…Seriously, I take forever to put up new posts. Of course, I have a plethora of excuses, all of which involve the classic “exhausted”, “rather spend time with husband”, “my child is a crazy person and doesn’t understand how to entertain himself”, and above all, “we-don’t-have-cable-and-I-refuse-to put-my-kid-in-front-of-a-screen-(not that he would sit still anyways)-and-he-HATES-it-when-I am-on-the-computer-so-I-have to-wait-till-he’s-sleeping-but-then-I-want-to-sleep-too..”, so yeah.
Lil’ Brownie had his first zoo trip! He loved it, even though he was feeling sicky (so my awesome husband carried him most of the time, thanks hubs!). Caidoc’s favorite, by FAR, were the elephants. He loves elephants. Since we went so early in the morning, we got to see one being cleaned! Lots of animals were out, which made it very worthwhile. I’m only posting a few pictures here, feel free to head over to my Facebook page if you want to see more.
My handsome men!Watching the elephant get scrubbed“Do you see that dad?! It’s a real elephant!”“Look mom!”Lovin’ it!Happy family…except the distracted skeptical Caidoc
And that’s all! I’m officially in “Husband Appreciation Week” aka, Chris is out of town. Wish me luck!
Our forth of July was spent much like our last forth of July; home, with a miserably sick baby. It seems like Brownie Pie has had more than his fair share of ailments for a one year old. Husband and I were extremely disappointed to not get a vacation, we even had Friday off which had to be requested months in advance. Instead, Husband went into work and I kept our little man at home trying to summon the patience a fever ridden baby requires. I’ve decided hand-foot-mouth is probably one of the WORST things a baby can catch; they won’t eat, drink, swallow, sleep, and have no idea why they are in such agony. If you’re curious, this is hand-foot-mouth, in a nutshell. The mouth sores are what make it in the worst I think. Husband said a guy from work knew an adult to who had it, and they described it as “excruciating”. I feel horrible for our little man (yes, he still has it, we are waiting from improvements).
To not feel so bad for myself and to keep myself from whining, I decided to head over to my friend’s blog and find some crafts to distract myself while Lil’ Man slept. It worked well! Thanks Brooke! I don’t think my creations were quite as nice as her’s are, but then again, she is a crafting guru, and I, sadly, am in my guppy stage.
From Brooke’s “Spunky Spoons” post!
Brownie has been screaming himself hoarse this week. I think his usual impatience is amplified by being sick, he’s not a passive sick baby, that’s for sure. One craft was not going to do it. I needed more distraction from my self pity fest. I made these with little wine bottles, I’m going to use them for portable salad dressing/sauce containers. One girly one, one manly one 🙂 The manly one is actually made with duct tape (is there anything more manly?!) and then sealed with Modge Podge.
So cute! Also, it’s handy because you have to drink the wine first…I guess it’s not THAT manly since it has a pink top. Guess I’ll have to go find some more to drink, I mean, make…
Did I mention that Chris is going on a week long work trip on Monday? So I will be alone with my poor sicky baby (who has a surgery consult this week as well)? That’s also why we were really looking forward to getting away…oh well. Obviously two crafts were not going to cut it, but I needed something quick and easy because Caidoc has a super short patience level with me doing anything other than hold him. So, I resorted to duct tape again. I decided to dress up Brownie’s trash can in his room. He has a great green monkey theme going on:
Diaper changerBlock Bin and new fancy garbage can!
This is how I made it:
Easy, eh?
Now it’s so “on theme” 🙂
His cute rugYay! Now I feel like I did something this weekend!
Today’s post is is brought to you by these thrifty parents right here!
Notice our judgey lil man
Lately, Husband and I have been on a bigger-than-usual thrift kick. We’ve been selling stuff we have just lying around that we never use, eating better and cheaper, and saving, saving, saving! We take so much joy out of getting rid of things we think we “need” and being able to put more money away, especially for our little man’s education trust and our retirement accounts.
Here are some of the ways we’ve been particularly thrifty and have fun at the same time!
Husband’s Finds
We buy our Huggies wipes and diapers from Costco. Bulk, baby! Well, on each package inside are these little tags with codes on them, if you go to the Huggies website you can enter each code and earn points. With those points you can get toys or baby gear. It’s a tedious process and takes time but my awesome Husband has been putting them in and gathering them diligently. And here is what he earned for our little man, free of charge!
An adorable tool box, with hammer, wrench, and screw driver, and lots of screws and nails! Eco friendly wood too 🙂And this super cute froggy bubble holder, complete with three wands, bubbles, and a handy handle!
I’m so proud of Husband! Our little man loves these treasures too 🙂
My Finds
I don’t have any pictures of my finds, well, because they are not finished yet. I am making our little man a felt board! I got a bunch of felt on sale and am able to make everything else I need from supplies I already had, so this whole big board will be only about four dollars! I am so excited about it. It is going to be a farm scene. So far, I have the pigs, cows, chickens, a barn, sun and clouds all cut out and waiting to be glued together. I am being held back by needing a a hot glue gun (which I will borrow), so till then, no pictures! Felt boards have a fond place in my heart since I grew up with one that my mom loving made, I hope my little man likes his too.
So, that’s all for now! I’m really sad about he lack of pictures I have since our camera has been missing for some time (the pictures above are from my iPod Touch, another present Husband won! He’s so enterprising!). We suspect our little Brownie has run off with our camera, but it’s been missing so long that we think it is long gone 🙁 we are in the market for a new one. But still, I am really bummed since we’ve not had our last one long, and it was a birthday present from Husband. Oh well! Letting go of material things one baby at a time I guess 🙂
Sunday was husband’s second Father’s Day. I totally slacked on the celebration and I feel like a shmuck for it. Normally we do breakfast in bed for occasions like Father’s Day and Mother’s Day and birthdays and I didn’t do that. Chris woke up and played with Caidoc and I…slept. I know. I am a lazy loser! BUT, I did make him a yummy dinner the night before (I know, its no excuse…). We had bacon wrapped asparagus and a de-lish strawberry salad with balsamic vinegar dressing.
Bacon wrapped asparagus drizzled with a caramelized onion sauce
It was yummy.
Sunday was really fun though, and Chris got some gifts that he needed, because I am unfailingly practical. He was very kind and claimed he was pleased, but let’s be honest…I got him socks and underwear (to defend myself that is what he asked for, but still I couldn’t make it a little more exciting?!). So, I really slacked this Father’s Day but I swear I’m gonna pick it up next year (if you are reading this hubs, you can totally hold me to it!).
Can I just say what an amazing father Chris is though? You really have no idea. I can’t even explain his patience, love, and just all around AMAZINGNESS that he shows every day. I’ve never seen him lose his temper or get angry. He is always trying to teach Caidoc new things and interact with him and do what is absolutely best for Caidoc no matter how exhausted he might be from work. I’ve never seen or heard of a father who does as much as he does. For crying out loud, he just spent the past hour wading through our neighborhood dumpster looking for the three shoes Caidoc threw into the diaper pail. Did I mention he OFFERED to do so on his own volition? So yeah, Chris was literally wading through poop for his son (and for me since I almost killed Caidoc once I discovered where the shoes might be).
I’m sitting on my, well, our bed eating my lemon sorbet, which is one of my favorite treats EVER and it always put me in a good mood. Tonight, the sorbet just adds to the good mood I’ve had all week. One thing makes the top of the list though…
My dearest friend Emily got engaged recently! I couldn’t be happier for her or more thrilled. What’s better than two people in love? Those two people getting married of course! Because, let’s face it, a celebration of love is quite possibly the most wonderful kind of celebration there is. I’ve known Emily a long time and she is my very best friend, which I think made hearing the news all that more exciting. This is the girl I spent many a hour with talking about boys and weddings and love while eating frosting in our dark dorm room in the middle of the night. That’s how all deep conversations happen don’t ya know 😉
So, the chase is over guys! Sorry! She’s one fabulously TAKEN woman! YAY!
We are pretty fabulous (this picture is older than I care admit)
My lemon sorbet is melting quickly, so I’ll finish the point I meant to make by this post.
Emily’s awesome news got me thinking back to when I got engaged, and what that meant for me.
Relationships always have a degree of superficiality to them. Come on, admit it, you are not totally, completely one hundred percent yourself around anyone. Some little part of you is always acting a little differently, a little not quite you all the time. This espcially applies during “The Chase” when a guy is after a girl and the dating commences. When you’re dating someone you are almost ALWAYS putting on a show of some sort. You’re either always wearing makeup, or always put on deodorant, or always sitting up straighter or laughing a certain way, something is always not quite genuine. I’m not saying that’s bad! It’s nature! You act that way because there is some tiny part of uncertainty, some tiny part of you that knows that that relationship could end unless you play the charade. I’ve felt that way many times.
But that changed when I got engaged, specifically, the exact moment when Chris got down on one knee and I suddenly was struck to the bone with an intense feeling I’d never felt before.
Peace. I’ve always had a turbulent dating life, but that wasn’t what made this feeling happen. It was in that moment that I had an opportunity to have a relationship that meant no end. I was being offered a opportunity to willing decide that none of the charade mattered between us, and that he would love me even if I wasn’t wearing make up or if I spent too much money, or if I snorted when I laughed, or if I gained ten pounds.
That’s what getting engaged meant to me. It meant no uncertainty. It meant permanence, and in that, peace.
It’s here! Summer! At least, for Seattle it sure feels like it. This week clocked in around the low 80’s for us. My poor husband’s allergies are in full swing, making him fairly miserable. And, now my poor Caidoc has seasonal allergies as well. We were warned this would probably occur since he is predisposed to it by his food allergies and Chris’s genes. Never-the-less, it’s HORRIBLE. I grew up watching most of my siblings have terrible seasonal allergies so I know how hard it is, well, sorta.
Caidoc is pretty much a zombie if he’s not on meds. I recently purge cleaned the house with a eucalyptus oil cleaner I made in order to eradicate any pollen residue (I think I read a Pin on it, it’s where all my fabulous ideas come from 😉 ). He’ also just started taking goat’s milk (as long as it’s in a big boy cup with a straw, no bottles for him, no sir!) I think that has really helped as well.
I’m pretty sure I was given a high energy boy for a reason. One, I grew up with brothers, I’d like to think I kinda know how they work. Two, I need to be kept busy, and I mean, really busy. Three, I like to work out, and constantly moving after a toddler gives me a low impact work out all day long. Four, he is so busy and needs constant interaction which keeps me from getting too absorbed in myself. Okay, so that’s more than one reason…
He likes to start off his mornings playing in his fort in his bathrobe. He’s a pretty fly baby.
Ignore his messy room. I’m in the process of re-doing it.
We have a fun little schedule we got down for each day of the week, it keeps us both happy, outside, and MOST importantly tires Caidoc out really well. His playgroup is keeping him very social, he’s definitely the MOST social child of the bunch and loves play with whatever toy any other kid is playing with. He is currently learning that although Mommy let’s him play with her hair, it’s not okay to play with OTHER little girls hair. The also LOVES going to Panera Bread some mornings because there are a lot of elderly people there who just dote on him, to say he loves attention would be an understatement…must get that from his father… 🙂
Downtown Kent has the BEST places for him to play. I really love it.
I have to update pictures of him playing at the Splash Pad and running around making new friends! But, currently the camera is MIA (husband said he put it somewhere…). I’ll keep you updated. I’m so excited summer is here! Yay! Have a great weekend!
I am currently shirking my responsibilities in lieu of a more pleasant task; bragging out my baby’s first birthday. I mean really, who wouldn’t choose that over the tedious job of packing and cleaning? Although to be fair, I do enjoy cleaning more than most chores, but that’s beside the point! Given the sad tone of the last blog post I thought I owed myself a reflection on the joy of last year of new motherhood and Caidoc’s life. Very early on this year I decided to celebrate the year mark with a party, which I promptly started planning around the six month mark, yup, I’m one of THOSE people.
If you know anything about me you know I can be, er, rather, AM an avid planner (just ask any of my poor bridesmaids, haha!). Caidoc’s first birthday was no exception. I wanted the theme to be “Circus” not to be mistaken with “carnival” because we wouldn’t actually be playing any games, seeing that the guest of honor isn’t quite at the “following rules” stage 😉
A picture is worth a thousand words (which I could probably write easily since I LOVED planning this party) so I will use the amazing photographs of my sister-in-law, Anne Black, to shed light on the details. (You can find Anne’s work here.)
The invitations! Took me a couple weeks to find ones that were just right.
I don’t actually want to admit how much time I spent pre-making decorations. But I had a blast doing it!
I debated about how to convey a circus tent without breaking the bank. Here is what I came up with:
I hand made most of the decorations, which made things cheaper and if I’m being honest, was how I prefer things since then they are exactly what I want.
I must give a special thanks to my sister Nina who slaved with me setting up decorations. It wouldn’t have been done in time without her!
I love making these:
And this was by far the trickiest thing to make since I had to transport it from our house to my parents without getting damaged. It turned out great!
Notice it’s arranged chronologically 😉
These were probably my pride and joy of the decorations:
I had a difficult time with the food since I wanted it to be more of a snack and drinks thing than a full meal. With the help of my awesome mom, who was a wonderful sounding board and corn dog buyer, the spread was perfectly “on theme” and also provided more than just sugar and alcohol! Haha!
And of course the cupcakes:
There were also vegan cupcakes (for Caidoc) from PCC, I’m hooked! They were awesome.
These are Fruity Pebble rice crispies. I made them the night before so they would be as fresh as possible. I’m something of a rice crispy snob. I just love how colorful they came out! The trick is to do both regular rice crispies and Fruity Pebbles, too many Fruity Pebbles makes them taste weird.
Strawberry cocktails! Because what’s a first birthday without a little adult celebration?
Among the guests were Caidoc’s god parents, Brooke and Riley and their two daughters.
And of course, my BFF, Emily 🙂 (She is talking to Taylor, my eldest brother).
Once Caidoc woke up from his nap, the party started! I was SO happy he actually napped since he usually doesn’t sleep well anywhere other than home. And who wants a crabby baby at his own party? ( Of course, as my little sister Lydia pointed out, “Abby’s it is HIS party, he can cry if he wants too!) Luckily, he was an a fantastic mood, and looking quite dapper I might add 🙂
First came presents:
Then came CAKE! (Well, a CUP cake to be precise).
This is probably the most sugar he’s ever had in his life. Boy, did he LOVE it! He did hesitate to dig right in.
Probably the cutest kid in the world
And then more socializing! A special thanks to my parents for letting me host at their house since my guest list got a little out of control for our apartment 🙂
Caidoc eyeing Taylor and Macie (Caidoc’s cousin)Atafa and her two kiddosThe guys chillin’ outside
The favors! I handed these out early since I ALWAYS forget to give out the favors when people leave. As is, pretty sure I missed a few people to give these to.
All the planning paid off, and it was so fun and I think went super well. Out of the parties I’ve planned this one went Thanks to everyone who helped out and to those who came and celebrated with us! We hope you had a wonderful time.
I’ve been a mother for one year today! Well, if you don’t count the nine months part of that, which most people don’t. I’m very nostalgic today and I have to admit when I was thinking up this post and what I was going to say, I wept to myself a little. Sadness isn’t what causes most of my tears since I became a mother, it’s everything else. I’ll get to that later.
(The picture is small because it’s a pretty ugly picture)
Let’s see, at this time a year ago, I was sitting in a bed in the Labor and Delivery ward of Overlake Hospital and was thinking that soon, maybe, a nurse would burst in saying it was time to push. That was all I could think since I had been in labor so long already my brain was pretty mushy and my tummy very empty. My poor husband was exhausted but stayed cheerful and kind. We thought it would be any minute that our little Caidoc would be born. It also happened to be the 17th, which held some significance for us since we started dating on a 17th and got married on a 17th, so hey, that’s cool!
Juice! The only sustenance I got. Grr…
But we waited, and waited, and waited. And no doctor came in, no nurse (well, they did of course but with no good news). After 24 hours of labor, on a pit drip, dilated four cm, I started crying. I think those were my first tears as a real mother. I had never been in that kind of pain for that long and more than that, I felt like there was no end in sight.
Which of course, I now know is ridiculous because it’s not like he could live in there FOREVER… could he? But I was tired, really, really tired, and really, really hungry (I was one of those pregnant women who ate a LOT CONSTANTLY and LOVED it, so not eating for 24 hours was not going over so well physically or, eh, mentally, ha ha).
It wasn’t until 11:47 pm (he almost wasn’t our “17th” baby!) that my little red, mushed, crying and utterly heart wrenching little boy was pulled from my abdomen. The first thing I thought was, “Why am I not holding him? They said I could have him!” I wasn’t totally coherent that I was being pinned down by four nurses because I had what is know as “the shakes” pretty bad. I felt the strange tugging of being sewn up but the only pain I felt was the screaming of my little baby cold and naked being handled by strangers. And I cried.
The amount of anger and despair I felt cannot be described with words. I believe the birth experience to be a monumental and life altering journey for the mother and baby, one that shapes the bond of the family for the rest of their lives. So, Chris and I had spent the past nine months preparing for the most natural, safe, calming and perfect birth we could provide for our little one. And in a matter of 36 hours of labor, it was torn to shreds. The selfish doctor, the careless nurses, they all poo-pooed our wishes and pressured and bullied us into the exact opposite experience we wanted with alarmist threats. I know a lot of you are thinking, “Well, he’s born, that’s all that matters.” To an extent, sure. But I will hold regret and anger for the way my baby was brought into this world for a long, long time. Maybe forever.
Birth isn’t supposed to have so many tubes and junk, at least Caidoc’s shouldn’t have.
It felt like hours and seconds all at the same time, but finally, I was lifted onto another bed, and sent to the Mother Baby unit. After all the washing and poking and prodding of my poor baby, I got to hold him and kiss him. He was perfect. And I cried.
So, today I was thinking back on that day and I cannot believe it’s been a year. The horrendous C-section recovery, the difficulty nursing, the rashes, the hospital visits, the food allergies, the loneliness of being a young mom, the sleepless nights (and days) and the stress and worry that I wasn’t doing anything right, that folks, brought so many sad tears. But there were happy tears as well, from the projectile poops, the sleeping baby laughs, the new baby smell, the pride and joy of such a perfect child, the first steps, little arms wrapping around my neck, that brought so many happy tears.
I can write and explain sadness and pain and frustration because we ALL have experienced that. But what I’ll never really be able to explain or express with clarity is the absolute and utter totality of the love I feel for my son. And when I think of that, I cry.
