Jungles and Legos

Hey y'all! I've been busy! Will is almost walking...but he is a FAST crawler! He is hard to keep up with! I can't believe he is turning 1 in two weeks...where has the last year gone?? This time last year, he was kicking the heck out of my bladder! I just couldn't wait to meet my little man, and now he's almost 1, almost a walking, almost talking, almost all grown up {this is the sappy mom in me coming out!}.

Looking back on this year, I have LOVED staying at home with my son and would encourage any mom who can make the numbers work out to do the same! The precious time I've spent with him is irreplaceable. Although the day to day things are kinda boring most days, I know my son better than anybody, hands down! I love that we have that special bond that no one else does!

ok, ok....on to my new paper stuff! I love the idea of a jungle theme boys b-day party! So bright and colorful and so many different directions to go! I did the invitations for this party and am working on the banner this week (will post pics soon).

Closer view...sorry for the quality, I am NOT a photographer!

grrr.....love the little tiger! I wanted this to be playful and fun!

I was asked to do a few things for a Lego party! How fun?!?!!? Well, I had so much fun creating the invitations, banner, and favor tags! Here's a few views of the banner. I'm only showing "Turner" but it says "Happy Birthday Turner". How fun to make the layer behind the letters look like Lego's? After I took these pics, I punched a hole in each top corner for the ribbon. I chose a blake and white striped ribbon.

Cute little Lego face's for the ends of the banner!

Favor tags!

The invitation! It took me a while to make the Lego's but I think the effort was definitely worth it! I put these with white envelopes, no liner. Price for items shown are: invitations - $25 for 25 invitations and envelopes. Banner - $25 for banner and ribbon. Favor tags - $15 for 35 tags. The jungle invotes are also $1 per invite and envelope!

Will's birthday invites are DONE!

My son is 10 months old and plans for his Wild Wild West first birthday party are in full swing! I have actually been planning since he was born (ok, ok...before I even had him, I had the theme). I am SO excited!! Can you tell?!?!!??

I finally finished the invites...and here they are!

I'm using lots of the blue, red, black and brown. The envelopes are white with a red liner.

Much much more to come!!! Things I'm working on this week: the menu! I've got to solidify what exactly we're having. Since it's a lunch time party, and it is in November (yay fall!), we're having chili and corn chowder for the main dishes. For the desert, there will be a rice crispy bar. I'll make all the rice crispy treats the night before, cut them into squares, and put them on a lollipop sticks. The idea is to drizzle caramel, chocolate or peanut butter on them then dip them into various toppings (crushed oreos, snickers, heath bar, and a few others). Doesn't that sound delicious!! Of course, we'll have birthday cake too! So, I've got to get a list together of all the sides we need, and maybe appetizer items, too. AND, I've got to do a menu sign that coordinates with the invitations...When I get that done, I'll post it!

And here are some recent Will pics! This is what I see when I get him up from naps...so sweet!

Look at that adorable smile! I can't believe he's almost a year old!

The perils of 9 months...

Will has been such a handful ever since he hit 9 months! He loves to crawl, which is great...BUT, it means I have to chase him and say "no" a million times a day! The condo we live in has an open floor plan so there's no way to fence him in. SO, we've had to rearrange furniture...we're using his toy chest, the ottoman to our chair and a few toys (ones that he can't move) to kind of block him in. Ha! I call it his jail when I'm home with him!

Anyway, the reason I'm blogging today is that we are FINALLY getting sleep and I feel like my brain works again :) For the past couple months, he's been getting up at night and it was tolerable b/c I could pick him up and rock him for 5 or 10 minutes then put him right back down. Well, it got worse and worse. It went from waking up twice a week to every night, then more than one a night, then to longer times at night. We ended up giving him bottles to ease him and put him back to bed. Then, that stopped working! For the past two weeks, we have had to be up with him for a couple hours at a time! Talk about tired mommy and daddy!! I ended up bringing him to our bed and sleeping with him on my chest a couple times b/c he would SCREAM as soon as I laid him down. We knew that one solution was to let him cry, so we did that one night and he ended up getting so worked up that he threw up everywhere....all in his crib and all over the carpet (I picked him up out of his crib and sat him on the floor to undress him). I think that was this past Sunday night. Monday night we were so scared to let him cry that we didn't! We ended up being up with him for a few hours that night...

So, finally at our wits end, we took him to the doc Tuesday morning to make sure he wasn't sick. I swear, the second the doc walked in the room, I erupted in tears! I just couldn't help it! I felt like I was finally going to get answers. I just LOVE our doc. She has a 22 month old daughter so I feel like she is really talking from experience. She did not disappoint....she checked him out, no ear infection, no fever, checked his throat, listened to his chest, etc. Nothing physically wrong. She said that sleep regression was totally normal for his age, and that we had to push through and let him cry. Obviously, being a doc, she gave us several options, but said that crying it out would work the fastest. She said that he probably got used to us coming in and picking him up and thought that every time he "woke up" he needed to be held by us. I put woke up in parentheses b/c babies go through sleep cycles during the night where they partially wake then go back into a deep sleep. She said that the best thing to do is just let him cry, even if it takes an hour (Oh Lord....). Also, she said that putting him to bed earlier would help. We were putting him down about 8:30, so we rearranged his night time routine in order to get him in bed by 7:30. Well, I immediately started our new plan of letting him cry when I got home. I put him down for his nap, and he cried, and cried, and cried. Normally he doesn't cry at all when I put him down for naps, but I think his night time sleep was so messed up that it started to effect his naps. He ended up crying for 15 min then went to sleep. Same story for his afternoon nap...grrrr! Both naps were only about 45 min. A normal nap is about an hour to an hour and a half. Tuesday night comes, and Cory and I are just DREADING what's to come... We put him down at 7:30 on the dot and he cried until 8:00...a whole 30 minutes! At least it wasn't an hour, right?!?!

The big question is.....Did he wake up during the night??? Yes...but only once and for just a minute then fell asleep! I couldn't believe it! Did it really work that fast, or was he just extra tired b/c he didn't get good naps? Wednesday naps - he went down about 9:30am with just a minute of crying and slept for 2 hours! I put him down around 3 for his afternoon nap and he cried for 10 minutes and went to sleep. I woke him up at 4 b/c I figured we'd have a hard time at bedtime if he slept longer than that. That night - again, we put him down at 7:30 but he only cried for 9 minutes. He didn't wake up AT ALL last night! I can hear angels singing...thank goodness!! I think our problem is solved!

The doc said that when we travel, be prepared for him to wake up there and for a couple days once we return. Makes me not want to travel! Until now, we've been doing lots of traveling! At least one trip a month, some months 2. It gets harder the older he gets...he doesn't sleep well in pack in plays and our families don't really have an ideal place for him to sleep.

ok...now that I feel sane again, I'm planning to take pictures of some recent paper stuff I've done and post them tomorrow!! Stay tuned!

Britt

Yay for football!

Hey ya'll! Just a quick post to let you know how excited I am about football season! woohoo!!!! Go Titans! (I don't care if you ESPN analysts think we aren't going to do so well) Go Vandy!!! Seeing that we will probably be moving in the next few months (who knows where?!??!) but it looks like we might get a new team to cheer for too! I don't mind...the more games to watch, the better.

I can't believe my little monster is almost 10 months old! The time flies by.... He's crawling so fast and getting into everything! I was mopping a few weeks ago and left the room for 5 minutes. Well, that was enough time for him to spot the bucket of water and decided he just had to explore, crawl to it, and pull it over! Water was everywhere...on the tile and carpet and all over him! Poor thing....mommy learned that babies move fast! The next day, we had him blocked in the living room where he can't get into much. He is pulling up on whatever he gets his hands on, including my pants! He actually pulled my sleep pants down the other day....ha! Now that he can stand, when he wakes up at night, we find him standing in his crib saying "mamamamamama" (he really is saying "mama" b/c if Cory goes to get him he cries for me...so sweet, yet so annoying) Here's a few pics to catch you up...

standing in his crib...

just to remind you of how tiny he used to be. I think this was taken when he was a month old. This is a Titans onsie :)

And now.....ready to watch football in his jersey! Thanks Nana!!

Cory making him hold a football...

Will and his Nana!

Making baby food...SO EASY!

For all the controlling/protective/do it yourself/organic/money saving mommies out there, making your own baby food is extremely easy and gratifying! I really want Will to eat as healthy as possible (none of those stinkin perservatives...) AND I want to introduce him to ALL types of food (cauliflower, white peaches, yellow squash from his Great Nana's garden :), etc.)

Seriously, it is SO easy, especially at first b/c it takes a while before they eat more than an ounce in a sitting. All you need is fresh fruit/veggies and a food processor. Advertisers will have you believe that you HAVE to have a "baby food maker"...but you don't.

Here's the process in a nutshell (pictures and details below): Steam, bake, or boil the fruit/veggies. Transfer them to the food processor and puree, then scoop the food out into ice trays and wrap them in plastic wrap. When frozen, pop them out into labeled freezer bags. I put the date and food on the freezer bag. And presto!.....Homemade organic baby food!

I will admit, I do not make ALL his food. I don't like making bananas, so I buy them for now. When he can eat bigger chunks, I'll start mashing them up for him. I have bought foods to introduce them into his diet. The first foods I introduced to him were peas, sweet potato, and butternut squash. I gave these foods to him "out of the jar" first, and when I was confident he was tolerating them, I made these foods.

Today, I'm going to take you through the steps of making butternut squash, sweet potatoes, and yellow squash...get ready, b/c after you see this, you'll want to make your own!

This is to show you what the finished product will look like. These are apples and pears that are in my freezer now. When you first start giving your baby solid foods, he probably won't eat a whole cube, but it won't take too long before he's eating 3 cubes!! Mine is 8 months now, and he eats 3-4 ounces for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!

First - Butternut Squash!

One butternut squash goes for about $1.29 at my lo

cal grocery store. One squash ends up making about 30 ounces of food, which would be roughly $6.50 of the store bought stuff. Already saving money! It's important to remember that most foods, even fruit has to be cooked before pureeing.

Rinse the squash. Cut the butternut in half long ways, scoop all the seeds out, and lay cut side down on a baking sheet. TIP: use a baking sheet with raised sides b/c you have to put about half inch of water in the pan.

Bake the squash at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until you can stick a fork in it pretty easily. The top of the squash will take longer b/c it's thicker, so check this part with the fork. Your house will smell pretty good while it's baking :)

Doesn't it look good???

Let cool then scoop out all the goodness into a food processor. Depending on the size of the squash and your food processor, you might have to do two rounds of pureeing. DO NOT discard the cooking liquid, this will need to be used to add to the puree to make it the right baby food consistency. You might have to add a bit of water on top of the cooking liquid. No worries if you don't get the consistency exactly right, you can always add a touch of water to thin it out when you thaw it later on.

Once pureed, scoop out the puree into ice cube trays. You can buy the fancy silicone ones with the lids, or you can buy the cheap ones (I did) and wrap plastic wrap around it. Each cube holds roughly an ounce. Wrap it up, and stack it in the freezer. I always let it set up overnight. The next day, take it out of the freezer and let it sit on the counter for about 10 minutes. This will help it pop out into the bags easily. And you're done! Now you have baby food in neat one ounce cubes on hand to thaw for your baby :)

Second - Sweet Potato

I can never remember if it has an "e" on the end...ha! I can't remember how much sweet potatoes are, but I know they're pretty cheap. I'd get 2 or 3 for your first time. I think 2 should make about 20 ounces.

Rinse Potatoes. Take skin off with veggie peeler.

Cut into chucks, and make sure they are similar sizes so it cooks evenly.

Steam potatoes until tender (do not overcook!). You can use a steamer basket or whatever works for you.

When done, remove from heat and scoop into the food processor along with some cooking liquid.

Puree until smooth!

Follow freezing directions from above!

TIP: you can easily make squash and sweet potatoes the same day to save some time.....here's how.....wash veggies, peel potatoes, cut and scoop squash, get the squash in the oven, get double boiler ready and heating, cut up potatoes, get squash out of the oven, puree potatoes and put in ice trays while squash cools, rinse food processor, puree squash and out in ice trays, wrap all the trays, and put in freezer! Takes about an hour total, maybe a little longer your first time :)

Third - Yellow Squash

My Nana (Will's Great Nana) has a garden and she brings me yellow squash from time to time. How awesome that Will gets to eat home grown veggies?!?! Cost--free!!! I think I used 4 or 5 small yellow squash and it made about 16 ounces total.

Scrub the squash with a veggie scrubber. Your baby will end up eating the skin, that's why you scrub it. Cut into slices.

If using small squash like I did, just cutting into slices will be good enough. If you're using larger squash, you might have to cut the slices in half.

Steam until tender.

Scoop out into food processor and puree (seeds included).

I made this for Will a couple weeks ago and added butter to the puree....yummy!!! I made some with butter and some without butter. I did this b/c you should introduce butter like you would any other food. For example, I gave Will plain yellow squash for three days, then I gave him yellow squash with butter the following three days. Since he can now eat butter, I can add a touch to other foods like sweet potatoes! Once pureed, scoop into ice trays and follow the above freezing directions!

Now you're ready to start making your own baby food! Please let me know how your baby food adventures turn out and if you have any ideas or advice!

What I'm loving...Parties!

I am totally obsessed with my son's upcoming first birthday party...I know, it's 5 months away. BUT, you have to think WAY ahead on these things or you won't have time to plan, calculate costs, then plan again b/c what you want costs an arm and a leg...

My theme is "Will's Wild Wild West". I love the idea of little cowboys and cowgirls running around all dressed up! I think it will be so cute to have Will in a cowboy hat and a little sheriff badge! I LOVE searching Etsy to see what goodies I find to match my theme...let me know what you think and if you have ideas for me to incorporate!

I really want to have someone take pictures for me! I am no good at taking pics and I think a first birthday deserves good documentation. Of course I want the normal pics, but I also want to have a western style backdrop for families to take pictures in front of.

This? I found these two in an Etsy store called LollipopBackdrops. The first one is $50 (measures 3.5 x 3.5 feet) and the second is $85 (measures 4 x 6 feet). Here’s a link to her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/LollipopBackdrops?ref=seller_info

I found some fabric that is wood grain patterned, so I guess I could stretch it over canvas to make my own? But who has time for that? Maybe I can talk my mom into doing it for me…ha!

And how about these photo props?? I think I’m going to get cowboy/cowgirl hats for all the kids that come. Ha! Can you see parents holding up a mustache on their baby with the cowboy hat on?!?! How cute! The idea is to have the pics posted on a common website so that the families can download/buy the pics. These are from the Etsy shop FunnySideofLife. $24 for a dozen! Pretty good and well worth it! Here’s the link to their shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/FunnySideofLife?ref=seller_info

How about this for food? I love this idea! Chili is both easy and cost effective. And doesn't this cornbread look delicious?!?! I probably won’t end up using the mason jars for the chili b/c I don't see me making 50 of these! Hello paper bowls! Maybe red bandana patterned?

I’ve been thinking about favors, and I would like to do a cloth bag, maybe several different patterns, some western, some geometric, maybe some burlap mixed in? Or maybe these simple bags with something cute stamped on? I want to have folks fill their bags with candy from a candy bar, which will be located in The General Store J.

Yes, I want to have a mock General Store! Imagine this sign saying General Store. I also want to have a Saloon where the beverages are! Since I won’t use the mason jars for Chili, maybe I’ll use them for lemonade?

ok...enough for now! Please let me know if you have any western type ideas for me!

Britt