Part 2 of asian tradition: the 100th day celebration for baby!  The day to celebrate and wish for the baby to live 100 years.  (I believe this tradition originates from Korea).  As we did a full moon celebration for Abigail’s full moon, we kept this one low key.  Immediate family for a dinner only.  And since I didn’t make a cake for the full moon celebration, I’m not missing the chance this time!

I wanted to make this cake extra special, so a week or so prior, I started planning little elements I would add to the cake: Sparkly Cake Topper, her name in Royal Icing, and Butterfly fondant accents.

1. Sparkly Cake Topper

Since I don’t have a very cool machine like a Cricut to do this sort of thing, I did it old school way – by hand/xacto knife.  The Dollar store had a pack of 2 silver glitter cardstock for $1.50.  I took a 1/4 of it to make this.  (save the rest of course).  Printed the design on regular paper first, and then traced it on the cardstock. Carefully slice it out.  And then traced the 2nd copy, but flipped (Mirrored) so that it will fit on the other side.  I chose to make 2 layers as the cardstock wasn’t super sturdy and I didn’t want the sign to wobble.  Hot glue 2 toothpicks on, and then put the 2 layers together…voila:

Sparkly 100 Day Cake Topper

yup. the title says it all. Owning a Samoyed means no privacy.  I actually find it endearing.  Ellie has this ability to turn into a ninja dog and sneak up on you.  Where she usually pads around pretty heavy footed and dog tags tinkering (hence we call her Tinkerbell sometimes), once in awhile, she sure can give you a startle.

Hi! whacha doing?

This is a pic I took from the bathtub…while I am taking a bath.  lol. she totally sneaked up on me.

lol. silly girl.

Part 2 of our baby photography journey with Joee Wong is the newborn photoshoot.  Our little monkey was 4 days old when he came over in the afternoon to snap some pics.  Looking back at them now, they are just so precious.  Babies grows so fast.  Abigail is 1 month already by this time, and looking at these pictures makes me feel nostalgic already!! Her little cute blue dress that Daddy specially bought for the photoshoot is now a shirt!  We are so glad we did this newborn shoot. Though we have been taking a lot of pictures of Abigail on our own, there really isn’t many of us together as a family – plus Joee is a baby whisperer.  Just some of my favourites here.  She is just too sweet. love her.

All photo credit on this page goes to Joee Wong Photography.

My baby girl is about to be 1 month – already?! Where does the time go…(rhetorical answer: feedings, changing diapers, admiring, taking photos).

Chinese tradition calls for a “full moon” celebration – basically the baby has now passed the “everything is ok” mark and everyone can come and see the baby and celebrate her birth.  I think in the olden days, they may not even name the baby until after it has pass the full moon.  This celebration can be as small or as large as you want. Some people go all out.  (note, many chinese households now also adopted the 100 days celebration instead to celebrate).

We have 40 people coming for Abigail’s full moon – a mixture of family and In laws’ friends – to be held at a chinese restaurant banquet.  Though I wasn’t exhilarated at the thought of having to “make” something so early into my new mommyhood…I also didn’t want to not contribute to the celebration.  I obliged and allow my husband to “outsource” the cake.  But I wanted to make the favours for the guests.  I decided on macarons for them.  In hindsight, it was a lot of work and time when the baby is only 3 weeks old leading up to the dinner. Definitely not recommended for anyone thinking of doing this for their baby’s party.  but everything worked out, as they often do, so here I am sharing the pictures!

I wanted to do 3-4 macarons in a gift bag of different colours and flavours.  I had to balance finding fillings that has the ability to keep frozen and stored for the week (which most macaron fillings can handle), but also it be ok once they are sitting at the restaurant and not in the fridge.  Here’s what I ended up making (approx 35 each):

• White Chocolate ganache with pink coloured shell
• Lemon filling with yellow coloured shell
• Vanilla buttercream with soft pink coloured shell
• White Chocolate ganache with purple coloured shell

We are in love…with our baby girl!!!  Introducing Miss Abigail, the cutest and most feisty baby ever (in our eyes).  She came into the world in a hurry (after taking her sweet time during the pregnancy), and since then has turned our lives upside down, but somehow made it seem right and complete.  Will have to write the birth story another time so that I don’t forget the details.

I’m very pleased to say that Ellie has been the sweetest furry big sister ever…the first few weeks she mostly stayed away with a few licks and kisses here and there.  Over last week or so we have seen Ellie sleep next to the bassinet often; and even put her chin on her leg when she’s crying on our laps!  so sweet. just melts our  hearts.

This is my absolute favourite picture of my 2 girls.  I hope that Abigail will grow up appreciating how special Ellie and Samoyeds are, and be BFFs for life. I even created a IG hashtag for them: EllieandAbigail.  my hearts.

Ellie is our girl.  Ellie is a fluffy girl.  Ellie is a white fluffy girl.  Ellie is a white fluffy girl with dirty paws especially in the Spring and Fall.  With combination of wipes at every entrance, towels, and bucket washes, we decided that there is a better way.  Also, looking into the future, with a baby on the way, we were not enthused about the dirty paw prints all over the floor where the baby would be crawling around.  So we decided to reno the reno’ed mud room.  4 years ago, when we did the big new house renovations, we did simple renovations in the mudroom.  Basically just added new cabinets and a pantry, with a countertop and a sink. Nothing mind blowing really.  But now as our needs have changed, we made the call to redo this room with a design that will allow us to have a doggie wash station in it.

We debated over the configuration multiple times. But finally figured out the only to fit a doggie wash station was to vertically stack the washer and dryer. There was no other way to fit it.  I was a bit hesitant as it will be pretty tall, and i won’t be able to reach the top of the dials on the dryer! (My husband says he will get me a stool).

So off to Olympia tile again to pick out the shower tiles for our Ellie girl. We wanted to make it eye catching but nothing too out there. We chose a pretty herringbone subway tile, and a dark grey for the shower floor.  Hand held faucet sprout and a ring to tie the leash to.

The always desired Before and After pics:

the “before”

vs

the “after”

the “after” wide angle

Ellie modeling the new doggie wash station