Baby A turns 1!

Somehow, somehow, our sweet little love has turned one. One! People always say "how has it gone so fast?" and "I can't believe it's been a year" and I feel that, but also I believe that it's been a year. A wonderful, full year. 365 days that have been filled with baby giggles and baby cream, 365 nights sleeping next to the baby monitor hoping that it's another night with no waking (50/50), 365 days without labour (woot) and a year being a family of 3.

We celebrated Avie's bday last weekend with friends and family. And boy, was it a celebration - the little party girl was so tired she napped through half her party and was passed out for the ride home. She knows how to party! She was adored and cosseted and generally made a fuss over. Plus food, sun, friends and wine. It was the perfect one year olds party.

Oh Snap, a photography themed baby shower

This last year my dear friend Laura had a baby, and therefore, a baby shower. Laura is a photographer (she has documented many of my parties) so I wanted a theme to capture that. The theme was, "Oh Snap, Laura's having a baby". And it went super well. 

Snowflake baby shower

Our dear friend Snow is having a baby any day now, so a while ago her best friends and I decided to throw her a baby shower. The theme? Snowflake, for the little piece of snow! 

We were able to use the party room in Snow's building - this is a great space. White and grey - a great blank template for parties. We wanted to decorate with silver, white and turquoise. Snow is having a girl but there's just something so fun and wintery about turquoise, rather than pink. 

Here is the affirmation table -  tassles (made from coffee filters) laid out over a silver tablecloth with a turquoise runner. We left out pens and notecards for people to write on. 

After the cards were written on and slipped into the envelopes hanging on our feature wall

Canucks themed baby shower

My friend Sunshine had her baby boy last week - and in December her friends from church and family wanted to try to shower her with love and support coming up to the birth. Sunshine is married to Gabe, and Gabe is a pretty die hard Canucks fan - that's our local hockey (NHL) team. Since they are having a little boy it seemed appropriate to have a Canucks themed shower. It was fun to pull together - lots of greens, blues and whites. We were having a morning shower, so we went with a brunch theme - bagels and yogurt and bacon, etc. I got to throw this party with the best Philipina party planners in the area - Sheila and Maan. They are amazing and I was overjoyed to party plan with them. They made this process extra fabulous.

Minnie Mouse Baby Shower for Hanne

Hanne and the AMAZING planning team. Seriously, these ladies are AMAZING.

As you might have noticed, I LOVE throwing showers for people, and I especially LOVE making them themed and fun. My wonderful, dear friend Hanne has just had a sweet little baby girl, Isabelle. She is 1 month old now. Sometime before her birth we (her 4 best Vancouver friends) threw a shower for Hanne. Hanne loves all things pink and Disney. She loves a bit of cheesyness and she loves mashed potatoes (mash, as she calls it). It was obvious us to us immediately what the theme needed to be: Disney & minnie! With tons of polka dots and pink, of course.

Sweet Southern Baby Shower

Shower photos credit to Paraphrase Productions

I love to throw parties. I love to attend well executed parties. And now I can say for the record, that I LOVE to attend parties thrown for me by my amazing friends. The baby shower my girlfriends threw for me was AMAZING. They knocked it out of the park. I'm not sure I could have even pulled off what they pulled off - especially with the level of calm that prevailed. I felt so loved by their attention to detail and their attention to the things I like. I was blown away. 

Many of you have seen my #nurserysneakpeak 's posted on facebook and instagram and you'll notice some of the decor moments from the shower that have eeked over into the room. The planning ladies took the time to make sure their decor could be used again in my house and nursery! They were so very very thoughtful. These poufs, dot strings and banner  were all party decor that is being repurposed in the room

There was a crack team of women behind this party: Lindsay, Hanne, Irene, Jenna & Ana were the main power women and they had a team of other women who jumped in to help with other aspects (Stefany, Kayla L, Crystal, Laura [photography], Jackie and more!). My Auntie Debbie graciously allowed for the party to be hosted at her place, which is always beautiful already and big enough for all my friends. 

Lindsay, Jenna, Hanne, me, Ana & Irene

Mexican Baby Shower: Nacho Libre

I love throwing baby showers for friends - it is so fun and so exciting to get to bless someone and throw a party that is excellent and shows you something of their personality. One of my best friends, Ana, had a baby yesterday (He's totally perfect) and in early December we threw her a shower to celebrate his coming. What a wonderful time it was to bless Ana who loves others so well, and to bring her different friends together - from church and family, to her past and present colleagues. It was a really fun and diverse group. 

Ana is my party planning bestie - we throw parties together for other people so I knew this party had to be just as fabulous. Thankfully her other close friends are awesome: her mom and sister joined our team, as well as Rebecca, Sarah, Irene, Lindsay and Hanne. AND on top of that 4 of her coworkers showed up 2 hours early to help us set up, and I don't know what we would have done without them. 

Connor's Lego Party

My wonderful nephew Connor turned 6 in August and my sister and I wanted to throw him an awesome party. He loves Lego and loved the Lego movie! It was a natural fit. We wanted to make sure we didn't go to overboard - he's only 6 and while he'll like having a decorated party he didn't need us to go crazy in the progress! The idea was to go for bright colors with a focus on yellow and red. I picked up streamers & bunting, lanterns and puffs. We picked up a Parrot Pinata (nothing lego themed so we went for bright and cheery instead) and some easy party favours (a sticker book and slinky).

Red, White & Blue

Last year I chronicled our fourth of July parties past and threw a small Fourth of July party - it was warm and sunny, complete with signature drink. Great party!

Blooming Baby Shower: A summer themed baby shower

You might know that I love to throw a party - especially a party with a theme and even more so a party for people I love. Today's blog post covers both of these things perfectly. 

Fetus Fiesta: a Tex-Mex baby shower

One of my best friends, Mrs. Lindsay McCarthy, is expecting a baby boy come April. I met Lindsay September of 2012 and we became instant friends. I've always been sad that we missed each others weddings (we both got married summer 2010) and didn't get to enjoy showers and stagettes and all that together, so when I found out she was pregnant I was immediately excited to get to throw her a baby shower. Lindsay is kind and generous and supportive as a friend - I am so lucky to be her friend and am so glad for the opportunity to shower her and soon-to-be baby boy McCarthy with love.