fridays letters

omg, is it already 2013? guess that means its the first official fridays letters of the new year!

dear matt, Im glad you are somewhat back to feeling your normal self, because for the life of me I cant understand why you are such a strong brave man, yet when you get the tiniest of colds you become the biggest wimp Ive ever met. and i mean that in the nicest way possible ;) (for those of you wondering, I even goggled "why are men such wimps when they are sick" and its a proven fact, its something called "the man flu" lol)

dear matthew, i cant believe you are 7 months old today. where did my tiny baby boy go? You are growing before my eyes and I wish I could freeze every second of it. i wont lie, its starting to make me a little baby crazy, i already miss those newborn days, but dont worry I am even more excited to watch how you discover every little tiny thing that is new to you.

dear 2012, this past year has been absolutely amazing. so many wonderful memories, the highlight being matthews birthday this past june. but you were also filled with so many first; first day as a family of three, first family vacation, babys first pumpkin patch and halloween, babys first thanksgiving, first time meeting santa, first christmas (oh yeah slacker me hasnt even posted about that yet), and so many more. Im not sure how 2013 will ever beat this past year, but boy I know our lil family of three is going to have fun trying!

dear holidays, im sad you are over now. ill admit I was a lil depressed taking down the christmas tree this year. i wish the joy that you bring could last the whole year through. the amount of family fun, laughter, and wine you brought with you sure made for some wonderful memories and great times.

dear self, youre another year older (yes i missed a post back on my birthday on Dec 17th when I turned the big 2-7.) its a new year now. that means you cant technically use the ol' "i just had a baby" excuse anymore. time to get back into shape. im not going to call it a new years resolution. I hate those words. i feel like I always fail at my resolutions. so im just going to call you my next goal. that sounds more attainable. and Im even going to start off smaller than that. my next goal is just to lose 5lbs. im not going to worry about the other 30lbs i eventually want to loose ;) just start small... oh and adding to those goals, time to get myself more organized, specifically my office!

dear matt, its your birthday in just 8 days and you still have yet to come up with something you want. i swear you are the hardest person to get gifts for (although I do admit I did awesome on your xmas gift) maybe you could drop a few hints as to what you might like? pls,thx

dear matthew, i am so behind on your monthly updates. im actually having trouble remembering all the wonderful things that have happened each month, and I know you may not care now, but I cant wait to one day look back on those memories to share with you.

And because Ive always promised to leave you with a picture, heres me and some of my girls my birthday weekend tailgating at the Eric Church concert (btw-best concert ever!)

babys 1st christmas: our christmas cards

Im a designer. so when it comes to absolutely anything that needs to be printed, i am extremely picky on the final design. my bridal shower invitations, i had to approve. My wedding invitations, I designed. My baby shower invites, I picked out. So when it came to our first christmas card with a baby, i knew i would need to start way in advance getting things together.

Enter my second obsession. deals. coupons. promos. you name it. Saving money, im in. So when I saw a groupon for christmas cards on zazzle.com i jumped at the idea. However, it was so far in advance the groupon actually expired on Nov 9, 2012. Which meant I had to get my act in order and fast.

I actually thought, this is perfect. Hubbys aunt is a professional photography and shes coming into town the weekend of Nov 3rd. It will be her first time meeting Matthew and she's already promised us since before Matthew was born that she would take some baby pics for us. So i started pinteresting away (you can check out my christmas board for my inspiration if you'd like) and set out on buying any props or clothing I would need for the photos.

Then as usual, plans never go as expected since having a child. I wont bore you with the gossipy details, but his aunt ended up not coming into town at all. And we didnt know this until 2 days prior to her expected arrival. Needless to say, now I was in a complete freakout mode that 1) we wouldnt have pictures before the groupon expired, 2) if I took the pics myself would they come out alright and 3) now I have to research how to actually take the pic I want with my own camera, and perfect it by this weekend so I can have everything in place to order before the expiration date.

So a quick trip to home goods for a textured blanket, kmart for some icicle lights and red and gold ball ornaments, and one desperate phone call to my sis to come over during my lunch break to help with my "photoshoot" and we were good to go. if thats what you want to call it.....

Here is a quick look at my makeshift photo set.

Pretty clever for never having done this. And after multiple attempts. And when I saw multiple I mean it. And a little bit of photo editing. We actually got a few good pictures.

 

 

Then came another decision to make. On top of picking the right photo, we would have to pic the right christmas card. And let me tell you, there are way to many options. I guess thats a good thing in general, but not to someone who is extremely indecisive.

 

We finally set on the one with the bundle of joy saying

And so far Ive gotten quite a few compliments on it. The only negative comments ive gotten were 1) from my husband that it doesnt show his genuine smile, but he cant complain because he was the one who chose this photo lol and 2) from my best friend who thought that since it was our first christmas as a family of three then we should have had a photo with the three of us on it. So not too bad. I can handle those comments. Next year I cant wait to be a little bit more creative since by then Matthew will be waaay more mobile and possibly have a sibling on the way ;)

babys 1st christmas: meeting santa

For as long as I can remember, Ive always had dreams of what it would be like to have my own kids to make holiday memories with. Im lucky enough that I have a sister who has 2 children who I've been able to take part in the memory making for the past 12 years with, but I would be lying if I didnt say I was always dreaming about when my day would come to do those type of things with my own children.

You can see that this isnt something I take lightly, as I even posted about our Christmas Bucket List  earlier this month. And boy, Ive been making sure to cross off as many of those items as possible in the past few weeks. One of my most favorite being taking Matthew to see Santa Claus.
Just like with his first pumpkin patch experience, I made sure to do my research and try to find a place where it wouldnt be just some fake looking Santa doing it to make the money. But more of an experience for our lil family of three to partake in together. Ill admit, I was tempted to go the easy route and just pop over to the mall, but I knew I wanted it to be more than "just for the sake of it" type of day. Unfortunately, when I asked my mommy friends for their suggestions I was disappointed that the one place I wanted to go, they didnt have good reviews on. They all suggested to just go to the mall.

However, against all their opinions, I decided to go with my gut and we planned to go to Bass Pro Shops like I wanted. To me, I just felt like the Santa there would be more authentic, plusalso you get a free 4x6 of the image no matter what. I figured why not, if I didnt like how it ended up then I could always resort back to the typical mall santa. To my pleasant surprise, we had an absolutely wonderful experience. And? Santa was awesome! Like really jolly, with rosy cheeks, and a REAL beard too!
We had planned on being at Bass Pro Shops around 9:30am  since they opened at 9am and the Santa area would open at 10am. Well, like with any of my plans since becoming a mom, we ran late. Like we didnt even make it out of the house until 9:50am, which put us at Bass Pro around 10:15am.

When we got there the parking lot was already packed, but thats to be expected at this time of year. We walked in and went straight back to Santa's Wonderland to see how long the line would be. Instead of being faced with screaming children and a long line, we were greeted by one of Santa's elves who ushered us towards a little stand with a sign displaying "Bass Pass." Lets just say BEST.IDEA.EVER. Just like at Disney Parks where you can get a fast past to return at a later time for a shorter line, you could get a Bass Pass to return to see Santa at a particular time. And while you wait? Shop the store! It was like a dream come true. And to our surprise, our Bass Pass read 10:30am. It was 10:20am. That meant we literally only had 10 mins to wait. I told hubby to go check out the fish tank so I could go change Matthew in the restroom. And by time I returned, it was our time to go see Santa.

 
I promise, we really only waited about 5 mins in the next line. Which actually kept us occupied by Matthew staring at all the decorations hanging on the ceiling and hubs playing some virtual fishing and hunting games, conveniently placed next to the line.

While we stood in line, I happened to notice that their were a few people holding their own cameras around their neck. I wondered, was I allowed to take my own pics? I mean, from my recollection, at the malls, you dont have the option of using your own camera. Heck, they practically scream at you for even the slighted motion of a cell phone snapping a pic, let alone whipping out your DSLR. I waved down the nearest elf and asked, "Out of curiosity, I see some people have their own cameras, is it permitted that we can take our own pics too?" How pleasantly surprised was I with the response I was given, "Of course! We just ask that you wait until our photographer is done snapping a shot so that we can make sure your child is looking our way, because once you try to take a pic the kids tend to only look at you."  Seriously? I get a free 4x6 that you take, plus I can take my own afterwards? sounds like a good comprise to me. I handed Matthew to hubs and quickly snatched my camera from under the stroller.

 

Once it was our turn I was actually a little nervous. Would he scream? Would he be scared of Santa? Would he cry? Would we even get 1 picture?.....We all walked up to Santa. Hubs handed Santa Matthew.

 

Funny thing, I specifically remember what Santa said to us, "Wow we got a big boy here, let me guess, hhmmm, about 10 months?" To which both hubs and I began laughing hysterically, "Umm no Santa, hes only 6 months," to which we all began laughing. Yes thats my chunky lil boy. 

We slowly walked away to get out of the picture. It seemed like Matthew was intrigued by Santa. Just staring at him. Then we tried for a smile. "Matthew, over here, look at us, *kissing noises*clapping*" there it is, hes looking. snap.snap.snap. We got it!

He may not have been completely smiling in the one pic, but we did get a few. Then he grabbed a hold of Santas beard. (like literally, we found white hair in his fists a few moments afterwards)

 

 

Then started crying, but Santa shushed him a little and he stopped.

We scooped him up and off we went. Stopping at the counter first for our free 4x6. It came out so cute, I just had to order some prints right then and there. And for $20 i think I got like 6 sheets (some wallets, 2-5x7's, and a few others). Still cheaper than any packages I can remember at the mall. And I dont have to worry about getting them printed for christmas presents to grandmas ;)

All in all, I was extremely happy with how the whole thing went down. And Im truly surprised that so many of my friends and tried to discourage me from going there. I think it was by far the best place to take him to meet Santa. And plusalso, even though Matthew wasnt able to get involved with the other activities, Bass Pro also had kids workshops available at specific times to make holiday crafts and also stations to play with some of the bass pro toys (you know 4 wheelers and such lol). I will definitely make it a tradition to go there every years and I cant wait for Matthew to one day make me an ornament or frame or something from one of those workshops! hehe

our chirstmas bucket list

ill be honest, when I saw "our" bucket list, i really mean more like "my" bucket list. hubs and matthew just get to put up with lots of photo taking and memory making events. And since its matthews first christmas it has to be way better than all our previous ones ;)

note: boxes with snowflakes in them mean we've already done it

so a couple of these im extremely excited for. #1 being that for the first time ever, we will be hosting christmas morning at our house. up until I was about 20yrs old my parents always hosted because well they are my parents and quite frankly they have the largest house. then my sis took over because she had kids and finally had her own house. And now, since we have added our own lil munchkin to the mix, we get to host! although i am excited about this Im also kinda nervous, its a big responsibility to host this event in our family. i have to make sure i have coffee, spam (dont ask lol), bacon, cinnamon rolls, christmas music playing, clean house, wake up on time, and so many other small details.

im also so excited to be able to start christmas traditions with matthew. my favorites being reading the night before christmas, watching christmas movies, and singing lots of christmas songs! We actually do the last everyone morning, evening, and whenever we're in the car. :)

And y'all i cant wait to send this years christmas cards out. I totally go inspiration from pinterest and created a make-shift set in my back yard. And OMG it came out so good. Post to come about that experience. lol

And then, there are a couple new things that Ive added to my list this year that ive seen mentioned on a couple of other blogs that I think are awesome ideas. Like the whole christmas pj thing, so cute! And making a babys 1st christmas ornament! dont tell anyone but there are lots of people getting one of these wrapped up under the tree!

Ok, so whats on your christmas bucket list this year? Any new traditions youre starting? Any great DYI crafts that I must do? Please share! Id love to hear them all (and possibly steal the ideas for my own family!)

show & tell: thanksgiving recap

If you missed last weeks show & tell, you can read about our normal thanksgiving traditions, and then come back here and read about what we did this year.

Ill skip the whole sob story, where i tear up about the fact that my side of the family wasnt even a part of Matthew's first thanksgiving, and instead was in a completely different country.

Moving along, Matthew woke up around 7am and hubs brought him into bed with us for some morning snuggles. I love when we do this because it puts us all in a great mood from the very start of our day, even if it is a lil earlier than we would have liked to be woken up ;) I did our normal morning routine (change, feed, breathing treatment) and then rushed down the street to my parents house to let their dogs out (yes I was dog sitting, since the were off in some tropical oasis, insert jealous face) before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade came on.

Now I dont know about you, but watching this parade on TV has been one of my favorite memories of Thanksgiving growing up. So of course I wanted to make it a tradition to do the same with my son. So I spread out a blank on the floor and camped out with the cutest lil boy I know to watch multiple hours of the parade.

Since my family was out of town, we would be spending the day with hubs family. My mother-in-law was in town from earlier in the week when we had Matthew baptized (post coming). So we were planing on her coming over to our house before we all went to hubs aunts house to gather with the rest of the fam.

Now, im not sure if I have mentioned this on here before, but im not really the cooker (or cleaner for that matter) in our house. Hubs usually does the cooking, especially since I have almost burnt the house down twice. (who knew that milk froths when put on the stove, not me, at least not until the second time when i actually witnessed the milk catching fire). Needless to say, no one in my family counts on me to cook for the holidays. However, I am very good at baking. At least I would like to think so. So when I realized that I would not be having said potato casserole this year at thanksgiving, i knew I wanted to make it and bring it to hubs aunts for dinner. Only problem? I dont have the recipe.

I was literally searching my parents house for days trying to find where the recipe was. With no luck, i went out on a limb and emailed every person in my family on the cruise, yes 5 out of 6 of the people were on this thread, only excluding my niece because shes 6 and doesnt have an email, to tell me where i could find the recipe. My brother-in-law happen to be the one to check his email at 6am out in the middle of the atlantic ocean, and said he would ask my mother and try to email me back. Needless to say, all morning I kept checking my email, when finally around 9:30am i got an email basically stating there was no written recipe and therefore i would be going off my mothers memory, and then he proceeded to give me my mothers off-the-top-of-her-head recipe.

I made hubs run out to Albertsons, since its like the only store open on Thanksgiving, and get me all the ingredients I didnt already have. Plus, i figured I would make these oh-so-delicious homemade pumpkin woopie pies, since I had those ingredients on hand too!

Both turned out great, by the way. And I only have one lonely battle wound on my right arm when I burned myself taking the casserole out of the oven.

Once we got to hubs aunts house, Matthew was most definitely the life of the party. He was such a happy boy being passed around to different family members. Plusalso, there was football on, and our lil man, he loves to watch some football. Even though the Dolphins wouldnt be playing until Sunday, he was content with watching any team play. ;)

 

 

 

We did get a few great pics as a family of three and also a few of 4 generations, but those are on my mother-in-laws camera. Ill share once i get them.

 

I also think, that i should defintely mention that it was quite a scene once the turkey was ready. Im not exactly sure how it all began, i just know that there was an issue when it came to getting the turkey out of the actual pan. Lets just say, all 3 guys tried their hand at this task. Not until the third came in, did they realize it was probably not a good idea to take the turkey out of the pan bare-handed considering it just came out of the oven. lmao

I even got video of it because it was becoming so ridiculous.

Basically, the entire day was absolutely perfect. There was alot of laughter, family, food, and chubby baby legs. Isnt that what Thanksgiving is all about anyways?

 

 

 

 

And Ill leave you with some outtakes.....

 

 

 

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!!!! Dont forget to go link up with Becky.