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Daria and I met shortly after I began teaching at Mother Teresa (2004) and got to know each other better during a course that we were taking during the school year.  She is one the most genuine, kind and sweet people you’ll ever meet, so planning and hosting a baby shower for her meant a lot to me and I know that she really appreciated it as well.

As for the invitations, I actually made them myself in photoshop after being inspired by the hip little invites that Catherine picked out for my shower  (I have obviously removed the contact info because many of my students have discovered this blog and well, I don’t need them coming to my house or calling me!)

Like us, Rob and Daria have decided to wait until the big day to see what they’re having, so for this shower, I opted for some bright, cheery colours like pink, yellow, blue, purple and green!

I also used gerber daisies to make it feel all girlie and pretty!

and some more daisies…

Even the cookies and cupcakes coordinated with the colour/daisy theme.  All the cupcakes, the cake (Gluten free for Daria!) and the cookies came from the Cake Shop on Greenbank.

Daria holding her cake

Caramel Cheesecake…this was divine!!

Aside from desserts, we had fresh cold cuts and buns, vegetable salad and dips and fresh summer fruit salad  (I think this salad was partly to satisfy my own craving for fresh fruits, especially the watermelon!)

What would a shower be without balloons?  I had actually purchased all the balloons late in the afternoon the day before and had them all filled with helium.  Unfortunately, for some reason, the day of the shower, every single balloon, except for the big one, was one the floor!!  I was so not impressed!! I had to run out again to have new balloons filled, but thankfully they re-filled them with a smile

For favours, I filled these little cellophane bags (hard to see here, but they have tiny baby footprints on them) with all kinds of pink and blue candies: campinos, jellybellies, sour bubble gums and dubble bubble, sugar candies and pink and blue swirled candy sticks!  Who doesn’t like candy, afterall!!

I had a few games planned for the ladies.  The first one we did involved playdoh and the second game required people to use their memories.  I put a tray in front of them with a number of baby related essentials (soothers, nail clippers,  a medicine dropper, a teether etc.) and let people look at them, pick them up etc for about 1 minute.  After that, I took them away and they had to then try to write down as many of the items as they could remember.  The winner received a prize and Daria of course, took home all the baby stuff!  I didn’t take a picture of this game, but I did take a bunch during the play-doh game!

I had purchased various colours of play-doh and set the containers out in front of all the ladies.  Everyone was asked to use their imagination and to create the cutest baby out of play-doh that they could.  Daria would then judge all the babies and choose the cutest one!  This was really fun and all babies were cute, but there could be only one winner….

All the babies ready for judging…

and the winner is….

Charmaine!!  Daria chose this one because it looked the most like her–red hair and fair skin (ok, so it’s pretty white! haha!)  Way to go Charmaine!!

The prizes for the games were bath gel/body cream sets that I’d found and wrapped up all pretty

This wasn’t so much of a game as it was just for fun, but I had a jar full of jelly bellies for people to guess at.  Of course the winner took the jar!

I had planned one other game (a baby word un-scramble) but after a few games, it was time to get to some gift opening!  You know by now that I have a thing for pretty packaging, so I couldn’t resist photographing some of the cute bags

I had actually just bought this monkey as well for our nursery just a few days before Dar’s shower so it was cute to see it popping out of this bag!

Bright and colourful!

This little monkey ensemble was a huge hit!! We all absolutely loved it, as did Daria!  I can’t remember who she got this from, but we were all cooing over it!  Had Gymboree had this in any other size but preemie, I would have snatched one up for our little person! How can you resist that little monkey!?

Another adorable little sleeper!

Some of the cute stuffed animals–the monkey on the couch and the sound machine giraffe

All in all the shower was a success and it seemed that everyone really enjoyed themselves! Good food and good company!  I am so glad I was able to do this for Daria and Andrew and I are both super thrilled for both Rob and Daria!!  We can’t wait to meet their little one, introduce the babies to each other and go through this exciting and challenging new chapter in our lives together!  Congratulations Rob and Daria!! You are going to be wonderful parents!!!

Here are just some of the details of the day

I”ll start with the invitation because it was just so adorable and trendy!  It totally made me smile when I got it in the mail!  (She looks like me too haha!–I think Catherine customized her like that)  The theme for the shower was this trendy little mom to be

The haute mama is seen here again in the cake, plates and napkins and even the gift bag! (The cake was soooo delicious! It had that yummy sugar icing!!)  Cake was made by Artistic Cake Design

I loved all the bright, fun colours!

Nothing better than pretty packaging!

Thought this bag was cute too!!

Matching plates and napkins…

and of course there was lots of yummy food to fill these cute plates!

The ladies did a few games, though I don’t have any pictures of those to share here.  One game was to have people cut string to determine what they thought the size of my stomach was, another had me blindfolded and I had to guess all the items in a box (I got 8 out of 11 right!) and the last one was a guessing game.  You had to guess how many clothes pins were in the container.

Catherine also did up an adorable little guest book that she decorated with some of our maternity photos and stickers.  The unfortunate part is that I don’t think people saw it or knew (or maybe forgot) to sign it! I went to have a look at the comments tonight and only 2 people wrote something in it! haha!   If you were there and want to sign it, let me know! haha!  It was a sweet gesture nonetheless!! I’ll just have to fill it with more photos!!  (which is never a problem!)

Charmaine made up little favours for all the guests too! She made up little jars with bath salts and tied them all up pretty with ribbon!!  There were 2 scents!  So sweet!

I had gone out in the morning to get some flowers for the house, not knowing that they would also be bringing some gorgeous arrangements! Daria arranged green roses and white hydrangeas in pretty vases and then tied them with ribbon.  I got to keep a few and some were given as prizes!  On top of that, there was a special delivery!! My mom, who really wanted to be there with us today, had flowers ordered and sent to the house!! Thank you mom! They are gorgeous! All in all, the house was and still is full of pretty, colourful and happy flowers!!  You can never have too many flowers around you!!

Here are the ones I bought

Here are the ones Daria arranged–aren’t they lovely!?

and here are the ones my mom sent to me!! Love the combo of bright colours!

Thanks mom, we missed you too!!!  ♥

What would a celebration be without some balloons!?

Andrew’s parents purchased our car seat for us (a black Peg Perego), which is now installed in the back of our car!  All we need to do now is have it looked at to make sure it’s installed properly!!  This was the cute wrapping she did the box in!

This is the car seat  (not the best picture!)

I guess you’d like to see a few of the actual gifts we received and not just all the cute bags and wrapping!  Between the two showers, here are just a few of beautiful gifts we received from our wonderful friends and family!  I couldn’t photograph them all if I tried! We have been beyond spoiled and are so thankful for all the wonderful presents from our amazing friends and family!

We got lots of little toys like this one from Daria and Rob for our stroller

For our future little sports fan…

Baby toys are so cute! This guy plays music and the lion rattles

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We also got a tonne of receiving blankets and most of them were made by my mom’s talented quilting/sewing friends from work!  Wendy, a friend of  my mom’s and someone I’ve known for as long as I can remember, made this gorgeous baby quilt for us!!

And also, this sweet receiving blanket–so cute!  (All the blankets were adorable!!)

Another special gift came from a dear friend of the family, Mrs. Elliott, or as I’ve known her, Gramma Elliott.  While she couldn’t be present at the shower, we really appreciate her thoughtful keepsake gift.

With some generous monetary gifts, we were able to purchase our stroller–the Uppababy Vista 2010.  We love it and haven’t even used it yet!! haha! It is so lightweight and compacts so small which is perfect for our little hatch back! The toddler seat can face front or back and this can also be removed so that we can use the bassinet that came with the stroller as well.  You can also use a number of car seats that snap into the frame with an adapter, similar to the travel systems out there. Later on, you can add a rumble seat, which is essentially a toddler seat so that if you have 2 kids, they can both ride in the stroller! Comes with all the trimmings too– even a bug net and built in UV protection!   We are really excited to put this stroller to good use!  You know you’re a mom to be when you’re this excited about a stroller haha!  That basket is so big too! lol

We also got a variety of baby essentials like diapers, bath stuff, pacifiers, bottles and bibs etc…and more onesies and sleepers than I can count!

I think it’s pretty funny that we actually got 4 of these!! Must be a popular gift!

Other gifts that aren’t seen here are a high chair, the Fisher price Cradle n Swing and FP bouncer, a play mat and many other useful items! We haven’t put the swing together yet, but that’s next on our to do list!

Also, we have my mom and Chuck to thank for the beautiful crib and dresser combo that furnishes our nursery!!  It took us (read: me) a long time to decide which crib to get and then when we saw this one, we both really liked it.  We both loved the dresser too, so we decided to order them!  We are still waiting on the bedding and a gorgeous glider that we ordered from Pottery Barn Kids! Can’t wait to get them and put the finishing touches on the nusery! Here are a few recent pics–we’re pretty much ready to go!

Step one: (after painting)–curtains up, crib and dresser in!

Step 2: Andrew’s mom shortened our curtains for us! Mattress and change station in!  All we need now is a little something for the walls.  I’ll probably keep it simple with some beautiful framed photos.

Here is the bedding and the chair that we ordered–the chair will go in the corner behind the dresser–doesn’t look like  there’s room, but there is..we measured, so it better fit haha!

Well I guess that’s enough pictures for now! There are many more, but this is taking way too long!!  Thanks again for all who came out to the showers, for the beautiful gifts and for all the love and support!! We have everything ready for Baby’s debut!!  I only have 2.5 weeks of work left and then hopefully a bit of downtime before baby arrives…but if not, we’re as ready as we can be!!

Much love,

Amy, Andrew and Baby Symes 

The Baby Shower–April 3rd, 2010

My mom, with the help of my aunt and some good friends organized a beautiful baby shower for me this past Easter weekend and as usual, she really outdid herself!   She put so much time, effort and love into making the perfect shower and I’m sure the details didn’t go un-noticed!!  Being a details girl myself, I brought my camera to make sure I could remember all the extra special touches of the day.  Since we’re not finding out the sex, the theme for the day was pink and blue (from the flowers, to the balloons and even the place settings) mixed with a little bit of Easter cheer!!  To those who were there, a big thank you for coming out!! We hope you had fun and enjoyed all the yummy treats and the food  (of which we still have insane amounts of leftovers!!)

Here are just some of the details of the day:

All the place settings had either a blue bunny…

or a pink one!

Even the baking had a pink and blue touch to it!

The cake was really sweet too (no pun intended!)  It’s a little baby sleeping in a (big!) bassinet (I think that’s what it is, anyways!)

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You could even roll the fondant blanket back to reveal a sleeping baby….boy!!  Could this be a sign of things to come??

And who could eat the cake without the forks?  I realize that it’s just cutlery, but my mom and I had spent the Friday before wrapping them all up in the napkins and tied them all with ribbon!!  Look how pretty!  The napkins matched the helium balloon seen at the top.

My mom even managed to find pink and blue flowers that adorned the tables.  We also added a little pink or blue Easter egg to the vase for that extra Easter touch!

A full shot of the tables–some had blue table cloths.  We told people that the table they were sitting at indicated if they thought we were having a boy or girl–we were joking of course, but who knows, maybe there is some truth to that! 

One of many scrumptious desserts that I really didn’t have a chance to savour!  At least I can enjoy the photo!  I could honestly pluck one of those strawberries off the screen right now….if only…

I suppose I should put at least a couple of photos of me in this post–you’ll see more in a bit…if you’re still reading!  Me, mom and Aunt Gina sporting our bellies!

Me, Adri and Ashley–I totally don’t even look preggo in this picture!

The next 2 shots have nothing to do with the shower, but both grandma and grandpa wanted a picture with the bump, so here they are  (this was at about 26 weeks)

This one is at 30 weeks, taken just this past weekend

Our Maternity Session

The following photos were taken by another Ottawa Maternity photographer by the name of Danielle Lynn Bernier of Danielle Lynn Photography  http://www.daniellelynnphotography.com/ I just noticed that she has updated her splash page and one of our pictures made the cut!!  Well, it’s mostly of Madison but whatever! haha!

We decided to do a session swap. She did maternity photos for us, in exchange of me taking family photos for her sometime this summer.  Those of you who know me well, know that I DESPISE being photographed  (because I always come out looking so ridiculous in pictures!) so this was no easy task for me. And while many of pics below don’t include my face (because I didn’t include many of those ones here) I am very happy overall with these shots.  I wanted the bump and not my face to be the focus and that is what she did.  I’m glad that in the end we had these photos done, as I was reluctant to be the subject.  Thank you Danielle for not only capturing such beautiful shots of my little beach ball baby bump, but also for getting the photos to us so quickly and for your patience with me! haha!

We really thought we’d have to coax Maddy with some peanut butter to get one shot with her (which we did do at one point) but at the start of the session, she really wanted to be a part, so she jumped up on the bed and stole the show!

The new colour of the walls in the nursery seen here

i love how round my belly looks in this shot!

I’m totally humouring him here…. 

I love this one, even though the tummy disappears a little bit

Thought this one was really cute too

One of my many vices…pregnant or not…I justified spending the $6 on this tiny tub of ice-cream for the photo shoot and because I’m pregnant!

Andrew’s sister bought us this photo album for babies.  You’re supposed to fill it with pictures of people who love the baby, so I thought I’d start the album off…

Danielle also took us out to the Experimental farm, to this old, run down house! It was a great backdrop for some more creative shots like this one!

Danielle had found this vintage camera on ebay and brought it along just for fun.  I think the idea being that I myself love photography, it’d be a cute shot.

I think she was going for the whole “nesting” idea here

I think this is pretty much the only shot of Andrew and I together (where you can see my face) that I actually like.  I think it’s because my braces are less visible

These last few are a few of my personal faves! Mind you, we were happy with pretty much all of them.

I wasn’t sure how this would turn out, but think it looks fabulous!! I love the softness to it.

Yes, this is my  bella-band being worn as a tube top here! haha!

Anyways, that is a lot of photos for one post, so hopefully you’ve enjoyed them!!  We are getting so excited for the arrival of wee Symes!  The crib and dresser arrived today, so all we need to do now is finish painting the nursery and assemble it all and we should have a completed nursery–hopefully very soon!!!!

Thanks for looking!!

Amy xo

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