My Hopes for Her...

You may have read that on Saturday we celebrated Euna's birth with a little blessing-esc party. We didn't have ceremony but instead my Dad, Steve and I spoke some words and I thought I would share what I read. Basically I said some thank yous and then I read this, it's a little snippet from my pregnancy diary about the things I hoped for little Prawn (our name for the bump) before she came to meet us...

"Prawn, in a Johnsons Baby advert dream-like fuzzy montage here are the things I hope for your childhood...

I hope you laugh till it hurts everyday. I hope you are silly daily. I hope you have fresh air, scabby knees and dirty finger nails. I hope you have a real compassion for animals. I hope you have Alexander family "in jokes" and names for things that you remember until adult hood. I hope we have Christmas and Birthday traditions. I hope you enjoy good food and a great appetite. I hope you have a passion for being creative. I hope you have a (measured) portion of your Dad's enthusiasm for sport. I hope you have music that reminds you of your childhood the way "Footsteps of the Dance Floor" and Simply Red reminds me of my Dad's car. I hope you have a real interest in reading. BOOKS! PAPER ONES! I hope you ride bikes so far and so fast you surprise yourself. I hope you have access to wide, open spaces. I hope you love school.

Things I hope for your adulthood...

I hope you have an unshakeable body confidence. A curiosity for the exotic and new, including places, people, art forms and FOOD. I hope you experience love in at least a few of it's many forms. Independence and a pride in your independance. I hope you have a good sense of work/life balance. A love and loyalty for your family, past, present and future. I hope you have decent taste in coffee. Career ambition that fulfills you where it counts. I hope you have children. A childish sense of humour. An appreciation of your fortune and health. Confidence, self-assurance and respect. I hope you have friends of all kinds; ones that challenge you, ones you nurture, ones you talk to, ones you have fun with, ones who teach you about different warps of life, ones that get your professional life, ones who make you think "what would he/she do?" and ones who just think you are brilliant. I hope you love books. I hope you enjoy outdoor activities and creative outlets.

And through both your childhood and adulthood I hope you are happy."

Lesson: None today. Today I chilled and learnt nothing. Felt good. Tomorrow I go shopping with some friends and I'll learn how to appease buyers remorse with a calorific lunch.

My Button Blessing Crafting Efforts... Condensed.

I get collage envy when I see these on Pintrest so here's my "Cute as a Button" themed baby girl blessing crafting collage! I have to say I am a little smug and proud...

Lesson:

1. PVA glue is the source of many a wonderful thing.
2. I adore that "I did that" feeling and I LOVE that "I did that for my baby girl" feeling.

Euna's Big Day

I have to write this now whilst I'm high as kite on love and all things warm and fuzzy from yesterday. But where to start without just exploding a gigantic dribble of gushy noises all over the page? I mean I was anticipating having a lovely day but I was not anticipating it being one of the happiest of my life...






























We had sun. We had bunting. We had chilli. We hung all things pink and girly all over the walls. We spoke some words from the heart. We spoke about how blessed and happy we feel. We toasted with champagne and ate strawberries and cake. And we did it all surrounded by our nearest and dearest.

It was everything I wanted it to be, I just anticipate it FEELING so wonderful to do. To welcome her officially, to share her with our loved ones and to celebrate what a wonderful journey we have been blessed with. It was a blessing in itself and the sun shone for us.

Here's a few pictures from around the party of the bits we added. A cake by a very clever friend of mine...

Balloons and favours bowl...

Just incase people weren't clear on the button theme...

Sweetie favours in a picnic basket and a little photo collage just to accentuate precisely how scrummy the girl of the day is...

Birth announcement piece...

The baby handprints on to mini canvas' went down a treat! What a spend of a quid...

The adults after party... Comfy clothes, curry and champagne...

It was perfect and it went too quickly.

Lesson:

However you do it, celebrate your blessings.

Today's the Day!

Today we celebrate our baby girl with all our nearest and dearest. So I'm sat here with a quiet cuppa before the madness begins and taking a little time to reflect. From this...

To this...

Goodness I love her. If I could have told the chick at the top how incredible this journey would be she'd never believe me. If I could tell her how powerful the love is. If I could tell her how much she's going to love being a Mummy. If I could ever begin to put in to words what I see when I look at my baby girl. If I could tell her how nothing else will matter, not the upgraded backside or the chaffed nipples or the sleepless nights or the diminished career ambitions.

Well I can't. I wouldn't have the words anyway. Especially not at 6:48am.

Congratulations Euna. Congratulations Team Alexander. Looks like we made it.

Thank You Cards...

I thought it would be nice to send the favours off with a little "Thank You for Coming" card. I got a pack of 50 plain cards from The Range for £2.99 and a pack of buttons for £1. I found little verse online and printed them up on our Kodak printer. I'm really pleased, think it'll be lovely to send everyone away with a little Thank You.

Flying Saucer Favours

MORE baby party preparations come in the shape of flying saucer favours. Another part of my shop at The Range were 3 large tubs of flying saucers (£2.49 each), microwave steamer bags (25 for £1.49) and pretty gingham ribbons (£2.10 for 5m). Super cute. The colours will match and far less labour intensive than my planned button cookies (I had a lazy turn). My Mum is lending me wicker picnic basket from her shop (shameless plug but to be fair it's my first one) to display them in. Love it!

Baby Handprint Mini Masterpieces

I just finished a post on multi-tasking. The reason being that with two days to go until our little girl's "Welcome to the World" party I am a multi-tasking MACHINE. Why do I have so much to do considering it's being catered by a local pub? Well clearly I just love to make work for myself... I seriously can't help myself when it comes to party/event planning!

So here's one little crafty idea... MINI EASELS! As soon as I saw them in The Range for a steal at £1 I had like a TRILLION ideas! My favourite being buying some ink pads (and luckily they had non-toxic and child-safe ones) and let the babies coming to her party make themselves little keepsakes!

In a Blue Peter-esc "here's one I made earlier"... HERE'S ONE I MADE EARLIER! 

Obviously these HAD to be made for display purposes. Not because I needed to have a play. And I definitely did NOT get pink ink on the cream lounge carpet... Honest.

Lesson:

The second you think "how messy can this be?" step away from the craft materials and get yourself to wipe clean lands.