A Double Baby Shower – Food

I love parties! I love to go to parties! I love to throw them! I think there are many things to celebrate, not only birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Easter. Therefore I now dedicated my Friday posts to parties: to creative party invitations, to easy-to-make party food, to party decorations that make all the difference...  I hope you feel inspired by the festive atmosphere on Fridays and celebrate many small and big events.

Party food for a baby shower? Piece of cake was my first reactions. Cupcakes, sweet fruits, iced or hot chocolate...

... aehm, but never say easy too early. The mum-of-twins-to-be was diagnosed with gestational diabetes  last week. Which means no fast carbohydrate for her. Which means no sugar, no white flour, very little wholegrain pasta, no sweet fruits... actually at first sight nothing which you really enjoy eating :-(

Uhmmm, first I was clueless what to offer her on her own baby shower, but then the girls and I got together and worked on a gestational diabetes menu. Sounds horrible, but I am pretty sure it will taste very yummy.

Here is what we are going to have:

picture found here

Sticks and dips

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Mini meatballs

picture found here

Fruit crumble (with wholegrain crumble)

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Orange-fennel-salad

If you think about it and do some research for appropriate recipes, it isn’t that hard ;-)

Virtual Window Shopping: Black& White

All found here

The „Holländischer Stoffmarkt“ in Numbers

Numbers of fabric stalls: uncountable

Number of passionate sewers at the market: uncountable

Number of fabrics, I could have bought: 746

Amount of money, I spent (in Euro): 30

Number of beautiful fabrics, I bought: 5

Number of bags on my buggy: 3

Number of alleys full of fabrics: 3

Number of stalls with accessories: 2

Number of friends, I kept on losing: 2

Number of heavy rain showers: 2

Number of babies who wouldn’t leave their mama’s arm: 1 = mine ;-(

Number of numb arms after carrying her around for hours: 1 = my left one

Portions  of French fries I needed to keep on going: 1 with mayonnaise

Despite the numb arm, I am a very happy girl today! Now I can start thinking about what to make out of my new treasures. Happy days!

Fabric Shopping Spree

To all sewing addicts in and around Berlin, clear your calendars, cancel all dates and rob a bank – tomorrow is holländischerStoffmarkt in Potsdam.

Picture found here

I am already dreaming of a pram full of bags, mountains and mountains of new fabrics, overstuffed containers, and an immensely enlarged fabric stash... I haven’t been to holländischer Stoffmarkt before since I spend my sewing-addicted years down under, thus I am extremely excited and hope that my high expectations won’t be crashed tomorrow.

I hope to show you tons of new fabrics tomorrow evening.

Have a great Saturday, no matter what you are looking forward to!

A Double Baby Shower– Inspiration

I love parties! I love to go to parties! I love to throw them! I think there are many things to celebrate, not only birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and Easter. Therefore I now dedicated my Friday posts to parties: to creative party invitations, to easy-to-make party food, to party decorations that make all the difference...  I hope you feel inspired by the festive atmosphere on Fridays and celebrate many small and big events.

My friend N. is expecting twins. Although baby showers don’t really have tradition in Germany, we still decided that we want to celebrate that she will soon be a mum of twins. Therefore I am currently trying to organise a baby party with a difference. No embarrassing games. Not just throwing presents at the mum to be. Just a lovely afternoon with all the girls, yummy food, baby task, ultrasound-picture admiring, tummy rubbing,...

I don’t know whether it’s a mum’s thing or a female thing, but I just get really excited when it comes to babies nowadays. So if you don’t feel the same, I strongly recommend that you skip this post and the posts on the next Fridays. Because I just cannot stop myself from telling you all about the details. ;-(

N. is calling the little ones snowflakes, because although they will be similar, they are also unique. I think this is beautiful and therefore I already made up my mind that snowflakes will be the theme of the baby party. Although it is June and therefore mid of summer in Berlin ;-) After setting the theme, I started to do some online research and these are my favourite ideas:

Onesies used as decoration (and present at the same time)

Idea and picture found here  

Wooden baby blocks as labels

Idea and picture found here  

Pairs of animals

Idea and picture found here

3D paper snowflake

Picture and tutorial found here

 Snowflake cookies

Idea and picture found here

 Snowflake garland

Idea and picture found here

 White flowers

Idea and picture found here

Well, let’s see how much of this fabulous inspiration I will be able to realise, but I give it a go anyway ;-)

ruby Tuesday – Ice cream

Home-made strawberry ice cream with hot raspberries. Yummy!!!!

Happy parents = happy baby: Going out

Every Monday I will post something related to babies: inspiration, craft projects, baby news, and discoveries I have made in this new and exciting world for me. I hope you come along on that rollercoaster ride with me.

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Today’s post is all about making parents happy. What an unusual self-centred concept in the context of having kids, n’est pas? Extremely unusual, but extremely important as well, I think. Because if you are happy, your baby will be happy, too. I promise! The little one’s just know exactly how we feel and if we are all relaxed and bubbly and in a wonderful mood – they will be too.

So last Saturday my lovely husband and I went on a date – sans baby. My parents watched the little one and promised to call us whenever there was drama. I prefer being on call to having the constant feel, that there might be drama and no one tells you out of thoughtfulness. So the mobile was always within view. But still it was our evening. Our date.

First we had Thai food in one of our favourite restaurants Tajsu. We had a starter and a main. And we ate together – I mean, both at the same time. With both hands. No one needed to cut something ins small pieces for the little one, feed her, pick up her water bottle for the thousands time. We ate in peace. It was delightful!

Afterwards – since we still haven’t received an emergency call from the babysitters – we went on to have cocktail at sunset. We went to Solar, which is not just around the corner from our apartment but also the bar with the best view in town. It was perfect. The cocktails were beautiful and tasted simply amazing. We got a table directly at the window. And we watched the sun go down over our favourite city. And we talked. And talked. And talked. Uninterrupted. Not about babies. Not about organisational stuff. We had the best time ever.

When we came home, there was no change of mood either. The little one was asleep. The grandparents read. We all celebrated with a glass of bubbly, what a wonderful evening it had been. And i promise you this evening will take us to quite a number of sleepless nights, teething and other baby-related dramas.

So, go for it! Enjoy yourself. Do something just for you. Your baby will thank you for being a bit ‘selfish’ once in a while!