Happy Birthday, Olivia!

Over the past year I've been collecting ideas for birthday traditions to do with Olivia.  One thing I've always known I was going to do is write her a letter each year.  I've been trying to sit down and write this letter for a week now.  It just makes me so emotional to think about.  I didn't think I'd be "that" mom.  I love the little person she is, but thinking about a year gone brings tears to my eyes and a slight nervousness to my heart.

Dear Olivia,

Happy Birthday sweet baby girl!  We made it a year!  Can you believe it?  Wow, what a year it's been.  We've made it through severe jaundice, a misdiagnosis of reflux, soy and dairy issues, formula rejection, and a serious case of stranger danger.  We've had a lot of good times too!  We've snuggled, played, traveled, sang together, laughed and experienced all sorts of firsts.

A year ago today you gave me the best gift anyone could give.  You made me a mommy.  I have loved every single moment.  I am so proud to be your mom.  You are a fun, sweet, adorable, hilarious, and curious little girl.  You have brought more joy to our lives that we could have ever even imagined.

I love experiencing life through your eyes.  I could just sit and watch you all day.  I love the way you inspect things, turn them over in your hand and learn about new things.  I love that you love books.  Watching you sit and flip the pages over and over brings the teacher in me great satisfaction.

 
Even though at times it can drive me crazy, I love that you are opinionated, spirited, strong-willed and determined.  Daddy and I are going to do our best to nurture and guide you, so that those qualities can be used for good.  Don't listen when people tell you otherwise.

I love your laugh, your silly faces, and your sweet voice.  You've started "talking" quite a bit and it always brings a smile to my face.  Having conversations with you is one of my favorite things to do.  I look forward to many more years of conversing together.

Even though you have learned a lot this past year, you have been a great teacher as well.  You have taught us to love unconditionally. You have taught us to be patient during the trying times, and to laugh relentlessly during the silly times.  You have taught us humility and that life will never be perfect.  It's just life. 

 You are amazing.  It has been so much fun watching you grow, and I know it's just going to keep getting more exciting as time goes on.  I can't wait to keep experience life and all of the fun adventures with you.  You are my favorite little girl ever.  I hope you always feel loved, heard, and respected.  I love you with all my heart.

Love, Mommy

Dad Block Tutorial

While searching pinterest for Mother's and Father's day crafts to do with Little Man, I came across these photo blocks.  I thought they would be a good gift for Michael.  I sort of stashed the idea in the back of my brain and decided on Thursday before Father's Day that I would go ahead and do it.

I did a quick photo shoot of Olivia after her morning nap.  Then we ran to Target to get them printed.  I decided to go with sepia prints.

I went to Lowe's to get a 2 by 4 cut.  The hardware stores are suppose to cut your wood for you free of charge.  They did, but the guy that was helping me was acting like he was doing me a favor.  I wasn't too pleased with the customer service.  I'm going to try Home Depot next time. :)

Anyway, for those of you who don't know, a 2 by 4 is actually 3 1/2 by 1 1/2, so I had him cut every 3 1/2 inches to get square blocks.  He "graciously" cut 5 squares for me (rolls eyes).  I'm glad I did, because one was shorter and some of the wood wasn't the greatest.

I mostly used supplies I already had.  Unfortunately, the sandpaper block I had was low grade because it was originally used for paper.  This made me work a little harder, but it still worked out alright.  I sanded the edges down.  Some of the wood started out a bit rough.

After sanding, I made sure that all three blocks lined up nicely.

I knew I wanted to have a distressed look, so I painted the blocks brown to start.

Then I did two layers of cream (waiting about 5 to 10 minutes in between coats to dry).

You could very lightly still see some brown underneath.  I was ok with this.

Then I took my sanding block and distressed the edges.

Next, I cut the pictures to size.  I forgot my modge podge at home, so I just used tacky glue and painted it on the blocks to get a nice, thin even coat.

Using my silhouette, I cut the letters out for "DAD" onto vinyl.

I used the century gothic font so that I could have the rounded letters.

Originally I was going to use brown vinyl, but when I put the first D on it blended in too much.

Michael's favorite color is blue, so I went that route instead.

I just applied the vinyl letters to the blocks.

I did plan on using a sealer that I had, but opted not to for now.

I am pleased with how it turned out.  Michael loved it too.

Father's Day Craft

I forgot to put up here the craft Little Man did.  I found the idea on the internet and then sort of tweaked it.  It's not one of those "Oh my goodness, how cute" type of crafts, but it was made from the heart and Little Man was proud.

It's a pencil holder! :)

We took the bottom half of a milk jug, cut it, washed it, and turned it into a desk top beauty!

Little Man glued pasta on the sides to spell Dad and make designs.  He chose red paint (the one I saw online was gold).  He attempted to help me spray paint it, but it was not working out that well so I did most of it.

We did two coats.  It probably could have used another, but I was getting nervous using red spray paint on the pretty (re: expensive) patio pavers--even though I laid down a cover.

Then we took it the next step further and added pencils with little flag messages.

He wrote things like "I love you", "You're awesome", "You rock" and "You're cool".

He also colored a father's day picture, which we attached to the gift bag.

Project 366: Weeks 23 + 24

155.  Apparently she was really happy to be having some Pirate's Booty for lunch!

156. Michael was messing around with the tri-pod and taking pictures while she was eating/sitting in the high chair.  She's crazy!

157. We were having a discussion about keeping bows and clips in her hair.  She was not happy with me.

158. Ha ha! Oh, Olivia.

159. Drinking her morning milk out of a sippy

160. Eating at IKEA

161. A rare picture--Olivia in just a diaper.  It's a rare picture because it's a rare occurrence around here.  It just doesn't happen.  I am not a fan of the "just diaper" look.  She has way too many cute clothes anyway.  I had undressed her and was going to get her changed, but had to grab some diapers.  I just decided to snap a few pics.

162. One of the pictures from her photo shoot.

163. We were at the Children's Museum with Little Man (post on that coming).  She had just splashed herself in the face at the water table.

164. Love her!

165. She just decided to take a random break from playing and lay down on the floor with Violet.  So sweet.

166. One of the pictures from the quick photo shoot I did for Michael's father's day gift.

167.  We were at an indoor play place with Little Man.  This was the toddler section.  I wasn't impressed, but Olivia liked crawling around and climbing up the slide.

168.  I was working on something for her birthday party that required a picture with her in her hat.  She was not cooperating.  This was one of the outtakes though.

5 Years

Saturday was Michael and I's five year wedding anniversary.  We decided that it was worthy of a date night.  We hadn't been out by ourselves in almost a year.  Mostly it was because we didn't have a babysitter.  We hadn't really minded up until now, but we figured it was time to bite the bullet and find someone.  It's better to have someone to call when you need then to scramble when something comes up.

We went ahead and used an online service.  The girl we found is a 34 year old stay at home mom.  She babysits some nights and weekends to bring in extra cash for her family.  She has two kids, a 2 year old and a 4 year old.  This was comforting to me, because I knew Olivia would have a hard time.  While an 18 year old college student might be nice to play with a two year old, I wasn't confident they wouldn't be frazzled by an hour of crying.  She had a background check on file and she is a Christian.  It seems to be a pretty good fit!

We went to a celebrity mystery dinner theater at The Spaghetti Warehouse.  It was really nice.  The area where it is located downtown was cute and quaint and historic.  The food was yummy and the show was really funny.  We had a really good time.

Olivia did alright too.  She cried off and on, which we knew she would.  Luckily, she goes to bed at 7, so she really only had a little over an hour to be upset.  She went down alright and was asleep in minutes.

Father's Day

Yesterday was Michael's first Father's Day.  I was sort of at a loss of what to do and then all of the sudden all of his gifts came together in a days time and I'm pretty pleased with them. :)

I enjoyed my "day off" on Mother's Day, but in my opinion that's just not a Father's Day type of gift.  Michael only sees Olivia an hour and a half (at most) on the weekdays, so I don't think giving him a "day off" is really a gift to either him or Olivia.  Time together is what they need on the weekends.

This is why I was a little stumped.  I didn't want to go the whole video game/movie route.  Yes, he enjoys those things, but I wanted it to be something related to being a father... or at least along those lines.

He did get to start his day by sleeping in.  This, in my opinion, was part of his gift! We had our anniversary date night (more on that another time) the night before and then came home and stayed up way too late messing around on our computers.  Crawling out of bed after only 6 hours of sleep at best was not necessarily something I wanted to do. Gift. :)

I thought it would be cute for Olivia to sport a Dad shirt and spotted this one on sale at Old Navy.

(Classic Olivia)

I also made him these blocks.

He has really been into decorating his cubical at work and keeps mentioning that he needs pictures of Olivia for some frames he has.  I thought this would be a cute addition.  He loved it.  (Tutorial coming!)

Next up was two cards--one from me and one from Olivia.

 I also wrote a letter "from" Olivia.  I thought it was cute and sweet.

Then he got a daddy/daughter book and the Avengers t-shirt with the note that said "Thank you for being MY super hero!"

Besides hanging out and playing with Olivia's toys, we went out to lunch, made a quick run to Costco, took a nap, and went swimming.  I think he had a good day.  At least I hope so. :)

Five for Friday

ONE

No, I did not cut Olivia's bangs.  This seems to be a popular topic as of late.  People either ask me if I did, or tell me that I did a good job.  I could seriously do an entire post about her hair.  Some areas are down to her shoulder, while others are still only about 2 inches in length.  It has various colors.  Red being the one people like to point out the most.  Her bangs are all her.  She had a really weird cowlick from birth and it's still there.  When we got rid of her cradle cap, a lot of the hair up front came out as well.  It has just taken this long to grow.

TWO

I haven't mentioned it on here yet, but I got a Silhouette Cameo.  I had wanted a Cricut for YEARS, but could never bring myself to spend the money.  When I started looking for birthday stuff, I was coming across all sorts of cute ideas, but I needed a cutting machine.  People are selling cute stuff on etsy, but I knew it was just the machine and some scrapbook paper.  Michael and I talked about getting me one, but it was still a lot of money.  Then we got our tax return.  It was way more than we were expecting (ok, we thought we were going to have to pay--long story!), so I decided I was going for it.  I researched and researched and at the last minute decided to go with the Silhouette instead of the Cricut.  Oh my word. I love that thing.  I have done so many cute stuff for the birthday party.  I'm thinking of selling some stuff on etsy too.  Hey, if everyone else can, why can't I?

 THREE

We have had sippy success!  I am not going to lie... I was a little worried.  I had heard a few friends say their doctor told them to be completely off the bottle by 15 months.  In the back of my head I was giving myself pep talks that it would be OK if it took us a little longer than a year.  Everything else has taken us just a bit longer.  I figured 15 months wasn't too bad.  We don't have to be part of the "in" crowd who ditches the bottles by (or before) 12 months.  All the while, I really wanted to be able to be on time for something.  I didn't want to be one of those moms who was toting around a toddler with a bottle.  I bought sippy cup after sippy cup, but Olivia wasn't taking to them.  Plus, she hates water, so she'd just spit anything out that did get into her mouth.  I was wandering the sippy cup aisle about a month ago and a mom suggested I get these soft spout sippy cups.  I figured...why not?!  At first I took the valve out so she could understand the concept with the fast flow.  Then one day shortly after she turned 11 months, I just decided that she was going to get her middle of the day bottle in a sippy at lunch.  My goal was to just give her the sippy with milk every day to introduce the concept.  Whatever she didn't finish I would give her later in a bottle.  She drank the whole cup the first time!  I had to help her tilt the cup back a few times, but it worked.  (Probably because it was her beloved milk!)  So for a week I kept on.  Then I decided that if she can have her sippy for her middle of the day milk, then why not for her morning one too?  She didn't skip a beat.  She is a sippy cup pro.  We still give her a bottle for right before bed.  Mostly I was just waiting until after tomorrow.  She is having a babysitter for the first time ever, and I know a bottle will be comforting to her.  After that though, the bottles are getting packed up!  She still doesn't love water.  I try to offer it daily.  Sometimes she drinks.  Sometimes she spits it out.

FOUR

 source

I'm trying to figure out the food for the party. If you've been around blogland for any length of time... or pinterest... or gone to any upscale baby showers, birthday parties, or weddings, then you've seen the nice and fancy dessert tables.  Yes, I'm going trendy here, but we are going to have my version of one of these.  I'm wondering what else to serve besides.  The party is from 2 to 4, so not really during a meal time.  Everyone I know (locally, in Ohio, on the bump) serves a FULL meal.  I'm not all about that.  If I had a backyard and we could fire up the grill, then maybe.  But we are having it in a church.  Also, even though it's a kids party, it's not really the throw chips in a bowl type of party if you know what I mean (based on decor, etc.).  My goals are to keep it simple.  I will be decorating a rather large room.  I don't want to be running around fixing/preparing/slicing food.  Also, to keep it cold or room temp.  I don't want to have to try to keep food hot.  Plus, it's June in Texas.  I'd also like to keep the cost down.  So friends.......whatta got?!?!  As of right now, I was thinking maybe some fruit, veggies, cheese and cracker tray, and anything else appetizing I could find at Costco. :)  Or could I just keep it dessert only?  I could amp up the dessert a little more.  Do I have to serve food.  I feel so much pressure with all of these people serving full on barbeques. Will people expect to be fed?

FIVE

 {{No picture for this one.  Just insert a picture of a raggedy looking Bethany in your minds eye.}}

As you read this, I am in the process of finishing my first full week of work in the summer.  Little Man has been out of school since May 22nd, but his Nana and Papa were here for two weeks.  (Ahhh, and a glorious two weeks off it was!)  This week has been better than I anticipated in some ways.  Worse than I anticipated in others, and exactly what I anticipated in other ways. 

Right now I am trying to get Olivia to nap.  My rockstar sleeper has had a rough week.  She is not a fan of the pack and play--no matter how many blankets I wrap around that cardboard "mattress".  She is getting 30 minutes at best...after crying... when she normally sleeps an hour and a half.  It seems to have gotten a little better as the week has gone on, but still not up to what it should be.

I am working 11 to 12 hour days, which is just exhausting.  I'm trying to juggle schedules and activities, keep everyone fed, and still make sure we all have a fun and engaging time.  It's going to be a long summer!