Winter ONEderland

Those of you who know me know that I have a few crafty skills up my sleeve & when it comes to party planning or making my own creations, nothing I do is plain & simple. I LOVE planning parties so why would planning my son's 1st birthday party be any different?!?

I have been planning this shin-dig for quite some time now & to say it was SO much fun is an understatement! Once I decided on a theme there was no stopping me. I spent whatever free time I had on the internet searching sites like Etsy & Pinterest, gathering ideas, saving & pinning pic's. I guess you could say I was a bit out of control but I didn't care. I never thought I would ever be given this chance to throw a 1st birthday party for my child so forgive me if I wanted it to be amazing & perfect. Yes I know he won't remember any of it but I don't care. He survived his 1st year. We as parents survived his 1st year & to me that was something worth celebrating!

Back in December I had decided on a Winter ONEderland theme (thank you Pinterest) full of snowflakes & penguins with a red, teal & white color scheme. I knew I wanted a dessert table with lots of yummy desserts to pick from & I knew I wanted the party catered so I wouldn't have to do any cooking or prepping of food. I also knew I wanted the location of his party to be fairly close so we ended up having his party at a local bar & grill in their private room & it was absolutely perfect for our event.

So after weeks of party planning, today was the big day. All the hours I had spent creating, printing, cutting, pasting, gluing, going over in my head exactly how I wanted his party to be had finally paid off & after it was all said & done - it was amazing. It was perfect. It was everything I had imagined it would be for our little man! 

40 of our very closest family & friends were invited to the birthday event & all but 4 were able to come. Those that attended may have thought it was a bit over the top. Others may have thought it was the best 1st birthday party they have ever been to. Some may have even thought I was trying to win the "Mother of the Year" award. But to me it wasn't about any of those things. It was about my son's very 1st birthday celebration & to me he is worth "over the top" plus oh so much more :)

So without further ado, here are pics from Mason's Winter ONEderland party :) I will warn you though....there are LOTS of pics.

First - some of the "details":

Invitations

Mason's party shirt

Table centerpieces

Dessert table

Strawberry Cheesecake

Mason's "smash" cake

Sugar Cookies

Vanilla/Chocolate Cupcakes

 Candy/Chocolate Tray

Taco/Nacho bar

 Mason's birthday "throne"

 

Monthly photo banner

Favor bags for the kids

  The "goods" inside favor bags


High chair banner

 Now for some pictures with family & friends:

Mommy & Mase

Mase with Daddy

 

Mason with Uncle James

Grandpa & Grandma "Farm" with their grandson

My sister-in-law Meghan with Mase

Uncle Steve with his nephew

My dear friend Stetson (of Stetson's Famous Cheesecakes) & his wife Janice with the birthday boy

Mason about to "smash" into his cake

Mommy, Daddy & our birthday boy

 

Mmmmm - this is good!

 
Post cake-smashing - all giggles with Grandpa "Farm"

Mase with the "game-night" girls:

After the festivities were over, we headed back to our house & decided to open gifts there rather than at the party. Mase was so spoiled by everyone's generosity & he had so much fun pulling tissue paper out of bags & checking out all his new clothes, books & toys.

It was such an amazing day & so much fun was had by all - especially the birthday boy! We are truly blessed to have Mason in our lives & we thank God each & every day for him. 

Thank you for supporting & loving our family. I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse into Mason's very 1st birthday party & perhaps got some inspiration for your own parties as well!? A special thank you to all our family & friends who made it out & made Mason's party ONEderful :)

Vendors

Invitations: Etsy - PuzzlePrints

Party shirt: Etsy - Pocketbaby

Penguin centerpiece/favor bag treats: Oriental Trading Company

Strawberry cheesecake - Stetson's Famous Cheesecake

Cupcakes/Sugar Cookies/Smash cake: Gretchen's Gourmet Goodies

Cupcake toppers/penguin confetti: Etsy - A Delicate Gift

Monthly banner/menu placecards: Etsy - Adorable Affair

Birthday, high chair banner & favor bags: made by yours truly :)

Rock Chalk!

This year I had gotten my husband tickets to a KU basketball game for Christmas & I was looking so very forward to going myself as I have never been to Allen Fieldhouse to watch a game - shocking I know! You can imagine my disappointment when I started getting sick a few days before the game :(

I had woke up Saturday morning hardly able to get out of bed but I was determined that nothing was going to keep me from going to this game the following day. I made my way to the Take Care Clinic that morning & got checked out & my diagnosis was sinus infection, bilateral ear infection & strep-throat - I seriously haven't been that sick in a LONG time. I was given an antibiotic, spent $25 in cold medication & made my way back home to crawl into bed. Thank goodness Shane was here to take care of Mason - I honestly don't know how single parents manage when they are sick?!

Sunday was game-day. We had Miss Katie come & babysit Mason for the day while we made our way to Lawrence, KS. I was feeling slightly better as we left & was so high on cold medicine & adrenaline that I didn't even notice the low-grade fever I had. We had lunch in Lawrence & then made our way to the Park-n-Ride shuttle area & were shuttled on over to Allen Fieldhouse. 

We had General Admission tickets & unfortunately this was the line that awaited us. The windows above the guy's head in the red hoodie was the entrance. There we stood in the 9 degree temp's, for around 20 minutes - did I mention I had a fever??

The line seemed to move fairly quickly & before we were able to get chilled to the bone we were inside Allen Fieldhouse. Unfortunately we didn't get a lot of time to look around at all the memorabilia as we needed to find a seat. 

 

General admission = first come, first serve so when we got into the building it was like letting a herd of cattle out to pasture. Everyone ran inside to get a seat & surprisingly we didn't have any trouble finding good seats. We ended up sitting right behind the student section which was super fun as everyone around us was pretty rowdy.

We were playing San Diego State University who ended up giving us a heck of a game!

Announcing the KU players:

Half-time:

During the game:

Unfortunately KU ended up losing the basketball game which was quite disappointing but being there in person watching the game was priceless. We will definitely be doing this again! I just hope next time I am feeling better.

Rock Chalk!!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to our family & friends! 

This past year brought us many blessings & we have so much to be thankful for heading into the new year - our little man, our family, good friends, our health, good jobs & so much more. Sometimes it takes a certain person or a specific situation that act as gentle reminders throughout the year to help you remember how truly blessed you really are. Ironically, as 2013 was coming to an end, this happened to me on New Year's Eve.

Past New Year's Eve's for us have often been spent at home, curled up in bed fast asleep when midnight rolls around & honestly - I wouldn't want it any other way. We can barely stay up past 10pm anymore, we are not big partiers/drinkers like we were in our 20's & early 30's & besides, we live in a big city & I would rather not be driving amongst all the drunk people out there on the interstates after midnight has come & gone.

This year however I spent NYE a bit differently & experienced one of those "gentle reminders" that 1) again how short life can be & 2) how very blessed I am for my health, the health of my husband, son & family.

Most of you who know me know that I work at the largest heart hospital here in Kansas City in their Cardiovascular Lab. It is a place where a Cardiologist & a team of 3 nurses/techs perform heart cardiac catheterizations on patients as well as do angioplasty, stent placement in the heart & leg arteries, biopsies on our heart transplant patients, surgically implant pacemaker & defibrillator's & work with the CVOR to do TAVR & AAA repair procedures. Along with all these duties we are expected to be on call nights & weekends for that unsuspected patient(s) who is having a heart attack (myocaridal infarction) & needs an emergent heart cath procedure to open up a blocked artery around the heart - which is what causes a heart attack.

Let me first say that I LOVE my job! I must love it as I have been doing the same job for over 18 years. (Wow does that make me feel old?!) However, as mentally challenging as some of the days may be or as tough as some of our patients & situations can be, one can find yourself starting to become "cold" to those days or situations or even the patients. Unfortunately, it happens to a lot of people in healthcare & a lot of us move on to other jobs in the hospital when you start "not caring" anymore. But it seems that every single time I start to feel like that I get that one patient who stands out & reminds me why I love this job in the first place & why I keep returning day in & day out.

This year I was on call for New Year's Eve/Day & we had gotten called in around 9:30pm on NYE. I was just starting to get ready for bed when the pager went off. It was freezing cold outside & I wasn't happy at the thought of getting in my car & having to drive the 38 mile one-way trip to the hospital. How selfish of me, right? But I made it there safely & we were able to open up the patients' blocked heart artery & another life was saved.

Just as we were leaving the East hospital our pager went off again. More mumbling & grumbling. This time it was for the South hospital so the cath lab team hurried to the other facility where our patient was clearly in distress & not doing well. There was a lot of chaos, rushing around, the Dr was being a royal PIA & tensions were high. I remember looking up at the clock at 11:58pm & thinking "what a heck of a way to bring in the New Year"!? 

We were able to get him stable, open up his blockage, place a stent & transferred him to the ICU in stable condition. I made my way home around 1am & while driving I started thinking about the case. About how I was getting too old for these middle of the night call-ins. How mad I was that Dr. C was such an ass towards us. How I was feeling unappreciated for what we do. Then my focus shifted to what a great thing we did tonight for 2 patients. Those 2 men were someones son, someones dad, someones brother & uncle. We had a hand in saving their life, spending another year with their families & for that I began to feel proud. 

Fast forward to the following Monday & imagine my surprise when I had this email in my inbox at work from our 2nd patient on New Year's Eve:

“I wanted to contact EVERYONE at Saint Luke's South ER, the Cath Lab Team, ICU group..and probably another 50 people I am not even aware of...and of course Dr. C & his team for saving my life on New Year's Eve. I am in disbelief that so many strangers worked so desperately hard to keep me alive. Talk about dancing with stars. I had dozens of stars that night doing a coordinated dance just for me. 

On a night when so many other people were out celebrating a simple change to a new year, I found myself experiencing the best New Year's Eve show in town put on by a group of professionals that gave up their night to be there to give me my life. I am forever grateful. Could you please help me in getting this message to all the people involved? 

Thank you!”

This letter brought tears to my eyes.

I am one of those "stars" this patient talks about. I had a hand in saving his life. He is forever grateful because of us. 

Thank you Sir for the "gentle reminder". For reminding me that what I do is important. No matter how simple or complex a procedure may be, what we do is important. 

I can't think of a better way to end & begin the year :)

Here's wishing all our family & friends health & many blessings in the New Year!

11 months old

Mason you are now 11 months old! Sadly for Mama in 4 short weeks we will be celebrating your first birthday! We are so very happy to be celebrating this milestone with you along with surviving our first year as your parents but it is also bittersweet as you are no longer our little baby but now a little boy!

So much has changed over the course of this last year & at 11 months old I find myself having trouble keeping up with your little self. You are now fully mobile & get into anything & everything you can in a blink of an eye. How fast you have grown & developed continues to amaze us everyday & we can't wait to see what the new year has in store for all of us!!

Weight: If I had to guess, I would say you are around 25-26 lbs. You are wearing all 12 month clothing now & can even fit into some 18 month clothing. I foresee another shopping spree with mommy this spring as we have hardly any 18-24 month clothes for you - Fun Fun :) You are still wearing size 3 diapers but in a couple of weeks we will be moving to size 4's. 

Eating: You are now eating all solid food & continue to feed yourself with no troubles. You have also started to show some interest in using a spoon/fork with assistance. It usually ends up down the front of your bib or falls off the spoon before it gets to your mouth but we are working on it. 

This photo cracks me up. You had rubbed fruit juice all in your hair while eating & while I tried to get it out I formed a little mohawk. It didn't move & stayed like this all day. I'm thinking you could be the next spokesperson for the kewpie doll...

What do you think?

You have discovered a new love for pasta. I made cheese ravioli with meat sauce one night for dinner & you hammered it down & signed "more". Velveeta Shells & Cheese is also one of your new favorite foods - but what kid doesn't like mac-n-cheese?! You still like your chicken nuggets, peas, blueberry yogurt, applesauce & cheese. Oh how you love cheese! You would eat only cheese for dinner if we let you!

You are down to drinking around two-three 6-7 ounce bottles a day & this mommy is looking forward to transitioning you over to whole milk in a couple of months. It is ridiculous how expensive formula is!!

Sleeping: We have made MUCH improvement in this department these past couple of weeks. Not sure what happened but like magic you started to wake up only once at night. You are usually fast asleep by 8pm & wake up around 2am for a bottle & right back to sleep until 630am. FINALLY Mama is getting some sleep at night. Now we need to start working on getting rid of that 2am wake up but I will take what I can get....for now!

This fuzzy blanket is your absolute favorite & you love to curl up with it! Just like your daddy you love to have it snuggled up by your face when you sleep:

Milestones:
- you finally said "MaMa" & my heart melted. There is nothing better than hearing you say those words over & over & over....in front of daddy :)

- during all your fussiness, lack of sleeping through the night & illness you cut another tooth. Your right "fang" or incisor tooth came through & now you have a total of 6 teeth - 4 on the top & 2 on the bottom.

- you took your first steps shortly after you turned 10 months old & have now started to walk & can take around 6-8 steps before you fall down. You get so excited & are so proud of yourself when you are walking.

- you have learned to clap your hands & think it is SO fun when we play/sing Paddycake, Paddycake Baker's Man

- you love to open your dresser drawers & open/close all cabinets & 
doors. Another thing you like to do is empty said drawers & cabinets & can do this at lightening speed. I guess I am being paid back for all the times I emptied my dresser drawers & my mom had to pick up after me?!

- you love to take your Mega Blocks apart & throw them in your bin as well as knock down anything we have stacked to see it fall.

- you definitely have a strong sense of likes & dislikes & have had no problem learning to use your emotions to get what you want aka: throwing a temper tantrum.

- the word "no" is heard a lot around here & you seem to understand what the word means but will think it is funny to push limits & disobey when we tell you no.

- you can point to your nose & ear when asked & locate the dogs when asked

- you will sit quietly by yourself & look at your books, delicately turn the pages & I just love to watch while you do this.

- you can follow simple commands such as "go get the ball"

- and probably the biggest milestone yet: you are starting to transition into the 1 year old room at daycare & that not only makes your providers sad but makes mommy sad as well. It is a super exciting time for you & you are loving getting to play & interact with the little kids your age but this means you aren't a baby anymore & that is hard for mommy to accept :(

In one short month we will be celebrating your 1st birthday - along with the fact that mommy & daddy survived your first year! It is going to be a big party...one that you won't ever remember but I am hoping through all the pictures we are going to take & the stories you will hear when you are older will show you just how very special you are & that you are so loved by so very many!

Happy 11 months little man :)

Holiday Boutique

As I am looking through my blog drafts I noticed I have several posts that I started but never finished. So as I am down & out with illness today & while Mason is at daycare, I am going to take this time to try & get caught up. This one is from back in November...

November 17, 2013

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any amount of time knows that every year in October I go to an event called Holiday Mart. It is always held the 3rd weekend in October & after I have gone sets the mood for the upcoming holidays. 

I'm not sure what I was thinking when I planned a trip to Wisconsin to see my sister the very same weekend that Holiday Mart was being held?! As much as I wanted to see my sister & her family I was bummed I was going to be missing this annual event. 

But the Holiday God's seemed to be shining down upon me & one evening as I was watching TV I saw an ad for a similar event called Holiday Boutique being held in Nov at the same place Holiday Mart is held. You can bet I was sure not going to miss this one! 

I went with my dear friend Jill (aka: Aunt Jilly) & introduced Mason to this holiday craziness. 

 

It was set up just like Holiday Mart & even has a lot of the same vendors so I felt like I didn't miss out.

I saw lots of "things" I would have loved to have but decided on getting the flame-less pillar candles which I absolutely love. They are controlled by a little remote control, can be set on 8 different colors & look SO real. I also bought a couple of Christmas gifts for family as well!

Mason loved watching all the people & really enjoyed seeing all the twinkling lights & holiday decor - but why wouldn't he?! He is my boy after all :)

 

Mason also enjoyed spending some time with "Aunt Jilly":

 Earlier in the week we had dinner with Aunt Jilly also:

I am so very thankful for the friendship I have with Jilly! She is my "go-to" girl. The girl who is there for anything & everything I need. She will drop what she is doing & be over in a skinny minute if I need her. She has been one of my bestest friends for the last 13 years & we have been through so much together. Unfortunately, she was never able to have children of her own so Mason is very, very special to her & we are so glad to have her in our life!

We make it a point to get together at least once a month to hug, catch up & so that she can spend some quality "Mason time"! We are looking so forward to all our upcoming gatherings in 2014!!

We love you Aunt Jilly!!