Planning a Party

I know, I know... Kimber just turned 7 months and I'm already gathering ideas on her birthday party! I cannot help myself. I want it to be perfect! Plus it gives me an opportunity to use my creative side so I cannot wait!

I'm not a big big 'theme' person, but if I must then the theme technically is PINK! Or more specifically pink poms. I found this how to site to make them and they seem super easy so it's a go. The party is going to be at my moms and it's going to look like Mr. Bubbles threw up all over her house!

Here's the poms I'm going to make to hang in the foyer, dining room, kitchen (2 sets), and living room:

I'm also going to make some pink pom garland to put on the staircase:

Next up is pom 'flowers' that are going on the kitchen and dining room tables:

Of course they will be in the 3 shades of pink, and heck if I'm feeling fiesty I might actually throw in some white. Here's the tutorial on how to make the yarn ones.

The whole house will be decorated with loads of pictures from her first year. I plan on going to Dollar Tree and getting cheap frames to paint... pink of course! 

Another mom on the wedding/family board I'm on had people write notes to their little one. I'm wanting to do this, so hopefully I can come up with a clever phrase to put on the cards. Kind of like 'advice for the bride' cards you do at showers, but obviously I'm not going to ask people to give advice to a one year old :)

Next on the DIY list is this adorable birthday banner I found on Etsy (seller bayoumoon):

I also plan on doing another banner like the one above but with her monthly pictures in it to hang on the fireplace.

I'm getting cupcakes instead of a cake so I'm going to make some cute little cupcake toppers like these (from Etsy seller sosweetpartyshop):

And of course we'll need some party hats:

Is it bad that I want to get pre-made thank you cards? I would of course write a personal note on the back but I just never know what to write. Seriously, would something like this be tacky? (Of course the actual card would look different, and match her invites, but the note would be the same.) From etsy seller PartySoPerfect:

Food is going to be the hardest part for me to come up with. I don't want the normal go to party snacks so I guess I'm going to have to get creative. Since I'm thinking the party will be between lunch and dinner I'm only doing snacks. Think pink chocolate covered pretzels, fruit salsa with cinnamon chips, those cream cheese pinwheel guys, possibly pigs in a blanket... seriously though, I'm at a loss...

I'm also stumped on favors. Do I only get favors for kids? If so I'm thinking maybe some bubbles and side walk chalk? Coloring books & crayons? I thought about getting pink pinwheel lollipops for adults but I seriously doubt anyone would actually eat them and I don't want to waste money. Isn't feeding adults enough of a 'favor'? lol

So what do ya think? Can you tell I'm excited??? 5 months and counting!!!

Edited to add:

OH MY GOSH... I got it! I'll do a bag of these:

With little tags on the bags that say: Kisses from Kimber :) How clever am I :) Party favors for adults: check!

Happy Easter!

And Happy 7 Months to my (not so) baby girl! This will be one of very few times she's in a dress :)

Not your average Friday

Have you had those days at your job where you really question why you even bother? Well today was one of those days. I have never felt so, ugh I don't even know what word to use... disrespected, unacknowledged, dismissed, ignored, etc. So I went on our website and looked for other jobs at my company, yes, it was that bad of a day.

A girl from work was going to come over for a bitch fest, but her hubby was sore from surgery he had last week so she stayed home to take care of the baby... Who, by the way, will be Kimber's prom date one day :) Turns out, it was a good thing she stayed home.

I had just put missy to bed and tornado sirens went off, we turned on the news and they said we were in a tornado watch until 7:45, no biggie. Around 7:35 it started hailing, getting really windy, and just down right nasty outside. For the first time, I was scared. All I kept thinking about was a tornado hitting our house and Kimber being sucked up in it! Then a felt sick to my stomach at the thought of losing her. Being a parent is defiantly rough on emotions!

We decided to go to the basement. I scooped Kimber out of bed and headed downstairs. We sat on the floor in the spare bedroom and I rocked her, praying she wouldn't wake up. We stayed until the storm passed and I went and laid her back down in bed. You know, she never even made a peep? Shocking that we've come this far with her sleeping.

After today I plan on spending my Saturday (while my husband is working) snuggling with Kimber, and napping together. Can't wait!

I own a poop machine!

Tonight after dinner I went to play with Kimber in her room, she rolled over and I saw what I can only describe as a poop explosion!

I laid out a towel and proceeded to open her little package of stink. It was half way up her back and her shirt was stuck to her, so I rolled her shirt up and proceeded to clean up. This is the part that always gets me, taking the poop filled onesie off! I had Pat hold her hands and she decided it was time to dance, only making my endeavor harder. When it was all said and done she had poop all over her, on her back, on her arms, in her arm pits... everywhere! Luckily I cleaned it up fast enough, and we didn't end up getting peed on, which was another worry of mine.

On a side note, she really wants to crawl. If she could only figure out how to move her hands she'd be in business. I don't know that I'm really ready for that mobile of a baby!

Seelen Photography

So I can't pick a favorite from our session with Trisha Seelen so I apologize upfront for the picture overload! 

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

Photo by Seelen Photography

I can't wait to get the cd and see all the pictures!!!

my little flower girl

Miss Kimber is going to be a flower girl in my brother's wedding in July. I found this super cute tutu dress on Ebay but the sizing was weird... I realized the lady was in Australia so I messaged her to let me know what size I would need to order for a 9-12 month old. (Kimber will be 9 1/2 months at the wedding), the lady replied and I placed my order.

Her dress showed up yesterday:

In case you can't tell, it barely fit's my (not even) 7 month old!!! I'm in big trouble! 

The good news is that if I can find the white netting part somewhere I can just cut and add more and then sew tulle on because she's going to have an apple green sash on so it will cover all the horrible sewing I'm going to have to do. I'm super bummed but there's not much I can do. I might order another one, just depends on if I have another $80 (AU bucks) to spare in the next couple months.

Weekend Trip

Last weekend we all of a sudden decided to take a trip to see Jon and Rae. We went twice before to try to see Jon play baseball but the first weekend was a scrimmage and the second weekend the games got rained out. I knew it was important to Pat to see his brother play so we decided to make one more trip before graduation.

Friday I was off work and had my 4 hour dentist appointment, so when I got home I packed up the car and waited for Pat to get home. Kimber was pretty good until about KC so I got in the back and got her out to play, but then we hit traffic so I put her back in her car seat and she cried the rest of the way there. I felt bad, but what are you supposed to do?

We finally got in around 6 pm and fed Kimber and it took me a hour to put her to bed. She was not having any part of her pack n play so she slept with us. Jon and Rae came to the hotel for dinner and Kimber woke up, we played for a couple hours and then it was 30 minutes of screaming before we finally got Kimber to go to sleep again!

Saturday we met Rae for lunch at this pizza place that serves the BEST buffalo chicken pizza I've ever had! I will very much miss getting pizza from this place, it's that delish! After lunch we went to watch some baseball.

Pat and I debated leaving for a while because Kimber wouldn't nap but she was getting fussy. I said we should just stay until the end and I'm glad we did because Jon hit a GRAND SLAM!!! Such a stud :)

That night Rae and I had some alone time and shared stories about our cookie cutter childhood (insert sarcasm), and I must say, it's strange how people can have more in common than they'd ever realize. After Jon got done with his school thing we all went to Applebee's and got some sangria... yum! Well Jon got a long island, but whatev... 

Sunday we met the family for breakfast and had to say good bye, which is never fun. Jon gave Kimber a game ball which I thought was SUPER cute! Now I just need to go find a baseball case!

Who's a planner? That'd be me!

I like to know where my life is going. I know there are some (ok, many) things I cannot plan, however, I like to try. I think planning, for me, sets goals for myself. For instance, our home remodeling... I like to plan specific dates to do stuff, because if it were just up to Pat or me to get things started it'd never get done. We get so wrapped up with what's going on with our little family that it's hard to make time for other things that we need to work on.

Now that we are grown-ups (I consider us grown-ups because we now have a mortgage and a child lol) I've kind of started thinking about our future. How many kids do we want? How far apart in age are they going to be? What kind of house are we going to buy when we grow out of this one?

Mainly, we've been discussing lately when we want to bring another Baby B<3 into this world :) Ever since Kimber was born I've been saying I can't wait to be pregnant again, I can't wait for Kimber to have a sibling and for our family to grow even more. However, now that we are actually, seriously discussing when we want to have another kid, I'm terrified.

There are the 'every mom fears' that I have: Will baby #2 be healthy? How hard will it be going from one kid to two? Will baby #2 take attention away from baby #1? Etc... trust me, the list goes on...

Then there are my other fears. Will I have another infection? How can I take care of two kids if I'm that sick again? What if something goes wrong with my c-section? There are a never ending list of fears that I associate with giving birth. While, yes, I had fears the first time around, they are nothing like the fears I have now.

I remember one night in particular when I had the wound vac. Kimber woke up in the middle of the night, crying to be fed. I got up, unplugged my vac from the wall charger and tried to make my way in to get her... I couldn't get out of my bedroom! The cord from me was tangled with the cord that charges it and there I stood, in my bedroom doorway, sobbing while my child cried in the other room and I couldn't get to her.

I will never forget that night for as long as I live and I never want to feel that helpless again, which makes the thought of having another kid exciting and terrifying, all at the same time.

Reading!!!

I've finally picked up a couple books. The last time I read anything was 2 summers ago when I finished the Twilight Saga, yes, I love them! The way Stephenie Meyer writes makes it impossible for me to put down her books.

Anyways, at work I review affidavits and printing 5 can take up to a hour so I decided it would be the perfect time to read. First I read Vampire Diaries:

I'm not too sure how I like it. It's hard for me to read them because I watch the show and the two are so different. It's almost as if I'm reading a completely different story line. Eventually I will pick up the second in the series but for now I'm taking a break.

Currently I'm reading Hunger Games.

I cannot put this book down! Apparently I'm the last person on Earth to hear about this book. I've taken it on breaks and had multiple strangers comment on how good it is, guess I don't keep up on the book world. It's set in the future in North America which is called Panem in the book. Basically each year they draw one boy and one girls name from each district (there are 12) and the 24 people (tributes between the age of 12-18) fight to the death in Hunger Games. Whoever wins, their district gets gifts for a year. I'm almost finished with it and can't wait to start the next book in the trilogy.

Next I'm going to read The Host.

I just love how Stephenie Meyer writes so I'm interested to see how good this book is. To be honest I'm not sure what it's even about

I don't really know how to go about picking books. I always pick ones that are boring and uninteresting to me, so I guess I'll have to start reading reviews before heading to the library. I'm truly excited about reading again!

Holy Crabby Baby

So yesterday was our big photo shoot with Trisha and it was completely opposite from how I thought it was going to be.

I made sure Kimber had 2 good naps before we left and of course she slept on the way there. We got to City Garden early so I could feed her before we got started. Good planning on my part I thought... no amount of planning could of helped her yesterday!

We plopped her down in a tulip patch and she sat there for a while and eventually fell over, she cried for a minute and then proceeded to cry the rest of the ENTIRE shoot! Ugh, I felt AWFUL! I will be shocked if we got any pictures without me in them where she's not crying lol I was pretty darn embarrassed, and Trisha was amazing the entire time. I don't think I've met a more patient person in my life!

We ended up spending about 90 minutes shooting and I have my fingers crossed that we got some good family pictures, but I don't think Kimber smiled one time! I couldn't believe how bad she was behaving! Of course as soon as we got home I got my camera out and she was cheesin big time.

What a little stinker she can be! I'm just praying she's better for her next photo shoot in August! I can't wait to see all the pictures from yesterday though, I'm sure you guys will get a laugh out of all the screaming ones :)

Honesty

It's time I'm honest with myself about a few things I'm unhappy with.

First, I picked up smoking again. It was so easy to quit when I knew it could affect someone other than myself, and even while I was on maternity leave I didn't pick it back up again. Once I returned to work I found myself going out on breaks with the smokers, then eventually I'd bum one, and then caved and bought a pack. We quit for a few weeks but I don't actually want to quit. I enjoy my breaks at work, and my 5 minutes of peaceful breaks at home where I'm doing something that I want to do, not a chore of being a wife and mother. I know I shouldn't want to smoke, but I do, it's something that I enjoy and I can't explain it better than that.

With all that being said I'm getting $2,500 worth of work done on my teeth and I will not be smoking after that. I don't want to quit but I also don't want to spend all that money just to turn my teeth yellow. It's going to be super hard, and something I'm not looking forward to but I'm going to do it. I already feel sorry for my husband who is going to have to be by my crabby side for this!

Secondly, and this is harder for me to come to terms with, I hate being fat. I gained a little weight when Pat and I started dating and then when I got pregnant I couldn't believe how much weight I put on. I planned on being close to my pre-pregnancy weight by the time I went back to work and I'm not even close, 6 months later. In part I blame all the problems I had after I had her. By the time I was well enough to get out of the house the weather sucked. Now though, I'm just being lazy.

I'm unhappy with the way I look but I have pretty much no idea where to begin to fix that. I started taking Kimber on walks (about 1 1/4 miles) at night and I plan on changing what we eat for dinner. That is a hassle too though, I have about 10 dinners that I can pretty much make without looking at the recipe. So now I'm going to have to learn all new meals. I've thought about joining the Renaud Center to take classes, but then what do I do with Kimber? They do have daycare there but they won't feed bottles or change diapers, and it even states that they will come pull you out of a class if your child needs you.

I have a couple things to motivate me to loose weight (my brother's wedding where I'm going to be seeing my biological for the first time in years and Kimber's 1 year photo shoot in August) but apparently those things aren't really motivating me, huh? In a perfect world I think being healthy should be easy and being fat should take work! Wouldn't that be great?

Practice

So Kimber's 6 month pictures are tomorrow and I just HAD to try on one of her outfits. LOVE!

I have 4 outfits for tomorrow and I even went out and got myself a new shirt. I am beyond excited to have more professional pictures done! Especially since we don't have any great family pictures! Fingers crossed the rain will stay away and it won't be uber hot!

Can I just say that I'm so in love with the first picture that I made it my profile pic on FB! I never have a profile picture without me in it (just an annoyance I have) but I just couldn't resist! Can't wait to tell you all how tomorrow goes!!!

We have...

TEETH!

It may not be the greatest picture but it's the best I could do with my little wiggle worm!

So on 3/21/11 as Kimber was chewing on my finger I noticed that I could feel something, and upon further inspection I found that she had a little hole in her gums! Well then then next day the most precious tooth came popping through. I found it kind of odd that only one was coming in but fear not, a few days later we had a total of two teeth showing through!

Man, does it hurt when she wants to use my fingers as chew toys now!