love notes in them. Books are fabulous! 
 
When my kids were little, our bedtime routine included reading every night. Ok, with the exception of the nights, where I meant to read, but the exhaustion of new parenthood won and the book would act as an eye mask, blocking the little light that illuminated the nursery! 
 
So when Laura mentioned that she was excited to start a library for her new baby - all of us at Little Nest jumped at the chance to make her dream come true...in the form of a Book Themed Baby Shower!  
 
Books bring out different emotions in all of us. It was wonderful to hear the unique memories that each of us held about our favorite stories. We discussed for days about which books we treasured from our childhood and which ones our own kids adored. We laughed about the irony of being so tired as a new mom, that we couldn't remember to brush our teeth, yet we could recite Good Night Moon frontwards and backwards with our eyes closed! 
 
I spent hours at the local bookstore (yes, there are a few left) trying to find my best-loved titles to share with baby Andrew. Finally settling on the ones that brought me the most wonderful memories over the years of holding my little babies in the crook of my arm and then in the warmth of my lap and now listening to them read to me. 
 
Here is a list of the top 10 most adored children books  
 
What books would you have brought to the shower? We'd love to have more suggestions to share with our readers! 

It's your call with Lynn Doyle from laura novak on Vimeo.

 
 
Just a few weeks ago I was part of a discussion on Lynn Doyle's Philadelphia-based talk show called "Its Your Call" about Sheryl Sandberg's new movement, Lean In. I've been a long time fan of Sheryl's TED talk and it was a timely topic for me having recently come back from maternity leave. Due to the nature of TV, I wanted to say so much more than we we could cover in a half hour segment.  
 
In a lot of ways Little Nest was my first baby, born from many months of sweat and tears. Sort of like a really long pregnancy. I always thought leaving the company to take care of my newborn baby would be so incredibly hard for me because I love what I do and I love to work. I'm a bad vacationer (my husband has a rating system based on how often I check email) and I am admittedly, a work-in-progress when it comes to relaxing. But when the time came, oddly enough, leaving was much easier than I expected it to be! I was uber-prepared, like any good type-A-er would be, sending multiple emails out to my staff with subject lines like "If I go into labor tomorrow..." and detailed instructions about where I left exactly every single project that could possibly be construed as unfinished if Andrew was to arrive a few weeks early.  
 
But as any mom reading this knows, the minute that awesome little man arrived in my world I was completely focused on his every want. He was like a tiny little puzzle, that God had given me to take care of and figure out all his quirks and needs. I was completely in Andrew-land until I realized that several weeks had passed and not only was the studio running great, but upon quickly glancing at my email I the whole business actually seemed to be running better than it had when I was there. What?!! 
 
I had never taken so much time away from work and it was both exciting and scary to see that it could run as well as it did without me. Parts of the company I used to be completely in charge of in were now being taken care of by my more than capable management team. So thank goodness for that! But as I took a step back to admire what they accomplished while I was out, I couldn't help but wonder how to insert myself back into the very company I had created from scratch. 
 
I had prepared SO MUCH for leaving, I never once thought about what it might be like to come back. 
 
This required me to take a step back and figure out my new "normal." I've slowly realized that right now, at this point in my life, I can't wake up anymore at 6 a.m. and bang out a big project before everyone else gets to their email. But I've also realized how much talent I have at Little Nest, and how they can help me with things I used to take on myself. For example, Marcy helped me redesign the studios for spring, Alison has been working on instruction manuals, and Megan came up with all the new wall display ideas for our Wayne studio. Going out on maternity leave made me realize all the wonderful help that we have at Little Nest, and how much I was under-utilizing it simply because I had the time to do it myself before becoming a mom. 
 
Right now I'd say that I'm not leaning in or out, but am pretty happy on the days I can stand up straight without leaning over. We took a year off from opening new studios for the company to focus on our operations before we grow, and for me to attempt this crazy balancing act of being a working mom. 
 
My role at Little Nest has changed too, where I try to be disciplined about staying out of daily operations (so tempting though!) and spend my time on the creative vision. I let a lot more go now than I did before, but provide more clarity around the details I'm particular about. I even developed a personal mission statement that I keep by my bedside table to help keep me centered on those sleep-deprived days... but more on that in a later post. 
 
In a lot of ways the birth of Andrew produced a rebirth for me as the owner of Little Nest - what was normal before was no longer possible, so being a mom refined the opportunity to change how I work. And because I have less time, I was forced to do some editing and delegation - all of which has seemed to make Little Nest even better. Before I would work as hard as possible, and now I have realized I simply just need to work smarter. 
 
So all in all, the balancing act is going well and I am even more proud of our mom-centric work environment at Little Nest. Did becoming child change your work habits? Did you have to leave a full time job upon having kids? I would love to hear about your experiences.