Easter Basket: It’s more than just candy!

Easter is upon us, and with it comes the dilemma- just how much sweets am I gonna put in that Easter basket?

Well, I didn’t want to have no candy at all, but I also didn’t want to overload Mabel with candy, not to mention Nemo who is too little for candy.

So I brainstormed to come up with non-candy options for the Easter baskets and egg hunt.

A basket for Mabel, my nephew, and Nemo.

So, what did I include?

There are bunny face masks (Mabel got pink, my nephew white, and Nemo blue).

Each kid is also getting a tambourine (a freebie I got from a friend who works for Parents Magazine).

Each basket has a clementine.

Mabel and my nephew are also each getting a toothbrush (to get those jelly beans!).

Additionally, Mabel is getting a My Little Pony drinking cup, a bunny finger puppet, and some hair accessories.

The eggs in Mabel’s and my nephew’s basket include some jelly beans and a peep.  Nemo’s eggs contain Cheerios and Kix cereal.

I also filled a bunch of eggs for the egg hunt with a single jelly bean (the point is to find the eggs, so there doesn’t have to be a lot in each one), some individually wrapped prunes (we call them “prune treats” here), and then there are some peeps and chocolate marshmallow eggs in fancy plastic eggs for the grownups.

There will definitely be plenty of candy on Easter, but I hope it will be secondary to the other gifts!

 

Some other ideas that might work-

coins (for older kids)

pens/pencils/erasers in Easter themes

Play Doh

muffins or cookies

little gifties from the dollar store (games, toys, etc)

The possibilities are endless.

What are you putting in your little ones’ Easter baskets.

Squeezing in play

Working full time means most of the hours I spend at home, my kids are asleep.  Most of their waking hours, I’m at work.  It stinks.  It’s hard.  I miss out on a lot.

Playing with them is something I don’t get to do much of.  I have to squeeze it in when I can.

One of those times I can squeeze it in is first thing in the morning.  I have fond memories of my sister and I piling into my parents’ bed on the weekends to snuggle and play and tickle and laugh.  Since my dad was always an early riser, our only chance was weekends.

Since Mac and I are NOT early risers, but Nemo and Mabel ARE, they pretty much come into our bed every single morning to snuggle and play and tickle and laugh.

Mabel ‘checking her email’ on my alarm clock.

Mabel pretends she’s jumping into a pool by jumping onto our blue comforter.  Nemo plays peek-a-boo with a blanket or a burp cloth.  There’s just roughhousing and merrymaking- although some mornings Mac and I are only half awake to experience it.

On mornings that I have an early meeting or there is a doctor’s appointment that alters our schedule, I really miss our morning snuggle times.

It may not be ideal, or educational, or long enough, or often enough, but it is quality play time with my kids and I cherish it.

Snuggling with these two is an excellent way to start a day.

 

A day in the life of a Scientist/Mother (#SciMom)

Curious what a typical day is like for a working scientist and mother (SciMom)?  This is a run-down of a typical Thursday for me.

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The Short Version:

Morning at home- wake, nurse Nemo, get Mabel washed up and dressed, get ready for work, kiss hubby and baby, drop Mabel at preschool, and head off to work.

Day at work- try to cure cancer, work on poster for upcoming national meeting, lunch meeting, rush home.

Evening at home- nurse baby, cook dinner, get Mabel ready for bed while Mac takes care of Nemo, read bedtime stories, sing lullabies, say prayers, tuck in Mabel, nurse Nemo, tuck in Nemo, tuck Mabel in again, and again, and again until she’s finally asleep, take 5 min for myself, go to bed.

The Long Version:

This is a typical Thursday.  Wednesdays and Thursdays are my meeting-heavy days.

Sometime between 6 and 7am:  Nemo wakes, bring him into bed and nurse.

7am: Alarm goes off, Mabel storms in (since she has one of these and isn’t technically allowed out of bed until it turns green)

7:40am:  Everyone out of bed.  Get Mabel washed up and dressed for school while Nemo plays.

Playing instead of getting ready!

8am:  Get myself ready for work while Mac gives Mabel and Nemo breakfast.

8:30am:  Head out the door.

8:45am:  Drop Mabel at preschool and head to work (as a scientist at a biotech/pharma company).

9:15am:  Drive around the parking lot praying that someone left at a random time and there is a convenient parking spot, end up parking in the boondocks.

9:20am:  Sit in the car and put on my makeup (crucial, see here).

9:30am:  Sit down at my desk.  Turn on computer.  Check emails, respond to emails, read abstracts from journal alerts, etc.  If there’s time, check my personal email, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  Check in with my technician regarding her experiments for that day. Grab a cup of coffee (there is never enough coffee).

10am:  Tumor Scientist Meeting- all the Oncology Department’s scientists meeting with our VP of research.  Mostly these meetings cover research topics in a lab meeting style, and we all present several times a year.  Other times these are administrative, discussing space utilization, equipment purchases, reports on interesting meetings, etc.

11:30am:  (as long as my 10am meeting doesn’t run until noon) Pump.  I’m still nursing Nemo, and I was nursing Mabel when I started this job.  Thankfully there is a well-equiped Nursing Mother’s Room right around the corner from my office.

You might be a SciMom if the luggage tags on my pump and cooler bags- freebies from conferences.

12:15pm:  Department Meeting- this is a standing lunch meeting for anyone/everyone doing oncology-related research to present their research.  Scientists and technical staff take turns presenting once a year.  It’s a great opportunity to learn what other departments are working on, and get a chance to present to people you wouldn’t otherwise get to hear from.

1:30pm:  Back to my office- read papers, analyze data, plan experiments, spend time in the lab, meet with my technician to discuss results and upcoming data, work on presentations, respond to emails.*

3pm:  Pump again.

You might be a SciMom if your nursing mother’s room has Nature Biotechnology mixed in with the parenting magazines.

3:30pm:  Coffee- either with a colleague in the kitchen, or back at my desk (If it’s at my desk, I might read non-science news, check personal email, Facebook, etc.).  Get some more work done*

5pm:  Start thinking about leaving.  Save documents, print stuff, wash my coffee cup, shut down equipment, etc.  I  don’t actually get in my car to leave until 5:20pm or later.

5:45pm:  Get home.  Wash hands.  Unpack any perishables (uneaten lunch, pumped milk, etc.), nurse Nemo while Mabel climbs on me and demands attention and Mac walks the dog (definitely looking forward to Spring and the time change, which means it’s light enough and warm enough for us to walk as a family).

6:15pm:  Start making dinner.

6:45pm:  Eat dinner.

7:15pm:  Take Mabel upstairs to get ready for bed while Nemo plays and Mac does the kitchen cleanup.

7:30pm:  Read bedtime stories with Mabel.

Bedtime stories.

7:50pm:  Sing songs (under the stars thanks to Santa) with Mabel and then tuck her in for the night.

8pm:  Nurse Nemo for as long as he stays awake.  Sometimes sit holding him for an hour just because it’s the only time of day I get to be with him without Mabel competing for my attention, and because I really miss holding him all day.

8:30pm:  Shower and get mostly ready for bed.

9pm:  Back downstairs for some time on the computer, in front of the TV, with a cup of coffee, do laundry, other chores, maybe check work emails.  Let the dog out one last time.

10:30/11pm:  Brush teeth and get to bed.  Mac and I head to bed anywhere from 10pm to midnight.  We really try to be in bed by around 10:30pm, but that seems to rarely happen.  Once in bed, we’ll read (an actual book) or spend some time on our phones (playing each other in Words with Friends, checking email, Facebook, etc.), turn them off and then have some actual conversation that isn’t interrupted by little kids.

11pm/12am:  Lights out.

12am to 7am:  Get woken up at the whims of our children for pacifiers, trips to the potty, dirty diapers, runny noses, lost blankets, snuggles, etc.  Sometimes the dog gets in on the action too and barks at a random sound or insists on being let out at 3am.  It’s never enough sleep, and it’s never uninterrupted.  Potty training and a little brother (Nemo is in our room in a pack n’ play, so I think she feels she’s missing out being in her own room) have really interfered with Mabel’s sleep- she rarely stays in her bed all night.

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So, that’s a typical Thursday.  Some evenings I head out for book club or a Mom’s Night Out, but those are only once or twice a month.  It’s never enough time, it seems.  I miss my kids desperately when I’m at work, and just can’t seem to get enough of them in the evenings.  Sometimes the bedtime routine runs long and bedtime is later and I enjoy it because it means more time with them (other times I don’t enjoy it because I need 5 minutes to myself!).

So, that’s my Thursday- a day in the life a SciMom.

The big question- have I achieved work-life balance?  The answer- it feels like it, for three reasons.

One, most days I don’t get much time with my kids; however, since they are home with Mac, I feel like they are getting all the love, attention, and nurturing they need (or at least as much as I could give them if I were the one at home).  If they were in daycare from 8:30am to 5:30pm, I’m not sure I would feel the same.

Two, Mac takes care of so much during the weekdays, that I can really focus on quality family time when I’m not at work. I know if Mac worked full-time outside the home it would mean our evenings and weekends would be swamped with errands and chores and oil changes and all the other business of life.

Three, my work is pretty flexible (both my company and my supervisor).  There are times I have to go in early or stay late, take work home, etc, but there have been more times I’ve worked from home (in bad weather), used flex time (when Mac has an on-site job), left early (for doctor’s appointments, swim class, or long weekends), or come in late (TThF when I drop Mabel at preschool).  Combine that with my company’s family-friendly events and parties several times a year that means Mac and the kids can come visit me at work, and plenty of paid holidays (hello- week off between Christmas and New Years!!) and it’s not bad.  Have I missed precious moments with my kids to be at work?  Yes.  Was it hard to be away?  Yes.  Is it unavoidable?  Yes.  Is it frequent?  Thankfully, no.  So it feels balanced.

Working from home involves Play Doh.

The day to day can seem harried and rushed, but over the long-term, it feels like it’s working out.  I’m lucky to be able to have a job I enjoy, a family I love, and a husband who loves me.

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*As I mentioned above, Thursdays are meeting-heavy, with two standing meetings.  I generally don’t plan experiments for Thursdays for that reason.  When I’m not in meetings (seminars, lab meetings, working groups, etc.), the main tasks that occupy my time are: read papers, analyze data, plan experiments, spend time in the lab, meet with my technician to discuss results and upcoming experiments, work on presentations, respond to emails, attend online seminars, administrative tasks (like approve time cards and purchase requisitions, complete online mandatory trainings, etc.).

My company has an open-door culture.  Unless people have to take a phone call or have a one-on-one meeting, doors are always open and people are always free to be interrupted.  Most of the time this is good, but sometimes it can make it hard to get stuff done (I never have more people come to my office than when I’m attending an online seminar!).  So I’m routinely interrupted by my technician who has a question or needs a hand with something in the lab or my supervisor who has something to tell me.

How a family grows

This is somewhat belated, but inspired by Kelly’s Show Us Your Life topic this week, I decided to post it.

Perhaps it’s the scientist in me, but I like to document things, particularly with photos.  I love to see the changes over time.  I love to look back and remember- recording things as we go.

I posted last year about Mac and I taking an annual anniversary photo, here.

We did it again this year, over Columbus Day weekend, so here is the updated version!

Our family, 2008 to 2012

The largest photo was taken on our property in the Catskills on our wedding day in late September 2008.  We’ve taken a picture in that same spot each year since to document our growing family.

In 2009, I was pregnant with Mabel on our first anniversary.  In 2010 Mabel was in the picture with us.  In 2011, I was just a few weeks pregnant with Nemo.  This year, our fourth anniversary, we had Mabel and Nemo with us!

I love looking back.  Wonder what next year’s photo will capture!

Babies: documenting their first year

I’ve written before, here,  about the monthly onsies that I used to document Mabel’s first year and the rapid changes she made.

Even though she just turned 3 YEARS old last month, I STILL haven’t gotten the pictures into the frame I registered for before she was born.  Now that Nemo is almost 9 months old, I’m figuring I might as well wait until he’s a year and I have all his photos, then I can do both at the same time!

I’m so glad that I took the time and expended the effort to take the pictures of Mabel.  I look back at the arrayed photos and just smile at how she was and how she’s changed.

Mabel’s first year.

I don’t want to be accused of neglecting my second child, so I have kept up the effort with Nemo.

Nemo’s first year (so far!)

When I was putting these two collages together, it was amazing how similar they look at the various ages.  What’s really funny is that Mabel was super cranky and uncooperative for her 7 month photo, so the best shot I got was her fussing.  Guess who did the same thing for his 7 month photos?  Nemo.  I considered putting in the picture of him crying, but since I did manage to catch him smiling, I used that one instead.

I’m so glad the picture frame with the slots for all the photos was still available (I have two of these Pearhead Time Frames) so that I can have both kids’ pictures matching.  Soon we plan to have Nemo and Mabel share a room, and I think it will be sweet to have both frames hanging in their room.

In addition to taking these photos every month, I took (am taking) both kids for pictures at 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, and 12 months at either JC Penney or Sears Portrait Studio.  After 12 months, I’ve just been going each year for a birthday portrait.  I ALWAYS use coupons, and am usually good about not spending more than $20 (which is totally feasible with the coupons!  See JCP coupons here, and Sears coupons here).

I’m not sure how long I’ll keep up the birthday portraits, since once the kids start school, we will get a picture each year, plus we go as a family for a Christmas portrait each year.  In the meantime, I cherish these!

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This post was inspired by Kelly’s Korner: Show Us Your Life link-up.

“Working from home”

Friday, Monday, and Tuesday I ‘worked from home.’  Here is a picture of how I accomplished some work (Play-Doh was involved):

Work from home is in quotes because I really didn’t get terribly much work done.  Thankfully it’s more like a combination of flextime, paid time off, and actual working at home.  I put in a couple of hours each day (including Thursday night, Saturday, and Sunday) and I’ll make up more time by staying later the rest of this week.  Whatever hours I couldn’t do/make up, I will take as paid time off.

Why was I ‘working from home?’  Because Mac had an on-site free-lance gig in Jersey and my boss okayed the arrangement.

I enjoyed it immensely.

 While I appreciate that there might be some novelty and a little ‘grass is always greener’ going on here, it just re-enforced my position that being a stay at home mom is like being on vacation.

Doesn’t this look like fun?

I took Mabel to school.  Ran errands with Nemo.  Snuggled.  Played doctor (see toe injection and bandage above) and hide n’ seek (photos coming soon as Mabel chose the most adorable hiding place).

Confused a groundhog for an Ewok (before Mac solved that problem, see below).

Image on the left is before: Looks like an Ewok, right? It’s supposed to be a groundhog for Groundhog Day that Mabel made at school. Image on the right is after: What Mac did when he saw the first picture on FB.

It was awesome and I’m torn.  I wish I could stay home every day, but I know that if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as much.

So, now we’re back to our normal routine.  Mac is home, I’m at work.  A part of each of us wishes it was the other way around.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: Snow Angel

1 pre-schooler + 1 baby + the flu – sleep = no blogging

That pretty much sums up the past week and a half.

Despite everyone in our house getting our flu shots, Mabel got the flu and gave it to Nemo.  On the plus side, she didn’t get sick until after her 3rd birthday party and Mac and I have been spared.  On the down side, her school celebration (snow flake cookies for the whole class) had to be delayed since she missed almost an entire week of school, and two sick kids meant very little sleep for Mac and I.  Nemo finally seemed to be able to sleep last night (waking only once for his pacifier around 3am).

Overnight we got snow.  This morning, while my family slept, I went out and shoveled and cleared with the help of a very kind neighbor.

I came into work late, but really wish I had a snow day!  This is what Mac sent me:

 

Wish I could spend the day with my little snow angel.

My Christmas Gift 2012

There are some really obvious perks to having a husband who is a professional video editor.  When you combine that with a professional voice over artist who is the godfather of your children, things get even better.  Add in more friends, cute kids, lots of photos and videos, and you get my Christmas gift for this year from Mac.

To see last year’s Christmas video, see here.

And to see my 30th birthday present, see here.

My DIY (never have to make it again) Advent Calendar

So I did a crafty project and I’m going to share it here.

The Instagram picture I shared with the caption, “Finished! Finally! Massive undertaking. A DIY Advent calendar of sorts. 25 tiny wrapped gift boxes full of treats.”

I made a little Advent Calendar of sorts for counting down the days until Christmas.  I had wanted one last year, but couldn’t find one I liked that I could afford.  Etsy has many gorgeous items- all kinds of ways to mark the days of Advent from envelopes to buntings, to little wooden shelves with drawers.  However, the ones I liked most were way out of my price range.  It goes without saying that they were also out of skill range!

So, I thought, why not just make something myself?  I’m not really sure how I came up with this idea, but I decided upon wrapping little gift boxes (the type jewelry comes in) with paper and putting goodies and trinkets inside, then putting them in a large vase.  Mabel (and Nemo next year) can open one box per night, leading up to Christmas.

So, here’s how I did it.  I actually had about 16 gift boxes in my house.  This is probably because my husband is really good in the jewelry buying department.  I then hit my mother and sister up for the remaining 9 boxes I needed.  If you’re doing the math, that’s 25 boxes, instead of the traditional 24- I’ll get to why later.

Even before I had all the boxes, I started wrapping.  It took HOURS and HOURS to wrap all those little boxes.  Especially because I wrapped the lids and the bottoms separately and towards the end I was kind of scrounging for boxes and wound up struggling to wrap one heart-shaped box and one round box.  If I’m going to wrap 25 tiny boxes, I’m only doing it ONCE.  This way, I can tie the boxes with string each year and never have to wrap again.  I used scrapbook paper I had on hand from making the bunting for Nemo’s Christening.  I chose mostly greens, blues, and browns.  It works for Christmas, without being ‘too Christmas-y’ I think.  You can see the before and after below.

I also had a tag-punch for making gift tags.  Since some of the contents would be date specific (details below), I needed a way to label them.  I purchased this assortment of stamps from Amazon because 1-25 would vary in width and I wanted to make sure they would fit on the tags.  (Note:  I’m super cheap and wasn’t willing to buy the acrylic block.  I was going to just use them without it, but realized that I had a lame paperweight my company gave out that was acrylic, so I just used that and it worked perfectly.  I have to say, having the block be see-through really helped with placing the numbers in the center, not going off the edge, etc.)  I used a gold stamp pad I already had (from making the Save The Dates way back when Mac and I were engaged).  You can see the 25 tags below.

So, once I had the boxes wrapped and the tags punched and stamped, it was time to fill the boxes.  I had been brainstorming ideas on what to include for a few weeks- keeping my eyes peeled when I was out shopping.  A lot of Advent Calendars just contain candies, so I picked up a bag of soft candy cane mints at the grocery store.  I chose this kind because Mabel is still too young for hard candy and I didn’t want the mess of actual candy canes!  (Also, these are my sister’s favorite, so she’s getting the leftovers!)  I also put in some Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses (these things are AWESOME- like peppermint bark!).

So I had candy, but I wanted to mix it up.  I also didn’t want to forget what we are actually celebrating during Advent and Christmas.  So, I included some of the figurines from Mabel’s kids Nativity.  Last year, my mom got her this Little People Nativity I had put on her Christmas list.  It’s great because she loves to play with it and makes no attempts to touch my porcelain nativity!  So, I put the 3 wise men in one of the larger boxes.  I then put Mary and Joseph in separate boxes.  Those boxes will be opened early on so that Mabel (and Nemo) can play with them.  Then, in keeping with the reason for Christmas, I put the baby Jesus in his own box- box 25.  Mabel can open that box Christmas morning and put Jesus in the nativity scene (assuming we bring it with us to North Carolina, where we will be spending Christmas with my in laws).

In addition to the figures, I picked up a few other goodies.  A ring pop, a push pop, a hair bow, a My Little Pony toothbrush with toothpaste (makes up for some of the candy!), and ‘Reindeer Food’ (see the picture above, it’s in box 24 so we can sprinkle it out on Christmas Eve).  I also picked up a few new Christmas books- Llama Llama Holiday Drama and This is the Stable through Mabel’s preschool Scholastic book club.  Since the books themselves wouldn’t fit, I cut out pictures of them from the book flier, clued them to tags, and put them in boxes.

I have lots of other ideas for future years.  My friend Stefanie posted about this great idea of a book only Advent Calendar of sorts.  As we accumulate more books (we already have a dozen or so) this could be a nice way to do it one year.  The reason I didn’t dole out our books that way this year was because I didn’t want to have to wait to read some of them!  Also, it’s A LOT of wrapping paper to use every year.  If I did, I’d write the names of the books and put them inside the boxes.

Other possibilities include hot chocolate packets, Christmas ornaments, small crafts, holiday movies, holiday CDs, holiday jewelry (earring, pins, etc.), cookies.  Really, if you were to print out pictures (or write out something for older kids) you could have any gift or activity in a little box (i.e. tree lighting, caroling, craft, baking, etc).

One thing that I think will be nice with this idea for Advent is that it will grow with the kids.  As they get older, I can change what I include in the boxes.

So, back to the DIY-ing.  I had all the wrapped boxes, the tags, the goodies.  I fit everything into boxes as best I could and tied them all with Baker’s twine.  I ordered this Baker’s twine from Amazon.  There is A LOT- I’m set for life in the Baker’s twine department, but it was much more reasonable than ribbon or Baker’s twine from the local craft store.  Also, I can have it on had for other uses.  I tied the string around the boxes, made a bow, then put the tag on and made another bow- that kept the tag in place.

Once everything was tied up, I filled the vase- starting with the 25, so it would be at the bottom.  The vase wasn’t big enough (if I had purchased boxes, or been more picky, I would have chosen small ones and they all would have fit in, but I’m cheap and not that picky!) so I arranged the earliest boxes around the vase.  I think it looks nice!

I finished this project on Sunday (I had time to work on it over the Thanksgiving holiday) and so far, Mabel hasn’t seemed to notice it, inquire about it, or try to open anything.  I think she got used to seeing the boxes on our dining room table as I was working on wrapping them- and every time she opened one, it was empty.  I told her that they would be filled and have treats for her, but at almost-3, I’m not sure how much she grasped about what was happening.  This is really the first Christmas where she’s more of a little kid than a baby, but not entirely.

So, that’s my DIY, reusable, Advent calendar.  I like how it came out, and I’m glad I never have to make it again!  Next year I can just fill it!  It will be especially easy if I manage to put the twine and tag in the box after Mabel opens it. Then next year I won’t even have to worry about new twine or tags.  However, with a preschooler, that may not be possible!

Any other cool ideas for marking the days of Advent?

Nemo’s Christening

Back in October, we celebrated Nemo’s baptism.  It was really special for me.  It was much later than I would have liked, but we managed to have lots of friends and family make it to celebrate with us.

Nemo was baptized at our church and as usual with my big, Irish-Catholic family, ours was the biggest crowd.  My sister (aka Aunt Meg) was Nemo’s godmother, and our dear friend (who is also Mabel’s godfather) agreed to serve double-duty as Nemo’s godfather.  Mac and I both feel very grateful they accepted.  When it comes down to it, it can be hard to find people who are truly good Christians, who walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk.  Add to that, the somewhat inane requirements of the Archdiocese of New York, and it is nearly impossible.  Thankfully, we didn’t have to look far for two excellent examples of how he should live his spiritual life.

The ceremony was wonderful.  Nemo was cooperative and happy (he was also the oldest of the babies being baptized that day).  He wore the same christening gown worn by me, his godmother, and his older sister.  I was teary-eyed as we blessed him, and welcomed him into the church.  It was also very moving knowing that the ceremony was creating formal, and sacred bonds between Nemo and his godparents.  The sacred chrism the deacon used to bless him left him smelling divine all day.

After the ceremony and lots of pictures, we then went back to our house for a big party!

It was the first time since we moved into the house in March of 2011 that we had a party and really used the outside space.  We lucked out with gorgeous weather.  It took a lot of effort, but we got out all our second-hand lawn furniture, deck furniture, etc. and had people out enjoying the yard, deck, and porch.  (Ironically, we had to scramble to put it all away again the next weekend because of Hurricane Sandy).  Just like I remember doing as a kid, all the cousins were outside running around, playing ball, blowing bubbles, and generally having fun.

I tried not to go overboard and stress about the party.  I wanted to remember the reason we were gathering to celebrate and not get caught up in the preparations.  Thankfully I had a lot of help.  My mom made most of the food (penne a la vodka and a swiss cheese chicken casserole-type dish), I made some roasted veggies.  We put out some chips and dip.  There was apple cider, wine and beer, sodas, and some juice.  From our local Stop and Shop, I got a veggie crudite platter, cold cut platter with rolls and salads, and called it a day.  My mother in law made several desserts, and we had the cake (see below) and a veggie platter (also from Stop and Shop).  I did splurge and have a coworker of my mom’s come and help during the party.  While we were at the church, she was at our house heating up all the food, doing all the prep, and welcoming any guests who arrived early.  She stayed for the duration and even did most of the cleanup.  It was the best money I spent on the party.  Having her there was crucial for me to enjoy the party- I didn’t have to be in the kitchen the whole time, I could visit with my guests.

There were a few things I did put more time and effort into.

For decorations, I made a bunting (you can see it behind us in the first photo- perhaps I’ll do a follow-up post about how I did it) that said “God + Bless Nemo” (except with his real name, the + was a cross).  The bunting was time consuming, and thankfully Aunt Meg helped.  I made something similar for Mabel’s first birthday and displayed it on her second birthday as well. You can see it here.  When it isn’t her birthday, the portion with her name hangs in her room.  I intend to do the same thing for Nemo.

Another thing I focused on was the cake.  I searched the internet for inspiration photos of cakes and Aunt Meg and I liked this one the best.  I took the picture to our local bakery, Homestyle Desserts Bakery, and they created the beautiful and delicious cake you see in the pictures, for a price that was surprisingly low given how it looked and tasted.  The cake was probably Mabel’s favorite part of this whole shebang given that she came with me when we placed the order and the ladies at the bakery gave us a huge plate with 5 or 6 slices of cake to taste test.  In the end we went with chocolate cake, cannoli filling, and buttercream frosting.  I was really amazed at how yummy it was and got many compliments from party guests.

The other thing I splurged on was Nemo’s outfit (whopping grand total of $26).  I had picked up a little Janie and Jack seersucker suit from Once Upon a Child before he was even born, for only $10.  It was sized 3/6 months and I figured it would work for his christening.  I had seen on Etsy, onsies with ties sewn on, and I had a color scheme in my head.  I found a few inspiration photos and contacted Connie of threeKdesigns to see if she could make the one I was imagining.

She did an awesome job!  She gave me a choice of fabrics based on my inspiration pictures and got it just right.  Here and here are the inspiration photos I sent her.  I liked the salmon color with the beige stripes of the suit.  You can see the finished product in the picture above (for a close up of the fabrics, click here), for only $16.  I’m looking forward to getting more of these for Nemo in the future.

So, that’s Nemo’s christening celebration in a nutshell.  I know I spent more time talking about the planning than the actual ceremony, but I can assure you, the day was all a celebration of him and his spiritual life.  It was a chance for lots of extended family and friends to meet him for the first time.  He was awake for most of the party and happily passed along so everyone could get a snuggle.  It was so special to me to gather our friends and our family together for such a joyous occasion.