Seagrass Easter Basket – A classic style to use year after year. I love that the handle collapses for easy storage (this is the size small).

Natural Moss Basket Filler – This inexpensive natural moss makes the perfect Easter grass!

God Gave us Easter Children’s Book – Looking forward to reading this to Archie. A precious reminder of what Easter is all about.

Ralph Lauren Striped Baby Cap – Couldn’t resist a baby baseball cap (especially when it’s blue + white stripes!)

Baby Shoes – I ordered these in a few sizes in this colorway and have loved them! Adding white for a little spring and summer refresh

Non-toxic Bubbles – It’s the little things

Spill-proof Sippy Cup – The viral sippy cup that has spill-proof magic – excited to test it out!

Baby Sunglasses – Oh I cannot wait to get the little fella in these! We’ll see how long they last…

Festive Easter Pajamas – I saw some of you snagged these easter egg pjs during the Lake Pajama sale! If you missed those they recently launched this precious bunny print that Archie’s been living in.

Wooden Toy Bunny – A precious (and festive!) little push toy.

Posey Lovie – Everything from this brand is so sweet and beautifully made.

Parterre Blanket – Adore this print! 

THE FULL EDIT –

bloom & grow forever,

Madeline Rose

The post Easter Basket Edit appeared first on Miss Madeline Rose.

We thought it would be special today to share five lessons we learned in our five years of marriage…

(I also realized we have not taken any photos together since we announced we were having a baby so we set up our self-timer and snapped a few special mom + dad moments!)

The Power of Praying for Each Other

One of the best pieces of advice I remember holding onto during pre-marital counseling was the importance of praying for your spouse. Chas says that daily praying specific things for me, for us, and for our marriage and family, has been a habit that has borne great fruit.

A Short Lag Time

“Lag-time” was a term given during a sermon in our first few months of marriage, which means the time between when a conflict starts and a conflict is resolved. I’m embarrassed to admit that I could stretch out that lag time quite a bit during our first year of marriage. It really resonated with us back then, and it has stuck with us today! We are thankful to The Lord that each year we notice our lag time gets shorter and shorter (which means less silent treatment and more happy times *wink*).

Counseling is Healthy

At the beginning of the year Chas brought up the idea of couples’ counseling, to which I proudly replied, “I don’t need counseling.” Bless my heart. Moving to Chicago has been one of the best things for us in our marriage. We were not going through any serious struggles, and that’s what I previously thought counseling was for. When I switched my perspective and viewed it as an opportunity to grow and to be proactively establishing healthy rhythms so we can be on the same team when baby arrives, that made all the difference (Chas explained that it would be like an oil change, even though the car was running well). And honestly, I think I enjoyed it more than Chas! We found the most wonderful certified Christian couples’ counselor through Moody Bible Institute close to our apartment and gleaned many practical ways that can help equip us to get out of negative communication cycles. We also got to reflect more deeply together on deeper areas of our emotional lives. Five months later, we are more in love and grateful for each other as we celebrate 5 years and eagerly await the arrival of our little fella.

Verbalize Expectations

I think it took the first full year of marriage for me to fully realize Chas could not actually read my mind. Sounds silly, but many of our disagreements would stem from a root of unmet expectations. Once I realized this we decided it is always better to over communicate and verbalize our expectations before they happen.

Be Familiar with Each Other’s Love Languages

A genuine word of encouragement or affirmation fills my cup and Chas has always been so good at this. Not a day has gone by these past nine months that he hasn’t told me how beautiful I look or complimented me during this pregnancy. I used to reply with, “You have to say that,” which I discovered wasn’t the best response. I have learned to graciously accept his kind words, and it makes me want to find ways to make him feel loved, helped, and respected. Often times he feels this way when we get to spend quality time together, phones away without any distractions. If you aren’t sure what your love language is you can take a short quiz here!

Marriage is hard work. Holy work. It takes time and intention. We are not perfect and our marriage certainly is not perfect, but we are grateful that we can honestly say each year just keeps getting better and better. There will continue to be mountains and valleys, but the keys for us have been remembering the lifelong, eternal covenant we made to each other five years ago, keeping a lifelong perspective, and allowing The Lord to be at the center of our relationship.

Current Air Dress in Ivory (also available in a wheat colorway here)

bloom + grow forever,

Soon-to-be Mom & Dad

The post 5 Lessons We Learned in 5 Years of Marriage appeared first on Miss Madeline Rose.

At the end of last year, I felt the Lord prompting me with my new word for 2022. Usually I spend most of December praying about my word and reflecting on the prior year’s word. This year was slightly different. I was sitting in bed journaling and as the sunlight poured through the window onto my pages it was as if the Lord was just writing it out for me in bold letters… DELIGHT.

Delight (noun) – a high degree of gratification or pleasure: joy.

I smile when I dream about all the ways I want to delight in our sweet little newborn. Hearing that first cry as he enters the world, seeing him smile for the first time, or laugh at his silly dad. I can’t wait for all the simple joys. Wrapping him up in a warm towel after a bath, strolling around the river walk showing him the city, and soaking in all that comes with newborn bliss.

We had our anatomy scan this past week and it was so crazy seeing how much our little fella has grown since our last ultrasound. At our previous visit he was wiggling all over the place and this time he seemed quite cozy and content with his little legs and feet crossed. He even gave us the most adorable thumbs up like, “don’t worry mama, I’m doing great in here!”

A few verses I found and loved when I was researching delight…

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Psalm 37:23 “The Lord makes firm the steps of the one who delights in Him.”

Psalm 149:4 “For the Lord takes delight in His people; He crowns the humble with victory.”

1 Corinthians 13:6-7 “Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom He loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

Have you chosen your word for 2022? It’s fun to see how the Lord weaves it through your life during the year.

bloom + grow forever,

Madeline Rose

The post My Word for 2022 appeared first on Miss Madeline Rose.