Raising a Baby in St. John's: Alternative Places to Register

Especially for a first baby, a shower is typically one of the joyful pregnancy milestones. While I'll be sharing my advice on creating a baby registry soon (check out a list of my favourite baby gear on the right of this blog, if you're curious for a preview), knowing where to register can often be as confusing as determining what to add to your registry. Of course St. John's has the basics (Sears, Babies R Us and Walmart), but if you want something more unique, why not consider registries at one of my favourite baby stores in St. John's? For my own baby shower, I registered at Babies R Us and Bellies and Bundles and had my mom manage a wish list of books at Chapters.

Wonderful places to register in St. John's include (in alphabetical order):

• Bellies and Bundles
  
• Coo Chi Coo
  
• Flowerchild
  
• Gingersnap

In addition, if you have friends and family living elsewhere, why not set up an online registry? Baby Bot in Calgary is a great choice -- they have tonnes of unique products not available in St. John's and their shipping is prompt and service is friendly.

Do you have any other recommendations on great places to register? I've also found beautiful baby products at Newfoundland Weavery and Home on Water.

Resolutions

In 2012, I'm going to:

• throw my husband a glamorous birthday party and my son a picnic-themed birthday party
  
• watch the first three seasons of Big Love
• continue to share music with my son
• host a few fun baby play dates in our new playroom
  
• become more comfortable leaving T with a sitter so we can enjoy romantic evenings out
• prepare delicious, interesting, nutritious and toddler-friendly meals so we can instill positive eating habits in our son from the start
  

Image via This is Glamorous.

Punch

I love to serve a big punch at our gatherings. It simplifies bar-tending duties, and always seems to be appreciated (are my guests just being too kind?). Our family always serves a grape wine punch at our parties. If you'd like to make one too, try mixing -- 1 large bottle of grape juice, 2L of ginger ale, 1 bottle of chardonnay, and 1 container of frozen orange juice. Sure it's super basic and certainly not fancy, but it is also super delicious and easy to boot!

Books

This past Saturday my mom and close female relatives threw an amazing luncheon and baby shower for me. It was such fun to enjoy delicious food (red velvet cupcakes, homemade tomato soup, curry chicken wraps and more) and chat about babies and motherhood. A few of my cousins brought along their baby daughters too, which was such a fun reminder of what is to come for us in the next few weeks. Before the shower, I registered for a bunch of classic and contemporary picture and board books. As a result, our little man now has a fantastic starter library. Thank you to everyone who attended for their support and generosity.

This morning, I came across an article in Dwell on modern children's books, and now I'm excited to read books like Little 1 and ABC to our son when he's older.

Birthday

Happy Birthday my love! Sandwiches at a 'street side' cafe and an orange cake with marmalade cream cheese icing seems the perfect way to celebrate your special day. I hope you agree. xo

Stickers

These Valentine's Day stickers are the perfect way to remind your loved one that you care for them while munching on a delicious packed lunch. I'd love to slip one in Greg's lunch on Valentine's Day or a grey Tuesday. Via Twig and Thistle.

Vintage

One of my dearest friends, Amy, was romantically proposed to this past New Years Eve (swoon!). There's mention of a vintage affair and I'm already bursting with excitement. Don't you love the idea of a wedding that recalls memories (real or imagined depending on your birth year) of yesteryear? I know I do.

Best wishes and happy planning, Amy and Rhett! xo

Image via Style Me Pretty.

P.S. Tonnes of vintage inspired weddings

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2011!

We've had a sleepy start to the new year here, but we're smiling and organizing and making plans to eat food with family later and catch the postponed fireworks at Quidi Vidi Lake. How did you ring in 2011? Greg and I enjoyed a delicious meal at Aqua (it was our first time there and highly recommend it!) and then sipped drinks with friends at midnight at a party. It's sunny, and the ground is covered in a beautiful white blanket, and tiny birds have been dancing on our deck all morning. Bliss.

There's a lot of promise for this year, and so many things to look forward to. I hope you find health, happiness and joy in 2011! xoxo Image of Signal Hill via Samantha Ellis.

Mummers

Tonight is date night at the Clarke household, and we're kicking off our formal Christmas celebrations with paninis and a public lecture on mummering at The Rooms. Images of last year's St. John's Annual Mummer's Parade via Bojan.

Pumpkins

This year, I completely forgot to buy and carve a pumpkin. Sad. To make up for it, I'm already planning to go all out with gilded gold pumpkins next year a la Twig and Thistle at 100 Circular.

Halloween

How are you celebrating this October 31? I've been toiling away all week on our sushi and soy sauce costumes (photos forthcoming) for a fete ce soir, while we have plans to enjoy butternut squash soup with family for lunch tomorrow and hand out mini chocolate bars to the neighbourhood children tomorrow evening.

Another great idea would be to spend the day baking a medusa cake or spider petits fours. Image via Neato Coolville.

Sushi

I love sushi (Greg and I have plans to eat spicy asparagus rolls tonight) so much that I'm making us sushi Halloween costumes. Work begins on them this weekend! I'm excited! Image via I shot the chef.

Ice Cream

Next summer, I want to host an ice cream party to put the ice cream maker that my mother-in-law gifted me to good use. I'll make colourful paper jackets for the ice cream cones (to help keep melting cone drips at bay) and serve scoops of ice cream on top of cupcakes in lieu of icing (what's better than ice cream and cupcakes?). The menu will also include gourmet ice cream sundaes, with toppings like candied violets and pistachios, and layered chocolate and vanilla milkshakes. Though summer now seems a long way off, I'm excited! Inspiration via Amy Atlas. Image via Garrett Kern.

Puppet

My cousin's set to have her second baby in September (a girl named Charlotte... which is also the name of my paternal grandmother though she's better known by her middle name - Viola).

While meandering about Water Street ce soir (on our two month wedding anniversary - it's all about celebrating every step, no?), we stopped by Gingersnap, Twisted Sister Boutik and Newfoundland Weavery seeking out the perfect (pink!) present for her baby shower this coming Sunday. I fell in love with Camper baby shoes and tree house mobiles. My heart melted over sailor rompers and sequined slippers. I debated purchasing a kimono dress and polka dot bloomers. We ultimately settled on something else entirely - a Cate and Levi hand puppet. I love it! I hope my cousin adores the sweet puppet as much as I do!

P.S. Coincidentally, Greg and I returned home tonight to the second message today enquiring about whether we're set to have children!

Half-Birthday

Thoughts on celebrating half birthdays? Seems like a fun excuse to eat delicious cakes and drink pink lemonade to me! Though typically reserved for babies, I think the half birthday is a fantastic way to spread a little cheer. On my next half birthday (25 September 2010), I plan to indulge in these lemon goat cheese cheesecakes, beautifully photographed above, from Tartelette (a blog which seriously makes me want to become a pastry chef and open a bakery called "Super Cute").

Jars

Arrangements similar to those of this surprise picnic wedding must make an appearance at a to-be-determined backyard soiree at our home this summer. Summer bbqs and backyard parties, complete with fruity punch, blue cheese hamburgers and Italian smokies topped high with honey mustard and basil ketchup, make me excited! Images via 100 Layer Cake.

Friday

It's Good Friday! Aren't mini bouquets in brown eggs a sweet way to celebrate Easter? We've planned to refrain from eating meat today by making lunch plans for fish and chips with family and sushi dinner plans with friends. Hope you're all enjoying the long weekend. Image via Design Sponge.

Bodega

Inspired by Blossom and Branch, I held my very own bodega 101 party yesterday (to ring in the big two-six). With a handful of lovely ladies (six, including myself) and twelve grocery store variety bodega bouquets (we're talking approximately 100 stems of roses, gerbra daisies, freesia, tulips, lilies and daffodils), we set out to create our own springtime arrangements. Lots of fun was had by all! Many thanks are in order to my friends for making it a special afternoon.

Birthday

Happy Birthday Greg (and Chris)! We had a lovely evening celebrating next to our ocean, and I hope you two did as well in Dubai.

Castle

Gregory, this is a hint for what I'm giving you for your birthday. Image via Akbar Simonse.