Baby :: Introducing...

Well, a few days ago we decided on a name for our new little boy. Ever since we found out we were having a boy we had been having a really tough time agreeing on a name. Of course we had a girl name all picked out though. Last Saturday in my bump update that never happened I had planned on talking about our name trouble. Then someone decided it was time to come out, named or not.

We decided to take our time and we have finally named this little guy...Milo Ivan James Mikesic. We knew what his middle names would be because we wanted to include both Granfathers names. We tried out a few first names and decided that Milo suited our sweet boy very well.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Milo!!

Talk to you soon!

♥elycia

Photos :: 2nd Anniversary

Ivan and I planned on heading back to the place we had our wedding photos taken (and the place we took our one year anniversary photos) on our anniversary (which was June 25th) but I'm not really supposed to be venturing out too far at the moment. This year we opted for some backyard anniversary photos with an extra little person in them. Here are our photos from June 25th 2011, 2012 & 2013.

I really don't want to get too mushy because I will just make myself cry some more. All I can say is that Ivan is the best person I have ever known and I am so lucky to have such a wonderful, caring husband. Our son is so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing father. He is doing a fantastic job as a dad already and I can't wait to watch their relationship grow. Well, that got kind of mushy really quickly.

Have a great Thursday everyone!

♥elycia

Recipe :: Watermelon Basil Drink

Kaylah posted about a very similar watermelon drink recently because, duh, it is one of the most delicious drinks either of us has ever had and we obviously both have it on the brain now that the anniversary of our trip to Renegade Chicago, & more importantly Native Foods Cafe, is rolling around. I have had this post ready to go for when baby boy showed up for a while now so I thought I would share my take on the drink as well.

For this version I decided to add some fresh basil from our garden to the watermelon. I used half of a smallish watermelon and one basil leaf which made at least four big glasses of this yummy drink.

Sometimes I would drink it as is, other times I would squeeze in some lime and add some sugar (super delicious) or if I wanted a less intense taste I would mix it with water. All ways were really yummy and I will definitely be making this again. I'm thinking that a slightly more sugary version would make really good popsicles as well! I find that for popsicles I need to make them quite a bit more sugary than I think I would like for them to taste good once they are frozen.

Well, I'm off. Ivan is playing piano while holding our little guy so I'm going to just sit here and enjoy it.

♥elycia

PS. Some people have been asking about our little guy's name and...I think we have finally decided what it is but I will save that for another post coming soon. Naming a baby is hard!

Photos :: 365 (June 17 - 23)

Hi again! I'm stealing a few minutes to pop in and do my 365 update as well as say a huge thank you for all of your sweet comments on yesterday's post. You guys made me cry...which isn't really hard to do today. Thank you so much.

Here is the last week in photos.

168/365 :: Good buds...sometimes.

169/365 :: A rare Anakin sighting. Well, he's not rare to spot in person, just in photos.

170/365 :: I had a love affair with this ice cream sandwich. (I hope you guys get that reference or else I sound really creepy.)

171/365 :: I gave myself a bit of a bang trim and added some new dye. My plan was to do it now so that it would be a bit washed out by the time the baby got here.

172/365 :: Well, my plan was foiled because at 3:00am on Friday morning my water broke! I managed to get a photo before things got too intense.

173/365 :: I don't even know what to say. I just love these two so much.

Great, now I'm about to cry again. Ok...I'm off before I drown my computer.

Have a great Tuesday!

♥elycia

Baby :: Early Bird

You may have noticed that I have been away for a few days. Well, I have a good reason for that...

Some little baby decided that he just couldn't wait to join the party and showed up a bit early. We are pretty busy over here but I really wanted to stop in, say hello and introduce everyone to our new addition. We are super in love with him and I can't wait to share his birth story because it was fantastic!

For now though here we are doing what we have been doing for the past few days.

♥elycia

PS. Thank you so much to everyone who congratulated us via Instagram & Twitter. You guys are all so sweet.

Double PS. This short post took me forever to write because my brain is functioning at half capacity due to intense baby love.

Photos :: Buffalo Museum of Science

While we were in Niagara Falls, NY with Kaylah we popped over to the Buffalo Museum of Science. Here are a few photos of some of my favourite parts of the museum!

The museum was a really good size for an afternoon visit. I love really huge places but sometimes they can be super overwhelming and I start to feel like I will never see everything. I think we saw everything in the museum and we had a really fun time.

It looks like a beautiful day so I'm going to try to get outside as much as possible. I might take it easy on walking though. Yesterday I walked to an appointment and then to get some hair dye and I think I overdid it because I was in so much pain. I was super determined to get that hair dye though! I am just really happy that they had the colour I was looking for.

I can't believe another week is over and that I am officially 'full term' today! I know he will probably not make his grand entrance for a while longer but we are ready for him to come out whenever he is ready.

Have a great Thursday!

♥elycia

Photos :: Look at me grow

As I mentioned, I went over to my Grama's house this past weekend to take some photos of the door she used to measure my cousins and I on. I really wanted to have some photos of it because I'm sure the new owners of the house won't really be into letting me come in and see it once in a while.

I loved seeing how I had grown and always got excited when enough time had passed to take a new measurement. It is really neat to look back on now too and see how short I once was!

I was always a tall kid. I feel like now I am right around the tall side of average at about 5'7" so I always say I did all of growing as a kid. When I was younger I did not like always being one of the tallest in my class and people often thought I was older than I was. I was kind of shy and I guess maybe I would have prefered to take up a little less room. Ha, I don't really know.

My Grama even made estimates of how tall she thought we would be by 16 years old. Mine was pretty close actually!

I absolutely love that my Grama did this and I fully plan on measuring our kid(s) somewhere in our house. Maybe I'll even make estimates on how tall I think they'll be, although I'm really bad at that type of thing. Ivan already thinks that the little guy I'm currently growing is going to be taller than him...and he's 6'3"! If he's right we are going to have one tall kid. We'll see!

Does anyone else have something like this that they can look back on and see how much they've grown? Are you doing it for your kids?

I hope everyone has a really good Tuesday!

♥elycia

Photos :: 365 (June 10 - 16)

161/365 :: Lately I have loved adding broccoli chopped really small to our salads. It makes them extra delicious. If you like broccoli, that is.

162/365 :: My very favourite mug. Thank you Alex!

163/365 :: Basil from the garden! I made a yummy drink with this which I will tell you about eventually.

164/365 :: Our roses look so pretty this year. Last year I think there were two flowers on the whole plant. I'm so happy that they look amazing again!

165/365 :: Andrea came over and I did some more work on my diaper bag. I didnt' end up having time to finish it on the weekend so I'm planning on spending some time on it today.

166/365 :: The prettiest Pinny hanging out in the window.

167/365 :: My mom and I went over to my Grama's house before the new owners take possession so that I could take photos of the door she used to measure my cousins and I on. When we arrived there was a guard squirrel at the back gate who seemed like he did not want us to go into the backyard! This was when he was finally taking off and letting us pass.

Like I mentioned, today I'm going to try to finish up my diaper bag (for real this time). There are also a few baby/home birth things that need to be washed so that is also on my list. But first, it's time for second breakfast and some Real Housewives of New Jersey. Wait, pretend I didn't say that, I don't watch that show. (yes I do)

Have a great Monday!

♥elycia

Pregnancy :: 36 Weeks

36 weeks 1 day in photo

I am very happy to tell you that this past week has been infinitely better than the one before. I am back to feeling generally comfortable most of the time, thank goodness! I even went for a really long walk this week because I just felt so great and wanted to keep going.

We are almost finished decorating the baby room. Just a few finishing touches here and there and then I will do a little tour. Ivan thinks I should do a video tour...do you agree? Maybe a photo and video tour?

Also this week we picked up everything that we need for the homebirth. I am glad to have everything we will need on hand now, I just need to put it all together in one spot so we're not searching for anything. I can't believe my due date is in less than a month! Holy cow I'm really excited.

Today I am hoping to finish up my diaper bag finally! Wish me luck!

♥elycia

PS. Special thank you to Andrea for taking these photos for me so that I didn't have to drag out my tripod!

5 Fave Friday

5. Holy crap, this shirt!!

kinship goods

I really, really need this shirt. It would help me so much in social situations when people try to talk to me about other things like 'what I do for a living'. Don't worry about that boring stuff, just ask me about my cat.

4. I'm a big fan of this dress.

An Elegant Edge Dress from ModCloth

I like being pregnant but I can't wait to get back into regular sizes and have a pretty good idea of what will fit when online shopping. My pregnant boobs throw me for a loop all the time when choosing clothes!

3. This pillow is so cute!

iviebaby

Thanks to Astrid for sending me the link to this shop. Everything is so pretty!

2. I really love the shape of this dress, it is one of my favourites.

ever+mi.crush

You can currently get 20% off at ever+mi crush with the code EMC20. Just FYI! 

1. I'm thinking of this for the nursery. We still need a bit of art for the walls.

Also that abacus is amazing!!!

It's Friday! I am a really big fan of the weekend because I love spending time with Ivan. He's kind of the best.

I hope you all have a good one!

♥elycia

Photos :: Penny Collection Part 3

As I mentioned before, I really expanded my penny collection while we were in Niagara Falls, NY. Normally I don't like to get so many pennies from one place but there were some really cool ones and I couldn't resist. The only problem is that I don't remember exactly where I got each one. That's ok though! I thought I would show you guys a couple of my favourites in case anyone is as interested in squashed souvenir pennies as I am.

In general my favourite pennies are the ones that have state flowers, insects, birds etc on them. These New York ones don't actually tell you in words what they are though. It's pretty obvious this is a rose  but still, I need written confirmation on the penny please! I found the state flower and bird for New York State at penny machines in Niagara and I think they are pretty great.

I had to look up what the state bird was and in case you are interested it is the Eastern Bluebird.

This penny with the Statue of Liberty and an apple looks really neat and also made me laugh so I had to get it. We were no where near New York City so I thought it was funny that they had this penny in Niagara Falls.  Silly penny machines.

I got tons more pennies but I won't bore you with all of them. My penny passport is getting pretty full and I can't wait to get more.

Have a great Thursday everyone! After a perfect day yesterday it is rainy and yucky out today. Oh well, gives me an excuse to stay inside and finish prepping our cloth diapers. They are almost ready for a baby bum.

♥elycia

What I Wore :: Dress = Shirt

:: head to toe ::
glasses :: c/o BonLook
necklace :: c/o Polli
dress :: Out of the Clear Blue Sky c/o ModCloth
belt :: c/o ModCloth
mood ring :: had it since I was a kid
bag :: thrifted
jeans :: Old Navy Maternity
shoes :: Art Fair Maiden Bootie c/o ModCloth

This was such a comfy outfit to wear! I am really excited to be able to wear this dress as a dress minus the jeans once my belly (and boobs) are back to their regular size. It will be so comfy and easy for summer, I love it!

Also, these shoes! I have been kind of obsessed with these little booties and I am so glad I got my hands on a pair. They are really comfortable and super cute. I'm tempted to pick them up in the turquoise colour as well.

Ok, one last thing. I am in love with this necklace. The Polli team was so sweet to send a little package for me to Kaylah after I left her a comment telling her how much I loved her necklace. I am so happy to have a little collection of Polli goodies and I can't wait to add to it. Their jewelry is beautiful.

Sorry, I lied. One more one last thing. I don't normally mention what nail polish I'm wearing but this one is different because: 1. It was an awesome birthday gift, 2. It was handmade and 3. It is named after Arrested Development! It's called Banana Stand and it totally makes my banana stand. Check out the rest of the Arrested Development collection at Happy Hands shop.

Today I am feeling really off. I haven't been sleeping well at night lately and I just feel kind of nauseous this morning. I'm hoping it goes away because I want to get the baby diapers prepped today. All of his little clothes are washed and put away and I have a small list of things we still need to pick up. It's getting sooooo real!

I hope you guys all have a great day.

♥elycia