celebrating babies

My cousin Kathy hosted a baby shower for Ivar and Stella on Saturday. I've said it before, and I'll say it forever...there is nothing like getting a group together to encourage and love on new mama's as we embark and continue to figure out this whole motherhood thing. Kathy threw a

classy shower and Ivar and I both felt loved and affirmed. Ivar and Stella's great grandma Bredberg got to hold each baby. She's well-seasoned at holding babies and two at a time didn't really pose any added challenge for her. In fact she probably could have held both babies and kneaded caramel roll dough without any real problems.

Kathy made Banana Punch, a Bredberg family favorite and absolute favorite for us three girls. I remember many a family function where the three of us would just hang out by the punch bowl and refill our glasses as soon as they were empty. It's a slushy drink and super good. I'll have to put the recipe on the blog someday...

Stella was full of hugs and love for Ivar. She had been waiting for this party for weeks and had a few meltdowns before the party officially began because the suspense was just too much. Then she, too, found the banana punch and seemed to be in a better place.

Kathy assembled these stinkin cute scrapbooks for us and had everyone write a message to Stella and Ivar on the paper circles to put on each page. Adorable and so perfect.

And now here's the blog bummer... I took lots of pictures, but very few have each person in the photo looking blog ready. Somehow in each shot I got someone putting food in their mouth, someone's eyes clothes, someone's backside... so I don't have any more people pics to share! And I love everyone too much than to put an unflattering picture of them up on the internet :) But the food. The food was very photogenic and delish, so I'll share these pics to close this post.

library favorites

Before I return our library books from our last visit, I wanted to share a new favorite: Sporty Babies Wear Sweats by Michelle Sinclair Coleman. It's silly and the illustrations are adorable. Apparently there are other books in the "babies wear" series and I'm eager to see those too. I'm just happy to have found a new board book to add to my list of favorites. You can only read But not the Hippopotamus so many times.

30 years later...

This little sweater was made for me 30 years ago by our family friend, Donna Solomonson. We have lots of pictures of me wearing it and now it fits my baby boy. Lately when I pick up Ivar I can't get over the fact that I have a baby that is ready to snuggle and cuddle at all times. I spent a whole lot of my childhood rocking dolls, burping them, changing their clothes, walking them around the house, taking them for walks in the stroller around the block. But now I have the real thing. I have wanted to have a baby my whole life and right this very moment I am living my dreams come true.

I think I link to her blog almost every single time she posts a new blog entry, but my friend Meta has written another gem. She also just had a baby boy and her writing always sweeps me off of my feet. Click here to read Meta's latest thoughts on mamahood.

living room remix

Rearranging the furniture is basically what I do when I'm going a bit batty inside and need a change of scenery. If I can't actually get out to change the scenery, then I have to work with what I've got. For this room redo, we took the corner sectional and turned it into two sofas. Is that legal in the world of room design? I don't know. Don't really care either. It works for us. And a special perk? The end cushions on our couch are super saggy and lack in support (read: your butt can get very close to the floor). But the corner cushions that used to be placed together rarely got any use, so now we have two prime sides of two couches that actually support our bodies when we sit down.

around here

Around here we are playing dress up in summertime clothes, just to get us ready for the warm weather just around the corner. Plus, at the rate Ivar is growing, he is not going to fit into this sweet outfit that Mimi and Papa brought back for him from Hawaii!

Around here we are having more trouble with our naughty cat than we are with our infant son.

Around here we can't get over how "healthy" our son looks. We laugh at how it looks like he has rubber bands around his wrists.

Around here we are so elated that the snow is melting. Rory was out all weekend working on the yard and added 11 bags of woodchips to our front landscaping.

Around here we are debating if perhaps now would be the right time to take down the artificial Christmas tree we put up on our porch five months ago. It's hard to know...we'll be putting it back up again in only 7 months.

Around here we are living through our baby's first fever, cough and cold. It means that we're snuggling a lot, reading lots of books together and that I am still in my pajamas from Saturday night.

Around here we're low on the staples: milk, bread, eggs and butter. Hard to get by without those ingredients.

Around here we are celebrating the tulip buds that are popping up all over our front garden. I can't wait for spring flowers!

Around here we rearranged the living room furniture. Because that just needs to be done once in a while.

Around here we have added a high chair to our kitchen table set up so that our little man can start eating sweet potatoes and carrots with his mom and dad. It's the best. He's very proud to have joined us. The last time I posted an around here post was over a year ago! It is so amazing to track the day to day details and to see how hugely our life has changed in one year... You can read that post by clicking here.