Baby Shower Activities

On to the activities... My sister knows I'm not 100% into baby shower games; however, she pulled together the cutest activities for my baby shower.

She started off with a baby word scramble which was just the right amount of cute but not overly competitive :) The only funny thing about the scramble is that she pulled it off a US website, and some of the gals were really stuck on some of the U.S. words including- stroller/ pram, diapers/ nappies, onesies/babygro and pacifier/dummy. The scramble took a bit longer then expected :)

My favorite activity from the day was the Baby's ABC book. My sister bought a photo album and printed out sheets with the letters from A-Z and guests drew pictures to represent each letter. I was so impressed with everyone's drawing skills! If you're planning a baby shower any time soon, I highly recommend this activity. It's so personal!

My sister also set up a station for people to draw pictures on onesies for the little one. This was really adorable as well, and again I couldn't believe how creative people were!

Finally, my sister requested that guests bring their favorite childhood books to help build the baby's library. I love this as well because a lot of the books that were brought were very Irish! I can't wait to read them myself!

{Baby Shower}

This weekend, Baby Macs and I were showered with love by our amazing friends and family with a tea party hosted at my house. My older sister planned the whole thing from NYC and didn't forget one little detail - she's amazing!

I was whisked away at 1 with some gals for pre-tea drinking before the tea party (So different then pre-drinking with cocktails before a night out, let me tell you!). When I came back 2 hours later,  my house was transformed with the most lovely decorations, flowers and delicious quiches, cakes and tea!

I loved, loved the activities that were planned and will do a separate post on them.

Get ready for photo overload. Baby Macs is sooo blessed!

One of the activities for the day. 

Amazing food spread! 

The gals made the sweets and the savory items were ordered from Butler's Pantry- Yum! 

Tea Time! 

Apparently, this is suppose to be a sheep :) 

Adorable onesie from my Come Dine with my crew 

The Come Dine with me Gals! 

Me and Baby Daddy! 

Adorable Party Favours! 

  

{My Five Year Anniversary}

...with this lovely little island I call home. We moved here five years ago with the intention of staying for one year, but after buying a home here, making lovely friends and having a baby here soon, we're clearly here to stay.

While I miss America now and again (mostly when I'm trying to find furniture or home goods and wish I could pop into a Target or Pottery Barn), I really enjoy living abroad with all its quirks - not having hot water in the house all the time, driving on the weird side of the road and the maternity leave... BLISS!

Here's to many more lovely and happy years in Ireland! OH! and the most fun part of living here for all this time... I get to apply to be a citizen. Hurray!

Below are some pics from my first visit to Dublin. I had commited to moving here (got the job transfer, put a deposit down on an apartment, etc) without ever having stepped foot in the city. Good thing, it turned out to be a quaint city that I love!

Ha' Penny Bridge 

Where to go? 

Dun Loaghaire 

{ Week 35}

I can't believe I've got five more weeks to go! Here's the bump in all her glory.

Crazy hair from running around getting the house ready for a party. 

My "take the freaking picture already" face

Some things from this week.

• Hubby's sister had a baby girl this weekend - Little Miss Aisling. We are planning on going to see her in a couple of weeks. I can't wait and will be pushing Hubby to practice some diaper changing. 

• We hosted an NFL party this past weekend with some Irish pals who pretend to like NFL; hence, the Philadelphia Eagles T-shirt above. 

• My fingers are getting fat. I think it's almost time to take the jewelry off! 

• I'm sick of my clothes! But...with only five weeks to go, I'm trying to behave and not buy any more new clothes. I figured I can treat myself after the baby weight comes off (magically fast, right?). On the plus side, I managed to squeeze into my normal jeans with the help of the belly band. I had put them aside thinking I would live in leggings, but I'm so bored of leggings. 

• I'm still on a reading bender and finished  "A Fault in Our Stars" this weekend. It was a lovely quick read that made me cry and cry, but... I think that's the pregnancy hormones since lots of books have recently been making me cry.

• I've started Christmas shopping. I love this time of year, and I'm LOVING getting stuff off my to- do list before the baby comes. 

Weekend Recap

And....we're officially boring! The wedding season is over. We're not planning anymore holidays, and it's no longer fun to stay out until 4 in the AM. I've got nothing to entertain you with. This weekend, we...

• Looked for a house cleaner (See?! BORING) 
• Watched a lot of baseball (Red Sox) and football (Eagles and Patriots) 
• Went for probably our last dinner and movie date for the next 18 years. We watched Prisoners which was good and suspenseful. 
• I finished up A Beautiful Day (easy light reading) which was really necessary after finishing up Still missing  and A House in the Sky (both books about kidnappings and so was the movie. I sense a theme here.) 
• We also went to Kiliney hill because I got a new camera and wanted to test out how to use it. (I don't know what to do with it as you'll see in the pics below). 

How was everyone's weekend? Any book suggestions!? 

The Witch's Hat 

Irish Sea 

Walks in the park at Dusk 

Probably our last movie date for the next 18 years?! 

As if I needed another reason to miss Target...

I love that store so much...when people ask me what I miss about America, I always say family, friends and Target. I go EVERYDAY when I'm home.

It's even better (is that possible?), now that they are featuring one of my favorite people in their stores!

Adorable Baby Nephew on the right! 

{8 months- 32 weeks}

I can't believe how fast this whole pregnancy thing is going! I've only got 8 more weeks to go which feels strangely far away, but also I can't believe it's coming so soon.

Clearly made an effort to get dolled up for this pic ;) 

• I've finally been grounded by the airlines. Hubby and I are settling in and relaxing in Dublin for the next couple of weeks. The nursery has been 90% ready for some time now, and all the baby clothes are washed and ready to go. I want to buy stuff like diapers and baby wash and organise the hospital bag, but hubby thinks we should wait so that bulky items aren't sitting around in our tiny birdhouse sized home.

• I'm having major judgement issues. I try to squeeze into/through places that are normally fine and my poor bump keeps getting bumped. 

• We're starting our antenatal classes today. Very excited (really?) to learn about labour/midwives and how to change baby diapers (not really.) 

• I've been reading loads of books while relaxing. If you have any suggestions, please send them my way! 

• Fall TV- Love/Hate is back on RTE hurray! And we finally got Netflix (like it's 2005- woop!). We're into Breaking Bad (up to season 2) and have a list a mile long of series to watch. 

• Also American football (Go Eagles!), World series (Go Red Sox!) and football is back on. BLISS! 

• If anyone has recommendations on things to do before, we have baby I'm all ears!