Elyse's Hair Styling

Lately Elyse has been enjoying putting stuff in her hair. She may become quite the hair stylist someday!! In one of the pictures she put aquaphor in her hair while we were at the Melting Pot.




Then she can scrub her hair with our dish scrubbers.



So pretty :)

McCarthy Baby Shower

  

A few things to update on, but I'll try to not be all over the place as usual and stick to one topic :)

This last month, I have been enjoying crafting for a shower we threw for our close friends Tim and Amanda! I'm not so great at hosting showers but I love to make stuff and decorate for them! So thankfully I had some help from Lindsay and Anna to make it all happen. I forgot to take pictures before everyone came so the pictures of the food(the biggest part!) don't really exsist. But it was definitely fun! So if you're throwing a shower for someone and want some ideas, here they are! We made a rag garland out of fat quarters on sale at Joann's. Onesies on a clothesline! and of course, poms in the windows :)(those are a PAIN in the butt to make, so I would recommend giving that task to a husband or something haha) On the mantle there is a game there too. The easy to do "how many candies in a jar". There were 1148 in that jar. Should have been 1149, but baby fingers got to one. 

Poms in the window.

It's a girl banner and pom garland. On the table there we had a few things set up. 

And basket and blank mailing labels for guest to write their addresses on. Takes one step out of thank you cards for the soon to be busy parents to be!

Advice cards - something for the guests to write any advice, if any to the parents-to-be and some guesses on the day the baby will be born and how long and how much she will weigh. 

And the favors! I stole this idea from pinterest, but since Amanda likes to garden, it seemed like such a cute idea! The one on pinterest required seed bombs but those are pricey. So we went with plantable sunflower seeds. The picture below.

Then there are of course the staples!!! Diaper wreath!

Dessert bar with wood "baby girl" letters on a clothes line. Lindsay had a great idea. The letters and  icons are wood and are from Joanns. Afterwards you can put velcro on them and use them on a velcro board for you baby when they are older.

This came out a little blurry, but it was the first thing I made for the party! A burlap and lace banner. The McCarthys haven't decided on how to spell their baby's name yet so we we put "baby McCarthy" instead. I have tons of extra burlap still so once they do know, we may make one with her name to add to the nursery :)

And the diaper cake! The letters we got pre made at micheals and attached travel size items and toys :) We used about 45 size one diapers. 

Lastly, a puff quilt! I didn't finish it in time for the shower, but did finish it now! haha. Amanda, Steph and I made one for our friend Erica last year. This year, i tried a different tutorial, but still needed some help making the squares. So Lindsay was able to help me there. But I tried a new way of adding a backing and making a ruffle, which I had never done. It's definitely an amature blanket, but its done! :)

I really enjoy crafting and making things for friends so this was a lot of fun for me to do :)

Boring Update: the new house

  I figured I should update but there really isn't anything new here! Since we've moved in, Cole and I have been really busy unpacking. Although we came from a much smaller place, we(Cole) were really good at storing things away. Then we would completely forget we had that/those things since they were so hard to access! So our new thing here is that if we don't see ourselves needing or using it, toss it. Also, if we think we will use it then it needs to be stored in an accessable place. Or the same thing will happen. So we are unpacking as well as reorganizing. Do that while pregnant and chasing a toddler has really taken it out of me!

But I do really enjoy the new place. So much space for Elyse and the dogs to run around and its not cluttered :) woo hoo!!

The downstairs has a bedroom that we are turning into a playroom. Elyse uses it a lot so I know that it wasn't wasted. I am so happy she is using it!(she is in there right now!) Then we also have a space for her toys to go and we can let her be messy :) 

In the last house, I was always wanting to get out and do something or go somewhere. Here, I don't feel that way at all! Although I have a lot to do here, but I don't feel the need to leave. Mostly because Elyse can run around the house and she isn't confined to one room here. 

Other than that, I have been crafting still for the up coming shower and going to my many many doctor appointments :) My mom is coming this weekend as well so I am pretty excited to see her. (and she will watch Elyse while cole and I go on a date night!!)

Pants on the head in the new guestroom/craft room!

We've Moved and Swim Lessons!

  It's true, we finally moved! 

We weren't sure it was actually going to happen last week, but everyone pulled together and made it work! If you follow me on instagram then this is old news (and old pictures). We got our keys on friday afternoon and decided to have dinner as a family in our new house!

Close got to the house a little bit after me since he was coming to work and he made sure to let me know to NOT go in without him. He wanted to carry his whole family across the threshold. Once he arrived, I carried Elyse(and our unborn baby) and cole picked me up then carried us through the door. I don't think he realized how heavy that acutally would be. A pregnant lady and a toddler! Not exactly a light load. Our new neighbors saw us and cheered us on :)

We got some teryaki from a close by shop, pulled out our (never used) wedding china and had dinner on the floor or where our nook table would go. Naturally, Elyse got rice all over the floor but it's ok. It's her new house too! 

With the help of friends and family, we moved in this weekend. We are SO grateful to have the support system we do up here. It would have taken us forever to move without them. Well, it would have taken Cole forever to move since I can't really lift things. Our kitchen was fully functional by sunday(thank you to Lenny for that help!) and the master bedroom is really close. We are still painting Elyse's room now, but she is temporarily staying in another room.

She has been really loving it here. Lots of space to run and has been using her new playroom! It's not decorated at all. Right now its a room with her toys in it downstairs, but she will go in there and hang out for a long time. I was worried she would want to be in the same room as me all the time. I was clearly wrong. The baby bird is independent! 

Everyday since this weekend, we have been slowly unpacking. Cole still has so many things to do around the house to make it functional in the way we had imagined but we'll get there. We love the house and are so happy about it!

We finally got cable and internet yesterday so I am able to update :)

Yesterday, Elyse had her first swim lesson in Issaquah! Although we live in Renton now, we live very north east so we are apart of what is called "East Renton Highlands". Which means we are directly south of Issaquah and still land in the Issaquah school district. Since I have really grown to love Issaquah, I'm very happy about still being close to it. 

I have been talking to Cole about sending Elyse to swim lessons since she was 4 months old! She couldn't go until she was 6 months, but I was so excited and wanted to set up for her to go when she was 4 months. Things got busy and we just continued to push it off. (traveling for the better half of a year will do that to you!) But finally, I signed her up in January and her class started yesterday.

This is the first time the Van Gundy family has done anything with the Issaquah parks and rec and the Julius Bohem pool! It was exciting and fun to see other families just like us getting excited for a baby swim class. Cole was very skepital about the class, but I think after he saw how much she enjoyed it that he may be happy we did it. The class is 30min long and Elyse was smiles the WHOLE time. I think if anything, it's a fun new activity for her to do with her daddy :)

Crafting!

Lately, I have been crafting and packing. It's been a very busy couple weeks! I am throwing my friends Amanda and Tim a baby shower later in March so I am crafting to get ready for it :) I enjoy crafting so it's been fun! I do forget how time consuming the smallest thing can be though. I probably should have started a little earlier!

I'll post pictures of my completed projects after her shower so they can be somewhat of a surprise! But I have been sewing, cutting, gluing, wrapping, ribboning(if thats a word), pinning and more. Oh all while watching my toddler run away with something I need.

I know what you may be thinking, "I'm a stay at home mom, I have time to craft." Actually not the case, I have MAKE time to do just like anyone else. It's definitely easier to be with my toddler and teach her things and do our daily chores, but I am adding and WHOLE aspect to the day. So go away and throw that idea of "stay at home mom's have more time" idea. It's a complete fabrication and isn't true. Yes, I can make up my own schedule, to a point, but my whole day is revolved around my child and family. Anything I want to add to it, is exactly that, an addition to. Just like it is for those that work.

For example, I gave myself a goal of sewing a certain amount of "squares" a day. To meet that goal yesterday I had to wait till 930pm to even start the process of pinning and sewing.

Anyways, I LOVE doing it so I do. Plus I have to take advantage before I have 2 kids to watch and I am sure I won't even have time at 930pm to do anything besides being a milk farm and hoping for 5mins of uninterrupted sleep.

I have one picture for today(well yesterday since I am 21 weeks today!)

Gender Reveal - It's a boy!

So at our 13 week (12 for most but I was traveling) ultrasound, we found out the gender of our newest little addition! Of course it was still considered early so that's why I tried to not post it on the blog until recently. But the proof was pretty obvious and we love to share good news with our friends. I mean, thats what friends are for, right!? You share the exciting moments in your lives with them.

We found out on like a wednesday and "casually" invited everyone over for a get together dinner, which was actually going to be a surprise gender reveal party! We didn't want to tell everyone it would be gender reveal because then they likely would have guessed boy since I've heard it's easier to see a boy earlier than a girl on the ultrasound.

We got everything ready for those that could make it and I made cupcakes with blue frosting inside. Cole and I knew we were going to have a hard time keeping the news to ourselves throughout the whole dinner so once everyone got there, I pulled out the cupcakes and said "we're gonna do dessert first today". As a couple people grabbed cupcakes, I started to shake with excitement and said something along the lines of "so... we have some news. These are gender reveal cupcakes". I don't remember exactly what I said because this was almost 2 months ago.

My friends Erica and Stephanie bit into the cupcakes and saw the blue frosting :) It went exactly how I thought it would in my head and was really happy everyone was such a great sport about the whole thing :)

So as it turns out, we will have one of each! One girl(Elyse) and one boy!! We are super excited and can't wait to meet him. Here are a few pictures(some I've posted already, but go well with this theme) of how we wanted a "picture"gender reveal for everyone out there in cyberspace :)

Lent 2013 - End of VanCarthy Babymoon

  This year for lent, I have decided to give up facebook. I haven't gotten rid of my profile, I am just not checking it until Easter. I am also hoping that maybe, just maybe, I will get in the habit of not checking it as often anymore.

But of course, I still love to take pictures and update the interested parties about our lives. So I am going to blog and use instagram more often. I have definitely started my journey on instagram and am enjoying it so far. It's easy and just pictures. (and manipulating pictures, etc)

Here are few left over pictures from our last few days on our babymoon. If you follow me on instagram you will have seen some of these before. 

19weeks 2 days

Puzzle time!

My love and I on our last day

Feet in the water

Valentine's Day dinner at Roy's

Misoyaki Butterfish and seafood ravioli.. don't mind if I do!

Rare picture of all of us at Roys

Can't get enough of this view from the condo

Marriott Weather Station

Pregnancy Cartwheels

and in case you haven't heard......

Amanda and her no flavor shaved ice at Uncle's in Poipu 50cents!

Non-pregnancy cartwheels

Reunited family!

Big helper

On the way home!!!