i love throwing parties and i love hosting people {we need more space!}. it’s so fun for me!
i’m always thinking of creative ideas for future fêtes. ya never know when you will need to whip up some fun decor!
what has got me thinking of baby showers lately, is the fact that i will be attending several showers in the next few months {whoa}! i’m so excited for my friends, who are having babies, and i love going to a good party!
here are some of my favorite themed showers i have seen of late. watch out! some great inspirations headed your way {aaaaannd, it’s not just for baby showers, these ideas are great for any party!}…it will fill your head with awesome creative ideas!
i absolutely love the onesie clothes string! what a colorful, fun idea. a very creative touch. you can buy inexpensive onesie and have each guest personalize it by decorating each one making it unique and a perfect gift for the mom to be!
the table spread is just darling with the colored glass {i love colored glass…hobnail, milk glass, green, pink…}, you can visit vintage shops, ebay, or etsy to collect fun glassware. or to add to the eclectic look, have your friends, who are helping out with the shower, bring their own collections!
how cool is the book garland?! it’s made out of old children’s books. just cut up the pages and cover each ‘mini’ book with colored construction paper and hang it up with clothes string/twine/fishing wire and clothes pins. pepper in little paper poms and voila! a themed decor to elevate the ambiance.
what a yummy table spread! since most showers are mainly during lunch time, make it light bites. whether you are a cook or you will get it catered, make sure you have something sweet and savory. i love a hearty salad, a meat dish, a fresh side of pasta, and some good ‘ol carbs to top it off! depending on where you place the food table, you can easily create an inexpensive backdrop to the table. rummage through your stash and find color coordinating streamers or purchase some at a dollar store, to create a whimsical background. of course, flowers always, always add a perfect finishing touch to any table spread!
get creative with favors by sticking close to the theme of the party or representing the mom to be by giving away something that is so ‘her’! i love these onesie sugar cookies as favors, perfectly tied into the baby shower decor.
the lower right hand corner photo is the invite to the party. how lucky was this lady to have a friend hand draw the invites {like myself, who had a dear friend, darling olivia, create our wedding invites…you can see it here}. if you do have an artistic friend to recreate classic children’s book characters or just print them out, it will make for a unique invitation. bind the pictures accordion style {washi tape would be a perfect accent} with the right wording and font, you will have such a cute invite everyone will rave about [and something special the mom to be can save}!
[beautiful!]
what a wonderful party, non? i have a few more favorites i will sporadically share soon!
[honestly, i had the sticker with us on vacation but got so excited once she was dressed, i forgot to put it on! the pictures were too cute to redo!]
[photos taken on 3.27]
length: 24 3/4″
weight: 13lbs 14 oz.
i love that you like to lay around. i love that you like to giggle. i love that you smile in the morning. i love that you like to sit in my arms and watch what i do. i love that you can grab onto objets and pull it towards your mouth. i love that you sleep 6-8 hours through the night. i love that you know at your last feeding for the evening, you instantly fall asleep. i love that you have learned to fall asleep on your own. i love that you like to stand up on your chubby little legs as much as possible. i love that you are so strong. i love your extremely chubby cheeks. i love that you like bath time. i love that you have little curly hairs on your head and i can easily clip a barrette in it. i love how curious you have gotten. i love that you can make fun noises. i love that i can dress you up in cute clothes {not just sleepers anymore!}. i love that you wildly kick your legs and flail your arms like you are trying to get somewhere. i love that everywhere we go, everyone stops us so they can coo over you. i love that you are our baby girl and we love you so much.
so, baby olive laughed out loud before her third month birthday. it was quite a special moment we all shared together. since then, her lol’s have been far and few in-between. she laughs when she feels like it and you never know what will make her giggle.
the other day, sister grace spent the weekend with us. while i was away, daddy and grace played away the day. grace has become quite fond and comfortable with little miss olive. grace was sitting on the couch, holding her, saying funny things, and it was making olive giggle a lot!! the adorbs moment was captured by grace herself! what a precious moment between them two! i love this!
i love the very end of the vimeo, where olive is just dunzo. her look is too precious…she’s like ‘ok, grace…i’m done. like now’.
what a cute vimeo of these two wonderful kids! sisters are the best!
irina and i met through work years ago. she has a son, alex, and for years, i always bugged her about having another child. she constantly retorted with ‘only when you have a baby!’. well, we ran into each other last summer at dana’s birthday party and i was pregnant with olive. i then finally got to harass her about having her second child!
little did we know she got pregnant right after that with a baby girl! so, now we are going to have little baby girls together and some fun play dates in the near future!
i was quite excited to receive her french themed baby shower invite in the mail. i couldn’t wait to see the beautiful momma in her full glorious pregnant state.
dana picked me up and off we went to revel in the festivities of girly goodness. she had her baby shower held at eiffel bistro in barrington. the decor was precious…lots of tulle, pink, paris, and sweetness all around the private party room.
[the delicious french menu // the pretty centerpiece]
[the weird baby pin i found really cute]
[part of the baby games, wearing pearls…if you said the word baby or crossed your legs, you had to give up your pin or pearls]
[dana at her second baby shower ever…her first was mine!]
we ate delicious food, drank a lot of sparkly pink lemonade, and noshed on decadent morsels of desserts. it was a fabulous time; we had a lot of fun with all the games, getting to know her other friends, and spending some quality time with the lovely irina.
[macarons and creme brûlée]
[with the girl of the hour…irina!]
we are so excited for your new addtion to the family! we can’t wait to meet the beautiful baby girl!
{not even one week after irina’s shower, she gave birth to emma nicole!! congrats to her and her family!}
i love well illustrated children’s books. i love classic stories. i love simple, modern, vintage, and clean books.
i’m excited to build a library of fun and educational books for little o. here are some of my favourite books that baby olive already has on her bookshelf!
olive finally started to sleep in her crib during the end of her third month. we were so happy! it was great to have her in the bouncy and in our room but we really wanted her to acclimate to her crib. we were reading her sleep signs and finally decided to give the crib a try and voila! she slept in it and through the night! woo hoo!
near the end of her three month stint, olive really started to love her snugabunny musical gym! she had become so entertained by it. she loves to lay there and stare up at the lights and fun charms that hang all around her. it’s so perfect for tummy time too. she loves to look at herself in the mirror while she does her push ups!
the first few months, olive did not take the paci. oh no. she cried and cried and cried if you tried to stick a paci in her mouth. now, she’s not completely fond of it but she does randomly take it, so i would say that is a win! plus, it was a gift from aunt missy and you can’t go wrong with anything that has the bears logo.
i love these sheet savers. not only do i have one in the crib, i put one on top of her changer. with as many accidents that happen when you change your baby’s diaper, it really does save you from washing and washing your changer cover from all the number one’s and two’s that spray around {literally} everywhere!
baby girl, this past month, started to have a bit of redness in the nether regions. i love this butt paste because it’s smooth and gentle on her skin. it immediately remedies the sensitivity of her trouble spots and calms down the irritation. besides that, i just love the name of the product!
now, i wouldn’t say olive loves these avent bottles. she was not happy with mommy leaving her to go back to work. offering her the bottle {which we did sporadically the last two months} was not fun for anyone who was watching her {i.e. my mum in law and mom}. she fussed and fussed and fussed, she would cry and refuse the nipple. but we finally broke through and baby girl took the bottle. i like the natural nipples the best for her and the 4 oz. bottles are the perfect size for her belly right now.
i love moments like these. when she falls asleep on my chest. so adorbs. such sweet, precious moments. the little person that she is, it’s so amazing to me. the little blend of me and the hubs. yes, although it’s so hard to see his features now {just wait!}, it’s the little miracle we made and we just love her so much!
[the little angel…when she sleeps 😉 // 4 weeks old]
i was talking with jod the other day when we agreed to go in together on a gift for our friend, dawn.
dawn is pregnant with her fourth child! cray! i can see why, kids are so cute and family is so wonderful, that having little babies is awesome! it’s a lot work but having your own kids is just so adorbs and special!
it was quite cold. damn this polar vortex. the high today was only 7 degrees, ugh. not ideal for my baby girl. i did bundle her up all cute though! olive was ready to face the cold with me! our first stop was pbk. i met jodi and jett there to pick out a gift for dawn. we circled around and around until we finally decided on some really adorable items for the little babes! i can’t wait to give it to her!
after shopping, we skipped on over to panera bread for a quick lunch. i ordered a healthy choice of oatmeal, brown sugar, strawberries, and pecans…yum!! it was sooo good! we nibbled on our food and chatted away the rest of the morning together. we were catching up on the latest gossip, the latest baby talk, and about life in general…so many good changes and fun happenings soon. as always, it’s so good to hang out with jodi and jett. love them both! jett was definitely in the entertaining mood! he threw everything jodi had handed to him on the ground and amused everyone in the restaurant with his shrieks! that’s a cute little baby for ya! the little bugger thought he was so cute, in which he was!
[little babe olive in her bear hooded coat from our cousins kait and sara!]
[my selfie with jett…doesn’t he look amused?!]
[look at that chubby face! jett was grabbing for the phone!]
[jodi and jett]
i had an appointment with our nanny that afternoon, so after a few hours together i had to head out to meet her at our place. we said our goodbyes and parted ways on this cold but very sunny day! hey, at least the sun was shining! a sun shiny day always puts me in a good mood! 🙂
oh baby olive, my how you have grown and changed {and that crazy hair of yours!}. you love to sit upright on the couch, you started to like tummy time, you still love watching t.v., you love ‘talking’ back, you love bath time, you love flailing your arms, kicking your legs, and smiling!
the first officials for this past month? a few days before her three month mark, she laughed out loud! yes…it was amazing! grace was sitting on the couch and hc was in the bathroom at the time. i had put olive in the swing and we were playing peekaboo and the next thing i know, she giggles out loud! grace jumped off the couch and asked, “was that her first laugh out loud?!”. i said yes! hc came out of the bathroom and asked if that was olive laughing out loud…why yes it was! that was pretty cool.
another wonderful first? olive sleeping in her crib {hallelujah}! it was absolutely fantastic. for a long time, that crib was collecting dust and she was quite cozy in her bouncy next to our bed. so, we started to notice that is was getting easier and easier for her to fall asleep flat on the couch or our bed {after a feeding in the morning she was would just fall asleep on the bed}. we then decided to try a run at the crib one night. lo and behold, she slept beautifully through the night {all swaddled snug as a bug}! it’s been amazing ever since.
now this first really did happen. i’m not sure if it will happen again very soon but the proof is through the video footage i took of it. so, i put olive on her tummy for some time to do her push ups {she’s gotta work those arms, neck, and back muscles!}. she was very much enjoying her time on her tummy and staring and smiling at herself in the mirror {very cute}. it was so adorbs that i whipped out my phone and started to record the cuteness when out of nowhere, she rolled over!!!! yes, she pushed herself up with her right arm and rolled to her side! now, granted it was a half roll because she was stopped by her left arm and the bunny pillow that got in her way of a complete roll over but darn it, she rolled over! i couldn’t believe it and i actually caught it on video! that was super exciting!
well, those are some highlights of olive’s third month. we are looking forward and so excited to see the wonderful things our baby girl will do within her fourth month! we love you so much baby olive!
