limefish studio: Two Year Blogiversary Custom Painting Giveway

This studio belongs to my roommate from college's little sister! Check out her stuff :) limefish studio: Two Year Blogiversary Custom Painting Giveway: Last year around this time I announced that my little blog (entitled dm designs at the time) had turned one, and I was thrilled that my...

We Survived 1 Year (and a birthday party)!

Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet baby boy! How can he already be 1? On 10/25 I kept thinking about my experience the year before. Time does make you forget how much labor hurts. I remember being in excruciating pain but I can't remember how it actually felt. All I remember is how much I loved him the moment he arrived. It made me forget the pain. Cameron has changed my life so much. I have less time for cleaning and laundry because I spend so much time with him. I seriously don't remember how our lives were before he arrived. Cameron has changed so much in 1 year. He's talking, repeating things we say, and walking. He went from straight dark hair to no hair to curly dirty blonde hair. He is such a happy, smiley baby! We are the luckiest parents!! I love watching him explore and discover new things :)

For his birthday party, we had a blue cupcake theme. I wanted to make some dipped oreos for the party, but they wouldn't stay on the stick. Luckily I randomly found cupcake cookie cutters at Walmart. I ended up baking cupcake shaped sugar cookies with sticks in them. I then decorated them with candy melts. They turned out really cute! Then for the cupcakes we made blue velvet cupcakes. I was really pleased with the way they came out. They were messy to make but turned into a beautiful moist blue cupcake. For Cameron's cake we made a larger cupcake. It turned out sooooo cute! Thank you to my mother-in-law and husband for helping me get the cupcakes baked and the house decorated and thank you to my mommy for decorating all the cupcake. My sister and brother-in-law were a big help too. The night before the party we made caramel apples for the goodie bags. They turned out so good :) The other thing we did was photo banners. We hung one across the fireplace mantle and the other three across doorways. The morning of Rod and I had to pick up the pictures for the photo banners...nothing like waiting until the last minute. The banners looked AMAZING once we were done. Everything looked so nice when people arrived :D A big THANK YOU goes to my daddy for cooking all the food. I am so lucky to have such an amazing family on both sides that helped me prepare and execute the party. Cameron is such a lucky boy to have so many family members and mommy and daddy's friends come to his 1st Birthday.

It is amazing how quickly the year flew by. There are definitely things I wish I had done differently but in the end we all survived and Cameron is a happy, healthy 25lb 4oz (80th percentile), 31 3/4in (95th percentile) little boy! Thank you to everyone who helped us in raising this sweet little boy!!!

Planning for A First Birthday

I don't know why, but I feel extreme pressure planning my son's 1st Birthday. Right now is one of my busiest times of year at work because I'm balance teaching and grading with working in the high school and attending night events. Because of all this I have very little free time. I decided to go to the party store a couple of weeks ago to pick up invitations. The store didn't have many 1st Birthday choices, but I found one that I liked ok. So instead of what I was originally thinking which was fall themed, I went with blue cupcake themed. It works because the bib my mom bought Cameron is a blue cupcake. I just wish I had gone on Etsy first to find way cuter invitations. I hate doing super generic things, but it seems to be my fall back when I have no time :( I know Cameron won't remember his first birthday, I just want to make sure everything isn't generic. So in order to have a homemade touch I have spent time on Pinterest searching for some cute ideas. I am going to make a few photo banners using pictures we took over the year. I also want Rod to make a chalkboard we can write on for pictures, but if we don't get to that I'm going to buy a whiteboard that is black.  I am also going to try and make blue velvet cupcakes. Since I wanted to do a fall theme originally and we really don't have many kids coming, I am also planning on making fancy caramel apples for our guests to take home. I hope all these things come together. It is important to me to have homemade touches! I want to make birthdays original and special :)

10 Months!

How has 10 months gone by? My sweet baby boy is seriously 10 months old. He has 8 teeth (the first two popped through at 6 months), is crawling like crazy and standing up at everything. He so desperately wants to walk but he isn't confident yet. Yesterday he was home with his daddy and let go of everything and took two steps. He'll probably be off and running in the next couple months. He weighs 23lbs 1oz (80th percentile), 30 1/4 inches (94th percentile) and head circumference of 18 1/2 (75th percentile). Since his life began, he has been on 3 plane trips. The first one was when he was 10 weeks old and we went to visit family in CA. The second trip we took to St. Louis to watch Cameron's Aunt Desiree (my twin) graduate with her Masters degree. Our third trip was a two week trip to CA. Our outgoing flight was canceled but we were rescheduled that night. Unfortunately it was Rod and my 5 year wedding anniversary so we had to cancel our CA dinner date plans to celebrate. Although we were disappointed, it may have worked in our favor since Cameron slept the whole plane trip and Rod and I got to watch a 3 hour sunset. We enjoyed spending time with family and having more people to chase after our little speedy gonzales. Our flight home wasn't horrible and we were lucky to have the row to ourselves.

Now it's back to a busy work schedule! Fall is the busiest time at my work. Fortunately my husband is amazing and our daycare provider is awesome. I wish I had more time at home, but I enjoy quality time in the evenings and weekends with my little family. I'm looking forward to the fall weather and taking long family walks exploring new areas. Pumpkin patches, corn mazes, chilly weather, beautiful fall colors, fallen leaves and spending weekends making memories :)

This Fall enjoy making memories with your family!

Bragging!

WE HAVE THE BEST BABY EVER!!! He is always so happy :) He smiles, laughs, coos, giggles, and is just easy going. It is so amazing to watch my little boy light up when he sees his daddy. He will normally go to bed on his own or with a bit of rocking. He goes to almost anyone and enjoys playing on the floor with people and animals. He loves to eat fruits and vegetables. I seriously believe we are the luckiest people alive. Cameron keeps us busy, our house dirtier, our wallet a little smaller, but he is so worth it. I seriously don't remember our lives without him and I can't imagine him not being here. I am one proud mommy and although I'm not ready for him to grow up, I love watching him experience new things, copy what we are doing, and explore the world!!!

Life's Craziness

Apparently when you have a baby, work full time, and are trying to loose weight you have no time to write in a blog (or I have no time!) I'm impressed with the mothers who can do it all. I wish someone could teach me the tricks.

I have finally made my decision to stay full time. As much as I want to be home with my baby, I think I need to work full time while I look for a job closer to home. I already know that a full time job closer to home would be a huge cut in pay. For this reason, I think it is best for me to stay full time right now. I am in the process of updating my resume so I can submit it to school districts for next year. I know I need to get this done ASAP because school districts are hiring now. I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating this so much. I had planned on working on it one day last week but our kitty had other plans.

Last week I took Thursday and Friday off to re-energize myself. I planned on spending Thursday working on my resume, doing laundry, putting clothes away, and just basic housekeeping stuff. Unfortunately when I got home from dropping Cameron off at daycare, I noticed our male cat, Vaughn, was not doing well. He didn't walk down the stairs very well and when he got to the bottom of the stairs he teetered and almost fell over. I called the vet (after calling Rod) and went over for a walk-in appointment. He only weighed 5 pounds :(....poor kitty!!! They ran blood and found that he was severely dehydrated and the start of renal failure. He was hospitalized all day Thursday and all day Friday. They gave him fluids and antibiotics and sent him home on prescription food. We go back in 3 weeks and if his kidney levels haven't gotten better and he hasn't gained weight we will have to have the difficult decision :'( I know he's old, like 15 or 16, but I'm not ready to lose him.

Cameron is getting so big. We went to church on Easter and there was a 10 month old there that was the same size as Cameron. I love my little man! I can't believe it has been 5 1/2 months. He's growing up way to fast. He knows how to roll from his front to his back. He reaches out for toys and likes to put everything in his mouth. He especially likes to pull mommy's hair. He loves his doggies and kitties. He laughs and smiles at them and he is the happiest baby I know. We definitely got lucky!!! He is just the cutest baby...of course I'm biased. I just hope his hair comes back soon. He had a head full of hair until 4 months. Then his hair started to fall out as we treated his cradle cap. I can't wait for him to have his beautiful hair back :) We're still mostly happy with his daycare. Sometimes I feel that they feed him too much and his diaper definitely doesn't get changed as often as we change it at home but other than that we're pretty happy. They definitely love him and the other kids seem to enjoy playing with him. Today our provider asked me to sign him up for a free tummy time class that she would like to take him to on Tuesdays. I like that she is doing things that I would like to do with him if I was home.

Although I am overwhelmed with everything that needs to get done, I am loving life. I have the absolute most amazing husband in the world. He does all the cleaning around the house, takes care of the animals, will help with anything I need and is the best father in the world. Cameron adores his father. He lights up when he sees him and gives this big grin and it melts my heart. I am seriously the luckiest person alive!!!

A Birth and a Death; A Beginning and an End

The last two weeks have been an emotional roller coaster. It started with me going back to work. Leaving Cameron for the first time was one of the most difficult thing I have had to do. Luckily Rod went with me the first day because I was sobbing when I walked out. I called his daycare twice that day to check on him. Mommy had a hard day, but Cameron did fabulous. As the days went on it got a little easier. I cried a little on Wednesday and only called once. When I picked him up on Wednesday my daycare provider's son was holding Cameron and she said I hope you don't mind, but he is going to be spoiled here because everyone loves to hold him. That's when I decided he was still going to be loved even though his mommy wasn't with him. Although I cried Thursday in the car I knew he would be ok so I didn't call. On Friday, I did ok dropping him off. I knew he was doing well there so it made it much easier for me. When I got to work I received the news that my best friend's mom had passed away. I lost it! I wanted to leave work, run home, and grab my son in my arms and never let go. The weekend was a blur. We spent time with with our family and got some stuff done around the house. I enjoy having lazy weekends around the house but in our typical fashion we are lucky if we have one day. That weekend we were in constant contact with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law because our nephew was due any time. My sister-in-law had been put on bed rest earlier in the week. On Monday we got the call saying she was going to be induced. Tuesday evening my perfect nephew was born. A death on Friday and a birth on Tuesday....the circle of life. On Friday we attended the memorial service and we took Cameron with us. Cameron started to fuss at the end of the service and I had to walk out. I was so embarrassed and I felt so bad he interrupted the service for everyone. Luckily I was the only one that thought it was bad. Most people couldn't believe how good he was. Someone even said it was nice to see a baby to remind us of life's continuance. Life is precious and no amount of time you have to prepare will ever prepare you for the loss of someone you love. Cherish the time you spend with the ones you love because you don't know how many tomorrows you have. Remember to tell those special people in your lives that you love them even if it sounds silly because it may be the last time you talk to them. Life is too short to be unhappy so find something to be happy about! I hope everyone in my life knows that I love them and that they mean the world to me.

I want to make sure my son knows that I love him more than anything. I think that is why I have such a hard time with being so far away from him during the day.  My constant struggle is: am I doing the right thing? did I make the right decision? will my son know how much I love him and want to be with him if I am working full time? I think I would love to be a stay at home mom, but our finances would be stretched tight. We wouldn't be able to contribute to retirement for me or for a college fund for Cameron. I also don't know how or when I would re-enter the workforce Yes, I have the opportunity to work part time with the job I have now, but my job duties would change. I love what I do and I'm not sure I would love it as much if I was doing something different. The other dilemma is working part time would not give me sick leave, vacation leave, retirement, etc. When I didn't have a child if I took vacation I could make up my hours, with a baby that wouldn't be the case. He would have a set schedule with daycare and I would have a set schedule with work, no deviations. The positive being I could feel like I am raising my son while still bringing in some money. I don't know what I want to do and I don't know how to make this huge decision. What if I regret my decision? What if I change my mind? These are all the things that run through my mind constantly.

A New Start!

When I started blogging I had planned on writing on it all the time, but life got in the way. It is now time to start over...a new blog :) A new start for a new year! A place for me to write all the trials and tribulations of becoming a mother, going back to work, getting healthy, and trying to keep my family happy...a way for me to remember my life as it passes by so quickly. It is amazing to think how in one year your life changes so amazingly. I started last year determined to lose weight, to make myself healthier so I could get pregnant. I joined Weight Watchers in January which helped me to make smarter food choices, track my exercise, and made me accountable to a group...6 weeks, 12 pounds lost, and a positive pregnancy test...a fantastic, terrifying, wonderful new beginning! I had to quickly change my plans from losing weight, to eating healthy and being ok to gain that weight back. My pregnancy was great up until 36 weeks when my blood pressure went high. I was put on bed rest for 2 weeks and then our little miracle arrived. It wasn't the easiest delivery, but I can't complain too much. I was only in horrible labor for less than 12 hours. I tried an epidural, but it only took on half of my body. I dilated fully, but my little man decided to he didn't want to budge. I ended up with a c-section after 2 1/2 hours of pushing. Although the delivery did not go the way I planned, in the end we had a happy, healthy, perfect 8lb 2.6oz 21 1/2in little boy! It is amazing how much you can love someone the moment you see them :)
(10 days old)

I have been home with my little one for almost 12 weeks. This time has flown by so quickly. I think having so many holidays within those 12 weeks have accelerated my time off. I don't know how I am going to leave my little boy in the care of almost a complete stranger starting on Tuesday. I'm looking at some options to start working part time. Maybe I'll be ok once I get back, but I don't think so. I love my little man's face, the smile that lights up his eyes, the dimple in his cheek, the way he is so hell bent to suck his thumb, his cute little cry when he gets upset, etc. I love everything about this little boy! I want to be a stay at home mom for the first year, but my husband doesn't think I will be happy. I think I would love staying home with my little boy, but I know it would be a stretch on our finances. We'll see how things go ;) Now onto the getting healthy part. I ended last year 15 pounds lighter than I started. Wohoo...that is a success to me since for 9 months of the year I was growing another human being inside of me. After giving birth, I was able to lose all the weight I gained plus 2 or 3 more. This year is going to be a new start. I want to get healthy for my son. I want to teach him to eat healthy instead of unhealthy like I have been for the last several years. I have never been a small person, but I put on a lot of weight during grad school. It is time to make a change, to start over, to learn how to be a healthy person and an active mom. I love walking so I'm going to start taking Cameron with me. I want him to enjoy the outdoors. This spring I want to explore new towns, go hiking, take my little boy to the zoo. There are so many things I want to do and I need to be healthy to do that. So in February, I am going to start Weight Watchers again. Hopefully, I will be able to teach myself to eat healthier and get more active. Although I would like to lose weight, my main goal is to get healthy. As my son gets bigger, I want to make his baby food. I want to teach him to eat all sorts of vegetables that I didn't want to eat when I was little. Maybe he will help keep me on track :)

Now off to spend time with my family!
What a sweet baby boy! This is the little man I will somehow be walking away from on Tuesday :'(