bella on board

this past weekend we had irina's baby shower. (she's due august 7th, so baby bella's arrival is just around the corner.) i just wanted to share some of the craftiness i did for the shower.

the invites:
it was decided we'd do a beach-themed shower. (if you couldn't tell by the decor in the first pic.) i was able to find a hibiscus image that sorta seemed girly but not too girly. and since the colors of the invites were brown and pink, my first diaper cake followed suit.

diaper cake:
ideally i would have loved to have used brown hibiscus flowers but i don't think there is such a thing. in the end i had to settle for these gerber daisies. i used about 70 size 2 diapers and one bottle to make the innards of the cake. tissue paper, 2 different ribbons, a feathery boa and gerber daisies contribute to the "icing" on the cake. all in all i was really happy end result of my first diaper cake!

the shower was a great success and my brother and sister-in-law are very well equipped for bella's arrival.

my dad went to NYC...

...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt! lol! but I do look pretty darn cute in it.

if you build it

some of the latest construction going on around the house. nothing like a baby to get you motivated to get stuff done. above is a flagstone staircase being installed. it's currently getting rocked and i'll have finished photos next week.

below is a bump-out to our deck. we decided since we can't use much of the back yard anyways, we'll make our own flat land via more decking. it's amazing how increasing it a few feet gives you a ton more space. eventually i plan on staining it black or a dark walnut so it's not so mismatch.

got to finish packing for our trek up to maryland for my sister-in-law's baby shower. we've got a jam-packed weekend but i thought i'd update the blog while i had a minute.

a little help from my friend

if you're wondering if the dogs are getting accustomed to having the wee one around, here's your answer.