Payton's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Payton's first birthday on Saturday, Feb 19, with an Owl theme. I'd been trying for months to teach her to say "Whoo, Whoo", but no luck there. This party was a lot more work then I envisioned, so I am SO grateful that my mom and sister came in on Thursday night, we spent all day Friday cooking and decorating. But, it turned out great!

I decided to make invites, since I couldn't find any Owl ones in the store, I have to admit, it turned out kind of cute!

With my sister-in-law, Renee's help, we made a banner for Payton, it turned out SO cute! I also borrowed this smaller Owl banner thing, and I decided to post a few of my favorite pictures of P from her first year, well, while searching for those, I realized I have these pictures I took from every week/month of her first year and what a perfect opportunity to print those and use them in some way, so we made a third "banner" with all those pictures, that was my favorite, I may turn it into a book, it was just that cute.

I wanted to do a brunch, just for something different, so we made 2 different kinds of breakfast casseroles, had pancakes for the kids and bacon and fruit for everyone else.

For the sweets table, I had an Owl cake made, it was HUGE! Much bigger then I anticipated, but very cute. We made pink rice crispy treats with little beads on top, and brownie pops (first batch did not go well, but the second batch turned out perfect), and we made chocolate covered strawberries.

She had 2 outfits, one was a very, pretty, pink party dress, she honestly looked like a little doll, the color made her hair look very red and her skin like porcelain. Then after the smash cake, I bathed her and put an Owl shirt and a tutu on her. I cannot wait to take some good pictures of her in both outfits!

She was very much a lady with her smash cake, she barely made a mess at all. It might have been because the cake was cold, so the icing was a bit hard, I had to push her hands into it to get her going, but the bath to clean her up was very quick. I remember, Garrett was covered head to toe in frosting! She did like the cake, but was very neat about eating it.

As for the day of the party, it was insanely gorgeous! I believe the high ended up being 75, it was just perfect. For some reason, we had a ton of people no show on the day of her party. I did not ask people to RSVP, so I guess that's my fault. I did get some last minute cancellations due to sickness and funerals (those I completely understand!!!), but in a way, it turned out good. There were not a lot of kids and I think that was better for Payton. I'm still bummed that some people still haven't even bothered to call or email or acknowledge her birthday, but that's their loss, not mine!

People are already asking me if I'll go all out for her birthday next year, all out? probably not, but I did have a lot of fun with the decorations and the food, so maybe something on a smaller scale.

I hope Payton had a great time at her birthday because I know we all did!!

Operation (re)Organization

It's time to get organized around here. It's partly the fact that I have friends doing this and they've motivated me, partly because I just can't stand the mess anymore, and partly because now that all the parties are over, I could possibly be bored, lol!!

Anyways, I've decided I'm going to go through every cabinet and every drawer. I started with our medicine "shelves" in the kitchen, by the time I was done, 2 shelves fit nicely into one box! I felt great. I also put together a shelving unit for Payton's room and moved some toys into it.

I'm debating between the pantry and the laundry room next. The laundry room would probably be the easiest but no one ever sees it, because it's a room, the door is always closed. The pantry, on the other hand, is very visible, but I kind of want to do the entire kitchen, so I'd feel like it wasn't really done.

I'm going to try and remember to take before and after pictures, maybe you want to see, maybe you don't, but I think it will make me feel like I've really accomplished something.

4 year & 1 year well check ups

Both kids had their well check ups today, I vow to never, ever take them together again, we were there for 2 hours!!

Anyways, Garrett first. He is 41 3/4 inches tall and 37.7 pounds, both 85% tile. He had his hearing tested, it went fine, and his vision tested, not so fine. His right eye appears fine, the left might be a concern. We couldn't tell if he was getting bored with it or really couldn't see. But, since Matt & I both have a history of poor vision, Dr. Schams wants us to go to an eye Dr. He also thinks G's been stuttering long enough to warrant a visit with a speech therapist. On the whole, Garrett is just fine. I figured the glasses would hit one day, we'll see if it's now or if he was just too distracted. We also talked him him not liking to poop in the potty all that much, and the Dr gave me some ideas. We also discussed preschool vs pre-k, and he suggested a Montessori school! I hadn't even considered that, so we'll see about that one.

Payton was fine as well, she is 21.1 pounds (50th %), and 29.5 inches (75%), still a tiny head, but again, it's in line for her, so no concern there. A few things we discussed, she didn't tolerate whole milk well, he said try it again or try soy milk, my choice. I mentioned that I only give her a bottle with formula in it and since she uses the Enfamil AR and it's so thick, it won't come through a cup, he said as long as she is off the bottle by 15 months, no concern. As long as she wasn't laying in her crib using it to put herself to sleep (she doesn't). He was surprised she wasn't walking yet, only because she crawled so early and 2nd babies tend to walk early, but she's fine developmentally, so he's not at all concerned (and neither am I).

Both kids screamed hysterically for their shots. G wanted P to go first, in hindsight, BAD idea! She cried, hard and it upset him, so he was crying before I even got him on the table. P was then hanging on my legs screaming, while I was holding him down and he was screaming. Not fun at all!

In all, we have 2 very healthy kiddos!

Payton's First Birthday!

Today, Payton is ONE!! I still can't believe how this year has flown by.

I was a bit sad last night, yesterday was the actual day she was born, she was born on a Tuesday, so to me, yesterday was her real birthday. I'm not sure why I was sad, more sentimental, I guess. I just didn't want to put her to bed, lol! I wanted to hold her all night long like I did the first night she was born. But, today I woke up so excited and happy for her......and she slept in!!!

She is just the sweetest little thing! She loves waving to people, she gets SO excited when her brother laughs. She gets excited when we make her laugh, she also cries when Garrett gets upset. She has a very sweet heart, if Garrett is getting in trouble, she'll come over and laugh or do something that diverts me attention. I find that amazing.

She has her blue eyes and I'm pretty sure they are here to stay! Her hair has a tiny bit of red to it, and I'm seeing the start of some curls! It's just about long and thick enough for me to put a tiny clip in her hair, and it makes her look different, I'm not sure how, but maybe more grown up or just more like a girl?!?!

She tricked us all and is not walking yet. She crawled SO early and everyone said she'd walk early too, but she is perfectly content just crawling all over the place. She isn't even interested in walking if you hold her hands. She'll walk along the furniture, she'll hang off my legs and she'll walk with her little walker toys, but she's just not wanting to walk yet. And that's ok, she'll do it when she's ready.

She's a talker, she talks up a storm, it doesn't make any sense, but it's sweet none the less. She loves her bath. You turn on the water and she'll take off and you can't do anything to distract her. She is still eating baby food, mainly because she likes it and she gets a good variety. She's not huge on the real fruits and veggies, so I supplement with the baby food. Last night, I gave her a plate with chicken, strawberries and cooked carrots, she ate every bit of the strawberries and chicken and handed me each carrot one by one!

She's starting to have stranger anxiety, it started a couple Sunday's ago, she never, ever cried when I dropped her off at the church nursery, now she does and she gives the biggest, saddest face ever.

I am truly amazed, even with my second one, how much they change in one year! I am looking forward to what the next year has in store for us!

Happy Birthday to my Payton, my peanut, my sweet baby girl!

Reflux Update

In all the craziness of Garrett's birthday party, I never made it to the pharmacy to pick up Payton's reflux meds, I forgot last Friday and Saturday, I didn't remember until Monday, but then I realized she hadn't been spitting up! I am happy to report that she has not had any reflux meds for 1 entire week and she hasn't spit up once! Finally!! It took 11.5 months, but she seems to be reflux free!

4 years old

Today is Garrett's 4th birthday! And boy is it a blustery, cold day for a birthday!! Seems kind of ironic that he ended up in bed with us this morning. This huge storm blew in and it was SO windy out, it scared him so he came to lay with us. Funny to wake up to arms and legs flung everywhere.

He's such a sweet, loving boy, but boy does he have a temper! He'll just be playing and say, Momma, I love you! It is so sweet. He is definitely a momma's boy, he wants me to do everything for and with him, don't get me wrong he loves his daddy, but it's momma that he wants to read stories and momma to kiss the boo boo's, and momma he comes to when he's sick. I wouldn't trade it for the world! But, he also gets SO mad at momma, and can still through a tantrum like a champ. Although that's getting a lot better.

He is definitely growing up, there's no more baby in his features anymore, he's tall and skinny. He is big on doing some things all by himself and other times he still wants us to help.

4 years ago today I became a mother, it is the hardest job I've ever had and I love it more then any job I've ever had. I don't think you can truly understand how much you'll love your child until you have one.

I love you, Garrett!! Hope your birthday is great!

Jedi Knight Training Camp Party

Saturday, we hosted a Jedi Knight Training Camp birthday party for Garrett. I had a blast planning this party! I made Jedi Knight costumes, and light sabers, these were the party favors for the kids. We set up an obstacle course outside and the kids had to maneuver their way through it. And, of course, light saber battles all over the place!

I made costumes for the kids from some upholstery fabric I found on sale, I made each costume 18 inches wide and cut a hole for their heads. Added a bit of burlap for a belt, and we had some super easy, cute Jedi Knight costumes. Garrett wore his Luke Skywalker Halloween costume, and we borrowed a Yoda costume for Payton, which was adorable!

For the light sabers, I borrowed (couldn't find any in the store in January) pool noodles. We cut them in half and then I used silver and black duck tape to make the handles. I made a couple different designs, Garrett helped me pick which handles went on which light saber, lol.

We opted for an ice cream cake from DQ, it turned out really cute, unfortunately, in all the excitement, I only have a picture of it on my phone :( It was airbrushed with a midnight blue "paint", then had white dots to represent stars and she traced the Star Wars name and then wrote Happy Birthday Garrett on it.

For the obstacle course, we put streamers hanging all around a folding table, the kids had to crawl under it, then they went over G's slide, and rolled a big, exercise ball around some chairs, then they had to get 3 star wars figurines into a bucket and then hop on this grey, bouncy ball thing down to the tee ball stand, where we had a ball covered in aluminum foil and the kids aimed at a picture of Darth Vader.

Of course, the biggest hit of all, was our guest appearance by Chewbacca!! Some of the kids were a bit scared of him, but G honestly, and truly thought he was real, he even asked him where Luke Skywalker was. The kids had fun playing with him and tormenting him with their light sabers.

For food, I kept it super simple, we had chips and dip, queso and chips, Yoda Soda (lemonade died green), and tea.

I had a great time planning this party, and I really and truly hoped the kids enjoyed it!