Baby Blues

Think these baby blues will stay this color?

Smiles

Now THAT is one happy baby!

Happy Monday!

Showering Alia

On Saturday, I hosted a baby shower for Alia.  I've been looking forward to the shower all summer....spending time with Gemma thinking up ideas for the "big day".  I was very pleased with how the day turned out!

The invitations said "Alia Robbins is having a little lady" and had daisies and lady bugs on them so I went with that for the theme.  I made Alia a lady bug and daisy themed diaper cake (140 diapers, no glue! Thanks to Stefania, I learned a new technique), framed the invitation, got daisies for all the tables, made cupcakes with red and white polka dot wrappers, lady bugs for the tables, matching balloons and these puffy tissue paper decoration things, too.

 For favors, I filled these Dollar Tree jars (thanks for your extra jars, Sara!) with red (cherry), white (coconut), yellow (lemon), and blue (berry) jelly bellies and I tied pretty ribbon around the tops.  I finished them off with a cute sticker that said "Alia's Baby Shower" and the date.

 I ordered the favor tag stickers, the banner and the cupcake toppers from an old friend from my sorority's Etsy shop (Top That! Designs www.jenleonardini.etsy.com).  They turned out soooo cute - I loved them!

 Although the cupcakes looked great, unfortunately due to a broken oven, they were not that good.  I had to bake them in our microwave that is a combo convection oven and they baked unevenly and some were really dry.  Speaking of broken oven, home warranty service ticket #4 in progress....a new oven lock and keypad are on order and the home warranty saved us $500!

 Brian worked his tail off getting our yard ready - fertilizing the grass, weeding, trimming bushes, blowing leaves and on Friday, with his friend, Mike, moving 6 yards of bark onto our tree area to cover all the dead grass and weeds so now our yard looks super manicured and spiffy.  He also went and picked up chairs for me and hung the fluffy tissue decorations, amongst other things.

 Here's the guest of honor enjoying some lunch with her ladies.  I made orzo salad, fruit salad, chicken salad on croissants and mini BLTs (with avocado).  I thought the food was delish - hope everyone else did, too!  We had yummy sparkling juices and lemonade and champagne for those in the mood for a cocktail cooler.

 Here are the "moms" enjoying the day, too.

 Alia got lots of very nice gifts from her generous friends!

 Gemma is sick of having her photo taken.  Poor baby doesn't realize that's what her future holds - mom and dad snapping away with the camera!  She kind of matched the party in her snazzy outfit - yellow and white polka dot hot pants with a yellow ruffle top with a daisy on it.  Thanks, Amy for the cute outfit!

 One of many group shots, the various Davis roommates - Kristen (and Ava!), me, Alia, Jess and Jayme.

 Riley partied so hard he had to nap under the table.

Saturday was a lot of fun!  Now, can't wait to meet lil Miss Robbins when she gets here!

3 Months and Counting...

 As any bad blogger would do, I'm smushing lots of updates into one blog post!  I apologize, again, for being so behind, but I suppose this is how it's going to be from now on!  Time not spent blogging is time spent with the fam or doing house things.  Eventually, it will also be time spent back at work (sniff, sniff).

Gemma is now THREE MONTHS OLD!  Can you believe it?  We can't. 

In the last few weeks, we've had lots of fun.  Gemma met her extended cousins, Faith and Noah, and had a barbecue with them and her cousin, Ava.  It was really fun seeing the baby girls together and comparing size and milestones - Faith is 7 months old, Ava is 6 months old and Gemma is 3 months old.

 We also took our trip to Washington while Daddy was away in San Diego at a bachelor party.  Here's our big girl the day before we left at 11 weeks old!

 That next week was spent doing lots and lots of house stuff for a few upcoming events (one of which was just this past weekend and will be blogged about NEXT).  The weather has been beautiful and Gemma's been sporting all of her cute hot summer outfits, like this bumble bee get-up in her 12 week photo!

 She also got to spend the opening weekend of football with her Daddy cheering on the Cowboys (bummer her cheering didn't help them win their first game!).  She even was sporting a Cowboys onesie, but girled up with ruffle shorts and a bow!  Turns out Gemma is NOT a fan of watching football with Daddy because his yelling at the TV startles her and she cries.

 This little one, on her three month birthday, is now a total wiggle worm.  She won't sit still.  She's also drooling a bit more and sucking on her hands and arms when she can get after them.  Her legs are getting so strong and she loves to kick at my arm while I'm feeding her and kick whatever surface comes into contact with her big ol' feet.

 Her pretty blue eyes always amaze me!  We weighed and measured her yesterday and she came in at 12 lbs 11 oz and 24 1/8 inches long.  She's a long and lean baby, although she sure does love to eat!

 She is also spending more and more time with her boy, Riley as he is getting over his wariness of her.  He'll sit with her leaning on him for a little bit now.  He also wants to bathe her in his kisses nonstop.  Which is fine before bath time, but otherwise gross.

We'll leave you with this picture of our Rasta Baby.  She's loving her Bumbo these days and will sit and smile and talk while Mommy is cooking or doing dishes.  She wasn't a big fan of the dish towel on her head, but look at that face!

Gemma's First Trip

A couple of weeks ago for Labor Day, Gemma and I flew with my mom to Washington to stay with my aunt Suzy at her house on San Juan Island.  Gemma was such a trouper!  She's a natural born traveler.  She did great on her first flight.  We flew with Southwest and the plane was empty so we luckily got a whole bench to ourselves.

 When we got to Seattle, we drove to a smaller, private airport where we loaded up into Suzy's plane to fly to the island.  It's a little 4-seater, but the flight was so smooth!

 Gemma liked the white noise and slept most of the flight.  She spent some time looking out the window, too.

 We stayed in Suzy and Dan's guest house and it was so nice and cozy.  Very relaxing.  Here's a picture of the view from the porch - heaven!  Nothing like breathing in the fresh air, with a yummy cup of coffee and a snuggly baby wrapped in a blanket.

 Gemma bunked up with me and she's never slept on the bed with me - she did great!  Of course, we brought her baby straight jacket (AKA her swaddle) and she slept so well.

 We had dinner outside at a restaurant in Friday Harbor and the view was spectacular.  Dinner was delicious, too.  Such a beautiful evening.

 We went whale watching, but didn't see any whales.  We did see some dolphins and seals.  We also went to Roche Harbor and walked around there and in Friday Harbor.  The last day, we strapped Gemma up in the Moby Wrap and went for a walk on the beach in front of the house.  Beautiful!

A successful trip!  Now, onto Gemma's next out of town trip...camping!  Camping with Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Mitch at the Russian River. 

Gemma Goes Flying

I know I owe some blog updates, but first....a video of Gemma's FIRST flight on a small plane.  We flew from Seattle-Tacoma airport on Suzy's 4 seater plane, piloted by Suzy, to San Juan Island and it was a smooth, beautiful flight and Gemma did great!