5 on Friday

1. We continue to get the house ready to put on the market. This includes painting the deck until 9PM on a very hot Monday evening. On a positive note: the deck and done and we don't have to do that this weekend.

2. Last night Ellie was lucky enough to go play at her friend Henry's house while Mom and Dad went to a United Way event. Very nice to have such great friends that will watch her so we don't have to pay a babysitter.

3. Last Saturday we had a last minute get together with our friends from Boone. RJ and Nick went to the last Barnstormers game, while Sarah and I played with the girls all evening. We usually have to plan times to hang out months in advance... it is very rare we can do it on a days notice.

4. For about a month Ellie was crying whenever we dropped her off at day-care. Something much have changed because we have gone a whole 5 days this week with no tears! It is so much easier when she says "Bye-bye" instead of crying and reaching for you.

5. On Tuesday I took the afternoon off to go help out my sister with new baby Liam. Of course her house was still clean and the laundry was done, so all I could help out with was emptying the dishwasher and making dinner. While Megan slept, Liam and I hung out and watch soap operas. It was AWESOME!

Baby Liam!

Pictures of my sister and brother-in-law's little bundle of joy:

The only downfall--- there is a good chance he will be an ISU fan. To each their own.
Ellie meeting Liam for the first time. Yes Ellie, Liam does have a 'nose' and 'eyes' and 'mouth'. We had to hold her back from pointing out those features on him.
And a few days later when I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with him.
Such a sweet little guy!

5 on Friday

1. First, and most importantly, congrats to my sister and her husband on the birth of their little boy, Liam Anthony!!!!

2. Our nephew/Godson (see above) was born on Thursday, July 21st at 4:55PM. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 5.8 ounces (to be exact) and was 18 1/2 inches long (although his Dad said that he thought they could have had another 1/2 inch if they would have stretched him out a little). I was honored to join them during the birth- it was amazing and Megan did such a good job. Mike was a pretty good coach as well.

3. I was trying to get Ellie to say "Liam" this morning when we were looking at the 120 pictures I took of him during his first 2 hours of life. She just said "Baby." She did wear a sticker saying "It's a Boy" to day-care in honor of him. That girl loves stickers.

4. Last weekend we made the trip to Manning, Iowa for my cousin's wedding. We didn't get to stay at the reception long, but still had a good time.

5. Ellie had a follow-up with the ENT since she had the ear infection the other week. The Dr. said everything looks great and he would be surprised if she had another infection. I should have had Nick get that in writing...

Baby Shower Decorations

Last month I had the wonderful opportunity to throw a baby shower for my sister and future nephew/Godson. It was one week after my big exam, so I tried to make it as simple as possible. This is what I came up with...

I found this super cute graphic from http://www.etsy.com/:

This little guy quickly became the theme for the shower, and I used him as much as possible.

I knew I wanted to make a diaper cake. What a great way to provide the new mommy with tons of necessary things, have a cute decoration, and be able to use it as a game. First, I made the diaper sections (followed by two additional layers not pictured):

Then I added some ribbon and the various goodies I had picked up:

Although it isn't the greatest picture, here is the finished product (see the very bottom for a better picture):

I think I had a total of 20 different items on the cake. Mainly items that came recommended by Ellie and her parents (excluding the ISU hat that is on the top- that was not recommended by us at all.)

I printed out the giraffe graphic and made circles to be used on various items.

As part of the party favors, I did mini water bottles with the giraffe head.
Then I made sugar cookies using baby blue sugar.
Which was then packed like this:
And set out at the party:
To make the expectant Mommy's life a little easier, I had people address their thank you card envelopes, and printed out thank you cards that went with the theme (super easy and very cost effective vs. buying thank you cards in the store).
I wanted something else for the guests to do while they waited for everyone to arrive. I had originally tossed around the idea of making a cloth ABC book and having each guest color a letter page... but then Megan's 4th grade class did an ABC quilt for her--- so that idea was scratched.

Instead we did "Words of Wisdom for the Mother" cards.

For games we played "Time to Eat". You taste/smell each food and try to guess what it is made up of. I also removed the diaper cake from the middle of the room when we were playing "Time to Eat". Then we played the "Memory" game, trying to remember what was on the cake.

We also played "Name the Baby"... can you guess the baby names for these animals?

Goose Goat Swan
Owl Whale Tiger
Monkey Eel Skunk
Giraffe Crocodile Kangaroo

Of course there were the prizes for winning the games. Every new Mommy and Daddy need a little "Energy." And since new parents tend to wash their hands like crazy, this Bath and Body Works hand soap is perfect. (A friend of mine gave us this as a baby give and we loved it!!)
No baby shower can be complete without food.
I took the easy way out and ordered these cake balls for the dessert. They came from here: http://www.abiteofcake.com/ I have only had the strawberry one, but it was yummy!
Using my little giraffe heads again, I topped a few of the cake balls with the decoration.
And here is the final spread:

Thank you Costco for making it easy on me (see pre-made fruit bowl and veggie tray!)

And of course, a picture of the Guest of Honor, our mom and myself before the guests arrived (and a better picture of the baby cake).

Can you believe that the baby cake has 156 newborn diapers in it?!?!

I loved throwing this shower, and coming up with various ideas. I know this post is REALLY long, but I wanted to share everything (and have a record of it for myself). I think Megan and Bunky had a great time, I know I did.

The Chair

I love this chair Santa brought me for Christmas.

It is just my size so I can get into it by myself.
Check this out, I can sort of stand on it.

Wait, I CAN stand on it!

I don't think I am supposed to be doing this...

Tube Recovery

She didn't really like the surgery part. Other than that- she was pretty happy. She loved having drops put in her ears (and the cotton balls that followed).

Scotcheroos

Ellie helped me make scotcheroos the other week...

Her job was to taste test after I was done with the spatulas.

She approved.